Why Tele when you can Alpine ski?

If you haven't noticed, this is slowly becoming a ski blog. That's what injury will do to a man. Two weeks ago I entered my fourth decade of life. I had been counting down this date in anticipation of becoming a "masters" runner and climbing back onto the podium...top spot if all played out to my plan. Instead, I haven't run more than 10 miles per week and am now attempting yet another rehabilitation modality with Active Release Therapy. Matter of fact, I have my second session today with Mark DeJohn. Anyhow, by great fortune, winter decided to hit the Cascades right around my birthday. Due to the influence of my wife, who practically begged me to get rid of my 1980's rear entry boots and $15 skis, I received a new setup of K2 Obsethed skis and Salomon X310 CS boots for my birthday. The kid who sold them to me described it as a "sick" setup, so I assume it's good. Anyhow, the skis have easily taken 20 years off my skiing age. Feel like I'm back in college again. Two weeks ago I had a "dad's" sense of pride skiing with my antiquated stuff, but now...wow. So, because of my inherent guilt, I had to buy Katie some fat skis. I was able to justify it as her early birthday present. She wound up with the Volkl Kiku's. We just returned from the mountain today and had an absolute blast. So, both of us now are contemplating temporary retirement from running and transitioning into full time ski bums. Shouldn't be that tough for me. I already have the affinity for beer and laziness. Might be a little more difficult on my wife, but I'll work on her. Hopefully with the end of ski season, this phase too will pass. I'm sure at some point we'll be back out running the trails, but for now, well, this is pretty fun.

Why Run When You Can Ski?

Katie and I set running and rehab aside over the weekend to ski Tam McArthur rim with some friends. We stayed two nights in yurts, operated by Three Sisters Backcountry Wilderness. After a 5-6 mile snowmobile ride in, it was nothing but skiing powder and hanging out for two days. Oh, and drinking beer. Needless to say, it was a blast. It also looks like a great place to run in the summer. We hope to head back out after the snow melts.

10 days out

I'm now 10 days out from the PRP injection into my achilles. Overall things are feeling pretty good. Not certain how I'm supposed to feel at this juncture, but figure reduced pain is a good thing. I was able to enjoy a spectacular day of alpine skiing today without a glitch of achilles pain. Unfortunately the rest of my body hurt. In a couple days I plan on ditching the walking boot I'm in and transitioning back to normal footware. This will spare me the awkward explanation of PRP to compassionate folks politely asking me what I did to my foot. I'm hopeful to be running in 2-3 weeks. Until then, a bit more PT, stretching and eccentric achilles loading. And of course, spinning.

National Cross Country Meet and PRP

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to watch the USATF cross country national championships in Spokane. Take home point...there are some wicked fast runners out there. The women's race featured Shalane Flannigan vs the rest of the field. It was pretty obvious after the first 2k that Shalane was essentially out for a controlled tempo run while everyone else was red lining it. She easily won the 8k event running a 5:04 pace. The men's race was also amazing to watch. Dathan Ritzenheim is as smooth as they come. I witnessed him effortlessly run with a pack of three runners, gradually pulling away from the rest of the field. Finally with about 3k to go, he turned on the burners and blew away the final two runners. He completed the 12k course at a 4:38 pace. I swear his last 3k was proably around a 4:20 pace. It was freakishly amazing. I put this picture in because when Ritz decided to kick, he actually passed the green photography vehicle. The vehicle had to short cut the race to get back in front of him.

It was also fun watching Max King run the race. He ran an incredible time, averaging a 4:48 pace, but said his legs felt heavy and finished in 11th place, which was lower than he hoped.

Katie ran the women's race however it wasn't as enjoyable to watch. She partially ruptured her plantar fascia about 1 mile into the race and ran the final 4 miles in severe pain. She still finished in a time that most women would die to run, but for her, it was nowhere near her potential. She is now hobbling around in a walking boot. She did the same thing to her other foot during Xterra nationals and now that foot is better than ever. We hope for the same recovery with this foot.

Today I made the decision to have a PRP injection into my left achilles tendon. The decision was not an easy one, as I have progressively increased my weekly mileage without any worsening of my condition. At the end of the day though, I still had pain in my achilles. I figured if it's going to heal completely, this is my best option.

I had the injection performed by Dr. Flattery at the Center of Integrated Medicine. He is the local injection guru and is the same physician that treated Kami Semick. Have to say it went well but man is it painful. I immediately hit the vicodin when I got home and it barely takes the edge off things. Plan over the next two weeks is for a walking boot and gentle range of motion activities, followed by gradual return to running. Hopefully I can crosstrain and more importantly control the "calories in" while my "calories out" are reduced. If all goes well then I'll probably have my right achilles treated in a couple weeks. I'm already dreading it. It's been 4 hours so time to hit the Vicodin again.

If it's good enough for Brandon...

I came across this article today on the Oregonlive website about PRP therapy. Funny how they call it "cutting-edge." I think it is more accurately described as "not very well studied." Anyhow, interesting how they are using it among professional athletes, especially those who haven't been injured all that long. Maybe I'll wait and see how Brandon responds to therapy before going through it myself.




"Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy will undergo a cutting-edge, non-surgical technique today in Seattle to treat his strained right hamstring.Roy will have Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injected into his hamstring, which is designed to stop the bleeding on his hamstring while also releasing growth factors that aid the healing process. The procedure will be performed in Seattle by team doctors of the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL team that Blazers owner Paul Allen also owns. Roy on Thursday flew from Philadelphia to Seattle to meet with the Seahawks doctors. PRP includes extracting blood from Roy, then placing it in a centrifuge for 15 minutes, which separates red blood cells from platelets, forming a gel. That gel is injected into the injured area.Roy will be re-examined on Thursday before the team leaves for a two-game trip with stops in Houston (Jan. 29) and Dallas (Jan. 30). Roy will miss four games before that examination - tonight in Boston, Saturday in Detroit, and home games against New Orleans (Jan. 25) and Utah (Jan. 27).Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said he is hoping Roy can return in seven-to-10 days, possibly placing his return for the Jan. 29 game at Houston or a Feb. 1 home game against Charlotte.The PRP technique has become popular in the NFL because it speeds the recovery."

Achilles Anniversary

It was a year ago today, or at least pretty close, that I suffered my first achilles tendon injury. I recall a beautiful, sunny morning in south central AZ. My family was packing for a car trip to Disneyland with my folks. I had to run back into the house for something when I felt this discomfort develop in my left achilles tendon. I figured it was one of those things that would work out over the next couple of hours. I was actually surprised after a couple days that the pain was still there... Little did I realize it would be a pain in my a** for an entire year.

So here I am, celebrating my one year anniversary with my achilles tendonopathy. Can't say I'm happy in this relationship and am looking for a way out. Katie and I have been researching PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) therapy for a while now and I'm wondering if it is time to pull the trigger. For those of you not in the know, PRP therapy is a fairly new treatment modality where your own plasma (containing healing factors) is injected into the injury site. The theory is that by directly injecting important healing factors, it will stimulate repair of the injured area. The problem is that this has been poorly studied and data are lacking to support it as a recommended therapeutic option. Within the past week, a research article in JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association) was published showing no improvement in outcome with PRP vs placebo in a small Dutch clinical trial using PRP for treatment of achilles tendonopathy. On the flip side, I have talked to people, runners, who seem to believe the exact opposite, that PRP works.

I have set some pretty high racing goals this year, none of which I'll be able to reach unless my achilles injuries heal. I'm currently taking some time off from running and focussing more on rehab, which includes PT and eccentric loading of my achilles. If anyone has insight to PRP therapy or anecdotal evidence of it working, please leave me a comment. Thanks.

Good Vibes

I'm lovin the Vibes. Put in another 2 mile cool down run today and have to say they felt very natural. They don't seem to alter my stride at all. The only negative is a small blister that has developed over my big toe at the mtp joint where the sole wraps around the side. It should callous up soon and be non-problematic before long. This is no fault of the shoe, I just have a deformed foot.
It's amazing how much you feel the change in running surface with VFFs. Not just rocks and stuff but the transition from road to sidewalk pavers was incredible. I have known this all along and typically avoid sidwalks/pavers when possible, but to feel the difference running in VFFs was dramatic. There is absolutely zero give when running on pavers as opposed to the road. I could just feel each stride jolting my bones and joints. Can't wait for spring to come around so I can hit the trails.