Training Log Archive: Wyatt

Out to the '5-minute bridge' (in 5:01) and back (uphill, in 5:59). Lungs really unhappy on the return trip due to a cold (since. Mon. eve.). Knee unhappy a bit too in the evening, getting sore on the up/down stairs thing. Not great...

For the first 2 hours of this morning, the left knee feels fine, and the R-knee is sore, mostly in the area of the patellar tendon.

How much of this weirdness is based on the 'unsettled' weather, how much on the side I slept on most/last, and how much is actual damage I should or should not run on, is really unclear.

Today off? Or some weights this morning and get a 2nd strap, and run w/2-straps for 10 minutes this evening???

C • How about getting a blood t... 11

Misc. core & non-quad strength

C • Benedict IX 1

PM Run.

L-knee was pretty much fine all day, R-knee was a little sore all day - at patellar tendon, and behind it in general (left inside, like last summer)

1st run with 2 straps... :) Not sure if the R-knee really needs it, or is helped by it - it was similarly sore before and after.

Event: Lehigh Valley Half Marathon
 

L-knee sore after yesterday's run, so cut back to a short run with the strap. Knee still sore and ice is only completely killing the pain for minutes rather than hours, like most of last week, only sore during the actual run. Not good news.

Lorimer pond loop. Knee sore under the band, as usual, but it seemed to get noticably worse from about 30 minutes on. Not that fast, and I thought with the previous weekend under the belt, one easy run wasn't bad.

But it was not to be. 4 rounds of DT/stretch/ice after failed to return the knee to normal.

Similar loop was 5:37'km 4 months ago. Could be worse...

Misc. strength session at 10 PM (basement) to get some exercise in the help the body heal, hoping the knee feels better too. It may have helped at bit as I only needed ice at midnight after thinking about it specifically, and the next AM was fine for an hour or two...

North direction out & back on creek trail from Campbell in. Knee fine.

Cool AM run near 9 & 35 (Skyline to the Sea Trail and side trails). L-knee a little sore under the strap during parts of the run, but took it off and stretched and was fine. I'm only doing DT/stretch/ice after the run, rather than 3-4x/day the past 2 days... And the knee is mostly okay. :)

Campbell creek trail out on dirt/rock rolling trail, back on flatter dirt/rock shoulder.

The R-knee felt like it has recovered a lot on Tue, so I ran with only the L-knee strapped, and it seemed to work. Only the L-knee got sore during the run and only a little sore. Both knees little twinges during the day later. Odd, and effective in preventing a full-fledged return to training, but not too bad.

Plan is 30-40 tomorrow AM on some trail like this one: , followed by 20 on Friday, followed, just possibly by http://www.udel.edu/johnmack/traildawgs/tc/ on Saturday (Clem, want to join me for this as an RRC runner?)

C • One of these days 1

Random stuff at the Gym in Campbell.

Resting my knees (esp. the R-one) on a travel-to-CA day.

The shortest possible Valley Forge Park loop from my house.

My R-knee got pretty sore in the same spot as the L one has been late last night when crawling around under the table rebooting routers and modems trying to get my home internet working.

Today's run was an attempt at a post-race-day recovery run (the quads and other leg muscles on both legs were good-sore), but the R-knee was still pretty sore from whatever blew up last night, so it wasn't a great experience. Icing the heck of the both knees Sunday night and Monday...

I can't believe the knee worked... Hopefully I won't wake up disappointed tomorrow...

C • Wahoo! 9

US Relay Champs, Leg 1, DVOA 4pt Team

After a run where my knee miraculously survived on Saturday, I bumped Karl off the 4pt team (sorry Karl :( and we ran Wyatt, Angelica, Greg B. & Sergei Z. Very similar team to our winning team in '07, but with Sergei instead of Clem, and Greg & Wyatt swapped places.

I love mass starts, and this time, with the shape I'm in, I was in the thick of it rather than out front, so I really got to see where my nav. pulled me up places. Wonderful venue for the start finish area with zillions of controls an thorough forking, and I was probably 30th out of the first field. A reasonable route choice getting to the trail pulled me up a bit, although the forks pulled people apart so it was hard to tell. After about 3 minutes in the forest I was all alone for a bit, then jockeying with Brendan, where he was much faster up, and me much faster down.

As I pulled a bit ahead of Brendan about halfway, I caught sight of Emily Kemp (F16) far ahead - she was my target in this race - could I beat the rising star (but only F16) from Canada? I passed her brother(?) while gaining on her as he swerved a bit - forking I think. Walking up a steep hill I saw the next route choice was tricky with the obvious route having a poor end, and the best route having a tough (more climbing) start - and thought I'd get ahead of the 'novice' Emily on that - but she went the right way - darn.

Somehow she got confused on the road though and so suddenly, Emily, her brother and I formed a tight pack. While trying to pass her brother, I managed to step under his foot and get stomped - which resulted in a shoe untie. After tying that, they pulled ahead slightly, but it was in a suddenly flat area and their confusion at that ensured that I was immediately back in the middle of them. Stayed that way from there out through the spectator loop through the field, with her brother just ahead and Emily just behind.

In the forest her brother again slowed a bit (after opening a large gap in the field) and I passed him on the way into a tricky up/down area. On the next one, Emily took a better route around a depression, and caught back up. I led out, but tripped hard, untying the other shoe... After tying that, I ended up behind Emily and her brother again, this time entering the field for the final time. Fortunately, it turned out that I had the shorter fork across the field, and I picked up a 20 second gap as a result of that. Which was useful, because while Emily picked up 16 seconds on my in the brutal finish chute, I managed to tag off to Angelica just ahead of Emily & her brother.

Fun race, and again, wow, my knee was fine - with DT/stretch/ice still going strong.

Shadowed Oriana a bit after that as she finished up her 2nd leg Jr./Jr., and with Eddie as the photographer they created the best Orienteering photo I've seen in a long time.

As Oriana & I waited to download, I was shocked to see Angelica appear - back really fast on Orange - a time just 6 seconds behind Katarina.

Greg went out and ran a minute faster than I did on his forking-version of the Green course, and that put Sergei out solidly in the lead of the US Relay teams, and in tight contention with the informal Wil-Kata-Kata-Wil team, as well as Jon T. following closely behind. Sergei's Story.

End result was another 4pt Gold for DVOA! Followed not long thereafter by an impressive 12pt Gold too. Kudos to Sandy for arranging 2 Gold medal teams (and Bronze team!) with many last minute changes, and Kudos to DVOAers on all teams for training hard and being some of the fastest in their point categories, to allow us to create these winning teams!

C • Oriana's Photo 1

C • Field guide to OOC members 2

Event: US Middle Distance and Relay Champs
 

Warmup before Red course

Running M35 Red, to be cautious and able to bail w/o Blue rankings damage if my knee gave out (and w/o Blue rankings damage due to poor shape anyway)

Wasn't sure how far I'd be able to run before I had to alternate to a walk, or bail, but decided to try lightly jogging the whole thing. The knee held up and I slowly got more aggressive, although I was still tentative on the downhills through about 30 minutes. At that point, Katarina Smith had caught me, so I pushed a little harder to keep even/ahead of her, and was lucky to navigate better to the penultimate control and gain a bit of a lead, because I didn't hammer the chute and the lead ensure Kata didn't quite pass me in the chute ;)

The Cho-Pat strap again worked wonders with the knee more or less fine during the run and after. I did about 4 rounds of DT/stretch/ice in the hours after, as the knee was getting a very light ache starting a bit later, but that did regularly fully suppress any pain. Yay!

Set a HR PR, higher, I think than the Sprint Series Finals. Perhaps my out-of-shape-ness allows my Max. HR to rise slightly at max effort?

Red - Splits

Loop around track and through a bit of forest. Knee was a little sore in the middle, but fine immediately after and still now 3 hours after.

Poor AJ's had a fever for 7 days now, less a few ibuprofen quelled periods, with a stomach ache too. He's finally on antibiotics, as well as ibuprofen, and other stuff for allergies/asthma. Rough week for him. Hopefully he'll recover enough s.t. we don't have to cancel this weekend.

Angelica's a bit sick today too. If it's the same as AJ's thing, and takes 4 days to get to it's worst point, Angelica may be hosed for the weekend, and we'll very unlikely be going. She tried a short run this morning and ended up walking bits of it.

C • Get better sooner than later. 2

Late PM. Salomon 1.5x no pain during run. It feels a little itchy almost, not sure if that's supressed Pat. Tendon problem, or strap pressure annoyance...?

AM "rest" & visit to Brill, who basically said "if the strap works, use the strap".

PM: Short run - distance shorter on purpose as 'rest' day... DT/stretch/ice after. Magic strap still working.

Registered now for M35+ on Red, middle-distance Champs this weekend. I think I may even run some of it. Let's just hope I don't blow the magic-strap recovery thing that seems to be going on...

I think I'm in better shape than I was on Monday, where I ran basically the same route at 5-sec/km slower, and 1BPM higher ave. HR... ?

The ChoPat strap miracle continues. I don't quite believe it. Maybe I should take a rest day tomorrow even though the knee doesn't hurt. Or at least a relative rest, like only a 5 minute run. Or something...

C • Another toy! 2

So I went to Dr. McShane today, showed him my MRI's from now, and from 12 years ago (R-knee, same thing), showed him my documented history of months of eccentric exercises not working for 2 previous cases of patellar tendinitis.

And he fired me.

Basically. He said, we'll, there's just a little bit of "thickening" of the tendon and a little "swelling" of the tissue near the tendon (not fluid, just swelling), which looks like a mild case of patellar tendonitis, which all he can recommend for is eccentric exercises, which clearly don't work for you. So, well, good luck, and goodbye.

I managed to ask him about the Cho-Pat strap thing as he was trying to leave and he put it right along side Shock Wave therapy - sure, some people think it works great for them, but there's no scientific evidence that it works.

Recent PRs in all 3 items from Sun., plus pushups & front arm lifts.

AM: To both ends of my street and back. Knee basically fine during, and even now 2 hours later. Ran w/ChoPat strap which may be the cure...

Event: 30th Annual Billygoat Run
 

Event: SVO Gifford Pinchot
 

10pm, to the north end of the street and back, w/my new ChoPat strap. Knee felt fine during the run, and immediate after - which is better than it felt all day. Odd. I'll try 5 with the strap tomorrow. With 2 doc appt's this week, I might as well test the knee with a bit of running, to make the problem more detectable...

I just found a wonderfully detailed/summarized sheet about one of my previous Patellar tendonitis.

Apparently I had L-Pat.Tendonitis-like symptoms - very, very similar in description to what I have now, from 5/92 to ~7/94 - a 26 month injury. I had a similar problem on the right during the L-episode described here, and later from 2/96 to 8/96+...

I did months of eccentric exercises for both of these yet they lasted a long time, so that's not a good sign for doing that again.

Hence my run this evening w/the strap. Gotta do something different as waiting ~22 more months for this to heal would really suck.

Near the end of the 1st injury period, I ended up swimming + a little watter running for a few months - apparently the same on the 2nd injury, so if my ChoPat thing doesn't work, swimming/water-running is next, which on previous experiences may have me running by late summer or fall.

Chance of making US WOC team in '08 is now <5%... (ChoPat or other miracle would have to work amazingly well, and then I'd still be a serious underdog...)

C • US WOC Team '08 4

AM: The yellow list... a recent PR on dips, bicep curls, and calf presses
Some good stretching after incl. the DT/stretch/ice for the knee. The knee was mildly annoying though...

Knee sore today. Not sure why. It was mildly sore before and during the walk, and was only quelled for about and hour after the DT/stretch/ice after the walk. At 5pm, I hit it again with another DT/stretch/ice. I think I need take a day off the knee, and perhaps do other gym stuff only tomorrow, w/lots of stretching. See if that helps. Frustrating...

3pm I forget exactly what I did. This is close. Knee was sore a bit today. Disappointing after yesterday from ~11am to sleep being pain-free.

Late PM...
Also did a nice AM set incl. weights, to-be-logged. Knee was sore this morning, but happier during/after exercise.

AM, pre weights

AM: The yellow list... esp. poor on situps, good on dips & side arms...

Need to wear short sleeves next time...

AM. Did about 5 situps afterwards, then bagged the strength training until at least this evening.

Knee fine before, a little sore during and until ice, but better than Mon/Tue.

AM: Did DT/stretch/ice only yesterday PM and planning same for this AM as knee is still sore. Perhaps the 64 minute O-walk wasn't the best thing for the knee. I think I'll have to stop the weekend tests thing.

~3pm. Just took a HR monitor on the treadmill for the 1st time in a while. Apparently this 12% grade, 11min/km is intensity 2. Knee not perfect before - didn't get much worse during, but my thought of going to 30 minutes ended as the not perfect became noticable again during the walk, so I stopped before it got worse.

Misc. Upper body, plus some hip and calf, avoiding knees entirely. A walk plus this set would be a reasonable thing to do ~daily as background exercise for whatever else I do to try to get the knee stronger. And yet I haven't done the strength training since 3/3. And my knee has been unhappy since Sunday. Hopefully I can get back to the point where walking uphill on the treadmill is okay for the knee.

Some pineapple DT & lots of leg stretching after (quads & more) - not too painful doing it, but the knee was burning a bit after.

Ice quelled it well. Question is, for how long?

A warmup with no DT/stretch/ice after to leave the knee inflamed as I went immediately after for an MRI and am hoping that will make whatever the damage-cause is more visible. Have appt's on 15th and 17th (2 diff. doc's) to interpret the MRIs.

C • Ouch! 2

Event: DVOA Warwick
 

Walked the Warwick Score O' about as fast as I could comfortably walk it w/o requiring jumping/catch steps. Knee first a little sore around 17 minutes, and got a little sore/burning going on by the end. Not too bad, but I'm not taking it as a sign of strength, given I did zero running.

Perhaps instead of walking the Billygoat for ~3.5hr next weekend, I should try a few short jogging intervals in my treadmill march.

2 errors of about 1:30 total. On the largest of which I think I dragged Sandy A. off line (she was about 1/2-way between me and the control when she turned toward me and I shortly thereafter turned back toward where she was.) That was just enough to pull ahead of her - apparently I was only 1-4 minutes or so ahead, but just out of sight, for the rest of the run (us having chosen exactly the same order for the Score O' controls.)

Late PM. Knee was good enough after the DT/ice from ~3pm after the morning's long walk that I tried a treadmill thing... Plan was for 30 minutes, but around 25 it started feeling a little off, so I decided to bail. Not bad for the evening after a walking-race.

On a race related note, Angelica came 6th overall, and 3rd woman in the local (Wilson Park) 5k this morning, with a 21:35 or so, on a course with ~30m climb. Her modern (post-teenager) PR is 21:21 from nearly 10 years ago, and it's early in the season. She's looking likely to beat that some time this fall.

I think a key to her result was dressing light. Shorts & t-shirt in 47, light rain, and light wind. She says her arms were still cold at the end...

Event: Flying Pig XII
 

Saw Dr. McShane today, and pointed out the assymetric 'ridge of tissue' on the left patellar tendon. He change the diagnosis a bit - the patellar tendon itself looks fine. But there's a band of swelling (fluid) running transverse to the tendon, mostly under the tendon and perhaps a bit above the tendon too, at the height of the upper edge of the tibial tuberosity.. Pressure can squeeze the band and move it a bit out of the way - something I've noticed physically, and saw today on the ultrasound.

Unfortunately, he's stumped as to the cause of this, and suggested an MRI as a next step, just in case that gives him some more information. I think I'll get the MRI then go see him again, but possibly see someone else too in case someone else knows what this is about.

I suggested that since the tendon looks intact, I might want to try running through the pain, and he said since I'd clearly tried that already, it's unlikely to help and make things better... So what is?

Well at least I can march uphill on the treadmill w/o making it worse, so I guess I'll keep doing that for a while and possibly doing weekend test runs, while I separately pursue the MRI and other diagnoses... Strange.

C • Picture of area 1

C • References 7

3pm

PM. Knee had recovered more or less from yesterday AM's reinflamation and was fine during and after walk.

AM: Rode a bike to the bike store. Found a bit of the Chester Valley trail I hadn't been on before. Apparently a built to be ready section that wasn't hooked up and has gotten a bit overgrown. It is used though as there's a narrow trail down the middle. Decided to buy a longer stem for the seat for $12. Bike guy said I'd be hunched over a lot, which is probably true, but as I'm unlikely to ride all that much, it's worth the $12 try...

As for the knee, it was a little sore during the ride. Nothing as smoothly-getting-worse as running, but definitely more sore later in the ride. I suspect getting out of the saddle to go up hills is a bit too much for it at this point - I'll probably either have to find a flatter route, or join a gym, if I want to keep cycling for exercise.

Is it called a stem or a post for the seat?

C • Post or stem 2

AM
15 wall sliders w/ new ball, mostly L-down, mostly R-up.

I figured since my knee was a bit sore, that maybe I wasn't doing enough strength training to make progress. But in doing this, my knee got sore again by the evening w/o doing anything, so this is same as before. The strength training seems to make things worse in the ~12-hours-after time period, vs. the hard-biking and running which gets sore during exercise, but mostly recovers immediately after.

Anyway, the thinks that don't seem to hurt are consistent (indoor) cycling, and walking uphill. And some non-quad strength training would probably be fine to start again.

So anyway, the plan is to take a ~24+ hour break (with DT, Stretch, Ice only), followed by a return to walking uphill on the treadmill - 2x per day. Forget the cycling for a few days to keep it simple. If my knee is still okay (no walk-around pain) by Saturday, I'll throw in a strength routine

I just noticed the treadmill goes to 12% grade. Presumably when I'm walking up that at 10min/km, it'll almost be a 2. In the shape I'm in, maybe it will be. I'll have to wear my HRM next time.
DT, Stretch & Ice after. Knee not sore during or after (so far.)

Late PM. Knee a little imperfect walking around in the afternoon - not sure if it's the exercise building up, or the weather.