Week 6; Wherefore I Disown My Left Foot

This photo has nothing to do with this week.  I shot this when we were in Half Moon Bay.  No idea who that runner is, but I'm sure he's having a great run.

Saturday:  Bikram Yoga; I ended up skipping a 5 mile run this day because I had some toe issues on my Friday long run the day before (see below).

Sunday:  10 miles @ 9:24 pace; Joined Aron on her final run in her 20s which was tons of fun.  I was supposed to do speed work this day, but flipped the easy run to Sunday so I could enjoy the group atmosphere and did the speed demon stuff the following day.  I was only planning to do 9, but what's another mile?

Monday:  10.1 miles @ 8:41 pace, including 6 miles @ 8:12 pace, Bikram Yoga; Did almost 1.5 miles at a sub-8:00 pace at the end of the tempo portion.  Yee-haw!

Tuesday: Bikram Yoga, 4 miles @ 10:26, 5x hill sprints; Audrey joined me for 3 of the miles.  She hadn't run at all since a Turkey Trot in November so we took it easy.

Wednesday:  10.1 miles @ 9:13 pace, middle 7 miles done 2 min fast (8:01, 7:40, 7:59, 7:47, 7:56, 7:43, 7:39, 8:29) every 5 min; My legs felt decent this morning but I just couldn't muster a great pace for the pick-ups.  I felt sort of deflated that my pick-up paces were sometimes slower than my 6 mi tempo pace earlier in the week.  But I figured I was getting the effort in and didn't stress too much about the whole thing.

Thursday:  Bikram Yoga

Friday:  Rest; I was going to run a few miles before hopping on a plane, but with my foot issues (see below) I'm playing it safe. If planning to run a marathon on a bum foot is ever safe.

A note about my foot:  So early last week in the middle of a 5 mile easy run, my "pointer" toe of my left foot started to feel sore.  It had a bruise-like pain with every push-off.  Once I got home it went away pretty quickly.  The remainder of the runs last week it flared up a little after 6 or so miles but always went away fairly quickly once I got home.  Then on last Friday's 18 miler, it started to get sore at mile 10ish and remained sore the rest of the run.  With the higher mileage, it was still a little angry on Saturday which is why I skipped the run.  Sunday I could *just* feel it at the end of the 10 miles, and ever since then it has been fine.

On Monday's run, the arch of my foot was a little tender the beginning of the run but it went away after a couple of miles.  I was rolling my left foot on a tennis ball like a mad woman because I found some tender areas and thought maybe that was what was pulling on my toe.  I figured maybe I had over-rolled and now my arch was angry.

Tuesday's run:  No foot issues. Phew.

Wednesday's run was going great, until maybe mile 4 or 5.  The rear part of the arch started to feel sore like a bruise and it persisted the rest of the run.  It was actually pretty bad during the recovery periods and when I picked the pace back up would improve a little.  That area is still tender to the touch now and I've been rolling it out to see if it helps.

So I'm thinking I have some sort of moving plantar fascia issue.  I'm happy that the pain is moving around -- that has to be a good thing, right?  But at the same time it is pretty annoying. I'm a little troubled because I have a marathon this weekend.  I'm scheduled to do 20 easy miles on Friday so instead I'll be doing the marathon at an easy pace.  So not so much pressure in the sense that I can take it easy or walk it out if I have to, but I don't want to set myself back in such a way that I can't get back into training next week.

Originally I was thinking I might finish just sub-4:20 running at an easy pace.  I'd love to do that, but will have to see what my foot decides to do on Sunday.  I'm running an indoor marathon this weekend.  I've been wanting to do one for a while now and am really excited about the experience.  People think it is totally crazy to run 26.2 miles around a 442.8767 meter track, but I think it is going to be an amazing, unique experience. When you're up to 30+ of these, you've got to keep it fresh, right?