Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Back to Running

I met with a podiatrist yesterday and had an x-ray to see if I had any stress fractures in the metatarsal bones in my foot.  The good news is that there were no stress fractures.  The podiatrist seemed to think that I have tendonitis in the tendons that connect to the metatarsal bones in my foot.  Mostly because there were no signs of stress fractures, but also because when I run the pain seems to subside after 1-2 miles.  This is most likely because the strain on the tendons is reduced as they "warm up" and become more elastic.  The great news is that he didn't see a problem with me continuing to run slow and short distances as long as I don't experience pain so strong that it causes me to alter my stride.  He recommended wrapping/taping my forefoot to give the metatarsal bones some added support, and releasing some of the tension on the tendons.  He also recommended only running in traditional, neutral running shoes while my foot heals.  Of course he gave the usual RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevate) recommendation as well as over-the-counter anti-inflammatories/ibuprofen as needed.

Since the appointment I've been wrapping my forefoot with an elastic bandage and wearing my old-school Mizuno running shoes which I wore for the 2009 Seattle Marathon.  Wrapping my foot has helped far more than anything else.  Walking I hardly feel any pain at all, and running is much more tolerable with the wrap.  I'm icing my foot in the morning and evening for 20 minutes, and I'm also looking into getting an insert to provide some extra forefoot cushion to see if that helps as well.  The podiatrist recommended giving it 2-4 weeks to heal, and if there is no considerable improvement than I should have an MRI to definitively rule out stress fractures.

I did a slow 2-mile run yesterday after my appointment with the podiatrist, and it actually felt pretty good using his suggestions.  My foot was a bit sore this morning, but after icing it, wrapping it, and putting on my Mizuno's I hardly feel the pain anymore.  I'll continue to do 2-mile runs every other day until it either gets better or worse :-P  I really hope not the latter.

Happy Running!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Drop Kicked Through the Goal Posts of Life

This is my big, "I feel dumb" post.  Best case scenario, I can lay out all of the things that led to my injury in training so that it may save someone else from making the same mistakes.  Here's a recap of what I've done this month:

I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger Bikilas and started running in them.  Based on the small amount of research I had done on barefoot running, I started with two-mile runs every other day for the first week.  My calves were extremely sore during the first few runs, but near the end of the week I was pretty much recovered by the next run.

I thought the transition was going great, so the following week I stepped it up to 4-mile runs every other day.  My feet felt okay, and my muscles seemed to be recovering great after each run.  Then came the major mistake.  I was out on a Saturday run for my third run that week, planning to run another 4 miles, and I started talking to a guy on the trail.  As we ran I knew I was a ways out past my turnaround point but I felt good so I just kept running and talking.  When he broke off the trail I saw the mile marker indicating that I was 4 miles out from the trail head.  This meant I had another 4 mile return trip that, rather than walking home, I decided to run.  Even at the end of that run I felt great.  My feet were a bit tender, but overall I felt really good about the run.

My next run came in the third week and I planned to alternate between 4 and 6 mile runs, still taking a rest day in between.  I was going to do this for the next two weeks and then start training for a marathon in October, running 5 days per week.  On this first 4-mile run I started to develop a pain in my right foot above the pad of my forefoot, where the bones in my feet met my toes.  The pain was fairly minor, and also seemed to get better as I ran, so I figured it would be okay to run through it.  By the end of my run the pain was hardly noticeable, so I thought I was in the clear.  The pain returned as a dull ache when I walked that evening and stuck around until my next 6-mile run two days later.  Again, the pain was present for about the first 1-2 miles of my run and then subsided.  After the run, when the pain returned worse than before, I figured I should take a few days rest before running again.

At this point I started researching injuries associated with barefoot running and realized I had progressed through mileage way too fast in my transition to barefoot running.  Based on what I read I decided to not run until the pain was gone.  I waited a full week without running.  The pain was actually still present, but seemed a bit better after the week of rest, so I thought I'd take a short 2-mile test run in shoes.  This was horrible!  The pain flared up far worse than before and I figured I'd be done running for a long time due to my over zealousness to get back into running.

Needless to say, I'm not currently running at all.  I made an appointment with a podiatrist next Tuesday to make sure I haven't done anything serious.  In the meantime I'm just trying to do whatever feels best on my foot.  Mostly RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevate).  All four seem to help tremendously.  I'm actually really surprised that wrapping my forefoot with an elastic wrap and wearing my old running shoes almost completely alleviates the pain even when walking.  I'll keep this up until Tuesday when I'll have a better idea of how long I'll need to wait to run again.

Happy running (to everyone still running)!  Hopefully I won't be out of action too long.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Altra Lone Peak - Initial Review


I just purchased a pair of Altra Lone Peak trail running shoes and, although I haven't taken my first run in them yet, they feel amazing.  They're not what I would call a minimalist shoe; however Altra would disagree with me as 'minimalist' is plastered all over every description of their shoes.  They do offer many of the benefits minimalist runners look for in a shoe.  

Minimalist Features:
- Zero-drop (the heel is not raised higher than the toe of the shoe)
- Wider toe-box to allow for toe splay
- Foot shaped design (according to Altra)

Not-So-Minimalist Features:
- My size 11.5's are roughly 12.5 oz, rather than the stated 9.9 oz on the Altra website (perhaps their smallest size shoe?)
- Thickness of soles (including footbed) 22.5mm
- Tail rudder for downhill jamming

I'm pretty excited about getting these out on some trails and really seeing how well they work.  Overall I've got a really good fist impression with these shoes.  I think they will be a perfect shoe for me to use for trail runs and longer runs, in combination with barefoot running.  I'm hoping that they will provide adequate cushioning to alleviate some of the 'top of foot pain' I've experienced with barefoot/VFF running, while still helping me maintain proper form with their minimalist features.



Friday, May 18, 2012

Shoes to the Rescue!!!

So after a lot of reading on forums and blogs, I think I have been a bit too hasty in my goal of running a marathon after 5 months of running in Vibrams.  I'd like to get a pair of sort-of-minimalist style running shoes so that I can combine barefoot, VFF, and shod running.  Hopefully with the introduction of a new pair of running shoes I'll be able to keep my mileage up and still be able to do the Monster Mash in October.

All in all, the real goal of running barefoot was to improve my running form.  I think that I can still do this by doing a couple short runs per week barefoot or in VFF's, and also a couple long runs in shoes.  I posted a question for some recommendations on minimalist shoes in a Runner's World barefoot running forum, but something tells me I'm going to get blasted a bit for making the classic TMTS (Too much too soon) mistake  :-)  Oh well.  If that's what I have to take to get some good advice, I'm willing.

Happy Running!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Top of Foot Pain...Metatarsalgia

I ran 6 miles yesterday and was relieved that the pain I've been experiencing in my right foot subsided during my run.  Unfortunately the pain returned later in the evening and has decided to stick around today.  It doesn't really seem to be getting better or worse, but a recurring theme to what I've read from barefoot runners is to never try to push through any pain when making the transition from shoes to skin.  From reading other forums and blog posts I think this may be what barefooters call "top foot pain," and what podiatrists call metatarsalgia.  The pain doesn't exactly feel like it originates from the top of my foot, but more in the middle where the bones in my foot connect to my toes.  It looks like the best way to get through metatarsal pain is rest and ice.  Due to this pain I've decided to skip my run tomorrow, and possibly my run this weekend as well.  I feel a bit foolish having tried to rush my own transition to barefoot running after writing so much about taking things slow here.  I'll take some of my advice and take it easy for the next few days and hopefully this will be a minor setback in training, rather than catastrophic disaster with my metatarsal bones.

If anyone else has personal experience with a similar issue, please let me know what you did to get through it and how your recovery went.

Here is a link to a Runner's World article on metatarsalgia.  I don't particularly like that they recommend a corrective shoe for the pain, but there are also some exercises/stretches they recommend and of course ice and anti-inflammatories.


Happy Running!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Run #3

It was a beautiful day in Arlington today.  It was in the upper 70's with an occasional cloud blocking out the sun for a moment.  I ran 6 miles today on the Mount Vernon Trail which snakes along the Potomac River.  Runners, bikers, business folk, and some just out for a stroll; people were buzzing about soaking up the nice weather.  One cyclist today hollered out, "On your left!" and I stuck out a short wave with my one free hand to let her know that I heard her.  She passed me, then looked back over her shoulder at Thumper in the stroller with his feet spread out like he was trying to do the splits, each foot hanging out opposite sides of the stroller, and Bambi dragging behind me with his tongue flopped out one side of his mouth and said, "Thanks!  Have a great day!"  I thought it was kind of funny.  It reminded me about smiling when I run.  Smiling always seems to make my run, or day, a little better.  Maybe this sage cyclist new something about endurance sports.  She certainly looked the part.

I happened to see two other Fivefinger runners today.  They looked very serious, and in a completely different league of running than I.  Neither one seemed to even acknowledge me while running.  One of them even passed me twice during my run.

I think I pushed Bambi to his limit today.  Maybe he should stay home for any runs more than 4 miles.  Here's a picture of him lounging in his bed after our run.  He bolted over there so fast I didn't even have time to take the leash off.


We stopped at the 3-mile mark to give Thumper a little time out of the stroller, and Bambi some rest.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Another Note About Barefoot Running

I thought it pertinent to mention that the decrease in pain that I've seen from barefoot running is most likely due to the way that running without shoes has forced me to alter my running stride.  I now take shorter steps and land on my forefoot, rather than my heel.  My foot then flattens to distribute my body weight equally to the front (toward my toes) and to the back (toward my heel) with each step.  Although I knew heel-striking was poor form when running, I couldn't seem to stop myself from doing it while wearing shoes.  I tried increasing my strides per minute and it just seemed to make me run with a choppy, clunky step.  I think it actually did more harm than help.

I just don't want to give anyone the impression that barefoot running has, by itself, made my knee and hip pain go away.  Barefoot running has been a catalyst for changing my running form to create less impact on my skeletal system.  The impact from running has not only been decreased by running barefoot, but I have also changed the way in which my body absorbs the impact.  Now, with my new stride, the impact is absorbed mostly by my calves and quadriceps thus resulting in some sore muscles, but no joint pain.

I also can't stress enough the importance of making the transition to barefoot or minimalist running slowly.  Depending on your running form prior to the switch, you may have extremely weak muscles in your feet and calves.  It's important to allow these muscles to build gradually over a period of weeks and months.

During my first week running with Vibrams Fivefingers Bikilas I ran every other day and didn't run more than 2 miles.  This may even be too much distance for some people.  When I got to a point where I felt that my feet and calves were recovering easily by the next run I upped the distance to 4 miles.  I'm now in my third week of running barefoot and I am alternating between 4 and 6 mile runs, but I am still only running every other day to give my feet time to recover.  I will continue this for at least 2 more weeks before I begin my marathon training in June.

Keys to Making the Transition to Barefoot Running Injury Free:

1) Take it SLOW!!!  Don't run more than 2 miles at a time for your first 1-2 weeks, and allow a day of recovery between each run.  Slow down your pace too.  Don't be afraid to add a minute or two or even more to your normal pace.

2) Listen to your body.  If it hurts to get out of bed in the morning, you're pushing your body way too hard.  When running, feel how your feet meet the ground with each step, and focus on your form.  Identify what causes pain and what doesn't.  It's okay to feel a little soreness in your muscles, but joint and skeletal soreness is a bad thing.  You should also stop running and allow some recovery time if you experience pain that doesn't go away after 10-15 minutes during a run.

3) Stretch and massage your feet daily.  Look up stretches and exercises done by ballerinas or other dancers to strengthen their feet.

4) Have fun with running and enjoy the organic feeling that running barefoot brings.  When done properly, running barefoot can make you feel alive, and connected to the Earth in a whole new way.

Training


While my last, longest barefoot run to date, went extremely well my feet were pretty sore afterwards.  Icing them for about 20-30 minutes was extremely helpful.  The pain is mostly in my right foot, so I'll have to pay close attention to my form to make sure it's not something I'm causing.  For some reason I was thinking that I'd been running for weeks in my Bikilas, but I checked the receipt of when I bought them and it was actually only about a week and a half before my 8-miler on Saturday.  Since my feet were so sore the next day I've decided to take the advice on the Vibrams website and use a day of rest between every day of training for the first month.  Each day I'm going to rotate 4 miles, rest, 6 miles, rest, 4 miles, etc. and I'll continue this for all of May.  Depending on how my feet feel I may jump in with DC Road Runners on an occasional Saturday long run.

I had hoped to participate in the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon, but found out that it sold out almost immediately following ticket sales.  Bummer.  I did; however, find a small low-key marathon in Dover, DE October 20, 2012.  I think this is going to be my marathon redemption race.  It's called the Monster Mash and it benefits the Wounded Warrior Project.  Right up my alley.

In June I'll begin my 'normal' training schedule.  I plan to run Tues, Wed, Thurs, Sat, Sun.  I'll have short runs on Tues, Thurs, Sun, and I'll have a medium run on Wed and a long run on Saturday.  I'm not really planning to do a traditional build up and taper for the marathon as it's really just a training run for my ultimate goal of completing an ultramarathon.  Hopefully I'll be able to take a couple light recovery weeks after the marathon and then continue right along with training, upping my mileage as the weeks go on.  As my training progresses, Sunday will gradually become a medium, then long run as well.

Run #2


Today I was a bit worried that the pain in my foot would get worse during my run, but amazingly enough it actually got better.  After some nagging pain following my 8-miler last Saturday I don't want to rush the transition to barefoot running, so I'm sticking to my new training plan of 4 miles, rest, 6 miles, rest, 4 miles, etc. for the rest of May.  The first few steps felt very stiff, but around the one mile mark my feet were feeling great in my Bikilas.  By the time I hit the turnaround point at 2 miles my feet felt as though I were stretching them, just as if I were stretching any other part of my body.  It felt great!   After finishing my run today my feet feel far better than they did before the run.  I took it really easy and I averaged a little over a 10-minute mile pace, but I was also pushing Thumper in the stroller and had Bambi on the leash.  I figure there will be plenty of time to work on speed in the coming months.  For now, I need to show some restraint and not push too hard until the muscles in my feet and calves are ready for it.  With the exception of some minor foot soreness, due to my eagerness to run like I used to last Saturday, I haven't experienced any other pain since switching to the Fivefingers, and I'm LOVING it!  The true test will come when I do my first 15-20 miler barefoot, but for now I am extremely optimistic.

After finding a marathon to do in October, the Monster Mash, I turned my sights toward finding my first ultramarathon to run in India.  To my astonishment, there is an ultra trail run every November near Bangelore, which is a short flight from where we'll be living in Hyderabad.  I plan to register for the Bangelore Ultra 100k in November 2013.  It's still a year and half away, but it feels wonderful to have worked out the logistics for a marathon before we leave and a 62 miler in India.

Barefoot Running...Why?


My newly found inspiration to train for, and hopefully complete, an ultramarathon in a pair of Vibrams Fivefinger Bikilas comes from a whole life of running in shoes supposedly designed for running only to find myself hurt and sore.  I understand that muscle soreness is a part of running.  You have to be sore if you physically push your body.  It's the natural process of breaking down your muscles and then rebuilding them stronger than before.  The soreness that I found so defeating previously was joint pain in my ankles, knees, and hips any time I ran for a considerable distance.  I don't have a medical degree to support any of my opinions, but I can tell you what I've learned from experience.  I've covered a lot of miles in my life training for football, soccer, wrestling, and weightlifting in high school, training in the Marine Corps as a sniper, and now simply running just to run.  Brute force has always allowed me to succeed in accomplishing what I set out to accomplish, but I found training for the 2009 Seattle Rock 'n Roll marathon excruciating.  By the time I got into the longer runs 16-20 miles I would be laid up for the rest of the day, and sometimes the next.  My knees and hips just seemed to hurt worse and worse the harder I trained.  When I finished the marathon I hobbled across the finish line at 4hrs and 22mins, but my split time was 1hr 53mins for the first half and 2hrs 29mins for the second half.  Once the pain really set in around mile 20, or so, it was impossible to maintain a decent pace.  After the marathon I hated running.  In fact, I didn't even run at all for about 2 months.

Since 2009, I've kept active but only by doing everything but running.  I've done mixed martial arts, biking, swimming, crossfit.  I even did a workout where I just did jumping jacks for 30 minutes straight.  Oddly enough, none of these activities caused me any joint pain.  The key to the jumping jacks workout was that it was barefoot, and so was mixed martial arts.  It was only after reading Christopher McDougall's 'Born to Run' that I pieced together why I could do all of these other physically draining sports, but running practically crippled me.  I just needed to run barefoot.

I went out to a local outdoor store in Arlington called Casual Adventure, and picked up a pair of Vibrams Fivefinger Bikilas for 40% off and after I did my first run of about 2 miles I was sold.  I just knew that this was the way that I could enjoy running.  Since that first run I've probably logged about 16 miles in a bout 2 weeks.  Making the switch to barefoot/minimalist running came with some extreme soreness in my calves, but now I think they're adequately adjusted.  I'm still going to take it easy for the next 2 weeks, but come June let the punishment begin :-)

Here is a picture of the Vibrams Fivefingers Bikilas that I bought:


Here are a few links which I found informative about barefoot running:


Of course, because of the growing trend of minimalist running, there are new articles and blog posts weekly about barefoot running so search a little for yourself.

Run #1


Today marks my official first run in my long long, looooooong journey to eventually completing an ultramarathon.  I ran for 1hr 6mins and I think I ran somewhere around 8 miles.  I'm not entirely sure of the distance.  I plan to post an entry as soon as I can after each run, or when anything pertinent arises.  I won't know until after the fact if a small event today will have extreme consequences down the road so I'd like to share everything as it happens in the moment.  You'll find out along with me if some chance encounter with a runner turns out to be a lifelong friend, training partner, or perhaps rival.  Maybe it's just a chance encounter with a random runner.

As I was running along the Mount Vernon trail in my Bikilas I was passed by a stout military looking guy wearing a skin tight green shirt and a tan camouflage camel back.  He wasn't running much faster than I was so I trotted behind him for probably a mile before cruising up beside him to strike up a conversation.  "How far are you running?" I asked. Seeming a little shocked I was talking to him, "About 10 miles."  He replied.  "Are you training for something?"  "Yeah, the Marine Corps half marathon in a couple weeks."  I asked if he was in the military and he replied, "I was, but not any more.  I was in the Marine Corps."  It turns out he was an officer and he used to be the platoon commander of a scout/sniper platoon.  What a small world.  We small talked back and forth a little about he military and a little about crappy previous experiences with running for a few miles until we hit the airport in Crystal City.  That would be my turnaround point and he continued off the trail somewhere else, but we traded names and he said he'd look me up on Linkedin.  I'll call him Scout on here.

Before Scout and I parted ways, he mentioned that he had no intention of running the Marine Corps full marathon in October, but if I was interested in training with him he might suck it up and run it anyway.  I hadn't really planned on running the Marine Corps marathon, but that actually seems like a great idea.  That will give me around 5 months to train barefoot before taking on the first big hurdle in my journey.  I'm not entirely worried about running a half marathon as I think I could actually do that without much problem now.  I'll find one to run somewhere between now and the Marine Corps marathon.

My run today felt great.  It was actually really nice to run at someone else's pace for awhile.  The conversation helped too.  Time seemed to fly by, and we were at the airport before I knew it.  While running back I noticed some hot spots on my feet.  I didn't stop to check them out, mostly because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get my feet back into my Bikilas if the hot spots were actually blisters.  I just motored on at a gentle pace.  I took a note from Dean and just took baby steps.  One foot in front of the other.  Any tired feelings drifted away along with the pain in my feet and I began to admire the scenery.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day along the Potomac River, and there were tons of people out.  I made it a point to try and smile and give at least a nod to everyone I passed.  Most people didn't even notice, in a running zone or daydream or something, but many people it seemed to really lift their spirits as they usually responded with an ear-to-ear grin.  Maybe I just looked kind of goofy being a smiling 6 foot 200 pound guy running in foot gloves.  Either way it made me feel a little better during my run.  I think learning to run with a smile is my first lesson in making running a way of life.

Day of Conception-- About Me


Okay, so it's not exactly my conception day...but today is the conception of this idea I've got.  I'm riding on the heels of reading Christopher McDougall's 'Born to Run' in three days and 'Ultra Marathon Man' by Dean Karnazes in one day.  After reading both of these books I started thinking, how do these guys make it sound so easy to complete an ultra when it seems so far from humanly possible to the other 99.9% of the population.  Are these great stories because after the fact, they wrote a book about their experiences?  Are there hundreds or thousands of people who start out like they do training for an ultramarathon and end up hurt or just can't run for a 50K or longer no matter how hard they train?  While Dean does a pretty good job of describing the pain and agony he's in during a race/run, both books seem to skim through training for the most part and focus on the race at hand.  I'd like to take everyone along for my ride and let everyone watch me either succeed with triumphant success or fall flat on my face.  I'd like to be an example for the average joe's out there who want to run an ultra.  Perhaps I can give someone hope, or maybe save them some money in medical expenses.

I should start by telling everyone a little about myself.  I'm 28 years old.  I have a wife and 10-month old son.  I'd rather not use our real names in the blog, so I'll call them Legs and Thumper, respectively and I'll go by Pancho.  We also have an Italian Greyhound I'll call Bambi.  I went to college at the University of Washington where I earned a BS in Mathematics.  I was working in the energy sector for a commercial renewable energy consulting firm and also helping to build computer simulations that model electrical grids for utilities, and I did this from home while taking care of our then newborn baby.  Recently Legs received an offer to become a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Department of State.  As a result we both quit our jobs and moved from Seattle, WA to Arlington, VA where she began training as an FSO.  We are now scheduled to move to Hyderabad, India in January 2013 and we will be there for 2 years, and we will repeat the process of moving to another country every 2-3 years.

I've been pretty active all my life, but I've really never been great at anything physical.  I just loved being outside and playing sports.  I played baseball, soccer, and basketball as a kid, and also took Tae Kwon Do .  Then, in high school I switched it up to football, soccer, and wrestling.  The only sport I lettered in was football and that was more of a consolation prize than anything else.  In fact, I played soccer Sophomore and Junior year on the Freshmen team, but I got to play every minute of every game and I thoroughly enjoyed them all.  After high school, in 2002, I joined the Marine Corps and served in the infantry as a scout/sniper for 4 years and went to Iraq 3 times.

In 2009, while still in college, I began training for the Seattle marathon.  I trained with Team in Training and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  While training seemed to go really well, the major hurdle I never quite got over was the pain I would begin to feel 10-18 miles into a run.  Around 10 miles my knees would begin to hurt with every step, and then around 18 miles my hips would be causing me agony.  I managed to finish the marathon at a not-so-impressive 4:22.  By the end of the run I had a giant blister on my left foot, my knees and hips were throbbing, and rather than feeling happy about my accomplishment I felt defeated.  I didn't run for at least 6 weeks after the marathon.

Based on my marathon experience one might think that I've got no shot at completing an ultra, but the other contributor to my new found enthusiasm is barefoot running.  I'm about 2-3 weeks into the transition and I feel amazing.  I haven't quite reached the 10 and 18 mile marks barefoot yet, but I'm very optimistic.  When I run barefoot (actually in a pair of Vibrams Fivefingers Bikalas) the only pain or discomfort I have is muscular, not skeletal.  Sure, in the last three weeks my calves have been more sore than in my entire life, but my recovery time is amazing.  The farthest I've run so far is 5-6 miles, but within an hour I'm as fresh as before the run.  I think that my pain before was caused by poor running form, and running barefoot has corrected the problem.  Only time, and distance, will tell.

So that's that.  I'm proclaiming to the world that I am going to run an ultramarathon barefoot, and I want tell the story as it happens.  Unlike Dean and McDougall, I'm going to start with a half marathon, then do a full marathon, and then try to push the limits.  Since barefoot running is fairly new to me I'd like to be sure I've built a strong foundation before attempting an ultra.  I welcome comments, advice, encouragement, and even discouragement, but if you've never ran an ultra please don't try to tell me how to train for one; however, if you have run an ultra, tell me everything you know!