Summer Season Kicks Off

 

There's something to be said about feeding what some people see as a "good addiction."  As far as I know, what I love to do isn't self-destructive, illegal or immoral yet gives me enormous amount of pleasure that I can repeat week after week.

I'm talking, of course, about starting another season of Team in Training. This will be my 12th season, but only my second as a participant. I spent 5 more seasons as a mentor, 1 as an assistant coach and the last 4 as a head coach. With the size of the East Bay walk team not enough to support a team on Bayside and Diablo Valley, Susan and I get to sit this season out and let Coaches Tisha and Teresa train the next group of walkers. There are a few other things going on in our lives that should firm up in a few weeks, but suffice to say, between time constraints and being 8 weeks post-op from ACL reconstruction, this was a good time to sit back and get better. Fundraising is going great. I was only $37 away from the Nike minimum at kickoff. I even have a shirt that I don't already own - Alumni.

TNT kickoff's are great for alumni. Not long after you pick up your check-in list and bagel, it turns into a half hour hugfest/reunion. It's great to catch up with my friends on the run teams and a few more who are trying different sports - cycling, triathlons, hike. 

This season had some mixed updates on our honorees. Justin's cancer is back - stage three. He's optimistic like always. His sister Jessica is being typed to see if her bone marrow can be the 30% match to try the next treatment. We'll know if a few weeks. It was also great to see Mama Lisa, Coach from East Bay Run and the Ultramarathon team. Even with her recent diagnosis of breast cancer, she didn't show any signs that she was slowing down. Our walk team has two cancer survivors. I hope to learn more about them as the season goes on. Cancer doesn't care if you're young or old, rich or poor, weak or strong. Our job is to make sure we fight until we can't fight any more. 

Training update:

With five weeks left before Rock n Roll Seattle, I was able to put in 10 miles on the Alameda Creek trail with cool temps, knocking down my average mile time to 13:24. I had a few twinges in my new knee and had some lower back pain after a couple miles of pushing under 13:00. My core strength needs some work after a long layoff.  Susan did 9 miles on hills preparing for her longest training next week (22 miles). I see the doctor on Tuesday and hopefully I'll be cleared for hills next weekend to simulate a bit of the Seattle course.

With any luck, he'll clear me for bowling that night. I'm patient, but I'm tired of just sitting and eating fries and chicken fingers.

Run vs. Walk: Everything no one ever wanted to know.

It's another day of laying on the couch, icing my knees down after training for my next race. We've been working on losing weight and I'd been collecting links about the calorie burn between running and walking. After the last knee surgery, running - even a little - is still a ways away. I may even not bother considering what the doctor said about how little meniscus I have left and the time before I start getting that bone on bone rubbing that causes long term arthritis.

But I digress.

I've gotten curious about the differences between running and walking, especially how to compare someone who walks full time with one who runs full time. I found a good site that actually 'scales' paces and finish times at various distances.  It also does the 'age-graded' finish times so that you can compare your time with what you might have in a few years. People slow down. Don't feel bad, even the world records start getting slower after your peak in your late 20's.

It even compares running times vs walking times. It assumes that the world records for each style for each age and gender group are pegged at the 100 percentile and then translates it.  For example, according to Answer.com, the average finish time for marathons is 4.5 hours for men and 5 hours for women.  Plug that into the calculator and it translates to a 6:20 or 7:20 marathon walking.  That's good information for first time walkers who feel uncomfortable about being at the back of the pack. Just remember that there are millions of people who can't even keep up the pace needed to finish most marathons.

Then I started digging up information to the two components that make up speed - stride length and cadence.   Since walking required that both feet stay in contact with the ground at all times, the stride length is limited and cadence begins to limit the overall speed.

Optimal running cadence is 90 - 95 (or 180 - 190 steps per minute). Optimal running stride is 1.14 times height. There isn't a lot of information on walking so I had to improvise. Professional race walkers maintain a cadence of up to 120 (240 steps per minute). I've been able to maintain about 80 (160) for extended periods based on walking to the Glee version of "Lean on Me". We did another exercise to measure stride length. I was able to get to 40" on average which was 57% of my height.

There was also a reference to what's referred to as PTS or Preferred Transition Speed. The PTS is the point where going faster is easier to run than to walk and was calculated to be between 13:00 and 13:30/mile.

What does it all mean?  I may decipher it some day and figure out where I stand relative to other walkers. time to rotate the ice bags.

Morning training report: 8 miles on the relatively flat Alameda Creek trail in 1:48 or 13:35/mile. That's down another 25 seconds from last week and I felt pretty decent. I really should consider not constraining calories the day before training and even if I don't, it shouldn't be Popeye's shrimp, fries and biscuits. I should know better.

I hit $730 on my fundraising site. With the personal donation and Clorox match, I'm only $100 away from my fundraising minimum for Nike. The season hasn't even started yet.

See you at Kick Off? :)

Week Six. Six Miles and climbing.

Modern technology is pretty amazing. The first surgery left two inch-long scars on my right knee and I was off my feet for months. This time around, a poke and a few surgical staples, later, I walked out of the Fremont Surgical Center on the same day.

First of all, for Karen's benefit: before and after pictures :)

The first picture showed the near complete lack of anterior cruciate ligament compared to the post-op cadaver graft in picture two). Dr. Rose estimated that the level of scarring puts the original injury at least 2 - 3 years ago (it was actually 5, but who's counting?). While I was able to work around the ACL tear, the lack of stability wreaked havoc on the meniscus (some before/after pics in the third shot).

For those of you in your mid 20's who had a knee problem and continue to abuse yourself without getting it looked at, take some time to understand how much damage you may be causing every time you tweak it again.  The padding doesn't grow back. A few months off your active lifestyle now means  you won't need as much rehab when you're old and rickety like me.

The good side about going into surgery when I did was that I was really about as strong as I could be. Most people come in fresh off an injury and the swelling prevents them from working as hard at rehab. These days, the ACL reconstruction is so non-invasive, you're walking day two if not the night of surgery. Having a job that involves moving information was a great advantage. Working from home made it easy to be on a knee-bending machine to get my range of motion up to 110 degrees within a week. It also made for a great set of progress photos.

Having been through three sessions of rehab and having a really high tolerance for pain, I knew what to expect. I pushed the physical therapist to define my limits, rather than to follow the schedule. After the second week, I was off static exercises and doing lateral step drills. Week 3 wall slides were supposed to be at 70 degrees for 30 seconds and I was down to 90 degrees for a minute and getting bored. After week 5, Dr. Rose said I could walk, but not run yet.

Yeah, like I ever wanted to run anyway. He also doesn't know how fast I walk.

A week ago, I put on my new Saucony Stabil's and hit the Alameda Creek trail for the first time. It was a perfect sunny day. The first mile was rough while my ankles got used to turning over faster than a limp. Mile 2 made me realize I hadn't put a heel lift into my right shoe - have to fix that or my IT band is going to be killing me next week. I had to remember to lean forward a little, but not enough to put too much weight on my new knee. Roll from heel to toe, push off, keep the hips moving. I made a so many mental notes that by the time I'd finished four miles, I was more mentally exhausted than anything.

Four miles. Just over an hour. A full two minutes per mile off my usual marathon pace.

But I'm back.

Friday's training was 6 miles. Warming up helped me push to about a 14 minute mile. Next up is some light hill training.

The Rock n Roll Seattle half marathon is in seven weeks and if all goes well, I should be doing that at a leisurely pace and be ready to cheer Susan in for her 8th full marathon. I signed up for summer season with TNT last week to do my 10th full marathon at Nike.

Life moves on.

One step at at a time.

The Road to Rehab
(because I used to write a lot more and I kinda miss it)

It's humbling - learning how to walk for what, the sixth time in my life? One broken foot, a badly twisted ankle and four knee surgeries later, I find myself on the couch with my old friend, the ice pack. Near as I can figure it, this latest episode of temporary convalescence was caused by a twisted landing after a block in volleyball. Those who know me now wonder how that's possible. I haven't played volleyball in 5 years.

Well, that's when it happened - mid November 2005. I distinctly remember landing awkwardly and thinking "this is likely the last time I'll be playing". I loved the sport for 15 years but looking back I was never good enough to compete for anything more than a t-shirt and a cheap plastic trophy. I remember the days. I had a 32 inch vertical leap. My reflexes were good and it was great to play with my brother and friends from high school. It was lifetimes ago.

It didn't help that I walked my second full marathon in Honolulu just two weeks after that injury. That's another story all together.

Fast forward to November 2009, after nearly 5 years as a marathon walker, I thought about improving my time by adding some interval running. I started training in early November the week after setting my best time for a half marathon at just under 2:51. Training with the East Bay run team for the winter season seemed like the best way to get going. East Bay has the best coaches I've ever met.

Unfortunately, after the second week or track workout, I knew something was wrong. My knees always healed after a few days but not this time. My right knee, reconstructed with a patellar tendon graft 20 years ago, was fine. My left knee, tweaked those 5 years ago, started showing tell tale signs of cartilage damage. This time around, I was with an insurance program that got me into an MRI quickly.  The scans showed a disturbing lack of black bands where my anterior cruciate ligament should have been. It was time to get this fixed.

Ugh.

I got that news in early January. I knew it had to happen, so Susan and I made some resolutions. Other than staying healthy and keeping our marathon schedules going, we vowed to drop 15- 20 pounds each by May. I'd been struggling to get under 180 lbs for as long as I remember. A few sensible diet changes including calorie counting, a regular workout schedule got me down to just over 170 in two months. We had already planned to do the inaugural Rock n Roll Mardi Gras marathon in New Orleans at the end of February. Dr. Rose, my orthopedic surgeon, didn't see why I couldn't finish it as long as I didn't do any jogging. Not a problem. The time limits for RNR events are in the 7 - 8 hour range. Even without jogging, I dropped my best time for a full marathon by over 8 minutes to 5:49. I was arguably in the best shape I'd been in 15 years.

On March 24th, three weeks after RNR Mardi Gras, I was getting my knee shaved and writing "YES" on my thigh so the doctor knew which knee to cut into. I was scheduled to get a cadaver ligament graft and get any loose cartilage shaved or stitched up. My wife and parents were there as I was wheeled in under sedation. Counting down from 100 wasn't even necessary. I was out before I even got a change to get cold in the chilly operating room.

Gotta go scan the pics during the operation. Back in a few days. :)