Thoughts

I realize that it has been a while since I have posted. My training has been average and I need to ramp it up as there are only 2 months left until Mountain Masochist. This weekend I am competing in an adventure race. This is something I have never done and am really looking forward to completing the 4-hour race. I will report back on how it went.

Now for some housekeeping. I have taken down my lame ultra training page. After Masochist I plan on publishing a proper guide that takes into account all my experiences in training. My knowledge about the sport is still in an infant stage, but when I originally posted the page I was a premature baby in the sport. I also plan on reviewing some of the products that I have started to rely on while running distance. The larger undertaking I want to start is a weekly post of how my training has been going. I am not just talking about miles, but how I have been feeling and what I have been thinking while wearing my running shoes.

I am giving up the artificial sweetener aspartame (also called NutraSweet). I am now looking at labels to prevent myself from ingesting it. The hardest part of this is giving up diet soda. I love diet soda and aspartame may be why. I am on day 2 right now and though I have occasionally craved a diet coke, I have felt no ill effects. I am still partaking in saccharine sweeteners for my iced tea. Saccharine has been around for over 100 years and is considered much less harmful than aspartame. I will discuss all this in a future post.

I want to dedicate a large post to the tarsal coalition condition that will serve to help others with this condition gain confidence that they can still compete. My foot has felt well the last couple of months. I have begun Chiropractic care and that seems to really help.

Sorry for the very random post, but I had a bunch of stuff on my mind.

Tarsal Coalition and Me

The day after I completed The Laurel Highlands Ultra I could not put weight on my left foot / ankle. This was not uncommon as I have had similar pain to a lesser extent before. After a few days the pain level went down, but not away. I decided to see an Orthopaedic specializing in the foot and ankle. After a lot of X-Rays he determined and diagnosed me with a Tarsal Coalition. The bones in the back of my foot do not work properly and cause pain. Under normal circumstances I do not have any pain. I did not have pain during or after any previous 50k races, but the 70 at Laurel Highlands put it over the top. It is now 5 weeks after the race and I am still in a small amount of pain. The doctor recommended that I stop running on trails and only run on the road. To me this is a bad option. He competes in ironman length triathlons and recommended that I start doing that as well to take stress off the foot. I have no plans to stop running on the trails. Surgery is an option, but it may or may not help. My next race is in 16 weeks. I have not been able to resume training properly yet, but hope to get my mileage up to a higher level soon. I am not sure why I am sharing this, but I am. Please pray for me and my foot.

Foot Issues

I went to see Dr. Stewart today at Virginia Sports Med to see what is going on with my ankles/feet. After a round of xrays I found out that I have a condition where 1 bone is too large and fills a hole up. This does not allow a ton of lateral movement or rolling of my feet, thus I easily roll ankles. This puts stress on the muscle band that runs over the foot and under the outer ankle bone. Dr. Stewart suggested that I run on roads only and I should be ok. This is not an options as I love the trails and mountains. We could do orthodics in my shoes, maybe would help, wear the correct shoes will definitely help a lot. The last resort is a surgery where he would remove part of the bone and then put some tissue in the hole. This has worked for some, but not all patients. This is probably the long term solution once the pain is not stop and prevents me from running.

Laurel Highlands Ultra Race Report

The Laurel Highlands Ultra is a 70.5 trail race that takes place on the Laurel Highlands Trail. The trail's southern terminus is located in Ohiopyle, PA, with the north end completing just outside of Johnstown, PA. The trail is single track for all but 1 mile that follows an old dirt road. It runs across the top of the Laurel Ridge in the Appalachian Mountains. Its highest point is located at Seven Springs Ski Resort.

This race had been my focus since reading the book Ultra Marathon Man. I had just run a poor race at the Rock and Roll Half Marathon and was pretty down on running. I had no desire to run any distance over the half. I was in Barnes and Noble one day and picked up The Book. It changed my life and after reading it I decided to run the Laurel Highlands Ultra. I trained hard and ran 2 50Ks in preparation. I, like many others had my life changed by ultra running and Ultra Marathon Man was the catalyst that started the fire burning.


The Friday before the race Kathy and I headed to her Moms house to meet up with my brother in law who would also complete the race. We arrived and I prepared for the day ahead. Luckily my Dad and Kathy were going to crew me and I gave them last minute instructions and directions to the areas they could meet up with me to lend moral , equipment, and nutritional support.

A Pain in the Foot

It is strange how pain suddenly creeps up on you. I ran the race on Saturday. My body was sore, especially my legs, but it was all dull microscopic muscle tear pain. All joints and tendons felt 100% by Monday morning. That is the day the foot pain began.

I was at Walmart with Sydney getting some supplies and suddenly I had this sharp shooting pain in my right foot. It starts right in front of the heel and ends before the ball, all on the outside. Are there any Podiatrists reading this who can help diagnose it? I had been wearing crocks all Sunday evening and Monday. I feel that the lack of support and stress from the race led to this injury. I have been wearing shoes since then.

It is now Thursday and it is feeling ok, but not 100%. I am planning on running on it tomorrow morning to test it out. Hopefully all will go well. There are only 9 weeks until Promise Land 50K. I really need to run some hills to get ready for the elevation I will face.