Running Update #4, Week 4

So this week has been the roughest so far. I did my two mile loop (which is only slightly different for this one), for the first time without any periods of walking, last Wednesday and my body has been complaining ever since. I took the next day off because of it, but because it was raining on Friday, I wanted to test out the foot pod on a treadmill... when I probably should have done the elliptical for a little more of a break. I couldn't keep the 5.5 mph pace(about 11 minute miles) I had been doing outside, and had to do some walking after the first mile and then bring it back down to 5 mph for the rest. Over the weekend I did nothing but take some long walks and recover. Monday was the elliptical to try and ease back into it and Tuesday and Wednesday were running days. The elliptical was fine, as always, but running kind of blew. The aches and pains in my lower legs kept my stride very short and pushed my pace back into the 12 minute mile range. Here is my "course" that I've been trying to run (click for mote detail regarding pace and heart rate for Tuesday's run):

And here is the link for Wednesday's Run, during which the pain was rough enough that I had to walk for two spells.

Glen (our exercise physiologist) suspects I might be doing too much too fast and need to back off. I think he's probably right... I've wanted to get to the point where I can run 3 miles without walking since I started (after I ran 2 miles last week I was thinking I might try to do 3 this week - seems pretty over the top in retrospect). However, my relationship with running has always been that it's about ignoring and overcoming pain... and that pain is just part of what running is. That said, I don't want to get injured and then not be able to do anything, and thus lose everything I've gained the last few weeks.

Anyway, despite how beautiful it is today (high of 68 degrees and sunny), I'll stay inside and do the no-impact elliptical for at least 20 minutes. Tomorrow (though it might rain) I'll run outside and see how I feel. If it's still pretty painful, then maybe next week I'll ease it back and try running for 4 minutes and walking for 1 minute as a sort of interval repeated over 20 or 25 minutes.

It's terribly tempting to run outside today, though... legs be damned.