Stalking 50

Sounds like you came to your own answer!

Kenny B. wrote:Sounds like you came to your own answer!

It was like one of those dysfunctional committee meetings up inside my head, but yes: an answer was found.

Heck, I even threw all my running clothes in the wash and started charging my phone to keep me from succumbing to temptation.

Have you considered a chiropractor at all? My ART guy is also a chiro, and I often get adjusted because of my hip misalignment. He is also a 2:18 marathoner, so I trust him, but you live in runner haven, so I'm betting you can find someone there that might be able to help.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Have you considered a chiropractor at all? My ART guy is also a chiro, and I often get adjusted because of my hip misalignment. He is also a 2:18 marathoner, so I trust him, but you live in runner haven, so I'm betting you can find someone there that might be able to help.

I know many people like chiros, but I had a bad experience with a highly regarded one many years ago, so I wouldn't see another one on a bet. I would rather follow the path of sports medicine and physical therapy. A good PT is worth their weight in gold.

Trouble is, my HMO is good at many things, but not sports medicine. It would be a long process to be seen for something like this, and then I would have to pay a deductible because the usual office copayment approach does not apply to these sorts of therapies. So I would have to be very hurt before I would do that.

The good(?) thing is, I am fairly confident I know the problem. I overworked and tweaked something when I was slip-sliding and duck walking up steep snowfields, and bumbling down an unstable talus slope two Mondays ago -- and I apparently did not give myself sufficient recovery. (Note to self: Avoid mountain climbing during step back weeks.)

I hope two days of rest will help. I know to keep the intensity low, as well. Staying healthy is the secret of success in this game, and I intend to be successful.

Makes sense to me as I usually avoid chiros as well, but since Leo is a runner and a good one, I do trust him. I've had PTs that weren't worth anything and trainers who were - so you never know. Sometimes it just helps with a second opinion.

Second opinions are always good (heck, I might benefit from a first opinion...), and you're right: It depends more on the person than the profession. Had doctors great and awful, too. I'm hoping everything resolves itself without intervention.

Race update: I bugged the RD for the Mount Hood 50 again last week, and he said he was going to send out another message to entrants to remind them to let him know if they're not going to be running, so he can open up some slots for people on the wait list. I'm figuring that, if things remain unchanged (or little changed) by this time next week, I'll switch my focus and register for the White River 50.

Walk: 3.9 miles

Weather: Overcast, threat of rain but only a couple of drops. 55 degrees

Walked with Alec and the Alki Middle School Band during the 49th annual Hazel Dell Parade of Bands. It was a fun time, and a nice easy walk that hopefully helped loosen me up a bit. I was surprised when I checked the distance later -- nearly 4 miles when you count getting back to our car after the parade was over. Nice. And they did a really good job, too.



Alec, ready to march. Well, actually, ready to wait a couple of hours before it was his band's turn to march. We were lucky that a huge band of rain passed by a half an hour before we got there. Whew!

Low HR Run: 10.28 miles

Weather: Overcast, mild, a little breezy. 52 degrees. Gear: Altra Instincts, shorts, T. Fuel: Grape Nuts and coffee before. Carried no water but used water fountain at halfway point.

I decided to try something a little different this morning and carry no water on my run. I'm curious if my handheld is throwing things off enough to mess with my form, so I thought I'd try going unencumbered. Not sure if it made a difference (hip is a little tight but no worse during or after the run), but it was worth a try. Didn't need extra water anyway, since there's a water fountain at my turnaround point.

Ran with my training partner, keeping it easy. My HR was down to 55 before I started running, which usually bodes well. I ran consistently -- and sometimes significantly -- under my MAF heart rate, easing along and not worrying about pace. I was happy to see that I was able to run up out of the greenway without having to walk to keep my heart rate down. Nice.

Up tomorrow: Another 24-miler. Part of me wants to make it harder by running a hillier part of the Wildwood Trail, but the other part is whapping me upside the head telling me to not push my luck. This is, after all, the farthest I've gone in training runs and total weekly miles, ever. The secret is to keep it up, not blow it up with misguided ambition.

Walked first and last 5 minutes. Average HR for entire run: 131 (!)

I'm really impressed at your running this winter/spring. Keep consistent, but also a level head as you proceed.

Just because you had a bad experience with a chiro in the past does not mean it will happen again. My chiro is like a magician schooled in ART and other modalities. I swear by him and prior to going to him I had some not so great experiences.

PS: Good luck on the 24 tomorrow logging some big miles!

Dave Wolfe wrote:I'm really impressed at your running this winter/spring. Keep consistent, but also a level head as you proceed.

Thanks, Dave. I can see why people who do ultras are prone to overtraining (and there are several big-name ultra stars whose careers came to a sudden end when they burned themselves out), so I try to listen carefully to my body and pay attention to all the warnings out there to not fall victim to over-exuberance or a fear of missing out on a run. It's consistency that counts, and pays off on race day.

Kenny B. wrote:Just because you had a bad experience with a chiro in the past does not mean it will happen again. My chiro is like a magician schooled in ART and other modalities. I swear by him and prior to going to him I had some not so great experiences.

PS: Good luck on the 24 tomorrow logging some big miles!

Hey, Kenny! You know, I am sure there are perfectly good chiros out there who do wonderful things for people. Just because the guy I went to was a dishonest, swindling quack who didn't even come close to even figuring out my problem (it took my regular doctor about 45 seconds to diagnose it), doesn't mean they're all dishonest, swindling, incompetent quacks, right?

Even so, I'm unlikely to give 'em another try. It's not that I think the traditional medical model works perfectly well, or that I'm not open to other philosophies of health and wellness. Just not this type. But again, I don't think it's really a discussion I need to have right now... because the key is to train in a way to where you don't need to seek professional help. I just hope I can achieve that.

I want to continue this with you now. Lol just kidding.

have a great day tomorrow on the 24 mile journey.

Kenny B. wrote:I want to continue this with you now. Lol just kidding.

have a great day tomorrow on the 24 mile journey.

Oh, Kenny, I'm just getting warmed up!

I'd go into details of my experience, but I might not be so genteel in my word choice.

Thanks on the 24-mile wishes! Looks like is should be a pretty good day for it.

Your head & my head should go at it sometimes - we'll loose track of whose head is talking.

Dave P wrote:Your head & my head should go at it sometimes - we'll loose track of whose head is talking.

That sounds pretty scary, Dave!

Trail Run: 24.2 miles

Weather: Overcast, clearing to sunny. Upper 40s to mid 60s. Gear: Altra Instincts, shorts, T. Fuel: Grape Nuts and coffee for breakfast. Nothing for two hours, then granola bars, Picky Bars or Gu every hour afterward. S-Cap before, every hour during, one extra in last hour. Drank 100 ounces of nuun from Camelbak.

This was the conclusion of my second 10-24 back to back in the past two weeks, so I shouldn't have been surprised that it got a little more difficult in the second half. The first half felt pretty good, and I was even thinking about upping the intensity in the last few miles. I had a good laugh about that when I actually *got* to those last few miles.

Weird things happen on runs sometimes. This time, it was buckets of nasal drainage. I must have forgotten to take my allergy medicine this morning, because I swear a large percentage of the 100 ounces of nuun I carried along with me ended up getting shot out my nose. A serial killer better not be stashing bodies out there, because my DNA is all over the place now!

Anyway, it's amazing how something like that can distract you on a run. Got quite irritating, but what can you do?

Speaking of irritated, I probably made a small mistake early on, trying to drop a couple of ladies jogging behind me (loudly) sharing stories about youth soccer and all the Martha Stewarty things they like to do. I couldn't LOSE them! I even slowed to a walk, thinking they'd pass on by... but they slowed down, too! So I pushed up at a higher HR to get up a hill then let it go on the backside. They must have turned around at the top of the hill, because they were, blissfully, gone. Whew!

So, I probably felt that extra exertion in the last 10 miles. (Lesson learned... don't let enthusiasm or irritation push you faster than you should go when you're out for the long haul.) The last few miles felt much more difficult than last week. And my ankles got angry with the narrow trail, especially when it sloped to one side. Need to figure out a way to handle that. I was still able to handle rocks and roots easier, though. That's nice.

All in all, it was a pretty decent run, considering what I'm asking of my body right now. Time for a step-back week -- which will NOT involve climbing a mountain for fun!

Speaking of climbing, here's the map and elevation profile (elevation gain/loss can't be right, but looks impressive...)



Average HR for entire run: 139

Gratz on the run.

I have a suggestion for your ankles! Strengthen up the lateral and medial stabilizer muscles by walking curbs. If you can't go very far on the curbs, then get into a doorway and hold 1 foot in the air and balance for about 20 seconds, then switch feet. Do that over some days and then try the curbs again.

ounce wrote:Gratz on the run.

I have a suggestion for your ankles! Strengthen up the lateral and medial stabilizer muscles by walking curbs. If you can't go very far on the curbs, then get into a doorway and hold 1 foot in the air and balance for about 20 seconds, then switch feet. Do that over some days and then try the curbs again.

What part of the curb? The top, side, both? And walking along it, or up and down it?

I am envisions walking it so you hang half of your foot over the edge of the curb and you have to use your ankle muscles to prevent the ankle from rolling one way or the other. Sounds pretty intense. Is that what you mean?

In my post-run brain fog, I forgot to post a couple of photos I took out there today.



This was close to my turnaround point. Not sure if it's cool, creepy or both.



Another shot from deep into my run. The trail in this stretch is true single track - no more than a couple of feet wide, and sometimes less. It made it challenging when young berry plants started to intrude, and it limited the areas for foot placement. So a little tricky. But so gorgeous!

I love seeing where you've run! I even recognize a few of the places (descriptions). Makes it very tempting to forget about training for a road marathon this fall and start playing with trail running...but I'm committed to this one more marathon!

nkrichards wrote:I love seeing where you've run! I even recognize a few of the places (descriptions). Makes it very tempting to forget about training for a road marathon this fall and start playing with trail running...but I'm committed to this one more marathon!

There's nothing wrong with doing maybe one run a week on the trails, you know. It works different muscles and is a lot easier on the body than pounding the pavement. And living where you do? It's great country to go off-road.

Walk: 2.2 miles

Weather: Stormy. Rain, wind. 51 degrees. Good thing I had an umbrella - and a bridge to duck under!

A bit of active recovery today. (My feet seem slightly swollen and I'm a little creaky, but not horribly so. I still feel a bit depleted nutritionally, but that should go away soon.)

I picked a great time for it. I walked out the door at work just minutes before a heavy rain shower passed through. I got pretty wet, even with an umbrella, until I got to a railroad underpass where I could hunker down and wait until the heaviest rain and wind passed. Then I pressed on with merely moderate rain. Much better!

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Gratz on the run.

I have a suggestion for your ankles! Strengthen up the lateral and medial stabilizer muscles by walking curbs. If you can't go very far on the curbs, then get into a doorway and hold 1 foot in the air and balance for about 20 seconds, then switch feet. Do that over some days and then try the curbs again.

What part of the curb? The top, side, both? And walking along it, or up and down it?

I am envisions walking it so you hang half of your foot over the edge of the curb and you have to use your ankle muscles to prevent the ankle from rolling one way or the other. Sounds pretty intense. Is that what you mean?

Our curbs down here are about 3-4 inches high to prevent a car from running up onto the grass (or make it highly noticeable that you're running up the curb). If y'all don't have that, then another idea would be to walk on a gymnastics beam that's very low to the ground. You walk one foot in front of the other, like you did the time you were having to perform that Field Sobriety Test, last week.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Gratz on the run.

I have a suggestion for your ankles! Strengthen up the lateral and medial stabilizer muscles by walking curbs. If you can't go very far on the curbs, then get into a doorway and hold 1 foot in the air and balance for about 20 seconds, then switch feet. Do that over some days and then try the curbs again.

What part of the curb? The top, side, both? And walking along it, or up and down it?

I am envisions walking it so you hang half of your foot over the edge of the curb and you have to use your ankle muscles to prevent the ankle from rolling one way or the other. Sounds pretty intense. Is that what you mean?

Our curbs down here are about 3-4 inches high to prevent a car from running up onto the grass (or make it highly noticeable that you're running up the curb). If y'all don't have that, then another idea would be to walk on a gymnastics beam that's very low to the ground. You walk one foot in front of the other, like you did the time you were having to perform that Field Sobriety Test, last week.

Okay, got it. We actually don't have curbs like that near my house: We have "rolled" curbs, which let every jackass in the world easily drive up onto the sidewalk to park. Maybe what I ought to do is walk along the edge of those rolled curbs, ankles turned partway over, to get them strong but limber. Hm...

Mark B wrote:Okay, fine. I'm resting today and tomorrow. It'd better help, or my brain will never let me hear the end of it.

Well, it helped. Any challenges I had yesterday had nothing to do with that soreness/tightness. And I feel less sore and tight AFTER running 34 miles in two days than I did before.

So I'm writing as a reminder to myself, the next time I tie myself in knots debating taking an unplanned midweek day off: Take it!