Go time.. or close to it. I think, maybe, yes.

As I said, I guess it's go time for Old Pueblo 50 in 10 days! Am I ready? This is a very good question as I certainly don't feel ready. I mean I have had some good long training days but my mid-week training has been absolutely Zero! So with that I just feel somewhat under trained in comparison leading up to Headlands 50. My calf issues are much better and I am feeling good there.

I guess what it is coming down to is my confidence or lack there of. During the last long 7 1/2 hour training day two weeks ago, I felt great and everything worked. After 28 miles I felt like I could continue on, with tired legs of course but I also know that there is still 22 miles left from that point so that makes me wonder how I am going to feel in 10 days. Now take this past weekend. I was out on the bike for 11 miles with my TNT Tri group, then ran 7.5 miles on trails and felt some heavy legs. Then the next day it was out for 17 miles all on trails and 6 of it was a part I seemed to forgot how hard it was and so it was pretty much strong power walking for about 3 miles averaging about 15 min/miles. Once I finished the 17 I was pretty wiped out and the plan was to run 27 ish so the next 10 miles was something I really wasn't confident I could pull off and it was to be on road. Bottom line was I listed to my body screaming a little at me, maybe from the short bike/run the day before and just stopped. I didn't get a great recovery ice bath and Monday and Tuesday I was still feeling the heavy tired legs/joints. Yesterday I spent all day at the local Nevada DMV and then today I wake up and head out the door for a 6 mile run on the road and ended up getting 7.25 and felt good with some calf tightness.

Now this weekend i really only have that 6 mile loop on trails that kicked my ass last week that I want to tackle again for the power walking and then I'm just taking it easy with a short 3 mile run on Monday and Tuesday then rest, Weds, Thurs and travel Friday and its Go Time Sat. March 6th! My overall goal is to obviously finish in under 15 hours and keep ahead of the check points and not get caught in chasing the clock but other than I really have no clue what to expect from my body and legs.

All I know is that it is what it is and there's nothing I can do in the next 10 days. I am excited and scared and this is the classic Armageddon line "98% scared, 2% excited or maybe it's 98% excited or 2% scared but that's what makes it so awesome!"

rockon'

Coming around!!!

There was a surprise birthday this weekend and guess what? I was the surpriseeee birthday boy.

I thank my parents, Desiree and the Formulaic's for getting party started along with all my other great friends that helped and came out to celebrate the bday!!!

After a great bday night I was up early and ready to run. At 6:20am I was off and running and 7 hours later, after refueling stops, bathrooms stops, and just having fun on the trail stops (actually watching the Big Horn Sheep out at Red Rock) I was done with 28 miles and still feeling good. Yes, legs were tired but all was good and could have ran longer if needed so with that my confidence in my fitness over these past fews weeks has increased. With Old Pueblo 50 just 3 weeks out all is looking great heading in that direction.

The calfs have been feeling better and my recovery has been quicker. I am excited as we get closer and will actually look to run one more long run this coming weekend and then head into a 2 week taper.

rockon'

It's Here!!!!

The time just keeps pushing on and on, on, on, on!

Wait! I need some more time! Some more training time for Old Pueblo 50! I mean it’s almost here, 4 more weeks and I really don’t feel I am all that ready for 50 miles. This past weekend I just ran 5 hours worth and although it was a good run, both on the road and trail, it was tiring. It made me hurt. It was not forgiving.

With all that it only leaves me to think that the upcoming OP50 is going to be harder than I want it to be and that the next 3.. well, really 2 weekends need to be high quality runs. I also need to be nailing down my mid week runs but so far that has been minimal to none. Why??

Because….!!!

Welcome to DiscoverStretch and Sports Therapy!

That’s right! My Peeps. I have been working, ya really I have and as you can see, I now have an official name for my company.

First off I want to thank Devin for all the logo changes he made and designed for me only to have me change or start a new one. He is totally awesome in his art work and design and I thank him for all his help. If you would like to contact him on any design stuff please let me know.

As you can see, DiscoverStretch.. what’s that all about? Well, with the upcoming completion of my Stretch to Win certification I wanted to make sure to include some sort of stretch indication with chiropractic and sports. So the stretch word totally fits in and then you add Sports Therapy. Now, Sports therapy was the end name of the great sports doc I learned all my fabulous stuff from back in H-twn so I it made sense to have Sports Therapy at the end to signify my focus of practice and with Stretch.. it was a total combination.

Now it all about advertising.. marketing and letting Vegas know that Dr. John from DSSTNOW! Is in town and helping!

Rockon’

Janurary Recap 2010

Well the first month of the year has come and gone.

The recap for the month is short, and interesting.. maybe it's trying to tell me something but I can't figure out what.

6 overall runs totaling 92.7 miles, 18 hours 56 mins.

4 of those were long runs, which included the marathon.

I was able to get a few good weight training days and eliptical training days in but other than that not the quality of runs I was hoping for.

Feb. will be better building up to the Old Pueblo 50 miler. I am already antcipating being a little under trained but that is better than being over trained!

rockon'

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'