Howdy sports fans, been a while since my last post. This is one of high hopes that, while not being dashed on the shores of reality, have required a major mid-course correction.
The summer started off OK. After Eagleman, I think I finally stumbled upon the correct formula to deal with my electrolyte depletion issues. As an aside, I decided to be scientific about my sweat rate during exercise. For a couple of days post-Eagleman, I weighed myself naked before and then after my run. Since I do not drink any fluid during my noontime runs, the difference in weight is how much I sweat out. And since my daily run is about 1 hour in length, that number is also my sweat rate per hour. Well, it seems that I sweat anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds per hour, averaging around 4 (and since a pint of water is about one pound, that translates to about 1 quart to over half gallon of sweat per hour). So I've been sweating a lot.
As I said, I seem to have found the right formula for keeping my electrolytes in balance: every morning I take 500mg of magnesium supplement and 595mg of potassium supplement. Before my runs, I take a Succeed S!Cap (341mg of sodium) and if the run is over 1 hour, I usually take another half way. With this supplement to my diet, I had no trouble running through this past summer's heat wave (both my shorter daily runs as well as my weekend long runs and Tuesday evening speedwork workouts).
Meanwhile, I was doing well on mileage throughout the remainder of June and most of July. As I have mentioned previously, I have an aggressive fall racing schedule -- Parks Half Marathon and Richmond Rox Half-Ironman in September, Marine Corps Marathon in October, Potomac River Run Marathon in November, and Seashore Trails 50K in December. Mid July I was already at 1414 total miles for the year (about 100 miles more than the same time in 2011), so I was on track to break my total yearly mileage record as well. And my early speedwork runs were putting me on target to repeat a sub-3 either at Marine Corps or at Potomac River Run.
Then, my ego got in the way. We were running an 18 mile long run (CCT to Beach Drive to Pierce Mill and back). The scheduled run had 3 sets of hills (Wise Rd/Bingham box, Ross Road, and ending with the Leland hills). Well, we started out at a pretty good clip. LSD should be between 7:45 and 7:30 per mile, but we were averaging 7:15 to 7:20. I knew I should have slowed down, but it felt good. The group was engaged in good conversation. The temperature was surprisingly cool and rainy. We got to Pierce Mill (at the base of the Ross Road hills) and instead of heading back along Beach Drive, we decided to head back going back up the Ross Road hills. The grade was a bit steeper in the this direction and I could tell mid-way through this 3rd set of hills that (in the words of Miss Clavelle) "something was not right." I started to drop back, running several paces behind the group, occaisonally picking up the pace to catch back up. By the team we reached the Leland hills, I was spent. My groin was aching, my legs were heavy. I plodded my way up the five sets of hills, several minutes behind everyone else.
When I got home to shower, the left side of the groin area was aching. Standing in the shower, I found it difficult to put weight on the left leg. Oh crap! I thought, this had better not be a stress fracture. I ruled that out, though, because I found I could hop up and down on the left leg without difficulty. Maybe just overuse I thought.
On Monday, it was painful to begin running but the pain went away after about a mile or so, so I figured I must be OK. Indeed, on Tuesday night, I was running marathon pace miles for 4 miles at the XMP workout. But...that first mile or so was very painful. It hurt when I sneezed or coughed. It hurt when I got out of bed. Instead of stress fracture, now I was thinking hernia and surgery -- yikes!
I kept thinking things would get better. But I seemed to be stuck in a repeat-loop. I could run (even do marathon pace miles) but it was sore.
The beginning of August, I went to the orthopedist. Strained hip flexor (to be specific, the left psoas major). On the plus side, I could run through this injury. On the negative side, no hills, no speed, no long distance for a month. Sort of puts the damper on my racing schedule. To quote a fellow injured runner, "this may not be a PR season." I also started doing physical therapy again -- ultrasound, deep tissue massage, and electic stimulation of the muscle group.
Meanwhile, I've stuck to running my daily 8 miler at LSD pace. Three weeks ago, the physical therapist thought I could start gradually upping my weekend long run mileage. Luckily, XMP has been running some relatively flat courses lately, so I could run out with my group but just turn around early. So three weeks ago, I did 10 miles on the C&O Canal. Then I did 12 miles on the CCT, and this past weekend was able to do 14 miles. Same routine -- very sore for the first mile or so, then I can just "feel" the muscle.
Interesting phenomena as I've been upping the long run mileage -- when I did the 10 miler, it felt OK for the first 8 miles but was a struggle for the last 2. When I did the 12 miler, it felt OK for the first 10, then struggle for the last 2. And, that's right sports fans, when I did the 14 miler, it was the last 2 that were the struggle. Not sure what to make of that, but I hope you can see the pattern that has developed.
So here I am, last week of August. I have yet to do any 20 milers. No speedwork beyond running marathon pace. Parks Half Marathon is on Sep 9. I hope to just run that as an extended marathon pace tempo run.
Don't get me started on the triathlon --- when I tried to swim laps earlier in August, I could not flutter kick without the hip flexor hurting so had to swim with the pull buoy. Luckily, the muscle does not hurt on the bike (although, unrelated to running, I have tendonitis in the elbow making riding in aero position for extended periods of time discomfortable -- thankfully the orthopedist intends to give me a cortisone shot in the elbow later this week). My hope for the tri is that the James River will be cold enough to be wet suit legal -- the buoyancy of the wetsuit mimics the pull buoy allowing me to minimize kicking.
So there you have it sports fans. The best laid plans.... Oh well. I'm hoping to be able to run LSD or bit a faster at Marine Corps to at least run a Boston qualifying time.
I go back to the orthopedist for a follow up on Thursday. Until then....
The summer started off OK. After Eagleman, I think I finally stumbled upon the correct formula to deal with my electrolyte depletion issues. As an aside, I decided to be scientific about my sweat rate during exercise. For a couple of days post-Eagleman, I weighed myself naked before and then after my run. Since I do not drink any fluid during my noontime runs, the difference in weight is how much I sweat out. And since my daily run is about 1 hour in length, that number is also my sweat rate per hour. Well, it seems that I sweat anywhere from 3 to 5 pounds per hour, averaging around 4 (and since a pint of water is about one pound, that translates to about 1 quart to over half gallon of sweat per hour). So I've been sweating a lot.
As I said, I seem to have found the right formula for keeping my electrolytes in balance: every morning I take 500mg of magnesium supplement and 595mg of potassium supplement. Before my runs, I take a Succeed S!Cap (341mg of sodium) and if the run is over 1 hour, I usually take another half way. With this supplement to my diet, I had no trouble running through this past summer's heat wave (both my shorter daily runs as well as my weekend long runs and Tuesday evening speedwork workouts).
Meanwhile, I was doing well on mileage throughout the remainder of June and most of July. As I have mentioned previously, I have an aggressive fall racing schedule -- Parks Half Marathon and Richmond Rox Half-Ironman in September, Marine Corps Marathon in October, Potomac River Run Marathon in November, and Seashore Trails 50K in December. Mid July I was already at 1414 total miles for the year (about 100 miles more than the same time in 2011), so I was on track to break my total yearly mileage record as well. And my early speedwork runs were putting me on target to repeat a sub-3 either at Marine Corps or at Potomac River Run.
Then, my ego got in the way. We were running an 18 mile long run (CCT to Beach Drive to Pierce Mill and back). The scheduled run had 3 sets of hills (Wise Rd/Bingham box, Ross Road, and ending with the Leland hills). Well, we started out at a pretty good clip. LSD should be between 7:45 and 7:30 per mile, but we were averaging 7:15 to 7:20. I knew I should have slowed down, but it felt good. The group was engaged in good conversation. The temperature was surprisingly cool and rainy. We got to Pierce Mill (at the base of the Ross Road hills) and instead of heading back along Beach Drive, we decided to head back going back up the Ross Road hills. The grade was a bit steeper in the this direction and I could tell mid-way through this 3rd set of hills that (in the words of Miss Clavelle) "something was not right." I started to drop back, running several paces behind the group, occaisonally picking up the pace to catch back up. By the team we reached the Leland hills, I was spent. My groin was aching, my legs were heavy. I plodded my way up the five sets of hills, several minutes behind everyone else.
When I got home to shower, the left side of the groin area was aching. Standing in the shower, I found it difficult to put weight on the left leg. Oh crap! I thought, this had better not be a stress fracture. I ruled that out, though, because I found I could hop up and down on the left leg without difficulty. Maybe just overuse I thought.
On Monday, it was painful to begin running but the pain went away after about a mile or so, so I figured I must be OK. Indeed, on Tuesday night, I was running marathon pace miles for 4 miles at the XMP workout. But...that first mile or so was very painful. It hurt when I sneezed or coughed. It hurt when I got out of bed. Instead of stress fracture, now I was thinking hernia and surgery -- yikes!
I kept thinking things would get better. But I seemed to be stuck in a repeat-loop. I could run (even do marathon pace miles) but it was sore.
The beginning of August, I went to the orthopedist. Strained hip flexor (to be specific, the left psoas major). On the plus side, I could run through this injury. On the negative side, no hills, no speed, no long distance for a month. Sort of puts the damper on my racing schedule. To quote a fellow injured runner, "this may not be a PR season." I also started doing physical therapy again -- ultrasound, deep tissue massage, and electic stimulation of the muscle group.
Meanwhile, I've stuck to running my daily 8 miler at LSD pace. Three weeks ago, the physical therapist thought I could start gradually upping my weekend long run mileage. Luckily, XMP has been running some relatively flat courses lately, so I could run out with my group but just turn around early. So three weeks ago, I did 10 miles on the C&O Canal. Then I did 12 miles on the CCT, and this past weekend was able to do 14 miles. Same routine -- very sore for the first mile or so, then I can just "feel" the muscle.
Interesting phenomena as I've been upping the long run mileage -- when I did the 10 miler, it felt OK for the first 8 miles but was a struggle for the last 2. When I did the 12 miler, it felt OK for the first 10, then struggle for the last 2. And, that's right sports fans, when I did the 14 miler, it was the last 2 that were the struggle. Not sure what to make of that, but I hope you can see the pattern that has developed.
So here I am, last week of August. I have yet to do any 20 milers. No speedwork beyond running marathon pace. Parks Half Marathon is on Sep 9. I hope to just run that as an extended marathon pace tempo run.
Don't get me started on the triathlon --- when I tried to swim laps earlier in August, I could not flutter kick without the hip flexor hurting so had to swim with the pull buoy. Luckily, the muscle does not hurt on the bike (although, unrelated to running, I have tendonitis in the elbow making riding in aero position for extended periods of time discomfortable -- thankfully the orthopedist intends to give me a cortisone shot in the elbow later this week). My hope for the tri is that the James River will be cold enough to be wet suit legal -- the buoyancy of the wetsuit mimics the pull buoy allowing me to minimize kicking.
So there you have it sports fans. The best laid plans.... Oh well. I'm hoping to be able to run LSD or bit a faster at Marine Corps to at least run a Boston qualifying time.
I go back to the orthopedist for a follow up on Thursday. Until then....
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