Ice and ibuprofen

I managed to run 10 miles yesterday. My foot hurt but it wasn't bad enough to quit. I spent the first couple miles wincing and altering my foot strike trying to minimize the pain. After that I settled in and just ignored it. I ran slower than usual - not on purpose but as a result of the discomfort. At the time I thought if that's as bad as it gets then there's no reason to call off the training. I can work through this much pain for the next 10 weeks. However, this morning my foot is very sore. I'll be icing it as much as possible, downing ibuprofen every 4 hours, and we'll see how it feels tomorrow (when I'm supposed to run again). My appointment with the sports medicine guy is still 10 days away. I'm trying to stay optomistic but it isn't easy.

Biding my time

I'm not a patient person. If you know this about me you'll understand that waiting for my foot to get better is a very difficult thing for me. I went for my run on Monday and instantly knew that my foot wasn't better and that I probably shouldn't be running on it. Of course, I finished my run. I went home and iced the heck out of my foot and continued to do so as much as possible the next day between teaching classes. Tuesday evening I got on the stationary bike for my cross training and was pleasantly surprised that my foot didn't hurt once during the workout. I decided that I should take yesterday off, even though I was scheduled for a run. My foot had been feeling pretty good all day but I didn't want to press my luck. I decided to go for a walk with the kids. As soon as I put on my sneakers (which I hadn't worn since Monday) and started walking the pain returned. Needless to say, I was quite depressed.

I have an appointment with a sports medicine doc but it's not until the 10th. If I stick to my training schedule I will rest today, cross train tomorrow and then have a long run on Saturday. I'm going to forge ahead, gently, and see how it goes. While my foot is still sore it does seem to be getting better. I haven't given up my hope of running this race but I know the more time I have to take off the worse my chances are.

Pain? What pain?

Sometime late last week I developed a pain in the top of my left foot. It was around the time I did my run in Baltimore. For that run I had to tie the key to my car onto my shoe and, since I was a little paranoid about losing my key, I tied my shoe extra tight. When the pain first showed up it felt like bruise and I assumed I had simply bruised it by tying my shoe too tight. Over the next day or so it seemed to get better. Then, during a subsequent run, the pain came back a bit. I assumed I had gotten too enthsiastic with the shoe tying thing again but then I did some poking around on the internet. It appears that I may have a metatarsal stress fracture. This is not a good thing. It's not horrible in that it doesn't require surgery or anything along those lines, however it would mean taking many weeks off from running and that would be the end of my training. So, what to do? For now I'm going to keep running but I'm going to take it easy and I'm definitely going to be tying my shoes loosely for awhile. We'll see how that goes. I don't have a long or hard run until Saturday when I'm scheduled to run 10 miles. I'm hoping that my foot will be feeling much better by then. If the pain persists then I'll make an appointment to see a podiatrist and get an expert opinion. Perhaps I'm in denial about this but I'm still hopeful that this is just a bruise. I'd much rather be an idiot that doesn't know how to tie her shoes than be an injured runner.

Tempo

Yesterday I got to do my first "tempo" workout. These are runs where you intersperse your run with short, high intensity segments. For example, yesterday the workout called for me to run 10 minutes at my usual pace. I then had to run for 5 minutes at 80% of my maximum pace (defined as where you can still talk but only in short, choppy sentences) followed by 1 minute of brisk walking. I did this three times in a row and then finished with 10 minutes at my usual pace. It was fun if only because it was different. Although, I have to say that "brisk walking" feels weird when you're used to running. As of this morning, I could definitely tell I had shaken things up with my body (which is part of the point). There's a reason why you get a day of rest after one of these workouts! But I look forward to the next tempo workout.

Dedication

Yesterday I was in Baltimore all day for a conference. Given that it's a ~2.5 hour drive from my house and the conference didn't end until 6pm, I knew that if I was going to get my run in it would have to be done in Baltimore. Of course 6pm is a horrible time to be getting onto the freeway anyway so I took my running gear and planned to run around the APL (Applied Physics Lab) grounds after the conference. Well, when the last session was over the heavens opened up and it rained, thundered and lightninged for awhile. I decided the campus wasn't the best place to run anyway so, armed with a map of the area, I took off in search for a nice park or neighborhood to run in and hoped it would stop raining soon. Lucky for me about the time I happened upon a park with enough area to run the storm moved on. Changing clothes in the car proved challenging. Women have this ability, which fascinates most men, of being able to remove articles of clothing from underneath other articles of clothing, a la Jennifer Beals in Flashdance (OK, I just dated myself). Well, let me tell you... when you're trying to put on something instead of taking it off and that something is a sports bra instead of a little lacy thing and you are working under a fitted blouse instead of a over-sized sweatshirt it doesn't work so well. However, with some creative use of clothing I managed to change without flashing anyone. Damn impressive, if you ask me, especially considering this was in a little Toyota Prius. I was then off for a 45-minute run in a fairly deserted park. For those of you who worry (Mom), I had my cell phone in my sweaty little hand the entire time. And now I know that my cell phone is moderately sweat-proof. Finishing my run without incident (running into two deer was about as exciting as it got), I got in the car and started the long drive home. I guess I can now say I'm dedicated.

A beautiful day for running

Despite a forecast that indicated scattered thunderstorms, it was a perfect afternoon for a run. The temperature was a lovely 73 degrees, low humidity, a few clouds to keep the direct sun off my shoulders, and a nice breeze. I did my usual campus loop and managed to go at a slightly faster pace than normal... 9:07 splits instead of 9:20. But mostly it just felt great. And that's what it's all about.

8 miles... 1/3 of the way there

I did an 8 mile run today. It was OK. Challenging but not impossible. However, knowing that I'll have to run over 3 times that distance to finish the race is a bit daunting. I keep telling myself that it's OK if I don't breeze through these long runs. I mean, that's what the training is all about, right? You build up to the distance so each time you go a little further, push yourself a little harder, so you can't expect it to be easy. Right? Right?! Someone please tell me I'm not just rationalizing here.

I think I need to focus on eating better. I'm certainly getting enough calories. That's not a problem. But I think I need to be getting more protein and more iron. Despite my love for a good steak, I tend to gravitate toward the carbs. I've been feeling particularly sluggish lately and, while my ever increasing mileage is certainly contributing to that, I think my diet has a lot to do with it.

Where does the time go?

As the summer is coming to a close I'm find the time going faster and faster. At least in some respects.

My runs have been going well. After all of my talk of looking forward to having an extra rest day last week, by the time Saturday came around I was dying to get out there. It felt like forever since I had run, even though it had only been two days.

Monday's weather was perfect for running and I was really looking forward to hitting the pavement. Unfortunately, a combination of a little too much alcohol and not enough sleep (due to a very enjoyable evening with good friends) left me in a less-than-ideal state for running. So while the weather was definitely nice, I had a somewhat sluggish run around campus. Of course, today the weather is far from nice (very humid) but I'll be out there anyway.