Old Man Still running

After feeling pain in the foot all last evening after my 23-mile trail run, I slept with my boot on to stablize the foot and ankle during the night. I feared that today I would be limping badly.  When I woke up early for me Sunday meetings, I tentatively stepped on the foot.  Huh, no pain.  I walked, no pain.   I later put on my shoes, no pain.   This really is strange.   The foot feels better than it has in weeks.   I have to only theorize that it has healed enough to allow me to put stress on it.  This will strengthen it and help it to heal faster.   I'm greatly encouraged.

I wanted to get in an early Memorial Day run, but with an evening downpour, I knew the trails would be slick and I couldn’t risk twisting the bad ankle. So instead I discovered that Striders was putting on a half marathon up in Syracuse. That would be a nice tempo run and wouldn’t do any damage to the foot, so I got up early and made the drive up north. It had only been nine days since I ran Ogden Marathon and two days since I ran 23 miles on the Sapper Joe course. Oh well, I would give it a try. The course is out on country roads and a beautiful paved parkway trail near Great Salt Lake. The morning had cleared up nicely and the temperature was in the 50s. It looked like there were about 150 runners out for the event. Away we went and three runners shot out ahead along with a 12-year-old who I had heard at the start talking about running a 1:30. It wasn’t very long until he started falling back, he had only been dreaming. I was running in 5th place. I could see that two of the runners ahead were setting a blistering pace that couldn’t be matched by a runner in black. By mile two I had passed the kid and wasn’t very far behind the runner in black. But my main challenge started hit me right away as the calf muscles started to tighten up, still not recovered from the Ogden Marathon. My first three mile splits were: 6:30, 6:53, and 7:04. I knew that I would need to back off the pace. The calves just couldn’t handle 7-minute miles. Another runner caught up, passed me and the runner in black. For the next few miles I would play leap-frog with the runner in black who would slow down and then speed up when I would pass him. Soon the heat got to him and his hot black shirt came off. The course turned onto the Parkway trail and rolled along. Another runner passed me with a young runner in tow, but I quickly was able to re-pass the second runner and he fell behind. When we reached Antelope Drive, the underpass was flooded and we had to bound in a long pool of water over a foot deep, splashing me clear up to my waist. It was great fun and I didn’t mind having wet feet. The heavy shoes did slow me down a little but they quickly dried up. My splits (miles 4-7) to the turn-around were 7:25, 7:29, 7:28, 7:32, pretty consistent. At the turn-around I was in 5th place overall. The runner who used to be in black passed me again as we turned around and headed in the opposite direction on the parkway trail. I could now see the runners behind, the next runner was the first-place woman. I didn’t notice any old guys like me close behind. After another mile, the woman runner passed me, running strongly. I pushed harder, trying to stay close. It worked because I passed the runner who used to be in black for the last time. My next few splits (miles 8-10) were 7:26, 7:37, and 7:51. I was able to keep the first-place woman runner in sight and at times would gain on her quite a bit but then would fade. The tight calf muscles just wouldn’t let me push much harder. I didn’t want to risk a muscle strain, so just went as fast as the legs would allow. I looked behind and the next runner wasn’t too close. The final miles took us back to the park and then we did a big final mile loop and then finally headed on the final mile to the finish. I could see a runner behind gaining on me so I pushed much harder. I didn’t want to give up my hard-earned placement. My final mile splits (11-13) were 7:54, 7:49, and 7:18. I was pleased with the effort on that final mile. I was also pleased to see that I didn’t have any splits over 8 minutes. I crossed the finish line in 1:37:01. Not blazing fast, but a very good effort on this course that had no real downhills. I finished in 6th place overall and won my old-fart age group (50-59). Not bad. In fact if I was 20-29, I would have finished in second, in the young-buck age group. I had a good time talking to some runners including the first-place woman runner who finished a minute ahead of me, telling them about my crazy ultrarunning. I think without the sore calf muscles, I could have improved about three minutes. I received a first-place medal. It was a fun morning and a good workout.

Two miles swimming.  400m splits were 9:42, 10:08, 9:45, 10:07 for a 39:42 first mile.  I then took it easy with sore shoulder: 11:31, 11:44, 11:43, 12:08.

Tested the foot with an early morning trail run on uneaven dirt roads and a stretch of single-track trail.   Minor pain was there just as a reminder, but I was pretty tentative and protective of the foot, always leading off with the other on difficult sections, and favoring sections of the road the sloped to the left.   The after effects are discouraging.  The foot is more sore today.  We'll see if it calms down by afternoon.   It sure was nice to be out on the trail today and watch the dawn arrived.  I even through in a bushwack up a hill and across a wheat field.   It was nice to run without a flashlight for a time before 6 a.m.  I did run in old shoes, need to get some new ones delivered.

I'm pondering about Squaw Peak 50 in only 9 days.   This will be my 5th year running it.  My finishes have improved every year, 60th, 57th, 49th, and last year 28th.  Not bad considering 280 entrants.  My best time has been 11:40.   I really want to get my 5th finish, but I may reinjure the foot that hasn't totally healed.  It is a big risk.   Much of the course is "foot fiendly" but some isn't, like the traverse around Baldy and the section around Windy Pass.  Even the early section in the morning going up Squaw Peak will be a challenge.   I can usually reach the top of Hobble Canyon Road in under 5 hours.   I doubt that will happen this year.

Yesterday morning's trail run seemed to leave my foot a little too sore.  But by evening there was no soreness (when walking...but can feel a little pain if I rotate it) and when I woke up this morning it wasn't sore.  So I decided to stick to the roads this morning. 

I did hill repeats up Grandview Blvd, a one-mile stretch that climbs about 300 feet.  I did that five times for ten miles.   My mile splits times on the uphill were: 11:10, 10:26, 10:48, 10:31, and 13:27.   My mile splits on the downhill were: 8:51, 8:44, 8:40, 9:03, and 11:53.   It was a good workout.  I didn't push it too hard.  The foot felt fine afterward.  I can tell there is weakness in the ankle.

I plan on running Gruesome Grizzley 8k tomorrow in Provo Canyon to test the foot out pushing the speed on a trail.   I think there is an 80% chance that I will run Squaw Peak 50 in a week.

This blog software is very lame.  I wrote up a good race report, hit submit and it was lost.  Maybe I'll write something later.   It was a fun race, I ran it at a typical 50-miler pace for me to test out the injured foot/ankle.   I enjoyed meeting some of the bloggers, jun, Twinkies, etc.  They ran very well.  I felt slow, old, fat, and out of shape.  But still beat my time from last year somehow.   They had non-standard age groups and I was in the 41-50 age group.  How offensive.  I've worked very hard to stay alive for 50 years and have earned the right to compete against the old-foggies, but here they put me in with the kids!  I still finished in 2nd.  They guy right ahead of me who I knew was younger, got first.  Bummer.  I should have reeled him in afterall.

I did have fun on the flat canal road up above the canyon.  I was finding some good foot speed, reeling in Twinkies and others fast.  I backed off once I saw the downhill coming, planning to blast down it like crazy, but it didn't happen.  I got within about 20 yards of Twinkies, but the foot pain became more intense and Twinkies did great blasting down the hill.   I maintained a good pace and eventually finished in 42:50.  This year I didn't take a detour near the finish.

The foot test was a failure.  By afternoon, the foot was sore and I was almost limping.  This is discouraging.  I'll bet it will feel fine tomorrow, but still, why can't it just heal up and go away. I'll start Squaw Peak 50 next week, but there is a 50-50 chance I won't finish.   We'll see. I don't want to miss it because it is a chance to run with so many of my ultra friends.  I'd rather run SP50 than Bighorn 100 which is only in three weeks.

I'm planning to stay off the foot all week and taper.   My uphill speed will probably be pathetic, but if the foot cooperates, I should be able to blast down the dirt roads next week.