Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church.

The theme of the lessons was naturally Christmas. I liked the lesson in the Elder's Quorum. The teacher told a story about a boy that worked very hard to earn a Christmas present - a new bike. Then he told a story about two boys from a poor family that were given a small budget to buy presents. They got shoes for his dad so he would have something to wear to work, a few presents for the rest of the family, and nothing for themselves.

A.M. Sick stomach. But I was still able to run. Ran with Sarah for about 0.6, then alone the rest of the way. Did a quarter pickup in 78. Muscles felt good, breathing felt good, the stomach did not like it. At the turnaround I felt like I did not want to run anymore, but I was 5 miles away from the house. I noticed that in spite of the stomach I still could run sub-7:00 pace comfortably. So I did. One mile at a time. With each mile my spirits were lifted because I was one mile closer to home and would have to walk one less mile if the stomach really went south. With 0.75 left I realized that if I ran a quick pace I would break 1:14, and also that if the stomach did not get any worse in over 4 miles since the turnaround it would not be likely for it to get worse before I got home. And I wanted to get home quickly. So I picked up the pace and ran 4:31 for the last 0.75 (6:01 pace). Total time for 10.2 was 1:13:41.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jared in 17:21. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:26. Jenny ran 2.5 with Sarah in the morning. 0.5 with Joseph and Jordan in 4:52. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:58.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:15:01. Did a couple of pickups. A mile in 5:20, and 2x400 with full rest in 75 and 74. Was happy to be able to run a 5:20 mile alone wearing pants and a jacket with nearly dead even splits, but was not as happy with how it felt. But I told myself - run 5:20 - at the start and I did. Same for the quarters, hit my goals dead on. Focused on running relaxed, but still felt rather clumsy.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:06. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:51. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:55. 0.25 with Jacob in 3:10, do not count that towards mileage - pace slower than 12:00. He ran slower because we got some snow, and he does not run well on snow. Joseph did not seem to care.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:15:57. We got some snow, but it was not too bad. Still enough traction to run 7:30 pace. Pondered a philosophical question. Asked myself half way through the run if my experience was any different than laying in bed. Realized there was not a whole lot of difference. From that point on kept telling myself that I was laying in bed. At 7:30 pace I am able to relax enough to where I just put one foot in front of the other without having to think much, and the breathing is very controlled. But not at 6:30 pace. Even though I still do not breathe a whole lot, I have to strain mentally to maintain it. The faster it gets, the less of a bed experience it becomes. Now the key to running fast for a long time is being able to relax as if you were laying in bed while running that pace.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:09. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:21. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:20. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:54. 

A.M. We are having a white Christmas. Lots of ice on the trail. Ran 10.2 in 1:24:54. Jenny ran with Sarah.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 17:09. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:29. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:38.

Merry Christmas to all. We have a Christmas announcement. Sarah and I are expecting our seventh child. Due date is August 20th.

Sarah talked to a friend of hers who has 13 and got the following advice: "Seven was hard, but ten was easy." 

The most notable present in my opinion was the one that Benjamin gave Jenny. He made a math book of problems for her, 824 of them. Of course, a couple of days before Christmas he realized there was no way in the world he could solve 824 problems that fast to make the answer sheet. So we took care of it with the help of our good old friend Perl. 

A.M. 10.2 in 1:13:30. The trail was much better. Did pickups about 0.1 in lengths at about 5:00 pace on dry sections. Also ran the last 0.75 in 4:28. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 19:22. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:53. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:57. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52. During the run he fell, got up, and kept going. Tough kid. When I was three, or even five or six, when I fell I performed a concert with weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Of course, Jacob and our other children have heard the story of Lasse Viren winning the Olympics in spite of the fall time and again. I am happy to see that it is getting implanted deep enough into their minds that it is more than a story to them.

A.M. Decided to go longer to see if the foot would fuss. Ran 13.2 in 1:28:33. Did a couple of tempo pickups. First, about 1.4 into the run did 2.5 (half of the Fast Running Blog 5 Miler course) in 14:46. The trail was mostly covered with snow with some dry patches. However, the snow had very good traction. But it was still snow. On the dry patches I was running about 10-15 seconds per mile faster than on snow with the same effort.

Jogged a little over two miles, and then ran the same stretch again backwards in 14:54. Then jogged until I had 1.5 left and ran the last 1.5 in 8:57. That stretch was mostly dry, but it did have issues. Had to slow down a lot under the bridges because of ice. Also had to jump over a pile of snow.

Was generally pleased with the run except for tensing up in the last quarter and running it in 1:32 while thinking it was going to be 1:28.

Shortly after, 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:07. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:12. 0.5 with Joseph in 5:00. Sarah ran 0.25 with Jacob. 

Have been studying anatomy of the thigh lately. I do this on and off in an attempt to figure out the cause of my form problems. I believe the best way to solve such problems is to know as much about how the body works as you can. A specialist may know a lot, but he is greatly handicapped. His brain is not connected to your muscles, but yours is.

So I've been messing around feeling different muscles that felt like a problem while looking at GetBodySmart.Com. It is a great site, has good pictures, interactive mode that allows you to see the muscle in different contexts, and if you are confused about terms like flexion, extension, adduction, and abduction, you can click on a guy and he will do the motion described by the term in question.

I pressed on a groin muscle in the crotch area on the right that has felt funny for the last 23 years. In the past I have never been able to figure out what it was. But with the help of a better chart I had a decent idea - pectineus! So I did a search for "tight pectineus", and found a reference to Myofascial Release Manual which had some very useful info on page 261.

"Pectineus is easily injured by overstretching, and the most common injury happens when the foot is planted and the body is rotated." Ah-ha! That is exactly what happens when you go through a sharp curve at a fast speed. Prior to developing this funny sensation I ran through a sharp curve for a year at least four times a week at speeds that could be around 5:50 per mile in a 6-8 K tempo run, or 4:20 per mile in a 10x200 workout, or something in between. In any case, large volume, high speed, sharp curve (180 degree turn in 25 meters for 25% of the running distance). All of that at the age of 13.

"The gain deviation due to chronic Pectineus strain is very subtle and is hard to differentiate from a normal gait variation, particularly when the injury is bilateral."  In my case, it is unilateral, but there is a subtle gait deviation. Jeff calls it "funny form". Paul calls it "you can tell it is Sasha from half a mile". So for an elite marathoner this gait deviation is perhaps not so subtle. But put me in the company of properly trained 2:45-2:50 guys, and my gait fits right in.

"With weight-bearing and during ambulation (fancy word for walking) the tight Pectineus holds the femur in slight adduction, and causes subtle thigh external rotation...The compensating toe-out gait stresses the knee joint and causes the knee pain..."  I do have a toe-out on the right, and I have had problems with knee pain. They have been the worst when running around the track a lot, and they have always been relieved by a month or two of not running on the track.

So my accusing finger is pointing at pectineus right now. Some more info on it. The "funny" feeling there most resembles being pierced with a knife. It is not very acute, but the nature of the feeling is knife-like. A stretch that would abduct the hip makes that feeling sharper. Hip abduction range with the knee extended is about the same on the left and on the right, but with the knee flexed, the right hip abduction range is smaller than the left. 

It's been like this for 23 years. Can it be fixed?