Marching On...

[rocknrollgirl]

So the good news is I had an absolutely fabulous workout yesterday. The weather was perfect, race pace felt relaxed, and I'm not even sore today.

The bad news is I did something to my foot. It's not a stress fracture. Not not not not not. Not. Not.

Trying to stay off it today though there's a whole lot of non-running stuff I need to get done that can't be postponed.

Someone send me some healing vibes ...

Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sending right now. So sorry. Any better today?

[OakLeaf]

Thanks guys ... touch wood it's working!

I had my regular massage appointment today and let him take a look at it. He didn't think it's broken, did find some tendon stuff going on, released a bunch of muscles in the foot and the anterior compartment of the shin, and it's right away WAY better on weightbearing. I didn't run yesterday or today and he thinks I should take tomorrow off too, though if I get the time I'll drive up and do some pool running. I don't want to be stupid, I'm very much aware that a little undertrained is way better than a lot injured, but I just don't want to lose too much fitness ...

[emily_in_nc]

Glad it's feeling better oak, but I hardly think a few days off will cost you much, if anything, from your fitness. In fact, when I was cycling nearly every day, I often did better after an enforced several-day layoff. More healing vibes coming from Mexico!

I got myself registered for the 5K run here, which was a bit of a challenge with the language barrier. First I had to go to a shop and pay and get a slip with a number on it. Then I had to officially register via a Spanish website and enter the number on the sheet, plus lots of other information. Somehow I missed that there was a box to check "5K" or "10K" and got myself registered for the 10K...noooooo! I emailed the organizer, and she said that it was fine, no one would force me to run the 10K, but I sure wish I hadn't screwed that up. I guess the default was 10K, since I didn't select either, and I think it should have been the other way around, but, hey, this is Mexico!

So hopefully no injuries prevent me from doing the run -- it's on April 26th. I'm excited but a bit nervous too!

[OakLeaf]

Good luck with the race Emily! That sounds exciting.

My foot is feeling good enough that I decided to try the workout I was supposed to have done Wednesday. I've mostly been able to keep up my mileage with easy running and a bit of deep water running, but I skipped two hard workouts. This was the last scheduled workout in my training plan, nothing but easy running and a few strides from now until race day, and I figured it was okay to try it today since my coach had me do my last hard workout 10 days out last year. It went fine - not overly challenging, foot isn't perfect but it didn't seem to aggravate it, yay. I drove up to run it on the MUP since the roads around here are nothing but mud. (Honestly I think running on a surface that soft actually did my foot some good, although it felt pretty weird - let all the bones move around and get themselves realigned.) While I was out the weather was in the process of turning, a stiff wind blew out the rain we've had for days and it turned into a really nice day.

Getting excited ... Hope everyone's getting some good running weather!

[Crankin]

Phew, sounds like the foot is going to be OK. PM me, about plans after the race...

[emily_in_nc]

Had two good runs last week -- a 5K tempo run (a PR!) and a 5.4 mile birthday run/walk for my 54th. 4.4 of that was running and a mile of walking.

I have a question for Oak and other runners out there about what you'd recommend for the week before my event. It's only a 5K so not nearly as big a deal as a 1/2 or full marathon, but I still want to make sure I don't screw up. I normally do one tempo 5K run and one longer run interspersed with short walking intervals per week. These runs are done on Tues/Thurs, and the other days I do either yoga, cycling, or long walks. The event I'm doing is on a Sunday. Should I just do my usual runs on Tues/Thurs. that week or do less running leading into the event? Since it's a short distance, I'm assuming sticking with my normal schedule is okay since I'd still have two days off from running prior to the event.

Thanks for any advice! :-)

[OakLeaf]

Yep, you should be fine with your regular schedule. It's not so much the race distance per se, but what you've been doing in training and how long you need to be fully recovered from that - so think about how long it takes you to feel COMPLETELY fresh after your workouts. You might do your tempo run on Tuesday, as the tougher workout, and don't make your Thursday long run too long. Do something not too strenuous to stay loose in the days before the race.

To me, a 5K is short enough that I benefit from a thorough warm-up, but long enough that I also benefit from some quick calories 15-20 minutes before the start - whatever you know you can digest, whether it's fruit juice, sports drink, a gel, candy, whatever.

And cut it out with the "not a big deal" will ya? Remember how many questions I had about my first 5K, and how it took longer for me to write the race report than it did to run the thing? That was a huge deal to me, and this one can be as big a deal to you as you want! Good luck! I want to hear all about it.

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks Oak!

Excellent advice. I've been doing well on either a banana or granola bar prior to my runs (plus a small cup of coffee), so I will stick with that same "diet" for the 5K. It's earlier in the morning than I usually run (7 am, and I usually start no earlier than 7:45), so I'll need to get up about an hour earlier, but it's not a huge change in my schedule.

I'm excited and will definitely report back! This is actually my second "official" 5K. The first was in Belize in 2012, and heck if I can remember what I did leading up to it.