Friday, March 5, 2010
Expect the worst but hope for the best.
So the verdict is a stress reaction of the Tibia. This still sucks, but it's not as bad as a stress fracture - I still learned from my mistake, but didn't necessarily have to learn the hardest way. So I've got some (more) recovering to do, and then I'm back at it...with a more conservative plan in mind.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Update
Just figured I would update anybody reading this on why I haven't been posting as often as I used to be! After a decent week of getting back in to the running game with my knee seemingly okay. Unfortunately I became too preoccupied to make sure my knee was okay that I failed to pay enough attention to a shin pain that was becoming increasingly problematic. So, this past Sunday I ended up stopping a run early - not because of my knee, but because of my shin...sigh. I took 3 days off iced, took advil and did exercises that supposedly help shin splint treatment. I assumed Once I hadn't felt anything for two days I was good to go. After two minutes in to my run I realized I was wrong and had to stop and walk back. So I'm taking MORE time off. At least my knee and groin problem should be completely gone once this shin thing is figured out.
If anyone would like to voice their opinions on what it may be here are the symptoms:
- It's a throbbing pain
- It's located right in between my knee and ankle, I feel it on the medial side of my leg. It seems to be generally anterior, but is posterior to my shin.
- I can more or less pinpoint where the pain is when I feel it.
- The pain slowly goes away after about 10-12 hrs after I run (although I only figured this out a few times before I stopped running - it kept me awake, so I figured that wasn't a good thing).
- Impact seems to be the main cause.
A few more notes:
I don't even know if it is muscular, skeletal or a tendon problem. I have tried to narrow it down, but haven't really been able to. I can't tell if icing helps. I also tried some exercises with my toes to see if it was related to the... extensor digitorum family. I didn't notice anything there....
If anyone would like to voice their opinions on what it may be here are the symptoms:
- It's a throbbing pain
- It's located right in between my knee and ankle, I feel it on the medial side of my leg. It seems to be generally anterior, but is posterior to my shin.
- I can more or less pinpoint where the pain is when I feel it.
- The pain slowly goes away after about 10-12 hrs after I run (although I only figured this out a few times before I stopped running - it kept me awake, so I figured that wasn't a good thing).
- Impact seems to be the main cause.
A few more notes:
I don't even know if it is muscular, skeletal or a tendon problem. I have tried to narrow it down, but haven't really been able to. I can't tell if icing helps. I also tried some exercises with my toes to see if it was related to the... extensor digitorum family. I didn't notice anything there....
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Introduction: Week 1 (Febuary 21st - Febuary 27th)
Sunday: 6 miles in 45:00 (7:30/mi)
Monday: 8 miles in 58:00 (7:15/mi)
Tuesday: AM - 4.5 miles in 34:00 (7:33/mi) PM - 4.2 miles in 31:00 (7:23/mi)
Wednesday: 9 miles in 65:00 (7:13/mi)
Thursday: 8 miles in 57:00 (7:08)
Friday: AM - 4.3 miles in 32:00 (7:27/mi) PM - 8.4 miles in 60:00 (7:09/mi)
Saturday: 3.8 miles in 30:00 (7:54/mi)
Didn't note any of the runs because they were all sort of the same, just easy...The only important thing to mention is that my knee and shin have been sore on and off. That's why I chose not to do a main run on Saturday, just to make sure I give the knee some time to recover after a full week of running.
56.2 miles
6:52 hrs
2 doubles
0 off
Monday: 8 miles in 58:00 (7:15/mi)
Tuesday: AM - 4.5 miles in 34:00 (7:33/mi) PM - 4.2 miles in 31:00 (7:23/mi)
Wednesday: 9 miles in 65:00 (7:13/mi)
Thursday: 8 miles in 57:00 (7:08)
Friday: AM - 4.3 miles in 32:00 (7:27/mi) PM - 8.4 miles in 60:00 (7:09/mi)
Saturday: 3.8 miles in 30:00 (7:54/mi)
Didn't note any of the runs because they were all sort of the same, just easy...The only important thing to mention is that my knee and shin have been sore on and off. That's why I chose not to do a main run on Saturday, just to make sure I give the knee some time to recover after a full week of running.
56.2 miles
6:52 hrs
2 doubles
0 off
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Starting anew
The past two weeks aren't worth posting as they consisted of 9.3 miles of running for the first week with 540 min minutes of cross training, and then a total of 7.5 miles the following week with no cross training. I have decided that attempting to run Shamrock would be a poor decision since I would be nowhere near as prepared for it as I should be. This isn't thinking in terms of performance, more so in terms of the injury risk accompanied with jumping right back in to it after so much time off. I have reviewed the training program I laid out for Shamrock and determined it was much too rushed. After cross country I was quite anxious to start up training for a half marathon, and was very hasty in my decision of which Half to run. I chose Shamrock which was a little more than 15 weeks away, which, when I look back at it, was a very poor choice. This new program I am drafting is comprised of ~3-5 weeks of introductory running to safely build back in to a solid volume of training. Then I will hold that volume for a minimum of 3 months , after that I will begin new phases aimed towards race preparation. This may be a confusing post as I'm just writing out what comes to my mind. In a little while, once I have drafted the program I will post it here.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Development
After my post about training smart I decided to go back and look at ALL of the training I have ever logged in order to examine it. Unfortunately I'm lacking a good amount of information around 2003-2005. I only have 10 weeks from 2003, NOTHING from 2004, 41 weeks from from 2005, and all from 2006-2009. Either way, I took what I had and threw it in a bar graph by week with a 10 week moving average trend line. When examining it I found what I had sort of expected to find:
1) I'm lacking in aerobic development (who isn't?)
2) It seems like I've never had a consistent block over 2 months at a decent volume.
3) There aren't any plateaus (this goes back to the 2nd observation) but I believe it identifies something much more important: that I might be increasing mileage at too fast a rate which leads to injury (the sharp declines).
4) Around 2006-2009 there have been 3 relatively big drops in volume which took awhile to build back from. Unfortunately this is happening to me right now in 2010, so that makes 4 big decreases.
5) This graph identifies the problem with the high school and collegiate systems. There is way too much racing, attempted peaking, and not enough time to focus on aerobic development. That's all I'll say about that though, I don't need to rant.
I'm sure there is more that I can interpret from this data, but I have only looked at it for about 10 minutes thus far. The main thing I figured I would find is that I really need to focus on a long term block of training. Like I've said before, this is the step I probably need to take for long term development. I figure this means a few months of just running and developing my lacking aerobic foundation. I think my focus needs to be steered away from any major racing or peaking (which can inhibit aerobic development) in order to get stronger and to allow myself to make that jump in training and racing which I've been waiting for. Here's the graph, what do you see (you can click on it to enlarge)?
1) I'm lacking in aerobic development (who isn't?)
2) It seems like I've never had a consistent block over 2 months at a decent volume.
3) There aren't any plateaus (this goes back to the 2nd observation) but I believe it identifies something much more important: that I might be increasing mileage at too fast a rate which leads to injury (the sharp declines).
4) Around 2006-2009 there have been 3 relatively big drops in volume which took awhile to build back from. Unfortunately this is happening to me right now in 2010, so that makes 4 big decreases.
5) This graph identifies the problem with the high school and collegiate systems. There is way too much racing, attempted peaking, and not enough time to focus on aerobic development. That's all I'll say about that though, I don't need to rant.
I'm sure there is more that I can interpret from this data, but I have only looked at it for about 10 minutes thus far. The main thing I figured I would find is that I really need to focus on a long term block of training. Like I've said before, this is the step I probably need to take for long term development. I figure this means a few months of just running and developing my lacking aerobic foundation. I think my focus needs to be steered away from any major racing or peaking (which can inhibit aerobic development) in order to get stronger and to allow myself to make that jump in training and racing which I've been waiting for. Here's the graph, what do you see (you can click on it to enlarge)?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Training SMART
Last night I was looking at my training from freshman year of college and was getting a bit frustrated with my lack of development over the years which I have expected. Freshman year I ran 8:36 (3k), 14:41 (5k), and 30:34 (10k). Thus far my PRs have only been slightly improved: 8:29 (1 year later), 14:35 (ran 1 and 2 years later), and 30:17 (run 2 years later). I find it unbelievable that these are still my best times. I have had many instances where I though I was in 14:0x-14:1x shape or mid 29 min shape only to get injured mid season and having to play catch up. Well...it's happening again. So something has to change, and I think I've determined a portion of what it is.
I've got very high expectations and aspirations of myself, and I try to train myself at the level I think I should be at. I never considered this a problem because it has always been manageable, I've never felt myself going to the well, and I've never trained to a point of breakdown. I try to keep it below that line of injury (over training) vs. under training. Yet, sometimes the expectations I have of my body aren't exactly reality. I simply don't have the background in my training for my body to be ready for the workload increase. For the fundamental stage of my training leading in to Shamrock I was hoping to make a big jump in terms of fitness and training level. Therefore I increased my weekly volume, workout volume and intensity. Before this block of training my highest week has been 105 miles, which I've done about 2-3 times. So, when I look back at the weeks before I got injured (97, 108, 109, 90, 116, 115) I think....of course you got injured. Not only was I trying to jump to a volume I've never really done (rather than building to it), but I was also training at that volume - doing workouts at a volume I've never done before (4x3mi, 15 mi tempo).
What did I lose sight of? SMART long term development. The reason I did this training is because I ultimately want to focus on the marathon, and I figured this would be a good "primer" with high volume and workouts semi-similar to marathon training. So, I didn't necessarily lose sight of long term development, I was just trying to rush it (not being smart). As I was looking at the training I had laid out for my specific phase of Shamrock I realized I was doing the same thing, trying to throw in a bunch of workouts. More or less trying to force my body to get where I want it to be as opposed to giving it time to fully and safely progress to that level.
As I rewrite my training coming in to Shamrock I am thinking about the bigger picture and where I want to see myself down the road. Aerobic development takes a lot of time (years), and that development gets sideline whenever I get injured. I won't be planning as many half marathon specific workouts in this phase because I think it's time that I start anew. It's time to focus on development rather than short term goals. I believe this is what will take away that plateau I have had during my collegiate career. This doesn't mean my goals for Shamrock have changed though - I have just taken away the tunnel vision. It would be great if I run around 65 min, and I fully believe I'm capable. Yet, I have a bigger picture in mind, so I need to focus on getting myself there.
I've got very high expectations and aspirations of myself, and I try to train myself at the level I think I should be at. I never considered this a problem because it has always been manageable, I've never felt myself going to the well, and I've never trained to a point of breakdown. I try to keep it below that line of injury (over training) vs. under training. Yet, sometimes the expectations I have of my body aren't exactly reality. I simply don't have the background in my training for my body to be ready for the workload increase. For the fundamental stage of my training leading in to Shamrock I was hoping to make a big jump in terms of fitness and training level. Therefore I increased my weekly volume, workout volume and intensity. Before this block of training my highest week has been 105 miles, which I've done about 2-3 times. So, when I look back at the weeks before I got injured (97, 108, 109, 90, 116, 115) I think....of course you got injured. Not only was I trying to jump to a volume I've never really done (rather than building to it), but I was also training at that volume - doing workouts at a volume I've never done before (4x3mi, 15 mi tempo).
What did I lose sight of? SMART long term development. The reason I did this training is because I ultimately want to focus on the marathon, and I figured this would be a good "primer" with high volume and workouts semi-similar to marathon training. So, I didn't necessarily lose sight of long term development, I was just trying to rush it (not being smart). As I was looking at the training I had laid out for my specific phase of Shamrock I realized I was doing the same thing, trying to throw in a bunch of workouts. More or less trying to force my body to get where I want it to be as opposed to giving it time to fully and safely progress to that level.
As I rewrite my training coming in to Shamrock I am thinking about the bigger picture and where I want to see myself down the road. Aerobic development takes a lot of time (years), and that development gets sideline whenever I get injured. I won't be planning as many half marathon specific workouts in this phase because I think it's time that I start anew. It's time to focus on development rather than short term goals. I believe this is what will take away that plateau I have had during my collegiate career. This doesn't mean my goals for Shamrock have changed though - I have just taken away the tunnel vision. It would be great if I run around 65 min, and I fully believe I'm capable. Yet, I have a bigger picture in mind, so I need to focus on getting myself there.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Week Eight (January 17th to January 24th)
Sunday: 8 miles in 55:00 (6:53/mi)
Ran around Rochester. Didnt feel my knee until 25 minutes (but still felt it which annoyed me). It has definitely gotten better from the 2 days off as it was barely noticeable. Iced after the run. As the 15 mile tempo most likely was a cause of this injury I think there is another, being shoes. I've been running in Axioms and Summons for most of the time rather than the STs I usually run in. Today I started off 10 in STs for 10 minutes, but then switched to my Summons (STs are rubbing a tendon below my ankle). My stride was noticeably more jarring when in the Summons. So, I think I may need to stay with lighter and more flexible shoes.
Monday: Cross trained for 50 min
I went to the Y with Rach to cross train. I actually did a variation off stuff - biking for 30 minutes, elliptical a few minutes, and then aqua jogging for 20 minutes. I switched between things because my knee kept getting aggravated, after 30 minutes it was noticeable on the bike. So, I moved to the elliptical and it was immediately noticeable, so I went to the pool with Rach. I got 20 minutes in before it was, yet again, bother me...so I just treaded water as Rach was finishing up. Looks like I might have to take complete off days and not even cross train, that's pretty darn annoying.
Tuesday: OFF
Taking care of knee and groin.
Wednesday: OFF
Taking care of knee and groin.
Thursday: 8 miles in 55:00 (6:53/mi)
Great run but awful idea for a loop when injured. Real hilly so it didn't help the knee. Back in Cortland so I was able to run with a bunch of guys. Today I decided that I'll try to run through the issue since I was able to do so before with patella tendinitis (as long as I stay on flat surfaces unlike yesterday). Unfortunately no soft surfaces are available, so that might be a problem...we'll see. Did core and strength later.
Friday: 10 miles in 68:00 (6:48/mi) 10:30am - Finally feel like I'm back running. It seems like I'm just suffering from patella tendinitis / runners knee. I think its a mix of the shoes I'm running in and the fact that Ive been running on the same side of the road all the time, Ive noticed when I go on the other side the opposite slant doesn't hurt the knee as much. It hurt for the first 5 minutes in, but then once it got warmed up it was only slightly noticeable. Really good sign as this indicates I'm able to run through it. I wish I had payed more attention to what it was, because I may not have had to take all this time off. Granted it seems to have helped my groin slightly, which is still noticeable. Ive still got 57 days to go to Shamrock, as long as this is the only major setback Ill be good to go.
Saturday: Sort of OFF
My knee hurt for the first 10 minutes, but sort of went away for the next 10. I was running with Justin, Stermer and Curry who were doing a workout. So I stopped with them for a couple minutes as they were changing in to spikes. Glad I did because as I started running again my hip started popping and was hurting a bit - looks like an IT problem from overcompensation. I guess this means I should be smart and take some actual time off. The good news is that I biked next to the guys today as the did their workout and it didn't bother my knee. So I guess actual cycling (and not a stationary bike) doesn't bother me knee.
Week Summary: This week sure took a hit. Nothing special to report. I think I'm going to focus on biking for all of next week to make sure I fully recover. Hopefully that time will help my groin as well. All of the sudden I turned in to a mess!
26 miles
3 hours
Primary: none
Secondary: none
Runs: 3
Off: 4
Ran around Rochester. Didnt feel my knee until 25 minutes (but still felt it which annoyed me). It has definitely gotten better from the 2 days off as it was barely noticeable. Iced after the run. As the 15 mile tempo most likely was a cause of this injury I think there is another, being shoes. I've been running in Axioms and Summons for most of the time rather than the STs I usually run in. Today I started off 10 in STs for 10 minutes, but then switched to my Summons (STs are rubbing a tendon below my ankle). My stride was noticeably more jarring when in the Summons. So, I think I may need to stay with lighter and more flexible shoes.
Monday: Cross trained for 50 min
I went to the Y with Rach to cross train. I actually did a variation off stuff - biking for 30 minutes, elliptical a few minutes, and then aqua jogging for 20 minutes. I switched between things because my knee kept getting aggravated, after 30 minutes it was noticeable on the bike. So, I moved to the elliptical and it was immediately noticeable, so I went to the pool with Rach. I got 20 minutes in before it was, yet again, bother me...so I just treaded water as Rach was finishing up. Looks like I might have to take complete off days and not even cross train, that's pretty darn annoying.
Tuesday: OFF
Taking care of knee and groin.
Wednesday: OFF
Taking care of knee and groin.
Thursday: 8 miles in 55:00 (6:53/mi)
Great run but awful idea for a loop when injured. Real hilly so it didn't help the knee. Back in Cortland so I was able to run with a bunch of guys. Today I decided that I'll try to run through the issue since I was able to do so before with patella tendinitis (as long as I stay on flat surfaces unlike yesterday). Unfortunately no soft surfaces are available, so that might be a problem...we'll see. Did core and strength later.
Friday: 10 miles in 68:00 (6:48/mi) 10:30am - Finally feel like I'm back running. It seems like I'm just suffering from patella tendinitis / runners knee. I think its a mix of the shoes I'm running in and the fact that Ive been running on the same side of the road all the time, Ive noticed when I go on the other side the opposite slant doesn't hurt the knee as much. It hurt for the first 5 minutes in, but then once it got warmed up it was only slightly noticeable. Really good sign as this indicates I'm able to run through it. I wish I had payed more attention to what it was, because I may not have had to take all this time off. Granted it seems to have helped my groin slightly, which is still noticeable. Ive still got 57 days to go to Shamrock, as long as this is the only major setback Ill be good to go.
Saturday: Sort of OFF
My knee hurt for the first 10 minutes, but sort of went away for the next 10. I was running with Justin, Stermer and Curry who were doing a workout. So I stopped with them for a couple minutes as they were changing in to spikes. Glad I did because as I started running again my hip started popping and was hurting a bit - looks like an IT problem from overcompensation. I guess this means I should be smart and take some actual time off. The good news is that I biked next to the guys today as the did their workout and it didn't bother my knee. So I guess actual cycling (and not a stationary bike) doesn't bother me knee.
Week Summary: This week sure took a hit. Nothing special to report. I think I'm going to focus on biking for all of next week to make sure I fully recover. Hopefully that time will help my groin as well. All of the sudden I turned in to a mess!
26 miles
3 hours
Primary: none
Secondary: none
Runs: 3
Off: 4
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