Update

I've been so busy lately, I haven't had the time to blog. So, this is to update everything I have done since the 2nd. Saturday and Sunday I went over to the in-laws and ate like a pig all weekend with no exercise! When I say pig...I mean PIG...I ate all you can eat BBQ, greasy pizza, chili, lasagna, a couple big breakfast meals and one big steak dinner from roadhouse.

When Monday came around I knew I had to start eating better because my stomach was sooo bloated from the couple days before. I made sure this time that I stretched every part of my body, especially my legs and the inside parts of my calves. I found a new stretch that I remember seeing a lot of people doing, but never thought it worked for me. The one where you put you hands on a wall and put one flat foot back and the other foot forward to stretch the back of the leg (see image). I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and did legs on Monday (fyi: first time I have done my legs since getting into my new running regimen). I had thought that weight lifting for my legs was useless because of all the muscle running builds, but recently I read that it can prevent injuries. It's a wonder why I have been in pain lately...between not stretching the back of my legs properly to neglecting the weightlifting for my lower body.

On Tuesday, I woke up very sore. The back of my legs behind my knees was terribly sore and I could barely extend them to stand up straight. I guess that stretch was well overdue and I should not have done calf raises yesterday for the first time in a long time, right before running a major race. Tuesday night I ran 3 miles on the tm (although I needed to run more), and my legs started bothering me again.

When Wednesday rolled around I was still sore, but I ran 5.5 miles and had about the same amount of pain as I did from the 3 miler the night before. I did my arms after the 5.5 miler and felt great after a good stretch. It seems as though the back of my legs only hurt when I wake up in the morning or after period of sitting down. I guess the muscles need time to warm up.