Motivation Needed

I need to get motivated.  Not motivated to run, however.  I need to get motivated to figure out how to get rid of this damn plantar fasciitis (PF).  And, for kicks, I'd like to figure out why fasciitis has three "i"s.

I've got the kind of PF that hurts like hell in the heel.  It's chronic.  The pain started, I think, back in 2009.  Since then, it's been pretty constant, albeit with different degrees of discomfort.  I thought I'd kicked it last year in the lead up to the Leadville 100.  For the month or two leading up to the race, I'd been running pain-free.  During the race and post-race, nada.  All good.  Then, in November, I did a speedwork session at the Evergreen High School track and that was it.  The PF was back, with a vengeance.  I guess the hard forefoot running stretched something out...fiercely.

Since then, it's been a balancing act...how far...how hard can I run without making my right heel scream at me.  Lately, it's not taken much to really make the heel mad.  Today, the limit was 12 easy trail miles.  Frustrating.

I've got the PF that hurts like hell in the heel.  I know I have a heel spur, which certainly is part of the problem.  (See below...thanks for the pic Wikipedia).  On top of that, favoring the sore heel on the right, I think, is causing me to alter my gait enough to make my left Achilles ache.  Sigh.

So what sort of complex PT routine am I doing for my PF?  Not enough, it seems.  I've been sleeping some nights in an immobilization or night boot, an annoying device meant to keep your foot flexed while you sleep under the theory that a flexed plantar will heal better.  This has helped before, but doesn't seem to be doing the trick now.  I rotate between Saucony Peregrines and Hoka Stinson Evos.  Other than that, I'm not doing much.  I did take about a month off around Christmas.  During that time, the heel felt fine.  At least it did until I ran again.   

As a result, I've gotten pretty good at 10-mile runs.  I haven't run more than 20 miles in an outing since December.  Another frustrating thing is that while the heel kills post-run, it typically feels OK the next morning, that is until I run again.  I don't hobble around all day before running.  So, I tend to under-treat the injury. Maybe it will just go away again, the way it did leading up to Leadville.

But, it's time to start taking this thing more seriously, that is if I want to run anything longer than 10 miles in a stint this summer.  I reckon it's time to throw everything at the problem...icing; night boot; rolling the foot/heel with a hard, spiky plastic ball; NSAIDs; and anything else I can think of.  The problem is, I lack motivation.  I hate babying injuries. I don't like to think about chronic injury. I just want to run.  

Yeah, yeah, I know there's a causal relationship between taking care of injuries and being able to "just run."  I'm impatient, and I need to get over said impatience. 

And, I'd better hurry (there's that impatience thing again).  Summer's coming.  That's the time of year when the pull to "just run" is strongest. 

Back(ish) At(ish) It(ish)

(Knocking on wood...) The ITBS seems to have faded into the background enabling me to return to some semblance of (easy) training. Patience is the word of the month.


It was back in late January when I finally had to admit that a dose of illiotibial band syndrome affecting my right knee could no longer be ignored. That conclusion came at the end of a 17-mile run when I had to walk the final few miles back to my car.

Since then I've been throwing all sorts of things at the problem, hoping something would work. So, enter NSAIDs, foam rollers, a lacrosse ball, a bit of ART, massage and ice and hiking.  After all that stuff, I began running, but only uphill.  Three weeks ago, I started adding in downhill jogging.

The weekend before last I joined Phil K. and Jason P. for a loop up to the summit of Bergen Peak. Our pace was easy (still a lot of snow on the last mile and a half to and from the summit), but I ran every step of that 12 miles.

Progress.

Last week I got in a few easy runs and a few mountain excursions, including a run up and down Bear Peak and Green Mountain in Boulder (two days/two runs), Apex in Golden and the Troublesome Gulch Loop here in Evergreen.  All runs were done without any problems with the right knee.

Looking west to Longs Peak from just below the four-way descending from the summit of Green Mountain

Looking north from the summit of Green Mountain

Yesterday I got out for a jog from the office to the top of Mt. Sanitas (21:43 - mostly hiking - for the ascent) and back. All good.

I'm also continuing to squeeze in a couple yoga classes per week. Last week and this week I tried out a Vinyasa class. I really like the flow of these classes, and the emphasis on strength (which I am regularly reminded I don't have nearly enough of).

Every night before bed I have a date with the foam roller and the lacrosse ball (which I roll around on to loosen up the glute muscles and to work the IT band).

I don't pretend to yet be out of the ITBS woods, just hopeful that I'm doing enough of the right stuff to help me get past this stupid injury.  I definitely am still mentally affected by the injury. I get phantom twinges all the time while running. I chock some of it up to paranoia/fear. The rest of it I take as a reminder to be patient and to take it easy. The goal is to get healthy...

...and, soon.

The Week That Was(n't)...January 29 - February 4, 2012

On some runs, I forget to bring my GPS watch. Looking back on a weeks when this happened, I regularly have a hard time remembering what I did on a given day.  No problem with that issue this week.

No runs this week.  

Got in a good 1.5-hour yoga session Sunday morning with JP.  Both kids came to the class with us. That was a lot of fun. So great to see the three of them lined up beside me (the family that sweats together, stays together...).

On Thursday, I went and saw Josh Shadle over at All Sports Recovery Club in Boulder for some deep tissue abuse massage. I had quite a few moments where I had to laugh out loud at the pain. It was either that or yell. Not sure how I got this tight, but it seems clear that with everything all bound up in my hips/glutes/lower back, it's no wonder my IT band is getting jacked.

The All Sports Recovery Club is an interesting idea. Essentially, you can become a member for a monthly fee and use their collection of recovery equipment, from cold lasers and ice baths to compression boots and a vast quiver of foam rollers. Interesting concept, and definitely one of those "only in Boulder" things.

So, I'm doing daily hip mobility and glute strengthening exercises, along with a lot of time with my two new best friends. A new (hard) foam roller and a lacrosse ball.

Nope, not a tall glass of Guinness.

I'm using the foam roller to roll out my IT band and lower back. The lacrosse ball is for rolling around on and working to loosen up the gluteus maximus and gluteus medias muscles.

Tested the IT band out last night (Tuesday) on the rec center treadmill. Did a half-mile walking warm-up, then a half-mile at 10:00 pace and then 3.3 miles at a whopping 9:00 pace. Shut it down at 4.3 when I started to feel a hint of IT ache in the right knee.

So tempted to just go out and run hard. A big part of me just wants to say f*** it and get out and keep building on the fitness that was really starting to come around. Fortunately, for now, I'm able to tamp down that desire and stay focused on getting the ITBS under control so I can do what I want to do this summer.

Traffic jam, Evergreen style:

The Week That Was...January 15-21, 2012

Decent week, all-in-all. Getting a bit frustrated by the on-again, off-again ache in the outside of my right knee. Weird how it comes and goes on a given run, even on a long 32-mile run. There's nothing consistent about the pain. It just comes and goes.


Sunday - Off - taking it easy after the PP50K the day before. 1.5-hour Bikram (hot) yoga session in the a.m. New sweat volume PR. Felt markedly better after this session than I did pre-yoga. Growing more and more convinced of the recovery value of yoga following a hard run (provided, of course, one doesn't push the body too far stretching-wise). Best of all, JP and I do the classes together. So great to see her in action. She is the star of the classes...strong, steady and so flexible the teacher looks at her with envy. I'm happy to be the "before" example to her "after," when it comes to yoga (and so many other things).


Monday - Soda Creek Loop - 8:01 miles; 1:14; 1,234 feet o' elevation gain. Squeezed this one in before picking up the kids. Pleased to feel very solid after the hard run on Saturday. Right knee - good.


Tuesday - Off - schedule


Wednesday - Treadmill - for the first-time ever, all the treadmills (and even the elliptical machines) were full. I wandered around trying to decide what else I should do. Finally a 'mill opened up and I hopped on. 2 miles@8:00 w/u; 1 mile@5:52; .5 recovery; 1 mile@5:49; 1.5 mile c/d. Was planning on doing 3x1-mile but the first two wrecked me. On the second mile repeat, I was literally counting steps, ticking off the 1/100ths over the last 3/10s of a mile. Couldn't believe how hard these were. One of those sessions, I guess.  Knee - quiet.


Thursday - Mt. Sanitas - 6:38 miles; 1:09; 1,571 feet o' elevation gain. Lunch run from the office to the summit of Mt. Sanitas via the backside. An easy 21:38 from trailhead sign to summit marker. Lots of people out on the mountain today dressed as if it were summer. Knee - quiet until road run back to office, then a few pains.


Friday - Off - decided I would run the Southside 50K Fat A** on Saturday so opted to dodge the stress of squeezing in a run on a crushing workload day and conserve some energy for Saturday.


Saturday - Southside 50K+ - 32.35 miles; 5:19; 3,319 feet o' elevation gain. Got the tip early in the week from SY about this run. A group o' folks was planning to run a 50K route through the open space around Superior and Boulder. With 60+ degree temps forecasted, it wasn't a hard decision to make this another long training run to bookend last Saturday's PP50K. A nudge from fellow Evergreen-er Jason P. was all it took to seal the deal.

The run was a lot of fun. Wind was a bit of an issue through the rolling grasslands of Marshall Mesa, but not too bad. The run had a bit of everything...rolling, flat, hills...dirt, mud, snow, ice, rock...you name it.

Jason and I arrived just before the 7 a.m. start. Met a bunch of new folks from the Boulder/Lafayette/Niwot/Longmont netherworlds. Even managed to lure GZ out for a few miles. Funny moment...when I walked up to the start area, a burly looking guy steps out of a group of runners and marches straight at me with a very angry look on his face. For a few anxious seconds I was working hard to remember who I might have pissed off. In no time, I realized the burly-ness was actually a down jacket and the anger was a charade pulled off with great skill by non-other than GZ. Got the bear-hug rather than a smack in the kisser. Great poker face on that cat. Beware.

Ran pretty steady for the whole 50K. Had more than a few minutes the last five miles or so where I got to wondering what the hell I was doing. Running a long time doesn't always feel all that whippy. I found myself questioning whether it's worth it. A few hours later, I decided it was...for now.

Knee was solid most of the run, but barked a bit on the steady flat stuff that comprised the final 5-6 miles. Annoying.

For the week:  52.75 miles; 8:48; 6,123 feet o' elevation gain.

Radio Silence

125 and 85.  Those numbers say it all.

125 is the measurement in pounds of how much force I can apply with my left hand's grip.

85 is what I can pull with my right hand.

I'm right-handed.

Before July 1st, I never gave much thought to those kinds of measurements.

Let's back up a bit.

On June 18th, I ran the San Juan Solstice 50. I finished a respectable 14th overall in 10:15:10.  The post-race recovery went well...Sunday - Tuesday off, easy runs on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.  On Sunday, I began feeling achy and fatigued. Monday morning, I was on a plane to D.C. I spent all day Tuesday and half the day Wednesday (until housekeeping kicked me out) in my hotel room bed crushed by the body aches and fatigue of what I assume was the flu.

I got back home Wednesday night and was on the mend. Better Thursday.  Then, things got interesting.

I woke up around 3 a.m. Friday (July 1) morning with awful pain running down both shoulders into my arms.  I've likened the feeling to hot lead being poured over my shoulders and dripping down to my forearms.  By 7 a.m. the pain on the left had eased, but continued to be agonizing on the right side.

After a brief work-over by a local PT/chiropractor I cold-called, the pain eased enough to carry on with a long-planned Fourth of July trip to Crested Butte. As the pain eased to a general discomfort, I noticed that my fine motor skills and dexterity in both hands had deteriorated and strength in my right arm had diminished, hence the numbers noted above.

Over the last couple of weeks, the constant discomfort has mostly disappeared, replaced by what feels like muscle soreness in the upper arm and shoulder and a tearing sensation in my forearm when I attempt quick movements.  Beyond that, the body generally feel physically disconnected, out of tune and dulled.  Running is doable, but I have no power on the climbs and no braking strength on the descents.  And,  interestingly, I can no longer yell.

Doc thinks I might have a brachial plexus neuropathy, which in a nutshell means the network of nerves that exit the spine and branch out into the upper arm got messed up. In about 30 percent of cases, this neuropathy (disease of the nerve) is preceded by a bacterial or viral (flu!) infection.  Typically, these cases resolve themselves over the course of about three months, in rare cases longer.

I'm now in the fun..."come-back-in-two-weeks-and-let's-see-if-you've-improved" dance with the doc. Easy for him to say...  Acupuncture with Allison at Alternative Care of Colorado, massage and daily icing are also in the mix.

For now, I'm trying to preserve some fitness with near-daily jogs in the 4-7 mile range.  The pace feels plodding and mellow (and a little dull) and has me longing for the quad-busting, full-focus cruises down Green Mountain.

The good news is that I have the sense that things are improving bit by bit, but the rate of improvement is far too slow for my liking, especially with all the high country snow finally melting out. As a result, I've dropped the Pikes Peak Marathon from the race calendar, and in all likelihood will drop the September Bear 100 as well.

Hence, the radio silence and lack of posts on this blog.

Recent runs over the last week and a half, at the aforementioned plodding pace, include five miles at Maxwell Falls in Evergreen, six miles around Elk Meadow Open Space, six miles at Betasso Preserve in Boulder and five miles on the Gudy Gaskill and Beaver Brook Trails in Golden with the kids (they rode their mountain bikes). None of the runs feel anything close to effortless, but they are helping keep some of the rust off.

One thing's for sure...I much prefer the self-inflicted running injuries to crap like this! More to come...

Weekend Running and Not Running

Great Saturday morning run at Pine Valley Ranch/Buffalo Creek. Tough day mentally on Sunday.


Time: 2:25
Distance: 15.25 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Fair
Weather: Sunny and warm

With a 5:30 a.m. Saturday meet-up time, Steve, Lori, Maura and I were running up the Buck Gulch Trail at JeffCo's Pine Valley Ranch just a bit after 6 a.m.  Once we started climbing up out of the Platte Valley, the temps started climbing into perfect running temp territory.

Unfortunately, Steve was not feeling well, so he turned around to catch a cat nap back at the car to see if he could pull things together and still get in some decent miles (he did).  The three of us quickly made time/distance plans and I set off solo running ahead at a bit quicker pace.

The plan was to run about 2:20 and meet back at the cars and decide then what to do next.

I headed up Buck Gulch to Skipper, then hopped on Homestead to Miller Gulch, a two track.  I ran Miller Gulch over to the second Gashouse Gulch connector and made a small 1.5 mile loop, popping back on Miller Gulch at the first Gashouse turn-off.  I continued cruising down Miller Gulch, a really nice, rolling, soft-surfaced old logging road, to the junction with the Homestead Trail.  I hung a left and ran Homestead back to the Strawberry Jack Trail and ran that back to Pine Valley Ranch.

The Miller Gulch/Homestead Trails junction.

The Homestead Trail passes right through a couple really cool rock formations.

I ended up back at the Pine Valley Ranch parking area about 10 seconds after Lori and Maura, who had run a 2-mile shorter version of the route I did.  I opted not to tempt fate too much and called it a day. My back was pretty tight from the descent down Strawberry Jack...nothing serious, but enough warning signals to make the call pretty easy.

So, Maura and I headed back to Evergreen and Steve and Lori headed out to catch a few more miles.

I really like running in the Buffalo Creek Area. It's easy to string together runs of 15 - 50 miles. And, the trails are all runnable, soft-surfaced and scenic. Tough to go wrong.

1,981 feet o' elevation gain.

On Sunday, I was flummoxed by the ferocious wind that was blowing all day. It started about 3 a.m. and never relented. I managed a one-mile walk with the dog in the morning and another in the late afternoon, but was so chastened by the conditions, I bagged running for the day. Thought about a quick trip to the rec center for a treadmill run, but I was mentally shut down. All the injury crap of late was getting to me. Just tired of aching. I really have no acute, can't-run-on-it pain. Just a bunch of background discomfort...just enough to zap energy and mental fortitude and make me wonder when in the hell will I feel like running hard again.

Good thing there's IPA, or IBA - India Black Ale.

The latest find:

This gem of an IBA is from Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  Good to know there's good beer coming out of Milwaukee.  Perfect combo of hoppy bite and the smoothness of a mild porter. Good stuff.

Treadmill...in April?

Realized today that there's no rocks to trip on while running on a treadmill, so I figured a trip to the rec center would be a safe bet.


Time: 54 minutes
Distance: 6.5 miles
Effort: Moderate
Body: Fair
Weather: Indoors

The local rec center has happy hour on Wednesdays from 3-6 p.m. ($3 entry, no beer) and it was snowing out. So, to the treadmill.

This actually was an easy call. After the run in the sun yesterday, I couldn't bear a cold, snow run today.

Started very, very slow and worked my way up to 7:30 pace over the first half-mile. Ran 3.5 miles at 7:30, then one at 7:00, another at 7:30 and a half mile cool-down of jogging, butt kicks and knee lifts (I felt really cool doing those on a treadmill in a crowded gym).

Hip/glute/illiac crest/whatever was achy at the start, but eased up as the run progressed.  Still feeling it, but it was better today than yesterday, due, I'm sure, in part to the chiro/ART/massage session this morning.

No new pain/aches and the old ones are easing.  I'll chalk that up to some continued progress.  Fingers and toes remain crossed and I'm knocking continuously while I type this one-handed.

North Table Mountain - Windy

Stopped off on the way home from work at the new(ish) west trailhead off Highway 93 at JeffCo's North Table Mountain Open Space to take the body for a test drive.


Time: 1:02
Distance: 6 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Fair
Weather: Sunny and warm (!!)

The hip/back/gluteus medius thing was a bit better today, so I packed the running gear before heading off to the Boulder office early this morning.  Squeezed in a quick hour-long jaunt on North Table Mountain in Golden.

Ran from the relatively new west trailhead off Highway 93.  The run begins with a steep climb up a service road to the mesa top.  From there, I headed southeast, with the wind howling out of the west, following an old two-track which led me to a break in a cliff band. It didn't feel right, but I descended anyway, thinking a trail might continue east along the grassy flank of the mountain.  Bad choice. The trail switchbacked down to a parking lot on land owned by the Access Fund Foundation, a land trust set up by the Access Fund to protect key climbing areas.

This 29-acre parcel on the south side of North Table Mountain is known as the Golden Cliffs Preserve.  Here's a bit of beta on this nice little chunk of private (but open to the public) land surrounded by open space on three sides (from here):

1995 Golden Cliffs Preserve, Colorado Working with a major donor, the AFLF was able to acquire and subsequently protect 29 acres of important open space on the south slopes of the North Table Mountain mesa, just north of the City of Golden, Colorado. The landowner had become concerned with liability at this highly popular area. This complex, long term protection project involved three separate parcel donations, subsequent annexation of a portion of the property, extensive public planning and approvals including rezoning of the property, and eventual trailhead infrastructure construction. The result was the creation of the Golden Cliffs Preserve, a crucial open space preservation project. The Preserve abuts City of Golden Open Space to the west and Jefferson County Open Space to the north, which collectively provides a network of trails interconnecting the broad open lands of North Table Mountain. Perhaps best know as on one of most popular rock climbing destinations along the Front Range, the Preserve is visited by more than 30,000 climbing enthusiasts, hikers and nature viewers annually. The Access Fund invests a substantial amount of money into parking, kiosk and signs, trail improvements, and has a vault toilet installed. The AFLF maintains long term ownership and stewardship of the Golden Cliffs and provides open public access.


I was up for some more vertical, so I went down to the lot, glanced at the trailhead sign and headed back up to the mesa top and retraced my steps back to the service road I ran up initially. From there, I headed east and north on a couple other trails, eventually dropping down the north side and picked up the North Table Mountain Loop trail that cuts through the meadow on the mountain's west side.


That trail led me back to the parking lot, right at six miles.


My back felt solid, but the gluteus muscles were still barking at me, as is my left iliac crest area, but things definitely were much improved from Saturday's sufferfest.  Five hours post-run, things feel better than they did pre-run.  Reason for optimism?  We'll see.


Headed tomorrow a.m. for a repeat visit to Sara (chiro/ART/massage) over at Nick's Pro Fitness.


1,143 feet o' elevation gain.

One Step Forward...One Step Back

A couple runs, some treatment, a fall and a couple more days off.  In other words, more of the same.

Eager to get back to regular, pain-free running, I made an appointment  Thursday with a local chiropractor/massage therapist that a woman at a local health club highly recommended (and who had her office inside the club).   

Just prior to the Friday appointment, I dashed out for a quick run around the Meadow View Loop at Elk Meadow Open Space.  With Maya on a leash, we ran the 5.63 mile loop in 47 minutes (658 feet o' elevation gain).

A few minutes later, I was showered and sitting on a massage table explaining the bedeviling collection of aches that had enveloped pretty much the entirety of my left mid-section. 

Over the next 45 minutes, she poked, prodded and pressed her way into discovering which of my muscles were the offenders causing my 2+ weeks of crappy running.  During this time, she used a combination of Active Release Therapy, massage, cold laser treatments (supposed to reduce inflammation) and adjustments (hips) to try to realign my then-misaligned pelvis and sooth my inflamed muscles (muscles with names like gluteus medius, periformis and others I can't begin to remember).

When I stood up at the end of the session, I was still sore, but felt better for the work.  I finished the day with a long course of stretching and ice.

Next up was an early Saturday morning rendez-vous with Woody and Joe Z. at Mt. Falcon for a go at the v1 (version one) route, which is essentially running every trail in the park starting from the lower lot.

Just past the prescribed hour of 5:30 a.m., with headlamps illuminating the trail in front of us, Joe, Woody and I set out up the Turkey Trot trail.  The first steps felt good, a definite improvement.  I remember thinking I was on the mend and pain-free running was just around the corner.  All good…until it wasn’t.

After about a minute of running, I decided to take the headlamp off my head and carry it instead.  In the 10 seconds it took to move the light, I managed to catch my left toe on a nice, big rock, which sent me lunging forward into the darkness.

Before I knew it, I was flat on my back, head facing downhill, taking stock of the damage. Naturally, all the torque from the fall was centered on my left side.  And, of course, I fell on my left hip.  Yep, in a split second, I undid all the good the chiro had done in 45 minutes the day before…and made things worse.

Un-fu*&#ing-believable!

Well, no point in wallowing in self pity when a beautiful sunrise and 14 miles of excellent trail lay ahead.  The only catch was I had to get my ass up off the ground before I could start running.

With a couple of grunts, a couple dozen yards of walking to shake off the effects of the impact, we were off, chugging up the early steeps on Turkey Trot.

After a lot of early lingering hurt from the fall, I settled into a manageable level of discomfort and stumbled up to the picnic shelter in 36:18 (including time spent laying on the ground). 

After re-grouping, we ran the rest of the v1 route, pausing at major junctions to stretch and take stock.  Pain-wise, things were manageable, but stopping was not a good thing. Stiffness would set in almost immediately.  Over the course of the run, descending became the hardest part.

By the time we returned to the picnic shelter for the final descent back to the parking lot, I was resigned to watch Woody and Joe disappear before we even got to the second bend in the trail.  I brought up the rear, running down the steady downhill at a sorry 8:50 pace.

Shortly after turning left to finish up the descent down the Turkey Trot Trail, I passed Tim L. and Jeff, who were headed up.  We all paused to exchange greetings.  Tim asked if I was running with the two guys ahead, I sheepishly admitted I was, fighting hard not to offer unnecessary explanations about why I wasn’t actually running with them.  (Jeff – good to meet you at long last!) After a couple of minutes, I continued on and found Woody and Joe soaking up the view of Denver and beyond from a grassy vantage point.

We wrapped up the run together after disdainfully pointing out the rock that grabbed my toe two hours and 35 minutes and 14.23 miles prior. (2,897 feet o' elevation gain).

The rest of the day was a rough one.  If I owned crutches, I would have used them.  Man, was I sore.  I walked a couple of miles after I got home and later that evening to keep the circulation moving and spent the intervening time laying around reading and playing games with the kids.

Woke up Sunday morning still hurtin’ somethin’ fierce.  Day off.

Got out of bed this morning in a bit better shape.  Went back to the same chiro/massage therapist late morning for a repeat session.  The knots from Friday were mostly still gone, but new inflammation from the fall was obvious.  So, more prodding, cold laser treatments and a hip adjustment were on tap.  Taking the day off and focusing on ice and stretching to see how things go.  Plan to visit the chiro again on Wednesday.

Bergen Peak - Summit

After a day off to again rest the back, twas time to test things out again and see where things stood.


Time:  2 hours (AM) 2:06 (PM)
Distance: 4.06 miles (AM) 11.44 miles (PM)
Effort: Easy
Body: Poor
Weather: Mostly cloudy and cool

The AM time/miles was a hike up Elephant Butte with CP. We had a great time in the morning sun hiking to the top of this rocky, bulbous geographic protuberance that rises from the banks of Bear Creek and looms above the meadows at JeffCo's Alderfer-Three Sisters Open Space.

1,444 feet o' elevation gain.

Elephant Butte from the parking lot at Alderfer-Three Sisters

CP signs the register at the top of Elephant Butte

Looking west towards Mt. Evans from the summit. A weather front was building on the divide.

Looking southeast back down to the Alderfer meadow.

Maya. Must have more hiking!

Late afternoon (after a nap and much lounging), I snuck out for a run up Bergen Peak. My back/whatever was still aching, but was feeling better than Friday (Saturday was a day off). So, time to test things out again.

Was never able to run without some amount of discomfort...no sharp pain, just a lot of background aching. Ran through the lower meadow in a counter-clockwise direction up to the junction with the Too Long Trail. Once again, the legs felt solid and aerobically all was well. Flew by a mountain biker about 100 yards up the trail and continued motoring on trying to ignore the discomfort.

After much deliberation during the climb, I opted to go all the way to the summit and hung a right at the Summit Trail junction for the one-mile ascent to the mountain's apex.  There was still a good amount of ice in the trees on the mountain's east side. I tagged the summit sign and turned around for the descent.

About a quarter of the way down, I had slowed to a jog. Just not feeling good. Then, the mountain biker I passed about 45 minutes prior passed me (he must have been crawling up Too Long since he didn't do the Summit Trail). Being passed put a bit of life in my legs as I picked up the pace to keep the biker in sight. After about 3/4 mile, though, he was gone. I slowed back down and realized how tired my glutes and lower back muscles had become. I felt like I had just run 35 miles.

I shuffled my way back down to the Meadow View Trail and back home marveling at the amount of fatigue I felt after just 11 miles.

2,270 feet o' elevation gain.

The good news is that nothing hurts worse than before I started. The bad news, obviously, is that things are no better. Damn frustrating.

Mt. Sanitas - Loopin'

Testing out the body after a couple days off and a trip to see a Dr. Richey for a bit of physical therapy.


Time: 1:04
Distance: 5.02 miles
Effort: Easy
Body: Poor
Weather: Sunny and cool

Got back from Washington, D.C. late Thursday morning and headed straight to Boulder for a session with Dr. Richey at High Altitude Spine and Sport. Somewhere, sometime last week I tweaked something connecting my lower back and left hip, which has left me pretty much aching all the time and grunting with just about any movement.

The PT session was good, with Richey working all sorts of tendons, muscles, capsules and who-knows-what-else buried deep in the netherworld of my insides. We wrapped up the session with the application of some k-tape above my left pelvic bone.

By Friday, though, I was more sore than ever...no doubt due to the prodding and miscellaneous adjustments.  Out I went, though.

With Maya (the dog) in tow, or maybe it was the other way around, we set off from the parking lot across the road from Mt. Sanitas and ran up the Dakota Ridge Trail to the top of the valley then continued on up to the Sanitas summit via the East Ridge Trail. Legs felt OK and the breathing was easy, but there was just too much tension in the mid-section.  I presume everything is tight as assorted muscles contract to protect whatever is out of place.

From the summit, we descended down toward the northwest to Sunshine Canyon via a series of social trails, then jogged down the road a bit before picked up the nice singletrack trail that parallels the road on the south side.  Cruised back to the truck from there.

Overall, glad to be out...not glad to be hurtin' so bad, though.

1,394 feet o' elevation gain.

Back to It...Running in VA

After a few days off and a flight to D.C., jumped back into things with a 15-mile jaunt on just about every surface available...asphalt, concrete, dirt, rocks, gravel....


Distance: 15 miles
Time: 2:11
Effort: Moderate
Body: Fair
Weather: Cloudy and warm

Ran from the hotel about 3.5 miles down the Curtis Custis Trail, a paved bike path along I-66, to Rosslyn and hopped on the Potomac Heritage Trail for 4+ miles of dirt.  The PHT runs along the Potomac River through this part of VA and is the closet part of an evolving 800-mile collection of trails in the Potomac River watershed.

This part of the PHT is a rock and root-strewn stretch of singletrack that runs between the river and the George Washington Memorial Parkway above. The trees are still leafless here, so the views down to the river were unobstructed and beautiful. I scared up about half-dozen great blue herons and saw my first belted kingfisher of the year. Spring is coming quick here. Today's temps were in the 60s, warm enough to run shirtless, particularly with the humidity.

Ran the PHT to Chain Bridge, hung a right and ran across the bridge and descended down to the C&O Towpath, a wide crushed gravel path that parallels an old canal. Picked up the pace a bit along this long, flat stretch and ticked off the four mile trek back to Key Bridge in Georgetown at just below a 7-minute pace.

At this point, the race was on to see if I could finish the run before my back, which has been bugging me for the last five or so days and was the reason I took off Thursday - Sunday, tightened up too much and forced me to lope home.  Fortunately, things held up and I was able to run steady the last four miles back over Key Bridge and up the Curtis Trail back to the hotel.

After a quick shower, I immediately headed out the door for some food and walked for another two miles to keep the blood going to hopefully hasten a return to a more normal running schedule.

Post walk and post-refueling, I returned to the hotel and started icing. Not sure what happened to tweak the back so bad.  The discomfort has centered around the an area just to the left of the spine with some modest pain radiating into the left glute and around the left side into the region around the top left front of my pelvis.  Been a bit anxious that I did something to my hip, but there's no impact-related pain. So, for now, I figure its just some annoying (really annoying) muscle strain.

Eager to see how things feel tomorrow.

Bergen Peak - Upper Loop

Modest jog up and around the upper loop on Bergen Peak. Was nice to get back to some elevation gain, but the body wasn't doing much more than going along for the ride.


Time:  1:34
Distance: 8.21
Effort: Easy
Body: Poor
Weather: Sunny and warm

Dashed out at the end of the day with dog in tow for a run around the upper loop at Bergen Peak, part of the Elk Meadow Open Space.  I enjoyed being out in the spring-like temps, but the run was a tough one.

My lower back has been barking at me this week. Despite a two-hour session of Thai and traditional massage last night, things hadn't improved much this morning. I hoped a run would shake things out, or at least not make things worse.

Things were fine (but slow) on the ups, but on the downs, I caught a toe on a rock, which thrust me forward and tweaked my already tweaked back...right where the lower back meets the pelvis on the left side.  I didn't go down, but whatever was tweaked was pushed further. Not good.

Still, it was good to be out. Maya certainly thought so. She made good use of the remaining snow banks.

A few pics from the run.

Heading up the Bergen Peak Trai 

View of the Mt. Evans group from the Bergen Peak Trail

Another snow bank at the top of the upper ridge off the Bergen Peak Trail

Pikes Peak from the Too Long Trail

Yet another snow bank.

Looking down toward Elk Meadow from the Too Long Trail

A lot of elk were grazing in Elk Meadow this afternoon.

Ended the run at the kids' school. We all walked home together.

Also, I signed up today for August's Pikes Peak Marathon.  Decided to skip the Ascent this year. I put my projected finish time as 4:50.  I ran a 5:11 last year the day after running the Ascent. I had a poor ascent during the marathon, hitting the summit a good 22 minutes slower than the day before.

1,635 feet o' elevation gain.

Kicking Off 2011

Another catch-up post to keep the log up-to-date.  Here's the run-down on the first six days o' 2011.


Saturday, January 1 - 6 miles in 55 minutes. Easy run on the roads of the Hiwan and The Ridge subdivisions with DW. Good to kick off the new year with a chilly run with a good friend.

Sunday, January 2 - 12.23 miles in 2:07.  Breckenridge.  Had to cruise up early to Frisco to pick up my son who stayed overnight with some friends at a condo there. I had planned on running the bike paths around Frisco, but they weren't plowed.  Should have guessed...I guess.

Drove over to Breckenridge and parked at the east end of downtown and started running. I cruised up through the completely empty downtown (it was about 6:30 a.m. and -12 degrees!).  Ended up running up through a couple neighborhoods of condos and mountain houses up towards the ski area. I soon left the dense development behind and ran up Spruce Creek Road. This relatively lightly-travelled road eventually dead-ended at a big snow pile at the Spruce Creek Trailhead on national forest land.

This trailhead accesses Francie's Cabin, one of the Summit Huts Association huts, some great lakes and several 13'ers.  I ran up a well-packed xc ski trail for about 1.5 miles to the intersection with the Wheeler Trail.  I paused for a bit here to take in the amazing views around me (listening all the while to the distant BOOMS from ski area avalanche control work).

I then turned around and ran back to the car. Cold morning!  The hot tub and pool and the Breck rec center that followed was much welcomed!

Monday, January 3 - 8 miles. Treadmill. A busy day meant an evening run on the treadmill at the Buchanan Rec Center. Did two miles at 8:00; 3 miles at 7:00 and three more at 8:00.  Easy.

Wednesday, January 4 - 6.06 miles 1:22.  Green Mountain, Boulder.  First jaunt of the new year up Boulder's Green Mountain. Ran from the Gregory Parking lot. Noted that a car with Alaska plates was getting a ticket just as I was heading up Gregory Canyon.  Temps were perfect. Ran in shorts and a heavy tech shirt. No traction needed on the ups. Ran easy up the backside. Summited in about 44 minutes. Used traction on the descent. Had to take a detour near the intersection with Greenman due to some tree removal work being done by some OSMP workers.

Thursday, January 5 - Had my second PT appointment with Richey Hansen at High Altitude Spine and Sport. More work today on my right hip/adductor/lower ab and left calf/foot. I'm making very good progress. The Active Release Therapy and Graston work he's doing is showing very solid results with me. The raging pain in my left heel is nearly gone...just post-run achiness that goes away overnight - and even that seems to be easing. Lower ab tear/strain/whatever also seems to be getting better. Still too fragile for core work, but I regularly have runs now where I don't think about it. Cautiously optimistic on that.  I highly recommend Richey...very knowledgeable, listens first, knows his sh** and explains everything.

Had plans for another Green Mountain jog, but took PT's advice to give the foot/ab a rest post-treatment. Wasn't an easy decision...

A Little of This...A Little of That..

A 5-mile run on the home trails, a sweet 11-mile loop in Boulder and an informative and seemingly helpful visit with a new PT.

After 18 days off, I finally got out for a run last weekend - a whopping five mile cruise around the Meadow View loop at Elk Meadow Open Space. The run was fine. Felt great just to be moving again.

I've been nursing two nagging injuries (really?...haven't you told us this 50,231 times?), my left heel and a likely muscle tear of some sort in one of my right lower abs.

Post-run, things generally felt OK. Foot ached some, but not nearly as bad as it has. Lower ab was fine.

On Monday, I went and saw another Boulder-based PT. Great guy that was recommended by Aaron K. He worked on me using a combination of Active Release Therapy and Graston Technique, neither of which I knew anything about before Monday. Now, I'll readily admit that I'm a bit of a skeptic and far from up-to-speed on the latest bodywork fads and science. Whether it's chiropractic, acupuncture or Rolfing, I'm the first to roll his eyes, yet, incongruently, willing to try anything to get back into the miles.

So, the whole ART thing I get...now that I've experienced it. Here's what the ART Web site says about the technique:

ART is a patented, state of the art soft tissue system/movement based massage technique that treats problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Headaches, back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, shin splints, shoulder pain, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, knee problems, and tennis elbow are just a few of the many conditions that can be resolved quickly and permanently with ART. These conditions all have one important thing in common: they are often a result of overused muscles.

Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

These treatment protocols - over 500 specific moves - are unique to ART. They allow providers to identify and correct the specific problems that are affecting each individual patient. ART is not a cookie-cutter approach. 

The Graston Technique is a whole other ball of wax. This from the Graston Technique Web site:


The Graston Technique® incorporates a patented form of instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization that enables clinicians to effectively detect and treat scar tissue and restrictions that affect normal function.

• Separates and breaks down collagen cross-links, and splays and stretches connective tissue and muscle fibers
• Increases skin temperature
• Facilitates reflex changes in the chronic muscle holding pattern
• Alters spinal reflux activity (facilitated segment)
• Increases the rate and amount of blood flow to and from the area
• Increases cellular activity in the region, including fibroblasts and mast cells
• Increases histamine response secondary to mast cell activity

The "instrument" referenced above, at least in my case, was an interesting stainless steel tool that looked like a cross between a butter knife from my grandma's silverware set and the steel boomerang the "Feral Kid" in the Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome movie wielded (only the Graston tool was smaller and a bit less menacing).

So, I'm still learning about all this stuff.  And, ultimately, the true measure is whether the patient (me!) improves.  For now, the short of it is that I was very impressed with this PT. He spent a good two hours listening to me, working on my problem areas and explaining the physiological rationale for everything he did.  I walked out of there feeling like he'd done some good, and I had a passel of recommended exercises and home therapies to apply, including a way to tape up my foot that might help.

I took a day off, post PT visit, to let things settle in.  On Wednesday, with 60-degree weather mocking me, I decided it was time to get out for some miles.  I used my new Rock Tape to tape up my heel and set off in the late afternoon from the Flatiron Vista Trailhead off Highway 93. Man, was I psyched to be out running. 

My foot felt surprisingly good.  Solid.  Like I didn't need to think about it.  I ran up the Prairie View Trail, down Dowdy Draw to the Spring Brook Loop.  Headed south, picked up Goshawk and ran that to Spring Brook North and returned to Flatiron Vista.  11.3 miles of trail bliss in about 1:39.  (This is a really, really great and fast loop.  Highly recommend it...).

No problems with the foot.  Lower ab tightened up a lot. Hard to know if that was a result of the Graston work on Monday, or the result of the exertion.  Time will tell.  A day later, the foot still feels good...far better than it has post-run in a month. Was it the ART...the Graston...the taping...a combination of the three?  Hard to know.  

Still, I'm encouraged and plan to return to the PT for some follow-ups.  More to come as I gain more experience with these approaches.

Definitely lamenting that I won't be up in FoCo on Saturday running the Chubby Cheeks 50K.


Lastly, I've started labeling posts like this: "injury whining." I'm not used to being on the injured-reserve list, and certainly not much used to writing about it. Please feel free to offer poignant counsel on whether posts like this are overly indulgent, boring and best left as unpublished drafts.

Congratulations and Still Laid Up

I'm still laying up, resting the plantar and lower ab.  16 days...but, who's counting? I'm going to get out tomorrow for a few miles.  Been inspired by a local guy's performance back East.

Patrick Garcia ran a hell of a race in this weekend's Hellgate 100K.  Even came in ahead of Mr. Pony Express, Karl Meltzer.  Eager to hear all the details.  Congrats, Patrick!  The CO boys are making a damn good showing in the hills of Virginia.  Remember this guy's performance at the MMTR?

Here's the top 10:

2010 Hellgate Finishers
December 11, 2010
	Age Group Results
Place	Name	Time	Gender
1	Jeremy Ramsey, 34	11:24:20	M
2	Chris Reed, 38, PA	11:48:50	M
3	Patrick Garcia, 25, CO	12:05:18	M
4	Jason Lantz, 29, PA	12:16:14	M
5	Ryan O'Dell, 25, NY	12:19:17	M
6	Keith Knipling, 34	12:22:25	M
7	Frank Gonzales, 34	12:27:46	M
8	Darryl Smith, 39	12:44:28	M
9	Karl Meltzer, 43, VT	12:47:38	M
10	Jordan Chang, 23	12:51:38	M

Arkansas and Rest

I got out early on Thanksgiving for a 10-mile run on the Ouachita Trail, a 223-mile trail that runs from Pinnacle Mountain in west Little Rock to Oklahoma (FKT - 76 hours, 34 minutes, according to an article in Trail Runner Magazine).  I was in Little Rock with the family to visit my brother, his wife and their brand new baby boy, Zack.

I lately have been cutting back on the running to try and deal with a flare-up in my left plantar. My last run was on Saturday, November 20th, which was a swell jog on the upper loop at Bergen Peak. The problem was that after that run, I paid for it and was hobbling for a couple of days.  Fast forward to Thanksgiving and the foot was feeling better, so off I went, bright and early for a really nice (and warm) run on the leaf-covered trails the wound from the base of Pinnacle Mountain along the hillsides on the north side of Lake Maumelle.

The run was great. Had the trails to myself and even had a wildlife encounter I'd never had before. About midway through the run, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and stopped to watch a juvenile raccoon scurry up a tree, pausing to peek around the tree at me from time to time.  Seeing a raccoon, of course, is no big deal. However, this was actually the first time I've seen a raccoon not in a city, not in my yard, not in a campground and not trying to gnaw its way into the hold of my kayak on a remote key in the 10,000 Islands Wilderness on Florida's Gulf Coast.  This was just a raccoon in the woods. Hard to believe it was a first for me, but there you go.

That afternoon, the foot pain was back...and back with a vengeance.  I was hobbling the rest of the day/night. It still hurt the next day, but was easing just enough to hike up to the summit of Pinnacle Mountain with JP, jP, CP, by brother and stepbrother.  Beautiful day. Would have loved running up the mountain.  It's short, steep and rocky. Made me wonder what the FKT for an ascent is.  My guess is something like seven minutes.

Anyway, I've decided I need to take this foot thing more seriously, as well as a lingering bit of pain in the groin/lower abdomen (sports hernia?) that has been persisting since pre-Run Rabbit Run 50 in September. So, I'm laying low for a bit.

Right now, for the foot, I'm exploring options. I did a visit to a PT before Thanksgiving, which provided some easing of pain, but not nearly as much as it did last year when I was dealing with this.  That says to me that the foot now need more focused attention than it did last year.  The regimen now includes much stretching, rest, ice and some regular rolling of the heel on a golf ball and small hand weight.  I figure I'll try a short run this weekend, to see if there's any improvement.  Right now, just walking around, it feels fine, with just some mild tenderness in the heel.

For the lower ab thing, I'm trying some stretches and core exercises. I probably will make an appointment this week to see a doc for a diagnosis, then figure things out from there.

Made a trip to the gym yesterday to get the heart rate up.  I walked a whole half-mile on the treadmill, did a round of lower body weight work, including some really fun dumbell squats on one of those Bosu ball things (half fitness ball/half balance board).  I followed that work up with 12 laps in the pool, which wore me out and reminded me yet again that I really don't much enjoy lap swimming (swimming is hard!).  But, it was damn good exercise and I know I can only get better.

Forgive the injury whining. This stretch has been a first for me. I've run pretty much injury free for years. In fact, the only other injuries I recall beyond last year's plantar problems are a partial ACL tear and a groin tear, both from playing competitive club ultimate in my late 20s/early 30s.

Onwards!