Epic Fail

   After a couple of failed running attempts this past week, I went out to try it again today. I looked at all the likely reasons the past two runs didn't work out and I tried to make sure that all had been rectified.
   They were. There were no issues with rain and no issues with cold. Today what foiled me was snow.

   At least I think it was the snow. A couple of days ago we got about nine centimeters of the stuff and overnight probably another three. The sidewalks were covered but quite passable. Occasionally they were heavy with slush and, rarely, were bare. But I ran out of steam and had to walk three or four times. I have not had to walk for about a month now and I saw this as a major setback, particularly as I have a 5K run fast approaching.
   I'm trying to figure out what part the snow played and what part may have been played by my interrupted run schedule lately plus an extra pound or two of festive food. I never felt that I was going to slip or fall down at any point but what the snow caused me to do was run a little more flat-footed and it also did not provide a totally reliable push-off. It always seemed as though my foot would slide just a fraction of an inch with almost every stride. Whether this caused an extra energy expenditure or not is unclear to me. It certainly was a mental distraction, if nothing else.
   So now I need to figure out how to run in snow. I went out today and picked up a few hex head metal screws and attached them to the bottoms of my shoes. They would possibly be workable in actual snow but on concrete I can feel them pressing through the botttom of my shoe, uncomfortably.
   I'm rather hoping that the race course on New Year's Eve will be well-groomed and fairly bare. In the meantime I will have to look at alternatives and will likely be purchasing some YakTrax to train in, if I continue to do the run thing.
   Just one more reason to hope for an early spring....  

Fail

Stuff I need to pay more attention to.

   Twice in the last week or so I have set out on runs. I bailed both times.
   The first instance, I began to run in what I thought at the time was a light rain. It turned out to be much heavier than I thought and, in fact, ended up blowing sideways. I was ill-prepared for this and began giving myself reasons to abort the run. My principal concern, I reasoned, was that my phone was strapped to my arm in a mesh holder and I thought that it might get wet and therefore destroyed. I'm not sure how real a fear this was but after awhile it became compelling. If nothing else, it became a nagging doubt.
   I have a hard time running while being dogged with nagging doubts and this caused me to cut the run short after slightly less than a kilometre. In my mind I reasoned that even a short run is better than no run at all. It was still difficult to accept this as anything other than a failure.
   In the second run, I once again misjudged the elements. There was no precipitation this time around but there was a biting cold. I simply neglected to check the temperature before heading out. I'd gotten a new pair of earwarmers for Christmas and was eager to give them a try. Well, they kept my ears warm but completely left the top of my bald head uncovered. I thought that as I warmed up so would my head but this did not happen. At some point things up there actually began to hurt and I thought to myself that thirty more minutes of running uncovered like that could possibly cause a frostbitten head. I tried to imagine what that might feel or look like and neither one was something I wanted to experience so, once again, I opted out.

A good idea--Adidas pays me to wear Nike anyway...

   All of this happened in conjunction with the festive season as well. This meant that not only was I missing the odd running day but I was also eating extra sweets and then only doing one kilometer runs in compensation. Just not a good feeling, all-round.
   It has been a learning experience, for sure. This is the first time in my life when I have felt compelled to run in winter weather. To date, the winter in these parts has been fairly mild and I've been getting away with it. It is now more like a true Canadian winter, however, and I need to adapt.
   In three days I'm running in a 5K race so I figure I have one more training run I want to get in before that. Hard to say what the weather might throw at me between now and then but, damn it, I'm going to be prepared the next time I head out!

Breathing

   I happened to be bouncing around from one running blog to the other a few days ago and came across a forum wherein readers were posting running-based questions hoping for expert replies.
   One reader posed the question "How do you breathe?" I know that I and likely the reader were expecting some very knowledgeable and scientific reply. The response we got was, "Through your mouth".
   I kind of laughed to myself when I heard this, there was something very common sensible and almost too easy about the reply.

   I asked essentially the same question early on when I was taking the Learn-to-Run course. The reply I got then was that it didn't matter as much how you breathed as it did how you were breathing. If, while running, you were able to carry on a half-decent conversation with someone then you were running at a comfortable pace. If you were gasping and unable to carry on a conversation, then you were probably running too hard.
   I have to be running pretty damn slow to be able to handle my end of a sensible conversation. When I'm out doing a 5K run, I have my hands full exchanging a "good evening" with people I run across or a "thanks" if someone steps off the sidewalk to let me pass. The thought of being out with a running partner and talking about life, finances or the scenery kind of boggles my mind. Really, about as much as I want to be able to say when I'm running is "okay" if someone asks me how I'm doing.

   I remember being out on a training run with a group of people once and I was labouring quite badly, breathing-wise. One of the more experienced runners came up to me and started to offer advice. They talked and they talked and they talked and I'm thinking please go away, I can hardly breathe, let alone talk to you about why I can hardly breathe! This, I guess, is one of the reasons why I don't solicit running partners (yet), I have no need to be sociable or feel as though I should adjust my pace to suit someone else's and I just don't wanna talk while I'm running!
   I have no particular system for breathing when I'm out on a run, I just get the air in and out as best I can. What I do find is that very quickly into a run I begin a fairly rhythmic system of breathing based on number-counting. I pick a sequence of numbers and repeat them over and over again as I run, usually putting an emphasis on one or two of them. This usually ends up sounding something like one-two-three-four-FIVE-six, one-two-three-four-FIVE-six, and so on. Every run it's often a different sequence with a different cadence and it's all based on how I'm breathing that run. I simply repeat this sequence (almost out loud) until I finish the 5K. More than anything, this is what regulates my breathing when I'm out there.
   Just from rooting around on the internet, there seems to be a fair amount of stuff there about breathing while running. I have yet to explore much, if any, of it. So far, my breathing does not seem to be an issue. About the only time I gasp is if I'm at the end of a run and I decide (for some god-forsaken reason) to sprint it out. Any other time, my breathing seems like it'll last much longer than my legs will!
   Healthy breathing everyone!
  

Ouch!!: Part Two

   The night before last I was dramatically reminded of one of the sports-related "ouches" I had forgotten to mention in the post I wrote called "Ouch!!"
   I had been sitting in my comfy chair in the livingroom with one leg curled under the other for likely about an hour, while working on the laptop. It came time to un-curl and the inside of my right thigh went straight into cramp mode. The pain was quite excruciating and I had to get Doralyn to come and get the laptop out of my hands because I was unable to put it down anywhere safely. She then started to massage the cramped area, which provided at least a little relief. The cramp itself probably lasted about five minutes.
   I've had a problem with muscle cramps for several years now. They generally occur after some kind of sports activity during which I've lost a lot of fluid. They do, however, occasionally pop up right out of the blue, as they did the other evening. Most of the time, I am able to feel them building up and am able to quickly stretch out the offending muscle before a full-blown cramp settles in. I had no advance warning of this latest one, though, it just kind of hit me all of the sudden and got hold of me before I could do anything.
   At this point, there doesn't seem to be a real consensus as to the cause of cramps. Part of the reason for this is that they have been unable to successfully reproduce sports-type muscle cramps in a lab setting in order to come up with a controlled study. Historically, though, they have been linked to dehydration and electrolyte depletion. Sodium, potassium, and calcium depletion are also blamed. Muscle fatigue and overuse seem associated.

   For my part, I try and stretch all the important muscles before I get involved in a physical activity and I do my best to stay hydrated and every once in awhile I stretch after exercise. Cramps can occur after prolonged periods of being in the same position and I'm thinking this may have been what happened the other night. I guess I just need to get up and moving around on a more regular basis. This is not bad advice for anyone, really, athlete or not. The worst case of muscle cramping I ever personally experienced was one time after playing goal in ball hockey, sweating off about four pounds, coming home, grabbing some pop and then lying on the floor in front of the T.V. for about an hour and a half. At the end of that, I attempted to get up off the floor and suffered cramps in both calves and the front of both thighs. Thought death was imminent, actually. After probably ten minutes they fully subsided and I was able to at least get up off the floor, at last. Since then, I've tried religiously not to be too sedentary right after heavy physical exertion.

What my leg felt like the other night

   Muscle cramps are probably my biggest medical concern right at the moment, at least as far as running is concerned. So far, I've been able to avoid shin splints, plantar fasciitis, gout, knee strain and chafed nipples(giggle). I am, however, a neophyte who is still running short distances. Should I ever get to the point where I am running 10K on a regular basis in hot weather and such, then I'm sure I could very well end up dealing with some of the above and, hopefully, not worse.
   Healthy running, everyone!
  

Inspiration

   I am at the point now where I look forward to my every-other-day 5K run. During the work week I run in the evenings and several times a day I remind myself that it's a "run night" and this gets me a little pepped up.
   As I'm walking down the driveway after my warm-up, however, I always find myself wondering how the hell am I going to be able to run the whole way tonight, I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Still, I manage to finish.
   Along the way, though, there are times when I want to stop. I really want to stop. Like a man in a desert, I can almost feel the cold, wet taste of it and I give myself every reason or excuse to do so. And then I remind myself about Rob.

Rob and his wheels

   Rob Buren is my brother-in-law and a little over four years ago he was involved in a mountain biking accident which left him a paraplegic. Rob had always been one of those driven, active kinds of guys and, as much as this type of injury would be devastating for anyone, it was particularly devastating for him.
   In the aftermath of all this, though, Rob showed a side of himself which was, well, amazing. And amazing, I think, is truly an understatement.
   As soon as he was able after the accident, he began rehab. This is obviously standard procedure for anyone and is designed to get a person to a point where they are able to perform hopefully acceptable daily living skills. Rob, however, took rehab to a whole new level.
   In much less time than it would have taken anyone else, Rob was out of the rehab hospital and tackling what he refers to as "the new normal". For him, this meant learning new ways to perform all the usual daily routines and simply getting around his re-modelled home. It meant getting back behind the wheel of his car, getting back to work and, even more importantly, getting back to raising a young family.

Rob, his handcycle and ever-present smile

   For many of us in a similar situation, this might have been sufficient. But this wasn't enough for Rob. He had a burning desire to continue doing all the things he enjoyed doing before the accident. So this is exactly what he did!

Rob, satisfying the "need for speed"!

   Whatever his legs were unable to do, his hands and arms now did. He found all manner of wheeled contraption that would get him back on forest trails and asphalt highway. He swam, he boated and, when the "need for speed" peaked, he hit Mosport and Calabogie. His beloved motorbike was modified so that he could leave people in his dust on that as well. To put an exclamation point on all of this, Rob and his wife Sabrina also now compete all over North America in half-marathons, marathons and triathlons.



Rob and Sabrina

   So Rob is who I think of when the urge to quit hits me while out there doing my 5K. I imagine all the countless times he must have wanted to quit. I also simply imagine the joy he would have to be back on his two feet again and running. I am out there for about forty minutes a run and if Rob was given just one forty minute session with which to run again it is unthinkable to me that he would consider for even a second stopping! The ability to walk and run (and a whole host of other physical and mental abilities) is a gift most of us truly take for granted. Rob knows how much of a gift it is and if he wouldn't stop in the middle of a run then why the hell should I? 

Doralyn, Instigator

   I've had a fair amount of fun the last few weeks and months, both running and then chronicling the adventure. There has been a fair amount of self-discovery and achievement and right at the moment I am actually quite proud of where I am and what I have been able to do.

Doralyn, maker of all things possible!

   It goes without saying, though, that none of this would ever have happened if not for my wife, Doralyn. It was her that signed us up for the Learn-to-Run clinic at the downtown Running Room, providing the impetus for all that came after. On my own, this would not have happened.
   She has become my biggest cheerleader in all of this. There have been times when I thought I was only accomplishing "baby steps". She, though, has stepped in at every turn and reminded me of how proud I should be. And, as usual, she is right!
   The fact that she is right about almost everything is not lost on me. I think there is some subtle understanding between the two of us that what we have done here will be to both our benefits in the foreseeable future--I will be healthier and she will be looking at a husband who will still be here way on down the road. There are not too many things hanging over our heads at this point in our lives but, if there is a threatening Sword of Damocles, it would be the almost fifteen year age difference. I'm pretty sure I've been blessed with good longevity genes but not only do I want to live a long life, I want to live a healthy one.
   The running will help with this but, if not for Doralyn, I'm pretty sure I'd be sitting on my butt three times a week instead of being out there, pushing my own little envelope. If you can find a woman worth making a better man of your self for, then you can't ask for much more. And this is what I've done!