bluestacks867 wrote:
I was hoping to post a weekly update, but I am a bit behind. Below is a recap of my first three weeks. TLDR: Eveything hurts and I might have to stop soon.
When I first read that the challenge was starting early this year on December 1st, I didn't really mind one way or the other. I had just run my marathon PR of 3:16:17 on November 10th and had plenty of time to recover. I had not given it much thought this year about entering the 100/100 but with the early start date I had to decide soon. When I lock in to something, I LOCK IN. I think it was around two weeks before it started that I finally committed mentally. I then decided if I do this, I need to go big this year and build on lessons learned from last year. I learned a lot last year about recovery and injury prevention. I also gained some fitness since last year. I decided the cheap tablet was not going to cut it. If I was going to live in my garage running on a treadmill for three months, then I needed to plan and have some luxuries.
The next few days I got busy preparing. I cleaned my garage. It was so full of clutter I could barely walk in it. I cleaned up my work bench area and organized all my tools. I installed hooks and hung the kid's bikes from the ceiling. I moved the 32-inch TV from my bedroom and mounted it on the wall in the garage smack dab in front of the treadmill at eye level. I moved the Amazon Fire TV box as well. I tested Zwift on my cheap laptop and was lucky that it was able to run on my poor hardware. I went to the track and calibrated my foot pod that I never used. I got Zwift fully up and running. I drilled a hole through the floor and ran Ethernet cable from my modem to the garage and put a hub there to split the cables. If I was going to stream video and use Zwift, then I wanted lightning fast internet and not have to worry about Wi-Fi speeds. I researched movies and TV shows. I built playlists on Netflix, Prime, and YouTube. I cleaned and lubed my treadmill. I installed a laptop arm on my workbench allowing my Zwift laptop to swing out over top of the treadmill. It centered perfectly under the TV and would not vibrate from the pounding on the treadmill.
I've been keeping an extensive spreadsheet log/journal to document every run. For each run I've been tracking things like start time, end time, hours since last run, physical pain, mental state, shoe, treatment after etc. I've also been tracking sleep.
Full disclaimer: These runs I am doing are soft (soft for me given my current ability). Almost all my runs are on a treadmill and almost always the bare minimum of either 3 miles or 30 minutes. Intensity is very, very low. I am running on Zwift under the name B. luestacks (Slowtwitch.com) If anyone wants to follow each other just add me and I will add you back.
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Week 1: 43 runs, 129.9 mi, 18.2 hours
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (right), moderate
Cuboid syndrome (right), severe Achilles tendinitis (left), very mild Plantar Fasciitis (right), very mild Day 1: 12 runs | 36.2 mi
Day 2: 6 runs | 18.1 mi Day 3: 4 runs | 12.1 mi Day 4: 6 runs | 18.0 mi Day 5: 4 runs | 12.1 mi Day 6: 5 runs | 15.1 mi Day 7: 6 runs | 18.3 mi Last year I completed 10 runs on day one and I wanted to best myself and go for 12 this year. I set my alarm for 5 AM. I basically woke up and ran all day with exactly one hour between each run. 12 runs took me to almost 10 PM. My very first run of the day I already had sore calves as I was not fully recovered from a turkey trot three days prior. I also ran with too much intensity on day one. It was almost like a marathon where I always go out too fast the first few miles and pay for it later.
Starting on day two I began to battle Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (Runner's knee) in my right knee. Cuboid syndrome in my right foot started on day three. I had excruciating pain on the outside of my right foot while wearing shoes. I troubleshooted for a bit and decided that the only way forward was to ditch the shoes. I began running in socks.
Achilles tendinitis (left) showed itself briefly on day four and five as well as the slightest hint of Plantar Fasciitis (right) day five. I believe they were both caused by the sudden shock to my feet by running without shoes for the first time ever. They both eventually went away as I got used to running barefoot. Treatment for the week included a lot of stretching, massage gun, compression, ice, and a foot roller.
On day seven I went to Rite Aid and purchased a knee brace. I never had one before, but it was worth a shot because my runner’s knee was getting serious.
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Week 2: 33 runs, 100.4 mi, 13.9 hours
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (right), moderate
Cuboid syndrome (right), severe Stomach bug, yuck Day 8: 4 runs | 12.6 mi
Day 9: 2 runs | 6.2 mi Day 10: 4 runs | 12.2 mi Day 11: 5 runs | 15.1 mi Day 12: 5 runs | 15.1 mi Day 13: 6 runs | 18.1 mi Day 14: 7 runs | 21.1 mi On day 9 I finally came down with the stomach bug that was jumping through my family. I was able to get two runs in before the nausea hit me. I went to bed early and slept FOURTEEN hours.
I struggled with runner's knee all week, but the knee brace seemed to help keep it from getting worse. I ran barefoot with the knee brace most of the week.
Because I ditched my shoes, I could no longer run on Zwift without the foot pod. That got me brainstorming. Finally, on day 12 I returned to Zwift, running with a foot pod taped to my slippers. Running in slippers on a treadmill is quite comfortable. The memory phone helped protect my feet from the impact even though the treadmill is pretty forgiving to begin with.
On day 13 I went to a foot doctor to have my Cuboid syndrome checked out. I wanted to make sure that the pain I still had while wearing shoes was damage from external rubbing and not from the stress of over doubling my weekly mileage. The X-rays looked okay. The doctor did want it on record that I should take two weeks off to be safe. If I did have to keep running, I needed to monitor things closely and be ready to shut it down as soon as things got worse. He also helped me adjust my mechanics to help take stress off my cuboid joint area.
Aggressive treatment continued all week (knee brace, stretching, massage gun, compression, ice, and foot roller).
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Week 3: 48 runs, 144.7 mi, 19.7 hours
Cuboid syndrome (right), moderate
Metatarsalgia (left), very mild Plantar Fasciitis (left), very mild Capsulitis (left 2nd toe), moderate Day 15: 9 runs | 27.2 mi
Day 16: 5 runs | 15.1 mi Day 17: 7 runs | 21.1 mi Day 18: 5 runs | 15.1 mi Day 19: 7 runs | 21.1 mi Day 20: 7 runs | 21.1 mi Day 21: 8 runs | 24.1 mi My runner's knee finally went away this week. I ran all week in slippers and continued using the knee brace. I have not tried wearing shoes yet. I took a half day off at work on two of the weekdays and was able to string together massive week. I basically logged as many runs that were physically possible beyond sleep, work, and the required 1-hour rest.
My body is paying the price. Everything hurts. Both physically and mentally I have been at my worst these past few days. A new injury is showing itself. I have learned that Capsulitis is inflammation of the ligaments surrounding the joint and base of the toe. It is most coming in the second toe and that happens to be where mine is. I am starting aggressive treatment, but I fear this could be the most serious injury yet. I am not sure this is something that I can run through without getting worse. I am going to monitor it very closely and be safe by stopping if it starts to get worse. I will be hosting family next week on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We are also traveling to my in-laws Friday through Monday. It will be a small running week and I am going to take the time to continue treatment and try to heal up. My motto lately comes from my favorite movie and favorite character, Lieutenant Dan. "Protect your feet, and don't do anything stupid".
This is hardcore AF!!! I love it... Nice job bluestacks.