Th – 4 miles trail – wow. that. was. tough. First time I ran after doing my 45 minute PT strength routine that is a super hard glut + hamstring circuit. I will likely not being doing that again, as my legs felt like lead and my butt was way too tired to participate in the run.
F – 5 miles road on country lanes in rural Idaho with my beloved. Warm, humid, and smoky, the best part was the pair of hawks that kept pace with us for a few miles, swooping overhead – just another couple out exercising.
Su – 4 miles road. Felt good to stretch out after 8 hours in the car.
On August 10 I had my first PT appointment for this hip weirdness. After listening to the injury history, watching me do a few sketchy one-legged squats, and glancing at my painstakingly constructed training log spreadsheet (see below), the PT had me lay on my stomach while she evaluated my spine.
2020 Training Log – clear as mud, yes? (image: Kori Barnum)
Then she asked “when did you fall?”
As a trail runner, I thought “when have I NOT fallen?!” Seriously. There are rocks and roots and all this gorgeous distracting scenery, so tumbles happen pretty regularly. I can think of a handful of particularly bad falls (Sept 2016 superman directly on to my chin causing whiplash that still gives me headaches; Sept 2018 somersaults down Mt Bachelor that bruised several ribs; etc), but there’s also the more frequent, less injurious spills that happen every couple of months. What is interesting, and something I’ve pondered before, is that I always (with the exception of the superman fall) seem to land on my left side. I’d like to think this is due to some cat-like ability to twist and adjust in midair, but I think the much more likely cause is that I don’t lift the left foot high enough and consistently trip on that side.
The PT’s diagnosis was that I injured the left side of my pelvis at some point – maybe even years ago – which has caused significantly lower mobility on that side of my hip. The right hip in response has had to work overtime, and has become tight and grumpy and locked in to that bad attitude. So what’s the treatment?
I like strong gluts and I cannot lie (image: Kori Barnum)
spinal manipulation while at the PT to help loosen the left side of my pelvis
an increasingly difficult gluteal, hamstring, and abdominal strengthening program. I have long said the source of all evils is weak gluts and low blood sugar. I’ve also called the gluts “the sleeping giants”, because this muscle group tends to just be along for the ride when you’re running, flapping away without carrying their share of the muscular load. Although I’m disappointed to be right on this – I had a sinking suspicion that glut strength was going to be a consideration in my recovery – especially because I have worked really hard the last decade in Pilates and strength classes to become stronger – I’m cool with it. PT Ellie is showing me some great multi-plane strength work that will make me a healthier runner and a stronger overall athlete. Let’s do this!
Three Sisters from Broken Hand (image: Kori Barnum)
It’s been a really, really odd summer. For all of us, I imagine. Dealing with my first persistent injury in 11 years, trying to train sensibly (keep moving, move enough, don’t move too much)…it’s been a challenge. The focus the last several weeks has been on getting healing time outside, hiking with some running when it felt good, working on my PT strength exercises.
Almost Heaven, Eastern Oregon (image: Kori Barnum)
Work has been really busy, demanding from both a time and an emotional standpoint. It has sometimes felt like another form of training, trying to work hard but also leave that energy at work so I can be fully at home, so that I can rest and heal and recover. Even with mindfulness training, this separation hasn’t always been successful and Dan has had to shoulder my fatigue and sadness. Combined with my jittery, anxious, not-very-patient handling of the inability to run long distances has not put me in the running for spouse of the year. Good thing that man is patient.
Another plan bites the dust Another plan bites the dust And another plan gone, and another plan gone Another plan bites the dust
image: bing.com
Well, 2020, aren’t you a shit-show of a year. Systemic racism, institutional injustice, global pandemic, record unemployment, fear and uncertainty pervading all levels of our lives…Every time I hear the word “unprecedented”, I kind of want to punch someone. Which I realize is a totally inappropriate response, but in my defense, that word is being bandied about A LOT.
My refuge has always been activity. Through physical movement I find peace and solutions, I think about how I can become a better person generally and how to address specific issues. I heal. And now, for the first time since 2009, I have an injury that has lasted longer than a few weeks and I’m freaking out. The oblique strain from April has morphed into all a revolt involving all of the muscles in my right hip, and I think they’ve managed to recruit my left knee into their sphere of bad influence. What. Is. Happening. I tried following my six stages of recovery: 1) denial, 2) rest, 3) denial, 4) proceed with original training plan, 5) lose all hope, and 6) admit I need help. I’m currently 80% at stage 6 with occasional remission to stages 1 and 3.
In what felt like the final nail in the coffin of my summer training dreams, the Chicago Marathon announced on my birthday that they are canceling this year. Although the cancellation was no surprise, was obviously the right thing, and was way overdue compared to that of other World Major Marathons, it felt a little personal. I’m working on finding joy in the glory of summer, the fact that I am still healthy and can still move and my chronic pain is so tiny and insignificant to what countless people live with every day. I’m approaching my first PT appointment in August with optimism and an open mind. I intend to be running ultras at a very advanced age, heckling the kids, and crushing my age group because I’m the only participant in my age group…so it’s time to put on my big-girl running shorts and do the work. Stay tuned.
06.15.20 – 06.21.20: T 8 miles speed, W 3.5 miles trail + Recharge strength, F/Sa backpack Middle Sister 11.5 miles, Su 13 mile treadmill long run. 36 total run miles
06.22.20 – 06.28.20: T 10 miles trail + Bend Rock Gym, W 4 miles trail + Recharge strength, Th 8 miles lactate threshold, F 7 miles trail, Sa 11 miles trail, Su 20 miles trail. 60 total run miles
06.29.20 – 07.05.20: M Bend Rock Gym, T 10 miles trail, W 4 miles trail, F 11 miles trail, weekend food poisoning. 25 total run miles
07.06.20 – 07.12.20: the week that wasn’t. 70+ of work with multiple crime scene call-outs. W: 4 miles trail.
07.13.20 – 07.19.20: M 8 miles trail, T Bend Rock Gym, Th Bend Rock Gym, Sa 14 miles trail. 22 total run miles
Ultra Marathon: any running race longer than 26.2 miles (traditional marathon distance). Typically run on trails, ultra marathons may also be held on roads.Also typically, ultras involve a lot of walking as well as running. You know, because they are SO STINKING LONG.
Finn is a writer and runner with a pretty legit marathon personal best of around 3 hours (consider that most marathon finishers never break the 4 hour mark and you get an appreciation for his fitness level). A lifelong runner, he admits at the beginning of this journey to a bias towards fast events (read: traditional track and road distances) vs. ultra and trail events. But a job offer to run and then write about the multi-day Oman Desert Ultra Marathon (just over 100 miles) seals his fate and begins an obsessive dive into the rich history, training philosophies, and interesting characters that populate the sport. This ambitious immersion culminates in completing the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, a trail ultra with approximately a gazillion feet of elevation gain that circumnavigates Mt. Blanc through three countries and is one of the toughest ultra races on the planet.
I would consider this book to be primarily a memoir, and I found Finn to be a likable and entertaining writer with a personality familiar to any endurance athlete or long-suffering loved one of an endurance athlete – Unrealistic expectations? Check. Ability to minimize potential effort/risk? Check. Borderline obsessive personality? Check and Check. As someone new to this type of running, Finn spends a lot of time questioning others as to why they run ultras, and as he struggles with injury and uncertainty, he ultimately decides that “putting our finger on why we do this seemingly mad sport is almost impossible. The real reasons seem to lie just beyond the reasons we give. Sure, we want to win, we want to finish, we want to do our best, we want to find our limit, we want to make people proud…but none of it quite explains it. It’s an unfathomable urge, a deep, primal call, to be out there, to stand facing oblivion, and to come through to the other side.” (228) I totally get this – it’s why I can’t stop myself from finding a new goal each time I accomplish the last one. It’s why I love ultras but also why I love road events – I want to go longer, I want to go shorter and faster, I want to KEEP GOING. I love the work towards the goal even more than I love the actual event I’m working towards; there is peace and joy in the work. There is nobility in the effort. It’s meaningless and it means everything, all at the same time.
As an ultra dork, I was already familiar with most of the people and events that Finn explores (which didn’t make it less interesting to read his depiction, it just wasn’t new to me) with the notable exception of his treatment with NeuroKinetic Therapy (NKT), which I had never heard of. Partway into his ultra career he develops debilitating Achilles tendon pain, which remained unresolved after seeing multiple specialists and physical therapists. After working with an “Anatomy in Motion” provider (a similar approach to NKT), Finn is surprised to learn that breaking his left wrist three times may be contributing to the pain in his lower leg. By incorporating the NKT techniques, he is able run harder, longer, and faster with improved form and no pain. As David Weinstock describes it to Finn, “what we’re doing is essentially rebooting the computer in the brain that controls movement. In an NKT session, we interview people, then watch them move. We want to figure out what’s over-working and what’s under-working. Then you release the over-working muscles, or activate the under-working muscles, which helps re-program that dysfunctional pattern in the brain.” (126) What did not surprise me about Finn finding success with this method was that by embracing a systemic approach that views the body as a complex, integrated organism rather than isolated muscles and joints, he was able to resolve the issue.
Th – 5 mile road run a little faster than long run mile pace (~9:30 minute miles). Wanted to try race pace (8:45) but legs were still too tired from the new stress of ski touring. + climb @ Bend Rock Gym
F – 10 mile trail run with Chris, 10:05 pace
Sa – REST
Su – couple laps of ski touring on Bachelor with my beloved
Look at those tracks! Those are OUR TRACKS!!! Image: Kori Barnum
Kept the physical activity very much on the down low this week, trying to get my pesky oblique to calm down and recognizing that this is a rest space before marathon training starts. Gym climb Tuesday, easy 5 mile road run Friday…And Sunday? Started ski touring!!!
A scenic photo where Dan looks legit and I am futzing around with my bindings. image: Joe Spampinato
If this activity is new to you, it involves putting “skins” on your skis (basically ski-shaped stickers that adhere to the bottom of your skis and are covered in synthetic hairs which enable you to ski up slope without sliding down), using a cross country-style movement to ascend the slope, then tearing off the skins and skiing down. Your ski bindings are different too, allowing for the heel to be released and with risers under heel to make climbing less torturous on the calves and achilles tendons. This is my new favorite thing on the planet, and I’m not just saying that because my skis are bright orange.
A scenic photo where I look slightly more legit. image: Kori Barnum
This book has been on my nightstand for months (I tend to harbor a tall to-be-read-soon stack) and I started reading it a few weeks before the incident in Central Park. Lanham’s prose is so heartbreakingly lovely that I have had to read a few chapters, slowly savoring the gorgeous language, then put it down to rest – I feel as if I want to start reading it all over again as soon as I finish.
The implicit and reflexive biases that cause one to see an African American man with binoculars walking through a park not as a birdwatcher, but as a threat, can be unlearned. I see you, birdwatcher. I see you belong in the wild places. I hear that you have things to teach me, and I am listening. The wild places hold us all.
I am working to recognize my own biased thoughts and actions, and to replace them with openness and inclusion. And I am researching ways to further support diversity in the outdoors with my time and my economic choices. The wild places hold us all.
Why I Am A Runner: I was in cross country in high school for two years, but didn’t “love” running at the time. I signed up for it because my mom told me I had to! I got away from running and didn’t run a step for a long time after high school. I got back into it for the same reason anyone does. When I was 29 I was in not so good shape. I was not exercising and had all the wrong eating habits. On labor day weekend of that year I threw my back out and was in horrible pain for weeks after. It was that wake up call that got me exercising again, which eventually led me back to running. After much prodding and cajoling from a friend, I did my first marathon at age 38. Shortly after that the same friend sent me an article on a 50-mile race in Nevada and jokingly said “I found you your next challenge!”. I was dumbfounded to find out that people actually ran distances longer than 26 miles. I started reading more and more about ultras and was hooked on the idea. I started training and ran my first ultra, the Mt. Hood PCT 50-mile, in 2009. I then went on to volunteer at the Cascade Crest 100-mile race later that summer, and I haven’t looked back since!
I’m Pretty Awesome At: Race directing. Although I love running, I’ve never put 100% of my effort into it. I had some early successes and did ok. Like most runners, when I started it was all about “me”. I finished on the podium a couple times, and in the top third of the pack at several more races, but I never found the urge to work harder. I enjoyed the training process, and I enjoyed races, but I didn’t fall in love with competing. I finally figured out I was happy just running at my own pace and having fun along the way. Race directing fell into my lap in 2015 and I immediately knew I’d found something that I could put 100% effort into. Just like running, the harder you work at something the more success you get. But with race directing the success belonged not only to me, but everyone that raced, and to everyone that volunteered. As a runner I only made myself happy, but as a director I made a whole group of people happy, and along the way I found more joy. I also discovered that the finish line of a race was even sweeter when you were the one that made that finish line possible. Every runner that finishes gives me the same rush as finishing a race myself. But the up-side is that I get to experience that finish line feeling over and over. [Jason directs the Badger Mountain Challenge, Sole Survivor (a backyard ultra), Run With The Goats, and Jump Off Joe – and if that isn’t enough, he also co-directs other races and hosts aid stations. I got tired just typing this.]
Future Goals: Longevity. One nice upside to not pushing yourself to the max is that you don’t burn out. By taking a chunk of time off from training every year, and by not pushing to 100%, I’ve been able to run ultras for over 12 years now. I’ve had plenty of injuries and had to take time off, but each time it happened I came back smarter and better prepared than I was before the injury. I have finished one 100-miler every year since 2011 for a total of 9 buckles (and hopefully a tenth buckle will be earned this year). I like to call it my “stupid streak”. I’d like to be able to continue this streak as long as possible.
Random Fun Fact: I got into Western States in 2015 on ONE ticket! It was the first time I’d tried to get in and I couldn’t believe it when I found out my name had been drawn. In 2015 entrants with only one ticket had less than a 5% chance of getting picked (since then the odds of getting in on one ticket have obviously gotten WAY steeper). Finishing that race on the track in Auburn was one of the highlights of my running career. I’ve tried to go back every year since then but not had the same luck yet. Next year will be my 6th attempt to get back to Squaw Valley. Wish me luck!
