Very busy weekend

The calf is feeling much better. My friends and I did the Saint Frances Mud Run on Saturday. That was a blast! If you have not done that before you need to give it a try. We did it in 46 minutes which is respectable for first timers. I have to admit I was beat up and worn out by the end of the run but I felt great. I like having the obstacles to break up the run. It was really fun and challenging. If you get a chance go on You Tube and type in Saint Frances Mud Run and there is a good video of some guys running it last year. The video gives you an idea of what you are in for. I am glad I have some trail running experience as most of the running was in the woods. Don’t wear any clothes that you want to keep. I trashed everything that I wore.
I was a little tired out on Sunday but I went ahead and ran 5 miles in the morning. I ran with the Nikes and at a nice slow pace. My calf gave a few “twinges” but it did not hurt. Later in the day I played some racquetball with a friend. I also did some bouncing on the trampoline for about an hour with my daughter. Needless to say I was very tired by the end of the day.
I managed to go out Tuesday for a run in the Vibrams. The run felt great and invigorating. Maybe the sun shining and the breeze blowing helped out. I ran about 2 miles then stretched the calves some and ran 2 more. I felt really good and no pain. I still had energy near the end of the run and pushed it a little hard. I ran the last mile in under 8 minute miles, maybe around 7:30 with no problems. The fact that it was downhill most of the way helped too! Later in the day I could feel the calf tightening up from overuse. I stretched it some and it feels ok again. I better tone it down on Thursday. Plus I want to try some of the High Intensity Training next time out. I don’t want to re-injure my calf but I hate not being able to train for 1-1/2 months! I need to get back into the groove.
I have noticed that my foot turnover rate is consistently higher with the Vibrams. I believe I naturally take shorter strides to reduce the impact on my feet but I also speed up my cadence. I tend to run about 75 cadence with my Nikes and 81 with my Vibrams. I also tend to run a little faster in the Vibrams. I ran about 2/3 of the time in the grass. I have to really concentrate while running in the grass to miss all the land mines the friendly dog walkers leave behind.

Have a great day.

Gary

Is my calf okay yet?!

The 15K trail run is under 1 month away. At this point I have not even hit the trails in the Vibrams. This calf strain has hurt my training routine! I am now reevaluating my plans to run the 15K in the Vibrams. I may bring my running shoes with me and change into them if I feel any problems.
I had to travel last week so my running was off. I tried to use the tread mills at the hotels with poor results. I ran the first night for about 1 mile and felt like my right calf was pulling (not the one that was hurt). I decided to take it easy and quit for that night. Two days later I tried it again. Maybe it is just me or the speed was off on the tread mill but a 10 minute mile felt like a 9 minute mile, 9 felt like 8, and 8 felt like 7. I started off at 10 minutes per mile, sped up to 9, after about 1 mile I sped up to 8. The last mile I tried a seven minute mile and it really beat me down. I suppose I have not run much in the last month but do you lose that much ability so quickly! I finished 3 miles with no calf pain. The next night I did another 3 miles again with no calf pain. My calf feels tight and tingly sometimes but no pain. I have been stretching and exercising both calves. Running on tread mills takes some getting used to. I ran all times in my Nikes.
I ran on Sunday on the road in my Nikes and made it 4 miles with no calf problems. I went relatively slowly and I am just trying to build up my mileage again. I need to get back to 8-10 miles on my longer runs.
I have added a new exercise to my routine. I bought a trampoline for my daughter and we get out there about every other day or so. Bouncing on that thing is a blast and seems to be a good work out. Due to the fact that I am 46 and probably break easier now than I did when I was in my teens I don’t get too wild. I have been trying some flips but with some apprehension. I hope bouncing like that doesn’t hurt my calf again. Meanwhile my daughter is doing flips and front hand springs.
I went for a run Tuesday (April 27th) with the Vibrams. I ran mostly in the grass with some excursions on the street. I felt great until about 2-3/4 miles then all of a sudden I felt like my left calf was going to tear again. I was maintaining an 8:30 minute mile so I was not going too fast, although I was heading up a slight hill. All of sudden it felt like a cramp was getting ready to kick in. I immediately stopped and walked back. There is no pain whatsoever right now. I am just not sure what is going on. I will give it another try on Thursday. I can’t hurt it now because I have the mud run coming up on Saturday. I don’t want to let my team down.

Have a great day!

Gary

Tabata and week 4 of calf strain!

I am still not 100% yet. The pain is almost gone. I can play racquetball and bounce on the trampoline with my daughter with no pain. However, once I start jogging (not running) I feel some “twitches” in my calf and occasional pain. My jogging route includes some long downhill stretches and it feels great to jog on those. However, the uphill stretches put much more strain on my calf so I tend to walk on the uphill.

I went out Sunday to attempt a 3 mile jog in my Nikes. As mentioned above I jogged on the downhill and level stretches and walked on the uphill stretches. I did make it 3 miles with a slight amount of pain. I just don’t want to aggravate my calf again so I am being extra cautious.

I went out Tuesday to attempt a 4 mile jog in my Vibrams. The first two miles felt great. After mile one I stopped and stretched my calves. I then continued on. The first two miles of the run are mostly down hill. On the way back I could feel my calf pulling. By mile 2.75 I was started to feel pain. I stopped jogging and walked back the remainder. It felt like my calf was on the edge of tearing again.

I have continued doing seated and standing calf raises as well as stretches. I just hope this problem goes away soon! I am going to do another test jog again Thursday.

Tabata:
On another item, I am thinking of adding the Tabata training to my normal routine. I have been reading about it and it is very interesting and sounds fun. I cut and pasted this from the following site: www.trailrunnermag.com in the section named “The Fabulous 4 (Minutes)”.

“Tabata training is downright simple. As previously mentioned, you perform eight 20-second interval sets, with 10 seconds of rest in between each set.
What's an interval? It a short burst of intense activity, in our case, a sprint. Warm up for five to 10 minutes at an easy pace. Then, hold on tight, because the next four minutes will be brutal.
Take off in a full-blown sprint, like someone is chasing you, for 20 seconds. Then rest for 10 seconds, then sprint again for 20 seconds. Do eight sets. Perform the routine over relatively flat terrain, or even a treadmill, because the key is speed.”

There is more to the article. Go to the website and read up on it. I like the idea. I have heard from many sources that adding some intense training into your running regimen helps to improve your performance dramatically. Has anyone out there tried the Tabata? I believe they also have a similar idea named HIIT (high intensity interval training). You can apply the method to running, rowing, weight lifting, swimming, etc. You don’t just have to do running. So getting some high intensity cross training may help.

Please comments with ideas on the Tabata or HIIT training. I would like to hear what others are doing.

Have a great day,

Gary

Week 2 and I am still out of action.

My calf has not healed enough to run much. I have continued playing racquetball because I can take a few quick steps without much pain. The pain tends to occur after a few hundred feet of running. I tend to favor my sore calf a little during play but it has not taken much away from my game. I took a break from most exercise last week on my vacation at the beach. I did go out in a kayak a few times to get some exercise. It is my brother-in-law’s kayak and has both peddle power and paddle power. It is sort of like riding a bike in the water. You can switch back in forth from peddling to paddling so it has great exercise potential. I have continued to do toe raises and calf stretches. I can do both without much pain and I feel like they are strengthening my calf.
I went out Tuesday for a trial jog. I went about 1-1/2 miles doing both walking and running. The pain is there but not severe. I will try again Thursday. I need to get back in shape by May 1st as some friends and I are doing the St. Frances Mud Run. I have never tried it before and it looks fun. Also I need to continue my training for the Paris Mountain 15K. That run is only a month and ½ away. This calf injury is hindering my training!
Have a great day.
Gary

Calf Strain

Day 6 of the calf strain. I am saying strain as I don't feel as though I hurt it too badly this time. The first time I did it I was out of action over 6 weeks. The second was at least a month or so. It has been a week and it feels much better now. I still can't run on it but I don't notice it while walking. Stopping the instant I felt pain was definitely the correct action to take. I iced it back at work off and on for about 2 hours. That probably helped too.
I started researching calf strains/tears and how to heal them quickly. Most advice says the standard: Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation. Some websites say to massage it other say not to massage it. Some people say to stretch others say not to stretch. One of the consistent suggestions is to start exercising it as soon as the pain is gone. They suggest calf raises, with the knees bent and the knees extended.
The strange thing with these calf strains that I get is that doing calf raises does not hurt (or barely causes any pain). I can do both seated and standing raises and all feels well. However, after running about 3 steps the pain in the calf is extreme. So I wonder if the exercising I am doing is actually getting to that part of the muscle. Does only running exercise that part of the calf? Does stretching really help or not? I can do a full stretch of the calf with no pain now, but again, when I run it hurts. When it comes down to it, I don't believe that anyone really knows how to stop calf tears and what the best actions are to heal them.
For me the best results have been to start running as soon as possible. I run (slowly) for a brief amount of time, then walk, run then walk. If the pain level elevates I stop. I keep doing this every other day or so until the pain just magically goes away one day. As suddenly as it appears it goes away too. Strange!
Have a great day.
Gary

The dreaded calf tear returns!

Well, maybe I over did it this past weekend. I ran the Milliken Earth Run 5K and felt great. I had my best time in a 5K ever. Sunday I got up and ran about 10 miles. I did not run fast I just ran at a nice easy pace not trying to overdo it. Later that day a friend called me and we played racquetball for over an hour. I was really beat by then. I did not do anything Monday in order to rest my legs up. My legs were definitely feeling a little overworked all day Monday. Today (Tuesday) all felt well. I decided to go for a short run in the Vibrams. I forgot my foot pod cadence sensor so I was kind of bummed that I could not measure my cadence. My plan was to jog about 2 miles then hit the track and try a couple of laps at high speed, then jog the mile back to work. The day is beautiful for running!

I started off at probably an 8 minute pace and all felt good. I was running in the grass (@ .6 miles out) and I felt a small very minimal pain in my left calf. I have never had any problem with my left calf so I thought nothing of it. The only tears I have ever had have always been my right calf. As I continued running the pain actually went away, possibly because I started on a mild down hill. However, as soon as I started going up hill I transitioned to the road and within five steps I had a vise grip type pain in my left calf. These tears are very frustrating because they give no warning. I was running perfectly fine one second and literally the next second I can’t run. Needless to say, I stopped immediately. I tried to stretch it some because it actually felt like a cramp (unfortunately I read later that trying to stretch the calf after a tear is a bad idea). I walked back to work. While walking I can barely feel the tear. It just feels a little tight with not much pain. Running is out of the question though.
The obvious question is did the Vibrams cause it? I say no. I had no problems after the Milliken 5K. I ran the 10 miles and did racquetball in my standard running shoes. After my last calf tear I was very diligent in doing seated and standing calf raises, and also doing straight and bent leg calf stretches. I had backed off some in the past few weeks because everything had been feeling good. I am just going to have to get back into the habit of really working on my calves again. They seem to be my weakest link lately. In the past two years I have had 3 tears. I am icing it now in hopes that I stopped running in time to reduce the severity of the tear. It is good timing because I am going on vacation next week and maybe I need to spend more time with the family then running. Sometimes on vacation I am tempted to do some long runs.
Biking here I come!

Trial run Thursday

The plan was to go out and run different paces and try to maintain a cadence of at least 85 foot strikes per minute (170 total for both feet) in the Vibram Five Fingers.

The first mile was a 7:10 pace. That is my quickest pace so far with the Vibram Five Fingers. My average cadence was 88. I felt good through the first mile. I ran the first mile on the pavement with no foot problems.

I then ran 1.76 miles at a 7:57 pace. My average cadence was 83. I definitely slowed up some on the cadence. Trying to maintain 85 or above takes some thought while you run. As I mentioned in a previous post, it seems that as I tire I tend to take longer strides and slow my cadence. Running in the Vibrams with a higher cadence and shorter strides seems to be gentler on my feet than running at the same pace but with a lower cadence and longer strides. I ran on both grass and pavement for this portion of the run.

I then ran a fast ¼ mile on the track. My time was 1:18 which is a 5:12 pace when averaged over one mile. That is also a personal record for me. My average cadence was 85. I have always read that you have to run fast in order to run fast. I believe that is true. I am going to incorporate more speed training into my work outs. I have found out that I really can’t sprint now. I am 46 years old and have never really been that quick of a sprinter. However, I definitely was faster back in my twenties than I am now. I need to also add some sprinting to my work out. I just want to make sure I don’t wipe out a hamstring. Typically the faster I run the more things hurt.

I was pooped out after my one time around the track, (that is pathetic when I think about it). So I did a slow jog back to work. The run was about .86 miles and I averaged a 9:15 pace and 77 cadence.

Conclusions:
1. I believe that increasing my cadence will help me to increase my running speed.
2. Running at the higher cadence at the 7:10 pace seemed easier than running at the slower cadence at the same pace but with longer strides. This thought still needs some testing.
3. Higher cadence and shorter strides is easier on my feet when running in the Vibrams.
4. The Vibrams feel good to run in now that I am used to them. I believe my feet are toughening up. I hope the good trends continue!

So far my transition to the Vibrams has gone well. Let’s see how my race in them on Saturday goes. I would like to set a PR for that 5K. I ran it in a little over 23 minutes last year. I would like to be less than 22 minutes this year. I hope I don’t break something!

Have a great day!

Gary