Back at it

Distance: 1.2

Time: 20:32

Interval run/walk: 1 min/1.5 min

Okay,

So today marks the 5th week since the fracture. I have had no pain for about 2 weeks, I can walk and hop on my toes without feeling a thing, so I got back on it this morning. Over the past 4+ weeks I have been doing a lot of research and have decided that I have my whole life to build up the mileage and speed, so I'm going to start it off nice and easy.

I just want to insert here that I read Marathoning for Mortals last week and loved it--it really helped me realize the necessity of taking care of your body and enjoying the sport.

The plan:

I have 2 weeks until the July 4th 5K, so I'm going to follow the couch to 5K program, but instead of taking 9 weeks I'm going to do it in 2 weeks. Each day, starting today I am going to progress through the weekly programs taking tomorrow and Thursday off to rest and then resting 1 or 2 days next week. I plan to take it really easy and if I feel that I am pushing it too much I will back up on the workouts, even if that means I run the 5K using week 3's workout :).

After the race is over I'm going to evaluate my progress and pain. If I make it through and run the entire 5K or if I do the 5K with a run\walk interval of 3 min\2 min or better I'm going to start following the 14 week Marathoning for Mortals Run\Walk a Half-Marathon schedule. If I don't feel up to it, I will start on the couch to 5k weekly workout schedule that I feel most comfortable with and follow it to a T from there and then reassess my progress and potential to follow the half marathon schedule.

Today's run:

It was a beautiful morning, sunny and 58 F. Our oldest wanted to go out with me and the rest decided they didn't want to be left behind, so with one in the stroller and the others bounding along beside, I headed out the door. We did a 5 minute warm up walk and then started our 1 min/ 1.5 min run/walk intervals down the jogging path. After 10 minutes (we hooked the Garmin Colorado to the stroller for our time and distance tracker) we turned about and headed back. It was a lot of fun, everyone kept up and enjoyed themselves with no incident (more or less). After the clock hit 20 min we stopped tracking our distance and times and walked the rest of the way home for our cool down. It is always more fun to be out with others than alone and the best there is no one better to be out with than the kids! Hope they will be up for it on Wed.

D@#$ near broke it off!

I visited the podiatrist today, very friendly practice, to have a closer look at the foot pain and swelling. This was my first time seeing a podiatrist, so I wasn't sure what to expect. In the visit went well, the Dr. asked about the pain, pressed in a few spots to see how my pain was, and used a tuning fork to vibrate individual bones (ankles and metatarsals) to check for pain. There wasn't any pain with the tuning fork, which he said would be all but conclusive evidence of a stress fracture, but he wanted x-rays just in case. He figured that the symptoms in the left foot were from me favoring the right foot so we only took images of the right foot and ankle.

The assistant stepped me through the x-ray routine and took me back to the examination room. A few minutes later the Dr. was back. He pulled up the images on the computer and we looked at them together. The Ankles were fine, but when he increased adjusted the noise reduction on the film we could see a slight, very slight line across the second metatarsal. Yup, a stress fraction, but a very minor one. It was kind of weird when he announced this to me, he almost looked at me accusingly, like I had sinned or something. Anyway, no need for a boot, just be nice to it for a few more weeks (looking back at when the pain began I must be in week 2 now) and it will heal.

This really sucks, but it is a good lesson for me, I should still have time for the 5k I'm signed up for and it has helped me realize that I need to take it easier. I have Marathoning for Mortals on hold at the library (it is due back today) so I have vowed to read it and stick to the training schedule as suggested and if my feet start telling me that I'm going too hard, I'll back off even more.

Still nursing the balloons

I know it is been a while, but that is because it has been a while since I've ran. My feet are still swollen and there is some pain just under the outside ankle bones, so I have an appointment with the Podiatrist tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm working on constructing my huaraches. They arrived on the Monday the 1st and I have them cut out and the lace holes marked, but need to pick up the awls to get them finished--hopefully tonight.

(pics of huaraches here)