It's been a weird couple of weeks for me and I've fallen behind on a lot of things, so I apologize for the double post today.
After finishing my long run of 12 miles
a few weeks ago, I took off my shoes and felt an immediate pain on the top of my right foot, kinda along the tendon leading down to my big toe? Anyway, it got worse that day, and on Sunday I could hardly hobble around. According to the Interwebs, it IS possible to sprain the top of your foot, and I think that's what I'd done. No idea if there was anything in particular that caused it, or if it was just the higher mileage, but whatever.
As a result, the following week was a VERY easy week. I spent the majority of the week icing my foot, only did one run during the week, and scaled back my long run on the weekend from 9 miles down to 7. The long run also took place on Sunday morning instead of my normal Saturday, because I got up and ready on Saturday morning and then wimped out of the run, too scared that I was going to injure myself again.
The miles marked out with slashes instead of "x"s were walking mileage instead of running mileage. I also was lazy and didn't go to the gym at all. For shame, Victoria Marie!
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This past week went a lot better, although we were experiencing a crazy-muggy heatwave in Lincoln that pushed me out the door as early as 4:55 to beat the heat...on the days when I actually made it out the door in the first place. (Shameface.) Plus side: the early mornings allowed me to rationalize a little bit of retail therapy, and I bought a cute little clip-on headlight to wear on the brim of my baseball cap!
As you can see, I only got 8 (running) miles in during the week, but I did my FOURTEEN MILES on Saturday morning. This was the longest run of my ENTIRE LIFE. MORE CAPS. It went surprisingly well! I was slow slow slow, but it was, as previously mentioned, muggy as all everloving hell, and I was taking it easy out of respect/fear of my Foot Formerly Known as OW I CAN'T WALK. My muscles weren't sore after, and I only had a couple minor-ish blisters.
Things I Need to Figure Out Before the Big Day, #1: A better fueling method. Which is to say, a banana, a bagel thin with peanut butter, and a string cheese prior to the run, plus three gel packs during, still left me
famished around Mile 10. Maybe Power Bars or something?
#2: A better way of blister avoidance. I bandage up my feet before long runs, but that still doesn't entirely cut it when it's 10+ miles. Moleskin worked pretty well one time, but it hurt like the dickens when it came time to pull it off. Duct tape, maybe?
#3: Forget a "better" way -- a WAY to avoid chafing. If my shorts are too short, it's inner-thigh; if my shorts are long enough, it's...well, it's butt-cheek. I apologize for the TMI. Weird thing is, I've had it happen with every run 11+ miles this summer, but it's never happened during any of my four half-marathons. Maybe it's the humidity? My dad suggested an application of Vaseline, but that just sounds positively miserable. Any ideas, oh attractive and intelligent readers of mine?
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| See? Tolja it was hot. Check dat RealFeel. |
