Running update

I went for a short run in my VFF's on Thursday, it was only a mile and the ankle wasn't right which means my decision to drop at Chippewa was correct and it confirmed my decision to go minimalist. I found that being close to the ground allowed me to be more aware of each step and it seemed like I was running with less pain. When I was ramping up my mileage for Chippewa I didn't run in my minimalist shoes very often as I thought they might cause me more issues with my ankle and calf. I now think that I was simply not wanting to face the reality that I was having issues as I wanted to be an ultra runner again. During the last two years I have been humbled by my DNF's, before the injuries I felt that I could will myself to finish almost anything, now I am not sure I will ever finish an ultra again. I do know that I need to be able to run with less pain on each step to give myself a good shot at success.

So, Friday I took the plunge and picked up a new pair of minimalist shoes from Run N Fun (Burnsville). I bought the New Balance Minimus Trail MT10 (see the specs below as copied from the Running Warehouse)

Weight: 7.1 oz (size 9)

Stack Height: Heel (15mm), Forefoot (11mm); non-removable insole

How It Fits (based on width D) Width D=Medium

• Sizing: Standard running shoe length
• Heel: Medium to narrow
• Midfoot: Low to medium volume
• Forefoot: Medium
• Toe-Box height: Low
• Arch Structure: Medium height

I went for a 3 mile run in them yesterday and what can I say other than I love them. They are so comfortable that I would like to wear them all the time, interesting that less cushion and support felt better. My ankle seemed fine during the run and I was happy to confirm that the MT20's have more protection than my VFF's as I was purposely stepping on rocks and roots and didn't feel any sharp edges but I could still feel them so the ankle didn't even think about rolling. I wanted to go longer than 3 miles but chose to keep the distance short until I am pain free as even though I have done some minimalist running, I know that my full immersion will stress other parts of my body so I plan to try to go shorter but faster after a few weeks of building a minimalist base. So for the next few weeks, I will be running only in my MT20's, my VFF's and my Saucony Peregrines. I am back doing the ankle strengthening workouts that I was given last year plus a few more that I found on-line and plan to continue to do them this year. When I am pain free and can run 20 miles in any of these shoes then I will be ready to race an ultra again.

Chippewa update

 

In my last post I was self absorbed about dropping and having to deal with the same injuries again and I was remiss to not post a little about the race and to say what a great event Chippewa is.

I love the course, a nice up and down running trail with a mostly easy to run on surface. The grass downhill at the start isn't something that I like but everything else is nice. The aid stations were good but to be honest I only filled up my water bottles at the self serve ones but I heard no complaints. I had planned to look for some food options at Helen's aid station the second time through but alas I never got there. The weather was very good for running, low 40's and no rain. The volunteers were good and seeing a bunch of friends was sure nice. Thank you everyone.

Here is my update, well, my left calf feels like I was hit by something and it's very, very tight when I walk or go up or down stairs. My right ankle is probably slightly swollen as it catches when I pivot on it which means sharp pain but if I don't walk, push off on it, turn or go up and down stairs, I am good. I am planning to give it a few days and won't plan on running until the tightness and pain are gone, which isn't something I am good at doing. The question is do I see someone or just wait it out and deal with it myself? I am really, really not in the mood to talk to anyone about it, especially a Doctor. That said, I would be remiss to not consider Einsteins definition of insanity:

Then again, last time I went to a Doctor :-)

Chippewa DNF - plan b

Sometimes we make choices to do things we want to do even though there may be a risk or even if we may know that it's the wrong choice. Today my choices caught up to me. I went into Chippewa probably undertrained physically. I thought it was my base training that was my problem, my long runs or lack of enough of them but it was my ankle that revealed itself as still being a problem today. If I had been honest with myself I would have admitted it but I can be stubborn.

Now my ankle is strong enough to run 5, 10 and maybe 15 miles. I was feeling great today through most of the first half and had a 50k PR in my sights when it all kind of unraveled. I am not exactly sure when it off track but here is what I know, when I left the 2nd self serve aid station I stepped into a hole and hyper-extended my left leg. It hurt but I was more embarrassed than anything, as I started to run again I had knee pain but it seemed to go away. That said, after that, my right ankle went from occasional pain twinges as it dealt with uneven surface changes to more of a throbbing and my achilles was hurting as well. No big deal I thought and I continued to the turn around point.

I got in in around 3:35 which was right where I wanted to be. I talked to my wife and said all was going well and that I would see her at the next aid station. Looking back I think I may have been talking to myself as much as to her. As after I left the aid station I started getting nauseous, so I took a S-cap, I slowed down a bit but kept moving, the nausea continued so I retraced my eating and drinking and decided that I might have not eaten enough nor drank enough or was it just an electrolyte issue. I hate nausea, I hate it. I kept going and it seemed that the S-cap helped. So I kept going along but slower, after 45 minutes, I took another S-cap and sure enough as I started feeling better my ankle/achilles changed to more of right foot numbness reinforced with pain on each step.

So on I went, I was still doing math in my head and I thought I could get in easily with a PR and if I could loosen things up a really good one for me. That's an advantage of being slow and having not running too many 50k's, a PR is setting there waiting on me to just have a good day. I really wanted the PR, I really wanted to finish but the right foot issue was causing pain in the left foot and leg, so I had to make a race decision. Do I continue and probably get a PR but risk ending my running season in April or stop and drop from the race. I debated for a while and finally decided that I should drop. I lost 2011 to a decision to continue to run in 2010, repeating that again just wouldn't be wise.

So what does this mean?

My analysis during the run led me to conclude that is I was trying to do two things at once that weren't complementary. I was trying to ramp up my base mileage to do long distance events and strengthen my ankle to be able to bear the stress. If I was honest during my training the ankle had been bothersome, I got around it by avoiding uneven surfaces later into my runs. Add in reduced training time with the internal job change and the robotics mentoring and my effort today reflects all the things I did and didn't do.


Time to move to
  which is.......


I am probably going to abandon the Superior 50 for this year and instead will focus on strengthening the ankle by doing more minimalist running. My other choice would be to go for stability shoes and lock down the foot but I think that will ultimately make it weaker.

I will pick up some minimalist shoes to complement my VFF's and once I am walking pain free I will start to focus on speed and strength training for my ankle. I am thinking that 4 to 12 weeks may make a huge difference and after that I will for shoot for Moose Mountain with and an outside chance os still doing the Afton 50k, if either of those work out, then Wild Duluth and/or Surf the Murph 50k's maybe followed by Tecumseh Trail marathon down in Indiana.

The key for this year now is to get the ankle working well enough to handle longer distance running.

Pictures and fueling lesson noted

I have been remiss about posting for the last few months, I have either thought about and not followed through or it's one of about 15 drafts yet posted, so this time I figured I would finish it out and actually post it, to keep from collecting any more :-).

I have been taking my cellphone and taking a few pictures on my last 5 or 6 long runs at Murphy, the River Bottoms and Lebanon and they have all been pretty as they transformed from ice to spring. This picture is from Saturday's long run, it's from the south side of Jensen Lake heading up a slight hill (clockwise direction).

This next one is of the bald eagle I saw in Lebanon Hills 3 weeks ago when I was crossing the old bridge heading back towards Jensen Lake. I have never seen an eagle before in Lebanon, it was cool to see one in the park. I tried to circle it so you can see it, sorry that my picture is not too good. I did try to loop around to get a better picture but it flew away.

Okay, now for the main reason for this post, nutrition.

I have been listening to the UltraRunnerPodcast and Trail Runner Nation podcasts and they have had Sunny Blende talking about nutrition, interviews with Dave Mackey, Dean Karnazes, Barefoot Ted and Krissy Moehl plus more. During the interview with Sunny Blende, she said you should take in between 200 to 300 calories an hour during an ultra. Why did this pop into my head, well on my long run on Saturday I was about 2 hours into my run when I started slowing down, by 2 1/2 hours I was back at my car thinking I might be not able to get in another 10 miles. I knew I needed to continue to get time on my feet even if it wasn't working well, so I grabbed another clif shot blok, some water, switched shoes (I can always blame my shoes) and headed back out.

It was about then that I did the math on my caloric intake: 1 package of clif shot blok - 200 calories, 2 perpetuem tablets - 66 calories, 1 1/2 liters of water with nuun tablets - 8 calories per bottle. All added up I had taken in 290 calories in 3 hours, duh I thought, maybe I am simply low on fuel. So I ate the second clif shot bloks, go figure but within in a few minutes I was running again feeling good, about a 1/2 hour I ate a clif shot gel that I had been carrying for 2 months, mocha, very good flavor. Again my energy level stayed up and I continued to run (I should add what I mean by run, I was only trying to run a 13 to 15 minute mile so for most it would be barely running but for me it was better than walking). An hour or so later I ate a granola bar and my energy level continued to fell good.

Calories consumed:
       ~3 hours - 290 calories (~97 calories/hr)
       ~2 hours - 486 calories (~242 calories/hr)


So I think on my next long run, I will try to fuel like the last 2 hours and see how things work out.