I’m in the middle of Base 2 right now, and I feel things slowly starting to fall into place. I’m building on the off-season swim fitness I built, got my bike legs back, and am slowly but surely starting to feel comfortable with running again.
I wish I could say that my foot was doing better, but its more of the same: not better, not worse. The good news is that the uptick in training volume hasn’t done anything in the way of harming/re-injuring my foot. The bad news is that its still sore, ALL OF THE TIME. When I wake up in the morning, I feel like I’m 80 years old. It loosens up as the day progresses, but if I sit for too long (good luck not sitting when my job is to sit and write music all day) it stiffens up. Its still sensitive to pressure when I walk, and it doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of improvement.
I should be clear about something though….the issues I’m dealing with now are very different from what I was dealing with 6 months ago. My PF is all but gone. No heel pain, no arch pain, nada. Its the top of my foot that is the issue now, the part of my foot where I was dealing with stress fractures previously. My doctor (the 3rd foot doctor I’ve seen) blames the pain on arthritis and says that its part of the natural healing process. I got orthodics for the first time ever last week, and he seems to believe that over time my foot will get better with the use of those. One can only hope!
But enough about my stupid foot…..Let’s talk about racing! I competed in the first swim meet of my adult life this past weekend, and it was AMAZING! I’m going to write a race report about it, as it was a hell of an experience, one that I won’t forget any time soon. I’m jonesing to swim at another meet, and I’m looking at the UCI SCY Masters meet in March as the next possible event. All I can say for now is, holy crap that was fun!
My first tri of the season is a little over 2 weeks away, Escape From Alcatraz. I can’t believe how quickly its crept up on me. My longest run so far has been 5 miles, so its slightly concerning to me that I have an 8 mile run as part of a much bigger race coming up. Because of scheduling I’ve missed my past 2 ‘long’ runs on the weekends. If I can do 6-7 this weekend and 8-9 the following weekend, I should be good to go however, as my mid-week volume has still been pretty consistent.
In the meantime, right now its really just about continuing to build a solid base for Hawaii in June. Almost every workout is heart rate based and has a super specific purpose. Today was tempo intervals on the bike…..tomorrow is tempo intervals at the track. I’m 100% about the foundation this season, and so far its paying early dividends. Word!