Training Log Archive: Traut

Aside from a 30-minute walk with Claire in the backpack at North Park, I took today off from cardio exercise due to spending my time after work, and before picking up Claire, pulling up carpet in the basement after the hot water heater died in spectacular fashion. The musty smell is upon us and I need to get the padding out of there.

It was also a good day to rest as I am very tight in and around knee as well as hamstrings and hip flexors. The good news is that the swelling does not seem any worse then before the weekend. I do feel quite a bit of restriction though- which could be just tight quads or swelling I am just not seeing. There is so much more tightness following orienteering on Sunday then after racing the 6k on Saturday. The problem is there are a few variables present. It could be that I was taped on Saturday and the tape gave way before Sunday's meet. The tape may have kept things in line enough to keep the damage down and therefor, the recovery up. Sunday was also a very different terrain then Saturday though. Saturday was a flat rail trail. I may have been faster and worked consistently harder on Saturday, but I could be in control the entire time. Running over uneven steep terrain up and down on Sunday has always been tougher on my muscles and knees then running flat. I was not in control of my form well and there was a lot of downhill. Another factor is that it was the second day of hard work running. Maybe Saturday weakened me so that I couldn't hold my form on Sunday. It is hard to say how big, if any, a factor teh tape was. I 'feel' like it was a factor, but that isn't good data.

As far as the PT. I stretched in am and pm. Did active warm-up and glute stuff as well as single leg raised quarter squats in evening. Had a lot more balance and rotation issues due to being so tight. Hip flexors seemed to betaking too large a roll in the single leg squats and I couldn't get down to lunge position.

Event: Hudson Highlander XVII
 

Event: WPOC - Boyce Park
 

Did active warmup in morning and stretched. Balance/glute stuff and stretching was fine (hamstrings tighter then usual). World's greatest stretch was still subject to not really being able to get into that lunge position.

Evening, I am really banged up in hamstrings and knees. Hip flexors really tight. Stretching only.

WPOC - Boyce Park - Green

Results: http://www.wpoc.org/

QuickRoute:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/106181954@N05/1041248...

So, firstly- where was I physically. I am coming off being about as low as I have been for the last few weeks- back with Dr. Stone and PT and to add to that I did Dan's race yesterday.

The tape on my knee has been effective and yesterday's race saw me more adjusted in my stride then earlier in the week when I was not running at all naturally and was fatiguing so quickly. During a shower this morning, before heading out to the meet saw the tape loose it's tension. We knew it would and wanted to see how my knee would deal with not being taped.

Today, as far as pain, my knee responded well. It did not hurt. I wasn't any more natural without the tape then with though (so it does not seem that the tape is really hindering my form any more then it is being hindered by my tightness and weakness). I felt like I had a semi-good stride for about the first half but my strength did not hold and as I continued my form, especially downhill, was turning to bracing for impact instead of attacking.

While my knee did not hurt while I was running, what did seem to be happening without the tape was showing more in my recovery. The rest of the day had my knee being very sensitive to movement- tight connective tissue snapping over my knee was common. That was not the case after the race yesterday. I will have to wait longer to see if it swelled. I suspect yes.

On to the meet analysis. Andy Strat designed the course. Really liked all the short legs but man did all those control circles and lines play games with my eyes...

1-5 I felt pretty good about. I stayed very slow and checked in with the map much more often then needed and went pretty clean. I saw Annalise at the control as I approached and I had started 4:00 behind her which I felt pretty good about.

It is weird, sometimes when I get into a head to head type of situation I respond well. Dave Battista and I had a good one going at Frick. This time I really struggled with it. In trying to break away from Annalise I rushed an made mistakes and didn't separate from her until control #13.

#6 went well, Annalise took something that was more like Alex's route where I crossed the power-line on the trail and had less green to push through up to the control. I didn't see her after I saw her head up the trail east of the power-line. Number 7 I made a mistake on. Somehow I ended up on that little offshoot trail that took me to the trail above instead of below the control as planned. I was happy with the fact that I recognized it and adjusted and hit the control for above, but lost enough time that I hot the control the same time Annalise came in from below. I left the control first making the same mistake that she would make; heading straight down the stream (I notice that Alex used the trail- a much better decision). We both got caught in pretty nasty fight, she went high and I went down to the stream. I reached the control shortly before she did but we both lost a ton of time there.

We took different routes to 9 as I went trail and cross country and she went up to the road. I got in to the control ahead of her, but not by much as I stopped twice to retie my shoes after slogging through so much water and really second guessed myself a few times (but was on track the whole time). 10 was clean and I started to gap her going into it and did not see her as I passed through control 11 fairly clean (except that I found myself much closer to #5 then expected). I rushed number 12 and got a few trail intersections confused. and she caught be as I had to double back. After hitting 12 (she went low into 12 and I went high on the trail which did get me in to the control first again) I totally rushed and headed of toward control #6- I have no idea why. There were 4 red lines leaving #12, none of them led toward control #6. I realized it and circled around and caught Annalise heading down toward the dirt road. I didn't get away from her much going downhill to #13, but finally got a gap on the longer leg to #14 and didn't see her after that.

#15 was smooth, but I made a dumb error on the way to #16. When I came out to the dirt road I knew where I was, but the next time I looked at the map I transplanted myself up to the other entrance to the dirt road (where Alex cam out). This caused me to run past the trail junction I wanted to turn on. I realized it and turned back after maybe 100 meters (lost about 1:10, I measured it on Strava), but lost some time. #16 was an easy find as the trip to number 10 had brought me right past it, so I remembered how close it was to the road.

It was a long uphill slog to the finish. My form was not holding at all. I did put another 3 minutes or so into Annalise in those last few controls.


Results:

Advanced (14) 6.3 km 0 Cm 16 C

1(101) 2(102) 3(103) 4(104) 5(105) 6(106) 7(107) 8(108) 9(109) 10(110) 11(111) 12(112) 13(113) 14(114) 15(115)
16(116) F
1 9 Jim Trautmann 66:33
02:39 05:28 07:20 10:39 14:21 19:13 23:27 27:33 30:45 33:09 37:10 41:55 47:57 51:56 54:30 62:26 66:33
02:39 02:49 01:52 03:19 03:42 04:52 04:14 04:06 03:12 02:24 04:01 04:45 06:02 03:59 02:34 07:56 04:07

Oddly enough, my memory wasn't exact on getting to a few of those controls before Annaliese. She had to get to a few in front of me based on splits. We basically got to them very close together seconds. Funny that I remember it as me getting to them first, guess you see things a bit distorted.

The first two meets (IUP and this one) were both on very quick courses- lots of trail use. I have been doing well within the club, better then I have previously. I am making fewer mistakes then previous years, but these have been relatively easier courses. I have been taking my time in navigation and I believe that is the way to go. It cost me having the fastest splits on those first few controls. The guy who ended up 5th was ahead of me at the 5th control, but he fell apart in the second half. I found consistency a bit more. This is as close as I have gotten to sub 10:00 per kilometer, which is a line in the sand to try to be at least a little competitive. Of course this was a very fast course and good people can go 7-8 min per kilometer on courses with little trail, but I have to walk before i can run. If I start navigating well taking my time to read the map and process, I will get better and faster at that through experience. I can't look at ho much time I lost in those early controls or the time I gained on the 'trail' controls where I had fastest splits (14, 15, F). It needs to be about good navigation and consistency in that navigation for me. It is patience and map reading until then.

I was happy with controls 5,6, and 9 where I had fastest splits and they were normal controls. Not total trail, not long, but just normal controls. All in all, it is a good day and I am improving slowly. WE will have to wait to see what kind of improvement I may have seen on a course with fewer handrails.

full stretching and glute/balance active warmup exercises in morning. Did not do World' greatest stretch due to time constraints as we tried to figure out the freezer.

In the evening I did both the active warmup and stretching, but struggled to get into the squat position in worlds greatest stretch. Did crab walks and abductors as well as single leg raised quarter squats (still tougher to stay aligned like yesterday- having difficulty being relaxed and not rotating in many exercises). Straight leg raises with 2 lbs. Basically went well.

Foam rolling on TFL did feel like I was hitting what I wanted.

Ran Dan Kysela's race- I've Got Your Six 6k

http://www.ivegotyour6k.org/index.html

results: http://results.bazumedia.com/event/results/event/e...


2 Jim Trautmann 757 00:21:33 05:47 Wexford, PA M 40-49 1


Forgot GPS watch- no data.

I know I am just starting PT again and my body is about as low as it can be. A race isn't recommended by any means, but I know what level not to push past and now is the time to get data. I have the therapist to look at it with. The other thing- It is Dan's race and I want to come through for him. I had hoped it would be a race that I could run within myself and get away up front so I wouldn't be tempted to dogfight with anyone and push anything too hard with my form so badly off.

I got up early enough to do my active warm-up and stretch. We had a horrible morning though as we realized that the freezer had malfunctioned and we may have lost all of the breastmilk Gail had stored (we did find out later it should be OK!), and we ended up late for the race- so I had no warm-up. I know I am in a bad place right now in my form and my knee. I also know that on race day I usually find a way to perform at whatever my body currently has at its top level.

Understandably the lack of warm-up had me out very slow. I actually got passed in the first 400m by someone I beat by about 5 minutes in the end. I started to find my "could do all day" stride (of course I can't do it all day, but I do feel I can hold it for the race as long as I am not challenged to create any dissonance. I caught the leaders at about a mile. I had been watching them. There were two of them and one had already started to fall off before I caught them. I figured at that point I would get the race I wanted- I would run my race and pull away unchallenged. I make the assumption that people do what most people do- go out hard and fade. So few seem to have the confidence to race properly.

I pulled up alongside the leader and settled in. I was fine if we actually slowed and I could pull away a little later and have less risk of loosing my form before the finish. The leader seemed to actually want to push the pace... interesting. Could this be a runner with some confidence in his abilities? He was young. I wondered if he was one of Dan's athletes at Blackhawk. Turns out he was and he was believing in Dan's coaching - this was bad news for me. I was feeling good through the turnaround at 6k. The trail turned slightly downhill on the way back (it had been slightly uphill on the way out) and I started to feel like my form wasn't holding to the "could do forever" pace/ I am not sure if the leader ad picked it up or not. I suspect he did. My GPS data would have been good here.

The leader kept rolling and dropping the pace and at 2k to go he pulled away. I was not feeling good in my form anymore. I was starting to slam down instead of driving out of my foot-strike. I kept the pace I could best keep my form together with and he pulled almost 30 seconds out of me in those last 2k. Kudos to Dan and his athlete. It is so hard for kids to find the confidence in themselves to race properly. This kid was relaxed out there and slowly pressing me further and further- basically he out did me at my own game!

I ran within my form for most of the race dealt with the breakdown as well as I could. The knee taping worked very well at keeping my knee pain out. I did also recover well as I was able to do PT in the evening and race the next day orienteering. My knee was adequately protected by the tape. I am not saying I didn't have a form breakdown in those last few k and my knee had to absorb some of that. The taping helped it do that and I came out decently well.

Did the tape cause early fatigue and resistance? I don't know. The truth is that I am not fast right now. I can beat people, but I have known that, even on race day- when I can access the best my body currently has, I am not in a place to beat people with talent and skill. I am just not there. This kid had it and cruised away. Actually, 5:47 pace is a bit quicker then expected, but it is slow for such a flat course. I was running 5:25s last summer at Asbury Park. Maybe some is the tape, but I wasn't noticing it much when I ran and the tension was there.

Wanted to try something. Wanted to use my knee with the tape, but still focus on reducing swelling. Went onto the treadmill for 20 minutes. Didn't feel great, but knee felt no pain and was much better then my attempt on the treadmill last week with the brace on.

Worked from home today as our hot water heater died and we had it being replaced and I needed to be home. That gave me the chance to stretch. I felt fine in the morning stretch but felt my back tighten up as the day went on. Yesterday I had a day when it seemed like everything I did in PT just couldn't hurt my knee and I felt aligned in everything I was doing. I could 'feel' my movements. As my back tightened, I struggled more. single leg quarter squats were harder to stay aligned and hamstring stretches and glute/balance active warmup were tougher to relax my back and not strain.

Wanted to do something, but focus on reducing swelling. Wanted to do about 40 minutes on spin bike, intervals. At about 20 minutes, my calf started twitching in very similar fashion to when it went back in march. Stopped immediately. My calves had fatigued so quickly yesterday- this seems to be the next step.

Stretched on my own and then had PT where they started to actually give me exercises. Worlds greatest stretch and balance/ glutes for active warmup. Straight-leg lifts with 2lbs was familiar as were the raised single leg quarter squats. Resistance band carb walks and abductors/ glutes (opening bent legs) were new. We worked on increasing cadence as well on treadmill. knee felt fine on treadmill as well as the entire session. I felt indestructible honestly. All the exercises not only felt fine on my knee, but I felt alignment and relaxation during exercises. they felt effective. Could I be starting an upswing? Just in time to think I am breaking out with PT again. She re-taped me again to keep rolling with that.

Tried a run with the taping on the knee. My knee felt OK, but I wasn't natural. I am still just wanting to focus on reducing swelling, so went very short. As you can notice, I stopped quite a bit. I felt I needed to do that in order to keep on that mission (reducing swelling). I was fatiguing really quickly. My arches and calves were fatiguing very quickly. Is this a result of the taping (more similar to the brace then previously thought), or just where I am at?

Did stretches from yesterday and attempted lunges. Couldn't get down into position. Was this a result of the run? Is my knee just that bad? Is the resistance of the tape messing with me on the lunges? Just couldn't get down into position.

Similar to yesterday, just did probably no more then a mile of just back and forth on an abandoned road. This is the perfect time to start to get the feel for roller-skiing. I won't do much, but that is good since all I want to do reduce swelling. Still feel unnatural and timid. Still feel week in T.A. and knee and not strong enough to put trust in my movements.

Had my first PT appointment today. Spent most of the time on the eval. so all we started with was stretching. I am working with the intern of one of the therapist, but that may be good. The intern has some new ideas- changing my mechanics (which will probably not be effective- but may stir some new data) and is much more in line looking at my form as I spent good time on the treadmill. This is aligning more with Dr. Ed's diagnosis then my last trip to PT.

She also taped my knee to achieve the same effect that the brace Dr. Stone gave me does, but with much less restriction to general motion. I will test it out tomorrow for a run.