Training: Back At It

It is officially fall season! Can you feel the cool crispness in the air? Yeah, me neither. It’s still quite warm and humid here in La La Land.

If there is something I feel prevailing during the past several months of training is I think I’ve come very close to injury without anything completely knocking me out and I’m going to keep saying my sweet nightly prayers to make sure it stays that way. A wonky knee, a rolled ankle, achy arches, and heel pain could have all potentially derailed my races, but maybe that’s a testament to me taking extra care whenever I feel any weirdness outside of normal soreness. Or maybe I’m invincible! Ha! Just kidding.

After Sunday’s 6 mile run, I decided to run again on Monday since I felt pretty good. And feeling good got me through 7.28 miles! Woohoo! Last week to this week was like night and day. It’s difficult to remember what last week was like when I was foam rolling my arches and silently screaming obscenities so I wouldn’t alarm the neighbors and have the cops called. But I’m still going to keep the routine going so I don’t have to repeat that experience anytime soon.

So what did I do exactly to help my arches and heel? It was a combination of several things.

• Foam rolling – mostly the calves
• Rolling my arches mostly over a baseball and sometimes tennis ball. Some people use a golf ball, but I didn’t have one. I found the hardness of the baseball more effective.
• Rolling my arches and heel over a frozen water bottle. (Barefooted hurt so I’d alternate feet quickly)
• Stretching – mostly the calves
• Strengthening the legs and calves
• Changed running shoes

I would roll each foot for at least 2 minutes, a few times a day – anywhere from 2 to 4 times a day, and I’ll probably still continue to do so periodically to keep things moving and grooving.

If you have the same thing going on with your feet, I can’t say this will work for you, but it did for me.

What also helped, was my mental focus and attitude about the whole thing. I wasn’t going to dwell on things I have no control over, and then I resolved to run my races no matter what state my feet were feeling. The Chicago Marathon is an extremely important race for me because it isn’t about me. It’s about the people I’m running in remembrance of, and in honor of. I already decided, if my feet aren’t feeling well, they need to just suck it up, because I’m completing Chicago no matter what.

But you know what? They feel great!!

This week my feet were silent other than the sounds of steps pounding the pavement or on the treadmill. I’ve yet to take them on the trails, but I may be taking them out there on Friday and definitely this weekend.

I made Tuesday a cross-training day to ride the stationary bike and work on core which I’ve been lagging on a bit. Pretty sure I can count out six-pack abs before Javelina.

Wednesday I intended on hitting the treadmill for a few miles and then do more strength training, but I got into such a groove. Not sure if it was the 80’s music that had me going or the fact I wore my trail shoes for extra support, but I zoned in and didn’t want to stop. Before I knew it, BOOM, 10 miles!

Some people hate the treadmill, but I’m not one of those people. It suits it’s purpose which for me was not to run on the hard concrete on this day.

Whenever I run on the treadmill, I always vary the speed and incline. Maybe that’s why I don’t hate the treadmill. It’s much easier to control and I don’t tend to get bored easily when I do. And usually the steeper the incline the slower the pace I go. I could be at a 12% incline and power hiking. Or I could be at a -2% decline and flying!

And when I want to get in some elevation gain without hitting up a mountain I can easily get that on a treadmill. It doesn’t quite substitute for the actual mountain, but on some days it’ll just have to do.

Mixing it up is the spice of life and the treadmill is no different! If I want an easy boring run, I’ll keep the treadmill neutral or pick up the incline to 1 or 2% and keep it there. But I like to change it up and sometimes let the music I’m listening to, dictate what I’m going to do.

Oh yeah, that’s one necessity for me when I’m on the treadmill: Music. That’s a must!

So I guess you could say I’m back at it with training. Actually I’ve always been training. There’s just been a few lulls in the program, and I’m grateful there are no serious long lulls. But hopefully there are no more issues from here on out because the Chicago Marathon is in 2 weeks, and Javelina Jundred is happening in a very fast approaching 5 weeks! Back at it indeed!

Thank you for reading!