If you've been reading my whining posts lately, you know I've been having some shin pain. I had a chat with the guy at our local running store and he said based on everything I told him it is def. my calf that is causing the issues. I need to ice the shin and calf and massage the heck out of my calf as much as possible. He said after a few weeks the pain should be totally gone, and if I strengthen my calves it should not come back.
That sounds great and I started doing all of that and it is definitely helping! I was still a little worried tho since our race is 3 weeks away and so he suggested compression calf sleeves to help out while running and for after long-run recover. I wasn't thrilled at shelling out $40 for a pair of magic socks - but I did it anyway after some online research ~ I bought the CEP compression calf sleeves, size 3, in hot pink:
HOWEVER, Saturday I decided to run close to home for my long run and tried these out on a 10 mile run. Since I'd been massaging my calf a lot my shin was already feeling better than it had all week and the first few miles were slightly uncomfortable but not painful. After 4 or 5 miles I couldn't feel any discomfort in my shin at all! When I got home I rolled and stretched and then wore these to bed for my 3 hour nap and my shins felt great afterward! Minor soreness, way less than usual. I massaged my calves again and felt great rest of the weekend.
Magic socks? I don't know - but they sure seemed to have helped and I will keep wearing them until I decide otherwise!
Another new product I tried out this weekend on my long run were Sport Beans by Jelly Belly - Berry flavored:
These are basically super yummy large jelly beans. It says they have everything in them that the gus and comps and every other fuel I've tried have - but they are way easier to eat and so yummy, seriously taste just like normal candy jelly beans. I was calling them magic beans all weekend ~ they must be if they taste that good and give me enough energy to get from mile 5-10!
To be honest I don't really know if the fuels I use are really special or if regular jelly beans,etc. would have the same effect but I felt great after eating them halfway through my run, just as good as any other fuel I've tried as far as energy levels are concerned. I had a gu right before I ran and a bagel thin with pumpkin cream cheese about an hour or so before my run. Seemed to be a good combination with all 3 - will try that out again on Thursday for our next 10 miler and if it works just as well, I've got my race day routine down for Rehoboth! :)
Magic beans and magic socks combined - I was able to run a happy and pain free 10 miler in 102 minutes ~ 10:12 average pace, yea buddy! Feels so nice to consistently run a faster pace than usual and know that I will definitely beat my 2:30 goal for Rehoboth! On Saturday I could have run 3.1 more and finished around 2h 15min. Not sure Rehoboth will be so fast because half of it is unpaved gravel and there is one big hill but I still think I'm stronger and faster this time and will have a really good and fun ~ although chilly ~ run.
3 more weeks to go - Thursday morning we will do a 10 mile run on a new path at a new park and then will stuff ourselves with all of my mom's yummy food the rest of the day :) After that it is time to taper down and get super duper excited for the race on the 8th :)
We are toying with the idea of a marathon in March - cutting it close with the timing but we'll see how we feel after Rehoboth. If we can take 1 recover week and then start back on 11+ mile runs on Saturdays and work our way up injury free, there is no harm in trying! We won't sign up for anything until February - at that point we will know where we stand with the March marathon and decide what we want to do if that one doesnt work out. First things first tho - conquer Rehoboth! :-D
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