Running.. a little.

Well first run since PF Changs last Sunday was 15 miles out on a tough course, which is Red Rock Canyon and let me tell you, it was Great!!

It started out with all the Headlands running crew showing up to run together on a whim. That was the coolest part since we have not all been together since race day. We took pics again and the same SURF Pose we started with at Headlands.

Although it was cold, 29*, snow on the ground the sun came out and it was great day. We all ran together during the 15 miles and caught up on life since Headlands and what the 2010 race/run season is bringing up for each of us.

Overall, I felt great during the run and with an average pace of 12:15 I quickly realized that to go 50 I gotta slow down, plain and simple!!!! At the end my legs were a little tired but not spent like 26.2 left me and this was with no ice bath or stretch recovery.

So far this week I have hit the gym for some weight training and a quick mile run/warm up but tomorrow morning I will hit the road and look for a couple of hours.

Working at the new office, has just been great and things are picking up. Working on getting people to come try out the stretch therapy and actually getting some great feed back from the athletes!

rockon'

Left For Dead Review..

This book is about Beck Weathers who was on the expedition in May 1996 to Mount Everest when a storm blew in and trapped several climbers and killing 8 climbers, some where the best high altitude climbers in the world! He was also in the book "Into Thin Air" that I last read.

Basically Beck was climbing Everest and had some issues with his eyes that prevented him summiting and as he waited where he was instructed to do so by his leader, a severe storm blew in and the conditions were beyond extreme. As he waited the storm basically became so bad that as other climbers were coming down the from the summit he decided he would head back down to the lower camp or else he was going to freeze to death. As a group of climbers grouped together they lost there bearing and didn't know which way to return to camp. They eventually all huddled down and stayed in one place as rescue teams were looking for them in the in blinding conditions. Hours pasted and when they were found the rescuers could not take all the climbers back to camp due to some had lost the ability to walk, which means you basically get left behind. It's every climber for them self and if you cannot man your own power you are in deep trouble and most certain to be left to die only because it is impossible for any rescue climber to carry any other climber at 25,000 feet plus! So Beck was left in the storm to die because he could not walk and he laid there for 22 hours.

Then something inside him woke him up and he got up, blind, frostbit hands and he walked to camp, saving himself. The story goes back into Beck's life and talks about his personal life and how he back involved in climbing as well as it reveals his family life, his wife, son, daughter, in-laws and friends that all have parts in the book, almost like an interview.

It is an easy read and very interesting how Beck survived where he should have died and been #9. How he lost his hands and all the recovery surgery's he underwent to piece him back together after the several frostbit areas and how his life changed after all this.

Amazing, fascinating and intriguing!

Mount Everest!!!

rockon'

PF Changs Rock n' Roll Marathon pics

PF Changs Rock n' Roll Recap.

Heading down to Phoenix I had a little pain in my left calf, much the same as before Cozumel that only seemed to reduce with stretching and some help from Dr. Victor but I have not been able to get over and see him so I have been on a do it yourself type fix program, which means, I'm basically not that much better. Anyway, after checking out the Expo which is totally HUGE and tons of people!

It's actually bigger than the Houston and Las Vegas marathon expos! It was cool to see lots of things but as with most expo's once you seen one, you've seen them all. Once I got all my race check-in, number stuff we headed to our hotel, The Clarendon, which was actually one of the hotels listed by the travel people on the web site and it was actually a nice hotel. Great pool, bar area, and roof top location. The rooms were big and comfortable but there was a lack of sound dampening and noises could be heard in the hallway and the other rooms but luckily most of the peeps were runners so it was quite by 10pm.

The morning came and the Formualic Family was down for the race as well and Desiree drove Form and I to the drop off location at a bright and early 6:15am. Actually, the race didn't start till 7:40am so it wasn't actually that early, compared to other marathon times but anyway we were at the starting area and met up with TNT Coach Chuck and his peeps from Vegas. After the standard pot-o-can line and TCB it was off to stand in the corrals and wait for the gun to go off.

There was a lot of standing around time in the corrals and the gun clicked with Sen. John McCaine waving on the runners from overhead at the start line. We started running a 6 min/1min walk pace and all was going well. Mile 3.5 brought out the Formualic crew and Desiree as we tossed clothes, said our hellos and off we went again. By mile 13 things were pretty good, we had just ran a 2:27 half and although the legs were feeling a little tired and achy I was doing good. Formualic coming off his High I can do it 50 miler run the weekend before was surprisingly doing well too and we just kept moving on with 6/1's.

How quickly things change in a marathon! Somewhere around mile 15 I started to go down. I was taking nutrition, salts and water and all that stuff was working for me, but the legs were just starting to say NO MAS! and wanted to stop. I told Form that I was in my "Funk Zone" and I should be okay for a while but by mile 20 the legs had pretty much won the battle and now I had switched to 4/1's but that even seemed to be too much at times. My only relief was by this time the wheels finally fell off of Formualic and he was struggling too, some sick way this gave me motivation, mostly because he just ran 50 miles 7 days ago and here I was running 26.2 with my longest run of 20 two weeks ago so I knew if he could do it, I had to!

By mile 22 it was a matter of survival mode and the thoughts and concentration grew stronger to keep the legs running for 1 or 2 minutes at a time. The more we walked the longer it was going to take and the less I wanted to start running again. Mile 24 came and I remembered some of the roads from the Soma 70.3 triathlon that the bike course was one and then mile 25. The temperatures all day had been great but now the last 2 miles the sun decided to come out and heat things up. I knew with only 1.2 miles left I just had to find that zone and do it. I hit the last aid station and wet by hat down to cool my head, grabbed some beads they were handing out as we got closer to the finish line and started to see others with there finishers medal. A 1/2 mile left and making the way in and round the AZ Stadium area there was a lot of people and you could sense you are that close to the finish line hearing the announcer.

Finally, we made the last right hand turn and the finishing chute was there. Balloons, people and music!! We saw Desiree and Formulaic crew on the left and I waved, just looking to be done, but Form stopped and then that was my chance! I picked up the pace and made sure I finished before him!!! ha!!

I was really glad to be done. My quads were thrashed and my hip flexors were not feeling great at all. Surprisingly enough my calf's were feeling good but I could feel strain on my left Achilles tendon. Now I did wear my CEP Compression socks and I really do think they helped stabilize my calf's with less vibration and fatigue as I ran. They were totally comfortable, cool and I was happy with the performance of them, thanks Dave Scott and CEP!

The recovery was eat as much as I could and keep the legs moving as much as possible on the drive back to Vegas. Yes, we drove back, actually, I thank Desiree very much because she drove back and stopped a few times for me to get out and walk around and even catch a nap, thanks babe!

Monday my legs were feeling much better, sore of course but better than I expected them to feel. I got a massage last night and felt pretty good there too. Today, I hit the elliptical trainer for 30 mins and felt good, sore but not too much. I do feel my left calf again with the same issue I left to PHX with so I know it has not been resolved.

So here is my QUESTION or Thoughts. Overall, I am just not feeling recovered and my legs are taking the beating. I have second thoughts on the running OP 50 for a few reasons. 1) I don't want to deal with lingering muscle over use problems; 2) because of the muscle problems my lack of motivation to run is simply not there b/c I feel uncomfortable; 3) even with good muscles and recovery, I have about 6 weeks left of training and that just doesn't seem/feel like enough Quality time to train without inviting the muscle stuff back; 4) I am liking lifting weights and working on losing some extra pounds.

With all that I am a little lost on what I want to focus on.

Haha, good catch Mike,.. i did forget my time. it was 5:19.

rockon'

NEW HOME!!!

Yahoo!!! It's finally a done deal. !!!

I have finally found a new great Chiropractic office and looking forward to calling it Home!

It is called Fallon Chiropractic, owned by Nancy Fallon. She is a great doctor which I have got to know over the last month and with a genuine outlook on helping me and my business with the aid of her knowledge and experience. It has been a long time since I have met another doctor looking to help you out Without the driving force behind of them of "What's in it for them?" Attitude.

I am looking forward to working along side with Dr. Fallon, learning other things and helping her understand my FAST technique that I use with sports and overuse syndromes in athletes.

I will be posting some pictures of my new office/room but in the meant time feel free to check out Dr. Fallon's web site and see what's going on and of course you can always check out my web site at www.drjohnvigil.com

I am also liking the fact that the office location is a little more central to Las Vegas which just makes things easier. Monday, is back at it and looking forward to seeing some of my patients, new patients and introducing everyone to Fascial Stretch Therapy!! OMG, it's amazing!!

Training this weekend has been slow to none, especially, since on Thursday I jacked up my low back lifting some weight and it has been bothering me the last couple of days. Today it is actually feeling good and I was looking to get a short run of 6-8 miles in and looking to keep it short distance this week as I head to PF Changs marathon next Sunday. I know it's a training run but for some reason I just know I am going to push and try and run a good marathon, we shall see how it goes.

rockon'

Slow n Stead .. Book Review.

After watching Everest: Beyond The Limit a couple of weeks ago I became fascinated by the lure of one of the greatest mountains in the world and how these Athlete's, Yes, they are athletes endure the extreme elements and go beyond physical and mental abilities to summit and survive the decent back down to safety. After googling and surfing the web I found Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air and just had to read it.

It took me 4 days to read it and here is my quick recap:

As the book states on the cover #1 Best Seller and Ranks among the great adventure books of all time and they were not kidding.

Setting the stage with all the people and understanding how things work to summit Everest is the 1st half of the book and once the ascent starts most things are working like they should but soon time lines were broken and pushed beyond the cutoff times and this is where things go wrong. On May 10, 1996 a storm hits the climbers and leaves many of them fighting for there life's and some to die. The rescue attempts from the other climbers high on the mountain were really put to a challenge not only fighting for there life but the extreme coldness (-100* below Zero wind chill) the darkness at night, extreme winds and total exhaustion and fatigue that some over came to help others survive. Overall, I feel that Jon surviving the death had to tell the story from his point of view and as a journalist, of course he should. It was a story much bigger than the story he was sent to Everest to cover in the first place. There were many signs, red flags and poor judgments that got over looked and the deaths of the climbers was the result of a few not just one but it just goes to show that you have to respect the guides and why they have time lines and turn around points, No Matter What. I feel for the many people that have attempted, completed, and came so close to the summit before turning around so close to the top but yet had to end there attempt because of the time lines. In the end several climbers were died, 2 of the best known High Altitude climbers in the world and others were left to die because they were almost dead and wouldn't make the decent and yet one of those was Beck Weathers, who was found, hours later in the night of the storm and was left because they thought he was pretty much dead but he later got up and walked into camp!! The disaster claimed 8 lives.

I was completely drawn to the reading and how things were taking place and how the author wrote a new Afterword in the book. It really gave insight to the events that occurred and some rebuttals towards another climber that was on Everest, Antoli Boukreev's and wrote the book The Climb according to his memory.

My next book is the story of Beck Weathers, Left for Dead.

As for training I am still doing good, however, yesterday I was lifting weights and somehow tweaked my low back so I am taking it easy today and getting some Chiro work done on it.

rockon'

Coming along..

Training now in January has been coming along good.

Let's see: Last weekend I ran 20 miles with Formualic and for some reason I came up with this great route but somehow didn't really snap to the fact that there was a lot of climbing. I mean a lot. OKAY, I did see that there would be up and down stuff till mile 12 and then after that it was all back down hill on the profile! HINT!! RED FLAG!! HELLO JT!! That was the clue, all back down hill after mile 12.

It didn't lie either. Once we got past mile 12 it was mostly downhill grades, some pretty step, so nothing like blowing out the glues/hams it was now time to trash the Quads. Overall it was a good run, had great weather and we got it done. I got recovered quickly and although my knees were sore from a lot of the concrete sidewalk we had to run on I was feeling pretty good on Monday.

Tuesday I was in the gym for weights again, Monday was too and today, Wednesday, I managed to crank out 9 1/2 miles at a descent pace.

I have started to track all my nutrition, meaning everything that goes in my mouth is logged on Livestrong.com daily tracker and I am quite impressed with it. It does take a little time to get used to it but I like how it breaks it all down and separates Carbs, Proteins, Fats, Sugars, Salt, Cholesterol, etc.. etc.. Since Cozumel and the holidays I have put on a few too many pounds weighing in at 213 and need to get back down to the low 200's so I'm working on it.

rockon'

2010... its here!

Happy New Year Everyone! Hope all the celebration didn't leave you to down and out on the couch with your head pounding or stomach upset, like someone I know. Desiree.

It was a great night hanging out with the Formulaic and family and ringing in the new year.

As in my last post and comments, Lindsay's caught my eye with the "how many hours you spent training in '09". So I had to look it up and here it is:

Swimming: 71,916 meters - 27 hours 12 mins.

Biking: 1,684 miles - 104 hours 46 mins.

Running: 845.5 miles - 173 hours 5 mins.

Okay, I guess that seems like a lot but for some reason it just doesn't seem as high I as I thought it would with all the stuff I did this year, humm.. maybe it's just me. Anyway, I am glad that I am relatively healthy and injury free. Yes, some overuse problems that must be managed but that comes with the territory of us having FUN!

So what's in store for 2010!

As you can see by the side bar, the Grid Iron has me down for PF Chang's Rock n Roll 26.2 Jan 17, which is 2 weeks away!! Yikes and I am using this as a training run build up, it's still 26.2 miles which is a long damn ways! Tomorrow will be a long run of 20 so we'll see how the legs come out then, 5 weeks post Ironman CZ.

Then March 6th will be Old Pueblo 50miler and again at this point in time it's hard to believe that I will make it there as my legs still don't seem to be on board with the plan but maybe they just needed 2010 to decided, ha!

After March I am still undecided what to do. I almost signed up for the Tahoe Rim 50 miler run yesterday, but at the last minute on the billing screen I canceled it. WHY? Doubt mostly. It's hard to sign up for something when you're not feeling it now. The race is in July, the week after Badwater, if Molly get's accepted again and although I would like to run more this year I also want to limit some of my travel expenses and fee's in recovering from Ironman trips. I did put my name in the lotto for the New York Marathon, which, they draw in March so I will have to see how that comes out and if I get picked that is my Big event for the year as far as travel and expense goes but only to be followed up by planning for Christmas 2010 in Hawaii!

For now these two races will have to do and along with beginning triathlon coaching for team in training starting in Feb till May for the Capital of Texas triathlon it will have to do. I will be patient this year and take some time to recover, get better technique and venture into mountaineering-climbing-treking as it seems something is calling me there these days. Actually, I have always wanted to do things like that but just never really thought about actually putting it in motion, so why not! My other major focus this first part of the year will be on my Chiropractic Sports business!!!

Okay, enough babbling..

rockon'