Making rounds

Lately when Ed has a soccer game I've been running around the track. I hit a record high of 4 1/4 miles running non-stop and 1 mile walking. I started out with power walking 3/4 of a mile, but then the muscles in my shins started burning so badly that I had to switch to running. My coworker, Dave, gave a good explanation for this. The little muscles in your shins flex every time you take a step because of the exaggerated movements your feet make. (If you've never seen a power walker do his/her thing, their butts swing all over the place and they lift and flex their feet really hard.) The burning sensation, which is unbearable mind you, makes total sense. I've been noticing that the muscle has been getting bigger lately, but I thought the pain was a minor form of shin splints. It just didn't make sense that my shins didn't burn when I was running. Anyway, so I ended up running most of the way. The sad thing is that even though Edward doesn't run for his whole game, he probably burned more calories and fat than I did...and probably had more fun, though I don't really mind going 21 laps around a track. Sprinting is a much better workout than long distance. Oh well. It's a competition that I have with myself to see how much I can improve. Last time I went a total for four miles but did half walking and half running. I'm improving and I feel good about it, which is what counts. Plus, I sleep sooooooo well afterward.

On Monday I weighed in and I gained weight! I'm convinced that I'm not gaining that much muscle with all the cardio I'm doing, but man, it's disappointing. So I did a double workout on Monday with cardio and weights. At least I can try to tell myself that I'm actually gaining muscle weight. Heheh. The little muscles in my shins can't weight that much!