Month in Review

On this last day of March I thought it was worth a look back and take stock. As I started this month of running things were going pretty well, though my plantar fasciitis was once again flaring up and prompted me to make an appointment to see my physio to try and get to the root of the problem. As she was away my assessment had to wait until the 25th and so I had to run and manage as best I could on my own. I managed to up my long runs to 18k and 20k without any problems, but ran into some issues when I attempted 24k. Due to my lack of proper hydration and nutrition in the two days leading up to this milestone run I paid the price with major calf crampage that would pretty much ruin the last two weeks of planned training leading up to the Around the Bay 30k. After getting some massage therapy the calves loosened up just in time, but on the short test run before the race a new problem crept up in the form of hip/ITB pain on the left side. I didn't let this stop me and ended up making it to the starting line with the goal of just finishing the 30k, which I did despite some major pain. In short: mission accomplished! I'm also a little wiser for the effort.

I also managed a new monthly high in mileage by running 130.6km.

Now, a couple of days after the race, I am pleasantly surprised to find that my expected pain, which I though would be debilitating, is not that bad at all. The biggest thing still lingering from the race is my plantar fasciitis in the right foot, and the hip is feeling like it's pretty much back to normal. Is it possible that I shocked it back into shape? I don't know, but I really don't care.

Today I biked up to the pool at lunch and swam a pretty decent 1200m in about 18 minutes. It was interesting that my shoulders, especially the traps, were tight from the race. I guess when you run that long for the first time your whole body gets a workout at the end just to get you through.

Tonight I did another strength routine with the yoga ball consisting of sit ups, push ups, and chin ups. I'm comfortably doing sets of 40 sit ups and 35 push ups now so I think it's time to think about upping these as of next week. The chin ups are still a challenge, though I think that's partly because I do them after the other exercises, and I'm still stuck on sets of 8.

Tomorrow I am actually planning on heading out for a nice easy 5k, but will leave the final decision until the evening. My quads are tight, but I think with another night off and some stretching and such they will likely be ready for a short recovery run. Here's hoping I'm right! The foot is status quo and I should be able to manage the pain as long as I run slowly. I am working on my range of motion as far as dorsiflexion goes and have already improved on that front. When my range was measured by the physio I only managed 12cm on the right foot compared to 14.5cm on the left (measured from the wall to the longest toe while keeping ones heel down and touching the knee to the wall). Today I measured myself and have improved the right foot to measure 13.5cm! I hope that increasing this range of motion will eventually help the plantar fascia to heal.