Respite

Struggled to hold onto momentum after the short Thanksgiving break as my mind and body sunk into "rest" mode. Last Sunday I started off on a 9-miler but turned around after a mile when I decided to heed the discomfort in my left foot and give it some time to calm down. No sharp pain really but I've been paranoid that this could be a stress fracture in the works. So I did the logical thing and decided to shelve the running for a few days and see what happened.

Foot felt fine after a couple days but I gave it till Saturday for good measure. Swam, biked, and lifted a few times during the week to quell the jitters. For the past couple weeks I've also been doing some PT type exercises for my ankles and calves as I feel they are somewhat of the weakest link right now. Hopped on a treadmill Saturday for 3.8 miles in 30 min and decided things were OK. Not sure what's going on with the foot but I'll just have to stay tuned for signals.

Yesterday traipsed around this Rock Creek loop. No spectacular run by my standards as I ran out of juice around the 40-minute mark and just kind of slogged it home for the remainder of the run. Left myself a couple of options in case things turned south but things never did with the exception of feeling pretty glycogen depleted early on. I blame this on poor diet (aka busy schedule) in the days prior, leaving me falling asleep hungry for a couple nights in a row. 10 miles, 1:18:11, and a lesson in mental tenacity. Also timed the Matthewson hill in 6:43 which is about where I've been with this stretch. I'm thinking I'll keep it to 4 runs this week and mix it up with some more cross training.