Nov. 23, 2009:

I haven’t blogged a lot because there hasn’t been much to talk about. I am absolutely convinced I have Plantar Fasciitis! Unfortunately, from what I have read, diagnosing PF is the easy part. I bought new arch support for my shoes and stretching my foot continuously. My previous support was worn. I wonder if that is why I began experiencing pain in the first place.

I missed my group’s 12 mile run a few days ago but I don’t think it’s going to affect my overall performance for Thunder Road Half (my target half marathon). Besides, the pain in my foot was really getting unbearable. I probably would have injured it more by running on the old arch support. I have met with my swim coach and we worked on breathing. I am moving my breathing from 4 strokes to 5 strokes. I will have to work more on my bilateral breathing but this should help with the bloating feeling I have. I also learned new drills that will help my body use the oxygen it has more efficiently.

Today, I will swim then run. I’m looking at a 40 minutes swim and a 5 mile run (hill workout on the treadmill because it’s raining!) Tonight I will probably hit the bike trainer. I really need to get a lit kit for my bike!

After the workout:
I swam for about 40 minutes with small breaks in between. I started feeling the bloating about halfway through. I was very mindful about when this was occurring because I wanted to identify when and how this is occurring. After the swim, I was determined to run! Regardless of how uncomfortable it felt. Make no mistake about it! It was very uncomfortable! I usually run my shorter treadmill runs faster than my half marathon pace. Today, that wasn’t the case! The stomach pain was waaaay too much.

I did the hill workout at race pace for three miles. During the three miles, I felt air wanting to escape! I was sure not to allow this as my neighbors using the other treadmills beside me may not have appreciated this! After the third mile, I sprinted the 4th mile and I was done. I went home feeling really poorly.

One good thing is that I think I figured out what’s causing the bloating. I am inhaling oxygen but not exhaling enough DUH! I realized I am doing this because of the weird feeling of panic I feel when I exhale too long. Further, when I exhale a lot of oxygen, the panic sets in, and then I take a HUGE breath of air.

Things to focus on:
I am also not that thrilled with my swimming. I feeling like I am missing something! Similar to the feeling I had about my stroke before that correction was made. One last note! I have continuously swum without pain in my shoulder since my stroke correction! That’s really nice to know! One last thing, I need to work on my balance when breathing. I feel out of balance when breathing at times.