Sunday 17th - Friday 22nd February

Training Report:

After my week of stationary cycling I was eager to get back to my running. By Sunday I felt no discomfort in my foot, and felt ready to try it out. A very gentle forty five minutes was the plan to ease my foot back into weight bearing exercise. I felt a little discomfort towards the end of the run, but no major relapse and was pleased with how things went. But not wanting to push things I continued to use the bike for my second cardio session of the day.

On Monday I was keen to go a bit further and push the pace a bit more. Firstly to test how the foot would respond, but secondly to see how my fitness was doing. After three weeks of severely interrupted training due to my injury and illness I was keen to find out where I stood. The run was great I felt strong throughout and I didn't feel I'd lost too much fitness. Perhaps the run had felt it had gone so well because my legs were well rested and my enthusiasm for pushing myself on was greater than normal for a Monday morning ten miler. The foot had stood up to the challenge quite well, until after eight miles I had to run down an uneven pathway for half a mile. The foot didn't take to well to it. Fortunately it was a slow progression of pain rather than a sudden hit. I was able to carry on and complete the run.

Once I'd taken my trainer off the pain eased considerably. I believe that most of the pain was caused by the expansion of my foot in the shoe. The foot expands as we walk around every day and then shrinks back as we rest at night. The act of running heightens the expansion process because of the greater and more frequent levels of impact. Add to this a slight injury in which the foot swells slightly in order to protect the foot, and the pressure in the shoe grows. It was good to have something of an explanation for the pain, but rather than push it again I hit the bike on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.

Tuesday evening was a track session of 8 x 600 metres. I was unsure how my foot would cope with the extra strain of running faster but I was keen to find out with a big race on Saturday. On the warm up things didn't feel good, and I was not very optimistic for the session. But strangely as soon as I upped the pace during the reps the pain subsided, which I was obviously pleased with! Half way through the session a dull ache began to occur, but it was only when I ran round the bends. I'm guessing that the additional pressure and an unnatural inverted foot placement were the cause, but nothing major.

For the rest of the week I was unsure how to go about my training. On one hand I was desperate to get my fitness back and start improving again, but on the other I had my injury to consider as well as the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday. I knew I wasn't going to be at my best and that I wouldn't show my abilities as I had hoped, but I didn't want to arrive on the start line exhausted and do even worse. So I stuck with my one run and one bike session plan. It worked ok, but during a slow run back to my club house after a fartlek session the pain slowly but surly got quite bad. Half a mile from home I had to stop. The pressure was way too much. My shoe had become something of a corset for my foot, and my ample ankle was bursting out!! As soon as I untied the shoe, the pain stopped and I quite happily trotted back. The whole shoe lace thing is quite annoying. I can't start out with it too loose for fear of injuring something else but after half an hour's run the pain starts. Not too bad whilst training, but in the race on Saturday I don't want to stop to sort my shoe out. For one you'll easily lose a hundred plus places in the time it takes to do your shoe, plus the course is packed solid with 1500 runners who will trample you into the mud rather than stop! So I rested on Friday in the hope that it would help the foot recover more and prevent any perilous shoe tying occurring on race day.