Two-a-day workout

Well, not really, but sort of. :-) I ran 5.5 last night and 5 again this morning. Again, no pain. This is significant because I ran on two consecutive days. Now I know, with the marathon a scant 20 days away you're thinking, "So what?" Okay, so am I. But it is significant in that I was able to do it and not aggravate any of the nasties. Given the litany of ailments in the last two months, I'll hail two runs in two days as a small victory.

In other news, 650 runners will mass at CalExpo pre-dawn this Saturday to run the American River 50 (AR50). 200 of them will be first-time ultra-runners. Good luck to you all!! Of special note: Gloria Takagishi (63) will be running her 30th AR50. If she does, she will be the first person to finish the AR50 30 times. Truly amazing.

5.5 on a Monday Night

The last few days have been a wee bit on the windy side. It's become common place to see for home "for sale" signs wizzing through the air...not to mention copious amounts of pollen. <achoo> Anyhow, the wind broke late this afternoon and I took advantage of it by getting in 5.5 in the park today. Again, everything felt good, but I'm still nervous to pile on miles or give it some gas.

Three and counting...

I'm up to three pain-free runs and counting. That's the good news. The bad news is that I'm out o shape. The best I can hope is:

A. I gain some unfair competetive advantage from finding a harmonic rhythm to the jiggle and my pace. Think "Perpetual Motion"

B. I obtain an anti-gravity suit (though none are listed on e-bay or Craigslist at the moment).

C. I accept that I'm going to feel like I'm running through waist-deep, wet cement for 26.2 miles and wimper as runners from the 30-minute-delayed second wave overtake me.

Special thanks to Cameron Yee for meeting me midday on Saturday for my "long" run and for tolerating my pace. 

Back to the wheel...

Three Runs, Two Pain-free...

Forgive me for I have not blogged. It falls into the category of the advice given to Thumper by his mom, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." The last two months have been punctuated by foot pain (right) and calf pain (left) and, rather than grouse about them ad nauseum, I chose to remain silent...well, as silent as I can be.

Serendipity

So, after multiple visits to Lino (AKA the miracle worker) I strapped on the shoes and went for a run on Saturday morning giving myself nothing better than a 40% chance of completing the run without another blowout. I "warmed up" (euphemism for "walked") to Land Park and ran into Kris Levy and her running partner Sharon Saltzman and begged them to let me tag along. Kris is a regular in the Sacramento half-marathon scene and Sharon is a veteran of multiple marathons (Chicago, Marine Corps, etc.). As I hobbled to catch up to them, I felt my calf getting chatty and my hopes of completing the run, not to mention going to Boston, were at an all-time low. Once I caught up with them and backed off the pace, my calf loosened up. Thank God. I was relieved to have someone to talk with during the run so I could take my obsessing mind off my calf. We meandered through Land Park and Miller Park for about five or six miles (longer than I wanted to go) and it felt great. From this run I found my Boston pace and gained confidence that I might actually make it there in one piece. It was pure luck that I ran into Kris and Sharon and boy am I glad I did. Had I not, I would have picked a stupid pace for my Saturday run and surely blown something out. I'm smart like that. :-)

Since the Saturday run, I've contiued my strengthening regemine and had two pain-free runs. Heck I'm almost optimistic.

Boston

I got an email from the Boston Marathon this week talking about a new feature: text tracking. All you need is my bib number (8599) and date of birth (4/5/1969) and ATT will text my progress to your phone from the start, 10K, half, 30K, and (if all goes well) the finish. Of course, my approach to this run is, "Start out slow and back off from there." So, expect there to be a wide range of splits and a LONG time between texts. I'm going to see if I can get them posted to my blog as well.

Chocolate Milk

At the risk of sailing off the edge of the Earth, I want to talk about Chocolate Milk as a sports drink. That's right: chocolate milk. There's an increasing body of work extolling the benefits of Chocolate Milk as a sports/recovery drink. I know my two daughters enthusiastically embrace this school of thought. Anyhow, I'll stick with HEED and Recoverite, but it's certainly interesting. Has anyone experimented with this?

Random Thoughts on Anger Management

Sacramento DEFINATELY needs a smash shack. Who's in?

Back to the wheel...

The Black Knight of Marathons

Okay, so we all know that my right foot has been giving me fits trying to get ready for the Boston Marathon. Thankfully, I've been going to see Lino and he's worked wonders. Thanks to Lino, I got in two solid weeks of training (stop laughing) and began to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, that light was an oncoming train and it arrived in the form of a seized left calf. Is it too early to call marathon a trian wreck...sorry, I couldn't resist that one. Anyhow, Lino made room for me yesterday and really gave my calf just what it needed . 

So I get up, put what's left of my dignity in my pocket and head for the door when I run into local running stud Andy Harris. I've always been happy that Andy is usally in the "next" age division. Andy had blown a wheel and was there to have Lino fix him up too.  Suddenly it dawned on me. As I approach 40, I no longer have my running reunions on the trail, they're in the office of my somatic practitioner (translation: guy who repairs old runners). With all of the ailments I've experienced leading into Boston, I've become painfully aware that I'm not 20 or 30 anymore. I've been bouncing from one ding to the next. This is certainly new to me. I'm staying confident that I'll complete the marathon, but there are days when I feel like the Black Knight.

Eight is Great!

I ran eight miles this weekend. Of course the pace sucked. I started on Saturday morning and I don't feel like I finished until Sunday. But the good news is that my bum wheel held up!

Random thought: Now, most of you know that I love NPR but this morning they kinda pissed me off. I was listening to NPR Morning Edition this AM and they ran a story on how media failed to report more vocally/persistently on the risky investing practices which, in part, led to the current economic crisis. Essentially, they were saying that media fell asleep at the switch. NPR immediately followed up the "call to arms" with a story on "Barbie turns 50." Huh? Way to answer the call NPR. 

Two runs on the repaired wheel

I'm in Lino Cedros' office awaiting my next treratment and thought I'd use this opportunity to update my progress.
Since my last treatment, my foot feels much better. I've had some other aches an pains pop up, not "bad" pain. I think it's a result of body parts shifting and two runs after three weeks off.
The runs went better than I could have hoped. My feet feel stable and pain-free. Initially, I was overly conscious of my foot, aware of every little noise it made. But over the last few days, my foot feels so normal I've stopped thinking about it altogether; a good sign. 

I can see!!! I can SEE!!!

Okay, so blindness was not my particular issue, but that's how I felt when I left the office of Lino Cedros today. The man is nothing short of a miracle worker I'm back on the road for Boston!!!

Here's the situation, I've been moaning about plantar fasciitis for way too long. Suddenly, over the weekend, I decided to call a Somatic Practitioner I've heard rave reviews about from neighbors, fellow runners, and the gang at Fleet Feet: Lino Cedros from Kinections. Luckily for me, he had a spot open this morning at 9. 

I arrived and quickly scanned the joint to see what I was getting myself into. The facility occupies the bulk of the first floor of an office building. It's wide open (no walls) with the exception of four treatment beds (think massage tables) along the wall partitioned by those hideous hospital curtains. The middle of the space has bench seating and the rest of the facility is strewn with a ton of exercise equipment: two nautilus machines, leg press, barbells, yoga balls, etc. 

Lino is a short, stout man with a quiet voice, firm handshake, and a no-nonsense approach. His style is to view the body as a system and pain as a symptom. He does not treat symptoms, he treats the root causes which feed the symptom. Read on. We went through a quick Q&A and some movements to help him diagnose the issue. His first statement after this was, "You don't have plantar. You have a muscle problem."  Essentially, it all comes down to relaxing my big toe...which naturally starts with my hips, right? Er..right. Wait, you lost me. Lino went through a few exercises with my legs to demonstrate the limited range of motion in my right foot/leg versus my left. I was alarmed by the difference. So Lino set to work loosening the leg. And when I say "loosen" I mean inflicting eye-watering pain into my hip flexors, IT band, calf, and foot. By the way, in case you weren't aware of this, and I know I wasn't up until 9:15 this morning, I scream like a girl. 

After the Maquis De Sade, AKA Lino, finished "loosening" my leg he gave me a couple of stretches for home and asked me to walk/run around the office. I'll be darned if my foot didn't feel better. It felt relaxed and noticeably more stable. I can SEE!!

Eric: "Can I run?"

Lino: "Run. Go, run, run all you want."

Eric: "Really?"

Lino: "Yes, really, you'll hurt in some new places because we've 'loosened' things up. Come back on Friday, but run all you want between now and then."

I apologized for screaming like a girl and the fingernail marks in his table, paid $75, set an appointment for Friday and left. Now I need to work, but I'll go for a run tomorrow night and let you all know how it goes. 

Keep you fingers crossed, but it looks like I'm back on track for Boston...albeit a slow one.

Oh, and file this under the category of "learn from my mistakes." If it hurts, don't think you're a Somatic Practitioner and self-diagnose. Go see someone who knows what he's doing. I lost over three weeks of training trying to self-treat my self-diagnosed ailment. Don't do the same!!!

Back to the wheel...