Heel Pain and The Miracle of Ice

I have a confession to make: I have had a heel issue for about a month. I think it started at the Escarpment Trail Run. This is a 30K trail race in the Catskills, over 3 major mountains, with about 10,000 feet of climbing. The trail is continually rocky, and it was wet this year. The rocks were slippery. Though it was cooler this year than in 2005, most people that ran it last year and this ran slower this year. I ran a little faster: 4:09 this year, 4:15 last year. I really wanted to go under 4 hours, but I saw that slip away. The down hills hurt more than the up hills again, but after going out much too fast in 2005, I learned to walk the hills much earlier this time.

Anyway, I kinda ignored the little twinges in my heel at that time and continued with 3 more races over the next week. The following Tuesday night was the RVRR Summer Series 5K XC race, which I ran fairly fast. Then the very next weekend was the River To Sea Relay. In that, I ran both of my major legs fairly fast, plus stepped in for half of another guy's leg. Totaled about 17 miles of race-pace running on that day. By then the heel pain was increased a bit. I continued to ignore it, though, and my training had not been too heavy for a couple of weeks after that. Yet the pain persisted. I am fairly sure it is not PF, but just some Achilles tendonitis. The pain was kind of moving around. And it would hurt less when warmed up. By the beginning of this week it was hurting with every step, which isn't good.... So I decided it was time to do something about it!

This week I am happy because I shot my mileage up, but paid attention to the pain. All I did was ice it a couple of times per day, and I have been able to both increase mileage and reduce the pain. I will have a 60 mile week and an almost healed heel.

Three in Five

I have reported here and elsewhere before that I have only done two half-races barefoot, removing my shoes half-way through an 8K XC race and a road 10K. However, last Tuesday, I did an entire 5K XC race barefoot, winning my age group in 20:25. I almost chickened out, after warming up barefoot and then putting on XC shoes. But the shoes felt restricting, and I figured if I ran barefoot it would actually force me to go easy. See, I wanted to recover from The Double Trouble 30K trail race I had done two days prior, where I also won my age group (wearing XC shoes). Then I completed a The Sunset Classic 5 mile road race on Thursday, my 3rd race in 5 days, in 31:30 (shod).

11th at Double Trouble - 1st AG

Double Trouble 30K Results

The Double Trouble race is made up of two 15K laps in French Creek State Park, PA. Runners can either finish at 15K or 30K, and they don't have to declare what they intend to run up front. It is a fun concept, and Ron Horn, race director, keeps it very comic in so many ways. He makes the runners recite the Double Trouble pledge which pits taunts between 15K and 30K intentions. He gives head starts to runners who come from farthest away or were recently in the armed service overseas. It had been raining the entire week going into the race. It wasn't raining when the race started, but it did during the race. So I wore the Reebok Circa XC shoes.

I ran the first 15K lap in 1:19, and the second 15K lap in 1:27. During the first lap, I just kept thinking, "This 15K is just a warm-up." I walked before I had to if I felt the uphill was putting the lactic acid into my legs. To avoid killing my legs too early, my thinking was often, "Use the uphill for recovery." During the first 15K, I tried to avoid mud and puddles. During the 2nd 15K, I just plowed through all the mud and water. I was so full of mud after the race that I simply threw my socks in the trash. I was kinda mad that the two guys in front of me passed me about 1.5 miles from the finish, and I was o so close at passing them back before the finish line. I was gaining on them, but ran out of road. This was great preparation for the Escarpment Trail Run!

Fatigue

Really hot and humid in NJ today. Felt bad on the run today. Legs felt fatigued, even though I did not run yesterday. More fatigue makes running barefoot less comfortable. Didn't feel comfortable on the grass because lack of rain has made it hard and clumpy. Didn't feel comfortable on the pavement. I am thinking that running barefoot is a fine motor skill, and that fatigue makes it more difficult because the accuracy of the fine movements and muscular balance is upset.

I am not going to make my mileage goal this week for the first time since I created a NYC marathon plan and began to execute it on the first of May. I am not going to make it because I totally missed two days, working at camp at night. With a 30K trail race on Sunday, I should probably only run 4 yesterday and get a couple of long nights of sleeping.

Why am I feeling so fatigued? Stress of ending school and starting camp? Stress of doing more mileage than I planned for the past few weeks catching up with me? From racing on Monday night, drinking beer afterwards, staying out late, then doing a short interval workout on Wednesday? Probably a little bit of all of the above.

I am going to avoid being a slave to my training plan by listening to my body: Run short and slow tomorrow morning so I don't mess up the race on Sunday.

The Double Trouble Plan

I am running the Double Trouble 30K trail race on Sunday. Sherrie asked me what shoes I was going to wear. I am not ready for a trail race barefoot! This was my response ~

Remember, I suffer from early-onset CRS, so don't take this as gospel: The trail varies - mostly Watchung Reservation-like. There is about 1/2 mile on pavement each lap. I think there is even about 1/2 mile of bushwacking. A couple of miles on easy fire-roads. All of which one actually experiences at Watchung Reservation, coincidentally.

Last year I wore road racing flats, Mizuno Spacer. My feet felt fine, but thought they lacked traction: Some of the rocks were damp in the morning and had green algae on them and were a little slippery for the racing flats. Not to say trail shoes would have done any better. They also incurred unexpected tread damage - some separation of the harder rubber that is glued to the lighter midsole rubber.

This year I plan to wear either Mizuno Kaze XC or Reebok Circa XC shoes. They both have rubber "spikes", but are warn down a bit. They are very low to the ground. I will use the Kaze if it is dry, or the Reebok if it is raining, because I think they will be better in the mud. I have not done rocky trails with either shoe, but they have been fine on the towpath. I have a little more confidence in the Kaze because I used them twice for 15 miles, and they were fine. Reeboks only one long run of 13. Plus the Reeboks have thinner soles, and I use them without insoles, but they have better treads overall, which is why I would wear them if it is raining. But it will probably not rain. The Kaze have plastic under the arch, so they will be more protective. This race is practice for the Escarpment Trail Run for me. If the Kaze perform well, I will use a new pair of them that I have still in the box at Escarpment.

For that location in PA, weather.com shows a high of only 71 on Sunday ! Which is the third day of scattered T-storms. So I suppose the trails might be a little damp.

Comments While Running Barefoot

I needed a longish run on Friday, so I decided to head out for a 4 mile road loop west before hitting the grass for about 5 more. I am at a point where I feel I can run barefoot on roads at training paces just about anywhere, as long as I don't attempt it two days in a row. So this 4 mile road loop heads right down the main street in Dunellen on the way back. I was psyched that I was taking barefoot running right down the main street during a busy time, about 5:30 PM. I only got two comments. The first was from a woman pushing a stroller, walking with a guy. That group squeezed me over a little, and the woman unexpectedly said, after I passed, "I run just like that too!" I am assuming she meant barefooted. The second comment was out of a rolled-down car window. It was an older car, like a 1980's Buick. Guy slows down, leans his head out the window - I had the impression that he needed a shave, had a fat face, and was probably a smoker that may have even been drunk at the time, on his way home from his post-work bar stop - and the guy yells, "Hey, you forgot your shoes!" LOL what an ass........

Anyway, this hot Father's Day morning I was almost home at the end of a 5 miler. A woman walking a dog sees me approaching and says, "Doesn't that hurt your feet?" I reply, "No, it feels great, take off your shoes and walk barefoot!" She said, "O, I do!" I guess she just wasn't doing it this morning.....