Musings from the Xterra half marathon

I ran the race and did not have any knee issues. That's the best result i could have asked for.

As for the weekend, what a fantastic mini-vacation. Laura and I drove down on Friday after work and made it to the campground around 22:00, just in time to set up our tent and enjoy a pre-race Coors with Alison and Jason who made the trip from Atlanta to race with me. As I mentioned before the race I was worried about my knee as it was acting up again as I was packing the car. Laura, being the sweetheart she is, offered to drive so I could stretch and get my leg feeling better. Therefore, I spent 6 hours massaging my calf and stretching my legs. By the time we arrived, I was able to relax as I knew I'd be ready to rock (thanks L!).

The morning of the race was a breeze. I'm getting used to (i.e. spoiled) staying within walking distance of the race start. However, as we went to check in for the race I was starting to get a little worried as there were A LOT of people getting ready to run 13.1 miles of singletrack. I've run enough trail races to know that if you want to race at all you need to be in the front. However, the three of us were all pretty set on just chilling and enjoying each others company so we opted to start in the middle of the pack (a respectable thought since we were planning on keeping it around a 9:00 min/mile pace). Turns out, we should have started in the front with that plan. This race turned out to be an "Introduction to trail running" type of race. People sprinted out of the gate only to slam on the brakes as soon as a root or little hill came up. This resulted in, literally, a two-mile backup at the start of the race. We spent these first two miles walking/shuffling at a brisk 12:50 min/mile. However, the company was a great and we were enjoying pondering the fate of Teach for America, planning for the Cascade Crest and discussing a common topic for all runners.....#2. If we annoyed you during this first eight miles I apologize however I'd like to think we were good entertainment.

Anyway, the run pretty much stayed congested for the first 8-9 miles until there was a good climb (for the east coast) up a powerline. At this point I decided to try to pass as many people as I could in hopes of keeping a running pace for the last part of the race. I felt really solid on the climb and remembered why I miss Colorado so much, climbing Green Mountain in the early morning sunshine of Boulder is something that will always hold a place in my heart as this is where I started my running journey. At the top of the hill I was met with more congestion and accepted defeat and cruised/shuffled in to a 2:00 hour finish. I can't complain as the singletrack was really nice and the knee held up. I'm not sure if I'll make the trip back down to that neck of the trails but if you're in the area definitely bring your mountain bike for a loop or two. Congratulations to Jason on his first half marathon!

Here's a couple picks from the weekend:

relaxing after the race.....life's not too bad

A picture from the trail. The race ran around the shoreline of this lake.

Overall I'm feeling confident as I will start to ramp up my miles in preparation for a May 50-miler. Especially since I just got my new Hoka OneOne Bondi.Bs in the mail from Boulder Running Company. I'll post a review after my  run tomorrow :) Happy Running!

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!

Great weekend in the desert

The quick results for those who are just interested in my time:
Total = 1:43ish
Splits:

1 - 8:05

2 - 7:55

3 - 7:55

4 - 7:43

5 - 7:57

6 - 8:14

7 - 8:22

8 - 8:28

9 - 8:15

10 - 7:33

11 - 7:10

12 - 7:09

13 - 6:47

I had the privilege of running with two really solid runners. Both Alison and Luke are capable of running sub-1:35s for a course like this. We did, however, decide that we all have much loftier goals this year: Alison will be running Boston in April and most likely a 50k after that, Luke is planning on a 50k for his 30th and I have my 100 miler in August. On top of that, there is at least one Adventure Race in our near future if not more. Therefore, we decided to enjoy each others company and shoot for around a 1:40. I personally haven't run on flat pavement for this long in years and was actually nervous the morning of the race. It didn't help that I slept about two hours of the entire night capped off by a 3AM wakeup call from the drunks coming back from Kassy's Motocross show. Overall, if the rest of the Rock-n-Roll races are this much fun you will see me signing up for the gauntlet over the next couple years (maybe even Nashville and VA Beach this year).

Some lessons I learned:

Lesson 1. Running with company is a riot!



Adventure Racing Team in the making....if we only had a name

 Lesson 2. Doing a 16-miler the week before the race then climbing a 1500 foot mountain the day before the race is probably not the best taper. However, we had a lot of discussion about this and the best part about a destination race is being able to get out and enjoy the outdoors in new places. I'll gladly take some sore quads to get a 360 degree view of the city!

A fairly typical scramble section on Camelback

Would definitely do this hike again the day before a race.

Lesson 3: Finish-line beer is a great motivator around mile 8

 

MGD64 might be the worst beer I've ever had



I have a few more lessons (dealing with post race hydration and icing) but I'll have to post when I get all the pictures from the others cameras. Overall I feel really solid after the race and have managed to get in a few 10k runs. Let's hope the rest of 2011 is as good as this race. Here's to a great year of running!!!

And finally, this weekend could not have been as great as it was if not for a few folks:

-KassFace, thanks for letting me crash on your couch, sit in the Diamondbacks dugout and get a hotel room a short walk from the starting line

-Jeff and Cathy, thanks for all your hospitality after the race. The hot tub, pool, beverages and football made for a fantastic afterparty. I will forever link "I've found my thrill" with you guys ;)

-Luke and Alison, thanks for the company on the run. I don't think I've smiled for 13 miles straight ever in my life. Now if we can just get those damn cops to say hello.

-Chad, thanks for being our mule. You made the logistics of the race as easy as possible for us.

-Laura, thanks for being a wonderful and supportive wife.



Off we go...

Well, I can't say I did a perfect taper for this upcoming half as my daily mileage for race week will be 16, 9, 4 (0.5 mile repeats at 6:50s), 3 (7:30s), 3 (7:00s), rest, 1.5, 13.1 (race). By definition this is a taper but, like i said, not optimum. Ultimately, I'm excited to see how my legs hold up to 1.5+ hours on flat pavement. It's been a LONG time since I've tortured them like this. It will be nice to have the company during the run. Can't wait!!! I'll post after the race.

A gymnast, a discuss thrower and a track star walk into a bar...

Ok, so it wasn't a tavern but this past Christmas vacation did bring together the aforementioned athletes along with two washed up weight room junkies looking for another fix. What did we do? We ran, then drank wine, then ran some more. It was a reminder of what I love most about running...we can all do it! Not only can we all do it, but it should be fun. The next time you need a reminder of what running should feel like, go watch a little kid at a playground. They are running EVERYWHERE and laughing the entire way! I am fortunate enough to still feel like a little kid when I run, I can't help but smile and say hello to every person, bird or dog I pass along my journey. Why then, do only a few people return my greeting or even just throw a smile my way?

That's my question...are these folks too busy wondering what their quarter-mile splits are to acknowledge a fellow runner enjoying the great outdoors? Maybe they are just embarrassed to look at me because I'm wearing some god awful 80's get-up. OR, maybe the only one I'd understand, is that they are pushing themselves so hard that they are blurry-eyed and on the verge of yakking up supper. I guess maybe I'm just asking too much....at least they are out running. Either way, I'm used to rejection so I will continue to shoot a smile and a hello as we pass by.

The R&R Phoenix is only eight days away. I'm looking forward to getting down there and shaking out some race cobwebs and hanging out with old friends. This race will be a training run for me as I have began to ramp up my miles (instead of tapering for this race) as I am seriously considering tackling the Bad to the Bone 50-miler in VA at the end of March. If my training continues on the current path and I can fight off any injury or sick bugs I think I can get myself ready in time. The other motivating factor is that I need to complete a 50-miler this year to qualify for the Cascade Crest 100M. Ultimately, I am in a great spot in life and in running. One might say I have my Chi flowing well :)

Happy Running!!!