2014 Life Injury

George Sheehan said that every runner is an experiment of one. Over the years, I've learned that the rules of running are mostly for older runners. When I was in my twenties, I routinely ignored the hard/easy rule, the 10% rule, or the "listen to your body" rule. The biggest price I'd pay would be sore muscles for a couple of days. I'd get new shoes when my knees started to ache. That was the extent of my running injury awareness. Since coming back to running, I've learned that my body is not as resilient it was in my twenties. My body speaks to me loudly now, though not often clearly. If I don't listen, there can be a substantial price to be paid.

This season, it did not talk to me. I was breaking 40 miles per week with no residual soreness or tiredness. I kept the spring in my step, even the day after my longer runs. As I felt no stress in my arches and calves, I returned to my zero drop minimalist shoes for daily wear. By end of week, I was feeling so good and strong, I reduced my time sitting at work to 4 hours. There were no warnings, it just felt empowering.

The next week, both calves were sore at the beginning of my routine 7-miler on Tuesday. I reduced my run to 3 miles, deciding it was a "down" week, a week of reduced mileage to cut back stress. Wednesday, they were too sore to run.

That was 3 weeks ago, now.  After Internet research, I have decided that I have two strained calves. I don't think they're running injuries. Rather, I think the zero-drop shoes over-stretched them.

Relentless Forward Progress

Every two to three weeks we cut back our weekly miles to let our minds and bodies recuperate from pushing up the total weekly distance. This week, we're trying something different: a hike to test the limits of the time we can spend on our feet. I have been reading some articles and books on ultra running, the practice of racing distances greater a marathon. A key to achieving this is simply increasing time on your feet. Our goal is to be able to  hike and run in our trail running shoes for eight hours comfortably.

I have not moved on from my marathon ambitions. I see the hiking and ultra running as a complement to the marathon. The marathon still about covering 26.2 in as little time as possible. Ultra running is about being in scenic places relating with one's surrounds through the act of physical exertion.

Today is our first effort. We will cover four hours of hilly terrain as a test of the state of our ability to go longer. Its chilly and the wind chills are already in the low 30's. We'll pack snacks and go off to practice some relentless forward progress.

We came back with several lessons learned from the experience. I list them below.

1. You can cover technical terrain much more quickly in hiking boots. This was particularly true at Pig's Run, a steep, rocky, descent from the ridge line to the Patuxent River. The act of coming down the side of the hill while the trail surface was composed of uneven, occasionally loose, rocks was truly ankle-defying. The solidity of the in-sole, coupled with ankle support, would make the experience much easier. That said, see lesson 2.

2. We experienced noticeable DOMS in the next 2-4 days after the hike. Denise felt it mostly in her ankles and upper feet. I was sore from the knees down. The immediate conclusion to be drawn here would seem to be that we should have worn hiking boots. However, the DOMS is an indication of unused muscles being pushed beyond their current state of fitness. When the hiker is a runner looking to cross train and address weaknesses, the DOMS is the advantageous response to training. In our case, the aggressive hike we made in trail shoes stressed various supportive muscles in Denise's feet, both our shin muscles, also known as the tibialis anterior, and also hit my calves quite effectively.These increases in strength should translate into lower risk of injury, greater running efficiency, possibly even greater speed.

3. about stream crossings.... if it looks too far to jump from one slippery rock to the next, it probably is.  "Just keep moving" doesn't always work and sometimes you will land sideways in the water on a big rock with wet feet/clothes and a huge, deep bruise to contend with for the next miles....

4. Trekking poles are a good idea. The would probably help avoid stream tumbles and make negotiating really rough trails safer, particularly descents.

5. Then there's the no-brainer: dry shoes and socks. Changing wet socks for dry ones can be a blister-saver while running. While I seem to be able to run in wet socks, for some, this leads to certain blistering. It goes almost without saying, cotton is the enemy here. Wool and technical fabrics are mandatory for anything that gets wet or sweaty while running. A change into dry socks and shoes can feel wonderful after a long slog on muddy trails.

6. That SLR around your neck will start to be very heavy after hours of hiking. Plan a safe place where it can be hung or stowed, but can be accessed when that photo op suddenly crops up.

59

I turned 59 a week ago. An acquaintance emailed me birthday wishes, remarking that she would always be three days older than me. I replied with a resigned, "Yeah, we're old!". She replied resolutely that we're not.

Some Boomers deny our age. This mitigates the achievements we attain while we age. Ten years ago, to the astonishment of my physician and despite that two cardiologists had refused to put me on a treadmill for a stress test out of fear I'd have a heart attack, I began running. I lost 40 lbs. The result was life changing. But at 49, the ingrained habituation of indolence is hard to overcome. Inertia grows with each year.

Now, as I approach 60, the challenge has evolved. Running and an athleticism have become part of my life style, part of my world view. I have moved to the point where people remark that I must have the genetics for fitness, or that it must easy for me because I'm so trim, or that I have been doing this all my life. But I manage the growing aches and pains each morning getting up. I am learning the compromises one has to make with age, that injury comes more easily and recovery comes more slowly. Conscious form, correct and deliberate execution, and more judicious use of intensity all become vitally important to avoid injury. The fitness momentum carries me into my older years, but the aches and pains of effort are beginning to grow. The dull ache in my hips upon arising in the morning are not an excuse to do nothing, they are an ugly harbinger of what life would be like if I stopped what I am doing.

With each passing year, many of us justify the growing sloth and its resulting frailty and weakness with excuses that we're too old, that we don't have the right genetics, that it is natural to become impotent and frail as we age, or, insidiously, that "we deserve a break today". Even now, 10 years after the herculean effort it took to re-adopt athleticism, I have refocus daily on the absolute necessity of keeping a strong mind in a strong body, defying the cultural current all around me that tells me that its ok to degrade.

Saying that 59 is not old is lying to oneself. I am old, but I redefine it with growing strength and resolve. To say that 59 is not old is to deny the magnitude of this achievement to myself and to all others who chose this way.

Shoes

3.0 miles // 82 F // 63% // 83 HI

Easy 3 miler in the sun along WB&A.

I had hit 460 miles on my NB 860s and was having a lot of PF stress. The "a-hah" moment did not come until I was in Road Runner Sports flexing various models of new NBs. All the shoes had a uniform bend and marked stiffness along the length of the shoe, particularly past the arch. Then I flexed the shoes I currently run it. It practically pivoted along a particular point in the length, just forward of the arch, possibly at the ball of my foot. It also flexed with no resistance. I was really surprised, having become complacent because I typically cause very little out sole wear.

As my running has progressed, and I presumably have become a more efficient runner, my out soles show progressively less wear. I assumed that all other aspects of the shoes were wearing equally slowly. This is now obviously not the case.

I plan to keep a new pair of shoes in inventory as a benchmark by which to compare the shoes I'm using as I track the mileage on them. That makes 3 shoes in the pipeline: one pair with 0-100 miles, on pair with 200-400 miles, and one new pair.

3.0 miles // 70F // 70 H.I.

Easy run. Low PF feelings. Low energy also.

Begun to wonder if my 860s are too light. I don't have records of when I first started running in this model, probably last year in the summer.

3.2 miles // 72 F // 72 H.I.

No PF tightness this morning.  It will be an interesting run: its 100% humidity.

half mileage

3.1  // 65F // 65 H.I.

Since my PF keep nagging me, I'm cutting my mileage in half, then hoping to raise it again.

My feet were remarkably tight while stretching afterwards.

Longer Run

7.5 // 65F // 65 H.I.

7.5 up the Patuxent Branch Trail from Wincopin. An out and back. Gentle net increase in elevation going out.

My PF will bother me minimally after this run. I think the modest pace and elevation change may

6/21: Solstice Rest

6/20: PF management

6.5 miles // 67F // 67 H.I.

I've taken to stretching my PF each morning as a prophylactic to initial PF discomfort. It is mitigating the sensation completely.

Legs have mild DOMS from yesterday's leg work out. I don't typically run on DOMS, but its mild.

Easy miles. Legs not more sore after running. PF stress nowhere in sight.

6/18: Do the miles.

77F // 80H.I. // 6.? miles

After some weeks of PF irritation, I've taken to massaging them before getting up in the morning. I'm doing this even if I'm asymptomatic.

6/17: Another week.

6.6 miles // 77F // 80H.I.

I'm struggling to add miles this year. By end of each week, my PF are sore. Not painful, just sore. This is a warning not to up miles. I hit just shy of 30 last week, with an 0.4 aerobic sprint up Mt. Duckettstown.

5/2: Finally

No snow, no ice, no -10 F wind chill, no driving rain: just pastel blue predawn sky, watercolor clouds, and birds singing all around. Its another "why I run" morning.

The wind sounds like a train out there this morning.