| Returning to Running: The Comeback |
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December 9, 2009 - This is the way the comeback ends The ideal for any long distance runner is to build over the season, improving with each successive race and peaking for your most important race. If that race is a long one, it will typically be the last race in your planned season of racing. Then, satisfied that you’ve given your best, you promise yourself that you’ll take some time off to let lingering injuries heal before carefully building next year to another, even higher peak. But, the thing about peaks is that they are precarious. You can easily fall off. A badly timed injury or illness can prematurely put an end to your season. That’s what happened to me two weeks before my target race for the fall (Rhode Island 6 Hour, http://ri6hour.com/). A Badly Timed Injury. At three weeks before the big race, I had completed the last long run in my training plan. I had run my fastest submarathon of the year at the Hospice 5K. All that was left was one more repeat mile session and a two-week taper. On October 31st, I easily completed 8 miles which included 3 repeat miles at 9-minute pace (the planned marathon race pace for this old & slow runner). I don’t recall any pain during the run but later that afternoon I was hobbled by a new pain at the back of my left knee. The pain was unlike the typical “runners knee” (patellofemoral pain syndrome) I’ve experienced on several occasions over the last 35 years. Rather than being at the front of the knee under the kneecap, the pain was distinctly at the back of the knee. It felt like I had overstretched the tendons or ligaments at the back of the knee. There was no obvious swelling and the knee hurt most when walking down stairs. The next morning the knee seemed pain free so I followed my general approach to running injuries: If it doesn’t hurt to walk, try a short run and see what happens. A couple miles into an easy run the pain became noticeable and I cut the run short. The pain again went away after a couple of days off. With my target race coming up in ten days, I decided to “test the knee.” This time a short run was no problem, so I took another day off and then ran two days in a row… that turned out to be too much and the pain came back worse than before. At this point I reluctantly canceled the trip to Providence for the Rhode Island 6 Hour, the race for which I had devoted the last four months of training. I took three more days off and, as the knee didn’t hurt while walking, I took advantage of a warm and sunny day to mow the yard one last time. The knee didn’t hurt while pushing the mower around the yard but it sure did the next day. Walking the dog I could feel every left foot plant in the back of the knee. My 2009 racing season was over... So, with apologies to T.S. Eliot (The Hollow Men, 1925): This is the way the comeback ends This is the way the comeback ends This is the way the comeback ends Not with a bang but a whimper.
Preliminary Diagnosis. Since this pain wasn’t going away quickly, it was time to get a professional opinion. My primary care physician listened to my tale of woe, manipulated the knee in a variety of ways, and sent me off for x-rays. His vague diagnosis matched what I had already found on the web: Pain like I have is commonly caused by medial meniscus tears and/or arthritis of the joint. The x-rays showed some arthritis (not surprising given that half the general population over age 65 have arthritis and the knee is one of the most common joints involved). Tears of the meniscus and other tissue damage don’t show up in x-rays so we can’t rule out either as the cause of the pain. Small tears at the outer edge of the meniscus often heal with rest and physical therapy. Surgery is a good option for larger tears at the outer edge of the meniscus. Again from Internet sources, I learned that arthritis (osteoarthritis) is one of the most common causes of pain in the knee. In fact, half of the population over age 65 has arthritis with the knee being one of the most common joints involved. Arthritis involves the breakdown of the cartilage that normally protects the joint. Without the usual amount of cartilage, the bones rub together, causing pain, swelling (inflammation), and stiffness. The pain of arthritis is usually a dull toothache pain that is occasionally sharp with sudden movements. The pain is usually located over above the joint line (where the tibia meets the femur) and in the front of the knee. Mild and sometimes severe swelling is associated with this pain. The pain is worse when you exit a chair or car. It is also worse with any prolonged walking or standing. The pain is usually better with rest, heat (sometimes ice), wrapping the knee and pain medication.
Three days ago I cleaned out the garage and stored the grandkids outside toys in the basement. About eight hours after doing my chores the pain in the back of the knee returned for a visit. Perhaps due to the heavy dose of anti-inflammatories I'm on, the pain was gone by the next morning. I will say I'm not pleased to find that after a month off from running I cannot even do routine chores without triggering another round of the mystery pain. It is going to be a long winter with no running, cycling or long walks. October 10, 2009 - On the Home Stretch As I write this, my target race for the fall, the Rhode Island 6 Hour, is about five weeks away. Training is going well. I recently experienced a breakthrough, indicative of a jump in running economy. Over the space of about two weeks, my easy run pace got consistently faster by about 30 seconds per mile. That is, at the same easy perceived effort and same average heart rate, I am now going faster. Looking back at my training over the summer, it looks to me like this is the result of getting my hard weeks up over 50 miles per week. September 10, 2009 - Getting Back on the Horse On June 20th I ran the Niagara 50K. After two weeks of easy running to recover, I started another cycle of Jeff Galloway’s Marathon Training Plan. My target race is the Rhode Island 6 Hour (www.ri6hour.com/) on November 15th. Things went according to plan up to end of August. My long week mileage had gotten up over 50 miles and my repeat mile times were dropping. Then I “fell off the horse.” Many things can lead to a runner falling off his or her training plan… an injury or illness, changes at work, family issues, etc. In my case the cause was pretty benign… a vacation visiting friends and family followed by a quick trip to San Jose to help my son with his move back to Rochester. And it wasn’t like I couldn’t train at all. I did get in some easy runs and a few social bike rides while missing a scheduled 20-miler, several sessions of repeat miles and a 5K race. Now back home, the main thing is to get back into the training routine, doing each scheduled workout while taking some care to avoid doing too much, too hard or too soon. With two months to go to my target race, there’s still plenty of time to reach my goals. August 8, 2009 - On the Red Line Bergen 5K. While my primary running focus is ultramarathons, I’m also doing about half of the Rochester Runner of the Year Series. The “submarathon” races are a triple word score – they are great speed work, five finishes will make me be eligible to win one of the Series Consistent Participant Awards, and the short, intense efforts are great fun in a masochistic sort of way. Today’s effort at Bergen was one of my best paced and hard fought short races in recent memory. The experience brought to mind a long quote from Once a Runner by John L. Parker, Jr: "Cassidy sought no euphoric interludes. They came, when they did, quite naturally and he was content to enjoy them privately. He ran not for crypto-religious reasons, but to win races, to cover ground fast. Not only to be better than his fellows, but better than himself. To be faster by a tenth of a second, by an inch, by two feet or two yards than he he had been the week or year before. He sought to conquer the physical limitations placed upon him by a three-dimensional world (and if Time is the fourth dimension, that too was his province). If he could conquer the weakness, the cowardice in himself, he would not worry about the rest, it would come. Training was a rite of purification; from it came speed, strength. Racing was a rite of death; from it came knowledge. Such rites demand, if they are to be meaningful at all, a certain amount of time spent precisely on the Red Line, where you can lean over the manicured putting green at the edge of the precipice and see exactly nothing."  Parker’s language may be a bit over the top but, on my good days, it says a lot about why I train and how I race. Today I ran close to an optimal race… relaxing on the downhill start, then settling into a pace a little outside my comfort zone, uncertain whether I can sustain the effort all the way… continually catching and passing other runners… by the last kilo I was right on the Red Line… driving for the finish, heart rate within a couple beats of maximum. Around the last turn, the Fleet Feet Finish looks like a miniature… 500 meters ahead… too far… too far… I look away and pick out a telephone pole a hundred feet ahead and concentrate on holding pace to it… then concentrate on catching a couple runners just ahead… then repassing a teenager who started his sprint too soon… finally the finish is within reach… now I’m close enough to read the clock… 24:54… 24:55… I dig deeper… 24:57… 24:58… and the minute turns over just a stride or two before I cross the line… 25:01.In my head, this 5K felt just like races I ran 30 years ago. It felt like I was really moving… the same feeling I had running sub-6 pace for 10K as an Open runner. Objectively, the clock tells a different story. The average pace of my all-out race was only 8:04 per mile. That was easy run pace 30 years ago. Easy pace today is around 10:30 per mile. The curious thing is that if I don’t look at my watch, that pace feels just like my easy pace of 30 years ago… cruising along, effortlessly gobbling up the miles. Thirty years ago I would have found that pace unbelievably slow… jogging, not running. Faster Than the Week or Year Before. While no amount of training can completely undo the effects of decades of age-related slowing, happily it is still possible for the aging runner “to be faster by a tenth of a second, by an inch, by two feet or two yards than he than he had been the week or year before.” This is especially true after a significant layoff. If all you run is your generic flat and fast 5K, tracking improvement is simple… your times unambiguously tell the tale. But, how can you compare performances at widely different distances? One way is to use an Age Graded Scoring Calculator and compare the age graded score for each race. The Calculator compares your time to a mathematical model based on world record performances for a runner of your age at each distance. The chart below shows age graded scores for the eight submarathon races I’ve done this year. I ran Mendon on one week of training and the race was the longest run of any kind I had done in the previous 8 months. So, the dramatic improvement over the first three races I ran reflects the quick initial improvement one can expect after a layoff. I suspect the hilly courses for the Churchville and Spring Forward races masked the continued improvement that shows up with the Lilac 10K. And, the Bergen 5K result shows that, eight months into this comeback, I’m still on an upward path.  References. Once a Runner has been reprinted and is again available. Your local Fleet Feet store may have it. Alternatively, it is available from Amazon. If you aren’t familiar with the book or its author, Wikipedia is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_L._Parker_Jr.; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_a_runner The Age Graded Scoring Calculator I use can be found here: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html June 22, 2009 - Niagara 50K Update Wet and Wild. June 20th turned out to be a very wet day at Niagara Falls. It had rained overnight and the Niagara River Bike Path was still wet when the more than 130 ultrarunners set out from Niagara-on-the-Lake. Within the hour, the rain resumed... first as a light shower that left hope that it might stop and feet might stay dry. By the time the field made the 280-foot climb up the Niagara Escarpment and passed under the Lewiston Bridge, the rain had become a steady rain that looked like it could last all day. As the field entered the City of Niagara Falls, the rain had filled the usual puddles to overflowing and made creeks flow in the street gutters. Runners skirted the deepest puddles when they could and continued on, dodging Japanese tour groups, to the 25K turnaround beside the Horseshoe Falls. About half way back, the rain finally eased to a drizzle. The bike path drained except for the occasional flooded section that runners could get around on the grass beside the trail. Despite the adverse conditions. 134 runners finished the 50K. Plenty of good times were run, no more so than the time ran by my friend Ed Housel. Ed ran the 31.07 miles in 3:49:00, wining the race overall for his second career ultra win and first win as a Veteran (age 50+). It was close at the end... a younger runner from Detroit, MI was closing but fell 8 seconds short of catching Ed at the finish line. My Race. Back in the middle of the field, I finished a bit slower than I had hoped but was happy with the effort. My goal was to finish in the 5:00 to 5:15 range. I actually finished in 5:17:06 for 69th place out of 134 finishers. I was most happy with how even my out and back splits were: 2:36:43 going out and 2:40:23 coming back. Age-Graded Improvement. The chart below shows how age-graded scoring can be used to track improvement over a season of races at widely varying distances. The age-graded score is the percent of the world record performance for each distance by a runner of the same age. The online calculator I used is located at: http://www.howardgrubb.co.uk/athletics/wmalookup06.html  I had only done about 20 miles of training when I ran the Mendon Ponds Freezeroo on January 1st. The improvement seen in the Don Curran 5K came with only 16 days of further training. I missed the Powder Mill Park Freezeroo due to a cold and came back with further improvement in the flat and fast 8-mile Greece Freezeroo race. I attribute the seeming lack of improvement in the final Freezeroo at Churchville and the Spring Forward 15K at Mendon Ponds to the hilly courses… the world records used in the calculator assume a flat and fast course while those two races are definitely not flat. The decline in performance seen in the BPAC 6 Hour score is, I believe, a clear indication of insufficient training for a race of that distance. When I did BPAC, my long runs prior the race were only 15, 16 and 19 miles and my long weeks totaled 40 and 41 miles.  The performance jump seen in the Lilac 10K was a nice confirmation of increasing fitness. The score for the Charlie McMullen Mile (a 7:30 for the mile) was a pleasant surprise… a marathon training plan might provide a good base but is missing the strength and speed training needed to run a fast mile.The score for the Niagara 50K is a "glass half full / half empty" situation. The score is a major improvement over the BPAC 6 Hour... the only other ultra in the data and a race over a flatter and faster course run under more favorable conditions. On the other hand, the score is a drop from scores for the Lilac 10K and even the McMullen Mile. I attribute the decline to extenuating circumstances (heavy wet shoes, puddle dodging and hills... the climb up the Niagara Escarpment alone was 280 feet of climbing) and to inadequate training for the race distance. Six months training (peaking at less than 50 miles per week) is an insufficient base to reach one's potential in a 31 mile race. What's Next? At this date, I don't know. I was going to switch to cycling for the summer to prepare for doing the full Highlander Bike Tour in September. But, with the slight disappointment in my Niagara 50K result, I am tempted to target another road ultra in the fall. Stay tuned. I will make a decision after a couple of weeks to recover from the 50K. June 2009 On to Niagara. My target race for the first half of 2009 is the Niagara 50K on June 20th. My training for the 50K has been about 90% of what I had hoped to do. I completed long runs of 19, 24 and 25 miles in May. I would have liked to have done a 30-miler but it was in the high 80’s on the day I stopped at 25 miles. My long weeks totaled 47, 50 and 47 miles… not quite the 60 miles I would have like to see but realistically, the high 40’s was all I could handle after six months of training. My repeat mile pace has dropped into the 8-minute range… plenty fast to prepare me for 50K but not perfect preparation for the Charlie McMullen Mile (more about that later). As I write this, I’m in the middle of a two week taper and itching to do a long run. May 2009 Return to BPAC. The BPAC Six Hour on April 26th was the first real test of my comeback. As only four months training (starting from zero running) is marginal for a marathon, much less an ultra, I planned a medium hard effort, completing 10 laps for 32.5 miles in less than six hours. What I really hoped to do was finish 11 laps in something close to six hours and if everything went perfectly, run negative spits. The first couple of laps I used my heart rate monitor to keep my pace slow enough. As planned, I did a short walk segment every mile, i.e., 3 walks per lap. I did this on every lap, from the first lap. My first five laps went by exactly per my plan... all laps were in the desired 34 minute range except for my second lap when I lost some time opening a child-proof bottle of Advil. After five laps things changed and the pace I could sustain ratcheted up. Laps 6-8 were in the 35-minute range and my last two laps took 36 minutes each. The slow down wasn't huge (my first half/second half splits were 2:54 & 2:59), but slow down was enough to let me know that I wasn’t adequately trained to go beyond 10 laps. On to Niagara. Recovery from BPAC has gone well and I am now beginning to ramp up the training volume and intensity to prepare for a hard effort at the Niagara 50K on June 20th. To do reasonably well there, I will need to build up to 60 miles per week with long runs of up to 30 miles and (hardest of all) continue losing more of the weight I gained in the past few years. April 2009  I have been following a Jeff Galloway marathon-training plan (using the Galloway training software available with PC Coach (http://www.pccoach.com/), the running log I’ve used for the last eight years. Despite the expected challenges (winter weather, viruses from toddler grandchildren, etc.), I’ve managed to make good progress… recently completing my first 20-mile long run and first 40-mile training weeks in more than two years.The BPAC Six Hour on April 26th will be the first real test of my comeback. As I am marginally prepared for a marathon, much less an ultra, I’m planning a medium hard effort, completing 32.5 miles or a bit more. If it goes well, after an easy week or two to recover, I will continue ramping up the training volume and intensity to prepare for a hard effort at the Niagara 50K in June. To do reasonably well there, I will need to build up to 60 miles per week with long runs of up to 30 miles and (hardest of all) continue losing more of the weight I gained in the past few years. Just for fun, I will also be doing enough of the RROY Series races to qualify for the Consistent Participant drawing or less likely, qualify for an age-group award. Even cracking the top 5 in the 60-64 age group will be a huge long shot. The category is full of real thoroughbreds… Tony Gingello, Tom Lamme, Ric Perry, Jim May, Tom Dutton, Ernie Werzinger, Roger Howe to name a few. Gingello and Lamme really blew me away by running sub-7 pace at the Spring Forward 15K. Background Following surgery in October ’08 (removal of a Morton’s Neuroma in left foot), I was finally able to resume running in late December. As I shared last month, I consider my recovery from surgery for Morton’s Neuroma to be a complete success and I’ve now moved on to the more difficult Part 2, making a comeback after two years of little to no running. See the online blog for the details of the last two years without running that led to surgery in October and a return to running in late December. |
