Mar 7

"Keep Moving" - 24 Weeks Out From the Leadville100

denver personal trainer and run coach recovering from a ultra trail run with electrolytes

So... from 27 weeks out to 24 weeks out a few things have happened.

I am notorious for being injury prone as a runner. It has been a pretty consistent problem with each thing I train for, and this year is the year to do something about it. November 2023, I ran the MOAB Trail marathon in Utah. It was an amazing experience wrapped in a lot of challenges. A few weeks leading up to the race (after roughly 3-4 months of training) I started to get a sharper pain in my right achilles. I didn't want it to be a huge problem during my race, so I took running super super relaxed the two weeks leading up to the race. Some days I would feel the discomfort in my achilles a little bit, other days not at all.

Everything felt fine the morning of the race, but the idea of that injury flaring up during a race of this caliber was definitely in the back of my mind. Long story short, the injury kicked in full blast nine miles into the marathon, and I basically ran/hobbled on my left leg for the remaining 15 miles of trail and elevation changes.

A few things I learned during that marathon and how my legs felt the weeks following:

I was super upset with my overall performance due to my inability to compete, but my mentality was there. I was in a massive amount of pain for the remaining 15 miles. I have said a few times to people who know me that I think I am really good at suffering/pushing when things get very hard. I felt like I put my money where my mouth was. I am proud of that.
My achilles issue was not one to take lightly moving forward. Now the tiny voice in the back of my head is asking me how I am going to run the Leadville100 when I struggled through a trail marathon. My legs were in actual shambles during the weeks that followed. My achilles itself had a very localized and consistent sharp pain, and my knees were pretty wrecked (especially on the left) from all of the compensation that was needed to run the remaining 15 miles.
Friends and community can play such a large role in how you feel. During that weekend I was able to feel firsthand how much the people that you surround yourself with can affect your mood and outlook. My friends helped me realize that my result was not a failure, but one to be proud of. I could have easily DNF'd. It was a competition against my mind that race, and I won. Secondly, the environment in a trail race is amazing. Everyone is there for the same purpose. Everyone is excited, goes out of their way to help you, and is there for an experience. It didn't feel like a run, it felt like an experience... and it definitely solidified my decision to make events like these a normal thing in my life.

Moving forward to these past three weeks:

At the end of my weekly training block, when I was 27 weeks out, I felt that same discomfort in my achilles that I had felt before my MOAB race. I immediately reached out to my coach, Junko, to discuss how we could take a step back from the running but keep moving forward towards the goal. After what I experienced in MOAB, I knew that I needed to adjust my routines to have a different outcome. After we both did a heavy amount of research, we landed on a plan.

For those of you who have not experienced an injury like this, it is not an easily or quickly solved injury. Achilles Tendinopathy (tendinopathy basically meaning when a tendon causes pain) occurs when too much load or volume is applied to the tendon in a shorter period of time. In my case, that most likely means that I have increased my run volume too much too fast. My Leadville100 run plan has 1 day off a week with two back-to-back long run days, while my old plan had 3 days off a week with one long run day. Research shows that injuries like this are best rehabbed by easing your way back into sport by slowly increasing the load on the affected tendon. It is better to slowly increase the load on the affected tendon as is, rather than stopping all activity to let the tendon fibers heal back to their original state. In short, don't stop activity, just decrease load and volume.

When I discussed my situation with Junko, we landed on a combined plan that kept 6 working days a week with load management and rehab included. The two things that create pain the most are quicker paces and sharper incline angles when running. The rehab plan includes stages to slowly re-build the load on the affected achilles tendon within a manageable pain tolerance. We will utilize hard interval work on the bike to regularly mimic the resistance felt while running uphill. The main three achilles rehab activities are calf isometrics, full range of motion calf raises, and plyometrics. While the training plan will continually evolve as this get better, here's the layout we landed on for my current training block:

Monday

a. OFF, no run or bike

b. Calf Isometrics & Ankle CARS w/ KB Tuesday