I Have Mild Plantar Faciitis

At least I hope it is mild. I noticed my heels were hitting the pavement while running downhill on Old Tale Rd. I had the classic plantar faciitus symptom of pain in my right heel when I got up after sitting for a while. I did not run the next day hoping that would ease the pain. I had almost no pain when I woke up two days later so I went for a short run with major changes. I wore my Nike Triax rather than my Lunar Elites, avoided Old Tale, stretched my Achilles, ran on dirt where possible and concentrated on landing on my forefoot rather than my heel. My calves now burn like they have absorbed the majority of the shock, unlike before I got the sore heel. No run tomorrow so hopefully I will heal some more.

Run Mileage Adjustment

I have stopped adding the half mile warmup and cool down to my daily runs. This is the distance between my house and the intersection of 55th St and the Centennial Trail. I felt the warm up and cool down mileage should not be used to calculate the percent increase in my running. I feel so much better now that I have confessed to padding my running mileage. You should do the same.

Alternating Hard/Easy Weeks

The Hard/Easy definition of weekly running is different from Hard/Easy daily runs. My Easy daily run is currently 2.0 mi. This distance neither causes an increase or decrease in my fitness. My Easy week is three Hard and three Easy runs of the same distance. My Hard daily run is currently 2.5 mi. My Hard week involves incrementally increasing my weekly mileage by increasing my daily Hard run by 200 meters. A Hard week has increasing mileage and an Easy week has no mileage increase. My weekly increases are 5%, well below the 10% increase injury threshold.

No 2012 Bolder Boulder for me

I will not be able to run the 2012 Bolder Boulder. Although the running program to rehabilitate my knee is going well, my maximum distance so far is 3.5 mi. I am afraid trying to run 10K in the next few weeks is a huge jump in mileage and very likely to injure my knee. I am targeting the Avery Four on the Fourth (2.5 mi) for my return to road racing. Six more weeks of small increases in mileage and pace should strengthen my leg enough to take the stress of a short race.

Do I Have a Mileage Obsession?

I will reach my goal of three easy 3 mile runs and three hard 3.5 mile runs later this week. But now I am wondering why I picked that mileage? Before I tore my left knee menicus in 2010, I considered a run of 3 mi as too short to give me any pleasure or benefit. Then I was training for marathons, now I just want to be able to run for my daily exercise. Biking, swimming, walking and working out on my Bowflex do not give me the same enjoyment as running. Mike Sandrock, the Boulder Camera running columnist, says "Every day is Earth Day to a runner." He is right and I want to be a runner. I read that 3 mi runs are only good for maintaining the runner's fitness level. I have found it is the maximum distance I can run and not aggravate my knee. The hard run of 3.5 mi does aggravate my knee but it does increase my fitness by a modest amount as I have seen while slowly adding distance beyond 3 mi. Running 3.5/3 mi or 19.5 mi/week appears to be the furthest I can run without getting injured at this point. This is assuming I can actually reach 3.5/3 mi without mishap. Below is my next week's schedule.
Mon-Off, Tue-3 mi, Wed-3.5 mi, Thu-3 mi, Fri-3.5 mi, Sat-3 mi, Sun-3.5mi.

Daily Mileage Increase

Adding a 1-2% mileage increase to my daily run has made increasing my weekly mileage more enjoyable. This is because I now have a dynamic turn-around point in my out-and-back runs. I try to find a unique landmark at the turn around so I know where to start adding distance the next time I run the same route. I originally aimed at adding 1% per run to a 5K run. This works out to plus 50 meters every run. For some reason adding 50 meters is not comfortable and I have actually been adding about 75 meters per run. I guess 75 m gives me a greater sense of progress than 50 m. I am currently at 2.5 mi for my easy run and 3 mi for my hard run. I'll stop increasing the easy run when I reach 4 mi around the second week in June. My damaged meniscus does not seem to mind the slight increases and in almost two weeks of doing this my knee has not been sore. Knock on wood.