Sunday, April 22, 2012

Back to It

As the title suggests, I am indeed back running again. Four days off apparently did the trick (for the most part) for my foot, and also significantly improved the Plantar Fascitis in my right foot.

Before I get to more about my own running, however, I need to give a shout out to a few of my friends. My friend, coworker, and occasional running-partner Laura won the Mt Carbon Half Marathon in Morrison yesterday. And this morning, my friend and often-times running partner Matt won the Desert Rats Half Marathon in Fruita, running for his dog Etna, who passed away from bone cancer a few days ago. Congratulations are definitely in order!

Also, I suddenly feel the need to get a few races under my belt and give them a run for their money.

I started running again on Wednesday, with the Boulder Running Company fun run. They seem to have bigger names showing up as the year goes on. Scott showed up on Wednesday for the festivities (and the beer!). It's always good to see "Coach Jerk, " as we used to call him at Marshall, out and about. And it provided a bit of extra motivation, not that I needed any.

That run felt pretty good. The bone bruise seems to be mostly healed, and the accompanying joint strain is also getting much better. I ran with the afore-mentioned Laura, which had the dual advantage of providing good conversation and keeping me from pushing up with the leaders, as I normally do. We did ultimately pick up the pace a bit for the last stretch, bringing it down to the low sixes. Again, my foot held up beautifully.

And I have run each day since then. Thursday (my 29th birthday!) and Friday (4/20) were limited to a 4.5 mile jaunt up and down the Canyon, easing myself back into running again after three weeks of low-to-no mileage. Saturday I had originally intended to run the Mt Carbon half, but opted not to. It probably would not have been a good idea for me to push that hard right after coming back from an injury, minor as it was.

Saturday and Sunday were an example of the great importance proper fueling and hydration in running. Saturday I ran later, around 11AM, and had eaten a good breakfast of oatmeal with nuts and dried fruit, and had hydrated properly over the previous night and the morning.

I took a familiar route up in North Boulder: the Eagle and Sage trails. I started out easy, and when I hit the single track continued at what felt to be a very easy pace. I was stunned, therefore, when I looked down at my watch and it told me I was hitting 6:15 pace,  on single track, without even breathing hard. I continued at a good pace through a 20 minute trail 5k, again with little effort. At that point, rather than push back to the car, I took it easy, save for the uphills, which I continued to push. All in all, it was easily the best run I've had since getting back to it.

Sunday was entirely different. I had not hydrated well, and neglected to get a good breakfast in before heading out for an 8 mile run at Teller Farm. Whereas yesterday I was easily hitting a sub-7 minute pace, today I struggled with an 8 minute pace over smooth trail. Since I was not going for a fast pace, it was not terribly concerning that I was going slowly. It did, however, pound home that it would have been a bad idea to race yesterday, and that I need to keep on top of my nutrition and hydration.

All in all, however, I am encouraged. My PF is feeling better over all. The injury that prompted the break from running seems almost completely healed. And I clearly have not lost much in the way of fitness or footspeed.

To leave you today: this NYT article gives a great response whenever somebody asks you why you run. Quite simply, running makes you smarter. 

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Set Backs

When I fail to post here for a long time, weeks in this case, there is always a reason for it. Sometimes it's just that I'm more busy than usual and haven't found the time to sit down and write with the necessary focus. Other times it is more that running is not going well and I find less to write about when running is going poorly.

Unfortunately, this is one of those times.  The past two weeks I've run fewer than 60 miles total, and that mileage includes a 15 mile run two weeks ago today.

That day, I got new shoes (Inov8s for the first time ever. I like them, but they have seemingly cause some problems). That was also the day I took off for Tulsa for work. Incidentally, the reason that I got new shoes was that I anticipated road and/or dreadmill running in Tulsa, and thought I needed some new road shoes for this eventuality.

The next day, I made my mistake. Three of the four of us doing fieldwork in Oklahoma that week are runners, and the first day I opted to head out with one of them for one of his normal runs. I should have demurred as soon as I heard that he generally does 8 miles on roads at about 7:30 pace. That's not really any more volume than I do, but I do it on trails, not roads, and at a slower pace.

Additionally, my new shoes had significantly less cushioning than my PureGrits.

Despite the nagging voice telling me this was a very bad idea, I went out for the full 8 miles, coming back in at just under an hour for a quick outing. Every mile that voice kept telling me to turn around and head back. I, being somewhat less than intelligent that day, ignored it and went on.

The next day, Tuesday, I started feeling sick, but still  went out for a slow 4 mile trail run on Turkey Mountain. Apparently, Turkey Mountain is about the only trail system in Tulsa, and every trail runner for miles around comes there to do their workout.  This guy seems to be the organizing force in Tulsa trail running, and also seems to have a website listing all the trails he's found in Oklahoma.

Wednesday morning I could barely get out of bed. I quickly realized that I was not going to get a run in that day, since I felt like I had been hit by a truck. But since the company had flown me out to Tulsa, I still had to do the site visits. When I wasn't actually on site that day, I was asleep. Needless to say, the rest of the trip was not fun, and I got zero running in. The flu will do that to you.

Saturday morning I started feeling better, and hit a three mile shamble that made me feel much better about my prospects. Easter Sunday proved too busy to get a run in, and perhaps that was a good thing. Over the next five days, I managed to fit in about 30 miles, but had a persistant pain in my right foot, the same one that has been plagued by Plantar Fascitis for the past month or so.

On Friday this pain got much worse on a shambling descent down Flagstaff. It's a pain in the joint where my third toe connects to my foot. It is reminiscent of a pain I used to get occasionally when I first started running in Vibrams. This leads me to believe that it's likely from running too far, too fast, on too hard a surface that first day with my new shoes. Truly a rookie mistake, but one that many make.

So I have taken the weekend off, and plan to slowly reintroduce my feet to the less cushioned shoes over the next several weeks. I'll do my longer runs in the PureGrits for a while, and run short in my new shoes. Hopefully this slow progression will get rid of the pain. If not, I will likely have to see a doctor about it, or go straight to a PT.

Setbacks: they happen to us all, and I have to keep reminding myself that, at this point, I have a great base underneath me, and a week or three of lower mileage is not going to destroy my training. I have my goal race in August, and a couple possibilities before then, but in the meantime I have to focus on staying healthy.