So far so good

Its been about a week since I aggravated my turf toe injury playing kickball, and so far it seems to be healing, albiet slower than I would like. It was somewhat uncomfortable a couple of times when I found my strides trying to revert back to normal, instead of awkwardly walking on the sides and heels of my feet, but overall it is improving and I feel like I can almost walk normally again. Against my better judgment, I decided to play kickball again yesterday, making a pact with myself that I would not run fast to get on base, or to catch any balls. Luckily both my kicks were pop flies that were caught in the outfield, so I didn't have to run, and I played pitcher on defense, so I didn't have to move around too much. (Except to run for a couple bunts...) My team won again, 7-2, and afterward my toe felt fine, which was infinitely better than the hours of pain last week.

I've continued to bike over the last week, going for a couple of 7 mile rides, one 10 miler and one 13 miler. (Maybe others, I kind of lost track) While biking isn't exactly a substitute for running, since I don't get my heart rate up as high, my legs feel like they are working even harder than when I run. This may be due to the fact that I get extremely irritated whenever someone passes me, and try to overtake them despite having a hybrid bike instead of a fast road bike. At one point I ended up chasing several pro-looking bikers several miles until they turned off the lakes. Luckily they didn't have rearview mirrors to watch me bearing down on them the whole time. In other news, my weight fell below 180 yesterday, which I attribute to biking and playing kickball in record 97 degree heat. I think I need to do a better job hydrating. Who says it doesn't get that hot in Minnesota?

Many Steps Forward, One Toe Back

Well, after my last post I decided to go on my run as planned and my ankle didn't bother me too much. On the contrary I ran my best time around Harriet yet--20:54 for 2.75 miles--and felt OK overall. The next day however, the bottom of my foot behind my big toe was sore and hurt a bit when I pushed off the with the toe, a telltale sign of turf toe. I had experienced issues with turf toe in the past, usually during ultimate frisbee intramurals in college, but It was always something that bothered me slightly for a few days and pretty much went away on its own. Since I had a kickball game scheduled, I decided to put on some cleates and jog around a little bit to see how bad it really felt: not too bad. With the shoes on I hardly noticed, so I figured I could go play kickball and it would gradually get better on its own. Bad idea. At kickball I ended up running the bases at top speed twice, (two home runs... woo hooo) and afterward my toe hurt for the remainder of the night. I guess its a bit worse than it was back in college... So just when I started to up my game in running I have to stay off my feet. I'm hoping I didn't aggrevate it too much so I'll be back up in a week or so instead of 3-4 weeks. In rebellion against the injury I went for a marathon bike ride yesterday (about 26.4 miles overall). Hurray for not needing your toes to bike. Who knows, if I do enough biking and swimming for cross training while I'm not running, I might just be ready for a triathalon.

Push it to the Limit

I went for a seven miler this weekend around Lake Harriet and Calhoun and came in at a personal best 55:18, which is around 8:10 miles. The funny thing is, afterward I knew I could have gone faster. I feel like a big part of running is knowing how hard you can push yourself early without gassing at the end. I have a tendency to leave too much in reserve.

I started reading a book about running called "Once a Runner." It is a fairly old and well known running novel, which has been interesting so far, though it seems more geared toward elite runners. (The main character runs a 4 min mile)

On a side note, I tweaked my old recurring left ankle sprain yesterday while playing disc golf. I iced it right away and I don't think it will bother me too much, but I'm debating whether I should give it a rest or go for my run today.

Level Up

I ran another half marathon last weekend and came in at 1:57:44, my fastest time yet. Now all I have to do is do that twice in a row... Easier said than done. I need to get myself to the point where I can mindlessly churn off miles at a 9 min pace or so. I find myself running 8min 30sec miles for the first 6-7 and then slowing down to 9-30's or worse. Still, it was a big improvement. Just to know I've done half at the speed I'd need to go 4 hours is a huge lift after running a 2 hour 8 min half just two weeks ago.