Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Sweet Sunnies for You, a Layoff for Me

If you're in need of some great sunnies for the upcoming season, then the fine folks at Smith Optics are in a giving mood. All you need do is head on over to the Team Pearl Izumi-Smith site and wax lyrical for a few lines.

I'm a big fan of the Pivlock V90s

Continuing with the PI-S theme, I had the pleasure of taking teammate and Phoenix Marathon masters champ, Scott Jaime out for a quick trip up Horsetooth last night. Scott was in town flogging pharmaceuticals to the local medical community, and like the dedicated trail runner he is he found time in his busy workday to pound some dirt and hills for an hour or so.

On a not so positive note, somewhere in this run something gave in my lower right leg. There's been a dull pain there for a couple of days, which I assumed was achilles related, and that flared to something a little more concerning on the way down the mountain yesterday. I've definitely been compensating for my foot the last week or so, and finally when the foot issue seemed to be resolved, the compensatory effects appear to have taken hold. Anyway, pretty sure it's some kind of tear in the lower calf, and not tendon related, which according to my internet sleuthing should be at least a week to FULLY heal. The key here is to have patience - which for me (and most runners) is easier said than done. So I guess the plan now is to properly rest the lower right leg so I'm not out running a modified stride and transplanting the stress elsewhere up or down the body.

The problem for me, however, is my seeming addiction to racing and the upcoming Moab race weekend in a week and a half, which looks like it will be fun on a number of different levels. Not only does the event take place in an insanely beautiful part of the country, but it is also shaping up to be a competitive one: Ryan B, Karl. M, John Anderson, Tim Wagonner, Jared Campbell, Ty Draney and more I'm sure.

In addition, there are a bunch of people attending who I was looking forward to either meeting or just plain catching up with. The trail running community is a funny one and races are as much event as they are an opportunity to catch up with friends that you may only see once or twice a year. So it's a tough call, but I know for sure the sensible way to approach this, and it's just a case of drumming that into my thick skull until it sticks. Writing this little rant is part of that process.

Sorry about the whine, and enough about me and my woes. Get yourself over to the PI-S website and have a go at winning some cool gear!

14 comments:

  1. So you are out of Moab? Or not? I am gathering it is a game day call?

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  2. If I had any sense I would call it right now, but I don't, so yeah, it's gonna be a game-day call.

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  3. Just to be safe, you should not run another step until Salida.

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  4. Brownie - you know I'd still quick your arse.

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  5. You can kick my ass. As long as it's by less than 26 minutes. Or maybe I'll just race in the SJ zone and claim victory whether or not you finish ahead of me.

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  6. Bummer man. Just don't be stupid like me and wait 2 months to get into the doc...

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  7. Shit man! I'm sorry. You said something on the way back up to your house but was hoping it was a minor twinge. Don't race Moab. Rest my friend. WS is the goal. You've got a great base going, in two weeks you won't lose much of that.

    Good running and chatting with you. And btw - I have my own Ping Pong paddle... are you scared??

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  8. Listen to FastEd. Even though he's a Mexican, he knows what he's talking about:)

    ajw

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  9. Wow, how crazy, the same thing happened to me when I was running for PI. It is the shoes. I told PI about it but they didnt want to listen, too bad it looks like they continue to get elite runners hurt.

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  10. Thanks for the input guys - I'm listening. And Justin, not sure I'd label myself an elite runner, but thanks for the thought!

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  11. Interesting ... other than things like the Newtons, Vibrams ... folks seem to either love or hate the PI shoes more than any other I have seen. The upper is definitely softer than most and people either really dig its slipper feel - or really hate it.

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  12. It's true what GZ says - you either love em or hate em. I've been wearing PI's for 3 years injury free. Before then I had calf and Achilles injuries quite frequently. I can tell you each year the shoes have gotten better and better based on feedback.

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  13. The issue I have with the shoe is that it is like running on an incline which puts too much pressure on your calf and achilles. I know a few others that have had the same problem that Nick and I have had. Once I quit running in their shoes it slowly went away. It is too bad because they have the best clothes around they just havent figured out the shoes yet.

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  14. Justin - to be fair, calf and achilles pain is nothing new for me. I dealt with it on and off to varying degrees last year, and I'm pretty sure it is a combination of an odd right foot strike and too much uphill running in training.

    Certainly the shoes are a work in progress, and hopefully I can help be a part of that process with regards to their trail shoes. Agreed on the clothing side of things.

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