My wonderful wife has given the green light for a Garmin. Wahoo! Perhaps pulling a hamstring, breaking a toe and having your HRM die within three weeks of a marathon you have trained for five months for has some benefits.
Work was hectic today. So by the time I filed and bathed Elle, dusk had descended upon us. Undaunted I felt it was time to test out this damned toe. The mission was simple: run but not kill myself.
To guard against a painful flare-up halfway through the run forcing me to limp home, I opted to run around the block. First lap, I just glided along in 12:30. At that point I was marvelling the fact that I was still alive so I banged out at 12-minute loop. The last lap wrapped up in 11:30. I didn't light the course on fire but I'm still walking and smiling. That was my primary objective.
So the terrible toe. I'm not limping. And I didn't feel it held me back too much although I wasn't pushing myself. At worst it felt like I had a pointy rock in my shoe that was digging into my foot. There was a small burning sensation, surprisingly enough it didn't cause death. So I continued running.
The big test, however, is going to be tomorrow. I'm praying that I wake up feeling no ill effects. If that is the case I will attempt 10K.
Labour Day is well behind us and Remembrance Day is still off in the distance. That said I faced a long weekend when it came to toe care. I feel silly just saying toe care. In less than two weeks I plan to conquer internal battles and physical barriers by running 26.2 miles, yet the only thing between victory and myself is a small, silly and broken toe.
For the last five days I've iced the toe. I've taped the toe. And I've elevated it while sleeping. Does it feel better? The public answer is: progress is being made. Truthfully, I have no idea. It's like Gary a month ago who thought he was cured of a foot injury so he jumped on his foot to test it out. He quickly became injured again. So I don't want to follow that example.
I went to the YMCA this morning. I rode a bike for 15 minutes. I tried an elliptical machine but after about five minutes I hopped off. It required way too much co-ordination for 6:15 a.m. Finally I hit the Stair Master for 30 minutes. Ho-hum. A very uneventul hour. I'm glad I was active though. I am starting to go stir crazy with all this R&R.
Perhaps after work tomorrow I'll attempt a run around the block.
Well I can't say that the toe feels too bad this morning even after the run/walk and then standing all night at Nina's going away party. Obviously I can feel a little pain, but it is broken after all. While I don't have any excruciating pain any more, it feels as if it is hot all the time. I think the toughest part is stuffing my foot into brand new (and very nice, I might add) shoes that have not had time to broken in. Such is life I guess. So I'm claiming a partial victory.
I hopped on the scale this morning and much to my relief and lack of recent running has not caused me to gain any weight. I can't afford to put on any new weight before Oct. 9.
I just got back from a relatively pain free, 34-minute run/walk. I started by walking for about five minutes and then I started a slow jog for about one kilometre. I walked for about 500 metres and then jogged for another kilometre and so on.
Overall it was a positive run. I was paying a lot of attention to how my toe was feeling. At times it was burning a bit but I'm not sure if that was real or just in my mind because I was concentrating so hard on it. The big test will be in a few hours or when I wake up to see if there are any ill effects.
So far, so good.
Ok, my valiant post earlier about running come hell or high water tonight is on hold. Listening to the advice of my wife and Ricky, I opted for the Oromocto ER. It is 6:41 and I've spoken with a nurse and I think we're planning an x-ray. The nurse -- who regardless of what Elvy Robichaud says cannot order x-rays yet -- said I will likely have to “buddy splint” the toe. That means I will have to tape them together. She seems confident that running the marathon won't be a problem although the toe may not be healed.
Anyway I tracked down a copy of the August Runner's World that I didn't have so I'm going to get comfortable and start reading.
It appears as if it is going to be a nice evening so I want to take this stupid toe out for a run. It is still sore but I am not limping any more ... well not as much. As of yet I'm still not sure if I will wrap it or put a splint on it. I'm not a doctor so I wouldn't want to do more harm than good.
I broke my left little toe! This is heart-breaking. I AM running the marathon. End of discussion.
With 22 days to go before RVM I had to do my speed session today. There was no choice. It was pouring rain. The wind was gusting. It was ugly.
I started with a 2.7K lap at an easy pace around the neighbourhood. Then I did the repeats. My three, one-mile splits were 6:02, 6:20, 6:23. The last two seem slow but the head wind that I had for all but 500M was fierce. I'm surprised they were that fast. I put a lot into the run, but can't help but feel more gas could have been turned on if the conditions were better. Tomorrow is a long run and the rain is not scheduled to relent.
Ophelia be gone!
I need to do my run and it is pouring. Not just a sprinkle either, we're talking torrents of rain.
Ok so as if I'm not paranoid enough about my lack of preparedness for RVM, which is in 22 days. My HRM just went into complete meltdown last night.
I was late for my run, so I'm rushing around at home and I find my HRM is not picking up my heart rate, but I figure there is just interference. I get to the track and on my second warm up lap it just blinks twice and kaput. Nothing. Nada. Zippo.
I admit I didn't use the HRM to its fullest capabilities but in training I used it to make sure I was running fast enough on speed workouts and not too fast on LSDs. Now nothing. This is so not good.
Anyway, the run had to go on last night. So I did six warm up laps at a laughingly easy pace and then did 16x100-metre stride/100-jog and finished with six easy laps. I was supposed to be out an hour but I'd guess it was only 35 minutes. It was way too dark to continue.
The workout felt ok, though my hamstring tightened up on my final two 100-metre strides.
If someone can enlighten me why I opted to do six, 2.7K laps around the neighbourhood? Repetitive scenery, knee-pounding pavement and the constant yearning to stop early.
I gutted it out in 1:12:24. I had a 161 average HR and 176 max HR. My splits were 11:51, 12:07, 12:17, 12:21, 12:01, 11:45 and 11:50. Quick calculations tell me I wrapped each K in an average of 4:45 or about 20 seconds slower than dream marathon pace.
I had a grand total of zero energy today. I feel my immune system is on the brink of meltdown, leaving me like Wylie Coyote staring back at the Roadrunner who is 20 feet away still standing on the mountain ledge ... only one way for my health to go.
Less than a month to RVM and I need to throw the hammer down on the training. I worry that I'm not intense enough. I've got the aerobic base there but I'm missing that final gear that will allow me to bust through the 22-mile wall and score a PB. On Oct. 9, I'm going have to bring my A-game and I'm going have to bring it writ large.
Blogging while watching Canadian Idol. I think I heard a judge refer to that talent competition as “a marathon.” Hee hee. Right...
Tonight was an easy run after work. I went 7.8K along the trail. The bugs were absolutely terrible. It really disrupts my breathing when I have to hold my breath or start swiping bugs out of my mouth.
I did exactly what I wanted to do tonight. I ran an easy 18:20 on the way out and 18:20 on the way back. I had an average HR of 158 and max of 167. I read a fascinating RW article on runners who run faster when they train at lower intensities. I think I followed that advice tonight.
UPDATE: It turns out I was a tad dehydrated after Sunday's 30K. I ended up dropping five pounds. They came back on Tuesday after a day of eating and drinking.
