Eraser

As an example of why my plans aren't set in stone. No 3.5 hour run due one sick kid and one teething kid. So instead of plenty of kilometers being put into the legs, the day involved no running. Without enough hours blocked together to really get that long run in, I have to make the best of what I have. That meant getting up at 4:30am to fit in 1.5 hours before the wife is off to work, and I look after the kids on my day off work. Obligated to be back inside by 6:30, I really wanted to make up for the lost long run and ensure I am actually prepared for the 50km coming up.

The plan, was an anaerobic threshold run plus some hill repeats. A flat 7.6km out & and back loop, that used to be a mainstay in my marathon lead ups took care of the threshold section. Then a handful of 400m repeats up a 7% steady climb. Not exactly a long run, topping out at 15km all up, but a stimulus non-the-less.

I had a couple of concerns leading into this run. Firstly I have been getting a bit of pain through one of the medial tendons around the ankle of my right foot. Most likely it is the tibialis posterior, but could be either of the other two as well. Seems to be have started about a week ago with slipped footing when pushing uphill. Changing out of orthotics and into new shoes has probably slowed healing. The other was this was my first sustained higher intensity straight up in the morning. So no food pre-run. I wondered if taking in a little bit of sports drink during the run was going to cut it.

As it turns out these didn't need to be concerns at all. During the warm up I realised I'd be holding my foot up in the position it was used to with orthotics. This was creating a massive load through those medial structures that was far from needed. With a bit of concentration throughout the run, I was able to relax my foot and the pain dissipated. Plus the running felt significantly easier. Fueling wasn't an issue at all. Absolutely no problem holding the required intensity. Overall, it was just a good solid run. Afterwards, my lower legs felt so much better than they have in a while post run.

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