Go Away.. Go Away..

That's all I can think about these days and I am referring to the nagging crap that's plaguing my body with small but significant injuries. OKAY, so maybe it's my body's way of saying it needs Rest, ya think! Shhhh!!! don't answer that. I know, I know but come on, I have rested. I have got massages, I have stretched (my finger) but that's close enough right? Not exactly.

Along with discovering lately that my motion control shoes are just too aggressive for road running for me these days (im back in Stability) I have also ran just enough in them to bring out problems that were waiting for center stage! Bastards!! and they got it. As we know the Big Toe was an issue a few weeks ago, which created some compensations and now has effected my left glute, which in turn set off my left ITB and calf along with the shoes adding to the expressway to center stage.

I have underwent the ohhhh sooo wonderful ART stuff from my buddy doc and it has helped but still not 100%. I have been stretching more, fully body.. Foam rolling and using the stick. My body does feel like it needs a little rest from running or just some more TLC to keep it working. I will admit I have been lazy in preventative care and now I am paying the price, the shoes was just something, unfortunately, I had to figure out since returning to the road.

Anyway, things are somewhat looking up and now I just have to see how the body responds to things and look to see how much training I can actually get in for the upcoming July SilverRush 50 and RDL 100.

rockon'

WTF...

Since being back from Cabo I thought I was ready to get with the program and get to some serious miles and training, however, my body has thought otherwise and has made a plan of its own that really forces you to accept it or pay the consequences.

First off, coming off the big toe issues, it seemed to resolve while in Cabo, must have been all the food and alcohol that filled up the empty hole in that toe, hahaha. I went out for a nice 5 mile run last Tuesday at the FleetFeet run and everything was great. It’s actually been a long time since I ran 5 miles consistently without stopping to walk a hill. I was a great run and all was good. Then I woke up Wednesday morning and got prepared to hit the road for my 12 miler. I started running and about a mile into it I could feel some sort of different pain in my left leg. It’s different for me to deal with pains simply b/c I have never really had them! So having some leg pain throws me for a loop. I could feel some cramping pain in my left glutes as well as my left knee hurting. As the steps progressed my leg actually felt like it was going to buckle a couple of times. I stopped and walked, I stopped and stretched. I stopped and jumped. I did everything I could to try and fix it but nothing seemed to work as soon as I started running it started coming back and a little more intense. By this time I had already turned around and ended my run with a pitiful 3 miles! Later I did all the post run stuff in hopes of it feeling better or just going away. I took Thursday off and on Friday I went out again for a run. I made it like ½ mile!!! WTF!!! I thought I have some serious nagging shit here and I need to get it looked at before it gets worse.

Now I am not going to lie, this really mentally bummed me out and shook my confidence in my ability to run my upcoming 50 let alone the 100! I mean, WTF! If you can’t run, you can’t train!! I even went back to all my previous shoes, general kick around shoes, anything that I could think of that I had changed in the past 2 weeks. I did start some stabilization and plyometric training to increase abductor stability to the glutes and lower body in general. I took basically a week off.

Last night, I went out to try it out. Started walking for .25 mile. All was good. Started running and all was good for about 1 mile, and then I could feel it coming back. I turned around and headed home running on any dirt I could as it seemed to not be as intense but it was still noticeable. By the time I got home it was totally annoying and I could feel it without a doubt. I texted my chiro buddy Victor, who specializes in ART and set up to see him asap.

Today, I went in to see Dr. Victor. He and I are good friends and anytime we can help each other out it’s a win win situation. I explained all my crying and waa-waaness to him and we proceeded outside to run. As I ran it quickly returned and I explained, pointed and cussed! We went back inside for the OH So Fun ART to begin. Now I must admit that ART is a good technique and helps in many ways but it one of the most uncomfortable painful techniques around, but who gives a rats ass if it works right!

After a few minutes working on my toe and my left knee/ITB region we returned outside to run again. The running was better but I could still feel some minor stuff, but better. We go back inside for round #2 of pain from Holy Hell, then a small taping and an appointment to return on Monday for more pain. I must admit it does feel a little better and I am hoping to run a least a couple of 6 miles over the weekend to see how it goes. We also discussed that my current Asics Evolution 5 shoes (motion control) appear to be me too much and over correcting. Over the last months I have been strictly on trails so the control has not been an issue but since I moved to some more road running its over-correcting.

Bottom line: my confidence has been shaken a little and it makes me wonder in my ability to get this fixed in time to complete adequate training.

I guess this is welcome back from Cabo..!!!!

Rockon’

Cabo Recap.

After a great trip to Cabo and fun in the Sun I must say it's always good to be back home! Again, the trip down to Cabo was for a friends wedding on the beach, which turned out to be really nice and romantic and am happy for them.

Wednesday when we left it was bright and early and by 7am we were eating breakfast in LA waiting till 11:30am for the flight to Cabo, the long layover sucked but so be it. Once on the plane to Cabo we quickly ordered up some drinks, compliments of a patient of mine that gave us drink coupons, as he is a flight attendant. Soon we were close to Cabo and I quickly noticed from the sky that the land was very dry and desert like and thought we just made a big circle and were landing in Vegas!! haha! After we cleared the long slow customs line we proceeded to go to our waiting shuttle van.

Now we were strictly instructed in email and by phone when we arranged our transportation to proceed though the baggage clam area to outside, Do Not Stop and let anyone say they are with transportation company, as they are NOT! They will be TimeShare people who will act like they are your transportation and will get you to there desk and try and make deals with you for activities. SOOOOOO, we came out of transportation and I quickly spotted the liars and quickly told them no, I am with GreyLine and the guy practically grabbed me and said yes, he was the transportation. I said No your not and he said yes, I will take you to your hotel, just check in right here and he will get you the shuttle. (I totally forgot about what they said, Don't Stop!! and I stopped) This next guy was really a fast talker and other than bypassing the transportation stuff he proceeded quickly to the I have free tickets to this and that and I then caught on he wasn't our guy. I told him no and matter of fact, I had just met this lady on the plane, hahaha!! So we walked off and went around the corner and here was guy #2!! He said, hey you are with GreyLine, I said yes, but I am not interested. He said, no I am not a timeshare, those guys are the liars, I am the real deal. (again, forgetting what I was told) I didn't stop walking but I said Oh Okay which way do we go? He said How long are you in town? and slowed his walking pace. I said not long enough and realized he was Liar #2, but by this time I saw the outside doors and the REAL guy with GreyLine holding the sign. We continued to walk away from liar #2 and finally got to the correct transportation guy. So Moral of the story..!! if you ever go to CABO, walk completely outside to get your transportation as they are not allowed inside the airport, only the Liars are!

We got to our Hotel and got settled in and I ordered room service. We ate and then hit the pool and started drinking. We then went to dinner and to bed as it was a long day. The next morning, Thursday, we had breakfast and checked into a few activities and was offered a good deal on ZipLining if we went to a timeshare presentation downtown. We took the deal b/c we wanted to see the downtown area, get a deal on zip-line and it wouldn't cost us only time and telling the sellers No. The sister property we saw was a good deal, nice hotel-timeshare and great location. Again, I had to tell the sellers no like 8 times but although they were nice in respecting the No's they kept trying politely. Finally, they let us go and we went back to our hotel and hit the pool and more drinks.

The next couple of days was a lot of fun in the sun, drinks, food and of course the wedding. The Zip-Line adventure was pretty fun.

We went on Saturday morning to zip-line with 2 other couples from our hotel and met up with about 8 other couples once there. We got instructions and we were quickly off on the zip lines. Overall there were 8 lines. There was some pretty strong hiking trails/stairs to get from line to line and it was Hot in the canyon. The harness gear was good quality, good condition and the safety gear was good. The lines were in pretty good safety conditions and anchored well. I did not think for one minute or question our safety once I saw everything. It took about 3 hours to complete all the lines and by noon it was really hot!! I was glad to be done but it did go by too fast. The last zip line was approx. 2700 feet and reached speeds of 50mph!! It was fast and fun!!!!!! Check out the pictures of us!!

Sunday we just had breakfast in your room and got ready to head back home. Now I did manage to get two runs of 5 miles each on Thursday and Friday and the hiking part of the canyon on Saturday but that's about all the workout I got.

Monday was just a re-settle in day and was actually a schedule day off, not really sure why I deserved one but I took it and today, I will run later tonight. The toe is feel better but then again I have not run at any distance to test it so I will see how the week progresses. I guess I just needed a little down time on the legs following last weekends back to back runs.

rockon'

and we're off....

That's right!! if you are looking for me you can certainly find me here!! Cabo San Lucas. Dez and I are heading down for her bff's wedding. This comes at a much needed time, well, I think anyways.

This past week of running the toe has been hit or miss but mostly miss. Heading into Friday's run of a 15 miles around Red Rock Loop was to be the test to see how things held up. As it turns out for most of the run, maybe the last mile did my toe start bothering me but otherwise I was good to go and just tired in general from the challenging course the loop has to offer.

Saturday morning was team in training business and we all gathered at Lake Mead. After the training it was time to get my run on. Not only was another 15 miler on the schedule it was only 15 hours post Friday run at Red Rock!! So as I started out my legs were just not happy. It took several minutes for my legs to come around and then I was good for a while. I actually ran the 2008 RAGE in the SAGE 70.3 run course, which was totally crappy as SWTriGal, S. Baboo and few others of the Outlaws can testify to but being as I am run training and trail training I took on the old course which leads up the side of the 6 tunnel course through a ravine which is loaded with sand, gravel, packed dirt, loose rocks and more sand. As a trail runner its a Great course, as a Triathlete it totally sucks! Once up on the tunnel road I enjoyed the great view of Lake Mead and the many tourists walking the tunnels and once I actually hit the turn around point I was close enough to the Hoover Dam that I thought, hell, I might as well go down there and see the new overpass bridge construction. As you can see the overpass bridge is now connected, an awesome display of engineering!

As I headed back it was a littler hotter out and my toe was just starting to act up. By the time I made it off the trail and back to the road with about a mile left I was walking due to the irritation and pain I was feeling. The bad thing was the more I walked the worse it seemed but the more I ran the more I wanted to stop, so I did the s-l-o-w shuffle run, oh wait!! That's how I run anyway!! Hahaha! By the time I made it back to the car I was definitely glad to be done and so was my toe. With two 15 mile runs back-back within 15 hours I figured I had accomplished a great training block. The plan was to rest up on Sunday and then hit another 15-15 block on Mon/Tues.

Well on Mon I could feel my legs where still as heavy as bricks and I actually went to the gym to try a split run on the treadmill. I started off walking and then running but after 1 mile my right knee was hurting, my legs were still not recovered and I was mentally beat. I switched over to the elliptical trainer for about 15 mins and then I just ran out of gas mental. I felt bad and was just not ready to be running. Overall I just didn't realize that I got beat down that much from 2 runs, I mean, I felt better running 30 miles at once than I had a back-back run. Anyway, on Tuesday my patella tendon was still talking to me so I took off all together and just got ready for Cabo. I have brought my running gear to get a few short 6 mile runs on the treadmill as I don't think our resort is in a place to run but I will be checking.

So for now it's off to Cabo with hopes of a better toe!!!

rockon'