Training Jan. 11-17

M - AM 12 with 8 by 30 seconds on, off

T - AM 9 with Patrick PM 6, Lincoln Park

W - PM 11 - 3 WU, 7 miles tempo in 40:30 on treadmill, 1 CD

Th - 9

F - 6

S - 0

S - 0

Total - 62

I woke up on Wednesday morning with what felt like an odd lump on the bottom of my right foot. When I examined the area, however, there was nothing there, and it was not painful, so I went ahead with my plan for a tempo on the treadmill.

As I had been doing, I wore my Luna Racer flats, which was probably a bad idea. I now know that odd lump in the metatarsal underneath and between my fourth and little toe was a slightly inflamed bursa sac. The tempo converted it to a very inflamed bursa sac.

Thursday's run was crap from the start; I made it a few times around the Mall (packed dirt) but the inflamed area never seemed to loosen up or dull out. Afterward, I iced and got on ibuprofen, and by the afternoon I thought I had pretty much kicked it. To be safe, I skipped a post-work 5 or 6. But I did not take ibuprofen either, and the stinging in my foot woke me up in the middle of the night.

On Friday, I saw Dr. Adam Spector, a podiatrist I saw in 2008 to get an in-grown toenail fixed. Spector, a runner and very good doctor, took an X-ray which ruled out anything serious. He acknowledged that, in some cases, you can train through bursitis, but you have to play it day to day, and what he saw was simply the result of too much pounding in the metatarsal. I have really high arches; my foot is not naturally a good shock absorber.

So why I have mostly managed to avoid injury? Well, I'm pretty lean, yes, and fairly efficient, though my gait is fairly quirky. Mostly, even when I'm putting in good volume, I have a good sense of where the line is; I know, too, when my body is most vulnerable and I need to pay close attention to my cadence.

But I screwed up recently, and moving forward I am going to have to be more proactive about escaping the concrete-laden Southeast. Also, a month out from the Philadelphia Marathon, perhaps I moved forward too fast. Honestly, it's hard to say.

A short run Friday made it feel a lot worse -- it stings, walking is hard -- and so I must accept that RUNNING does not help this injury.

Nothing but RICE until Tuesday. That day, if it feels decent, I'll try 30 minutes on grass.