I’ve conducted a few tests with “the injury” and it seems to be going better at least. The first test I conducted consisted of going for a run and taking it easy… trying to land oh so gently on my right foot… favor the left… never break into too quick of a pace and make my foot’s landing position on up and downhills instead replicate an even surface. That’s probably a recipe for disaster going back and reading that, and subconsciously I was frighteningly aware of it anyway – highly abnormal form and an unhealthy demand of my good foot. All that aside it felt good starting — no pain to speak of – but quickly progressed to a tingling sensation as if my foot was asleep. This alternated with a sensation of rubber bands being placed around my ankle (not unlike the bug crawling up my ankle mentioned previously) to numbness, to nothing at all.
That was April 7th – after a good week or so off. I experienced some acute pain afterwards but it didn’t stick around for long… there was mostly just the promise of pain… it constantly felt as if it was right around the corner… my ankle hanging by a thread and the slightest disturbance would send it over the edge… but… the disturbance never came.
Well that was one test down. Now I had a work trip to Las Vegas. You’d think this would be the perfect time to really take it easy with the running. Well a little known secret about Las Vegas is that it’s actually perfect for running… or at least a nice change of pace and quite accessible. I packed my running shoes and Garmin despite being given a few “yeah right” looks that I would use them there.
Well to be honest I didn’t feel like running most mornings (but I seldom do, unless there’s a race of course… I’m definitely an evening runner) but — because I packed the shoes I was obligated to go at least once! The last time I was in Las Vegas I also went running, but that time was mostly spent on the strip proper. This time I was staying on the southernmost part of the strip – and had a plan to run by the Welcome to Las Vegas sign since inexplicably I had been to Las Vegas 5 times and never seen it.
And hey – since I was taking my phone (camera) to grab some pictures of the sign — I figured I would run the Nike+ GPS in tandem with the Garmin.
So here they both are:
I headed south and with the strip behind me what lay ahead could easily just be a highway in the middle of the desert. Here’s the road ahead:
The strip from where I ran to:
the sign:
This was fairly early in the morning and already the sign was flooded with tourists. On the way down there were quite a few people there and some bicycle cops helping them take pictures. By the time I ran back by there were two big tour buses parked there.
Well being only a week later this was still a Plantar Faciitis test run. I was attempting to once again take it easy and feel I succeeded for the most part. After the run was over I did experience I nice burning sensation that lasted for a while. I still feel I’m on the road to recovery though.
Other than those two runs all I’ve done running wise has been at the gym on the treadmill. Usually only for about 20 minutes at a time, but some pretty significant effort. It hasn’t bothered me at all but I’m sure that’s from the treadmill being a lot easier on it.
Unfortunately however – it’s crunch time. I’ve barely got a month until Hospital Hill and my “long runs” have been woefully inadequate. Oh I’m sure I can finish it just fine, and well under two hours but I do have a goal of 1:45:59. That’s going to require an 8:05 pace – over Hospital Hill’s many and storied hills. Also I’ve got a 9 day vacation in Ireland to contend with. Oh I’m quite looking forward to it and I’m even taking my running shoes… but somehow I feel the two bookend weekends won’t have much of a long run in them. All that said… here’s my desperate last minute hack attempt at a (long) running plan:
Apr 23 – 6 Miles (5.5 done)
May 1 – 8 Miles
May 4 – 6 Miles
May 18 – 6 Miles
May 21 – 10 Miles
May 25 – 5 Miles
June 1 – 5 Miles
These will be inter-sprinkled with cardio 20 minute runs at the gym and whatever else I feel I might be able to squeeze in somewhere. Running 1:45:59 gets me two things – a time faster than last year and a spot in Corral C at Chicago. Right now I’m in Corral D, too slow by exactly one minute to get into C. Yeah, there’s probably no difference, but if I don’t have a prayer of qualifying for Boston – I might as well shoot for this obtainable time goal! If I can’t hit 1:45:59 — no harm, no foul… I’ll just need to run faster than 1:48:12 — my time last year. I’ve got to keep the streak alive… This will be my fifth consecutive Hospital Hill, and if all goes well my fifth consecutive faster time. I’ve delved into this ad-infinitum which can be seen here.
Well there’s another price increase May 1st. Guess I will officially get signed up! I should be running in the 1:45 pace group, so hope to see you there!
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