Ugly Toes

Thanks for the comments on the race and my leg, everyone. I wish that the stupid leg problem didn't overshadow Saturday (in my mind at least) because the race was pretty great. I'm pretty pleased with my race - and how can I not be happy with being only 12 seconds away from my PR? Especially when I've said many times how happy it would make me to come close to and/or break my high school PRs? And even though I think the 3rd mile marker was slightly misplaced, I hit that point in the 21s - which means I probably would've broken 22 for 5k. That's a minute faster than what I ran in March and faster than what the calculators predict based on my 20K (which I think was a good measure of my racing fitness).

But this leg issue ... it's getting old and frustrating. While I'm sure some of my choices since the marathon have caused the reoccurrences, I really can't figure out exactly what caused the problem in the first place. Looking through my archives, I did come across something interesting. In my report/recap of the 20K, I noted that I'd had something funky going on with my left calf but that it hadn't interfered with the race. Maybe there's a connection? But I still don't understand why, since I don't see any obvious flaws with my training (too sharp of mileage increases, lack of rest days, etc). I did get names of 2 doctors at the Clinic, and will try to call tomorrow to see if either of them can see me sometime soon.

But in the meantime, I've made at least one decision with regards to my running: I need to cross TCM off my "to do list." I was talking about things with the Engineer a few weeks ago, and I said that I have felt a lot of pressure (from myself) to get back on track because I'm supposed to be running a marathon in October. On Sunday, I was telling him about how I could probably still "do" the marathon, but he said he'd rather us just eat the entry fee vs. spending the money for the hotel and risking me get hurt more/again. Which got me thinking about maybe I should just write it off now as I think I'd be having a lot easier time accepting this lower mileage/training load if I were able to focus on just healing, and not getting ready for a marathon. So while I really hate basically giving them another $80, I need to not have this "deadline" hanging over me. (And as a sidenote: the only way I will be doing TCM in the future is if I get a free entry because I refuse to give them yet another $80 without me getting anything in return because I'm injured/unable to run).

So I think that my plan for now is to not worry about running a marathon this fall, and just work on rebuilding my endurance and avoiding injury. I did run 3 miles today and it didn't hurt, which was good. Hopefully having less pressure on myself will help get me out of this "funk" I've been in since the marathon. Overall, I really haven't felt like myself when it comes to running and it's kind of sucked. I felt like before the marathon, I'd gotten to a really good spot and now I've got to get back to there. I don't doubt that I can, it's just frustrating to have to re-build.

Sunday:
2.78 miles | 25:43 | 9:15/mi.
walk home | 0.68 miles | 9:59 | 14:42/mi.

Monday:
inactive rest, leg sore, lots of standing at work

Tuesday:
3.07 miles | 27:48 | 9:03/mi.