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

Watch that Foot

After Tuesday’s tempo run it was time for another long(-ish) effort on Wednesday. In fact, this was my last long run before the race, because, as I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I intend to have some taper for this race. I originally intended to do 15 miles, but then changed my mind, because I’m pretty sure that a lack of endurance will not be my problem during a half-marathon. So I cut it down to 13, mainly because it meant another 15 minutes of sleep.

The legs just took off, and I went along for the ride. My mp3 player got fried during Monday’s rain (it did that before and recovered eventually), and I've rejoined the silent masses, at least temporarily. I felt surprisingly good, Tuesday’s tempo effort didn’t seem to have much effect on the legs. The turnaround point is on top of a big hill, so the second half was always bound to be faster than the first one, but I still didn’t expect to cover the 6.5 return miles in about 49 minutes (7:32 pace). Wow! I wasn’t even trying to push the pace. The whole run took a few seconds over 1:41, which is pretty much the time I ran for the race last year, and that was my PR back then. Sure, the workout was a bit shorter than 13.1 miles, but it certainly bodes well for Sunday week.

There had to be a drawback to such a run, and it came with less than 2 miles to spare. All of a sudden my right foot started acting up again. It was a different pain than last time, all of a sudden my toes started to feel sort of numb, which brought back all kinds of worries about a neuroma. I didn’t get the sharp pain with every toe-off, just a weird sensation in my foot. And it was while wearing my favourite Asics Nimbus, so it’s definitely not just the Nike 360’s who are to blame. I’m a little bit worried about this, but not really for the race. If I get a pain with 2 miles to go I can always grind my teeth together and push through it. Even if it slows me down, it won’t cost too much.

Since that run had been much faster than originally intended I decided to take it easy again today, with 8 miles at a slower pace, plus I added a few strides to the second half. After a few rainy days the weather has turned very nice again and I ran in glorious sunshine. That should bode well for tomorrow – it’s the twins’ birthday, and with about 30 kids invited the bouncy castle and the climbing frame in the garden will be vital. I hope the house will still stand by the time the festivities have ended.

25 Apr: 13 miles, 1:41:17, 7:46 pace, avg. HR 154
25 Apr: 8 miles, 1:04:05, 8:00 pace, avg. HR 150, including 8x100 strides

Ouch

A few days ago, maybe Sunday or Monday, just as I was finishing my run I stepped on a stone outside our driveway and felt a very sharp pain in my right foot. Because I was just 20 seconds away from the end I didn’t think much of it, especially since the pain went away as soon as I stopped running.

I ran 10 miles on Wednesday, and all went very well, until 2.5 miles from the end. All of a sudden the pain in my foot was back, and I was in absolute agony. With each toe-off a sharp pain would shoot through my foot. I tried to adjust my stride, and to run mostly on the right instep, but that’s not really a good idea if you want to avoid follow-on injuries. I eventually got back home, and again the pain disappeared the second I stopped running. Walking was absolutely fine; it was only running that caused the problem. I did what most runners would do nowadays and googled the assorted wisdom of the Internet. From the symptoms I found the closest match would be Morton’s Neuroma, which I certainly can’t rule out. It could be caused by the shoes, I was wearing Nike 360’s for that 10-miler, and the toe-box in those is definitely tighter than in my beloved Asics Nimbus. But I have covered over 700 miles in two identical pairs of 360’s without troubles, and would be surprised if all of a sudden I’m struck with such an injury.

Actually there was a second problem with that run, namely my heart rate was much higher than expected. Sure, I ran at a decent clip, but at one stage I happened to glimpse the number in my HR monitor and was shocked to see it at nearly 160; the effort felt like 10 beats less. Each time I doubt my HR monitor I eventually come round to the idea that the reading was most likely correct, so I assumed that my heart rate was indeed pretty high, even though it didn’t feel like that.

The strange thing is that the run itself went very well. I covered the return leg in 37:42, which equates to 7:32 pace, despite being in agony for the second half of it, and without really pushing the pace.

The combination of yesterday’s problems caused me to opt for a short and slow recovery run today (yes, I know, I could have rested completely), in a different pair of shoes and at easy, easy, easy effort all the way. It worked, the heart rate was pretty low and the foot was absolutely fine, and now I’m unsure on how to proceed. I was planning a 12.5 miler on the Kerry Way tomorrow, which I most likely will still attempt, but if the foot problem strikes at the farthest point from home I’ll have to hobble for a very long way. On the other hand the softer surface of that dirt road should help me avoid any problems. At least that’s what I’m banking on.

18 Apr: 10 miles, 1:16:49, 7:40 pace, avg. HR 156
19 Apr: 6 miles, 52:16, 8:42 pace, avg. HR 144