Chapter 9 – Late Summer, The Road to Dopey is Getting Shorter
Why Does My Knee Hurt?
It was August before I knew it. I had been continuing to build mileage despite my ailments. After completing the Striders 18-mile buildup run in mid-August, I was psyched and looking forward to the 20-mile buildup run a week later. Completing a 20-mile run would be such a confidence booster and give me experience in managing long runs.
The day before the 20-mile buildup, a Friday, was a strength training day for me. During that workout I started to experience severe pain in my left knee when performing certain exercises. So much so, that I had to modify or skip some single leg weight bearing motions. I didn’t panic, aches and pains come and go. I’m sure it will be fine by tomorrow morning.
It was still painful with certain motions Friday night. I was intent on doing that 20-miler. I took some ibuprofen hoping it was just some inflammation and went to bed. I got up Saturday morning and went through my normal rituals, packed up my stuff and headed down to the Milwaukee Lakefront to join the Striders. After parking, I got out of the car and started to jog over to the restrooms. OUCH! I could not sustain a running motion without severe pain in my left knee. There was no way I could even start a 20-mile run. I sheepishly walked back to my car, waited for all the runners to start off, then drove home.
Upon reaching home, I immediately opened my medical library, YouTube, and searched for knee pain. I quickly narrowed down my pain to either osteoarthritis (from being old) or runner’s knee (patellofemoral pain). Either self-diagnosis was good news, no damage, just wear and tear that should be expected from long distance running. Since runner’s knee was the more promising to resolve, I focused on that. I found some sensible treatment advice that focused on massage, rolling, and gentle manipulation … and rest of course.
I also found a “return to running with runner’s knee” video that offered sensible advice on how to ease back into running while monitoring discomfort level. By Monday, two days after my aborted 20-miler, I was running again. But now I had this lingering concern that my knee could act up at any time. One more thing to cast doubt on my ability to complete Dopey.
The Strider Half Marathon
After two day scare with knee pain, I was focused on the Strider Half Marathon, a local half marathon run by the local running club. This half marathon is small but classy. It runs along beautiful bike trails on the east side of Milwaukee. It starts and stops near a Beer Garden, of course. After the race the organizers serve a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and sausage … and beer. The weather is usually beautiful, and it just feels good to sit and relax in a beer garden with 500 of your best running buddies after completing a half marathon.
This was also the event that, one year ago, I strained my right hip and sent myself into a tailspin of chronic hip pain. Going into this year’s event, my hip was no longer my biggest concern. I had my knee to be concerned with now, along with the threat of going into an irregular heart rate if I pushed too hard.
I made it to start with all my ailments in check. Hip and knee pain where a 1 out of 10, more like phantom pains. I was concerned about starting too fast, so I placed myself at the very back of the pack. What better way to ease into a run than letting the slowest participants throttle your pace. That technique worked well. I got through the first few miles with my HR staying well within zone 2.
The middle of the race was a gradual downhill toward the downtown Milwaukee lakefront. I was able to keep a nice pace and keep my heart rate in check. After the turn around and the start back up the gradual hill, my heart rate climbed into zone 3 and I had to throttle my pace to avoid going into zone 4. I finished in 2:08, almost 10 minutes slower than last year, but I felt like I managed the race well. Good practice for the Day 3 of Dopey in Disney World.
I also gained confidence that I could manage my knee, hip, and heart rate issues in a longer run. The next morning, I felt pretty good. I considered going for a short run just to prove to myself that I could run the day after a half marathon. But I did not need to do that yet. I felt good enough to run again, and that is all that matters at this point, building confidence that I can run consecutive days at Disney. It was also a triumph that I did not experience the debilitating hip pain from one year ago.
The Logistics of Long Runs
Long runs are more than just going out and putting one foot in front of the other for hours on end. Long runs are also about fluid and nutrition management. How will I get enough fluid and electrolytes along the way? Should I carry gels or solid food with me? What about electrolyte tablets or chews? How am I going to carry all that? I need to carry my phone too, just because that’s what we do now in 2023, one cannot be without a communication device for that long.
That’s why I am participating in these late summer Strider Buildup runs. They are great practice for race day hydration and fueling, especially since they have periodic aid stations where I can replenish the fluids in my water bottle. I can also test out gels and chews to see what seems to work best for me. And I can test out carrying things in my new FlipBelt that I purchased in July. If a gel is going to give me intestinal distress, or my fluids in my bottle are not providing enough electrolytes, or I cannot stand wearing that FlipBelt for more than an hour, I had better find out now rather than in the middle of the Disney Marathon.
The Strider 22-mile buildup run gave me a chance to test out a few things. 22 miles is only 4 miles short of a Marathon, the longest distance I will complete during RunDisney Marathon Weekend. If I discover what works and what doesn’t during this training run, I should have a good idea of my logistics for Disney.
First, I did some quick estimation. I accepted that my average pace could be as slow as 12 minutes per mile. That would leave me out on the course for 4+ hours. Yikes! My strategy so far this year has been to consume a gel at the top of every hour, and electrolyte tablets at the bottom of every hour, skipping the first hour. Therefore, I needed 3 gels and 3 servings of electrolyte tablets (2 per serving). On top of that, I carry my own electrolyte beverage, something I have had success with for many years, so I needed to carry extra drink powder, enough to refill my bottle two times. I was also concerned about needing solid fuel, so I took one energy/protein bar with me.
Since I my goal was to learn for Disney, I took more than I needed for 22 miles, anticipating that I may be much slower and out on the course much longer for the Disney Marathon. My fueling included:
- 4 Gel Packets
- 8 electrolyte tablets, in a mini-Ziploc bag
- 1 energy/protein bar
- 2 servings of sport drink powder, each in a mini-Ziploc bag
- 1 bottle of sport drink premixed (20 oz)
And my gear included:
- Handheld bottle carrier, which includes a small zipper pouch, and a small unzippered but secure key pouch
- FlipBelt with one Zippered Pouch and one long wrap-around pouch with 3 slits to access it.
- Running shorts with two front pockets
- Cellphone, ID, and some cash in a small Ziploc bag to keep them dry
I have learned through experience not to leave organizing things until the last minute. I lay out everything the night before and load up everything first thing in the morning. The 4 Gel packets, electrolyte tablets and energy/protein bar get loaded into the FlipBelt. The Ziploc with my phone in it goes into the zippered pouch in the FlipBelt. The extra servings of sports drink powder go into the zippered pouch of my bottle holder, and then my car key goes into the unzippered pouch on the bottle holder. I leave the pockets in my running shorts empty so I can use those for temporary storage on the run.
I have also learned through experience, that although my phone fits nicely into the water bottle holder, the added weight makes the water bottle heavy enough to be bothersome. Without my phone in the pouch, I can comfortably carry my water bottle in my hand for several hours.
When first slipping into the fully loaded FlipBelt, it seems like a lot of bulk around my waist. But after distributing items evenly around my waist, it becomes almost unnoticeable. On the 22-mile run, I never felt any discomfort from the FlipBelt.
I finished the 22-miler in just under 4 hours, about a 10:50 average pace. I consumed gels and electrolyte tablets per plan and refilled my bottle with sports drink twice. By the end of the run, I only had one gel and the energy/protein bar left in my FlipBelt. The logistics experiment was a success. The FlipBelt and handheld water bottle holder worked nicely for carrying stuff. I still ran out of gas and struggled with a little cramping after 2 ½ to 3 hours, so my choice of fuels may not be optimal for me. I may need to keep experimenting there.
I should acknowledge that RunDIsney will provide aid stations along each race course. It may be that RunDisney provides the same fuel and hydration that I practiced with. In that case, I can scale down what I need to carry with me and just grab it along the course. But I won't know exactly what and where RunDisney will provide until weeks before Marathon Weekend, so I will continue to prepare to be as self sufficient as possible.
Sticking to the Plan ... NOT!
At the end of August, I created a week by week, day by day training plan to get me to the starting line of the Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World in January. It is an 18-week plan starting from September 4. Simple, just follow the plan. I did not make it through the first week before I started going rogue!
Weeks 1 and 2 were supposed to be recovery weeks following a 22-mile buildup run with the Badgerland Striders. Each week was just 20 miles total, with a long run of 10 miles. But the striders were doing a 16-mile taper the following week and I could not pass up another run with my running buddies. And then the week after that was a 14-mile taper. My week 3 included back-to-back runs of 4 and 14 miles, so I decided to pull those into week 2. And then I started having delusions that in week 4 I was going to run the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon.
Then in the beginning of week 3 I started feeling the effects of not sticking to the plan. I was getting sore and fatigued. My hip pain went from a minor nuisance to real discomfort. I needed to backoff and let my body recover, like I had planned to do. The last week of the Badgerland Striders marathon training was a short 8-mile taper. I decided to leverage my last chance of the season to run with the group. I ran 7 and 5 mile runs during the week so the 8-miler would give me 20 for the week. That would put me back to my recovery week mileage.
And that is what I did, except for an additional 10K Run/Walk that I did with Cat on Sunday, bringing my total mileage to 26 for the week. Now I need to determine the plan for week 4. Do I take another recovery week? Or do I bring week 5 forward into week 4 and do 6 and 16 miles back-to-back? It’s a delicate balance of continuing to build up mileage while avoiding injury and fatigue.
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