On the first day of Christmas...

... my doctor gave to me, some Cortisone in my right knee.

Well, I hope everyone had a merry Christmas!!

This year I was fortunate enough to not only get a new wetsuit from my family, but also a great new CycleOps Trek bike trainer which is pretty great considering the weather is crap and I can use it anytime during the day while watching movies!  Brilliant!

So since the Philadelphia marathon i've been battling serious knee problems.  It finally got to the point where i scheduled an appointment with the Rochester Rhinos knee surgeon.  Went in last Wednesday and temporarily settled for getting my right knee shot up with a lidocaine / cortisone shot.  

I'll tell you what... at first when the lidocaine was working, my knee felt like gold.  But after that wore off, the pain was incredible for the next two days.  Only now, about a week later, my knee is starting to really feel better, although i'm still icing and taking my anti inflammatories.  I've also resigned myself to the fact that i won't be doing any serious run training until probably March.  A questo punto, its probably the only way to make sure this problem won't continue for months and months and make racing Ironman impossible.  Not to mention ruin any chance i have at being successful this next season.

More likely than not, I will probably not do any more marathons previous to the Ironman due to the fact I'm apparently at risk for physically falling apart.  If i couldn't finish or even compete in Ironman, there would be no words as to the devastation i'd be feeling.

So here i am, cycling on my trainer and swimming.  The team i swim with here in Canandaigua did some stroke evaluation video taping on Tuesday which we reviewed afterwards, and I'm happy to say that i've improved a lot since the start... in every respect.  There's a "community meet" on Monday that we're going to swim in just to get some times, so it should be interesting.

Due to the fact that i'm RARELY cycling outside right now, and because i'm far to lazy to switch my computer from the front wheel to the back of my bike, I will be calculating different things when I ride my trainer now.  

1.  Mainly i'll be keeping track of the minutes / hours I've been on it.

2.  I have a heart rate monitor that i'll use to make sure i'm in my ideal workout zones.

3.  I took a look at all my old logs, and found that my average speed for a ride was usually around 18-19 mph depending on the route.  So for the sake of getting "mileage" out of my trainer rides, I decided that i'd assign 17 mph as my average distance per hour of riding.  I realize this might be a little low, but i'd rather claim a lower training distance over time than say i've been riding further than what is actually true.

17 miles / 60 minutes = .283 miles per minute

I guess thats all for now really.  Now that i'm not a complete cripple i will hopefully have more interesting things to update from here on out... although, like i said, running will have to wait until March rolls around.

Philadelphia Marathon!

Ok ok ... so the race was what, almost 4 weeks ago?  Yes, i've been slacking when it comes to updating... so here we go.  I'll give the update in this and the subsequent post or two!

So we made the half hour trek to the starting area before the sun even came up over Philadelphia.  To say it was cold would be an understatement.  At race start the temperature was around 25 degrees which means it was substantially colder an hour + previous to that.

Finally made it to the staging area with the tens of thousands of others, i checked my bag into one of the many school buses lined up in front of the "rocky steps" and immediately went to stand in line at one of the port-a-potties.  Standing in line, at least 50 runners deep, i anxiously looked at my watch, counting the seconds until i'd have to say "screw it" and run to the start corral.   Fortunately, at about 7:00 am i was able to hop in and do my business (mind you, start time was scheduled for 7:02.)

Ran to the corral, hurdled 2 barriers, squeezed through a fence and finally found the group i needed to be with: the 3:20 pacers.

The race started off around 7:10 and the pace seems VERY pedestrian.  Painfully so.  

For the first ten miles, the race went without incident.  It was very easy, actually, considering i hadn't run the 4 weeks leading up to the race due to a stress fracture and tendon damage in my right foot.  

Between mile 10 and 11 is when i essentially fell off the physical health cliff.

First my right foot started flaring up.  Initially it was a small ache which grew into shooting pain from the tendon and 5th metatarsal point.  If that were all, i may have been fine for the remaining 16 miles, but unfortunately, my luck isn't THAT good.

At the halfway mark i saw Eric and Adam, tossed my hat, and let them in on the fact that the remainder of the race would be a struggle due to pain.

About mile 14 is when my little friend, who i lovingly named "marathon buddy," came to join me. 

This blister made me completely forget about the pain coming from the rest of my foot.  With every step... shooting pain.

As if that wasn't bad enough, an old soccer injury flared up and my right knee became the source of almost crippling pain at about mile 16.  It turns out i had somehow irritated my IT Band and the combination of the injuries nearly caused my right leg to crumble beneath me on more than a few occasions.

I gladly let the 3:20 pacer group drop me around the halfway mark just because i knew if i kept that pace my injuries may force me to not finish at all.  I wasn't winded, cramped, or anything like that.  I was purely worried that my foot would fail me... of course, i wasn't experiencing the other ailments at the time. 

At the 20 mile marker i checked my watch and realized that i had to keep a 10 minute mile pace to keep my overall time under 4 hours.  That became my new goal.  Even after not having run for years i could run 6.2 miles in well under an hour... but this would be a challenge.

I walked hills and aide stations, and hobbled the rest of the way.

When all was said and done, i finished the race 3:58:30.

Now... some race highlights!!

-  I must have heard the Rocky theme AT LEAST a dozen times throughout the race.  It was great!

-  The aide stations were organized far better than those at Baltimore (however, it was so cold that i nearly fell a few times because of ice that had formed from spilled water.)

-  The runners were very supportive when they saw i was in obvious pain.  Many actually stopped to see if i needed help for my knee.  This probably would have ever happened in Baltimore.

-  Nearly EVERY street was lined with people.  From downtown to Manayunk and back... it was great to have all the support.

-  I learned from my past mistakes at Baltimore and fueled my body far better.  I didn't cramp, i upped my sodium intake and carb / calorie intake (thank you Hammer Nutrition.)   I wore a fuel belt where i had 4 hammer gels mixed with water, 4 endurolite tablets for my sodium intake, and then a healthy mix of water and gatorade helped a lot.

If i hadn't been injured and if i had actually been able to train for the race, i think that i would have easily qualified for Boston on this course.  It was very flat, fast, and easy...  maybe next year...

I ended up driving back to New York later that day, and for the next few days felt like absolute garbage.  I didn't get a chance to take an ice bath so that was a big factor in my post race soreness.

To this day, my knee is still hurting, so until further notice, only swimming and lifting for this guy.

Race Morning.

4:30am.

27 degrees (feels like 20,) according to weather.com

tried to get to sleep before 11 pm, but it was a restless night.  woke up before the alarm and now i'm about to eat and get ready.

race start is 7:04 am.

here we go.

What I Want For Christmas...

Race Weekend Coming Up!

It's been a tough week.  

Hell... it's been a tough few weeks.

I still haven't run due to the fear that the pain will flare up and any chance of me running the marathon this weekend will be shot.  Great way to go day to day huh?

On top of that, due to chlorination problems at the pool, I haven't been able to get my swim workout in since last Friday.  ALSO, since we have snow on the ground and the weather has been crap, I've had to settle for cycling sessions at the gym... which make me want to rip my hair out and stick bamboo chutes under my finger nails.  Ugh.

I really really really REALLY hope my foot holds up this weekend, to the point where I feel like I can continue running from there on out.  If this 3 weeks off has made me antsy and insane, I cant imagine being laid up even longer, waiting for this ailment to "heal."

So fingers crossed.

Off to Philadelphia early on Saturday morning, to the race expo that afternoon, then up at 4:30 am on Sunday in prep for the 7 am race start.

Hopefully i'll beat my time from Baltimore, despite the injury and nearly month off from training.  

A 3:30 finish?  We'll see...

Not Happy. Not Even A Little Bit.

So nearly through the 2nd full week of not being able to run.

My guess is that how i'm feeling now is how McCain felt as a POW.  Ok, well not to that degree, but helpless, miserable, alone, TORTURED... 

Inappropriate Nate.  Inappropriate. 

I've been taking the medication prescribed to me, and overall, i feel like the foot is feeling better.  But it always seems that when i start to get excited or my confidence comes back, the injury insists on being a bastard and rearing its ugly head.  

Ugh.

So next weekend is the Philadelphia marathon, and naturally, I'm going to do it despite my physical condition.  The goal originally was to qualify for Boston, but now, it's to beat my time at Baltimore / finish.  Essentially, its a half and hour difference in goal time.

Need that finishers medal!

It's remarkable how much running became a part of my life, and now that i'm not able to, theres a noticeable void.  On top of it all, i can't eat as much since i'm not burning the same calories (i.e. no more 8,000 - 10,000 calorie consumption days) and i'm lethargic as hell.  The weather has been crap which rules out cycling outdoors.  Swimming is, well, swimming, and only takes up about 8 hours a week.  And i'm afraid that without the running and cycling to lean me out, my lifting routine is going to bulk me up to a point that will harm my performance instead of help it.  

So yeah.  Thats where i'm at in my life right now.  

I haven't been this frustrated in a long time.  

Maybe with Obama in office, stem cell research can finally manufacture new parts for me so that my body can keep up with my desire to compete and succeed.

Something New!!!

So our story begins last Monday.

It was a pleasant early November day.  Unseasonably warm, in the mid 60's.  Obviously, i would have never forgiven myself if i had passed up this opportunity to run in stellar weather.  So, run i did.

Now, i wish i hadn't.  Oh how things would be different.

About a mile into my short 4 mile run, i felt a pop in my right foot and shooting pain that lasted only a second, and then settled into an intense ache.  I'll let you guess what i did after experiencing this...

... did you guess yet??

Yes, that is correct.  I opted to finish my run.  

The pain kept getting worse the further i went, surprise surprise... but i still managed to finish the 4 miles in 27 minutes flat.  

Swam that night and afterwards, while in the shower, nearly collapsed from the shooting pain.  I'm the type of person who avoids doctors at all costs, because more likely than not, i'll just ignore what they have to say and do what i want anyways.  But this time around, something was different.  Luckily, a good friend of mine who is on the Masters swim team happens to be a Podiatrist.  He checked out my foot on Tuesday night and said it was most likely a strain / partial tear of the peroneus longus tendon, or a possible stress fracture of the 5th metatarsal. 

Awesome.

Essentially, he said "you should probably rest between 1-2 months to allow it to heal, but knowing you, ice it, take some anti-inflammatories, and try and get through the Philadelphia marathon in 3 weeks.  Take some time of afterwards."

Finally, advice i can take!

I went to my orthopedic surgeon the following morning and he told me i have tendon damage and a possible stress fracture as well.  However, his advice was to go to physical therapy, do absolutely NO running until cleared, and rest as much as possible.  Oh, i'll get right on that!

So, since the diagnosis, I've behaved and refrained from running.  It sucks.  A lot.  My twice a day cocktail of prescribed anti inflammatories and pain pills help a bit.  

I actually just got back from an interview trip to Pittsburgh, so that took my mind off things for a bit.  Now, back in New York, all I want to do is train.  

For now, i think i can control myself and behave... but i don't know how much longer this can last.

Cortisone shot anyone??