Training Log Archive: Traut

Had an info session in Oakland so wanted to do something down there while I was in the area. The decision is between a dusk run through Schenley seeing the lights of the city or running cathedral stairs. The problem was I ran hard yesterday and after a week off and a hard run, this needs to be a rest day. I let myself fall into giving a run of Cathedral stairs a try since I could avoid the stress of downhills. That isn't the rest I need. I was a mess and stopped after a warm-up and 2 climbs and a cool-down...

My right calf got really tight. Enough to be concerned. This was the first day I wore the PureConnects since Boston. Is that a connection? Or is it just the lack of rest days.. I also felt dehydrated and just off. My knee doesn't have visually severe swelling, but I was very clearly not able to round corners with strength etc... It was evidently affected by yesterday's run. I am so programmed mentally right now to run hard, because if my knee allows it, then I should do it. I don't want to wast the opportunities I have and it is so hard to predict when I will have them. I can't really make a schedule, but yet I am not finding balance and consistency this way.

Warmup: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7459416...

Frist climb and elevator ride down: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7459416...

After realizing I had turned off watch at start of second climb and fading to top of second climb: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7459416...

Event: WPOC- Deer Lakes Park workshop
 

Line-O course at Deer Lakes Training day while Gail hung with the girls at the playground. Walked so could really focus on the map and features. Went very well for most of it, but missed a control 2/3 of the way through. It ended up taking to quick a cut across a field and not noticing a possible feature in the top of a knob I guess. All in all I was happy with it though.

Another run. This time I felt much better. I pushed a bit more aggressively then I should have, but I could feel every stride. I was loose and I could attack the downhills. I was in control of every foot-strike, I never was concerned about tripping and flew downhill with no doubt if I could slow down and take the hairpin curve at the bottom. This is rare.. the week off, the steroids? I set my PR on the Orange trail (actually by like 40 seconds, 27 second per mile pace?!) which I haven't been able to do in a long time (the people ahead of me all cut off the dip by the gas line). I wasn't thinking I was moving that fast. I was 26 seconds per mile faster on green trail then ever before, but I haven't run that so much. My form wasn't always perfect, but I could always correct to find it. I felt relaxed, but did feel lactic acid messing with my stomach in last mile. Then I got home and had serious diarrhea .. maybe steroids again? If so, good. I was afraid they weren't having any effect. My mouth is better, but not enough yet....

Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/284357110

Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7449826...

Wanted to try to run 20-minutes to see how my right knee (medial insertion of right quad) and left heel do. Felt very awkward and had to stop to hit the bathroom half-way through to take a serious crap. Otherwise fine.


Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/284357089

Garmin: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/7449826...

Full stretching and rolling with clams. Hip flexor stretching is still revealing very sharp tenderess in that rift inner quad insertion area (actually I can feel the sharp pain going up my leg during the stretch). It did get a bit better when I relaxed to try another shot at an easy stretch of the hip flexor.

Sometimes things happen and, while it is a mess, it brings some things possibly together. Yesterday, I tried to bike and couldn't get through more then 4-minutes and felt like I was getting sick maybe. I felt this because I started to feel some inflammation in my cheek and mouth, which I have correlated in my mind with a virus. I have also been feeling like inflammation has been taking over my body as well as feeling sick over the last few weeks. Oddly enough, my right knee seems to be weathering the storm, but my left soleus and right medial quad near the insertion have not.

What brings all this together (possibly?) is that what I felt in my mouth last night, I have felt before and correlated with my body succumbing to sickness or what not (maybe just being out of balance or flow or whatnot). Even as it got worse over night and kept me awake and I hurt in my teeth trying to eat. It was only on the right side and I have felt it before and it has passed. I got through the workday, even with my supervisor coming in for lunch. I tried to go for a walk after lunch and that was bad. My right side of my face just hurt and it affected me being able to even go for a walk. I started to feel like this was worse then previously. I got home and as I tried to play with Claire while Gail put dinner together, it got worse and worse. I wondered if I could get through the night of the pain got worse. Gail suggested I go to the doctor as it could be an infection. It was spreading to my ear and throat now and that is what it felt like. This was new. The Dr. found no signs of infection and ruled out some more sever neurological problems so she could reduce it down to Trigeminal Neuralgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigeminal_neuralgia). This is inflammation of the 5th cervical nerve- which is all along the face. Inflammation huh... figures. She described that it is unknown what brings it on, maybe a virus, maybe the time of year... all things that I have been part of this log quite a bit recently and with all the previous instances of the facial inflammation. All of this coincides with periods where I don't feel good about my nutrition and my stress level. I don't know if these things waken me to viral invasion or bring back latent virus' or just spur inflammation or it is all a combination. But these all go hand in hand. This time of year is no coincidence at all it appears.

This inflammation issue and the time of year, maybe stress and nutrition- which are all over the internet as suspected pieces of the puzzle and are definitely been big pieces of the last few weeks. In fact the distaste in my mouth always makes me it feel like my body is trying to tell me I haven't been eating well. I have felt this distaste and been concerned about my nutrition for weeks. Work has had me very stressed lately as well.. I know stress plays a big part in my life and my problems.

The problem is that there are too many factors that fit; the stress, nutrition, previous but much more minor occurrences of this, the time of year, the inflammation and running issues I have had over the past few weeks. What is the interplay between all of them?

I am on a week of steroidsethyIPREDNISolone 4 MG 6 day doseage) and some acetaminophen

Tried to do a spin bike ride and made it through about 4-minutes. My whole left?! leg was a mess. The left soleus/ heal was irritated and is feeling more and more like a heal spur. I went for a walk after and I was feeling it quite a bit.

As the evening went on my who body is a mess. My right knee does not have a huge amount of swelling, but I feel like my whole body does. I am probably fighting something off or still fighting something off. I even feel it in my mouth.... A sign of a virus.

Struggled though PT, took me over an hour to get through stretching and rolling and step-downs. Didn't feel all that productive.

The inside of my right quad came out when I tried to stretch my hip flexor. My leg was tight enough that there was enough rotation to tug at that muscle and it was feeling very pushed, even irritated, by the stretch.

Dr. Ed after work and then a 20 minute walk after dinner. Inner quad (VMO?) is feeling much better, but my left heel is getting tighter?! This matched up somewhat with my visit with Dr. Ed. He scraped my calf and we found that my soleus was in really rough shape. My inner right quad was not nearly as bad- which is good news. It is healing and is not an arthritic flare up. It was tight and sensitive, just not like the left soleus. He then tried to do a bit more stretching of my hip flexor and that was inhibited by such a tight quad and I was really feeling it. I am very tight and need to focus on getting good flow through my body with how I eat and move and stretch.