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MRT group run from Leo's - to Deer Creek & Back

January 6, 2018 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mid 40s, dry, super-nice

Comments:
Very strange run.

Slept crappy last night: too much beer, and dairy-dessert (some dairy in the bars I bought).

Felt fine in the AM: not much ankle stiffness. The ankle was taped, but I decided to double-down and also wear a compression sock (on the right leg only).

Leo has a share in this outrageously nice (but 60s) home on the banks of the McKenzie. We used that as our launching spot, which is only about a mile from the western TH.

Big group:

- me, Lewis, Emily, Hammer
- Leo, Evan
- Jon and David, my coaching client (training for SOB100K)

From the get-go, Leo was lightly-grinding. I was super-stiff, per usual, so I hung back with David, while the main pack was between.

The ankles were surprisingly more stiff than yesterday (when they were otherwise great). And to my dismay...then just didn't seem to get better!

I told David about my nasal-breathing focus, then committed to that for the entire outbound. As such, I hung a few strides behind him and we both ran in the quiet, a good 30m behind the rest, who were quickly falling out of sight from Leo and Lewis.

The effort - and the breathing - felt easy and doable. I'm REALLY happy with how effective - and how good - it's feeling to nose-breath only. It does make you slow down a bit, but in a short time, my pace has improved toward "normal".

The whole upriver outbound was spent:

- focusing on nose-breathing
- form-focus, namely:

forward engagement
mid-back arch
strong foot push (1st toe)

- being annoyed with right ankle pain.

Rather than get better, which it usually does within a mile of a run, this only got worse. Felt it on both inner and outer sides, and even some up the calf.

What I know is that there's a major NERVE component to this pain. As such, this is all the shit I tried, in the 10.5 miles of outbound running:

Mile 3: lower the compression sock to ankle level. This cut my pain by ~50%

Mile 5: lower it ALL the way to my foot (took my shoes off, doubled the sock over my foot, so it covered only the ankle and below). This took it down even more, but not all the way.

Mile 7: belly rub (back mobilization). This helped, but only temporary

Mile 9: neck stretching. Maybe my stiff neck is a part of it?

All those things helped, but going along, it just stayed painful. SUPER-annoying. Finally, I figured, "fuck it", and at the turnaround:

Mile 10.5. Completely take off the sock.

And amazingly? ALL the pain went away. Wow. So now there's two theories:

1. That it's terrible nerve sensitivity and any compression is bad for it, and-or:
2. The calcaneal bursa is super-senstiive to compression and taking the sock off = no pain.

By then, it was only David and me. Like Lake Sonoma, Leo and Lewis were way ahead, and had maybe a 3K lead on me, followed by Hammer; Emily, John and Evan.

Once I took off the sock, I informed David that I'd be doing a Minutes Fartlek on the way back: a classic workout for me on this section. So that's what I did.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-7-6-5...

The minutes felt good. I obviously opened up the breathing, and did my best to stay tall, forward, "crouched" (hip hinge). I noticed that it was unusually difficult to keep my arch -- really wanted to "old man back". Hmmm.

Splits and times were OK, but still not super-fast. But I had NO ankle pain, and that was cool!

I caught up to Evan and John in a few miles, and a couple miles later, Emily and Hammer. I felt decent, but doing the 7s, I could feel a little "low" -- with no breakfast, no other calories, and no water.

With maybe 4 miles to go, and on my descending "5", I suddenly had a return of that fucking-terrible right knee pain! WTF!?!

- achy, "full", stiff, sensitive right medial knee pain
- "spreading" to the front of the right shin
- ACHE in my first two toes

This happened twice before:

1. During the Otter Creek Marathon (12-17)
2. At the end of CB's hunt (12-26)

After the second episode, I thought it was quad soreness, so I stopped to massage it. Didn't help. I couldn't run, and had to walk. GFD!

I'd walk, feeling OK, then run, and the "fullness" would return. Then, thinking about it:

- medial knee
- anterior shin
- toes 1&2 only

This is nerve pain (saphenous nerve, deep fibular nerve, L4-5). So I stopped and did back stretches.

I started running again: like 60% better.

Then I vigilantly did:

- pelvis left
- trunk right

Knee 90% better. -_-

Fucking hell. So annoying.

I got running just as Emily and Hammer got in ear-shot, and was able to resume at least an easy pace back to Leo's:

- no knee pain
- no ankle pain.


Ugh. So annoying.

The positives:

- the nasal breathing for 10.5 miles was amazing! Jerker made this a huge focus of his WSER training: doing ALL easy runs with nose-only breathing. Love it
- the sagittal plane efficiency (side) was solid
- I used my feet well. I SWEAR that going away from "big toe" push-off is a huge part of why this (orthopedic) ankle stuff began this summer and fall
- The run was otherwise effortless. To do 20+ miles out there was a breeze. Only the pain (outbound) kept me from wanting to go farther
- It was a beautiful day out there! The trail was a bit slick, but otherwise ideal

The negatives:

- My spine is generally in rough shape. It's one part post-Rio crap and a big part, having a terrible bed for the past year. Our new one arrives tomorrow.
- I HAD to have been pelvis-right-trunk-lefting. This is a big chunk stiffness (once I'm "stuck" over there, it's so hard to be naturally symmetrical), and ongoing habit. I think this is why it was hard to stay arched -- once I'm "left", it takes up that range of motion
- REALLY sick of the leg pain, especially that horrible right leg stuff!
- Overall, I've got TONS of nerve tension in both legs. Again, just general spine stiffness

But all in all, it was good training. A PT visit with Mike on Thursday couldn't come sooner.

Post-run:

- stretched a bit, then showered
- broke the fast with a Lagunitas "Brown Shugga"
- hung out on Leo's deck, looking at the river
- drove back to EUG

Rest of the day:

- back to Eug, got CA flowers and a card
- ate brunch
- wrote in iRF column
- Clifton came over and hung out for a couple hours

The bad news: the right ankle was super-cranked. Again, both orthopedic and nerve. Frustrating.

(Wore the P1 N1-trails -- still covered with WSER high country dust)