"Week 11" (13M / runs)

Sunday, August 23rd
Rest day. Left groin started hurting late in yesterday's run and is still sore today, so I'm thankful this is my off day. Hopefully I'll be good to go tomorrow morning!

Monday, August 24th
4M run in the morning. I don't want to wear a garmin most days of the week, so I ran 35' at Mtn View. Felt pretty good. Left shin started to hurt towards the end, but it wasn't awful.
General strength #3 + HIIT bike + 1.5M run at noon. Left hip is catching during some of the strength work and leg swings. Two sets of 6 x 10" all out, 30" relaxed during the bike. Ran 15' in the neighborhood afterwards. Felt fine, but left shin started hurting again towards the end.

Tuesday, August 25th
3.5M run in the morning. Ran 30'on the grass track in some intense humidity. Shins felt fine today... really did not notice them.
30' easy bike + general strength #4 + 1.5M run. Intended to walk 15' after my run, but was out of time and I had already done an easy bike with Jake while he ran his double. Shins felt fine on the shakeout, but the fifth metatarsal of my left foot had a couple random sharp pains in the same spot as on Saturday's run. I was wearing the same shoes as Saturday, so I may rotate those out for a few days to see if that gets rid of it. I don't want to mess with that metatarsal because it's where the stress reaction was this February when I shut things down.

Wednesday, August 26th
30' bike while Jake ran his double

Thursday, August 27th
3M run with 3 x 100, 200, 300 (100 jog recoveries) in the morning. 9:12 for the first mile, 16:14 for the last two, which included the intervals. I did not stop during the run, just went straight from easy running into the intervals. 20, 43, 64, 20, 41, 63, 20, 41, 61 for the hard segments, which puts me thru 1,800m in 6:13 (5:32 mile pace). So fun! I'm not doing these track days to get in shape... I know they are more detrimental than beneficial... I understand how the laws of getting in good aerobic shape work. BUT, when you spend five consecutive years running base running the whole time (because you keep getting hurt before you get to do the hard running), running starts to lose its excitement. I love running because I love testing my body and pushing my limits. You don't get to do that in true base running, so I've decided to take a break from following the running rules, and I'm going to have fun with it for a while. Because sometimes you just want to run hard, and while my body is still in one piece, I'm going to take advantage of that every once in a while! :)
30' bike while Jake ran his double + 1.5M shakeout + general strength #3 at noon

Friday, August 28th
30' bike while Jake ran his double at noon. No run because left groin is bothering me again. A day of rest helped on Sunday, so we'll see if that does the trick again this time.
General strength #4 + 20' HIIT bike in the afternoon. Same two sets of 6 x 10" hard, 30" recovery.

Saturday, August 29th
30' bike with four sets of 6 x 10" strong, 30" natural in the morning.
20' run in the afternoon. Still getting those sharp shooting pains on the outside of my left foot.