A Time To Be Thankful

With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us, it's a time to reflect on all the things we've been blessed with.  As much as I complain about injuries and life frustrations on here, I truly have much to be thankful for.  I have the most amazing woman that I can proudly call my wife!  I have an awesome and very supportive family.  I've been blessed with the ability and health to travel distances on my own two feet.  And I live in a nation where I'm free to share thoughts and opinions with those who care to read or listen.  I am truly blessed!

This time of year is also a time to start thinking about my schedule for next year.  With lotteries for many ultra events coming up over the course of the next month or so, it's time to start planning for 2011.  I've had numerous people ask what's next for me.  For those not engulfed in the running world, they ask what's next once you've completed a 100 mile race?  The way I see it, you can go three different ways:

1. You can go further and start doing multi-day events/longer distances.
2. You can cut back to shorter distances like marathons, half-marathons, 10K's, etc.
3. You can try to set new personal-best times at the distances you're currently running.

I'm going with the third option.  I have no desire to go any further for the time being.  I also have no desire to go shorter since I do plenty of it in training.  So I think for now I'll just stick with what I'm doing and try to set new PR's for myself.  I've decided the best option for 2011 is to do the same races I did in 2010 with the intent on trying to improve my times at each of them.  I've already got some time goals in my head for each race.  So, I'll be running the Buffalo Run 50 Mile, Speedgoat 50K, and (lotteries willing) the Squaw Peak 50, and Wasatch 100.

I've also been toying with the idea of doing at least 1 more 100 miler next year, and maybe even 2.  I've got 3 other 100's on my radar and will make some decisions once the lottery for Wasatch is over.  For now though, it's just about time to get my entries in and start crossing my fingers for the lotteries.

Scratching The Itch

Typically, my planned day off from running each week falls on Sunday. Of course, I usually end up taking random days off here and there as needed, but that’s neither here nor there. Sundays are my lazy day; a day to rest from the other six jam-packed days of the week. Really just a great day for me to recharge in general!

Every now and then I’ll get an itch on Sunday, though. A few weeks ago I got the itch to get up in the mountains while the weather was still in my favor. Good thing I did too, since it snowed the next day which forced the closing of that canyon road. Then Sunday I woke up to seven or eight inches of fresh snow outside. I don’t particularly like snow (mostly because I’m forced to drive in it), but Sunday was an exception. I got up and just knew I had to get rid of the itch… So I scratched!

After a quick breakfast and change of clothes, I ran out the door and headed to the Jordan River Parkway trail. The trail is very close to my house and it allows me to get off the roads. In fact, I do the majority of my flatland training here due to easy access and lack of cars (read: no cars). What awaited me was pure running bliss! I hopped onto the trail and only saw one other set of footprints for the first half mile or so. From there to my appointed turnaround (about 3 more miles) was fresh, untouched snow. There were literally hundreds of downed branches and trees that made blazing a new trail that much more fun, along with having to push my legs through the moderately deep snow. My Wildcats helped secure my footing and my base layers kept me warm. If only every winter run was so much fun!

Of course the biggest boneheaded move of the day was not taking my camera! I went back last night to get a few pics of my winter playground but the atmosphere just wasn't the same. In fact, it wasn't even close!  Too much traction and melt off left things a sloppy mess.  I really hate lugging my camera around too. Here I am making it sound enormous when it’s actually just a normal compact camera. Anyone know of anything small, light, and convenient to take on a run?

All in all my Sunday excursion was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. After my 19 mile endeavor on Saturday, my legs were a bit taxed and my route that normally takes about 48 minutes, turned into 62 minutes with sore legs and fresh snow. The solitude and scenery were absolutely worth it, though! I’ll give up my regular rest day for a run like this any time!

Running Through The Pain

Why can something as simple as running cause so much pain?

When I sit down and think about that question, it seems like a stupid one. Of course running can lead to pain you idiot! You’re pounding your legs into the ground (with all that weight on top of them) for miles on end. Take an average stride of 150 strides per minute and run for an hour. That means you’re thrusting each of your legs into the ground around 4,500 times an hour. Ouch!

Now that winter’s on our doorstep, I’m trying to transition back to hitting the pavement. I’m having much less success than I’d hoped for! While I’m much stronger than last winter, the long, redundant miles on the road are exposing my weaknesses. On the trails I get to vary my stride and bounce around a bit. On the road I’m going at the same tempo, trying to maintain an efficient stride and pace. The truth is that it’s painful! I’ve been experiencing some posterior shin splints that I’m able to run through, albeit in an extremely uncomfortable fashion.

I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few issues...

The first is my shoes. I rotate between three different pairs of road shoes: A more “minimal” shoe for shorter runs, a transitional shoe for medium length runs, and a more cushioned shoe for long runs. The Brooks (long run shoe) are a perfect balance for me between not enough, and too much shoe. However, I think they might be forcing me to pronate unnaturally. I haven’t experimented much with good road trainers as most of my long runs have been on dirt, so I might have to look into some other options here.

The second issue is my stride. Now that I’m focusing on becoming faster, I think my form has changed. The tread patterns on all my shoes indicate I’m spending much more time on my forefoot than I was before. That’s not a terrible thing, but it’s not the way I stride naturally. I’m obviously forcing the issue when I should be easing into a more natural, faster variation of my current form.

Mostly, I’ve come to realize that you need to be bulletproof to run without injury. You can’t have any weakness in your armor or you’ll be brought to your knees. I have mad respect for all the elite runners out there who train day-in and day-out, all while avoiding injury. I’m still new to the sport, so while it’s frustrating having to deal with injury, it’s fun learning more about what’s causing it. And truthfully - for some reason - I like doing things the hard way! So until my flaws are strengthened, I’ll continue to make friends with the pain!