Getting Fixed Up and Going Again

Last week, I finally did what I should have done over a month ago and made an appointment with Spine and Injury Clinic of Laramie.  I went in last Tuesday and consulted with Dr. David Milam.  I explained to him the issues with my lower back and he immediately jumped into a diagnosis and treatment.  It was like being back in the training room in college, which was great.

Anyway, what I thought was a lower spine issue is actually a bum left piriformis muscle.  The second he touched that spot, I wanted to scream, it hurt so bad.  But, that is a good thing, since obviously a muscular injury is much easier to treat than a spinal injury.  He hooked me up to the stem machine for about 10 minutes, then did a quick series of deep tissue massages, stretches, and chiropractic adjustments.  He sent me home with some literature and exercises and stretches to do daily.  I immediately felt better, went for my first nearly pain-free run the next day, and then saw him again for another round of treatment Thursday.  I will go back in tomorrow for a quick look, and then be on my way.  Three treatments and I'm back on my feet.  Those guys are awesome.  Why did I hesitate so long to call them?  I won't be doing that again.

So, what caused the issue in first place?  I more than likely tweaked it running Silent Trails (in the slippery snow again) and then continued to run trails on it.  I was also inconsistent in my running after Jelm.  I also stopped doing the little things, mostly due to being lazy.  I sit on my butt all day at work, rarely get up, slouch badly, and don't stretch.  Then we went to Oregon, and a couple of hours in the car, getting stuck on the plane for five hours, and the return trip home certainly didn't help things.  Then I took time off to heal it, when, as Dr. Dave suggested, I actually should have continued to work out in order to keep things loosened up.  Rookie mistakes all around.

So how did he fix it?  I get up once an hour at work and do two stretches, a hamstring/piriformis stretch and a hip flexor stretch.  I do a couple of exercises with my core work three times a week, and I spend some time with my foam roller at night.  And holy hell, has it worked.

I have been good on my resolution thus far.  I have a 17-day streak going back to Dec. 31 of doing at least 30 minutes of exercise everyday.  So, I'm excited to be on the mend so I can continue.  Right now I'm still biking a few more miles than running, but I hope to shift that ratio in the next week or two.  My focus for the rest of January is to keep cross training, take it easy, and get the little things done so I can start thinking about mileage.  There is no reason to be thrashing myself outside right now (especially considering our recent run of sub-zero temps).  Stay healthy now, work on getting a little stronger, DO THE LITTLE THINGS, and worry about miles come April and May.  

Ultimate goals are still Bighorn and then the Wonderland Trail.  Horsecow, Elizabeth and I have been hammering out some details and I believe we will all be in the Pacific Northwest July 20-28.  I'm really excited about this.  But I have to stay healthy and work to where I can run back-to-back-to-back ultras. That could be difficult, but certainly doable.  

Week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6
51 miles (7'33") - 20M run, 23M bike, 8M hiked

Week of Jan. 7-Jan. 13
57 miles (5'06") - 23M run, 34M bike

Year to Date
116 miles (11'20") - 47 run, 69 bike

New Year New Plans

While I am still slightly limited physically by my back, I have been mixing some short, slow running back into my routine.  I have been hiking/trudging/snowshoeing the past few weeks.  I also "borrowed" a trainer from my dad, so I have my road bike set up in my house.  I have been using it to do analogous tempo and fartlek workouts.  I have also been forcing myself to stretch everyday and do some core work every couple of days. So far, the back, while not 100%, is feeling quite a bit better.

My one and only resolution this year is to get my ass out and do something every day.  It doesn't have to be much.  It just has to be something.  I can surely find at least 30 minutes each day to run, hike, ride, etc.  I have been inspired by my good friend Chris Schabron who just polished off his second year in a row of running every day.  He has a 731 days-in-a-row and counting streak.  There is no reason I cannot do something similar.

This is all, of course, build-up to my plans this year.  I had a brief conversation with Alec awhile back that was started by me bringing up FKTs.  I thought FKTs were something I'd be interested in maybe pursuing, though I'd have to get a hell of lot better physically and mentally to even begin.  I asked Alec his thoughts/would he care to join, and he told me FKTs were not things in which he was interested.  He said he was more interested in WCTDIEATW (What Cool Things Did I Experience Along The Way).  While not an acronym concerned with brevity, it does hammer home something I've been feeling for a long time.  

I mentioned last June that I needed to step back from the competitiveness and learn to enjoy the art of running.  I have felt that fire burning less hot in the past months, and honestly, training and gearing up for racing is something that no longer interests me all that much.  I am more concerned with just being outside and enjoying the world that running can provide.  It opens so much more to me.

I have a problem waxing philosophic about running.  We've all read the Quotable Runner, we've all fantasized about being Quenton Cassidy chasing down John Walton, we've all suffered through George Sheehan's self-important pseudo-philosophical rantings because that's what we were supposed to do.  And for a long time, I thought, "Fuck those guys.  They were slow and never won a damn thing in their lives." I thought those guys missed the point.  Zen running was for sissy-la-las.  I wanted to win races.  Run as fast as I could.  Out-kick people and give them a shrug of my shoulders as I passed them.  And for a long time, that was satisfying.  But it just is not anymore.  And now I understand a little more what the hell those guys were talking about.

There is a life to be lived out there.  And I want mine to include running.  It is truly a lifestyle.  And one I love very deeply.  So, as I have alluded to in my previous and sparse posts, I have decided that winning races, and even racing in general, is not something I am going to be too concerned with going forward.  I'm more interested in having adventures and experiencing cool things.  Enjoy being in that moment.

That said, I do plan to participate in a couple races this year (if I'm physically able, of course).  First, the Twin Mountain Trudge.  This will be my fifth year in a row at this bitch of a race.  Five year veterans receive a "Mountain Masochist" jacket for subjecting themselves to the brutality year after year.  I want my damn jacket.

I signed up for Nick Clark's Quad Rock race in May because I feel the 25M will be a good lead-in race going towards Bighorn in June.  Pilot Hill is also on my agenda for the same reason.  Plus, it's one of our "Big 3" homegrown Laramie trail races, so I should be there.

The goal of the next five or six months is Bighorn.  I have unfinished business thanks to my hip injury last year.  I will do everything in my power to avoid a similar mistake this year.  Bighorn is the weekend before my 30th birthday, so I figure, what better way to celebrate the end of my twenties than by running 50 miles through the mountains?

After that, the sky is the limit.  I am going to start working on plans to get back to Rainier either end of July or mid-August.  The Wonderland Trail intrigues me.  93 miles long, it circumnavigates Mt. Rainier.  I figure it can be broken up into ~50K each day, allowing one to enjoy the views without thrashing the body too badly.  If I can get a crew together, we could have a couple people shuttling cars and setting up camp each day.  That would be an amazing experience.

Teton Crest is another adventure I've been considering for some time.  Somewhere between 35-40 miles on the west side of the range seems like a great way to spend a day.  I'm thinking Labor Day for this.  That allows for quick travel to Jackson while also being, in my opinion, the perfect time of the year to run up there.  All I need is someone to drop me off at the tram in Teton Village and pick me up at Jenny Lake 8-10 hours later.

Those are my 2013 plans.  I'm sure they will be amended, but I'm happy with them right now.  And to end, here is what I did on New Year's Eve:

Tetons on a brisk but sunny day.

Grand Teton.

Mt. Wister and Avalanche Canyon.

Teton Range, Wyoming.  1/1/13.

Beginning of Winter Blues (and Injuries)

I did not run a step the week before Thanksgiving.  The idea was to rest and then begin a long, slow, and gradual build-up going into the February races and, even farther out, Bighorn.  As usual, I was an idiot.  And now I am really hurt.

Before I took that week off, I went for a trail run at Happy Jack.  It had just snowed about an inch, so I threw on my microspikes and had a good time.  About halfway through the run, I felt a pinch in the middle of my lower back, right above my butt.  It nagged the rest of the run, but I didn't think anything of it.  It continued to hurt the rest of the weekend, keeping me mostly couch-bound (well, that and football).  After a day or two, it seemed fine.

Thanksgiving morning I ran the 4-miler in Fort Collins.  I ran slow, which was a reflection of the fitness (or lack thereof) I had at the time.  I didn't run again until we brought back Tuesday Night Hills last week.  After the hill session, I was in rough shape.  My back pain kept me up at night several nights in a row, forcing me to seek refuge on the couch or in the la-z-boy, and had me cringing all day at work.  My office chair was killing me.  

I kept running thinking that would help.  I was just a little weak; so I did a bunch of core work to compensate.  It seems to have had the opposite effect.

After another round of hills Tuesday, I shelved it.  I could barely move when I got home.

The pain radiates from that spot in the middle of my lower back which makes me curious if I did something to my lower spine.  However, after the hill session, I was hurting most in my upper glutes, particularly the left one, and that pain radiated from my back through my glute and down into my hamstring.  That makes me think it may be sciatica, which is something I've had issues with in the past (I suffered for a bit with it in high school).

Anyway, I haven't run in three days and things are feeling quite a bit better.  However, it does seem that running is 100% responsible for this, which sucks.  I want to be running.

I am going to let it heal and then figure out some new routine or whatnot to fix this.  I'll do just about anything in order to keep running.

Oregon - There and Back

The Oregon trip was great, though a little taxing.  I am exhausted, but I figure a return to the normal routine, including some regular and consistent sleep, will right the ship quickly.

We had quite the adventure getting out to Portland.  Our flight was supposed to leave DIA at 9:15pm and land in Portland at 10:56pm.  Thanks to the weather that rolled in for ONE night, we were delayed by over two-hours and ended up not landing in Portland until close to 3am.  So we began our trip sleep-deprived.

We hung out in Portland, did the touristy things like eat a Reggie from Pine State Biscuits, enjoy a bacon maple bar from Voodoo Doughnut, wander around Powells Books, and get drunk at Deschutes.  Next, we went south to Eugene, where we met tons of fantastic people and gorged on food of a primarily vegetarian variety.  This included stops at Cafe Yumm, Laughing Planet, Ta Ra Rin, Hot Mama's Wings, Eugene City Bakery, Agate Alley, 19th St. McMenamins, Pizza Research Institute, and several fine bars and pubs.  If I were a bear, I would be ready for a long winter hibernation.

Elizabeth also humored me as I let my track nerdiness fly by wandering around Hayward Field.  I excitedly watched Andrew Wheating do a warm-up on the track while Vin Lananna supervised.  Hayward Field is to runners what the Vatican is to Catholics, what Mecca is to Muslims.  I sat in the stands and marveled at the great races that have been run there by legendary, mythical figures.  It's awe-inspiring, to say the least.

Thanks to all the folks who showed us a good time and greatly appreciated hospitality!

Runner Holy Land.

Bowerman still keeps a watchful eye.

Watching imaginary, long-ago run races in my head.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Off to Oregon!

I never summarized this year's edition of Silent Trails.  I do not intend to do so now.  I am not sure if I will at all.  In lieu of a write-up, here are a couple of pictures from the race, taken once again by the wonderful Wendy Perkins.  As has become the new normal, we were fortunate enough to once again run this race during the first snowfall of the season.  And as is also the custom, by mid-afternoon, it had all melted off thanks to the mid-50 degree temps.

Perfect conditions for a 10M trail race.

Big guns.  L to R: Ted, me, Jay, Gabe (behind Jay), Jason, Nik.  Behind Nik are Nick Clark and the bastard Horsecow.

6th.

In reference to the title of this post, Elizabeth and I are off to Oregon tonight.  We have a late flight out of Denver to Portland.  She is going to spend the next few days showing me around her home.  Oh, and I get to see the Waldrons, who are now residents of Portlandia.  I'm looking forward to it.

When I'm back, I'm going to sit down and attempt to articulate what it is I plan to do regarding this whole "running" thing.  I have been contemplating that heavily lately.

New Direction

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it is I want to do with my life and my running.  An articulation of those wants is not fully complete, but I think I have an idea and a starting point.  That is as far into it as I wish to delve at the moment.

Here are a few photographs from a quick trip to Rocky Mountain National Park Elizabeth and I made last weekend.

We also saw these guys at the Bluebird.  Very fun.

Weeks Ending Sept. 23 & Sept. 30 + Jelm Mountain

Running-wise, the last two weeks have been less than stellar and frankly disappointing.  After one of the best training weeks I'd had in literally years, I lost my legs.  I planned to back-off a little before Jelm, but I didn't bounce back well at all.  After Jelm, the wheels really fell off.

My hip has been doing quite a bit better, to the point that I rarely notice it much anymore.  However, my calves are now starting to betray me.  It took me over a week after Jelm to get them to loosen up enough to feel decent over even a six-mile run.  

I wanted to keep plugging away through Silent Trails and into my 50K in Oregon at the end of the month, but given my banged up legs, I'm thinking about just phoning it in for the rest of the month.  We are supposed to possibly see our first snow of the season over the next few days, so quality running days are short.  The snowshoes and microspikes are going to be pulled out of the closet.

Here's the last two weeks plus my Jelm re-cap:

Tues. Sept. 18 - 8 miles in 1:00.  Earlier afternoon run on the Summit-Browns-Headquarters loop.  I was a little sore in the glutes from my decent down Med Bow Peak two days before.

Wed. Sept. 19 - 7 miles in :47.  I originally planned to do 5-6x5min with 1 min off cruise intervals on the Greenbelt.  I got four done and went home.  Super sluggish.  

Thurs. Sept. 20 - 6 miles in :46.  Afternoon run on Turtle Rock trail.  Again, felt super sluggish.  Only thing of note on this run was the cow and calf moose I nearly ran smack into on the southeastern corner of Turtle Rock.  I turned around and quickly exited the area.

Fri. Sept. 21 - 6.5 miles in :45.  Friday form work with Jefe.  Mi casa to the UW track.  Then 2x form drills and 4x200 strides with 200 jog in-between.  Then back to la casa.

Sat. Sept. 22 - 11.5 miles.  Jelm Mountain Run.  After a lot of shit-talking between the Caballo-Vaca and myself (El Perro Hambriento), we finally toed the line to pit our endurance running skills against one another.  Going into the race with a week of sub-par runs under my belt made me a little anxious.  Horsecow actually registered for the race under the pseudonym "Horsecow Owns-Ragan."  There was more than pride riding on this one.  Having that fucker's name like that ahead of mine in the results for all the internet to see was too much of an embarrassment to consider.  I had to do my best.

Starting Line.  Horsecow is in the speedo.  Photo by Cassandra Driver.

Great shot of folks starting the climb.  Photo by Cassandra Driver.

Great cheering crew with awesome and accurate shirts.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

There is something about this race that just slays me.  I focused for a month on climbing and, as usual, once we started the first climb up from the start, I already felt like I was in oxygen debt.  It's hard to find a groove when your only task is to run over 2000ft in 5.2 miles.  From the start, I let Horsecow go.  I can't race the first 20 minutes of this race.  I simply have to try to get comfortable enough to not convince myself to drop the hell out.

Cool shot.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

Horsecow initially gapped me by about 50 meters or so, and that gap grew little-by-little until the aid station about halfway up the mountain.  At that point, I woke up a little and started to reel the bastard back in.  I would never get closer than maybe 30 seconds, however, because once we started the last push to the observatory, I fell apart.  My wheels came off.  

In an attempt to not waste too much time at the top munching on pretzels and losing time to those who had already begun the decent, I packed a gel in my pocket and decided to down it right before the top so I could just grab a quick drink and head down.  In my effort to remove it from my shorts, I dropped it.  The last 150-200 meters of the climb are the steepest, and it's easy to say, "screw it" and walk.  I was running, and when I dropped the gel, I came to a complete stop to pick it up.  Holy hell was it difficult to convince myself to get going again.

Horsecow (4th to the top) beat me (6th to the top) to the top by 1:06 (45:21 to 46:27), and, as in years past, I stopped to catch my breath and down a drink.  With that kind of time gap, I cursed at myself and thought, "I can't catch him on the descent."  And I started down.

I didn't entirely give up, however, because first, I still had another runner, Justin, ahead of me. So I started barreling down the mountain.  I caught Justin about halfway between the top and the aid station.  As I passed I told him to go with me after the Horsecow, but he didn't hang (I would put over three minutes on him by the finish).  Horsecow had a sizable lead, and even with the few glances of him I got around turns, I didn't think I could do it.

Until I came off the last big uphill about a mile out from the finish.  There is a clear view of the flat below and I finally got an idea of how close I had gotten.  He was hurting, and I had made up a good chunk of time on him.  So, me being my idiot self, pressed as hard as I could.

Ugh.  Photo by Cassandra Driver.

5th is the 4th loser.  Photo by Wendy Perkins.

Unfortunately, it was to no avail.  I didn't have enough real estate to finish the job.  Horsecow Owns-Ragan finished in 1:14:34 to my 1:14:56.  I got to within 22 seconds of him by the end (a 28:29 descent to his 29:13).  

She made me a sweet warm-up shirt.  Photo by Cassandra Driver.

I wish I knew why I cannot climb this mountain in faster than 46 minutes.  And while my time was a PR for the course, it was a PR by a measly 17 seconds.  Like I said, I was actually pretty disappointed in this one.  I thought I was a little more ready than that.

It was an historic day at Jelm, with 3 out of 4 course records falling.  The big boy, Greg Schabron's CR from 2002, finally went down.  And thankfully, it went down to a newly-minted Hungry Dog, Nik Deininger, who took it from 1:10:59 to 1:10:30.  That record has been assaulted unsuccessfully the last couple of years.  Jenn Malmberg lowered her own women's CR by over four minutes (!) to 1:24:42.  And Michelle Barlow set a new female master's CR with a super stout 1:26:16.  She beat the male masters winner (our own Jefe French!) by almost two-minutes.  It's okay, Jefe.

This race is getting more and more competitive by the year.  I won in 2008 with a 1:15:13.  We put five under that time this year.

One last note:  Two of the "Big 3" Laramie trail races have CRs owned by Hungry Dogs.  Jason still has the Silent Trails CR from 2006, and now Nik has the Jelm CR.  Someone needs to show up at Pilot Hill next year and beat freaking Nick Clark!

Last week was a bust.  After Jelm, it took until Wednesday for me to feel not sore enough to attempt a run.  I made it four miles.  My calves continued to ball up.  I didn't run again until Saturday morning when Jason and I did a very relaxed Silent Trails loop.  He messed up his back pretty bad in a fall a couple of weeks ago.  He and I, we are getting old.  A little less Hungry Dog, a little more tired and sore dog.  I finished the week off with a quick run on Double Black Diamond Sunday that included a tangent up some rocks because BOULDERING!

September: 178 (22:53)

Year to Date: 1286 (151:06)

Gear: Saucony Peregrine 2 (312 miles), Asics SpeedStar 6 (31 miles)