After a not-so-brief hiatus from blogging, I’m back. Yes, I know you’ve missed your daily dose of me complaining about whatever was bothering me on any given day. No need to fear, I have returned with more.
Although I’ve been away from my blog, I have been keeping up with my half marathon training. Admittedly, I’ve been pretty busy between work, family and, of course, running.
Currently, I am pretty far behind in my blog; about 3 weeks behind. So for this blog and the following two, I will be playing catch-up and giving you the lowdown a week at a time until I’m up to date… After all, this is my blog! 🙂
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This week was the week that I really got into running at night… not in the evenings, but around 11pm nearly every night. With a total of 27 miles this week, that’s a lot of bright colored shirts and reflective gear being worn.
I’m not sure why I started running at night. Maybe it fits my schedule better (being a night shifter and all). Maybe it’s that I could spend time with my wife and wait for her to fall asleep and then go out for a run. What it could be (and probably is) is the whole atmosphere. It’s cool, it’s quiet, I’m basically the only one on the streets in my small town, and I get an amazing view of the night sky. Yes, it’s definitely the atmosphere!
All of that fun and excitement of running high miles comes with its downsides though. Sometimes you have achy knees, sore hips or mental blocks that hinder your performance. One thing I’ve noticed is that when your moving your body for long periods of time, there’s a lot of friction that’s created and things can become sore… like your thighs, upper arms, and of course, your nipples.
“Runners nipple” (or as I like to call it, a case of the “titty stings”) is actually a legitimate name for chaffing and/or bleeding of the nipples due to friction caused by fabric. I was afflicted with this a few times this week on my longer runs. And because you know you want to see it, here you go…
Yikes… okay. That may be a bit unnecessary, but hey it comes with the territory. Needless to say, when I run now I make sure to take preventative measures.
Cross training this week meant yet another trip to the gym. I hit the stacks, dumbells, and ropes.
I even decided to shoot for some serious power-lifting. I maxed out the leg press machine at 405lbs (there’s a 15lb weight on top). Gotta keep those quads and glutes strong!
As for my long run on Saturday, it was (you guessed it) another night run. 9 miles is hard to plan out through a small city, but I made it work without overlapping too many times.
What made tonight different was that the town was not as quiet as normal. This was Labor Day weekend and the city has a celebration full of rides, talent shows, bands and beer tents. When I set out, the town was still buzzing with loud music and rowdy people. As the run progressed, the people moved to the sole beer tent that was open at 1am.
Once traffic and people cleared, the streets were easier to navigate. To fit 9 miles in, I ran once around the town and then weaved east and west back toward downtown one block at a time. I finished the run with a loop around the city and even had a enough for a quick sprint at the end… I guess that endurance training is paying off!
Another successful week in the books!
30 and a Half 