Hi. It's Laura.
Happy Monday. Six weeks to go!
Things could have been off to a prettier
start this morning. From what I understand, overnight, there were some pretty
wicked thunderstorms. I must have been tired because I certainly did not hear
or see anything during the night.
If I had paid more attention to the
weather forecast, I may have made some different decisions in the last twenty
four hours.
It all started a couple of weeks ago.
During one of my long runs, my right foot fell asleep.
This is not all that unusual for me. My
toes tingle or fall asleep during runs most of the time and have for as long as
I can remember running. It was just never this bad.
I bought new sneakers and new orthotics
from Super Runners World back in November. For whatever reason in December (I
am sure it was something very logical), I did not wear the new shoes. I ran in
my old shoes. My guess is that the weather was wet and I didn't want to ruin my
new shoes.
Right before we left on our ski vacation
last winter, the Saturday before Christmas, I accidently slammed my pinky toe
into one of our living ottomans. Damn did it hurt!
I knew it was painful but didn't think
much of it until the ride up to Vermont the next day.
I got my shoes on in the morning just
fine but after a couple of hours in the car my toe started to throb. I pulled
off the shoe to look and sure enough, it was blue.
I know there is nothing you can do for a
broken toe except for tape it to the toe next to it.
There was nothing I could do for it in
VT, although I was concerned that I would not be able to ski or get my ski boot
on. I did and practiced turning in the living room before we made it out on the
mountain. I skied the week with little difficulty. It was off the mountain
where it hurt the most. At the end of the week, once again in the car ride, I
took the shoe off to examine it. I promptly made an appointment for the
podiatrist.
Of course the x-ray showed that it was
broken and I had to tape it for the next six weeks. Six weeks? Really? It’s
already been broken for two. Aha he said, if you had come to me right away we
could have taped it and the healing would have begun, now we are starting from
the beginning. It actually wound up being taped for eight weeks and no running
for me until the end of February.
Long story long, the sneakers I bought in
November did not really get used until I started training for this triathlon.
The first week of training with running
was not so bad. But as the runs got longer and more frequent, so did the pain.
I let it go for a few more weeks before I
took my shoes back to super runners. A little background, they were purchased
by Surefoot who is the company that makes the orthotics for ski boots. They
will adjust them over and over until they are perfect. (The Husband loves them
and has them in his ski boots, running shoes and golf shoes.)
Believe it or not they did not laugh at
me when I brought my shoes and orthotics in. They did ask what took so long
(see above) they rescanned my foot to make sure the scan was correct and that
nothing had changed with my foot.
After the scan, they adjusted the
orthotic and sent me on my way. I ran the next day and the pain was even worse.
It felt like the support arch was making my foot arch too much and making the muscle
work too hard which caused numbness in my to small toes. I go back.
The salesman, who The Dog loves BTW, is
very nice. He suggests a different pair of sneakers. Maybe these are wrong for
my foot/strike. Believe it or not, he exchanges them for a different pair even
though I have had these since November. In all fairness, they looked pretty new
probably because I have rain shoes. (Still no rain bike though.)
We switch the orthotics and speed laces
into the new (very pretty, yellow and pink) pair of running shoes. Off I go.
I did two runs in the shoes a 5 miler and
my brick on Saturday. On Friday the 5 miler, the pain from numbness is so bad
that I had to stop, take off the shoe wiggle my toes to get the feeling back
and head out again. Of course the worst of the numbness where I stopped was at
the furthest point from home (Murphy’s Law). I would not have quit the run
despite the pain. I knew I was not doing any damage to myself. It was just
really, really, really uncomfortable.
I was hoping that it was just because
they were new and after a run or two, I would feel better. Saturday morning
rolls around (yay sunshine!) and I am off for my brick. 90 minutes bike ride,
followed by a 30 minute run. It was hot even at 6 am when I started out. By the
time I got to my transition spot, I was a little sweaty. I switch from biking
to running and off I go. The pain in my feet is almost immediate and now it’s
not just my right foot but also my left foot that is going numb. I carry on, I
need to get the work in but this is so frustrating. Because of the pain I let
myself do a little walking every few minutes to keep the feeling in my toes.
Saturday afternoon, sneakers in hand, I go back.
The store is busy, its Saturday, of
course it’s busy. But I found my guy and explained the problem. I also brought
him my original orthotic and the two types of shoes that I had before that did
not hurt. I think we may have it now. This morning I picked up, yet another new
pair of sneakers and the new orthotics. This time, the orthotics are cut a
little thinner to fit in the shoe. I have a 9 mile run on Tuesday. Keep your
fingers crossed.
The Husband is traveling for work. Because
of that I opted to swim on Sunday which is normally a rest day. Who knew the
pool was so quiet on early Sunday mornings? For the 70 minutes I was in the
pool, I was alone in my lane for at least one half hour. I was there for the
longest time with a 1950 meter swim. Yay me on the longest swim in my swim
career but it took me a long time. I was very intimated by the number 1950 and
was not really sure I could do it. I mean I knew I could I just didn't know
how. In order to make it just a little less intimidating, I broke it down into
100 meter sets to give myself a chance to breath and settle down. For the
length of the swim, overall it was no so bad in the end. I did find that my
arms/shoulders were fatigued just over half way through.
Back to the weather... Had I known it was
going to rain today, I would have picked up my sneakers yesterday. When I
brought in the original orthotic, I left it with them thinking I would pick it
up with the sneakers. I had a 75 minute ride today that I wound doing on the
indoor trainer. Had I thought ahead, I could have switched my ride and run. Oh
well. It’s done and moving on
Play hard!
Laura
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