Plyo Workout

Hello Camp Folks.

At long last, here is the Plyo Tutorial.  There are of course more exercises than these that you can add in or do as part of a bodyweight strength workout, and there are all sorts of different variations you can do on the exercises listed.  If you contact me, I'll get you a print out with a 'menu' of possible exercises.
The basic instructions, as identified in the video, are to go 1 minute on, 10 seconds off.  If you need to, work into it though.  Build up from 45 secs on, 15 secs off, to 50 secs on, 10 secs off, then up to 1 minute on, 10 secs off.  In any event, if you did the Plyo workout at camp, this will come back quickly to you.

Remember, you can't just run to get faster.  You need to be a total athlete to run FAST.

Surgery!

So the day prior to heading up to Concord Retreat for Gotta Run Running Camp, I went in to see a specialist about my ankle.  It just wasn't making any progress, even with consistent physical therapy. 

So the Doctor took one look at my MRI, and told me unequivocally that it was going to need to be surgically repaired.  If not, without my calcaneofibular and anterior talofibular ligaments, my foot/ankle bone structure basically was just sloshing around and clattering bone on bone, and would eventually wear through the cartilege and fuse together.  Plus there was a buildup of scar tissue on my anterior inferior talofibular ligament, which was getting pinched on my talus (bone directly under the tibial shin bone) and constricting my peroneal nerve, and causing my shin and lower leg to go numb as I ran.  Not fun.

So today, I went in for surgery to get all this repaired.  After I came out of anesthesia, the doctor told me, "It was a mess in there," and that besides all those ligaments flapping in the breeze, and the scar tissue, and some damage to the cartilege already, there was also a loose chunk of ligament just floating around in there.

In any event, its all done now, and wrapped up in this cast for the next 10 days, then I go into a walking cast for 4 weeks, then a boot (of the plastic, removable variety) for an additional 6 weeks.  Then I get to start returning to running with a Walk-Jog plan.  Awesome.

Ah well!  My ankle is repaired, now we hope it's fixed.

Active Isolated Stretching Video

Hello Capon Ridgers!

Embedded here you will find an unedited video of the normal stretching circuit that we used for warmup prior to running.  Over the next few days, I'll be putting up edited versions of the same stretching routine, the plyo workout, and the core exercises, as well as a list of other resources, and my instruction documents for each of these.  While I'd love to put everything up at once, I hope you will make sure you are stretching in the meantime!  Active Isolated Flexibility work will keep you healthy and help you recover faster. And don't forget, even if your team uses static stretching (or no stretching) at practice, you can add AIS flexibility into your evening routine - take 10-12 minutes before you go to bed and fast-track your recovery and flexibility gains.

(Also enjoy the background commentary as the Coaches and counselors get completely distracted and fixated on a tick, and what sort of viscous fluid they should use to remove it. Gross. Just ignore that, and pay attention to the stretching....)

Capon Ridge Running Camp 2012

Just arrived back from another great year of Capon Ridge Running Camp, sponsored by Nike. Lots of great kids and great teams came up this year, and we grew by about 20 campers, which is always fun.  In honor of the Olympics, our camp activities and games had an Olympic theme, complete with flags, and my forcing the counselors to sing the Olympic anthem again and again, which was hilarious to me, at least.  Nike also generously supported us again, bring us some awesome samples and information about the Flywire and Flyknit shoes and spikes that they are unveiling at the Olympics in London.  Really cool stuff.

I pretty much failed to take pictures this year, partially because I was working with campers on stretching most of the time, or yelling at Larry, and partially because I forgot my camera.  As I come across photos and video, I will see about posting them, but below are the photos of the actors who played certain roles, with their namesakes:

The Mikes. note the tattoos, belts as stand-ins for HR monitors, and various therapy equipment as apparel.  Mac (to my left) managed to look so creepily like me that my wife was somewhat bothered by it.

The Larrys, including Ransom's interpretation of Larry as an evil wizard with a cape.

Foley and his double, who put his goldfish tattoo in a more appropriate spot than Foley himself did.

 I am already looking forward to next year, and hope everyone returns for another year of running in the ridiculously steep hills of Yellow Springs, WV.


 

Broken again

So I have taken some time off running, as a result of the head injury suffered in Mexico back in December that had some unexpected consequences (head hurt for 2 months anytime I did anything strenuous, couldn't seem to concentrate either...), an increase in my workload, and a need to make running something that was adding enjoyment, and not stress, to my life.

I've since been building up again for the past month, nothing crazy, just trying to get out and run, even while in Queretaro, and my fitness was coming back nicely, and I was enjoying being out for hour runs or so.  Then, on the morning of June 26th, on the Mesa trail in Chataqua park, which I have run maybe 1000 times, I was coming down a hill on a morning run and BAM! my right ankle just went sideways.  It's a rocky trail, and I haven't the slightest clue exactly what I hit/stepped on, but I have never heard a joint crack like that before. It was terrible.  At the moment it happened, I was a solid 2 miles out from my car, and I couldn't put any weight on it.  I ended up hoping tree to tree back to the parking lot, which got pretty amusing as hikers started coming in on the trail, wondering what the hell I was doing. 

In any event, following Gibby logic ("Ankle injuries aren't real injuries."), I took a day off, then started running again.  Which led to it not just not improving, but getting exponentially worse.  Not good.  So I went in to the Doctor, where they x-rayed it, only to tell me that my ankle looked arthritic and like I was an 80 year old man, but it wasn't broken.  And they put me on crutches for two weeks. 

unfortunately, even the crutches didn't exactly help, and a week later, I had to go in to get an MRI, which revealed a full tear of the calcaneofibular ligament, and anterior talofibular ligament, but the posterior talofibular and ant. inferior talofibular were intact, as were all the tendons.  So at the moment, the prognosis is PT, and up to 8 weeks recovery time.  Boo.

Capon Ridge Running Camp starts in two days, and this will be the first time in 9 years of attending I won't be able to run at camp. Even post knee surgery I found a way to make it work.  I am bummed.

This fun bruising has lasted for a good couple of weeks....

Fire!

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy, as two big fires have been dominating the news and our air quality out here.  The High Park fire west of Ft. Collins and the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs have been greatly affecting our air (as seen below), but we also just had a fire break out on the western side of the ridge here in Boulder.  At one point, the flames actually jumped to the east side of the ridge, which is scary.  This is what happens when it is super dry, we get no snow, and there is entirely too many dead trees from Pine beetle kill.

It's crazy stuff, and I'm worried to see what the long term damage for these areas will be.

Smoke from the Flagstaff fire rising above Bear Peak and Shadow Canyon.  The fire is currently burning right on one of my favorite trails, that you access by running up the canyon in the center of the picture between the peaks.

Another of the smoke above Shadow Canyon and Bear Peak.

Here you can see the plumes of smoke from where the flames actually jumped to the east side of the ridge, and the trees right under Bear Peak were burning.

This was on the 4th of July, and may look like nothing, but you should be able to see for miles, and all the way up towards Summit County.  Because of the wind patterns, the smoke from Colorado Springs a 2 hour drive south) was so thick it was limiting visibility to about 2 miles.  Needless to say, fireworks were canceled.

This is a hawk I saw on a bike ride.  No connection, but I liked this bird.

Backcountry Skiing in RMNP

Got out on the 30th with Arena and Nally for some backcountry skiing in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Conditions are crazy advanced - more like it should be in early May.  Not much snow this season, which might mean some trouble down the road, as little snowmelt means a dry summer.  We shall see.  Anywhoo - pictures below.

We hit up the Dead Elk couloir, which is to the left of the sharp pointy ridge in the photos.  The trek in was itself pretty spectacular, and as is often the case with backcountry, it took several hours to skin-in to the base of the couloir, an additional hour to hike up it (Nally and Arena were considerably faster on the snow climb then my slow, overly-cautious self), and then about 20 minutes to ski down.  It was a great ski, though the late spring conditions were a bit of a shock and the snow was so choppy I took a bit of a spill at one point.  Other than that, great day out.  On the way back, we even had some extra time to play around with jumping off a drop.

Pictures are below, all taken by Arena.

Looking up at our route.  Dead Elk is obscured to the left of the central, pointy peak, Dragontail is to the right.

Rabbit we saw on the way in.

Taking the climbing skins off my skis before we started the snow climb up.

Looking down the couloir.  You can see me in the distance, falling behind.  Oops. Pretty great view though, right?  Hard to beat this at a lift-served resort.

Arriving at the top of the route....

Anthony's boots, with Dan and I getting ourselves situated prior to the descent.

About to head down.  You can somewhat make out via the shadows the choppy texture of the snow.

...and heading down.

Colorado Skiing

No posts for awhile, nor running for that matter.  Lots of work.  Alice and I have been managing to squeeze some skiing in on the weekends though.  This is Alice's first season skiing, and we've managed to hit up Eldora, Keystone, Winter Park and Loveland.  Very enjoyable - some pictures from these adventures are below.

Part 2 - In which medical attention is acquired.

So here I am, 5:20pm, it is getting dark, and I am wandering through the streets of Playa del Carmen, with only a vague idea of my whereabouts and destination.

And a very wide open head wound, with blood trickling down my temple and neck.

Needless to say I got some funny looks.

About 30 minutes and maybe 2 miles or so of wandering later, I arrive at the Red Cross, and after some confusion with the door (I couldn’t figure out how the hell to get in), I approach the counter where an EMT is sitting admitting people.  There’s a bit of a crowd in the waiting room, and I’m worrying that it may take awhile, but as I wait in line, the room empties quickly, with people and families being called back, and my stress eases a bit.

Eventually I get to the counter.  The conversation goes like this:

EMT: Buenas tardes.

Me: Buenas tardes, pienso que necessito puntos en mi cabeza (I show him my head)

The EMT guy takes one look at me, gets up, walks away, calls for the doctor.

In walks the doctor.  Very nice lady.  Conversation/action went like this:

Dr: Buenas tardes. Que es su problema?

Me. Buenas tardes, Yo corto me cabeza en un piedra, y pienso que necesito puntos

(I again show my head, to which the doctor gives a sort of ‘Yikes’ face to.)

Dr.: Cuando paso?

Me: Um….mediodia.

Dr. (shocked): Cuando?!?

Me (thinking I may have said something unintelligible due to my blood loss): Uh, doce?…hace 5 o 6 horas….Noon?

Dr.: No…Entiendo, pero…Dios mio….OK,..sigueme.

And so I was lead back into the clinic where the doctor and 2 nurses proceeded to put 4 stitches into my scalp and get a quick medical history, all in Spanish.  Much fun was had with the fact they got to cut my hair to access the wound.  Less fun was had when the nurses had to brace themselves to hold my skull steady as la doctora was yanking my scalp back together with medical twine.

The wound upon return from the Cruz Roja

In the end, all told, I had the following expenses:

The stitches, obscured by my hair.

$ 215 pesos for the procedure and clinic fees

$ 295 pesos for the antibiotics that I had/have to take because I spent the better part of the day walking around with an open wound protected only by Captain Ron’s gross shirt. 

This is the equivalent of  $36.39, and none of that involved any kind of insurance.

While I have many thoughts about this and the implications for the medical system in the US, I will share only the following two:

1.     With ‘good’ insurance in our privatized system, when I got stitches earlier this year in a less critical area (knee) and for a smaller wound, I've paid at least $500, just received and paid off the last bill, and very frankly lost track of all the bills that were sent and paid, so it was likely more.

2.     I waited less than 5 minutes for care in what was the equivalent to an ER/Urgent Care place.  Once, in Vegas, Alice and I waited to see a doctor for over 10 hours, all told, when she had a pulmonary embellism, and during which time I watched a man sit down to wait with 3^rd degree burns such that I could see the tendons in his arms move like piano wire.

So in the end, my head was still pounding, and I had to miss a few days of running (2), but I was mostly faced with the following ironic fact:  I had chosen to forego a trip to Mexico because I had stitches, only to end up getting stitches while in Mexico.  So there’s that.

An homage for Arrested Development fans.  That was the dressing the nurses put on me.

And the moral of the story is, if a stoned out beach bum tells you that you are fine and your injury isn’t a big one, never, for any reason, under any circumstances, ever, for any reason, should you believe him, or allow anyone else to.

Part 1 - In which a head injury is sustained...

For my first 2012 post, I shall recount the non-running related events surrounding yet another non-running related injury which I sustained.  To give context here, my family and I went to Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico over the break.  These events occurred the second day we were there.

Leading into the actual accident, we had spent the morning visiting Mayan ruins (very cool) then doing a zip-line/ropes course (pretty bored by this, what with trad climbing and all) that involved a 30 minute ride into the jungle aboard a suspension-less German army personnel truck with our stoned-out guide (think Captain Ron, if you have seen that abomination of a film).  After these activities, we were set to go swimming and snorkeling in cinotes, limestone caverns that were now filled with water.  These were spectacularly beautiful, with stalactites reaching down towards crystal clear water, and bats flitting in and out of the cavern roof and surrounding trees. 

So not 5 minutes after diving into this thing, I’m diving down to the bottom of the cave, a ways away from the entry point and where my family are swimming, and as I come up, I'm fiddling with my dive mask, and surface directly underneath the 2' square hulk of a now broken off stalactite/stalagmite column, head first. At first this was both painful and frustrating, but in retrospect, I doubt I would have even been able to distinguish the obstruction, being as it was, the same color as the ceiling of this cave. Regardless, it was a thunderous collision, and as soon as I swam to the side and out from under block in question, I immediately head to a rock, and perch myself up there to let the reverberations of pain subside, and ensure that I've not got a concussion, and that I'm not in 15' of water should I pass out.  After a moment or two, I’m thinking, “Ok, not so bad...Don't seem to be dizzy or anything, so I’m good, I’ll just have a wicked goose-egg tomorrow.”  But just as I am finishing this thought, something is running into my eye and blurring my vision, so I reach up and touch my head, and my hand comes away soaked crimson with blood. 

With this new information, I jump back into the water, and swim towards the exit, allowing others to now notice my condition, since I'm swimming back with my head pouring blood down my face and neck.  Out of the water I come. Everyone is getting a bit panicky, and so I try to defure things, and calmly just ask if they have any gauze, a med kit, or anything.  Nope.  So Captain Ron, who is not dealing with this crisis well himself, tears off his shirt and hands it to me, only to stop short, and ask, “I gotta ask man, you don’t have AIDS do you?”  Nope.  So he dumps a bottle of water over my head, then I proceed to begin putting pressure on my wounded scalp, which I have yet to see, with the shirt this guy has been wearing since 7am (it is 11:30 or noon) in a hot, humid jungle. Sanitary, yes? I know I was pleased.

This was taken just prior to our 35 minute ride out of the jungle.  I look thrilled, right?

The next 5 hours, to try to avoid all the minutiae, involved everyone around me trying to convince me that this was not a big deal, and that ice and pressure would fix it, and maybe I should eat something, while it became more and more obvious to me that I was far and away the most qualified person to make that sort of medical judgment (Captain Ron, nor his colleagues, were exactly EMT trained - At one point hydrogen peroxide was applied, but it's effects were minimal since the aforementioned t-shirt went right back on my head), but had no way of seeing this particular wound.  So it was Captain Ron’s shirt and a block of ice from the beer cooler as medical supplies while we rode the 35 minutes out of the jungle, bouncing up and down in the troop transport.  This was, I have to say, probably the worst part of the whole endeavor, as a bouncy ride trying to keep pressure on a wound with a hard block of ice that keeps bouncing up then slamming down on said wound, was, in a word, awful.

Around 4, we finally arrive at a place where I can take a taxi home.  But no one wants this to happen, since I think they worried they would be abandoning me. This wasn't a concern for me, my still bleeding scalp being much more disconcerting, but I struggled to communicate this. Eventually, I escape the sage advice of Captain Ron (“If you get in the salt water, it’ll close right up,"…"Just go chill out in a hammock and have a beer,”), make it home via a taxi, shower, and get to assess the state of my scalp.  The injury itself was a rather long, ‘7’ shape that continued to bleed with significant gusto. I will not describe it in detail, but will only say that, following my quick exam, it was apparent that the tectonic plates of my scalp were shifting independently of one another along the fault line of the cut.  This is, of course, grounds for stitches.  And so, nearly 6 hours after the incident, I wander off into Playa del Carmen with a vague idea of the location of a Red Cross station, to get medical attention....