[mountainmilers] April Progress Report
- From: Terri Rashid <terri@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Mountain Milers <mountainmilers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "prescott-trail-runners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <prescott-trail-runners@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 2 May 2014 02:38:31 +0000
April was both a good, and a bad, month for my running. I think on the whole
the positives far outweigh the negatives, but it's still a mixed bag. :)
On the positive side:
- I ran my first 50K, with a huge net ascent, and finished well within the
cutoff times, averaging a 16:17 pace. And I even had fun!
- I sent in my entry for my first 50 miler (eeek!), even before I completed the
50K, and have started thinking about doing a 100 miler!
- I felt good enough after that 50K to do a 13.7 mile run/hike three days
later, and a 8.6 mile run/hike, followed by a 33 mile run/hike the next weekend
- I completed a 37 mile run/hike two weeks after that as my final long training
run for the 50 miler
- I logged 218.4 miles for April, which I think is my second highest month ever.
On the negative side:
- I got Achilles insertion tendonitis after the 33 mile run. This is not
surprising in hindsight. I should have given my body more time to rest after
the hard 50K, but I was worried about getting ready for the 50 miler in May
- I flared up my PF problems in my right foot again as well. They were never
gone, but they had gotten better, so that's disappointing
But some positive did come out of this: I asked Meghan to help me find a good
running doc up in Flagstaff, so she asked Ian Torrence and he recommended Dr.
AJ Gregg at Hypo2. I went to see him and he's *amazing*!! He worked on my
fascia in my foot (excruciatingly painful!!!) but that made a huge difference
in my PF pain. He gave me a bunch of rehab exercises for both my PF, my
Achilles and my old hamstring issues and I think they have been helping a
bunch. In just two weeks I was good enough to complete a 37 mile training run
without much pain and without a relapse of problems in the days afterwards.
Unfortunately, I was feeling so much better in my lower legs, that yesterday,
while only running short - 2 miles, I was tempted into running a bit too fast
as I played with the fact that I *could* go faster without hurting, and then
this morning I woke up with Achilles issues again - not only at the insertion
areas, but on the left leg some higher up (just below the calf muscle) as well.
Duh. Hopefully I am learning from all of this. ;)
Anyway, I think it's not TOO bad, so I am still planning to do the Whiskey Row
Marathon in two days - but the plan was always to do it at a slower ultra-type
pace, so that shouldn't be too stressful. I think I need to do about 16:00 min
miles in order to beat the course cutoff. (I am taking the early start, so I
have an extra hour - otherwise I'd need to go a bit faster than that.) That's
still faster than I typically do for my long trail training runs (more like
17:30 to 17:45 pace), but those are on much more complicated rocky singletrack.
Still, if I have trouble I will just drop or walk out.
Goals for May:
1. Be good about doing rehab exercises and be more careful not to
re-irritate existing injuries.
2. Complete my first 50 mile trail event!
3. Complete my first 50 mile trail event in under 16 hours, so I can
qualify to enter The Bear 100 miler in Utah in September. :)
Yup. That's one of my main goals right now. I want to get qualified to enter
a particular 100 miler. It does not look like the easiest 100 miler I could
have chosen, but it is one that I want to do, for all sorts of different
reasons. And it's not that dissimilar (in terms of terrain) from some of the
kinds of trails I will be run/hiking up in Montana this summer for fun.
Wish me luck!!
And best of luck to all of you, and speedy healing to those with injuries. I
hope you have a fantastic May!
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