A Really Annoying Mystery

I've been happily living in denial for about the last week. Turns out that's not the best method when it comes to injury prevention.

It's weird though, there is no swelling, no hot spots when I foam roll, nothing that hurts when I'm walking around. But when I run, the first 20-30 steps turn into a ridiculous hobble-run where I have pain from the back of my right heel all the way up to the back of my thigh. If I push through those awkward first steps (because distance runners are like that), I have been able to run a decent amount without pain.

I have been stretching and rolling (foam roller and stick roller) and it mostly feels better...sometimes. I had a perfectly decent 4 miler on Monday and then barely finished a miserable 2 miles today.

The problem is that I don't know what this is. It's not a problem I've had before, and anytime you mention heel pain online all that comes up is plantar fasciitis (which this is not). I'm starting to think that it's something to do with my achilles, but it isn't swollen, tight or painful to the touch.

Mystery.

Really annoying mystery.

I don't have a race until the middle of June, and after that I will be switching over to marathon training, so I would rather take some time off to sort this out now.

In house news: we got the hardwood flooring that is going to be in the master bedroom and the new hallway in the addition. It's currently acclimating to the house so it behaves itself (no buckling!) when it's installed.

We have also been looking at tile for the new bathrooms, but we haven't found anything yet.

Buddy is no help at all, but he sure is cute. I swear he doesn't sleep all day.

Sometimes he stares sadly out the window because Tom is outside without him.

Any idea what my mystery injury might be?

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It was SO nice on Sunday! Buddy was pretty psyched. 

Tom has been working on finishing up the back porch roof, and I was put in charge of burning all the scrap wood.

I had an absolutely miserable run on Monday. I felt off (possibly getting sick?) but figured I would feel better after a mile or so. It was supposed to be a 5 mile run, and I cut it short at 3 miles.

Today's run started off in a similar fashion, but fortunately it picked up after a bit. I had repeats on the plan for today, so I ran 9x400m repeats with 400m recovery walk/jogs. Normally I would do a 200m recovery, but since there's a limited flat area in my neighborhood I like to start and end at the same place to avoid hills. A little extra recovery in between intervals never hurts either.

As an added bonus, I was in shorts and a tank top for most of my run (I did start with a jacket) - it was a nice change from wearing all the layers.

I wore my snazzy LEGEND Compression calf sleeves for my repeats. They're seriously the softest compression gear I've ever tried and I'm super excited to rep them at all my races this year as a LEGEND ambassador!

LEGEND not only carries performance socks, sleeves and recovery socks (which have a higher level of compression to speed recovery), they also have business/dress socks and stockings if you can't get away with wearing yoga pants all day ;)

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And this is what happens when Buddy goes into the unfinished addition and then walks on my yoga mat:

At least he looks a little sorry.