Committing to Rest.

I have another injury I’m dealing with that I really don’t understand. The outside of my left foot gets really sore after a run, and for the next day. Pain when walking, but no swelling. It’s been doing this for several weeks, approaching a couple of months now. I really need to get some rest. For my knee as well. So I’m doing it.

What does rest mean? For me, it means reducing the number of workouts per week, to two or three from six, and for now, for a little while, having exactly zero of them be running. I’m going to the gym regularly, and working hard on strengthening my core, especially my back. But I’m not doing much in the way of squats or lunges, because knee. I am doing core and upper body, and things like dead lifts.

For cardio, I’ve started doing two-mile rowing sessions. I can do it in just under 14 minutes. Rowing is both hard and boring, but it really gets my heart rate up. And it also works my back – lats and traps both get involved. I’m not about to go out and buy a skiff or anything, but I’m feeling like the rowing is a good way to keep up my fitness while I need to rest my lower body.

I really want to run another marathon in April. Mostly because I want to shift my marathon training from summer to winter, and I don’t want to go 18 months without running a marathon. I like the idea of doing my triathlons in the fall, and seeing where I can go with that. So, if I’m going to get all that done, I need to rest now to let my body reset. So that’s what I’m doing.