It has meant a week or so off, and I have been trying to stay off of hard surfaces while doing lots of icing with a water bottle and extra massage and stretching for my foot. I think it is helping. My foot no longer keeps me from running, after the first 3 or 4 miles it warms up and hurts less. What has probably helped the most was going to an awesome running shoe store in Everett, where I got to watch myself run and the guy was super helpful at adjusting my stride so I wouldn't hurt my body as much. I will definitely drive the 2 hours to go back up there in the future. But how is the running going? Not bad. My original goal was 3:30 but with my setback on the schedule, I am now shooting for just a sub 4:00. I am using a training schedule I found in Runner's World that goes away from doing the typical 20+ mile runs and has you run 6 days of moderate distances. Right now I am up to 35 miles or so a week, which is by far the most I have ever ran in a week, and my longest run has been 12 miles. That is also the furthest I have ever ran. It is hard to work all my runs in and since I already have to get up at 4:30 for work, I usually have to squeeze them in around 8 at night after I put the boys to bed. Probably my biggest success was getting up at 4:30 on a Saturday to get in my long run before I went to a track meet. It surprised the crap out of Tressa and I have to say me, too. But the pride I felt from doing it was awesome. I have a tendency to be a procrastinator, and not always fully applying myself, so I was worried I would end up slacking or missing too many runs, but that hasn't been the case.
Actually, my brother-in-law who runs cross country for Saint Martin's University in Olympia and I have a bet going to see who can get to 8% body fat first. That means I have been weighing in twice weekly and have lost about 10 pounds in a month, but I still have a ways to go. To keep Tressa happy, since she doesn't like me to be too skinny (especially while she is gaining weight), I have been doing my perfect push ups and pull-ups as well as my abs, to make sure my top half stays proportionate to my larger bottom half.
So, now we have a hotel room, though I am not sure about Tressa coming but she seems dead set on it, even trying to convince Riley to come out early so she isn't prego at the time, all I have to do is find a good half-marathon tune up race and apparently an outfit. I am looking forward to my 14 miler this weekend and as always, the post run chocolate protein shake (one of my major motivators to all runs!) Can't wait to see/meet lots of you there, and if there is a bloggy meet-up Tressa would really like to be included!
