Training log - Week ending 2/2/14

This week was 45 miles of running, “27 miles” on the arc-trainer and 5000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.  

Oh, the ups and downs of training.  Things were looking up – I skipped Tuesday’s intervals due to the super cold temps (swimming my intervals instead) but showed up for the Friday track tempo, and was rewarded with a nice 4 mile tempo that was substantially faster and easier than I had expected.  And….hamstring felt good.  Everything felt good.  Yay.

Went out for my Saturday run – 10 easy miles.  I was tired, but no real warning signs during the run.  But… about 20 minutes after finishing the run, my right heel started to hurt in the beginnings of that classic plantar fasciitis manner that I know so well. 

This…sucked.  For many reasons.  1) – PF just sucks in general, even when caught early.  2) I had a scheduled 16-18 miles on tap for Sunday, which wasn’t looking like a good idea.  3) But… the MAJOR suckage was that Sunday was forecast to be a spectacular 40-50 degrees – PERFECT. 

I’d basically slogged through ice and snow and super cold temperatures, and when the cold finally lifts?  I have to take a day off.

To add virtual insult to literal injury, the forecast for the upcoming week is snow and more snow.  Sunday was the window of sunshine in this long cold winter.  And I had to spend it crosstraining. 

It took every bit of discipline I had to a) skip Sunday’s long run (hey – the foot didn’t feel that bad) and b) drag myself to the gym for an arc-trainer-palooza when all I wanted to do was mope and surf the internet for kitten pictures while guzzling chocolate coconut water.  

I only managed to do it by reminding myself that how you respond to an injury in the first 48 hours is key to how it progresses.  Going to the long run would be nice, but my best chance to make it to Boston was to sit this one out (and to haul my ass to the gym).

So cross-train I did.   I think I’ve caught this early, so I’m hoping that a few days of cross training, some PT, and then lower mileage (with more cross training) will steer me through.  As for why this happened?  That’s easy, with two answers. 

1)      I’ve definitely been very aggressive in ramping back up, and jumping right into marathon training – I knew there was a risk of something like this happening, and just resolved to shut things down immediately if something twinged.  And it did and I did.

2)      For myself, PF issues are generally associated with heavier shoes with higher heel-toe drops and more cushioning (PF is an individual thing, so I know others have different experiences).  And…on Saturday I decided to rotate shoes from the Brooks Pure line (very light, 4mm drop, fairly stiff – my feet love them) to the Saucony Ride (higher heel-toe drop, more cushioning, heavier).  I did it because I thought it was a good idea to be rotating shoes, and the Ride is still fairly lightweight.   In retrospect, this was a bad decision.  Compounded by the fact that I ran around Arlington on Saturday, which is decently hilly.  And then I also picked up the pace on the last 2 miles of my run – nothing crazy, just to 7:45-7:50 ish – because I was running late.  None of these are screamingly stupid on their own, but combined they had an unfortunate result.

Oh well.  I can comfort myself with the fact that a) Boston is still a long way away, and b) I acted immediately here.  

And we'll try to forget about the fact that I was forced to skip yet another workout due to yet another ouchy body part on Groundhog Day...

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, injury rehab work and “5 miles” on the arc-trainer.   Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, injury rehab work, 11 miles easy (8:18 pace), and then 2000 yards in the pool, including a workout of 6x100 on 2:00 (1:41.90, 1:41.45, 1:42.71, 1:41.70, 1:41.42, 1:40.82) and 6x50 on 70 ( 48.79, 47.74, 47.80, 46.65, 46.77, 46.60).  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   Injury rehab work and 8 miles easy (8:30 pace), followed by yoga.  Later did another 5 miles easy (8:09 pace).  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, “5 miles” on the arc-trainer and 1000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  In the morning, injury rehab work, 10.5 miles running, including a 6400m tempo on the track in 26:20 (split as 6:48/6:34/6:34/6:24), and 20 minutes on the arc-trainer.   Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:   In the morning, injury rehab work and 10 miles easy (8:05 pace).   Foam-rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, an arc-trainer “long run” split as 80 minutes at easy effort and then 40 minutes at marathon effort – call it “15 miles.” (yes, I was supposed to do 16-18 miles, but I didn't want to do more than 2 hours on the arc-trainer, lest I cross train into a brand new injury).   Later did 2000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.