Trackshark.com - Track & Field

After hobbling around all day on Sunday, I knew that chances were pretty good that my achilles wouldn't feel much better on Monday. Oh, how I wish I was wrong.

But I wasn't, and as a result I got to visit the UWEC Training Room for the first time ever (not counting ice baths). I'm always leery about seeing doctors or trainers about running injuries, because so often they either have no clue what's going on (I've managed to successfully diagnose about 90% of my running problems without medical intervention, including my stress fracture, which I called the first time my leg felt funny, but which took a doctor four weeks to confirm.) or their advice is the standard, "take time off and ice." Well, yes, that will probably cure the vast majority of running injuries, but it's simply not possible (by which I mean, no way in heck would any runner do it) to take two weeks off to cure every little thing that can hurt in training. My ideal medical professional would be a runner at the college level or higher whose goal was to get me back training absolutely as soon as possible. So, as that little tangent shows, I have a lot of unresolved frustration with the medical community.

Back to the training room. I went in and had to go through a lengthy medical evaluation that they do for everyone who comes in with an injury. I also got to serve as a test case for a new trainer. It was fun. Actually, no it wasn't. Half an hour later, they diagnosed my injury as inflammation of the bursa sac and did some ultrasound and told me not to run or do anything without their express permission and come back in again tomorrow. Okeydokey.

This is not a knock on the UWEC Training staff, who are all wonderful people. This is the repressed runner talking who is lashing out in anger because she can't run.

I went for a bike ride and then spent the rest of the evening massaging and then icing my leg every three hours.

Come Tuesday my achilles (and yes, I know it's actually my bursa, but that's the area of the body it relates to and bursa just sounds funny) was feeling better, although I could still feel the injury. After talking to Schwammie, we decided it'd be a good idea to hold off for one more day, particularly because the team was doing a harder workout that day where there would be a good chance of reinjury. So it was back to the training room. I got ultrasound again, then headed off for my bike.

This has not been the best two days of my life, but I'll get over it. I'm glad that my bursa (ha!) is responding to treatment and should be good to go in a shorter time period than three months.

*This title refers to a sign that was posted in my high school chemistry class that read, "Science never sucks, it always pushes and pulls." Hee, hee. What can I say, I'm a physics major.*

Day 8: Slog in the Sun. Also, Rankings

This was a painful run. Wearing spikes yesterday was bad for the overall morale of my legs. By the end of this run I was hobbling along because my left achilles was aching pretty badly. And that’s really all there is to say about today. A lot of my Sundays are like this. It’s the one day that we don’t meet as a team to practice or run together and it’s also usually a fairly easy day as far as mileage goes.

Since I have so little to say about my run, let's talk about rankings! In the NCAA D-III Women's Cross-Country preseason poll that was released August 27th, UWEC was ranked 3rd. Which, I have to admit, is pretty sweet. It still feels a little surreal to think that the place where I go to school and run is ranked that high because the people I run with and what we do seems so ordinary. On the other hand, preseason rankings mean exactly squat. Ask any team in the country whether they'd be ranked high to start or place high to finish and you know what the answer would. Of course that doesn't prevent obsessed runners from poring over them and getting into endless debates about how flawed they are. What else would we do in our free time?

Day 7: UWEC Alumni Race

Splits- 6:48 (Mile 1), 7:12 (Mile 2), Not even worth mentioning (Mile 3 and beyond)

I’ll admit I really didn’t want to write about this day. There were some good parts about it, but thinking about those good parts meant thinking about the not so good parts and yeah, didn’t want to do it. But I had a good workout today (real time) so that gave me the mental fortitude to give this entry a go.

Today was the first annual UWEC Cross-Country Alumni Race. I think it’s a great idea and hopefully in future years we'll have much more representation on the women’s side. (At the race today there were precisely three women alumni, and two of them graduated last year.) The race was held at Lowes Creek and it was an intense course. The women ran a 5k and the men a 4-mile, but even with the shorter distances it was tough. The terrain was very rough and extremely hilly. And the courses were long. And it was 80 degrees out and blazing sunshine. So it was pretty much a typical cross-country raceJ

Before the women’s race, our entire team gathered together for the team cheer, which we had practiced the previous night in Bridget’s back yard at a pasta feed. (Yes, the neighbors gave weird looks.) The UWEC women’s cross-country team cheer is a fine tradition; dating back I don’t know how far. I do know that it is in all likelihood the longest cheer in D3 cross-country. Here are the words:

And there are actions. I’ll admit, when I first came to UWEC I thought this cheer was a little pretentious. Particularly the line, “we’re the team that can’t be beat.” But I’ve come to love this cheer because it’s done in good fun and it is a great way to keep your heart rate up before the start of a race.

I crashed big time in this one. There are two possibilities as to the reason why. One, I have low iron once again. I admit I’m hoping this is it. I’ve dealt with this problem before, and know how it goes. Two, my legs were tired from a hard than normal week, and this, along with a too fast start, led to the death march in the later stages of the race. Or perhaps it was a combination of these two. Whatever the reason, my get up and go got up and went. Without me. By the second part of the race, going up a hill caused my legs to go into full lockdown mode; they just shut down and I couldn’t get them working again. By the end I was simply trying to maintain a decent rhythm and finish. Needless to say, it was not my finest hour.

After I finished I really just wanted to go shut myself off from humanity for a good while and try not to think about the awful race I had just had. There are always teammates to pull you out of a funk, however. Ellie and Molly and I went exploring down by the creek and waded into the water for an impromptu ice bath. It felt great. The water was perfectly clear and cold, with a nice current keeping the water moving. Best ice bath ever. After both the men’s and women’s races were finished the pizza guy arrived and everyone enjoyed some wonderfully greasy Mancino’s pizza together before heading back to civilization.

It really was a fun time. Except for the whole racing bit. I feel like I’m doing the right things, so I guess I need to evaluate and then just move on. It’s a good thing there’s always tomorrow.

Day 6: Still Not Getting a Life

Bike: 45 minutes along the bike trail. Gear 8 (7 minute wu, 30 minutes @ 4:00 miles, 8 minute cd)

So apparently I need to get a life because I’m posting too much. Meh. That's probably true, as most of my free time revolves around running. Actually, I plan on posting something about every day of the 2008 cross-country season, which is why each of my blogs is numbered. By the time I’m finished there should be a total of 90 entries. You may have noticed that I’m a little behind: today is Tuesday and I’m still on last Friday. I’ll catch up eventually. Actually, writing about my training a couple of days after the fact is a lot easier emotionally. I have a chance to sit back and take a long view of things, rather than get caught up in the immediate ups and downs that runners go through each day.

I wanted to get in a decent amount of training today, but I didn’t want to do a whole lot of distance because of the race tomorrow, so I compromised and did some cross-training. One good thing about getting injured is that it made me very, very, very, very (did I mention very) good at cross-training. Both the pool at McPhee and the pool at the YMCA are closed at the moment, so I decided to go for a bike ride. Inside on a recumbent bike I’ll usually do some sort of repetition workout, but outside I just try to set a high rpm and go at a quick pace. Today, for example, the bulk of my bike ride was at 4:00 mile pace, which I realize isn’t the greatest, but for me on my mountain bike it’s enough to get my heart rate up.

I finished the bike ride about an hour before practice, so it ended up being a pretty good day’s work. My achilles hurt at the beginning of the run, but it soon loosened up and felt halfway decent. Everyone did the Water Street route, which of course means singing. Now, singing is a lot fun and is an awesome tradition, but I will never understand is why people speed up during the songs/cheers. They require more lung power, and yet people are going faster. Crazy.

While I was doing barefoot drills Schwammie came up to me and we ended up having a nice chat. He wanted to know how I was doing “emotionally”, which is a good question to ask. I’m doing as well as can be expected. It’s hard not to be as fit as I want to be right now, but I also understand the need to be patient and to keep on working at it. It’d be nice to see some rewards once in a while, though, rather than tired legs all the time.

Day 5: Harder than it Seems

Run: 3.75 miles (30 minutes) Putnam Trail/ 6.25 miles (5k warmup, 4x100m striders, Dyno Run, .5 mile cd) Lowes Creek

Dyno Run: 3 minutes on w/ 3 off, 2x1 on w/ 2 off, 4x30s on w/ 1 off. The 3 minutes was at tempo, the 1 minute at cross-country race pace, and the 30 seconds at 3k pace.

On paper this didn’t seem like a tough workout, but the heat and the rough terrain at Lowes Creek combined to make it a harder run. Lowes Creek is a country park with a bunch of singleback bike trails and also some wider cross-country ski trails. It's quite hilly and and not at all what you would call "smooth". The reason practice was at Lowes Creek is because that is where our first race of the season, an alumni run, will be held this Saturday. As a warmup for this workout, the entire team ran the course that we will be running on Saturday. This gave us an opportunity to see the course and help prevent people from getting lost during the race.

The trails at Lowes Creek are fairly narrow; with room for only 2-3 people across, so 30+ people all running together was a little interesting. Before we started, Marci told everyone to “make sure and be observant while you’re running. Don’t just look down at your feet the entire time.” Unfortunately, surrounded by people and running on difficult terrain that included ruts and uneven footing, I pretty much had to look at my feet the whole time to make sure that I didn’t run into anyone else or wrench an ankle. Fortunately I’m familiar with the Lowes Creek area, but I imagine that some of the freshmen were still a little lost about the race course after the run was done.

My legs were still fried today, even with the easy day yesterday. One of the problems of running in a big group is that it makes it difficult to settle into a rhythm; everyone is always trying to stay with the people ahead of them. I managed as best as I could, but the warmup was harder than I would have liked.

After touring the course, the team did skip drills and strides before starting our workout. A Dyno run is basically a structured fartlek, and its difficulty level is largely determined by how fast the portions in between the pickups are run. It’s easy to do a pickup and then slow way down afterwards until you are recovered, but you get a better overall workout by trying to maintain a steady pace in between the up-tempo parts.

For the pickups I concentrated on maintaining good form (always a key for running fast) and keeping up a quick rhythm. Ellie and I were leading for our group, and I felt like we did a great job with pacing this workout. I ran each pickup hard, but at its proper pace, and we also kept up a decent pace in between the fast stuff. By the last 30 second repetition, I was breathing hard, and it felt good to finally finish.

At the end of this workout my legs “hit a wall” so to speak. They were rapidly approaching the lockdown zone. Keeping my form together helped matters somewhat, but it would be nice to feel a spark in my legs once a while. One thing I’ve really noticed coming back after so much time spent not running at all is that my legs are really what take the longest to adjust. I did a lot of lower body lifting while I was cross-training, but even that isn’t enough to mimic completely the strength that running takes. Building back that strength takes time.

Today was the first truly hot day we’ve had all week. The first couple of days were beautiful, with low humidity and temps in the 70s. Today it was mid 80s and hot. I suppose it’s good to stay acclimated to the heat, because it won’t be going away for a while.

By the end of this run my left achilles had really started to hurt. Uneven ground is a death blow for achilles problems. My achilles heel really is my achilles heel; I’ve dealt with it on and off for almost three years now. It’s just one of those things.

Day 4: Dog Days

This morning’s run was a guess-your-time run. Everybody told Schwammie the time they thought it would take them to run the approximately 1.75 mile course. Afterwards, everyone removed their watches, and Schwammie started individual runners out every 20 seconds. Because you’re running by yourself for the most part the temptation is to run faster than you normally would for an easy run. I took this into account with my prediction (14:30). Running by yourself is pretty boring, however, especially when you’re so close to people you know you could potentially be running with, so towards the end of the route Mary joined me and we told each other lame jokes the rest of the way. I ended up finishing in 14:34 (sweet predicting!), which was good for second place on the team.

I was tired on this run (I added on before and after the guess-your-time course), although I didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would. Hard workouts usually take a little over a day to catch up with me, so it’s not surprising for me to feel decent the day right after a workout and then crash the next day. This was my only run of the day, however, so hopefully the lighter load has me feeling a little better tomorrow.

My joke: So a police officer pulls over a guy who he suspects has been drinking. The police officer shines a light in the guy’s face and says, “Your eyes are red, have you been drinking?” The guy replies, “Your eyes are glazed, have you been eating doughnuts?”

Day 3: Canoes, Medics and Tetherball, Oh my!

Run: 3.75 miles/1.25 mile wu, 4k tempo, .5 mile cd (And 20 minutes all out canoing)

Holy man. That was a tough one. I have gained a new appreciation for athletes who compete in triathletes and other events that require multiple endurance sports. Camp Manitou hosted the 2008 UWEC Cross-Country Canoe Relay today, and the competition was fierce. The idea is simple: there are six people on a team and two of them canoe out to a spot along the shore while one team member runs to that same point. The runner switches with one of the canoers, and everyone returns to the start. Teams repeat this progression two more times, so that everyone runs once and canoes multiple times. There is strategy, to be sure, in the order team members go in the relay. The canoeing portion of the relay is slightly faster than the average female can run the course, but slightly slower than the average guy can run. But I digress.

To canoe hard core for close to 20 minutes (we just kept on going and going) and then try to run faster than a simple trot is HARD. I canoed the first leg for my team and then had to run back to the starting line. I got out of the canoe with my team in first place (Yeah, Kevin!) and then quickly learned first hand that, yes, arms are important to running. And it didn’t help that I was already breathing quite hard.

This workout was all about strength. The running course was extremely hilly, and the canoeing beforehand added even more difficulty to the run. It was a very good lesson in RORing. For the uninitiated, ROR stands for Recover On Run. If you’ve ever raced a course with a hill, you know what this feels like. You get to the top of the hill, are probably sucking gas, but a minute or two later you’re starting to feel (relatively) normal again. The idea behind RORing is when you get to the top of that hill, you immediately try to resume your normal pace, with the hope that eventually you will recover from the momentary stress on your system. It’s hard mentally to get going right away, rather than letting up for a bit while you recover, but doing this has made me a much better hill runner and racer.

I managed to maintain a fairly good rhythm while running the 4k course. It took me about five minutes after getting out the canoe to feel at all comfortable running; at the beginning I just set a quick pace and tried to hold it. I was rolling along pretty well when I hit the biggest hill in the course, a 400m long two stage monster that managed to fry my legs pretty good. After that I tried to get some momentum going again, but it was a losing battle. By the time I rounded the cone that marked the turnaround point for camp my legs were dead, and I was holding on the best I could. I managed to maintain a decent rhythm, but I simply didn’t have the strength to mount any sort of finishing surge.

I ran the 4k in 18:08, almost three minutes slower than the time I ran last year. Disappointing? Of course. Surprising? Not really. I have a long way to go yet this season, and I don’t care if I’m running fast now, I just want to be running fast at the end of it.

On a non-running note, spending the day at camp with teammates is awesome. Highlights included playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (the board game version) except everyone answered random dollar amount questions and you tried to make the most money. One of our assistant coaches nailed a $500,000 for me when I “phoned a friend.” Sweet! In between killer games of tetherball, a bunch of people played dodgeball. Most of the time we played with a medic, who can “heal” people who have been hit with a ball. This led to an interesting situation, when at the start of a game a member of the guys team had a situation that needed a real medic. He dislocated his finger, ended up having to go to the hospital, where it turned out that he had a double fracture. Dodgeball: full contact sport.

Ben Pierson: MEDIC! AAAAH! I need a medic! (After dislocating his finger playing medic dodgeball.)

Beth: Which of the following is not a breed of rabbit? A. English Pearl B. English Butterfly C. English Silver D. English Spotted

Beth: Molly, before a race I’m not going to tell you to put on your game face. I’m going to tell you to put on your tetherball face!

Day 2: Soreness

Run: 10 miles w/10 minute pickup at 45 minutes. (Upside Down Carson) Hurdles and Skips. Circuit in the afternoon.

This run felt okay. My legs didn’t have very much zip, but my breathing was fine the entire time. It was perfect weather, with blue skies and temps in the 60s to low 70s. Overall, a much nicer introduction to running for the freshman than last year’s run. It was 80 and humid then, and we had three ten-minute pickups to do during the long run. The pace started out fast and stayed fast. I was okay with it, but I was coming off an awesome summer, and the run pretty much killed everyone else. Anyways, about 70 minutes into this run my legs were reaching their limit. In a way, that’s encouraging, because it means that all I have to do is increase my leg strength and I’ll improve.

Team bonding! That is what the first week of practice is all about. And what better way to promote team bonding than to make everyone really, really sore. I am convinced that no matter how good of shape one is in at the beginning of cross-country, the first day of running will reintroduce you to muscle groups you never knew existed. It’s always a nice welcome for newcomers, but it levels out after the first couple of days.

I ran with Ellie, my twin sister, for the entire run. Ellie and I started out with a group of other runners but where I'm at right now with my training I can run uptempo or I can run long, but I can't do both. For longer runs I need to be able to run my pace and not have to worry about keeping up with a group.

Pacing is one of THE most crucial running skills to have. Anyone can go out there and try to look good and run faster than they should, but to have the guts and the wisdom to know and hold your proper pace is one of the keys to improving consistently. Right now I simply can’t go out and blast a run. I don’t have the base, my legs can’t handle it. I have to know my limits. But paradoxically, knowing and holding to those limits is what will allow me to shoot past them in the future. Running is for the most part a long, slow grind. Trying to sprint any one day can set you back more than it can help you.

So, I didn’t go the fastest. I didn’t go the longest. But what I did today is a foundation for what I will do tomorrow and the next day and the next. It’s a process that you have to buy into and build and build and build.

Day 1: Bureaucracy

During the video everyone was of course hunting out all the places on the paperwork that required writing and filling them out, all to the soothing banter of the cohosts on the video (with such witty commentary as, “That is a good question, Jay.” And “It may surprise you, Lisa, but I was never recruited.”) An hour later, we were blindly signing anything they put within reach of our pens, and I’m surprised the Athletic Department didn’t try to slip in a statement to the effect of: I will give all my future earnings to the UWEC Athletic Program. I probably would have signed it.

Reintroduction

Destruction of McPhee

Swim: 60 minutes (5 steady, 6x30-45-60-75-90 hard w/ 30 sec easy in between and 90 sec steady in between sets, 5 steady)

I’ve been wanting to get this workout in for a while, and finally made it happen. I felt good. My legs were a little sore after the second set, but I kept on going and they felt okay by the end. I feel like I’m in decent shape; hopefully I get the opportunity to prove that on the track sometime in the next couple of weeks.

After the long hiatus it always feels good to run. I felt comfortable the entire time I was on the treadmill. I’m tempted to just straight up run next time, with no walking breaks. It feels like I could. I’m not sure it would be the wisest course of action, however. *Take it slow, Beth, take it slow*

Elliptical: 70 minutes, McPhee, 9 for the hard stuff (10 wu, 6x5@180+ w/ 1 minute easy in between, 25 cd)

McPhee is being demolished. There is construction EVERYWHERE. As a result, the only way to get to the weightroom is through a single door in the back of the building. But the only way to get to this door from the indoor track is to either walk all the way around the building, or traverse snow and ice covered ground along the back of McPhee. Not good. And the construction is going to be for the rest of the year.

Along with this, there are no towels in the weightroom anymore because the McPhee laundry is shut down because of construction. AND the drinking fountains in the weightroom are shut off because of construction. I was very, very thankful I filled up my water bottle before making the hike over there, because if I had had to do this workout without water it would have been a painful experience. As it was I was dehydrated and soaked with sweat by the end, but I had enough water to make it though.

My legs are going to be tired tonight. To get my heart rate up to a higher-end threshold level I set the resistance at a level that’s hard on the legs. My quads got a very good workout. I was excited about the workout, though, because last time I did this I only made it through five reps. My goal is to be up to 10 reps by the time I’m ready to kiss the elliptical good bye.

The weightroom was really crowded today. Or maybe it just felt that way because we were closed off from the rest of the building. No, there actually were a lot of people in there; almost every machine was being used. After a little lifting, I snuck through the construction area so I wouldn’t have to go outside again. I figured all construction workers would be off by 5:00, plus I was an assistant custodian for two years, so I belonged.

Days of our Lives

Elliptical: 90 minutes YMCA, 5 resistance for the workout, 4 for easy (10 warm up, 65@190rpm, 15 cool down)

This workout, while a good one, didn’t feel all that difficult while I was doing it. That being said, when I got off the elliptical my legs were a little shaky, and by the time I finished doing core and weights and was walking down the stairs from the weightroom, well, they were tiiiiired. By the end of the day, if I sat down for any extended period of time, getting up again was a challenge.

But that’s good. It means I’m getting work in that is making me stronger. The thing about the elliptical is that in order to increase the difficulty you have to increase the resistance. And increasing the resistance increases the damage to your muscles. Ah well.

There was a soap opera on the tv closest to me, so I got sucked into “Days of our Lives”. The other tv competition was baseball (middle) and CNN (far), so pickings were slim. In the episode, “Bo” was in really poor health for some reason I never figured out, but he was comatose for the entire episode. Everyone still kept on talking to him like he was there, so it took me a while to figure this out. Anyways, his daughter was giving up part of her pancreas to help him get better, a “potentially life threatening” procedure. This was only brought up, oh, five billion times during the episode. First the doctor, then her step mom (I think, I wasn’t sure of the relation), then her boyfriend tried to talk her out of it. She still went through with it, though. I was placing bets on who would survive and who wouldn’t, but it turns out everyone lives. The funny part in this whole saga was when I got home and was talking to my Mom and found out that she knew all the back stories and was falling this plot line with interest.

I’ve discovered the YMCA’s weightroom is, to put it bluntly, sucky. It doesn’t have a 4-way hip flexor machine, which comprises about half of the lifts that I do. I'm going to have to look up some replacements those exercises, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. I’ll be glad when the McPhee weightroom is open again. And the Y's leg curl machine requires you to grip on with your hands for dear life lest you fall off. It’s not my favorite place to be, but I don’t want to lose the strength gains I’ve made, so I’m making do.

The workout was a good one. That’s the longest I’ve gone on the elliptical, and also the longest that I’ve gone at my “long threshold” pace.

I was kicked out of the Y's pool for the first time ever by a self-righteous swimmer who informed me “there are people waiting to lap swim, so if you’re not going to swim you should get out”. Of course what he really meant was “I don’t like sharing a lane and want my want my own so leave.” Most of the swimmers are either working really hard themselves or are very nice, accommodating people, but sometimes you get bad apples. I didn’t bother to argue with the guy because technically it was lap swim and (the main reason) I had gotten out of the workout what I wanted to (quick turnover). It still made me mad. The hardest part about cross-training is it’s so doggone frustrating. Running is as simple as getting out the door. Cross-training is figuring out schedules and planning around open hours and all that adds up to INCONVENIENCE. Aargh. Sometimes I just want to give it all up, but somehow I find the second (and third and fourth and twenty-ninth) boost to keep on going.

I was still mad after I had changed, so I went and shot some free throws in the gym. It’s a very relaxing activity that requires almost no thinking . I hit 43 out of 50 and made my last 20. Hee, hee. I played basketball all throughout high school. I wasn't the greatest player, but when I was on I could definitely hit my free throws. My all-time record was 97 out of 100. That was a good day.

This felt good. I got up to 8.4 mph on the treadmill (although thinking back now I might have forgotten to set the incline, but still) for the last eight minute segment and my breathing never got hard. I checked my heart rate a little after I finished and it was around 130. Not bad. My right shoulder really was hurting during the last part of the run, but I was able to relax it out somewhat. That’s going to be my biggest challenge coming back. I’m confident I have a decent aerobic base to build off, but I need my body to hold up and make it a pleasant transition.

Still, my stride was smooth and my rhythm felt good. I’m getting the hang of this running thing already.

Return to Running

I'm posting the plan that I'm using as a guide in my return to running. I like it because I know someone who has used it successfully to come back, and it takes things gradually while still getting you fully back to running in seven weeks. Of course, I'm making my own modifications. I'm condensing it down to a six week program and, depending on how everything goes will probably increase the minutes that I'm running each day. It's a good framework though.

The day after the first time I ran I was really sore, especially around the area in my quad where the stress fracture was. This had me leery, understandably, but because it was just soreness and not actual pain I decided to hold off on full blown worrying until I ran again. The second time I ran (last Friday) I felt normal and had almost no soreness the next day. Actually, right now I feel like I could go an run for an hour and be fine, so it's a little hard to hold back, but knowing that I'll get there soon enough helps.

How should you start back when your doctor (finally) gives you the green light to begin running after a major injury?

The answer to that question depends on the site and severity of the injury, how long you were off running, and your overall health status. On average, it takes 90 days for a stress fracture to heal completely. So, while you may be able to resume running 6 to 8 weeks after the initial diagnosis, it is critical to start back slowly and increase your mileage gradually to allow the final healing to take place. Let’s investigate how to get back into training after an injury.

How far, how fast, and how often?

Before you can run you must be able to walk briskly without pain. During walking, your body absorbs forces of about 2 times your bodyweight. This is a stepping stone for determining when the injured bone will be able to handle the greater impact forces of running. When you can walk briskly for an hour without pain, you should be able to try a small dose of running. The impact forces of running, however, are over twice as great as for walking, so the only way to know whether your body is ready to handle running is to run.

During the first few runs you will just be getting your body used to the running motion again. You may feel as though you have never run before. Rest assured, this feeling will go away after a few runs. If you have pain in the area that was injured then you have not healed sufficiently to run. You may, however, experience some normal soft tissue discomfort as your muscles get used to running again. If running is painful, stop right away and consult your doctor. Trying to “run through” the pain could severely set back your recovery.

Your re-introduction to running will start out by alternating walking and running. Walking will warm up your muscles and walking breaks will give you time to evaluate how you feel. There is a danger during the first few weeks back of releasing your pent-up physical and emotional energy and overdoing it. Alternating walking and running will help keep your demons in check. The running segments will gradually become longer and the walking breaks shorter until you are back to continuous running.

The amount of time required to return to full training generally ranges from 6 weeks to 4 months, but in extreme cases can require as much as a year. The main training variables that you can adjust are the distance, frequency (number of runs per week), and intensity of your runs. After a stress fracture, you need to increase the workload slowly and allow enough rest for the bone to adapt. The key is to continue with alternative activities such as water running and cycling while re-introducing running. It will take several weeks before you are running far enough or hard enough to actually improve your cardiovascular fitness. Your running for the first few weeks, therefore, is not really training. Your hard sessions will have to remain in the pool or on the bike for a while.

It is important not to increase the distance, frequency, and intensity of your running all at the same time. In any given week, you can increase one or two, but not all three of these training variables. For the first several weeks, it is best to increase the distance and frequency of your runs, but to keep the intensity moderate. After a month or two of this base work, you can gradually add higher intensity workouts such as tempo runs and long intervals to your program.

Initially, you should run every 3rd day or every other day. This will give your bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles time to adapt to the stresses of running. You can then progress to two days running and one day off, then three days running and one day off, etc. During this time it is important to avoid the factors that caused the injury in the first place, such as worn out shoes, running on concrete, too much downhill running, or increasing your mileage too quickly.

A Sample Program

Each runner’s recovery from injury is unique. This sample program is based on several runners’ stress fractures of the tibia and metatarsals. Time off from running for these runners varied from 4 to 8 weeks. This seven-week schedule is devoted to regaining fitness while avoiding re-injury. Your own situation may differ substantially, so your training may need to progress at a different rate. In planning your return to full training follow the principles discussed and listen to your body’s feedback.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Walk 10 min, Run 5 min, Walk 5 min, Run 5 min	Run in water or other training	Run in water or other training	Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min	Run in water or other training	Run in water or other training	Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min
2	Run in water or other training	Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min	Run in water or other training	Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min	Run in water or other training	Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min	Run in water or other training
3	Run 15 min, Walk 2 min, Run 15 min	Run in water or other training	Run 20 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run in water or other training	Run 30 min
4	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run 30 min	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training
5	Run 30 min	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training	Run 30 min plus 6 x 100 meter stridouts	Run 30 min	Run 40 min	Run in water or other training
6	Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 15 min @ 15 km race pace)	Run 30 min	Run 45 min	Run in water or other training	Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts	Run 30 min	Run 50 min
7	Run in water or other training	Run 35 min	Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 20 min @ 15 km race pace)	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training	Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts	Run 55 min

Running Again!

Elliptical: 70 minutes@YMCA (5 resistance for all but wu and cd; 10wup; 50@180-190 at the end; 10 cd)

This was a very good workout. It wasn’t incredibly hard, but I got my heart rate up and kept it up for quite a while, and my legs got in some good strengthening. Also my neck, because the only TV with any remotely interesting on was at the far right, and the elliptical that I like is on the far left.

It’s interesting to be in the exercise room for so long, and have people come and go and come and go, while you’re still there plugging away. It gives me a superiority complex.

“Mr. Friendly YMCA Man” came in while I was there and shook the hand of everyone in the room while asking, “How ya doing?” He also visits the pool on occasion and never fails to brighten up my day. Everyone should do that when they enter a room.

Pool: 30 minutes (5 steady, 4x30-45-60-75-90 hard w/ 30 sec easy in between reps and 90 sec in between sets)

My muscles were stiff from ellipticalling right before this, but once I warmed up a little I was good to go. I really like this workout because it’s more aerobically stimulating than plain 30/30’s, but is easy enough—physically and mentally—that I can get after it and get the work done. Reading that last sentence made me laugh a little, because I remember when I first started pool running at the beginning of this long adventure. I didn’t really do any workouts, I just went steady for 5-10 minutes at a time, with 1 minute breaks. As a challenge, I would sometimes add on TWO 30/30’s to the end of some of the segments. Ha, ha. I have come so very, very far.

Yes! This has been a long time in coming. Running again after 70 days off was…well, it was like going back to visit an old house you had moved away from. Everything is so familiar, and yet something about feels really strange. My body knew about this motion called running, but it didn’t quite remember what it felt like. After two months of nothing but low impact training, my body felt really heavy, like somebody turned up the gravity. I adjusted somewhat the more I ran, but before I could get completely used to the sensation I would be onto my walking break.

I’m using a “7 weeks back to running” plan that my sister used after her stress fracture. It gradually builds up the number of days you run in a week and the duration of those runs. Everyone always says to take it nice and slow—easier said than done. I figure if I have a plan to follow it will help restrain my eagerness to get back to full time training. In the meantime I’m still going to be spending a lot of time in the pool and on the elliptical. There’s no rest for the wicked…and the righteous don’t need none.

Still, it felt GREAT to run. There were times during this stretch off that I would be driving down a road that we ran on a lot and get this urge to get out there and jog a couple of steps just to have that feeling. The rhythm, the feel; I really missed it.

If You're Watching Television, Change the Channel

IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE: Our Hero^tm thinks deep thoughts, has trouble walking down stairs, nearly faints, fights the slacking gene, takes an easy day (yes, you heard that right), and has her personal bubble invaded.

Run: 2 hours, 20 minutes (5 steady, 2 hours, 10 minutes of 2 steady, 1 hard repeated, 5 steady)

This long run passed by surprisingly quickly. I had a mental list of things I could think about and did my best to think very, very hard about them and not about the clock. These deep thoughts included: “Get back to running” plan (still in the works), who would have to be on UWEC’s DMR for it to qualify for Nationals, upcoming state basketball tournament, homework I needed to do today, summer job plans, and past running memories. Not a long list, but I long ago found that my thinking “speed” is usually much slower than if I were talking to someone about the same topic because I tend to drift off, so to speak, lose my train of thought, then come back again, with the end result being that it takes me a while to get through even something as simple as a list of things to do. Being able to get lost in a daydream is an essential skill for any long endurance athlete. It gets lonely out there…

This was a quick workout in between classes. I basically wanted to stimulate striders and try to do something that would work on a little “speed” (if I still have any). I was tired from my long run yesterday. The long run never feels incredibly hard while I’m doing it, but man can I feel it the next day (especially on the McPhee stairs). Out of all the workouts I do, the long run hurts the most.

Elliptical: 60 minutes (8 resistance on the easy stuff, 9 on the hard, 7 elevation) (10@180, 8x4@180-190, 1 easy, 10@170)

Well, I almost fainted at the end of this. I started on my cooldown and really didn’t feel too good, so I got off the elliptical and went to find a weight machine that I could sit down on. I was heading for the hip flexor station (it has a nice comfy seat) when everything started to seem like it was very far away and the corners of my vision turned black. Urgh. I made it to the seat before I keeled over, and after sitting there for a while and drinking some water I started to feel better.

So yeah, this was a good workout. I was determined to do eight, although in retrospect it might have been a good idea to stop at seven. Regardless, with my elliptical workouts I try to simulate a threshold, so today I got in 32 minutes of threshold work. My goal is to make it up to 60 minutes by the middle of April. It’s important to have goals.

Other than almost fainting, nothing too interesting happened during this, except I was excited that the elliptical I like was open and I didn’t have to wait around for “unworthy” people to get off it.

Still part of cooldown because I didn’t want to be on the elliptical any more.

Run: 75 minutes (5 steady; 10x1:30,2:30 w/ 30 seconds in between everything; 4 medium; 4x30/30; 3 medium, 3x30/30; 2 medium; 2x30/30; 3 steady)

Bike: 45 minutes (4.0 resistance on the left bike) (5@100; 5.5x2x2@110, 1@120 w/ 1@100 in between sets; 5@100)

This was a decent day considering how tired I was. I managed to stave off the slacking genes and put in some good work.

Run: 50 minutes (5 steady; 5x30-45-60-75-90 w/ 30 sec in between reps and 90 sec in between sets; 5 steady)

Elliptical: 50 minutes (YMCA, 4 resistance for the easy stuff, 5 for the hard; 10 warmup; 35@180-190; 5 cooldown)

Two good workouts here. I’ve been reevaluating my workout plans and have decided that with adding in ellipticalling I’m finding it hard to keep up the minutes. I don’t know. I’ll be able to plan better once I know whether I can run or not.

The pool workout actually really got my heart rate up. I don’t know if that’s because I’m so out of shape or if it’s just a good workout. Either way, during it I didn’t feel drop dead tired but rather like I was simply working hard. I actually swallowed some gulps of water a couple of times when I forget to keep my mouth closed and a wave surprised me. There were some gungho kids going off the diving board. One of them actually asked me what I was doing; that’s the first time that’s happened at the Y. I think that speaks to the prevalence of the “personal bubble” in American society. Little kids are the only ones who haven’t had that idea bred into them yet. He was pretty cute, though. He also asked me, “Are you getting tired yet?” Little kids can be really curious.

While ellipticalling I was able to watch a Big 10 game on the “good” television at the YMCA, which was great. It made the time pass a lot faster than watching soap operas. I like the Y’s elliptical because I can hit what feels like a “long threshold” pace: one I could keep at for an hour or more, but that keeps my heart rate at around 180. Good stuff.

Hard Memories

It was Indoor Conference this weekend. This was both exciting and hard at the same time. Exciting because our team did really well and had a lot of great performances. My distance teammates dominated, scoring 50 out of a possible 156 points in the four distance events (mile, 3k, 5k, DMR). The 3k especialling was an impressive showing, with people coming in 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, and 6^th. And this is in the WIAC Conference, not exactly a gimme type event.

On top of that, our team as a whole placed 2^nd behind LaCrosse, which was (I was amazed when I found this out) the first time ANYONE besides LaCrosse or Oshkosh has finished in the top two since 1984. 1984! UW-Milwaukee and Marquette were both still in the WIAC Conference in 1984. That’s crazy. It’s just a tribute to some big-time performances and all the hard work that everyone on this team has put in.

So, exciting stuff. But at the same time really, really hard because I wasn’t a part of it. I remember Indoor Conference last year. It was at UW-Whitewater and I doubled the 5k/3k. The 5k I placed 3^rd, which was good, but I was with the leaders until about 5 laps left and then I let them get away in the process of running a time that was slower than I wanted. I was feeling a little low, and nervous about the 3k (I remember worrying about whether I would even place in the top 8 for the event, because pretty much everyone was doing it) and by the time it finally rolled around in the evening on Saturday I was close to either bouncing off the walls or experiencing a mental shutdown.

The race started and I was in a large pack up front; we all went through the 1600 in around 5:26 and that was when Kristin Painter (from LaCrosse—she had won the mile that day) made her move, separating from the head of the pack. At that point I knew I had a decision: I could stay tucked in behind the pack…or I could go. Remembering the 5k from the previous day I knew that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try this time, so I passed around the outside of the pack and went after Painter.

The 3k was the second to last event, so there were a bunch of people lined up around the outside of the track cheering people on. It’s funny, but the clearest image I have in my head is of Chip Schneider, our head coach, going crazy each time I went around the track and was still with Painter. The rest of the race is pretty much a blur, but I remember Painter pulling away a little at the end to win, and me crossing the finish line seeing the clock read, “10:00, 10:01, 10:02…” My first thought finishing was, “Is Coach Falk going to be mad that I let someone get away from again?” (Hey, I had just finished a hard race. I wasn’t thinking too clearly.) Then Coach Falk came over and was all excited and the time I had just run started to sink in and that, that’s when things started to change.

It was the first time I felt like I had reached “the next level”, the one where I could be competitive, not just with myself, but on the national level. It was also crazy fun. Anytime I think back on that memory I always smile.

I love competing. I love racing against the best, testing yourself against others with the goal of coming out on top. And it’s really hard not to be doing that right now.

Unidentified Flying Objects

Run: 70 minutes (5 steady; 6x3 very hard w/ 1 steady; 10 medium; 3x3 very hard w/ 1 steady; 10 medium; 5x30/30; 5 steady)

One thing you can say about cross-training is that it’s never dull. Oh wait. Actually, it is usually very, very dull. But on the occasion…

Today, for instance. I was running in the pool. I always run near the top left corner of the pool, right by the side in case I get a leg cramp or something. There's also a jet of water coming from the front of the pool with just enough pressure by the time it gets to me to make sure I stay in one place when I'm facing it. (This may not make any sense, but if you want to come to the Eau Claire YMCA I'll give you the tour.) So there I was, running in place, the only one in the pool actually; just minding my own business when a guy comes out of a side door and THROWS A BABY IN THE POOL! It hit with a huge splash that sent up a spray that drenched me. The guy looked like he hadn't realized there was an actual person in the water and said, "Oh. Sorry." I wasn't sorry. This was the most excitement I had seen in ages!

Behind me there was another splash as the lifeguard dove into the water. I surreptitiously half-turned so that I could see all the action. She proceeded to rescue the sinking baby which included (but was not limited to) diving underwater to grab it, getting it in a safety hold, bringing it to "land", stabilizing it on land, running (and almost slipping--that's why you're not supposed to run in the pool area) to get the spineboard (those things they strap people with potential head injuries into), ripping off the head immobilizer on the spineboard, putting the “baby” on the spineboard, telling someone to go call 911, then starting CPR. And I had a front row seat. It was great.

So apparently the YMCA periodically does "random lifeguard tests" to make sure these very important people are paying attention. This is a good thing, because with some of the lifeguards I've felt like I could slip beneath the waves with nary a look from them in my direction. Not that I've ever needed rescuing, but if I did...

Oh yes, the workout. This was a very, very solid workout. Three minutes is short enough to be going extremely fast the entire time, but long enough that it can seem like forever. It’s amazing how long a minute can be. I would look at the clock, look away, force myself not to look back for what seemed like forever until my eyes were irresistibly drawn to the big numbers on the wall—and see that 5 seconds had gone by. When I'm actually running, I don't try to distract myself so much as I try to concentrate on how I'm feeling, concentrate on my form and going fast, and staying mentally positive and tough. This strategy doesn't work very well in the pool, so lately I've taken to singing random songs in my head (my high school school song takes almost exactly a minute to "mentally" sing) or visualizing old races. Or, if I'm lucky, watching flying babies...

Elliptical: 40 minutes (random stuff to get my heart rate up but not be too hard)

Bad Joke

This is how I am. Others are probably different. But knowing what my limits are and how to work around those limits has helped me put together some solid weeks of training. Even if it is different from running.

Three Good Days

Run: 70 minutes (5 steady; 2 sets of 3x2:30 hard, 30 sec. easy, 1 steady/5 medium hard/4x30,30’s/5 medium hard; 2x2:30 hard; 3 steady)

I think my heart rate was higher at the beginning of this workout than it ended up being at the end. Once I got into the swing of things I was able to relax while still driving hard. I’m worried that by the end of this marathon cross-training cycle I won’t be able to go hard enough every day to get my heart rate up in the pool because I’ll have adapted so well that my leg muscles will get tired before my heart rate gets high. We shall see…

Elliptical: 50 minutes (8 resistance at the beginning and end and for recoveries, otherwise 9 resistance for the “workout” parts) (10@170-180; 5x2:30,1:30@180-190 w/ 30 sec@160+ in between reps and 1@160+ in between sets; 2x1:30@180-190 w/ 30 easy; 5@170)

This was a good workout. I’ve been wimping off going at 9 resistance lately because my legs are always tired. I decided to mimic a 2:30/1:30 workout that I do in the pool because it provided enough breaks in between the hard stuff that I was able to get back into the swing of the higher resistance. Ellipticalling hard is all about rhythm.

This is the way a long run is supposed to go. I mentioned last week that I never really felt tired the last time I spent two hours in the pool. The key, I found out, is to keep a slightly up-tempo pace going at all times; I pushed harder on the 1 minute hard segments, but I also tried to keep a quick rhythm going on the steady segments. It worked. My heart rate was up to 180 by the end, my benchmark for a good session in the pool.

Run: 50 minutes (5 steady; 10x30/30; 5 medium hard; 10x30/30; 5 medium hard; 5x30/30; 5 medium hard; 3x30/30; 5 steady)

This turned into a very good workout. My legs were very tired/sore from the long run yesterday, so I really had to work to go hard. My heart rate didn’t get insanely high, but I felt like I was working hard and if anything else my legs got a good tune-up with all the 30/30’s.

I was thinking about what it would be like if I did a workout like this on dry land. It’s basically equivalent to 28x150m striders and around 2 miles of tempo running. Not bad, that. Cross-training is so unique because you can do workouts that would kill you if you tried to do them on your own two feet running around.

Elliptical: 70 minutes (9 resistance for the hard stuff, 8 resistance for the easy stuff) (10 warmup; 6x2:30@180, 30sec easy, 2:30@180, 90sec easy; 20 cooldown)

I feel like I’m getting my legs under me on the elliptical, so to speak. I’m working my way up to doing 5 minute “threshold” reps w/ 1 minute easy in between. Today was a good step in the right direction. The hard thing about ellipticalling is that it’s all about momentum. I get on and my legs are tired and already it’s feeling hard and it seems like there’s no way I’ll be able to do the workout I’ve planned for the day. If I just close my eyes and plunge in, though, more times than not I’ll make it through.

I was tired after finishing this. Really tired. I’m already dreading tomorrow, but if I can make it through my two hours than I’ll have put in four high-quality days in a row and be ready for a well-deserved day off.

Motivation

Motivation plays a big role in all sports, and running is no exception. What are the reasons to put in the miles, do the workouts, restrain the social life, hit the weightroom, and do all the little extras? Different people have different motivations. I started running just to try to meet some people before beginning high school. Seven years later, I have yet to stop. My reasons have evolved in that time. At the heart has always been the desire to get better. To beat my times, to see how far I can actually go. In the process my goals have been pushed further and farther out; my level of competitiveness elevated.

How do I know I’m getting better? How do I measure my motivation? Ultimately, it’s the races, the performances. To a lesser extent, it’s the times I run in workouts, in practice.

But suddenly I don’t have that anymore. I don’t have the motivation of races or workouts. I don’t have the motivation of competition, other than the imaginary scenarios I play out in my mind. And the motivation to get better, well, it’s still lurking around there. But I can’t measure it by times (I don’t go anywhere) or by distance (still don’t go anywhere) or by anything other than my subjective internal critic.

That is so hard. I feel like I’m perpetually in the dark, stumbling my way around, trying to find the door. Like I’ve made a huge gamble and I have no clue whether it will pay off. How long will the journey back to running be? How much fitness have I retained? None? Some? Lots? I don’t know. And not knowing means that instead of having something concrete and solid for my motivation, instead of times and places and kick-ass workouts all I have is faith. My motivation is based on nothing more, nothing less than my hopes and dreams; the visions I have of the future.

And so I struggle along with that vision, counting down the days. But with the future comes a reckoning. A fear that I’ll be found wanting. I’ve had to push these fears aside and focus on what I control, which is—namely—me. I’ve chosen to believe that what I am doing will ultimately make me better. It was hard to get to that point; I spent a couple of weeks while doctors were diagnosing the stress fracture fighting against, “If I can’t run I don’t want to do anything.” But the motivation to get better is still my motivation; it’s just a little harder to see these days.

Blogs : Beth Lutz

Day 9/Day 10: Injuries, unlike science, Suck*