The 2010 cross country season is under way and the team is looking fantastic. The guys have a solid core group of returning veterans with some serious training under their belts, while the women's recruiting class has got to be one of the best ever. I'm stuck in training group E with the other out-of-shape and injured guys, but things are finally starting to look up again after a couple months of setbacks. My hip flexor is finally getting back to where it should be and an achilles issue from last week turned out to be just a minor nuisance. Some ice and a massive heel wedge managed to take care of it and keep me out on the roads. I'm up to 3-4 miles a day now and am slowly getting back into shape.
Classes start tomorrow morning and I'm not really sure if I'm ready or not. I took care of most of my hardest classes last year so this semester shouldn't be too much of a burden. Still, it feels strange to close the book on this summer. The cycle of seasons continues.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Do Not Put Out the Spirit's Fire
Over the past couple of weeks I've been trying to stay focused, putting in a lot of hours on the bike and elliptical while also getting back to running a few miles here and there. I'm in pretty good shape overall and just need to get my running legs back into gear before mid semester rolls around. Summer is winding down, although I've still had time for a few adventures. This past Friday I drove down to Clinton to spend the night with Dave and Muff at the annual "Gasfest" that their friends have been putting on for years. There were some pretty big fires involved and a little bit of questionable judgement, but for the most part everyone was pretty responsible and nobody was hurt (besides a few minor burns). It turned out to be a really good time. The next morning Dave took me out for a six mile run as we toured the entire neighborhood and surrounding countryside, including downtown, cornfields, an industrial park, and a nice off-road trail. Next weekend I'm heading up north with Ash and a couple of old friends to hang out in the supposedly-haunted woods.
There's less than two weeks remaining before the start of training camp and it's more important now than ever that I (and everyone else) stay in the right state of mind. One of my favorite Bible verses is 1 Thessalonians 5:19. It reads "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." You need to pursue your goal, your passion, with a fire that never goes out, no matter obstacles rise up against you, or you'll never find out if you can succeed. Believe in that Spirit, and impossibility is only an opinion.
There's less than two weeks remaining before the start of training camp and it's more important now than ever that I (and everyone else) stay in the right state of mind. One of my favorite Bible verses is 1 Thessalonians 5:19. It reads "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." You need to pursue your goal, your passion, with a fire that never goes out, no matter obstacles rise up against you, or you'll never find out if you can succeed. Believe in that Spirit, and impossibility is only an opinion.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
More Unexplained Pain
The past three weeks have been a bit of a struggle. My hip/groin have been sore and tight courtesy of Lapham Peak, causing me to run only off and on along with alternating bike workouts and days off. The soreness is fading away veeeeery sloooooooowly but it seems to be making progress as long as I don't overtrain. I'm trying not to worry about it. Simply being able to run this summer is a pretty good reason to be happy.
Despite the progress I've made, however, my body continues to rebel in the strangest of ways. Last night I decided to go out for a walk after a cold front passed through and the air temp had dropped to levels more comfortable than those in the apartment. Everything felt fine until I was about a mile away, when suddenly my entire right thigh began to ache. The pain covered my leg from the knee to the hip and was deep, like my quads, hamstring, knee, and groin were just tearing apart. I tried stretching and then just ignoring the sensation in the hopes that it would go away, but instead it only got worse. I ended up hobbling up Falls Road to 17th Avenue, where I caught Ash out walking the dog. We went over to his house to discuss our elaborate plans for halloween costumes (which are going to be amazing by the way) and my throbbing leg gradually settled down throughout the night. The entire episode was somewhat disturbing, but I really don't know why I should bother getting it checked out. I already know what the experts are going to say...that they don't know anything. I'm getting my sports physical in a couple of days though, so I'll probably bring it up anyway. Ranting about my body's issues makes the frustration more bearable even if it doesn't soothe the pain.
Despite the progress I've made, however, my body continues to rebel in the strangest of ways. Last night I decided to go out for a walk after a cold front passed through and the air temp had dropped to levels more comfortable than those in the apartment. Everything felt fine until I was about a mile away, when suddenly my entire right thigh began to ache. The pain covered my leg from the knee to the hip and was deep, like my quads, hamstring, knee, and groin were just tearing apart. I tried stretching and then just ignoring the sensation in the hopes that it would go away, but instead it only got worse. I ended up hobbling up Falls Road to 17th Avenue, where I caught Ash out walking the dog. We went over to his house to discuss our elaborate plans for halloween costumes (which are going to be amazing by the way) and my throbbing leg gradually settled down throughout the night. The entire episode was somewhat disturbing, but I really don't know why I should bother getting it checked out. I already know what the experts are going to say...that they don't know anything. I'm getting my sports physical in a couple of days though, so I'll probably bring it up anyway. Ranting about my body's issues makes the frustration more bearable even if it doesn't soothe the pain.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Heat Wave
Yesterday was brutal. I stepped out into the 97 degree weather thinking I could run 10 miles no problem. I knew I was very well hydrated and well rested. I laced up the shoes and hit the road.
Not 3 miles into the run and I knew I was in for a tough one. I had accounted for the fact that the pavement I was running on brought the surface temp. up another 5-10 degrees. My sweat was evaporating as soon as it was on my skin. It didn't even have time to do its job to cool me off. I kept going, thinking I would be fine. I finally came to the 8 mile mark and I had to stop. I collapsed into the grass in some shade and just laid there while I waited for my body to cool. After about 5 minutes I got back up. It wasn't the last time I would have to stop. Five more times I had to go stand, sit, or lay in the shade to get my resolve up to finish out my run. When I finally reached the air conditioning of my home my sweat began to flow like a river. It was amazing that being out in the dry heat like that had made it seem as though I wasn't even sweating. I took down a few glasses of water and chocolate milk and jumped into the pool.
Not 3 miles into the run and I knew I was in for a tough one. I had accounted for the fact that the pavement I was running on brought the surface temp. up another 5-10 degrees. My sweat was evaporating as soon as it was on my skin. It didn't even have time to do its job to cool me off. I kept going, thinking I would be fine. I finally came to the 8 mile mark and I had to stop. I collapsed into the grass in some shade and just laid there while I waited for my body to cool. After about 5 minutes I got back up. It wasn't the last time I would have to stop. Five more times I had to go stand, sit, or lay in the shade to get my resolve up to finish out my run. When I finally reached the air conditioning of my home my sweat began to flow like a river. It was amazing that being out in the dry heat like that had made it seem as though I wasn't even sweating. I took down a few glasses of water and chocolate milk and jumped into the pool.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Hillz
Yesterday I went out around 5 PM to do hills. After running around town for about 20 minutes I made my way to the bottom of Falls Road, the largest hill in town, and dashed to the top 4 times. I was surprised at how fast I was able to go. It feels like my body isn't in quite that bad of shape after all. Or maybe it was just a good day. The cool, cloudy weather was quite a relief after running in warmer conditions over the past few weeks. Heat really tears me down, and I often find that my best races are run when everyone is complaining that it's too cold.
By the time I'd finished the hills and run back to my apartment it had been about 40 minutes total. My leg is a bit sore today, but I'm not concerned about it. I can walk perfectly fine and it isn't jumping around like it used to, more of a constant soreness this time. If there's one thing I've learned over the past 7 months it's not to worry over injuries. Sometimes you simply need to ignore the little pains, and once you forget about them they'll go away. If you obsess over it needlessly you could make it drag on forever. At least that's how it seems to work for me.
But we all know that I'm an enigma.
By the time I'd finished the hills and run back to my apartment it had been about 40 minutes total. My leg is a bit sore today, but I'm not concerned about it. I can walk perfectly fine and it isn't jumping around like it used to, more of a constant soreness this time. If there's one thing I've learned over the past 7 months it's not to worry over injuries. Sometimes you simply need to ignore the little pains, and once you forget about them they'll go away. If you obsess over it needlessly you could make it drag on forever. At least that's how it seems to work for me.
But we all know that I'm an enigma.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
"Keep Stuff Out"
It's not a shoe. It's more like a part of my foot. 5 miles in these things feels so much better than clomping around in mud-caked boots. I only wish we had some decent trails around here.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Sometimes you need to run before you can walk
Sometimes things just don't work out the way they're supposed to. Sometimes conventional wisdom is wrong.
The past weeks have been a bit of an unexpected experience. After the longest stretch of rest I've taken in 5 years, I came to the realization that my leg simply wasn't getting better. At all.
The next course of action was to seek additional medical assistance. I managed to get an appointment with a sports physician at the hospital across the street from CUW. Upon going in for my appointment, however, the experts seemed just as perplexed as the AT's back at school. They took an X-Ray of my lower leg, which showed nothing abnormal. No stress fractures, no other bone issues. Next I was sent for an MRI. When I took these scans in for the docs to see what was going on all they could say was that my leg looked "healthy."
I took this as confirmation that there was actually nothing seriously wrong with me. No one could explain the pain I was feeling or how to treat it. The docs suggested sending me back for the same physical therapy that had already failed after causing me so much unnecessary pain and frustration, followed by a test for "compartment syndrome." This test would have involved sticking me with very large needles and making me run on a treadmill as hard as possible for 15 minutes. They assumed that test would come back negative since I didn't actually present the symptoms of compartment syndrome, but they wanted to do it anyway. They planned to follow that up with a blind surgery, the purpose of which they could not even explain to me. I was utterly astounded at how eager these so-called "doctors" were to abuse me with no real plan for fixing anything.
Having had enough of this, I chose to shun the medical industry once and for all and just started running again.
After a week of resumed training at 4-5 miles per day, I realized that it wasn't getting any worse. In fact it is getting better. Running, rather than causing the pain as everyone had expected all along, is actually healing me. I'm getting stronger every day, and the pain now seems barely noticeable.
Last weekend I went to Lapham Peak with a group of my fellow runners. I opted for the tiny Blue Trail rather than the 9 miles of hills that the other guys hammered out, but running trails again was a major moral victory for me. Knowing that my leg can survive that type of terrain is proof to me that my body is not falling apart but simply needed to be woken up, reminded about what it was designed to do. Dark clouds threatened most of that day but the rain never hit us. Driving home late in the afternoon we caught sight of a brilliant rainbow spread across the eastern horizon.
The past weeks have been a bit of an unexpected experience. After the longest stretch of rest I've taken in 5 years, I came to the realization that my leg simply wasn't getting better. At all.
The next course of action was to seek additional medical assistance. I managed to get an appointment with a sports physician at the hospital across the street from CUW. Upon going in for my appointment, however, the experts seemed just as perplexed as the AT's back at school. They took an X-Ray of my lower leg, which showed nothing abnormal. No stress fractures, no other bone issues. Next I was sent for an MRI. When I took these scans in for the docs to see what was going on all they could say was that my leg looked "healthy."
I took this as confirmation that there was actually nothing seriously wrong with me. No one could explain the pain I was feeling or how to treat it. The docs suggested sending me back for the same physical therapy that had already failed after causing me so much unnecessary pain and frustration, followed by a test for "compartment syndrome." This test would have involved sticking me with very large needles and making me run on a treadmill as hard as possible for 15 minutes. They assumed that test would come back negative since I didn't actually present the symptoms of compartment syndrome, but they wanted to do it anyway. They planned to follow that up with a blind surgery, the purpose of which they could not even explain to me. I was utterly astounded at how eager these so-called "doctors" were to abuse me with no real plan for fixing anything.
Having had enough of this, I chose to shun the medical industry once and for all and just started running again.
After a week of resumed training at 4-5 miles per day, I realized that it wasn't getting any worse. In fact it is getting better. Running, rather than causing the pain as everyone had expected all along, is actually healing me. I'm getting stronger every day, and the pain now seems barely noticeable.
Last weekend I went to Lapham Peak with a group of my fellow runners. I opted for the tiny Blue Trail rather than the 9 miles of hills that the other guys hammered out, but running trails again was a major moral victory for me. Knowing that my leg can survive that type of terrain is proof to me that my body is not falling apart but simply needed to be woken up, reminded about what it was designed to do. Dark clouds threatened most of that day but the rain never hit us. Driving home late in the afternoon we caught sight of a brilliant rainbow spread across the eastern horizon.
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