Half-Marathon Progress Report - 20 Weeks

In 20 weeks, I will hopefully be running my first half marathon. From now until the race, I will try to post at least a weekly report on how my progress is going.

Here is this week's report:

After trying to get back into the swing of things, I now have a mild case of shin splints. I started icing and massaging them and took a few days off from running. I'm also going to cut back my running and try to ease back up to 3 miles over the next 3 weeks.

Here's what happened. Leading up to the Arbor Day 5k, I missed a lot of runs. Then the Arbor Day 5k proved to be a very hilly course, which took a lot out of my legs. After two weeks of rest I tried to jump back into running. Although I did lower my runs to 1.5 miles the first week, 2 the next and 2.5 last week, I now have shin splints.

I took a few days off to let them heal a bit and did a short mile this evening. I've been massaging my calves and legs, stretching and icing to promote healing, so hopefully the shin splints will not stay around too long.

Because of the shin splints, I'm cutting back a bit for the next few weeks.

Here is the plan for this week:

Mon: 1 Mile
Tue: Rest/XT*
Wed: 1.5 Miles
Thu: Rest/XT
Fri: 2 Miles
Sat: Rest/XT
Sun: Rest/XT

*XT = Cross training i.e. swimming, cycling, strength training, walking, yoga or aqua running... NO RUNNING