feet don't fail me now

Well, it is suspected that I have stress fracture in my 5th metatarsal :(

There is no way to tell for sure without an MRI (and that isn't happening). I am currently wrapped in kinesio tape and will ice, wrap and rest until Sunday. I am going to try to run tomorrow and see if the pain is better, worse or the same...and if things go well, I will still plan on running the race on Sunday. I have trained too hard to give up now!

And either way, there will be a walking boot in my future.

hoping for the best

Well, I ran my 8 miles yesterday and finished in 01:22:31...a personal best for me! I felt great as soon as I finished mile 3, so that must be my magic mile. After that, I was on auto-pilot :)

I am a little bummed because I have this pain on the outside of my left foot. I have been icing it and taking some ibuprofen and if it is still feeling the same I am going to have it looked at tomorrow. I am hoping it is just a bruise and not a stress fracture! Arrrghh!!!

I took today off from cross training and will either cross train or run tomorrow based on the foot status.

the final countdown!

Here I am...1 week away from my race! The past month has been quite challenging and I haven't been able to train like I wanted. However, I have tried to not let that discourage me! My confidence is definitely down some, but I feel like I will still finish within my goal. Today I will run 8 miles and it couldn't be any better weather here. I am eager to cross the finish line next week!

Training schedule this week:

Sunday - 8 miles
Monday - cross train
Tuesday - 5 miles
Wednesday - 2 miles
Thursday - rest
Friday - rest
Saturday - rest
Sunday - RACE DAY!

balancing act

I have had quite the struggle with finding balance lately...personal life, work, training. It's been a busy few weeks, but good. I truly envy people that can find that balance between everything because it is hard! I am getting back on my schedule, but I haven't been training on the pace that I should be. I hope that I haven't pushed back my progress because the race is less than a month away! I have my first 10 mile run in the morning, so that will tell me if I am still on track. I think that I will be fine, but I am getting a little nervous. Tonight, I am sitting down and revising my training for the last few weeks. I am still up for the challenge, but I must get my balance back to truly succeed.

Training: Week 9

At this point, I feel that my training is going to become physically difficult. My weekely mileage is increasing to 20+ miles and I will be training 4 days a week. I think I am really going to have to focus on my diet so I won't feel "run" down...haha, I'm a dork!

Here is the plan for this week:

Tuesday - Easy Run
2 miles @12:03 (ran this tonight in the 'hood)

Thursday - Tempo Run

• 1 mile warm up
• 5 miles @ 10:37
• 1 mile cool down

Friday - Easy Run
2 miles @12:03

Sunday - Long Run
9 miles @ 12:03

running the island

Yesterday was a perfect morning to run the entire island of Wrightsville Beach...it was 74 degrees at 7:45am with cloudy skies that would send a few random drops of rain down just when I needed it. My total distance was 8.1 miles and my time was 1:30:27. There was a strong headwind as I ran the first half towards the north end of the beach, and for just a second I let it mess with my head. I felt great throughout the run - my breathing was controlled and my legs felt strong. My knees did feel tired on the homestretch and my lower back feels a little tight today, but not bad.

The plan was to beach it after my run, but the weather didn't cooperate. We spent the rest of the day rehydrating at Dockside and Lagerheads.

Training: Week 8

I have really been off with my training and I have been a little down on myself. Brian was out of town for 2 weeks and I ran myself to exhaustion between taking care of the dogs and working 15 of the last 17 days, including 3 community events. I have 2 more days of work and then 2 days off and back to my regular schedule...whew!

So, last week I did nothing for training...nothing! I worked, came home, ate, slept. I did attempt to get up at 5:45am to run, but it was dark outside and I rolled back over.

This week started with a crazy work week, but it has leveled out now and I am back on track (for the most part). I am really looking forward to my long run on Sunday and then I am hitting the beach for two days!

This week was supposed to consist of three 4-mile Easy Runs, but since I was slack last week I am going to modify this week to make up some training. I missed my Tuesday run, but I had a good 5 mile run at The Loop today.

So here is the plan for the rest of the week:

Friday - cross training

Saturday - OFF - working at the gym

Sunday - 8 miler! Check it out: WB8