Week Seven: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Week Seven... The good, the bad and the ugly....  

We are wrapping up week seven this weekend and headed into week eight.  It has been a couple weeks since our team has checked in.  Lot's of things going on including some good, some bad, some ugly, and a good old fashioned runners slump.  Let's get caught up and see where we are headed in the next few weeks of the training plan. 

The good.....  Over the last couple weeks, our team has been busy with life.  Lots of travel happening and we conquered miles in Minneapolis, Wisconsin Dells, Florida, and Hawaii.  I am proud of the team for packing gear and making runs a priority when away from home.   We also hit double digits with a ten miler!

Sara and Lou took a family trip to Florida and Lou was able to run on the beach!

 Jenn spent some time in Hawaii and is proud to report she ran everyday!

   Liz traveled to Wisconsin Dells for a v-ball tournament and ran some hilly miles

 Liz and I took the kids to the Mall of America over spring break and packed our running gear.  Minneapolis had a late season winter storm and it was too icy to run outside.  We managed some indoor treadmill miles - boy was it hot in that running room!!!  Also we are pretty sure the treadmills haven't been maintenanced in awhile since we both managed 8 minute miles, LOL.  Lots of good miles happened while traveling the last few weeks - of course Jenn and Lou are the winners since they ran in Hawaii and Florida!

More good.....

 

  Double digits!  Logged our first ten mile of this training program.  

  I was pretty proud of this negative split run!  There is a slight downhill around mile 2-3 so I take advantage of that - but I am pumped that the last miles were still negative splits coming off the downhill slope.  

 

Sunshine smiling miles!

The bad...... So clearly, we have had lots of good in the past few weeks.  Running is weird though.  One day can be amazing and awesome and the very next day can be a rough, brutal run.  We did have a stretch of some "bad" these past few weeks.   Liz and I are both working through some runners aches and pains.  She is having some leg cramps she just can't get on top of.  She's worked on hydration, electrolytes, stretching, and has even gone to PT and is really working on her cadence.  She has been working hard to take more steps but run the same pace - weird, right?  She has even added a metronome!   For me, I am dealing with the left foot pain that is getting annoying.  There is a pain in the ball of my right foot that causes my toes to have "zingers" and then they go numb.

We both took a trip to the Duluth Running Company.  We both had very helpful advice - they are just amazing there!!  After analyzing our gate ----- which by the way, let me tell you how they do that.... you briefly run on the treadmill and they record your feet.  I unexpectedly went to Duluth so I was not prepared.  I ran on the treadmill in jeans and no sports bra with other customers in the store.  OMG.  LOL.  I really want these feet fixed so in the end, I really didn't care who watched ----- so after analyzing our gate, we both switched shoes.  Liz returned to a pair she has used in the past and I switched from Hoka to Saucony.  Liz is doing ok in her shoes since she has worn them before.  For me, I am a little nervous to run in new shoes so close to race day.  11 weeks is still time but I don't want new shoes to mess with my arches, heels, or shins.

 We are super excited we both have running gear to match our new shoes, LOL.  Of course comfort and fit are the most important.... but it helps they are pretty too! 

So with everything we have going on, the two weeks was the really the first time we dropped some runs, shortened runs, and adjusted the training plan.  After this run, I posted this....

Question:  What are your options after a stretch of challenging runs?
Answers:
A:  Quit
B:  Shrug it off

We went with..... B

 

So this is what is going on with my foot.  This is where the pain is and with my symptoms, I think I have what is called Morton's Neuroma.  I saw my primary care provider who referred me to podiatry.  I am hoping for a cortisone injection next week to help alleviate the inflammation.  The new shoes might help too - I went up by one size and got something with a wider toe box.  I am hesitant to run in them yet - I think I will try them for short runs but stay in my other shoes for long runs until I see what podiatry says.

   So this toe is happening on our team right now but I won't name names. 
Not sure if this falls under Bad or Ugly???

The ugly...... This weekend I came down with some sort of GI bug.  It has been pretty ugly the last 24 hours.  I think it was something I ate because my son and I got sick at the exact same time.  I have barely left the couch much less run.  Yesterday I didn't eat a thing until late in the evening.  I feel like I have lost weeks of training.  I missed a few runs last week with our aches and pains - and now I have missed a 12 mile.  I think this is the slump I was talking about and it is hard not to feel like I won't be able to turn this around and get back on track.  Of course I know I will - but right now, it feels like I will never run 3 miles much less 26.2

So even with the bad and the ugly the past few weeks..... I will leave the post with this.....

We will make it.... but we will also keep telling our story along the way.....

See you next week, I won't take another writer's break!

Carrie and the crew.