Five Things Friday - January 9

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm pleased to report I made it through my first year-end close almost entirely unscathed. Normally year-end would be the worst week of the year, so it's really brought home to me how hard I've worked the other months of the year, that this feels easy by comparison. Seriously, feeling relaxed and calm during year end is unheard of. It was nice to take a step back and realize I've far I've come since last year.

Without further ado, let's dive into this week's Five Things:

1. Polar Vortex Round 2

I know, I know, everyone is suffering too, but I just had to include it. At the beginning of the week, the brutal cold made my decision to rest a little longer easier, but now I'm starting to get some major cabin fever. We got socked with about six inches of snow last weekend, and I'm currently probably creeping into week at about five miles per hour as you read this.

At least the view from my apartment is pretty!

2. My injury is finally healing!

So it turns out all those spin pictures I was Instagramming were not only obnoxious to my IG friends, but to my body as well. After a couple days off from the bike and then hopping back on, I realized it was aggravating my injury. Super duper. Anyway, I tried to keep my positive pants on and did some yoga instead, which significantly improved my pain! There's still a tiny bit of discomfort, but I'm hoping by Sunday (when we should have a polar vortex break with a steamy 28 degrees) I can try a short run.

3. I got new shoes!

I've had a lot of free time to stew think since I've been injured, and I was trying to figure out what made me so susceptible to this tendonitis. The only thing I've ever been able to determine before was that it's much worse when it's cold. (Random, I know.) Then I realized the only thing that's been consistent during my running career is my shoes.

I absolutely love my Wave Riders, but I now think they might have been the cause of my tendonitis. With this in mind, I braved the terrible roads yesterday after work to go to the running store. It sounded dumb to say out loud, but I basically asked if I could get the same shoe but one that wouldn't injure me. To my great delight the salesperson popped out of the back with Mizuno Wave Creations. These have the same exact fit as my Wave Riders (narrow feet, ftw!), but they have a lot more cushioning.

Plus you can't go wrong with purple.

I'm eager to take these bad boys out for a spin. Even better is the store has a 30 day exchange policy, so if I hate them, I can get something else. How awesome is that?!

4. My Type A personality had a field day.

Like I said, I've had a lot more free time since being injured. (Not running four hours on Saturdays will do that, I guess.) I took some time this past Sunday to put together my training plan through mid-October and the Newport Marathon. My current plan is to finish up my modified version of RLRF for Myrtle Beach, then I will use Hal Higdon's various Multiple Marathons plans through the Missoula Marathon in mid-July. Then I'm going to try out Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning plan with the hope to PR at Newport. Got all that?

5. Mental health breaks are so necessary.

Like I said above, year end hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected, but I'm still pretty wiped. I still had to work quite a bit of overtime (though I've certainly worked much more), and I decided last night to skip my planned cross-training and play my fun new LotR video game instead. This was really hard for me to do, but it was so refreshing to relax on the couch and do something relatively mindless. (And I elevated my leg, so it wasn't totally wasted time!)

This is actually what I look like since I haven't been able to run in so long!

Stay safe and warm this weekend, everyone!

Have you ever switched shoes due to injury?
What do you do when you need a mental health break?