Back on the Bike, If Only Temporarily

(UPDATED: MISSING PICS ADDED!!)

I was a week removed from the marathon and the legs were feeling fresh. Instead of subjecting the knees to a light jog, I figured I'd get in a nice, zero-impact bike ride. After all, it was Fall, the leaves were changing colors and the trails would look simply amazing. Aside from the fact that I don't have any winter cycling gear, thus numbering my outdoor cycling days, I hadn't been on the bike since the day of the DC Tri, six weeks earlier. Damn marathon training...

But I was stoked to be back on the bike, so off I went...

Somewhat Earlier in on the Mt. Vernon Trail.

Mt. Vernon Trail

The first leg of the ride started just North of Georgetown, down-to and over the Key Bridge, East on the Mt. Vernon Trail and into Old Towne Alexandria, where I bummed around town exploring a bit.

 Approaching the tunnel.

 

Looking back @ Tony Coming out of Tunnel.

After a quick "so this is how nice Georgetown would look with just a little effort" realization, I hopped back on the trail and continued on.

A couple of my favorite photos from the day...

 

I love this photo.

The destination all along was George Washington's house, Mount Vernon. I'd ridden the bike out to it before on training rides, but had never actually bought the ticket and seen the property. Today I bought the ticket. The house itself, architecturally speaking, was pretty crappy. It seemed very "plastic" and cheap in its restorations. Kind of a disappointment.

George's House

The grounds, however, were pretty cool and definitely worth the dismount!

 

 

But "uh oh," queue the creeping knee pain. By the time I was done walking ALL of the grounds in my sidi dominator's and ready to get back on the bike, my knee was letting me know that I had made a mistake. The whole ride back it continued to become more and more aggravated. The lower my cadence, however, the less pain I felt. Cool! After a while though, it was getting worse than "just uncomfortable" and I was forced to go into a combination of one-legged pedaling drills and coasting - not ideal. An otherwise great, HR-monitor-free, 40-mile ride was spoiled by that damn knee.

Knee-pain Documented Through Facial Expressions

On the other side of the coin, it means lots of time in the pool and some extra time to hit the weights. Sweet.

Basic Bike Mechanic Know-How FAIL.

Annnnnd here's me!

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Tragedy Strikes the Detroit Marathon

This is pretty tough news.

"In the span of just 16 minutes, three men collapsed and died while running the 32nd Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon -- the first deaths in the event since 1994.

The first to collapse was Daniel Langdon, 36, of Laingsburg, at 9:02 a.m., said Rich Harshbarger, vice president of consumer marketing for the Detroit Media Partnership, which handles business operations for the Free Press and Detroit News. Langdon was on Michigan Avenue between the 11- and 12-mile markers.

Rick Brown, 65, of Marietta, Ohio, collapsed at 9:17 a.m. near where Langdon went down, Harshbarger said. And Jon Fenlon, 26, of Waterford collapsed at about 9:18 a.m., just after finishing the half-marathon in 1:53:37, he said.

Sunday's fatalities were the first in the race since 1994, when veteran runner Samuel Grafton, 42, of Troy, died of a heart attack at the 22-mile mark. Grafton's death was the only other recorded death in the race's history."

I also later found out, another marathoner had collapsed at the Baltimore, MD marathon and also passed away.

People often say that running a marathon is crazy, or stupid or something else derogatory. Whether it's because they truly believe those things or are simply shielding themselves from having to look such a challenge directly in the eyes is topic for another time. That aside, running a marathon is no cake-walk. People often go from a routine that consists of running 2-4 miles 3x/week to logging upwards of 40 miles/week. Not only are their muscles new to this level of assault, but their heart is as well. And often times, it seems as though it is the heart which suffers the most and ultimately leads to the people collapsing and dying.

Dr. Donald Redelmeier

Dr. Donald A. Redelmeier did a great study on the mortality risk of running marathons, which you can read HERE. To sum it up, he observed results for 3,292,268 runners on 750 separate races (upwards of 14 million hours of exercise). He reported 26 observed deaths due to sudden cardiac arrest, equivalent to a rate of 0.8 deaths per every 100,000 participants. The rate for the Detroit Marathon was roughly 1.7.

It's hard not to be saddened by the news. However, instead of feeling bad about it, I want to look at it from a different perspective. Think about this - these three men had trained their minds and bodies for months to participate in what might have been on the biggest challenges they would ever face in their lives. They sacrificed, they suffered, they endured. The Detroit Marathon was their celebration. It was their reward for all of that hard work. At the end of the day, while it ultimately ended in tragedy for these three, I'm honored to have been able to run along side of them.

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It Puts the Icy-Hot on its Skin

Well, the race is over but my body wants to be sure I'm not thinking about doing anything crazy like THAT again anytime soon.

Don't worry body - I won't.

Have you ever been near the end of a long workout and found your mind to be in one place but your body to be in a completely different one? Often times, my training keeps my mind and my body on similar wavelengths. I mean, it's not often that one trains w/o the other, right? Every once in a while though, particularly in races or extra long training rides/runs, I find my head to be just the slightest bit fresher than the rest of my body. And apparently I'm not alone...

It's hard not to pull for this guy. Jens Voigt is AWESOME.

I had that sort of realization on Sunday at the race. Since I surrendered early on to the reality of my unhealed knee and foot injuries, I stuck with my friend and ran the marathon completely at his pace. Since his pace was slower than where I trained, this meant that mentally I got to take a break from what I'm used to - SWEET.

I enjoyed the entire race - all of it! My mind stayed fresh absolutely all the way through. I could take in all of the sites, converse with lots of runners throughout the day and was absolutely all smiles whenever I ran across friends and family.

But still, I had just moved 26.2 miles and my body was making damn sure I didn't forget it.

Aches and pains were quick to set in. The most debilitating of said pains were the over-use injury that had just crept in 2 weeks before the race on my right knee. That's the one that hit me first, hit me early, and hit me hard. From very limited past-experience, icing helps, but not nearly as much as it helps a sore or strained muscle. I tried Advil, but that really doesn't feel like it's doing much to help me. Icy hot, however, is quite nice! My coworkers, however, HATE me for it.

And so begins the long road to recovery. My next event is the Detroit Turkey Trot - Thanksgiving morning back in Detroit, MI. I don't plan to run for the first time until at least 2 weeks after the finish of the marathon, but will gradually re-incorporate my swim workouts. I need to get smart about incorporating more weight training and knee-specific exercises in there so that I can get back into things with a more solid foundation. Knee injuries suck, and I want to get this behind me as soon as possible.

Until then, however, I'm going to enjoy the crap out of going to the Wilson Aquatic Center for the next two weeks and using their hot tub!

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The Detroit Marathon Race Report

It's been over a year since the race itself, but here I am just now getting to the race-reports. I'll start by uploading a shit-ton of photos and filling in the blanks as I find the time.

Myself, Elaine and Javier with the infamous Hal Higdon!

Foreshadowing? You know you're in trouble when 

your knee looks like this BEFORE a race!

I've never run from one country to another before, nor have I ever tried 

to smuggle something across the border while competing in a race!

My gear, morning of the race

Race morning at the starting line

Annnnnd... we're off!

Water station already?? Yeah right.

This 1+ mile up-hill/down-hill was my early indicator 

that my knee would not behave today

The view from Canada!

Running back through the tunnel, under the Detroit River

Crossing the border, except this time under water!

Emerging from the tunnel!

I think this was my first water-stop, nearly 7-8 miles in.

Great music along the way, including this jazz/rock band!

And this Spanish fellow and his nino!

This highschool drum-line was AWESOME!

But not as awesome as this dude handing out M&Ms!!

How could I resist? Hint: I couldn't!

Hula-hooping cheerleaders!

Crossing over into Belle Isle

The end is in sight! Aim for the tall buildings!!

Part of our awesome support team!

In the (lack of) words of Undercover Brother, "Solid"

Hangin' on for dear life.

Oh so close!...

Sweet relief, we did it!

DONE!

Our spaceman blankets and finishers medals, post-race

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Last Minute Thoughts - Ambition vs. Reality

Perhaps it's a bit late to be completely honest with myself, but better late than never, right?

The right knee is an issue. It has not healed. It's clear something is wrong, although I'm pretty confident it is only an over-use injury and not something more serious, so I've mentally committed to run, no, participate in the marathon this weekend. I will not go for the 3:59:59 time that I was hoping for, and paced for, throughout training. That would set me up at risk of more serious injury far more so than simply jogging along.

However, all is not lost! My friend Javier has previously committed to running the marathon as well. Since he was training at a slower pace, I've decided I will stick with him at his pace throughout the entire race.

The goal now is just to finish, being careful to not go out of my way to screw my knee up any further. There is shame, yes, since I was preparing to do a lot more than just finish. But, oh well. Instead of focusing on running hard I can sit back and enjoy the festivities.

On a side note, I want to wish luck to Bryan, who is running the Bay State Marathon, and Andrea, who is running the Detroit Half Marathon.

Way to go, guys!!

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How NOT to Train for the Detroit Marathon

Well, well, well... It is less than a week before my first marathon and I can count the injuries on two hands. Needless to say, I should be enjoying my taper period instead of icing, massaging, elevating, medicating and worrying. Lets hit the checklist:

• Left Knee - IT Band Syndrome? It only hurts on the longer runs, and it hurts more the further I go. The distance run is also directly proportional to the time it is aggravated after the fact. 
  

• Right Knee - IT Band Syndrome? Much like the left knee, but VERY recent and much more painful. The left knee is bearable, but the right knee is new and definitely a tough mental hurdle. Hmm, second most troublesome injury, but not by much. F me if I have to dish out another $17 for another one of those damn knee straps.
  

• Right Big Toe - It hurts, as if I stubbed it and it's bruised on the inside. Been in pain since the 18.5 last Tuesday. Not bad, but not good - definitely bearable though.
  

• Both Calves -Recovering from being severely strained. Strained on a 14-miler a couple weeks earlier. I stopped for 60 seconds to grab an energy gel out of my CamelBak around mile 10 and had to fidget with it b/c I had never used the zipper before. I kept walking, but my calves locked up pretty nastily. This has never happened to me before. I stretched them out, but they still felt like rocks. I finished the run going hard b/c my ego got the best of me and I wanted to come in under a 9 min/mile. Oops? Lesson learned.
  

• Left Foot - Outside arch of foot, about a 1/2 inch off of ground, but closer towards my heal. Feels like a ligament strain and doesn't seem to hurt that much when I run, but is a BITCH after the run when trying to walk around. I find myself walking on the toes of my left foot to try not to bend it. Ice seems to help. This is the most troublesome injury because it does not seem muscle related. Grrr.

The calf injury was a HUGE problem. It kept me off the trail for a week, and running short-mileage runs for the week following. Because of this, I missed my 20-miler, arguably the most important training run of the whole program. I also missed the build-week leading up to it. I was supposed to start my taper right when my calves felt good enough to continue, but I couldn't do that knowing that I hadn't done a run above 14 miles in almost a month. I HAD to get one more long run in. Had to.

So, on Tuesday (the 6th) I woke up at 4:30am and dragged my ass down to the trail to start get in an 18.5 mile run before work. Sweet.

It sucked.

This is when the foot injury started. Of course, thanks to my friend Mr. Advil, I didn't feel anything until about an hour after the run. Long story not-as-long, I was on my feet the rest of the day for work and didn't get to do the cherished beer & chocolate post-run celebration (great idea, lynn!). Probably not smart. Poor rest, no icing = baaaaad.

While I should probably can the idea of doing a marathon given all of the recent setbacks and poor training, I'm not sure I can do that. We'll rest up this week, continue to tackle some baby-lengthed runs and focus all efforts towards being able to put the best effort/performance forward this Sunday.

Ice. Advil. Rest. Sunday.

My goal was 3:59:59, but I'd settle for a successful race (finish without totally bombing) if you asked me today. Hopefully by Saturday night I can look myself in the mirror and say, "3:59:59 - you've got a shot."

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