Well ... my summer didn't really turn out the way I had hoped it would. I had planned for a local "extreme" race and two half-marathons and I had to cancel all of them. And rather than spending my summer running, the pain I've been experiencing in my right foot got worse and I eventually had to withdraw from running for 6 weeks :(

On a brighter side, I've been allowed to start running again and have been able to go up to 6.5 km so far without any problems. My physiotherapist seems to have a long-term thinking that I like and have given me some extra exercises apart from the slant board exercises (which he btw thought were great) to strenghten my feet to avoid further injury. Due to all this, you could say that I've been given extra time to work on my strength and balance and might come out of it all feeling stronger in the long run (pun intended). 

I'm a bit uncertain as to where I should pick up the foundation program though. I left off at phase 1 - week 7 in the end of July and have been running twice a week for a month now without any foot pain. What would you suggest?

Cheers

After more than five weeks of almost no training at all (due to a very prolonged virus infection) I was finally able to pick up my training again. I also went on a one week vacation with my family to the Swedish mountain and managed to get two runs and one hike up a mountain done. 

The Swedish mountain are fairly old and therefore do not have very sharp peaks. They've been rounded by the glaciers during the ice age. One would think that this makes it easier to run but it also means that there are a lot of rocks and boulders everywhere.

Nice view from a peak

I quickly realized that I was extremely spoilt when it came to running back home where I mostly find asphalt, gravel and nice smooth trails along fields. I'm extremely grateful to Eric for all the slant board and balance discs exercises that have strengthened my feet enough to survive this (for me) unusual terrain. 

The two runs went fairly well but a lot slower than I had expected. I found myself "mountain goating" along the trail, jumping from rock to rock with quick, short strides. The terrain was either rocky paths or 1 feet wide walk boards that required some concentration to stay on ... especially the more "springy" ones. It was a lot of fun and I realized that it required a lot of concentration to run in this kind of terrain. I let my mind stray for a short while and managed to get a very nice scratch on my knee (which my 4-year old daughter was very happy to patch up for me). 

One of the mosquito infected paths I explored

Unfortunately I'm now back home in farm country again. I learned that the mountain hut we stayed in arranges running camps a few times a year. I now know what I want for Christmas this year :)

Yesterday was one of my planned races before my current goal of a half-marathon this year. This particular 10k race is in my hometown and draws about 5000 people every year so it's equal parts race and festivities. 

As the course is rather flat and I've now spent 4 months working on running form and transitioning to minimalist shoes, I was hoping to be able to get close to my personal best from 4 years ago (which was the last time I did some serious running). 

During the race I felt strong, in control and light on my feet. It felt surprisingly well even though I was pacing myself to end up close to my PB. In the end I slowed down a little bit and ended up at a time that was 15 s from my previous best time. Since I'm currently only at week 4 in the foundation program, I'm looking forward to crushing this time later this year :)