Running, Anyone...?

[Dantheman]

The guy 10 yards up held the 5:30 pace straight through for the win at 1:11.

Man, I've never even run one mile in 5:30.

Dude that won was 7 hours faster and had a 9 minute mike pace.....for a hundred miles! That’s insanity.

9 min/mile average, including eating, bathroom breaks, etc., over that terrain for 100 miles is hard to comprehend.

[carpathian]

Yeah, man. That's fucking brisk. Consider me motivated to get off my ass and get my training run in today.

Awesome! If this weed smoking, beer drinking construction guy with a 200 LB dad bod can get after, so can you!

Edit: I wonder how many other racers smoke the devils weed right before race? Coffee, Weed, Gu, Advil in that order. Perfect combo

[XXX-er]

I noticed the telemark boots and labeled you as a wierdo from the git go

[bodywhomper]

Apparenty, Leadville was Katie Arnold’s first 100-miler

[Viva]

Edit: I wonder how many other racers smoke the devils weed right before race?

The Taras did back in the early-mid 90s. This was Rick Fisher's group that he brought to Leadville, then Western States, and, later, Angeles Crest. At Western in 95, several people said that they saw the indians smoking ganja just prior to race start, and apparently theedy did this at Leadville in years prior. . Don't know if they toked at AC the next year, but I saw them cheating twice during that race. The next year, they were DQ at AC for rules violation.

[GeezerSteve]

Edit: I wonder how many other racers smoke the devils weed right before race?

It's pretty common among ultrarunners, although edibles has a larger market share

[bagtagley]

It's pretty common among ultrarunners, although edibles has a larger market share

I've probably already said this at some point, but I've played around with this during training. On my long runs, I'd pop some edibles so that they hit at around the two hours remaining mark. Kinda helped, but also sometimes made me hyper-focus on whatever discomfort I was experiencing.

[GeezerSteve]

I ran est. half of my ultras on edibles. They didn't make me any faster, but I was generally more comfortable, especially my gut.

A PNW old-timer legend, winner of dozens of ultras, smoked it up before every race, started every race stoned to the bajeezus at the back of the pack, worked his way up to the front the pack the first mile, saying hello to this friends along the way.

[Cruiser]

Along the Platte this morning

[doebedoe]

Nice ^^. Was nice to finally have some decent air quality in the front range. That plus a healing knee meant I could finally run more than a mi or two today.

[ski-wpk]

Clear skies on the Divide in James Peak Wilderness. Good day for a run.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^^ Dang.

I managed to feel pretty decent over 16 miles this evening after dealing with bronchitis for a couple weeks. Being sick plus all the smoke had me wheezing like an old cold miner. What a relief to have clear lungs and clear air.

[bodywhomper]

Less smoky air has been nice!

But this \/\/ seems a little beyond a repair that would be useful with aqua seal. Thoughts? The brand, vivobarefoot, has changed their last and no longer fit me

[Buke]

This should probably go in the Gimp forum but I don't think anyone really looks there this time of year and you runner types probably have better answers anyway. I've never really been a runner but I want to be. Historically, I would start running with no real plan and quickly hurt myself, a couple years would go by and I'd repeat the process.

Fairly recently I've started running consistently with a proper plan to work up to running distances very slowly. The plan was to intentionally build up slow enough that I didn't injure myself. All was going great, I was 6.5 weeks into my program and doing half hour running sessions with plenty of walking worked in for warm up/cool down and the odd short mid run break. I'd made it 6 weeks without anything that even resembled an injury. Then half way through a run my calf started hurting. It got worse and I cut the run short.

A quick google search indicated that it was most likely a calf strain and it's a common running injury. I iced it, took two weeks off with some bicycling and walking at the 1 week point that went well.

Yesterday all seemed fine so I decided to go for a gentle run to see how it felt. I got about a mile from the house and it started hurting again, I walked a little and tried to run a little more but it just got worse and worse so I stopped and walked home. Now I feel like I'm right back to where I was two weeks ago, limping around, in pain...

The pain is isolated to a small area on the inside of my calf. How do I fix this? I know; rest, foam roll, do some light strength excercise to rehab, but that's basically what I did and one day out and it's re-injured. This has been the story of my entire life as it relates to running and it's just unacceptable! Historically I would have shrugged it off by saying running sucks anyway and I'm just not meant to do it but I'm motivated now, and I want to have that habit of running a few days a week year round.

I'm open to any and all advice.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

^^^ Do you have health insurance that covers physical therapy? If you do, find someone who works with runners and let them help you get sorted.

Something to consider is that muscle injuries sometimes keep hurting even after you're pretty much recovered and the pain doesn't really subside until you start using that muscle more heavily again. It's like the pain response gets stuck on until you work through it a bit. Other times tightness that comes after a minor injury can cause more pain than the injury itself and finding a way to alleviate that tightness can result in near instant recovery. I've had great results with dry needling a few times.

On the other hand maybe you jacked it up pretty good and need more rest. This is probably the case if you're limping after a short run. Last summer a combination of several long flights and drives and doing some long runs in shoes that didn't suit me left me with a pretty bad case of IT band syndrome. After a couple unsuccessful months of trying to rehab it I took a break. It was frustrating because I was otherwise feeling super fit, but I had no choice.

[bagtagley]

Buke, I had the same issue. It was initially related to fast running, but then crept up in slow runs. I started wearing calf panties (aka, calf compression sleeves) at the suggestion of a running buddy, and it basically went away. I know the latest research says they don't work, but they did for me. I think they were $10 on Amazon, so they're a pretty cheap experiment.

I think, at least in my case, isbd's point about a muscle injury was spot on. I think I injured the muscle, and the sleeves stabilized things enough that I was able to keep running. I also agree that seeing a professional is a good idea.

[Buke]

^^^ Do you have health insurance that covers physical therapy? If you do, find someone who works with runners and let them help you get sorted.

Something to consider is that muscle injuries sometimes keep hurting even after you're pretty much recovered and the pain doesn't really subside until you start using that muscle more heavily again. It's like the pain response gets stuck on until you work through it a bit. ...

Health insurance? Technically speaking I don't have health insurance, what I do have won't cover physical therapy. That doesn't matter. I actually mentioned to my wife last night that maybe I should go see a physical therapist. I've seen a couple over the last couple years for a knee injury that took forever (like over a year) to recover from. I was generally not that impressed with either of the PT's that I saw.

I've got a tube of Ted's Pain Cream which is supposed to help with the lingering pain well after an injury has healed. I thought about using that on the calf but I think this is more than that. It didn't bother me at all for the first mile. Then, within a quarter mile it went from no problem to limping...

Buke, I had the same issue. It was initially related to fast running, but then crept up in slow runs. I started wearing calf panties (aka, calf compression sleeves) at the suggestion of a running buddy, and it basically went away. I know the latest research says they don't work, but they did for me. I think they were $10 on Amazon, so they're a pretty cheap experiment.

I think, at least in my case, isbd's point about a muscle injury was spot on. I think I injured the muscle, and the sleeves stabilized things enough that I was able to keep running. I also agree that seeing a professional is a good idea.

I wondered if compression socks would be helpful.

I just picked up Kelly Starrett's book Ready to Run at the library. Maybe there will be some clues in there.

[Dantheman]

I was generally not that impressed with either of the PT's that I saw.

Most PTs just help couch potatoes regain basic mobility. If you go that route you need to see one that works with athletes.

You sure it's the calf and not, say, a stress fx in your fibula?

[isisis]

Is anybody signed up for this 100(+) miler September 15/16? If so, I will be staffing an aid station at around MP 75, stop by & ask for change for a nickel!
http://imtuf100.com

[Buke]

Most PTs just help couch potatoes regain basic mobility. If you go that route you need to see one that works with athletes.

You sure it's the calf and not, say, a stress fx in your fibula?

Pretty sure it's muscular. There's a pretty isolated sore spot that's awfully tender to the touch.

I can't agree more with your assessment of PT's. I've seen a couple over the last couple years to work through an MCL injury. At the time I had a crappy health insurance plan that had very few PT's in network. I worked with two different clinics. They were "fine". That is to say, they went through the motions and prescribed some excercises that would be good to do regardless of the actual injury. None of them stood out. I think their bread and butter clients are 65 year olds recovering from hip replacement surgery. Now that I'm free of the crappy insurance and paying out of pocket, I made an appointment at a clinic that focuses on skiers, climbers and cyclists. Hopefully I have better results than in the past.

[GeezerSteve]

Sounds like a muscle strain. Two weeks of rest is insufficient time to heal a bad calf strain. Bicycling is not rest.

[Dantheman]

I think their bread and butter clients are 65 year olds recovering from hip replacement surgery.

Qualified for Medicare, time to schedule those joint replacements! My Obama-hating ultra-conservative asshole step-FIL had his TKR done within days after turning 65.

In defense of the PTs that work with those people, most of their patients don't even do the basic stuff they are tasked with, my step-FIL included. The guy who helped me out after my clavicle ORIF had some stories to tell.

[GeezerSteve]

+1 re PTs. I'm 7 weeks post-total knee replacement surgery. The PT patients I see around me are sedentary senior citizens, half of them recovering from knee or hip replacement surgery. That's typical PT bread and butter biz. My PT, a very fit former college football player, has customized my treatment. (FTR, I'm nearly a senior citizen, although far from sedentary pre-surgery.)

Yeah, PT success is largely within the control of the patient, with exceptions. Most of my PT happens at home per his instruction. My issue is not overdoing it.

Anyway, a PT aint gonna help heal a calf muscle strain.

[Norseman]

NearlySeniorSteve

[GeezerSteve]

haha

you'll get there someday sonny