Hello, my name is Caitlyn Buxton and I run cross country for West Florence High School. I started running on the Varsity team in seventh grade and I hope to continue on throughout the rest of my high school years. I've put in 100s of miles over the past two years since I first began running. Last year, in the middle of my XC season, I tore my hip flexor and pulled two other muscles in my hip. This summer will be my first time seriously training since my injury and I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.
I started keeping a running log for my coach on May 22, 2011 and since then I have run 54 miles in the past three weeks. I’ll share the rest of my summer journey with you.
Week 4:
June 12: I took the day off to rest and recover from my shin splints. I’ve been struggling with them for quite some time now and I’m still trying to figure out the best way to get rid of them. I continuously ice them and it temporarily removes the pain, but never fully once I start running again.
June 13: Today was our first summer practice, starting at 7 a.m.. I only ran 3.5 miles today, just trying to slowly start off the week. I was pumped to see my team again, so I think my energy helped me to ignore the shin splints, until I finished running that is. A friend of mine worked out at the local gym today, doing 30 minutes on the elliptical and some basic weight machines.
June 14: I didn’t have time to ice my shins down yesterday and I had a really poor diet. We had another team practice though and I ran five miles. It wasn’t for time, just to get the distance in; I’m not doing any serious speed work until July. I went to the gym again today and worked on arm machines mostly.
June 15: At practice today I did a good four miles with a teammate of mine and I felt that I really got a nice workout in, even if the mileage was short. Still, my usual workout buddy invited me to go to the gym with her. I was planning just to do some light weights on a few machines or even some ab work. After doing two machines or so, she decided that she really wanted to go for a run. (Have you ever noticed that running can help solve your problems? It’s nice to just go for a run when upset, really helps to clear your head for a while, and I think that’s what she needed). I complied, even though I knew I was dehydrated, and caught many cramps during that three mile run. It’s so important to drink water; hydrate, hydrate, HYDRATE!
June 16: Today was our last day of practice this week and I decided that I'd take the newer runners for a nice off campus run. It was a light 3.5 miles, and after yesterday’s total of seven miles, my shins killing me, and little water, I was perfectly happy with a relaxed run with my newest teammates.
June 17: My workout and running buddy, as mentioned before, just finished her freshman year in college. Naturally, she isn’t on the high school team anymore, but we still find time to go running together. We both love stretching out our legs and getting some good distance in so today we decided to go for a long run. We weren’t sure exactly how far we were going to go, but ended up doing six miles. I think we both intended on doing more, but we started late in the morning and the temperature was already up quite a bit, so we were both struggling under the heat. I could tell I hadn’t drunk enough water, not only because of how hot it was, but I kept catching a cramp in my calf. My shins actually didn't hurt too badly during the run, even though we were on the pavement quite a bit.
June 18: I decided to take this Saturday off because my shins were hurting. Yesterday after running I iced them down for about 20 minutes each and they didn’t bother me the rest of the day. Today, though, was a different story. I iced them when I woke up for twenty minutes each, and then right before I went to bed, iced my right leg for 15 minutes. My shin splints vary in severity depending on the day it seems. One day, my right one will hurt worse, and the next day, the left is causing me pain. I always look forward to the days where only one shin is hurting at a time and not both!
Week 4 total: 25 miles
Summer total: 79 miles