Merry Christmas Me

Running in the Holidays

I spent the Christmas holiday down in North Carolina with family.  Spending time down there in the winter months is actually pretty beneficial to my running activities as its usually 10-15 degrees warmer than in Northern Virginia this time of year.  It can be tough for some, not sleeping in your usual bed, not knowing the roads/ paths, and not having your typical routes to fall back on, but it doesn't bother me.  Its nice to explore a new area and get a sense of adventure, especially when you discover new trails or paths.

Just after a trail run..

While out on a middle distance run I stumbled upon a big park with a lake in the middle, featuring dirt trails perfect for trail running.  I later found out this was Fred G. Bond Metro park.  This was nice to fit in to a 90 minute maintenance run, but my real find down here was the William B. Umstead State park, just outside of Raleigh N.C.  This is a good example of "stuff being there if you look for it".  Putting it that way doesn't sound very articulate, but great parks like this are probably just around the corner from anywhere in America, you just have to look for them (and want to find what you are looking for).  To anyone who says that there aren't any trails or parks for running near them, I figure they just haven't looked.

Trail map of Umstead near the south parking area.
Conveniently, trail maps are placed at most major
intersections you might encounter.

Umstead Park features miles upon miles of rugged trails suitable for hiking (or trail running in my case), as well as flatter trails for horse-back riding, and soft gravel access roads (which come in handy if you get lost or need to make up time on the way back to your starting point).  Umstead provided a great feeling of isolation and connection with nature, an essential outlet for any trail runner.  I spent about 2 hours in the park, 1:45 of which were spent running (the rest were spent checking maps, refueling, and taking stretch breaks).  I was happy to find working water fountains and bathrooms in the parking areas.  There is a decent amount of elevation change which was unexpected in this area - great for conditioning.  I spent most of my time on the "Company Mill" trail and "Sycamore" trail, both awesome.  Only goal of the workout was to enjoy myself and get a solid trail run in, though I felt like I was moving pretty fast most of the time.

Typical shot on the trail.  Note the blue blaze.

My approximate route.  In typical trail running fashion,
I finished expecting to have covered about 14-15 miles due
 to time running and perceived exertion.  In reality it was more
like 12 miles due to the steep, rugged terrain, which causes slow
 running and the need for multiple walk breaks up some inclines.

Umstead even hosts a 100 miler Ultra run, The Umstead 100, with a 50 miler accompanying it.  Wouldn't mind returning for this someday.  Its a 12.5 mile loop (run 8 times).  While this sounds boring, it should be good for novice ultra runners, has frequent aid stations, as well as multiple points for dropping out and little chance of getting lost (you never get too far from civilization - good safety features).  The 50 miler would actually be a good prep run for either the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 or Old Dominion 100 mile run.

Talking in terms of long range goals and scheduling: this spring and summer are pretty much planned out, and I would like a little down time to do some traveling in Fall.  That takes me up to Spring 2014 for a new Ultra goal.  This would be a good time to do the Umstead 50 miler (in early April) as a lead in to my goal of running the Old Dominion 100 miler in early June of 2014.

Short on Time? Tempo!

Christmas Day I was a little short on time, so this is usually a good opportunity for a tempo run.  My goal was a 30 minute run; this may sound easy compared to a two hour long run, but if you pace yourself correctly and push it during the intervals you end up feeling almost as tired as after a long run.  Oh, and it was 60 degrees out! Pretty amazing for December 25th.

I went out looking for a 30 minute run.  First 7 minutes were spent warming up gradually speeding up to about Marathon Pace.  Then 5 minutes "on" (probably about 10k pace), a 3 minute rest (easy running to recover , 5 minutes "on" again, a 2 minute rest, 3 minutes "on" (starting at 10k pace and building up to 5k pace", then the remaining 5 minutes were used to cool down until I got home.

Back at it

Sweet kicks!  New Balance M890.  Great lightweight shoe
 for uptempo days, intervals, and even on race day.

Back in the habit

I think its safe to say my injury is all healed up, and I am back out there semi-regularly.  So far I am only running every other day, with some spin classes sprinkled in there in place of easy runs.  My calves have actually been a bit touchy lately, but I attribute that to my newfound love of the "natural" running style, which 

often leave your calves feeling achy at first.  Achy, because you are utilizing muscles that have been neglected by the old heal-stomping method I used for the past 4-5 years of running.  Natural because you try to land on your mid-foot and fore-foot primarily.  I won't go into anymore detail, and won't even bring up "barefoot" or "minimalist" running.  I'm sure there is more than enough marketing out there for that already.

Winter running - yup, that means running with fun blinking
lights (and plenty of neon-yellow schwag).

It was my pleasure to take part in my first track workout with my running club since Chicago.  It was a 10x400 meter repeat workout.  We did "Christmas Repeats", where you team up with someone else and do 20 400's total by relay, trading off each time someone completes their lap (10 400's each).  It sure felt great to run fast, especially in 40-something degree weather that really lets you push it.

Starting my last 400 meter repeat.

Finally Feeling Fine

There is really no singular point in coming back from an injury where you exclaim "I'm Back!".  Its a gradual return, via run/walks and post workout self evaluations.  You run, you stop, you think, "is it better?", if the answer is "yes" you rest a day and run again.  If the answer is "no", you rest 2 days, cross train, rest another day, and then try that run again.  Once you are back to doing 4-5 miles, its safe to try a bit longer distance.  After attempting longer than 6 or 7 miles you should really wait 2 full days to run again.  When you come back from injury, if you suddenly think you are 100% and go pound out 10 miles you could very well end up back on the couch resting.  I still hesitate to say I'm completely fine, but lets put it at about 95% injury free.

Keeping all that in mind, I feel like I am almost fully recovered.  I had some strange pains during my first few runs back, some of these pains involved the injured area (fibula stress fracture), some were actually elsewhere on the leg.  Soreness in my foot, very sore lower calf, and the weirdest thing was this fatigue in my quad whenever I took a good "stomp" while walking.  Fortunately, I have read many places that this is normal when coming back from an injury that caused you to rest 6-8 weeks.

Speaking of 6-8 weeks, that turned out to be a pretty accurate time table for coming back from a lower leg stress fracture.  Apparently it is scientifically proven that bones heal in about 6 weeks (providing you take the proper precautions and don't re-injury anything).  And it was about 6 weeks until I was feeling completely normal walking.  About 6.5 weeks in I did a few short runs where there was still a bit of pain.  A week later I was running but had those weird sore spots and "phantom" pains.  I have kept up the cross training, spinning once a week with a bit of elliptical sprinkled in there too.

Last Saturday I ran 7 miles with my running club DC Road Runners.  I took a conservative approach, running 3 on roads, 3 on a trail, and then 1 more back to our meeting point near Iwo Jima Memorial in Arlington.  I ran 5 with a fun run group Tuesday and still had a bit of calf soreness.  Tonight I ran 6 miles with the same fun run group at a pretty speedy pace (7ish minute miles).  I felt incredible, like I was "back", full of energy, pain-free  and general pep.  Hanging out at home after I still felt a tinge of soreness in both the front of the lower leg and in the calf.  Lets hope a rest day takes care of that.

Cautiously Optimistic is a good term to describe my last couple of weeks and my next few.