Category: running

Why don’t I listen….

I had just finished the River-N-Rapids 10K trail run held in the Hillsborough River State Park in April. It was a grueling and great experience. I’ve live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and never knew that we had even mild rapids. Of course, that’s part of why I was doing this particular run was to see something new. 

I was a bit proud since I finished first in my age group. And knowing that my next commitment was a long way off, I decided to take a breather for a bit to allow full recovery.

At the end of the second week, as I woke up for a morning run, I had numbness and pain from the middle of my back through my shoulder blades radiating down my right arm. It took a few hours, but eventually things improved. I had something like this happen once or twice and never had them repeat. However, by the fifth or sixth day, the pain would last for four or five hours, excruciating, exhausting and demoralizing. Working out was not happening. I finally got into a Chiropractor and was diagnosed with ‘military neck‘. Basically, my neck was straight rather than the normal mild arch.

After a few weeks, of therapy (I won’t bore you with details) I felt improved and decided, I would be running in spite of my Chiropractor’s warnings of how jarring it can be to the spine. The morning came for me to run again and I was floored with a virus. Congestion, headaches, body aches, the whole nine yards. Suffice it to say, I slept little because I couldn’t breathe. When I did sleep, it was sitting up. This lasted for more than two weeks. I knew I should have powered through and at least done some common core or strength training routines, but I was sapped and further demoralized.

By the time I finally recovered from the virus, it was eight weeks after the 10K. FAR longer than I should have been away from running. And at my age, the body reverts back to zero a lot faster than when I was younger.

So, where did I go wrong? Well, one voice said, “take it easy, go slow, go short”, another voice said “as long as you take it easy, go as long as you want”.  You can probably guess which voice I listened to. I ended up jogging about 2.9 miles, but it felt wonderful. It was along a canal before the Florida sun got above the trees. I could see some fish action in the water as I went by and enjoyed saying hello to all the dog walkers and morning people. The park looked pristine with the sprinkle of early morning dew all over everything.

Today, after being sedentary at work, my ITBs are tight like piano wire and my glutes are sore.

What could I have done differently? Done a pre-run workout to loosen my ITBS and strengthen my butt and core. Cut my distance in half.

I do regret it, but it was worth it.

Why I am not buying a GPS Fitness Watch…… yet

I have been extremely torn to leap at the latest and greatest gps smart watch for my runs. I have a Fitbit Charge HR2 and normally run with my cell phone. The dream of losing the added weight of my phone was a nice idea.

As I think about my normal runs, at least training runs,  sometimes I want access to the normal pace, distance and elapsed time for run information. I don’t want to look away from the course and stare at a display either on my phone or a watch, so I do like audio prompts.

In fact that led to a nasty fall for someone I was pacing in a 10K trail run recently. They looked at their watch display and the many roots on the trail knocked them down. Not only did they fall but buttons got mashed and their display changed so they couldn’t check their pace or distance. Any more button mashing while running could have caused them to lose their gps track and more time to sort it out.

I also appreciate having some music or podcast available to kick off when I need motivation or distraction during the run, especially the long runs. The only way to control that without pulling out my cell phone is via bluetooth headset controls. But you can’t switch between apps like that.

One feature that I greatly appreciate about the Fitbit fitness tacking is its use of audio cues on a regular basis. This is a function available on many phone apps, but no gps smart watch that I am aware of in a price range I want. A serious strike against fitness trackers and smart watches.

In the instance of the fallen runner I was able to call out our pace and distance as I received audio cues.

To alleviate the carrying of the phone either in my hand or strapped to my arm, I have an inexpensive running vest to tuck it into for my long runs. Then I try to refrain from touching it at all, opting to use headset controls. But then that means I’m stuck with audio from whichever app is cued to play at the time I set out on my run. If Stitcher is cued with podcasts, I won’t get driving motivational rock when the need arises to get that extra spark.

The last point I have is in the interest of safety. I will likely continue to carry my cell phone for emergency or the “come pick me up” calls I may need to make on a long training runs.

So a gps smart watch? Not  yet for me.

One other option would be for weather resistant sport Android smart headphones. A set that could understand audio commands just like a Google Home. If I find something promising, I’ll share my thoughts.

I Planned, Fate Laughed

Somewhere around 593 days of alcohol free (late February 2018) and in my 51st week of training for 5k’s I developed a soreness in my knee.

Naturally, I had been pushing myself to try and get a decent time for the last 5k to complete the ‘5K a Month’ for a Year challenge. I had also taken it for granted it was in the bag and had already begun thinking of goals immediately beyond that, like a 10K and a half marathon and dreams of a marathon in the next year.

Unfortunately, I believe I over trained. So for the final run of the year, I intentionally cut Continue reading “I Planned, Fate Laughed”

5K a Month for a Year

In early 2017, realizing the positive health progress I was making with sobriety, I decided to set goals. I needed something to strive for. I’m not sure if everyone is like this, but I’ve come to recognize that I appreciate things more when I’m challenged. Something that comes too easily is just not very rewarding and can easily be taken for granted. Continue reading “5K a Month for a Year”

I Can Run Again And Thank Sobriety

I’ve been a runner since the early seventies. I joined Cross Country duand loved it. Being able to jog the trails in the cool early morning hours was a freeing experience even when I was competing with others. Continue reading “I Can Run Again And Thank Sobriety”

Why I run

I have so many reasons why I run or jog. In middle school I liked track and field at school, but it wasn’t an organized sport. So I tried football for a couple years, finishing that up my freshman year of high school. This was the mid-1970’s and whenever we were running laps for conditioning or punishment, although some guys hated it, I enjoyed it.

I became enthralled with the 1976 summer Olympics and went for the Cross Country team. Continue reading “Why I run”

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