Heat Exhaustion on the Head Land 100

This will be a short blog as I'm still not feeling very well. September 14th was my big 100 mile run- The Head Land 100. This was my Western State Qualifying race. I had high hopes of running a great run. My knee was not fully recovered but I was ready.

The race started on time and I was feeling really good. I had a race plan in place that had me starting the race with a small hand held water bottle, and picking-up two larger water bottles at Tennessee Valley.  It's only 4.5 miles to the first aid station and it's early in the day so I'm OK. I get to Tennessee Valley aid station, grab a few snacks to munch on fill my little water bottle and pull out. For some reason I did not grab my two larger water bottles.

The run to Muir beach was smooth and really uneventful. It was a great day to be running along the California coast. Cool yet warm. Perfect running weather. Got into Muir beach felt great, turned around and headed back up and over the hill back to Tennessee Valley. Got into Tennessee Valley and I was still feeling great. But this is where I think I made my biggest mistake. My race plan had me wearing my Hydration pack from this point on. There were some long climes ahead of me. A drop into and under the Golden Gate Bridge, and a 7 mile run from there until the next aid station. I don't know why I didn't put it on, but I left Tennessee Valley with the same little water bottle that I had started with.

The aid station under the Golden Gate Bridge was a welcome site. I was conserving water and really needed to refill my little bottle. I stopped and had a quarter of a bp&j and drank some water and electrolytes. Ate a blokes energy jell and started my clime out from under the bridge. By the time I reached the top of the hill I was already low on water. As I was running along the crest of the hill, with the Pacific Ocean on my left, the Sausalito bay on my right and the Golden Gate Bridge looming behind me, my thoughts were on water. I start thinking maybe I should ask one of the runners, heading down into the aid station, if I could borrow some of their water. But they were running hard, they were running fast and I don't ask.

From the top of the ridge it's a nice 5 mile down hill run all the way to Rodeo Beach. As I head down the trail I can feel it coming. My stomach is getting tight. I sip water but it's starting to make me feel like I have to throw-up. It's not long and I pull up and have dry heaves. I'm OK, I keep running, pull over again and heave- nothing. I'm really slowing down, I'm down to a sip of water in my little bottle, I pull over again only this time I need to take a knee, I'm dizzy and dry heaving. It was at this time my new friend, Wartin Sengo, running the marathon came running by. Like most runners he asked if I was OK and then noticed it was me and stopped to help. I asked if he had some extra water which he was only to willing to give me. After a few minuets I was up and walking and he walked with me for a while, once we started running again he made his way to the finish and I was making my way the best I could.

Having water now, I thought I'd be Ok, but that just seem to give me something to throw-up. I was F***ed! I found a shady place to sit down and took a break. At some point, as runners were heading back up the hill I had just come down, were passing me, my face book friend and inspirational runner, Janeth Siva, saw me and asked if I was Ok? I looked up and told her I was, we waved and I watch has she took off. After she left I felt so bad because she was off and running, and I knew she would finish this race and I was sitting on the side holding my head trying not to throw-up.

I was able to make it back to Rodeo Beach aid station and my car. I sat down, had some cold soda water and tried to take it easy. I threw-up some more and decided to lay down for a little while. After an hour of some serious self talk and few tears, I got myself out of that car and changed shirts. I was freezing so I got my wind breaker and buff, and my two water bottles. I checked in with the run coordinator, so that they knew I was still moving and I got myself out of that aid station. I was able to run a few miles but then it started again. I was throwing-up and dizzy and having to pull over and rest. I made it the 7.5 miles back down to the Golden Gate Bridge aid station but that was it. I sat in a chair, freezing under a blanket until I was able to get a ride back to my car.

I had weighed myself before I left for my run Saturday morning at 4:30 am. I weighed 175. I weighed myself this morning the 15th, I weigh 165. That is a 10lb loss in only 37 miles.  This is not the first time that I've had heat exhaustion on a run. The last time was during the Ohlone Wilderness run back in May of this year, at mile13 I had to pull out because of dizziness and dry heaves. I can remember as a teen driving with a friend and stopping at a gas station and getting real dizzy and feeling like I was going to pass-out. It was only after we got back on the road that I started feeling better. I'm guessing that was my first bout with heat exhaustion. I don't know what's going on with me but I guess it's time to go see a Dr. and see what's up. In the mean time I'm just out of it. I'm still light headed and having stomach pain. All I have to show for my run is 37 miles, another DNF, and for the second time I have been unable to reach my goal. I feel so depressed right now. I'm just going to end with this. Even as I sit here dejected and depressed I know I'm going to try again.

Head Lands 100 miler here I come!

Ultra running and injuries are a fact of life. It is what happens to the human body when it is pushed to its limits for hours upon hours.  Last month that is what happened to me. I was running the GG 100 mile race, along the Marin Head lands near SF Ca. when I felt a sharp pain along the lateral edge of the patella of my right knee. I knew this was not good. I have never had trouble with my right knee. And this was a very sharp pain that stopped me in my tracks. I was able to finish out 50 miles but I knew 100 miles was out of the question. I had a Western State qualifying 100 mile race coming up on the 14^th of September, just a month away, and I did not want to miss that race. Live to come back and race another day, as they say.  

The turn around at mile 25.

It was a good move on my part to stop running when I did. I had torn the tendon along the lateral edge of the patella. Six months to heal. I don’t have six months. I have a 100 mile race on the 14^th of September. What to do? Well, what I did was train injured. I took a week off. Hot ebsom salt baths everyday, along with massages and DMSO rubs.

The next week I was training with 3 short 6 mile runs with a neoprene sleeve over my knee to keep it warm and stable, as well as keeping up with my baths and massage.  The following week I cut my long back to back runs in half and took a day off in between. I ran 10, 15, and 20 miles runs instead of 15, 25, and 30. Baths and massage! 

Well my knee has been feeling good and this is the week before my race. I just ran one 6 mile run without a brace and my knee felt good. So am I ready?

To tell the truth my knee is still there. Better but not healed by any means. Still that said. My knee is as good as it could be. I have been able to train and not further injure myself, which is a very good sign. I feel that I am physically ready to run 100 miles. I believe that by running in my Vibram I will be able to better control my body mechanics and thereby not further injure myself over the course of 30 plus hours of running, but we will have to see.

As far as the race goes?! I’m ready. I am going to do this, this time. No matter what happens I am going to finish this race. When I drive home Sunday evening I will have a 100 mile belt buckle in my hand.  Three years ago I started running and tomorrow the 14^th of September at 7 am I will take off on my second attempt to run 100 miles. I will tape my knee or wear a brace or both. I’ll run smart, smooth and easy. I’ll take it one aid station at a time, walk the up hills, run the flats and not beat myself up on the down hills. Salt, eat, eat and drink. Stay hydrated during the day and dress warm for the night. Move forward, move forward, move forward, move forward, move forward.  See you all on the other side.  

Race day race face. Do I look like I eat little babies?

Old man running is writing again!

Well hello everyone. It really, really, has been a long time since I wrote my last blog. In fact, I had written a race report on my 50 mile SF. North Face Endurance Race, back in Dec of 2012, which never was posted. The entire report was some how deleted, I blamed Google, still do. Anywho that was my last…. I stopped writing.

      

My finish at NFER 2012

But Hey! Here I am now. Back at the key board ready to WOW you with my words of wisdom and candid observations of the word as I see it, but mostly to talk about running.

A lot of things have been going on and I’m not going to try and condense a year of running into a few paragraphs, however, I am going to talk about the biggest thing I’ve done since the last time I wrote my blog.  That is…… drum roll please!

First! Let me give you a little back ground. I have always worked with my hands, as a carpenter, a wielder, a machinist, artist. I’ve been to collage, studied art and architecture, later I went to school and became a CMT, which is the work I do now.  The point is I understand how things are constructed, the kinesiology of the body and how it functions. Why is this important? because, three years ago I started running.  I started running and like all new runners I went and bought running shoes. Arch support; heal cushioning, stabilization, cool. I’ve got $135.00 dollar running shoes!  But as I was leaving that store something in my head was not liking something. Arch support?

Fast forward a year. I have really bad shin pain on my left leg. It hurts to run for the first three miles. I take three weeks off. The day I start running again, at mile one, my shin starts hurting. I’m so pissed off! I stop and loosen the shoe lace, on my left shoe, as lose as I can and still keep my shoe on, then I start running again. I’ll be dammed! The pain went away. So what happened when I loosened my shoelaces?   Well in a nut shell what I did was release the tension that was preventing the tendons along the top of my foot from doing their job.  The tendons along the top of our foot are meant to move, much like a cable on you ten speed bike.  Shoe laces bind the foot and the tendons, preventing them from moving freely. As a result the muscle along the shin is pulled and in time it tears. Muscle expands and contracts, tendons slide back and forth. Something is very wrong.

Okay so here it comes. “Born to Run”.  Yes I read the book and I, for one, will not apologize for it.  I read the book and I saw the light. All the thoughts I had about my shoes and arch support. How laces bind the foot. Blisters and lost toe nails. It was all right there. I knew it! I liken the reading of this book to Plato's Allegory of The Cave.  I have seen the light and there is no going back.

Okay. I’m not going to get all into the science of the foot and all that. I will, however, tell you that I put things to the test. If running in shoes under $50 bucks has shown statistically to have fewer injuries then let’s try running in converse. I did. I ran the Ohlone Wilderness Trail 50k, in $50 dollar converse. I did great. My shin was fine, I was fine but more importantly the book was on to something.

So let’s have that drum roll again please!    

YES! I am running barefoot. 

 My one and only barefoot-barefoot 5 mile run.

                                                                  

Well I’m running in Vibram. But I have been running Vibram for a little over a year now and I am finally use to running on any terrain. It took awhile to get use to running barefooted but now that I am use to it I can’t go back. And I mean I literally can’t go back. I tried to wear shoes a few weeks back and my toes blow-up. The shape of my foot has changed. This is what I want everyone to do. Think back. Have you ever seen, in nature, or in architecture, an arch that was supported from underneath? Arch support is an oxymoron. There is NO such thing!

Mugging for the photo at the GG 100 sporting my Vibram

Anyway that is where I’m at. As for my up coming runs I have the “Head land 100 miler on Sept 14^th and 15^th. I have been nursing a torn patella tendon on my right knee, which I injured at my last 100 mile attempt this past Aug.  I’m counting on my running barefooted to keep me from hurting myself further. I have sooo much to say about my journey into barefoot running, but not today.  For now I’m going to post this and get back on the blog horse. I’ll be writing more soon and I hope to see you all out on the trails. ~Paul