Joy and Pain

Remember this song?

If you have been a runner for a long time you have most likely encountered a lot of joy and some pain.

Today I took advantage of the awesome 75 degree weather and tested my foot out on the trails.

When I told my wife that I was going to do some trail running she warned me that it might be muddy out there today. Hello Mrs. Obvious, that's one darn good reason to be out there!

 My left heel is still pretty tender and my trail shoes don't have quite as much cushion as I would like in them. I decided to try pulling the insoles out of a pair of my Asics and adding them into the shoe. It worked great. I also shortened up my stride and found it kept from aggravating my heel too badly.

I decided that I would alternate running for 7 minutes and walking for 3 minutes just to keep myself from overdoing things. That also worked out well as I was able to run for 80 minutes without much trouble.

I did some mud surfing down a couple of hills and splashed through 6 little stream crossings.

Definitely a joyful part of my day!

Yikes...as I write this, I have 56 days until the Ice Age 50.

Training Again

Recovery seems to be coming along ok right now. I still have some fairly painful plantar faciitis off and on these days. But if I stay on top of it and keep my calf stretched it minimizes things. My plan is to run no more than every other day. This should allow me to recover well and be able to build back up to some decent mileage quickly (I hope). It went well for the first week so far. I had two 5 mile runs and finished up with 14 today. I will slowly lengthen each of my runs for the next 6 weeks and then do little to no running the week of Ice Age until the actual event. I truly hope this works out. 


I have continued my strength training, it has been a lot of fun and a great challenge being able to workout with others. It is interesting being the "teacher" of this group. I feel that I have to be the strong one and push everyone to improve, but not so much that anyone gets hurt or feels like they can't do it. I try to keep them all encouraged and point out their progress. They are a tough bunch, there are 4 of us men ranging from 42 - 54 and a young lady in what I would guess is her very early 30's who is tough as nails. They are an awesome bunch to meet up with at 5:20am  - 3 days a week!


 If you spend much time in a vehicle and are interested in ultra running, check out the Talkultra podcast. It is on iTunes and they have interviewed some real ultra-legends such as, Gordy Ainsleigh, David Horton, and others. It's definitely worth checking out!


Finally, here are some pictures from today's 14 mile run. Now that spring has arrived, the trail looks much different than it did just a few short weeks ago. I had the pleasure of seeing 3 deer and 3 turkey this morning in close proximity, I love it!

One of the muddy stream crossings.

The sweet smell of spring was in the air today!

Getting Old?

We are half way through March and I am already dealing with injuries. I started the year off with the plantar fasciitis, and I am still dealing with it off and on. I haven't done anything more than some extra stretching up until now. Today I purchased a night wrap that is supposed to help treat mild cases, hopefully this will take care of it.

I believe that the pain in my heel has caused me to change the way I run. This has resulted in some hip problems on the left side. The pain kept me from running this past weekend so I made a visit to the local chiropractor. 

I am not a believer in chiropractic medicine but I am trying it with an open mind. I live in a small town so I know the chiropractor fairly well, he is a nice guy,  hopefully he will heal me. He spent just enough time to give me some electroshock treatment, twist and pull me a little and put me into his torture device.

This looks like something right out of one of the Hostel movies!

Oh yes...lastly, I was working out with our morning core group and must not have been warmed up and stretched out enough. I went down into a lunge and felt and heard my hip flexor pop. So I really couldn't do much for lunges or our plank leg lifts on that side for the rest of the workout.

All of these little nagging injuries seem to be adding up lately. Maybe I should back off a little but running and working out are my stress relievers and really elevate my attitude to a new level.

I did manage to go on my first bike ride of the year today. We rode 17 miles and it felt great to get out there. We didn't ride very fast but it's early in the year, the speed will come with time.

Healthy, Beautiful, Deadly?

Running is healthy and beautiful for sure.

Last week I completed a three week buildup in my training. It's been a challenging three weeks, not only to complete my workouts but to find the time to do so. In those 3 weeks I ran 131 miles and biked 137, not to mention the strength workouts. To the non-runners this probably sounds crazy, but I have goals in front of me and I enjoy my activities. Workouts may seem like a hassle before you begin them and then there are bad workouts where a run just doesn't go well and you can't wait to be done, but I ALWAYS feel better and have a great sense of accomplishment when I am done. It's like a drug. It makes you feel better, it makes you look better and it gives you more energy, how can you lose?
Working out and training is obviously not all roses and rainbows. There are time conflicts with work and family. It takes careful planning and time management to get these things done. Secondly, there are generally some aches and pains that go along with training. Sore muscles, bruises, and a variety of other minor maladies are all part of the amateur and professional athlete's life. This year I made a couple of visits to the physical therapist, mostly due to over-training and not really knowing what I was doing. Other minor injuries this year have included ...

Bloody Shin from biking

The infamous 'bloody nipples" from shirt chaffing.

Losing a toenail.

...all minor, laughable injuries. It's just a part of the journey. As athletes we can easily be our own worst enemies while training and competing. It's all about pushing yourself to the next level. Going farther, going faster and getting leaner, meaner, and stronger. But there is a line. We have to be smart about it. Do you have a plan? Do you follow it or overdo it? We must learn to listen to our bodies, knowing when it is time to push and when it is time to recover, heal, and regroup. Backing off is no easy task. Do you know when to do it? Can you do it?
My two trips to the physical therapist were due to lack of a balance in my training. I was running harder, farther, and longer than I should have been. I was not taking proper time for recovery and I was neglecting proper strength training. Again all of this resulted in minor inconveniences for me with fairly quick and easy solutions to my injuries. I was lucky.
This last weekend somebody I went to high school with wasn't so lucky. I was on the high school wrestling team for a couple of years and the coach's son was a year ahead of me. He was an all star on the team. He went on to be a very good wrestler in college, then he went back and took over for his father, coaching at the same high school from where he graduated. His name was John Chapman. His wife is the track and cross country coach at the same high school. They were running the Bix 7 together for the second year in a row. Unfortunately at about mile 6, John, 41 years young, had a heart attack and passed away. I never really knew John very well, but it sure hits close to home. I will be 41 in September, it's scary. As an athlete you don't expect these things to happen to us because we eat well and we exercise; we are healthy. You can read about John here and here. It's a terrible tragedy.
It's been a hot and humid summer. It's easy to feel a little invincible after a good hard workout. We are not invincible, in any way.
Please, listen to your body, train smart, and be careful out there.

RIP John