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.

An Uphill Battle

Training has been a bit of a struggle over the past few weeks coming off my toe injury. The toe has been nagging me during runs, severely limiting how fast I feel that I can push without making it worse. I've been icing periodically and after runs, which has helped some; it comes and goes. I went for a 13.1 miler a few weeks ago that was OK. I ran on a treadmill yesterday for 7 miles and it felt easier on the joints, so I may stay inside for a while to help rehab. The treadmill is like watching paint dry, (well, more like watching cash cab) but at least its not too hot; it was in the 90s most days last week which made things a bit nasty. I always set it to a 1% incline to make up for the ease of having no terrain to deal with.

In in other news, the kickball team is 6-0 with one game left. I'll be glad when its over so I don't have to worry about running in cleats.

Getting Back in the Game

My toe injury is continuing to improve as I am getting back into running. My first couple attempts were cut short by ankle and toe pain--I think I need to do calf and ankle exercises daily to help maintain stability. I could tell those muscles atrophied a bit, since they are not used much while biking. I went for a couple seven mile runs over the last four days though, the first in 1h 58 seconds and the second in 58min 28 seconds. My toe and ankles were feeling significantly improved during the second run, so I feel like I'm getting back on track with my training. I really want to get back to the point where i can start pushing for better times without fear that my joints will fall apart. I think I will try to do a longer run 10-13.1 this weekend at a steady pace and see how things go.

The kickball team got another win last Tuesday against another undefeated team. Woot... Hopefully we will have similar results tomorrow.

So far so good

Its been about a week since I aggravated my turf toe injury playing kickball, and so far it seems to be healing, albiet slower than I would like. It was somewhat uncomfortable a couple of times when I found my strides trying to revert back to normal, instead of awkwardly walking on the sides and heels of my feet, but overall it is improving and I feel like I can almost walk normally again. Against my better judgment, I decided to play kickball again yesterday, making a pact with myself that I would not run fast to get on base, or to catch any balls. Luckily both my kicks were pop flies that were caught in the outfield, so I didn't have to run, and I played pitcher on defense, so I didn't have to move around too much. (Except to run for a couple bunts...) My team won again, 7-2, and afterward my toe felt fine, which was infinitely better than the hours of pain last week.

I've continued to bike over the last week, going for a couple of 7 mile rides, one 10 miler and one 13 miler. (Maybe others, I kind of lost track) While biking isn't exactly a substitute for running, since I don't get my heart rate up as high, my legs feel like they are working even harder than when I run. This may be due to the fact that I get extremely irritated whenever someone passes me, and try to overtake them despite having a hybrid bike instead of a fast road bike. At one point I ended up chasing several pro-looking bikers several miles until they turned off the lakes. Luckily they didn't have rearview mirrors to watch me bearing down on them the whole time. In other news, my weight fell below 180 yesterday, which I attribute to biking and playing kickball in record 97 degree heat. I think I need to do a better job hydrating. Who says it doesn't get that hot in Minnesota?

Many Steps Forward, One Toe Back

Well, after my last post I decided to go on my run as planned and my ankle didn't bother me too much. On the contrary I ran my best time around Harriet yet--20:54 for 2.75 miles--and felt OK overall. The next day however, the bottom of my foot behind my big toe was sore and hurt a bit when I pushed off the with the toe, a telltale sign of turf toe. I had experienced issues with turf toe in the past, usually during ultimate frisbee intramurals in college, but It was always something that bothered me slightly for a few days and pretty much went away on its own. Since I had a kickball game scheduled, I decided to put on some cleates and jog around a little bit to see how bad it really felt: not too bad. With the shoes on I hardly noticed, so I figured I could go play kickball and it would gradually get better on its own. Bad idea. At kickball I ended up running the bases at top speed twice, (two home runs... woo hooo) and afterward my toe hurt for the remainder of the night. I guess its a bit worse than it was back in college... So just when I started to up my game in running I have to stay off my feet. I'm hoping I didn't aggrevate it too much so I'll be back up in a week or so instead of 3-4 weeks. In rebellion against the injury I went for a marathon bike ride yesterday (about 26.4 miles overall). Hurray for not needing your toes to bike. Who knows, if I do enough biking and swimming for cross training while I'm not running, I might just be ready for a triathalon.

Push it to the Limit

I went for a seven miler this weekend around Lake Harriet and Calhoun and came in at a personal best 55:18, which is around 8:10 miles. The funny thing is, afterward I knew I could have gone faster. I feel like a big part of running is knowing how hard you can push yourself early without gassing at the end. I have a tendency to leave too much in reserve.

I started reading a book about running called "Once a Runner." It is a fairly old and well known running novel, which has been interesting so far, though it seems more geared toward elite runners. (The main character runs a 4 min mile)

On a side note, I tweaked my old recurring left ankle sprain yesterday while playing disc golf. I iced it right away and I don't think it will bother me too much, but I'm debating whether I should give it a rest or go for my run today.