heel healing

Started the week happy to be over the variety off illnesses I had last week. But my heel pain got progressively worse. It was so bad on Wednesday morning, that I broke down and made an appointment with my sports medicine doctor. Thankfully, he could see me that afternoon. X-rays negative, plantar fasciitis. He injected my heel with cortisone and two other meds, gave me heel cushions to wear in my shoes, said to continue icing/stretching, and that I could resume running the next day. No pain on Thursday, tiny pain on Friday. Wish I had gone to see him a month ago! I feel like a new woman now that the pain is gone!  I'm going to start writing more details about long runs in hopes of learning lessons and making future improvements.  My focus is going to be on weather/clothing and nutrition/hydration since these are the two areas that I seem to have the most problems with.  My weekly running details follow...

Monday:  Rest Day

Tuesday:  stationary bike

Wednesday:  swimming, doctor for heel pain.  I'm so relieved that it's not a stress fracture and that I can continue running! Hope the cortisone shot kills the pain!

Thursday:  5.5 miles in 59:39, and it felt great!  Goal was one mile warm-up, two miles at 11:30 pace, two miles at sub-11 pace, half-mile cool down.  Actual:  11:59, 11:25, 11:15, 10:38, 9:16, then cool-down half mile.  Was a great run. I'm so happy to be pain free!

Friday:  Rest Day. Received an awesome magazine type format of race results from the 2009 Chicago marathon in the mail today.  Although I was disappointed in how I performed in that race (later diagnosed as hamstring tendonitis), I was so happy to see that my name/finish time wasn't on the very last printed page of race results. Woo hoo!  Looking forward to performing better on 10/10/10.

Saturday:  Long Run
Run details:  10.04 miles in 1:51:38, and felt great.  Began run at 12:55 p.m.  I ran at the cushy high school track for a soft surface to test the heel. Coach said to do 8 slow/easy miles, if heel didn't hurt, and stretch it to 10 if it felt good.  I felt great until about 7.5 miles, when my left patellar tendon (knee) felt like it was on fire.  I walked a few minutes and stretched it really good, then continued. I think it may be from running non-stop on a flat surface for such a distance.  I usually walk a few seconds at each water stop on long runs, which are usually on hilly routes.  The few minute walk and stretch released the burning sensation.  Coach suggested the pace of 11:10-11:20 for this run.  He said to do it at a comfortable pace that I would feel like I could keep going forever.  My average pace was 11:07 minutes/mile.  I just started crusing easily around the track and that's the way it worked out.  I looked at my Garmin frequently, but only rarely made adjustments to pace based on the stats it was giving me.  I went by how I was feeling rather than the numbers on the watch.  I was definitely tired at the end, so I wonder if I should have gone a little slower.  My average heart rate was 151; I don't know enough about heartrate training to know if that's where it should have been or not.  Oh well, miles done, and with the exception of that 7-8 mile point where my knee was burning, I think it went well.  The mile splits were:  11:00, 10:57, 11:05, 10:58, 11:02, 11:06, 11:05, 11:37 (walk/stretch knee), 11:13, 11:08.  After the run, I came home and sat in a cold bath for 20 minutes in hopes of reducing inflammation in heel, knees, legs, etc.
Weather: 60 degrees and sunny (woo hoo!)
Clothing: white summer Nike hat, Nike sunglasses, hot pink long-sleeve loose fitting shirt, compression tights, shorts, thick balga socks, Asics Gel 2150 shoes.
Under the same weather conditions, what would I do differently? I pushed the sleeves up within the first half mile, so next time, wear short-sleeves. The looseness allowed enough air flow to keep me from getting too hot.
Nutrition:
* Last night: I ate quinoa topped with organic diced tomatoes and steamed vegies (brocoli, zuchini, carrots, onion, garlic).  I didn't have a recipe, but just created my own meal.  And wow, it was delicious! Wonder if I can repeat it? 
* Pre-run:  I slept late.  Around 11:45 a.m., (an hour and 15 minutes before run) I ate three boiled egg whites, a cup of steel-cut oatmeal with a teaspoon of honey and a handful of raspberries.
* During run:  I consumed a vanilla clif shot gel and water at mile 2, water at mile 4, sips of lemon-lime Hammer Nutrition Heed at mile 6, heed at mile 8 and again at mile 9, then finished off my heed bottle after the run.  Heed was mixed 1 scoop in 28 oz bottle (100 calories).
* After run:  About 30 minutes after run, ate a small plate of left over quinoa topped with tomato/vegie mix.
* Results?  Fueling felt good during run. Came home and pooped immediately.  Felt the need at mile 3 but held it in since the bathrooms are locked at the track during non-school hours/events.  Pooped again about 2 hours later.  Happy for no cramps/diarrhea!

Sunday:  3.15 mile jog/walk with Riley (golden retriever) + 1000 meters swim.  Coach Josh had scheduled me to do 45 minutes on the stationary bike + 1000 yards swimming today.  But the day was just too gorgeous to spend it inside on the stationary bike.  Another 60 degree and sunny day.  Plus, Riley has been waking me up several times a night lately, so I thought that a jog/walk may tire him enough to let me sleep all night.  So I took him to Stone Mountain.  Lots of other people had the same idea; it took me a while to find a parking spot.  There were a lot of people and dogs on the trail, so we spent more time walking/waiting for people to pass, than we did jogging. He used to easily run 4 miles on the trail, but today he lost steam at 2 miles.  I haven't been taking him running much lately because of the weather, my heel, and focusing on quality work-outs.  I'm looking forward to being able to do those easy recovery runs so I can get him back into shape.  At 2.5 miles, he had been panting heavily and refused to drink water.  He normally runs in front of me, but now was lagging behind.  So I stopped and made him sit for about 10 minutes since we still had about a half-mile to go and this was unusual behavior.  We ended up walking the last mile. He refused to drink water on the trail or at the car and continued to pant heavily.  He looked happy though. As soon as we arrived home, he drank out of his water bowl and happily greeted the dog that we had left behind; I just can't handle both of them on the trail and Riley is the one in most need of exercise.
Swim:  After ensuring the dogs had plenty of water, I changed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool.  I wondered if I would be able to get 1000 meters in before the pool closed. I decided that I would just do what I could and quit at either 1000 meters or when they closed the pool.  Arriving this late kept me going strong and I swam faster than I have been lately.  1000 meters in 33 minutes.  Felt great!  I'm really getting into swimming.

Weekly Summary:

• Days run this week:  2
• Miles run this week:  15.54
• Highlight of the week:  Heel feels better!  No upset tummy after long run!
• Goal for next week:  run more with continued heel healing