Mission 10 Miler Smack-Down

Well shoot - my first ever race take-down. Perhaps I got a little overeager after a great race at the Rio Resolution 4 weeks ago. I've done half-marathon runs every weekend since, and evidently that's too much at this point; psoas tendinitis came back with a vengence. This race wasn't on my list, but it really sounded like an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday morning and I joined the Delucchi's for the adventure. See the story here...

The Berry Falls Test

A few days after the Rio Resolution run, and I was feeling the results in my legs; stiff and not feeling like running. I tried a 2 mile easy jog to the beach and it turned into 1 mile. Thursday I did limp through 2 miles, but was not enjoying it much. Turns out the weekly long run for the SC Track Club was going to be one of my favorites; the 13 mile run out to Berry Creek Falls from the beach at Waddell Creek, on Sunday. Sunday came, 7:30am, and I did everything I could to pull the covers back over my head and tell myself not to go run. I was tired! But my kayak was still on the RAV4 roof from a delightful day on Elkhorn Slough with my visiting friend Maria the day before, and I thought I might enjoy kayaking up Waddell Creek a ways after the run. In the end, I did, at the last minute, yank myself out of bed and into my car, and met the gang outside Safeway on Mission St. 20 miles later, up the coast, we launched off. I didn't know whether I'd blow up in the first mile, or would loosen up and enjoy a nice long run through the redwoods and alders beside Waddell Creek. It turned out to be the latter, and the falls were extraordinary in the filtered morning light. Wish my Lumix were working so I could've captured the rainbows set off by the bouncing cascades lit by beams of sunlight against the dark rock.
I confess I was feeling pretty beat during the last 2 miles. But still, I was able to demo to Antoinette how engaging / disengaging the glutes, as I was getting good at doing, made a huge difference in my running speed. The story with a few pix is here.

Numerical Vanity

A few days before Christmas, I looked with consternation at my training totals. I'd trained hard for my Ironman year of '10 and there was no way I was going to catch my cycling totals for '11. However I was already almost 100 miles ahead on my running. So that left my swimming as the tie breaker. At the time, I had only ~112,000 yds and needed another 26,000 yds to pass last year. Could I do it? I had a shoulder injury in early Fall which put me farther and farther behind. But it was better now... still, that'd require 4,000 yds every day this past week to accomplish. It's now Jan 1, and I can say "mission accomplished". With 1800 yds Dec 24, and then 4,000 avg/day through Friday, I needed just 3100 yds on Sunday Dec 31 to hit 140,000 yds for the year and comfortably set the bar for the coming year. Got it done, with no injury aggravation to the shoulder, just a little bit of a sore neck from all the side breathing. No problemo.

A Day 15 years in the Making

What a rewarding way to start '12! - for the first time in 15 years, I've run a race and been able to go flat-out and be limited only by my cardio conditioning and not be hobbled by injuries from remaining muscle imbalances from my pre-surgery decade of cripple-dom. The last piece of the puzzle was getting my glutes firing, as I've been working on for some time now, and it has finally paid off. The Carmel Rio Resolution 10K run, an annual tradition, is a very hilly race and has plenty of potential to trash your legs, calves, etc. But not this year - what a great feeling! And no post-race hobble-dom either. 58:06 for my race, which is many minutes ahead of prior races. Here's my story page. Those of you who have newly resurfaced hips, or are pondering cementless resurfacing, I say - go for it! I enthusiastically recommend my surgeon, who pioneered this surgery and has the most outstanding success rate in the profession - Thomas P. Gross in Columbia, South Carolina. I'm finally back. I was on crutches or barely walking for 10 solid years after corticosteroid-induced osteo-necrosis wrecked my left hip. Now, at age 59, I'm finally fully back as a triathlete. Still work to do on strengthening muscle groups, especially those glutes, but the motivation remains strong and I'm looking forward to '12.

UCLA Sierra Clubbers - Paddling Tomales Bay

Got a new adventure posted. More 'yaking, at Pt. Reyes - my annual get together with my Sierra Club clan from UCLA days. Enjoy it here. I'm looking at my training totals for '11 and looking to up my numbers. It's too late to try and beat my Ironman Year of '10 in cycling, but I've already had a better running year. The tie-break is swimming yardage. I was quite behind, but it was do-ably within reach, so I made the commit - All I need is 4,000 yds in the pool each day this week. Monday's and Tuesday's are in the bag. Today will meet with Ferrell for more, and as long as my right shoulder stays focused on proper injury-free form, I should succeed.

Four Bridges Half Marathon

My running continues to improve - slowly. Boy, there's a lot of muscle groups and muscle skills requiring conscious attention to fix. My running form in the old days wasn't perfect, but I had healthy joints and that was enough. Now, with a metal hip and 10 years of disuse to overcome, it's been quite the adventure to learn how to run, really for the first time.
Focus on Glutes! Dave D sent me an excellent article "Weak Glutes: The Plague of the Mediocre Athlete". Wow, sounds like someone I know. But I've been putting my mind to it with typical Nolthenius determination - and it's making a difference. Focusing on firing the glutes on each stride, just that.... visualizing the contraction, not actually MAKING it contract, has been enough to make for a good burn, when for so long I run and everything BUT my BUTT gets burned. My stride has lengthened about 8%, without feeling like it has, and my speed has improved as well. I'm hopeful that my future long runs will not leave me so crippled for a week or two like in the past.
A good experience was my run at the Four Bridges Half Marathon in Folsom, with bud's Dave and Rick. Check out the pix and the entertaining story.

A Punishing 10K in Beautiful Carmel

Last weekend Ferrell and I motored to Carmel for the Stevenson Run in the Forest 10K. The plan was to do the 10K, scarf a big post-race breakfast at the very tony school, drop Rick off at REI at Fort Ord where he'd do a long bike back to Aptos, and I'd drive home and immediately pack my mountain bike for a S24O with Kent. I hoped to put in a strong time as my running as come along. Yow - that first mile was a killer! steep downhill all the way to the ocean, and running it fast on asphalt was not good for my poor hip. Big mistake! Suffered the rest of the race with hip pain, and the rest of the week too. Also got run straight into a big tree by a tour bus! (Hey, go ahead and run me over if you need to; no problem - I know you've got a schedule to keep.) Note to self - no more fast steep downhill runs! Feeling a little better today, a week later. Did a 50 mile ride up Eureka Canyon yesterday, and a mountain bike ride to come today. I'll detail my adventure with Kent in a future post, when pix are posted. Alas, dead camera for the 10K and no pix. Sorry!