Bouncing Back....

Back to the wildwood...

So my diagnosis was correct. Post Tib Strain, technically not tendonitis so that’s good. So a few weeks later and lots of Graston, icing and biking, I’m finally back running…on roads. I’m slowly bumping my mileage back up and should hopefully be able to start hitting the trails this week. I’ve had some residual tightness in my upper Achilles/lower calves, but I’ve been stretching them and really working it with The Stick.

What does this delay mean going forward? Well Sun Mountain 50M is currently on the chopping block. At this point, I’m not sure how quickly Im going to be able to bounce back. Hopefully I can get my mileage back up really quick. I’d like to get back up to 45-50 miles a week, then focus on some hill training. At this point, I think I have 5 training weeks with 1 taper week… So my main concern is whether or not Ill have the hill training in that I need. That is the big question mark. Yes I could just put up the hills, which is what I’d probably do anyway, but I’d like to think that I would have the ability to attach a few big climbs. I also don’t want to compromise my whole summer by entering a big race partially healed, then get really injured, have to take a month or so off then be poorly trained for Waldo. L

So I plan to spend the next two weeks testing my body to see how I’ll react. If I think I can potentially be prepared for Sun Mountain, then I’ll really focus in on that. If not, then I’ll settle into an easier progression. Maybe cross train a little on my mountain bike.

Oh and Sun Mountain could sell out before I make any moves so that could help make the decision for me…

That’s all I got for now.

UNT

Bryan

Post Tib Tendonitis



Post Tib Tendon

 Preface:
Towards the end of the week leading up to my run on the WRT, I was beginning to feel really fatigued and tired. I had really upped the climbing that week, and it definitely took its toll Thursday. I didnt really feel like running on Thursday, but I needed approx 10mi to hit my mileage for the week. I had also planned a hill day as well, but it didnt sound like fun. I decided to get some miles in on the road before heading up to do a few Pittocks. Even though it was actually pretty warm, but my head an body werent really into it. I contemplated sitting the day out, but rationalized that its on these days when you want to quit that you actually get stronger, mentally tougher, etc so I went out despite feeling tired.

I did my run, but cut it short in the end and only went for about 8.5. My body was just exhausted, and finally decided that I needed some rest. I had water, but definitely should have brought some calories as I bonked pretty hard on the last climb. I happened to meet Jason on top of pittock so we ended the run together.

The next day, Friday, I was still pretty tired. I did a mild strength workout in the Columbia gym as scheduled, but didnt push myself too hard as I had a big day coming up on Saturday. That evening I was grumpy and tired. I got to bed around 11:15-11:30pm, and decided to sleep in a little instead of getting a early start on my run. I knew that the sleep would help.

The next morning, I awoke feeling pretty refreshed and not too tired. I ate a quick breakfast, then began assembling my kit for the run. I got to the trailhead around 11ish I believe and was trotting to the CG in no time.

*See the previous post for more info on the run*

Post Run
Everything felt fine Saturday night. I was sore here and there, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It wasnt until Sunday evening that I finally decided that something was not right with my left ankle, around the medial malleolus. I took some NSAIDs that evening in hopes that it would cool the pain in my ankle. The pain followed me through Monday and on Tuesday I began doing my research on Google. I concluded in the end that I had some sort of Posterior Tibial Tendonitis/Strain, something so I scheduled an appt with my Chiro, who I was already seeing for my hammy luckily, for Thursday.

I rode the trainer on Tuesday night to see how it would react to a little physical activity, and it responded pretty well. Minor flashes of pain every once and awhile. I continued to ice regularly and laid off the Vitamin I, aka (ibuprofen). My ankle began feeling better on Thursday as I could start walking without any pain.

That evening during my Chiro Appt, my doc confirmed my Post Tib Strain diagnosis and performed some graston, ultra sound, ankle readjustments and slapped on some K-Tape. He told me that I could probably start jogging this weekend if I didnt have any pain, stay off the hills, but continue hard workouts on the bike.  I should be able to get back to full running soon enough, but I'll definitely take it slow. I rode the bike again last night, felt a little more painful, but that was primarily due to the brusing from the graston.

After Thoughts
What did I learn? This was just a stupid training error on my part. I was trying to ramp up mileage, while simultaneously ramping my my climbing training significantly. Only ramp up one thing at a time. Also, I failed to Respect the Machine. My body was telling me to rest and that it was tired, but instead focused foolishly on my almighty training log. Gotta stick to my plan. False! Gotta Respect the Machine!

I had a rest week planned starting this Monday so I rationalized that it was okay to push my body one last time before my rest week. While my body seemed to do fine on the run, what really screwed me over was the rapid increase in climbing. I probably would have been fine on a flatter run as it would have put less stress on my tendon, but regardless, my body was telling me that I was pushing up against my limits, and I tried to squeeze in one last big run and that came back to bite me in the ass.

In the end, I dont think this will effect my goal of running Sun Mountain 50M, but only time will tell how quickly I'll bounce back from this and how soon I'll be able to hit the hills again. This time however, I will take a more conservative approach to my hill training, although I fear that I won't have enought hill training in before Sun Mountain. I'll have to get my mileage back up to 50-55 miles a week before I can hold that constant and beging running some hills. I also want to get in at least one 50k before the 50M, doesnt have to be a race, might just be a wildwood traverse, but I would feel more confident going into SM with a 50k under my belt this year.

One Run Too Long



Overexposed shot of a bridge. Cant remember the name


With the snow level finally a little higher in the coast range, I headed out to Elk Creek Gate to do an OAB to the Tillamook Forestry Center for around 23-23.5mi and somewhere in the neighborhood of 3500-4000ft EG.

I completed the distance and actually felt pretty good till the end. Unfortunately, with about 2mi to go, I realized that I was already 30mins overdue to the "safety check-in" with the gf, due to an addition error on her part. Nevertheless, she would worry so I hustled it to the end. Around this time, I also bonked pretty hard. I had been trying a new fueling strategy with Hammer Nutritions Perpetuem mix. I mixed in a multi-hour bottle and one multi-hour flask, but also had gel in case the Perpetuem wasnt enough. Apparently, it wasn't, as all of a sudden I just hit the wall coming down to the Kings Mtn junction. I just got really sleeply so I popped in a gel that luckily had caffiene to carry me through.

Perpetuem Multi-Hour Bottle

The whole duration of the run I left very strong structurally speaking (aka no hammy issues, no tight hips, no tender feet, no tired quads, only slight calf tightness) which I took as a good sign considering this run was my longest yet and had lots of climbing and descending. Although, as mention, I was very tired towards the end, which I assumed was normal considering I was putting in big weekly mileage and was also scheduled for a rest/recovery week starting on that next Monday.

Unfortunately, I seem to have picked up some sort of foot/ankle injury, probably due to overuse. At this point, I think that it is Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, but my PT/Chiro appt today should confirm this. More on this soon.

UNT

Bryan

The bridge over the wilson river to the Tillamook Forestry Center

20+

Dry Creek Falls

Finally over 20 miles at one go!

Headed out to Cascade Locks this weekend to put in some longer miles. My goal was to run from the Cascade Locks AS of the Gorge Waterfall 50K course to its terminus at Wyeth CG. I ran this portion of the trail during the race, but was pretty worked at this point and didnt really appreciate it or remember all of it. Ended up with 22 miles in 3:28 with 2500ish feet of gain.



Looking back from the Pinnacles?



Pano view from the Pinnacles?

My Montrail Bajadas blew out on me. Bummer



Ran into a bunch of blowdown on the Gorge 400 trail after the Herman Creek/Gorton Creek junction. Tried to bushwhack for a half mile, but got frustrated and turned around and headed for Eagle Creek.



Bridge over Eagle Creek. I remember being pretty worked the last time that I was here.

Yours Truly

Victory Burger! aka Recovery Meal at Char Burger, C Locks, OR

 UNT

Bryan

Snowed Out at WRT

Headed out to the Wilson River trail looking to run around 19 miles with a good chunk of elevation gain. Got all geared up and just happen to check tripcheck.com before leaving and from the cameras, noticed that there appeared to be snow on the ground in Gales Creek and at the Tillamook Forestry Center. I debated whether to stick with the plan or go put in the miles on the Gorge Trail #400. I decided to stick with the plan since I wanted some elevation and light snow in the Coastal Mtns would be better than the windy, deluge in the Gorge.

Forgot to take pics at Elk Creek. Damn!

But by the time I got to Gales Creek, the snow was really starting to come down. By the time, I pulled off Hwy to park at the Elk Creek Gate, the mountains were in full on blizzard mode. With snowy slush on the ground, blizzard like conditions, I aborted my plan and headed back to the Newberry end of the Wildwood for an OAB there. Of course, when I got to Newberry, it was snowing like crazy, but at least there was no snow on the ground.

The Newberry End before the snow turned to freezing rain

In the end, I completed 18.4 miles in 2:40. I wanted 19.5, but in my tired, cold state my math skills failed me. I got to the end of the trailhead feeling pretty proud of myself for putting in bigger miles in the cold, snowy, freezing rain, muddy conditions, but just as I unlocked my car. I hear some yelling and Hip Hip Hoorays as a runner comes trudging up to Newberry, apparently completing the whole Wildwood Trail. All of a sudden my accomplishment didn’t seem all that great. Bubble officially burst. Congrats to him, more fuel for the fire for me.

You know you're putting in the miles when your shoes are beginning to fall apart

 ===================================================================================================

The next day, Adam, Andrew and I felt like a little adventure so we decided on hiking the Rock of Ages trail up to the Arch. The trail was nice and steep and a little under maintained, but its supposed to be like that and I enjoyed the adventurous nature of it given the wet conditions. We took a few photos along the way and ended the day with a little pub crawl as we were still looking to fill our second corney keg to round out our dual kegerator. In the end, we settle on Alameda’s Black Bear XX Stout.

UNT

Bryan

Accomplices



The top of Ponytail Falls - "We could definitely cross the log," said Andrew



Turned into pretty decent weather in the end

"How far down is it?"

Intrepid Explorers - Too bad I didnt get a shot of Andrew straddling the Rock of Ages...

For effect