Week 5:
June 19: Today I just stuck to doing a light three miles. My shins weren’t hurting much, but I could tell I was already a little dehydrated from the very start of my run. This morning’s run was just one of those runs; not terrible, but not great. I was thankful I had my running buddy to pull me through the rest of it.
June 20: I had practice with my high school team today and we decided to do one of the local trails. We went four miles at a good pace, but once again, I could tell I wasn’t feeling great. I drank a few water bottles after my run yesterday, but not enough to make up for the water I had lost before that run, during the run, or enough to cover me for today. Not to mention, it was ridiculously hot for 7 in the morning.
June 21: Practice was at a hot 7 a.m. again. My shins were finally starting to hurt. (I knew something had to be wrong; I’d gone two days without painful shins!) My team and I went off to another trail this morning and just did 800-meters longer than yesterday. I was not feeling good whatsoever and it showed as I finished. Even after the past two days of lack of hydration, you would think I would learn my lesson and drink more water; I guess I defied that one!
June 22: Today was actually a good day, FINALLY! I wasn’t in too much pain with my shins, was plenty hydrated and just feeling good. Around here our trails don’t go but so far, but when one of the girls on my team suggested the five-mile trail, I was happy to go along. I really wanted to stretch my legs out, especially after a struggling week thus far. We ran at a good pace and finished strong with a 200 sprint to the finish; always nice to have a little friendly competition, right?
June 23: Looks like I spoke to soon… My shins started back hurting, and I drank maybe two water bottles yesterday, which is nothing compared to what any runner needs to be drinking. I decided to stay on campus at practice today, not go off and do the trails. I just went out for three miles; this is usually no big deal for me, just another run, but today was a different story. My body just seemed completely worn out and I felt like I was dragging myself to keep a decent pace and finish the run.
June 24: I didn’t have practice today so I decided to sleep in and take a break from running. It was time to let my body have some recovery time, even if it didn’t seem like I’d done too much these past few days.
June 25: My running buddy, Sam, as mention previously, decided that she wanted to run today. The heat was pretty intense because we started a little later than usual and I felt like all the water I had put in yesterday was gone by the first mile. We were both sore, worn out by the heat, and wanted to stop. We finished, though, with a total of 4.5 miles.
This week was just a rough week. I was rarely properly hydrated and my shins continued hurting, although not as bad as some weeks. My whole body seemed off and I could tell it had really affected my running. This week was tough and a lot of times throughout my runs I wanted to just call it quits. Thankfully, I had my teammates and Sam to pull me through it. That’s one of the great things about running; someone out there knows the pain you’re in; they’ve been there too and now they’re ready to help get you through it.
Week total: 24
Summer total: 103