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 makes me reconsider

This low back/SI thing is getting fairly old. It's easily been a full month since the initial hard injury (wakeboarding) and then little over a week after the set back injury (road run). As such, I'm reconsidering some race commitments.

I had originally planned to return to the Bobcat Trail Marathon, my wife and my own first trail marathon, and actually had a fairly good plan on how to perform much, much better than my quad cramping crap run. I've now lost at least 2 months worth of time to injuries that have absolutely nothing to do with skiing (ribs = skiing, back = wakeboarding). I'm noticing a trend. Either my crashes have become that much more spectacular, I'm just taxing my body too much, or I'm just getting old and weak. I would like to think it's mostly spectacular crashes, but I'm inclined to agree with the last two. It's been... about 9 years since I've taken a month off from working hard toward goal X, Y, or Z. I think I've been digging and have finally found water, which is unfortunate because I'm not that amazing at swimming.

It looks like the Bobcat may not happen. My last long run was 17 miles. My plan was to end up doing at least a 30 before the race. Not going to happen, when there's only 11 weeks until the race. Furthermore, it's about 2-3 months out until skiing. I would drop running in a heart beat if you told me I had to choose b/w running and skiing.

So... thoughts?
Should I push through and try to do the Bobcat?
What about the 50k this January?
How about XTERRA Tri's next year?

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 2: Skiing

Fibular muscle dislocation is the awkwardly specific injury to skiers. Basically your fibularis brevis and longus explode out of their place, behind your outside ankle. It typically happens to skiers when the land with a lot of force, which causes them to contract to protect the ankle. It doesn't work. They explode out of their place. It's pretty sad really.

So how can you help avoid this? You know I'm going to give you ways to workout the fibular muscles, so let's get to it.

1. Get up on your toes! Walk around like this for a little while. It'll burn, that's good.
2. Jump up with your right leg and then land on your left foot. Alternate legs, try it on the same leg, try it with your head. Enjoy.
3. Put a weight or other heavy object on the outside of your foot. With just your foot, try to push the weight along the floor. The point is to only use your fibular muscles. Try not to use your legs.

So... don't explode your fibular muscles. Good luck!

Thumbs up for safety

Two prime examples of terrifying thumb injuries come to mind, both involving what is called gamekeepers thumb.
Gamekeepers thumb (skiers thumb) got its name from the “gamekeepers” of old, basically popping necks of rabbits, chickens, ducks, platypus, rhinoceros, and basically any poppable animal. The ulnar collateral ligament connects to the base of the thumb, from another bone in the back of your hand. It prevents your thumb from touching your wrist, a rather painful complication. I personally have been on the receiving end of this injury twice. One time while tacking in football, the other while training for AK in the local Midwest ex-dump converted to ski… well hill I guess you say. Both times are examples of acute injury, when a single incident causes gamekeepers thumb, basically by making your thumb touch the wrist. Painful and it typically doesn’t just tear the ligament (bad enough) but brings some bone with it. Treatment depends on severity and your doctor’s decision. This is also an injury when you do go to the doctor; it’s your opposable thumb we’re talking about!
So why should you, the skier or climber, be wary of a condition named for professional head-popper-offers? When you catch yourself after a crash in skiing, and you didn’t put your poles on properly (I was guilty of that), it puts your thumbs in direct contact with the ground. When bouldering, many spot with their thumbs parallel to the ground, rather than thumbs up. Huge mistake. One of the first things offensive lineman are taught in football is thumbs up. This prevents thumb injuries, as you’re less likely to push your thumb into your wrist. Same thing with bouldering, keep your thumbs up!
So remember, wear your poles correctly, hands go from the bottom of the wrist loop up, this puts all the weight on your wrist while pole planting, preventing hand fatigue. Also, when spotting your partner while bouldering, thumbs always point up, not inwards or down.