Training log - Week ending 9/27/2020

 This week was 63 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here. 

I got my MRI results back this week, and they were surprising.    The lumbar area was surprising in a good way - while the MRI wasn't totally clean, it only showed minor stuff that you would expect to see in someone my age.  Nothing of real concern.

The right ankle MRI was surprising in the opposite direction.  The official summary:

1) Severe tibialis posterior tendonitis with longitudinal split tears involving the distal 9.0 cm, moderate grade at the level of the talus and the calcaneus, with mild tenosynovitis.  Small spur along the posterior medial tibial metaphysis, at the tibialis posterior tendon groove which can be associated with PTT dysfunction.  Mild tibialis anterior and greater than Achilles tendinosis with low-grade splits.

2) Chronic high-grade anterior talofibular ligament sprain, with at least partial tear.  Moderate acute on chronic deltoid and superior medial portion calcaneonavicular spring ligament sprains.  Moderate chonic calcaneofibular and mild chronic inferior tibiofibular ligament sprains.

3) Pes planus deformity on this nonweightbearing study.

4) Minimal acute on moderate chronic plantar fasciitis.

I am told that this is the MRI that you would see in someone who is physically unable to run.    Which is weird, because I am quite physically capable of running, and have seen notable improvement in the past two weeks.  And the ankle hasn't hurt at all recently.  This MRI shows someone that shouldn't be able to do a single calf raise, and should have a flat foot with no arch.  And yet I do sets of 25 single calf raises, and have a normal arch in that foot..

Normally with an MRI like this, we'd try conservative measures first, like PT and PRP, before going with surgery.  Since I'm doing PT, and it's been working, we're just going to stay that course.  Which, ironically enough, meant that I didn't change anything in response to this MRI, but just stuck with my normal running. 

Put another way - this is not an MRI that says things are about to blow.  This is an MRI that says things have already blown.  And yet here we are.  So I'll just keep on trucking.

 This upcoming week I have a musculo-skeletal ultrasound scheduled to get another look at the tendon, and sometime after will likely get a round of PRP in the ankle focused on the ligaments to tighten those up.  Surgery is just not on the table at this point, since the surgery is a hard one and may make things worse.  And plus, I'm currently running on it without pain, so....

Dailies 

Monday: 6 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 12 miles, including a track workout of 4x1200, 2x200 in 4:59, 4:57, 4:54, 4:58,  and 43, 44.  .  Recoveries were between 2:50 and 3:20 after the 1200s, full recovery for the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork, 500 yards recovery swimming, and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

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Wednesday: 12 miles very easy (9:15) with drills and 4 hill strides, followed with streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  6.5 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core in the morning; foam rolling at night.

Friday: 12 miles, including a tempo workout of 3x1.5 mile at tempo effort with 30 second jogs (splits were 10:25, 10:21, and 10:13).  Followed with full recovery and then 2x~200m (using paint lines on the pavement, so not exact) in 48 seconds with 80 second recovery after each.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11 miles very easy (9:26), plus 6 steep hill sprints and drills, and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  16 miles, structured as the first 5 miles averaging 9:27 pace, the next 5 averaging 8:30, the next 5 averaging 7:31, and then a mile cooldown.  Followed with leg strengthwork and streaming yoga.  Doubled back with 5.5 "miles" pool-running and foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 9/20/2020

This week was 59 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 23 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here. 

The spiral taping job continues to work wonders, and I was actually able to put together a complete week.  A complete week of workouts that were about 45-60 seconds slower than where I was a few months ago, but I'm not that bothered.  If I can put together consistent training and stay patient, I'll get back there.  It's the consistency that has been the challenge.

Since the spiral taping job was working so well, I suspected that this might be a re-occurrence of the loose ligaments issue I have in that foot.  Ligaments get stretched out, foot loses its proprioception, and I can't balance on it.  But nope. The doctor confirmed on Monday - the ligaments are still tight.  He sent me for MRIs of my lumbar region and right ankle, which I got on Saturday.

And like anyone else, of course I looked at them when I got home.  But radiology is hard.  Really hard.  I can tell the difference between my foot and my back, but that's about it.  So I'll have to wait until I see the doctor again this Thursday to get his take.

Dailies 

Monday: 7 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 12 miles, including a track workout of 2x(1600, 800, 400 in 6:44, 3:15, 94, 6:32, 3:12, 94).  Recoveries were....very long (longer than the repeat duration) - I'll tighten those up next week.  Followed with leg strengthwork, 500 yards recovery swimming, and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

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Wednesday: 9 miles very easy (9:51) with drills and 6 hill strides, followed with 3 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  7 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core in the morning, followed by streaming yoga; foam rolling at night.

Friday: 11 miles, including a tempo workout of 4x1 mile at tempo effort with 30 second jogs (splits were 6:55, 7:02, 7:12, 7:06).  Followed with full recovery and then 4x~200m (using paint lines on the pavement, so not exact) in 47, 43, 45, and 44 with 80 second recovery after each.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11 miles very easy (9:30), plus 6 steep hill sprints and drills. and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  16 miles, structured as the first 5 miles averaging 9:29 pace, the next 5 averaging 8:24, the next 5 averaging 7:34, and then a mile cooldown.  Followed with leg strengthwork and streaming yoga.  Doubled back with 6 "miles" pool-running and foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 9/13/2020

This week was 42 miles of running, 2000 yards of swimming and 27 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here. 

Highs and lows this week.  My energy levels continued to rise all week, confirming that the folate deficiency was a large factor in my struggles.  By the weekend, I felt like the old me, energy-wise: the person who never struggled with the distance of a run; only with the pace of it.

My ankle/hamstring issues continued to frustrate me, though.  I showed up for the Tuesday morning track workout, but was running very unevenly and my hamstring felt a bit nervy, so I decided to skip the workout.

Wednesday I felt a bit more even, so I decided to play with some very gentle 200m repeats on the track.  Just....pick up the pace a little bit for 200m while trying to stay even, then jog for 200m.  Not really a workout - just testing stuff out.  Stuff felt OK.  And then my right ankle (which had been feeling great) decided to seize up on me again.  Really?

So shut stuff back down and headed back in for PT (I was doing PT every other week, but decided my frustration justified an additional appointment).    After talking though stuff, we tried a new taping technique.  A strip of leukotape (which is very sticky and does not stretch) was applied to the medial malleolus of my right ankle (i.e. the inside bump).  The tape was then wrapped up and around the back to outside of my calf, diagonally.   

The point of the taping job was to ensure that the medial malleolus (which is the bottom end of my tibia) would get gently tugged backwards every time I flexed the foot.  This in turn would change the way my ankle flexed as I walked and ran.

And...even just walking I could feel improvement.  Followed by confidence renewing runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, including a very careful hill workout on Saturday that was more about testing stuff then building fitness.  The right ankle felt better, my gait felt smoother and even, and the left hamstring nerviness dissipated, with a weird "catching" sensation in that hip easing.

This looks now like a repeat of a previous issue that I've had - loose ligaments in my bad right ankle mean that bones slip ever so slightly out of position, which in turn means that my right ankle doesn't flex quite right, which results in weird compensation injuries all over the place, including left hip.  The tape is pulling the bottom of my tibia back into position and restoring the proper movement of the ankle.

In the past, I've had injections of PRP and prolotherapy in that ankle to tighten stuff up, with the understanding that the shots are a temporary solution - eventually the ankle loosens up again and I need to get it retightened.  (BTW, surgery on damaged ankle ligaments is a very unappealing option - it runs the risk of making the ankle worse, not better).  

So perhaps it's time to get the ankle cinched back up again.  The only odd thing is that I had my ankle checked back in March by the orthopedist/prolo doctor (when I had my SI joint injected again), and at that time it was fine.  It's very odd that it would worsen so quickly.  But on the other hand, perhaps the folate deficiency accelerated the decline.  I have an appointment with the orthopedist/PRP/Prolo doctor on Monday, so we'll see what he thinks.

Dailies 

Monday: 6 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 6 miles (warmed up for track workout but decided to skip it), 5 "miles" of pool-running, and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

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Wednesday: 8 miles with a very relaxed 10x200m with 200m recovery (the "ons" were between 50 and 55 seconds), followed with 3 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  6.5 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core in the morning; streaming yoga and foam rolling at night.

Friday: 8 miles easy (9:31) and 800 yards of swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles, including 8 modified Iwo Jima hill repeats - ran 2:11-2:18 up to the top (usually closer to 2:00) followed by 90 seconds jog, a very short 15 second stride, and 90 seconds jog to the bottom.  Followed with leg strengthwork, streaming yoga, and 1200 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  10 miles easy (9:21) and then streaming yoga.  Doubled back with 6.5 "miles" pool-running and foam rolling in afternoon.