The Knee story, and my achilles (ugh)

Throughout my "athletic" career...mostly high school sports followed by limited activity in college I have been mostly injury free.  Aside from a broken wrist in high school, I haven't broken any other bones that I know of and my joints have been basically injury free.

When I first started getting back to running I was in sorry shape, my best description of that shape was blobular...or maybe roundish.  (Those are shapes right?)

My fitness level was probably a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.  So getting back into the swing of things was definitely a shock to my system.  I had the usual soreness due to lactic acid buildup and using muscles that I had not used in years.  Once our mileage for the half marathon training began to ramp up I started noticing that my right knee really hurt on impact, like a sharp stabbing pain.  It got so bad that I actually broke down and went to see Dr. Stone at UPMC Sports Medicine here in Pittsburgh.  After a battery of tests he confirmed to me that I didn't have anything terribly wrong that a little stretching and physical therapy couldn't fix.

Basically as it was described to me there were muscles in my legs that were much stronger than others.  The stronger muscles were pulling stronger than the weaker muscles and then pulling my knee out of alignment, which in turn was causing my pain.  Dr. Stone asked me how flexible I was and how often I stretched after working out.  To which my answer was..uhhh I don't stretch much.  I think if he could have he would have whapped me upside the back of my head.

I took my new exercises home as well as a new stretching regimen and within 7 days the pain in my knee was nearly gone.   I resumed my half marathon training and continued on.

Since I started this new running program I am really beginning to test the extremes to which my body can handle a stressful workout.  I have been very diligent with stretching and adding to my overall flexibility.  The problem I run into is working 12 hour days on my feet.  I don't have a great deal of time  to stretch those days so I find that I am coming home very tight and strained.

About two or three weeks ago I noticed the pain returning in my knee around the same time as I was having some hamstring and calf cramping issues (while sleeping).  I took a few days off from running at the request of my coach and used the foam roller and stretched constantly throughout the day.  Within about 5 days the pain had subsided and things began to return to normal.  I eased back into a few runs and then resumed the more intense and long workouts.

Fast forward now to this past thursday, I was walking downstairs to the gameroom to squeeze in a speed workout while Noah napped.  I stepped awkwardly near the bottom of the steps and felt what could best be described as a twinge in my calf right above the achilles.  I didn't really think much of it and begin to warmup for a pretty intense progression run.  My goal was to run 4 miles at 8:00/mi pace followed by a progression of 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:10...then warm down and stretch.

The first 4 miles felt ok, with occasional pain shooting up from my calf, but nothing consistent or serious.  By the end of the 7:30 mile the pain was a lot more frequent and by the end of the 7:20 mile every step sent a jarring pain up my leg.  I decided to heed coach Ross' advice and stop when pain like that happens because, 1.  I am not a hero, and 2. Pain usually causes you to alter your form therefore ending up with additional injury.

I struggled (more like hopped) up the steps, stretched and showered.  I walked around all day Thursday and Friday with quite a hitch in my get-a-long.  I continued to stretch and massage my calf all day on Friday.  The pain was only noticeable Friday when I would walk down steps or up hills.  I made a mental note to make a Dr. appointment Monday if the pain had not resolved.  I personally felt like this pain was again associated with tight muscles as opposed to an actual tear or more grievous injury.  I woke up this morning nearly pain free, still mildly noticeable when I walk down stairs though so I will continue to monitor myself and see a Dr if this persists.  I work all day Today, Sunday, and Monday so hopefully by Tuesday I will feel well enough to give an easy run a shot.  I am three weeks out from the marathon relay and I really don't want to miss this event.

So the lesson today readers?  Stretch.  Stretch A LOT!  Become more flexible and don't be a hero, if you have pain stop doing what you are doing and fix the problem don't just run through the pain and hope it gets better.  A good rule of thumb for stretching is 1 second for every year of age.  I try to do multiple stretches after every workout of each muscle group that was used during the workout.

If the pain lingers any longer than a few days or you cannot perform normal day to day functions without suffering it's time to go see a doctor.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Running!

Ron

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my fathers birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad!!

Growing up I think we all at some point revolt, push back, and fight our parents.  We as humans are growing up and growing into who we will be some day.  In that self exploration and development there is a great amount of revolution and turmoil against the establishment.  In this case, the establishment being my parents.  I am sure there are plenty of times where we clashed and where my anger spilled over into boiling teenage angst, only to be told just wait till you get older.  Wait till you have kids...

My parents are the loving supportive type that I am sure at the time were frustrated and angry at us for pushing back so hard...but at the same time forgiving enough to understand that we were kids and we still had a great deal to learn.

Life can be a powerful teacher.

Of course without my dad I wouldn't know the value of hard work, an ethos that he preached and practiced.  I wouldn't know the value of saving money (I think he might still have his communion money stashed away somewhere).  I wouldn't know the value of laughter and the strength of a strong family bond.  Without that I wouldn't be the man I am today, I wouldn't be the parent I am today.

Now that I have a child (soon to be children) of my own I find myself saying "I am becoming my parents..."  OR..."Man, I sound just like my dad."  I look in the mirror and see him telling me just wait till you have kids.

I may not have ever said it enough as a teenager dad, but even when I was a little sh*t and mouthed off deep down I knew you were right.  Deep down in my core I hated that you were right and now I look back and realize that I am glad you were so damn correct.  I am happy that you stuck it out and pushed us to go to college, you taught us patience, and also made us humble.  I am glad I had a strong male influence in my life to guide me and mold me.  Not many people are that lucky, for that I am blessed.

I hope some day I can do that for my sons.

Love you Dad, Happy Birthday,

Ron

(P.S. Sorry for causing you to have so much gray hair... :)

Happy Easter!

Good Afternoon friends,

It's been close to 2 months since my last post.  Life in the fitdad house has been very busy.  Preparations are under way for the new nursery for baby number 2 due in August.  Work has been insanely busy and run training has been taking up a good deal of my free time.  I have been seeing great strides in my times and mile splits.  This has definitely been a worthwhile endeavor!  The mix of recovery workouts and stressful speed and tempo workouts has reminded me of my days in high school running cross country.  My fitness level has improved drastically.

I have learned a very important lesson about flexibility, stretching and proper recovery as well.  I had a bit of a knee issue a few weeks back.  More on that in a future post.

Any additional free time I do have has been spent playing chase with Noah, building duplo castles for him to smash or playing with trucks.  Noah is all boy anymore, trucks, cars, trucks, and more trucks.  If it has wheels it gets driven around the house...heck if he can pretend it has wheels it gets driven around the house.  These past few months have been so fun with our little man.  He has such an endearing and wonderful personality.

Today we are going to spending our time with family enjoying the holiday and relaxing.   If you celebrate Easter I hope you and your family have a wonderful and happy holiday.  Enjoy the time with family and friends!

Happy Easter! Thank you for reading!

Week Three review.

It's been a hectic week and my running suffered a bit.  I was only able to get 3 workouts in this week instead of my recent 4.

-Thursday I had an easy 6 on the schedule 48:30.
-Friday was a 4 mile progression run with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down, I knocked out the 4 mile progression in 30:58.  (Started at 8:00 miles, very happy with this run).
-Saturday I was going to do 5 easy, but my legs were just feeling heavy and tired, so I opted to rest them.
-Sunday I did an "easy" 8 in 65:23.  At mile seven I was feeling whooped really had to dig deep to finish this one I did, and I am happy I did.

Now I am off to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins hopefully shellac the Washington Capitals and then catch the SuperBowl this afternoon.

Happy Running, Thanks for reading.

Valentine's Photo Shoot.

Haven't done a photo shoot with Noah in a bit.  Wife needed some pictures for the scrapbook...queue the cute outfit and nearly impossible to get to sit still kid.

Here are the photos and some of the outtakes.

Transformational Treadmill Run

Saturday's training block brought me to the transformational treadmill run.  That's just a fancy name for a run I did on the treadmill while watching Transformers Dark of the Moon.  Really all it entailed was running 8 miles on the treadmill because it was too cold to be outside running.

Transformational treadmill run 8 miles 63:50.  (barely sub 8:00mi pace..I'll take it!)

Bored out of my mind on this one, but happy with the result.

Progression Treadmill Run.

Thursday was my first Progression Treadmill Run ( I like to think of them as negative splits runs ).

I had 6 miles scheduled for today, here is how they broke down.

Mile 0-1 warmup (7.0mph)
Mile 1-2 Steady (7.4mph)
Mile 2-2.5 (7.5mph) -8:00 mile pace
Mile 2.5-3 (7.6mph)
Mile 3-3.5 (7.7mph)
Mile 3.5-4 (7.8mph)
Mile 4-4.5 (7.9mph)
Mile 4.5-5 (8.0mph)
Mile 5-5.5 (8.1mph)
Mile 5.5-6 (8.2mph)--10k pace (if we are estimating numbers)
I got really bored by about mile 5, so at 5.75mile I bumped the speed up to 8.5, and at 5.9 miles I bumped it up again to 9mph and sprinted to the finish.
Total time 47:17

Not a shabby run at all, felt strong the whole time.  Lungs felt good.  Was able to squeeze the whole workout in while Noah napped.  Got out of the shower only to hear the prince himself summoning me to his room.  DA! DA! DAAAAA!!!!

We spent the rest of the day laughing, chasing, and playing trucks.  I would say that is about the perfect day.

Have a great weekend all!

Be Safe! Get out and Run!!