Oops, I did it again. During my Monday tempo run, a slight pain in my lower shin transformed into inflamed, swollen mess. Why did I bother finishing the workout? Why not just jog it in? Did I seriously think it would just “go away”? Well, apparently I did. D’oh!

Regardless of my delusions and mistakes, I am left with what appears to be a moderate case of tendinitis in my shin. I’ve had tendinitis in my upper hamstring before, and it was not fun. But this already seems to be way better than my hamstring injury, or the groin strain I had a couple years back. It seems that injuries that occur higher up take longer to heal (groin, hamstring, etc.). Walking with this shin injury is not too bad, and I can already run a little bit after only a couple days. With the hamstring and groin injuries, it was a couple months before I could run.

So how to treat this? The past two days I have been religiously:

• Icing, with both stationary ice packs and with ice massage.
• Scraping, with Gua Sha tools.
• Massaging, by just putting some oil on my shin, and then using deep strokes with my thumbs from the top of my shin down to my foot.
• using my TENs unit, a little device that reduces pain and perhaps increases circulation through electrical pulses.

On Sunday, I am seeing my massage therapist, and hopefully she can work some magic. Also, I’ve ordered a Zensah compression sock. I don’t know how much compression will help, but it’s worth a shot. Anything that allows returning to running without re-injury is a good thing.

My worst fear is missing The Other Half, or just limping through it. I figure I can supplement a full week of training with cross-training and still run at full potential in Moab. If I miss two weeks, I could probably still run so-so at Moab, but would miss too much “real” training to continue entertaining ideas of a December marathon. Basically, I would be done for the year after the half marathon. If I miss three weeks or longer, then Moab will become just a vacation, and I’ll have to be happy with the three races I was able to run this year.

But I am optimistic. In order to keep fit and keep my edge for the upcoming half marathon, I’m trying to get an hour of cross training in every day, and will attempt some interval and tempo type workouts as well. For cross training, I use my mountain bike, the elliptical machine, and the arc trainer machine. The arc trainer in particular is a fantastic workout. I get gassed on it after about 10 minutes. But nothing beats running.

The question I always ask myself when I get an injury: is if it is purely a running injury, or if it is because my Ankylosing Spondylitis? A.S. has a tendency to attack muscle insertion points, thus A.S. sufferers are more prone to “injuries” such as plantar fasciitis and tendinitis. In my case, yes, I think there is a good chance that A.S. set the stage for this bout of tendinitis, but if I were not a runner it would certainly not be inflamed to its current extent. So the two work together as a one-two punch. A.S. weakens the tendons, and running blows them up. I imagine this is just something I will have to deal with as long as I run.

New rule: if I feel any sort of new pain, I abandon the workout. This a basically a repeat of my hamstring tendinitis from earlier this year, so strike two on me.

Well, it’s been a long road back from the hamstring tendinitis injury (but not nearly as long as plantar fasciitis). I’m not quite out of the woods, but am happy to be back running at least a few miles every day.

It’s amazing how hard a 7:30 mile seems after an injury layoff, but I take some comfort in knowing that I experienced similar issues when coming back from my PF/groin strain in 2006. I remember struggling with a 10-minute mile on the treadmill during rehab back in 2006, and wondering how on earth I would ever be able to run twice that fast for a 5K. Yet within a year I was able to average 5:15/mile for 26 miles. So my 8-minute miles right now don’t seem so bad, as I know I can still have a successful racing season in the summer ahead.

My recent hamstring injury is a tendinitis (inflammation of the tendon) where the hamstring muscle connects to the ischium (butt-bone). I have seen this referred to as “hamstring origin tendinitis“.

I first felt the injury on Dec. 25th (merry Christmas). It was quite minor, and I could run on it without much difficulty. I classified it in the “owie” category, and figured it would go away on its own after a few days. And maybe it would have.

But on Dec. 27 I attempted a 8×1000m interval workout…and pretty much destroyed the hamstring by the 6th interval. Within a span of a few minutes I went from being able to hold a 5:00/mile pace to having to walk home.

What what the root cause of the injury? I think it was a combination of all of the below (in ascending order):

• XC skiing for the first time in a year on Dec. 23. This made me pretty sore for the following week, and worked muscles that hadn’t been used in a long time. Consequently, I was running (and doing hard workouts) on weakened, sore legs during the next few days.
• Running on snow. We had a big snow storm on Christmas Eve, and my next few runs were on solid snow and ice. This slipping around is no good for the joints and muscles, and probably put unnatural strain and torque on already-sore muscles.
• Attempting to train hard for Houston. Looking back, I had just run two all-out marathons within a month, and what my body needed most was a break and a period of base-building. And that was my original plan after Trials. But then I received the opportunity to race the USATF Half Marathon Championships in Houston as a funded athlete. That was an offer that I couldn’t refuse at the time, but now I wish I had. Rather than letting my body fully recover and returning to easy mileage, I was out there doing tempo runs and interval workouts on weakened legs and in less-than-ideal weather/road conditions. Talk about setting the stage for an injury!

Obviously (looking at it after the fact), I could have avoided it all by turning down the Houston race, and just running easy mileage during the harsh winter months. But I think if the roads had good footing and if I hadn’t tried introducing a new activity (XC skiing) during heavy training, I might have stayed healthy as well. In any case, I learned not to try to train for a major race during the winter, at least as long as I live in Logan! I’ve learned that a period of easy running, core work, and weight lifting is probably the best winter training plan for me. With no winter races, I won’t feel like I need to “force” workouts.

But the good news is that I’m feeling about 95% healthy now. Here’s what I did to recover from the hamstring tendinitis:

• Rest. Running was not an option. I also took a week off with no activity, as even elliptical seemed to hurt it at first.
• After I realized it wasn’t getting much better with pure rest, I started Physical Therapy. I saw a licensed PT at our local sports med facility. I’ve done this before and think it’s a good idea for anyone with lingering injuries. My treatments:
  • Heat
  • Ultrasound
  • Stretching the hamstrings
  • Stretching the hips (these were really tight!)
  • Strengthening the hips, glutes, and hammies
    • Theraband activities / 4-way hip machine
    • Stability ball hamstring curls
    • Face-down leg raises (glutes)
    • “Walking” while sitting in a rolling chair (great hammie workout)
    • Hip sled (glutes, hammies, quads)
  • Resumed “safe” cross training:
    • Recumbent bike (non weight-bearing, did this the most early on)
    • Stair-stepper
    • Arc Trainer (great workout)
    • Elliptical (once inflammation was gone)
• Deep massage. This is helpful if you have an LMT who can get in deep to where the hamstring connects to the ischium. It is kind of a precarious spot, and you should first have an LMT that you trust and feel comfortable with. I got about three good massages, and it helped clear up a lot of the initial inflammation.
• Chiropractic. I saw my DC right after the injury, and my hips were way off. I think this was yet another factor that contributed to the injury. Correcting any misalignment (through PT and chiro) is necessary for a permanent fix once you get the inflammation down and resume running. The same goes for muscle imbalances. Getting rid of the inflammation is one thing, but resolving the root issue is another.

Now that I am back to running a little, I way to stay injury-free! This, of course, means taking things slowly. However, I know I can increase fitness faster (and safely), by supplementing with cross training. Another strategy I am starting to use to increase running volume while keep risk low is by breaking up my runs into short doubles. For example, rather than doing one 6-miler, I will do two 3-milers. The best way to get better at running is to run a lot, and doubles are great for that. Plus, the longer the run, the more battering and fatigue you get. Doubles help mitigate this, as fatigue and breakdowns in form do not set in as much on the shorter runs.

My primary goals for the spring are:

• Kick all remaining symptoms of the tendinitis
• Gradually increase mileage back to the 100+ mpw range
• Lose all the weight I gained (about 8 lbs)
• Resume real races by the end of May

It’s been a really crappy winter, but I have high hopes for it being offset by a great summer and fall! free real ringtones tone | download free mobile real ringtones t | composer free nokia ringtones | free u.s cellular ringtones | mp3 ringtones converter | send free ringtones to your phone | free cellular one ringtones | cell download free phone ringtones | free yahoo ringtones | free sprint real ringtones | music nextel real ringtones | yahoo ringtones free download | ringtones verizon wireless | free cellular phone ringtones | e315 motorola ringtones | free real tone ringtones | free ringtones | free ringtones converter | free real ringtones for verizon | cingular free music ringtones |

Trigger Point Technologies hit a home run with their TP Massage toolkit, which is designed to release trigger points, restore muscle elasticity, and improve biomechanics for runners, cyclists, and other athletes. For me, TP massage as been key component of returning my body to health and my recent rise in running performance. (see my full review on TP Massage Ball).

Another oft-overlooked aspect of injury prevention, performance, and biomechanics is core strength. Many runners will be willing to train for hours and hours each week, but fail to put any time into improving their core — the result of this neglect is sometimes poor biomechanics that propogate into injury.

While actively recovering from my barrage of injuries in 2006, I dedicated myself to improving core strength, both during phyical therapy and at home. From wobble boards and stability balls, to simple crunches and bridge exercises, I consistently invested about 15 minutes per day into my core muscles. And it has been time well spent, as I have logged over 1400 miles in 5 months and set several big PR’s…all while staying injury-free.

The TP Stability PODS are designed to increase core strength through challenging balance and symmetry. They come as a set of three different-sized, concave, foam…er…pods (for the lack of a better description). The differential heights of the three pods represent three difficulty levels (I, II, and III). In other words, it is much harder to find balance with the tallest pod than with the shortest pod, which engages greater work in the core muscles.

Those who use wobble boards and stability balls will immediate see the challenge and utility of the TP Stability PODS. Due to their concave shape and foam material, it’s pretty difficult to find your equilibrium while using these things! I enjoyed using the PODS to spice up my normal core exercises, such as my “bridges” and “bird-dog” poses. I found that I was unable to hold my stability poses as long when using the PODS, and activitated a more intense workout compared to without them. This new challenge was quite welcome, as I was getting rather bored with my exercises lately.

The PODS also play well with other apparatus. For instance, doing pushups with my feet on a stability ball and hands on the PODS was a great full-body workout. There are other inventive POD exercises that can be done in synergy with a stability ball or even the TP Baller Block. Just as you can intensify just about any core exercise by using a stability ball, you can further intensify any core exercise by applying one or more Stability PODs to any of your points of contact with the ground.

TP Technologies has also developed a series of POD exercises specifically for runners. They are essentially various forms of one-legged knee raises and hip abductions that stimulate balance and symmetry. While these exercises won’t engage an intense “burn” or anything, they do activitate the deeper muscles of the core, which are often under-developed. I’ve been performing these balancing exercises 3-4 days/week for a couple months now, and have noticed a sizeable improvement in my balance, and have been able to steadily increase my balancing time on the POD. These exercises remind me much of the wobble-board poses I had performed during formal physical therapy sessions while rehabbing a groin strain, only I’m not being billed $150/hour by some therapist.

Trigger Point Technology’s Stability PODS should be considered by any athlete looking to prevent injuries, rehab injuries, or simply increase performance. There is sooo much good training and rehab that can be completed right at home. A set of PODS sells for $26, which is much less than the amount my physical therapist would bill my insurance for 15-minutes with a hot pack. Products like the PODS empower athletes to take their health into their own hands and implement home programs.

As a runner, I can’t say enough about core strength in general. I sincerely believe that increasing core strength and improving biomechanics was a key aspect to my recent half marathon improvement from 1:12:50 to 1:09:27. TP Massage and Stability PODS were just a couple ingredients in my stew of training, but they most certainly helped.

If you’re interested in core strength, investing in a stability ball should be your first step, and I also recommend giving the Stability PODS a try.

[Pictures are from Trigger Point Technologies’ website]

If you browse through any running magazine, website, or forum, you are sure to see a menagerie of articles and posts about overuse injuries. Stress fractures, tendonitis, “runner’s knee”, groin strains, and that beast, plantar fasciitis, all come up with surprising regularity. Let’s face the unfortunate truth, injuries can be a part of running…

Read the full article at The Final Sprint!

Running injuries present many challenges. Getting the injury diagnosed and implementing a rehabilitation program are at the forefront, but keeping your SANITY during the potentially long layoff is often overlooked and can be very problematic….

Read the full article at The Final Sprint!

Early in the summer of 2006 my “running” hit an all-time low. I use the term “running” loosely, because at that time I had not actually ran in over two months. A better description would be that my overall physical well-being hit an all-time low, as I was suffering from an adductor strain, lower pain back, and acute plantar fasciitis all at the same time…

Let me just start off by saying I am NOT a true vegetarian or vegan. I am merely a fan. I would be classified more as a “flexitarian” or “semi-vegetarian” due to my occasional indulgence of bratwurst and other irresistable fatty meats. But I have come to recognize and believe in the positive effects of healthy vegetarian and vegan cruisine on not just our general health, but on running performance as well. Here’s why:

1) Reducing or eliminating meat and dairy helps keep weight off. A runner carrying extra weight is slower, less economical, more prone to injury. I struggled to lose those 10 extra pounds for quite some time until I tried more vegan cooking. Exercise wasn’t doing it, but diet did.

2) You will feel better. A vegan or vegetarian diet will gravitate toward foods, fats, and oils that are natural anti-inflammitories, and stay away from foods that actually increase inflammation (red meats, grease, eggs, processed foods, sugars, etc.). I noticed that my inflammation from plantar fasciitis and back pain was at an all time high after a work conference where I ate out every meal at brew pubs (nachos anyone?). When I switched to healthy, low-fat, low-sugar vegetarian the next week, I quickly started feeling better, and even my plantar fasciitis finally starting improving. Other people I know have had similar successes in reducing their back pain and other inflammitory ailments through a change in diet.

3) You will have more energy and better daily performance. After eating a big steak or a couple bratwursts, I’m usually ready to just wash my face and curl up for a nap. On the other hand, after a nice vegan meal, or a good salmon cruisine, I’m ready to go out and run! Digestion is faster and takes less energy, plus my body is fueled with nutrients designed for performance. Since switching to a mostly vegetarian diet, my daily energy levels have never been higher. I sleep less, am more productive, get sick less, and maintain steady, consistent running performance. Sasha can attest this as well; the year he switched to a “vegan-ish” diet, he dropped his marathon time from around 2:31 down to 2:24. Scott Jurek, America’s best ultramarathoner, is a vegan. He attests that his performance is related to his diet.

How many of us are willing to sacrifice a few of our favorite meats and junk foods for a performance jump like that? I encourage people to give it a try. If you are looking for ways to keep weight off or lose weight during the off season (or during season), give the veggie thing a shot. If you’re dealing with chronic inflammation-related injuries, give the veggie thing a shot. If you’re out of training ideas but still need a performance boost, give the veggie thing a shot. If you just hate it, or don’t get the results, you can always go back. But diet should be a tool to help our running, and it is an available resource.

Before people jump all over me, I want to make clear that just switching to a haphazard vegetarian or vegan-based diet will NOT help us. If the diet does not fulfill fueling requirements, it will hurt us. Educate yourself on what composes a well-rounded healthy diet with proper energy requirements. This goes for all diets, not just vegetarian (yes, a meat-based diet can be extremely healthy and performance-enhancing as well — I just think vegetarian/vegan has better potential). A good resource to read for those considering introducing vegetarian cruisine to their diet is “The Vegetarian Sports Nutritiion Guide” by Lisa Dorfman. This book helped demystify vegetarian fueling for athletes, and contains a lot of great profiles of elite vegetarian athletes, as well as their favorite training meals and recipes.

Like I said, I still indulge occasionally in various wonderful meats and junk foods. I strive for moderation and balance, and enjoying all types of foods can help us enjoy life more as whole. Remember, there is more to life than running, but making certain lifestyle choices, including diet and nutrition, can help us out with our running!

I’ll conclude by sharing some of my favorite vegetarian, vegan, and pisco-vegetarian recipes. These are all available on the Whole Foods Market website. These recipes, along with being very healthy, have an amazing amount of taste, and my wife and I always look forward to making them.

Indian Dal — one of my favorites. Lentils provide protein, and cardmom, fresh cilantro, and a jalepeno provide the style points! (vegan)

Quinoa with Broccoli and Cashews — high protein, gluten-free. The sun-dried tomatoes and red onion make this dish. (vegan)

Black Bean Burritos — these are GREAT. The crushed red pepper, hot sauce, lime juice, and fresh cilantro ensure both kick and zing. Leave out cheese for vegan. (vegetarian)

Honey Miso Dijon Alaska Salmon — oh man, this is a taste sensation. Salmon provides Omega-3 fats, which are natural anti-inflammitories. Remember to buy only wild-caught salmon to avoid the toxins in farm-raised salmon. (pisco-vegetarian).

It’s probably quite evident from my previous TP Massage Ball Review that I’m pretty darned excited by Trigger Point Technology’s suite of self-massage tools. I’ve been using the Total Body Package for a couple months now (30-60 minutes a day, EVERY day), and have never felt better. No injuries, no aches and pains, and my training is fantastic right now. My one and only complaint of the TP products is their sparse documentation. The DVD and manual that comes with it gives you a few ideas, but leaves you wanting more. Many of the techniques are straight forward, but I was left with a lot of questions and wondered if I was really doing everything correctly. Well, we’re in luck. In the past month TP Technologies released their “Ultimate Six (6) for Runners” guide book. Is this the answer we’ve been looking for? The book retails for $20, which means that it’s going to have to impress most of us a lot to make it worth the money. But we runners will usually shell out bucks for something that will help make us faster and more resistant to injury. The Wasatch Running Center, my racing sponsor, was kind of enough to provide me with a copy of the book.

Well, first to describe the book itself. It is a bit smaller than I thought, about the size of a day-planner or journal notebook. I thought this was a bit lame at first, that something so small is $20. But once I starting using it, the small size was an advantage, as it is quite portable and I could have it available while using the massage set without cluttering the floor.

The front and back cover is a nice laminated material. This immediately came in handy when I spilled water on it minutes after getting home. TP Technologies, being endurance athletes themselves, must be keenly aware of the poor hand-eye coordination typical to distance runners. So the lamination was a good call. This book can take a beating. It is spiral-bound, which again helps make it compact, portable, and available while you are using the TP set.

The book itself is 17 pages. For those who are keeping track, that comes out to $1.18/page. Not a great value in that aspect. The first four pages give an introduction to the plan of the book, runner biomechanics in relation to the Trigger Point philosophy, and basic guidelines of using the TP tools. The guide then launches into step-by-step instructions on the six essential muscle manipulations: Soleus (3 pages), Quads/IT Band (4 pages), Psoas (2 pages), Piriformis (2 pages), and Pectoral (1 page). The last page is just contact information, so the book really only contains 16 pages of useful information ($1.25/page).

The pages themselves are well-done, organized, and easy to follow. They avoid getting too technical with terminology, which makes it easy understand to most runners who are familiar with the basic muscle groups. The pictures are informative and add value. That being said, some of the pictures are recycled from their web site.

My personal test of the value of the book is whether it would teach me, a two-month user of their product, anything new that I could apply in my daily routine. The pages on the soleus manipulation included nothing I wasn’t already doing. However, it gave me more insight into the proper breathing, amount of repetitions, and duration I should perform the manipulation. Those things had been a bit of a mystery to me previously. Okay, a good start. Likewise, the pages on the quads helped refine some of my techniques. It also added a new muscle group to address. Oh boy, did that hurt! More value, but not ground-breaking. However, the third manipulation, the psoas region (between hip and belly button), was brand new to me. I was aware of the psoas, but previously had not been able to reach it with the massage ball. The guide book gave very clear techniques and illustration to get into the psoas. I applied them and had immediate success. The manipulation itself is rather painful, but the results are quite good, and I felt better afterwards. I’ll throw this one in my daily routine for sure. The piriformis manipulation (gluteus region) had eluded me in the past. The book was helpful and gave good step-by-step instructions, but I was still having trouble getting into the muscle rather than my bony butt. I haven’t given up on it, but will need to go back to it. Finally, the pectoral manipulation was one I was already doing, so nothing new there. It did provide information on why we runners would want to manipulate our chest, and more insight into proper technique and duration. This is actually one of my favorite manipulations to do with the ball. After I minute or two, I usually feel like my whole shoulder area is about an inch lower due to released tension. This helps posture and arm swing.

So that’s it. I think this is a good start for TP Technologies. For $20 I would rather see something like a 60-minute DVD. In fact, this book would be a great companion to a DVD. However, the book itself succeeded in filling gaps in my knowledge, answering questions regarding technique, and introducing new, useful manipulations. Its compact and efficient spiral-bound design made it easy for me to use and keep around near the TP tools as a quick reference. But I am not sure it is worth $20 for many runners who are on a budget. But someone who really loves the TP massage tools, like myself, may be interested in acquiring it as a resource. It would also make a great gift or stocking-stuffer (it actually fits in a stocking),

These past two seasons have been tough ones for me. Runners’ knee in both knees, lower back pain, SI joint pain, plantar fasciitis, and a groin strain had brought my running to a grind (literally) during 2005 and the first half of 2006. After months of not running, and enduring physical therapy, chiropractic, and massage therapy, I was finally back up and running by September of this year. I noticed that deep tissue massage was particularly effective in accelerating healing, but at $40/hr, I could not afford to do it more than once or twice a month.  Then I discovered Trigger Point Technologies and their massage products through injury message boards and word of mouth. I figured that the TP Massage set would be good investment, since I could use it every day at no cost after the initial purchase. If it holds to even half of the claims of the website and of other peoples’ reviews, it would be worth the money by helping keep me injury-free and feeling good during and after runs. Other reviews of this self-massage toolset can be found by Linda Gallo, SNEWS, and active.com. Reviews such as these, plus the product’s informative website, convinced me to shell out the $$ to buy it myself and add it to my arsenal of injury-prevention and running maintenance tools.

I have been using the massage tools and techniques faithfully every day now for the last 8 weeks. The tools of the “Total Package” include the Ball, the Footballer and Block, and the Quadballer. The Ball is a little bigger than a tennis ball, and the Footballer and Quadballer are dumbbell-like contraptions that you can roll various body parts on. The Baller Block is just a foam block used to get leverage. I’m sure something else could be used if I ever lost the Block. The tools all have a hard core with a unique, patent-pending material that is neither hard nor soft (kind of like a very viscous gel), so it is more comfortable and effective than using things like a rolling pin (too hard) or a tennis ball (no core, can be pushed in). The website claims that the material will mold to the form of a human thumb after 5-7 seconds of direct pressure. It is kind of a dubious claim, but having experienced it myself, I have to say that it is true; it sure feels like a thumb and it sure gets deep into the muscles!

The best part is that you can use your own body weight to control the location and amount of pressure, and you can massage a knot/trigger point to the duration and intensity of your heart’s content. Usually a few minutes is sufficient. The ball can be used for virtually any location and muscle group. If you only have $20 to spend, the ball can get it all done with a little effort. I tried replicating the feel of the TP Massage Ball with a softball and a tennis ball and couldn’t do it; the TP Ball is unique and does as advertised. I use it every day primarily for my neck, shoulders, and chest. After a minute or two on each muscle group, much of the tension built up during the day has been released. The neck is especially tender and sensitive to the ball, but it’s amazing how much better it feels afterward. The ball is supposedly effective in treating piriformis syndrome (sciatia). I have not used it much on my own piriformis muscles, as they have not given me any trouble. However I have used the ball on my interior quad muscle just above the knee cap when I was feeling the onset patellofemoral pain, and it helped reduce the muscle tenderness and prevent the pain from developing further! I am quite impressed.

I use the Footballer for my lower calves (soleus) and the outside of my calves and shin area. Rolling the outside of the calves feels especially good after a longer run of pounding the pavement, and helps rejuvenate the achy muscles. The first week of using the Footballer on the calves was painful; it’s amazing how tender the muscles were. But after a week, my muscles were responding well, and instead of hurting while using the product, it just felt like a good massage. I took that as a sign that the product was helping repair muscle damage, and it was actually working. According to their website, the Footballer applied to the calves is the cure for plantar fasciitis, since treating the calves can release tension on the fascia. That falls in line with other things I’ve heard, but my own case of PF was already better before I started using the product, so I can’t give first-hand testimony. I’m a bit skeptical when anyone claims they’ve found a cure-all for PF, since every case is so unique, but I imagine the TP products can help certain cases.

I use the Quadballer to roll out my quads and IT bands, and also my lower back and neck. Laying on top of the Quadballer was very painful for the first two weeks on the quads, but my muscles eventually adjusted and knots were released, and like my calves, it simply feels really good now. I was quite impressed with that. It took about three full weeks for me to lay on the Quadballer and roll out my IT band without pain (the IT band is VERY sensitive), but now I can apply my full body weight on the IT band without discomfort and can get a very good massage out of it. Both the quads and IT bands are very important for maintaining healthy knees, and my right knee, which I have had problems with and had been feeling rather weak before, is actually feeling very strong and durable now. I feel that the Quadballer has helped this, particularly in the IT band. The Quadballer will also get VERY deep into the lower back. I massage out my lower back at least once a day by lying on the Quadballer and rolling back-and-forth and side-to-side. I have had no lower back pain AT ALL in the last 2 months, which is great, because that has been a problem for me over the last year and a half. So I’m very pleased with the Quadballer.

Aside from injury prevention and maintenance, the TP Massage tools have helped my day-to-day running performance some, particularly in my calves. When I massage out my calves before a run, I feel a bit more bouncy. My runs have been feeling very good, and I have not had any little aches and pains that can get in the way of a good run.

All TP products come with a 9-minute instructional DVD, with is only slightly helpful. It is not long enough, nor informative enough. It also comes with a small pamphlet that suffers from the same problem. Between the two, though, and by listening to my muscles, I could figure out most of the best techniques to use the tools. The website is pretty helpful, and contains some good articles diagrams, but you have to filter out all the jargon and marketing ploys. Read through the website and you will see what I mean. A about a month ago they released a small book called Ultimate 6 for Runners Guidebook, which is an instructional guide with step-by-step directions a full-color pictures that would be a great resource to maximize the utility of the product. But they are asking $20 for this 17-page book, which is a bit hard for me to swallow. If I could get it for about half that price, I would consider buying it, because I think it would fill in the gaps of my knowledge and help me use the product better. If I end up buying it, I’ll be sure to give a full report on it.

The TP products are rather spendy, due to the materials and development behind them (I’m not sure what their mark-up is). The Ball alone is $25, the “Starter Set” (ball, block and footballer) is $70, and “Total Package” (ball, block, footballer, and quadballer) is $130. All the products come with the DVD and instructional pamphlet. You can save a bit of money on them by shopping around the internet and running shoe stores. Sometimes the TP web store runs specials as well.
Cost and marketing aside, these are great products and really simulate deep tissue massage (I have been to several massage therapists and can compare the difference). Since buying the “Total Package”, I have stopped going to my massage therapist completely, and have saved money and recouped cost that way, and I feel great! I have had my running buddies try it after Saturday runs, and they are all impressed as well. Anyone who has a history of injuries, or just wants to eliminate muscle knots and aches/pains should consider trying the TP Massage products. The Ball alone can get just above everything done, so it’s the cheapest place to start if you are money-strapped or skeptical, but the Footballer and Quadballer cover a lot more surface area and make the massage for certain muscle groups a lot easier than just using the Ball.

Anyone’s experiences or questions regarding TP Massage products are welcome.

I weighed in today at 132 pounds. So that means I’ve finally hit my goal and returned to my college racing weight. Hurrah! I celebrated by getting my chin-up PR (14). Chin-ups are a lot easier without love handles. Celebrated more when I got home by eating an orange.

I am originally from Wisconsin, and love things like beer, bratwurst, and cheese Danishes. It had taken its toll, and I developed the dreaded “skinny-fatguy belly” after college. I was about 145 pounds last winter when I got hurt, and over 140 pounds during the Grand Slam when I got hurt. A couple winters ago I hit 155. I think I read somewhere that every running stride you take, your joints bear 3x your body weight upon impact. Running downhill, it is even more. So for me to lose 10+ pounds is really like losing 30+ pounds, as far as my knees, back, and feet are concerned. It also factors into running economy and VO2Max, which may explain why holding a 6:30/mile pace seems pretty effortless right now, whereas my easy pace the past few years was 7:00+/mile. So I think meeting this weight goal will continue to help with injuries and also performance. 90% of my meals now are vegan or vegetarian, and that has been key for shedding excess weight, plus my energy levels have never been better. The funny thing is that after a while, you really start to like rice, beans, lentils and buckwheat. There are some excellent recipes out there. I still like the occasional bratwurst though, and if I lose any more weight, I will have to start adding more sausage and battered food to my diet! I am happy where I’m at and don’t need to lose a pound more.

Over yesterday and today I transfered my Polar training for 2005 to the training Blog. 2005 was a breakthrough year for me, in that I finally utilized smart training, and finally figured out how to run a marathon properly. Both of those accomplishments were greatly influenced by me reading “Advanced Marathoning” by Pfitzinger and Douglas. The ideas in the book help me formulate a good training plan that employed a lot more tempo and marathon-pace running, and less VO2Max. It also helped me with proper tapering, hydrating, and fueling, which are crucial (and often underestimated) for the marathon.

This was also the year I ran the Grand Slam. Why did I do the Slam? I was so jaded from the TOU Marathon in 2004, when I put all my marbles in the one race and lost big. So I decided to do the opposite in 2005: run a bunch of marathons until I got it right. Also, there would be no pressure on me (from myself) to perform really well at any of them, which would allow me to loosen up and RUN MY OWN RACE. Well, to make a long story short, I ended up doing really well in ALL of them, and came out with some nice PR’s, and a lot of valuable experience. So in order to run fast, I had to try to run slow. What this meant was that in all my previous marathons, I tried to run a pace beyond my training, and ended up running slower than I should have because of those improper race-day tactics.

The downside of doing the Slam was that I got injured (knee and lower back). I chose to abuse ibuprofin and just run through it, and did so “sucessfully”, but I ended up taking October-December completely off in order to rehab and recover. And when I started running again in January, I developed similar injuries again. Either my biomechanics changed or my body’s ability to heal and/or absorb shock had been compromised. I hadn’t had an injury before the Slam for the previous 10 years of competitive running. I do not blame the Slam itself, but rather me running it too hard with TOO LITTLE BASE.

People often ask me about the Slam and for tips. Here are my tips, ideas that I did use or SHOULD HAVE used.

1) Build a big base during the 4 months preceding the first race (Ogden). 70+ miles/week for at least couple months is optimal. Once the Slam starts, you will be forced to drop mileage due to constant recovery.

2) Pick 1 or 2 races as your focus races. Run the others as “workouts” — ie do not “race” them. For me, my focus races were Des News and St. George.

3)Negative or even-split every race. Do not hit the wall. I found that races that I negative or even-splitted, my recovery was an order of magnitude faster than races where I hit the wall and ran a slower 2nd half.

4) How do you not hit the wall? Run your race, not someone else’s race. Ignore “the pack” and run a pace that seems too slow at first. You have 26 miles to get your PR. Going out hard the first few miles can ruin the last half of your race. But going out easy can make the last half a dream. I ended up passing a lot of people that are normally faster than me in the last miles of races using this strategy, and even unintentially won money by winning the “war of attrition”. Pfitzinger says that running a negative split means that you could have ran faster, but that’s what we want in the non-focus Grand Slam races.

5) Run for “active recovery”. Hydrate and fuel EVERY aid station, even if you are not thirsty or tired. Walk through, if needed. I actually walk through aid stations now to get more fluid, and I don’t believe it nets me any loss in time, because I “get it back” later. Take liquid and fuel after Mile 20, even though it will not help you for the current race, it will help you recover from the race faster, which is key for the Slam.

6) Do not taper heavily for your non-focus marathons. Since you just did a marathon a few weeks ago, your mileage will probably not be that high to begin with, and your fitness can not afford a big taper. One week with 20% reduction should do it, and then the marathon itself will add 26 miles for the week, so on paper, there will not be any drop in mileage at all!

7) Monitor your body, and think long-term rather than short term. If you are injured, suck it up and drop out of the circuit. Some injuries will go away on there own, but others will not, and continuing to run will make things worse and have long-term consequences. I’ve had a rough year since the Slam because I did not listen to my body and tried to mask my pain with NSAIDs. Don’t do it!

Enjoy it! Running the Slam takes you to a lot of great courses and beautiful areas in Utah. Relax and admire the scenery during your race. Be inspired.

I think that the Grand Slam in 2007 will “only” consist of 4 races rather than 5. This should make the circuit more achievable, and allow for faster times.

I found that despite relatively low mileage, I built a tremendous amount of fitness through doing the Grand Slam. Why is that? Well, my theory is that Slammers do tons of marathon-specific workouts…what is a better marathon workout than 26.2 miles at MP pace? Fewer long training runs are needed, as the marathons themselves build a lot of fitness and train the body to burn fuel efficiently. Even my general speed was pretty good by September, as demonstrated by a strong Peruvian Dash 8k finish. Finishers of the 2006 Slam had a lot of PR’s and remarkable performances as well. This leads me to believe that multiple marathons can be a good way to go. Of course, doing 5 in 6 months is extreme, but if you train for months and months and do your marathon…why not do one other in a month or two? You’ve worked very hard over several months to build your marathon fitness, and if your recovery from the first marahon goes well, why not jump in another? You have already done the work, so the second marathon is “free”, and I believe the probability of a PR in a second marathon (if spaced far enough apart) is good.

Those are my Sunday Blog thoughts. As usual, other people’s experiences and comments are welcome.