I’m Tired and My Feet Hurt, WAAAAAAH!

two little runners ~Kristen

Unscheduled rest days. Two phantom foot niggles. Stiff joints. Swollen ankles. A coworker commenting that I seem grumpy. Feeling annoyed, easily irritated. Fighting back a couple desk naps.

Yet a cutback in mileage this week.

Now I understand the difficulty of marathon training versus half marathon training. My marathon workouts aren’t as hard for me as when we were training for the Vegas RnR Half last year. So far, I’m easily completing the workouts in my training plan. My difficulty with marathon training has been the wear and tear. And managing the fatigue. It’s more miles; it’s more time running.

I am succeeding in the training but beginning to fail in the recovery department. 

My biggest problem is my feet. When I wake up in the morning, I feel like am at the end of a 15 miler. And it doesn't get much better throughout the day. Whenever possible, I've been running on trails and grass. 

It occurs to me that I've run about 350 miles since mid-February when I started training for this marathon, and 100% of those miles have been in Saucony Mirages. I loved the Mirages from the start, and now I'm on my second pair, behold:

Since I started tucking my ties into my laces,
my shoes have never come untied on a run. 

The Mirage is a minimalist shoe. It's not my first minimalist shoe; I trained for much of Vegas in Brooks Pure Flows. So I felt comfortable and strong enough to use the Mirage day in and day out. I think the Mirage falls on the more conventional end of the minimalist spectrum because it has a drop of 4 mm. The shoe is light and has good ground feel. I like that the sole is stiff. You can't bend it in any direction.

But the Mirage is pretty stripped down in the cushioning department I am coming to realize. Perhaps I need a little more cushioning now that I am doing 3 runs a week that are longer than 10 miles...

So an experiment next week. I am going back to New Balance 890s. A shoe I've purchased 6 times over. My old reliables, which always take me back even after I've dumped them for newer, more attractive models.

Best wishes to all the Boston runners!!

7 weeks out (42 miles)

4/6 (Sa) – Easy 6 in Carlsbad @ 8:30.

            Picked up bib for 5K at race expo and ran along the coast. Legs felt springy and fresh, which was a good sign for the race.

4/7(Su) – Carlsbad 5000. 10 miles, including 3.1 race miles.

            Got a nice 5K PR of 19:36 (6:19 pace). Included some warm up miles and an easy run afterward.

 4/8 – Rest + big time yoga, foam roll, stretch.

4/9 (Tu) – Tempo. 11 miles with 9 @ 7:17 (M pace).

            The very tip of my big toe flared up after this tempo run. Weird spot for a niggle. It randomly throbbed for a few seconds throughout the day. First run in my second pair of Saucony Mirages.

4/10 (W) – Rest.

            Took a rest day because the big toe tip still randomly throbbing. There are so many factors that I could blame it on. The 5K. Kinks working their way out of the body from Monday’s massive yoga/stretch sesh. New running shoes. Wearing flat shoes with no support every day at work.

4/11 (Th) – Intervals. 10 miles with 6 x 1 mile @ 6:50 (1/2 M pace).

            Taking Wednesday as a rest day paid off. Toe tip pain all gone. But new niggle emerged. This time – what feels like muscle tightness on the back of my left foot wrapping around under both ankles. Are there even muscles back there?

4/12 (F) – Legs plus 5 easy miles @ 8:30 in grass/trails.

two little runners ~Kristen

I leave you with some more photos of the elite race at Carlsbad 5000.