8.25.2010

Let's hope this is not the case

Way back in 2004? Maybe 2005? Okay, somewhere between 2004 and 2006, I started running more than I had been in the past. I had done two 5K races at that point in time and the weather was getting warmer. I wanted to spend more time outdoors being active. Therefore, I decided to up my mileage and run run run. At least how that's I remember it. I had no schedule or training plan. I didn't have correct shoes. I just went out and put one foot in front of the other... a lot more than I had been before that.

One morning I got out of bed, walked into the living room, and thought "huh. my left foot hurts." I continued to walk on said foot for a week or two. I probably also ran on it. The pain wouldn't go away. I finally decided to go see a doctor. HELLO, STRESS FRACTURE! Yup. I had a hairline fracture in my left foot due to pushing too much too soon. This itty bitty fracture put me in one of those damn air boot things for about six weeks or so. It healed up, I think I took a break from running for a while, then I forgot about it all. I think so anyway. For the life of me, I cannot come up with the correct timeline on this whole thing. It may have even happened in the fall when the weather was getting cooler. Who knows. Anyway, it happened.

Flash forward to today. My left foot is starting to ache. In the same place. Uh. oh.

I'm not jumping to conclusions. I have no idea what the deal is. My feet just may be tired from some big workouts. I met with a personal trainer at LT fitness on Monday night to do a fitness test. Do to poor planning, we weren't able to get through the full testing process, but the part we DID do was where he tried to assess my cardio level. I thought he may stick me on a treadmill for five minutes on a slight incline then check my heartrate. Ummm, no.

I ended up doing 20 minutes of interval training on the treadmill. At one point, the fast interval was at a 7:30 minute/mile pace - unheard of for me. I actually thought I may go flying off the back of the treadmill. But I held my own and he declared my cardio shape to be pretty decent. okay, great. After that, he stuck me on a frickin stairmaster. I have never been on a stairmaster in my life. Again, intervals. 1:20 on level 5, 1:20 on level 10 for a total of ten minutes. I thought I may melt into a little puddle at the foot of this devil machine. I did manage to make it through, and we will be meeting on Saturday morning to do a full hour session and complete the fit test. I'll let you know how that goes.

Hubby got home from an outdoor orientation camping trip on Tuesday, so I skipped the gym in order to welcome him home. Today, with the sore foot (and trivia at the lake on the docket for the evening), I am also skipping a workout. If for some reason we bail on trivia, I just may go out for a short run - the weather IS gorgeous, so I should enjoy it.

I just really REALLY hope my foot isn't breaking. As I told hubs this morning, "It can break on September 19, but not a moment before. I AM GETTING THROUGH THESE TWO RACES."

Please send good foot vibes. I would like to think this is just some minor ouchie.

Last update - I am reading "Run Less, Run Faster." So far, it sounds pretty cool. Once I get these two Sept races out of the way, I may pick a mid December race to base a 12 week 5K program on. If it can help me blow my goals out of the water, why not????

3 comments:

T said...

Oh, no! Positive thoughts on their way. In the meantime, what are you going to do? Just wait and see?

Unknown said...

good foot thoughts, god foot thoughts, good foot thoughts...

M said...

T, to answer your question, ummm - I'm running on it :-\ I ended up doing a 2.7 mile hilly run yesterday, and it felt fine. A little sore afterwards, but it felt okay this morning. I'm hypersensitive about it, so I will listen if it starts to cry loudly. I promise.

And thanks to you both for good vibes!!!!