4 miles easy peasy! Taper madness starts to set in!

Days are longer, but it seems just as dark in the morning, doesn't it? Our first snow of the season is falling heavily this morning. In limited quantities and for a limited amount of time, it’s gorgeous. Only about an inch during this morning’s run so footing on my dirt road was still good. In fact, the snow gave everything a nice cushy feel. Tempo Tuesday: 3.9 miles of w/u and c/d @ 8:47 + 6 tempo miles @ 7:16. Shin felt a bit better today, despite the harder run, so that’s encouraging.

SLO.. I think the hill spurts really help. Yesterday's 3 x 10 sec bursts really helped with speed work today. Speed work day. 10 miles in 1:23:27 (8:21 pace, AHR 150) including 7 x 800m repeats on the track with 200 m (90 sec) jog intervals: (Target was 3:25) 3:25 3:26 3:23 3:24 3:24 3:25 3:25 I'm really happy to be on the way to the 10 Yasso 800's

Strength work today (squats, incline bench, deadlifts) and an easy 3.5 miles on the TM. Tried a new pair of ASICS Speedstars. I'm undecided. I can return them within 30 days. I run in Brooks Glycerins for long runs. Left inside shin is a little sore - i think it's more from the increase in miles and running on the left hand side of the road too much. Tomorrow, I run 8-10 miles in a snowstorm that will start around 4am. I'm hoping that getting out the door around 5:30 will let me get in the run before it gets too bad. Hopefully traffic will be light with schools closed and lots working from home. It'll actually be fun. Ilene, good luck getting through taper madness!

Lucky Tramps getting snow! Here on the coast, we have only overcast skies and a prediction for rain. I know the kiddos would love to see even a flake of snow. 7 GAish miles for me today - actually on the edge of GA - in 53:50. First mile easy in 8:00 and the rest at around 7:38. I had to get this run done and get into work for a meeting. Happy Belated Birthday to Tom White!! Great speedwork there Perch. You just need a few more and you will have your Yasso 800s. I will have to try these hill sprints. I don't have much of a hill near me but there is an overpass on my run that might serve the purpose. Good luck to Ilene this weekend!

Good morning! ohboy ohboy. Ilene with taper madness. Tramps, I missed your shin injury. or, maybe just forgot. What happened? what are you doing for it? I'm glad it's getting better. I had shin splints recently... was a pain in the shin. The stick seemed to help a lot. & thanks. Go Ilene!!! 5.04 miles, 165 ahr, 177 mhr, 9:50 av. pace, 8:05 max. miles were 10:37, 9:50, 9:35, 9:32, & 9:12. 15 minutes on the elliptical & 20 minutes of weight machines & russian twists. I was running late this morning. I know we've talked about this probably way too much already, but I'd really like any opinions you have regarding running with hamstring / piriformis injuries. Mine have been re-irritated for about a month. Trying to run through this but in a way that lets me heal. There's a physical therapist at my gym who's a runner. He says it's ok to run as long as your pain level doesn't go above a 3 or 4. That's what I've been banking on. Today, 2 people told me (at length & with gusto) that I really should stop for a few weeks. One is a sports med guy. Not that he had all the details but I told him about how much I was doing, & that I was running slowly, etc. So depressing, if they're right. I know... lots of company there. It's just that it seems I just got started again. Don't mean to whine, sorry. Anyway, any thoughts or experiences? mta, Meg, did you get a new 'watch' yet? I'm hoping you get something really good.

Tramps, I missed your shin injury. or, maybe just forgot. What happened?

Ran an unfamiliar rugged dirt road about 9 days ago and jammed my foot in a deep frozen rut that was hidden by leaves. (Oops.) Shin just above the ankle has been sore and tight since then but not bad enough to stop running. In fact, skipping a running day seemed to make it worse. I iced and took ibuprofen, neither of which seemed to make a difference. It's tight at first and then loosens up after a couple of miles and the discomfort doesn't get worse. So I just went back to running normally and have been monitoring. After not getting worse all week, I think I felt a little improvement today. Minor league stuff compare to what others are struggling with.

JDmom3, You just need to be a bit further up the coast. Send the kids up. Here at the southern tip of NJ, I got all ready to go out for my tempo run and got handed a change of plans by the snow starting early. The ground had warmed up enough that the flakes were melting then freezing. Slickety slick, so I changed plans. Put on my trail shoes and headed for the beach. Better plan, but it was high tide. And, since the ground had warmed up, all the sand just above high tide was all soft. And, apparently, it was suicide time for about 300 little crabs, all of which Renee tried to eat. And the wind came up a whole lot while I was out there. It was the longest three miles I've run in a looonngg time. dg, I've been running with piriformis/itb/pf pain (they rotate!) since almost the beginning. Bodywork seems to keep me on the road. I try to go see my massage therapist 2x a month and she really does a great job of working out the agony. I also agree with everything SLO said. In my case of 1, I have found that completely laying off from running has never solved any issue anyway, so I might as well run. Also, a good timed day off also seems to do wonders, where I go for a walk instead. Good luck figuring it all out.