Hmmm...maybe not

I tried the 2 minutes run/1 minute walk method endorsed by Jeff Galloway tonight. I ended up feeling sluggish, never getting a good cadence, and developing what seems to be anterior shin splints. I thought I had been doing pretty well in avoiding the beginner overuse injuries, but guess not. It could be something else, of course. I don't think it's a stress fracture, because there isn't a particular spot that really hurts, which is usually the case, according to my reading. My left is worse than my right, and it throbs, an hour after my run ended. I need to ice, and take some ibuprofen. And I need to hold off on running for a couple of days, which won't be a problem. I was planning to swim tomorrow anyway. I might not, and take tomorrow off and swim on Monday instead. We'll see how it feels.

What do I think happened? For one, the short bursts of running (shorter than I'm used to by now) meant I never got into a groove, and I could feel my toes hitting the surface sooner than usual. I think my calves didn't get warmed up adequately, which may or may not have anything to do with the Galloway training method. (Which I might be doing wrong, anyway; I ordered his book and will check it out before I blame his method.) I also think it's time for new shoes, which I was planning to get fitted for next weekend in Portland. Looking at my feet, my arches seem a little flatter than they used to a few years ago, now that I look at them. I was told I had high arches several years ago, but they don't look so high now. I have no idea what kind of motion my foot makes when I run--supinate? pronate? Who knows? I can't really watch my feet when I run. So the gait eval and fitting will be a good thing.

My plan, then, is to take a couple of days off from running and make sure that the pain goes away. Mayo Clinic recommends a number of things, including adding toe lifts and lower body weights, which I have been doing since January, so I'm not concerned about that. I'm already planning on more cross training, so that's good. I'm backing off a little on the distance. I'm getting properly fitted for running shoes. And tonight, ice and advil. Not that they hurt badly, they really just ache. But I want it to get better.

I didn't get to that yoga class...but I did make a cute bag for my yoga mat, so that counts for something. The scale inexplicably jumped a couple of pounds today--I don't freak out about a sudden jump that doesn't make logical sense, I just try to adjust my eating and watch over the next few days to see if it gets back to where it was. So I'm eating a bit less, trying to be a bit careful (although I had a cookie and some dark chocolate today...so maybe not THAT careful, hehe) and see if tomorrow is closer to what the past 5 days or so have been.

Now I go resume making A&P my beyatch.