Last Wednesday I felt a bit of heel pain in my left foot but shrugged it off. After Thursday's run, it was definitely hurting. Friday was a day off from running, so I stretched it throughout the day and iced it. By Saturday it didn't hurt at all, which was good because Saturday's schedule called for a 7-mile run.
I headed up to North Hills to run the loop around the lake. This is only my second time running the loop. I love that there are so many gently rolling hills--minus the big hill by the Boat House, which is a doozy no matter how slow I'm going. When I did half-marathon training last summer, I only ever did long runs on the flat river trail, and I think that's part of what made the races so hard for me.
It was cool--in the low 50s--sunny, and breezy. I kept my pace easy and relaxed. It was one of those awesome runs where I felt like I could have run all day. I had no problems. I remember from last year's half-marathon training that long runs under 10 miles are typically pretty easy for me; they only get challenging once I get into the double digits. Still, this is the longest run I've done since the half-marathon last October.
In the afternoon, we took Django to Hartwood Acres. We walked around on some of the trails and then went to the dog park. We saw a bald eagle flying overhead, but my husband wasn't fast enough to get a picture. Here I am with my big boy (wearing Athleta Chat tights in Dress Blue, a Lulu Cool Racerback in Antidote [which is probably my favorite color], and Athleta Breathe Long-Sleeve).
We had fun running around together.
Django of course got tired and hot pretty quickly. Greyhounds are sprinters and not endurance runners, so he gets tired after only a few minutes of running, and he's extremely heat intolerant. Even though it was only in the 60s, he was beat. He found a good muddy puddle to lie in.
There is a creek and little pond right by the dog park, so we took him there next to get some of the mud off him. Django never misses an opportunity to get in water, but maybe because he'd already cooled down in the mud, he got halfway into the pond and refused to go any further! So we had to leave with his butt all muddy.
By Sunday morning, my left heel was hurting again. It didn't seem too bad, so I headed out for a short easy run on the river trail, toward Millvale and back. Well, it really started hurting once I started running. I should probably have not ran to begin with, but I should definitely have cut my run short once it started hurting so much. But I didn't. I pushed on and got 3.5 miles in. After I was done I was in a lot of pain and was limping. I got home and stretched it for a while and iced it, but it still hurt.
I didn't want to not doing anything since the afternoon was so nice, so we drove Django to Harrison Hills State Park in Natrona Heights. We'd never been there before. There's an overlook over the Allegheny River and lots of short, loop trails. One of them ran by a creek that Django enjoyed walking through. We went on two trails, which was enough for Django who was pretty beat even though it was only in the upper 50s. It was a nice little park but not as nice as Frick or Schenley. Unfortunately, my foot hurt the whole time. Here I am with Django (Athleta Chat tights again, Athleta Seamless Spacedye Jacket in Glass Blue, and Lulu Cool Racerback in Bali Breeze).
Tomorrow is a rest day, so I plan to stretch out my foot and ice it lots. I'm not sure if I should take Tuesday off, too. I'll have to see.
This weekend completes the fourth week of my 10K training program. Aside from this recent foot pain, I feel I've been progressing nicely without injury. Next weekend will be a bit of a break since I'll be doing the Pittsburgh Marathon 5K on Saturday and then volunteering at the marathon on Sunday.
Weekly Recap
- Monday: Rest | 60 minutes yin yoga, spine series
- Tuesday: Tempo run--Distance: 4.75 miles; Time: 51:13; Pace: 3 miles at 9:49-10:30 sandwiched in between 1.75 miles at 11:30 pace | 25 minutes power yoga
- Wednesday: Easy run--Distance: 4 miles; Time: 44:57; Pace: 11:14 | 35 minutes strength training
- Thursday: Intervals--Distance: 4.67 miles; Time: 51:26; Pace: 4 X .5-mile intervals at 9:10-10:10 with .25-mile recovery sandwiched in between 1.8 miles at 11:30 pace | 30 minutes hip opening yoga
- Friday: 35 minutes strength training
- Saturday: Long run--Distance: 7 miles; Time: 1:21:00; Pace: 11:36
- Sunday: Easy run--Distance: 3.50 miles; Time: 39:15, Pace: 11:12