Time For Review - Looking at the Path Ahead

If you are like me you plan your races and do them come what may.  The problem with that philosophy is it can be detrimental to your health if you are not careful. I am not talking about backing out of a race due to under-training or out of fear you will not do as you would like but when you have a health issue.  We are so ingrained with the “gut it out” mentality that often we do more damage than good from being “tough”.

Well that ended up being the case for the end of this year.  After what seemed like a really good 3-4 months of training I hurt my foot running a not so technical trail at the end of August that led to missing a trail ½ marathon I had been looking forward to in September.  Not running the race, while not what I wanted to do, was necessary as I could not run much at all due to the pain in my foot.  So I took time off and figured I would get ready for the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis in November.  Training was OK, not what I wanted, but all things considered it was going well.  Then I came down with the flu and was in bed for 36 hours with the result being when I got up I had a pinched nerve in my back that sent shooting pains down my right leg and caused my right knee to be a little week.  After some more time off and a few Chiropractor visits I thought all was good for the marathon with a week to go.  Well, I wake up 5 days from the race and once again my pinched nerve is back and I have a hard time walking without a shooting pain, let alone try and run.  I had thought about waiting a day or so to call things off but being honest with myself even if my back felt better by then it would not be wise for my long term health to run a marathon which is hard enough on ones body as it is let alone with a nerve issue.  Basically that led me to just call it a wrap for the year and take a few weeks off so as to then start up again to get ready for some races in March and April of 2017.

This leads me to what is truly important and that is taking the time to review the year and see if I could have avoided the way the year ended and seek to plan for the year ahead.  I have been running for 43+ years but to this day I still have issues with not getting things just right and it usually comes from not being as focused I should be on the overall picture.   One of the problems that can stem from running slower and focusing on MAF (Maximum Aerobic Function) is that you can tend to think you’re fine while the reality may be that you are still overdoing it.  While MAF training indeed can help you avoid injury it does not guarantee you will not over-train.  You can still run too much too soon and while you may not crash and burn as in the past when you were running too much too fast you can start to run so close to the edge that it does not take much to go over the edge.

In reviewing the preceding 5 months, before I got hurt running a fairly easy trail, I found I had run the following mileage:

• April - 125
• May - 157
• June - 189
• July - 195
• August – 229 (Including 20,000 ft Climbing to get ready for a trail race)
• September – 97.6

I share this not to pat myself on the back, hey many run much more, but because I should have seen
this was too much too soon based on my past year of running.  While I felt good the mileage increase left me vulnerable to injury or sickness and that is exactly what took place.  As some background my usual plan of attack is to run 3-4 higher mileage weeks, in this case 50 or so miles, running 5 days a week then take one week and run less mileage, 30 or so miles, and then repeat that.  My big mistake was in not looking at the cumulative affect, monthly mileage/hours, and the bigger picture.  I should have leveled off my monthly mileage and not kept letting it go up.  Hey, I felt good and was not running too fast, well at least did not feel that fast, so what could go wrong.  I had a few good 5ks mixed in there and some good long runs so all seemed well.  Till, as they say, the wheels fell off.

 Now that I think I have seen where I erred so what’s next.  Well the next step is to come up with a revised plan to help avoid the errors of the past year in the coming year.  With a 50 miler planned for March 2017, Land Between the Lakes, and a 50K in April 2017, Yamacraw 50, I need to work to not be injured by the time I get there but also trained as well as  rested.  The plan is to make sure I not only look at my weekly mileage/hours but also monthly totals o my mileage/hours are the most beneficial and not working to injury.

Another aspect I want to work on this coming year is some form of cross training consisting of using my bike trainer and also some lifting.   Using the bike to get MAF aerobic training in without the stress on my legs and the weight lifting to work some sorely under developed muscle groups which also may have contributed to my problems this year.  With all of this I need to make sure I do not slack on my active stretching and exercises to work my hips and such.  I am also going to take some easy days and run a mile or two in my Xero sandals to help strengthen my feet which I think is important.

That said I also am contemplating running less short runs, and with the cross training running less days, at least for some weeks.  For example I would be running 3-4 days getting in 40 miles with a day or two on the bike, still working to keep my workout days to 5.  As I am working towards a 50 miler I think running longer when I run and resting more instead of filling up those extra days with shorter millage may be beneficial.  The following would lead to a typical week looking something like this:

• Monday – 8-12 miles (65 – 110 Minutes) @ MAF
• Tuesday – 10 – 20  Miles Bike (35 – 70 minutes) @ MAF & some Weights
• Wednesday – 10 Miles (80 – 90 Minutes) @ MAF
• Thursday – 10  Miles bike (35 minutes) @ MAF & some Weights
• Friday – 15 – 20 Miles (120 – 180 Minutes) @ MAF
• Saturday and Sunday Rest or maybe do the long run here and rest Friday and Sunday
• Totals – 33 - 40 Miles Running (270 – 360 Minutes) /20 30 Miles Bike (70 – 105  Minutes)
• A rest week would be much like above but lower mileage and minutes.

As I get closer to the 50 miler I want to do a couple back to backs so they would look like this:

• Monday – 10 Mile Bike – (35 minutes) @ MAF & some Weights
• Tuesday – Rest
• Wednesday – 10 Mile Bike – (35 minutes) @ MAF & some Weights
• Thursday – Rest
• Friday – 20 -25 Miles (160 – 240 Minutes) @ MAF
• Saturday – 20 – 25 Miles (160 – 240 Minutes) @ MAF
• Sunday – Rest
• Totals – 40 Miles Running (320 – 480 Minutes) /20 Miles Bike (70 Minutes)
• This type of week would then be followed by an easy week with Monday and Tuesday off.

Of course these are just some thoughts on what I may do to work to keep my miles and time working out at a place that gets me ready for my racing but also keeps me healthy.  Another key to this is to not create a schedule that is written in stone and working to keep to it no matter what.  Yes I do need to make sure I get the work in but I also need to be flexible enough to adjust things as I go along.

I hope this post, if it has done anything, has made you think about looking over your training from the last year and seeing how you could improve it.  Don’t take my plan and use it but develop one for yourself.  I do want to encourage you to work on MAF training (see my article here: MAF: What is it?) as I feel it is a great way to train if ones health is a top priority.

Plan for what is ahead and be ready to adjust as need be.  Also, as I need to, make sure to re-evaluate on a regular basis during the year so you can see how things are going.

As the year progress I will work to update how things are going with practicing what I preach.

The Big Picture: Injuries

I had thought about a series of blog posts that deal with the “Big Picture” and deal any number of

areas from Faith, Family, Training, Diet, Racing, Injuries and other topics as they relate to Running and the “Big Picture.”  That said I did not contemplate that my first “Big Picture” post would on injuries.  The truth is I would rather not speak of them, what runner does, but providentially I had a foot injury this past week so here we are.

Injuries and how you deal with them are largely influenced by how one views their running and the “Big Picture” you have with regards to your running.  I guess having a “Big Picture” outlook depends on if you have taken the time to formulate one.  As my posts I am sure will be read, if read at all, by the average runner and not the people who run as a living that will be where I will tend to direct this post, and future ones.  I should add that the significance of having a greater view of why one runs is that it helps with how one deals with running’s relationship to the rest of life.  I will post a separate post on developing a “Big Picture” outlook at a later date.  Probably should have done it first but that is not how things have fallen into place so let’s look at “The Big Picture and Injuries.”

Recently, I was running a couple loops (11.3 miles and 2100 FT) of a trail run that while having a fair amount of vertical, 1000+FT in 5.65 miles, is far from technical but is steep in areas, basically on dirt roads.  On the second loop I was letting things just go running down hill and suddenly my right foot starting hurting when it landed.  I did not hit a rut or a rock that I could tell but basically it seems something just went.  So I hobbled the rest of the way through the run and finished up in some pain.  The next day my foot was swollen below the ankle and it hurt to walk on so decided there would be no running for a few days to see how it would be.  

As I had a ½ marathon trail run coming up, The Rugged Red, I figured it would be best to rest up if I even wanted the possibility of running it, around 11 days from when I hurt my foot.  3 days after hurting my foot it was still swollen, see the picture on this page, and hurt when doing other than walking, which itself was not comfortable.  On writing this post it has been 6 days and it is still swollen and sore.  Not sure how it will be for running in the up coming week so I have decided to get an X-ray in a couple days to make sure it is not more than a strain before I run on it again.  I foresee some riding in the future to keep in shape for other up coming races and runs.

So how does this all relate to the “Big Picture?”  First, I need to share at least part of what I consider my “Big Picture” view of my running.  I have to remember that running, at my stage in life especially, is a part of my life that keeps me in shape and helps as a relaxing, yes relaxing, activity that I enjoy but it is not all there is.  While I enjoy racing and do so when I can I need to make sure that when faced with decisions related to injuries and races I think about how the decision will affect other areas of my life as well as my future running and racing.  Let me also add here that I do not believe in accidents or coincidences and while I may not know why things happen I do understand that they happen for a purpose, again even if I do not at the moment understand the purpose.  So this all becomes part of my “Big Picture” view of running.

So as I face what to do about a trail race I have been looking forward to do since I ran it a year ago, running a less than stellar race, I have to keep in mind how doing it with an injury fits with my overall view of running and life.  With that in mind while I might be able to gut out and suffer through the trail race with my foot still sore less than a week out and not knowing how injured it is going through with a race such as the The Rugged Race would be less than wise. The Rugged Red is not only a ½ marathon trail race it also has in many places technical sections, both up and downhill, that would put lots of stress where it is not needed.  Thus, with the possibility of not only hurting myself more and not being able to run for even longer but also, as it is a point to point race, being stuck out there if I injured it even more, I will hold off running it this year and hope to run it next year.

Not sure about everyone else but holding off going to a race is not the top of my list.  Having a “Big Picture” view of my running helps in making such as decision as I have made.  It does not make it easy but does help in making the correct decision.   Usually I first struggle with the fact I have paid for the race so need to run it.  The fault there is that while it is paid for the funds are gone and thus not running really does not cost any more monetarily but may cost from a health perspective.  Secondly, when I enter races they are ones I enjoy and want to do since I find little reason just to enter races.  This is especially true of trail races as I very much enjoy the challenge of running trails thus making this decision even more difficult.

While I still would like to run and being 6 days out I keep telling myself I may be OK it is best to just decide now so that I can make a long term plan for what to do now to get over this injury.  With having a couple 5Ks on the schedule over the next two months, the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon in Early November along with my first 50 miler in March of 2017 wisdom, and seeing the “Big Picture ,” allows me to be comfortable with taking time off to get well and then training in such a manner as to be ready for those up coming races. 

While I will write more on the idea of having a “Big Picture” I encourage you to work to formulate one for yourself as it truly does make dealing with injuries easier, not easy but easier.

Update: Sept 6th, 2016
Got in to see my doctor today and got a couple X-rays.  The good news is nothing is broken, the bad news is I still need to rest it for the rest of the week so The Rugged Red  1/2 Trail Marathon is for sure out.  The good news is I can set my bike up in the basement and at least get some activity in for the rest of the week.  Also, looks like with 2.5 weeks till my next 5K I should be OK.   Gives me plenty of time before my 5K in October and Indy Marathon November 5th as well.  Now to just rest it up and get back to training and not hurt it again.  I know my penchant is to jump right back in where I ended but I need to ease back in to stop it from flaring up and creating more problems.