I’m calling week 10 the calm before the storm. It was a light week, and I loved it. Now comes the hard part — three weeks in a row of LONG runs. 18, 18 and 20 right before taper time. LET’S DO THIS.

How I’m feeling this week:
SORE. After last week’s epic 15-miler, I was feeling it for the next few days. This is what I’ve been afraid of. But since I have really improved my shin splints with RICE-ing, I intend to treat my hips the same way. Thanks to Sarah at Once Upon a Lime, I discovered some compression shorts with ice therapy, after asking anyone if there was such thing as ice pants. I can’t take an ice bath because of pure fear, and since this long distance running this has stuck with me and I intend to stick with it, I think I am going to take the plunge and invest in these pants. I’d rather have some Tori Burch flats or something, but whatever. Running is expensive, dammit.

What I ran this week:

• Tuesday, 3/20: 2.5 miles, 30:36 (12:15 average pace), hilly road (Too hilly for a recovery run coming off my 15 miler if you ask me. I was hurting)
• Saturday, 3/24: 6.21 miles (10K), 1:05:21 (10:32 average pace), treadmill with 3.o incline
• Sunday, 3/25: 5.07 miles, 48:10 (9:30 average pace), flat high school track

TOTAL: 13.78 miles, 2:24:08 (just slightly behind my training schedule but still on track)

 LONG RUN SPLITS:

Since I didn’t have a long run this weekend (per marathon training standards, at least), I’m skipping the splits this week. They’ll be back next week with a vengeance after my 18-miler.

How I cross-trained this week:
60 minutes hot vinyasa yoga
15 minutes Nike Training Club app – core burner (more on this gem later)

What I ate:
Like my splits, I won’t bother writing what I ate this week, since it was a light weekend. I did read an interesting article about marathon fueling with a Certified Sports Dietitian on Carrots ‘N Cake that’s worth a read in its place, though: http://carrotsncake.com/2011/07/marathon-fueling-q-a.html.

Roadblocks this week:
Since I was so sore from last week’s 15-miler, it caused for decreased running during the week. I cut Tuesday’s run in half, then took Thursday off to rest. It worked since the weekend runs were fine, but because I don’t want to cut too many more runs, I need to get my hips stronger.

Goals for the week ahead:
Continue the cross training momentum. This past week, I did two days of cross training, and this week my goal is to double that. I plan on going to spinning and yoga, plus do two Nike core training workouts throughout the week. Also, I need to do yoga hip openers almost every day. As I said, my hips were pretty sore coming off my long run last week, and it’s only going to get worse as the miles increase. To offset some of this, it’s stretching, opening, and icing.

This week’s running topic: Effective stretches and cross training for runners
If you’ve been reading along with me week after week, you’ve seen I’m not too good with cross training. But I have been slowly improving, and learning things along the way. First – some background. According to this Active.com article, “Some trainers and coaches recommend cross training for runners. They feel one-sport runners often are in poor skeletal shape above the waist, and could use additional workouts for better overall fitness. Secondly, they believe that running less and spending the time saved on other sports reduces the risk of the impact injuries associated with running.”

So which is best? I prefer yoga. Cycling and swimming are usually a common when I look up effective ways to cross train. I’ve been starting to incoporate spinning into the mix for this reason. I know swimming is so good for you because it’s barely any impact, but I just can’t get into it. Gym pools scare me. Maybe some day.

Some of my favorite yoga moves to help my running include: downward dog, half pigeon, frog pose, and tree pose.

As I mentioned above, I did 15 minutes of a core workout. I did it right at home on my iPad with the Nike Training Club app, something I just discovered this week. It’s got cardio workouts, weight workouts, and quick 15-minute workouts like I did to target specific regions. It’s perfect for home and traveling, not to mention it’s helping me make my core stronger for running. Win.

What are some stretches, strength training moves, or cross training exercises you do to complement your running?

Past recaps:
Week 9
Week 8
Week 7
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
Week 3
Week 2
Week 1
Pre-training post with my 16-week training schedule

Image source.