This Week in Running 12/30/18

Total Miles: 31

Monday:  8
Wednesday: 7 (including D5K: 24:33)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 8
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 60 min elliptical

This Week in Running 12/23/18

Total Miles: 20

Monday:  6
Friday: 6
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 60 min elliptical

I had cold a good part of this week so I dialed back the training.

This Week in Running 12/16/18

Total Miles: 28

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K - 24:41. Fourth place! That's what happens when the fast runners don't show up)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 6
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 60 min elliptical

This Week in Running 12/9/18

Total Miles: 26

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 6
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 100 min elliptical

This Week in Running 12/2/18

Total Miles: 26

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 6
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

This Week in Running 11/25/18

Total Miles: 22

Tuesday:  6
Wednesday: 60 min elliptical
Thursday: 8
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 100 min elliptical

This Week in Running 11/18/18

Total Miles: 26

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6
Friday: 8
Saturday: 90 min elliptical
Sunday: 6 + 40 min elliptical

This Week in Running 11/11/18

Total Miles: 22

Tuesday:  6
Wednesday: 60 min elliptical
Thursday: 6
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

This Week in Running 11/4/18

Total Miles: 28

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K: 28:56)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 8
Saturday: 90 min elliptical
Sunday: 8

Weight Diary

My post from 5/17/18 details why I am leaving off running and concentrating on weight loss.  I'm going to keep a diary of the weight loss here.

This post is pinned to the top of the blog by putting the publish date in the future, so new posts will appear below it.

10/11/18  193.2
9/23/18    191.8
9/2/18      194.4
8/9/18      190.2
8/2/18      192.8
7/26/18    195.8
7/19/18    195.2
7/12/18    194.0
7/8/18      194.2
6/28/18    196.4
6/21/18    196.4
6/14/18    198.0
6/7/18      201.0
5/31/18    202.2  Not going the right way! Memorial Day didn't help.
5/24/18    201.2
5/17/18    200.4
5/10/18    202.6
5/3/18      205.0

This Week in Running 10/28/18

Total Miles: 19

Tuesday:  60 min elliptical
Wednesday: 6
Thursday: 6
Saturday: 7 (including Devil's Chase race)
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

Devil's Chase 6.66 Mile Race

Today Ethan and I ran the annual Devil's Chase 6.66 mile race in Salem. The weather wasn't good - in the 40's, rain and windy. Somehow it didn't end up as miserable as I expected, probably because it wasn't as cold as it might have been - high 40's instead of low 40's.

Ethan ran a nice race and finished in 55:20. I could see him ahead of me most of the race; he put on a nice kick at the end and pulled away from me. I finished in 55:46. Like the 10k I ran a few weeks ago, I was able to speed up toward the end and put in a sub 8 minute mile.

This Week in Running 10/21/18

Total Miles: 24

Tuesday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K: 25:02)
Thursday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 6
Saturday: 90 min elliptical
Sunday: 6 + 30 min elliptical

North Shore Cancer Run 10k

Today was an  experimental morning: With the arthritis, can I still run road races? I've been able to run some decent mileage in training, but it's all been either on the turf field at the high school or the treadmill at Planet Fitness. I did run the D5K for the first time in many months this past Wednesday, as a test before today's 10k. If I couldn't manage the D5K, there wasn't much point in running the 10K today.

It turned out the D5K went well, and I didn't experience much joint pain, so I made it a "go" for this morning's 10K. The race starts and ends at the Cove Community Center in Beverly - the same location as the Beverly 10 miler every June. Arriving early, I enjoyed the dawn coming up over the water at nearby Lynch Park:

The race course is one I've run many times, both in training and running the 10 mile races every year. My plan was simple: Run fast and hope my knee and hip don't revolt before the finish. I haven't run anything faster than 9 minute miles in training in a long time, and usually my mile time is closer or even slower than 10 minute miles. So I wasn't expecting a lot of speed.

As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised at how well things went. I was able to run better than 8 and a half minute miles and, once I warmed up into the race, was even able to put in a few sub 8 minute miles. Here are the splits:

The official time was 51:10 at an 8:15 pace. More importantly, none of my joints gave me any real problems during the race. So I may have figured out a way forward to keep running: Don't run consecutive days, train on the treadmill and turf field, mixing in plenty of cross training on the bike or elliptical - and save the pavement running for races. There is still some running left in the old legs.

This Week in Running 10/14/18

Total Miles: 25

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 6 (including D5K: 25:29)
Friday: 6
Sunday: 7 including North Shore Cancer Run 10k

This Week in Running 10/7/18

Total Miles: 24

Tuesday:  7
Wednesday: 60 min elliptical
Thursday: 7
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

This Week in Running 9/30/18

Total Miles: 24

Tuesday:  7
Wednesday: 70 min elliptical
Thursday: 7
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 30 min bike + 60 min elliptical

This Week in Running 9/23/18

Total Miles: 19

Tuesday:  4
Wednesday: 60 min elliptical
Thursday: 7
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

This Week in Running 9/16/18

Total Miles: 19

Tuesday:  5
Wednesday: 60 min elliptical
Friday: 6
Saturday: 60 min elliptical
Sunday: 8

This Week in Running 9/9/18

Total Miles: 16

Monday:  60 min elliptical
Tuesday: 4
Thursday: 5
Friday: 50 min elliptical
Saturday: 7
Sunday: 60 min elliptical

This Week in Running 9/2/18

Total Miles: 19

Monday: 4
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 4
Saturday: 50 min elliptical
Sunday: 6

I saw the orthopedist on Monday and he confirmed what I suspected: I've got "mild to moderate" arthritis in my right hip to go with the arthritis in my left knee. There is also a little arthritis in my left hip but not as bad as the right and it doesn't affect me. Looks like age has caught up to me.

The pain I've been having in the groin and quad is referred pain from the arthritis and nothing to do with neural hypersensitivity or whatnot. The doctor said I don't have to stop running. I need to let the pain be my guide and mix in cross training appropriately. Basically what I've already been doing the last few months, experimenting to see what works and what doesn't.

I've discovered that it helps a lot to not run two days in a row. Also, I can do the bike or elliptical in unlimited amounts without pain. Furthermore, now that there is a rubberized turf field at Danvers High School, I can run on that instead of the road, and it is far easier on the joints. That is where I've been doing my running. It's amusing to see my route on the Garmin app as pile of ovals on top of each other. Today (Sunday) I went to the HS intending to run 4 or 5 and then perhaps another 50 minutes on the elliptical at Planet Fitness, but it felt pretty good after 5 so I just went 6 and left it at that.

Naturally I'd rather be running on the road on my old routes, like the one along the beach in Newburyport, but age must have it's concessions. I far prefer running around the turf field than riding the bike or the elliptical at Planet Fitness.

I've lost 10 lbs since May but stalled out since then. At least I haven't put it back on. I'd like to lose another 15 and get to 180 lbs, which I think would make things feel much better. When I lose a little more weight, I'll try the occasional road run and maybe a few races like the D5K or a 10K. I think I'll be able to manage the occasional road run/race while running principally on the turf field and mixing in the elliptical.

Neural Hypersensitivity??

I finally broke down and saw a physical therapist - Mike Stare at Spectrum Fitness. I've always been skeptical of physical therapy, afraid I'm going to pay hundreds of dollars for exercises I could have looked up on the Internet.

It turned out Mike was very impressive. He didn't just talk at me, but spent a lot of time listening and asking questions, as well as taking seriously my own analysis of what was happening. Did I like him just because he was flattering my input? I hope not. What he did do was take me step by step through a deduction of what was happening based on my testimony, a series of exercises he had me do, and a fair amount of pushing, prodding, and stretching various muscles.

My problem has been ongoing pain in my right leg, as though I still haven't recovered from the strains I got in my quad and groin last November. Mike is convinced that there is nothing wrong anymore with my muscles. What he thinks is going on is something called "neural hypersensitivity", which I had not heard of before.

The idea is that after a trauma, the nervous system can become sensitive to stressing of the muscles, anticipating another traumatic event. There seems to be some science to back it up. And the discomfort in my right leg hasn't felt exactly like a strain for a long time. Sometimes it doesn't hurt at all, and it doesn't hurt when I ride the bike.  Yet when I wake up in the morning, it will be sore.

The good news is there is a path forward through some PT, which I will be starting shortly.

A Break from Running

I saw the orthopedist the first week of May and got the bad news: The problem in my left knee is arthritis. He could show it to me on the X-Ray, although you have to look pretty hard to see it. I've known there was some in there since getting my first knee operation 10 years ago, but until recently it hasn't been a problem. Apparently it became a problem last October when I started to feel it in that knee. I knew at the time that what I was feeling in there wasn't the same as the problems I'd had before (meniscus problems).

There was some good news though: When I got home I stepped on the scale for the first time in many months: 205 pounds! That was a bit of a shock as I would have guessed I was about 195. But that's probably how it always goes when the scale has been avoided for a while. Wishful thinking sets in.

How is being heavy good news? It means I might be able to mitigate the arthritis with weight loss. Even at 205 pounds I could run several miles without the knee becoming much of a problem. At the Star Wars Half it was only at mile 4 to 5 that I really started to feel it.

My weight when in prime marathon running shape is 180 or below. I've been as low as 172 in the past few years. So that gives me a good 30 lbs I could lose, which translates to much less pressure on that left knee. There would be nothing to do if I came home from the doctor and the scale said 180.

The plan for now is to leave off the running until I drop some weight (10 lbs or more), and hit the elliptical and the recumbent bike in the meantime, which feel fine on the knee. Then, assuming that helps, I will mix in a lot more cross-training with the running than I have in the past.

This Week in Running 4/29/18

Total Miles: 11

Wednesday: 40 min bike
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5

Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon

Ellen and I ran the Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon at Disney World on Sunday.

I was signed up for the "First Order Challenge" which includes a 10k on Saturday in addition to the Half Marathon, but given the injuries, I decided it was the better part of valor to skip the 10k. This turned out to be a good move, especially given all the time I spent on my feet at Animal Kingdom on Saturday. By race time I was just hoping to finish.

Ellen and I made a fine pair, me with my injuries and Ellen with a bad cold. We agreed to to walk through the water stops (at every mile) and any other time we felt necessary. We also ran a slow pace, over 11:00 miles.

Compared to Marathon Weekend, the Darkside Half has a cozy feel. The start is at the Magic Kingdom parking lot (as opposed to the Marathon Weekend races that start at Epcot).  About 15,000 runners participated (compared to 20,000 for the Marathon Weekend races). The starting corrals are right there in the parking lot - no half mile walk to the start like at Marathon Weekend.  There were giant screens set up showing snippets of Star Wars movies and the usual fireworks at the start.

Up to now I've only run the January races, so I hadn't experienced a race in Florida April weather. The start temp was the high 60's and it was very humid. Even without the injuries this would not have been a fast race. The most interesting feature of the race in the first four miles is running through a dark forested area with a simulated Ewok battle going on either side of the road. Disney placed simulated blaster flashes and flaming flash pods in the woods, along with loudspeakers blaring sounds of Ewoks in a big fight. It was actually pretty cool. Not much to take a picture of, though.

I noticed as the race went along that there was no part of the course that was bereft of something Star Wars related. Either Star Wars music could be heard or there was a giant screen with a Star Wars movie playing, or there were Star Wars characters available for pictures. The January Half and Full Marathons both have sections of the course where nothing is going on and, except that it is in Disney, you wouldn't know that you were in a Disney race. The Star Wars race is also entirely Star Wars themed - there are no non-Star Wars Disney characters out, or marching bands or other groups along the way like in January. I think they really made an attempt for a full out Star Wars immersion and succeeded pretty well at it.

The course takes you from the Magic Kingdom parking lot down to Animal Kingdom, then up to Hollywood Studios (no ESPN) and through EPCOT. Quite a bit of time is spent in Animal Kingdom, including running through the new Pandora Area. I got a picture with Obi Wan just after exiting AK:

About this time my knee started to hurt and I swallowed more ibuprofen - I had taken a couple just before the start of the race. It got gradually worse over the next two miles and I knew that if it continued that way I'd have to stop. My other injuries - strains in my right leg - were not that bad and I didn't think they would cause a problem. But the knee could be a showstopper.

Taking walk breaks at the water stops helped and, fortunately, the knee settled in to a manageable ache at around mile 8. By mile 10 I knew I was going to finish and my mood improved considerably.

Something I was pleasantly surprised about was that I didn't have any endurance issues towards the end of the race. My longest run since December has been 8 miles, and I only managed one of those a few weeks ago. Maybe that lack of training would manifest itself in some hard labor the last few miles, especially given the weather. By mile 10 it was near 80 degrees and still humid. But this was one place where things went my way - I had no endurance issues at all and, the injuries not withstanding, cruised easily to the finish.

So I managed to finish. As always,  I find the Disney races a lot of fun - especially running with Ellen - even when I run them injured. I think it would have been a total blast to run the First Order Challenge healthy. Maybe some other time... in some galaxy far, far, away...

This Week in Running 4/15/17

Total Miles: 22

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 7

This Week in Running 4/8/18

Total Miles: 23

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 5
Friday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 8

Ellen ran the Fool's Dual Half Marathon today and PR'd with a 2:04.

This Week in Running 4/1/18

Total Miles: 20

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 4
Sunday: 6

This Week in Running 3/25/18

Total Miles: 18

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 4
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 5

Star Wars Darkside Weekend

Event Guide for the Star Wars Darkside Weekend at Disney World is now available. I'm running the "First Order Challenge" (10k on Saturday and Half on Sunday). I won't be running anything fast but my injuries now seem to be at the point that I should finish both races. I've been able to slowly build up my training the last few weeks and my plan is to get in an 8 or 9 mile run before the Star Wars Weekend.

Here is the 10k course from the Guide. Looks like the course starts in the MK parking lot, then goes down to Hollywood Studios and back up through Epcot. I've not started a Disney race yet anywhere but in the Epcot parking lot so this will be new.

And here is the half marathon course. Also starts in the MK parking lot, but includes Animal Kingdom on the course as well as HS and Epcot.

This Week in Running 3/18/18

Total Miles: 16

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 3
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 4

This Week in Running 3/11/11

Total Miles: 9

Wednesday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 3

This Week in Running 3/4/18

Total Miles: 10

Wednesday: 3
Friday: 3
Sunday: 4 (Claddagh Pub 4 mile race)

I was sick all week so I was just happy to finish the race. It turned out not so bad, but 

I was appropriately slow. The injuries seem to be finally improving.

This Week in Running 2/25/18

Total Miles: 8

Tuesday: 1 mile plus 30 min bike
Wednesday: 2 miles plus 30 min bike
Friday: 2 miles plus 40 min bike
Sunday: 3 miles (Frozen Shamrock Race)

I started up running again this week. The injuries seem mostly healed (I felt something after the 2 miles on Friday, which was a bummer). Sunday's race has beens scheduled with Ellen for a long time so I was hoping to do it, depending on how I felt Sunday morning. I felt fine this morning so I tried it, and was happy to find I was able to finish the race without anything hurting (although I ran quite slowly at 10 min/mile). The race is part of a 3 race series, so next Sunday I'm scheduled to run again with Ellen in Lawrence.

Ellen had a nice race today running the 3 miles in 26 minutes flat.

Shutting It Down For a Month

My left knee feels fine at this point, but I have a nagging groin pull and quad strain in my right leg, probably from compensating for my left leg. I'm going to shut it down for a month and let everything heal, then start straining for the Dark Side weekend. See you in a month.

This Week in Running 1/28/18

Total Miles: 9.5

Tuesday: 60 min bike
Wednesday: 3.5 (including D5K - 31:25)
Thursday: 60 min bike
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 3 plus 60 min bike

This Week in Running 1/21/18

Total Miles: 12

Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 60 min bike
Thursday: 3
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 3 plus 45 min bike

This Week in Running 1/14/17

Tuesday: 45 min bike
Thursday: 60 min bike
Saturday: 60 min bike
Sunday: 60 min bike

I'll start running again this coming week.

Running Plans 2018

After two cancelled flights, and driving to Manchester NH at 3:00 AM for one of them, our Disney Marathon Weekend trip never came off.  Ethan managed to get a single seat on a flight Friday night from Boston (and ran the half marathon a few hours after landing), staying and doing the parks with a friend of his.

Fortunately I received refunds for the air fare from Delta, and refunds for the Polynesian stay and the park tickets from the travel agent (I highly recommend MEI-travel. They have been excellent). So we lost very little money on the trip cancellation.

Not having had our Disney fix, we looked at possible alternatives, and the Star Wars Darkside Half Marathon in April caught our attention. It works out with Ellen's college schedule since she has classes only Tuesday thru Thursday, so we could fly down on Friday and come back on Monday. I checked the Disney site and they had a "sun and fun" special at Animal Kingdom Lodge, which I grabbed as I can cancel it and the special rates are gobbled up quickly. We've been wanting to stay at AKL for sometime, but it doesn't sleep 5 so it hasn't been an option with the whole family on the trip. This trip will only be myself, Ellen and Tricia so this is our chance for a stay at AKL.

I'll be running the "First Order Challenge", the 10k on Saturday morning and the half on Sunday morning. Ellen will be running the half only.

I'm also signed up for the Hampton Half Marathon in early March and the Fool's Dual Half Marathon in early April (Ellen is running that one as well).

A silver lining of the Marathon Weekend cancellation is that I've had the time to rehab my knee. I rested the two weeks before Marathon Weekend and the knee, while not perfect, felt OK going in to that weekend. I'm sure the knee would not have felt good after 39.3 miles at Disney had I run them.

Since then I've done PT on the knee and rode the bike at Planet Fitness and it is feeling strong. I'll probably give it another week before I start running again. No need to hurry things.

This year I'm going to concentrate on the shorter races and curtail the marathon running for now. Maybe I'll go back to marathon running in future years, maybe not. It's after really running hard at marathons that I've had injuries. Also, I miss a lot of the shorter races because they don't always fit in with the marathon training schedule. This year I'd like to run more of those races, and also attempt to
break 1:40 for the half marathon.

This Week in Running 1/7/18

The big storm got us two cancelled flights and a cancelled Disney weekend. Only Ethan managed to get out on a single seat on a flight from Boston Friday night.

Total Miles: 4

Monday: 4 (Wicked Frosty Four)
Saturday: 60 min bike
Sunday:  60 min bike

Wicked Frosty Four

My last run before leaving for Disney later this week... the Wicked Frosty Four in Salem.  Weather was 1 degree and windy. Fun!

The good news is that I had no knee pain during or after the race. But I didn't expect any on a 4 mile run. Next stop the Goofy Challenge.