I'm Baaaaack...

Wow, it's been since April that I have posted here. Things are much improved, and while I am not currently planning any marathons, 1/2 Ironmans or longer for the rest of the year, I am back to "working out vigorously." I caution against calling it training, since the only race I have planned is an Olympic distance in 3 weeks that I serendipitously got an email about a few weeks ago. I was so shocked that there was a triathlon that I could still sign up for close by, that I immediately went to the website, read about it, filled out the registration information, and then I was afraid to hit the SUBMIT button! How's that for irony? I may suck terrifically, or not, but I intend to enjoy the experience and find out whether I still have a hankering for competition.

I have been back to running for 6 weeks now, and last week was the first week where all the running I did was running, i.e., there was no walking. My first 2 weeks back it was a 1'run/1'walk thing, then 1'run/1.5'walk, and then I just went for it. It didn't help that I began running again in the hottest part of the year, and we really have had some major heat. But that was probably a good thing, because I had to reaccustom my legs to the pounding while heat acclimating and working on raising my threshold. I didn't do any speed building workouts until this past Saturday when I went and ran on the indoor track and got a taste for running near my old 5k pace. OUCH! But there is no rush for me to get fast.

The reason I started running again when I did was because I had a dream the prior week that I was running. When I woke up from that dream, I decided, fuck it, I am going to give running a go next week. And I did. And of course it did suck, and I thought maybe I felt something afterward, but the next time I ran again, I was fine, and declared that I was back. I thought I should do some formal program for "return to running," but I sort of just winged it. Since I hadn't been doing anything hard for weeks on end, I knew my heart would hold me back more than anything, so I just let my heart be my guide. But I will tell you that the feeling of running again brought me so much joy! I really had gone through a grieving period there, which is common when athletes are injured, and knowing that I could run again was just the best!

I had also not been outside on a road bike while I was down from running, and I was dying to ride Skull Kingdom since I'd had the new aerobars put on last fall and never used them. That bike fits me like a glove, and it felt good to ride, and the next day I rode 55 miles on my MTB so I figured I was good to go for a 60-mile road ride, which I did. Everything felt good.

So now, knowing that I could run and bike normally again, I had to decide how much "training" I wanted to do on a weekly basis while not killing myself. I decided in 4.5 hours of running, 6.5 hours biking, 3 hours swimming and 1.5 hours of strength training. Add it up, it's 15.5 hours a week! That's still a hefty amount, but I threw it out there as a sort of maximum amount, subject to how I feel.

So a few weeks into being able to work out normally, and I hadn't been swimming much, I registered for the triathlon in Bangs Lake. Then I figured I needed to swim a bit more seriously, as I'd been on 2 a week swims just noodling around. And I would need to ride harder, so I did a 60-mile ride on 7/4 and managed about 18.5mph. A week ago I rode 82 at 19mph. So I guess my bike fitness is nearly back. Swimming will come back enough to make it through 1500 meters without much effort (and probably slowly). On the running side, I just need to stay consistent with my running, and not stop. I am not taking formal walk breaks anymore, but if I feel like I need to rest I just stop. It is tough to say how much of that in the last 2 weeks has been due to the extreme heat and humidity or to me just sucking. I'd say a little of both!

So after all that, I wrote up what I learned from this layoff, and here it is for your reading enjoyment:

• I needed the break. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I wouldn’t slow down or take a break until forced to. Now having taken a long break from running, and from high amounts of swimming and biking, I realize just how much I was beating the crap out of myself and how fatigued I was. ALL THE TIME. But I have no regrets. Should I choose to ramp up for another Ironman or longer, I will do my best to incorporate more rest, and a long layoff (4+ weeks) at the end of the cycle.
• 3 marathons plus a double marathon in one year is probably too much running for me.
• The more I exercise, the easier it is for me to eat cleanly. I seem to crave better food when I’m exercising more.
• Keeping good workout records is a good thing. Even though I didn’t recognize the signs indicating I needed a huge break early enough, now I can look back on my own records and see that seemingly small things I was noticing were truly significant.
• Sitting (as has now been shown in scientific studies) is REALLY bad. Since I’ve been putting in a good amount of overtime since I switched positions last September, I was sitting more. I have made a conscientious effort to stand whenever possible while working, and have given up sitting in an actual chair. Sitting on the stability ball seems to be a good thing for me.
• I need to exercise, and some of it has to be hard. It seems to help with my mental demons. It is true that when I don’t work out so much I get depressed. I was. Exercise has always been a form of meditation for me. When I don’t do it, or it isn’t as vigorous as I’d like, I am prone to distorted thinking, which is the hallmark of depression.
• Nothing feels like running except RUNNING. Even though running rarely feels easy to me, especially having started back up in the heat of summer, it’s the effort of moving my body through space and experiencing the reality of gravity that, even though it often makes me grimace, somehow makes me feel better for having done it.
• Walking can be good exercise, but you need to do a lot of it to equal the benefit from 25-30 miles per week of running. And unless you live in a highly scenic area, it gets boring. But I’m glad I walked a lot. I have gotten in the habit of walking to and from the Y to swim, haircuts, wherever. When used for transportation, it’s a good thing. Saves money, too! I am learning that walking can be great for recovery as well.
• The way I experienced sciatica is different than the norm. I didn’t have the shooting pain down the backs of my legs—it hurt to sit for longer than 15 minutes and my feet hurt in different places at different times. Rest combined with some different exercises and stretches, and sometimes less stretching, must have corrected the muscle imbalances causing a disk to be out of place and put pressure on the sciatic nerves.
• I never thought I’d drink Gatorade G2. Now I figure that unless I am training over about 13 hours a week that I should stick with G2. Over 13 hours, I will go with full strength Gatorade or maybe continue using G2 for swims, as long as said swims are less than 1.5 hours.
• Strength training is still awesome. I think everyone should do it. Why? Because when you can’t run or bike, you will still maintain some semblance of muscle, and there are some movements I do during strength training that provide a test of key areas. In my case, I could elicit hamstring pain (sciatic) while doing standing leg curls. I never went beyond the point of extreme pain, but once I could do them with no pain at all, I knew I was close to being able to run again.
• It’s fun to be incognito. By that I mean, not telling new people I meet about what I have done in the past and instead focusing on them. Corollary: Let my legs do the talking!
• I’ve had the pleasure of biking (MTB) with my brother Mike a few times now, and I hope we do it like once a week in the fall. I ride to his house (about 11.5 miles), we ride together, and then I keep going and ride home.
• It would be easy for me to slip back into my old ways of mega-training. In the 5 weeks that I have been running, I have built back up about 30 miles of running and 160 miles of biking per week. I am still slacking at swimming, but no need to put in big yards unless I’m going for IM+ distance. I am amazed at how quickly my fitness is returning. I do want to do one or two century rides and a 200k ride, and I am doing an Olympic distance triathlon (at which I will suck) in 3 weeks, but I have no burning desire for a ½ or full IM. Not even a marathon! What that means for next year and beyond, I have no clue. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time, though! I do enjoy being fit, and biking is still my favorite thing.
• It has been nice to have the time (and energy) to spend some quality time in my flower beds, even though I still have a ways to go. I did not plant anything new this year—I have just been thinning things out and trying to stay ahead of weeds.
• I developed a bad habit of watching more TV than I used to. I need to get back to reading, but I need to decide if I want to stay with paper books or get some sort of electronic reader. Despite working in high tech, I am notoriously slow in adopting new gadgetry. I still like knowing that at the end of a day, I can tuck into bed with a good book and when I’m ready to go to sleep, I can just throw it on the floor and not worry about breaking something! Plus, the physical presence of various books all over the house reminds me of things in a way that no single piece of equipment ever could. Like cookbooks stacked on top of my microwave reminding me of something I haven’t cooked in awhile, or art books on coffee tables reminding me of beauty or my bookshelf full of sports-related books.
• That first Coke after a long layoff sure tasted good! Since I only drink it right before a workout or on long runs, the flavor signifies go fast or go hard! The same is true of my custom Infinit mix. Not that it tastes great, but I am usually able to ride pretty hard when drinking it.
• I sweat A LOT. I just don’t notice it as long as it’s evaporating. In the high humidity we had here last week, though, I looked like I had been in a pool while out running after maybe 15 minutes. Yesterday I biked indoors at the Y with no fan blowing on me and I was making puddles. I would wipe the sweat off my face and arms, and it would be back in under 10 minutes. I already knew I sweated concentrated in terms of salt, but it was a good reminder to visually see just how much as a reminder to stay on top of hydration.

I can't say how often I will post here, but it should be more than during the last 4 months!