Weekly Training Wrap - 10/21 - 10/27

It feels strange to be writing one of these, the first in about 4 months. This was the first of 8 weeks that I have planned to do some high intensity training. Hopefully I can get fit(ter) and stronger while I continue to rehab my knee. I had made previous plans to do a trail run with a friend on Saturday, so I skipped out on doing a HIIT session. Other than that, this should be my routine for the next 8 weeks and then I will re-evaluate.

In other news, the WS100 lottery opens in about a little more than a week. Unfortunately, with a cloud still linger over my health, I am uncertain if I want to enter. The odds of getting in are still low (roughly 15% based on last year), so I'd like to take a shot and have more entries next year. However, if I got in, I fear that I'd be under a lot of stress to get healthy and get prepared by June. I am likely to enter the lottery, but it is not the lock it was 12 weeks ago. I thought I would be running miles like Dean Karnazes by now.

Day	Miles	Notes
Monday	Off	Yoga
Tuesday	4	Half Mile Repeats (8:00, 7:30, 6:40, 6:54) Upper Body Weights and PT Exercises
Wednesday	Off	Yoga
Thursday	4	6 x 400 meter (1:36, 1:30, 1:47, 1:38, 1:51, 1:33) Olympic Weights (Squat, Dead-lift, Leg Press, Overhead Press)
Friday	Off	Yoga for the Core
Saturday	8	Easy Trail Run
Sunday	Off	Some PT Exercises and Running Specific Strength
Total	16

Doing It A Different Way

There is so much history to this that I cannot properly do it justice without boring you and/or writing 10 pages. Let's just say that I am a training geek and constantly tinker, learn, and form new opinions on the way to train. While I have not done it, I am familiar with CrossFit and have some fairly strong opinions about it. However, I am intrigued by the idea of using High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) as a way to get more fit. In fact, I have experimented with using HIIT in my weight workouts in the past. Yesterday, I rediscovered this article on the topic by Ben Greenfield yesterday and decided to dig a little deeper. It is worth noting that he uses these techniques and frequently goes sub-10 hours in an Ironman. Bob Africa also used this style of training to finish with the second fastest ever Leadman competition, including a Leadville 100 PR.

A quick bit of background: the predominant theory of training for endurance is widely considered long-slow distance (LSD) or aerobic. We use lots of terms like Maffetone or base building for this style of training. And I don't plan to debunk the idea that it is the best way to get prepared for an endurance event. Nor do any of the authors who advocate HIIT. I am the biggest fan of aerobic training. That said, the problem with aerobic training is that it requires extreme discipline (which sometimes leads me to boredom) and lots of volume (time and mileage). The time crunch leads many runners to ignore important elements of training like proper warm up, cool down, cross training, strength training, etc... We become singular focused on running, even more specifically aerobic running. I think almost all coaches would agree that runners should train as athletes, and not ONLY as a runner.  But I digress....

In scouring the Amazon book shelf, I came across the book Speed, Power, and Endurance by Brian MacKenzie. I found this quote early in the book that stuck with me:

But that's when things started falling apart. Hamstrings, tendons, nerves -- everything became vulnerable to injury. I saw physical therapists and I chiropractors, I did ever "core" or "functional" exercises asked of me, I lifted weights -- yet the injuries kept coming and kept getting worse.

As a former football player and avid weight lifter, this quote also resonated with me:

When I trained with my father in the 1990s, I could squat more than 300 pounds and had perfect range of motion. Now, as an endurance athlete, I couldn't squat half that weight or drop my hips below my knee crease without compromising form. I thought, Here I am in in the prime of my life and I can barely squat my own body weight -- what the hell have I done to myself?

I guess the long and the short of this post is that I am going to experiment with a High Intensity style of training. Frankly, I don't know that I have much choice given the limitations that I have with after knee surgery and the need to continue to rehab and strength train. I want to get fit, but I cannot currently run for 8 - 10 hours a week. And I am not sure that would be the best thing for me right now anyway. Instead of CrossFit Endurance, I still plan to focus on running. My high intensity work will be running and I will continue to do weight training for power (low reps, big weight, proper form) and functional movements (Yoga, core work, etc...). I will aim for a blend of something like 2 strength sessions, 1 pure HIIT session, 1 Hill session (also HIIT) and 1 longer structured interval run per week (another HIIT session), along with 1-2 bouts of Yoga per week. I may also tinker with doing a HIIT session of weights (almost like a CrossFit workout) once a week and make the weekend long an easy/aerobic workout.  So something like:

Day	Workout(s)	Notes
Monday	Cross Training	Yoga (maybe a HIIT weight workout)
Tuesday	HIIT running, Heavy Weights	Intervals and Olympic Weights
Wednesday	Cross Training	Yoga and PT exercises
Thursday	HIIT running, Heavy Weights	Intervals and Olympic Weights
Friday	Cross Training/Rest	Yoga or Rest
Saturday	HIIT running	Long Intervals (unless I do HITT on Monday)
Sunday	Off	Rest

Honestly, this is kind of scary and exciting for me. I like to try new things and have often felt I don't spend enough time in the "pain cave" to be a good short distance runner. Maybe with this style of training I can finally break a 6 min mile and 20 mins in a 5k? They key to high intensity training will be keeping the volume reasonable (something CrossFitters often neglect), like 15-30 mins per week. And the other key is that it has to be genuinely hard, almost to failure, not just uncomfortable. I have seen some crazy hard workouts, for example 6 x 800m @ goal marathon pace on a 10% incline. Ouch.

In an ideal scenario, I can use this style of training to stay motivated, get fit, and rebuild my body for 2014. I would love to enter 2014 healthy, strong, and ready for an aerobic-based training plan, unless I decide HIIT is the only way! But I doubt that, I love running in the mountains too much. And if I get fully healthy, I am sure that by Spring my motivation to get outdoors and run will be sky high.

Training Wrap: September

It was a banner month, I ran 21 miles in eight outings after running a total of 13 miles in July and August combined. Sure, that is nothing close to normal for me. But, it is a start. I am getting out regularly to enjoy some easy Fall running. My knee feels better but not great. I am eight weeks beyond surgery and still in the zone where I have to be careful not to tear my stitches. Each run feels a bit better than the last, but there is some random pain and stiffness that I must work through in order to break up scar tissue. I am told this is all normal, but it sure does test my patience and discipline. In addition to short runs every other day, I am doing a pretty good regimen of cross training to keep my legs strong and help stabilize the quad and knee. And, I have pretty much put the bike away for the year.  It was getting annoying and I rode far more miles (600+) than I ever intended this year. Hopefully October continues to see my progress improve and I am ready to start a decent build up in November!

One last note, I think about a race schedule and training options on a daily basis. But, I really won't have any clue what 2014 looks like until after the Western States 100 lottery in early December. It sure would be nice to make my return to racing in Squaw Valley!

Is Altra Growing Too Fast?

A year ago I became a HUGE Altra fan after discovering their Instinct 1.0 on sale at Runningwarehouse.com. In fact, I applied to be an Altra Ambassador and decided to to go all Altra in my training and racing. After only a few months, I owned five pair of Altras for myself. I have recommended Altras to at least half a dozen friends and my wife and son. Buying a pair for my son was a big deal: they were $50, more than double what I normally spend on shoes for him. After all, he is 8 years old and tends to wear out or outgrow shoes every 6 months. Only three weeks after purchasing them, the shoe literally fell apart. Admittedly, he is a boy and hard on shoes, but come on? Look at the photo below. Yes Altra replaced them, to their credit. But it just one example in what is becoming a trend in quality complaints for them.

Last night I was commenting to a friend how much I love my Instinct and was making plans to buy a pair of Instinct 1.5 for myself. Then I started doing some reviews and discovered that they are getting ripped on their own website for a shoddy upper that is wearing out. I had to write this email to my friend this morning:

Steve -

I know you seemed intrigued by my post last night about the Instinct. If you like the Lone Peak, then you'll love the Instinct. I wear mine everywhere -- the gym, cycling, work, around town, etc... -- and they are durable and comfortable. They have 350 miles on them and probably 2x that in equivalent wear from all the cross training.

That said, if you want to get a pair, I highly suggest getting a pair of the 1.0 from a discount/liquidation site. That is the version I have. I Googled and found a few lying around. The new 1.5 have received pretty poor reviews for durability, many people complaining the upper is wearing out after less than 200 miles, some as little as 100 miles.

I am frankly a little disappointed with Altra right now. They had a really good thing going with just a couple of well made, high quality shoes like Lone Peak, Instinct, and Provision. After one year, they doubled their models with new shoes like The One, 3-Sum, Instinct Jr, Olympus, Superior, Torin, and growing. The quality seems to be going downhill with this explosion in models.  Dylan blew out a pair of Instinct Jr in less than a month. The entire out sole just cracked and fell off the shoe. My Torin have held up to less than 100 miles so far, but they feel cheaply made and there was a manufacturing goof where some shoes went out with 6 eyelet and some with 7 eyelet. We'll see if they last. My Superior are starting to shred on the lateral side after 235 miles.

Anyway, I love the Instinct, but would not recommend the 1.5 unless you get a screaming deal and can tolerate a blow out after 200 miles.

There you have it, I went from being one of their biggest fans to being nervous about recommending them to my friends in less than one year. It is worth noting that I am the one who convinced Steve to buy his Lone Peak and watched him destroy the Leadville Silver Rush 50 course in them, wearing a pair of my own as I crewed for him.

Is their insane growth responsible for these issues? I think it contributes. As a fan, I would love to have seen some refinements to the existing models, including new colors and a little more stylish look. But I cannot help but wonder if all the new models were necessary. When I compare their rise to a shoe with a similar cult following, the Hokas have only recently added a 4th model. In fact, they used to offer their shoes in unisex sizes. They started by building a few shoes really, really well. (UPDATE: Hoka is now also making an insane number of shoe models.)

Whatever the case, I really don't care why this has happened, but I know it makes me disappointed. I maybe just a midpack runner with a small blog, but I sure hope my experience with Altra help other runners steer clear of expensive mistakes. I love some of their shoes and the idea on which they created them. But I certainly don't want to continue to spend $100 on shoes that fall apart. And it will be very hard to convince my wife to buy another pair of them for my son if his Instinct Jr don't hold up for at least six months. Make no mistake, I am pulling for Altra, but I am a skeptic of the explosive growth and change right now.

Training Wrap: August

Well, knee surgery is almost four weeks behind me and I am on the mend. Everything thus far has been extremely positive. In fact, the doctor told me on my post-op visit that I am "the best she has ever seen" two weeks after a knee scope. I have about 90% of my range of motion back and about 80% of the strength I had before. However, there are still some kinks and niggles as I erase the remaining inflammation, break up scar tissue and re-adjust to having a biomechanically correct (I hope!) knee again. It takes a while to unwind the compensation and atrophy from months of not using things correctly. I have entered a period where I feel almost myself, but know the last 10-15% will be the hardest to get back.

The doctor's orders aren't super limiting, which is a good sign. I cannot do any squats below 90% and cannot really put any pressure on my knee at a sharp angle. Just about any exercise that is inline and does not go below a 90 degree bend is ok. I'be been hitting the gym about twice a week to lift weights, been riding my bike regularly (nearly 50 miles since surgery), went for a long hike the other day, and even did a short test run today. So far, the weights seem to be upsetting my knee the most. While I certainly consider myself lucky at this point, I am growing eager to put this phase behind me. The doctor encouraged me to ease back into to things. But, for someone that has spent the better part of 2.5 years redefining his own limits, it is really hard to be patient right now.

So the month of August was one of my worst since I began running regularly in 2011 -- 8 hours, 64 miles of biking, 4 miles of running, and 8 miles of hiking. I am off to a pretty good start to September and hope to be near 100% by the end of the month. I did back out of the Lead King Loop race for this year -- I just need to remain patient with things. And I plan to acquire some Hokas soon, in preparation for future ultras.

Plans for 2013 continue to evolve, but here is what I think I know now:

• I will very likely run a 100 miler
• Western States 100 is the race if I get in
• If not, Leadville is likely out
• Hardrock is in a dark corner of my mind

That is about all I really know! There are several other hundreds I am thinking about and even a few 50 milers depending on what time of year my hundred lands. I know that I have fallen in love with ultra running. I think it suits me and goals to live a healthy, full life. And I think I have some untapped potential to be brought out.

Update: Knee Surgery

It has been a while since I blogged, because I really don't have much to say other than injury updates. I have been battling what I thought was ITB since March. Finally, last Wednesday, I had my knee arthroscopy and the surgeon repaired my lateral meniscus. (The fact that it was a repair is significant, more on that later.) 

I am not clear where I hurt it. There was a moment in the OP50 that I distinctly remember twisting my leg (along the AZ trail). After that, my IT Band began hurting, but I am not sure if that is when it tore my meniscus. Some meniscal tears are a result of overuse, so it is possible that I just overdid it. In any case, I returned home from Arizona and tried running, possibly too soon. And I had what seemed like a definite case of ITB -- all the classic symptoms. I treated the ITB aggressively with no success. Then, after a few successful long runs, I DNF'd my first race in mid-April. At that point, I decided shutting down was the best thing. My buddy Tony tried to convince me to get a shot before I shutdown, I assume to allow the shot to really take effect. Instead, I shut down for 2 weeks and skipped the shot, feeling guilty about always going for the easy solution. Immediately after returning to run, the pain returned. I gave in and got a cortisone shot in early May.

During the customary three days after I shot, I did some bike riding and then I began slowly testing my leg. It felt great. And I did probably the dumbest thing and immediately resumed hard training (50 mile weeks with 10k of vertical gain). After a long weekend in Leadville training, my knee had finally had enough. Less than a month after the cortisone shot, I was back on the sidelines. I don't know that it would have helped, but if I had it to do again, I would get the shot and then take the two week recovery, sort of doubling my efforts to be conservative over that period.

Despite already being a long and costly injury, I broke down in the middle of June I began getting dry needled and had an MRI done. The dry needling did magic for the ITB symptoms along my hip, glute, and quads. (I now swear by dry needling as the best release technique available to runners.) That was the good news. The bad news was that the MRI was quite clean and I was still in lots of pain. Despite those that insist running is bad for your knees, mine look very good. There was significant bruising on the lateral side of my knee and fluid around the joint, both symptoms of my injury, but no real evidence of the cause. The surgeon's theory was that there is a small tear in my lateral meniscus, which is why the bruising was so pronounced on the lateral side. I went back and forth with friends and family discussing my options. Naturally, there were many of them. In the mean time, simple things like bike riding, walking my dog, and hiking became extremely painful. Things far outside the scope of ITB (typically). Instead of the Leadville Silver Rush 50 run, I switched to the MTB race because running was too painful. Not long after that point, I decided to go ahead and let the surgeon go in and see what was going on.

When I woke from surgery, the surgeon (Dr. Andy Motz) explained that he had found exactly as he expected, a small tear. He repaired the tear with a couple of anchors. In many menisectomies, surgeons will just remove part of a torn/frayed meniscus. In the case that they just "clean up", the risks post-surgery are mostly just inflammation, which we runner folks are used to battling! However, in the case of a repair, there is a risk that the stitch comes undone. Thus, I need to be a bit more cautious over the next 4-6 weeks. And, if you follow my blog, or even just this post, cautious is not how I normally work. 

The left is before and the right is after. I don't see much on the right, but I see the tear on the left.

Car ride home from surgery.

Nice and swollen with three incisions to show for it! Notice my note to the doctor that my left knee was the correct one to operate on.

I am four days post surgery now and quite stiff and sore. However, the soreness is pretty tolerable. In fact, I have been in much more pain in my life, like the last 13 miles at LT100. I have started a small PT regimen just to keep things "firing" and to try and avoid too much stiffness and atrophy. I am not sure yet what the next few weeks hold, but I am probably already doing too much. September 18th is officially 6 weeks post-surgery and I hope to try a run on or near that date (short of course).

In closing, I really don't know what has gone wrong. I am starting to believe more and more that I had two injuries. The ITB symptoms were too perfect and the remedies I tried there were working well for that to be a phantom injury. My guess is that this meniscus tear happened in March at OP50 (or possibly during my fall back in November) and that it just took enough miles and time for the bruising to rear it's ugly head, essentially creating a second injury that had similar symptoms as the first. And the cortisone shot provided the catalyst for me to push hard enough to make that happen. Hopefully, both are gone when with a long layoff over the next several weeks.

Silver Linings

There is a lot to say and this could be a long, rambling post. Sorry, but I hope it is worth it.

The first thing to say is that my knee is a wreck. Things I used to be take for granted -- like easy hikes and long dog walks -- now cause me pain. Sometimes intense pain. It hurts more or less all the time right now, just in varying degrees. I am convinced something is structurally wrong and not just a case of ITB. The bad news is that an MRI was mostly inconclusive. The major components appear to be in good condition (all the major ligaments, cartilage, etc...) other than some significant bruising at my source of pain. Given that I have been patient with this injury since March, I have decided for a more aggressive plan and will have it scoped on August 7th. The surgeon's theory is that my lateral meniscus is partially torn, allowing my knee to move laterally and causing the bruising. If he is right and surgery goes smoothly, I will be pretty limited for the 6 weeks following surgery and won't realistically be 100% for at least 12 weeks. In other words, 2013 has been a bust other than my great run at Old Pueblo back in March.

One thing the PT pointed out is that my left calf is smaller than my right and my muscles in the front of my left leg along the shin appear to be showing signs of atrophy. The implication is that I have likely been favoring that leg for sometime. Certainly that gives me something to work on as I rehabilitate from surgery and rebuild. It seems that things likely aren't "firing" right on my left side -- quads, glutes, etc... I will certainly have to work with her on a plan to get those things back in order.

After that introduction, are wondering why I titled this "Silver Linings"? The reason is that I am seeing more clearly now than I have in some time. I can no longer just push through this injury. There is no option other than to stop and take inventory of things and where I want to go next. How motivated am I to rehab? Does running mean enough to me to have surgery? Why do I let my outlook hang on the balance on how I am running? Some hard questions to face.

The good news is that I am already looking ahead to 2014. And with all this time off and watching my friends kick butt last weekend, I am starting to get rejuvenated. There are some hard days ahead, but I can plug away. It is pretty clear now that I have let running occupy too much space in my life and, in doing so, have lost the edge I once had. Going back to training for LT100 last year, the training has really started to feel like work and like it is taking over my life. Hundred milers are brutal and I have seen quite a few runners get spit out by them. As a consequence, I started to rethink the way I train. I honestly believe I can run 20-25% fewer miles during the course of a year without dropping any performance. And I can find more balance and hopefully get re-engaged with a love of running. I enjoy weight training, bike riding, walking with my wife, and even just sleeping in once in a while! All of those things suffer when I am "training". I am tired of worrying about the weekend weather forecast starting on Wednesday.

Probably the most honest thing I can say, I sleep better right now than I have for at least a year. Some of that I attribute to no longer stressing about training. Some of that is attributable to keeping normal hours, waking up when my body is ready and not to an alarm clock. There have been signs of fatigue that I have been ignoring for several months now. Duncan Callahan writes of this topic in a recent blog, culminating in a great quote: "The ego satisfaction of going all-out, all of the time, will only last until you can’t do it anymore." His blog is great because it touches on some many of the topics I blog about and kick around in my own mind all the time -- getting enough sleep, the use of caffeine, low carb dieting, etc....

Once I am healthy enough to run some, hopefully by late-September, my first priority will be to regain some consistency to my training. If things come together quickly enough, I'd like to race a 5K and maybe a 10K over the winter to try and regain some speed and power in my running. Both of my PRs at those distances are pretty soft anyway. Training in this timeframe should be dominated by form work, hills sprints, strides, and lots of short but hard workouts.

I will save 2014 plans for a future post, particularly because it is likely to change a lot over the next 6 months. But I would say there is a strong chance I run a hundred, which one depends on lotteries (Western States mainly). I am starting to entertain a few things that I never thought I would consider (Hard Rock). At this point, I am not feeling super motivated to return to Leadville.  There are too many quality ultras out there, each of them different. But, maybe? The Pacific Northwest has a strong appeal to me right now. If I don't do a hundred miler, then I will almost certainly do a destination fifty miler to some place fun. And, if I come up bankrupt in lotteries, then I might consider a shot at a BQ at Colorado Marathon. That seems like a long shot and I wouldn't know for sure until after lottery season (December). I think the only significant thing I said in that babbling above is that I am likely to do a hundred miler next year. Other than that, most everything else remains on the table.

I am in a good place. The grind of four months of fighting injury has pushed me to a point where I am at peace with things. And I genuinely think it is for the best, even if it isn't what I wanted.