Injury, Recovery, Perseverance

Well Hello

     It has been a very riveting couple of months since the start of 2012. My goal of keeping myself as busy as humanly possible with work, training, and of course being social. This has been an impossible attempt to allow for what most would call free time to exist. Coming from the winter into the spring I have raced a 50k, 2x 5k cross country, and a half-marathon(13.1). Not to mention a full calendar at work with being the race logistics director for the Longhorn 10k/2mile.

    For those who know me I'm sure that you are only waiting to hear the details of the past 4 months with the same anticipation as my post of the pedi stories that you read with comic relief to your day. Of course my ups and downs will keep you slightly amused, at least I hope, on how I manage to injure myself spite the friendly reminders from my PT as she cracked, adjusted, and stretched me back to function so that I could continue training for the most polar distances possible for one person to race in such a short time. Needless to say I'm still walking with a little bit of labor and a sweet swagger/limp.

It all started with the Bandera 50k my training had me running through the winter holidays with two runs a day averaging anywhere between 18-25 miles by the end of the day. and somewhere between 70-90 mile weeks of cruising the austin trial system on a regular basis, and there is not much here to explore. After running the town in every single combination of mind numbing options to get my distance in, I would often result to running to and from work just to add distance. With many miles under my legs and a much much much better race plan than the previous seasons race of 2011(6-week crash course). I felt ready to run the 31mile race. With the help of Alpine Cowboy as my sponsor for the race, we set up a gnarly tent city at the dude ranch which the race resides on. The conditions where epic and allowed for some absolutely brilliant racing to take place that day. With all my lessons learned from the 2011 race that epically failed with a combination of pace, lack of supplies, training and intelligence, I was ready for a much better result. My pacing and use of nutrition/hydration allowed for a much swifter transition throughout the 5 10k aid stations. Of course what would be a good race without a little bit of a hiccup? around mile 25 nature truly began to call me, so I answered with a 10 min pit stop in a conveniently placed port-o-let. After that pit stop and my legs going numb from sitting so long I got back on pace and ran a 45min PR to lock up 12th place overall at 4:49. (2011 5:27 35th). With a solid result to start the year I had planted a finish line prize for myself after witnessing a fellow runner do the same thing the year prior. I WAS D-RRUNK!

"Thrust against pain. Pain is a purifier" -Percy Cerruty

The Next focus was the Austin Half Marathon I was looking to hit the 1:15-1:18 mark with a pretty lofty goal in my sights. Training was easily coming around with workouts testing my abilities and giving me the swiftness that I would need, I was running hungry and ready to go. EXCEPT, I was having a severe nagging pain in my right foot. Damn fasciitis looks like a trip to the PT for an injury assessment "Cue PT" "you need to not run for the next month, you're hurt and could make it worse"... Oh bummer I'm racing in a week. "you should not run"... But, it's ok I'm racing? "Not a good Idea" noted thanks. Guess what I decided to do?  As I lined up that brisk morning in the starting coral the thoughts in my head bounced back and forth of what a rational person would do and also what I was choosing to do. Race and injure yourself for the season or risk not running and regretting the choice for my mind to nag my ego with what I could have done. As time got closer to the starting gun, I became more focused on my race plan and less on my foot. "hold pace through 10 and then surge at the end through the last 5k and climb". As the miles clipped off at a swift pace the goal became more of a tangible effort. Although Austin is a difficult course to PR with I wanted to challenge myself, And that I was.

Have you noticed how powerful a negative thought is, I would argue that its more adverse then that of a positive one. As I neared the 10mile split I noticed that I was 66secs off pace. Then that my right foot was beginning to ache, and now my breathing was getting labored. This perpetual spiral began to sink into my head and wreck my spirits one thought at a time. My legs began to way more the effort was intensifying, was I on a hill, why can't a pick up the pace? in less then a mile I had managed to negate everything that I worked for 10 miles previous. From that point on the run felt like a nightmare where you do not know how to run. my splits got slower and slower, I more frustrated and angry, hills became walls and I was slowing. I had gone for it and fell short, too short. Finished at 1:21 with slight limp and a scowl on my face. Because I was no longer enjoying what I was doing.  Lesson Learned

Next Update. Triathlon Season...