You ever have one of those days? One of those weeks? One of those workouts? You know the ones, where the hits keep coming, and the bad stuff seems to just keep getting worse. And you wonder if it will ever end. Yeah. I had one of those days. One of those weeks. And, one of those workouts.
It started last week. Or maybe two weeks ago. All I know is that all of a sudden I had heel pain. Oh no. Not heel pain. Not plantar fasciatis. No please God no. Not that. I had it 10 years ago and I may have ignored it for quite a while back then. But I do know that I quit running for 6 months to get rid of it. 6 months. As in an eternity. I ran pain free at Boulder Peak (yes, race report is delayed and coming soon) and was pain free for a couple of days afterwards. But then it started. How did this happen? I convinced myself it wasn’t PF, after all, I didn’t have the typical mid-heel, bottom of the foot pain. And I woke up in the morning feeling great, not the usual heel so stiff you can hardly walk stuff. So I tried jogging/running a couple of times. And it got worse. Crapity Crap Crap Crap. What did I do? Did I forget to change my shoes? Hard to believe but that may have been the cause (surprising with my shoe habit I know).
I went to the Doc (thanks dr. Stull) on Friday and he confirmed the PF diagnosis. And the treatment? No running for 10 days. Huh. Of all the things I should be laying off right now.....running isn’t one of them. OK. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll be a good girl and ice and not run and be positive.
All was going well for 24 hours until my daughter’s birthday party on Saturday at the bouncy castle thingy place. My buddy Tyler challenged me to a race. Yippee, a race!!! Yes Yes Yes, Pick me Pick me!! I’m such a sucker, he knows I would never turn down a race!!! First time through the obstacle course I crushed him. Ok, I beat him by about an inch. So, he challenged me to a second time through. Oh why oh why did I say yes??? We started and I flung myself through the course. Until my toes on my other (i.e. formerly good) foot got caught underneath my foot and my body weight came crushing down on those poor suckers. OUCH!!! I knew immediately that I had screwed it up. Great. It immediately started to swell and within 3 hours I was unable to walk. As I lay on the couch in my misery Saturday night, I figured I was done with my season. There would be a cast and pretty much no way I could recover for Ironman. F**K.
But wait, there is a long ride with PIC and CV and Ang the next day in Boulder! A grind fest to Ward and back.....oh no way I’m missing this. So I went to bed and hoped for the best. The next day it was ugly. But the good thing? I didn’t even notice the PF!! I took Advil and iced. And then I decided to see if I could stuff the swollen foot in my riding shoe......Yep. It’s in. Phew. Not much room at all. Actually no more room in the shoe but then I got on my bike for a test and with the stiff riding shoe, the foot was A-OK. I was going to Boulder.
Advil is a wonder drug. Really. I rarely take the stuff, but when I do? LOVE IT!!! The ride was absolutely awesome. Lots of grinding big gear stuff up the canyon to Ward, Then back down to 36, turnaround and back up to Jamestown. FUN! And the real treat? Oh Yeah. My first experience with SuperJames. Holy Moly that is tough. And my foot held up just fine. Actually, both feet were great! Until the Advil wore off 5 hours into the ride. Those little gel caps though go to work right away and by 5:20 I was good to go! 6 hours and 91 miles later I was so happy to have made my way up to Boulder.
So that’s the good. I’m trying to keep a good attitude. I’m trying to be positive. But when I saw my favorite Chiro/PT (Dr. Ken at Active Care) today, Lori said it best......You’re not running??? (very serious look on her face) How are you doing??? Me: Hysterical laughter.......I’m hanging in there!!
What did I need today? A good workout!! I had a tough (read: long) swim this morning and an even tougher bike I wanted/needed/had to do this afternoon. I got a later start than I’m used to and I rode exactly where I didn’t want to but I figured I could tough it out. Plus I didn’t want to drive an hour in traffic to get to the place I figured would be perfect for the ride. So laps at Cherry Creek Rez it was. As soon as I left, I noticed the wind. It.Was.Howling. Crap. But I also thought that it would help me make my watts goal for the ride into the wind. I knew it would be tough when the wind was at my back but OK, I’m in. But as soon as I started on the road in the Rez I was miserable. All of those obnoxious seams and bumps. It was relentless. Grrr. I thought I could fight through it. But I couldn’t for the life of me get my watts or my heart rate where it should have been for the workout. Grrrr. Bumpity bump bump bump. I also noticed that I was really not liking my saddle much either. How do you know when you need a new one?? anywho, this was not how I wanted this workout to go! Another bump. Grrrr. And then I realized I just didn’t have “it” for this workout. And that bummed me out. And then a car insisted on getting around me (I was kinda all over the road due to the wind) and once it was around me immediatly stopped and pulled into a parking space. Right in front of me. Heads UP ASSHOLE. I was angry. I just needed to end this ride and go home. And then one of those stupid bumps bumped my power meter CPU right off of my handle bars and it went sliding across the road. FUCK. Now, of course, the darn thing isn’t working right. I know I need to upgrade the power wheel and get the Garmin Edge 500 but right now is just not the time to dole out that kind of $$$$$.
So, I am home now and a good dinner in my belly. It’s time to start icing both feet. Oh. Not where I want to be right now! But I will put this week behind me. I will put that workout behind me. I will put this day behind me. My sprained foot is much better (but really ugly!!!) and I’m off the Advil. My PF seems to be getting much better too. I have another swim and bike tomorrow and I know I will have a good day. Tomorrow will be better. Right??? Right????
