All the Excuses in the World...

All the excuses in the world won't get a runner ready to be an ultrarunner. Excuses of mine so far: injuries. Time. Dissertation. Family. But there are plenty of runners out there with families and jobs and injuries who become world-class (or even just consistent) ultrarunners. For me, injury has been the key interrupter in my training.

Roy Stevenson, an exercise physiologist and writer for ultraRUNNING online, says of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), "It is very common for out-of-condition or beginning runners to experience DOMS. Its severity depends on how much and how intensely we exercise, and whether we have performed that exercise before. But it’s not just beginning runners who are susceptible to DOMS – even well-conditioned runners who’ve been training consistently for several years can experience DOMS after a race or vigorous training session, especially a lengthy downhill-running workout."

I can attest to having suffered DOMS. And Stevenson is right that those of us who think we're conditioned but are not. I was only running 25 miles a week when I pulled my right calf muscle, and that's not nearly enough mileage to consider a marathon, let alone an ultrarunning event. 

One of the most important things I can learn from Stevenson is that the actual damage done to muscles is real. Stevenson says, "Traumatized muscle is a war zone! Your leg muscles are under siege after repeated eccentric contractions and the descriptions of the damage sound horrifying. Here are some of the main protagonists: disruption to the muscle sarcomere; breaching of cell membranes; swollen muscle fibers; wear and tear on connective tissues (ligaments and tendons); calcium spillage from muscle tubules; cell inflammation and increased production of superoxide free radicals..." The pain we feel has a cause and can be medically identified; and so my month off, while it might not be the length of time required for full rest, was one of the smartest things I've done for my ultrarunning dreams.

Stevenson finishes by suggesting that "Apart from using the modalities recommended above as preventative methods (warm-up, ice, compression, some antioxidants, and post-training carbohydrate/protein mixtures), stimulating DOMS to a minor degree in training will prepare the runner better for DOMS muscle trauma." And this makes sense: runners, like all athletes, need to be fully prepared for the difficulties of DOMS during training and events. Knowing how muscle soreness feels and how to mitigate the damage will help me keep running even when DOMS flares up.

International Herald Tribune Blog about China and Censorship

Check out this article by Mark McDonald.

The Waiting Game

Some good news on the medical front: my injury to my knee is not major; so minor, in fact, that I've run twice this week. But the good news isn't great for one reason: I still have a scheduled MRI on Thursday. What the orthopedic surgeon saw on X-Rays and through mobility of my right knee is that it could be a small amount of scar tissue that makes me feel the "pop" behind my right knee when I climb stairs. That would be great news. The tissue will dissolve eventually and won't harm me in the long run.

But the potential bad news: it could be loose cartilage, in which case a minor surgery would be needed to remove any cartilage that's hanging out in there but not in place. As cartilage is the "cushion" for the knees and absorbs the impact of contact sports and the stresses of running, I need all I can get. So for many reasons I'm crossing my fingers for scar tissue. When in the world will I ever say that again?

There is also hope for me in that while I was informed that, at 38, I have arthritis in my right knee due to all the trauma of previous injuries/surgeries, that arthritis will not limit my running. "They're not incompatible," says Dr. Parker. And, if you think about it, running and staying healthy will help my joints by limiting weight gain (a real bear on the joints), creating endorphin rushes to help with mood, and work on my cardiovascular system, which supports overall health. 

The most amazing thing I learned at my appointment last week was that there is a new treatment for runners (NFL players, basket ballers, basically anyone who is super active and tough on their knee joints) called Synvisc. Synvisc is a joint lubricant that an athlete can get (injected into the knees, yes) once or twice a year to work in sync with the cartilage and to work as a "shock absorber"; it also does wonders for pain relief.

Now, the question is, to research Synvisc and runners; who uses it? What have been their results with it? Also, will my insurance cover the costs?

Health care is expensive; but I think it would be more expensive, in the long run, not to run...

References Cited

Parker, D. Andrew. Interview: March 9, 2012. http://commonwealthorthocenters.com/

Logical Fallacies

Check out "The Unapologetic Geek's" blog and see whether you agree with him about these Top "10" logical fallacies in our current political climate...

Bloggers in Harm's way

Hi Everyone:

Check this New York Times Blog link about a Syrian blogger who was killed during some intense shelling in the city of Homs.

Know Thyself

The aphorism "know thyself" should be tattooed on an obvious body part for anyone crazy enought to consider training for endurance sports events. In this blog I'm attempting to understand my psyche in an effort to not only be able to get through the exhaustive training elements required but also the psychological, physical, and emotional stress that a person puts on their bodies when attempting such a grueling endeavor like a marathon or other ultra-endurance event.

Here are my status updates regarding what should be week 5, with a 10 miler yesterday. Instead, I've spent the last two weeks nursing a pulled right calf muscle. Now I am learning that when one body part fails, especially a leg, runners can change their gait to protect the injured muscle. Doing this comes at a price, though. About 5 days ago I woke up to a swollen, stiff kneecap (the same one that I shattered in 1992 but that has been surgery free since 1997). Walking has become an orchestrated attempt at not bending my knee enough to cause a popping sensation right behind the patella. Thanks to a knee brace (found for $10 at Giant!), I can walk just fine, but bearing any significant weight is impossible.

Obviously this has had an effect on my mental state: trying to prepare for a marathon and then having to wait for an orthopedic consult in three weeks before resuming any training is a lesson in patience, stress-management, and boredom (I've gotten so used to running that not running has left me in a foul temper).

Until I can run again, all I can do it eat right, get rest, and nurse my herniated, post-surgical husband, which means chasing down a wild 16-month-old daughter when she tries to jump on my husband's surgery site. Without running, of course. Idling my time, sure, but I can spend the hours that I would have been running finding a good physical therapist and diatician?

It's You, Stupid...

My last post left me wondering: did I have a particular personality that would cause me to continually become injured during workouts/training? Let's examine the evidence:

1. When I was a swimmer, I trained from the ages of 11-19 without injury; the only surgeries I had (on my knees at 16) were because of a genetic mutation in the plica folds behind my knees. Two weeks after surgery I was back to normal.

2. My Injuries started at 19 and 20 (swimming: rotator cuff tear, knee breakage) then again in my 30s at 35 (hernia, during gym workout), 36 (hip cartilage tear while running), and 38 (Achilles tendon pulls, left leg; calf tear, right leg) all in succession. Part of the problem, I know, was an oblivious coach who didn't notice stroke changes in favor of speed workouts; my association coach in high school would have easily spotted the problem that led to the shoulder injury. Swimming butterfly with hips low in the water--causes "dragging" of the lower body through the water, creating more resistance and, thus, puts more stress on the shoulders/rotator cuffs. The knee break was from an accident running stadiums and cannot specifically be attributed to poor coaching but a mix of distraction, condensation on the seats, exhaustion, etc.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'm injured all the time. I need to buy stock in Icy-Hot and Aleve. So I keep wondering: is it in my adult personality that leads me to be injured all the time? I've read the article "The Influence of Psychological Factors on Sports Injuries" from The American Journal of Sports Medicine and author Astrid Junge suggests that through a review of the prevailing literature and research, that

A personality profile typical of the “injury-prone” athlete does not exist. However, several studies have shown a certain readiness to take risks (lack of caution, adventurous spirit) on the part of injured athletes.

So could it be my adventurous spirit? Possibly. But I'm not running at 4 a.m. in the dead of winter or solo hiking, so I don't know if that's it. A certain readiness to take risks? We're getting warmer. I also think there are aspects of my personality that lead to injury: I'm impatient, I'm undisciplined, and I have a tendency to ignore long-term plans for short-term adrenalin highs. For example: if like last week I'm running an "easy hour," I ratchet up the "easy" to "beat my time from X race." I don't think of the consequences because I need to see results that show improvement. I revel in pain, maybe because I'm used to it? And I attempt to run 100% when I'm not 100% ready, like I did today (but, hey, at least I ran .15 total this time, totally up from .10 a few days ago).

In the article from the Sports Science Exchange Roundtable, Daniel Gould and Linda Petlichkof suggest that "The stress of daily life and a lack of social support are more important than an athlete’s personality in contributing to the risk of sports injuries." Hmmmm. Sure, I'm stressed in my daily life: I have work, a 16-month-old daughter, a dissertation to finish, papers to grade, dinner to make, dogs to walk, sleep to attempt, and a dozen other actions to take in any given day. But I also have social support: husband, sister and brothers, mom, family, friends. So could this mean that my personality tics are so strong as to outweigh all other factors? Or is this in issue of "correlation does not imply causation"?