This is my first time doing the Friday Five Link Up so please forgive me if I goof something up! This is linking up with Fairytales and Fitness and also with Running on Happy.
Five weeks of returning to running! After a nearly nine month hiatus and a couple of earlier failed attempts, I am hopeful that this time is going to work.
I am going mess up the Friday Five idea right away by starting with what academics call “Zero items.” That is, items you add to the beginning of a meeting before you get to the actual agenda, or in this case, some pre-running weeks.
Zero item #1) An awful lot of walking in May and June. I was in a boot for five weeks and post-boot, I did a month or so of semi-structured walking.
Zero item #2) A couple of unsanctioned run/walks on the treadmill in late June. I was supposed to wait to run until doing the gait analysis with my new physical therapist, Edie Falcon, but I hadn’t run since March and I had no idea what was going to happen. If my foot was going to blow up on me, I wanted that to happen in the privacy of my own basement where I could sob in peace. If this had been a gait analysis with the Maestro, I would have gone ahead and waited because he has seen me breakdown plenty of times, but I don’t know Edie Falcon well enough to cry in front of her.
Zero item #3) I ran on the treadmill at physical therapy on June 27 for the gait analysis and orthotics measurement. Edie Falcon said I should knock of the unsanctioned run/walks until the orthotics arrive. I grumbled, but complied. I like to pretend I am a rebel, but I am really a good girl. Mostly.
Zero item #4) Orthotics Day! Better than Christmas Day! Friday, July 7th. But, they arrived at 5pm. On a Friday. It was too late in the day to go have them properly trimmed. I stuffed them in my shoes anyway and went for a walk. With maybe a tiny itsy bitsy jog. NO PAIN. I snuck in an unsanctioned run/walk on July 9th and again, no pain.
Love these things.
Even academics start to balk at four zero items, so here is actual start to the Friday Five.
Week 1 – July 10:
I got the orthotics trimmed, literally, on the way to the airport. I spent this week in Scotland for work and I did three glorious run/walks around Glasgow. I had a couple of more serious “twinges” as I call them, sudden foot pain that ends pretty quickly. I also managed to provoke a lot of soreness spending an entire day walking around Edinburgh. Totally worth it.
Glasgow is kind of rainy. Who cares??? I got to run!!
Week 2 – July 17:
I returned from Scotland and left for camping at Nickerson State Park 18 hours later. Edie Falcon had left me to my own recognizance in terms of running (brave lady!) which I interpreted as intervals of increasing duration. I ran on the trails every other day, which was perfect. Soft surface and lots of distraction. My foot was still stiff most mornings when I woke up, but by the end of the week, I had a run with no pain at all.
Running on the trails is fabulous
Week 3 – July 24:
Official start with my new coach! I have been texting Coach Mick pretty often (ok, basically daily…) since April but he refused payment until he was the one writing the workouts. I did a pretty extensive search for a new coach last spring and I could not be happier! We did half mile intervals this week, moving to mile long intervals on the weekend, running every third day.
Yeah!
Week 4 – July 31:
This week we increased the interval length to two miles, I did three runs, and I finished one run with strides. The strides had me at near nervous breakdown worry level because I am convinced the tear in my plantar fasciia came from doing strides, but after Coach Mick talked me off the ledge, I gave it a go and they were FINE. Totally FINE! I also got to start running with friends again, something I have missed so very much.
Run with Snarky Girl
Week 5 – August 7:
Dropping the walk breaks! So far I’ve run four miles twice this week, no walk breaks. And I did more strides! I did get a few more of those yucky twinges on Wednesday, but they were much less intense than previous ones. I am telling myself it is not a big deal. Well, to be honest, I made myself fairly crazy on Thursday by spending the day trying to decide if my foot was hurting or not. Is it hurting? Does it feel different than the other foot? Will I have to stop running? Spending a whole day with this particular kind of brain-crazy is exhausting and by the end of Thursday, I was pretty wiped. But today, I got up and ran four miles with Teacher Runner. And I did the strides again. So now I am telling myself this is no big deal. I hope I am listening. I am still taking it one run at a time, but Sunday…assuming everything stays fine, Sunday, I get to run six miles. Fingers crossed. I can not wait!