Well friends depending on how you look at it, I either got good news or bad news about my foot last week.



If we're looking at it as good news, my foot isn't broken. The X-ray was clean. There's no stress fracture and my doctor things I should still be able to train for and run the half marathon in March.



If we're looking at it as bad news, I have a stress reaction injury in my second metatarsal -- basically right under the ball of my foot. This means it's extremely painful for me to put any weight on it. I have to take a full two weeks off all activity and wear a walking boot.

I can start walking around my house without the boot on next week to see how things go, and I can begin introducing nonimpact cross-training if that goes well. I have another appointment with my doctor in four weeks to see if I can re-introduce running at that point.



Given that my half marathon training was going so well, I'm kind of annoyed. But my doctor thinks if I can keep up the cardio volume starting in a couple of weeks that I will still be able to do the race. I'm a little nervous about that since I had some pretty important long runs coming up, and I don't love the idea of trying to simulate those on an elliptical but I guess we'll see what happens.

Right now, my foot hurts too much to put any weight on it. Assuming it's in a better place next week, I'll start elliptical and other non-impact workouts, and we'll just go from there.

Thanks to those of you who commented yesterday about what could be going on with my foot. It seems a bit better today, though I did spend a decent amount of time rolling my foot over a tennis ball in case it is the start of plantar fasciitis again.

Week three was another pretty good week of training -- though I could have done without some of the brutally cold days.



More days in the 50s please.

I did make one switch to the training schedule last week to fit in my long run on a day when the weather was in the 50s and sunny, rather than doing it on Saturday when it was going to be like 33 and rainy.

I had planned on swapping my cross-training day to Saturday instead because doing a spin workout indoors didn't seem like a terrible idea when the weather was crap. But I ended up sleeping in and going to brunch instead. Oops. I don't feel that badly about it, one extra rest day isn't going to kill me.

Anyway, here's a look at my workouts for the rest of the week.

Monday: 3.5 miles, 33:30, 9:34 per mile

The high temperature on this day was 29 degrees and it was kind of windy on this run, so maybe running along the water wasn't my idea ever. My ears were cold, but at least the cold air didn't burn my lungs too badly.

Tuesday: 2 miles, 19:11, 9:34 per mile

I was dragging after work on Tuesday and my motivation to do this run was pretty nonexistent when I left the office. For half the walk home, I was convincing myself why it wouldn't be all that awful to skip this run, but then I must have picked up a second wind or some endorphins kicked in on the walk because by the time I got home, it seemed silly to skip a super short two mile run.

Wednesday: 3.5 miles, 33:10, 9:29 per mile

Another glorious day where the temperature was in the high 50s, and I overheated in just a long sleeve shirt and capris. Why can't winter weather in DC just never get below the 40s? I think I'd be able to cope with that.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: 5 miles, 47:35, 9:31 per mile

It was gorgeous out again on Friday, which is why I decided to do my long run this day. It was sunny with a bit of wind, and I will say when I was running over the bridge, the wind got to be a bit much, but otherwise, things on this run felt mostly good. My left hip/IT band tightened a bit, but nothing too bad. I've been trying to be really good about remembering to stretch well after runs, but I still might see if I can squeeze in a massage appointment sometime in the next several weeks.

Saturday: Skipped cross-training, extra rest day

Sunday: Rest

Well my average paces on all my runs were pretty ridiculously consistent. I've been trying to find a pace that is comfortable for me, that lets me build up my mileage without leaving me too gassed, and I guess somewhere right around 9:30 has been that sweet spot.

So yesterday afternoon when I was running errands, I noticed I had this weird pain on the bottom of my right foot. I don't know how to describe it other than it felt like I was walking on a bruise that had developed on the ball of my foot.

It wasn't a sharp pain or anything like that, it was more just this annoying thing that happened every time I had to push off that foot to take a step.

There's definitely no visible bruise on my foot, but last night it was a little tender if I pushed on it.

I'm not sure what caused it. If I did something specific to it or if it's a sign that I need to get a new pair of running shoes or if it was just because I was wearing a pair of sneakers with really crappy support while running those errands yesterday.

My training plan calls for a two mile easy run today. I'm debating skipping it and taking a day to let this thing recover. I also may buy some new running shoes. My current pair is six months old, and while I didn't run a ton during the semester with grad school, there's probably more miles on those shoes than I realize.

Anyone else experience anything like this? Tips or thoughts on what it might be are always appreciated.

Well if week one of training was easy breezy because I was on vacation, week two of training was manageable because I suddenly realized what it was like to have free time again.



Juggling just work and training and the occasional social event is so much easier than juggling work, training, social events plus class, homework and group projects. I honestly don't think I realized just how much time school used to suck up until this first week back at work. I basically feel like I can breath again, and let me tell you, that's a really nice feeling.

So anyway, on to week two of training!

Monday: 3.5 miles, 34:18, 9:48 per mile

This was my first run of the New Year, and I will say, even though I had the day off, I did have to give myself a bit of motivational pep talk to get out the door.

Tuesday: 2 miles, 19:40, 9:49 per mile

This run kind of mystified me. It was my easy recovery run, and the entire time I was running my legs felt really loose, and I felt like I was moving really fast. But then every time I looked at my Garmin, my pace was super slow, so I'm not sure what was going on here.

Wednesday: 3.5 miles, 33:54, 9:41 per mile

I did this run in capris and just a long sleeve shirt, and it was so glorious to not be freezing on my run. If that weather could come back, I'd be really happy.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Crosstrain, FlyWheel Class, 45 minutes

This class was a good solid kick in the butt. I liked the music. I liked the mix of sprints vs climbs. I liked that it was an excuse to work out indoors on a day when the temperatures were barely touching 20 degrees.

Saturday: 5 miles, 48:43, 9:45 per mile



When I left my house to do this run, it was 11 degrees with the wind chill, snowing and windy. I put on so many layers of clothes, I wasn't sure I'd actually be able to run. I had on two pairs of Under Armour cold gear tights, a UA cold gear top, heavy running jacket and a wind breaker, plus a hat and gloves. The air was so cold my face hurt for most of the first two miles, but I eventually warmed up and ended up yanking my gloves off at one point because my hands were sweating.

Getting out the door was tough on Saturday morning. I had a running buddy and we were having a debate about whether we should do the run Saturday or push it to Sunday to see if the weather conditions improved. I'm very, very glad we did it on Saturday because the windchill Sunday morning was 2 degrees, which would have sucked so much more.

Sunday: Rest.

And that's week two in a nutshell. I am really, really hoping the weather warms up for the rest of week three. I don't think I can handle training in temps like this for much longer.

Well week one of half marathon training is in the books, and I'm happy to say I nailed every workout on the calendar.



Starting my training program the week I was on vacation between Christmas and the new year turned out to be a brilliant idea. My workouts were the only major responsibility I had each day so it wasn't very hard to make sure I made the time for them. Plus it let me build up some nice momentum to start this round of training.

As I mentioned in an earlier post about this training cycle, I intentionally picked a very basic, beginner-level training plan for this race. My goal is to quite simply build my endurance back up in a slow and steady manner and ideally avoid injuries.

With that in mind, most of my weekday runs will be fairly short, while my long runs will steadily increase on the weekends. Pace isn't a concern this training cycle, though I'm noting it here mainly for my own knowledge.

Monday: 3 miles, 29:34, 9:51 per mile

I wrote more in detail about this run last week, but it was my first run in the real cold in PA and holy Moses did my lungs burn.

Tuesday: 2 miles, 18:59, 9:29 per mile

Slow, easy "recovery" run -- though it's funny to call it a recovery run when Monday's run was only one mile longer. Two mile runs are mentally easy. They just seem so short in comparison to my normal workouts.

Wednesday: 3 miles, 28:57, 9:37 per mile

Faster than Monday's run perhaps because the weather was more pleasant in DC, and my lungs didn't feel like they were on fire the entire time from frigid air.

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Cross-train, FlyWheel class, 45 minutes

The schedule only called for 30 minutes of cross-training, but no spin class in the world is only 30 minutes. It's been a long time since I was on a spin bike, and boy did my butt let me know it the next day. I really liked the instructor for this class though. Too bad it was smack in the middle of the afternoon. The likelihood of me taking this class again is pretty slim.

Saturday: 4 miles, 39:27, 9:51 per mile

Apparently I really dig that 9:51 average pace per mile. My left calf has been tight on a couple of my runs this week, including Saturday's "long" run. It's been annoying, but not painful, so I'm hoping it's just getting used to doing regular running again. These four miles weren't anything too special, but they're probably the longest I've run at once in a couple of months.

Sunday: Rest

And that's a wrap on week one. I'm hoping to keep up the momentum in week two -- though starting now I'll have work and other real life things to fit my workouts around.