A visit to the doctor

For a couple of weeks now, my left foot has given me some pain. Tuesday, I ran a quick 2 miles on the treadmill, then had to scoot since Sue had an early meeting so it was my day to get the kids out of bed and to school.

On Wednesday, the team met at a local YMCA to start a 5-mile run. My foot was hurting more than in the past, so I stopped after less than half of a mile and walked back to the car. I knew it was time to see the doctor and had the right doctor in mind. She is a sports medicine specialist and very well known by most of the people I run with. I called Thursday and was able to see her the next day. She is unsure of the exact nature of my injury but is either a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal or peroneal tendonitis. I got an anatomy lesson.

The fifth metatarsal is basically the bone that connects to the little toe on the left side of my left foot.

The peronial tendon is the tendon that wraps behind the ankle and connects to the fifth metatarsal. Peroneal tendonitis is the inflammation of that tendon.

To determine if it is a stress fracture, I am having a bone scan done on Tuesday. That is basically a reverse x-ray where trace radioactive material is injected into my body and a few hours later is read by (basically) a Geiger counter). Oh goodie -- I get to have even more radiation than I got from living almost next door to the nuke plant at Three Mile Island during the near melt-down in the 1979 accident. The good doctor is seeing me on Wednesday to review the x-rays and plot out a course of action. For the tendonitis, I can run while fixing it. For a stress fracture, I get to rest for a month and call off the half-marathon quest.

Another Saturday, another long run

Five of us ran this morning - 6 miles in a place called West Creek, just west of where we normally run. This is one of my favorite runs, not because of the flat terrain (it is NOT flat) but because of the lack of traffic, ease of getting there and back, and the options when you are there. From where you park, you can do a 2-mile loop, a 4-mile loop, or combine the two for a 6-mile loop. That is what we have done in the past and did again today.

The weather was strange - making dressing correctly very difficult. It was 42 degrees and a cold muggy (almost misty). I ended up wearing shorts and a single long sleeved shirt, along with a hat. No gloves, earmuffs, or long pants, so I was quite cool to start, then perfect as the hour wore on. When all was said and done, I had a sweat-drenched shirt, shorts with sweat spots, and a hat that I could have wrung water out of if it was flexible. A bit of stretching and rehydration later and I was heading home.

For the week, I have to figure out how to count it. 3.1 miles on Sunday (a 5K race), 3 miles on Tuesday, 4 miles Wednesday, and the 6 today for a weekly total of 16 miles. However, according to the schedule that has been provided, Sunday's 5K goes to last week's distance, so it was just 13 miles for the week where 16 was scheduled. Just under 32 miles run total out of 37 I should have run to date. I need to figure out how to get the three mid-week runs in, so will likely be a bunch of treadmill runs on Tuesday and Thursday, then team runs Wednesday and Saturdays.

On an upside, 32 miles is further than from here to Kings Dominion!

Solo night running

To get in the training mileage for the half-marathon training, running at night, by myself has become a necessity. I ran a bit over 3 miles last night starting at 9 PM, then a bit over 4 miles tonight starting at 7 PM. While I do not enjoy running that late without food in my belly, I felt pretty good once I was actually out there with most of a mile under my belt. That is the point where the oxygen is flowing to my muscles and I'm past the initial pain of running. Fortunately, the temps were not too cold (near 30 last night, near 37 tonight). Figuring out how to dress was challenging, but do-able with a bit of thought. Let's see. If I am to dress like it is 15 degrees warmer than it really is, how can I dress with the wind blowing?

Last night, with temps approaching 30 and the wind blowing, I wore a Nike+ body shirt and a Nike workout jacket, long workout pants, gloves, and earmuffs. Of course, my reflective vest and headlamp completed the outfit. 3 miles was about all I could do given the fact that I had no food since a late (light) lunch. When I was done, my body shirt was soaked, the jacket and pants were also wet. I ran a short 3 miles due to the time, but felt good for the duration.

Tonight, it was almost 10 degrees warmer, so I wore the Nike+ body shirt underneath of a long sleeved dry-fit shirt, shorts, and gloves. Earmuffs stayed at home, along with the jacket and long workout pants. I would have been better with the legs covered, but the top was perfect. Earmuffs would have been an overkill, and the jacket would have had me sweating still. Both shirts were wet tonight, but I felt like I had dressed appropriately given the distance and time. I pushed to 4.25 miles tonight, and could have easily gone further.