A Training Milestone, and a Double-Digit Day

For nearly four months now, I should have been walking my butt off. For nearly four months now, I have spent much of the time feeling that someone was hammering a nail into my left heel with every step because of plantar fasciitis. So for nearly four months now, I have not done consistent training for this long walk that is now just 40 days away.

But this past week, I hit a training milestone - for the first time, I managed to walk every single day that I was supposed to, even if the miles were not what they should have been according to the schedule:

Saturday - 8 miles
Sunday - 5 miles
Monday - 1 hour of water aerobics on a rest day
Tuesday - 4.5 miles
Wednesday - 30 minutes of weights on a cross training day
Thursday - 5 miles
Friday - rest day
Today - 10 (ta-da!) miles

That is nearly 33 miles of actual walk training in the last 8 days, and my first double-digit day on my feet in I don't know how long - certainly of 2011 due to the foot surgery and plantar fasciitis. That is the good news. The bad news is that the pain in my heel got a little more severe as each walk was done and the week went by. It is not as bad as it was, but today it hurts the most in a while, despite Ibuprophin and ice. Tomorrow, if I am up to it, I am going to try 8 more miles.

So, mixed results, but all in all, the glass is at least half full.

Today, I walked about 7.5 miles with my friend, Lelia. We improvised a route all around Richmond's near West End. Before Lelia and I linked up, I walked 2.5 miles by myself and ended up visiting with the Fall Team in Training Team at Byrd Park for a couple of seconds. That felt like a little bonus for getting this walk in today. What a great bunch of people!