A Little Bit of Running

I did a little bit of running this week. No, my foot is not better. But I'm finding a way to run with it. 

Running the trails gives me very little pain. I think this is due to the softer surface of the trails but also the stiffness of my trail shoes. Running on pavement gives me a little more trouble. I had the idea that maybe splinting my foot where the toes meet the forefoot might be helpful. To do that, I used a thin elastic headband and wound it around that part of my foot. Voila! Landing on the makeshift splint took some of the impact off the ball of my foot. It wasn't perfect, but at least I could get my miles in. 

Since there's no pressure to train for anything right now, I'm freely taking walk breaks when I need to. It feels good to be back out there and I'm hoping that I can continue to do this while I wait for the tear in my plantar plate to heal. 

Will it heal? I may as well pull out the Magic 8 ball. There's very little research done on the treatment of this injury. For now, I'll continue to splint the foot and hope for healing. 

Weekly Rundown

Sunday: trail run 6 miles, waterskiing

Monday: CrossFit with 2250m running

Tuesday: rest

Wednesday: trail run 5 miles

Thursday: Strength training

Friday: 6 miles

Saturday: work/rest

Running

I was up and out the door early to run the trails at the IAT Lodi Marsh Segment, one of my favorites! I wanted to get there early to beat the horseflies, which I knew would come out once the sun was up high in the sky. Silly, maybe, but if you've ever been chased or bitten by them, you understand. I also wanted to get back to the lake house early so I could go waterskiing before the lake got too choppy from all the boats. Mine was the only car at the trailhead and it was 59 degrees when I started out. I wanted to start at this particular point because it would be an uphill hike to start and a good way to test out my foot and loosen up my legs. Once I was up at the top, I began to slowly run. My foot felt great for the run--there was minimal pain the entire time. It was a gorgeous morning to be out on the trail and the horseflies didn't start to buzz me until the last mile or so.  And yes, I waterskied when I got back to the lake house! That's what I call a perfect morning!

On Wednesday, I laced up for my return to the preserve. I hoped to find some mushrooms and I did, which you can see HERE. I also saw some deer--one ran directly in front of me across the trail and startled me! A little further down the trail, I saw 2 young ones with their mama, eating the foliage. They didn't run, just stopped to stare at me while I snapped a photo. Day. Made. Overall, this was a slow run due to the humidity more than anything. My foot behaved pretty well--while I could feel some discomfort, running didn't aggravate it. I also helped an older couple who got turned around on the trail and were completely lost, giving them a ride to their car. They were surprised at how far they were from where they started, lol. Been there, done that!

I was up and out the door early this morning and caught a sunrise! Before the sun came up, the sky was red--storms were in the forecast. I splinted my foot and hoped for the best. After the first mile, I felt pretty good! I ran into a group of my bike path running friends and ran with them for about a mile. They wanted to talk about Brooks running shoes, lol. At my turn around point, they continued on, and I finished my run on my own. This was a humid run but it wasn't hot, and my 4:1 intervals served me well. The last mile of the 6 was tough, but I felt really encouraged by this run!

CrossFit/Strength Training

I finished up the inversion portion of the Summer Challenge at home and then headed to the gym for the WOD, which was 'Kelly'. Kelly was 5 rounds of a 400m run, 30 box jumps, and 30 wall balls. It didn't look bad on paper. I planned to do all the box jumps, but after the first round, switched to box step-ups. I split the wall balls into sets of 10, but it still took me 37 minutes to finish the whole thing. Wow. That one left me asking the question: 'who is Kelly and what did she do to inspire this WOD?'

I met up with SJ on Thursday after doing my warmups and shoulder work on the bar. She started me out with an adductor movement on the rower. I did 10 reps on each leg alternating with 3 sets of banded side steps. Then she loaded up the barbell for back squats, 4 sets of 4 at 85# with a 2 second hold at the bottom. Spicy!!! I alternated those with 4 sets of 10 knees-to-chest on the bar. 

Off the Road

On Monday, my sister and I saw the Barbie movie! We've been wanting to see it since it came out, but this was the first day we could coordinate. The movie did not disappoint--it was funny, it was poignant, and it was empowering. As always, it was nice to spend some time together too!

How was your week? Are you enjoying some nice late summer weather? Have you seen any fun mushrooms? Any nature sightings? Did you see the Barbie movie?

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. Once again, I might not get to everyone's post today, but I will on Monday for sure. I'm moving my son from Madison to Chicago!