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I really do myself an injustice by not reading the C25K plan before heading out for my runs.  Apparently, this week is when things start getting dynamic.  I headed outside yesterday, stretched, popped in my ear buds and the polite British woman inside the Get Running app on my iPhone told me I would be running two eight-minute runs.  I immediately stopped the program, thinking it had skipped me ahead to the next week.  A few double-takes later, and a check of the coolrunnings website and I found that the polite British woman was telling me the truth!  I took a deep breath and started out.

Toby and I ran on the “other side” of the river today.  We usually run on the side that’s closest to route 100, but now that I’m going farther and the path ends up right along the busy road (not a great place for dogs) I’m looking for alternate paths.  This gave me some new scenery and I found the two eight minute runs flew by.  There was one exception, I did get a fairly heinous stomach cramp right in the last 10 seconds of the first run.  I was able to use some techniques that I found online, and still plan to blog about, to alleviate it.

I also made a discovery the other day.  I had mentioned that after I ran on the treadmills I had some blister-type soreness on my right big toe joints and I couldn’t figure out why.  Well, when I walk I angle my right foot out slightly.  Apparently, when I run, the first part of my foot to hit the ground is the lateral mid-ball edge (meaning I invert my foot slightly).  Then the foot rolls towards my big toe, which is the last part to leave the ground.  This puts some extra pressure on my big toe.

Yesterday, I focused on landing with a straighter foot but I think I’m shooting for too much too fast.  While it felt fine while I ran, my ankle and lateral superior tendons on my foot were a bit sore last night from this new position.  When I woke up today I also felt a very specific ache on my left side around L5 and my sacrum, though the foot pain is completely gone.  This new alignment caused me to use my foot in a different way which made both my foot hurt and my posture changed just enough to anger my lower back.  I’m still interested in changing my alignment but I guess I need to go slower.  Has anyone else experienced this and do you have some suggestions?

As part of the surprise that week five is bringing, my last run of the week is supposedly a whopping 20 minutes with no breaks.  I’m nervous, but I’m trying to remind myself that I did fine with the two previous runs and even felt like I could totally have kept going.  So, I’m trying to stoke myself up for this big run tomorrow.  Wish me luck!