Stagecoach Trail

After hearing the word "hike" last night, I woke up this morning itching to get outside. I went in my kitchen, grabbed the trail guides I printed out in the spring when Julia and I started being outdoorsy together, and got to planning.

I picked the Stagecoach Trail, which is in the Auburn State Recreation Area just off the confluence. After a 45 minute drive, I parked and set off on my hike.

Of course, the trail I decided to take today is an 8% average grade, with the highest grade at 23%. It was uphill the entire way! I could definitely feel my lack of aerobic fitness after about 15 minutes.

I'm not sure that I took the actual trail all the way, because I ended up at the foot of the Foresthill Bridge, then the trail I was on hit a dead end. I think I went about a mile each way, and the trail is two each way. There were several places where I could have gone a different direction, so I'm sure I just did my usual and went the wrong way.

When I had walked back down to the confluence, I sat and read for about an hour on the beach. It was just beautiful!

In the Meantime

In my last two weeks of recovery, I had some fun times. Here are a few photos.

Had a fantastic Thanksgiving (two actually) with friends.

Made awesome Star Wars snowfakes (with skilled help, of course)!

Scored the ugliest sweater for this season's parties.

It's A Long Way to the Top

It has been almost a week since I ditched the brace and "started rehabbing" my sad little slowly mending leg. I'm ashamed to say I haven't been getting as much accomplished as I'd like.

I started Monday with a gym session, followed by some overly ambitious climbing. I wore the brace unlocked so I could bend my knee, which made more difficult climbs do-able in theory. In practice, my endurance on non-juggy holds isn't what it was two months ago. I think I got a few 5.10bs done, but struggled on a 5.10d that I should have left alone, and finished up on an adjacent 5.9. I probably embarrassed myself, and should have known better than to be that ambitious on day 1.

I've been doing the few PT exercises I have so far (mostly leg lifts of different sorts), but didn't get back to the gym after Monday due to a hectic work and social schedule. I'm excited to start real PT tomorrow and hopefully get on a faster track.

I took the plunge and went to yoga yesterday morning, and man was it a challenge! Standing poses were noticeably more difficult that I remember, but for the most part I could do everything (albeit a bit modified at times). Of course, it is frustrating to be so far from where I was a few months ago, when I'd finally gotten the swing of yoga. I'm sure it'll come back soon.

In other news, I took another plunge and bought Brooks Pure Cadence running shoes on Friday. I've been wanting to ditch my clunky Asics 2170s and orthotics and try out some lighter, more minimal running shoes for some time. Since I'm not in the middle of training and I am really starting from scratch, now is the time.

Marathon Blues

When I left the CIM finish line at 9:35 this morning, I was excited to get back into running and finish my sixth marathon. I could almost taste it. The rush of watching the finishers momentarily distracted me from the reality of what will come between now and that next finish line. 

Over the following few hours, I hung out with the Chips who ran CIM, from our fastest finisher at 2:44, to the group I train with at 3:38. The limping and vivid race recounting reminded me of my race finishes, and fed my desire to get to the finish line once again. 

As the sun came out over the Capitol, and more Chips migrated over to the tent, something peculiar happened. My longing to get to the finish line gave way to jealousy towards the finishers, for their achievement of running what for most was a good race in horrendous conditions. I stated to think about how I would have been so well trained for this race, and how I would have the badge of honor of a decent finish time despite the conditions. Had I run, I probably would have lamented the conditions for depriving me of the BQ I sought (which I'm assuming I would have missed). Not having run, I lament that I didn't get the experience of running in the downpour and 40 mile per hour gusts that today's race boasted. 

Hearing the race stories, and the talk of next races, I started to lose my earlier excitement thinking of the road ahead of me. Since I started running marathons, I haven't taken much time off after each race. Usually, I have an immediate target, and for most races, it has been less than eighteen weeks after my last race. For the most part, I recover for a week from one race and get right back into training. 

With my current situation, I don't have momentum to start from. I haven't run, or done any cardio at all, for six weeks. My left leg has lost a significant amount of muscle mass, and my right leg probably has lost some as well. I haven't had the opportunity to test this theory, but my balance probably isn't great, I'm probably not too stable, all meaning that my stride probably isn't in too great of shape. 

Unlike previous times when I've started training, I can't 'start out slow' with 30 mile weeks. My doctor specifically told me I can't even start with 15 mile weeks. I have to start run-walking, and gradually build up mileage. My cardio cross training is similarly limited, with rest days built in to make sure I don't develop an overuse injury.

Thinking about all this made me feel pretty down, and really didn't make me too excited to start running (even after the excellent morning rush of the finish line). Run-walking and aiming for a short distance race in a few months aren't things I normally aspire to. I feel like less of a runner, less of an athlete, for having to start from scratch.

At the same time, I feel like a horrible whiner for thinking this way. I've been so good over the past year or so at not being a pessimist, and not worrying about things that don't matter. Obviously, recovery matters, but it isn't something I should let myself get this upset about. People, including my coach (a world class athlete, no less), suffer much worse injuries and much slower recoveries than I'm faced with. I just broke my fibula, which only supports 8% of one's body weight. Sure, my leg muscles atrophied a bit, but my range of motion is mostly intact, and my connective tissues didn't suffer any damage. I really don't have anything to complain about.

The most important thing for me to do is be positive, work as hard as I can without overdoing it, and take solace in the fact that I'm done with my six weeks. Well, I guess I should say I'm done with the first six weeks. I have many weeks ahead.

There's No Place Like Home

If there was any worry that I wouldn't be motivated to run after my extended layoff, the past hour has extinguished that idea completely. I showed up early to the CIM finish line to watch the elites finish before starting my shift at the Chips chow tent. I've never really been a spectator before, so I didn't really know what to expect.

Watching the top men finishers approach the finish, soaked and in obvious pain from the cold, wet conditions, have me the strangest feeling. I got an incredible urge to be soaked, achy, and an hour from finishing marathon number six.

That intense desire is more for the incredible feeling at the finish line. That combination of pain, sweat and accomplishment is unrivaled by anything else. Watching the elites finish CIM with the most agonized race faces on gave me that peculiar, teary-eyed longing for my own finish line.

In a word, I'm an addict. There's no place like a marathon finish line!

Top male (back) and male relay (front) finishers approach the finish line, at 2:13

The Day of Reckoning Has Arrived

Tomorrow, thousands of people will run the California International Marathon. I won't be one of them. It is still surreal that something I was so excited about, working so hard towards, is going to come and go so easily.

I haven't been biting my nails all week watching the weather reports of an upcoming "stormageddon," and neither have I been carefully planning and executing a pre-race-week meal plan. I haven't been making sure I get extra sleep, and I haven't been checking and re-checking my gear and race fueling plan.

I worked the Expo today, staffing the Buffalo Chips booth where we weighed in the Clydesdales and Athenas, and sold Chips gear and memberships. I started off by picking up my race packet and turing in my timing chip. I perused the booths, feeling much like an interloper, only recognizable as such from the waist down (and not recognizable when in front of a table).

The fact remains that it'll be a while before I'll be as well-trained, as ready to make a BQ attempt, as I was the day before I broke my leg six weeks ago. Fresh from three nearly-back to back marathons in a year, I was handling milage well and really making strides toward achieving my speed goals. Maybe it won't take as long as I think to get back to that place, but I don't want to assume it will be easy. Maybe I shouldn't be a pessimist, but I really don't want to have my hopes up and just be severely disappointed when I can't run a sub-1:40 half or a sub-3:50 full in the next six months.

On the plus side, tomorrow's CIM brings an opportunity to support my team. I'll be at the finish line Buffalo Chips booth feeding our finishers, hearing their race stories. I have quite a few friends with high goals for tomorrow, and I'm excited to see how they do.

Tomorrow also brings the Buffalo Bash, our annual holiday/awards banquet. I didn't attend last year,  since I didn't feel like a "real" Chip yet, which makes me all the more excited to attend this year.

Next year, I know I'll run the San Francisco Marathon in June. I know I'll be able to finish in under 4:00, and I hope I'm able to PR. Aside from that, who know. Maybe I'll be able to run a spring half, but I doubt I'll run a spring full marathon like I'd planned. I very unlikely to both complete my 10 marathons by 30 goal, and qualify for Boston. Qualifying for Boston seems more likely. 10 by 30 was an arbitrary, Monk-ish goal anyway...

The End is Near!

As the end of my six week recovery was fast approaching, I was becoming alarmed that my leg still hurt. The worrier that I sometimes am, I started to think maybe I had torn something, or maybe the poor fit of my leg brace was slowing my healing somehow. I took advice from a few knowledgeable folks, and sought a referral to sports medicine, assuming I wouldn't be able to get in until well after my six weeks were over.

Surprisingly, I got an appointment for a this past Monday, after receiving a referral last week to the doctor Julia recommended (her "knee person"). I went in, got new X-Rays, and learned that my bone is healing just fine, and I will be able to go brace-free starting at the six week mark! The doctor confirmed that I didn't tear anything, and I should be able to start weight bearing exercise fairly soon!

Despite my initial excitement, the discussion I had with the doctor about activity was a bit sobering. I have to wait until I'm pain free (and not just for a day) before doing strenuous exercise (like running). I can start on the stationary bike, with 5 minutes at a time, rest a day to see if it hurts after the fact, then incrementally add time. I can go for long walks. I can do yoga, but not anything requiring deep knee bending until I've worked back into it for a while.

When I'm pain free, I can run, but I have to start very slowly. Like run for a minute, walk a minute, and don't progress in mileage too quickly. I'll be lucky if I'm running a mile by the end of the year! The doctor said that I should be fine to tun the San Francisco Marathon in June, and I get the feeling that anything much sooner than that is really out of the question.

I had considered a March marathon, and perhaps the Davis Stampede half in early February as my first race back. I thought February would give me a good amount of time to get my speed back, but now I'm not so sure.

Time will tell how fast I am able to get back into running. I don't want to be too conservative and waste time, but I also don't want to get an overuse injury (ITB, etc.) from trying to come back too fast. I'm already a bit frustrated, but I'll just have to deal.

The good news is, I should be able to get back into climbing almost immediately. I'll wear the brace at first to prevent knee banging, but adjusted so I can bend my leg. Hopefully I can get back on some 11a's by the end of the month, and get back on track to try my hand at lead climbing soon!