Taking a breather

I decided to give the old legs a rest after the punishment of the last month and a half or so.  I got to a point where my legs couldn't recover in between my weekend runs and took Aleve on the last three runs to help deal with knee pain/inflammation.  So the last couple of weeks I did one little run, some working out at the Gym and a bike ride.

It's been nice and my legs haven't felt this good months!  Even my shin feels pretty much brand new and my knees feel normal again.  Wow.

I also saw a personal trainer - someone my boss and his wife recommended.  She thought I had really good running form (yay!  not bad for never having any formal distance coaching and picking it up from Born to Run and YouTube videos).  She thought my knee issues stem from a tight IT Band and a muscle imbalance.  So she mainly recommended to use a foam roller to release/stretch the IT Band and a couple of exercises to strengthen the side muscles of my legs (i.e. inner thighs and outer) which I've been doing regularly.  Also it's nice having someone knowledgeable that I can now ask questions.

But... break is over!!!

Tomorrow sairy and I are going to finish some unfinished business in Palm Springs.  Last year we went there to do the Cactus to Clouds hike (C2C) from the Palm Springs Art Museum all the way up to the summit of Mt. San Jacinto, about 17 miles and 11,000 ft up one way.  But due to a freak late spring snowstorm, the mountain was covered in snow and impassable without snow gear above 9000 feet or so.  So we didn't make it to the top, though I did propose on said hike ;).

Well, now we're back with a vengeance to capture what has eluded us!  Last year it took us about 9 hours to get to the aerial tram station (about 8,500 ft up).  We went slow, had heavy packs, were subjected to 100 degree heat (due to being slow and starting at 7).  At one point I had to lie under a bush for a while just to cool off.

So I'm hoping this year will be different.  We're in way better shape.  We are much better at managing heat, fluids, electrolytes and nutrition.  We won't have packs - just CamelBaks stuffed with Clif Bars, Gus, and almost 3 gallons of water between us.  And we're starting at 4 a.m. which should enable us to mostly avoid the heat on the way up while we're at lower altitudes.

So once we get to the tram station, we can refill water, do a quick up-and-down to the summit, and then do the grueling descent back from the tram.  That will be a real test of my knees.

Also, I'm going to play around with a downhill running idea.  Well it's actually an old idea.  In my determination to break my heel-striking habit, as advised in Born to Run, I started landing religiously on my forefoot.  And I think that's actually bad for running on steep downhills.  On steep downhills, the angle is such that even if I land on the heel, the forward and downward momentum would have my foot roll naturally, if I let it, from the heel onto the forefoot.  So even though I'm landing on the heel, there is little strike on it.  Or so I think.  Conversely, trying to land on the forefoot on steep downhills is awkward, creates a lot of braking force and is really hard on the quads and, I think, the knees.  My trainer seems to agree.  So... I'll give this a whirl!  At least on the sections of the trail that are 'runnable'.  A lot of it is going to be so steep that we'll be walking even on the down.

Other than this... the next 9-10 weeks are going to be intense training.  We got the Headlands 50 coming up in July, and we'll be doing back to back 20-30 or 30-30 weekends.  We'll be going to Utah twice to train on the course, and also we'll be going to Tahoe once or twice to get altitude training.  So with luck and good preparation, I hope my body will allow me to get through all of that.  Though I am prepared to step back at the first sign of injury or over-training.  It's now getting to close to the wire to take unnecessary risks.

If we are indeed successful through this training, I believe we have a shot at a sub-30 finish.  Still a long shot, but seems it would be within reach.  We've been flirting with the idea a little bit.  Partially motivated by the fact that the sub-30 belt buckle sounds way more exciting than the Finisher belt buckle.  Inlaid turquoise or some crazy gaudy thing ;). But for now, the focus is on the training at hand.  And 10 weeks later we'll know what shape we're in and decide what goals/hopes to set.  No matter what, the goal is to finish and we'd be absolutely ecstatic if we do... though getting a sub-30 would be a cherry on top.  A watermelon-sized cherry.