Sole Hip

When MC was coaching me to my first sub-3 marathon, 5 years ago, at some stage during the base building phase I reached a point where running no longer felt like training. Even long runs of 20 miles passed by without much hassle and I ended every workout feeling "pleasantly tired" but never fatigued.

This time I managed to reach that point all on my own, and it feels great. I have been running rather high mileage the last few weeks and I can feel myself getting stronger almost on a daily basis, so the stubborn insistence on keeping running every day through a various amount of setbacks has definitely paid off.

It's not all plain sailing, of course. It never is. The last couple of weeks I had to deal with two troublesome issues: my right hip and my right foot.

The hip was hurting a little bit, which normally would not have been particularly alarming but it was the same area that bad been injured in July and I was therefore rather paranoid about it all. I could barely feel it when running but it was more pronounced later in the day. Thankfully it seems to have sorted itself out by now, without intervention, which is a great relief.

Happy 12th birthday, Cian!
Well done with the anti-gravity cake, Niamh!

The other bothersome spot, my right foot, was a bit more troublesome as well as a good bit more painful. Three weeks ago I had done a double run and on the second day the balls of my right foot really started hurting, which is the reason why I have not attempted another double day since. It felt like the sole of the shoe had worn all the way through and I suspiciously inspected the shoe after the run for a hole, but none was found. It would have been strange - it was the very same shoe that I had happily used during the Spartathlon for 153 miles and for them to be completely worn through only 200 miles later would have been highly unusual. Nevertheless, the foot kept hurting, and quite a bit at times. Even during office hours I noted a "scrunched-up sock" feeling that just would not go away. Googling seemed to indicate a neuroma but it was the fact that the foot kept hurting while wearing my office shoes while feeling much better when I wore slippers at home that eventually helped me to find a solution. I figured my foot might be hurting because it was too squashed inside the shoe. I replaced the insole with a different, thinner, one that I happened to have at home, which provided more room for the foot inside the shoe. The effect was amazing, within one single run I felt much better and the problem has mostly gone away, apart from a very slight tingly feeling when wearing office shoes but that doesn't bother me.

The miles keep on coming. I did 12 on Monday on slightly tired legs and the same again on Tuesday a little bit faster. The most achy body parts were both calves, which very much felt like DOMS, I'm pretty sure that was caused by running through knee-deep water during Sunday's long run and will go away all by itself. Since the roads don't tend to be flooded at all times I don't think that issue will re-occur any time soon. I did 15 miles on Wednesday morning, in time before the next weather front hit - doing the same run in the evening would have been a lot worse. What surprised me was how easy I found it all. I felt like I could have been running twice as far without any bother.

7 Dec

12 miles, 1:34:54, 7:54 pace, HR 143

8 Dec

12 miles, 1:32:51, 7:44 pace, HR 145

9 Dec

15 miles, 1:55:41, 7:43 pace, HR 145