Today I met with my podiatrist for my follow up appointment. I was pretty nervous sitting in the chair waiting for him. But when he came in and we talked he had good news for me. He seems to think that my neuroma was a flare up from the marathon only, and not from all my running. Apparently the fact that the swelling and pain have gone down so much so quickly means that it was likely a brief flare up. At least thats what were hoping.
So his instructions were that I'm ok to start running again! I just need to keep my mileage down initially, keep an eye on my foot, avoid lots of downhills (pounding) and try and do more running on trails and not as much on pavement when I can. I'm also to avoid wearing racing flats on long runs. Which won't be a problem as I don't like to wear lightweight shoes on anything longer than a 5K.
This morning when I woke up I had planned to do an hour on the bike. But it was pouring when I woke up and after checking the weather I decided I'd do the ride later in the day instead. But after hearing I was ok to run I changed up my plans and headed to Blackstone Boulevard to get a run in.
Heres where I didn't do as well as I could have....
I should have run only about three miles at 10min/mile pace. (normally I do any basic training runs of 5 miles or less at 8min/mile)
Well once I set out to start running that sort of got thrown out the window. Pretty much right away I slipped into my 8min/mile groove. At times a bit faster even but that I reigned right back in. And instead of running three miles I decided to head all the way to the end of the boulevard and turn around which led me to doing 4.4 miles instead of three. (I did however manage to stop myself from extending that route to its usual 5 miles that I do there often).
So how did it feel?
Well.....
My foot felt fine. I kept mentally checking on it and it never felt even the tiniest bit of pain or weirdness which was great! My hamstring/calf on my right leg however did not feel all that great. During the run it felt a mix of being tight and being wonky. No pain or anything, it just didn't feel right. After the run that leg felt a bit sore but after some stretching and some massage with the stick once I got home it felt fine. Although it still feels weaker than my left leg even when just walking about. Which is nothing new. And its something that I really hope my new strength training course will help resolve. The imbalance between the two legs is really annoying. I also think that once I get through the month of May (a particular challenging month work/stress wise) that I'll seek out a sports medicine or ortho doc and have that leg looked at and see if theres any answers to be had medically as well.
Other than that I also schedule more swim sessions with my coach today and had a brief chat with her via email today about my progress. She seems to think I'll be at the point of being able to start logging some freestyle laps around Mid June at my current rate of progress. Which still gives me almost two months of pool time to feel confident enough to complete my first triathlon. Which I thought was a 1/4 mile swim. I just checked it again and its actually a half mile swim. So I'd better get up to speed quickly! I have a session in the pool with Jacki tomorrow so I'll be able to find out more then as well. I'm looking forward to it.
So with any luck I'm out of the foot problem woods and back into the right leg is weaker than the left leg woods again. So for now thats where my focus is going to be on getting that right. With the plan being to keep a close eye on it, strengthen it as much as possible, and consider seeking professional help with it.
As well as that I framed out a rough training schedule for myself that goes like this...
Monday... OFF
Tuesday... Swim / Weight Train
Wednesday... Run
Thursday.... Swim / Weight Train
Friday.... Bike
Saturday... Long Run
Sunday... Long Bike / Short Run Brick
For now the short runs will all be 5Ks, and the long ones will be 5 milers until I feel like my legs are doing better. Swims will for now be drills for 20-30 minutes until I can start logging real freestyle laps.
The Friday Bike will be 60 minutes with some sprints, and Sunday will be 12 mile bike, 3 mile run bricks which is the same as my upcoming race in August. I'll also probably alternate the Sunday Brick workouts with the Providence Bicycle group rides as well. If thats the case I'll try and add a short run onto the Friday Bike workout so I can keep getting in the habit of running off the bike.
So thats my initial plan I'm going to start following tomorrow! So tomorrow AM I'm in the pool with my coach, and in the afternoon/early evening I'll hit the weights. Here's hoping my foot and leg feel good tomorrow!
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