Vibram Five Fingers and the Ankle

Short run at Pineland today to test things out. Original plan was to go barefoot, but Ian offered to loan me a pair of Vibram Five Finger Flows (originally owned by Chuck). Having never tried them before, I thought this was a great chance to test them out.

I really liked them. I noticed my stride was different right off the bat, striking more with the forefoot as opposed to the heal. It felt comfortable, efficient and natural. I liked it. Really liked it.

Unfortunately, the ankle started barking, and doing so loudly. Same thing I've been experiencing the past month, but more pronounced. It's a sharp pain in a localized area just above the inside ankle bone on the right foot. I'm making a doctor appointment first thing Monday morning to get X-rays. I suspect it might be a stress fracture, but who knows.

Ran 2.4 miles @ ~9:30/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - N/A
Trails.
Very hilly.
Upper 60s, overcast, humid.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt, cap.

The Aftermath

After going through the five stages of grief, I'm now at acceptance and am analyzing what's next. I'd like to apologize for my whiny DNF post, though it was how I was feeling at the time so I'm at peace with it. Though it may sound like a lot of consilating bullcrap, the DNF is going to be a great motivator on several fronts.

First off, I need to get everything in order. I need to let the injuries heal and decide what caused them to begin with and how to address them. There have just been way too many problems with injuries this past year. Something isn't right.

I'm just about done with "Born to Run". I'll do a full review once I'm done, but holy crap, this book is a huge eye opener and a great read. But I bring it up because I can't help but wonder if it's shoe choices that are the root of my problems. Or, simply put, shoes themselves.

I'm going to experiment with barefoot and Vibram Five Finger running and see if it helps. Why? Read "Born to Run" and you'll know. I know of several people it's helped out immensely, including Chuck. I used to poke fun at him for his barefoot and VFF anticts, but I'm sold, at least for now, and Chuck is my messiah. There are several others like Chuck. Ian is also experimenting with it lately. Given my injury history, I'm really looking forward to giving this a shot.

Keep in mind this isn't an either/or change. My plan is to incorporate barefoot/VFF running into normal running slowly, and ramp it up gradually but even then I don't foresee it replacing shoes entirely. One thing at at time though. I plan on giving it a shot this weekend once I heal up a little more.

DNF

I DNF'd at mile 43.8 due to injury. The ankle pain I experienced a few weeks ago in the right foot made itself known again and I also pulled my left quad really bad as a result of the altered gait.

According to the aid station doctor, I have bad tendinitis in the ankle resulting in limited mobility and flexibility in the foot. While that was painful in itself, it was tolerable. But when I pulled the quadricep a mile or two before the aid station, going on was impossible. My limp was (and still is) really bad.

I have to say the doctors and the volunteers at the Last Chance (appropriate name) aid station were all great. They took my dilemma very seriously and bent over backwards to try and get me going. However, efforts were futile, and I asked if they were going to yank me from the race. They said it was borderline, but ultimately made it my choice, but it was clear there was only one real option. I was somewhat surprised they left it in my hands, but at the time.. who knew? It could have just been a bad knot or something in my quad, but later it became clear it was a bad pull.

I get the impression they only really yank you if you could die or something, which is good and the way it should be. However, other than being cougar bait, I wasn't going to die. I could still move, but only at an old man's pace, if that. I told them I couldn't go on and dropped. They looked a bit relieved at that.

Perhaps needless to say, I'm immensely disappointed. This is a tough pill to swallow. DNF's are common in the ultra world, but given that this was at Western States just makes it rough. Put on top of that the hassle of it getting canceled last year and extending the wait makes it even rougher. Go ahead and throw in everyone that flew out to help me out and it's rougher still.

It also stinks because other than the progressing ankle/quad problem, I was feeling pretty good out there. The heat was definitely really tough, but I was staying at my starting weight of 178 and moving along just fine until the injuries came on progressively and the pace was affected and started to drop.

I'm going to take a few weeks off and heal up. As for this morning, the quad still feels just as bad. I'm really sick of this string of injuries.

Western States 100 Tracking

If you're interested, you can track me and the other Western States 100 runners here:

Western States 100 Tracking

My bib number is 89, in case that's needed once they have it going.

Happy running!

Western States Goals

Or

I head out to California tomorrow, and spent the morning doing some cleaning and this afternoon and tonight will be about packing and getting my gear and drop bags arranged. The long wait is nearly over and I can't wait to get started!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about my goals and I've made some revisions. There are goals and there is reality, and the two aren't always necessarily the same. I think the reality is I'll probably finish between 25 1/2-26 hours, based on calculations comparing my own VT100 times to others who have done both races. That's logic talking, pure and simple, and it's hard to argue with logic. I appreciate all of the encouragement that I can break 24, but it's time to get real and math rarely lies.

That being said, I'm still going for breaking 24 hours, and that is the goal. Despite what I said above and at the risk of sounding contradictory, I'm not resigned to finishing in 25 1/2 - 26 hours, and will run as hard and as smart as I can for the silver. Never done this course and my training has been going well, so who knows? I'll just give it my best and hopefully it'll all be enough. The only real disappointment would be not walking away with any buckle whatsoever, silver or bronze, so finishing that sucker while giving it my best is all I can really ask. I'll seriously be happy with either so long as that happens.

As for today, just a quick four miles on the roads. Opted not to hit the trails as I need to make sure my three pairs of trail shoes either dry out or remain dry before I pack them away. At least California promises sunshine. Forecasts still call for heat, but are showing a downward trend for the high temp in the canyons, which is great (97 last night, 95 this morning, 94 as of this post).

Ran 4.0 miles @ 8:17/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 137/149
Paved roads.
Mostly flat.
Mid 60s, overcast, light rain at start.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt.

End of School Run

Last day of school today and I have the next few months off. It's been an awesome year of teaching (my fifth), and while I'll enjoy the break, I'm sure the trend will continue where by early August I'm looking forward to getting back.

But for now, time to celebrate! Went out for a muddy trail run this afternoon. With the weather we've had this past month, you'd think Seattle's climate has jumped over our way... cool, rainy and overcast most days and only a small handful days of sun that haven't lasted long.

The heat out in California will be quite a contrast later this week. I'll have to summon my Florida upbringing to battle what's expected. Currently, the forecast is calling for temps in the mid-90s on Saturday for the lower elevations. The climb up to Devil's Thumb will be a hot one. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate with a regular supplement of electrolyte pills and hopefully I'll be fine. Hey, at least there are no wildfire to cancel the race as of yet!

Ran 4.2 miles @ 9:33/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 142/161
Muddy trails, fire roads.
Very hilly.
Lower 60s, overcast, light rain.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt.

The Deer Flies Are Not Missed

Did the 7.1 mile loop in the woods out back at a moderate pace. Pretty hard to push the pace with all the mud and large puddles from all the rain we've gotten lately, and I told myself to slow down on the fire road sections where you can go faster, just to keep things at a moderately slow level. Tomorrow will be shorter and slower, with the goal of keeping the heart rate in the 130s for recovery.

The deer flies have been out the past few weeks, but their numbers are low and their attacks are slow. They haven't really been much of a nuisance at all. It's been really nice. Normally by now, they are out in full force and quite relentless. Not the case so far. No doubt this has been because of cooler weather this month and lots of rainfall. I'm musing that without the sun and warmer temperatures their metabolisms are low. Regardless, I don't miss their company.

Worth noting I slowed down to talk to a couple of horseback riders on the second fireroad section. They knew of the VT100 (100-mile horse race also accompanies the ultra) and had visited it before to spectate. I got the impression that's a huge event for the horse crowd also. Cool.

Ran 7.1 miles @ 9:39/mile pace.
AHR/MHR - 148/166
Technical, muddy trails and fire roads.
Very hilly.
70 degrees, partly cloudy turning overcast.
Shorts, short sleeved shirt, cap.