Staying positive?

I was excited to run Finger Lakes 50k this coming Saturday, but now just a few days out it's become questionable how doable this might be. I'm trying to stay positive that things turn around, but at this point: (a) my foot, while much improved, is still a question mark for beyond a couple of hours; (b) I've had a nasty chest infection for over a week now (same one I've had several times since last October; went to dr yesterday, finally); and (c) the forecast for Ithaca says high of 34 with humidex 42 on Saturday. If those were in Fahrenheit I'd be thrilled, but no, that's Celcius of course. Ick. And now, to top it off, (d) Derrick is fighting something, which doesn't affect my race, but just sucks.

There's a good chance I'll be dropping down to the 25k (as long as they let me, which I'm sure they will.) That seems like the smart thing to do, and might be more than enough 'fun' on the day.

Good Article on Barefoot Running as Therapy

Getting rid of Achilles and Plantar problems with barefoot running | Camille Herron

I am enjoying Camille's blog, it has a ton of useful info. This article is particularly timely for me right now, and I'm posting it for anyone else who might find it useful.

Full Circle

My plantar fascia felt great for two days after the big stretch from yoga, and then I did an uphill treadmill run and set it way back again. I saw my physio Stacee yesterday, and she figured out pretty quickly that it was my soleus that was very tight and causing the trouble in my PF. This was the calf muscle I pulled during Finger Lakes 50k in 2009, and the scar tissue has just been sitting there and not allowing full, correct mobility. It is interesting that I’m going into the same race in less than three weeks, and dealing now with the fallout from it two years ago.

She did a lot of soft tissue work on my PF and calf (owwch) and gave me a modification to the bent-knee calf stretch to target the soleus muscle in the correct way (my body had been compensating and bending inward). It’s good to get this addressed right down to the root of the problem. I’ve felt tenderness in my calf a few times and wondered about it, so it all makes perfect sense to me. I have some tendonopathy in the big toe knuckle of that foot too which should also calm down when this all resolves. Stacee, who is also just over 40 and very active, jokingly shared her personal acronym for having to deal with this kind of thing: A.G.E. J

The uphill tempo was great though. Right now I can handle more than before Rock and Ice, so I’m very pleased with that. It’s kind of a mystery to me actually, but I like it. Maybe I'm just fresher going into the workouts. Maybe I'm dreaming of Colorado.

Here’s my progression of uphill treadmill workouts this spring, if anyone is interested. My personal preference is to keep the speed constant for each workout and vary the incline only. I also topped out at 10° to keep the majority of time in the comfortably hard (tempo) range and also to keep good form. (Note the ’ indicates minutes, as in deg/min/sec, not feet, ha).

For those who aren’t workout geeks, please skip right ahead to the rest of your day! J

Feb 17

6:40/km

(w/u for 15’)

4’ @ 5°

1’ @ 0°

4’ @ 6°

1’ @ 0°

4’ @ 5°

1’ @ 0°

1’ each @ 5°, 6°, 5°, 6°

(c/d for 15’)

Mar 3

6:40/km

(w/u for 20’)

5’ each @ 5°, 6°

1’ @ 0°

5’ each @ 7°, 8°

(c/d for 15’)

Mar 8

6:40/km

(w/u for 20’)

5’ @ 6°

2’ @ 0°

5’ @ 7°

1’ @ 0°

5’ @ 8°

1’ @ 0°

1’ each @ 6°, 7°, 8°, 9°, 10°

2’ @ 0°

1’ each @ 6°, 8°, 10°

(c/d for 18’)

Mar 18

6:40/km

(w/u for 20’)

5’ each @ 7°, 8°, 7°, 8°

(c/d for 15’)

Jun 1

6:15/km

(w/u for 21’)

10’ @ 5°

5’ @ 6°

1’ @ 7°

4’ @ 5°

(c/d for 10’)

Jun 8

6:15/km

(w/u for 10’)

5’ each at 5°, 6°, 7°, 8°

1’ each at 6°, 8°, 6°, 9°, 6°, 10°, 6°, 9°, 6°, 8°

(c/d for 10’)

If you’re still here, you’re a workout geek.

May

Um, where did May go? Looking back on it, training went well, with several long runs, increased volume overall, and even some ugly interval workouts. Next up for racing is Finger Lakes 50k on July 2nd. This is the race we did two years ago when most of the course was calf-deep in mud. It would be a relatively fast course if it were dry; I'm hoping for dry trails and dry air, how great would that be. I haven't done a 50k since that race actually, so I'm planning to get a few more good weeks and long runs before a decent taper.

My plantar fascia has been a bit sore the past several weeks, but after a good stretch yesterday doing some yoga, it feels fantastic today. I walked down the stairs normally this morning for the first time in a while. I was trying everything except stretching for it, but obviously that is what it needed. I'll happily add that stretch to my physio stuff.

After Finger Lakes is TransRockies in Colorado in late August, thanks to a contest for a team entry that I won from irunfar.com. Derrick and I will run as a team for six days over beautiful trails in the mountains near Leadville. I'm glad we got a taste of Colorado running last summer so we know sort of what to expect from the altitude. We're both so excited about it, and incredibly grateful to have gotten in to the race thanks to IRF.

I never did get to see the coyote pups that Derrick found on a nearby trail (not for lack of trying), but on the last long run at Frontenac I did see a gigantic moose print which my entire hand fit inside of. I've never seen a moose or a print before, so I found it pretty amazing. And then just tonight on our run, we were rounding a corner and saw the biggest bear either of us has ever seen. It was absolutely massive. I had no idea black bears around here could get that BIG, and it made my heart jump out of my body, and when it returned it was pumping about 20 beats faster of pure primal adrenaline. Thankfully it was already darting into the bushes, but not before we got a great view of it maybe 15 metres away from us. What an amazing sight!!!! I hope he is a wise old guy who knows to stay safely hidden away in the woods.

Slide Lake Loop

This is a slideshow of our long run yesterday (thanks to Derrick and Mac). Slide Lake Loop in Frontenac Park is 30ish km of amazing trail running. It’s one of my favourite runs ever, despite the fact it invariably destroys me by the end. Flagpole Hill and Devil’s Gorge are my top two spots in the park, but because the loop is so big and there aren’t ‘escape’ options, I don’t see them very often. Yesterday the conditions were very good, unlike in the summer when the trail gets grown over with grasses that hide rocks and tangle around your ankles, and the deer flies are bad. Aside from some muddy spots, the biggest obstacles yesterday were the dozens of blowdowns from the big storm last week. The trail is all single-track, mostly very gnarly, and constantly rolls up and down, with a lot of steep ridges through gorges. It's a full-body workout.

The 'official' Slide Lake Loop uses Cedar Lake Loop as its western side, but we always come back along the south-eastern Big Salmon trail instead (from the junction near campsite 4).

Surprisingly we didn't see any deer, just a lot of hawks, one live beaver and a dead one. The dead one looked like fresh kill, so maybe we briefly scared away whatever was feeding on it. Too bad, it would have been neat to see the coyotes or whatever it was.

My first run over 4 hours in a long time. I felt structurally pretty good given that, which was encouraging.

Race Recap: Seaton Trail Mud Puppies

Date: April 16, 2011
Location: Seaton Trail, Pickering, Ontario
Distance: 29K
Weather: Rain, 4C
Trail: Out-and-back, single-track, muddy and wet. Mostly flat, but quite a few huge hills, a crazy river crossing, and did I mention mud? Everywhere.
Time: 3:43
Place: 2nd F, not sure overall

Was totally excited to run this race, not nervous at all. Despite the cold rain and slick mud I had a complete blast. Great people, it was nice to see everyone. Legs felt great, I thanked my physio Stacee in my head about a hundred times. I also thanked my well-tractioned Crosslites too many times to count. I like this length of race, I didn't carry anything except a few gels stashed in my gloves, and wasn't in a state of desperation with hours yet to go. Weird. Nice.

The weather was nasty, but I kind of like that for running. I felt bad for runners in the the longer races and especially the volunteers and organizers though. (It was a dangerous day out there if things went wrong...kudos to John M for helping out a runner in serious trouble, and then helping the runner's family too.) I saw Derrick three times on the course, and due to the timing of our starts and his shorter second section out, we finished up nearly at the same time. We had thought about the possibility of that happening, but figured the odds were against it. It was great to be able to see him finish and win his first race after the year off. Loved the dog-shaped medal and paw-printed t-shirt.

Bottom line: This year we put the Mud in Mud Puppies. Feels great to be back!

Results and photos will be here.

Niggly vs Injury

Niggly

- A minor soreness
- Proceed with Caution
- Usually accompanies a training increase
- Gets better rapidly
- Ends up stronger than before
- Within a week it's over and never thought about again
- Feels good in a bad way

Injury
- Too painful to run without limping
- Stop
- Usually happens when you feel fit and invincible
- Can take fer-freaking-ever to heal
- Lost fitness, starting over
- Eventually you might see a good side to it all
- Feels bad in a bad way