2 Week Countdown: Buffalo Creek Half Marathon

It is actually less than 2 weeks until the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon, which means one more full week of practice and then one week of tapering.

This week brought colder temps. and some rain so a lot of my training was done on a treadmill. I kind of anticipated this at the beginning of the week and I was worried. I was dealing with shin splints and for some reason the treadmill seems to make the pain worst. I had been wearing my compression socks at night hoping to kill any pain and help recover, but I wouldn't actually know what was going to happen until I was actually on the treadmill.

MONDAY: Rest Day: I was just coming off a weekend of an obstacle race and a 10K. My body felt like it got hit by a Mac truck. Sitting down during the day actually hurt from all the squats and leg lunges I did. This was one rest day that I actually was happy with.

TUESDAY: 6 Miles: I jumped on the treadmill and decided that if I started out slow and built my speed up that maybe my shins would not hurt at all. WRONG!!!! 2 miles into the run and my shins were burning up. I kept trying to think of everything I could to keep my mind off the pain, but it didn't seem to work. I still was speeding the machine up every mile though and every mile was a fight. I managed to get through the whole run and as soon as I got home I threw my compression socks on.

WEDNESDAY: 5 miles: After the pain on the treadmill I decided to run outside no matter what the weather was. The colder air actually felt good and I was able to really let loose on a fast course. My shins felt great on the road and there was almost no pain at all.

THURSDAY: Rest Day: STEELER GAME: I wasn't planning on using this day as a rest day but I ended up getting tickets to the Steeler game and there was no way I was missing that. It was a shitty game and we ended up losing in overtime but I had a good time.

FRIDAY: HILLS: The wife and I were meeting some friends for dinner so I decided to stay close to home and run a hill that is close to the house. I would sprint up the hill and jog back to the bottom. The hill was about a quarter mile long and was a gradual hill rather than a straight up and down. My legs felt really good and once again the shins were feeling good.

SATURDAY: Woke up with the intentions of heading out for my long run. It was raining and I just was not in the mood to get soaking wet. I checked the weather for Sunday and decided to switch my long run till then, so it was back to the gym for the treadmill. I set the machine on a timer for 1 hour and decided I would start it off at 6.5 miles per hour. Every mile I would speed it up. Mile 1 felt great, mile 2 still no problems, mile 3 the shins started to slightly burn. I started to focus on my foot strike and it seemed to help keep the pain away. Anytime I would feel the pain I kept saying to myself "Whoever can fight through the most pain will come out on top", it really seemed to help with the mind games. I finished the run with 7 miles in the hour.

SUNDAY: LONG RUN: The weather was perfect, nice and cool with some overcast. I ended up running 15 miles on a course that is very challenging. I realized that the down hill is when my shins start to feel sore. Kind of sucks when the race I am doing is mainly down hill. I am thinking I will wear my compression socks this week during my runs too see if they help with my shins on the down hill. I kind of went away from wearing them on runs but I will do whatever it takes to reach my goal.

I know a lot of people are running a race in 2 weeks, so how is your training going?
I am thinking after the fall races that most of us are doing we should all get together for some beers on a weekend, obviously this is for the Pittsburgh people, would anyone be down for that?