After cutting my workout short on Wednesday, I took Thursday and Friday off to rest and give my legs a break. There is a 5k race on Sunday and I really wanted to enter it as my first official 5k run. I figured I would head out this morning to the bike trail and see how my legs were holding up. I didn’t even make it 2 minutes and I knew I had my first running related injury.

The technical term is Shin Splint. But I had other 4 letter words for it. While its not very severe and it doesn’t hurt to walk, it is painful to run. So this means I will be taking a break from running to help my legs recover. I am pretty pissed off because I was really looking forward to this Sunday’s event. I feel like I took one step forward and two back.

On the plus side, I am more focused on recovering and getting back to it. This coming week I plan on focusing more on my strength training 3 days and then hopping on the bicycle for the other two days. Next Monday I will see how the legs are doing.

For my recovery, I have plenty of ice packs, tape and vet wrap. Icy hot and Ibuprofen have also become my new friends. The odd part is that my legs feel great. Its only when I try to run that I start to feel the pain. So judging my recovery period is going to be hard.

Since I never know what to put on this site, I figured I will start putting my running log here so you can all see my progress, injuries or whatever else happens.

Currently, I am running Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I am doing strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Week 1:
I started this running thing on May 11th. My first week I spent going fairly slow and really just getting used to running again. I have not done it since High School gym class and the big problem for a bigger guy like myself who is just starting is the risk of injury. Just the phrase “Shin Splint” makes my legs tingle a little. My first couple runs were 1.71, 1.68 miles in about 30-35min. With the help of Lisa at the gym, I am well on my way.

Week 2:
By week 2 I was really getting into it. I was checking sites like Runners World daily. I also purchased some new shoes after doing some extensive research. They are working out great so far. This week I consistently ran over 2 miles with my best run of 2.19 miles in 35min.

Week 3: (This week)
Now I am really into it and hooked on this running thing. I even purchased a subscription to Runners World Magazine. Monday was great. Since it was a holiday I went out to the Bike trail and ran 2.5 miles in 35min. My longest run and best time yet. But tonight (Wed) was my first bad run. I don’t know if the changing weather made my knees act up or what, but my knees, shins and ankles really ached and I cut my work out short tonight. This Friday, the gym I workout at is closed due to remodeling. So I don’t know if I will take a break and let my legs heal up or try to hit the bike trail this weekend. We will see how I feel and how the weather holds up.

In addition to all of this running stuff, I have drastically changed my eating habits. I wont go into details, but it involves more fruits, vegetables whole grains and no pop. I am averaging 60oz-70oz of water a day. So you can imagine how often I take potty breaks now.

Our Horse Expo trip was fun, but didn’t get any real exciting pictures.

My new hobby is running. I have been working out 5 days a week for a couple months now and I finally decided to pick up the pace with a 5k run being my first goal. So far, I have talked with a fitness instructor who gave me a 8 week plan and I started that last week. I also purchased some high end running shoes built for my feet.

So far I am doing just over 2 miles a day. (5k run is 3.125 miles) So just in the first week, I am very close to my goal. My main concern is getting injured since I have not run since High School gym class. But the program I am in is made for first time runners and includes a lot of stretching, warming up, cooling down and intervals of walking to prevent injury.

If you would have told me 6 months ago I would be running regularly and enjoying it, I would have called you crazy. But I am really liking it and look forward to each of my runs. I am mostly in the gym right now, but I want to try and make it out to the bike trail while we have the nice weather.