Georgia on my mind

Laura and I are heading to Winder, GA for the Xterra trail half marathon followed by some mountain biking in the state park. Considering I have just started running again on a regular basis I am going into this 'race' as a training run and a gauge of where I stand in terms of my knee. Currently, I'd say I'm about 80%....the knee has felt good but I still have some sore muscles due to the heel insert I've been running on. Well, at least that's why i think their sore. Maybe I'm just really out of shape but I guess we'll find out. My legs just don't fell fresh. With that said, I'll hang my ego up at the start line and shoot for a 2:00 hr goal. If, at any time, my knee starts acting up I will pull out and take my first DNF. Either way, I'm excited to have a couple nights of camping and the ability to dust off the mountain bike before the end of February. Have a great weekend and Happy Running!

On to something?

This is not a very exciting post for anybody but me but hopefully my excitement will be enough to interest you. Below is, what I hypothesize, a solution to my reoccurring knee pain that seems to show it's ugly head as my miles start reaching the 60+/week.

1/2" heel lift for my shoes to test for a couple weeks.

After two months of 2x per week acupuncture, daily yoga, weekly massage and hours of 'balancing' weight room workouts my knee was still really bothering me. So much that I cut out running the last two weeks and focused on self massage, stretching and everything else I could think of. Finally, a running buddy of mine said "just go see my chiropractor. If he doesn't think he can help you out he'll be the first to tell you". After telling the doc everything I've been doing he said, let's just take a quick xray to see if you have a leg imbalance. At this point, I needed some hard data and an xray sounded good to me. A few minutes later I had my answer, my tibia on my right leg is 1.3 cm shorter than the tibia on my left leg. This doesn't sound like much, and probably wouldn't bother the average runner, however 5+ hours of essentially limping is probably going to cause some issues.

I am happy because we have a very good lead to my knee issue. I will give the temporary lift two weeks to see how it feels and, if things are better, will then have to put a permanent lift on all the soles of my running  and work shoes. A small price to pay to be healthy, happy and running again. In addition, even though I have a permanent problem we have found a potential solution. Something I have been struggling to do ever since I started running marathons and beyond. I plan on taking the next couple weeks to make sure my base is still strong then we'll test out the lift....hopefully at the Xterra half. Stay tuned.

Happy running!

Please be seated with your seatbelts fastened...

Just this Monday we found ourselves flying back from a fantastic vacation in the Wasatch Range in Utah. As we were taxying the runway the pilot got on the intercom and said that he would be keeping the seatbelt sign on the whole trip to Denver because of turbulence. I've traveled enough to know that this is fairly common on these short flights and attribute it to a flight attendant conspiracy to not have to sprint up and down the aisles giving out drinks and peanuts only to run back to pick up all the trash. However, before the landing gear had lifted I realized this was not a joke. We were bouncing up and down and I thought to myself, just hold on for eight seconds. The kids behind me started off by laughing and giggling which quickly turned in to whining and then all out crying. I don't blame them but I have a little trick in these situations: I close my eyes and let my mind drift off to being on a mountain bike bombing along a singletrack high in the mountains. It almost always works, except this time when I closed my eyes something else popped into my mind.

Training for an ultramarathon is not much different than this current plane flight I was on. The base building (taxying out on the runway) is never that fun, usually takes too long and is often filled with the excitement (and maybe fear) of what lies ahead. As we begin to ramp up our miles (take-off to 30,000 feet) we hope for a smooth ride with no issues but often find ourselves like the kids behind me, laughing and crying all at once. Rarely does this portion go smoothly. Eventually, after holding on tight and gritting it out, we hit a stage where running along the trails no longer feels like effort but more like flying at cruising altitude. This is probably my favorite part of high mileage training (on par with the actual races). The mileage is high, the running is easy and reaching race day in fantastic shape is becoming more and more of a reality. Finally, we begin to taper and as we descend on race day the hours and days seem to drag on as our energy and excitement build for the big event. Hell, after writing this down I guess training for races is just one big vacation! :)

I am currently in the take-off to 30,000 feet stage in the training and yes, I have hit some nasty patches of turbulence. Mostly, my right knee is acting up on me again. The good news is that I have really taken care of myself and have learned so much about my body and how I react to certain stresses. The bad news, all the acupuncture, massage, yoga and ice-baths have not seemed to overcome the problem. Initially I thought my issues were from tightness/weakness in the hips. After four weeks of intense hip-opening yoga and strength training I am confident my hips are solid and flexible. Next, I thought my issues were due to an imbalance in my quads; specifically my right leg was much weaker than my left leg. I spent roughly 3x per week targeting single-leg workouts in the gym and am stronger than ever both in leg strength and balance. However, my knee issue was still there. I finally contacted a running friend of mine here in Raleigh who recommended I go to his chiropractor. I've never been a fan of chiropractors but was willing to give it a shot since I was out of ideas for a root cause. 

Finally, today, I found out that my right leg is one full inch shorter than my left leg. The great news is that I finally might be 5'8" :) AND I now have a reason why my knee always hurts me as I start ramping up my miles, especially when I am forced to pavement pound. The repetitive 'limp' over the course of a 30-mile run is enough to piss off any ligament or muscle. My fix is going to incorporate a 1" spacer on my right running shoe to compensate for the short leg. Ultimately, I won't know if this will fix my issues but it is a very good lead and I look forward to getting the data to prove this hypothesis correct. Until then, i am tentative on running the Xterra half at the end of February but am not giving up hope as my base is very solid and if I can get back to 20-30 miles over the next couple weeks I may give it a shot. If not, I will still go and get some Karma points for volunteering. 

Happy Running!