10 Weeks to Go... Orthotics or No Orthotics?

This was a crazy busy week... at work, at home, and with my program.

I recently took on a new job at work, so now I'm juggling double duty as I attempt to transition away from the work in my old job. And at home, in preparation for my daughter's upcoming birthday, my wife and I have been on the Craigslist hunt for a swing set and jungle gym. That has involved looking at a bunch of postings, following-up with potential sellers, and traveling about in the evenings to check out the options... busy, busy!

Still, I managed to prevent the distractions from sidetracking me... and so, I managed to stick to my program all week long.

Monday and Wednesday I got in my 4-mile runs and my strength workouts. And Tuesday and Friday I got in my 7-milers as planned. Money I tell you! I was feeling pretty doggone sluggish, though, come my day of rest on Thursday (Remember: Thou shall not train on Thursday).

Reality after reality tends to sink in with me as I make progress along this journey. This week it was the reality that I'm not even half-way through my program. Knowing that my legs had been sluggish, that I've been starting to get some minor plantar fasciitis again in my right foot, and that my right Achilles tendon had been bothering me a bit after long runs, my wife hooked me up with one of her clients, who is a massage therapist.

So off I went to my appointment Thursday to the St. Louis Institute for Rehabilitative and Sports Massage. Mark Frank put the hurt on my legs, massaging the bad out of them as I like to put it. After about 90 minutes of some heavy wincing and biting my lip, I felt brand new. It really was amazing. My feet are turned out pretty badly (like a duck). This is in part due to genetics and in part due to muscle tightness, particularly in my abductors. But after my massage, there was a noticeable difference. In fact, Mark stopped after working on just my right leg, and you could see the difference when I stood up to re-check my posture: my left leg was still turned out far more noticeably than my right. And so then he worked on my left leg. The end result? Come Friday for my 7-miler, it felt like I had taken a week off to rest. Amazing!!! Thanks, Mark! I'll be back about every three to four weeks until the race.

He also recommended that I look into getting orthotics to combat the effects of the two-by-fours I have for flat feet. Eight weeks into the program, I'm a little skeptical, but he felt I could work them in without much trouble and referred me to a guy he trusts. While the negative effects have been minimal from my flat feet so far, he felt that I could be at risk for more problems as the mileage builds. My wife was a bit more skeptical - mainly because she knows that most medical professionals look at me and automatically think that I have all these problems because of my flat feet. But she knows that I just haven't had the problems they all come to expect, including herself.

What to do? What to do? Orthotics or no orthotics?

I figure I'll go talk to the orthotics specialist and see what he has to say. I have no problems getting them as a long-term investment, but I'm leery of screwing up my training for the upcoming marathon. We'll see what he advises.

Yesterday (Saturday) I had a 15-miler scheduled. I'd once again be running further than I ever had before. My normal running partners couldn't make any part of Saturday's run (Mike, thanks for coming out on Friday, though). Joe, a fellow South Side Chicagoan, who I randomly met on the trail last Saturday, did come out to run with me. An avid runner, last week in our brief conversation he offered to join me on my long runs. So I got in touch with him, and come Saturday at 6:00am, he was there... awesome!

Together we talked each other's ear off and hammered out an easy 15 miles (did I just say that?). With the humidity far less than it was a week ago, 15 miles this past Saturday felt like 8 compared to 14 miles the week before. It really is amazing what having someone to talk to can do for a long run. It makes passing the time so, so much easier.

And on my long runs I have definitely learned not to be stubborn and stupid. I take it easy now, coasting at about a 9:30 pace (no need to push it). I also stop about every 4-6 miles to get a gel pack or some Gatorade (Lemon Lime to stay consistent with what will be available on race day). And when stopping, I'll walk around for a minute or two. It does feel weird when getting back into a run, but that wears off within no time. With breaks included we finished 15 miles Saturday in just under 2.5 hours. It's crazy for me to think that I'm already getting up to running for that long, but I am. Now I just need to make it about another 90 minutes or so, and boom, there's 26.2!

Towards the end of my run Saturday my right Achilles started to get a little sore again, as did my left hamstring tendon. Man, do I really need to stretch more. With this being a step-back week again (only 11 miles next Saturday), I'm going to make it a point to stretch longer and more often this week.

10 weeks to go! Just 70 more days 'til race day!