Tibia Posterior, Elliptical Madness, Recovery and Back! Weekly Summary 12/24 -12/30

Monday

2:08; Estimated:16 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 127 Avg Hr; My first day in the CU gym this year.  I couldn’t stand the stupidity of what was on TV… but I was stupid enough to keep watching.  It is unbelievable to still see crap like Jersey Shore, the cop with the sunglasses and a dyed blonde mullet, west coast choppers or whatever it is called and court tv… non-stop.  Kill the TVs.  The elliptical machine is a magic machine that lets me run without bothering my tibia posterior.   The elliptical works because I keep the climbing angle low and my heel stays flat and pretty much the muscles on the back of my lower leg are not contracting.    

Tuesday

:39; 4.75M; 319Ft; 138Av Hr; My attempt to run and discover the strain on my Tibia Posterior was healed… overly optimistic. 

-Body Work With Marcus Allen-

I went over to Marcus Allen’s house for an emergency session to see what was up with the muscles on the back of my leg just above my left ankle.   The prognosis was that about an inch or two of my tibia posterior was slightly strained.  Good news was that the muscle strain was pretty mild and would heal quickly, as long as I didn’t do anything stupid, like run and more so, run up-hill or fast.    

Marcus Allen also gave the great advice t take the rest of the day off since it was Maggie’s Birthday, GREAT advice.

Wednesday

:04; .55M; I went out to see what the leg would feel like… not ready. 

PM 2:11; 19 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 143 Avg Hr; I REALLY got after it on the Elliptical for this one!  I relocated to a machine that didn’t have a TV in my face and listened to Pandora on my phone.  First 30 minutes I warmed up with a HR around 130.  Second 30 minutes I went to town with a HR average around 155-165.  The 3^rd 30 minutes I kept the HR around 145 and same for the last 30 minutes with a cool down for 11 minutes. 

Thursday

AM:41; 5.08; 130Ft; 130Avg Hr;  The fist 2 miles I could still “feel” the strain, but it was much better. Miles 3-5 felt nearly painless, but right at the end I could feel the muscle getting pissed so I jumped on the bus and road back to my street and walked a few blocks home.  My legs were very, very tired from the beat down on the elliptical the night before!

PM 1:00; 9 ELLIPTICAL MILES; 130Av Hr;

Friday

1:03; 7.73M; 540Ft; 130Av Hr;  The first mile or two I could just barely feel the strain and then nothing until mile five.  The last few miles I could feel the stupid strain.   

Saturday

1:27; 11.53M; 585Ft; 7:30 Av Pace!  Today was one of the most exciting, happy runs I’ve had!  It was ridiculously sunny and warm (70F?), I ran half the run with my shirt off and the biggest reason I had a perma smile the entire run: the strain in my left leg was truly gone!  I played it safe and didn’t go any longer on the Boulder Creek bike path, although I really wanted to.  I was floating a mile high!  I was back.    

Sunday

2:51; 23.07M; 1,329Ft; 146Av Hr; 7:24 Av Pace!  I wanted to go run in the mountains, but I played it safe.  I ran to the 7-11 to return a red box DVD, over to wonderland lake trails, north boulder trails, a lap around the boulder reservoir and back home.  I kept the pace faster, as I did all week.  It is great to be back.  

Weekly Totals

11:43 Running & Elliptical

96.71 Miles (44 Elliptical)

2,903 Feet Climbing

Crazy week. 

The Tibia Posterior strain showed up last Sunday on my run where I went up Sanitas and the west part of the Boulder Creek bike path.  There was no significant moment that the strain showed up, it was just there at the beginning of the Sunday run.  The mistake was ignoring the pain on Sunday.   I am convinced the strain was from a massive week and the 30 mile long run with nearly 6K of climbing last Saturday.  The body is still adjusting and I need to be wise on how quickly I make increases on weekly volume and quality (hard running). 
The elliptical running- Yes, it is a bit controversial in my mind to count mileage on an elliptical machine.  I do believe elliptical running is pretty close to the natural act of running, but it certainly isn’t “running” either.  As a short alternative training tool, I think it is pretty effective.  I kept the resistance at 8-11, climbing at 3 (to protect the strain), my cadence, or strides per minute, at 180-210 and HR at 125-165.  I had one killer workout and I was tired and a bit sore nearly every day this week due to the work on the Elliptical.  Counting these miles certainly did aid in keeping my psyche happier while battling an injury. 

Overall the strain to my muscle kept me from doing normal runs outside for 5 days and kept me away from the hills for 7.  Tomorrow I’ll run up Green most likely.

This Saturday is USATF XC Championships in Sand Diego.  I feel ready to roll, but via an entirely different way of training than in the past.  I don’t know for sure how I will perform on a relatively flat 6 x 2k grass loop.  I’m more fit and lighter than ever for this time of year, but I certainly have been preparing for trail ultras, not 12Ks!  It will be fun and a good workout regardless.  5 weeks until Nueces/USATF 50 Mile Championships!