Ruckin’ and Rollin’

Done freaking out. I got that out of my system in the last post. In the days after writing it, I went on a 1.5 mile swim, did 2 hours of intense fitness classes at the gym, and hiked 7 miles up a mountain with my pack in snowy, below-freezing weather, helping me realize that despite the hiccup in my training program, I am still fit. At the same time, I ran everyday and have continued to build up my mileage. I've made my way from the treadmill to the "wild," and from there to running with my pack again - first two bricks, then three, and yesterday, four.  With such short time before the Challenge, I've been running as much as  my body could possibly take without pushing the knee back into inflammation, which has meant lots of shorter runs, sometimes multiple times a day.

Square Zero

The GORUCK challenge is less than three weeks away, and I'm starting to freak out.

Despite my best efforts to work through the IT band problems that derailed my training plan five weeks ago, I'm only now returning to running. I had an encouraging appointment with the PT yesterday, which confirmed that I've pretty much resolved the biomechanical issues that caused the problem, but the knee still keeps getting inflamed whenever I try to run. It's critical that I not let that happen. I left with some new exercises to do and clear instructions to run ONLY as much as I can without causing pain afterwards.

Today, that was half a mile. No weight, no dog, no hills, on the treadmill.

GRC Training: on finding inspiration and muddling through

If you've read any of my recent posts about training for the GORUCK Challenge, you know that for the last month I've been struggling with a knee injury and feeling pretty low about my progress. Not too much has changed in the last couple of weeks, but I finally got in to see a physical therapist on Monday, who identified some biomechanical problems with my stride and got me started on a regimen of exercises and stretches to correct them. That's given me a more constructive outlet for my frustration -- I can at least focus on doing these exercises that someone knowledgeable thinks will help.

This morning I managed to do back-to-back 2-mile run/walks with 4 bricks in my pack by limiting my running to 2 minutes at a time. Even in short spurts, running on the slightest, slightest downhill grade would start to make the knee hurt. Not a lot, but enough that if I were to continue beyond 2 minutes it would probably get worse. Now that it's over, I can't descend stairs without pain, despite three rounds of ice. I'm just not making progress nearly as fast as I want to.

Thrice Denied, Feeling Dark.

It's a dark time in my GORUCK Challenge training. It's been two weeks since a knee problem cut my long run short, and I'm frustrated beyond words. I've done everything I know how to do to help the knee recover. Rest, ice, anti-inflammatory meds, stretching, exercises for my glutes and stabilizer muscles, but I don't feel like I'm making any progress. I've gone through three cycles now where I rest and pamper the knee for 4-5 days then go on a short run with no weight to try to work back into running. Every time, I've started out feeling good, but had to stop after 1.5 - 2 miles due to the pain coming back. Each time that happens, it flares up for a few days and puts me into another cycle of rest and attempted recovery.

I had no idea that I would miss running this much! I've done more running in last couple of months than any other point in my life, and to suddenly have to cut it out of my routine, even for a week or two, is driving me crazy. I've tried to substitute other cardio workouts -- I had no problems doing a spin class and a stairmaster workout with my pack on -- but they just aren't the same. And I can tell Lola is missing it too. She's gotten noticeably more rambunctious in the house. Sometimes when I'm putting my shoes on she gives me this look that says "why aren't you taking me running?"

But by far the worst part of all this is the psychological blow it's dealt to my training. Up until that fateful run, I felt strong, resilient, tough, and fundamentally prepared to confront all sorts of physical challenges. I trusted my body. That's all come crashing down. Now I feel fragile. Every time I push myself in training (even lifting weights), I'm haunted by the prospect that some part of me is going to fail, cause an injury, and destroy my hopes of completing the GORUCK.

In a lot of ways, this is excellent mental preparation for the Challenge. This knee problem was an unexpected setback that has completely wrecked my training schedule. Somehow, someway, I've got to find a way to overcome it in time for the Challenge. I'm sure being able to roll with the punches will help me during the GRC, but getting to that point is proving really difficult. I think in my mind, ruck runs have become synonymous with preparation for the Challenge. Every day that I can't do them feels wasted. Never mind that I'm still lifting weights, doing stability and other cardio exercises, and bear crawling and crab walking across the backyard.

Accepting the fact that I have to scale back the running for a while is forcing me to reassess my training program. Maybe this knee problem is God's way of telling me that I need to focus more on my strength training; that in fact I'm well-prepared for the running bits. I'm trying to take comfort in that thought, and maybe if I can re-vamp my training plan I'll feel more like I'm still making progress.

But Lola's still looking at me, wanting to run.

Note: this post was written in mid-January 2012 (when I launched my blog), but is back-dated to reflect the journey I've been on as I train for the GORUCK Challenge.

A setback at New Year’s

Suddenly my training for the GORUCK Challenge has come to a screeching halt. All the optimism, confidence, and positivity I was feeling about my progress so far is gone.

Joy

Before the holidays I ran a personal-best 8-mile long run with a 20-lb pack. I took about a week off from any serious training, and then worked back into running with a 3-miler (no weight), then back-to-back 3-milers with weight a few days later. Then, on New Year's Day, I headed out for my long run, ready to reach for 90 minutes -- about 10 minutes longer than my previous long run.

I knew this would be a stretch, so I planned to take a generous 5+ minute break in the middle to loosen up the legs and scarf an energy bar or something. The first half of the run went pretty well, and started to feel even better after starting the return leg. Even after an hour of running my legs felt powerful and I was maintaining or maybe even increasing my pace. The weather was gorgeous, Lola was behaving herself, and I felt fantastic.

Pain

Then, at about mile 7, I got a dull burning pain on the outside of my left knee. It felt like IT band syndrome, which is something I struggled with in my right knee years ago but hasn't bothered me since. When it first struck my right knee, I didn't know what it was or how to treat it, and it took me months to recover and be able to run pain-free. Every time I thought I had rested and recovered enough, I'd try to run only to have the pain start again.

I knew better than to try to run through it. As I slowed to a walk there on the trail I felt my entire training plan collapsing. If I couldn't keep up the running schedule then I couldn't make it to my preparation goal - a 15-miler - in time for the challenge. I forced myself to walk for about a mile to let the knee calm down. Afterward I was able to jog the final 3/4 of a mile without pain.

Anger

But as I made my way back to the car those last two miles, the frustration just boiled inside me. I'd been careful to specifically do things to avoid this kind of injury (since it happened to me before). I use a foam roller to stretch my IT bands several times a week, built up my pack weight and mileage slowly, switched to a more flat-footed or "minimal" running style to ease the impact on my joints, and even do weekly exercises that are supposed to target knee stabilizer muscles. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN!

As soon as I got home I hit the knee with some RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and Aleve to try to keep any inflammation in check. I'm just praying that it doesn't take months to get back to 100% like it did when this happened to my other knee. This has really thrown me for a loop psychologically. To have this happen at a time when I'm focusing so hard on fitness, achieving personal bests every week, and feeling strong just feels like some kind of betrayal.

I'm trying to stay positive, but it's pretty tough right now. To be fair, the pain wasn't bad, and I was able to run for a bit after my walk break without it hurting. Maybe this time the problem will be short lived. It's got to be.

Note: this post was written in mid-January 2012 (when I launched my blog), but is back-dated to reflect the journey I've been on as I train for the GORUCK Challenge.

An 8-mile personal best for Christmas

I'm a few weeks into my structured GORUCK Challenge training now, and Lola and I have definitely been putting in the miles. On Sunday, just 10 days after increasing my load to 20 lb I took the dog out and completed an 8-mile run on the American Tobacco Trail. Normally my long runs are time-based, and Sunday's goal was 1:15, which put me just shy of 8 miles. I really wanted to hit the distance milestone, so I pushed through an extra 3-4 minutes. My joints were hurting a bit, definitely tired and unaccustomed to that length of workout, but they went the distance and ultimately I felt strong at the end.

GORUCK Training: Evolution 1 and Feeling Pumped

Wednesday, 6:45 AM

The sun is just coming up. After several weeks of informal training for the GORUCK challenge, I've logged almost 50 miles of running and worked my way up to a 7 miler with a lightly loaded camelbak (about 8 lbs). That 7-miler was the longest run of my life, so I'm feeling good about that, but it's time to increase my load. Last night I got two concrete pavers out of the backyard, wrapped them in bubble wrap and duct tape, and loaded them into the larger backpack I'll be using from here on out. The pack weighs about 17 lb with the pavers in it.

How to Train for the GORUCK?

Since signing up for the GORUCK Challenge a little more then a month ago, I've been doing a lot of runs with a lightly-loaded backpack, but I've known that I would need a more structured training regimen to get me where I want to be. So I set out to develop a 12-week workout program to help guide me through my training.

The GRC is not a competitive event, but it is absolutely a test of strength and endurance. With that in mind, my goals for the program are:

1. Develop functional strength in my legs and upper body. I'll need this for lifting "coupons," logs, or carrying my fellow GORUCKers
2. Increase running stamina / endurance. This will come in handy when we're doing Indian sprints with 35 lb packs.
3. Focus on stabilizer and core muscles to prevent injury.

That last point - injury prevention - is a huge priority for me. During the challenge, we're going to have a combination of extreme fatigue, physical stress, and awkward/unnatural motions (such as hoisting a log over our heads) that could be very taxing on muscles and joints. I expect to get some bumps and bruises, and be sore afterwards, but getting any kind of serious injury would really ruin the experience and make me feel like a macho chump for attempting the Challenge.

With these goals in mind, I built a workout plan for each of the above elements, then combined them into a realistic weekly schedule.

Why the @#$% Would you GORUCK?

Well, I'm committed. Last week I signed up for the GORUCK Challenge here in Raleigh. What's a GORUCK Challenge, you ask? In brief, the GRC is a 10-12 hour team event covering 15-20 miles (on foot). Challenges happen all over the country, and are led by former or active-duty special operations guys from GORUCK, which is a company in Montana that makes high-quality backpacks. Details are vague (and that's the point), but over the course of the night we can expect to endure plenty of physical hardship, in the form of indian running, bear crawling, crab walking, buddy carrying, and transporting heavy "coupons" and most likely a large log. Did you catch that we're doing this at NIGHT? Also, we will all be carrying 30+ pound backpacks and are almost sure to get completely immersed in water at some point. That last one is a big deal, because the Raleigh challenge is happening at the end of February, when it could very well be below freezing.

So WHY would I volunteer (and even pay money) to put myself through this?