6.5 Miles Eight Days Out from Breaking Toe

I ran 6.5 miles today on the Columbia Trail.  When I tested my toe with runs this past weekend, it seemed like it was not ready to run yet.  But those tests were after cycling.  Today's run was fresh, and I figured out that I should tape the toe, with support under the curved part of it.  I used a cotton ball, legthened out, and curved into a U shape under the toe and around the sides.  I then taped around my big toe and third toe.  Put the whole thing into a sock and stuck it into new Brooks Cascadia 3 trail shoes.  Sorry, I didn't spare you the photos this time!  Here is my awesome tape job.

Sparing You The Photo

I did not take a photo of the red misshapen toe.  But it is red, and misshapen - trust me.  I have an unrelated break in the skin on the bottom of the toe, and it is oozing some of the fluid build up inside the toe from the break.  I am spending time with a flexible gel ice pack and elevation.  Rode my Dawes single speed about 10 miles with little pain.  The best shoes to wear when your toe is broken are Teva river sandals.  Wore them to work today and eventually will try running in them.  I learned that during my last broken toe adventure.

Stupid Move #2

Stupid move #1: About two months ago I broke my left middle toe while running in VFF's on a trail. I did it by kicking a root on an easy trail. Proceeded to finish the run, about 5 more miles. By using lots of ice and active rest, I nursed the toe to 90% in 3 weeks, 100% in six, been training very well. Ran a little and rode my bike a lot during recovery time, so I came out of the injury in better cardio shape than I went into it.

Stupid move #2: Today I raced an 8K XC race barefoot. It was muddy. Warm up was fine for no shoes. Didn't factor in that with lots of people running the course it would deteriorate, and that I would be running 6:30/mile rather than 8:30/mile. Half way through I slipped & fell going downhill, which was fine - slid right back up and continued running. A few hundred yards later, running down another hill and curving right, my right foot slipped sideways & forward with all my weight and momentum concentrated on my forefoot. In a hundredth of a second, I felt my 2nd toe bend too far, kinda under my 3rd, and feeling a sharp pain I kinda knew it broke. I finished the race at about 8 minute pace when I should have placed in my AG. Should have worn the spikes that I left in my car...

Philly Marathon is exactly 4 weeks away. Wasn't going to run it barefoot - was going for a post-40's PR for myself - now I'm gonna have to depend on my bike again to keep me fit, but the PR might be down the tubes!

Update: Second Run of The Day!

OK, so this is crazy and it goes to show that maybe I know what I am talking about when I say that it depends on what time it is for running on a recovering broken little bone... I ran 5 miles with my son after dinner almost pain-free. I wore my Teva sandals. Maybe it is about the open toes.  Icing it now, just in case.  Am thinking that tomorrow I will try it at the Deer Path park XC course.  Then a bike ride starting and ending there.  We will see.

Almost Two Weeks Since I Broke Toe...

After the club run this morning, as I entered the diner where we all meet for breakfast, the Euro-sounding owner said to me, "Runners in the back," as he pointed to our usual large table. "How did you know I'm a runner?" I asked him. His reply: "Because you were limping."

I attempted running on Wednesday evening and this morning with the RVRR crew. Both times I began running on the D&R Towpath in shoes, and turned around after a few minutes to return to the parking lot and change into bare feet. I then completed 30 minutes on the grass at Johnson Park. There was pain in the shoes, and less pain while barefoot. I didn't run very fast - maybe 10 minutes per mile. I had more pain this morning than on Wednesday evening. It is now early afternoon, and I have little to no pain. I am thinking I can run fine right now - just thinking it. I am thinking that later in the day there is less internal swelling so there may be less pain. In the morning the fluids may have built up while sleeping. I have ridden my bike a lot - over 132 miles/5 rides last week and 80/8 rides so far this week (commuting). I don't think I am losing any cardiovascular fitness, but I am not sure that I will be able to run the USATF-NJ 5K XC championships next Sunday.

Broke My Toe Wearing Vibram Five Fingers

OK, I admit I was not paying attention.

Yesterday, on an easy trail run with a bunch of people, after extoling the virtues of VFF's, within the first half mile I tripped really really really hard on a root. It jammed my toes hard straight back into my foot. I fell like somebody shot me. I kinda heard a snap (or imagined it) and knew I broke something. Finished the run of 4 more miles with increasing pain.

This is the third toe I have broken on my left foot.  First the little toe about 13 years ago, when I kicked a packed suitcase before a ski day.  Second the next one over, last summer, when I kicked a bench on the pool deck.  Now the middle toe.  I seem to be working left to right.

This toe is broken very near the metatarsal, which isn't really a good thing.  It is painful to walk and to try to curl my toes.  I'm icing every few hours. My foot is a bit more swollen today than it was yesterday. This sucks. It was so random, I had been running on trails with the VFFs before, and this trail was easy in comparison to others I had run. Guess I am putting in some long bike mileage over the next few weeks. Not a happy camper. :(

Photo from yesterday:

Icing, right after the run:

My Run Today - Five Days Since The Fall That Broke Rib #6

Watchung Winter Ultra Does Me In

The Watchung Winter Ultra "fat ass" trail race had two options: run 50K or a marathon.  I chose the marathon.

I run at Watchung about a dozen times per year.  I used to ride my mountain bike there, for winter training, back when I was a serious triathlete in the late 1980's- early 1990's - before the park banned them.

This was to be a fun day - I wanted a good long run as an easy race on a trail I was very familiar with.  I had no qualms about cutting it short if I felt over-stressed, since my recent running mileage has been relatively very low.  Plus there was the forecast for snow at a high of 25 degrees F.

I felt cold before the race in the morning.  About 50 people showed up, including my friends Paul, IronPete and Dixon.  They were all slated to run the 50K; Paul and Pete have done many, but it was Dixon's first. The race director did a great job setting up this event and even marked some of the course himself that morning before running a couple laps of the course himself.  I ran a lot of the first loop near enough to talk with him.  I ran almost the entire loop with David, a Chi Running enthusiast who I had emailed with before but never met in person - and running with him turned out to just be a chance meeting.  I was amazed that he survived about three falls from trips and slipping on ice on the first loop or so.  The last fall he had on ice hurt his knee enough for him to cut the second loop short.  Little was I to know what I was headed for.

The marathon was two and a half loops of the Sierra Trail at the reservation.  (See my account of running there last weekend for comments on that.) It was a beautiful day to be running - not many people on the trails, it warmed up a little within 30 minutes of starting, and snow was flurrying just enough to add to the ambiance.

I had two great loops and was leading the marathon runners - loop splits were 1:44 & 1:47- and I was feeling GREAT.  Really great.  I was gonna chop off that half lap in 60 minutes.  But about a half mile from the start/finish I tripped and fell and broke my rib.

I have fallen dozens of times running trails, but this time I fell really hard and I think a protruding root or rock just hit my side in a bad way.  The break is kinda under my left arm.  The fall did hurt a lot and the wind got knocked out of me.  I tried walking to keep going but noticed it felt really weird in there, like something was rattling around, and I noticed I couldn't breathe deeply without pain.  So I think I smartly decided to bag it and walked back.

I checked in as DNF and drove myself to MediMerge...  The Vicoden I just picked up is defiintely working better than the advil.... 

At the doc, my temperature was 94.3.  The nurse said it was the lowest she ever recorded.  It was kinda funny because she asked a couple of times why I would want to run that far.  Doc said, "curtail your activities" for a few weeks.  I told him I was going skiing next weekend.  He said he wouldn't do that...  hope I can.

One of the reasons I think I felt great was fueling. I used my skiing Camelback plus a Powerbar Gel ("2X Caffine") about every 30 minutes. That stuff works pretty good for me. I don't like eating random food handed out at races. I used the Powerbar Gels at Philly too, every 45 minutes. After today I think my next marathon - Boston - I will do one every 30. Gotta start shooting that stuff early. They are sort of a pain to carry - pockets of circa 1980 Moss Brown jacket today were fine, but gotta work that out for Boston. 

Hey, just looked, you can still get those jackets ... think I might get a new one.

Thanks to Paul for the pics and vid from the race below, and to Associated Radiology in Warren for the x-rays.

 
IronPete, Paul, Me

 
Paul, Me, Dixon (nice face)

Start bottleneck at bridge.  Me in yellow jacket & Camelbak

 
A few minutes past the start/finish area, 50K route

Race Director Rick explaining too much before the start & me looking too happy

 
One of my x-rays.  Difficult to scan and see the break.