Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Jun and I met up at the Battle Creek trailhead this morning to try a route I've had my eye on for a while. Basically, we ran up Battle Creek to Trail 51, which we followed over the the Little Baldy trail, which took as down to the BST, which took us back to our cars. 

Last time I tried a portion of this run I ended up covering one 2 mile section in an hour because of all the deep snow covered by a breakable crush. Today was a lot better, but there were still some sketchy sections. Primarily, at the point where Trail 51 was supposed to meet Little Baldy. There, we lost the trail under the snow and ended up doing some major (and majorly unpleasant) post-holing resulting in bloody shins, until we decided to leave the trail and bushwack our way back to dry ground. This required cutting through some nasty brush, which resulted in even bloodier shins. Eventually, we made it back to the trail, from there it was a pretty straightforward run back to the car.

I went for a run with Dragon Vulture and his posse this morning. We started in Alpine and ended up running over to the Draper temple. This was my first time in that trail network (which, by the way, is awesome, although I still prefer the West Timp network), so my description of the route may be off, but I think it was something like this: up Hog's Hollow, over and up Jacob's ladder, down some other road, back over and down the lower portion of Jacob's Ladder, BST to Clark's Canyon, Clark's Canyon back to Hog's Hollow.

The trail was pretty sloppy in a few spots, but it was nothing like yesterday, and for the most part the conditions were fantastic. It was a great way to start the day.

13.1 miles and about 2,400 feet in 2:08.

Before the Buffalo Run, I was worried about the soreness in the IT band on the outside of my right knee. But since the race the pain has been on the inside of my right knee. I took almost an entire week away from running after the race, and then I went for two long runs (by my current standards) on the trail. I felt okay during the runs, with a few twinges, but now my knee hurts again.

And I don't know what to make of it this time. I usually feel fine when I'm just walking around. But when I sit, my knee tightens up and hurts when I move it or stand up. But once I'm up and moving again, I don't really notice it. It makes me wonder if what I've got is some sort of a sprain, and I'll be fine running as long as I stay off the trail for a while. Or maybe I have something just waiting to explode. When the semester is over, I hope to get into see a doctor. In the meantime, I hope I can keep moving forward in my Squaw 50 prep.

What bugs me most is that I've now had four knee injuries in less than a year. And although all four have been on the same knee, there have been three different types of injuries: the runner's knee (behind the kneecap), the ITBS (twice), and now this new one on the inside. I hate to think that my knees just can't handle running, but you have to wonder.

Anyways, I'm seeing a doctor on Friday. But for now, it's infuriating, really.

As for my workout: I spent about thirty minutes at the gym this morning, pumping my guns and strengthening my IT band. In teh evening I went back for an hour while I watched the first half of the NCAA championship. 45 minutes on the stairstepper, followed by 15 on the treadmill, I figure I can get more out of limited mileage if I soften my legs up first, Fritz-style.

I was going to do 75 minutes tonight--60 on the stairs and another 15 on the treadmill. But then I decided to try to do it all on the treadmill. But then my knee started to hurt after a mile, so I decided to go to the stairs after 15 minutes. But then my knee stopped hurting completely, so I stayed on the treadmill for 10 miles. Some things make no sense.

Anyways, for the first 8 miles I alternated between one mile easy (about 8:00) and one mile faster (about 5:52). Then I finished with an easy two.

1:12:20

Here's a story that helps explain why I'm prone to overuse injuries. During our run on Friday, Jun and I talked about switching to a midfoot stride as a possible solution to my knee problems. I'd though of that before (a great deal, in fact), so when Aaron K. suggested the same thing on my blog yesterday, I was all ears (especially since he seems to have had such great success with the switch). So, I was determined to run my entire ten miles yesterday without hitting my heels. After about six miles my calves and ankles were starting to hurt. By eight miles they were screaming. Even so, I refused to listen to my body and quit, pressing on until the end, when my calves and ankles were in absolute agony.

Anyways, I'm not injured as a result of my stubborness. Just very sore. The plus side is that because of the soreness, I decided to cross train instead of run today. So even if the whole forefoot thing doesn't benefit my knee directly, it may end up doing so indirectly by forcing me not to run for a day or two. Good deal.

One hour on the stair machine. Law and Order Special Victims Unit sucks.

So, my left ankle hurts more than I thought. Serves me right, I guess. It feels better every day, but I may not be running as much as I'd like for the rest of this week. I guess that's good for my knee.

Anyways, Catherine and I did a one hour spin class led by Stan the Man. Actually, his name is just Stan. He is a man, but I can't say for certain whether he's the Man. But we did enjoy his class.

Afterward, I ran one very slow mile on the treadmill. As in 9:45 slow. At least there was some hilarious show called Winter Wipeout on the TV.

Also, check out this video. (Thank you Catherine for finding a subtitled version.) I think it's hilarious. If you don't, you have a bad sense of humor.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, so I decided to go ahead and take care of my running and my lifting this morning. Of course, my lower legs are still pretty trashed, I decided to hike on the treadmill (12 percent grade) instead of running. I did throw in one easy mile of running on the incline at about 13:00, with the result that my IT band was protesting for the rest of the morning. (Fortunately, it seems to have quieted down as of this writing.)

Anyways, the good news from the doctor is that there don't seem to be any real problems with my knee. Apparently, however, while the stretching and strengthening I've been doing are good, what I really need is to strengthen my glutes, quads, and core (which is kind of strange, since I thought all of those were pretty strong). So, it looks like it's back to PT for me, as soon as finals are over.

The best news from the appointment is that the only limit to how much I can run on a sore IT band is my tolerance. In other words, as long as I can deal with the level of pain, I can keep running without worrying about causing further damage. It's nice to know that I don't have to stop running just because my IT band wants to bully me around.

Also, this is the show that Catherine and I saw at the gym last night. Anyone who saw that old Disney movie about fat camp (Heavyweights, I think) might remember the Blob--a giant airbag by the lack that one person sits in while another person jumps on the other end and bounces him into the water. But on this show, instead of one obese adolescent bouncing another, they have one not-so-fat person getting bounced by a 1,000 lb. weight dropped from about 50 feet. The results are pretty much what you'd expect.

Catherine and I went to the temple this morning, and afterward we went down to Provo so I could attend a review session on campus and she could do some grading in her office. We planned to stop at Kneaders on the way for all-you-can eat French toast, but we got there just a few minutes too late and missed it. So, instead of late breakfast we started looking for early lunch. On a whim, we decided to eat at the Taco Riendo, a Mexican place we saw along the way. As far as I can tell, it was pretty authentic. The food was very good, so it's two thumbs up for the Laughing Taco (unless we wake up with Laughing Diarrhea tomorrow).

Anyway, I did my workout at the gym tonight. My lower leg feels better, although it still hurts, so I thought I'd try a little running. I was okay for about a mile and a half, but then I got some sharp pain in my left ankle, so I decided not to push it. I left the treadmill and went over to the stairstepper for a couple of hours. For the first 90 minutes, I cruised steady at 200 watts with ever sixth minute at 400. For the last thirty I followed the same pattern, but at 180 watts and 340. So once again, the mileage I'm recording doesn't really reflect the workout.

I'm still realizing just how bad I messed up my left ankle last week. It's weird, because I knew I was being stupid at the time, but I  honestly didn't think I was hurting myself. I just thought I would be really, really sore for a day. Anyways, nearly a week later (I think, although I didn't actually bother to check my calendar from last week) and all the soreness is gone, except for the pain at the front of my lower left leg. 

And even that has been feeling a lot better. Enough that I got up before 5:00 this morning for a quick out and back on the BST from Battle Creek to Dry Canyon. But about a mile and a half I could tell my leg was in bad shape. I second guessed myself twice before making the right choice and turning around to hobble back to my car. If it weren't for the shooting pain in my left leg, it would have been a nice run. As it is, I wound up with just over three miles in just under 30 minutes. And a sore leg. I was worried that I had set myself back a few days on the recovery, but within an hour or two I felt like I had before the run.

This evening I went to the gym for a hard hour on the stairs. I borrowed a workout from my cycling days and did a 5-20-20, which is nothing more than 5 minutes at threshold followed by two 20-minute intervals at threshold, with five minutes of recovery between them. I think I got the intensity about right, because by the end I felt like I could keep going but I was dying for it to be over.

Anyways, I think I'll cross train again tomorrow and then I'll test out my leg with a short run on Wednesday. 

No pain at all in my leg today, which is a good sign. Just to play it safe, I stuck to the stair machine for one more day. A steady 75 minutes at a moderate pace, good for 510 hypothetical flights of stairs.

Anyways, it's game on tomorrow, with my first final (Structures of the Constitution) at 8:30. It's been a great class, but the test is going to be rough. If the weather and my leg cooperate, I'm hoping to blow off some post-test steam with some mellow miles on the BST.

That's one final down. Throughout the test I never felt unprepared, but since the moment I finished I've been second guessing my answers. I guess I may as well put it out of my mind, since I can't change anything and I won't know my grade until June. Three to go.

I celebrated the completion of one class with an out and back on the BST from Battle Creek to the shooting range. I ran into Dragon Vulture and his friend, who were running the same route in reverse, and on the way back I tried a side trail that they mentioned to. Good choice.

Anyways, no pain in my leg today. Both legs reminded me that I'm not quite in the clear, but I felt fine for the whole run. I'll probably continue alternating between running and cross training for the next few days, and I hope to be ready to return to a steady diet of trail running as soon as finals are over next week.

1:06:19

I had planned to cross train today, so as not to push my luck with the injuries. But I decided to run at the last minute, and ran a few easy miles on the treadmill in my XC flats. It's surprising how much strain the flats put on my calves. Still, I'm determined to adapt and see if that helps my knee at all. I ran three miles on the flat, after which my calves were starting to feel worked, so I dropped the speed and cranked up the incline to finish with a 1.1 mile hike and about 675 feet of imaginary vert.

40:00

Worst. Test. Ever. We opened our test packets, and it turned out someone had included the *$&% answer key. After three minutes of deliberation, the administrators decided to have us hand in the answer keys and then take the test as if nothing had happened. Which ignores the fact that even if no one cheated (and it wouldn't surprise me if no one did), more than half the class still saw the answers. And it's not like you can exactly un-see that, either. So the entire curve for that class has been severely compromised. And given that our entire grade for the course will be based on that two-hour final, and given how merciless the law school curve is, I'd say the entire course has been effectively invalidated. 

Speaking of compromised curves, 10 of the 40 multiple choice questions were plagiarized verbatim from exams given by professors at other schools. The problem is that these exams are available as practice tests on the internet, along with the answers, to anyone who happens to stumble across them on google. So a few students in our class, through the course of normal exam preparation, happened to be handed the answers to the questions on our test.

Can you tell I'm angry?

Anyways, I blew off some steam with a trail run in the Draper network. Hog's Hollow to Ghost Falls to Clark's trail. Or something. Nice trails with about 1,500 feet of mellow climbing. I even took a page from Jun's book and drank out of Ghost Falls.

1:13:27

My knee has been unhappy again for the last couple of days, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend hours on a stair machine when the weather is finally getting nice. So this morning I headed over to Alpine and ran up into the Draper trail network again. I started with the same run as yesterday, but before I ran back down Hog Hollow to the car, I threw in an extra loop on a few trails I'd never been on before. In the end I wound up with a little less than 12.5 miles and a little more than 2100 feet of vert.

I got up early this morning and headed to the gym in the rain. I started with my IT band strengthening routine, then I did 30 minutes on the stairs, then ran a mile on the treadmill, and finished with 30 more minutes on the stairs. I'm so frustrated with my knee right now. In fact, I was looking up some 100-mile MTB races this morning as alternatives to ultrarunning.

I spent the rest of the day at school studying for my property final tomorrow. After that I had to make a late night trip to the post office to stand in line to mail our state taxes. You'd think the state would be able to accept payment online by now. I mean, it is 2011.

After taking my (thankfully drama-free) property final, I ate some pizza, spent a few hours studying civil procedure (only one final to go) and then went home to great ready for a workout. I was going to cross train, but there was a break in the gloom and drizzle and I just couldn't resist the chance for a quick trail run. Out and back from Battle Creek to Dry Creek: six miles and about 1100 feet of vert.

I decided to run because my knee felt fine, but it was pretty unhappy by the end of the run. And it was sore and a little stiff all evening. But as I write this (the morning after), my knee feels pretty good. I'm not sure what to make of that. But I do wonder whether I should seize the opportunity to roll my SP50 registration over till next year. I want to race, but I don't want to run if it's only going to be a miserable experience. Thoughts?

46:12

I was up and at the library early this morning, and I was there all day preparing for my test tomorrow. I still don't feel ready. In fact, I feel more intimidated by this test than any other, I think.

Anyways, I limited myself to two easy miles on the treadmill this evening, just so I could say I ran. It felt about as good as you'd expect two miles to feel with a belly full of bean burritos and at the end of a long day with no lunch. But I think my knee was okay.

Speaking of my knee, I've come up with a short-term plan:

Step 1: This week, I will run. (That's right--#*&$ you, gimpy right knee.)

Step2: Next week, I will not run. Nor will I use the stupid stair machine. Instead, I will ride my bike to and from campus every day while I work on the law review write-on. Unless the weather disagrees; which seems likely.

Step 3: Next next week, I will return to running, as triumphantly, invincibly, and sexily as ever. But with a better knee.

Step 4: If step 3 fails, I will defer my Squaw 50 registration and trade my short shorts for my tight shorts, at least for a month or two.

And now to finish with some good news. I will be done with my first year of law school by no later than 11:30 tomorrow morning.

I took my civil procedure exam this morning, a 3-hour, 35-page, 85-question multiple-choice monstrosity. But finals are over. Which means I'm now officially a 2L. Unfortunately, it also means I have to suffer through the anxiety of waiting two months for grades to come out.

Anyways, I drove up to Salt Lake after my test to give Catherine a ride home, which gave me an excuse to celebrate the end of the semester by running my old BST loop in the Avenues. I parked up by the Shriners hospital and ran down 11th Avenue to City Creek Canyon (thus dealing with the stiff headwind on the downhill road stretch at the beginning of the run--smart). From there, it was an incredibly enjoyable run back over one of my favorite trails ever. Conditions where nearly perfect until I reached The Gulch Formerly Known as Dry. Seriously, anyone wondering if there's any truth to all the talk about flood potential needs to head over to there. There's so much water pouring down that thing that I spent as much time navigating tricky water crossing as I did running. And in the end, I still had to splash through the river at the end. Anyways, I had fun, but I wouldn't recommend using the Dry Gulch trail anytime soon.

A little more than nine miles and about 1600 feet.

1:14:08

You'd think that I'd have some free time now that finals are over, but instead I spent the entire morning in mandatory meetings. In the evening, Catherine and I drove up to Ogden, because I'm taking the GMAT tomorrow and we wanted to avoid giving to wake up at 5:00 AM on a Saturday. But I still managed to get in an easy 5-mile run with my brother on the BST.

I took the GMAT this morning with no preparation, because I've had neither the time nor the desire to study. And, as expected, I pretty much tanked on the math section. But I knocked the verbal section out of the park and wound up with a much higher overall score than I thought I needed and a much, much higher score than I probably deserved. I rule.

Anyways, after the test, Catherine and I made up for skipping breakfast by eating breakfast for lunch at Jeremiah's up in Ogden. Catherine ordered two blueberry pancakes, worrying that two wouldn't be enough, but then each pancake ended up being about twice the size of her head, and I don't think she even finished one. Jeremiah's rules.

When we got home, I only had a little time before we were going to Catherine's grandparents' house for dinner, so I headed over to Alpine for a quick run up and over into the Draper trail network. Conditions were fantastic, and I ended up with about 1500 feet and just under 9 miles of very enjoyable singeltrack.

And now I'm going to take the entire next week off from running. My knee sucks.

1:08:35

So, it looks like my plan to ride this week is over before it began. Between the law review write-on, funeral attendance, and exceptionally crappy spring weather, I just don't see how it's going to work out. I am, however, following through on my plan to not run. Which means I'm going back on my promise not to use the stupid stair stepper.

Today, I used the stupid stair stepper for 75 minutes, alternating between 3 minutes off, 2 minutes on for 65 of those minutes. According to the display, I climbed about 510 virtual floors. I guess that's a pretty good workout.

Anyways, after bothering me on Saturday, my knee actually felt pretty good yesterday, and it felt even better today. It's enough to tempt me to go out and try to run, but I'm going to be strong. However, I may try to run again on Saturday rather than waiting till Monday.

Yet another day of running behind. And yet another day of cross training at the gym. At least my knee is feeling better.

60 minutes on the stairs. Just over 400 fake floors.

We had an ultrasound yesterday, and an appointment with the OB today, so I spent the day at the library in the Avenues working on my project. By the way, Baby's growing nicely, so things have gotten much better since our scare a couple of months ago.

Still no running this week. Instead, I spent another hour on the stairs doing one-minute intervals with three-minute recoveries.

I'm so busy trying to finish my write-on stuff by the deadline tomorrow, so I only stayed on the stairs for 45 minutes tonight. I made those minutes count, though.

My knee seems to be responding well to the rest. I think I'll try to run on Saturday. 10-12 miles of singletrack should be a nice "long run" to ease back in.

My law review write-on materials were due at 5:00 today, so it was crunch time. After that we had dinner with my mom, who's in town till tomorrow. There wasn't much time left for exercise, so I headed over to the track for an easy 4 miles. No knee problems after that little test, so I'll hit the trails tomorrow. 

I wore my XC flats today. Now my calves are sore. It's kind of annoying, but I'm going to make this forefoot thing work. If it helps me resolve my recurring knee issues, the discomfort will be with it. And if it doesn't, at least I can run all naturally and hippy-ish. 

30:15

I woke up this morning, looked out the window, and saw snow on the ground. Stupid spring.

Anyways, I went out for a trail run as planned this morning. I headed up Hog Hollow(?) then down toward Ghost Falls, with a one-mile out-and-back detour up Jacob's Ladder along the way. From the bottom of Ghost Falls I picked up the BST briefly and then ran Clark's Trail back to the top of Hog Hollow before returning to my car.

There was quite a bit of snow on the trail today, enough to make things tricky. Down low it had started to melt, leaving the trails covered in what I could best describe as greasy mud. Up high there was enough snow to keep me from seeing rocks and other features on the trail, making footing treacherous. There were several times where I stepped on what looked like a snow-covered rock but turned out to be a puff of snow, or what looked like a puff of snow but turned out to be a snow-covered rock. I had several close calls, especially on the final descent to my car, but I managed to keep myself upright throughout the entire run.

Also, my knee did not bother me at all for the entire run. But within 30 minutes of finishing the pains inside my kneecap were showing back up, and now that I've had hours to cool down, I can say that something isn't right. The good news is that the rest this week seems to have helped. The bad news is that it hasn't been enough. So, it's more cross training for me this week, although I hope to get out and run a couple of times to test things out.

Also, with my knee acting up and the Squaw 50 a month away, I've decided to roll my registration. I want to run the race, but I want to run it well. And given the way my training has played out since January (not to mention all the freaking snow on the course), that's just not going to happen this year.

Hopefully I can get things together in time for Speedgoat.

(Check it out--I embedded my run like Jun does.)