Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 8/18 Yoga 0 -- Tuesday, 8/19 Rest 0 -- Wednesday, 8/20 Yoga 0 -- Thursday, 8/21 Regular Run 5 9:38 Friday, 8/22 Rest 4 9:26 Saturday, 8/23 Long Run/Yoga 12 9:43 Sunday, 8/24 Yoga in the Park 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 21.5 So, this was my break week. But it doesn't look exactly like a break week. I made it through four days in a row (including the Sunday you don't see) without running (and check out all the yoga!). And then I tried a lower-mileage run on Thursday morning to assess where I was, pain-wise. It wasn't too bad, but my foot still hurt afterward as I was walking around. I'd made an appointment to see a sports massage therapist after work on Thursday, not having very high hopes for treatment--not because I didn't think the guy was good, but because I didn't think massage was an effective treatment for my particular problem (bursitis, or metatarsalgia). So I spent a half hour with Pete Pfannerst...

Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 8/11 Regular Run 6 9:33 Tuesday, 8/12 Regular Run 9 9:47 Wednesday, 8/13 Rest 0 -- Thursday, 8/14 Regular Run 6 9:37 Friday, 8/15 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 8/16 Long Run 16 9:45 Sunday, 8/17 Yoga in the Park 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 37 My training runs are feeling better in some respects--endurance, mind set, time (sometimes)--but in another respect, I'm concerned about my ability to fully train for this marathon. My left foot, the one with bursitis, has been hurting again. It hasn't gotten so bad that I feel I can't run through it, and in fact the pain isn't the worst while I'm running--it's the days after when I'm just walking around that I feel the most pain. I just want to walk in giant, protective marshmallow shoes (perhaps I should try the Hoka One One s). But the underlying issue would still be there. So what do I do? I've decided to take a bit of a break this week to see how much better I can ...

Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 8/4 Regular Run 5 9:18 Tuesday, 8/5 Rest 0 -- Wednesday, 8/6 Regular Run 9 9:50 Thursday, 8/7 Regular Run 6 9:35 Friday, 8/8 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 8/9 Long Run 15 9:56 Sunday, 8/10 Yoga in the Park 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 35 This past week of training was a tough one to get through--and it only marks a quarter of the way through my training plan. I had to spend a lot of time talking myself into running. I don't know where Monday's speedier time came from; this is typically a "recovery"run from Saturday's long run, so I expect it to be a little sluggish. But that's what I was feeling that night, so I went with it. Perhaps it had something to do with running in the evening that day as opposed to the morning, which I've almost primarily been doing lately. And since I haven't made any  real   efforts to do speed work, this can be my speed work for the week--especially because my faster pace di...

Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 7/28 Regular Run 6 9:40 Tuesday, 7/29 Regular Run 8 9:45 Wednesday, 7/30 Regular Run 3 9:12 Thursday, 7/31 Regular / Speed  5 9:30 Friday, 8/1 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 8/2 Long Run 14 9:52 Sunday, 8/3 Rest 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 36 Last week was a pretty successful training week, meaning that I met my weekly mileage and didn't get hurt doing it (my standards for training success have lowered over the years). One change I knew I needed to make was leaving my Seminole Heights neighborhood for Tuesday morning's "medium"-length run (I can only circle the Sem Hi 'hood so many times), which meant getting up extra early to drive to Bayshore. I looked for many excuses not to do this run, even after Tim and I got to the start of it (it was very lightly sprinkling outside), but eventually I did the eight miles--every difficult step of it. And guess what? I got rained on, and I was thankful for it in the stifling heat. ...

Date Workout Miles Avg Pace Monday, 7/21 Regular Run 4 9:24 Tuesday, 7/22 Regular Run 5 9:21 Wednesday, 7/23 Regular Run 4 9:19 Thursday, 7/24 Regular / Speed  4.38 / 3 9:26 / 9:17 Friday, 7/25 Rest 0 -- Saturday, 7/26 Long Run 13 10:02 Sunday, 7/27 Mini Strength-Train 0 -- Total Weekly Mileage: 33.38 (that's .38 miles more than I needed!) Normally, I would start a training plan with Week 1; however, given my special circumstances , I was pretty much out for the count during my first "official" week of training. So I started with Week 2 and tried really hard to catch up. To my own amazement, I did. At this point, I'm really just running the miles, hence all of the Regular Runs. Even my attempt at a "speed" run wasn't very speedy. But I forgive myself--for now. I spent a week after my surgery not doing any exercise at all and also eating less than usual because it was just too difficult. So when I tried to come back to a full week of...

Pain is life--the sharper, the more evidence of life. --Charles Lamb I've been experiencing a lot of "life" lately. For the past year, I've struggled to get a diagnosis for pain that I've felt on and off, and almost daily for the past seven months. I first noticed the pain around my left ear, and then on the back left side of my tongue and sometimes along my left jaw, and more recently into my head and sinus area. I went to my dentist, who referred me to an oral surgeon, who referred me to an ENT. Next, I went to three different ENTs who could not find anything wrong with me. I subjected myself to many frightening medical tests, halfway hoping to find something, halfway not. I did not. I decided after my last disappointing ENT visit that I had nerve pain, possibly a neuralgia (this was based on meager suggestions from ENTs, and the Internet, of course). I went to a neurologist, who ordered more tests, just when I thought there were no more that could possibly ...

Last weekend I participated in the 9th Annual PNC Bank Miles for Moffitt race, which takes place at the campus I spend so much of my time at, the University of South Florida, Tampa. And even though I've spent roughly 40 hours a week for the past 12 years on campus, racing on campus is still exciting to me. It feels territorial, like it's somehow my race. But the thing about this particular race is that it's very much not my race; this race--or its proceeds, rather--belongs to everyone who can benefit from cancer research, and that pretty much means everyone . The race itself was a good one for me. I haven't had the spring race season I'd hoped for; even though I started off with a great marathon , the ensuing injury and nagging pain from it have kept me in running flux--trying to maintain miles but not really able to push very hard. But this was a shorter race (shorter than the last "trial" race I did), and I felt I was ready to push. Of course, I ha...