Getting Ready for Summer Training

As summer is approaching at super sonic speed, and my body is starting to feel recovered after my death march of a race in Boston, I can honestly say I'm excited to train for another marathon.  The cataclysm of a race in Boston was humbling and stocking.  I feel I will forever have some PTSD, or some extensively repressed memories from that "race".  It was a stock to know I was never in the shape I thought I was in. In fact, I probably had no clue what shape I was in and could've just picked a random time out of a hat.  Instead, I incorrectly guessed I was in 2:30 shape.  And with the weather being a little warmer and dryer than usual, I knowingly went out even faster than my self-prescribed time.  I believe I latched on to a 2:28 group and dumb heartingly strolled along for as long as possible; which was only about 9 miles.  After that, the rest was a painful blur.  It was a long crawl home to the finish, and two distinct things came to mind after I was painfully lifting one leg after the other.  One thought was the fact that I wasn't injuring myself in the slow and miserable process I called, running. And the other thought was how actually grateful I was to be on the pavement in Boston, running in the Boston Marathon.

The thought of running in the Boston Marathon is a dream of mine and many runners alike.  Of course, my dream of racing Boston wasn't to see the hour mark tick anywhere near 3 hours.  But I was still beyond appreciative of being able to run the distance and make it from start to finish without hurting myself.  The only thing I hurt was my reputation, and that will take some time to heal.  Otherwise, I saw zero reason to quite and drop out.  I've never dropped out of a race in my life, and I sure as heck wasn't going to drop out of the Boston Marathon.  I thought to myself, I may never get the chance to race/run in Boston again, so you better not drop out.  I have my pride of running quick and putting everything I have on the line in most of the races I compete in.  I hate losing, but to me; the worst thing than losing is giving up for the shake of not winning.  I've talked to a lot of people after the race, and I've gotten a lot of congratulatory compliments, but of course I know I ran beyond what words could describe as horrendous.  "Like Crap" or "I don't even know what happened" are my usual responses to most people who have an idea of how slow I ran.  But, deep down it was a learning experience and I learned a lot.  I learned you can't average low mileage and only one 20 miler and expect to run a fast marathon.  I learned how important all the workouts shape and build you as a runner.  And most importantly, I experienced how well you need to tune into your body and ask it to do something that's incredible.

Just before the screaming women of Wellesley College

So moving forward with a healthy and recovered body I can look to the sunrises of about 70 days of solid work-free training.  It'll be like I'm a professional runner once summer roles around in a sheer 3 days away.  I have my eyes set on the New Mexico road 5k championships this summer, along with many miles of training for a Fall Marathon.  The options are still there, so I haven't decided on what would be the best choice.  Part of me would like to run a lower key marathon and attempt to win one.  And another part of me wants redemption and attempt the fastest course possible with the best opportunity for a fast time.  It's still undecided.  The main factor that has been decided is some solid training.  I'll be looking to build my aerobic threshold and concentrate solely on marathon specific workouts this summer.  I'd like to get comfortable again with longer tempo runs and consistent mileage.  I also have been weary of a stress fracture recurring, so I won't be too aggressive with the double days or über high mileage.  All in all, I have a great feeling about this summer and I'm excited to be back training again.

Prior to the Carnage

Pre-Race racing kit

An Old Roommate from College (Mike Crouch)

        

Stress Fractures SUCK!!!

Yes, it's been forever since my last post, and I have a tendency to not write when I am hurt.  My thoughts are, who cares about someone whose hurt and on the sidelines...?  I'd much rather be writing about awesome workouts and races that have a lasting memory.  But, injuries happen to all of us, and they leave lasting memories on us as well.

My latest injury was another stress fracture in my right tibia.  This time, I felt like a caught it early and took sufficient time off (8 weeks).  My question is, why the heck do I keep getting an injury on the same leg in the same region?  There must be an imbalance or something causing extra stress to that area, but the docs don't really know.  I'm doing physical therapy at Quadra Health Institute once a week, so that seems to be helping my imbalances a bit.  I have also taken the very slow approach of running again.  Or, at least I believe this is a slow approach...

This past summer I felt like training was going really well.  I never got up to 100 miles a week, but I had some quality workouts.  Things seemed on track for a solid half marathon in September and a full marathon in Chicago.  The timeline of events went something like this: end of August I felt a little pain in my right tibia, took 2 weeks off, ran for 2 weeks into early September thinking the pain was an acute injury and had subsided, realized it was getting worse the more I ran, stopped running, went to a podiatrist and continued to not run for 8 weeks, the end.

On November 16th, I ran for the first time for 15 minutes to test it out.  I was out of breath, tired but thrilled to not have any pain in my leg.  For the remainder of the week I ran every other day for 15 minutes for a total of 6 miles in the week.  The following week I doubled my mileage to 12 miles, kinda crazy, I know!  Then last week I kept going with a whopping 18 miles and a 30 minute continuous run.  Everything seems to be going well, I'm not feeling pain in my leg when I run, but I have noticed that afterwards I have a weird feeling.  It's very similar to my last stress fractures, as it's been commonly called "Phantom Pain".  This pain or feeling is typically caused by a build up of calcium in the area of the stress fracture pressing outward on nerves or tissue.  After doing quite a bit of research, it's been reassuring to know I am not getting hurt again, and that this sensation is very common.  However, I am not going to be stupid and go crazy with my training.  Going into my 4th week of running give me confidence to keep training, but only with a conservative approach.  I don't really have a rush to get back into things, so I'll slowly increase my base and race when I feel ready enough to.

To conclude this past marathon cycle, I have failed miserably in an attempt to qualify for the 2016 USA Olympic Marathon Trials.  However, I still feel that my best marathon time is ahead of me, and that I have many more amazing races to come.  I know I can't do the same thing I have in the past.  I've gotten older, so therefore I should be wiser - I know I'm not that wise yet, but am aiming for that wisdom.  So something has to change, which will be my training and training philosophy.

"If you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got."
-Mark Twain

Getting over the mental anguish of the stress fracture - another week in the books

Well, I survived another week of decent running and a decent amount of numbness in my right tibia from those nasty stress fractures.  Once thing that I keep reminding myself is that my bone is completely healed and that I am doing the right thing by running a little on it.  This was the advice many people have given me over the summer; that there'll be some "weird" pain where the stress fracture use to be.  And like I've said before, that weird pain was also a thick and fat feeling that I didn't like having.  It was just a reminder that; "hey, I'm going to bug you and hopefully break you mentally before I actually break physically.".  That was not fun, but I still kept at it, and hopefully I'm right.

So, after some light trotting around during the week, a fun trip to Jemez Springs (elevation: 7900'), and 2 little mountain excursions; I would say I had a decent week of running, and I use the word running loosely.  I can honestly say that running up the Pino trail was quite difficult for me.  With the company of Chris and Tony, I made it up to the Crest Trail from the Spain Parking Lot in one hour and fifteen minutes, then blazed down for a total time of two hours and ten minutes.  I've never been up to the crest from that trail, and it was quite amazing and wet.  I would highly recommend that trail and hopefully in the future we will venture over to South Peak and back.  As you can tell, I really have the trail running bug and have my sights on Mt. Taylor 50k at the end of September.  After that, I will head back to the roads and attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Trials in the marathon, but before that I still want to get scuffed up in the mountains.

Here are some pictures from today's run up Embudito Trail.

Post Stress Fracture Running, Rehab, & Trail Running

Well, after a bitter summer of recovering and rehabbing my 3 stress fractures in my right tibia, I am now running confidently again.  This past week I spent the majority of my time lightly pounding on the softer dirt path of the North UNM Golf Course loop.  Once I had some free time to venture towards the foothills on the weekend, I decided to run up the Pino trail.  On Saturday I only managed to make it 45 minutes away from the Michael Emery parking lot, and Sunday morning I was able to run 1 hour out.  I have never been that far up the Pino trail, and from what I observed - it was pretty amazing.  Very lush and beautiful.  This weekend I plan on making up to the Crest and possibly even further...  Time will only tell, since I've been limited to "time" running during my rehab segment.

On another crazy and thought provoking topic; I've recently signed up for the Mt. Taylor 50k, which will take place on September 27th.  It seems a little crazy to run an Ultramarathon after coming back from a stress fracture, but I figured if I can make the La Luz trail run my longest run post stress fracture, then I should be fine...  Again, time will only tell, just so long as I don't do anything too stupid.

More Trail running post to come, and with pictures too!