Freethinker ~ Freerunner

I ran this morning with my Superfeet Orange insoles inside my New Balance 1226's for the first time.  I had used nothing but my Brooks Ravena up to this point with the insoles.  I felt fatigued a little early today.  My body and legs felt heavy and my breath seemed to shorten a little earlier in the run than I would have liked.  At first I thought maybe it was the shoes.  My Ravena's are a little lighter than my 1226's, and I have worn them exclusively for the past four weeks.  But Kevin noticed the same feeling of fatigue, so I'm not sure what to attribute it to.  Maybe I was dressed too warm for the 40 degree weather.  The last time I ran (Wednesday morning) I believe it was about 30 degrees. 

As for my feet, they felt mostly good on the run and have felt good since (the time is now 11:55 AM).  I had worn my Orange insoles in my work shoes Wednesday and Thursday this week to see if wearing them during the work day helped.  I think it did, because by the end of the day both days I did not notice any soreness or that feeling like something is in my shoe under the ball of my left foot.  The only negative to doing this was that at the end of the day Thursday I noticed the left insole making a popping noise.  When I got home and removed it from my shoe it turned out that the plastic near the inner side of my left heel had cracked.  I was a little disappointed as I had only worn them on two runs and then two days at work.  I wore them this morning as I said, and the cracked area did not seem to be a problem in my running shoes as they fit a little tighter than in my dress shoes.  In any case, the support I need from them is under the ball of my foot rather than the heel area so I believe I will be alright.  I do need to figure out a solution for my feet during the day at work though.  I think they really helped, I just don't want to invest in another set for work that ends up cracking again after a couple of days wear.   

If anyone else has had similar ball of foot pain issues I would love to hear how it was resolved.  

Good run today.  I ran in my Brooks shoes.  I almost did not run today as I felt some soreness in my ball of my left foot last night while walking to my car when leaving work.  I went ahead and decided to run today after I got back from the gym. 

As a short digression I will talk about what I did at the gym.  I swam 20 laps (500 meters) in the pool.  This was my third visit to the pool as I have decided to train for a triathlon.  I have no prior training in swimming aside from one week in seventh grade gym class.  So far I have learned a little about swimming from talking to my running and now cycling buddy Kevin who is an accomplished triathlete.  Kevin has loaned me a swimming book called 'Call the Suit' by Sheila Taormina.  I'm working my way through it to understand the basics and drills in and out of the pool.  

Now back to my run today.  I set out to do six miles, but ended up running 8 at a 7:38 pace.  I did not take any Gatorade with me as I thought I would just go easy, like 8:30 miles, since my foot was sore last night.  I felt pretty good and ended up running a little harder than I originally planned.  My left foot felt a little sore on the last mile, but not too bad since I've been back.  I been icing it just to be safe.  

I felt good this morning.  I noticed very little, if any soreness in the ball of my left foot.  I really think my Brooks Ravena shoes with the Super Feet Orange insoles were the solution, but I'm still proceeding cautiously.  I have not yet signed up for the Post Oak Lodge trail run in February.  I may decide to skip it this year even though I really wanted to finish after my experience not finishing last year.  It is a need I have to conquer the only race I did not finish.  The need may just have to wait until next year.  I have however decided to register for a Triathlon, my first, in April, and a half marathon in May.  The half marathon is actually my wife's goal, but I'm definitely going to be there running it with her for her first half.  

I'm going to rest tomorrow, and then ride a 1.5 to 2 hour bike ride with Kevin on Saturday before our long run Sunday.  Since I have swum twice in the pool this week I'm feeling really good about my training right now.  I need to work a strength training in somewhere though, maybe tomorrow.