Medical Monday

   The day before yesterday was Medical Monday (yes, I enjoy alliteration as much as the next blogger) and I found myself headed off to do bloodwork, get x-rays done of my problematic right knee and then, to top it off, set up an appointment for a physio assessment for that same right knee. Then, after all that was completed, it was off to the gym for a workout!
   I went about all of this with a little bit of glee in my heart. Part of this had something to do with the fact that it was finally a sunny day. Sunshine's been scarce in these parts and to once again experience it was a true mood-elevator. Principally, though, I was happy because I was actually doing something.

There's the bastard. On the left. YOUR left.

   My knee has stopped me dead in the tracks from doing many of the things I'd like to be able to do, training-wise. I have this desire to be training for running sprints and a right knee that will allow me to hike and run through a forest but will not enable me to run full-out is stifling. Even attempting a swift jog a couple of weeks ago gave me grief for several days afterward. So, setting in motion some of the things I need to do to finally deal with this situation was a welcome change to limping around and feeling sorry for myself.
   

It seems as though I may have touched down gently...

Today, my doctor's office called and informed me that the x-rays of the knee were normal. Now, my knee is certainly not "normal" but the fact that the x-rays did not indicate anything structurally wrong was encouraging. The best part about this result, though, is that it kind of rules out arthritis as a major contributor. I was kind of worried about this, I have no qualms in stating. This also allows me to meet my physiotherapist next week and tell her that I'm already this far into the investigation and what the results were.

Is there no end to my dirty
right knee pics??

   Having said all this, today the knee doesn't feel all that bad. This has been the trap I've fallen into ever since I injured it last spring. The knee will give me tons of grief but then gradually start to feel better, at which point I think I'm healing all by myself, so I don't get the medical attention I probably need. This was the cycle I was on all last summer and fall. In fact, the knee did heal enough that I was able to run on the trails and gradually increase the mileage. I enjoyed all that but now I want to run fast and the knee won't let me.
   Today, one of my co-workers (one who actually follows this blog) asked me if I had hooked up with physio yet. I told her I had and where it was and she herself had been a patient there and said they were very good. This was encouraging and I will go there next Medical Monday and let them do their magic!

   

"I Come Bearing Bad Knees"

   I had my semi-yearly physical earlier on this week. My priority at the moment is to figure out exactly what is going with my bum right knee. I hurt it last April and, even though I've managed to do a ton of running and hiking in the interim, there is still a nagging pain that won't go away.
   As it happened, I didn't actually get to see my regular doctor because there was an intern (not the right word) who is currently assigned to my doctor's office. He seemed like a very bright young man, though, and I was happy with the visit. He did the usual check-up things and then we settled in to talking about my knee.

My bum right knee, in a better (albeit dirtier and bloodier) day!

   He went through a range of motion test, pressed it here and there and discovered the 2 or 3 sore spots. After all was said and done, he was of the opinion that arthritis was involved and gave me a Rx for an x-ray and physio. I could have seen a physio when I first got hurt but the knee always seemed to be on the mend and so I never ended going. This time, though, it's physio for sure.
   I am not sure about the arthritis thing. I'm certainly at the age when arthritis enters the conversation but, at the same time, I know my body pretty well and it's not that the knee is constantly sore, it's that the knee feels like it's gonna give out now and then. The x-ray, I guess, should at least be definitive on the whole arthritis thing. After that, we'll go from there. I did ask about the possibility of getting an MRI but this is complicated a little by an almost 65-year-old chunk of metal in my brain. No real desire to have metal fly out of my head and clamp on to an MRI machine!
   The worst part about all of this is that I've temporarily shut down any kind of a workout that affects the knees. I've actually been pretty good about getting to the gym regularly but I've necessarily avoided doing leg work because it just aggravates everything. Kind of pisses me off because I'd just joined Ontario Masters Athletics with a view to running some sprints and, right at the moment, I can't sprint!
   So, likely this coming Monday I'll get in for that x-ray and there happens to be a physio place in the same building so I may stop in there as well. Maybe even get some bloodwork done cuz they do that there, too!
   The joy of it all....

A Bit Of An Update And Something New!

   I haven't posted anything on Ragged Cap Runner now for about the last three weeks.
   Basically, this has been because there's been very little to post about---no running, no hiking. This has been due to a couple of things---Christmas and what seemed like a month-long chest cold. On top of everything else, winter descended with a vengeance and I was not quite prepared for it. 
   At some point, about a week ago, the lungs began to cope a little better and mentally I felt like I was ready to get back into a more athletic existence. Co-incidentally with the arrival of winter, I was given a wonderful opportunity to try out the new snowshoes my son, Ben, had given me for Christmas.
   I've never had the snowshoeing experience before so I decided just to head for the backyard and give it a go, no-one else around to watch me flounder. Although I didn't actually flounder, my inexperience with tightening the bindings properly led to one of the snowshoes falling off and me being unable to get it back on securely. Lesson learned. I then ended up spending a few days before another opportunity to try them again presented itself. 
   I headed to Springbank Park here in London, determined to give them another go. I'd thought long and hard about putting them on properly and finally was out there, snowshoeing about, for the first time. Unfortunately, in the meantime, we had had a bit of a thaw and the deep snow was mostly gone. After the thaw, it had gotten really cold again and so there was all this crunchy shallow snow to walk on. It was still fun, though, and I learned a lot in a short amount of time. Almost fell once or twice because one shoe was on top of the other as I was attempting to take a step but I imagined that this was the kind of thing all first-timers likely experience.
   The other thing I started doing once I felt better was return to the gym. Before Christmas, I had "re-activated" my extremely under-used Goodlife Fit4Less membership and had been  going somewhat regularly. This fell by the wayside for the same reasons the other things did. Feeling better now, though, and I'm right back at it, at least every other day. I'm now at the point where I really look forward to it so today I headed there even though I was just there yesterday! Unheard of!
   

Finally (and this is sort of big news), I've taken the step of joining the Ontario Masters Athletics (OMA). This is a provincial association which runs track and field events in Ontario for athletes who are over the age of thirty and all the way up to people in their nineties!
   Why I've done this is that one of these days I want to sign up for a short sprint, like, say, anywhere from fifty to a hundred meters. I've always wanted to do this (almost desperately) and joining OMA will give me this opportunity. As much as I enjoy distance-running, there is something about running real fast for a short distance that has always appealed to me. With this membership, the chance to do so will be right there. If I decide to take it. This has given me a little more impetus for getting in shape, hence part of the reason for hitting the gym more regularly.
   Now, having said all this, I have a bum knee. I injured it street-running back in April and I've been working on it ever since. I'm able to run through the forest pretty quickly and it feels quite structurally sound but I'm just not sure what might happen if I went full-out. We've had quite the thaw lately and today I stopped back in at Springbank to try and test it out. I was certainly able (after a warm-up) to run at about 75% but was afraid to go any faster. The legwork at the gym has been somewhat irritating it so I've at least momentarily eliminated that part of the training. I have a physical next week and will talk to my doctor about the whole process and see what he suggests.
   In the meantime, there is an OMA mini-meet coming up on Feb. 11 in Toronto which I would really like to enter, as they have a 60 meter sprint division. This would give me a bit of an idea where I'm at, sprint-wise, with all the other guys in their sixties and also tell me just how much more training I still need to do. As long as the knee holds out...

P.S. I wrote this post a couple of days ago and, after that little bit of running I did, things are now not well with my right knee. Positions I was once able to get it into comfortably are now no longer comfortable and entering athletic events any time in the near future is likely not too feasible. This has me understandably frustrated and depressed. However, I know people who are unable to walk and who would be extremely happy to be getting around with a sore knee like mine. I salute those people and know that my little knee problem is really nothing.  BB
   
   

My 2017 Year- In - Review!

   

It's been a long time since I've done one of those "year end reviews" that are so popular this time of year. It never really seemed as though I had anything terribly interesting to tell people about and I don't really set goals for myself so it never was possible to tell people whether I actually achieved them or not. So, this year, once again I wasn't going to bother with the re-cap process.

Medway Valley ESA

   Then I stopped and thought about what kind of a year I'd had. It occurred to me that, for a change, I had done some things I'd never done before and I actually had set some goals throughout the year and then attained them! Because of this, the thought of going back and doing a little rehashing seemed more enjoyable than it usually does. So here I go!
   I spent most of the early part of 2017 getting acquainted with the trail systems right here in London, Ontario. At the end of 2016, my interest in trail-running was piqued and I promised myself I would spend as much time out on the trails as I possibly could, as soon as I could. 

Sifton Bog ESA

   To this end, I made it a goal to visit each of London's seven Environmentally Significant Areas (ESAs) and run the trails there. This past winter was a mild one for this area and getting out on the trails was relatively easy and more or less painless. On the weekends and whenever I had a day off I would simply visit the next ESA on my list---I was already quite familiar with the ones at my end of town and had already run them many times. Eventually, it took a little over a month (parts of February and March) to get all seven ESAs properly run. I even ran a couple of them twice.
   

Meadowlily ESA

It was during this time that I also had the opportunity to try out the new Camelbak I'd gotten for Christmas. At the end of 2016, I'd run into hydration issues while out on the trails (I sweat a lot) and I knew that if I was going to spend as much time running the trails as I really wanted, then I would need a more viable form of hydration. The Camelbak worked just fine and I was excitedly looking forward to the Spring and Summer.

Westminster Ponds ESA....can you spot the teddy bear??

   Spring finally came and early in April I decided I would go out for a street run and see just where all this winter trail-running had taken me, in the way of endurance. I started out from my house and ran about four houses down before I heard a pop in my knee and felt the pain. Thank goodness I was that close to home and was able to limp my way back.
   I was actually able to get into my doctor the following day and was diagnosed with a strained or pulled gastrocnemius muscle. This is one of the long muscles which travels up the back of your leg and connects in under your kneecap. He prescribed a couple weeks of rest, a couple of weeks of walking and then a couple of weeks of light running.

Thames Valley Trail

   I did the resting. Then it was time for the walking. Back at the end of 2016, I had heard about something called the Thames Valley Trail. It was a 110

Thames Valley Trail

kilometer trail which started about 30K southwest of London, worked its way up through the city and then on to the town of St. Marys, northeast of London. I had already been intrigued with the idea of hiking the Trail and when the doctor told me that walking would become part of my knee's recovery process, things just seemed to fall into place.
   I then spent slightly over a month hiking all 15 sections of the trail. Several times I was able to hike more than one section at a time so, altogether, this came to nine different outings.

Thames Valley Trail

   It was quite the learning experience! I learned a fair bit about what my 64-year-old body was capable of (and sometimes what it wasn't) and I walked it entirely on my own, which also made it a very contemplative experience. There are many such trails here in Ontario and I now have the yen to hit more of them!
   September came and, after a couple of setbacks with  my knee, I was finally able to try actual running again. I had tweaked my knee a couple of times while out hiking and playing golf and because of

Thames Valley Trail

this it took me this long to actually tentatively run again.
   My plan was to get out the first time and run 1 kilometer. As long as things were okay, the next time out I would run 1K farther and so on, back up to a respectable mileage. Eventually, through September to early December, I worked my way back up to running 9K. 
   At that point, winter and Christmas hit and, if I had any free time that I could have used for running, I spent it shopping, or some other Christmas activity. 

Thames Valley Trail

    Round about this time, however, I started going back to the gym again! I had had a Goodlife membership for about two years and hadn't used it once. Totally ridiculous, obviously, and so I more or less forced myself to get back into it. Having done so, however, I found I rather enjoyed it and am looking forward to getting back to it in the new year.
   So, this is my re-cap of my 2017. When I looked back at it, I realized that I actually had made several goals and then followed through on all of them.

And ME---at the END of the
Thames Valley Trail!

   I had a goal of running all of London's ESAs and I had done that. I had a goal of hiking the Thames Valley Trail and I had done that. I had a goal of getting back to decent mileage during trail runs and I had done that. I had a goal of getting back into the gym and, lo and behold, I had done that as well!
   I am now wondering what 2018 will bring. For sure, I want to explore more hiking trails in Ontario and I have to admit that the Bruce Trail is high on my list. Part of me even wants to hike somewhere with a tent strapped to my back so I can spend the night and then keep on hiking in the morning. I definitely want to run more, and longer, trails. There are some snowshoeing experiences that await. There are more trips to the gym in my future and, at some point, I really need to get out and play some ball hockey with the younger guys.
   So I guess all of the above are my goals for 2018 and, having stated them here, I will now be able to go back around this time next year and tell you all how many of them I was able to attain. In the meantime, I hope that 2018 brings only happiness and self-fulfillment to you all! 
   Cheers!

Yesterday and Today and 7K!

Behind those trees, "The Steps"!

      Yesterday, Sunday, I had a little bit of free time in the afternoon and really wanted to get out there for a run. Hopefully, I would be able to get 7K in the books, in an effort to continue upping the mileage. What I did, though, was fritter away a large chunk of the day doing pretty well non-stuff and then, by the time I finally gathered myself up to run, the sun was perilously low in the sky. It was still very bright though and bright sunshine is not something we've seen a lot of lately here in London, Ontario so I headed out anyway. I drove to the Oxford Street bridge, near the entrance to Kains Woods, and parked on the bridge (there is room for this). From there it was up the hill and into the woods and off I went!
   I can't honestly say the legs felt all that good, however, and the more I ran the more I had an opportunity to do the math in my head wherein I calculate the length of time I need to get in 7K versus the actual amount of sunlight I had to work with. The math really wasn't working in my favour and the very last thing I wanted to be doing was running through a forest in the dark. Not to mention the "coyotes at dusk" warnings posted at pretty well all of London's forested areas. So I cut things short, ran about half a kilometer, and the hiked the rest of the way, all in all about 4K. No big deal.

This is the top of what 230 pounds
of Brian Baker looks like!

    Today, Monday, I had the day off and, after a little bit of work stuff first thing, I was able to head out with lots of daylight at my command. I headed for Komoka Provincial Park and left my car at the easternmost end of it. I usually walk the first half kilometer to get warmed up but I took a couple of extra minutes when I got into the forest and did some stretching. I then started to run. Slowly. As usual.
   It was about 4 or 5 degrees Celsius today with no precipitation and a good deal of sunshine left over from yesterday. Pretty awesome for running! There were a couple of muddy sections due to recent rain and a little bit of snow but these were minimal and un-deterring.
   I'm out of shape. Today I was propelling almost 230 pounds of Brian Baker through the forest and that just ain't right and shouldn't be. For a variety of reasons, I have had huge meals lately (and often) and I have done a terrible job of showing any restraint. I hopped on (gingerly) the scales last night and by the time the digital readout had done its thing, I was weighing in at 229.5. It's been ages since I've weighed that much and my jaw just kinda dropped. Okay, time to get back to work. The only good thing about weighing that much is that I can get it off pretty quick if I'm a little more conscientious. This, however, only usually gets me back down to about 224 and there is truly so much further to go! Perhaps that gym membership I've never used....

The mighty Thames!

   The run today was fairly uneventful. Passed a few people enjoying the park, which is always kinda nice. In aiming for 7K, the plan today was to run for 4, turn around (you almost have to turn around, the park's only 4K long), and then run another 3, on the way back. This was over almost before I knew it and I then hiked another kilometer to get back to my car.
   A weird thing happened when I got into my car. As I was lowering myself into the driver's seat, all of the sudden I started to get a muscle spasm on the outside of my right calf and shin. It was quite uncomfortable and I hopped out of the car as fast as I could (not very fast) to get the leg back into a comfortable position. As I was standing beside my car, I lifted my leg off the ground and my foot started to rotate to the right, all of its own volition. A very strange thing to feel and watch---my muscles making my feet do things I hadn't asked them to do! I plopped the foot back down on the ground, stood on it and then walked around til it felt as though I could get back in the car and drive. By the time I got back home, it was more or less back to normal. I put the whole episode down to perhaps having over-exerted my lower legs with the uneven trail I'd just been on for the last almost two hours. Will keep an eye on it for next time!
   Last week I bought a combination lock. This was my radical first step toward getting back (it's been years) to the gym once more. This week, I'm actually going. The scary part is, I just told you I was going.....