Set Higher Standards by YogiRavi

Image via Wikipedia

This past weekend was not a good one for my knee. After encountering a strange injury a few weeks ago, I took it really easy for two weeks. I swam and didn’t run or ride my bike. Elliptical machine, as boring as it is, didn’t cause pain so I hit that quite a bit.

Last week I felt great, totally pain-free, so started riding my road bike. Did an hour on Monday and then again on Tuesday. Zero pain.

I pedaled hard up a few hills and could not feel any pain no matter how hard I tried.

Went for a couple runs (both less than 30 minutes), and only felt a little residual tightness in my knee towards the final minutes of the runs. Nothing major and it went away quickly.

Saturday, I felt 100% so decided to go for a spin on my time trial bike, the rocketship. It was a 50 mile ride, about 3 hours long at an easy pace but up and down some good hills.

After an hour I felt a little discomfort and after 90 minutes it was clear something was not right. I made it to the end of the ride, futzing around with my bike a couple of times to see if the position change would help. Nothing did.

At the end of my ride, I headed into VO2 Multisport for a bike fit. When I got home I also changed out my pedals, as I think my new Speedplay Zero pedals are the cause of this whole knee issue. Speedplay pedals are known for being GOOD for people with knee problems, but I’ve since learned that in many cases they cause knee issues in some people.

I rode Shimano Dura-Ace pedals for years, and those pedals are what I have on my rode bike (which I rode earlier in the week pain-free) but this year I decided to switch. Even after trying to narrow in the float on my Speedplay’s (which I thought would solve the problem prior to my 50 mile ride on Saturday), I think they are just causing too much lower-leg movement which aggravates my knee. A few epic long rides on those pedals did some damage that is healing very slowly.

So the day after my 50 mile ride my knee was in awful shape. It was painful to walk and going down stairs was impossible. Now, a couple of days later, I can walk fine, but there is a lot of soreness still.

Visiting my doctor today, he still doesn’t think XRAY/MRI is needed. The prognosis is that I have bruised some fatty tissue in the knee, and I need to give it another three weeks to heal completely. Then I can, assuming I have fixed the root-cause problem of bike fit and pedals, slowly build back into my running and riding.

So there you have it, the setbacks continue. On the positive side, I’ve been swimming more and after coming out of this whole process and healing I’ll know a heck of a lot more about how to build a strong and injury proof human endurance machine!

I’m dropping out of Ironman Coeur D Alene.

It’s a really tough thing to say and harder to write out. Many months of training are already in the bank. However, after attempting to ride and run over the past few days, my knee pain has returned in full force.

Walking is painful, biking is uncomfortable and running is impossible right now.

I am going to work with my coach to sort out the right racing plan for later in the summer and fall. For now, my number one priority is to get healthy and build strength and appropriate flexibility to keep my body that way.

The right thing to do is to allow 4-6wks for my knee to heal. I’ll be swimming up a storm in the meantime.

Below is a pic from the ferry as I type this post on the way to Whidbey Island. 

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone

The peas knees!

The best laid plans can and often do go astray, but that doesn’t mean goals need to be thrown out the window.

I’ve been dealing with a few aches and pains. Plantar Fascia issues that have kept my running mileage terribly low (almost non-existent) since Copper Canyon, and recently a knee strain that has kept me off the bike for the better part of a week. It hurts pretty bad to walk down stairs, but walking flat ground or up stairs is almost pain free (just a little uncomfortable).

With Ironman under 8 weeks out, this is not the time to be backing off training, but a broken body doesn’t race well either. As a compromise, I’ve been swimming up a storm and even hit the elliptical machine (I avoid normally avoid “fitness equipment” like the plague) since it is one thing I can do pretty much pain-free.

I think the trick to achieving any kind of goal is being willing to adapt along the way to what life throws at you. That’s the spirit of what I’m doing right now. Keeping my overall fitness up any way I can, and getting my body back down to a healthier racing weight (about 8 pounds under where I am right now).

We learn in learn in high school physics that it is easier to maintain momentum than it is to  re-capture it once lost.

In life, the longer you follow a new routine (e.g. dietary, waking up early, exercising more, etc.) the better chance it has at sticking (40 days is a magic number).

Likewise, in business, besting a competitor requires not just delivering a competitive product with solid features, but doing so consistently and over long enough time to re-gain momentum in your favor. Markets and customers don’t shift on a dime.

Image via Wikipedia

Perhaps one day I’ll have the speed and luck to qualify and compete in the Boston Marathon. Today there were epic performances. A new world-best time and American-best time. It’s only a matter of time before we see a sub 2-hour marathon.

The pace is crazy fast. The men are running sub 4:45 miles continuously for 26.2 miles! Also, watch at how light and smooth their form is. Landing on their fore and mid-foot and the top of their heads are barely moving up and down (no wasted energy). Watch the men’s winner Geoffrey Mutai from Kenya, he is even more light and smooth than the others.

Here is a highlight clip of the race:

Read Part I and Part II first.

The second principle I mentioned in my first post is that aerobic fitness is rarely the limiter of speed. Again, I’m not a scientist but just stating what I learn through my own experience. If you happen to know of scientific evidence for anything I’m talking about (refuting or confirming) make note in the comments. Aerobic fitness does matter, it is just isn’t the be all end all.

In the past few months I’ve run the Portland Marathon (flat and on paved roads) and two 50K ultra-marathons (hilly and mostly off road). In these three outings, despite running them after just a few months of training after a long hiatus from running, I was never out of breath. There were a few times during the 50K’s when I was breathing super hard during steep climbs, but those were just a few isolated incidents. The majority of the time my lungs were not the limiter in any way. I was breathing fine, but still my perceived exertion was very high.

In the case of my Portland Marathon experience, after about 16 miles my legs just stopped working normally. I wasn’t aerobically fatigued in any way, but it felt like I just finished a billion reps of squats and my leg muscles just wouldn’t fire. During my 50K’s, I had a similar experience. My muscles were just exhausted, as if I finished a really demanding weight workout, but my cardiovascular system and lungs seemed fine. During The North Face 50K, there were plenty of long climbs on single-track trails. They took a lot of power to muscle up.

I wish I had worn a heart rate monitor during my races to prove this point. I bet my heart rate was right around 140 or so. Not super high. What also happened later in the races was that my form went to hell. I would slouch over and everything would just sag. My core and low back would tire. This would affect my stride and breathing.

My take away from these events is that muscular strength (across the whole body, not just legs) plays a massive part in endurance events. When I say strength I really mean power/weight ratio. Strength with a fairly lean overall mass. Strong core and strong back to support proper form over long distances. Strong posterior chain (calves, hamstrings, glutes, low-back) to support overall running form and power. Once a reasonable aerobic base is developed, it makes intuitive sense that working the other energetic and power-building pathways in the body is a smart thing to do.

Read Part I Here.

I’m going to expand on the first principle I stated in Part I, that I think the outcome for endurance events are more driven by factors beyond raw fitness than of fitness itself. Nutrition, mental focus, pacing, gear and other factors are just as (if not more important) than how high your VO2 max or lactate threshold is.

Let me explain. In my last 50K race, The North Face Endurance Challenge in Marin Headlands, I was never once out of breath on the course. However, I clearly suffered greatly and my result did not reflect my fitness. How could this be? Simple. I did the following things:

• I went out way too fast, running the first 8-10 miles about 10-15% faster than I should have. It didn’t feel that way during the run, but in hindsight this was the case.
• I bonked hardcore after 16 miles. I hit mile 16 having consumed a couple gels and a few pieces of banana and boiled potato. This might seem enough calories, but given the course severity it took almost 3 hours to get this far and that was way too few calories. Also, given I was running faster than normal my caloric burn rate was far higher than normal training.
• I had terrible shoes for this course. I wore Mizuno Waverider running shoes. They are lightweight training shoes, meant for smooth pavement. I also wore them for the Ron Herzog 50K and realized they weren’t great on trails, but I didn’t remedy the problem. I was slipping and sliding all over, given how wet and muddy the North Face course was. Footing was a real issue during the race.  I would slow down my pace at times and it just took way too much mental energy to focus on where my feet were going.
• I ran carrying a single water bottle. Big mistake, as I slowed down in the second half of the race, I would run out of water/calories between aid stations and just suffer. Rookie mistake. I should have carried two bottles or used a hipflask system. Had I not bonked I would have been fine with 1 bottle, but the slower pace after mile 16 meant I was running/walking slow and needed more fuel between aid stations.
• I wore a great Gore-Tex running jacked which kept my upper body warm, but my legs were freezing cold given the rain and the fact that I slowed so much. Studies show that cold muscled perform worse – far worse – than warm muscles. My legs were frozen for most of the race. This was of course exacerbated by my bonking and slower pace after mile 16.

Had I addressed these things by wearing appropriate clothing, using proper trail shoes, carrying more fuel and starting out more slowly (and using walk breaks early on); the result surely would have been very different! Live and learn! Addressing the non-fitness related variables has a big impact on race day. The longer you plan to go, my opinion is the more these other things count. Especially, bad footwear can easily take someone out of commission in an ultra-marathon (a bad blister or foot issue can bring down the toughest runner!). Same goes with an incorrect fueling strategy.

Will continue this multi-part post later.

###

Going for a 90 minute run on some flat dirt trails today. I trail tested my new Inov-8 Roclite 295′s yesterday. They are too small…back to the store they go!

I’ve never ran 50 miles in one go before, but will at the Copper Canyon Ultra a little over a month from now. The approach I’ve taken to building up to this race is very unconventional. Most running programs are linear in nature. With base miles building and long runs (bi-weekly) building up to a considerable sum every week, then a multi-week taper.

There are clear rules around not increasing long runs more than 10% each time, and in building up to a steady weekly mileage base (that can push 50-60+ miles per week for an ultra runner – with elite runners getting well over 100mpw).

I’m following a different approach because I have other things I chose to do with my time besides run, and I also want to avoid injury. The principles I’m following in my training include the following ideas that I’ve made up based on my own past experience doing marathons, Ironmans and a couple 50Ks:

• Outcomes for endurance events are more due to mental, nutrition and pacing factors than they are of raw fitness. Therefore, focusing on training the non-fitness aspects will have material value on race day.
• The limiter of speed in an endurance event is rarely aerobic fitness, it is usually muscular strength and power related (or mental strength related). Training strength and power (mental and physical) is therefore the key once you are reasonably fit aerobically.
• Biomechanical efficiency is key, the lack of which can result in injury and/or inefficiency that throws any nutrition and racing plan out the window…the longer the event, the more important this become. Learning and using proper technique is critical.
• If you are too tired from training to enjoy your life and all it has to offer, then you either aren’t training properly or don’t have your priorities in the right spot

###

Gotta run right now (to the Grand Opening of Shakti Redmond, woo hoo!) but will post next some more details of my specific training for the upcoming 50 miler.

This year I am getting back in racing. It’s been a number of years (since 2003 in fact!) since I’ve trained with any kind of regularity and raced while caring about place/time. It’s motivating to have clear goals again, and I’m looking forward to learning from many years of mistakes (I guess we call that experience?) and making this a fun and productive year training-wise and racing-wise.

Here are the primary events I have in the plan for 2011. IMCDA and the Portland Marathon are the major races. Aside from these events I might jump into a few Olympic distance triathlons or some 5K to half-marathon races as part of training efforts.

3/6 Copper Canyon 50 Mile Ultra Marathon (Goal = finish!)
4/30 Wildflower Half-Ironman Triathlon (Goal = finish and test race strategy for IMCDA, <6hours time)
6/26 Ironman Coeur d Alene MAJOR RACE (Goal =  <11 hrs = <1:05 swim <5:45 bike <4:00 run)
7/30 White River 50 Mile Endurance Run (Goal = finish in top half of the field, <10 hours)
9/24 Black Diamond Half Ironman (Goal = top 5 in age group, <5:20 time would be nice!)
10/6 Portland Marathon MAJOR RACE (Goal = <3 hours and qualify for Boston Marathon)
11/5 Ron Herzog 50K (Goal = top 10 finish, <5:30 time)
12/3 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Miler (Goal = finish in top half of field, <10 hours)

I know many of you who read my blog also race…I’m interested to hear what you have on tap! Leave a note in the comments with your plans for 2011.

###

I’m super slow in sorting through all the wonderful pics and vids from my trip to the Galapagos and Ecuador. Hope to get a post up before the end of the year with a recap .

Starting to do more strength training and speed-work; on the track, on the bike trainer and in the gym. It feels good! In my longer runs last fall (the Portland Marathon and both 50K races) it was clearly muscular strength holding me back not aerobic fitness, so I hope the heavy squats, deadlifts and track repeats will eliminate the bottleneck.

Running my last few races  I learned that the mind is primary not the physical.

When I bonked after 16 miles at The North Face 50K last weekend there was a physical component but I know that the governor of the whole experience was my own head. There were plenty of times when I could have run when I walked. I walked because it felt better to walk and it hurt to run.

I also notice how when things get tough it can be all too easy to just get down on allow negative self-talk to creep in. Last week I actually got angry at the course for being so ridiculously hilly and muddy! Once the downward mental slide begins it is tough to stop until it runs its course. For me that took about 2 hours and 10 miles.

Mental training is very tough and something we are not programmed to do. We avoid it because it really pushed us past our comfort zone. It mandates that you intentionally do things that are uncomfortable and outside of your normal routine. If you are only doing the type of regular physical training that your are used to doing, then you are not pushing your mental boundary.