Weekly Mileage 41st week of 2012

[Bare Lee]

I have a friend here a work with exactly your same issue.
His ortho told him that it was inflamation of the ligament and gave him some Voltaren cream for it(anti-inflamatoty) the cream is like Celebrex but who wants that!
Anyways, If you like I could tell you what I do when my bad ankle gives grief(sprined many ions ago and it never healed properly and it bothers me from time to time).
Well wether you like it or not here is what I do.
Head to Amazon and look into Tropicin cream( a little pricey if you ask me but is all worth it to me).
Also look for Tubigrip this offers very mild compression and I like it because allows me to move freely without being too constricted.
I used the cream morning and night but you could use more often. It's completely safe as is made with natural herbs.
In the morning I use the cream only and at night I used the cream and the tubigrip to sleep in.
The method I use works wonderfully for me the pain goes away in a day or two.
There is also a book you might want to look at it is by Nicholas A. DiNubile and it's called Framework for the knee.
Good luck my friend I hope you find relief soon.

PS
I was just thinking you and Nick run pushing a stroller and you both are having some issues...uhm.

Thanks so much Dama! A friend in need is a friend indeed. I'll order that stuff presently. One more thing, when do you think I should start running again? As soon as the pain is gone? Or should I wait a bit after that to make sure it's healed completely?

P.S., I just walk with a regular, tandem stroller, and only once or twice a week. I resold the jogging stroller a few months ago. Just didn't work for me--felt funny not to use my arms. Plus it's kind of awkward on bumpy sidewalks and not really good for the boy to just sit there on the longer runs, it seems to me. Nick runs with one because he has no options right now.

 

[NickW]

Nick runs with one because he has no options right now.

Assuming I pass this math class with a high enough score this time (precalc, again... Missed scoring high enough by one point for it to count towards degree...) I will be running child free come June of next year, or maybe sooner (March)! I can't wait and it seems like it can't come soon enough! Kinda like Lee healing enough so he can run.

 

[Bare Lee]

In the morning I use the cream only and at night I used the cream and the tubigrip to sleep in. The method I use works wonderfully for me the pain goes away in a day or two.
. . . Good luck my friend I hope you find relief soon.
.

OK, looking at tubigrip now. Do you reckon I'd be a size F, for large knees? I'm 6'1" 210 or so.

Also, would you recommend against ibuprofen? I know it's been getting a pretty bad rap these days and I only used it on my first day of injury, avoiding it since.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

OK, looking at tubigrip now. Do you reckon I'd be a size F, for large knees? I'm 6'1" 210 or so.

Measure your knee all around and go from there.
I don't remember which size letter I use but I think is the three inch for the ankle.
I am going to have to take a look at their sizing but is going to be a liitle while today.
Lee use the cream for at leas three times a day but you'll find helpfyl info in the box.
Ussualy when my ankle bothers me, I like I said used the cream for a couple a days, then I go running and pick up where I left but that might not be possible for you for now.
Go for a short test run maybe two three days after depending how your knee feels.
I'll be browsing ove at amazon and I'll be back to you sometime later.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Ok I am back.
The F sounds about right it's 4 inches and the G is 4.5 inches.
One of the two will do depending on how large is you knee.
Not much help I know-sorry.

 

[ThomDavid]

Mon 10/8: 4.78 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 3+ miles on dg trail and pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and a yoga class)
Tue 10/9: 32 miles indoor spinning at the gym, and 20 min on the Krank for a little upper body aerobic work
Wed 10/10: 5.28 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 4+ miles on mixed pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and another yoga class)
Today I'll hit the gym for some indoor spinning and kranking again, then Friday is a scheduled rest day. Plan to do about 4 miles on Saturday (and another yoga class).

 

[scedastic]

12 miles this time playing hookey from school so i went on the more populated end of the 33 mile trail, near the college town, with lots of people on it on a sunny sunny windy fall morning. K, gonna lay off long runs a few days, just realized I did over 55 mi in the last 7 days, and three runs over 10mi.
hey, but i think my shin splints are finally going away! And I've been doing nothing but running on them. Hope I'm not speaking too soon.......

Lee, I know your body likes speed, and I agree it's fun, but goodness, my body is just loving these long leisurely runs. Almost no recovery. I do miss the hills though (I'm avoiding steep ones till the shin splints are gone---the downhills are what do me in).
I was hoping to work on speed this fall, since i have a friend who would be a good once-in-a-while running partner but is wayyyy faster than me (8 min/mile or under ALL the time, even on longer runs he's only as slow as 9 and he calls that very slow and I'm pretty sure he's being kind at saying he can run that slow), but it doesn't look like it's in the cards this year for my running. Maybe next spring.

On the trail today I saw a large flock of wild turkeys---the avian type, NOT you BRSers

 

[scedastic]

Mon 10/8: 4.78 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 3+ miles on dg trail and pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and a yoga class)
Tue 10/9: 32 miles indoor spinning at the gym, and 20 min on the Krank for a little upper body aerobic work
Wed 10/10: 5.28 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 4+ miles on mixed pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and another yoga class)
Today I'll hit the gym for some indoor spinning and kranking again, then Friday is a scheduled rest day. Plan to do about 4 miles on Saturday (and another yoga class).

You're making great progress on the BF miles. How long have you been at the bf running again? Not long, I'm remembering.
In any case, nice work.

 

[ThomDavid]

You're making great progress on the BF miles. How long have you been at the bf running again? Not long, I'm remembering.
In any case, nice work.

I took my first barefoot steps on Sept 1. So far so good! Trying to keep it to an every-other-day thing for another month or so, then I'll add in another day if it feels right. I'm planning my first barefoot race on Thanksgiving Day, the local Turkey Trot 5K. No real pressure to run fast at that event, just a test for how I fare in the situation. And a good opportunity to promote barefoot running!
Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[scedastic]

Thom, that's amazing fast progress. Funny, I took my first bf running steps on Sept 1 or 2nd (it was labor day weekend) of last year.

Took me till november to get comfortable with 3-5 miles, where i didn't get stiff or sore from them, but I did also START from day one with 1-5 mile bf runs (it was so much fun and i'm not bright that way.....), then just waited for the soreness to go away. My feet were way too tender last year for much bf in the cold. Hope yours do better so that you can keep up the transition without breaks.

 

[ThomDavid]

Since I live in SoCal, I hope to run right through the winter. When I see pics of folks running in snow, I figure I can handle temps in the 40s!

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Mon 10/8: 4.78 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 3+ miles on dg trail and pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and a yoga class)
Tue 10/9: 32 miles indoor spinning at the gym, and 20 min on the Krank for a little upper body aerobic work
Wed 10/10: 5.28 barefoot miles, including 1 mile warmup, 4+ miles on mixed pavement, quarter mile cooldown (and another yoga class)
Today I'll hit the gym for some indoor spinning and kranking again, then Friday is a scheduled rest day. Plan to do about 4 miles on Saturday (and another yoga class).

Sounds like a nice fun routine you got there Tom.
What's Kranking? No, I don't want to google it

 

[Barefoot Dama]

I had a 35 minutes slow run, my legs are still a little shaky from yesterday's stairs workout. But I'll take it though.

 

[happysongbird]

5.7 mile tempo run. I think I was going at least a 8:30 mm pace. At least the dog thought I was going a bit too fast.
Basically flat terrain, fairly smooth asphalt. Had to run in place a couple of times to let someone reel in a dog. What are these people thinking?
Tried to use hubby's GPS watch, but I am inept and frustrated. He'll come home and show me again and tell me it's easy.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

5.7 mile tempo run. I think I was going at least a 8:30 mm pace. At least the dog thought I was going a bit too fast.
Basically flat terrain, fairly smooth asphalt. Had to run in place a couple of times to let someone reel in a dog. What are these people thinking?
Tried to use hubby's GPS watch, but I am inept and frustrated. He'll come home and show me again and tell me it's easy.

It really is!

 

[happysongbird]

It really is!

It has a "bezel" Good grief!

 

[NickW]

3.1 barefoot miles plus 40 minutes barefoot in the gym again. Not sure if I'm losing any weight, but I can see the fat melting off and some muscle definition starting to show again. Just got to keep up the gym work in combination with my running. On todays run the first quarter mile, and subsequently last quarter mile, almost killed my run. There is so much debris on the ground I had to stop running and just walk over it and it hurt so bad. I wish I had a leaf blower strapped to the front of the stroller. It would have hopefully at least cleared some bare spots to put my feet. As it was I don't think there were any spots bigger than a square inch that were not covered in sticks, rocks, gumballs, and acorns. This has been a super bad fall for us, really long, so we are having more crap fall than normal. Hope it stops soon so I can get back to enjoying my runs. And for the love of Pete please send us some dang rain! There is so much sap on the sidewalks that I keep getting a ton of hitchhikers, cling-ons if you will, which makes running barefoot not so much fun.We need the rain to wash away this sap.

 

[ThomDavid]

Sounds like a nice fun routine you got there Tom.
What's Kranking? No, I don't want to google it

Lazybones...Googling is SO hard

This is a Krankcycle:

You sit (or stand) behind it, adjust a tension knob on the top, and rotate the handles at increasing resistance, the point being to give your upper body an aerobic workout. Many different ways to work out on it, and it's sort of fun once you get a rhythm going. It is great for folks who are unable to use their lower bodies, such as those in a wheelchair, as the seat can be removed and you can roll right up to it (note the base: wheelchairs won't roll out of it once you're in place). But, for able-bodied folk, you can get a pretty decent upper-body workout, similar to using a speed bag.

So, anyway, I'm reporting that I did my 35 miles on the spinning cycle, but today I had to miss the kranking part or I'd have been late for an appt. I'll krank on my off-day tomorrow

 

[dutchie53]

3 miles on a windy day, but not enough windchill to put me on the minus side of 0, still good for winter challenge though. I am pleasantly surprised so far that my feet feel not bad at all compared to last year. It seems like they have started to get adapted to running in colder temps. Paying more attention though to keeping the core warm this year, was not really concerned with that last year. It seems to help, but I do tend to be a little on the warm side at end of run.

 

[Bare Lee]

Ok I am back.
The F sounds about right it's 4 inches and the G is 4.5 inches.
One of the two will do depending on how large is you knee.
Not much help I know-sorry.

Thanks again Dama! Everything is on its way, meanwhile, I'll try icing tonight.
If you have any guesses as to what has caused this, or how to prevent it from happening in the future, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts. Other than warming up better, I can't think of what else I could've done. The doc was sort of nonchalant about it, suggesting that runners get injured from time to time and there's nothing you can do about it, but I really do not want to be that kind of runner, always talking about my injuries. The top of the foot pain I don't really count as an injury because it was simply due to lack of massaging and stretching properly. I'm hoping better preparation will also keep this knee thing from recurring too. It could just be age, I guess, but since my bones and cartilage look like a young man's, I'm not entertaining that possibility just yet.

Scedastic: keep in mind my speed is other people's slow. I'm not really trying to be that fast. The goal is to get down to around 8mm for an hour's run. I'm pretty sure I can get there in a month or two once I can return to my present weekly routine: one or two LSD runs, one tempo, and one intervals and hills. It already feels a lot better to be around 9mm or less for my longer tempo runs. I like longer runs a lot too, and would like to get in at least one 8-10 miler a week, but I will enjoy them more when I'm able to run a bit faster and feel a slightly greater range of motion in my limbs. And I'm 6'1" so what I feel in terms of range of motion is probably a minute per mile faster than for most women or shorter men. There's some science to justify all this, as you may have heard me blab about, but mostly I'm doing it because I enjoy it. I really like the meditative quality of a nice, steady long(ish) run, but I also enjoy the mild challenge of exerting myself a bit and feeling a bit wiped out afterwards, just once a week or so. I know I should also incorporate some HIIT or circuit training in my weights, but there too I mostly enjoy a nice leisurely workout doing heavier weights with one-to-three-minute breaks in between. Plus, on top of all this, slightly more intense runs take less time, and time is really hard to come by these days, and I'm very willing to put off some of my training goals in order to speed (opps, Freudian slip) spend more time with my kids while they're little and enjoy my company so much. My son got sent home from day care with the mildest of fevers, and it felt so heavenly to have him nap on top of me. I could have laid him down so that I could go do my back workout, but I know these small-kid days will pass quickly, and my body will manage just fine with an extra day of rest.

Man, it's terrible not to be running in this gorgeous fall weather though, I have to say.