Well, I’ve been ignoring some pain in my right foot for about a week. I thought it was getting better, and perhaps it was and the interval training has aggravated it again. It usually only bothers me when I’m sprinting; or if I walk more than a hundred yards in flats or shoes without support; or if I’m bending the toes to do push-ups, planks, or lunges.

I keep debating whether or not to see a doctor, but I’m not the type of person to run in at the smallest thing. Whatever the problem is -stress fracture, plantar fasciitis, tendonitis, etc.- unless it’s bad enough to need surgery (it’s not), the treatment at this point would be the same: take it easy. So that’s what I’m doing. If I’m careful for 2 or even 3 weeks now, I can still pick up my half marathon training in time. Will I do as well? No, but I should at least finish. That’s better than nothing.

This brings me to a couple of dilemmas. First, I’d just upped my calories. Now that I’m doing less cardio, I’m going to drop my calorie limit again, at least this week. But how much? I keep hearing never go less than 500 under your BMR. Okay, but what if you’re still lifting weights to gain muscle?

Second issue: no cardio. Next week I should have access to a swim center, so I can get some cardio workouts there. I’d like to try the elliptical machine at the base gym tomorrow, and see if my foot does okay with that. It’s when the pressure is on the ball or toes of my foot that I have problems. As long as I’m coming down on my heel on the elliptical, it should be okay. Either that or I’ll walk on the treadmill on an incline. I just need to get some cardio in. I’m scared I’m going to gain fat.

Anyway, this is all kind of depressing. This is my last week of the Winter Miles Challenge, and I’m not sure I’m going to meet my goal! I did get over 5 miles in on Sunday (caused me foot pain all Monday morning), so if I can get a couple of miles here and there on the treadmill or elliptical, I should be okay. I just have to really listen to my body.