Week 32 – Shake it Out

 

Another week has flown by!  Incredible!  Everyone coming back from vacation and kids are going back to school and I’m like “WHAT? I DIDN’T HAVE A SUMMER HOLIDAY YET!!”

Since I want to get this post up while it’s still Monday, you’ll have to forgive me for not doing my weekly stats photo.  I ran, I biked, I walked and I went to the gym.  Pretty much same dealio as the weeks before.

 

Here’s how last week went down:
Plan vs Actual
Monday – Rest
Tuesday – Runiversity (and it will be 36 degrees / 97F – UGH)
Wednesday – Bodypump
Thursday – massage clients
Friday – day off + Runiversity
Saturday – rest
Sunday – 25KM (going to manage it this time!!!)

 

Monday – Nailed it again! I’m good at these rest days!! Fairly relaxed day at work. Had to bike home at lunchtime to send off a package and return a pair of shorts that I bought the week before. Otherwise It was a rest day for sure.

 

Tuesday – Runiversity Training I had a training day (well, morning) at work planned in, so was a really easy day. I had to go to the hospital though in the afternoon; I was able to get a pretty quick appointment with my orthopaedic surgeon – I wanted to talk to him about the pain in my foot. It’s increased again in the last 6 – 8 weeks and I have started to become paranoid that I have a stress fracture. He felt the affected area and was also concerned since it really is right on the bone under the third toe (so the third metatarsal). He sent me immediately to x-ray. Within 5 minutes I had the x-ray done, then another 2 minute wait and the radiologist said there was no break that she could see. Back up to Ortho. Another 10 minutes and I saw the doctor again. He wants me to have another MRI (even though I had one in March) because I have new and different symptoms than last time AND the MRI would show if there is a stress fracture. Only problem is – I can’t get the MRI until the 10th of September (I love socialised medicine, don’t get me wrong, but sometimes things take forever). IF there is no stress fracture then I can *finally* be referred to someone else who possibly knows more than this guy does. I’m so fed up. He did not say stop running. If it is an SF there will be no marathon, but I’m not going to assume and stop training. (It’s probably NOT a stress fracture – then we will be back at square one).

Enough about that though.  I went to training that evening, and there were just two of us and the trainer.  It was a good training, though hot and definitely sweaty! In total I ran 6.35 KM (and biked there and back for 12.6KM).

Wednesday – BodyPump. unfortunately we heard back from the insurance company for my bike that the report my bike shop did was not complete and we had to take the bike back. I was not amused, nor was Ron.  So after some vigorous discussions with them, I rushed home so he would be able to then bike over there again to complete the report while I went to Bodypump to work out my frustrations.  In the end it turned out ok, the report was complete and we were able to send it off to the insurance company.  Vincent was on vacation with his wife Wendy and their son, so I went to the gym on my own.

Oh yeah, and weigh-in?  I lost 100 grams.  So, again, maintaining my weight (last week was +100g).

 

 

Thursday  – Massage Clients last day at work for the week, and was pretty busy.  I have a new colleague on the team so we are all pitching in to show her the ropes.  I The weather finally changed and we got some rain!  I left work in enough time to go home, change and get my rain poncho since I had to bike up to the health center for massage clients. I changed my Friday out for Thursday evening to free up my day off from job #1.   So it was a long day but it felt good when I went home that I would be able to sleep in a bit the next day and not have any commitments!

 

 

Friday – Runiversity and Day off!!  I DID sleep in a bit but once I was up and at ’em I started going through my athletic wear and other accessories that needed to be put in the right places in my workout room. First I dumped everything out and started sorting out based on category;  hats, safety vests, compression socks, shorts, long pants, capris, cotton tees, running tees, massage towels… you get the picture right?  Once that was done I needed to have enough receptacles to put everything in!   So I headed out to the shopping center to get a few plastic boxes and a large crate for all my foam rollers and free weights.  Everything is nice and organised now!

At some point though I had to stop what I was doing (I was mostly done anyway) and head off to training.  Another good run – this evenings training was 20 x 100m.  My goal (from my trainer) was to do each one around 29 – 31 seconds max.  And except for, I think, 2 rounds, I was right on target!  YEAH!  Total run: 5.2KM (and of course biking there and back for 14KM – can’t remember why Tuesday’s ride was shorter – weird!)

 

 

Saturday – Sort of nailed it. no RPM, total rest day for me.  Although, Ron went out for his run in the morning and ran over to pick up his new bike – so I biked over there to meet him and then we biked home (so total biking 11.7KM).  When we got home we then jumped in the car as we have been wanting to buy new mattresses (hopefully this could help me sleep better as well – our mattresses are just well overdue to be replaced).  After spending quite some time at a specialty store we finally decided on what to buy (and added two new pillows to the mix as well), now we just have to wait for them to be delivered (in about 3 weeks).

After that it was really nothing else on the program.  We had our regular Saturday night pasta dinner, watched some telly, had a beer and went to bed early “enough” to be able to get up early for the long run.

 

Sunday –  Long Run 25KM I had a pretty rough sleep and did not manage to get up on time, which means I did not leave on time either.  Sigh.  I wanted to be out by 8:30 and I was finally out at 9:30.  To be honest the run wasn’t so bad in the beginning.  I was feeling good and fueled up properly.  But again, around 8KM my legs started to feel like lead.  I thought to myself that I wasn’t going to bail on this distance again (25KM).  I was going to tough it out and just do it no matter what.  But MAN was it hard.  My foot was also hurting so bad.  At some point, I think around 14KM I stopped in a park , filled up my water reservoir and took off my shoe to massage my foot.  It didn’t really help though.  I pushed through and finally made it home 4 hours later (the run itself was 3hours 15 min).   Awful.

 

I got home and immediately threw myself onto my yoga mat and started stretching my legs and my feet!  and then I just closed my eyes and fell asleep for about 15 minutes.  Ha!  Ron came back from his run around then and he threw himself on the bed and passed out. OMG.  We are such an exciting couple!

Eventually we both showered and got dressed because it was time to go to Ikea again.  We have *finally* made the decision to buy a new wardrobe for the bedroom.  I have only been complaining about the one we have for pretty much the whole time I’m living here and now I actually will have space to put my clothes, shoes, bags, etc…  So that’s done and that will be delivered in less than a week.

Of course no Sunday would be complete without pizza and ice cream.  I did warn him that when marathon training is over, so is pizza and ice cream Sunday!!

 

I think it’s safe to say that I’m letting go of a time goal for Warsaw.  I’m determined to run it, but with my foot, I just don’t want to put pressure on myself (even subconsciously) to have a PR.  I’m looking into some sort of sock or brace that could help – so if y’all know of anything that could help me – specifically for pain on top of and under (the ball) my foot I’m all ears!!

Plan for Week 33

Monday – Rest or RPM
Tuesday – Runiversity Training
Wednesday – SocialMile Birthday Run
Thursday – Bodypump
Friday – Massage clients + Runiversity
Saturday – RPM + massage clients
Sunday – I *think* I have 14km on the plan

I actually start my “vacation”  on Thursday, I’m at least off work until the 6th of September.  I leave on the 24th for Hamburg for the Ragnar Relay!  Then I’m back on the 28th.   I’m not allowed to make any plans from the 30th until the 6th.  I do know I’m not “home”  for my birthday (3 sept) but where I am, I do not know.  I’m trying not to think about it!  Being a bit of a control freak that’s kind of hard!

So, tell me –
Do you have great short runs/ trainings and then struggle with the long run?
Do you have any tips or tricks to stop the ball of my foot (and the top) from ruining my long run?
Have you run a Ragnar and have a good tip for me for running at night (I’m a little freaked out about it)?
Do you have a collection of hats and compression socks that require their very own storage container?