DOS 3/20/2015
A few weeks back I decided to have TENEX done on my Achilles tendon. I had strained my left calf in a workout several months back and just kept pushing it. My calf began to really hurt and again I just kept pushing it. A few months later I finally decided it might be time to go get this checked out after it hadn’t gone away. Some dry needling was recommended to me by my coach so I jumped right in and got it done.

Holy WOW that was painful…I might have had some moisture build up in my eye balls. Non the less the calf started to feel better and better and the pain of the treatments were lessoning…kinda like foam rolling for the first time. After a month or so all pain my leg was gone except for one little micro spot about the size of a BB. My tendon could be squeezed, poked and prodded completely pain free everywhere but a BB sized spot on the back. If you touched that spot I would jump off of the table. Visible swelling was also there.

My Doctor recommended I check out a newer procedure called TENEX. I had what I thought was tendinitis on my Achillies but after 3 weeks of ice, stim, Motrin, and biking, it still would not go away. So I decided to go this route. The other alternatives were PT, Nitro Patches, Blood Spinning, all good things but work much better on Tendinitis, turns out I have tendinosis. Which means the tendon is jacked up but NOT inflamed which is why non of the usual tricks were working.

This is supposed to be a quick minimal procedure to go in break up and suck out that bad tissue without messing with the good tissue. Sounds like hokus-pokus until the Dr. told me where the tech came from. It’s basically Cataracts surgery on your tendon, blast the eyeball with some sonic waves slap on an eye patch for a week or two and KaBOOM you can see. Praise Kim Jong!

The procedure was actually pretty quick and easy. They started with numbing the area. They did this with three shots. The first one was fine but the second one they shot right into the pain spot on the tendon…that you could say was unpleasant. Luckily while I was waiting for the scalpel I was too numb to even notice it. The thing he tells me is that he is inserting the probe. He quickly got to work using the probe and ultra sound as his guide. In about two minutes it was all over. I think I was sweating through my shirt due to nerves but there really wasn’t much to be worried about once it was all done.

I should be looking at a week no weight, then a boot at week two and starting band exercises. No impact cross training can start around 3 weeks provided you do NOT push through the pain. Should be able to put my running shoes on by week 5 or 6. Spikes by week 8. I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

3/23/2015 (3 Days Post)
Update. The first 36 hours I took a total of three Norcos for pain/sleep. By 48 hours the swelling in my foot was almost gone. By 72 hours there really isn’t anymore pain…especially when I drop it off the bed in the morning. Jamie also removed my splint and started gently working a little motion into my ankle. Also if you zoom in real close you can see the tiny little hole where the probe went in. I am still 0% percent weight for at least the first week. I have a walking boot but I’m not supposed to walk in it for at least 7-11 days. Then it’s cross training.

3/31/2015 (11 Days Post)
Quick update. I have been putting nitro patches on the area to increase the blood flow to the site area. The Dr. follow up went really well. The Ultra Sound showed progress, the Dr. was able to press on the site area with minimal discomfort. Before if you just looked at it I would yell, now you can apply several pounds of pressure to the are with little pain. I have been full walking boot for two days and am getting around pain free.

4/3/2015 (14 Days Post)
Walked around the bedroom a little at the end of the day with no boot and the foot feels great! I’m still going to keep wearing the boot more so to keep me in check. I did do some very very slow and light calf raises just to test the area and again 100% pain free. The area still has a bit of swelling or a lump but the pain is gone. At the end of next week I’ll be boot free and starting cross training.

4/26/2015 (37 Days Post)
First run back 6.5 Miles 7:35 pace. Pain was there but lessoned. At this point I feel that I could be doing full training on a Alter-G at about 80-85% body weight and would have been pain free.

5/11/2015 (52-59 Days Post)
Ended up with 30 miles in this week there was a very big scare at about week 4-6 that the pain was holding steady but now I feel like it’s starting to move in the right direction. Yes it still hurts around the pain site but the exact spot where they worked on is now 100% pain free. It was hard to realize how bad the area was as the epicenter was so painful. The best way I have been able to describe this is if you took a quarter and tacoed it over your Achilles tendon, that is where all of the pain is. Now if you overlayed a dime that is what is fixed and pain free now. I THOUGHT I knew exactly where the bad spot was, and I kinda did, and we could see it on the ultrasound. Looking back or if I ever had to do it again, I will make sure he works the whole general area just to be sure.

For runners with chronic tendon pain I almost feel like this could be an every 3-5 year maintenance phase of training. Run That fall marathon then have this procedure done in November and ride the bike for two months then hit the roads in January. As I said before the machine ran a total of 49 seconds while in my leg, I think we could have easily doubled that amount of time and really scrubbed the tendon. I also think it would have speed up the recovery time. I hope someone finds this blog helpful in making a decision on this procedure. If I had to do it again, I would in a heartbeat. To be able to take a tendon too painful to touch, down to pain free in a few weeks is really amazing.

No Scar

No Scrar

I’m sitting on a plane right now headed to Denver but I just had to post this sweet workout. I’m committed to run the Chicago Marathon this year, as soon as I can stomach the damn $175 for entry fee, so I have been banging out the longer workouts. So far my mileage is still averaging only 60 miles per week which is weak but back when I ran 2:28 I only averaged 35 miles per week.

Since Magic Mike is out of town, and The Greek is doing who knows what, I had to call on my third string Kenny Powers for a partner in crime on this mornings run. I do want to thank Kenny greatly as his wife and two kids were out of town and he has been enjoying his time to sleep in but he manned up for me today for a 7:00am start time on the Pinckney path.

Coach wanted me to do a 10 mile build up to 5:20/pace (2:19.44 for the marathon) and try to hold that for as many miles as I can. Well I was feeling pretty damn good this morning and we didn’t hit one 5:20.

1. 5:19
2. 5:12
3. 5:10
4. 5:13
5. 5:12
6. 5:14
7. 5:09
8. 5:09
9. 5:08
10.4:57

Total time of 51:48 5:10-11 pace (2:15.48 marathon pace)

YES YES I know 10 miles is way off a marathon. So I will be shooting to run 5:24 pace which is 2:21.29…if I feel good with 6 to go then maybe I’ll pick it up. I’m not gonna lie, since Wrightsville Beach where I locked up with 4 to go, I’m scared of that happening again. I can push through pain and fatigue no problem but when your body (my leg) just stops working that is a different story.

Check out Kenny’s new online store

Here are my splits with MapMyRun iPhone app. Mark’s Garmin was a little different but they were pretty close. Coach wanted it to be a smooth 5:20 effort…I was not supposed to go below 5:15…If you have run Island Lake Park main road it’s got some ups and downs, as you can see mile 5-6 were up, then we turned around and headed back down for 7-8. Mark pacing me on the bike was awesome! Hungry Duck Half in Brighton next week. I just need to run 5:17 pace to get a PR. 69:34 currently.

5:27
5:14
5:10
5:10
5:18
5:19
5:08
5:01

For many of you reading this you have probably spent a summer putting 5-10 weeks in a row of 100+ miles. For me, more of a middle distance type guy who put in quality over quantity for mileage, I was never able to hit this cool feat.

I only ever hit 90 miles once in XC season back in college. I also do find it a little funny that some of my former teammates run 100 miles in a day. To that I say “Screw You Hammersmith”

Any how, I got on a good schedule this week thanks to my lovely wife. Also my son has been great as he has been along with most of these miles.

Again I’m excited to hit this even though I’ve been running with Mike Andersen who is hitting 140 per week, or have run with a guy who hit 100 in a day. I can’t let that take away from what I’m doing for the fist time.

This is no different than if you were going to break a 5:00 min mile for the first time. I would still be super excited for you as you should be for yourself even knowing the top marathoners run faster than that for 26.2 miles.

So here is my week and how I hit my best week ever…also my best week since foot surgery, May 21, 2012, has been 65 miles.
Monday
– Morning 8 Miles 6:34 pace
– Noon 8 Miles 6:24 pace
Tuesday
– Morning 8 Miles GPS Fail (pushing stroller)
– Noon 8 Miles 6:36 pace (pushing stroller)
Wednesday
– Morning 8 Miles 6:31 pace (pushing stroller)
– Noon 8 Miles 6:28 pace (pushing stroller)
Thursday
– Morning 8 Miles Workout (10X500 4:41 pace, rest 37sec)
– Noon 10 Miles 7:30ish (Single Track Trails)
Friday
– Morning 6 Miles 6:51 pace (week is catching up to me)
– Noon 0
Saturday
– Morning 8 Miles 6:47 pace (still feeling tired)
– Noon 8 Miles 6:50 pace (It was 91 degrees)
Sunday
– Morning 8 Miles 6:11 pace (pushing stroller)
– Noon 4 Miles 6:37 pace (pushing stroller 90 degrees)

Damn it was hot out today. Nothing like doing a 6 mile tempo on a black track, at noon, with no wind, and 80 degrees. Luckily it was only 48% humidity 🙂 Jamie and Chase came out to keep me company which was also nice as 24 laps can get pretty mind numbing after a while.

The work out was supposed to be a relaxed 5:20 pace to get me ready for the Hungry Duck 13.1 in a few weeks. Hopefully Mike Anderson and I will run 68:59 and both walk away with PRs in the distance.

Todays Splits
5:15
5:14
5:14
5:13
5:10
4:59
Total 31:08

Make sure to check out my race http://therunthruhell.com/

Well I have been meaning to get this tempo over with. I could not seem to get anyone to help me out with this either, which was kinda disappointing.

So I figured I better try to slow it down a little and just see how the first mile goes. If I came through in 5:05 ish then I would try to push this to a 4 mile tempo. If I came through faster and everything felt good I would try to push the pace a little and just make it a 5K.

Well I came through much faster than I had hoped and it felt much easier than I was expecting. I think after running that 4:20 last Monday (5/27/2013) made this pace seem much more relaxed.

At no point did I stress my body in this workout. This was just a smooth comfortable pace. I was a little distracted in the third mile as the Pinckney High School kids came out on the track for gym class, so my time slipped a little. I thought I was gonna grab a 4:40 on that mile.

I was lucky enough to have Chase sitting in the stroller at the start line. Every lap I pointed at him and he pointed back, smile, and scream. Then offered me up some milk from his sippy cup. I couldn’t stop smiling.

This was a great morning with my little guy and a memory I’m sure I’ll remember for ever…at least if I come back and read this post 😉

4:55
4:44
4:45
0:34
——
5K = 15:00.16

What a great morning for racing! We had sunny skies and cool temps in the low 60’s. I was there for the elite mile. At this point in my training I had yet to run under 4:42 since the foot surgery. Luckily coach had me bang out a few sets of 6,4,3,2,1 to wake up the little bit of leg speed I had.

I guess they let anyone into the “Elite” mile as I got in along with some other EMU boys such as Lee Shaw and Terefe Ejigu.

The race started off nice and fast with a big group of guys. I’m not sure what our splits were exactly because they were a little off. There is no way we had a group as big as we did and split a 58 first 400M. Then somehow slowed to a horrid 800m of 2:12 or something. It was a road mile so I guess that is what you get.

By the time we hit the 800m it was just Ian Boyle and myself. I knew I didn’t really have the kick I used to have so I figured I better start pushing with 800m to go. I did and Ian and I just kept pushing harder and harder.

It seemed every time I came up on him he would inch away. We literally went push for push for about 700m. With less than 100m to go I was all out and Ian just began to walk away from me. He ended up putting about 2 seconds on me at the very end. I like to think I made him work hard but I think he only ran as fast as he needed to for the “W”

Results:
http://www.runmichigan.com/r_view.php?id=19334

The fun part came when we all grouped up to pace Mark Savedes in the 10K. There was a group of four really fast guys, all mid to low 14 min 5k guys. Then we had Mark rounding out our 5th.

We started nice and slow and still talking about the mile we just ran (Mark did not run the mile.) Then we started telling stories and Lee told us how he lost a bunch of weight which is why he ran 4:38 instead of 5:38 in the mile.

Poor Mark…we are all having a casual conversation while leading the race and pacing him. He was not talkative 🙂 Eventually someone told Lee and Terefe that the winner gets free shoes so they decided to start running and went from 6:20pace to 5:15ish.

Mike and I stayed with Mark and just kept on him. Pushing him, coaching him, and cheering him. It was so much fun. The course was great and Mark was running fast and smooth. We ended up crossing the line in a 39:10 breaking Mark’s 20 year old personal best by 45 seconds. That was just huge.

Mike, Mark, and Jordan

I feel like that past few weeks have been one day of running than one day of resting the foot for pain. I have been trying to ease into running again as I know there isn’t really any hope of me getting into shape for a competitive track season this spring…even in the back of my mind there is that little voice pushing me to try.

Today the weather was just beautiful and for some reason my foot didn’t really hurt that bad and I just went out and hit the dirt roads with some steam. Creeping a little faster each mile and just feeling better and better. The results were a solid 5 miles under 6:00/pace per mile. I am so pumped about this run.

Had a nice little 5.5 Mile tempo down the hilly dirt roads. Also had the worlds biggest Rottweiler come at me while it’s non caring owner couldn’t get off of the cell phone and hustle over to get it…instead took her time and waddled on over not breaking phone conversation while this Rot and I danced in the middle of the road.

I wanted to post this run because I feel that there are so many of you out there who always talk about how you gotta get back into shape, you gotta find the time but right now is not a good time it’s just to _______right now or I have to much _____ going on in my life.  Some of you are maybe working out but keep saying “This is going to be the year I run my first 5k , 10k, 1/2, Full”  Then the time comes and you let that cowardly sentence roll off of your tongue “My training is just not where it should be.”

P.S. that is the number one excuse I hear when I have to downgrade the distance of someone’s race.

Now some of you might think this song is about you and some of you might be saying “those people are so annoying.”  but the reason for the this post and the run attached with it is to show you we all have to start somewhere…I would say I’m an accomplished runner with a few good times and titles under my belt but it has now been a few months since I have done anything to raise my heart above 80bpm, so I have to start somewhere.

I know as sort of a joke, I Facebooked that I power walked a mile the other day…as funny as that was, it was a huge accomplishment for me.  I was so excited to do something outside with out the walking boot on my foot.  Yes I have lost a lot of muscle mass and yes my foot still hurts a bit so I do need to take it slow just as you do when you are starting up…don’t go out and run 6 miles day one like superman/woman that is called fishing for injury.

Also if you do that then I have to hear say “Running is soooo hard, how do you do it.”  I know all of you athletes out there have had that conversation with an old classmate, friend, family member and you always think of something witty to say “I just put one foot in front of the other {fake laugh} {awkward silence} how about those Red Wings?!”

The truth of the matter is it always sucks coming off of injury or coming back from a lengthy time off.  I think as athletes we know that we will get to where we want to be if we just maintain our discipline and get out the door everyday.  Those un-athletes or one night stand exercisers never made it to the point when it becomes enjoyable.  Most people quit there new found exercise program after two weeks and they were never able to truly see the fruits of their labor…don’t be that guy/girl.

I’m sorry for the rant and lengthy post but I really want this to be looked at as having a goal in mind, starting from zero, training smart, and turning your dreams to goals and goals into accomplishments/realities.

It has taken me two weeks to get to this distance and pace…Yes it was hot as shit out (roughly 98.6 degrees) and I was pushing Baby Boy in the stroller but I got it done.  I wanted to go farther but like a good man named Kenny once said “Know when to fold em.” so in the essence of training smart and slowly testing the foot I put “Pride” in the time out chair and stopped at one lap.  Also in doing so I was able to turn a quick post into a long drawn out post that most of you will not even finish and some of you will probably repost this Garmin link on Failblog.  Anyway cherish those miles, encourage others, and get your ass out the door because YOLO.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!