Ouch! My Arches?

Monday I decided to try out my heart rate monitor during the day. I wore it for 11 hours total. I walked to work, spent 8 hours at work, walked home and then spent some time lounging around and watching TV. Here are the stats:

Time: 11:00:00
Calories: 1410
Average Calories: 128.2/hour
Maximum HR: 142
Average HR: 85

So, obviously, not a huge amount. Especially when compared to Sunday's count. I know that on Sunday I was walking around a lot more, but it is a really big difference. I am glad to know what the total for a regular day was.

On Tuesday, I set my alarm in order to get up and go running in the morning. I had even laid out my clothes the night before, but Drew and I both had a serious alarm clock problem. We both just kept pressing snooze for quite a while. He finally did get up, but I couldn't do it. Today was more of the same. Except that I must have turned off my alarm without realizing it today because Drew got up and left for the gym and I said that I'd meet him there and I was still sleeping when he got home from the gym. Oops.

I really felt like I couldn't go two days in a row without working out. I had been thinking that I would have to go to the gymnasium today in order to get in my last weight lifting for the week, but I realized that I could do that tomorrow instead, which meant that I was then free to go running outside tonight!

I was really looking forward to the run. I have some new cooler weather running gear that I wanted to try out. Plus, I don't have any experience running in cooler weather, so I figured that I need to start keeping track of what I wear under certain weather conditions. Tonight it was 48 degrees and at times it was a little windy. I wore running tights, a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, my new running gloves and I also had my Westchester Triathlon running hat.

Walking to the Park, I was definitely a little cool, which I took as a good sign. Everything I've read said that you want to be a little bit cool when you first get outside and you'll quickly warm up while running. When I got to the Park, I started running right away. I was just really in a running mood today. I was so happy to realize that I didn't have to go to the gym today in order to keep up with the weight lifting routine.

Almost right away, I noticed that my feet weren't really that happy to be running. I was hoping that it would go away if I kept going, but that really wasn't the case. I also wasn't sure what exactly was going on. The pain was in the arches of my feet, both feet, but the right was a little bit more pronounced than the left. I really tried to concentrate on my running form and thought that if I did a better job with that hopefully it would help. Nope.

My plan for running today was to do two loops of the lower loop of Central Park. My thoughts behind that was that it is really well lit and it has the most pedestrian/bike traffic. With the days so short now, I'm going to have to get used to being out in the dark. The good news is that I just got a Road ID, so if anything bad should happen, at least I'll be identifiable.

Of course, my feet were not really wanting to go ahead with this plan. The pain wasn't exactly constant. I guess I would say that I always noticed it, but it definitely came and went in intensity. Once I was more than half-way around, I decided that I would keep running for the entire loop, but that would be it. I'd listen to my body and only have a short run. I was really disappointed in myself. The worst part was that I was really feeling good and I thought I was running at a good pace. But my feet didn't really seem to want to carry me any further.

The only thing I can think of is that I've been wearing high heels a lot more recently than I have in a really long time. In the summer, I'll generally wear flats on my walk to and from the office and switch shoes once I get to work. However, recently, I've been wearing them at work and walking to and from work as well. I'm going to hope that if I go back to wearing flats for the rest of the week that my feet will be happier with me next time I go running.

As far as the clothes for the weather, I felt really good. I did end up taking my hat off, but my ears were still cold even though I was overall more comfortable. I doubt that it's worth it to buy some sort of ear muffs because I imagine that it's not going to stay this temperature or warmer for very much longer. I also have to keep practicing running outside in the cool weather because I have a 10K in December in the Park that I have to be ready for.

Running
Time: 18:31
Distance: 1.9 miles
Pace: 9:44/mile
Calories: 229
Maximum HR: 179
Average HR: 169