Week of 12/24 through 12/30

Monday, 12/24: 7.3 miles with the dogs.  I ran the first 10k with Riley down through Weekapaug and to the Inn Beach.  Ran a bit more in the Weekapaug area before heading home to pick up Lulu for an additional mile.  Back of my leg nagging..

Tuesday, 12/25: 4.1 miles @ 6:29 pace with Riley.  I considered taking the day off to give my leg some rest but it was Christmas so I just had to reward myself with a run.

Wednesday, 12/26: Off day.  Started with 15 minutes of planks, pullups, and abs at the Y. Then proceeded to swim a mile..it wasn't pretty.  Leg even a bit tight in the water.

Thursday, 12/27: 8 mile easy run on Ninigret with Jeff, Matthew, and Sam L.  Ran an average of 7:04 pace.  Enjoyed the company, leg nagged on. Average of 7:04 pace.

Friday, 12/28: 10 mile basement spin-30 minutes.  Followed up with a 35 minute strength workout-barbell squats, single leg body weight squats, pushups, and band work (did super sets with these).  Finished with light stretch.

Saturday, 12/29: 6.2 mile loop with Riley @ 6:39 average pace.  Ran my "trail" loop through the Haversham areabefore looping around through Weekapaug.  Sore all in various spots (notice a theme here?)

Sunday, 12/30: 6.5 miles with Riley.  Ran the first 4.5 from my house, did loops on Weekapaug Golf Course, and then ran to my Mom's to visit her and the dogs.  Let Riley play with the boxers for a bit before running 2 miles home at 6:15 pace.
Fun fact from the run: while running on the golf course, Riley and I came across the partial carcass of some type of big bird (sorry I'm no Muddy when it comes to bird identification).  All "valuable" parts of the bird appeared to be eaten up.  I can only suspect it was one of these critters, that local townies like to rave about that did the damage. *Please note: I don't like coyotes but I am not one of these townies.

Weekly Miles: 32
YTD Miles: 2118
Swim: 1X/1mile
Bike: 1X, 10 miles
Stretch/Core: 2X


Synopsis: While I certainly enjoyed spending the holidays with family, this week was a disappointment in regards to running.  This is normally one of my favorite running weeks of the year with the opportunity to run more than usual with time off.  With this weird, nagging and irritating undiagnosed back of leg pain, I purposely cut back on my mileage.  Running slower or not running at all seems to make no difference on the level of nagging pain.  The cross training gave me something to do but didn't give me the jump start I was hoping to gain.  If anything, the pain increased as the week progressed. No particular stretch seemed to make a difference. As much as I like my physical therapist and want to get better, I'm trying to continue to incorporate rest and less running to see if it improves before seeking additional help.  Not the way I was looking to end the year with my running, but injury is a reality of the sport.  It is what it is.  I'll deal with it.