Hello everyone.
Sorry it has been a while since my last post, but I have been running
all over (literally) and haven’t had the chance to sit down for a bit. To bring you up to speed, I was in St.
Moritz, Switzerland for a little over a week, skiing and running through the
Alps. Although the elevation is similar
to what I typically train at in Colorado, the mountains seem much bigger
because the distance from the top to bottom is almost twice as much as I’m used
to. That being the case, I was exhausted
after each day, but the views on my runs around Lake St. Moritz were
breathtaking.
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| View from the trail around Lake St. Moritz |
After returning from Switzerland, I had 4 days until I
was planning on running a marathon in Salida, CO. This particular race had about 4,700 feet of
elevation gain over the 26.2 mile course, reaching 9,000 feet above sea
level. While I felt great aerobically, I
was still having some lingering pain in my IT band that would cause pain in my
knee. I tried not to worry about it
going in, but as soon as the gun went off, I felt a familiar tightness in my
knee. Maybe it was the 30-degree
weather, maybe I didn’t give it enough time to rest, but the race had started
and there was only one direction to move, forward. For the first 4 miles, I was feeling pretty
good. My knee was tight, but not in
pain, so I kept trucking along up the “S Mountain” at a good pace, starting to
get into my zone. Around mile 8, the
tightness turned to pain and I began slowing my pace to ease the impact a
little more. By mile 10, the pain had
become excruciating. At this point in the
race, everyone was hiking up a steep portion of the course in whiteout blizzard
conditions. I must say, it was really
cool to be running in a blizzard and the cold didn’t bother me a bit. I think it may have made things worse for me
knee, though. After limping 3 more miles
to the aid station, the pain became so severe that it radiated all over my body
and I started to feel sick. I sat down
for a bit to try and regroup myself so I could make it the next 13 miles, but
when I tried moving again, everything came back. For the first time, I would have to make the
decision to pull out of the race. The
letters DNF ran through my head, which followed by feelings of shame and
frustration. My fitness level for this
race was on par, but I decided I couldn’t go on, especially if I wanted to get
healthy quickly and continue training for the more important race in
August. With my tail tucked between my
legs, I took a ride back in to town.
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| Agonizing knee pain in Salida |
Although the experience made me angry and frustrated, it
put things into perspective for me about my current training regimen and what
injuries can do. I have not dealt with a
serious injury like this before, so I was not fully aware of how debilitating
it could become. Looking back now, it
was an important learning experience for me.
Training for Leadville has been a major learning experience both from
researching and from experiencing. This
was one of those experiences that I had to learn from and remind myself the
importance of rest and strengthening to avoid conditions like this from coming
back.
After returning from Salida, I had
only one week until I was heading back to Moab for a half marathon. When I originally signed up for these two
races, I purposely wanted them back-to-back so I would be running the half
marathon on tired legs to help build my endurance. Now, I was looking at running it on a hurt
knee and hurt pride, not where I wanted to be.
Regardless, I still wanted to run Moab, so I had to take action to get
better as quick as possible. I did some
reading and consulted a few runners about my knee problem and put together a
strength training regimen for my tensor fasciae latae (TFL), the primary muscle
responsible for tightening the IT band. A
stronger TFL offers more stability for the leg on the ground during
running. More stability equates to less
stress and less pain. After a week of
hip abduction and single leg balancing exercises, I was still unsure if I could
run the race, but I was feeling a lot better.
When I got to Moab, I decided it was game time and lined up at the start
for the half marathon.
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| View from the road we ran down |
This particular race has been going
on for 38 years and attracts nearly 4,000 runners. It begins in the Canyonlands of Moab along a
curvy road with giant red sandstone walls on each side and the Colorado River
running parallel to the road. It is
definitely one of the more beautiful courses I have ever run, even with very
little elevation gain (347 ft). After 10
miles running through the canyon, the final 3 miles traverse through town,
where families, drummers, and kids come to cheer everyone on. I felt great from the beginning of the race
to about mile 7, when I started feeling my knee tighten up. However, the pain I experienced in Salida did
not follow and I felt much stronger, which meant the week of strengthening did
some good for me. I ran the rest of the
race pain-free and finished in 1:48, which averages to about an 8:12 mile and
23rd for my age group. I was happy
with my finish and happy that I was on the right road for recovery. Now that I am back in Boulder, I have
continued my strengthening and have been feeling stronger every day. I am happy to be back on track now and to
have learned how to treat my knee pain.
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| Campsite along the Colorado River in the canyon we ran through |
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| We had a great group of runners come to Moab for the adventure |
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| Cooling off after the race with some cliff jumping |
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| Home again |
