They Come in 3’s

Currently I am on my third injury in two months. There are only six weeks to recover and train for H.U.R.T. 100. Time is probably up for me to train, so right now the key is to recover. I would rather go into this race healthy and under trained than injured.

My first injury was at the Chicago marathon in early October when I fell less than a half a mile into the race and banged up my knee. This lingered for about a month.

Then, at the Carkeek 12 hour race, my IT band began to go out. This was not my first rodeo with a painful left IT band, so I knew I needed to act immediately. I asked around for new advice on recovery. Thank you to all of my friends who gave me ideas. These things in mind, I got right to strengthening my hip, lower back, and glutes. After 3-4 weeks of strengthening and stretching, the IT band stopped giving me problems. The last day that I noticed any discomfort from the IT band was at the Seattle marathon at the end of November.

Finally pain free I had two great days of running, and then BAM!! On November 28th, I rolled my ankle not once, but twice, in a 10 mile run. I was so upset and disappointed. I had no idea what to do with myself. I just could not stay healthy to save my soul. Upon injuring myself again, for the third time in two months, I decided my only goal now before H.U.R.T. was to get healthy enough to finish the race.

I talked to Heather that night and we came up with a plan to start the healing until I could see a doctor and potentially get advice from other runners who'd also dealt with ankle injuries. That plan consisted of R.I.C.E:

R – Rest

I – Ice

C – Compress

E – Elevate

I immediately began R.I.C.E. when I got home. I slapped an ice pack onto my ankle and raised it way above my head. The ice helps with inflammation and swelling. Elevation helps drain fluids from the injured area. I elevated and iced my ankle for 15 minutes. After lowering my ankle from above my head and taking the ice pack off, I applied some UltraStrength Tiger Balm and wrapped it with an Ace bandage. The Tiger Balm and Ace bandage would continue reducing swelling and inflammation while I slept. The last thing that I did before I went to bed was pop two Ibuprofen (and if you know me, I never take painkillers) as an extra measure to reduce inflammation and ease pain so I could rest comfortably. I only took the Ibuprofen the first night to help with the immediate swelling of the ankle.

I was so exhausted, but I ran into a slight problem: it hurt to sleep. The ankle was tender, so I had to keep it in a certain position so I would not extend. Despite the ibuprofen, I ended up having a rough night.

The next morning I applied some more Tiger Balm and rewrapped it. I repeated this 2-3 times a day for the next two days. When I was at work I would try to elevate my ankle at least once during the day. By Saturday morning the ankle was feeling much better and the swelling had subsided.

Thursday morning I had made the decision, with Heather's input, that I was going to take one full week off from running. During that week I concentrated on other forms of cardio and strength training. I biked easy every day at the gym and did a complementary workout. It felt great to change it up, but it was difficult for me not to run knowing that H.U.R.T. was looming in a month.

On Saturday, I asked two of my good friends, Delores and Terry Sentinella, what they thought of my ankle and what they thought I should do. They said I should be good to run on it because it was most likely a sprain. Terry told me to use Pennsaid, which is a topical DMSO cream. DMSO helps with swelling and inflammation like Ibuprofen does. After he told me this, I began to alternate between the Pennsaid and Tiger Balm.

On Monday I contacted my friend John, a chiropractor at Town and Country Chiropractor, to get a medical opinion. I was lucky enough to get a appointment with him on Tuesday. After seeing my ankle, he agreed with what Terry and Delores had told me. It was a typical sprain of the ankle. He said it would take about one month for it to recover to about 80% healthy and at least that much time or longer to recover to 100%. This was a huge bummer and very disheartening. I wanted to be out there training for H.U.R.T. Instead, I knew I was just going to have to maintain fitness and aim to get healthy just to finish.

Judgement day came on Wednesday at 6:15 pm. I was heading out for a run to test the ankle.Let me say this: the run went magnificently. The ankle was stiff for the first mile or so but loosened up as the run progressed. I ran nearly 6 miles at a decent clip. I was elated. I could not have asked for anything more. Upon finishing the run, I went immediately into recovery. I wrapped and elevated the ankle for a few minutes.

When returning to running after an injury you need to be cautious, yet still test your limits to determine progress. Feeling good during the run isn't the most important thing. The real question is: how will it feel the next day? But in that moment–returning to exercise–just enjoy running.

Thoughts On Hill Climbing

A few weeks ago I ran the hill on Goose Rock (480’ gain in .4 miles) a few times near Deception Pass and I came up with an interesting way to think about hills. Many people struggle and fear the thought of running hills. On my last time up the hill, I came to a conclusion about running hills.

We all run hills and we all have that one hill that we strongly dislike. Why hate the hill? Hills are an integral part of trail running and running in general. I believe that the more you run one specific hill, like this one on Goose Rock, the more you do not think of the hill as a challenge. The hill becomes just another part of the course, trail or route. I have found that you can overcome the hill if you run the hill a few times. The other thing I noticed is that if you break the hill down into sections, it becomes more manageable. As you learn the hill, you begin to notice where the flatter and steeper sections are on the hill. I did this on Goose Rock and it made the hill seem easier. I do this to all the hills I run. The steeper sections of the hill you hike while the flat sections you run. When you think like this about a hill, it makes it seem like it is not just one large hill but many tiny hills that you can conquer individually. To me imagining many tinier hills is easier. As another example, I have done the same with Little Chinscraper (Double Black Diamond) on Chuckanut Mountain. I broke this seemingly endless hill (850' gain in .9 mi) down into three separate hills, making this grade conquerable as well.

Carkeek and the Troublesome IT Band

November 4, 2012

Just over a week ago the annual Carkeek Park 12 Hour commenced. This is a race that I have done now for three years. I look forward to it each year because it is challenging and comes late in the season. It is a test of pure grit and strength.

This year was going to be even more of a challenge as I am coming off of an injury that occurred at the Chicago Marathon. It occurred less than a mile into the race–bummer right?? I was pacing the 3:20 group and got squeezed early in the middle of the pack. To find space I jumped up onto the median in one of the tunnels to get some room. I was running along on a grated surface which was not a problem, but it was a small metal wire that got me. I was about 10 feet from jumping off and I caught my toe on that small metal wire that I could not see due to the low light. Being a seasoned trail runner, I tumbled into a elegant barrel roll and sprung back up like nothing happened. People came up to me making sure I was ok and I assured everyone that I was. I finished the race, accomplishing my goal and pacing many fellow runners to a 3:19:30 or better. It is such a fantastic feeling.

My knee would barely bend upon completion. I iced it and took it easy for the remainder of the month as I knew Carkeek was at the end of the month. I knew my injury was still lingering but I went for it any way. Why not?? I needed the miles in my training for H.U.R.T.

I headed down the night before, to avoid an early drive the next morning. I want to say thank you to my friends Joel and Sophia who put me up both the night before and after race.

I was nervous that morning not knowing how my knee would hold up, but knew there was only one way to find out. At the start/finish, I got my car all ready with my aid station gear. I was planning on trying some new things this race. I need to work on trying to find some new calories that will work for me in long events. The two new things that I tried at Carkeek this year were coconut water and Odwalla Superfood.

It was 10 minutes before the start and I was beginning to get the normal race gitters. Ahh…that’s what these feel like, I told myself. Welcome back. It had been a while since I had toed the line with intentions to race.
Sam gave a quick speech and noticed he was a minute late and yelled go. We all shuffled off, leaving the fire behind, and entered the wet, windy Seattle morning.

I hung with Adam Hewey for the first two laps until I noticed that the speed we were going was faster then I wanted to run. I slowed down and made a pit stop at my car for some food. After this I settled into a rhythm of stopping at my car every other lap and holding a nice steady pace. I had decided as the race went on, to drink a coconut water at both lap 10 and 20. The reason was because my goal was 30 laps for the day and I wanted to split them up throughout the race. I would then drink some Superfood on laps 5, 15, and 25.

Everything was looking good through lap 10 until back of knee and the IT band began to hurt around lap 12-13. This was a huge let down, but not unexpected. Grrr. The weather had even shaped up from the morning and I had begun to dry out! I ignored it till I hit lap 16, when I noticed I had to slow down. Bummer. Everything else was going well, even my legs felt great, but I had to slow in order to finish the race. I slowed down and began to run/walk each lap.

My diet was working very well. For me, both the coconut water and Odwalla drink were working. This made me happy.

At lap 20, Sophia and I caught up with each other and started to run together. We ran together for 5 laps until she took off and left me in the dust. I was slowing down. At this point in the race, lap 25-26, it was hurting me to make left turns and to run down hill. This seemed to be most of the race. Sophia and I had each set our goals. Hers was 26 laps and mine was 29 laps. I knew I had to keep going as on lap 26, a guy by the name of Brian caught me. I had not seen him all day. I found out as we began that next lap, that he was only one lap behind me. This meant that I had to keep running. No quitting early for me.

On the next lap I find out that Adam was just one lap ahead of me. In my head I just wished he'd quit so hat I could as well. I was hurting. He ate a biscuit just the lap before and it fueled him on. The three of us kept each other going to finish one, two, three: Adam, me, Brian.

As I approached the finish line with it beginning to pour again I started to realize that it was all over, I ran the whole race. As I finished, they asked me if I wanted to do a short loop with 10 minutes to go and I look at them and said, "NO!!!" I was done and glad to be.

Upon grabbing my 29 pieces of candy (one for each lap), Adam came over and asked me why I just wouldn't stop running. I laughed and replied, "I am not a quitter." He began to chuckle after that response and said, “All I wanted was for you to stop running, so I could stop running.” I responded that I had been wishing the same thing from him, which made both of us laugh.

We all gathered around the fire as Sam began to hand out the awards. Mike and Faye got the best costume award. Sophia was the first women. My second place finish was very hard earned. Thanks Phil Kochik for the gift card to Seven Hill Running Shop in Magnolia.

Then it was time for a soak in the bay. I was the only one brave enough to walk in. It felt so good on the legs! Upon hobbling back to my car, I said thanks to Sam and Brock for another great race and tore into a bag of Tim’s Salt and Vinegar chips. After sitting there for a few minutes, thoroughly enjoying the chips, I headed off to Joel and Sophia’s for a nice hot shower and some recovery food.
Until next year.

A big thanks goes out to Brock and Sam for another great race!!