Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

April 26, 2024

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Location:

Provo,UT,

Member Since:

Apr 07, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K - 17:11 (Cougar Run)

10K - 34:35 (Deseret News)

15K - 57:33 (Utah Running Club)

1/2 - 1:22:26 (Mountain View Trail)

50K - 4:22:31 (Sapper Joe)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub-2:45 at Saint George Marathon

Win the Antelope Island half marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'd like to run the Angeles Crest 100 at some point. And I'd still like to go sub-4 at a trail 50k. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912

Personal:

I was a competitive cyclist for years. In 2009, after racing in the Tour of Utah, I decided I had plateaued as a cyclist--I could continue to improve, but I wouldn't break through to a new level. So, I started looking for a new challenge.

I thought that challenge would be mountain biking, but I'm a terrible bike handler. I married Catherine in January 2010 and a couple of weeks later I entered the SLTC Winter Training Series with her. A couple of weeks after that I decided I'd like to run ultras, so I signed up for a couple of 50Ks to get started.

Those first races came and went, with varying results. I was looking forward to running more and possibly pushing into the longer distances, but I injured my knee in June 2010 and I've never been consistently healthy since.

I started law school in August 2010, which meant less time for training. In June 2011, Baby Elliott was born, which meant even less time for training. But she's worth it.

Baby Nora joined us in October 2013, with the same effect on training as Elliott (who, incidentally, is no longer a baby).

I (finally) finished school in April 2014 and now I'm an evil corporate lawyer in Salt Lake. I have no illusions that I'll ever get back into the shape that I once was, but I'm perfectly at peace with that. I still have many goals to accomplish and many years in which to do it.

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Sat, Nov 20, 2010

Total Distance

6.00

What a day. My final project for my legal writing class is due at 8:00 on Monday morning. Last night I decided I'd rather turn it in today. I started working this morning, and I went to the library and turned it in at 10:00 tonight. It was a long day, but after almost a month it's nice to have that project finally out of the way.

Of course, to make sure I got my writing done, I had to skip my Saturday morning trail run. I guess that was going to happen anyway, thanks to my knee, but it's still a bummer. I just felt antsy and lazy at the same time all day long.

After turning my paper in, I went to the gym. My plan was to run for as long as I could before my knee told me to stop, and then move over to a stair stepper or into the pool. I started out running 6:30 miles, thinking maybe I could bang them out for an hour, and for a while it looked like I might get away with it. But then my knee started protesting, so I slowed the treadmill way down, cranked the incline up, and started hiking. That seemed to feel okay, so I started running again and did a 12 minute mile at 15 percent. But by the end of that my knee was protesting again. I had no motivation to do anything else by that point, so I jogged an easy mile on the flat to cool down and then went home. Six miles in about 47 minutes to finish my lowest mileage week since my last knee injury. At least my knee waited until the weather turned before betraying me.

Mizuno Ronin Miles: 6.00

Weight: 164.40

Comments

From jun on Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 23:35:13 from 97.126.229.169

So what exactly is going on with your knee anyway? Where does it hurt and what do you think caused it?

From Faceless Ghost on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 11:23:07 from 128.187.97.2

All the problems seem to be around the knee, so I think it's something about my tendons or my muscles. The pain is mostly on the outside of my right knee, so I'm pretty sure it's the IT band. I've backed off the mileage, and I'm using the foam roller every day. Other than that, I'm not sure what I can do other than wait.

From jun on Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 12:38:44 from 97.126.229.169

With the ITB it isn't enough just to get the pain to go away, you have to strengthen that muscle and tendon, as well. Get a hold of a physical therapy band and put it around your ankles. Then sidestep to the left 5 steps and then back to the right. Do this 3 or 4 times and rest. Repeat one or two more times. Don't overdo it. Repeat this 2 min workout 3ish times a week along with rolling and you'll find your problems start to go away.

From Aaron Kennard on Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 22:31:06 from 98.245.117.176

This is probably not the ideal advice for you being in school and all and probably on a tight budget I imagine...but my ART therapist has helped me keep running and heal from muscle and tendon issues over and over. ART is total genius and I think everyone who can who loves running should get to know a good ART person. I know Bryce swears by it now too as he was getting hammered with calf issues until he started getting ART. It's just one other proactive approach to consider...unfortunately not of the 'free' variety. But you can also go 2-3 times to an ART person and learn enough about the practice to do some of it efficiently on yourself I have found.

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