Like the canyon

Catching up on the last week and a half, long post to note some recovery issues.

I took the week following the Bear 100 pretty much off.  The normal 2 day haze of low energy and funk that usually appears after a long race seemed to hang on for a lot longer than usual. My appetite didn't really come back until wednesday following the race, but when it did it seemed I couldn't get enough food in for a couple of days. 

I did get out for a few easy hikes in the week following the race, both alone and with the boys.  Mt legs felt fine pretty quickly and I had no soreness, even able to cruise up and down stairs on Sunday after the race with not too much discomfort.  They only nagging thing was my hip.  It continued to ache all week and was popping a fair amount in the joint when I would walk.

I was feeling pretty good by Saturday and set out on what I was planning to be a very easy 45 minute cruise around the lower trails above the house. 15 minutes out I felt great, with lots of pep and energy.  My 45 minute run turned into a very enjoyable, high energy 2 hours with lots of vert.  The crazy thing is I felt better than anything I had run in the weeks leading up to Bear.  Go figure? Analysis, I went into Bear tired and the rest week was what I needed??  Cooler temps? lower pollen?? I'm going with tired.

I did have a little Bear 100 souvenir after Saturday's run. Coming down Malan's at the end of the run, I felt my hip get really tight and painful and the knee below the hip hurt on the outside/mid-knee. Getting out of the car at home and walking down the stairs to shower, the knee hurt terriably.  I've never had any ITBS issues, and knew the pain usually is on the outside of the knee. I took my 3 year old out on a short hike right after I got home and spent the whole hike looking up ITBS info on my phone.  By the time I got home, the pain and new information had me convinced that is what it was. ART appointment for Monday night was made immediatly.

A painful hour on the ART table on Monday and a couple of days off and the 6 easy miles tonight felt fine.  Hip is still a little tender, but improving so I am ok running easy on it for now.   

Saturday: 14 miles, 3500 vert (some left hip pain, tight left quad, ITBS like left knee pain)

Teusday: 6 miles, 700 vert (hip a little tight, quads and knee fine)

Wet and cold cruise 3/4 up Malan's before Parent-Teacher Conference. Freaky how fast the weather can change and how early it gets dark.

Everything felt fine going up, ITB Knee was a little twingy on the way down, not too serious, no pain after the run. Hip is much better.

3 miles 1800 vert or so.

Easy 4 miles, pretty flat, things felt good.

Here is a video from our Wind River trip in August.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57dswGIzkkQ&feature=player_embedded

Rainy, snowy trip over Indian Trail and back.  Went mid afternoon, not a soul out just me, the hills and a lone mtn bike track in the wet dirt that must have been just in front of me. Guy or gal could ride, looked like they cleaned some pretty knarly sections. Gorgeous out, love this time of year.  ITB issue feeling almost 100% .  Still taking it really easy on the downhill. 

10 miles, 2800 vert

Early start with Cory, Matt and Cory's kids.  Pretty easy trip up Malan's.  3-4 inches of snow on the trail at the top.  Took the low trial to Strongs and upper BST back. Easy pace all the way through. 

AM 9.5 miles 3000 vert

PM: Fast lap on Malan's right before dinner.  Took my boy to an afternoon movie, so the gut was sloshing with a power blend of Diet Coke, Kit Kat, and movie popcorn.  Yum.  Hit it pretty hard though and made the top in 37 and the RT in 55 which is I'll take 'cause I'm still runn'en with the brakes on going downhill to keep the pressure off the ITB.  Sun was out, leaves were blazing, snowy peaks were glowing, perfect! 

4.4 miles 2250 vert, day, 14 miles. 5250. Week, 32 miles, 10,500.

I was planning a very easy day or a rest day, then my phone buzzed with a text from Oreo (Nic) goating me into a Ben Lomond run.  Columbus Day, and the guy works at a bank. Me, I was sitting at my desk trying to plan out a hectic week, but maybe I could pull off disappearing for most of  the afternoon. 

A little aftern 12:00 and we were on our way up the warm south facing switchbacks.  I started to question bringing my jacket, the trail was dry, but I warned Nic that it would get muddy for a bit in a mile or two. 

Two miles later we were staggering around trying to tight rope walk a single motorcycle track that had cut a path through the snow and mud. It was cold. The wind was ripping.  I put on my jacket, then my gloves. My feet were numb from the icy river of melt water running down the tire rut I was trying to walk in.  I was bit$#*ing to myself about how bad it sucked.  Oreo, he was like a kid on Halloween, excited about every turn in the trail. Having a blast. The guy is a die hard, not single complaint the whole trip, while it seemed like every other sentence out of my mouth contained some explative about the conditions, which got worse and worse the higher we went. 

Eventually we were booting straight up a nice snowfield, b-lining for the peak.  We tossed a rock on Kasey's carin.  Nic led the way up the final rocky ridge to the top, let out a big whooop on the peak, snapped a few pics and we were off  for the long descent back.

The upper snowfield  made for some fun post hole running on the way down, and soon we were staggering along the snow/mud/rut that was a nice trail only days before.  I was running like a druken lunatic, stumbling and flailing.  Oreo just cruised along, laughing once in a while when I slipped into a knee deep ice puddle or went careening around trying to stay on my feet.  

All in all, I have never been up there in such tough conditons.  Nic was a beast, poweirng through with not a single gripe. Super gald he asked me along on that adventure.  Oreo said somehting about these being the kind of runs you remeber and he was totally right, I would say that it was one of the best trips up BL of the year, and one I will never forget.

Easy 4, should have been an easy 0. 

Another very easy 4.  Felt better than Wednesday, but not great.  ART this afternoon, worked on left quad, ITB, seems to have loosend things up a bit. Feel pk on the flats and up, downhill...well, not so good.

Very enjoyable 24 miles on the bike.  Perfect weather, not hardly a breeze.  Rode on the flats and mostly just spun to keep pressure off my hip/ITB.  Some guy came flying by me on a TT bike.  I was going 24 miles per hour and the guy came by like I was standing still. It took a few seconds for the competetive juices to kick in (I had no chance) but I kicked it up a bit and kept the gap even for about 5 miles.  Had to ride 27-28 to keep even, crazy.  Though I think I suprised him that I was still there when he sat up to take a corner. He looked back saw me, put the hammer down and was GoNe!

24.8 miles, 21.3 average. Knee and hip felt fine.   

ITBS test run.  Ran the same route as two weeks ago when I first noticed symptoms.  Everything good for the first 12 miles, even with some minor downhill. Other than dragging hard, I flet good going up Malan's.  Noticed some tighness and minor pain on the descent. Some knee pain after then run.  Hip is more sore than the knee. Giving the test a B-, not as much pain and tighness as two weeks ago, but not great either. Probably gonna take next week off from running. Fun.

14 miles, 3500 vert.

After taking 5 consecutive days off (most since early May) finally got out for an easy 2.5.  Things felt alright, not great.

Wasn't sure about today.  Wanted to run but my easy 2 ish the night before wan't promising for the hip pain.  By about 10 o'clock I couldn't take it anymore and laced up, intending to go with how I felt, any real pain and I would quit, but planned a maximum of 4-5 miles.

I started out really slow, and kept it pretty easy for the first 2-3 miles.  At my planned turn around I was feelng fine and kept going outbound, up toward head hunter.  Took the high trail to the bench and felt great on the climb.  As I turned and headed down on the low trail I was running very conservative, trying not to tweak anything. Finally I just let loose and rolled with the descent.  Funny, it felt better that way than running easy.

Encouraged, I actually did 5 laps around head hunter. High trail up, low trail down. Hit BST on the way back and I upped the pace to a solid tempo effort for a couple of miles and felt fine, a little tweak and some tighness now and then, but no real issue.

Right hand turn and headed up Malan's.  Again, felt great on the climb. The last two Saturday's my ITB has really gotten tight at this point, especially as soon as I start down Malan's. I turned around a the overlook and waited for the bomb to go off in my knee.  No real issue.  I ran hard all the way back to the car. While not a 100%, it was much better than last week and 90% better than 3 weeks ago. Still on the easy plan for at least another week, just to be sure.

Interesting tid bit I read here http://torunistolive.blogspot.com

Number of Americans under 2:20 at Boston in 1979: 35!!

Number of Americans under 2:20 this year: 5??     

WOW!

12 miles or so, around 2500 vert.

ART, no running, core work.

Moderate paced cruise up around head hunter again. Need to get up high a couple more times this year, bag a peak or two.  Short days and a gimpy leg are making it tough to get out too far from home.  Ran into Forrest running with the fast girl train.  Good to see those guys, all talking about what 100 they want to do, encouraging to see everyone get'en after it!

7-8 miles, mostly easy, vert 800 or so. 

Hip/knee/ITB 8 outa 10. (light stretching and rolling post run)

8 miles. Up Indian and back.  Perfect weather! Taking it pretty easy still. ART.

1400 vert

Easy jog around Katie's loop.  2.5 miles or so. Hip a little tight tonight.

Head hunter loop again. Wore the wrist computer just to track the miles and vert. My fault, but that thing has a way of making what are suposed to be easy runs harder than they should be. Always trying to keep an average. Low trail to high trail loop around head hunter is right where I guessed it on miles, just under 8. A little more vert than I thought, 1450. Pretty easy paced overall, 7.8 miles, 1460 vert, 9.2 average, though the return miles were all under 8. Damn computer.

Early morning run from Wheeler's to Snowbasin then on to Mt Allen and Mt Ogden. Rode up wiht Cory and Matt, Shane met us up near the Basin.

Climb up from the base to the peaks was brutal. Legs and lungs felt horrible, worked really hard trying and failing to keep up with Matt. We kept a solid pace up to the top of Wildcat, then took it down a notch the rest of the way up.

Windy and cold near the peaks. Spent a few minutes in the tram car warmng up and hanging out. By the time we warmed up, I thin k most of the group was ready to head down, I insisted we tag the peaks.

Cruised down the srvice road, then took the bomb route down to the lot. We all jumped in Shane's car and took the short cut back to the trial head.

Knee ok, hip so so, pretty achey after. Guess that's what 5000 vert up and 3800 down will get me. Still on the mend.

14-15 miles or so.