Running is therapy

I was invited along on a 40 mile bike ride yesterday by Mark, Mark and Vik.

I had a really good time. They are nice guys, and since we are all technologists we had plenty to talk about.

I did ok. I was the slowest of the 4 of us, since they are all avid cyclists, and this was my second time out on the road bike, with the first time being an 11 mile ride.

I dislike just flying down hills. I was breaking a lot going down hill. I *think* that will change over time as I get used to the idea. Also, for the last 10 or 15 miles my gears were slipping with super annoying frequency and regularity. I also had some pretty decent calf pain for the last half of the ride. The seat I have is pretty narrow, and as a result…well it hurts my rump.

I think if I spent some money on getting the gears sorted out, and a new seat it would be a more pleasant experience. I will invest some dough on trying it.

All in all, it was nice to spend time with those guys, and the work out was great. I am still somewhat skeptical about introducing mechanical complexity into my exercise, but time will tell.

As for running, I had intended on hitting a 15 minute run today…but that is what old Nathan would do. New Nathan realizes his calf is sore, and running on fatigued muscles can lead to injuries of the bone and tendon…so New Nathan, he’s going to drink coffee and kick it.

Yesterday I stopped by Bill’s office to pick up a clicker for my laptop to use with my presentation on Sunday. He had a body fat analyzer on his desk. Of course not one to pass up the chance to find out that data, I picked it up and used it.

It put me at 15.3% body fat. The funny part is that I had no idea what the acceptable ranges were. After looking it up, it appears, that (for men) the ranges are:

2% - 4% : Essential Body Fat
6% - 13% : Athletes
14% - 17% : Fitness
18% - 25% : Acceptable
25% Plus : Obese

I was a little let down to see that I wasn’t in the Athletes column, but not let down too much. Since I was dead in the middle of the Fitness category.

I am wondering if it would be worthwhile to get a body fat analyzer. My scale has one, but it’s super inconsistent. Periodically it will tell me I am like 54% body fat…which I believe would mean I am made entirely of ham. I’d like to get down to 13% or lower however, but I am pretty sure I’ll need to alter my diet further. I need to think about it.

In running news… (This is probably boring to you)

I went for another 1 miler yesterday morning, and only had one minor twinge during the run that I would categorize as a 1 for pain. The entire rest of the run the pain was 0.

I walked for about 7-8 minutes after the run was over and there was some aching then. I am going to give it a 3.

This morning when I woke up, my heel was a little stiff, but after 3 steps it had cleared entirely and feels fine now.

I think my heel is healing. What a long and arduous process this has been.

I would never have believed that my crazy over doing it could lead to such a long term injury.

Sure I liked to joke around that doing X many miles Y weeks after being injured the last time meant Z many days till the next one. But I really never suspected I could hurt myself in a way that lasted months.

As this was happening to me, in hushed tones, I was saying to myself “I can’t believe I’m not hurt yet. Maybe I am finally indestructible, maybe I can run whatever I want”.

Much like the first time you mess with the ocean, and get shut down and tossed to the bottom, I have learned a lesson, repetitive stress, is nothing to mess with.

Dear foot, sorry. I messed up. My bad.

I ran. Just 1 mile, and not very fast.

It was pretty fantastic to be out there. Even in the first minute I knew it was special since I wasn’t going to stop any time soon. The feeling of getting to do that thing that brings one the most joy after such a long absence was indescribably great.

Pain wise, on a scale of one to ten it was a 1. And right now I would say the twinges I am having are around a 2. However, it all very minimal.

No more running till Saturday when I will do another C25K day. Then reassess.

Motionbased

This is the second morning in a row that I have woken up and my heel wasn’t stiff. Odd since I “ran” two days ago.

Yesterday my heel was achy, so it would be a lie to say that it’s all healed. But it is better than it was several months ago.

If it still feels pretty good tomorrow, I am going to do the first day of C25K again I think.

I hate mixing walking into running, but I’ll do it for running. Curse you harsh mistress.

Last Saturday, and then today, I ran. Sort of.

Last week for the first time in over ten weeks I laced up and headed over to the barracks to run. Sort of.

I did day 1 of Couch to 5K plan. It’s essentially 5 Minute Brisk walk, 8 reps of Run 60 Seconds/Walk 90 Seconds, 5 Minute cool down walk.

After doing it last Saturday, I didn’t feel physically taxed, however my heel did ache a little that night. So I figured I would wait a week and try again. I did the run again today, again I didn’t feel taxed, and while I can feel a couple of twinges, it’s not as bad as last week…so far.

The really nice part was that my girlfriend went with me. She did really well, and seems to enjoy it. Muahahahah, the poisoning of her mind begins! :)

A while ago I signed up for a promotional site sponsored by Perl Izumi. The site is called saverun.org. The site is more of PI’s elitist runner nonsense that I actually find very amusing, and cheeky.

The main draw for the site for me was that the first 200 people to sign up got a free T-Shirt, and since I am an absolute T-Shirt nut I signed up.

Many months went by and eventually a couple of weeks ago the shirt came. In the parcel was also a stack of stickers, and a coupon for a FREE pair of Perl Izumi’s! Holy Crap! So I wasted no time in ordering my shoes. They arrived today. They are very comfortable.

I ran up the hallway and back in my office. I wish like mad I was going running today. Grrrrrrr.

Heh, I am going to quit mentioning it…if I don’t specifically say I went running, assume I am still hurt. It’s been 2 months since I went running, and my heel feels about the same as it did July 15th when I stopped. It’s really hard not to fill this post with swear words and long diatribes that would boil down to me feeling really sorry for myself…

In order to keep from killing everyone in a 50 mile radius of my house, for the last 4 weeks I have been engaging in other fitness related activities. Swimming, lifting, stationary bike, walking etc. I even picked up a road bike from Spartacus. I have it on loan while I try it out, but I will likely be buying that in the next month here. I will post some pictures soon.

This weekend I managed to get 33 miles in on my 2 bicycles (I still have a crappy Costco mountain bike).

Saturday, Bill and I went to the Rail Trail in Newville. We thought the trail was 11 miles each way, and so had settled on the idea that we’d do the whole thing, out and back. We were dismayed to find out that only a little over 9 miles later we were at the Shippensburg terminus. We headed back to Newville and Bill really wanted to get the 22 miles in, so when we finished, we headed back out for the additional miles we needed to complete 22.

Then Sunday I hit the road early to crank out a couple of miles on the road bike. It was fun, but I still hate cars. After some dude refused to move over at all as he flew past me, I decided it was time to buy a helmet. I look like a tool box in it, but I had to get one eventually.

I have to admit, swimming is saving my fitness. I feel really strong.

Monday night I was beat, I could only muster 2*10 laps and my HR was through the roof. I hit the bike for 20 minutes, and then lifted and then went for a 2 mile walk. While on the walk, at a 16:xx pace, my HR was 125 the entire time. I was overdoing it.

I had my PT appointment on Tuesday, and that went pretty well. He was able to pin point a few bio-mechanical issues I need to address with my gait. I am working on learning to walk again.

Also, (and I knew this) my right leg is .5 inches shorter than my left leg. He is pretty certain this is what is causing my heel issues. Now, in addition to wearing orthotics in my shoes, I have lift in the right one.

It’s actually pretty awesome though, and I do think it’s helping. That could all be in my head, but whatever. If I thought dripping chicken blood on it would help I would. It really changes the way I walk, and it changed it instantly.

I have some soreness from changing my bio-mechanics but nothing crazy.

Tonight I hit the pool for 3*10 laps, 20 minutes on the bike and then lifting and stretching. I didn’t get to the gym until 8pm, and it was wicked fun. I dig it when there aren’t many people in there. I feel good. Unfortunately the way my schedule works out, I won’t be in the gym again till Saturday. That still gives me a 4 day training week. Not too shabby after that month long lay off.

I wonder how much training running I would have to do to run a half…

As I blogged yesterday, Saturday I decided to try swimming for cross training while I am laid up with heel problems. The first day there I was actually more interested in the logistics of getting into and out of the pool. However I also wanted to get a baseline for how much swimming I can actually do.

I didn’t have a real good plan, but as I was doing laps one materialized. I decided after about 3 laps, I would do 2 sets of 10 laps. I felt good when it was over, but I also felt like I had been doing an exercise I was not accustomed to. I then hit the bike for 20 minutes and then did some back and shoulders lifting.

Today, Sunday, I decided to take it up a notch. I set out to do 3 sets of 10 laps. It says online that the pool is 25 yards. I would have guessed the pool would have been built with meters as the measurement, not yards, but whatever. All I know is that it was taxing, and by the last set I was feeling fatigued. I did another 20 on the bike, and then crushed my legs with a ton of lifting.

I am usually afraid to do a lot of leg lifting since it takes away from my ability to run, but I figure this is the perfect time to really pound my legs.

So, on the whole I am digging it. It’s a tough workout, and afterward I feel like I feel when I run, spent. This is good. Though, and I will post about this later, my form has a lot of room for improvement.

I do worry with all the little kids in the pool the water makeup is 5% urine.

Happy swimming!