So...lots to catch up on.
Here's the Cliff's Notes version.
Felt great after the marathon - minimal soreness, a little tired, a nagging pain in my left foot. Two days later - pain is worse, and ALL other pain had dissipated. Hmmm...something's not right. Tried to run one week later, ouch. Monday morning I visited the Sports Med. doc. No stress fracture, but not sure what it was. I got "THE BOOT OF DOOM" and two appointments with a PT. Bottom line - torn ligament on the lateral side of my foot. Took about three weeks to heal. Eventually I graduated to an ankle boot. In the mean time I was able to do some spinning, but that was about it.
I've been back to running (half-heartedly) for about 5 weeks now. During this time I've realized that my body never had a chance to 'recover' from the marathon stress. My running has reflected this. For the first three weeks I felt slower than molasses and had 'heavy' legs. It's only been in the past two weeks or so that I've felt sort of normal - my pace is back in my pre-marathon range.
I ran the Winter Sun 10K this past Saturday (12.6) to sort of test out my fitness and pace. I was honestly hoping to finish. I haven't done a 6 mile run since the marathon! The longest I've done was 5. My secondary goal was to break 60 minutes. Happy to report that I reached both goals and crossed the line in 50:51. Not quite up to par, but I'm happy with it.
So now I need to get it in gear and get ready to train for the Ogden Marathon in May. I'm a little apprehensive to commit to this race because I don't feel that my base training is where it should be. I've been averaging 10-15 miles per week but I'd be more comfortable taking on this next round of training with at least 20 MPW. We'll see how it goes.
I intend to start training during the second week of January so I have some time to up the mileage. Problem is...we're in the middle of buying a new house and selling ours. This process seems to be life consuming. Add the holidays on top of all that. Oh boy - here goes nothing!