Update

It has been 7 weeks and two days since my surgery (hip labrum repair) and I finally feel a noticeable improvement with what I am able to do. For a while I was using our stationary bike and/or my road bike (on indoor trainer) for 20-40 minutes at a time but it was not working out to well and I basically over did it. After taking 10 days off, I felt less pain and have now been working out daily on my home elliptical machine for almost a week. The last few days have been 45 minute sessions with no real negative consequences.

I have also experienced increased ROM and strength through physical therapy. I hope to be up to 1 hour daily by the end of the month and starting to walk/jog by middle January. Early on the increments of improvement were so small that it was often hard to quantify. Like most runners....I often need numbers (ie- minutes worked), to measure improvement. Must be patient!

In other news, I will not be representing Team Pearl Izumi-Smith for 2011. This is no surprise to me, as I was essentially hurt for most of my stint on the team during 2010, but it still is disappointing. I honestly don't think that I deserve to be on the team until I can show that I am healthy and competing at a high level. I would like to thank Aric Manning (Team Director) and all the people at Pearl Izumi and Smith Optics for the opportunity to have been just a small part of the team. It was great to meet all of you, as well as, the team itself. I will continue to follow your results. I hope we can give it another shot in the future. Good luck in 2011!

Hip Surgery

For those that visit this blog, I am sure that you have noticed that I have been non-existent in cyberspace for the last 7 months. Wow! I can't believe that much time has gone by since I have done any sort of meaningful running. Like most of you out there when your injured, I was off the grid. For the majority of 2010 I was shut down because of nagging hip/knee injuries. Long story short an Arthrogram revealed that I had a torn labrum in my hip joint.

On Monday October 25th, I headed north to Orthopedics Specialists in Portland where Dr. Mark Wagner performed a hip arthroscopy to repair the labrum and clean up the surrounding cartilage. Dr. Wagner reported that the procedure went well, showed no degeneration of the articular surfaces, and that I should be able return to running.

I felt much better post-op than I thought I would and walked gingerly out of the surgery center. Thanks to Jeff and Ana Soulia, two of my co-workers (PT's) for driving me to/from Portland and generally making sure I made it home "almost" whole. I took the Oxycodone (for pain) as well as, aspirin (to prevent clotting) for three days post-op. However, what has helped the most since surgery (other than my wife Marla) has been the Game Ready cryotherapy/intermittent compression unit. I pretty much lived in this apparatus for the first 2-3 days after surgery.

I am now 5 days after surgery and walking around the house, up/down stairs with less and less pain. Today I spent 15 min on the stationary bike at home with little resistance and will probably progress fairly quickly on the bike. The question of when I will return to running is commonly asked. I will just take it one day at a time and my body will let me know when it is time. As Lewis Taylor tells me often....I have a good read on how my body is doing and what it needs. Please return often to check out my progress.

Training today: 15:00 Bike, Physical Therapy

Training For April 4- April 11

11AM Sunday Apr 4- 12.5 miles (1:36) Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Blanton- Back- Dillard LP w/ Braje and S. Laurie (~1,000 ft. +/-)

5:20AM Monday Apr 5- 12 miles (1:28) Home-Rexius TR- Amazon TR- 24th-Pre Trail LP- Back. Flat trail/road (AV 7:17)

5:20AM Tuesday Apr 6- 12.5 miles (1:34) Home- Rexius TR- Amazon TR- 24th- Hendricks Park LP x3 (~1,000 ft +/-)

10AM Wednesday Apr 7- 11 miles (1:09) Pre Trail/ VR Bike Path- 3M WU, 8x 100m strides, 6x 1Mile w/ 1 min Recovery (5:49, 5:47, 5:46, 5:40, 5:46, 5:42), 1.5M WD

Felt pretty relaxed on this workout....good to be on the hard surface.

5:20AM Thursday Apr 8- 12.5 miles (1:32) Home- Rexius TR- Amazon TR- 24th- Hendricks Park LP x3 w/ DanO (~1,000 ft. +/-)

5:20AM Friday Apr 9- 12 miles (1:38) Home- Rexius TR-Amazon TR- Back- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit- Back (1,500 ft. +/-) w/DanO (32:33 Up, 24:29 Down). Great views from the summit on a cold and sunny morning.

6:30PM Friday Apr 10- 6 miles (43:15) Pre's Trail (AV 7:12)

2:00PM Saturday Apr 11- 16.5 miles (1:48) Pre's Trail/VR Bike Path- 4M WU, 8x 100m strides, 11M Steady (1:07:28/AV 6:08), 1.5M WD

Weekly Total- 95 miles

11AM Sunday Apr 12- 25.5 miles (3:38) Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit- Back- Headwaters TR- Blanton- Back- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit (~5,100 ft. +/-) w/ T. Braje

Pretty beat up after the second half of this week....probably will need a recovery week to let a few things heal up.

Shot Gun Creek "50k"

I was originally planning to start the racing season off at the Way Too Cool 50k (Mar 13) but the combination of injury and family commitments changed my plans. With the exception of a few dates per year, my race calender is normally very tenuous. The priority for the first half of 2010 is the Western States 100 and therefore all other races are pretty much in preparation for that event or to provide a fitness/equipment check.

The Shot Gun Blast 50k was a very low key local event held at Shot Gun Creek Recreation Area in Marcola, Oregon (right up the road from my home in Eugene). I anticipated the course being hilly and muddy and that was pretty much all I had to go on. I was happily surprised to see other locals: Tom "Tea Bag" Atkins (2010 WSER entrant), Bob Coll, and Trish Kluge showing up to take part. Although it was a brisk 38 degrees at the 9:00 AM start, the forecast called for temps in the 60's with sun. Sounds like a good day to me!

Almost forgetting to pin on my number....I rushed to the starting line with no warm-up, one Nathan Quick Draw hand held bottle with water, and one 4 oz. First Endurance EFS liquid shot flask. When the gun went off, I casually got out to the front of the small field, where I was joined by three others. I was not expecting an aggressive early pace or much of a lead pack lasting that long. My goal was to get in a hard effort and to see how I was coming along. The course began with a gradual climb on Shotgun Creek Road which would soon turn into a gravel road as the climb progressed to a steeper gradient. The first few miles I ran alongside Jason Hawthorne from Albany, Oregon. As the grade increased, Jason and I pulled away from the other two and as my body warmed up, I pulled away from Jason.

At about the 6 mile mark the race course leaves the undulating gravel road and jumped on to a steep and muddy grunt of a hill that would climb 1-1.5 miles of slick terrain. This would bring us to the back portion of the course where we would begin our primarily gradual downhill return to the start line and finish of the first loop. Half way up the muddy climb, I could not see anyone behind me and thought that if I ran solid to the top and rolled down to the start/finish area I would be comfortably in front.

I knew the course was short when I came through lap 1 in 1:37. I was expecting to see maybe 1:50 or so. Oh well, I dropped my gloves and kept going. I was also surprised to see someone new 1 min behind me (Mike Rosling) that I had not seen earlier. Initially I thought he may be competing in one of the other distances, but quickly realized that was not possible. Getting back out on the climbs again, my legs felt great, and my energy levels were solid from the EFS liquid shot. I got a bit nervous when Mike cut the gap in half after I made a pit stop to answer nature's call. However, I again ran the muddy grunt of a hill hard to the top and rolled it out all the way down to the finish. Finishing in 3:17:44, I new the course was short which was confirmed by RD William Wycoff immediately after finishing. He told me that he forgot to mark a small section (.7 miles) at the top of the course resulting in the course being only 29.4 miles. Oh well.....felt good and beat my legs up a bit. It was a good test.

Mike Rosling came 2nd (3:22:06), and William Swint 3rd (3:37:22). The women's race was won by Pam Smith (3:43:14) of Salem, OR. In an unusual twist to the results, the RD adjusted the times to show the actual time, as well as, the predicted time (based on pace) for the full 50k distance. My time was (3:17:44) or (3:28:44). Take your pick...either way it was a course record day and something to build on.

Full Results

Training For March 21-March 27

Sunday Mar 21 1:00PM- 23.5 miles (2:52) Flat/Hilly- Home-Rexius-Amazon-24th Ave-Hendricks Park LP x3- Back- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR-to Blanton- Back (~2,500 ft. +/-)

Monday Mar 22 5:20AM- 10.5 miles (1:16) Flat- Home-Rexius-Amazon TR-24th- Camps Cemetary LP- Back

Tuesday Mar 23 5:20AM- 12 miles (1:27) Flat- Home Rexius TR- Amazon-24th Ave-Pre's Trail-Theater LP- Back (AV 7:15) w/Lewis Taylor

Wednesday Mar 24 12:30PM- 11 miles (1:09) Amazon TR- 3M WU (7:24, 7:05, 6:57), 1M w/8x stride (6:09), 3x 2M- 5:59, 5:49 (11:48) 2:34 Rec., 5:45, 5:47 (11:32) 2:42 Rec., 5:49, 5:49 (11:38), 1M Warm Down (6:47). Wore the Pearl Izumi Streak XC with an extra insert....which seemed to work well. Had to cut warm down short and rush to the my massage appointment. Great day with 72 degrees for the workout.

Thursday Mar 25 5:20AM- 9.5 miles (1:08) Home- Rexius TR- Amazon TR-24th Ave- Campus Cemetary LP- Back w/Lewis Taylor. (AV 7:15) Hip Flexor sore/tight

Friday Mar 26- Off (Rest) Decided to give the hip flexor a break and get a bit ahead of it.

Saturday Mar 27- 29.5 miles (3:17:44)- Shot Gun Creek 50k Race- Marcola, Oregon- 1st place CR, Mostly long ups/downs on gravel and paved logging roads with 3-4 miles of steep muddy sections. The RD forgot to mark a section of the course at the top, resulting in a shorten course. (More to come in a race report). Ran hard and trashed the legs. Good effort.

Weekly Total- 96 miles

Training For March 14- March 20

8:30AM Sunday Mar 14- 26 miles Mt. Hardesty Double (4:01)- Felt Great! (1:19 Up, :44 Down, 1:14 Up, :43 Down) 6,900 ft. +/-. Ran with K. Woodke for the first half, where we enjoyed 3-8 inches of snow during the final 1,000 ft. of the climb. Between yesterday's Spencer Butte's double and today's climbing/descending, I achieved my goal of quad muscle breakdown.

5:20AM Monday Mar 15- 12 miles (1:28)- Home, Rexius- Amazon TR- Pre's Trail- Theater LP- Back (AV 7:18). Quads a bit sore.

5:20AM Tuesday Mar 16- 12.5 miles (1:36) Home, Rexius- Amazon TR- Hendricks Park LP x3 w/ Lewis Taylor. ~1,000 ft. +/-

1:30PM Wednesday Mar 17- 14.5 miles (1:46) Amazon TR x9- Rexius TR. 2M Warm Up, 1M w/ 8x strides (6:19), 4x Mile w/400m jog recovery (5:42, 1:45, 5:43, 1:43, 5:37, 1:44, 5:42, 1:47) 5M (29:47) AV 5:57.5 (5:41/1:45), 6.5 mile EZ w/Thornley. Happily surprised but Achilles/Calf did not like it to much.

5:20AM Thursday Mar 18- 12 miles (1:26) Home- Rexius- Amazon TR- 24th Ave-Pre's Trail-Theater LP- Back (AV 7:10) Flat/Easy

5:20AM Friday Mar 19- 12.5 miles (1:33) Home- Rexius- Amazon TR- 24th Ave- Hendricks Park LP x3 w/Lewis Taylor. ~1,000 ft. +/-. Tired today. Achilles sore.

1:00PM Saturday Mar 20- 12 miles (1:31) Home- Rexius TR- Amazon TR- Back- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit- Home. First half flat/EZ AV 7:00. Second half 1,500 ft. +/- (29:51 Up, 23:18 Down). Felt good with the sunny and warm weather.

Weekly Total- 102 with 10,400 ft. +/-

Training For March 7- March 14

Nearing Mt Hardesty summit (4,300 ft.)

Sunday Mar 7- 11.5 miles (1:20) AV 7:00 Home-Rexius TR- Amazon x2- Campus Cemetary LP- Back--Flat/Easy

5:20 AM Monday Mar 8- 12 miles (1:39) Home- Rexius TR-Amazon TR-Back- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit- Back (1,500 ft. +/-) (32:59 Up, 25:54 Down)

5:20 AM Tuesday Mar 9- 12 miles (1:28) Home- Rexius- Amazon x1- Hendricks Park LP x2- Back (~700 ft +/-)

5:20 AM Wednesday Mar 10- 13.5 miles (1:32) Home- Rexius TR-Amazon TR- Campus Cemetary LP- Amazon TR x4 w/ 4M Tempo (6:20, 6:14, 6:13, 6:02)

5:20 AM Thursday Mar 11- 12.5 miles (1:30) Home- Rexius TR-Amazon TR- Hendricks Park LP x3 (~1,000 ft. +/-)

5:20 AM Friday Mar 12- 10.5 miles (1:15) Home- Rexius LP-Amazon TR x1-Campus Cemetary- Back (AV 7:12)

2:00 PM Saturday Mar 13- 13 miles (1:49) Headwaters TR- Spencer Butte Summit x2, Felt Great! (30:38 Up, 24:34 Down, 30:37 Up, 23:53 Down) 3,000 ft. +/-

Weekly Total- 85 miles with 6,200 ft. +/-

8:30 AM Sunday Mar 14- 26 miles (4:01) Mt Hardesty Double- Felt Great! (1:19 Up, :44 Down, 1:14 Up, :43 Down) 6,900 ft. +/-. Ran with K. Woodke for the first half where we enjoyed 3-8 inches of snow during the last 1,000 ft. of the climb. Between yesterday's double up Spencer Butte and today's climbing/descending, I achieved my goal of quad muscle breakdown.

Training is coming along......Shot Gun Creek 50k in 2 weeks.

Training For February 28-March 6

Most of my running over the last month or so has been in the Pearl Izumi SyncroXC. This shoe is a great fit for the trail runner needing a high performance training/racing shoe with light weight cushioning, mild pronation control and traction. Its Seamless upper prevents nagging irritation and its SKYDEX forefoot propulsion pad provides ample cushioning up front. I would recommend giving it a try. This shoe and others can be found over at the Pearl Izumi website.

11AM Sunday Feb 28- 21 Miles (2:31) Pre's Trail-Dorris Ranch LP x4-Back- Finger Out & Back (AV 7:15) Flat Trails/Roads. Ran with Sopagna Eap and Todd Braje. Good rythymn...a bit tight at the end.

6AM Monday Mar 1- 9 Miles (1:10) Home-Rexius LP- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR Dillard LP x2 (~600 ft. +/-). I thought I would test out the climbing legs and how the achilles would handle it. Not bad.

6AM Tuesday Mar 2- 12.5 Miles (1:28) Home-Rexius TR- Amazon TR x1- Hendricks Park LP x2- Back. (~600 ft. +/-) Trails/Roads with more hills.

6AM Wednesday Mar 3- 10 Miles (1:24) Home- Rexius LP- Headwaters TR- Ridgeline TR- Spencer Butte Summit-Back (1,500 ft. +/-). More of a significant climb/decent. I have been missing this!

6AM Thursday Mar 4- 12 Miles (1:26:18) Home-Rexius TR- Amazon TR- Pre's Trail Theater LP-Back Flat Trails/Roads (AV 7:12)

Friday Mar 5- Off (Rest Achilles)

Saturday Mar 6- 22 Miles (2:58) Thornley's LP Ridgeline TR-Mt Baldy-New Ribbon TR- Hendricks Park-Cemetary-Amazon-Rexius. Lots of climbing. (~2,000 ft. +/-). Another good test for achilles....not bad, tight at the end.

Weekly Total- 86 Miles (~4,700 ft. +/-)

Not a bad week. I am only a few weeks into consistent running so this is a good start to continued building towards Western States 100. Goals are to get/stay healthy and gradually build fitness specific to the course on June 26th.

How is your training going?

Team Pearl Izumi-Smith Summit

Over the weekend I enjoyed an awesome couple of days with the other members of Team Pearl Izumi-Smith. The team arrived in Lousville/Boulder, CO on Thursday afternoon just in time for dinner with a group of employees from the Pearl Izumi corporate headquarters. Bright and early Friday morning we headed out for an easy 50 min run (1,200ft. +) in the snow covered trails with a half dozen PI's best, followed by a photo shoot on the Mesa trail.

The majority of the day Friday was spent at the Pearl Izumi headquarters with a tour of the building and meetings/discussions with Mike Thompson (Footwear), Lynn Bush (Merchandising), Jason Fryda (Essentials), and others. I was quite impressed with the individuals at PI and the apparel and footwear they work hard to produce. Historically, they have been known as one of the worlds top manufactures of cycling/triathlon apparel. From what we saw over the weekend, Pearl Izumi is putting the same dedication and enthusiasm into trail running. The discussions that went on was the start of a rare relationship between a trail running ultramarathon team and its sponsor.

Prior to our departure on Saturday afternoon we gathered for a run up and around Flagstaff Mt. in Boulder taking us 1:11 with 1,800ft. of elevation gain. It was a good run though the snow with a bit of treacherous descending. It was great to meet the whole team and everyone at Pearl Izumi. I feel fortunate to be a part of such an exciting and progressive endeavor.

Update

As much as I like the Clint Eastwood classic, this post is not really about the movie.

In early December of this past year all was well. I had been hired on as a Licensed Massage Therapist at Physical Therapy Services in Eugene. A great clinic, working with a very knowledgeable and friendly group of therapists and support staff. At the same time, I was selected as a member of Team Pearl Izumi-Smith for 2010. A loaded team of top level athletes with support from industry leading companies. To top off the goodness, I was surprisingly pulled in the lottery to compete in the 2010 Western States 100. It was like I got everything that I had asked for for Christmas.

As quickly as the "good" arrived, however, the "bad" followed.... While training for the Bandera 100k, I ramped it up to fast and caused an irritation to my achilles tendon with accompanying gastrocnemius and soleus tightness. This condition is not new to me and I have been through it a handful of times in the 23 years that I have been running. However, for the first time, I had an added complication. A plantar wart decided to show its "ugly" side and join the party. So while dealing with the achilles issue, I went to the Dr. for two separate treatment sessions consisting of freezing the wart for 90 seconds twice with liquid nitrogen. If anyone has had the pleasure of this bit of fun, I would be curious to know if you thought it was painful. For me it was quite painful. The two treatment sessions were two weeks apart. During this time, I spent the first 5-6 days hardly walking while still working at the PT Clinic. Making the whole situation even worse was that the location of the wart was directly over a previous neuroma removal between my 3rd and 4th metatarsals. As a result, the pain was accompanied with numbness, tingling, and burning in my toes, foot, and lower leg.

After two sessions of nitro, I felt that the wart was mostly gone. Though I probably should have went in for another "freeze", I really needed to get the training going again. This brought me back to the achilles issue. I continued sessions of deep tissue massage , ART, and Chiropractic twice weekly. Like most runners, I would try running short runs for a few days and realize it was not ready yet and resort to more time off. This cycle went on for the last couple of months. Although still getting treatment twice per week and dealing with the issues on a daily basis while running, I am progressing and have been running more and more. This most likely will effect my race schedule in some way. The only concrete race right now is the Western States 100 on June 26-27th. All others I will evaluate and modify as needed.

I am happy that I had 55 miles this past week and just finished my best weekend of running since November-- Saturday- 10M (1:13) and Sunday 15M (1:50). I have learned to take the good with the bad and hopefully learn something along the way.

2010 Team Pearl Izumi-Smith

I am excited to announce that I will representing Team Pearl Izumi-Smith in 2010. Please visit the team website at http://www.teampearlizumi-smith.com for the full press release. I look forward to getting to know my new teammates and putting to good use the support of the team sponsors:

Pearl Izumi

Smith Optics

First Endurance

Nathan

Petzl

Body Glide

Thanks to Team Director Aric Manning for all his work in putting together an outstanding team. I will see you all in Boulder for the team summit in February!