I was doing my run on my treadmill yesterday. I was scheduled for 14 miles. I started getting occasional shooting pains in my left ankle around mile 7 or 8. They would only last for a step or three, then go away for a bit. It felt almost like my ankle might give out and dump me on my face. I took a short break, then continued running. The pain kept coming back. But 14 miles is 14 miles! I will be running longer than that in a month. So I kept going. Towards the 11-12 mile mark, the pains were coming more often. At about the 12 mile mark, I started walking. I walked the remaining couple miles. I am not sure what the deal is. I will keep an eye on it, and hopfully it is just an anomally.
I might be insane. I am about 5 weeks from the Buffalo marathon, and I am changing training schedules. I have been using the Hal Higdon intermediate II schedule, but running using priciples from Phil Maffetone. I haven’t gotten much faster. I have seemed to have plateaud. I am training in martial arts class 5 days a week, and have been running 5 days a week. I feel tired and sore most of of the time. I am going to try the schedule from the 4 Months To A 4 Hour Marathon. I am planning on using the 4:30 schedule for now. There are only four days, and two of those are short jogs. The other two runs are a long run, and another short fast run. I think this will alow my body more recovery time, and maybe allow me to get a little faster. It’s worth a shot. But this close to the marthon, I am getting close to tapering anyway.
I have athletes foot again. It comes and goes. I always run in moisture wicking socks, but it doesn’t make a difference. In fact I was getting athletes foot before I even started running. Oh well.
I just spray on some “tough actin” Tinactin. I prefer the liquid kind. I bought a spray can can of the powder version, and it was just weird. I prefer having the liquid stuff on my foot. Maybe it is psychological, but it seems like the liquid could penetrate better.
I sprayed some on this morning. The athletes foot is mostly on my left foot right now. I need to buy another can of Tinactin as the can I have is almost empty.
It seems like all the time I spend barefoot in my martial arts classes would allow my feet to dry out? Who knows.
I talked to my co-worker who teaches the Total Immersion system of swimming at a local YMCA. He was telling me about the classes, and what they involved. The classes are Tuesday and Thursday nights, and go for 8 weeks. They cost $60. Thats a pretty reasonable price. I will have figure out about karate classes as I normally teach karate on Tuesday nights.
He gave me a pass to come up to the Y and check out the facilities, and get a free lesson.
My wife signed up for swimming at our local community center. She bought a 30 pass. I don’t think I have the available time to use the pool enough to make a 30 day pass worth while. If I do go, I would probably buy a 20 visit punch card. With all of my martial arts classes, and scheduled running, and the biking I want to do, I just don’t have the time to squeeze much swimming in too.
We are checking out of the hotel later this morning. I wanted to get my 10 mile run in early, and maybe play in the pool a little later this morning. I woke up at five-something, and finally get out of bed about 6am. My neck and back were stiff and sore. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I got dressed in my running stuff in the dark, and headed down. My room key wasn’t working to let me in to the fitness area. Finally a security guard came by and let me in. There was a guy already in there. I got on the treadmill and began my running. After a warm-up, I began alternating between 3 minutes at 6mph and 2 minutes at 4mph. The room was really hot today, and it felt like I was running in a sauna. I thought my back and neck would loosen up, but they didn’t. My neck was stiff and I had it was hard time even tilting my head back to drink water. I ended up only running 5 miles, and returned to our room. I took some Ibuprofen which I am hoping will make my neck and back feel better. I will run the other 5 miles on my treadmill at home. Hopefully the soreness goes away from my neck and back.