Ouch!

It's a good kind of pain, I guess, but I'm hurting today. My quads are sore to the touch right now after 4 hours of hills on Saturday.

My plan was to use the automobile toll road on Mt. Mansfield for some hill work. It's 4.3 miles from the parking area to the summit, with 2600' of climbing on the way up. Last year, I did a triple on this dirt road - 25.8 miles and 7800' of climbing. But, given my hamstring issues and the fact that I'm entered in a race next Sunday, my plan for Saturday was "only" a double ascent - 17 miles and just over 5000' of climbing.

When I saw the sports doc and chiropractor on Friday, they suggested that I take trekking poles with me if I was going to attempt this workout. They said that if the hamstring got too fatigued, the poles would help to protect me from further injury.

I got to the parking area a little bit later than I'd planned, and I started up around 8:00 a.m. The first ascent went pretty well overall. I got to the summit in 84 minutes. Last year, when I did the triple, I made it to the top the first time in 79 minutes. I didn't feel like I'd pushed that hard, so I was happy with my time. I talked to a Green Mountain Club volunteer at the summit for a couple minutes and then started the descent, telling the volunteer that I'd see her again in a couple hours. On the descent, I could feel the hamstring really limiting my stride. I took it easy and made it to the car in about 2:20. I grabbed some supplies and headed right back up. By this point in time, the sun had come out and it was getting warm. But, the forecast called for afternoon showers, so I kept all my rain gear with me.

I was listening to music on my iPhone as I ran. I was just over halfway to the summit when I thought I heard thunder. It seems like every time I hike this mountain, I have to deal with bad weather. I turned off my music so I could listen more closely. I didn't want to continue the ascent if a storm was bearing down on me. For 10 minutes, everything was quiet. I was almost ready to turn my music on again when I heard more thunder. This time, there were multiple rumbles in short succession. I was now a mile from the summit. The last mile is exposed at places and I was carrying two portable lightning rods in my hands. I decided it was safest to turn around. After I turned around, I never heard any more thunder, so I may have been overly cautious. But, overly cautious is certainly better than stupidly dead.

I was pretty slow on the second descent and just before I got to the car, it started to rain. In total, it took me just over 4 hours to cover 15 miles with about 4500' of climbing. (It's scary to think that this road is slightly less steep than the Hardrock course.) The road opens to car traffic next weekend, so I can't repeat this workout before WS. But, I have some other good hill workouts in mind for the next few weeks. My hamstring seems to do better on hilly terrain than flat terrain right now, and I need the hill work for Western States. Plus, given the lost training because of the hamstring, I know I'll be hiking rather than running a lot at WS. So, hiking on hilly terrain is probably more race specific for me right now.

By the time I got home on Saturday, I could tell that I'd trashed my quads. I was surprised after the DRB 50K that my quads weren't trashed, but this workout was much steeper than that course. It will take a few days for the soreness to dissipate, but the temporary pain is worth the long term benefit.

I have a physical therapy appointment this afternoon. Hopefully, the therapist won't touch my quads at all. The hamstring continues to improve and it seems that the tightness is more and more isolated to the biceps femoris portion of the muscle group. I'm working on that area with my foam roller on a daily basis right now, and I can really feel a couple tight spots in the muscle.

The chiropractor told me on Friday that he thought I was two weeks away from being 100%. That's encouraging in some ways, but also discouraging because I'm entered in an ultra next weekend. If I had to guess right now, I'd say that I'm about 50-50 for starting that race.

It's getting closer

Race number for WS have been posted.

I'm number 291 this year. In 2005, my number was 254.

They assigned numbers to everyone, even the runners who haven't turned in their service form yet. Those forms are due today. I don't know if there is an exception for elite runners, but a number of very good runners have not yet submitted their service form according to the race web site.

Running - sort of

The weather ended up much nicer than predicted yesterday afternoon. It was windy but not raining at all. Regretfully, my run just wasn't any fun at all. But, I completed 8 miles, so I'm clearly making some progress.

For me, the real joy in running comes when I'm in great shape and my runs begin to feel effortless. Every step is automatic and I will suddenly realize that miles have gone by. Right now, the tightness in my left leg makes every step feel like work. It's work that I need to do and it's not making my hamstring any worse, but the fun factor is completely gone for the moment.

However, a week ago, running seemed impossible. Right now, I've done a 5 miler and an 8 miler this week and survived with no negative effects. I'm hoping that a week from now, things will be even better.

Today, I see the sports doc and the chiropractor. I have PT appointments on Monday and Wednesday. Next Friday I see the chiropractor again. Pineland farms is nine days away. If it were this weekend, I wouldn't make the drive to Maine. It just wouldn't be worth the cost and time to run a race with how my legs feel. Hopefully, by next week, I'll be feeling much better.

Today will be a beautiful day here in VT and I'm going to ride 20 miles after work.

I'm planning a hill "run" tomorrow on VT's highest peak. I'm going to hike up the auto road (a dirt road that doesn't open for car traffic until next weekend) and then jog back down. If everything feels OK, I'll do a second lap. When getting ready for a 100, I really like to do at least one triple on this route, but I don't think that's going to happen this year. If I can pull off the double without pain tomorrow, I'll be thrilled.

Running Today?

I never made it to the gym last night. The track meet started later than advertised and it went on forever. I got to watch Peter run the 1500, but I left before he ran the 3000, which is his favorite event. The 3000 was scheduled for 9:00 p.m. and they were behind schedule.

In the 1500, Peter won his heat easily, running 4:46 according to my watch. That was his fastest time this season, but not his best ever. His coach had apparently not submitted seeding times, so they put him in the slow heat. He definitely didn't belong there and he led wire to wire.

I can't find any times on the web, so I don't know how the 3000 went. Track season ends in a few more weeks, and then Peter goes to a cross country camp for a week or so. We'll start working together after I return from Western States.

My plan for today is to run 8 miles after work. But, we have a severe wind warning, with gusts of 55mph expected. To go along with that, we are supposed to get a soaking rain with the wind this afternoon. I really want and need to run, but it sounds like it's not going to be very much fun.

Time to get some work done, I suppose...

Nice easy run

Last night, after work, I headed out for a run. My goal was five miles at an easy pace, but the main priority was to not worsen the hamstring. Compared to last week, my stride was way, way better. It's not perfect, but it's close. I deliberately picked a course with varying terrain so that I'd see how I felt on pavement and dirt roads, on ups, downs and level terrain. Overall, I felt best on downs and ups, and the slight limitations in my stride were worst on the level terrain.

But, I completed five miles with no real pain. I didn't push the pace at all. After the run, I immediately iced the entire hamstring. After the leg had returned to normal temperature, I hooked up the e-stim machine for a while. Then, some rolling with the Stick, and finally a little massage with Biofreeze.

This afternoon, I see the PT, and he'll do ultrasound, massage work, and foam rolling.

After the PT appointment today, I'm going to a local high school track meet. The son of a current co-worker is a promising young runner who ran a 5K in the low 17s last summer. He finished third in his division at the state XC championships last fall. The school he runs for is dropping down a division and he's the odds-on favorite to win the championship this fall.

For his high school senior project, he is planning to run a marathon. He is going to report on the physical, nutritional and mental aspects of preparing for and running the race. Every student is required to have a mentor and Peter asked me to be his mentor. I will design his training program for the marathon, but I have to take his track and cross country goals into account. He has a real chance to win the state XC individual championship in his division next fall, and I don't want to do anything to mess with those chances.

Tonight, I'm going to go and watch him run the 1500 and the 3000 - just offering some moral support and letting him know I'm interested in how he's doing. We start working together more seriously after he finally picks his target marathon.

After the track meet, I'm going to go to the gym. I'll do some upper-body lifting and then some intervals on the stair climber. Tomorrow after work, I think I'm going to try a slightly longer run and see how things feel.

Hard bike ride

Thanks to my friend Jim for pointing out the error in my post yesterday. I simply forgot about the first verse in the Grateful Dead song I mentioned yesterday. That's how most Deadheads are - forgetful. You can probably guess why.

In 2004, I saw the post-Jerry Dead play in Saratoga, NY. Actually, my son and I did a mini-tour of our own, seeing the Dead on three consecutive nights in three different states. Their lead guitarist on that tour was Warren Haynes. Warren has played for the Allman Brothers, the post-Jerry versions of the Dead, and he has his own band. He plays a huge number of live shows every year. Anyway, at this particular Dead show, in the second set, I was amazed to hear what sounded like some Pink Floyd guitar licks as a new song was starting. I knew that Phil and Friends had occasionally played "Shine on You Crazy Diamond", but I didn't know the Dead ever played it. But, sure enough, that was the song. Warren was singing the song that night.

And, just like a Deadhead, he got confused and sang one of the verses of the song twice. So, hopefully, I can be excused for misplacing some lyrics yesterday.

Last night after work, I hopped on my road bike. The plan was to ride 20 miles, but rather than just spinning, I wanted to push the pace. I headed north from my office and I was going gradually uphill along a small tributary of the White River. The wind was out of the north yesterday. It took me forever to go the first 10 miles. And then I turned around. I was in the big chainring the entire way back - wind at my back and going downhill. It took me 51 minutes to go out and only 30 to come back. The expensive new bike shorts made the ride much more enjoyable than the second half of Saturday's ride. Every time out, I'm getting more and more comfortable on the bike and I'm remembering that speed on the bike can be very enjoyable,

After riding, I spent some time foam rolling, stretching, using the Stick, and then my wife nicely agreed to some massage work on the hamstring, applying some Biofreeze. Biofreeze is my new favorite massage ointment. Somehow, it's hot and cold all at the same time and it feels great on the injured area.

Tonight, I'm going to try running for a little bit. If the hamstring is still unhappy, I'll go to the gym and use the stair climber and do some lifting instead.

Three days in the saddle, you know my body hurt

The subject above is what I kept thinking about during the second half of my bike ride on Saturday.

Those words are the opening lines to the song "Me and My Uncle", which I know primarily as a Grateful Dead song, sung by Bobby Weir. But, the song was actually written by John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas.

Anyway, I didn't spend 3 days in the saddle, but I did spend 3+ hours in the saddle of my bike (in the song, they have horses, not bikes) on Saturday. The weather forecast was ominous, with a chance for severe thunderstorms in the afternoon, but the weather stayed nice for my ride. (The severe storms did arrive later and Vermont experienced a very rare tornado during the storms. On average, there is a tornado every other year or so in Vermont.)

The first 25 or so miles of the ride went great. I was taking it fairly easy, trying to spin rather than push bigger gears, and I was just cruising along. But, at mile 25, I turned south to head for home and hit a stiff headwind. And, I had to climb for quite a while. And, the sun was out and it was getting hot. Plus, after all of my recent riding, I was starting to deal with some saddle sores.

So, I found myself riding down the road, thinking about Me and My Uncle. The last 8 miles or so, everything hurt. My quads hurt. My butt hurt. My feet hurt. My shoulders were tired and hurting. My hands hurt. But, I rode for 3:12 on a rolling course and it was a good workout.

Later that day, I went to a local bike shop and spent some money (a lot of money) for some higher quality bike shorts. Hopefully they'll make a difference when I ride again tonight.

Friday afternoon, I had a great PT session and the therapist showed me some new techniques to use a foam roller to work on my hamstring and my ilotibial band on my left leg. Because the hamstring is so tight right now, I can't perform my normal ITB stretch, and I can feel the ITB getting tighter. The therapist cleared me for using stair climbers and elliptical trainers, as long as I had no pain. After work on Friday, I did an intense 30 minute interval workout on the stair climber and I felt pretty good.

I have PT again on Wednesday and on Friday, I see the sports doc and the chiropractor again. Hopefully, I'll be ready to do some running by the weekend.

Tonight, I'm planning a 90 minute bike ride after work, as long as the new shorts help me to stay comfortable on the bike for that long.