Six Weeks

Six weeks seems like a long time to take off of running, in fact I've been putting six weeks of for almost six months now. In the beginning of December, 2012 I began to notice a pain in my right tibia. The pain would come and go, but it was very localized, I could pin point it with my index finger. As time has gone on it's progressively gotten a little worse each month. It makes me cringe if I press on it, it throbs sometimes when I lay in bed at night and there hasn't been a run where I haven't noticed it.
I haven't had insurance for almost 2 years, so an X-Ray or an MRI have been out of the question.  I had originally planned on taking some time off to let my body heal when we got to Ashland, but I was stressed from the move and from being unemployed (running is my escape from those things). I was also excited about the new trails and landscape. I just couldn't bring myself to take a break because I finally felt connected to my home and I needed to be out in the woods.
This morning I woke up and read Ana Frost's reasons for dropping out of Transvulcania and I finally realized that whether I have a tibial stress fracture or not I need to let myself heal before it becomes a more debilitating injury.
When we moved to Ashland I made a promise to myself to relax and to let things be; to live life at slower pace. I have been tested a lot lately, but I've been making a solid effort not to take myself or anyone else too seriously. I just let people be and let negativity roll off my back. Everything is what it is; including this situation.
It's never easy for a runner to take time off, but every now and then it needs to be done. So, for the next six weeks I'm going to be riding my bike around this beautiful hilly town, doing strengthening exercises in my living room and reading more books (about running, of course). I know I will come off of this injury a better, stronger runner.


I'll leave you with a song that has never felt more relevant:

Week Ending 05/05/13

Sunday - 01:20/ 1,500ft - Down through town, out through Lithia Park, up Bandersnatch, home. Easy effort.

Monday - :45/ 1,300ft - Easy effort around local trails.

Tuesday - A.m. -  1:52/ 1,900ft - Long (ish) Down through town. Up through Lithia. Out towards Strawberry lane, back home

                P.m. - :30/ 0ft - Easy/Recovery on the road

Wednesday - 01:27/ 1,200ft  - Group run with RVR. Steady pace. Ran to RVR, then up through some local trails, up Bandersnatch and down some back trail I've never been on.

Thursday - :50/ 1,400ft - From my apt. to Todd Oredson woods and up looking glass, down chesire/ white rabbit.

Friday - :50/ 800ft - Very easy. Waterline etc.

Saturday - 01:00/ 1,00ft - Had to sneak this run in on my lunch break. Ended up being a tempo effort out Lithia and up Bandersnatch etc.

Totals:

Time - 08:34
Elevation Gain - 9,100 feet

I am slowly working on getting my over all mileage back up, but I'm still dealing with some unresolved pain in my right shin that has been lingering since December. The good news is I love running here. I can't think of anywhere else I would rather live. I feel at peace out here in the trees.

I'll leave you with some pictures:

Near Emigrant lake

Ashland from the trails

Diesel air swimming 

Week ending 04/27/2013

I've really been enjoying exploring out here in Ashland. I started keeping track of my time and elevation gain this week (thanks to my Suunto). I don't know my mileage because I don't have a GPS and most of the trails I've been running aren't marked. I'm slightly curious about what kind of distance I've been covering, but then again, I don't really care.
I've been having a lot of fun with running, but I only run when I want to.
Here's what my week looked like:


Sunday - :58/ 1,000ft

Monday - 1:10/ 1,900ft

Tuesday - 2:00/ 3,200ft

Wednesday - 1:30/ 2,000ft

Thursday/ Friday - Off

Saturday - 1:10/ 1,500ft

Totals:
Time - 6:48
Total Elevation Gain - 9,600 feet

varied terrain and a different town

"I don't understand why more elites don't train here in Tucson. You get a lot of gain and A TON of technical terrain. I mean, this is a damn good work out!"

I'm not sure how many times I said that to my friends in Tucson, but this past week I believe that quandary solved itself. For instance, today I ran out of my apartment door here in Ashland, 2 miles down the street to downtown, up a side trail, then up and up and up. All runnable single track. I ended up running for 2 hours with over 3,000ft EG (quite a bit more gain than I would have gotten on any 2 hour run in Sabino Canyon IMHO).

Now, I know what you're probably thinking: "Single track? Runnable? How is that even comparable to technical mountainous terrain?"

It's not! Technical terrain is awesome. It's fun. It's hard. It's beautiful. But I started to think about training and it's relativity to what I'm going to be racing. How often would I race on terrain similar to that which I trained on in Tucson? Never! Well, maybe, if I try Zane Gray or something gnarly like that one year, but the chances of me racing on Tucson-esque terrain are slim to none. Even the races I completed in Arizona weren't technical and my lack of running efficiency became very apparent, especially on a smooth course like OP50.

After joining the RVR Wednesday evening group run here in Ashland, which is a pretty relaxed pace, I realized just how inefficient my leg turn over and speed has become. 

Even today I would stop to catch my breathe at vistas and proclaim "Shit! I'm out of shape!" And yes. I do feel out of shape running here.

What I'm getting at is that I finally feel like I understand why people train in places like Ashland or other running friendly West Coast towns. It seems like the most "popular" or "competitive" ultras are held on somewhat smooth undulating trails with a substantial amount of vert and maybe a bit of technical terrain sporadically throughout to mix things up. So why not train with specificity in mind? It's tougher than you'd think.

I am not that experienced. I never claim to be. I've only been running off and on for 3 years, so these are just some thoughts I've been having on the run and it's nice to get them out there in the blogosphere. 

All of that being said, I just love it here!

I LOVE IT! And I love running again.

I can't think of anywhere else I would rather live. Not just because you can run from anywhere in town onto beautiful forest trails and up into the mountains, but the whole community here is awesome, just like I imagined. There's a Farmer's Market every Tuesday morning. A Co-Op that provides healthy organic and wholesome food to the community at affordable prices. Even the restaurant I work at sources everything locally and makes everything in-house (besides our bread products which are purchased from the bakery about a mile away). All of the businesses here seem to support each other and though it may be too early to tell, it feels like residents do the same. There's also an arts walk on the first Friday of every month where a lot of the businesses provide free wine tasting. And that's just what we know about so far!

It was worth the gamble in every respect. 

I'll leave you with some pictures from the move and our new home:

I'm home

Blackett's Ridge

One last little thing before I go.
Tonight I broke my PR to the top of Blackett's Ridge!
Blackett's is probably my favorite little run in Tucson. You get a decent amount of elevation gain in a short distance and it's pretty technical. It's a great route if you want a tough work out but don't have much free time or if you have a bunch of free time and want to do some gnarly hill repeats. Either way, you get a quality run with great views.
I've been trying to hit 30 minutes from the SCVC to the end of the trail for months, my previous PR being 31:30.
Well my friends, tonight I made it to the top from the parking lot in 29:45. Boom!

So happy :)

Adios Amigos!

Shopping local, a break and goodbye

This will be my final post in Arizona and I just want to say a couple things about shopping locally here in Tucson, the much needed break from structured training I'm about to take, and a farewell to all the great people I've met down here.

First off, Shop local! I worked the Summit Hut spring sale about a week ago and it really got me thinking about the difference in service and product knowledge you get by shopping locally and the importance of keeping your money in your community. Yes, you might save $15-$20 by buying a pair of shoes online, but what you don't get is the personal interaction, knowledge and attention. Each person who works at Summit Hut is an outdoors person, knows the product, is trained on fit and function and can help you get outfitted to achieve all of your goals. And to all of you local trail runners out here in Tucson having trouble with black toe nails and blisters: Go to Summit Hut. Have an open mind. Let them measure your feet the way they are trained to and feel the difference for yourself.

Now, if you follow me/ my blog then you probably know that I dropped out of Mesquite Canyon this past weekend. I've been having bad issues with stomach sloshing that I'm working on addressing, but furthermore I think I've reached a burn out point. I never really felt the same joy running here as I did back home in the first place and that has been even more apparent the past few months.

Don't get me wrong, I have met some awesome people here. I've met a couple that I'm sure will be lifelong friends. Steve Bagg is talking about coming up to pace me for Pine to Palm 100 in September and Mike Walker is talking about crewing me there. Both Steve and Mike have become two of my best friends and training partners. Frozen toes and bonks galore. Sion has been awesome too, I wish I could have spent more time with him.

Dallas took me out on phoneline for my first time right after I had finished smoking my morning cigarette my first month here. He showed me the trails that I ended up running on every day, I thought I might pass out that first time and he said at the end "Well, that's the slow guys version". He also met me for a double BCL on a Saturday night when I didn't have any friends, even though he wasn't really feeling up for it, and I'm pretty sure we got stalked by a Mountain Lion at the Basin. 

Renee pointed me in the right direction when I wanted to stop drinking again and was looking for resources, even though that only lasted 3 months. That's fine too, because I love beer.

The infamous Mike Duer has been awesome with training advice, gear debates and night runs. Ken Greco with all of his ultra stories, good vibe, and phenomenal aid stations. Chris Avery;  once I ran into him at Mt. Wrightson, double headed ax in hand, he was barreling down old baldy trail, came around the corner and scared the shit out of some unsuspecting little child. Priceless.

When I first got here I posted repetitive questions about GPS on the TTR forum and Tom responded with  “Anybody else tired of this thread?”

“Man!” I said to my wife “That Gormley guy is a dick!”

But, he ended up being one of the coolest dudes I've ever met. The most memorable time I have of Tom was when Me and Mike Duer were heading up Esperero (Tom hadn't shown up for the run) only to hear a “yoddle lay hoo hoooo!!!!” from the top of Cardiac gap. We looked up the switchbacks and lo and behold there was Tom in all his glory; yoddle echoing through the canyons scaring off the cougars.

Everybody has been awesome. I got to spend more time with some than others, but I enjoyed everyone's company and while I've been vocal about how I feel, I never took a step for granted here.

Some of the routes in Tucson are both challenging and breathtaking: Mt. Wrightson, Romero Pass, Palisades, Box Camp, Esperero. I'm surprised more elite guys don't train here because of the vertical gain and technical terrain. The problem for me is that I never really felt connected to the mountains here. I've always been afraid to explore because of cougars, rattle snakes, lack of shade, lack of water, and a general disconnect between myself and the desert environment. Not that I haven't had some amazing runs, I have. But it doesn't bring me the same kind of peace and joy that running through the mud and rain gives me. I miss running under thick evergreen canopies, past lakes and rivers, I miss feeling like I'm home.

I spent a lot of time training hard down here. Trying to get faster. Trying to place in races. And I think I lost sight of a few things in the process. It wasn't a waste, it's just a small part of something greater. The whole experience of moving to Tucson has been a growing experience that both my wife and I agree we wouldn't change (even though we're a year behind on baby making now;).

Right before I decided to drop out of Mesquite Canyon, I spent a half hour walking, looking around at the views, taking deep breaths, touching the rocks and plants around me. And for that half hour I felt at peace. It was what I had missed in myself. I didn't want to run. I didn't want to race anybody. I didn't want to be hot. I didn't want to be in pain. I didn't want to be uncomfortable. I didn't want to be stressed. I didn't want to win. I just wanted to stop and enjoy my life. So I did and I was just fine with that.

I hope that taking a break from structured training and racing will bring back whatever I lost in me. I think that the move to Ashland is going to help tremendously. I'm ready for the change of pace and I'm ready to be somewhere that feels like home.

So this is goodbye, Arizona.

Thank you all for your support, advice and company.

See ya out there!
Wherever “there” is.