Pre-race thoughts

Tomorrow is the Healthy Kidney 10K.  It is going to be a logistical nightmare.  A morning race, soccer practice, lunch with college friends, lacrosse game, some work, then a cocktail party and a benefit dinner.  All balanced around a two year old with a nap thrown in there.  A delicate dance for sure, and I only hope it doesn't rain.  It is finally spring and nice out, and we are so close to summer.


Last week as I dropped my daughter off for lacrosse practice at our school, I saw the high school girls track team running 400s with the coach. They looked so strong and dedicated and I was very, very impressed.  Here they are running, training with an interval workout on a Saturday. Of course, for a school with 100 kids in a graduating class, the track team (and the girls track team in particular) is phenomenal.  Now I know why.  I once saw a high school football saying "Discipline. Dedication. Defense."  (I am going to write about it soon.) And that exemplified dedication to me.

For the race, I have no idea what pace to aim for.  Given the 7:02 pace 10K I ran in December (and 7:21 pace 15K from six weeks ago), but then accounting for the recent 5 week layoff and injury, I have no idea what my time goal is.  Earlier today I thought I would just aim for 7:45 miles and be happy.  And then I thought, no, I ran this race last year; I will compare myself to that.  I looked up my race report for that race, and found out I ran 7:33 miles.  Hmmmm.  That makes a 7:45/mile time goal look sort of wimpy.

I have now run three times this week -- all on a treadmill and all in my New Balance 905's.  I saw Outside Magazine's "Gear" Issue, and on the cover are my new New Balance Shoes.  Sweet, so I buy the magazine.  The write up for the 905s said it was made for "whippet thin" runners who are speedsters and don't need any padding. Of the many things I have been called in my life "whippet thin" is not one of them.  But, as a result of my injury induced shoe switch, I don't have any other shoes sufficiently broken in in which to run a road race.  I have ditched the Gel Kayanos for now, and have never run in my new Sauconys.    So, I will do my best whippet imitation tomorrow in my neon yellow shoes.

The workouts have gone smoothly for my feet.  I have a lingering issue involving my left big toe (the opposite foot of the maybe stress fracture), but that injury has been with me a long time.  It is discomfort and goes away as I run; I actually feel it more in the mornings than during a run. (Playing Google doctor, I suspect  the injury is an arthritic condition in the sesamoid bone and joints.  It doesn't really go away with rest, and the most painful position is in push up position or doing a plank. I have had it for years (as far back as first marathon training), and it just does not get better with rest or no running.  It is not debilitating and just "one of those things" we all deal with.)  Anyway, my right foot has been fine.  In particular, the top of my first metatarsal (the situs of the potential stress fracture) has felt no pain at all post run.  In other words, so far, so good.  Heart rates have been a little high, but nothing unexpected after a layoff.

So, all of this leads me to goal setting for tomorrow.  My final answer: 7:30 miles, a 60 age graded time and no foot pain.

UPDATE:  Yes, I tweaked my blog settings and layout.  Just got tired of looking at the old one and thought to celebrate Spring I would try something new.  I didn't put much thought into the new layout yet, just clicked some buttons and Presto -- a new look!  The Header picture (as poorly done as it is right now) is Billy Mills, whose story never ceases to inspire me.  This link is to a motivational speech he gave -- it is just great.

White Gloves

Tonight is the annual dance for my 9 year old's manners class.  It is very Old School.  The girls wear white gloves.  They sit, and have the boys ask them to dance.  The boys are all wearing sport coats.  They dance things like the hokey pokey or the foxtrot.  And repeat the process, as a teacher calls out the etiquette steps "Gentleman, put your right hand on the lady's shoulder; ladies offer your hand; dance slowly, and now spin,..."  Then, the boy fetches the girl a glass of lemonade and a cookie.  Of course, my daughter hates it.  She will inevitably complain that she had to dance with "Tommy Barnes" or someone and he is just gross.  But tonight, the Dads come and dance with their daughters.  Last year, my daughter won one of the prizes (to keep the kids interested, they get prizes).  You would have thought she won the lottery by her reaction.  A really nice night that both makes me smile and feel old all at once.

And what does that have to do with running?  Nothing, I suppose.

In response to various questions (both in blogworld and in real life), my injury may or may not have been a stress fracture.  The doctor said it looked like it, but to know he would have to order an MRI, which would likely be inconclusive given that the pain had just started. And the prescription would be the same: no running for four weeks, and if no pain then, start back.  Also, after four weeks, change shoes and training pattern to avoid the things that led to the injury in the first place -- if I did the same thing, it would produce the same results regardless of whether it was or was not an actual stress fracture.  In other words, something caused the pain, and if I didn't change, it would likely return. Of course, if I did change, it was no guarantee the pain would not return, but hopefully it would not recur.  We'll see but so far, so good. Hope springs eternal.

And, finally, my least commented post in recent months was the post on my running music.  So, I have avoided continuing that thread.  But a recent song has just stuck in my head.  "Lay Me Down" by The Dirty Heads with Rome.  If you are inclined to punk/ska/reggae music, check it out; it is also the #1 song on Billboard's Alternative Music chart.

Uh Oh, The injury bug is buzzing.

When I was a freshman in high school, I was actually still in junior high.  Our high school was grades 10-12, with 9th graders in junior high.  Anyway, I played basketball, even though in ninth grade, I was 14, short (5'6" or so), pudgy and not terribly skilled.  But, in the spring, they sent us up to the high school to practice against the big guys.  One day I was up at the big gym playing the varsity and made perhaps the best move of my life.  I was under the hoop and faked going up.  These two giant seniors both fell for the fake, jumped, and they both landed on me.  I was bent over backwards and crushed to the ground.  Foul.  The coaches hooted, gave the seniors unbelievable grief for falling my (apparently) lame fake. The game moved on.   Except, that night my parents asked why my feet were clicking when I walked.  I had no idea.  The doctor the next day looked at my toes and bent each one.  Then he had an Xray taken. 

I had seven broken toes.  All five toes on my left foot, broken.  Two on my right, too.  There isn't that much you can do except tape the toes, I got a wooden soled shoe for the left foot and hope.  I eventually forgot about that incident, and that was the only bone I have ever broken. But I am vigilant about toe issues, because I have a bunch of them in my running.  But don't we all.

After my race Sunday, the top of my right foot hurt.  I assumed I tied my shoe too tightly, and it hurt across the top of my foot.  I loosened my shoelaces right after the race, but it was still a little tender that day.  Monday, it didn't hurt.  Today, at work, I didn't think anything of it.

Then I got to the gym.  I laced up my running shoes and felt the bruise across the top of my foot immediately.  When I started running on the treadmill, it hurt.  But as I warmed up, it got bearable and better.  Towards the end of my run, I didn't notice it at all.

But it bothered me.  I felt my foot after the run and the big bone behind my big toe (the metatarsal) had pain.  I was relieved it wasn't a soft tissue issue.  I assumed it was a bone bruise.  Tonight, after a little googling, I found out that the bone is the metatarsal.  And a common metatarsal injury is a stress fracture.  Which is characterized by sharp pain felt on the top of the metatarsal bone when applying pressure on the top of the foot.  That's a bingo for me. 

But I don't have any swelling.  I can hop on my foot.  And the pain actually decreased as I ran more, like a sprain. 

Before googling, I had assumed it was a bruise.  The night before my race, after dealing with two year old in the middle of night, I accidentally kicked my wife's suitcase.  (The family is in Bahamas this week while I work.)  It REALLY hurt, and I thought this is exactly the kind of thing I worry about during the week before a marathon.  I actually kicked one of the wheels, and I didn't jam my toe into it.  I don't remember if it was my right or left foot, but when I felt the pain the next day I assumed it was a bruise from that incident.

Stress fractures usually occur on the second and third metatarsal.  My pain is in the first.  And normally pain appears gradually and gets progressively worse.  Mine appeared suddenly Sunday, after my run.  And it doesn't hurt during the day.  The pain is not incapcitating, and I have no pain in the ball of my foot.

Something to keep an eye on tomorrow and this weekend.  And the downside if it is a stress fracture is 6 weeks of nada.   Or, maybe I just tied my shoes too tightly and then ran 9.3 miles like that.