First run in 12 days---Moved from other site

So this morning at 4:30 I rolled out of bed, drank my FRS (I pre-make it the night before so that I can give it the "full 30" before I actually start running) and contemplated if I really wanted to give the heel a go.  See, 12 days ago I went for that nice 10 mile long run, and pulled up at 3.  My heel was killing me by the end of the day.  I asked here, and got some good advice.  I went to the running store and tried the new version of my current shoe.  OH MAN, did that feel good.  I could tell that given my slim 185 lbs that my shoes were not going to make it to 300 miles unless I change my foot-strike.  I will start working on that as soon as I can get a pair of VFF's.  I rested, iced and IB'd my foot for a week, and then just kinda let the lazys take me the first part of this week.  Those damn lazys are hard to beat.  But, I got up, got dressed, tucked my phone in my belly-band and headed out the door a little before 5.  I figured a light easy 4 miler would be a good test of both the new shoes and the heel.  Both were up to it, and I thought about adding one more to go 5, but figured that I shouldn't push it.  I will go for a nice 7 or 8 on Saturday morning before work, and then get back to a regularly scheduled program.

 The worst part of the whole thing is it killed my Pikermi plans for the 1st.  I could no more climb the trails for that race right now, than I can fly.  That is OK, though, I will train for the one on my b-day in October.  I want to work on hills more anyway, so it is all good.  I was looking at my running log, and I need to bump my weekday runs in length, so it is a good thing that I got hurt.  A little set-back may be just what I needed to get me to focus on cross-training and getting faster.

 I am looking forward to trying out the VFF's if I can find them.  REI is out, and they have no replenishment schedule.  So I will be calling a couple of the other stores that carry them to see if they have them.  I am wanting to run with my wife wearing those at night to force me to change my foot strike.  She is trying the Couch to 5K thing and it would be a great way for me to get intervals in wearing those while she gets up to running speed.

All in all, it was a great morning.  I feel better for having had my run, and am happy my heel is better.  I should probably still see a Dr. about it, but, hey, it ain't fallin' off, so it must not be that bad.

Two weeks off, not how I wanted to train

But hey, that is why I say to be flexible.  My left ankle needed the time off that the oral surgeon forced me to take.  The look he gave me when I asked if I could run the day after he cut my mouth to ribbons was almost classic.  Turns out that when they put large holes in your head they don't want you to ramp up your heart-rate for fear of filling your mouth with copious amount of blood.  I didn't push it since my ankle was still giving me fits just walking around.  So, I took some time off from running and let my ankle get better.  Oh yeah, and my mouth too.  Both felt great this morning, and I busted out a 4 miler with no problem.  Tomorrow, per my "personal trainer" I will be heading to the Y to get in some weight lifting and maybe some elliptical or rowing machine time.  I definitely do not need to put in a lot of cardio time, since that is what the running is for, but I think getting in some different leg work would be good.  I think I will be firing the Nike Coach as well.  It doesn't have a lot of flexibility to the system, and that is by design, they can't have every runner modifying the system every other day, so they make it fairly static.  I will look at some other schedules and go with those.

My Sister-in-law came up for the weekend of my wife's birthday, and we talked ourselves out of running the late July Pikermi in SW Washington.  Her boy friend grew up in the town where the race is, and he said that it is not the nicest lake, and the humidity at that time of year would make for a miserable run.  So I think instead we will look at doing a 10K on the beach the weekend before.  A 9:00 start time in July would be bad anywhere but on the edge of the Pacific.  Nothing like 60 degree days and cool breezes to make a nice run.  I may still find a pikermi before the one on my birthday, but we shall see.  I am registered for the one on my birthday, and I will train hard all summer for that one.  There are two races coming in the near future in the town I live in so those will be fun.  They are also cheap.  Some of these races are pricey to run in, so I have to keep an eye on that as well.