TexasLindsey

9.2 miles at 4:45am.  Weather=59F, 76% humidity, 51 dew point, 12 mph wind, dark.  Average pace=8:40/m

mile 1- 9:28

mile 2- 8:22

mile 3- 8:31

mile 4- 8:13

mile 5- 8:21

mile 6- 8:25

mile 7- 8:33

mile 8- 8:54

mile 9- 9:20

Ran 1 mile to corner to meet Tim and Ashley.  Ran miles 2-7 with them on the hilly route.  Then ran miles 8-9 by myself home.  Lots of hills today and I charged them all.  Felt pretty good aerobically but my foot still hurt.  The new inserts are quite different from my old ones... going to take some getting used to.  My calf muscles are sore. 

I slacked off earlier this week.  Ashley and Tim don't want to meet on Mondays anymore because they are doing Monday night track.  Tuesday we were going to run but the forecast said it was going to be storming so we cancelled ... but then it actually did not storm. 

I am irritated with myself that I can't seem to get back in the groove of things.  "If you really want something, you find a way.  If you don't, you find an excuse."   I am finding excuses.  Sometimes I think I might just want to take off a couple months from running but then I'm not sure so I do the bare minimum while I'm trying to decide.  I can't shake this funk.  I'll keep working on it.

7 miles at 4:45am.  Weather=37F, 70% humidity, 28 dew point, 9 mph wind, dark.  Average pace=9:11/m.

9:47

8:45

8:57

8:56

9:11

9:09

9:32

Ran 1 mile to corner to meet Ashley and Tim.  Ran miles 2-6 with them.  Ran 1 mile home.  It was very cold today but the wind wasn't too bad.  I think wind to the cold is like humidity to the heat.  I can better handle cold when there's not much wind and I can better handle hot when there's not much humidity.

I was pretty comfortable with the clothes today.  For future reference to myself of what to wear in similar weather: I wore technical t-shirt, arm warmers, warm running gloves, headband for ears, running tights.  I thought I might be cold with this but I was actually pretty comfy the whole time.

Here's the plan for the rest of the week.  Easy 6 tomorrow.  Easy 10 Saturday.  Race 13.1 Sunday (although I'm not aiming for a PR). 

Going to try to get back up to 40+ miles every week from now on.  Foot is feeling much better.  I get another steriod shot in my heel today - fun! 

Racing White Rock Half on December 4th and FW Running Company Half on December 17th.  Aiming for a full marathon in February.  There are a couple of options for that.  Tim wants us all to do Galveston Mardi Gras Marathon on Feb 5th.  It would be a fun couples' weekend.  Also Cowtown full is Feb 26th. 

Ran 2.3 miles with my group.  Average pace =7:50/m.  Was feeling good until all of a sudden... my right leg's calf muscle felt like it had a charlie horse.  I had to move off the trail and let everyone pass me by.  I was unable to run after that because it hurt too much.  I had to walk back to the store. 

I think the inserts I got from my podiatrist were helpful for the plantar fasciitis but they have been working my calf muscles differently than normal.  I've had sore calf muscles for a couple weeks because of them.  I guess I strained or pulled a muscle... whatever.

So just to recap:  in the last month I have had severe plantar fasciitis to the point where the x-ray showed calcification where the tissue tore, IT Band pain that caused me to walk one day and take 4 days off (but hasn't hurt since), and now a pulled calf muscle that caused me to walk.  

I give up.... for now.  I am taking two weeks off with zero running.  If in two weeks I can walk without limping, then maybe I'll start back up slowly.  At present my foot hurts all day long even when I'm laying down.  I limp all day.  I think limping is triggering other problems.  All these issues are relatively minor though.  I think it's just smart to take time off before I do something to myself that will put me on the bench even longer.  My friend, Greg, kept running for several weeks with shin splints and now he has a stress fracture and has to take 6 weeks off or more.  My friend, Emily, kept running with plantar fasciitis and other foot pain and then got a stress fracture in her foot and had to take all summer off.