You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[WillRunForPizza]

I'm sure I'll say it again, but good luck for Space Coast! That weekend can have hot weather just pop up out of nowhere, so keep your fingers crossed. At least you seem to do ok in the heat.

Thanks!! Yeah, I will be checking the weather constantly once the 10-day forecast comes out

I know you weren't in the DC area when you observed this, but on the natural trails in Rock Creek Park, Northwest Branch, etc., SO MANY people just walk right along with their dogs off leash. To be fair, the vast majority of these dogs just go right by me, but some don't. I grew up with dogs, but I still don't like to be jumped on or charged by dogs I don't know - or the possibility of them tripping me. I'm glad you set a good example.

Oh yeah, that why I NEVER take my dog there! I'm not so worried about me (although I have had off-leash dogs charge me too ), but as someone who has a much-better-these-days-but-still-occasionally-reactive dog, the absolute last thing I want is for some strange dog to run up to him, even if it just wants to play. I do not understand what could possibly be so difficult about putting a leash on your dog. If you can't take responsibility for your pet, then you shouldn't have one.

Okay, sorry, you found one of my pet peeves: people who don't understand that they have to actually share public spaces with others and can't just do whatever they want. Rant finished!


Clip of that scene from The Emperor's New Groove where Pacha's wife gets so mad she has to rage-clean something

There was a guy last weekend who had his dog following him on the trail. The dog was on-leash, but the guy wasn't holding it and just let it drag behind the dog - and it was a super-long leash of like 15 feet!

...


...


But...there are so many things for the leash to get caught on!

Yeah, I tried this a few times but found it too annoying. I use lap pace - with a lap of 1 mile (unless I hit the lap button) - and it's good enough. When you start a new mile, it's a good indicator of your pace, almost instantaneous, and then you have it average out in the end so that you don't worry too much about constantly trying to adjust your pace.

Yeah, I should probably change my default screen so it does that instead.

 

[azrivest]

Fun fact, Strava says (probably accurately) that this was my 3rd-fastest 10-miler - it was only about 40 seconds slower than my official PR from April.

Also according to Strava this was my second fastest HM (Still 5 minutes slower than September's PR, though)

Did you just almost PR twice in two training runs? You seem to be in a good position for Space Coast!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Did you just almost PR twice in two training runs? You seem to be in a good position for Space Coast!

Eh, yes and no - the 10M official PR wasn't necessarily fully reflective of my fitness, and I do have a 10M split from September's half that was a couple of minutes faster than that. And 5 minutes on a HM is a pretty significant difference. But yeah, hopefully it's a good sign!

Less good though, after yesterday's run, my Achilles (I think?) started to ache when I was walking around, and a few miles into today's run the ache started to develop exciting stabby sort of jabs. ARGH. I cut the run about half a mile short and the stabiness subsided while I walked the rest of the way back. I think I'm going to take tomorrow off and see how the workout goes on Thursday instead. But NOOO why now? If anybody has any tips on sudden Achilles pain, let me know...

 

[striker1064]

Bummer! Hope it feels better soon.

Here's the upside- you're tapering and under 2 weeks away from race day. Don't push it. Sit out and rest the entire time between now and the race if you need (despite the fact this will drive you batty). Rest that Achilles!

My rule of thumb for injuries is always one extra day rest, then test. If it still hurts, I take off an entire week.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Less good though, after yesterday's run, my Achilles (I think?) started to ache when I was walking around, and a few miles into today's run the ache started to develop exciting stabby sort of jabs. ARGH. I cut the run about half a mile short and the stabiness subsided while I walked the rest of the way back. I think I'm going to take tomorrow off and see how the workout goes on Thursday instead. But NOOO why now? If anybody has any tips on sudden Achilles pain, let me know...

Here's hoping it's just taper madness!

 

[avondale]

When I ran MCM, I started getting Achilles pain in one ankle just a couple of miles in. I'd never had any significant Achilles pain before. It eventually got pretty bad - could've sworn it was going to tear any time. I have no idea how close it really was to a serious injury, but I kept going and nothing happened with it. I don't even think it necessarily hurt after the race - no idea why it happened. Hopefully it's just a weird thing for you, too.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Well, I went for a run this morning, and it went...okay. I decided to skip the workout and just run the 1.7-mile loop around my parents' house. No issues for the first 4 miles or so, then a light ache started. It wasn't too bad but did start to get worse as I came up on mile 7, and then I was back at the start of the loop so I decided to just stop there

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Update: I was googling and found an orthopedic clinic near my parents' house that miraculously took both walk-ins and my insurance, so I headed over there this afternoon. They took a few x-rays and pronounced it an overuse strain. Apparently the only fix is rest but I have approval to run the marathon as long as I stop if I have a serious problem (which probably you should do just generally, but I am a runner, so...). No evidence of tearing/fluid buildup, which is positive.

I asked if doing some of my training on the bike would help, and they said definitely, so I'm going to try that for a few days at least. It will look a lot different than what I had planned, but as @striker1064 pointed out, my training is pretty much done at this point, so it won't really hurt anything to substitute cross-training between now and marathon day. Fingers crossed, anyway.

 

[jmasgat]

Glad you have an answer to your problem. I share your frustration about the seemingly random, "never had this happen before, why now?" problems that crop up. Hope the rest and cross training resolves the problem.

 

[AZMermaid]

Oh man that is so hard to have this flare up at the last stretch. I agree you have the miles in the bank. Resting it some now is wise! Good luck!

I came across a huge unattended dog on my last run. It was sniffing around a yard. At first I thought it was a coyote which are around in the early morning hours. Luckily it ignored me. I suspect it may have lived at the house and have been let out, but why out front vs back I’m not sure.

 

[striker1064]

(which probably you should do just generally, but I am a runner, so...)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Injury diaries: Tips and treatment
In which I guess this thing has gotten to the point where it needs a whole category

So to review, I have apparently strained my left Achilles. It starts to get painful after 4-5 miles of running, which is a problem because that leaves me with at least 21.2 miles to go. However, things are looking a bit brighter today.

First, I got some advice from my virtual run club from a coach who is also dealing with Achilles issues (but still ran NYC on it!). For the benefit of anyone else who has this problem, because I didn't find all of this elsewhere on the interwebs:

• Use a higher-drop shoe (both for running and just walking around the house - no walking around barefoot or in flip-flops, which is what I had been doing)
• Loading the tendon helps, so do (eccentric) calf raises - so starting at the top and slowly lowering instead of the reverse - with a weight if possible
• Carbon plates can aggravate it. I was planning to race in my Endorphin Pro 3s, but learning that, I'm now leaning towards my Novablasts

Then, my parents had a few friends over for dinner. One of them happened to be a pretty serious runner (mainly ultras) and has dealt with quite a few injuries, which was lucky for me if not for him He recommended going to a chiropractor for Graston (scraping) and soft wave (ultrasound) therapy. And by another fortunate coincidence, one of my dad's golf buddies is a chiropractor, so he set me up with a soft wave therapy appointment this morning!

The way the doctor explained it when I went in, the machine stimulates stem cell growth to help repair damaged tissue. I have never had an ultrasound, but the device looks similar to the ones you see on TV:


Soft wave therapy machine

The machine emits these click-pulses, and the doctor told me if it hurts, that means it's in the right spot. So...success I guess? She said it takes 6-8 weeks to fully address an issue, but it starts to have an impact right away. I can't really tell because it doesn't hurt if I'm not running, but I'm hopeful. I have additional appointments on Monday and Wednesday, with Graston scheduled for Wednesday as well, so if my luck continues to improve, I could be in decent shape for the marathon!

Unfortunately I am not supposed to do anything but rest it in the meantime - not even biking or aqua jogging, which I was going to try with a neighbor's floatie belt. At least until Monday, when we can reassess. It's weird not to be doing something, and if I don't run until the marathon, that will be the longest I've gone without running since I think March of 2022 I think my head might explode before then

 

[avondale]

That's all very interesting! What good luck that you were able to get the soft wave therapy treatment so quickly. I'm hoping that it helps for you, and I'll be interesting to hear about it.

 

[Herding_Cats]

My PT did graston for my pf, which was making my achilles angry (he also had me doing the eccentric calf stuff.) Graston made my whole calf feel bruised/tender to the touch for a few days. Did it help? Yes. Did it hurt? Also yes.

 

[striker1064]

I did 4 sessions of the soft wave treatment for my plantar fasciitis a few years ago and yeah, that thing hurts. I do think it helped a little. The tough part was insurance doesn't cover the cost (or at least didn't at the time) and it was quite expensive here in DC.

Good luck!

 

[azrivest]

Loading the tendon helps, so do (eccentric) calf raises - so starting at the top and slowly lowering instead of the reverse - with a weight if possible

This was also the exercise my PT suggested when I hurt my Achilles a few years ago and I can attest that it really helps.

Good luck with the taper madness. Hopefully your head won't explode too much!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

That's all very interesting! What good luck that you were able to get the soft wave therapy treatment so quickly. I'm hoping that it helps for you, and I'll be interesting to hear about it.

Thanks! Yeah, bad luck to get injured right before a marathon but good luck to have all these helpful connections.

My PT did graston for my pf, which was making my achilles angry (he also had me doing the eccentric calf stuff.) Graston made my whole calf feel bruised/tender to the touch for a few days. Did it help? Yes. Did it hurt? Also yes.

This makes me glad the chiropractor is closed Thu-Sun for Thanksgiving so the last day possible for it was Wednesday...

I did 4 sessions of the soft wave treatment for my plantar fasciitis a few years ago and yeah, that thing hurts. I do think it helped a little. The tough part was insurance doesn't cover the cost (or at least didn't at the time) and it was quite expensive here in DC.

Good luck!

Yeah, it's definitely not cheap, even with a friends and family sort of discount. At least I am saving money on food by staying with my parents!

This was also the exercise my PT suggested when I hurt my Achilles a few years ago and I can attest that it really helps.

Good luck with the taper madness. Hopefully your head won't explode too much!

Thanks! Good to know it helped!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

November 13 - 19, 2023
Marathon training week 15 | 7 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which things go off the rails

Scheduled

The plan. Which did not happen.

Actual
Monday
Easy: 5 miles, 54:42 (10:55), max HR 151, avg. 139

So far, so good. I was happy with how I felt after Sunday's workout; my legs were tired but not hurting (yet).

Pilates

Used a resistance band for the last 3 exercises.

Oh yeah, and my mom and I went over to Epcot for a couple of hours later in the day to wrap up the Food & Wine Festival, which then I kind of forgot about due to my Achilles issues. So real quick, here's what we had:


Australia: sweet and spicy shrimp (3/5) and lamb chop (3.5/5)
Hawaii: pork slider (3/5), pineapple wine (2/5), and Kona IPA (2.5/5)


France: escargot croissant (4/5)


Ireland: chocolate pudding cake (4/5), honey wine (3/5), and shake (3/5)


Brazil: pão de queijo (3/5) and frozen caipirinha (3/5)


Wine & Wedge: artist palette (2/5) and fig & balsamic souffle (5/5)


Completer surprise: strawberry cheesecake soft serve (3/5)

Tuesday
Easy: 5 4.54 miles, 48:15 (10:38), max HR 146, avg. 136

As I mentioned on Tuesday, this run was going okay until my Achilles, which had been aching a bit after Monday's run, really started to hurt around mile 4. Gave it a couple minutes to see if it would go away on its own but it did not. So I cut the run short and walked the rest of the way back, during which the pain subsided back to the initial minor ache.

core

Wednesday
off

Moved up my rest day hoping my Achilles issue would fix itself. Felt increasingly anxious about it.

Thursday
Easy: 7 miles, 1:10 (9:59), max HR 151, avg. 139

Ran around the 1.7-mile loop. No issues other than rain and cars trying to murder me for the first 4 miles, then a light ache that gradually increased the rest of the run. Made it back around mile 7 and the ache was getting painful so decided to just stop. Went to the orthopedist in the afternoon and got diagnosed with an overuse strain.

Friday
Bike: 60 min, max HR 158, avg. 137

I got on the creaky, prehistoric exercise bike (you may remember this bike from the week after MW) for a torturous hour. I'm pretty sure 1 hour of biking is technically equivalent to like 40 minutes of running, but the biking felt a lot harder. I was going to try some aqua jogging afterwards, but it rained all afternoon.

lower body strength

2 x 10 [per side]: deadlifts, squats, alternating lunges, sumo squats, eccentric straight-leg calf raises, step ups, side step ups, eccentric bent-leg calf raises. Still used weights but about half as much as normal.

Saturday
off

The soft wave doctor told me to rest so I did.

Sunday
upper body strength

I decided strength training still counted as resting as long as it was just my upper body. But then I also did some eccentric calf raises

Totals
Running: 16.57 miles, 2h 53m
Strength/mobility: 1h 6m
Bike: 1h
Total: 4h 59m


Strava training log

Cool, so that's 16.5 of 43 miles completed. This is fine

Coming up

• Soft wave x2
• Graston
• Maybe, hopefully, some aqua jogging and/or biking
• Thanksgiving
• Make a playlist
• Somehow come up with a plan for the marathon
• Hope I can actually run the marathon

Hey @DopeyBadger, got any data on how not running at all for a week and a half affects marathon performances??

 

[flav]

got any data on how not running at all for a week and a half affects marathon performances?

He has at least my example. Back in August 2021, my legs did a back flip (over extension) at the water park. For the first time in over 10 years of knowing me, my PT told me to stop running for at least a week, ideally two.

A few weeks later, in September, I had my first race (a 5k) since Dopey 2020, imagine the excitement, and yet, everyone (including @DopeyBadger) warn me not to race it, to hold the reins, if I wanted to run the marathon I was registered to on October 3rd.

I listened to all advices, iced, rested, took it slow, and had a great time at the marathon with a solid although slightly conservative PR. I wish you the same. It is better to take one step back now than hinder your chances for the marathon and any future runs. Take care and have an efficient recovery.

ETA:
08-16: Got hurt
09-12: Careful 5k
10-03: Good Marathon

 

[WillRunForPizza]

He has at leas my example. Back in August 2021, my legs did a back flip (over extension) at the water park. For the first time in over 10 years of knowing me, my PT told me to stop running for at least a week, ideally two. A few weeks later, I had my first race since Dopey 2020, imagine the excitement, and yet, everyone (including @DopeyBadger) warn me not to race it, to hold the reins, if I wanted to run the marathon I was registered to on October 3rd. I listened to all advices, iced, rested, took it slow, and had a great time at the marathon. I wish you the same. It is better to take one step back now than hinder your chances for the marathon and any future runs. Take care and have an efficient recovery.

Thanks for sharing. That's certainly disappointing from my perspective, but I appreciate hearing about your experience.

I think for me, if I can't race the marathon I'm not going to run it. I did my "just finish" marathon at Disney, and the point of this one was to see how fast I can go. I could still do the half easy, but even "easy" marathon recovery takes so long, not to mention trying to recover from the Achilles strain, that it doesn't seem worth it to do it "for fun".

On the bright side, the way the course works, I can make that call any time up to mile 13.1, so if I do have issues, I will just jog/walk it in at the half. The only thing on my schedule after this is MW half/PW challenge, which I don't feel the need to race and could even walk if I had to, so I have plenty of time for recovery afterwards. So far all the medical professionals have indicated running the marathon is okay, so that's my plan for now.