This is the second in an ongoing series from Alexandria working mom Courtney Day, who is training for her first marathon. She is scheduled to run the Marine Corps Marathon in late October. Look for more diary entries throughout this summer and fall.
Follow Courtney on Instagram at @courtney_day.
* Read Part 1: Courtney's First Marathon
Courtney Day
Excited about my new commitment of running a marathon, I started taking on too many miles, too soon.
I made the rookie mistake of not following my training plan closely, and developed really awful shin splints.
Before I committed to this Marathon, I had signed up for a Ragnar Relay and it was about three weeks out when the shin splints first started to flare up. I thought that if I rested for a week, I would be able to do my usual run-commute the following week, but boy, was I wrong!
Ragnar was now two weeks out, so I made an appointment with my doctor a few days later who advised that I take 10 days off and then ease back into it. But, Ragnar was in 10 days, with no time to ease back into it!
Full of negative thoughts, I waited 10 days and packed up for Ragnar with no idea of how it would turn out. I wore compression sleeves around my shins and hoped for the best. I took it easy on the first of three trails; running most of it but walking all inclines. My shins felt a little tight. On the second trail, I was flying, and my shins were no longer tight! It was such a relief. I power walked the entire third trail in an effort to play it safe for myself, and my teammate who was experiencing knee pain. In fear that I overdid it at Ragnar, I decided to take the following week off from running.
During that week off, I invested in a pair of new running shoes. I went to Pacers Running store in Old Town Alexandria and they had me run on a treadmill to gauge my running tendencies and identify what shoe would work best for me!
Turns out I have an issue of overpronation so they recommended a high stability shoe. I purchased a pair of Hoka One One’s, which they recommended, and was conveniently the same shoe that I was already using. On Running, another running shoe and apparel brand, recently offered to support me as I train for my first marathon and shipped me a pair of their swiss engineered running shoes specifically for stability, and couple of pieces of really lightweight apparel for the hot summer months ahead. I’ve read somewhere that it is good to have a back-up shoe as you train for a marathon. Something unexpected could happen on race day, lets say, rain perhaps, and I will be happy if I can switch into a dry shoe that I am used to, and have also been training in.
After my week off from running, I was able to run commute and add two more short runs to my week with no issues.
My training plan calls for a short 3 mile run every Tuesday and Thursday (my run-commute), and another run on Saturday that changes in distance depending on how far along I am in my training plan.
I started joining the Moms Run This Town (MRTT) ladies of Alexandria and Arlington for Bedtime miles lead by Kelly on Tuesdays. Kelly is also training for her first Marathon! The idea behind this bedtime miles event was to select a time when moms are more likely to be able to sneak a few miles in after the kids are in bed.
One week our Tuesday run included hill repeats. During and immediately following hill repeats, I told myself that I never want to put myself through that again! I could barely breathe, and hills are just awful. It wasn’t until Thursday’s run-commute when I realized how easy the hills were compared to previous run-commutes, and how much I benefited from those hill repeats. I quickly retracted my opinion of hill repeats and made a mental note to add it to my training plan.
Another Tuesday run with Kelly focused on speedwork. I alternated between running at a fast non-conversational pace for .25 miles to walking/lightly jogging for .25 miles until I reached 2.5 miles. When we finished, and I looked at my pace, I was completely in shock. I ran a pace of 9:51 min/mi. I usually run a 12-12:30 min/mi on a run-commute, so I couldn’t believe this was even a possibility for me.
That night and over the next couple of days, I was full of optimism, and thought, if I can do something like that, so early in my training, I’m excited to see what else I can accomplish if I just keep up with these runs every week (injury free), block out the excuses that come up, and just do it!
That optimism took for a turn for the worst after my next run-commute. The shin splints were back.
I decided to take a full two weeks off, and from then on, I would solely work on building up my weekly mileage - very slowly. This meant: No hills; no speedwork; no run-commutes; and most of all, no extra miles than what my training plan called for.
I hated the idea of cutting out my run-commute for the next 5 months. I loved that run, but if I wanted to gradually build my mileage, I couldn’t keep doing a long mid-week run. The idea of taking two solid weeks off from running frustrated me, but it also encouraged me to step up my game on my cross training days.
