A
few updates...
Soldier
Field 10 Mile
I
ran the Soldier Field 10 Mile in
Chicago on May 23, now over a month ago.
I didn’t really feel impelled to write a race report, as I wasn’t really
racing. Rather, it was a run (albeit of
high quality in my relatively unfit state) and a great opportunity for me to
catch up with old friends from the Chicago running community. I ran just under 59 minutes, matching strides
with my good friend Dan’s dad, Dave Walters, who is also my former coach (circa
2008-2009) and an age-group stud (perennially top-3 at Boston, Chicago, New
York).
Running
with Dave was a treat for a couple of reasons.
First, rarely do I get to enjoy a race from inside the race while not actually racing. Second, Dave is one of those infectiously enthusiastic
souls, especially when it comes to his métier—running. (Dan didn’t fall far from the tree.) His encouragement of pretty much every person
we ran near or passed was pretty exceptional.
After four decades of running at a high level, Dave has the pacing thing
pretty dialed. This meant that we were
pretty much mowing people down the whole race.
We were gunning for sub-59 and a negative split and had no real trouble
attaining that goal. At 58 years old,
Dave revealed he is thinking about the 60+ 10-mile U.S. (or World?, I forget)
Record in a few years.
Passing
runners steadily, and being passed by no one, we eventually caught the lead
woman, Lauren Kersjes (a young lady from Downers Grove, who appears to have run collegiately
at Syracuse), who was stuck in no-(wo)man’s land. Dave made it his mission to help her dip
under 59 minutes. He used every trick in
the encouragement playbook, coaxing her along with lines of the “one more hard
mile” or “just 5 minutes of work” ilk; insisting that she stay directly between
him and me as we ran three abreast. This
was profoundly cool to see, but also almost embarrassing, as I began to wonder
if we were just annoying her. But this
was Dave’s bus; I was just along for the ride.
True
to Dave’s metronomic abilities, we ran 58:49. Lauren would dip under as
well, with a 58:58. Post-race, while catching up with old running
friends, I imbibed some free 312 and some Daisy Cutter (a Chicago favorite of mine)
that I had snuck in. No cool down. 12 miles (with warmup) was plenty for the day.
For
some unknown reason, as I rode my bike down to the race that morning, my right
ankle had been a bit tight, sort of on top on the lateral side. An abbreviated warmup and fast-ish run
aggravated it, and after a few test runs in the following days, I actually had
to take several days off to allow whatever I had tweaked to heal. This was in addition to planned time off for
treatment of my ongoing toe /tenosynovitis /fluid build-up issue and for a
family holiday in southern Africa.
A
Break and the Injury Saga
As
much as two years ago, I had begun planning to run the Comrades Marathon this
year. I had some extended family who
were interested in going on a photographic safari in southern Africa, so we
decided to plan a trip in conjunction with the Comrades. The thought was that I would need a week or
two of recovery post-race anyway, so the infeasibility of running while on
safari would make sense. As things
turned out, I was not able to run the Comrades, but the wheels were already in
motion on the vacation component of the trip, so off to southern Africa I
went. It was of course a bummer to not
be able to train for several weeks (I did hop on a treadmill briefly once...), right after I had begun building back to
consistent running, but all things considered, not a huge deal. And the trip was really relaxing and
rewarding in other ways.
 |
| Running on a solar-powered treadmill in the bush. |
The trip
also afforded a chance to try another treatment option in the healing process
for my toe. Most recently, on April 7,
we had drained the cyst-like fluid in my toe and injected platelet-rich plasma
(PRP), trying to stimulate healing of whatever was still causing inflammation
down there (the fluid is a byproduct of inflammation). However, once I began running again in early
May, the fluid came back in my second toe.
It seemed at least possible that the fluid coming back was a result of
the PRP, since that is a pro-inflammatory process. The PRP may have done some good, but we don’t
really know because there were multiple variables in play.
The
next option was to drain my toe again, and possibly inject a steroid (not into
the tendon, but rather, just next to it, inside the tendon sheath) to shut down
the inflammatory process. The risks with
a steroidal injection aren’t too bad, but after talking over options with my
doctor, we decided to just drain the toe this time—no cortisone. I reasoned that we could try the
draining-plus-steroidal-injection option next if need be; but if simply draining
the toe and giving it a couple weeks off (strategically timed with the trip to
Africa) would do the trick, that would be best.
Unfortunately,
the fluid came back in my toe pretty quickly, perhaps aided by some major
pressure differentials while flying trans-Atlantic to Joburg. So now we know that the PRP wasn’t the sole reason
the fluid came back. There is something
going on in my toe that is continuing to lead to fluid buildup. My guess is this is some sort of chronic
inflammation that my body is just having a hard time kicking after such a long
time (going on a year or so now).
The
fluid isn’t necessarily a problem in and of itself. The concern is more-so that if it accumulates
too much and/or causes pain, I will start to alter my gait and could develop a
compensation injury. As it stands at the
moment, pain is nonexistent when running, and the fluid buildup is
manageable. With some post-run icing,
I’ve been able to keep the swelling to a minimum. My hope is that it won’t get any worse; or in
a best-case scenario, just slowly go away.
Not
banking on the latter option, I’ve scheduled an appointment for late July,
where I anticipate draining the fluid from my toe again and also getting a
cortisone shot to shut down the inflammation in my toe. With a little luck, that will be the end of
this ordeal. Or perhaps equally likely,
I will find myself back at square one this fall, sidelined and unsure of the
road forward. But the only way to know
is to forge ahead and control the things I can control. For now, I can train (and eventually, race)
unhindered by the injury, so that’s what I’m going to do!
Pacing
The
next stop on the comeback trail is a fun weekend at the Western States 100 Mile, where I will crew and pace for my Salomon teammate Justin Houck. I’ll be pacing
alongside Jim Walmsley, and we’ll be helping Justin’s wife Claire with crewing. The Salomon team will also have a handful of
others racing, including Aliza Lapierre,
Anita Ortiz, Ryan Sandes, and
Francoise D’Haene.
The
spectacle that is Western States is always fun from a fan’s perspective. It’s exciting to follow the race as it
unfolds and to see the great community that turns out for this, the pinnacle of
the sport (at least in the U.S., anyway).
I keep telling folks that Justin is one of about five guys who has the
skill set to win the thing. He’s a big
unknown of course, making his 100-mile debut, but he’s defied the odds thus far
and he’s got a wealth of talent and a level head when racing.
I
met Justin at last year’s White River 50
Mile, his 50-mile debut (coming just a few months after his first ultra, a
50k that he crushed). We exchanged a
little banter along with Vajin Armstrong
and Uli Steidl in the early miles
before I stopped to water the flowers (or, rather, pine needles) and never saw
Justin again. Until the finish line that
is, which he reached a cool half hour before me. In doing so, Justin ran the third-fastest
time ever at White River, only a minute behind Anton Krupicka’s mark (set in his prime). And as a course that hosted the USATF 50-Mile
Trail Championships for ten years, White River has seen its share of
competitive runners and performances.
Hanging
out and sharing beers with Justin and his wife, Claire, post-race (and cheering
on Claire’s father to a pretty damn impressive finish), I decided Justin was
cool enough for me to recommend him for the Salomon team. Not that I really have that kind of pull of
course; my point is mainly that he’s a cool dude and I was happy to facilitate
the connection. His hard work and
performances are what got him on board.
With
his eyes set firmly on this year’s Western States, Justin trained for and then
crushed the Gorge Waterfalls 100k in
late March. As all Montrail Ultra Cup
races do, this race attracted top-flight competition vying for the coveted
Western States auto-entry slots. In a
calm and calculated performance—while his new Salomon teammates cheered and
followed from afar at a team summit in Sedona, AZ—Justin ran patiently for the
race’s first half and then entirely dismantled his competition. He won the race by roughly a half hour. This in his 100k debut.
So
you see why the fact that Justin is an “unknown at 100 miles” should be taken
with a grain of salt. There are many
things that can go wrong at this distance, but Justin is well trained, focused,
and peaked for this. Hailing from
Seattle, he’s been able to hit plenty of vertical gain to handle the many
ascents and especially descents at States.
And based on the track (trail?) record of a guy we all know well (who is
currently on the Appalachian Trail), I’d say that the mountains outside of
Seattle aren’t too shabby of a place to prepare for this race. I’m looking forward to helping Justin on Saturday
and seeing what he can do.
Racing
As
for my own plans, I’m going to hit a couple of late summer races in Europe come
hell or high water. (What an interesting
idiom. The come hell part makes sense as no
matter what, but I wonder about the high
water… why that’s so bad—an allusion to a flood I suppose, perhaps The
Flood?) As mentioned above, I really
need to train at a high level (and volume) before I know were I stand with my
injury anyway, so might as well include race plans in that process.
First,
I’ll be heading to the UltraVasan 90K in Mora, Sweden on August 22. This will be my first time in Sweden, and the
race looks to be quite beautiful. I
believe Mora is Jonas Budd’s
hometown (he of 2nd place-at-Comrades, UTMB, 100km WC, etc. fame), and the
organizers are bringing in a number of top men and women, including my American
Salomon teammate Max King.
Three
weeks after the UltraVasan, the 100km
World Championships take place in Winschoten, in the Netherlands. By virtue of my 5:49 Ice Age 50 Mile
performance in 2014, I was named as an alternate to Team USA. But after a couple of folks declined their
spots, I recently found out I will be on the team. Since my toe injury led to a DNF at last
year’s 100km World Championships in Qatar, it will be great to have a shot at
redemption.
It’s
a bit of a rush to get into shape for these races, just 8 and 11 weeks away,
but I’m going to give it my best shot.
As long as I don’t suffer any serious setbacks that require time off, I
should be able to run at 95% or so anyway.
If luck prevails, and I remain healthy, they will be good building
blocks for some late fall racing, possibly the New York City Marathon and/or the JFK 50 Mile.
