Saturday 12 September 2009

Change of Plan

By Monday evening the tenderness in my plantar fascia had intensified so much so that it was painful to walk without limping. I did some of the exercises recommended on this site to provide some relief, although according to the article I do not have Plantar Fascitis - the test apparently is to
"Take your opposite thumb to the inside front part of the heel - right where it begins to slope into the arch - and dig in hard. If your scream wakes the neighbors, congratulations, you've got PF.
I followed the instructions and was relieved to find no pain. After a bit more research I thought I might have Metatarsalgia which is more in the ball of the foot and commonly affects runners and those who wear high heals (no wonder Jamie cut the heels off his shoes). My current thinking is that I have delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after my semi-barefoot hill repeats from the previous Monday. Essentially I should have eased myself into barefoot adaptation rather than push too far too soon. Still, no real harm done (fingers crossed) and the net result should be further adaptation of my foot/lower leg muscles to minimalist running.
With my foot still tender on Tuesday and Wednesday I opted for zero running. An out and back 5 miler on Thursday morning, while comfortable at the start ended up painful and totally un-enjoyable. That was enough for me to opt out of tomorrow's half marathon in Blarney and sign up instead for the 130km Rebel Tour Cycle - should be a good test of my endurance.
I got up this morning to go for a short bike ride but decided at the last minute to test my running legs. I warmed up over the mile to the regional park and felt great so decided to increase the run from 5 to 10 miles with the middle 8 miles at 7:00 to 7:10 pace - after the weeks rest I needed a bit of a blowout. The run went off without a hitch covering the 8 faster miles in 7:00 pace with the splits fairly consistent at
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7:02
6:59
7:02
7:00
6:59
7:02
6:59
6:56
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My left foot is still tender which was more noticeable during a 2 mile walk with the dogs this evening. My legs also feel as if they have a touch of DOMS, not the best feeling the night before a 5 hour ride through the hills of North Cork.
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Best of luck to all those running the half in Blarney tomorrow looks like the sun will be shining on you. I wonder how close Brendan and Puds will get to the magical 1:20 mark.
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Mon 7th Sept
2.5 miles in 19:49 (07:56 pace - treadmill)
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Thur 10th Sept
5 miles in 38:44 907:45 pace @ 129HR)
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Sat 12th Sept
10 miles in 1:11:17 (07:08 pace @ 151HR) with 8 miles in 55:59 (07:00 pace) - HR for warmup mile was 150???.
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Marathon Training Week # 7/13 - 17.5 miles! At least todays run served a purpose.
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4 comments:

  1. thanks Grellan - Good luck in the cycle tomorrow.

    Sounds like your taking a leaf out of my training book i.e. make it up as you go!! :)

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  2. Glad to see that today's run went well and that you're coming around. All the best in the next few weeks.

    Oh, and 130km, you're a nutter!

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  3. Yes, could be related to overdoing the barefoot running, although DOMS usually hits on the second day. I wouldn't rule out PF though - keep going with the iced coke bottle rolling.

    Nice 8 mile run to test it out. Hope the bike ride went well.

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  4. That would explain why I could not find your name in the Blarney results.

    The barefoot running explanation seems reasonable. You know what to do next time - or what not to do, in that particular case.

    Incidentally, I had come up with the PF test described all by myself last year. Luckily, our neighbours are very tolerant; even better, I seem to have overcome the damn thing.

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