The Uncomfortable First Mile

I've read a lot of running bloggers who complain about the first mile or two of their runs being uncomfortable. I rarely feel this way. Granted, I don't get into that "running zone" until 2-3 miles in, but I don't really characterize my initial miles as painful or uncomfortable.

This morning was a bit different.

Partially due to lack of sleep (my 7 year old woke me up in the middle of the night with a bad dream), and partially due to some pain on the lower part of the arch on my left foot (please, please, please let this not be the start of plantar facsiitis) and partially due to my HRM giving me false readings my first mile this morning was treacherous!

First mile in 11:10 / avg HR 152, max HR 172.

I'm pretty sure that the HRM was giving me false readings. My "evidence" is that it was already registering in the mid 160s about a quarter of a mile into my run, so I decided to walk until it got back down. The moment I started walking, the HRM was down in the mid-140s.

My pace - and HR - evened out for miles 2 and 3 - both at a 10:34 pace and average HR of 154.

The weird thing about this run is that I normally have awesome easy runs after speedwork and/or long runs. So I was expecting to float on air for this one. I think it was the sleep that killed me on this.

As for the arch pain, I have started to add some more stretching into my routine, and I think I'm going to have to be really diligent about it now. I really don't want to be battling PF in the next few months...