Old Man Still running

Final miles for across the years....recording them for 2014 miles.

Recovering well.  Still sleeping a lot, but the muscle soreness is just about gone.  However, the right leg....it feels injured but not broken.  It appears I've injured the patch that formed over my break two years ago...pretty much what I thought.  I went out for a short walk/jog and it all feels somewhat loose and some pain.   So, the big question is, will I see daily improvement or only weekly improvement.  No pain at all in the left leg.   If my right leg felt that way, I would already be running again.  Looks like there won't be much running for the next few weeks.   The pool is going to get some waves in it.

Feel totally recovered.  No longer the 9-hour sleep nights with vivid dreams or waking up with crazy pains.   I would like to get back running but the leg is in about the same state it was before ATY so I don't think I did any new damage.  But still mild pain.  It does seem to be improved because most of the time walking I'm pain free.  I may head in to my leg doctor to see what he things.  A funny large calcius bump seems to be the main source of pain now.  I've had it for years and asked about it but told not to worry about it but I seem to remember the doctor saying that they can at times cause problems.   During ATY it swelled up some and seemed to pull at the layer on the bone causing good pain.

It was time to test things out on the treadmill.   Not good.  Pain now goes to limping pain.  We're heading in the wrong direction. Everything else is just fine, recovered from ATY. So, Doctor appointment is set for the 23rd with my ortho doctor.   If there is a stress fracture it should show up on on an x-ray by then.   Rocky Raccoon is now very unlikely.  Looks like I probably ran 163 miles at ATY on a fracture explaning why I had so many issues.  Its nice to have high pain tolererance but it tends to get me into trouble.I'm still not ruling out a crazy shin splint since the shin muscle is visibly pronounced (but not sore).  But learning from 2012, once you have a fracture it causes lots of things to swell up, up and down the leg.

Progress.  Walking pretty much pain-free.  Throwing in some jogs is just a little painful.  I haven't really run for over two weeks now.  Still thinking about Rocky, but I'm more inclined to skip it this year and instead 100% heal up so I can train again.   Gaining weight.  Lost 7 pounds during Across the Years, but I think I've gained that back.  I'll probably start doing some power hikes.

Mostly cross-training with no pain.  Tried a couple miles of power hike-slow jog on 20-25% incline.  Went pretty well with a little pain toward the end.   Progress.   Afterwards, pain-free.   Not ready to try real running again and probably won't for awhile.

Good day.  Tough morning workout eliptical and 3 miles jogging at 20% incline.  Nearly pain-free, just a little, level 1 pain when jogging.  Afternoon went up Lake mountain with trekking poles.  Tons of deer up there.  Took the ridge trail to the top following tracks in the snow of deer.  Good to get up out of the gunk.  No pain going up, Just a little going down.

Chance of running Rocky increased to 30%.  We'll see.

Another good workout with careful uphill jogging, very little pain.   I think I'm now 50/50 probability to going to Rocky.  We'll see what the xrays and doctor says tomorrow.  

Went to the ortho.  Took x-rays.  Doctor looks at it, "yep, there is a stress fracture."  I made him show and explain.  But what he pointed to was a calcius lump that I've had on the bone for years. I argued that its been there for years. He found an xray from two years ago and we compared and could see a simlar lump.  He measured, but still thinks there is a stress fracture there.  Well, since I still have some weight-bearing pain, I'll believe him.  So no racing untill pain is gone.   I'll keep working out if no pain.  If this is a fracture, it is very small and hopefully will heal fast.  Its been about ten weeks since I started feeling the pain, so hopefully I'll be healed soon.   No Rocky Raccoon 100 next week.  My first true DNS where I lose entry fee.

Lesson learned.  Don't run pavement, espcially without cushion shoes like Hokas.

Good workout, figured out a good hard pain-free workout that will maintain fitness nicely until I can really run again.

uphill treadmill hiking and jogging up to 35% and eliptical.  4 hours in the crazy room.

Small improvements.

Went skiing for the first time in several years.  Skiing used to be my passion but I've been leary of it ever since tearing my meniscus while skiing in 2003.  But since I can't really run, I accepted an invite from my backpacking buddies, Carl, Brad and David.  These guys are featured in part 2 of the running memoirs I'm writing. http://www.crockettclan.org/blog/?p=1331  I blame them for my switch to running. 

It was wonderful skiing Park City. My leg never complained.  Within about four runs, my confidence grew and by the end of the day I was attacking the moguls and powder like the old days.  Wow, it was incredible.  And of course so fun with my good friends.

But the major difference is fitness.  In past years when skiing I wouldn't be in good shape and would suffer, would have to stop and rest, and would be sore and wasted at the end of the day.   Not so now.  Being it nearly top shape, I never had to stop, was never sore, and enjoyed the entire day.   That is pretty staggering to think that at 55, I'm in better shape then I was in my early 20s.