Me at present

Since there is no way I can ever "catch up" on sharing my life to this point, I decided I will just start with the present, and share past as opportunities present themselves.

So, I am training for my second full marathon: City of Oaks Marathon 2013.  I ran my first full in November of 2011, a few days after my middle child turned 1.  My goal was just to finish, and I did in just under 5 hours.  With another pregnancy and childbirth under my belt, as well as a few more half marathons (one at 10 weeks pregnant with #3, and three this past spring from 6.5 months post-baby to about 8 months post-baby), I am hoping to finish around 4 hours this time.  This will be a HUGE PR for me, as well as a huge confidence boost!!  I have really gotten comfortable with the half marathon distance, and had a PR this spring of 1:56:00:00.  <<yes, is that crazy or what?  I have never had such an "even" race time, and probably never will again!

This is me post-race (6.5 months post-baby #3) with my ultra-supportive husband and kiddos!  Not the best pic, but at least we are all in it!  HA.

This training cycle I am following a modified version of Hal Higdon's Advanced 1 Marathon training plan.  I have used Hal Higdon's intermediate plans in the past, and I am comfortable with them.  Right from the beginning I had concerns about running 6 days a week though.  I generally need more "rest" days than the average runner, or at least feel like I do.  My standard is to run 4 days a week.  So bumping up to 6 was a big increase for me, as was the mileage (going from about 20-25 miles a week on average...I know, I'm a minimalist), up to 35.  Well, last week my shins started bothering me as well as my ITB on the right side.  Too much too fast I'm afraid. So, I this week and next week I am cutting out the easy run days and replacing them with full rest days.  Also icing, stretching, and taking Advil.  I ventured into the world of compression socks, in an effort to help my shin pain, and holy smokes!  I might never look back!  I seriously thought I was going to HATE them (in general I am not a fan of restrictive clothing of any kind.  At all.)  But O.M.G. they are like heaven.  The first time I put them on, when my shins were really sore, I almost decided to sleep in them.  Wore them the next morning for 13.1 miles, and felt amazing.

Good thing procompression had a sale this week, I snagged another pair for 40% off!  Those babies are not cheap! :-O

After traveling for business on Monday and Tuesday of this week, I have some catching up to do regarding my workouts.  I generally have no problem getting runs in while I am out of town, but it just didn't work out on this trip.  The good news is I got a lot of rest to recoup from my long run last Sunday.  It's looking like a long and moderately hard treadmill run of 7 miles for me today, complete with compression socks and probably some Beastie Boys on the ipod.  YES!  It's hot here in NC, and I am dehydrated from traveling (I'm also still nursing my 9 month old), so I'm hoping I can minimize the fluid loss by running inside today.  Let's do this!

Help a sister out:

1.) How do you go about increasing the intensity of your workouts, or total weekly mileage?  Do you follow the 10% rule?  I need tips...I have the desire and drive, so holding back to be "cautious" about potential injury is REALLY tough!

2.) Are you a compression sock fan?  Give me the good, the bad, and the ugly!