What a doof

The Frederick Marathon organizes two training runs to allow folks to meet other runners and have a chance to run part of the course. This weekend was the second scheduled training run. I missed the first due to other commitments, so I was excited to run in this one. They had two loops planned, a 10-mile and a 20-mile option. Since I ran 20 miles last weekend, my plan called for a 14-miler this weekend. So my plan was to run the 10-mile loop and then continue on for an additional 4 miles.

The advertisement for the training run said water and Gatorade would be available throughout the course, but I had to bring my own GU. So, as I got ready, I packed my GU, and hydration pack. I was not planning to run with the hydration pack, but brought it just in case. The weather was calling for pretty cold temperatures, 28F at 7am maybe warming to 35F by 9am, so I wore long pants, long sleeves, my hat and gloves. I also brought along a print off of the turn-by-turn directions for the 10-mile loop.

I got to the parking deck about 6:50am and gathered my stuff. The directions said to meet outside the parking deck near Carroll Creek. So as I headed to the creek, I noticed the town was very quiet and peaceful. The sun was just starting to rise, and the breeze was rather cool. When I got to the creek I looked for the people. I could see no people, anywhere. As I wondered why no one was around, I remembered the direction said outside the West Patrick parking deck... and I had parked at the Court St deck. So I ran down Patrick a bit to the deck. As I made my way back to the creek, I noticed it was just about 7am.

But when I got to the creek again there were no people.... it was kinda eerie, , absolutely no people. I began to wonder if I missed everyone. I had RSVPed for the training run, and responded to a post on Frederick Steeplechasers site, but the funny thing was I was the only person to respond... maybe no one else was running this training run???

So, I went back to the car, got the hydration pack, and started out on the course myself. Since the advertisement said there would be aid stations, I would stop at the first one and ask if I was the only one to respond.

The first mile took me down Market street to 5th, then onto Bentz. This was the same route I took during my first 20-mile run several weeks ago. Heading down Bentz took me to Baker park, where I knew I would see the other runners. As I circled Baker park, again it was totally dead... not a single runner, but the day was beautiful. After circling around Frederick High, I came back toward Baker park down 2nd. After about 4.5 miles I knew I had to be wrong about the day.

I stopped and stretched the IT band after mile 6 somewhere near Hood college. Mile 7 and 8 took me through a new subdivision and right by Thomas Johnson high school. I took my GU at 8miles and passed Emma's pre-school at mile 9. By mile 10 I was back at the parking deck down town.

At this point, I knew I had to be wrong, or someone had forgotten to tell me the training run was cancelled. I looped Baker Park one more time for the last four miles and finished in about 1 hour and 50 min. My left knee kinda started bothering me at 13.5 miles, but I stopped and stretched and it seemed ok after that. I realized I had not stretched it since mile 6... If I don't stretch, I can't make it...

When I got back to the car, I used my phone to go back to the website. The training run is scheduled for March 28... I knew I was right....I just kn.... wait..... today is March 27th.... damn, I am such a doof

2nd 20-mile run

In my training schedule for the Frederick Marathon are three twenty mile runs. The first was about three weeks ago and the details are here. At the end of that run, I was pretty sore and my IT band ached the last 5 miles. I could barely run for a couple of days and my next long run had to be cut short. So, as I prepared for this run, I was nervous.... about the distance, about my knee, about my attitude. I had gone to the Doctor about my knee and he gave me a cortisone shot, which was suppose to help and last for three months. I'm also suppose to start working on core exercises, which I am.

I got up at 6am to prepare to run. After dressing, I had a bagel and some caffeine. I got my hydration belt, my two GUs, my sunglasses, and my (extra) knee strap and got ready to go. I also taped my left knee with the KT tape. Kinda felt like batman with so much stuff strapped to my waste. I hit the road at 6:50am.

My plan was stop and stretch my IT band every 4 miles whether I needed it or not. I wanted to hydrate and take a GU every 8 miles. I had a 10-mile loop worked out, and I planned to run it twice.

First four miles went easy... I stopped and stretched... no problem

Second four miles went pretty easy... I stopped and stretched and had water and GU. Every once in a while, I felt something in my knee... but not bad... I was having tightness in my right hamstring, but the stretching helped.

I stopped at 10-miles to turn around. I stopped and stretched. So far feeling good.

At Mile 11, left knee started bothering me... my first thought was "shit!" and I almost stopped and turned toward home. I stopped and stretched, shorten my pace, and my knee stopped bothering me.

Mile 12, my right knee was getting achy... so i stopped and stretched... seems like a trend

Mile 14, felt pretty good, but still decided to stop and stretch.

Mile 16, stopped, had water and GU and stretched... my legs were tired, but nothing hurt

Mile 18, felt pretty good, but by now I was paranoid, so I stopped and stretched.

Last two miles were not bad... no real pain except for expected achy legs. And I never used the extra knee strap!

So, I did it, and without too much pain... afterwords, I showered, ate and went to the park with the kids. Ended up playing Trac Ball for about two hours. As I sit here and write this, my legs are tired, but feel good. I think I'll be able to run tomorrow!!

This run gave me a bit of confidence and made me think that I may be able to do this marathon thing..... which is in about 43 days... yikes!

Mental focus

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been having this knee issue. I'm pretty sure its IT band problems, but I'm no doctor. So, I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on Tuesday to get an evaluation of my knee. In the meantime, I have been stretching, rolling (with a hard foam roller), and using KT tape to aid in healing. I guess it must be working since I ran my runs this week, including 12 miles today, without any knee pain. But as I have read, doing what I'm doing is fixing the symptoms but not solving the problem. So hopefully the doctor and his physical therapist will be able to help me solve the problem. I'll let you know..

Having this knee issue is kinda taking the fun out of running. I find myself thinking way too much about my knee and not enjoying the run. I realize that keeping good form will help me to be injury free, but the running where my mind wonders or enjoys the surroundings is what I'm looking for. But my hypochondria has always got the best of me. For example, I went to the dentist, who took an x-ray of my mouth. After looking at the film, she informed me I had a tooth with extensive decay inside, with no apparent decay on the outside. I also had no pain. She took another x-ray to be sure, and this time the x-ray was clean. She still wanted to do something due to the issue in the first film. She decided to wait until my next visit and look again, but since then my tooth has hurt. The more I think about it, the more it hurts.... typical...

The point is that I have to unfocus my mind on the particular issue of my knee, and refocus my mind on the enjoyment of running. I should be encouraged that my knee was pain free last week, and look forward to better runs this week. I have a big week ahead of me. My next 20-mile run is next Saturday and I'll do the best I can..... as long as my mind cooperates!

Injured...now what?

Last weekend I had my first 20-Mile run. As I mentioned in a previous post, I felt really good until about 15 miles, when the outside of my left knee started to hurt. I kept running. By the end of the run, my knee was pretty sore. Now, I've had this problem before. The pain is usually above my knee and to the outside and occurs after long runs. The first time was on the towpath after a 15-mile run. It happened again on a a 14-mile run near home. Just recently, it happened near the end of the Cloud Half Marathon. In each of these cases, I rested, iced, stretched and continued to run. Of course, I did Internet searches and diagnosed myself with IT band issues. I bought a foam roller, and did the crazy stretches, and it seemed to get better.

After this 20-mile run, I tried to run the day after, and my knee was too sore, but by the second day, I seemed to run 3-miles fine. I then travelled to Albuquerque, and ran 6, 8, 6 mile runs with no apparent problems. On Saturday was a 14-mile run, and about 6-miles in, I felt some pain in my knee. By mile 7 I had to stop. I turned around and walked the 5-miles home. This has never happened before, I never had to stop and walk home.

I iced and rested, and tried to run on Sunday. I felt a twinge at 4-mile and by 5 I again had to stop. This time the pain was a dull ache and was lower on my knee, but still on the outside.

So, I'm bummed. I need to go to the doctor and figure out what this really is. My marathon is only about 8 weeks away.... not sure what will happen, but Thea keeps telling me to not give up.

I'm calling the doctor on Monday to see if he can get me in. I'll post an update soon.