5 Tips for Enjoying a Post-Rain Trail Run
In San Diego, we’re incredibly fortunate to live in a place that provides us with weather that allows us to be outside year round. Even as we head away from summer and into the cooler months and the occasional rain, the weather seems to be even better for hitting the trails or just getting outside to exercise. This morning was one of my best runs in a while and I attribute a good bit of that to yesterday’s rains that came through. The air this morning was clearer and crisper; the birds, coyotes, owls and rabbits were more active; and best of all with the early morning start and wet ground, the golf course along Tecolote Canyon wasn’t as active as normal so it was wonderfully quiet. I can’t think of a much better way to start the day than watching the day break over the canyon along a quiet stretch of single track.
While I was running I started thinking about a few things that can make or break a trail run after it rains. After checking out the list feel free to add some comments about what you things that have made muddy trails fun for you in the past or things you would do differently now!
1. Respect trail closures
Some trails are more sensitive to rain than others so it’s very important to pay attention to trail closures if they are posted. These closures are put in place to ensure the trails don’t get damaged and maintain their integrity for year round enjoyment. In San Diego, Penasquitos Canyon will close after just about every rain because of the drainage and heavy use of the trail. Please do your best to never run on trails that are closed!
2. Stay on the trail
This goes along with #1 and respecting the trails and their conditions. When wet, some sections of trail may be flooded and turn into a giant puddle. If there are no trails that can lead you around this section, please do not tread off the main trail to blaze a path around the water. This will damage the plants that grow along the trail, lead to erosion of the area, and create extraneous “pedestrian paths” that encourage people to use them and promote further decay of the trail system. Enjoy the trails as they are so that they can be run and hiked for years to come.
If you run Tecolote Canyon #1 regularly, there is a section that floods just before you get to the golf course. There is a nice single track trail that leads off the right of the main trail a little before this section. This trail goes straight up the hill to the top or branches off to the left. Take the left fork and it will take you completely around the flooded section and reconnect with the main trail.
3. Have a good pair of trail shoes
In San Diego you can run most of the year on the majority of the trails in your everyday trainers. While there are some benefits to trail shoes all year long, this is when they start to shine! You will want to make sure you have a pair that will provide good traction and not get water logged when they become wet. I also tend to prefer lighter shoes when it’s muddy because inevitably some mud will cling to your feet. Why add unnecessary weight?
4. Have a good pair of socks
After the shoes, it’s important to have a good pair of socks, something that will dry quickly and not hold the water inside your shoes. There are plenty of good thick socks but my personal preference is thinner socks that won’t have as much material that can soak in the water. This is where a technical sock can really show how much better it is versus a cotton sock.
5. Have Fun!
This should go without saying, all trail runs should be fun. Just because it’s wet and muddy doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself, in fact I think it’s much better than dry and dusty. Remember being a kid and running and playing in the rain and mud? Why can’t we do it now? Stop trying to skirt the puddles, charge right through! Who cares if your feet get wet, triathletes run with wet feet all the time and if they can do it, trail runners certainly can!
So there ya have it, a few guidelines to help you enjoy the wet and muddy trails. No go out, get dirty, and have some fun!
Facing Physical Limitations in Endurance Sports
Since the day I bought my first bike back in 2005 and competed in my first triathlon in the spring of ‘06, my body has never failed to meet the goals I set for it. Whether it was going for a PR, improving one leg of a triathlon, or just friendly rivalries I have never been able to say I physically couldn’t do it. This all culminated in the fall of 2009 when I took on the Silverman Triathlon. I had the goals I was wiling to talk about, break 12 hours with a sub-1hr swim, but like always I had the goals I didn’t tell anyone but Carrie. I wanted to break 11:30 and be top-5 in my Age Group. Well, I hit all my goals with a 54:13 swim, 11:22:13 total time, 7th overall and 2nd in my AG. Needless to say I was beyond excited about my results and just like when I had hit my previous goals I was left wondering, “What next?”
Well, there were a lot of options. Try to qualify for Kona, go back and try to improve on Silverman, try for a BQ, try to get faster over the shorter distances, etc. For different reasons, none of these held much appeal to me. Even during my IM training I wasn’t a big mileage runner, so I decided to see what I could do if I were to run long. Really long. I wanted to take on a 100 miler. I signed up for Oriflamme 50K and PCT50 all as a build up to San Diego 100. Well, if you have been reading this blog or know much about my training over the past couple years, that didn’t happen.
I completed Oriflamme 50K and was happy with the results. 5:25 and 12th o’all. Not bad for my first 50K so I set my sights on PCT50. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the race, the shin discomfort I had been ignoring became a full blown stress fracture. I was crushed. Mostly because I was really excited to run PCT50, it’s a great course, but also because I had never had a serious injury that prevented me from reaching my goals. My running for the year was done. I found a way around it with a lot of swimming and training for the Gatorman 3-mile Open Water Championships in September, it helped but I still had a goal to reach.
After the swim, I put my focus back on the trails and opted for a more conservative goal for 2011. A few 50Ks, one or two 50 milers, and a handful of shorter trail races. The goal was to build up a little smarter and get ready for a 100 miler in 2012. This brings us to the point of the long, rambling blog post.
For what is probably a variety of reasons, my body has not responded to the mileage. Like last year, once I started stringing together multiple weeks in a row of 20+ mile weekends and 2+ double digit runs during the week my lower legs started to rebel. I’ve decided this time to be smarter about it. I’m not going to push it to the breaking point again, there is no reason. I’m going to temporarily shut it down until my lower legs feel normal again. I’ll continue the swimming and gym work and hopefully hop on the bike at least once a week.
Whether it’s true or not, I have the nagging belief that my body hasn’t earned the right to run the distances I want to run. I played soccer growing up and only ran as a necessary thing for practice and games. I’ve had only been doing triathlons for about 4 years and like I said, I was never a big run mileage guy even during my IM training. Even though I’m about as lean as I can be for my height, there’s a reason you don’t see many 6′4″, 183 lb long distance endurance athletes. I’m not going to use my size as an excuse, but I think it’s just going to take more cumulative mileage before I’m able to stand up to that kind of running.
I don’t have any definite plans right now, but once the legs feel better I’ll be signing up for some 1/2 marathon distance and shorter trail races. Who knows, maybe I’ll even throw in some speed work and see what I can do at the shorter distance. Also, I’ll definitely be getting a mountain bike after the wedding in April so that I can start enjoying the trails on days when I’m not running. Basically now, it’s going to be a matter of finding new adventures and new challenges that will allow me to make a return to Ultras in the future.
Reposted from http://jesseroad.wordpress.com/
Honey Stinger Waffle
If you haven’t tried Honey Stinger products yet, do it! They are an organic energy food company that makes incredible stuff. I’ve been using their gels and chews for a while now. If you like honey, you will like the gels, and the chews are the best tasting energy chews I have tried.
Their latest release to the market is the Honey Stinger Waffle. This was suggested by new part-owner Lance Armstrong, you may have heard of him. Anyway, this is a take off of the waffles that are used by cyclists in Europe. They knocked it out of the park with this thing. While I wouldn’t be using it during a hard effort road race it’s going to be great on the bike or out on the mountain trail runs. And, let’s be honest….I’ll be eating these things as snacks. 
I highly recommend stopping in and trying them out.
Nutrition facts:
Calories: 160
Total Fat: 7g
Sat Fat: 3g
Sodium: 55mg
Total Carb: 21g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 14g
Ingredients:
Organic Wheat Flour, organic palm fruit oil, organic rice syrup, organic cane sugar, organic honey, organic whole wheat flour, organic soy flour, sea salt, organic soy lecithin, organic spices, baking soda
The Importance of a Proper Shoe Fit (Video)
San Diego Running Institute store manager Paul Jesse explains the benefits of getting a proper shoe fit and why running shoes aren’t one-size-fits-all.
New Trail Shoes are In!
We’ve recently added some new trail shoes to our arsenal here at the shop and I’m stoked about them so I wanted to share it with you. We’ve brought in some new trail running shoes from Montrail, Inov-8 and Brooks. Take a look!
Montrail Rockridge
Montrail Mountain Masochist
Inov-8 Roclite 295
Inov-8 F-lite 230
Brooks Cascadia
If you have any questions about the shoes or want to give them a try stop by the shop. Until then, see you on the trails!
Want to Run Barefoot? Cool! But why?
Between being in the shop, coaching triathletes, and just being around runners all the time I get this one a lot, “What do you think about barefoot 
running?”
I have a lot of thoughts on barefoot running, but I can’t really share them until I know the root of the question. I return the original question with a question of my own, “Why are you interested in barefoot running?” Do you want to know if I do it? Are you wondering if it can help you? Or, are you thinking it’s an urban legend?
Most people have heard about running barefoot. Most commonly, it is the cure for running injuries, it will prevent running injuries, and/or it will make you a better or faster runner. While some of these scenarios can be true, there are too many blanket assumptions being used with barefoot running.
First, can barefoot running injuries fix a running related problem? There is no way I can say, but I’ve talked to people that have had this work for them. However, there’s a good chance you don’t HAVE to run barefoot to fix the problem. I argue that most times the problem wasn’t fixed by running barefoot; it was running with proper form that did it. Yet you can absolutely improve your form without running barefoot, and there are many drills that you can do for your form. Google is a wonderful tool, or just send me an email. I’ll give you ones I like.
Can barefoot running prevent a running injury? NO!!! I can’t stress this enough. Barefoot running will not prevent a running injury. Neither will a running shoe or an insert. The only way to prevent a running injury is to not run! I don’t care what the shoe companies say, their shoe will not prevent you from being injured. There are no studies to back up such a statement. And if you aren’t convinced, ask the U.S. Navy. New Balance convinced the U.S. Navy that their shoes could prevent their boot camp trainees from getting injured. They were awarded the contract….but now Asics has it. And guess what, I still get countless military men and women in the store and the injury clinic with injury concerns.
Third question, can barefoot running make me a better/faster runner? Yes…and no. Barefoot running can promote proper running form which can make you a more efficient runner. This in turn can potentially make you a faster runner. BUT, without approaching barefoot running properly you can very easily lead yourself to injury. It’s imperative to start out with very short distances, a couple hundred yards. Run on soft surfaces, such as grass or sand. Make a conscious effort to focus on improving your form while doing your short barefoot drills. Even the top runners will generally only run barefoot during a short cool down session, while working on form, and on a grassy surface. If you are serious about running barefoot, I generally recommend working down to a minimalist shoe before tossing your shoes to the wind. However, as I mentioned earlier, it’s easy enough to improve your form without running barefoot.
Listen, running shoe companies aren’t some evil entity out to cause you harm. Running shoes were invented to help the majority of people run without pain. Did every football player suffer catastrophic injuries from wearing leather helmets? No, but there were enough cases to motivate the constant upgrade of head protection to decrease head trauma. Some people can run forever without shoes and never have an issue. But, most people have not been running from early childhood and on conducive surfaces to build up their body to maintain the pounding. If you want to give barefoot running a try, go for it! It’s nice to feel the earth beneath your feet sometimes. Just be smart about it!
Body Over Mind
I know, it’s normally “Mind over body.” Sometimes though, you just have to let your body decide what it’s capable of. I’m in the final week before my 50K and like many big races before, my mind starts messing with my body.
Yesterday was my ‘off’ day from training and work and, after running errands, I went for a walk and felt something unusual that I hadn’t felt before. There was a dull aching pain in my shin just below my knee. I immediately freaked out because it was the same place a friend of mine got a stress fracture while training for his first Ultra. My first thought was “How the hell could this happen NOW!” I was sick the past week so my mileage was lower than it had been. My weekend runs were 18 miles on Saturday and 11.5 on Sunday. While Saturday was a faster pace than I have been running lately these distances were not as high as I have been doing on my back-to-backs. So I spent all day stressing out about a possible stress fracture and trying to figure out if I should wait until the next day to go see Dr. Runco and have him test it. At the end of the day Carrie got home from work and I asked her what she thought. She said to stop worrying because it was probably nothing.
Sure enough I went out this morning for an 8 miler with the Dirt Devils and after warming up I felt no pain anywhere. Knees felt fine, no sign of a problem with the shin, calves had loosened up from the weekend beating. There were no physical problems that would prevent me from having a great run this weekend.
So, once again my mind was messing with me and I know I’m not alone in this. I hear it a lot from people approaching a big event. Things start hurting where they had never felt anything before or they start feeling an incredible uneasiness about the upcoming challenge they face. A lot of people start panicking that they haven’t trained enough and are under-prepared. If you feel you might be injured, be safe and get it checked out or give it a short test run. If you feel unprepared, trust in your training and the program you have been following. There’s a very good chance your more prepared than you even know.
Unless of course you really haven’t been training or following a plan, in which case….good luck, have fun, and try not to hurt yourself.
See you on the trails!
Paul
Running When Sick
This past weekend I went out for a 20 mile trail run on the Pacific Crest Trail with the San Diego Dirt Devils. I knew when I woke up in the morning I wasn’t quite right, my throat was scratchy and I could tell I was getting sick. I don’t generally get overly concerned when I feel like this because I don’t seem to come down with heavy sickness very often. Unfortunately this time I was wrong.
During the run I felt like crap. My throat and chest hurt and I was a little light headed. Despite the great company on the trail and the beautiful scenery I wasn’t enjoying the run at all. Since I was already out there though I committed to doing to complete 22 miles. Afterward I was feeling a little worse so headed home for some quality couch time and some cold meds. I hoped I would be better Sunday morning to do my 12 mile follow-up run so but it just wasn’t the case. I felt terrible all day Sunday and spent it on the couch with movies and Hot Toddys. Didn’t help!
This stupid thing put me out of commission from Saturday afternoon until today…Thursday morning. This is a backdown week but it still means that I missed a 12 miler on Sunday, another 8 on Tuesday, a strength workout and a core workout. With Oriflamme 50K (my first) only a week away I was less than excited to be missing workouts but the Coach talked me off the ledge and assured me I’d be fine.
So this morning I was determined to get out and run with the group at Tecolote Canyon, I wanted to do the 7.5 mile loop but was feeling pretty bad. Chest and lungs were on fire and was feeling lightheaded. Ended up doing the 6 mile out-and-back and the last couple miles started feeling better. Sure enough my legs felt completely fine, no adverse reaction to taking time off.
The moral of the story: Listen to Your Body! As much as it sucked to take the days off and not get my workouts in, I know it was worth it. I feel much better as the day goes on and am sure I’ll be fine for the weekend runs. So when your sick or your body is telling you to take some time off…do it! There is no reason to risk further injury or enhanced illness just to get in a couple extra workouts. You’ll be much better off in the long run.
Pacific Crest Trail – Campo to Lake Morena
What can I say? It was an amazing run. I would say it was perfect but I had a brutal pain pop up at mile 10. It felt like I was being stabbed in the left glute. I had to favor it for a bit but eventually worked it out and was able to enjoy the rest of the run.
We started the run at the beginning of the PCT in Campo, right at the US/Mex border. Signed the log book and Toby, Mike, and I were off. It was 20 beautiful miles of single track with a pretty steady, but light, rain the whole time. There were two 1,000+ ft climbs during the run. The first one was mostly run-able but the second started at mile 15 and was ~1.3 miles; we had to hike the majority of it. As we got towards the top the combination of the heavy fog and increasing darkness made it difficult to see. Busted out the headlamps for the last few miles and the new headlamp is perfect.
Loved the run and minus the glute pain felt great the whole time. I did 20 miles and felt just as good at the end as I did in the beginning, the training is paying off.
See you on the trails!
Trail Running – Oriflamme 50K Preview
Today was an incredible run with the San Diego Dirt Devils trail running group. About a dozen of us headed out east for a preview of the upcoming Oriflamme 50K course. The combination of the warming weather, the beautiful vistas, and the great company made for an effortless 16 miler. However, we ran 18 miles. The last two miles were up hill and I was definitely feeling the lack of running this week. The good news is my knee held up extremely well. Dr. Runco worked some of his magic yesterday with a combination of Rocktape and an improvised patella brace and I never had any real pain.
For anyone that hasn’t run on the Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, I can’t recommend it highly enough. The endless single track trails with the views of the mountains spanning the distance can make you want to run forever.
The one thing I did learn was that my current hydration pack, while being perfect for my middle distance weekday runs, just doesn’t cut it for longer distances when I want to carry more food and gear with me. I’m probably going to pick up the Ultimate Direction Wasp or the Nathan HPL #020 pack because of the convenient pockets on the front and the extra storage on the back. I’ll definitely be keeping the Camelbak for the weekday runs and races when I don’t need to be as self-sufficient.
