Just over a week ago, my toenail was hanging on by the tiniest piece and I decided to bite the bullet and help it on its way.  With the toenail gone, I was finally able to resume running.

This past week wasn’t too bad.  I started with 3 consecutive days running 3 miles each.  I could tell on the 3rd day that my legs were tired so I rested on Thursday.  I couldn’t run Friday due to some family obligations, but I managed another 3 on Saturday and a 5-mile long run today.

My plan is continue with 3-4 mile daily runs for now.  I would love to hit 20 miles for the week which would the most I would have run for the entire year so far, but I’m just taking it one day at a time.

Posted by derek as Training, Injury at 6:50 PM PST

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I had mentioned a few months ago that after the Chicago Marathon, I had gotten two black toenails on my two big toes.  The left one was worse than the right toenail.  I have been patiently waiting for them to fall off.

Well, just under 2 weeks ago, I bumped the left toenail and lo and behold, half the toenail detached.  I have been waiting for the other part to detach and its getting pretty close .  I’m a wimp when it comes to pain so I don’t want to pull the rest of the nail off nor do I want to run until it comes off.

Posted by derek as Injury at 3:04 PM PST

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I’ve been able to run quite regularly for the year so far and my heel seems to be allowing me to go 4 miles at a time without any problems.  For the last few weeks I’ve been thinking about my approach to running and I think I’m actually in the process of evolving as a runner.  I’ve noticed a couple things about myself, one good and one bad:

I no longer seem to be concerned about how fast I run.  A year ago, I was obsessed with going further or faster.  These days, I’m just happy to be running and happy that my heel hasn’t been giving me any problems.  A year ago, I would be constantly monitoring my Forerunner to see how fast I was going.  I still monitor my Forerunner, but not as often, and when I do, it’s to see if I should slow down, whereas a year ago, I was monitoring it to see if I should speed up.

The other observation I’ve made is that don’t seem to be as motivated as I was a year ago. For example, this week has been rather cold with the temperatures hovering around the 30-35F range in the afternoons which is when I’ve been running recently and I’m finding it harder to get myself out the door in those temperatures.  A year ago, I almost considered it a badge of honor to go running in those temperatures and the colder it was, the more I wanted to go running.  The hardest part for me right now is just getting dressed and getting out the door.  Once I do that, I’m fine.

This week is going to be a bit warmer here in the DFW metroplex so I wouldn’t have weather as an excuse anymore.  As a matter of fact, the temperature this is week is suppose to be what I consider ideal running temperatures….the 50s F.

Posted by derek as Training at 10:19 AM PST

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I started back running for the new year, although it’s just 2-3 miles at a time.  So far, my heel seems to be coping quite well.  As I mentioned in the past, I know my heel isn’t 100%, but it seems to be allowing me to run a little.

So far for the year, I’ve run 6 of the first 7 days.

I’m so happy to be running again that I don’t want to jeopardize it so my plan is to continue with the shorter runs for now.  I may try a 4-miler, but my plan is to stick to 3-mile runs for the majority of my runs.  If I can get through a couple weeks like that, then I’ll look to bumping it up to a regular 4-mile run.

Posted by derek as Training at 9:41 PM PST

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Well, I finally logged some miles for December. I decided to go for an easy 2-mile run today to see how my heel felt. I had no idea what to expect. I had two main concerns:

• How would my heel feel
• How would I feel while running when I haven’t run a single mile in almost 7 weeks?

For the first quarter mile or so, I could feel a very slight discomfort in my heel. It wasn’t really painful, but I just know it certainly didn’t feel like my left heel which is perfectly fine. After a quarter mile, I stopped feeling any discomfort. Maybe it was because other parts of my body started to feel uncomfortable

I could definitely tell that I wasn’t in the same shape that I as 2 months ago. I didn’t have a HRM, but I know my heart rate was much higher and my breathing quite a bit heavier. I started to notice different parts hurting be it under my feet, my knee, my hips, etc.

One thing I’m glad about is that at least it wasn’t like the first time I started running, but I do know I have to take it easy for a while, if only because of my heel.

My plan is to run 2 miles for the next few days. If I make it through the weekend and Monday without any issues, I’ll go for 3 miles on New Year’s day.

Posted by derek as Training at 8:22 PM PST

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