LooseCrew-JeffO: Still Gimpy

LooseCrew-JeffO

Ramblings of an adventurous guy living in Denver and playing in the mountains.
For my trail adventures, visit my Trail Bum blog

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Still Gimpy

The biggest of my problems were my left calf cramp, and my left knee.
Secondary to that, my right knee felt like it was about to blow also, plus both feet were swelling so badly. Ever had clay stick to your shoes in the middle so that your toes and heels don't touch and your arches are taking most of the weigh in the middle? That's what the swelling was doing.
Staying up on my toes helped, until the ligaments and tendons below the inside of my right ankle started hurting with very sharp pain that occasionally shot up my leg (and is still doing that as I type this). This is looking like a chronic problem caused by scar tissue from the rebuild of my ankle about 25 years ago. All the ligaments had to be sewn back. I don't think this will keep me from finishing a hundred - the swelling takes 10-20 hours to kick in and peaks 48 hours later.

Even though my left knee concerned me most during the race, after I quit running, it was the right knee and foot that got most inflamed.
Just like at Leadville, my right achilles got sore. I have no idea why.
My left knee hurts more when I walk than when I run. Go figure. I tried to run as much of the Boulder 100 as I could.
After a lifetime of being Humpty-Dumpty, there's lots of scar tissue, and other problems, but I don't think any of that should stop me from running a 100. Maybe I'm too thick-headed. I'm going to keep trying.
I've got lots of great excuses, but the people most likely to fail are people with great excuses. I never said this would be easy - I just said that if others can do it, so can I. If this takes me years, I plan to do it, but not at the expense of fun and health. So far, even with the pain and frustrations, this has been the most fun I've ever had. It's like getting on a roller-coaster and riding it for 2.5 years.

I have scabs around my armpits. Because it wasn't hot, there wasn't lots of sweat being rubbed into the abrasions, so I wasn't aware the abrasion was so bad. Now, three days later, when I bend and stretch, the scabs crack open and make their presence known.

Percentage of body fat before the race = 16.7, after = 13.6, Tues. morning = 14.1%, Wed. morning = 14.7. Those hungry fat cells want to puff right out again.
My weight was exactly the same (the usual fluid retention from excessive electrolyte consumption).

I probably went too fast, but I keep hearing that, "If you ever want to run fast, you have to run fast." So I ran the speed I hope to run. If I keep training and racing like this, I should be able to go further each time.

1 Comments:

At 7:59 PM, Blogger Meghan said...

JeffO,

Sorry to hear about your time at the Boulder 100. Eeks, but you're taking it well! Take care, and I'll be back next week to read about the details about your journey. ;)

 

Post a Comment

<< Home