Vibrams

I went out for a 7 mile run in my Vibram Five Finger KSOs yesterday. The furthest I'd ran in them before was abut 5.5 miles, which left a spot on my right foot raw. I decided to pick up some Iniji running toe socks to wear inside the Vibrams to cut down on rubbing and provide some more warmth so that I can use them until it gets Minnesota cold. The shoes felt very snug with the socks inside them, but I was used to them feeling overly snug since my feet and ankles were swollen up for a week or so after my illness. They actually felt a bit less snug! At any rate, here are my observations about how running with the KSOs differ from my Teva sandals, (and other heavy training shoes) :

-My stride changed a little, even though I'm trying to use the same midfoot stride regardless of shoe
-I noticed more rubbing between me legs, which hadn't been a problem for me recently (a result of changed stride)
-I felt very light on my feet
-I felt like my heart and lungs didn't have to work as hard to achieve the same time
-I felt like I didn't sweat as much as normal
-My upper leg muscles (quads and hamstrings) felt like they were not working hard
-The tendons in may ankles and feet felt more strained than normal
-Both ankles felt a little sore at some point during the run
-Several lower leg muscles were being worked much harder than normal, especially the one immediately to the outside of the tibia (shin bone), which I'm assuming is the tibialis anterior and fairly meaty one on the outside of my lower leg which is probably the peroneus longus. (this is based on a quick online search) These muscles are involved with stabilizing the ankle and balance and work opposite one another in turning the ankle over one way or the other so it makes sense that they would both be tired together.
-My "calf" muscles were not especially tired. People seem to refer to any muscle in the lower leg as the calf muscle, but there are something on the order of 12 muscles in the lower leg, the "calf muscle" is actually two muslces, the gastrocnemius and soleus, large muscles at the back of the lower leg that help with plantarflexion--making the angle of the ankle to the shin greater than 90 degrees, aka pushing off with the toes or going up on the tip toes.


Overall the run felt very good, except that my toe was being stressed a little more than it would have been in my sandals. I don't think my muscles and tendons would have been up for running much more than 10 miles in them yet, but If they were in better shape, I felt like I could have kept pace for a really long time. From my knees up the run felt effortless.

10 Day Forecast

It's about 10 days until the 2009 Twin Cities Marathon now, meaning long shot weather forecasts are starting to roll in. I don't know about other marathon runners, but I'm a bit obsessive about checking forecasts before the race since my other two were: 1 Unseasonably Hot and sunny (low-mid 80's for october) and 2 fairly cool and rainy. It would be ideal for me if it were low 60's and completely overcast; the forecasts so far range from 39 degree lows to 65 degree highs with a decent change of rain showers... it's looking like another #2 year. My main concern with the weather is if rain comes when it is very cool, like the mid 40's which is quite possible. This will force me to wear a lot more clothes which will likely slow me down a lot. My other big quandary is what to wear on my feet for the race. My old running shoes with the holes in the insoles began bothering my toe a bit after a couple of 11 milers the past few weekends. Last weekend I ran about 11 miles on Saturday but decided to stop because of soreness in the toe; the next day I went out again and did 13 miles in my teva sandals with socks. It seems a bit crazy but I'm leaning toward tevas with socks for the race, even though they are much thicker and heavier than I'd like, they seem good for my toe. The problem is, if I'm wearing sandals with socks, cold rain would mean soggy feet in a couple of minutes, although they would dry fast if the rain stopped.

As for my four hour time goal, its looking pretty bleak. Between changing my running stride and feeling unable to push off too hard from my toes, my top speed has dropped considerably and I don't feel like I can kick and put in a sub 8 minute mile to fininsh off if I had to. I'm going to have to just go for a steady pace from start to finish to protect my injury and see what happens. I think I can beat my time from last year (4:35), and hopefully beat 10 minute miles (4:20) but 4 flat will take a tremendous effort for me having had too little time to get used to my altered stride and to find a pair of shoes that works better. I wish I had had time to train up my calves and feet so that I could run in my Vibrams; maybe next year. I might go shoe shopping this weekend and take a 10-13 miler in a pair of new kicks to see if I can find a light weight flat that will work.

With 10 days left before the race, I only have time for 3 or 4 more training runs. Its nice to know there's not much left, but in my case, it would be nice to have more time. Apparently the sickness I had that kept me down for a week and a half was probably swine flu. My mom had the same thing (I think I got her sick) and her doctor said it was probably H1N1, since there's no other bad viruses going around right now. I'm feeling pretty much 100% better now though, so its full steam ahead. I ran about seven miles in 1:02:32 and 1:04:14 my last two runs. This is probably 3-6 minutes slower than I was going before I got hurt back in May. On the other hand, I'm not feeling quite as tired at the end, because I'm not pushing so hard or kicking for the last mile. In a marathon things might even out; If I can run as fast as my 1:02:32 time for the whole race, I can make 4 hours. Just do decently fast training run four times back to back... That's not so bad!

I'll probably make another post or two before race day, and definitely the night or morning after the race.

Crunch Time

Training over the last couple weeks hasn't exactly gone as planned. I ended up getting a couple 7 mile runs in without my toe injury coming back in full force, which was a heartening sign. I tried to run with short strides and a high cadence. I also ran with holes cut in my insoles around the large big toe joint on the bottom of my foot to take pressure off of it. It seems to have worked. Just when I was feeling like I might be able to get on course to get a few long runs in before the marathon, I got sick. I just woke up one day and had a mild headache, that turned into a pounding headache the next day. I attribuited it to allergies, but the next day I had a fever that continued for almost a week. The fever has finally disappeared in the last couple days and I feel pretty much normal, but I missed a good week of activity of any kind. I'm also not sure if I'm 100% in the health department yet, since flu/colds which I'm assuming this is tend to linger for a while. At any rate, I hope to start get some workouts in this weekend, and maybe try a half or longer next weekend. There's only 3 weeks left before the race, so I don't have much time to work up to it now. It seems like the race will be a huge struggle this time around, but for some reason, I'm feeling optimistic.

In other news I received my Vibram Five Finger shoes in the mail last week, and they seem pretty fun, although I haven't gotten to use them much yet. I also read the book "Born to Run," last weekend, It was definitely worth the read. Its nice to read a running book where the writer isn't a super runner that makes you feel like a total newbie--he might be surrounded by super runners half the time, but he writes from the perspective of an average Joe runner. I liked it a lot better than the other running books I've read: "Ultramarathonman," and "Once a Runner."

Back to Basics

A couple days after the 7 mile run at the end of my last post, I went out for a short bike/run. When I got to the running portion, the toe pain returned and I had to walk back to my bike. Instead of upping my milage as I had hoped, I went back to biking on the weekend, cranking out a 52 miler on Saturday. After the bike ride, I furiously researched on the internet about anything that might help with my issue. I discovered that my problem is likely a condition called sesamoiditis and not turf toe. Sesamoiditis basically inflammation of the big toe joint capsule, which creates a gradual onset soreness and pain a day or two after activity, like other kinds of tendonitis. What's more, it is most common in dancers and joggers that are increasing mileage for events like marathons. That sounded darn familiar... Later I found that the problem occurs more frequently in people with higher arches, and those with higher heeled shoes.

I came to realize when it came to running technique, shoe type, and foot type, I was pretty clueless. I had always though my feet were flat. Wrong. Using the "wet foot on cardboard test" I discovered that my arch was normal, possibly even on the high side considering I have a wide foot. When I selected my running shoes, I didn't spend too much time deliberating about cushioning, heel size, and arch support--I figured any shoe would be decent if it felt comfortable. After all, how far wrong can you go with a $140 pair of super high tech shoes? Apparently pretty far. Eventually I stumbled upon some websites about barefoot running. It was very intriguing reading. While changing shoes seems to be able to clear up problems for a lot people, barefoot and minimalist shoe runners claim that padded, shock absorbing and sensation deadening shoes are likely the cause of many chronic injuries in runners, because they promote poor form and deprive the feet of being able to feel the ground and adjust the body properly to lessen shock. Big running shoes with thick soles encourage a heel striking stride, where the heel hits first and then the feet roll up and push off the toes. When you run barefoot, you automatically become a midfoot or forefoot striker. In evaluating my stride, I realized even in shoes I was already running with mid foot strike, which might have been problematic considering my large heeled shoes are pretty much designed for heel striking. With all this new information in mind I decided to start walking around barefoot for a few days just to see how it felt. At this point, I'm willing to try anything to get in some miles without hurting my toe.

It felt pretty good. Aside from my feet being unaccustomed to rough surfaces and the occasional pebble, walking around outside in barefeet is fairly comfortable after a day or two. Even after a couple days I noticed a my feet toughen up. I also noticed that you do truly become a forefoot striker almost by default when you walk bare feet. You simply can't heel strike on pavement without runing your foot, and your body adjusts to it quickly. After several days I decided to try to go for a barefoot run. I had ran 5 mintes or so at a time already, but nothing much farther than that. I ended up running around Lake Harriet, which is about 2.75 miles. I wasn't intending to go all the way around initially, I was just going to go as far as I could before it started feeling uncomfortable. The problem is, once I start something, I tend to keep going. By the time I was half way around, with my feet feeling fine, I figured I might as well finish. Everything went great until about the last 5 minutes, when left foot started feeling pretty tender. With so little left, I finished and assessed the damage. I had developed 3 fairly large blisters around the ball of my foot and some smaller ones the big toe. I laughed a little bit; I can always count on myself to do too much too soon.

Thankfully the blisters didn't affect me for too long. By the next day I could walk okay with shoes and by the second day I had pretty much forgotten about them, and went for a quick 16 mile bike ride. I plan to continue researching different shoe styles and running techniques that might help me, but I know one thing for sure: I'm retiring my Suacony Hurricane X's. I plan to use my old Omni 6's from last year for now until I can find an alternative that works. I'm considering ordering some Vibram Five Fingers KSO shoes. I don't expect I'd be ready to use a totally flat shoe like these come marathon time, but if I can get some miles in without pain, I should be able to tough it out in my Omni's during the race. You can check em' out here (a review by some guy from St. Paul):

http://www.keith-in-training.com/2008/03/vibram-fivefingers-ksos-part-i.html

A 3 Hour Tour

Since I decided to stay off my toe for a couple weeks, I've been biking quite a lot to keep my legs and heart from dropping too far out of shape. I'd mostly been doing 30 minute to 1.5 hour rides of 13 to 30ish miles, but last weekend I decided to go for a 50 mile ride, since I should be running about 3 hours if I was training normally for the marathon. Here's what I learned about the differences between biking and running for 3 hours:

1. Biking makes my legs tired faster, but they are less tired at the end.
2. Biking does raise your heart rate significantly, but not quite as much as running
3. Running is WAY hotter than biking. There's so much more wind when I bike that I hardly sweat at all. When I run I'm soaked after a couple miles.
4. Half of running really far is about your body holding together: joints, feet, etc. This isn't much of a problem with biking.
5. I hate getting passed on my bike even more than when I'm running.

The 50 miles took me right around 3 hours to complete, and I was feeling good because nobody passed me during the ride. There were heavy rains off and on during the ride, so that's probably why there weren't a lot of other bikers around. Once I got soaked, I figured there was no point in stopping, so I just kept going until I finished. I've found biking to be more enjoyable then running in many ways (I like the speed, and not getting passed as often) but finishing a long bike ride doesn't come with the same feeling of accomplishment as a long run. I think this difference originates from the fact that reducing speed slightly on a bike results in a far less strenuous workout, whereas running slowly doesn't necessarily help that much. I could bike 50 miles at 10 mph without even feeling like I was working. If I ran 3 miles at an 11 minute pace, I would still break a sweat.

My toe has been feeling a bit better lately, so I went on my first run in a few weeks a couple days ago. A 7 miler at a slowish pace. It went alright... I couldn't believe how fast I got sweaty and hot compared to biking. (It was 85 degrees and 60 some percent humidity.) If the toe feels ok I will keep doing some moderate runs, and perhaps bike after the runs to increase the duration of my workouts without pounding out too many miles on my feet.

Not Meant to Run

Ten years ago I would have told you I hated running. It was just a way to get in shape for wrestling. I would have said my body type wasn't suited to long distance running, and that there was a snowball's chance in hell that I'd ever run a marathon. Looking ahead to my third marathon, it is apparent that my actions have flown in the face of what I had previously promised, but there is still one thing that seems to ring true: my body isn't made for this. I've been trying to come back from my toe injury the past few weeks by doing some treadmill running, but it has consistently been one step forward and two steps back. I'll have a decent run and try to start increasing my distance only to wake up to soreness and pain in my toe. I tried to go out today and it felt bad immediately. I've come to the realization that I'm gong to have to stop training for an extended period of time--at least a couple of weeks--if I'm gong to get over it. This will leave precious little time for actual running training, and what time I have I'll be paranoid about reinjuring it. Constant fear of injury and mentally monitoring the joints really saps the fun out of running. If this becomes a recurring thing, I'll probably have to hang up my hat on marathon running. Its not worth the pain and struggle and arthritis in old age just to be constantly disappointed during training.

As for my marathon this year, its all pretty much in the air at this point. If two or three weeks cures me, I will be ok, might not make my goal, but I will get through it. If my toe isn't feeling 100% by race day, well, running one marathon on a sprained ankle was bad enough. There's always another race.

Well, that's enough doom and gloom for one post. I plan on biking and trying out some swimming in the lake and perhaps some water jogging. The biggest failing of these alternatives is that they don't adequately work the muscles of the calves and feet, so I'll try to throw in some exercise for that as I'm able. I swam around a lake called Lake La Fave in northeastern Wisconsin last weekend (a bit over a mile swim) which went ok, albeit slowly.

No Skin off My Nose

Its been a few weeks since my last post, so I guess its time for a little recap. My training was starting to pick up again culminating in a 13 milish run around the Minong Flowage in Northern Wisconsin on the 4th of July. The route is quite hilly, with several long steep hills and many gradual ones, making for a very sore butt for a few days, but overall the run when well. My ankle and toe held up surprisingly well, especially considering the road I ran on was bowed so running on either side was very unbalancing.

Just when I thought all was well, then came our final kickball game of the regular season. We were playing the other top team for the leage champ position (we were both 6-1) and I foolishly attempted a slide into first base in the final inning, because I was mad about getting tagged out on an earlier play. I ended up getting on base, but my left calf sustained a huge scrape--an oval about six inches by four inches of raw, torn and bleeding skin. Of course, I kept playing, and scored my run, then pitched out the final inning before heading home to nurse my wound. (I also sprained my left wrist, but that doesn't affect my running =) ) I ran a mile the next day on the treadmill, but every time I stood up and moved around the torn skin would flex and shift, so I decided to put running on hold until the wound healed up.


This it what it looks like now, after a 8 days of healing. Imagine the scabbed area covering most of the visible skin on my leg in this shot, and that's about big it was. (That large piece of gauze could barely cover it all.)


Anyhow, the wound healed up enough so that I ran 3 miles after about 5 days, and then went for my normal 7 miler the next day. I was pleased to find that I felt more affected by my missed training than the scrape. That was two days ago, so I'll either go for another run today or tommorrow, and hopefully a 10-13 miler on Saturday or Sunday. The marathon is about 12 weeks out now, so the training will ramp up from here on out. Every weekend I'll be going on longer runs, probably maxing out at a couple of 20 milers... maybe a bit longer with the way the routes work out.

In other kickball news, we had our end of the league tournament last night. We got a bye the first round for winning the leaque, and won the second round 12-2, despite whining and heckling from our opposition. Our final game was against the hated "Installers" team that gave us our one and only loss. (Everyone in the league seemed to hate them because they acted like a bunch of A hole frat guys.) Pitching was tough for me due to high winds from incoming rainclouds and refs calling balls on everying but piches that would roll strikes in bowling. Nevertheless we held went into the top of the final inning with a 7-2 lead, thanks to some great kicking, and managed to hold on 7-5 for the victory. We were congratulated heartily by the other teams who struck around to watch for sending the endlessly bunting braggarts home in defeat.