As the saying goes!
I was well on my way into week 3 of my marathon training plan, had an unbelievable 800s workout that showed I was making progress. It was a ridiculously hard workout but also very rewarding, I felt so much more confident after this workout, it was awesome.
The next morning I got up for work, took a step out of bed and nearly fell over with pain. I've never felt this kind of pain before, ever. I hobbled out of bed, wincing and headed straight to the internet! I started researching the pain, where it was located, what it felt like, etc. I did a self-diagnosis and declared it Plantar Fasciitis. As I continued to read about recovery/healing I started to become worried that it was going to seriously affect my marathon training.
Fast forward to 8 days later, I've been able to consecutively run for the last 3 days with runs totaling 1.5 miles, 2 miles and 3 miles. I was supposed to race a 10k this weekend, sadly this is not happening. I hope that in another week I'll be back to my regular schedule, but really I'm taking it 1 day at a time.
So far my daily routine has included icing, stretching the foot, stretching the calf, calf raises and rolling my foot on a golf ball. I've heard from several people the recommendation of rolling my foot on a frozen bottle of water. I'm not sure I see the difference between that and just icing my foot and rolling it on a golf ball? So far I'm seeing progress so my method must be working to some degree, so I might as well stick with it until it doesn't work anymore. Right?!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Early Morning Runs - Friend or Foe?
As seen in previous posts, I've been struggling a bit since my first marathon to get back into the swing of things. One contributing factor that I've previously thought was something I just had to deal with was the weather. Michigan has some hot and humid summers that make running relatively miserable, especially in the late afternoons. Recently I've been encouraged by a couple friends to try doing my quality runs in the morning before work. Ugh. Really? I've tried the "getting up early to workout" routine before and it usually lasted a week, maybe two and then I'd be back to my usual after work exercise. I decided to give it a shot again though, after I got home from work last week and the high temps and high humidity just seemed too much for me and I didn't want yet another unsuccessful run.
So that night I set all my gear out, just like if I were preparing for a race the next morning. Alarms were set and my plan of action was in place. My alarm goes off at 5:30a sharp and immediately I'm up and heading down for my coffee. I realize after I'm settling into that first cup that it's still extremely dark outside, not a huge fan of running in the dark and alone so I waited until the sun was peaking out before I got dressed. As I headed outside I realized that the humidity was really high, but the temps were close to 15 degrees cooler than after work the previous day, so I figure it's got to be better, right?
I was right. I was amazed. I felt good. The run went well and one of the nicest perks, after work I was free to do whatever I wanted instead of rushing home to get a run in. So, being that this was so successful, I decided to try it again two days later, Friday morning. Who wants to get up at 5:45a on Friday morning, me I guess? Because that is what I did! The run was great! The temps were great! Wow, this is GREAT!
Fast forward to Sunday morning, we are on a climbing trip, I get up at 6am from the camping site to do my run. Wow, now it's starting to catch up to me. I slept in a bit, got a late start and had to shorten my run... not the best results, but it was still an early morning run and outside of it being short, it was still a great run. I'm starting to feel like I've got my legs back and I'm ready to tackle this new marathon training plan.
I've done one more morning run since then, yesterday, and although I had to drag myself out of bed, it was still a good run. I think I'm convinced that this early morning running is a good idea... I just have to figure out how to adjust the rest of my schedule to make sure I'm still getting all the sleep my body needs.
Reality check: I've only been getting up early for a week. I'd say it's too early to tell if I'll actually stick with it for the long haul... but I sure hope I do! So far my vote is that early morning running is friend and not foe, but I reserve the right to change my mind, like any woman should ;o)
So that night I set all my gear out, just like if I were preparing for a race the next morning. Alarms were set and my plan of action was in place. My alarm goes off at 5:30a sharp and immediately I'm up and heading down for my coffee. I realize after I'm settling into that first cup that it's still extremely dark outside, not a huge fan of running in the dark and alone so I waited until the sun was peaking out before I got dressed. As I headed outside I realized that the humidity was really high, but the temps were close to 15 degrees cooler than after work the previous day, so I figure it's got to be better, right?
I was right. I was amazed. I felt good. The run went well and one of the nicest perks, after work I was free to do whatever I wanted instead of rushing home to get a run in. So, being that this was so successful, I decided to try it again two days later, Friday morning. Who wants to get up at 5:45a on Friday morning, me I guess? Because that is what I did! The run was great! The temps were great! Wow, this is GREAT!
Fast forward to Sunday morning, we are on a climbing trip, I get up at 6am from the camping site to do my run. Wow, now it's starting to catch up to me. I slept in a bit, got a late start and had to shorten my run... not the best results, but it was still an early morning run and outside of it being short, it was still a great run. I'm starting to feel like I've got my legs back and I'm ready to tackle this new marathon training plan.
I've done one more morning run since then, yesterday, and although I had to drag myself out of bed, it was still a good run. I think I'm convinced that this early morning running is a good idea... I just have to figure out how to adjust the rest of my schedule to make sure I'm still getting all the sleep my body needs.
Reality check: I've only been getting up early for a week. I'd say it's too early to tell if I'll actually stick with it for the long haul... but I sure hope I do! So far my vote is that early morning running is friend and not foe, but I reserve the right to change my mind, like any woman should ;o)
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