The KodaFit Blog

I’ve used Ibuprofen once since Ironman, and that wasn’t even running related.  Prior to IronMan however, I was pounding at least 800mg everyday.  It’s been about 2 or 3 years and started when I got shin splints and then IT Band problems.

I think it helped, but I’m sure it hasn’t been kind to my digestive tract, and I learned a few weeks ago that Ibuprofen can cause your blood pressure to elevate, and my readings even since I’ve been exercising have not been good.

I wonder if my results at the Shark Attack last week could possibly be linked to this - details to come, but I WON MY AGE GROUP!!

I feel like my body is running better, and I feel cleaner inside, but at the same time…  It hurts a lot more when I push myself now, and my body isn’t recovering as quickly - or perhaps it is, but the pain isn’t being masked any more.

I think I need to increase my intake of Omega 3 oils, and anti-inflammatory berries.

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Before I begin…  I’ve made an amendment to my last post.  It seems as though my cycling shoes may be too loose, resulting in symptoms which made me think they were too tight. I’m off for a ride in a few minutes with tighter shoes, and hopefully less pain…

And now…  Last nights offering for you:

In a rather shocking and unexpected twist, the case of Pantz v Leggs met with a rather sudden conclusion last week.  I would have spoken out sooner, but as I am sure you will observe the drama associated with the ending of this saga needed some time to sink and flush itself out.

Allow me to introduce you to the players in this interaction…

Pantz is a pair of beige dress pants, which I believe where purchased by myself from Walmart about 2 years ago.  If memory serves correctly, they were actually on the clearance rack, most likely for reasons which I, being a man did not understand at the time.  My sweet Mrs however has since explained that apparently the multi-pleated front is a fashion faux-pax, and statement which due to several season of “What Not To Wear”, I feel that she is more than qualified to make.

Leggs are my own two legs.  Somewhat hair and oddly lumpy around the knees.  They have a small scar right below the left knee and what looks to be a rather faint birth mark on my inside left thigh.  Me and legs have been through a great deal together, from hikes along the African coast to mountain trails in a rain forest.  They’ve been on 5 of the world’s 7 continents and are still going strong.  They were unfortunately the first victims of my recent bout with insane endurance pursuits.  When I started, they were beset with a fair amount of ankle and lower leg pain, and following the conclusion of my first 5k race, I was to discover that chaffing in the upper and inner thigh region had resulted in a nasty and rather blood patch of pain which took over a week to heal.

It was last Thursday when things started to go awry.  Me and some friends from work decided to use our lunch break to go on a walking tour of some neighborhoods in the Avenues district of Salt Lake City.  Seeing as it was only a walk, I opted to forgo the addition of compression shorts to my attire, something which has been an integral part of my exercise routine since the aforementioned chaffing incident of 2007.

The walk was very pleasant.  The sun was shining for part of it, and we got to see some rather quaint and unique homes.  Midway through however, a rather chilly wind picked up and ominous clouds appeared off in the distance.  It was about the point that we began to retrace our steps back to the office, when the weather change happened.  10 minutes later, the dark spots began to appear on the pavement as the precipitation commenced.  We went from a walk to a quick walk, to a jog, to a run, or as best as one can run when wearing dress clothes.

Part way down into Memory Grove to traverse over to the State Capital, I began to feel some tenderness down below.  I was hopeful that with a little weightloss since the chaffing incident, as well as more miles spent running that my legs would be able to withstand the friction a little better.  Pantz on the other hand, seemed determined to protest the running and the weather, but rubbing harder.

You’ll be please to know that Leggs held out well, and while there was some tenderness at the time, it was nothing which lasted very long.  It was a gallant effort by Pantz, but in the end he just wasn’t tough enough.

The final blow came several hours later as I walked from my cubicle to my car.  At one point in that journey, as decision may be make between jumping up a small retaining wall and taking a short cut, or going around the wall via some stairs and a short walkway.  We’re probably talking a savings of about 20 feet with this shortcut, and maybe 10 seconds in time savings at the most.

I can run a marathon, and train upwards of 30 miles running and 100 miles biking a week, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stretch myself and walk those extra 20 feet to get to my car.  And so I opted for the jump over the wall.

And that was when it happened…

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

In a shocking and somewhat embarrassing conclusion, Leggs got one up on Pantz and literally ripped him a new one.  I was left with the remaining portion of my walk to the car torn between reaching down to see just how bad it was, and thus drawing attention to the fact that I was walking around in ripped pants, or simply walking as nonchalantly as possible and hoping no-one would notice.

Pantz has since been relegated to the trash, and earlier today made his way via government funded transport to the Davis County landfill.

Leggs are still going strong and spent lunchtime on the same roads as last week, but this time resting securely in a pair of compression shorts.

I do have pictures of the aftermath, but am hesitant in posting them since…  Well, let’s be honest here, I’m not exactly a 19 year old swimsuit model, and so I think the appeal of underwear shots of yours truly might be limited at best.

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I was thinking it might be irony, but then I watched a video by comedian Ed Byrne and I’m thinking it might be more of just a unfortunate turn of events, with a funny twist.

First, a couple of things you might need to know…

1. The video I’ve embedded below is targeted at an adult audience.  The language isn’t extremely bad, but it contains adult themes and that kind of thing.  Figured I should put that in, just in case my audience is younger than I think it is!
2. Don’t worry, I’m fairly confident that I’m just fine!

So here’s what happened…

I went trail running on Friday. I’ve got a 50k race coming up in 4 weeks and then IronMan in about 8 - Actually it’s exactly two months from today!!!

I’ve been trying to work on my form and running injury free, and I must say that I considered the run Friday to be a phenomenal success in both areas. I ended up running 22 miles (although to be completely honest, there was some walking mixed in there, but that’s why I like trail running), and I actually still felt pretty good when I was done.

I grabbed some lunch and then took the kiddo’s to the pool for a great afternoon.

Saturday, still feeling good, we took the kids down to the park. There was supposed to be a snow storm, but the weather guy got it wrong again (Although no complaints this time!).

We walked the perimeter a few times and then I played Frisbee with the little guys. We finished it off with some soccer type game, which didn’t really have a point, but those seem to be them best.

Somewhere during the soccer though, I think I tweaked my calf a little. I don’t think it’s serious, more likely just a cramp, but I got to thinking…

I ran over 20 miles with no problems what-so-ever, and then I tweak my legs screwing around at the park with the kids?!?!

On a related note… I ran into a herd of bison midway through the run. The main group on the trail seemed to be a group of bulls, and the herd in the distance behind them included a number of brand new calves. I ended up doing the cross country thing to get around them.

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Me and the wife always have a grand old time trying to find each other awesome gifts for Christmas.  Our kids get pretty spoiled around this time of year, but sometimes it pales in comparison to how we spoil each other.  It’s a fun time of year, and we both revel in it more than we should.

This year, my sweet wife continued her theme of the last few years of getting me triathlon related stuff.  It may be her favorite part of my new found obsession, and as an added benefit, she’s become quite knowledgeable about various products as she researches them, and looks at reviews and what not.

2 months ago, she’d never heard about Chamois Butt’r and now she nows more than me - except for how well it works, which is all I really care about.

I got a bunch of cool stuff from her, most of which will likely be reviewed in the weeks and months to come.  Finis Swim Paddles and a cadence tool, Dirty Girl Gaitors, lights for my bike, and the one I used more than any other this week…  An Evil Foam Roller.

I’ve been upping my mileage quite significantly this month, especially in the pool.  While that has seen some positive results, my cycling has been doing OK, and my running has really suffered, so last week I decided to right those wrongs and try and achieve more balance in my workouts.

Christmas made the swimming tricky with limited pool hours when I’m available, plus I hit my goal to swim the English Channel distance (21 miles) earlier last week, which impacted my motivation a little.

Monday and Tuesday I got a couple of good solid runs in at work on my lunch break, and Wednesday saw some good solid cycling miles get added.  Thursday and Friday didn’t happen due to Christmas festivities, but I hit the ground running on Saturday morning, quite literally.  I ended up running 12 miles, albeit rather slowly.  In my defense, much of it was in pretty deep snow, somewhere it was only the tracks from the deer and coyotes which I had to follow.  It was likely more of a power session that a speed session, since progress was real slow at times.  I’d try to run fast up a hill, and barely reach the speed of a fast walk, which is rather a downer as well.  But I got it done.

Sunday saw the day of the big bike, although it started off a little late due to a much needed sleep in.  I had to break it in half, but I’ve heard that’s good, and it gave me a break from being on the trainer.  The morning session had me watch the first of District 9, and then listen to a new Rage Against the Machine CD.  I would have kept watching the show, but at that point in the workout, I just wanted to put my head down and go.

Later that night, I got back on, finished the show, and then spun for another 30 minutes or so.  I ended up with a pretty solid 55 miles total, all with pretty high cadence (85-90rmp) which is good considering I’m usually in the 70’s.

Ended up with almost 23 miles running and 117 on the bike.  The only part I have yet to master is my nutrition, and I think that’s factoring into my muscle fatigue today.

Following my long run, and between biking sessions, I used the foam roller.  HOLY HELL!!!  It’s the kind of pain which feels good, because you know it’s working, but every so often, I’d hit a knot in my quads or something and I’d about go through the roof.  I think I got most of them worked out, and by the end it wasn’t quite as excruciatingly painful, but that aside, I still have the urge to paint a set of devil horns on the evil torture device.

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So I went for a trail run on Saturday.  It was organized by the local running shop as training for the Buffalo Trail run next year.  I did the one in November, and it went well, so I thought yesterdays would go well too.

The plan was for a 15 mile run instead of the 11 mile run last month, and it was on a different route.  Let me start by saying I enjoyed it immensely and will likely return in the coming weeks to try it again.

So things thought that you might have see, had you been able to come along…

1. Terrific views from the tops of the 3 big-ass mountains we had to climb.
2. Me sporting a white sweatband on my head.  I hate getting sweat in my eyes, and yet to this point I’ve dealt with it.  $1.79 at walmart for a nice 70’s style sweat band.  I may have looked like a nerd, but I didn’t get any sweat in my eyes.
3. Me, catching a toe on a loose rock at about the 3.5 mile mark - I think that explains the blip on the graph, and wiping out.  I was under 8 min/mile pace and loving the downhill.  I flew, hit with a thud, and rolled in amidst a pile of dust.  No broken skin, just a bruised ego, bruised knee and my upper body is a little stiff today because of it - me thinks.

I also took a wrong turn about 2 or 3 miles from the finish - Thanks to the 2 guys behind who failed to call out to me!!  About a half mile down the trail, I realized it wasn’t going to merge back with the one I was on, and also realized I was headed straight for a herd of bison.  I then proceed to do the cross country thing (that’s the little trek up on the last big downhill), passing a stinky pile of bison guts, but enjoying the very soft grass.

All in all, about 14.4 miles of ups, downs and beautiful views.  I may be going again in the weeks to come.

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One of the huge benefits of being in the best physical shape of my life, is the fact that I don’t get sick very often.  However the downside is that when I do get sick, it’s generally a group effort by a couple of different things.

About 12 years ago when I was in Africa, I had gone almost 2 year without anything more than a mild cold, and then…  I woke up one day feeling like death.  My fever was high, every gland in my body was swollen (Yes, even those ones!) and I could hardly move.  After a day or two, I ended up at the doctor, and it was determined that I had picked up tick bite fever, smokers bronchitis, and a pretty bad case of flu.  I ended up confined to a bed for two weeks, and taking all kinds of anti-biotics and other crazy stuff.

On Sunday evening I had one of the best runs of mylife.  Not only did it go well, but it was fast - really fast, like my legs took off and it was all I could do for the rest of me to keep up with them.  I shared the details of it on Monday morning, so I won’t rehash it, but I will say that as I got to work on Monday morning, I was still on a little bit of a high from it.

That was about when my nose started running.  I took an allergy pill, which I skipped the night before, and a pseudoephedrine tablet to help me until the allergy one kicked in.  The pseudophed tabs I take are really powerful.  If I get a cold, and take one, I usually don’t remember I have a cold until 12 hours later when it wears off.  On Monday, it didn’t seem to make a difference.  I took another at lunch time, as I headed out for a lunch meeting with an old friend.  Lunch was great - I had a Penne dish with a garlic goat cheese sauce with sun ripened tomatoes and artichoke hearts, finished off with a bowl of fresh fruit and washed down with ice cold water.  It was at a quaint little cafe in Salt Lake, with fantastic staff and a great atmosphere.  As I walked back up to my office, feelings of nausea started to build however.

I made it through the rest of the afternoon, survived the hour commute home, and proceeded to crash on the floor of the bedroom.  Around 8, I grabbed another psuedophed tablet, some vitamin C and a few other things, and went up for a nice warm bath.  I’ve heard a warm bath can fix anything, except labor pains.  If I may add whatever I got on Monday to that.  10 minutes into the bath, and it was all over.  I think the phrase I like best is “Calling for Ralph into the great white telephone”.  I called so much and so often than I am still horse.

I spent most of the rest of the night, curled up on the floor in the fetal position, wishing that death would overcome me, and take me out of the hell I was in.  I’m not sure exactly what it was, but I think I got the cold that everyone at home and work has been trying to share with me for the last couple of months.  I suspect too that something at lunch may have disagreed with me, although it was good enough that I will likely still go back, which is more than I can say for my first and last experience with P.F. Chang’s last year.

I do feel much better now, and am grateful it hit Monday, rather than Friday night or Saturday morning.  Knowing me, I would still have tried to do the marathon, even if it meant stopping at every porta-potty en-route to the finish line.  I think my hydration is almost back to normal as well.  On Tuesday, my hydration level was more than 4% below what it normally is.

I’m skipping this weeks training runs, in hopes of recovering fully by Saturday.  I may do a mile or 2 on Friday to loosen up, but that’s it.

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I got a bit of the lazy again this weekend. I’ve been using my foot as a bit of an excuse, and even though I’m mid-taper and just a week away from the marathon, I was supposed to run both Saturday and Sunday, 5 and 6 miles respectively.

First my leg… When I did my 20 mile run about 2 or 3 weeks back, with a couple of hundred yards to go, I got a bit of pain on the outside of my left heel. I still haven’t found out what it it, but I’m pretty sure I can rule out stress fracture, it’s on the side, so it’s not Achilles tendinitis, which seems to be plaguing a few fellow bloggers.

I suspect that it may be linked to my shoes. I got two pair last time I purchased show, some Brooks Defyance which I got just for training, and some Addidas SuperNova’s. I got a larger size in the Supernova’s and since they were more comfortable, they were to be my marathon shoes. One nice feature of those shoes, is that the heel portion of the sole is separate from the rest of the sole. I suspect that may be part of the problem, since the break is right where the pain is, and the pain seems worse after I run in those shoes. Anyway, so I’m going to wear the Defyance for the marathon.

The plan was to wake up early on Sunday and get 8 miles in before Church, but I stayed up late Saturday, and didn’t end up waking up until 8 - Ooops!

So last night, I finally got motivated and headed out. My training runs to this point have all averaged about 10 minutes per mile. I was hoping to keep the pace under 10 for the entire 8 miles. Have I mentioned how much I’ve enjoyed running lately? I walked a little and started running, it felt good. I had to slow to cross a road, but hit my first mile in 8:45. Nice!! I slowed a little, but still tried to keep the pressure on. Mile 2 - 9:28, more like it!, Mile 3 - 9:36, hopefully I didn’t go out too fast. Mile 4 included a nice uphill for the first part, and downhill for the second. 9:05 - SWEET!!!

The plan was an out and back 4 mile course. I hit 4 miles as I got to the gate of the Shorelands Preserve. Shorelands is a fresh water waterland, on the borders of the great Salt Lake. A local conservation group has acquired the land, and done a fantastic job of making it accessible, including more than a mile of wooden walkway across the marsh. I really wanted to run the loop, and figured that my wimping out of Saturday’s run meant I could justify it. Miles 5 and 6 were spent on the walkway and the path leading back out the the reserve, including a meaty hill. 9:06, not bad and then 8:42 (What the $#&@?) Mike, you magnificent bastard!!

Mile 7 - mostly uphill and 8:49. WOW!! Mile 8 - 8:39 and feeling amazing. Technically I should have stopped, but didn’t have the urge to at all. Mile 9 - 8:21 - Maybe my GPS is broken, except I do seem to be going fast. Mile 10 included some slowing to avoid a dog, a couple of groups on bikes and crossing the road. With half a mile to go, I figured I could burn whatever I had left, and put the pedal down. My legs felt great, mentally I was in it, and aside from my chest feeling like it was about to explode, everything was looking good. I was hoping to have an average pace close to 9:10, which is what I’ll need to hit 4 hours at the marathon next week. After running the last half mile at around 7:20 pace (I don’t even do that for speed work at the track!!), I hit 10 miles and stopped! Final mile - 7:52 - HOLY COW MAN!!!

Overall, I covered 10 miles in 1 hour and 28 minutes. Average pace 8:50. YES!!!! I walked home, feeling a little fatigued, but in consideration of the run I had just done, not bad at all. Sat down and had a good hearty meal, rounded up the kids and got them to bed, did 30 minutes of Yoga with the wife, and then watched some TV, before calling it a night.

This morning - no residual pain at all, not even when I walked down stairs. My foot is a little tender but not as much as in the past. I’m taking today off, will likely do 3 easy mile tomorrow. A mile Wednesday and 1 or 2 easy miles on Friday.

Saturday morning I plan on crossing the threshold into the ranks of those who have completed a marathon - YES!!!!

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I’m still working on putting an actual site together in front of this blog.  One of the things I would like to include on that is a section on the awkward topics associated with running, triathlon and other sports.  Being fairly new to this arena, I have picked up some of these things, but still have quite a way to go.  Things like dealing with bowel movements on race day and chaffing nipples.

I was thinking about this a lot this morning as I put my shirt on…  2 night ago, I did 2.5 miles at the local high school track.  I started slow and ended fairly fast.  There was a cold front coming in, and after a very warm day, the cooling had started but it was rather muggy.  I was running in a cotton T-Shirt.  My nipples got tender around lap 9.  I probably should have taken my shirt off, but pride prevented me.  I’m wondering if the bandaids I wore on them during the marathon on Saturday softened them up.   Regardless, I have a continual reminder of my error,  every time my shirt scrapes across my chest.

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I have a group of people that I run with at work.  Last week 1 of them resigned to pursue her own business ventures.  Christine is actually opening up a branch of MyGym - a fitness place for kids.  We went to a preview on Saturday, and my kids had an absolute blast. 

 I’m sad she’s gone, since she was the only other member of our group that raced and enjoys triathlons.  She was also the leader of the group, a torch which has now fallen on my lap.

 All that aside, she came back in today to run with us over lunch time.  Perhaps I’ll begin with a little background…

 I have a half marathon on Saturday.  Up until 6 weeks ago, I was in great shape.  Then I messed up something in my knee and haven’t really run since.  Actually I can count the times I have run on 1 hand - 5k at the end of the SHAC Triathlon in St. George, 1.5 miles at a school track, 10k at the Buffalo Duathlon, and 2 miles on Friday last week which did not go well at all.

Today at lunch the goal was 3 miles.  I’m hoping to do another mile or 2 tonight, a couple more tomorrow and then rest up for the weekend.  I had slacked off on the ibuprofen last week and the stretching, both of which I am taking and doing religiously now.  I also purchased a strap for my leg that is supposed to relieve pain from IT Band Syndrome.  I used it at the Duathlon and it seemed to help.  Today I synched it really tight.

The run went well!  Christine is about the same height and speed as me, and so we started off doing 8 minute or so miles.  We stopped a couple of times to let the other girl catch up, but I managed to run the whole way.  It got a little sore at the end and I struggled walking back into the office, but that all aside, I feel really good.  Hopefully I won’t bomb it on Saturday.

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Today for a bit of variety, a co-worker and I brought our bikes in and decided to ride up City Creek Canyon in Salk Lake City.  It was perfect weather for the trip, almost no wind and temperatures in the upper 50’s.  The ride went well, and we were able to go further than last week, due to there not being as much snow this time.

 We went up almost 5 miles before we ran into any significant amount of snow on the road.  I got to that point first and turn into a parking area to wait for my fellow rider.  The parking lot consisted of 1 inch granite stones, perhaps not the best surface for nice thin road tires, but I was planning on stopping any way.  I braked, leant the bike and twisted my foot to unclip it.

 It didn’t release, I twisted harder, it still didn’t release…..  Aaaaaaaargh!!  I slowly went over and landed on my side in the gravel.  My foot then released.   At this point there were three mountain bikers waiting over by the snow patch, and another 2 coming up the hill.  I tried to look like I was just taking a rest…  Not sure I pulled it off though, since few people would consider lying on stones with a bike on top of them.

 The bike seems to be fine, although the seat was a little skew when I was done.  My hand is a tad bruised at the base of the palm, and my legs has picked up a couple of nice little holes from the sharp stones.  Not enough blood to run down my legs, but enough to make it look gory.

 The worst part though was that the other bikes saw me.  Stupid! Stupid! Stupid.

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