Stress and strain

My knee felt like plastic yesterday – pretty flexible but still a little stiff, especially in the lower hamstrings. I don't know if it was all that dancing, the drive down or a little of both. I iced it here and there during the day, did some yoga stretches and took some Motrin. Today it feels a bit looser. Hopefully I can get a run in tomorrow before running another six miles on Saturday.

I had another joint bother me this week – my left arm has a mild case of tennis elbow. Pile this on top of the discomfort in my right shoulder. It probably all started two weeks ago when I forgot my hydration belt at home and had to run 10K with my Hydraform bottle, which I happened to have in the car. The extra strain on my arms over six miles may have taken its toll. All the dancing since then has of course augmented the joint stress.

All sauced out

After two and a half days of almost non-stop dancing, I'm ready to crash into bed. That drive to Riverside tomorrow (actually later today) is not going to be fun!

Six miles and salsa style

I got to the hotel at the San Francisco Salsa Congress yesterday afternoon, took some dance workshops and checked in. Last night was a blast with the New Swing Sextet playing lots of great rhythms including their famous cover version of "My Favorite Things" (The Sound of Music).

I went to sleep at around 2:45 in the morning. Despite this, I woke up bright and early at 6:30, ate a bagel and cream cheese with a glass of O.J. for breakfast, then hit the treadmill and ran 10K. At 9 AM I went to a yoga/pilates workshop. The pilates were a series of seemingly endless ab exercises that thoroughly kicked my ass. The yoga portion was mainly a set of balancing exercise augmented with variously leg stretches, although as a generalized set of stretches it didn't focus as much on the IT band and hamstrings as I would've liked.

My knee is holding up pretty well so far, although I did have to put some Therapain on it last night. The most trouble I had was today at one workshop in the conference hall that didn't have a portable dance floor, so we had to dance on glazed concrete. It was pretty rough on all my lower joints.

Dogs on the loose

Last night was the most intense session of Stiff Guys Yoga we went to since we started. It was me, Linda, Shel and Jeni. Nathan and Deanna had to bail out last minute. Good thing for her – she was whimpering last week and I know she'd've been crying for mercy last night.


The class focused on hips and core. Exercises included balancing on all fours while lifting opposing arms and legs, and lifting each knee laterally and straightening the leg outward from all fours in the infamous "peeing dog" stance. This was by far the most intense hip stretch we've had so far; all my hip muscles felt rubbery afterwards. Amazingly, I still had the energy to go salsa dancing later on.

(So now we've learned the downward-facing dog and peeing dog. It's good they don't follow the same analogy in naming the squat.)

My knee feels loose and resilient today even with all that physical exertion. I was afraid I wouldn't be healed enough to dance at the S.F. Salsa Congress but my knee feels good to go (even though I won't be dancing as hardcore as I've done in previous years). A good thing too, as I'll need some mental release from the let-down of not being able to run my marathon this year.

Hang ten

I did end up running 10K this morning. It was a chilly, overcast morning that threatened to rain but as soon as we started running my body got nice and toasty with barely a drizzle. Linda, Bill, Shel, Jeni, Dan and I ran the full 10K while Deanna and Nathan walked. Paul was out of commission this week under Dr. Gina's orders resting his hips.

The knee felt a lot better today. No stiffness or swelling during the run. There was no need to stop and stretch like I did last week.

The parking lot at LGHS was packed. I thought, "Who could be wanting to run on a day like this?" It turns out Team in Training had one of its informational seminars for their winter running season. And here I thought I was uncommonly dedicated!

Low maintenance

The lower hamstrings got tight on Tuesday after a 30-minute track walk at the Campbell Community Center. They felt like piano strings poised to sing notes only a soprano could love. But after yoga last night the muscles got looser and things started to settle in again.

On Wednesday I went to see Dr. Mike and among the usual suspects he readjusted my fibula again. It was moving around more than he expected and he wasn't sure why. Two possible causes: a lot of driving and a lot of dancing. My commute is only eight miles each day but I usually drive up to San Francisco or Oakland once a week. As far as dancing, I told him that all partner dance is designed for right-handed people, so a lot of the moves involve pushing off or anchoring with the right leg; I illustrated this by showing him a video clip on my Treo of me dancing at last year's salsa congress. He was interested in seeing some dance moves at my next adjustment to see first-hand the forces they put on my body. Dr. Mike also did a knee-cap adjustment where he held my patella in place while I jerk-flexed my quads – holy @*?! did it sting! But my knee cap has felt much less abrasive every since.

I saw Gina this morning and she said all my muscles are fine; it's now just a matter of getting my knee back to full strength. She said six miles is a good safe distance to run (although I can always run further 'til it hurts if my knee feels up to it) so I'll be running six miles tomorrow. I may add the extra 376 yards to make it a full 10K – it just sounds better.

Almost two weeks of being a stir-crazy couch potato made my muscles painfully stiff, so my goal at this point is to stay conditioned and loose. Once my knee gets strong enough that my muscles don't feel like they have to compensate for it, I'll be ready to increase my distance again.

A new beginning

The last two days have been pretty rough. Although I had a promising pain-free run on Sunday, my muscles were still tense at the end of the six miles as they worked beyond their design to compensate for the weakness in my knee. Since then, my knee has started stiffening up again. Although it is much better and more mobile than it was just a week ago, the aggressive schedule that I placed on myself – including a quick ramp-up with 6-, 10- and 15-mile runs – demanded that everything be perfect all the way up to race day.

I realize over the past week that I've been caught up in "finisher fever" – watching my friends complete the Portland, Silicon Valley and New York Marathons – and that I was letting this enthusiasm overpower my basic need to truly listen to my body. Now that I've had a couple of days to reflect on my condition, I've decided that it will be best for me not to run the full CIM next month. I still plan to run as part of a relay team to culminate my fundraising drive. I will maintain this blog at least until race day. Next year, I will start a new blog that will hopefully end at 26.2 miles!

Thanks for the all support you've given me this season. Your well-wishes have willed me through this amazing, life-changing endeavor. I look forward to coming back next year a stronger, wiser and more experienced runner. Always remember:

"Defeat doesn't finish a man – quit does." -Richard Nixon

Product reviews

As requested by Ron in his comments last week, here are my reviews of two running products I've been using:

• Amphipod RunLite 4 – I bought this hydration belt plus two additional 10.5 oz. bottles and an energy-gel flask. The appeal of this for me over Fuel Belt is its customizable bottle configuration. The Velcro fastener is very strong and has never come undone. As long as the belt is snug (and it does stay snug very well over long distances) it stays pretty much bounce-free – and I've run with as many as six bottles! I especially like the convenience of grabbing a bottle one-handed, especially for those bottles in the back. My only knock on the product: Its customizability means that sometimes the bottles may slowly shuffle around over long distances if the belt isn't snug. This can be reduced by adjusting the tightness of the belt on the fly, which isn't too big a deal.
• Garmin Forerunner 205 – For me, this is an essential piece of hardware to keep my running pace and adrenaline in check. I train on a trail with pre-marked distances, and using these as a guide, I've found the Forerunner to be quite accurate. During certified road races, the device tells me I've run further than the official course distance; at the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon, for example, my Garmin distance was 13.30 miles, an extra 1,000 feet over 13.1. This of course is not a fault of the device itself but the fact that it's practically impossible to stay true to the USATF-certified shortest possible route. Two knocks on the device:
1. I use Interval training heavily to do 5/1's, but in this mode you can't use the auto-lap feature (to automatically mark miles).
2. Sometimes it takes a while (a minute or so) to get a GPS lock even outdoors. Strangely, I can often get a lock inside my house quickly.

Good luck to Ron at next year's Little Rock Marathon!

Six-pace much the richer

This morning's six-miler went pretty smoothly. I was the only one who ran the full six miles. On the heels of the SVM, everyone else either walked or ran halfway. I finished in 1:11:22, an 11:52/mile pace.

At this point in my recovery it was the perfect distance. My knee never got stiff or painful, although it did feel a little tense the last two miles. I did a two-minute stretch as a precaution around mile 4.2. Even though my muscles never felt painful, they still let me know that I need to keep them loose between now and race day. There's definitely more yoga in my future.

High five

Great progress! I ran 5K last night pain-free and with barely any soreness. Afterwards I went dancing for the first time in two weeks. I was rusty and a little tentative, and dancing was surprisingly tiring – maybe because mentally I was holding back. Still, it was a fun night out overall.

With strong and determined strides I'm slowly climbing back into the game. On to tomorrow's six miles!

A mile in my shoes

I was so excited to be running again that I went back out today. I ran two loops around the neighborhood (about 1 1/3 miles) without incident. The muscle and ligament strains I felt yesterday morning are quickly going away. Even between this afternoon and tonight, the muscles around my knee are noticeably looser.

It's hard to believe that just two days ago it felt impossible to run. I was worried that I'd have to rest for another week and that I wouldn't have enough time to train for CIM. Now I'm starting to regain my stride and rebuild my confidence. Friday I'll run two miles, then Sunday I'll try for six miles with a contingent of Red Rovers willing me forward. If all goes well, I'll officially be back!