Of Mice and Marathons

Day off. 32 days on.

Worked from home. Could have got out twice, but I kept working a bit and decided to take the day off even though it was sunny (which has been far and few between lately). Megan is sick and I am on the verge of it, so I thought some preemptive rest might help.

I made a veggie lasagna for dinner. It was okay. Very time consuming for what it is. I also purchased an Instant Pot (I do all of out cooking).

PM: 8 miles, averaged 8:06

Broke in a new pair of Brooks Launch 3s, which was what I should have got a few weeks ago when I picked up my Zealots. My other pair has gone 600+ and they are good for pretty much everything. Haven't found anything as good as the Kinvara 5 and these are close but not quite.

PM: 15.5 miles, averaged about 7:37

40' Aerobic Builder + 45" Strides

Covered just a whisker under 10k, so 6:27 average. After a 6' jog back to the park I did 6 x 45" strides at 5k effort

Splits: 6:29, 6:43, 6:26, 6:27, 6:20, 6:20, 6:13 (for the partial)

30' up/~28' down

I ran this on a ~2-mile loop in the neighborhood across from us that leads to the park in an attempt to change venue (I run the same route every day even for workouts). It worked okay. Mile 1 was suprising and mile 2 was confusing. Much faster than last weekend and closer to the paces I am used to for the 8-mile version of this workout. Effort was slightly up from the previous week, but I felt I had a decent rhythm even if my stride felt clunky.

This upcoming week is a recharge week of all easy runs of 35'-65' (likely 65') and a easy 2-hour run. As it is the last week of classes, this is timely.

PM: 7.5 miles, averaged 8:39

Felt good. Legs were surprisingly normal. I saw what I thought was a cat in a tree, but then I thought maybe it was an owl, and I finally decided it was a racoon. My eye sight isn't terrible (I wear glasses for TV, driving, and distance) but not while running. It was dark, but I am thinking I need to get my eyes checked. It's probably been 7 or 8 years.

PM: 7 miles, averaged 8:39

Ran to the park and instead of doing my 1-mile loops I went off into the woods and ran the trails. I haven't been doing this because they are very small loops and formerly were not well marked. As I recall there is some single track but I couldn't even find it. Recently a group of (I assume Boy Scouts) put in some trail markers, which helps. Still very flat and the trails are wide, but the trees provided a good wind block. I might run them more to see if I can get the pattern. The young folks use these for part of the cross country course. Not much of a cross country course without a single hill.

Kind of an anxious end-of-semester mess even though it is better than most semesters as I am no longer a student and not writing a dissertation.

Cutback week continues. Doing a workout in the wind would not have been fun today.

Unplanned day off.

Off.

Off.

Felt the slightest indication of Morton's neuroma the other day when I stepped down just right. I took Tuesday off just because I wasn't feeling life and needed to work. More or less the same yesterday, but I was also more concerned about my foot as I have felt it walking here and there and a bit today and I am favoring it even though it is not consistently an issue.

I gave the foot a little pinching and prodding and the nerve is definitely inflammed or locked up with fluid or whatever the preliminary stages are, so I am not messing with it. It's an incredibly painful condition when it goes full on. I had this issue in early 2011 (January to early March as I recall). At times it was hard to walk.

As near as I can tell the culprit is dress shoes and walking on steep downhills on concrete. I highly doubt it is running related (or at least running caused) as mileage and intensity have been lower than they have in many years and I ran a lot of uphill and downhill in Philadelphia (including the 2015 year being just shy of 4000 miles).

I will try to cross train, something I have never done during an injury. I am still not entirely sure this thing is going to go south, but if it does it can be extremely hard to overcome because even walking can irritate it. If it is, this will be my first sidelining injury since late Ocotober/early November of 2013, when I did some foolish things and got what I deserved.

PM: 52' of treadmill walking @ 15%

I listened to two episodes of 99% Invisible, a student recommendation. The first one was on infrastructure (roads primarily) and the other was on the development of how car manufacturers began to focus on safey as a concept. In the early days it wasn't part of the design.

Off.

Gave my foot the lateral squeeze test and poked around near the third and forth metatarsal head and got the distinct clicking/popping/grinding of a neuroma. Just resting it for now, wearing my wide toebox Altras around the house. I will likely go some cross training once I get this round of papers shipped off. High incline walking didn't seem to bother too much. I think I will also rig up a ball of the foot pad with some tape to keep it in place. I think this is what I did 7 years ago, but I wasn't on the blog and didn't keep any other form of notes.

Off.

Grading.

Off.

Grading. I've been icing my foot and taking pain reliever to make sure the neuroma doesn't get beyond its intitial stages. Frustrated but not enough to try running. It's been snowing a good bit and there is nowhere around here thats decent to run.

I haven't been cross training as I have been grading and talking myself out of going to the gym. I still can't be sure whether or not cross training will make it worse.

Off.

Wow. Not sure where the last 4 days have gone as I begin to catch up on entries.

Off

Off.

I have still been grading and icing. I have been taking pain reliever more regularly. Today the foot has felt pretty good. No weird twinges or anything. So much for cross training this thing. Hoping a 10-14 day rest period will rest this thing and I can get back to business.

PM: 6 miles on the treadmill in 55:30

Started out slow and picked it up somewhat. My foot felt fine, then around 13-18' it felt slightly weird, but then it felt completely fine so I kept running.

I used a ball of the foot pad behind the metatarsal head and my old Altras, which seem to be the right combo.

Felt great to run and sweat.

PM: 7.3 miles in 65' on the treadmill

Foot felt awkward during a few points, but after 25-30' felt completely normal. Preemptively icing while I grade now. I didn't have any issues today at home. I have been wearing shoes in the house. Outside I have been wearing a pair of aluminum toe Red Wings (which look like athletic shoes) that I got when I worked at the Depot. They are stiff, built up, wide, and if I stub my toe the area is protected.

PM: 7.2 miles in 65' on the treadmill 

Foot about the same. No issues after 25 or 30'

PM: 5.5 miles in 50'

I did a few harder strides because the Drop Kick Murphys came on Pandora. Foot was solid. Megan and I drove to Toledo to watch her brother coach a high school basketball team. The star player had 3 good dunks. He's really quite an athlete. Highly coordinated, unselfish, and can play a number of roles. He's going to play in college, but I can't remember where he accepted.

Submitted grades around 1:30 this morning.

PM: 7 slow miles in 70'. HR around 148 average. Rough!

Didn't feel like running after we got back but knew I needed to. Ran on the treadmill. Foot felt really solid despite no pain reliever until after. Feels good. Still icing just in case there is swelling present that doesn't manifest outward symptoms.

I really wanted to run outside today, but am keeping with the treadmill until I am sure the foot is clear.

PM: 7.2 miles on the treadmill in 70'

I ran on the toy treadmill. It doesn't even do math right, so I am guess its calculations and distance are more suspect than normal.

PM: 10.1 miles slow on the treadmill. 1:40

Listened to music, 45' of Infinite Jest, the more music

PM: 6.5 miles in 65' on the treadmill

I didn't get a run in as I spent all morning in bed.

Drove to Toledo in the snow, which was made more exciting by the fact that Megan and I both drove cars as we are turning a car back over to her parents. I did not have a fun time driving. We should have left much sooner.

We did Christmas with her uncle and her parents. I had a not inconsiderable amount to drink.

Off.

We had breakfast and left to visit one of Megan's childhood friends. We left and drove back to Michigan. We got some pop up snow storms that reduced visbility to almost 0. I'm tired of snow already and we haven't even got that much.

PM: 5.5 miles on the treadmill in 55'

Very warm in the gym even with the window wide open next to me and the single digit air coming in. Had trouble getting out of bed again today. Felt good to get a short plod in though after two unplanned days off.

Foot it about the same. It really doesn't like flat ground, so I will continue with the straight back and forth and slight incline of the treadmill until it clears. Better able to run than not run at all.

Off.

I pulled something in my back. Today it hurt more than most pulled muscles. Figured I would rest my foot too even though it has felt fine.

Off.

Sat on the couch all day. Iced my back.

Off.

Sat on the couch again I think.

Off.

Intended to run, but I spent the morning in bed as I have been doing for several days. Megan and I went to a Subaru dealer and I leased a car. It's my first new new car and my first new car since 2009.

I wanted something all-wheel drive and was able to get a Legacy for what we paid to cover a lease for her parents (which was a Chrysler 200) while her dad couldn't drive. Needless to say this is a much nicer car. I was pretty excited. Lightened my mood a bit.

PM: 5.8 miles in 60' on the treadmill

Lowest mileage since 2012, which was my second full year of running. I don't think I will write much of a reflection this year. I ran one race, which went better than expected. Training was, save for the late September though early December, unstructured.

I'm going to get back to consistency and continue working on my foot.