Progress stalled

Mystery foot pain has me temporarily off the marathon training this week: hopefully for only this week! On Saturday, we had a really tough workout on schedule: 18 miles with 15 miles at marathon pace in the middle. This was on day 6 of a 72 mile week, the most I've ever run...you can see where this is heading. Increase in intensity PLUS increase in mileage = injury!
Saturday's run was obviously hard, and I ended up with 19.5 including running to and from the meeting place; plus it was a humid morning with a slick surface to the levee. We planned to meet as a group, jog over to the levee, and do a 7.5-mile out-and-back at marathon pace. The levee is topped with a paved bike/pedestrian path, and there are no vehicles, so it's ideal for this type of tempo workout when you absolutely don't want to have to stop. I was lucky enough to have a large group to run with: myself, plus three other guys. We were also lucky to have a not-too-windy day; often, there is a heavy headwind off the river on the way back, but it wasn't bad on Saturday. Our group was shooting for 6:57 pace, and for the first few miles, it was conversational. We held together pretty tightly, with the only time our pack spread out being during a brief off-road episode due to construction on the levee. But we were still together at the super-tight hairpin turn to head back. By mile ten or so, I was getting tired. We had some water from a group member biking around with bottles, but not much - he was toting bottles for all fifteen of us out there, so we were just sharing sips. And like usual, we had no fuel, although our coach posted that we could take one or two gels if we wanted to test them on our stomach. I didn't, because I didn't think there was enough water to manage it, but I did chew two salt tablets. We ended up with a little over 15 at 6:54 pace, and I was immediately sore when I got home. I was happy with our pace and the workout, and happy that we were able to finish pretty strong (we didn't slow on the second half, even with the mild headwind).

Long run group

But then...my foot started to hurt. That night, the top of my foot ached, but it was ok when I woke up, so I headed out for eight miles. It hurt so much that I cut it short at 7.5 and walked back. By Monday morning, I called my doctor, and went in for an x-ray. I was happy that there was no sign of a fracture, but I have a ton of inflammation between the metatarsals, and a bone bruise. Apparently there was just too much pounding during the long run. I am taking time off until it doesn't hurt, and taking some NSAIDS. I'm glad it's not fractured, but concerned that it will be slow-healing: it still hurts to walk on it! I'm hoping some time off doesn't totally derail my race!