The scariest run of my life

    So I recovered from my back injury and have been attempting to get into a consistent training regimen.  Towards the end of February I went down to Frozen Head State Park in Tennessee with a couple of buddies.  My back wasn't exactly 100% but I was looking forward to the trip and didn't want to back out.  The athletic pubalgia injury was still present but not as terrible as it was.  A perfect mix to do some mountain running !!!
     We drove down from Indiana right to the park.  I did about 13 miles and climbed about 3600 feet on the first day.  My lower back was super tight on the climbs which caused me to take multiple forced walk breaks during the effort.  Snow was about three to six inches deep on average and some drifts were between one and two  and three feet at times.  I ran up a trail called chimney tops.  Named for unique rock formations at the top of the mountain.

      The trail was hard to follow since it was covered up by all the snow and I had to follow the footprints of my buddies who were ahead of me and, at times, the blazes painted on the trees along the trail.  The run was hard and my back stayed stiff most of the run.  At one point on top of the ridge by one of the chimney formations the snow gave way and my right leg shot down off the trail.  Nothing was there to land on and I suddenly found myself crouching with all my weight supported by my left leg with my right leg dangling down. I was on the verge of falling down about fifteen to twenty feet. There wasn't anything to grab onto and I found myself powering up with my left leg.  Kind of like an impromptu pistol squat.  I got my right leg on solid ground and a few seconds later realized how close I just came to being totally fucked.  Thank God for all those Bulgarian split squats my trainer had me doing at the gym.  I honestly think things would have gone horribly bad there if it wasn't for my leg strength and balance that kicked in at that moment.

Chimney Tops and the trail

     Thankfully the rest of the journey up and down chimney tops wasn't as eventful as those couple of seconds.  The formations were pretty awesome and the scenery amazing.   I mostly just followed my buddies footprints the rest of the way.  I eventually came out to a service road and a junction with another one after that.

I followed that down until I came to a junction with a trail.  A sign indicated that it was a mile and a half to the trailhead.  I kept following the service road for a few more miles until I was worried that my mileage would end up too high for the first day.  I decided to turn back and take the trail back to the where the car was.  Bad move.
     The trail was snow covered and I had to follow blazes.  Nobody had been on this trail to give me tracks to follow.  About a third of a mile down the trail, ice and loose snow hampered my progress.  My Altra lone Peak shoe's traction was useless.  I started sliding down the ravine every other step.  I resorted to a kind of reverse kick where I drove my heel into the ice and make steps.  The going was slow.  I had to cling to trees and saplings in order to keep from sliding down.  At one point I had to break a stick in two and use them to stab into the ice and snow.  At this points I was using all upper body to drive one stick into the ice, reach over with my right hand and stab the stick into the ice, reach over with my left hand and stab that stick next to the right stick, and repeat.  My feet couldn't get traction so I had to lay on the side of the hill.  I advanced this way for about ten feet or so.  The feat was straining the tissue of my abdominal injury.  The stinging sensation near my groin was familiar and was not comforting.  This sucked.
     When I got over a small hump in the trail, it become walkable again.  I contemplated keeping the two sticks just in case I encountered a similar section again.  I decided not to.  I pictured myself falling on them awkwardly and stabbing myself with them accidentally.  That's how my luck was playing out.
     I made slow progress sliding my way along the trail.  At one point I supported myself with a large stick to give me more stability.  This lasted a small while until I hit a slick patch of ice and found myself sliding down the ravine.  I slid about 6 feet then I stuck my right foot out towards a small tree to stop my momentum.  I hit the tree rather poorly and my big toe screamed at me !!!  At best I just jammed the piss out of it.....at worse I just broke my damn toe !!!  It hurt like hell.  I clung to the small tree and rested for a couple of seconds.  I had to climb up the icy edge to get to the trail on a compromised toe.  This sucked.
     About a three quarters of a mile down the trail I encountered some footprints and signs of a person or people falling.  Falling a lot.  Whoever the tracks belonged to, they were having the same traction problems I was having.  They turned around at this point and headed back towards the parking lot.  This was fortunate for me because it gave me some hint of where the slippy spots were.  The unfortunate thing was that there were a lot more slippy spots.  None were as bad as what I encountered previously though.  My progress was made worse by my compromised big toe.  Damn, it hurt.
     About a mile and a half to two miles down the trail I encountered a young couple coming towards me.  I greeted them and just as I was going to tell them about the suckfest they were heading for the young man asked me "Have you seen a set of keys on a red laniard?"
     "Nooooo,"  I said slowly.  I turned around and looked back the way I came and then at the couple.  "That sucks.  This way is no joke."
    "Yeah.  We might have dropped it along here," he said.
    "I'll keep an eye out for it and leave it at the ranger station if I find it,"  I said.  "Wow.  Good luck."  That sucks.  I felt so bad for them.  I immediately felt better about my situation.  This encounter meant I was closer to the parking lot....I hoped.  The trail became better and I kept an eye out for their keys.  I didn't find the keys but hoped that they did.

stream heading up to Chimney Tops trail

     I eventually made it back to the car.  The toe wasn't much of a problem, but that was probably because of a mixture of the cold from the snow and just moving on it.  I had just jammed the toe and had significant bruising.  Later that night I had a slight limp and hoped that things would be better on day 2.    

winter running and slight gear review

     Winter is here and I'm training through it.  This past week I had double "more miles than degrees" days.  On Wednesday I ran a little over twenty two miles with the temperature getting no higher than eleven degrees or so.  Of course, the "feels like" temp was negative one.  The following day I ran ten miles after work and the outside temperature was about the same.
     There are other places in the world where the winter weather is much harsher.  Mofos in Alaska have it a lot harder than we do here in the Midwest.  I don't see it as a big deal.  I've been keeping  my routes close to home just in case things turn bad.  I would much rather be on the trails but I've been playing it safe.   I've been running mostly roads in my town in my old pair of trail shoes.  My Altra lone peak 1.5s have more traction that I trust more than my Altra Instinct 1.5 road shoes.(Though I did wear the Instincts today and had only one slip.  So I am starting to trust them more in the ice and snow too.)  I know the road running is going to be hard on the treads of the Lone Peaks but I have a practically new back up pair that have been itching to hit the trails as my main trail shoe.
     Since I'm committed to training through the winter, I've been forced to experiment with layering and functionality.  So far I've been lucky and getting it mostly right.  On the subzero days I wore compression shorts with two layers of running tights and my legs were fine.  Injinji socks with wool socks over those kept my feet plenty warm.  I had a moisture wicking t-shirt, a Mizuno thermal top, and a windbreaker.  I wore an old school ski mask with a buff over the mouthhole to protect my face.  The moisture from my breath caused the buff to freeze so I had to peel it down to my neck.  I was fine without it anyway.  For my hands I wear a base layer that are just a pair of ninety nine cent stretch gloves.  Over these I have a pair of windproof Saucony mitten/gloves.  I always start off the runs with the mittens on then peel them back to regular gloves as my body heats up.  (On milder days I do without the base layer stretch gloves and even run without the gloves after a couple of miles or so.)
    One thing I quickly learned earlier in the winter season is that the water in the tube from my camel back hydration pack freezes rendering it useless.

There is a trick where you can take a sip through the tube and then blow the water back.  I was a total fail at this.  Doing this successfully makes the water slosh in the bladder which is annoying.  Then when the tube froze on my run I was doomed to hear the splish splosh of water that I could have done without for the next twenty miles or so.....Great !!!
    I solved the camel back problem by hydrating all day.  (Probably something I should have been doing anyway.)  And not using the hydration pack at all.  I definitely don't need as much water in the winter as much as I do in the summer.  I don't carry water now unless it's over twelve miles or so.  I know I can still get dehydrated in the winter and that it's still a danger.  So far I've been smart or lucky....maybe lucky.
     My wife found a Salomon advanced skin s-lab 2 belt on sale in the Irunfar.com store that I've been using on long runs (runs of 15 miles or more).  It's probably the most comfortable belt I've worn and it holds two little soft flasks.  (and just to clarify:  I hate hydration belts.)  I've been wearing the belt under my layers which keep the water in the flasks from freezing.  The belt hasn't chaffed me once and it's been pretty awesome on the handful of runs I've used it.  The pockets can hold my house key, nutrition bars (which I still forget to eat during runs) and electrolyte pills (which I also forget to take during long runs).

So back to the cold.  Winter isn't the greatest season to run in.  There is an acclimatization that takes place where you get used to the cold.  It's a tolerance or a hardening that occurs I suppose.  It sucks but so far dressing right and experimenting with layering and ways to store different layer shedding has made all the difference.  So far my only mishap was on last Thursday's run where I only wore one long sleeve shirt under the windbreaker.  Towards the end of the run my elbows were starting to feel cold, then the sensation stopped.
     After my run I stretched a little then hopped into a warm shower.  As soon as the water hit my elbows I experienced a sharp needle like pain in both of them.  I looked at them and they were a dark pinkish beet red color and fucking hurt.  I immediately got them out of the shower stream and put my hands on opposite elbows and just stood there.  My hands soothed them and the pain was subsiding.  "I got fuckin' frostbite on my elbows," I thought.  Dumb ass !!!  After what seemed like forever the pain stopped and when I removed my hands the color returned to normal.  Dodging bullets....and now I wear a long sleeve moisture wicking long sleeve shirt in addition to the Mizuno thermal and a t-shirt. 
     Winter running has it's drawbacks, if you're not careful you can find yourself in a bad situation.  The same can be said for summer running....or just running in general.  All in all the seasons are just one more factor that makes running interesting.
     Do I like winter running?  I have no idea.  Some runs are magical and awesome.  Some are just stupid and I can't wait to have the mileage under my belt.  Sometimes in a run I think I have lost my mind.  Running down the street in the dark with a head lamp on and a reflective vest.  My face covered except for my eyes showing.  Breathing in and out through the frozen fabric of a fleece neck buff.  Ugh.  Oddly enough, I don't really hate it.