Last week wrapped up the previous training cycle, and this week (re-)starts phase one of Jack Daniel’s “Red” fitness plan, this time with six days per week of running! I was really looking forward to getting back to six running days a week, but I apparently overdid it with all the hiking while on vacation and aggravated my sesamoiditis.

Sesamoiditis is what derailed me for about a year back in 2020–2021. Everyone has two tiny bones embedded in tendon under the ball of their big toe. When these (and/or the surrounding tendon) get inflamed, that’s sesamoiditis.

After a terrible time getting through it the first time, I finally saw a podiatrist specializing in athletes, particularly runners. While my first doctor, an orthopedist, wanted me off my foot all together, this podiatrist advised that I should keep running, just use some sesamoid/dancer pads to alleviate pressure on the joint. It took a while to get back to running without the pad, but I hadn’t had any issues with it for a while now, long enough, even, for other injuries to come and go.

So while I’m not happy about the injury’s recurrence, I’m happy to already have a plan that doesn’t keep me from running. Unfortunately it popped up while on vacation, and I of course didn’t have any of the foot pads with me. In Moab, I was able to find some thick padded moleskin that I cut into a shape to do the job. By that time I was already a few days off of running and just took the rest of the week off, too. Prior to that, my running had been going well.

Now that I’m home, and I have the right foot pads, this new training cycle is starting with a week of getting back to running. I was logging about three and a half running hours over five days for the weeks prior, which averages to about 40 minutes per run. For the first half of this week, I’m running 50%, or 20 minutes, and for the second half I’m running 75%, or 30 minutes. Next week I expect to be at 100% volume. I decided to go ahead and try the increase to six days per week, but will certainly adjust if my foot thinks that’s a problem. Otherwise the next few weeks will look like this:

1. Monday: 10 minutes Easy + 2 x 1 mile T with 1 minute rests + 10 minutes Easy
2. Tuesday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 Strides
3. Wednesday: 10 minutes Easy + 3 x 1k T with 1 minute rests + 10 minutes Easy
4. Thursday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 Strides
5. Friday: 30 minutes Easy + 6 Strides
6. Saturday: 40 minutes Easy

I’m reintroducing my previous “fourth week down week” approach with this training cycle, too, so each fourth week will be at about 75% volume. I’ve found this helpful in the past both physically and mentally.

The last week of this phase has a race, the Decatur DeKalb 4 Miler. Expecting I’ll be running well with the foot pad, I’m targeting 7:40/mile pace for that.