training 9/14

After taking a couple of rest days I was able to get about 12 miles in today. I think the speed work on the treadmill Thursday wore me out as my knees were a bit sore and I just felt tired. I was at work Friday so took it easy and Saturday didn't present too many options to train. We had massive windstorms throughout central Kentucky today so was without power for about six hours when a tree limb took out our neighbors power lines cutting power to the whole street.
After eating poorly the past two days I definitely felt like I at least needed to get out and give it an effort. My goal was two hours on the roads this evening and usual, felt pretty sluggish for about the first hour. Seems like I always feel bad the first 45 minutes to an hour of a run. Fortunately in that time the temperature also dropped about ten degrees and had some pleasant wind. Took a nice tour of some surrounding neighborhoods and finished with one of my favorite in town runs following a looping hilly, paved golf course for probably a mile or two loop before heading back.
I have been fortunate throughout my recent training to not have developed any shinsplints as I have had in the past. I attribute it mostly to consistency in training, mixing up my footwear, dedicated use of power step inserts and trying to get about half of my training in on trails. I definitely feel the tendency for my shins to flare up after a long road run and to a lesser extent, training on trails.
Last season I got a pair of the Zensah shin compression sleeves and used them religiously after long runs and they definitely seemed to help.
Shortly before I came home from my run got a call from the wife that my 20 month old son officially has the stomach flu so I came home, showered and went to the store for pedialyte.
Tomorrow I'll stay home, work on my paper and continue with my reading.
I'll try to post some thoughts on training, racing strategies that I've picked up from some of my readings as well as thoughts about my upcoming race this weekend.