Category: injuries

I need some Vitamin I…

I don’t like goats. You know, leever, keedneys… goats. ~ Someone with whom Rach went to school

Sorry to get all technical on you but my guts hurt. Still nursing this abdominal/psoas muscle deal and frankly, I am getting a bit sick of it. I guess I am going to need to get the extra large bottle of Ibuprofen and take Caleb’s lead on whacking them down on a regular basis.

Went to Dr. Dave twice this week. I guess we are making progress on it but man…. He put the serious hurt on me yesterday trying to help relieve whatever is going on in there and today I am pretty sore. I see him again on Tuesday and will probably make an appointment with Mark for next week as well to see what can be done. It doesn’t bother me too much while skiing (but definitely puts a damper on things) but is still really bugging me when I run. I did a treadmill workout on Thursday that went okay… not great but okay. Just over 3 miles at a steady, fairly slow pace. Baby steps, I guess. Those are a bit tough when one is used to taking big boy steps.

Rach is continuing her reign on awesomeness, in case you were wondering. I am turning into fat Stu with her cooking and my limited exercise. Must remember to not eat like I am training for a huge race when not actually training for a huge race.

We are getting the Banff Crüe together today for some turns at Eldora (day 25 for me this season). We leave in a week for the trip which should be killer. (The trip, not the leaving part.) Pete, Luke, Seth and I are headed up for a week. Staying in Canmore (thanks for the hook-up, Dad!) and will be skiing all around the Banff area. Seth is an amazing photographer so hopefully we’ll get some good shots out of it. I recently got back on the Patagonia Pro program and am hoping that we can get something for them while up there which might open up some other opportunites. We’ll see how it goes.

Still trying to figure out this season’s event schedule. I am still targeting the Leadville Trail 100 for late August and a double crossing of the Grand Canyon in early May. I am debating between running more or less and think that Ben’s recommendation about just having fun with it is pretty solid. I would like to do a 50K event in March and was thinking about doing the Collegiate Peaks Trail Run but it looks like it is in early May too, so I guess I’ll try to find one in June or create my own adventure run for late June/early July. There is a cool loop around the Indian Peaks that Ben and Luke did once… perhaps that would be a good substitute. I also may try to get into the New York City Marathon in November.

Ok, I’m off to the Rock. Looks like it could be a warm on and so far, no wind…. which is nice.

~stubert.

Day three…

Three days was the morning. My focus three days old. My head, it landed to the sounds of cricket bows… ~ Jane’s Addiction

Hit up the Rock with Caleb this morning. One run, variable conditions, but a morning of skiing is better than a morning of not skiing.

My knee has been bugging me for about a week (but skiing didn’t seem to bother me at all) so I am heading down to Boulder this afternoon to see Mark Plaatjes and have him check it out. I am sure he will use his 7th sense for pain points and focus all his attention on trying to jam his thumb through my leg at that point. He and his wife, Shirley seem to be the only two people with this unique ability.

I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Weak-ly summary…

The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights. ~ Muhammad Ali

This wasn’t much of a training week but sometimes rest does a body good. (Please don’t sue me, National Dairy Council). I am still having my abdomen issues but the tendonitis seems to have healed, so I guess I am back to where I was two weeks ago. And that will have to be okay.

October 5-11, 2008

  • Monday (10/6): Gym – lift and swim, 1:30. Since the doc said I wasn’t supposed to run for a few days, I hit the gym to lift some weights and swim (albeit briefly). I am not much of a swimmer and though I went through a bit of a lifting phase a few years back, am really just working on high reps at this point. No need to bulk back up to super-sized Stu.
  • Wednesday (10/8): Gym – lift and row, 1:15. Went to the gym intending to run on the treadmill but I forgot my shoes and Crocks are not only fugly but are not particularly awesome when it comes to running. So I lifted for a bit then used the rowing machine. Then I went home. I think the going home part was the most fun.
  • Thursday (10/9): Treadmill and swim, 5 miles/20 lengths, 1:15. Lost track of time due to work stuff (again) and had to jam down to the community center to run on the treadmill for a bit. Just mixed up the speed and decided 5 miles would suffice for the day as I just wasn’t feeling the love on the hamster wheel today. I did manage to keep a 9:00 pace, so that wasn’t too bad. How the crap did Dean Karnazes run on this stupid thing for 48 hours? He logged 211.7 miles. And that is just silly.
    After my run, I swam for a bit. Actually getting better and did something like 20 lengths in about 20 minutes. I told you I was slow.
  • Saturday (10/11): Peak-to-Peak popsicle, 7 miles, 00:57. Supposedly a recovery run but since I couldn’t really figure out from what I was supposedly recovering (too many to choose from), I just kinda went with what felt right. Did about 6, 100-meter strides and felt okay for the most part. I was not really able to keep my heartrate down so just focused on having fun. My calves were fine, my abdomen hurt a bit but overall it was a good run in the very cool, misty October weather. Had to break out the gloves even.

Total mileage for the week: 12 miles
Total time for the week: 5 hours

The Denver Marathon is next Sunday so I have a week to go. Right now I am planning to just generally stick to my schedule the first half of the week then take it easy leading into the race. This is just a training race for me (shooting for 3:45-3:52) but my main goal is to run negative splits or to at least get a better feel for pacing and holding back the first half of the race. I have a tendency to go out a little hard and definitely can get swept up in the emotion of the event so I will really be practicing keeping my cool in hope that I learn something to apply to Vegas.

It is looking like it actually might snow for reals this time (currently 32 degrees, light drizzle and super foggy at my house). I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Tweaked…

If everything seems under control, you’re not going fast enough. ~ Mario Andretti

Headed up to the Rock late morning today to get in a few turns. Hoping to build on the successes of yesterday. It was cold but relatively calm today but conditions were far worse than yesterday’s dreaminess.

I made a few runs back in Salto and was feeling fairly well… not as great as yesterday but definitely getting the flow of things and skiing relaxed. Pretty much what I need to be doing. On my third or fourth trip down through the glades, I stopped to help some poor monkey who was in WAY over his head retrieve his ski. This was shortly after watching him nearly take a header through the woods at an alarming rate of speed. Did I mention he was on one ski? Seems like I did. After he came to a stop, I skied down to him and gave him his missing stick, then made a couple of turns and proceeded to tweak my right knee a little. Nothing major but a definite set-back to my plans for world domination.

So now I am rockin’ the ice shuffle, vitamin I, Arnica (which Pete doesn’t believe in, kinda like gmail) and rest. We’ll see how it feels Wednesday but I definitely am looking out for Thursday when we are planning to shoot in Utah. I’ll keep you posted.

~stubert.

Back in the saddle, again…


Oh no. The problem. The problem, Pansy! It’s started again! I must have fruit! ~ Vincent

Yesterday: Singlespeed Ride – Neighborhood trails, 1.5 hours
Today: Run – Hope Pass (North side), 3.5 hours
Tomorrow: Bike ride – Nederland trails, 3 hours

Well… the last two days have seen markedly different experiences. Yesterday’s ride was a blast. I felt strong the whole time and even discovered some singletrack to which I had previously not been privy. Good stuff. I headed up to the standard route but didn’t really want to swing down the flume on the rigid bike so I jammed down a trail I hooked up earlier this year and then started exploring. I tried a piece of singletrack I hadn’t gone up in years and happily discovered it to hook up with some roads northeast of my house. Blasted back down the the Beav’ and rode home in good spirits. Absolutely no pain in my lower extremities and power to spare.

Today’s adventure was less happy-inducing. I got up early to take care of stuff around the house then headed up to Leadville to run the last remaining segment of the course I have not yet seen, Hope Pass. This starts in Twin Lakes and heads up 3400 feet over the Pass and down a similar elevation to the ghost town of Winfield. My plan was to run about 7 miles up and over then back. I guess you know what they say about the best laid plans…

I arrived in Twin Lakes around 8:45 and headed out by 9:00. Route-finding was tricky, to say the least but I finally managed to get moving in the right direction and on-course, even. I had some problems crossing the river as it was running strongly and was murky from a recent storm but I managed to get across without dousing myself or my camera. I am guessing the crossing is only about a mile and a half or so along the route but it took me nearly an hour to finally reach the south bank. Ugh. This is why I have been reviewing all the parts of the course… so come go-time, I’ll be familiar with each section and the challenges therein.

After the river, I headed up, up, up. I felt okay, actually, mostly power-hiking up the well-traveled trail. There were other runners that I passed or who passed me heading the other direction. I definitely could have run some of this section but wanted to simulate race-pace so kept the uphills to a brisk hike. Around tree-line things took a turn for the worse when I experienced an excruciating jolt of pain in my left shin. The problem had come back with a vengeance. Worse than ever, actually. Nausea-inducing type pain. Not good times.

I stopped and stretched for a bit and then decided to see if this was an isolated incident (it wasn’t) then experimented with different techniques to try to deal with it. I was able to come up with a couple of tricks to keep going but this is not something I believe will work for 100+ miles. Eventually, I used my handkerchief to compress the area and that seemed to offer a bit of relief. I decided the full trip was a bad idea but wanted to “summit” at least so trudged on the additional 1000+ vertical feet to the top of the pass.

Upon turning around after a brief stop to get some food and change shirts, I couldn’t believe how painful the leg became. If I were the panicking type, I can assure you that things would have gotten silly. I limped down the top section then tried running a bit once the pitch became less steep. This seemed to work and I was able to keep a fairly steady pace back down Hope to the valley below. Once the trail leveled out, I alternated walking and running back to the river then back to Twin Lakes.

I have put in calls to Mark to see if he can squeeze me in next week and Ben, a friend of mine who is an experienced athlete and who has finished Leadville at least once to see what to try next. I am thinking this will involve switching all remaining training to the bike until the last week or so, when I may try a couple short runs. Not really sure right now the best course of action. I definitely also want to see if there are any tricks I can employ to help get me through the race (ice, compression, booze) and, at this point, am pretty much game for anything that might enable me to get through it. 27 days until the start. That should give me plenty of time to get this figured out.

I’ll post some photos in a bit. I only took a couple as the day was a bit gray and will get them posted ASAP.

Think shin-ey thoughts.

~stubert.

Edit: I spoke with Ben last night and he provided a different insight into my situation. With less than four weeks until the race, I really don’t have much more intense training to accomplish. His take on the situation is that I can jump on the bike, finish out the month with less abusive training that will maintain my current fitness levels and give my body a rest prior to the race. Going in refreshed and healthy is much more important than any incremental fitness gains I might achieve at this point. Great advice.

Leadville tip: Two tips, actually…

Tip 1: Many people take off their shoes while crossing the river. My experience is that with good socks, they dry quickly and there is no need to waste time swapping them out at this juncture. I plan to swap shoes at Winfield and then again after crossing back over in Twin Lakes.

Tip 2: Bug spray is most welcome during the first couple miles out of Twin Lakes. This marshy section is rife with mosquitoes and keeping them at bay is a good idea.