Heat, Plantar Fasciitis and Taper

Hi!

Running this week started off pretty well. I got three six milers in and a ten miler with fartleks. Then we came to Sunday and my last long run. I intended to run 22 miles. This is where things got a bit ugly. I knew it was going to be hot, so I sacrificed sleep in order to get on the road early. Even so, it got over 80 degrees while I was running. I planned my run so that I would be back at my house to refill my water bottles at 16 miles. I have a fuel belt (which I discussed in a previous post) that is supposed to be able to hold 32 ounces. However, based on other graduated containers I know it doesn't actually hold quite that much. Typically, it should have been plenty for 16 miles though. Unfortunately, I ran out of water at 12 miles. Sometime early on I decided to cut the run down to 20 miles. While I would have liked to do 22, it just didn't seem in the cards and five 20 milers is pretty solid in my opinion. When I got back to my house at 16 miles, I nearly vomited at the end of the driveway and decided to call it a day. I got into my house, took off my shoes, drank some juice and started to feel a bit better. I decided to struggle through the last 4 miles, so I refilled my bottles, laced up my shoes and headed out. The last miles were slow and consisted of walking, running and dumping water on my head. It was ugly, but at least I got the time on my feet.

My plantar fasciitis issues are haunting me again too. I hadn't really had pain while running until yesterday. I changed my shoes from my usual trainers (Brooks Defyance) into the Nike Free's for the last 4 miles, which helped a lot. This led me to wonder what to do for the marathon though, since I had planned to run in the Defyance. I don't want to run a marathon in Free's since they allow so much lateral motion. I decided to buy some racing flats and try them out. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my socks to the store. I wear Thorlos, which are fairly thick for running socks. I borrowed some sock at the running store, but they were a bit thinner. When I got home and put on the flat with my Thorlos, they seem slightly too small. I'm going to go back tomorrow and try the next half size larger. Hopefully that will work out. I've also been icing and stretching my foot like crazy. I plan to take some ibuprofin as well, but I don't have any right now. Hopefully the PF will calm down over the next three weeks.

So, I head into taper for Grandma's. I'm more collapsing into the taper than going into it with a bang as I'd prefer, but I should be fine. This training cycle has had some real high points and some real low ones. I learned that maybe the Pfitz plan exactly as written isn't for me and that 24 weeks is way too long for me to focus on training for a single race. Overall, I feel pretty good and I'm getting excited for the race. More in-depth reflection is to follow....

Happy Running!

Jen