Marmot Exum. Only One Complaint.

I've been putting off writing this review for a while. Why? You know when you love something so much that your heart hurts to say something bad about it, especially in public? It's just hard to say something mean about anything you love so much. I'll get back to that point after I extol all of the Exum's good graces.

Injury stupid face stupid.

I've become increasingly aggrevated by non-running induced injuries. As a medical student, I do a lot of sitting. This sitting has lead to Sacro-Illiac Joint Dysfunction. Fancy way to say that my butt and lower back hurt preeeetty badly. I managed to handle the problem through chiropractic care (HUUUUGE shout out to Solon Spine and Wellness) I then went wakeboarding and trashed the back all over again. Turns out a lot of twisting, jumping, and crashing head over heels is not conducive to a healing joint. Suprise.

The SI joint has been rearing it's ugly head something terrible recently. Dr. Hagar was able to work quite a bit of it out, but still, it's not super fun to sit. It's also slightly miserable when I start running. Generally the back wears into it, and the pain starts to dissipate. That's not helping me get up at 5am to run. Not a bit. In fact not at all.

So I'm looking for motivation. Spending more time in the pool, good time on the bike, and faster runs. Anyone have any thoughts? Anyone have any advice?

How do you stay motivated? I try to read running articles (check out Nick Billocks blog for a great source of pump up). It typically works, but that's not what I love to do at 5am.

I'm learning a lot about how to push through the downer feeling of injury. I think this is just as important to the athlete as any hard workout. The mental aspect of sport is HUGE! I use visual techniques to push myself through hard running sections, bad bouldering problems, dangerous climbs, and insane skiing. Try it out!

Spend 2 minutes, calming down, prepping yourself for the mental stress of a very difficult activity. Envision yourself pushing through the crux segments of whatever activity. For instance, I spent a long time studying and walking through the crux of a 10 foot huck onto ice. That time was critically important to avoiding injury. It really helped to have mentally accepted my success, and all I had to do was open the throttle.

I'm trying the mental game through this SI injury. I'll let you know how it goes...

Things I forgot to workout 3: Climbing

Climbing involves a lot of precise foot placements, awkward gripping positions, and a myriad of other things that the body doesn't like (for instance taking a 30 foot whipper). Often times, especially when climbing an overhanging roof, a climber has to use their toes to dig into climbing holds to keep the body from taking said whipper. The core muscle play a really important part of keeping the hips near the wall, but everyone knows they need to be doing more situps and less sitting. How about the muscles inside the foot? They're pretty important for sticking to that hold, so why do we ignore them?

The "intrinsic" muscles of the foot are responsible for modifying how your big calf muscles pull and how your toes flex and extend. They're pretty easy to work on, and here's how:
1. throw a dish towel on the floor.
2. with just your toes, pull the towel towards you. Don't move your heel one spot on the ground, we're just trying to pull the towel and ball it up.
3. you can even throw some weight on top of the towel.

That's it. Simple, easy, and it'll help the climber more adequately meet the wall with their feet.

Run to THIS SITE if you really need a good visual. Or if you have plantar fasc.