Yeah? Well I Never Liked Running, Anyway!

This running year seems to be all about setbacks, and now it seems pretty certain that the AC Half Marathon isn't going to happen.  Well, it will probably still happen.  I'm almost certain it will.  I just probably won't be in it.

I've been a little behind where I should be in my training, but with cooler weather coming and a very flat course, I wasn't too worried.  I knew if I could get my long runs up to 8 or 9 miles that I could finish a half.  I wasn't going to break any PRs, but I could finish.  However, over the last two weeks it seems like even those modest goals are out of reach as I seem to be having some injury problems that are limiting me to around 3 miles or less.

It started two weeks ago, when I went out for a run and had to stop after about a mile and a half with lots pain in my calves and ankles.  No reason for panic, I'd missed my runs the previous week when work took over my life (again), and had spent a weekend on a roadtrip with some college friends and I'm sure I was still dehydrated.  I came back in the middle of the week with a better run.  We ran the Sasquatch 5K in York last Saturday.  It was a trail run, and our goal was to have fun, laugh at or run from bigfoot, and not kill ourselves since we're not really very accomplished trail runners.  

Since then, I just haven't had any success.  Another 1.5 mile bonk this past monday.  A little better on Wednesday, 3.5 miles before my left ankle and shin were just hurting too much.  Today, desperate for a good "long" run, I headed to the flatter rail trail.  I ran 3 miles north, feeling good for about 2 miles of it and bad for the last half mile.  I stopped to try to stretch my ankle out, and I realized that I didn't have the full range of motion in my left foot.  I'm not sure if it's related to my varicose vein, or if maybe I sprained my ankle at Sasquatch, or all of the above or none of the above, but it's time to get this checked into.  On the positive side, I did see a cute black and white kitty.

(I'm sitting on a bench, trying to flex my feet upward as much as possible.  
The left one just wasn't able to move as far as the right one.  That shouldn't happen, right?)


Through a combination of factors, both within and outside of my control (mostly my own stupid fault, though), I'd gotten myself in a situation regarding the AC Half where I just couldn't afford any setbacks.  I'm probably going to defer from this one, but hopefully whether it's rest, PT, or surgery on my varicose vein, I can get this taken care of pretty quickly so that I can still realistically train for the Shamrock Marathon in March.  I know if I can get myself back up to 7-8 miles by the end of the year, that I'll be in an ok starting point to train for it.  After that, I'm probably done with marathons, but getting back to Shamrock's been one of my goals this year, and I still think I can -- even if it's been mostly frustration along the way.


Ok.  We now return to our regularly scheduled blogging hiatus.
 

Bad Idea

I'm on pace for by far my worst-ever blogging month and my worst running month since February, when I had the excuse that I was coming back from a month off with injuries.  I really should be doing a better job with both.  As for blogging, there's actually a lot to write about, I just haven't found the time or motivation to write it lately.  But since I actually have a few post ideas rattling around in my brain these days, I'm going to stretch them out over the next week rather than doing a big catch-up post like I usually do.

My biggest running news is that I signed up for the Atlantic City Half Marathon.  It's unquestionably a bad idea.  The half marathon (and marathon) is on October 21, and here I am, on August 25, not having run more than 5 miles since the Fourth of July (6 miles).  My left leg has been giving me problems, my tailbone has been a pain in the ass*, and I'll be honest, I've been having trouble finding the time and motivation to run lately.  (That's a blog post that I probably won't ever get around to writing!)

Chris and I have been contemplating the AC Half for months, and she put together training plans for us.  Mine called for an 8-mile run today.  Problem:  I haven't run more than 5 in months and my last run was last Sunday in the burning desert of Las Vegas (more on this in a future post).  8 miles was too ambitious.  My plan was to try for it, but to be happy with 6 or 7, and I extended my usual out-and-back route accordingly.  It was a cool, if very humid morning, but I felt pretty good.  Unfortunately, by extending my route, I hit some steep hills that I'm just not ready for these days.  By the time I'd hit the 4-mile mark, my left leg was in a lot of pain.  

Chris' training plan calls for a step-back week every other week, so next weekend is a 4-miler.   Yeah, no.  I've got to do a good job lifting this week, get the midweek runs in, and bust out a 6-8 miler.  The whole summer has been a step-back week, and my day of reckoning is fast approaching.

*So, back in July I wrote my Spartan Race reviews and said I wasn't sure if I would do one again.  Well, I'm sure now.  No way.  My tailbone still isn't all the way healed a month and a half later because of a stupid slip'n'slide of all things and it's been a pretty big setback to my running.  Seriously, screw Spartan Race.  I'm proud of how Chris and I did, and I do have some good memories of it, but I'm definitely a one-and-done Spartan.

Going for Gold

I'm addicted to the Olympics.  I don't know why.  I don't watch a second of track & field, soccer, swimming, gymnastics, indoor volleyball, boxing, and a whole bunch of other silly sports (seriously...who invented some of these things?) the rest of the year, but for those 2 weeks every four years, I can't get enough.

But I'm a little concerned.  Let's take a look at the medal count:

China is leading the U.S. 64-63 in total medal count and 31-29 in the all-important gold medal count.

The U.S. swim team did a great job again this year, Gabby Douglas certainly did her part, and this year's version of the dream team, led by 76er Andre Iguodala, seem to be up to the task. Still, I can't help but notice that China completely dominates diving and table tennis, which remain in the Olympics, while softball (where the U.S. women were dominant) and baseball (where the U.S. would be at least a medal contender) are gone.

I don't think this is fair.  It's time to add some other sports to the Olympics:

American Football (aka Football) -- The rest of the world loves it.  Who cares that they might not play it outside the U.S.  We don't dive, do gymnastics, play table tennis, play soccer, or do synchronized anything here in the U.S.  It will instantly be the most popular Olympic sport.  We can even give the national team Rich Kotite as coach, just to make it interesting, and we'd still win. 

Beer Pong -- I don't think this requires further explanation.  If table tennis is an Olympic sport, why not this?

Spartan Race -- The rest of the world probably thinks this is stupid.  They're right, so we'd dominate.

Bowling -- Again, look at some of the things that are in the Olympics and tell me that bowling doesn't belong.  There's several gold medals to be had here.

Poker -- It's on ESPN.  Therefore, it's a sport. 

Americaball -- the rest of the world can't win if we never tell them the rules.  USA!! USA!!  USA!!  It comes in Men's, Women's, Team, Mixed Doubles, and Synchronized versions to allow for lots of Gold Medals.

Come on, U.S. Olympic Committee, you have just a few days to get this done!  There's still time to go for the gold!

The ABCs of Being Pain Free?

I ran just 10 miles this week, but that's not important.  What is important is I ran 10 miles without a hint of trouble from my shins or varicose vein, and I'm cautiously optimistic that I've found the fix for it.  And by "I've found the fix for it", I mean Chris told me something to try that seems to have worked.

It's writing the alphabet in the air with my toes.  Here's an example that's a little more thorough than what I've been doing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X5-6-Puo20

Please note that I can't endorse all the Red Sox stuff in the background, but this seems like a good example.  I've just been writing through the alphabet once or twice several times a day while I'm working or watching TV and before I run.  I've been doing a little better with strength training lately, which may be helping, but I've noticed I didn't have any exercises for the muscles on/next to my shins, which is where I have so much trouble on my left leg.  This alphabet thing seems like it fills that void in my workout routine.

Now, my quads were another story.  My quads felt weak (I blame last night's fencing class for this) throughout the run, I've clearly lost some conditioning over the past month, and it was digustingly humid and warm this morning.  A four-mile run (per my training plan) that I wanted to turn into a six-mile run since my shins and ankles felt so great ended up a five-mile run when I felt like I was going to overheat if I went another mile.

So today, I lost the battle.  But for the first time in quite awhile, I think I'm going to win the war and be ready for a fall half marathon and spring full marathon.

And since this post is boring and people come here for the cat pictures, here's Higgy helping me work. 

Trying to Come Back...Again & Some Off-Topic Fun

I went on my first run since the unfortunate events of Spartan Race. I'd gotten up to run a few other times over the past week and a half, but aborted due to either weather (Saturday), too much pain in the tailbone area (several days last week), getting home at 4am after an excellent Dream Theater concert in Atlantic City (Sunday), waking up too late (Monday), or staying up all night working on Monday night (Tuesday).

I decided that I'd run out of excuses, and so this evening I ended up running 3 miles in 28:46.

It felt like 20 miles.

It was a gorgeous evening, but in the 80s and still Sunny at 6:15ish when I hit the roads. I'm not used to running in the 80s, so I've got to either get out earlier and beat the heat, like I did last summer, or perhaps try 9 or 10 at night, when it may be a few degrees warmer than 6am, but less humid and no sun. We'll see.

At any rate, I feel like I'm starting over and I'm not sure that's necessarily a bad thing. After a pretty good start, the comeback had badly stalled over the last two months. And I do have a plan this time, but I have to save something for my next blog post, right?

**********************************************************************************

(So, how was the concert, Brian?)

It was great, thanks for asking. For those unfamiliar with Dream Theater, who have failed to achieve the level of fame that their talent deserves, they are a progressive metal band (I don't really know what "progressive" rock means, but think Queensryche or Rush, but heavier) that I've been listening to since high school, when they released Images and Words, which features their best-known song, "Pull Me Under" (which is still not THAT well-known) and Awake, their best selling album to date, in 1992 and 1994, respectively.

However, I was unforgivably behind on their albums. It's easy to lose track of them, since they're more of a cult following-type band then a widely-known band and most of their songs are at least 10 minutes long so that they get almost zero airplay. So last week was spent working long hours and "cramming" for the concert any time I wasn't on conference calls. Except for the side of effect of this metal marathon turning our kitten evil, it was time well spent. Their last three albums, Systematic Chaos, Black Clouds and Silver Linings, and A Dramatic Turn of Events are all excellent, all with Dream Theater's distinct combination of metal and melody.

At any rate, the concert was excellent, with a good mix of old stuff and new stuff that left me feeling evil...but also uplifted at the same time. Musically, they're just amazing. Guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini on the drums (replacing long-time DT-er Mike Portnoy) are all at incredible. And they like to show off; almost every song has long instrumental bridges between verses, during which lead singer James Labrie wanders off stage to (I assume) play Angry Birds.

Their newer stuff is heavier than their earlier albums, and heavier than I what I usually listen to, but the frequency with which they change mood and speed from heavy to melodic and the vocal range of Labrie, and their often contemplative lyrics make them always interesting to listen to and also made me glad I'd done my homework and caught up before seeing them live. If you like metal or hard rock, check 'em out...these guys can make anything sound epic.

And, during their intro, they also had these cartoon versions of themselves playing on the three screens above the stage. Fun!

Ok, we'll now resume our regular running and complaining about running blog posts.

Post-Spartan Blues

The Spartan warriors are celebrated in history and popular culture not because of their own military triumph, but because they sacrificed themselves at the Battle of Thermopylae. (Remember, this is a crappy running blog, not a history lesson.  I'm going to over-generalize things like this.) So, if you run something called a "Spartan Race", it seems appropriate that you're out of commission for at least a little while.

That's what I'm telling myself, anyway.  

My legs felt really good after the Spartan Sprint, though my ankles were a bit wobbly the next two days.  It's my bruised (I think it's just bruised, because it does feel significantly better than it did on Sunday and Monday) tailbone that has kept me off the roads all week.  I'm hoping to get out for 3-5 miles tomorrow morning, but I was hoping to do so yesterday and today, too.  If not tomorrow, I think by next week I'll be able to return to normal activities.

Missing a week of running won't kill me, and it'll probably help to rest my legs.  But I did end up skipping the Harrisburg Mile on Wednesday, which means the 5:59 mile won't happen this year.  It probably wasn't going to anyway...but still.

I've gone back and forth about whether I'd do a Spartan Race again.  On one hand, I'd like to try again to see if I could do better.  I swore right after my first marathon that I'd never do another one, but by the time we got home from VA Beach I knew I wanted another shot.

On the other hand, note the disclaimer:

I'm sitting here a week later alive but with a not catastrophic injury by any means, but still a significant one that's kept me from even attempting one of my goal races for the year.

Maybe this is just one better checked off the bucket list.  (Note to self:  Start a bucket list and cross "Ridiculous Obstacle Race" off of it.)

Chris and I had a funny conversation yesterday with my Dad about the Spartan Race:

Brian's Dad:  "Why did you do this again?"

Brian:  (several seconds of dumbfounded silence)......"But Dad, free beer!"

So, we'll see.  This is probably the end of obstacle races for me this year, but who knows what the running future holds?

The Pain, the Blood, and the Gore: Race Report Part 2: Pennsylvania Spartan Sprint 2012

 
In my previous post, I tried to describe my experience at the Spartan Sprint PA.  In this post I'd like to review the event itself in terms of organization, strengths and, in my opinion, a few things that could be done to improve the event, as well as my critique of my own performance and what I would do differently.

Race Review 
Course
This race was a unique experience, and three days later I'm still not sure how I feel about this one.  Did I enjoy it?  Parts of it I enjoyed very much.  Other parts were less enjoyable, and some parts made my question my own sanity and that of the course designers.  Would I do it again?  I'm not sure.  Am I glad I did it?  Absolutely.  It was an adventure, a great story, and a unique challenge that my best friend and I triumphed over together.  I went in as a somewhat jaded marathoner ("Whatever.  It's five miles.") and left with a true sense of accomplishment (despite all my burpees!).


The Pennsylvania Spartan Sprint definitely lived up to Spartan Race's billing as a super-tough obstacle race.   Sadistic, even.  (Having the monkey bars right after the pancakes?  Evil!).  The ascents and descents were brutal.  While I wouldn't say I enjoyed all the obstacles, I would say that they were generally well-designed to be challenging.  Some of them were really fun.  The mud pits were fun.  Climbing walls is fun.  Rope ladder is fun.  Spear toss, fun, even though I failed. Jumping over fire was cool, too.  And I think the others were generally tough but fair.  Being tall is an advantage the higher walls, but Chris and I both found ways over them, despite our vertical challenged-ness.  There was a mental aspect to most of the challenges that made them enjoyable.  Not just "can I do it?", but "what's the best way for me to do it?"

That said, I think they should change how they market this race.  Here's how a Spartan Sprint, the shortest Spartan Race distance, is described on their website:

Spartan Sprint - 3+ MILES / 15+ OBSTACLES. The challenging sprint obstacle trail races are a great way to get off your couch and start living. From beginner trail racers and mud run participants to hardcore warriors, tough guys and marathon runners, they all come out to test themselves on the insane obstacle races! 99.9% of all people who try this event will finish, and 100% will have their thirst for mud & trail racing fully satisfied! 

This is how they described the 2012 Pennsylvania Spartan Sprint (from their facebook page):

Spartan Staffers are currently testing out the PA Sprint course and the verdict is in! Our Pennsylvania event will go down as the toughest Sprint we've ever done.

More (from a congratulatory e-mail):

Hey PASpartans! Congrats on finishing the race! Spartan Sprint Races are typically 5K long...but we thought you were tough enough and made the course ~5 miles long!

Don't underestimate your potential! You are much stronger than you think!

It's cool to know I finished their toughest Sprint ever.  It also seems that the element of surprise and the challenge of the unknown are important parts of the Spartan Race mystique that the company is trying to build.  No course maps, no exact mileage given, and people only give vague hints given by on-course volunteers about inquiries about what's next, etc.  But when people sign up for "3+" mile Sprint, to then late in the game make it "The toughest sprint ever" and 5 miles long on really, really challenging terrain, well, I feel that crosses the line from badass/challenging to dangerous.   Two extra miles on this type of terrain is nothing to sneeze at.

I personally would warn anyone that when Spartan Race says a race is tough, they mean business.  (There's a lot of mud/obstacle race series out there now, and it seems as if there are several different niches of difficulty level, and the differences might not be apparent from descriptions or websites).  I just think people signing up for this should have had a little better idea of what they were in for.  

I'm not advocating making the course easier, or  suggesting that organizers shouldn't take full advantage of the rough terrain. I think just some fair warning for people before they sign up that this is longer and more brutal than a typical sprint would be a positive. Call it a mini-beast or just mention that this is significantly longer (again, two miles on this type of terrain is no small thing!) and tougher than a typical sprint.

One obstacle that I do have some really negative feedback on is the one I was looking forward to the most.  I either broke or bruised my coccyx on a rock underneath the slip 'n' slide.  While there were some obstacles I couldn't complete and I did some burpees, I felt like the slide was the only one where I was completely at the mercy of the course.  On the hills, I could choose to press for speed or  to go slow and steady.  I could choose my own strategy to carry Spartan pancakes.  On walls that appeared to tall for me, I was able to pause and think of ways to climb up (or I could have done the burpees).   On the slip 'n' slide, I slid into a lake and there was nothing at all I could have really done to try to avoid injury.  I enjoyed every second of the slide until I landed in the water in immense pain, but on this obstacle I feel (in hindsight) like I was completely and totally at the mercy of nature and Spartan Race for the only point in the whole race.

Please don't think this just sour grapes from a guy not up to the challenge.  I did finish, and in the process of doing so I got over obstacles that I didn't think I could, pushed my mind and body to the limit, and I found the experience of finishing to be very rewarding.  I am no stranger to endurance sports with two marathons under my belt (and more on the way next year) in addition to two half marathons and more races than I can remember at shorter distances.

Event/Culture

One thing that was really disappointing was that when my wife and I finished, the food vendors were closed and the merchandise tent was closing.  We started at 3:30 and did take 5 hours, so I know that our performance wasn't great, but we still rose to the challenge and had a memorable experience and we were by no means the last to finish.  I think those last finishers deserve the same finish experience as anyone who finished earlier and/or faster.  God forbid I want a cheesesteak or to buy a second beer after one of the most physically and mentally demanding things I've ever done!  (Thank you to the Long Trail Ale table for staying open!) And I didn't want to buy a hat or sweatshirt until after the event because what if I'd hated it, or worse yet, didn't finish?

 

I also thought all the staff and volunteers were responsive and extremely encouraging.  The EMT who rushed to assist me at the bottom of the slip 'n' slide was both professional in trying to make sure that I could physically go on but also understanding of me in the challenging situation of being in immense pain while also trying to make the go/no go decision, and in general there seem to have been adequate and responsive staffing to make this even relatively safe. In talking about the staff I must also say that I really appreciate the Race Director taking the time to read and respond to my previous post.  (He mentioned that elite Spartan Racer Hobie Call ran the whole course with the exception of the uphill sandbag carry...so I'm glad it's not just my imagination that this obstacle was super tough.)

The camaraderie and collaboration among participants was superb and I think was my favorite part of the event.  For example, everyone held the bottom of the rope ladder for the people after them, and I was happy to return the favor when I could help boost some people up some of the walls.  

The registration/bag check seemed well-organized and I appreciated that there was a post-race cleanup station and locker rooms. The medal and t-shirt are very cool, too. And I also wanted to add that honestly, I can't imagine the level of work that goes into setting up events like this one quickly and repeatedly throughout the country.  Spartan Races and other obstacle events seem to be quite a bit more expensive than similarly distanced road races, but it's easy to see why that's so.

Performance Review

Despite doing a decent amount of burpees, I'm pretty happy with how I did on the obstacles. I climbed high walls that I didn't think I'd be able to get up.  I gave a good effort on the monkey bars.  I don't kick myself for not being able to flip the tires.  That was so far outside the realm of objects that I'm able to lift that I was glad to take the burpees.  I should have been able to do the pulley obstacle...I know I can lift 60 pounds.  

If someone asked me what advice I'd give them about preparing for a Spartan Race, I'd say "Go ask Hobie Call instead of me."  But, if they insisted, I'd say do a lot of hill repeats and try to get really good at doing pull-ups.  

I'd say don't really worry about being a really good distance runner, just being in overall good cardiovascular shape and having good upper-body strength are more important than being able to actually able to run the whole course distance.  On this particular course, I, and I suspect the average participant, didn't do a great deal of running.  More upper body strength would have helped me quite a bit, though.  I think that even in my peak of lifting back in 2009 that I couldn't have gotten up a rope climb as high as the one on the course or flipped the 200lb tire, but I might have been able to pull myself up over some of the walls without having to precariously climb up the support beams.

 

In general, I still think of myself as a road runner and marathoner more than an obstacle race runner or ultra-endurance or multisport athlete, and I'll always run more "regular" races. I said after Mud Chasers, which was a cakewalk compared to this, that I wasn't sure that these mud runs were my cup of tea and I stand by that. But I'm grateful for the experience of this Spartan Race, because after finishing this unique and uniquely challenging experience, I feel like I can do anything.   

Overcome injury to get back in marathon shape?  Absolutely.  I've been through hell and back again.