Sedentary

It's been three days. No exercise. Taking it easy, icing the hamstring, which still feels sore.

Ugh

PT

Not much exercise lately other than PT exercises. Been busy and trying to fight swelling, so I haven't been pressing.

Skipping

After PT yesterday, my first session and having some soreness today, I decided to skip things and work on getting this inflammation down. No work other than the exercises from PT.

Torn ACL

Actually the surgeon said ruptured.

At least now I know why my knee hurts. I'll have to get it fixed, just not sure when.

Blisters

I went on a couple long walks with my wife, running in the middle of some of the walks, and on one I ended up with a blister on the bottom of my foot. It was a long, thin one that was more annoying then painful. I kept running with it across days, and it ended up coming off after about a week, just a patch of dead, dry skin.

It was still annoying after that, a reminder, and I tried to be more careful with my feet.

However I wasn't. A few weeks later I took the wrong shoes on a long trip. Not running shoes, just casual shoes that were loose and ended up rubbing a spot on the outside of my foot, next to my little toe. It got a little raw, and a blister there as well. That one was more painful, and more annoying while both walking and running.

In both of these cases, I didn't do much. Things weren't painful enough, or annoying enough for me to pad them, and I just ran with the irritation.

Not sure that was the best approach, but I also didn't quit, which is something I'd have probably done before this streak. Pushing yourself a little is good, and I've ended up being glad I did so over the last three years.

Icy Hot

The last couple weeks, my calves have been tight. Not pulled, but tight, and as a result, I've been rubbing Icy Hot on them before exercise. It's helped, and while the calves remain tight, they're getting slowly better and I haven't pulled anything more.

Almost a bad day

I was walking the other night after a movie, on some brick sidewalks and stepped into an uneven area. My left ankle turned a bit, and luckily I collapsed my left leg before it was too bad. It hurt for awhile and was slightly sore the next day, but it wasn't too bad and didn't prevent me from running.

It was a mistake on my part, not being careful in the rest of my life. I am fairly careful while running, watching the ground fairly often to be sure I don't hurt myself, but I forgot to pay more attention in the rest of my life.

Tiger Balm

I've mostly run for years without any help, other than my cho-pat strap occasionally. However the last few months, with heavy travel and upping the mileage, I've been getting some tight and sore muscles, and I've ended up trying something.

I took Tiger Balm with me on a few trips, and I'd rub it on my calfs before running, loosening them up  much more than I expected. I'd used it before baseball and karate a few times, but lately I've added it to the running routine and it's worked out well.

I have icy hot in my other bags, and I'll have to try that running sometime but for now I like what Tiger Balm has done for me.

Running and Diets

I mentioned recently that I don’t really track a diet per se, and instead try to better make choices every day, finding slightly healthier things to eat on a regular basis.
I also don’t really track the volume of food, and don’t mind being a bit hungry most days, but I do try to keep a rough eye on whether I eat more or less. It’s not so much for my weight or size/shape, but more that it helps me understand how much energy I’m expending. There are days that I’m working too hard in a short period, and I worry about wearing myself out, so if I find myself getting really hungry, I pay attention.
It’s one way that helps me to better understand the effort I’m making and not push myself too hard. Which can lead to injury.

Stretching

I had someone ask me how/what I stretched, so I decided to do a post.

When I was a kid, and I started running, I ended up pulling hamstrings and Achilles tendons a few times. Not badly, but they would be sore and it would be painful to walk for a few hours. I learned quickly that 2 minutes spent stretching paid off.

I still do that today, and the Gastroc stretch (#4 in this link) is what I do for a minute or two before every run. Outside or inside, I spend a couple minutes stretching.

That’s about all I do before, but I do walk briefly before I start jogging, usually 30-60sec to get a little warmed up. It depends on if I’ve been sitting at the desk or a little more active as to how long I stretch.

After running, I try to continue with a few stretches as well, usually sitting down with my legs in front of my and then leaning forward. I hold for 15-20 sec, and repeat 2-3 times. In between, I’ll also twist my waist to stretch the lower back and hips, trying to keep them loose.

I often add in a few karate stretches as well, spreading my legs apart and leaning forward.

A few things to keep in mind. I’m fairly flexible naturally, so I don’t worry too much about this, but I keep an eye on it. I also have been looking at more stretches, and there are some more stretches that I’d like to add in. This link has a few more that I’ll probably add in to make sure that as I lessen my karate time, I don’t get hurt from a lack of flexibility.

Skin Tags

I have an annoying skin tag, a small growth, that is bothering me. It came up when I was traveling at a conference, in jeans all day, in uncomfortable chairs. I noticed it while running one day, and it's been bugging me ever since.

It's on my upper leg, just below the gluteus. So it's right near my butt, and it's annoying. I searched a few places, and a number of people say that it's not worth a trip to the doctor. They recommend tying it off with dental floss or sterile thread and then snipping it off, using some antibiotic for a few days.

I need to do that, or at least, I need to ask my wife if she'll help and if it's not the dumbest idea she'd heard of. In the meantime, running with some annoying pain.

Looking Back

I have been running for a long time, but I’ve been steady. The streak is more about me doing it, than training for something or vastly improving performance.

But I wanted to look back, so I grabbed some data to compare:

	August	September
2009	57.57	53.53
2010	49.24	47.37

I noticed I’m actually running less this year, and that surprised me at first. However the more I think about it, the more I realize that’s true. Last year I was approaching one year of running, I was motivated, and I pushed hard. I was actually trying to increase mileage quite a bit in late summer, and it worked out well.

This year, however, I’ve been injured. The legs have been hurting regularly, for various reasons having to do with other sports that I’ve been working on, so I have had a lot of short days.

I’d like to get out and do more, but the last month especially, with baseball ending, I’ve been trying to heal up and not push, so I don’t see this changing for this month at least. We’ll see after that.

Running Healthy

I’ve been running every day for almost two years. Someone recently asked me how I managed to stay healthy that long and keep running. My answer surprised them:

“I didn’t”

I haven’t been healthy for two years. As I write this, I have a tight lower back on the left side, and a sore right ankle that I rolled twice in the last month.

If you plan on running every day, you’re going to have to run with some injuries. You are going to run in pain. The sore ankles, tired feet, allergies, colds, headaches, pulled hamstrings, and other maladies are going to afflict you.

That doesn’t mean you run through anything. There are a few times when I have thought I’d have to stop because of injury. I’ve gone out and moved slowly, testing the injury and making a decision every 20-30sec if I should stop. So far none of them have been that severe, and I’ve managed to muddle through some slow runs.

Don’t let injury necessarily stop you, but modify what you do, pay attention, and if you are getting worse, stop. You’ll definitely prolong healing times, but I have been amazed how much more in touch with my body I am and how I’ve run through injuries over a few weeks.

This is going to hurt

I woke up with a sore neck, pain going up and down my back. After a morning in bed with a heating pad and ibuprofen, I feel better, so I’m going to run.

I know this isn’t something serious. I have muscles that have grown tightly around nerves in my neck, nothing wrong, but when I strain myself or clench the shoulders too tight, the nerve pinches, and it hurts. Usually for a couple days.

Back to the Beginning

When I started this streak, I started slow. I’d walk for a couple minutes, run a mile, usually just about 1.1, and then walk again. My total distance would be around 1.25-1.3mi with the walking. Since then I’ve upped that to 1.6 or 1.7 mi most days, running about a mile and a half now.

Recently I woke up with a sore knee. It wasn’t sore to walk, but stairs and every time I bent down it ached. I still wanted to run, but I decided to take it easy and not push. So I ran just over a mile, 1.25 total with walking, and went slow. The time was slightly longer than my normal runs, and things felt OK afterwards.

However it brought me back to those shorter runs I did. Not a lot shorter, but noticeably shorter to me.

Another Vote for Cho-Pat

After running for 4 days outside up in the mountains, and having my son hit my with his snowboard a couple times in the knee (he was playing around), my legs were sore. I wrapped up the knee at karate, but it was sore below the knee to the touch and I had to really modify things.

It felt OK while running, but it was still sore. I let it go for about 4-5 days, but it didn't seem to get better. Then I noticed the cho-pat straps I have down by the treadmill. I haven't worn them in a few months, but I slipped one on for a run. Didn't change anything that day, or the next, but the 3rd day things started to feel better.

I know time passed, and maybe I was just healing, but I think those straps really work. In fact, after a week of wearing one I noticed that the other leg didn't seem as strong. Good thing I have two straps.


Mine are similar to this one, but I might go ahead and try one of the upper and lower knee straps from Amazon.

Throbbing

I spent a whole week recently at a business conference in Seattle. It was colder than I expected a few days and I was busier than expected other days. As a result I ended up running early in the morning every day and on the treadmill on the top floor of the Sheraton downtown. Not a bad view, but at 6:00am, not much to see.

I thought the treadmills up there were nice, but they must be harder than mine at home, which has impact adjustment. By the time Thur hit, day 4 running, my right knee was throbbing a bit as I walked around. I felt it walking up stairs, and actually started to take elevators where I could for that reason.

When I got home, I decided to take it easy, and spent 3-4 days running less, and slower, on the treadmill here. I also added the cho-pat strap. That has seemed to help, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Pain is my Friend

I came home one day to find a box of Lidocaine patches in my bathroom. I had no idea why they were there, so I ignored them. A day or so later my wife asked me if I was going to use them.

Huh?

I said they weren't mine, and she then mentioned my sister-in-law had dropped them off. They had them for some reason and noticed that I was limping, moving slow, or generally icing some part of my body on a regular basis. So they thought that I might want some relief from the pain.

For the most part I don't, and told them the next day that I appreciated the offer, but I wouldn't use them.

Pain is my friend. While it's not pleasant, it helps me to better understand my body. It often warns me that I'm flirting with injury, or more serious injury. It reminds me that I'm getting older and also lets me know where to focus my training. It tells me what's weak, and what I should be careful of.

And in my running, karate, and baseball, let's me know how hard I can go on a particular day.

I hate taking drugs, and hate masking symptoms. It's easy to hurt yourself more, or create a bigger injury if you hide the pain. Professional atheletes do it all the time, and with career-ending results at times.

Unless the pain interferes with recovery, I tend not to do anything. Even Aleve/Tyleno/etc is something I rarely take unless I'm hurting and might have trouble sleeping.

Pain helps me, and I appreciate it.

Sore Nipples

I ran a 10k one time in San Diego. It must have been in the winter because I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, and running in the cool morning air. I felt great, but after I got done, a friend asked me if I was OK. I said I felt great, and they pointed at my shirt. Two nice trails of blood ran down from my nipples on the inside of my shirt.

I'd had a good run and didn't notice. At least not until I got home and cooled down. Then I had trouble wearing a shirt for a few days and actually had to put tape on so I could walk around without wincing. Since then, on a few longer runs I've put vaseline on my nipples prior to running. It helps prevent a shirt from rubbing back and forth as you move. It works well, and it's a trick I've kept in my back pocket. However I must have forgotten a bit as the weather was cooler here recently and I didn't do anything. I ran outside with a shirt for a couple days and noticed some soreness later on. The side-to-side motion of running had the shirt rubbing, and I was sore. It reminded me of the first few times I'd go surfing each season. A little chafing then too that marked the start of trying something new. This was new since I rarely run with a shirt anymore. Most of the time I'm in the neighborhood or on the treadmill and I run without anything on top. It's more comfortable to me, and I like it. I'll run shirtless tomorrow, but for now I need to remember to use a little vaseline if I'm going to run in the cool weather in a shirt. Especially when I'm running every day.

Much Better

I put ice on my calf a few times last night and then went to sleep. This morning I felt better and after working for awhile, I decided to try a run. I stretched out for about 10 minutes, for what little good that did. No pain in the left calf, though it was tight.

When I got downstairs, I started slow, walking and then a slow 5.5mph jog. It felt OK, though on the verge of something pulling. I kept the steps slow, running carefully, and things went well. I set a time of 14:00minutes, and kept to that, but I'd started the Nike+ late by a minute, so it shows 15:00 total. I did my standard 2:00 cool down walk.

I think I'll be OK, though my guess that a slow day in right field would be my best move tomorrow for the last baseball game.