A New Hope - 2016 Pilot Episode

Something happened to me late last year in my running season. I ran the Fargo marathon (4:14:30) in May and PR'd my previous by 13 minutes so that was a big plus and I ran my first 50km ultra on July 4th on a very hot and humid day.

It was in between those months where I started to see some patterns of a very big digression. I mean I wasn't hurt asides from some minor aches associated with running but I knew something was wrong. I was looking back at my training diary and I always had these two words "FEEL OFF" associated with a majority of my training runs. And even taking some time off from running and going on a nice long vacation with my girls. Whenever I headed out for a run, my whole body was just feeling like shit, my mind was at a complete loss and then my body would just start to whither...

Koreatown to Pan Pacific Park LA run in the middle of summer and I was hurting.

When I went to LA with my girls for a 2-1/2week vacation, I'd head out in the morning and run hoping to get in 10 miles but would quickly devolve into 10km and I would be hurting. As I would look back on my running logs when I was last in LA in February and running 8-10 miles would be nothing and that would be in undulating terrain. But during this trip, just running on the flats on LA streets (which there are not many) I would feel so strained early into my run hoping that the feeling would pass...but just exacerbate the farther I kept going. When we arrived back home in early August, I took the rest of the month off to just rest from the big trip and heal my body from all the aches and pains I was feeling. The pain wasn't in my legs, but more my shoulders and that would be a harbinger of things to come.

It wasn't until September 5, 2015 that something happened to me that actually sent me to the hospital and derailed the rest of my running until the new year.

"Where am I?"

On September 5, 2015 I had plans to finally head out to City Park Runners but I woke up at 4 AM with a pounding headache (migraine range 6/10). I figured I was just hungry so I ate some cereal thinking I'd feel better in a couple of hours. But come 7:30 when I'd normally be ready to leave, the headache just got worse. And by 10AM I was throwing up. I thought the milk I had with my cereal was bad (yeah I'm an idiot) and just went back to sleep. It was finally at 2PM after throwing up 3 more times I got my oldest girl to call her mother to take me to the hospital. When I went in to register they measured my blood pressure and it was at 233/135 which is listed as Hypertension Stage 3 / Hypertensive Crisis. My head was exploding and my daughter was telling me the nurse kept urging me to stay awake (as I must have passed out) and they just wheeled me into emergency bypassing registration. It was there apparently I started to scream.

I was put on blood thinners and clot busters, and after an MRI, the neurologist found a micro blister in my right vertebral artery which clotted and caused me an aneurysm. Good thing for me I had to foresight to head to the hospital (because I thought I had a migraine and a maybe a stomach flu) according to my doctor that if I waited another hour, I'd have died....so there's that.

So after going through many tests with a cardiologist, neurologist and another brain scan, blood tests...the specialists couldn't figure out what caused the blister. But I will have to take medication for the rest of my life now. So that will be something that's part of my new normal. And I wasn't allowed to run for the first two months.

It was in mid-December that I started to venture out and run, and it was actually very painful, but blissfully great. I loved the fact that I got back out there and I ran slow-ass and I hurt. But the hurt was more from being really out of running shape. I wasn't feeling 'off' this time so it was great. I got in a couple of more runs and in order to keep the flow going and ran my farthest come the new year on January 2, 2016 with the City Park Runners (CPR) group out to Misercordia Hospital, which back in the day would take me 35 minutes now took me closer to 45 minutes and the run back was longer...but what the hell...I was out there and had a great time.

Which leads me to thinking, in order to get back into running, it's best I sign up for the CPR running clinic. I was very apprehensive at first for signing up...but I'm glad I did as I learned a lot about myself. But I'll write about that in another post

Running days, the last of June and beginning of Summer

I took a week off after that OTS assessment and when I tried to get out on the road, my legs felt like lead and my ankles were still hurting. I don't know what the problem is, but I think I'm coming down with a cold or flu or something as my head feels like I'm underwater and my ears are plugged. I have the Afton Trail Run coming July 4th and I'm very excited about it as this will be my first ultra trail race and what better way to get into the ultra scene, by starting 'small' at 50km which is 31 miles, 5 more than a full marathon.

I've started running again, albeit slowly and really not pushing. I'm glad that my cardio fitness is still intact, but my skeletal-muscular fitness still needs a lot of work. I'm approaching the Afton 50k as one long ass slow distance run. Just enjoy myself and complete it and prepare my body for Twin Cities come October.

June 20, 2015 @ 8:04 AM

Legs still feel dead, welcome to Overtraining world

Took a whole week off as I'm suffering from Overtraining syndrome. My legs have been protesting to move and I've been feeling super exhausted all week. Still not 100%, not even close to 80% as I felt myself slowing down immensely at the end when I normally can handle this distance and pace. Take another day off and re-asses for Monday. 

11.33 kmDistance
5:52 min/kmAvg Pace
771 CCalories
1:06:29Time
13 mElev Gain

148 bpmAvg HR
160 bpmMax HR

177 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 22, 2015 @ 7:04 PM

Wk5 aerobic base - reset

After a full week off, I got back into it although my lower legs still feel achy but I'm sure this is from the extended time off as the effort level was a little too high for my HR and pacing (which I shouldn't be thinking about). This is almost a full reset as I don't want to panic right now.

10.12 kmDistance
6:00 min/kmAvg Pace
708 CCalories
1:00:40Time
15 mElev Gain

146 bpmAvg HR
158 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
199 spmMax Cadence

June 23, 2015 @ 6:08 PM

Hill Training at Westview Park

Good workout with Phil, Lori, Paul, Roberto and Sean.
7.83 kmDistance
5:30 min/kmAvg Pace
519 CCalories
43:01Time
63 mElev Gain

152 bpmAvg HR
167 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
218 spmMax Cadence

June 25, 2015 @ 10:38 PM

Wk 5 Broken ass, ankle and legs run

I felt good going into this run, and came out destroyed. I don't understand, but my achilles and ankles were just aching that I just stopped at the 6 mile mark and walked, limped home.

11.22 kmDistance
6:12 min/kmAvg Pace
704 CCalories
1:09:34Time
10 mElev Gain

139 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

175 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 29, 2015 @ 8:43 PM

Wk 6 aerobic base - hot, humid and loving it

The past couple of day I've been in a daze. My head feels like it's underwater and my ears are plugged. My legs feel like lead and both my ankles are just sore. I haven't run since last Thursday as I tried to take it easy and rest. Tonight I decided to go out and run, to take it easy and just ease into the run. Everything felt ok except the last mile where my body was aching but my pacing was even albeit a lot slower than I'm used to running. Part of it was the humidity, but I'm not complaining as I run about 3/4 of the year in the cold.  I'll keep a close watch on my health and hope that this bug passes.

9.11 kmDistance
6:02 min/kmAvg Pace
651 CCalories
54:55Time
8 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
155 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
210 spmMax Cadence

OTS and what it feels like to me

I've just managed to finish 3 weeks of running, but just barely. I learned from looking over my training log, that for the past 3 days I've been running too hard and I've pushed myself to my limits as I couldn't complete Sunday's LSD of a planned 13 miles. I only got just barely 4 miles in when I my legs just did not want to move. My left calve and both my achilles were just sore I can feel on the verge of a breakdown, so I just quit my run while I was just down Leila almost to the hospital and walked it home. Over Training Syndrome...OTS. UGH.

I'm actually very happy I did that because who knows what would have happened if I powered through. Well more likely a debilitating injury which would have left me on the shelf for a lot longer than I want or need to be.

Looking over my training log, I can tell exactly where I went wrong, but my ego got the better of me again and I decided to run for running's sake to keep a superficial streak alive when in reality my schedule conflict could not handle what my training plan had laid out.

Last Thursday, June 11, 2015 I headed out to City Park Runners and ran with the Thursday run club. It was a hot and humid day, but I was feeling really good and I know we normally run the Thursday runs at tempo. I was able to keep up with Lori, Geoff, Doug et al. who happen to be the more speedier group throughout the whole run. After the run I headed out to Assiniboine park to watch a friend of mine play ultimate frisbee.

It was Friday where I was just being an idiot. I felt great and was primed to head out in the evening, but I forgot I had my oldest daughter's year end dance recital. So after work, I attended that, and of course it ended late and after driving everyone home, it was already 10:00 PM and I didn't get out and start running by 10:20ish and I was in that anxious mindset to get the run done and over with because I had to get up early the next day to run with CPR for 8AM. I was already starting to strain close to the end of the run and forced myself to stop and walk the last block home to save my energy reserves.

Come Saturday morning, I get up for 6:30 AM after 5 hrs of sleep and ended up running another high tempo, high aerobic threshold run. It was hot and muggy and the last 2 miles, it was really starting to hurt over-extending myself to keep up with Dan and Phil. But what made the day worse, was when I got home, there was no rest as I had the girls with me this week and I had to do some driving to the bank and grocery shopping and then head out to a wedding to which we didn't get home until 11 PM and even though I passed out, I got woken up by my oldest for a ride home as she was at a friend's birthday party and it was 12:30. So my sleep was broken and it was hard to get relaxed and fall back asleep.

Then I decide to run again on Sunday and ended up with a fail.Too much on my plate as I'm also helping my sister prepare for a big move. I'm just feeling really worn out right now and will take Monday off and rest. As I actually don't even feel like running.