Category: Training

Now that winter approaches, most runners start shutting down their training.  I tend to do the opposite, step it up, and increase the weekly miles.  But the type of training shifts from the mountains down to the desert floor.  For me, the summer is about mountain 100s and adventure runs that involve peaks and long climbs.  But during the winter, I love to run on the plains and train for the speedy flat-land races.  This is how I discovered the beauty of the Pony Express Trail, running in the desert during the cold months.

My next races will likely be Across the Years 72-hours, Rocky Raccoon 100, Buffalo Run 100, and Salt Flats 100, all relatively flat courses.  Making the shift from mountains to the plains is not as easy as it may seem, and for me getting even more difficult with age. These past six months have been good.  Even though I slowed down, there has never been a better year for me running uphill.  My downhill speed hasn’t fully come back since the broken leg almost two years ago, but my strength and speed running up hills during later stages of recent 100s has been a nice surprise.  But now it is time to leave the hills behind for a few months and rediscover the flats.  I started my winter training officially started on October 26, later than usual because of a terrible three-week cold/illness. 

While still recoverying from my injury, I’m still running in my dreams.

Running dreams are funny. I had a very vivid running dream a few nights ago. I dreamed that I was running in the Wasatch 100, but it was all screwy of course. I arrived at an aid station, but had to run through a house. (It is funny how most of my running dreams involve running through a house). On the other side of the house I went out the door but the course was no longer marked outside the house. I found myself in Washington D.C. I along with other runners were frustrated not knowing where to go next. It seemed like we had to circle around the National Mall, but I wasn’t sure what road to take. I was confused that this mountain course was in the city. Still lost, I returned to the house and organized several other runners to go through the streets with me. We each took a different street hoping that we could find some course markings. The race volunteers at the house were of no help and refused to tell us the right way to go. This approach didn’t work and I returned frustrated again to the house. I had now wasted several hours. A T.V. was on and a reporter was interviewing the winner of the Wasatch 100. Wow, he had already finished! Hold it, it was still light outside. How could he finish a 100-miler before sunset? I thought, gee, the front-runners knew the course, they have done it before. But that thought confused me because I realized that I had run the course before a couple times. Very strange. Why was I in Washington D.C.? Finally I woke up in a state of running confusion. Got to love those 100-mile race dreams. I’m always getting lost.

Well, I’ve been lucky for the past couple years to avoid injury.  Looks like I have one that will take some time to fully recover from.  About a month ago or so, while jumping off a rock, descending a trail in the dark, I rolled my ankle inward.   It seemed minor and I’ve only felt a little pain now and then.   But after my 50-mile race a week ago, I noticed bad pain in the foot.   I was stupid and ran the race in shoes that had too many miles on them.   The foot seemed to heal during the next week, so I tried to run a tough trail marathon on Saturday.  Within 100 yards the foot twisted in the mud and after 10 miles I was limping and pulled out of the race.

The next day (today) I could hardly walk, and couldn’t without a big limp.   What is strange it that there is no noticeable swelling and no bruising.   The source of the most pain seems to be what is called the peroneal tendons.  One common cause is “running on uneven surfaces.”  Hmmm…OK, I do that just a bit. “It can result from running on sloped surfaces or running in shoes with excessive wear on the outside of the heel.”  Yep, I checked the shoes, they are worn out, probably 500 miles. Caused when “foot and ankle are rolled inward,”  Yep that happened pretty bad about a month ago or so.  I didn’t appreciate this wise crack:  “In general, older people are at a higher risk of developing the condition.”   Older?  Come say that to my face.  Let’s race up Timp and see who is old.  Treatment, “Cease any activity that is likely to hinder the rehabilitation process.”  Ya, ya, ya, I know.  “It may take 6 weeks or longer to recover.”  Yikes, don’t say that!   How to prevent this from happening again, “When running, choose level surfaces and avoid rocks or holes.”   Pretty funny.  Next thing you will tell me is stick to running on roads.  It’s not going to happen.

You have got to love the psychology of an injured runner.  We have visions of never being able to run without pain again.  We see someone jogging in the neighborhood and get very jealous.  We worry that just a few days without training will get us out of shape.  All are silly thoughts.  Healing will take place, just be patient.

My next race is a road race, the Ogden Marathon in 20 days.   It wouldn’t kill me to miss that race, but I don’t want to miss Squaw Peak 50 in 41 days.  I still need to do a bunch of hill training for that race.  

On 4/30 I went to the podiatrist.  My self-diagnosis was correct.  I have a peroneal tendon strain on the outside of my foot. He took an X-ray and there is not stress-fracture. The doctor gets a kick out of listening to my running history.  A young college intern was with him today and the kid couldn’t belive what I was saying, talking about 100-mile races.   The doctor as a former runner gets it and knows I understand foot-care, injury recovery, etc.  He says I really need six weeks of recovery.  He gave me a boot to help the tendon rest and an ankle brace to use once I start running again.  I mentioned the marathon in 16 days and didn’t realize that I said, “its only a road marathon.”   They both laughed, pointed out what I said.   He said that was up to me, but I would likely be hurting after it, setting back the healing.   But he quickly said, “I know you understand how to care and treat things like this.”   So, my plan is to still run in the Ogden Marathon, but I won’t enter Sapper Joe 50K which is the following week.  Instead I will volunteer for it if they need it.  That will give me three weeks of more recovery until Squaw Peak 50.

5/2 Update

I now feel very little pain in the foot when walking.   This past week I have really stepped up the cross-training.  Today I swam two miles in the pool without much difficulty.  I haven’t swam in over a year but my swimming endurance quickly was found again.  I swam a total of 5.5 miles this week and did a bunch of pool running.  My cardio endurance is getting stronger.  I now can do toe-lifts without pain.   Things are looking up.   I think the Bonneville Shorline run last Saturday set my recovery back about 8 days.  I’ve almost caught up to that.

At least once a year, a close friend seriously confronts me and lets me know that they think I am ruining my life and the life of others by participating in, and encouraging ultrarunning. The typical belief is

1. That because low-mileage runners get injured, surely a high-mileage ultrarunner is seriously damaging their body far more.
2. That some exercise is of course good, but the level of exercise an ultrarunner participates in not normal and therefore unhealthy.
3. That ultrarunners are neglecting their families and being selfish.

Such concerns from non-runners and recreational runners are common and hard to explain away.  Some don’t want to hear explanations.

Let me deal with each concern: