1 run for 5 miles
1600 yd swim
24.5 miles on the bike
Running miles logged so far: 170
Training highlights:
- I got nothin'
Training lowlights:
- Everything
On Tuesday I went to the high school track to do my first RLRF speed work session. The intelligence I had gathered was wrong. I was greeted by a 12' high fence and padlocks when I arrived at the track at 6:40 am. So I drove 3 minutes down the road and parked at the Y. Did one mile outside to warm up, then moved inside to the treadmill to complete the speedwork, which wasn't that bad.
...but my foot started to feel sore.
I swam on Wednesday morning to give it a rest. On Thursday it was still bothering me. I skipped my tempo run and biked instead. Friday was a full day of rest and me being wracked with indecision on whether or not to attempt the long run on Saturday. The planned route was very loopy and passed back by our start area, so I could go out and if I started to feel pain, could easily bail before things got bad. But in the back of my mind, I knew that what I should really do is play it super safe and just skip this one run all together.
But I was hopeful, so I laid all of my clothes out and went to bed early on Friday night. The plan was to get up at 5:30 as if going to run and seeing how my foot felt. Any pain or discomfort at all and I wouldn't go. I kept reminding myself that missing a week or two now is an infinitely better option than pushing through whatever the issue with my foot was and ending up on crutches again. I simply REFUSE to be on crutches again. As much as it pains me to say so, I'd rather forgo the marathon than have another fractured foot.
Saturday morning, 5:30 am. Alarm goes off, I roll out of bed, feet hit the floor, and there is discomfort. Not pain but I am just aware of my right foot.
I went right back to bed and tried not to think about it anymore.
Here I am at the beginning of week 10 and I'm unsure of what is going to happen. Despite a lot of activity this weekend including a concert where I basically stood on my feet for 3 hours, my foot is feeling a lot better. In fact, I'm hardly aware of it. I can stand on my tip toes, I can walk perfectly fine without any soreness.
My mother is convinced that it was the new shoes that threw me off and that it simply took a few weeks for the symptoms to manifest. I was going to call and make an appointment with Dr. Cutter today, but I've decided not to. Instead, I'm going to go back to my PureCadence and go out for a very easy run tomorrow morning at the vita course to test the waters, then ease back into the rest of the week if all goes well. If all does not go well, a call will be put in to the good Doctor on Friday and I'll be going to see what my fate is.
But the thing is this: I cannot break my foot. I just dropped a boat load of money on a plane ticket to Germany with a side trip to Paris. I leave on August 28. I am not missing that trip because I am broken. It just cannot happen. Beyond that, I simply cannot spend another fall on crutches.
If I have to sacrifice the marathon in order to not break myself again, I'm just going to have to do that. I will have to accept the fact that my foot bones were not made to do more than 25 miles of running a week. I'm trying to come to terms with this. Right now I seem to be ok with it, but I'm sure things won't be so neat and pretty if push comes to shove and I have to make that choice.
Please stop mentioning that you might skip the marathon. You can think it, and even keep it WAAAAAY back in the farthest part of the back of your mind, only to be summoned forth in the event of a fully manifested and unrecoverable injury. But you’re not there.
ReplyDeleteYou’re being smart. You skipped one long run and immediately noticed improvement. You’re going to do this. You won’t take any more “treat” runs. But you’re still registered for a marathon that I think you’re going to run, and run well. There’s no need to keep that negative thought so up front in your head that it actually leaks into your training update TWICE.
I have been very fortunate with my longer runs, but I still R.I.C.E. my ankles after every one of them. I still take Epson salt baths after most of them. I feel silly about how long my post run preventative maintenance can take when compared to the actual run. It’s ridiculous. But like you, I’m running my marathon. And I’ll do whatever I think I have to do to prevent the issues I had in the spring.
I’m glad you took the breaks you need, and plan to tread lightly back into your plan. Those are the smart decisions that are going to get you to your marathon healthy and strong. Sorry for scolding tone. Happy Training. Smart training. You’re going to kill it.