January 23, 2010

Ice Burn

This past week I've been trying to take my running a bit easier because of my shin splints. My roommate, who recently signed up with Team In Training, has started running, so we ran together a couple times at a nice easy pace. While my legs felt better at a slower pace, there was still some noticeable tightness and pain : /  I thought I was being good by icing my shins after our run Friday, but it turned out to be a little counterproductive. Somehow, the ice packs actually burned my skin! Yes, I did put them directly against my skin, but that's always what I've done. And I only had them on for like 20 minutes! When I took them off there were a couple spots that had gone really numb, but I figured they would just "thaw out" in a bit, so I hopped in the shower. Big mistake...I thought my skin was on fire! When I finished, I noticed that I now had massive red welts covering both lower legs. Today they are still very tender and have even blistered a bit. Kind of a bummer that something that was supposed to make things better actually just made things worse : /

This past week was more hectic than I'd anticipated and I was more tired than usual, but I'm glad I got in the workouts I did, especially considering the nonstop storm that wreaked havoc in Southern California all week. I had a couple easy 3.5 milers with my roommate (who is doing great for a beginner, I'm so proud!) and went swimming again. Tomorrow Tom and I had a 13 miler planned, but he's sick so it looks like my other running buddy Stacey and I will be doing a modified long run of ~10 miles. I also signed up for my next race, the UCSB Romeo's 4 Miler next Saturday. It's been a while since I've done a short race so I'm pretty excited. Then the following weekend Stacey and I will be running the Surf City Half down in Huntington Beach! I'm just crossing my fingers and toes that my shin splints get better soon.

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