Walk it Off

California light

Seeps into my existence

And anchors me here.

Thursday, January 27, 2022

 When I was a kid almost any injury was healed with the all-encompassing medical treatment of “Walk it off.” That seemed to work surprisingly well pretty much all the way through my life until now.

Now I’m fighting that advice as best I can, but it’s tough having been brought up and lived with that mindset my entire life. In fact, it’s only gotten worse as I’ve gotten older.

Although I’ve had a few injuries, broken clavicle, broken rib, broken hand, hernia surgery, and one overnight hospital stay after a bike accident that left with multiple stitches across my face, that required a certain number of days off, rarely have I let soft tissue injuries sideline me.

There was a time about 25 years ago where I developed acute plantar fasciatus pain, I don’t recall ever stringing that many days off to let it heal. I did go to a P.T. and it did work itself out. I did cut down on my runs and cut a few runs short, but for the most part I stuck to the tried and true of “walking it off.”

Now I have a very slight calf strain and for a few weeks I’ve been trying to walk it off. Particularly because as an older athlete I’m fearful of taking prolonged rest periods and losing my accumulated conditioning. Also because I’ve just gotten into a workout routine that I really enjoy and was working very well for me.

But not only can I see the writing on the wall, I can see Bob and Brad and so many other Youtube P.Ts. out there telling me that I’ll just make things worse and prolong my recovery if I don’t ease up a bit and be sensible about the tools I use to rehab my calf.

So here it is. I’m not walking it off. At least for the next few days. I’ll listen to the pain signals. I do gentle massages. I’ll cross train on the bike if it doesn’t hurt.

I’ve got a half marathon at the end of February then a race just about once a month after that. I want my routine back. I want to be in great shape this year. I don’t want to keep fighting through a nagging injury. So, rest it is for hopefully a very short period of time. And then the hell with walking. I’m going to get back out there and run again.

Solo

 Whispers of white hair

Sweep across the sky.

God is an old man.

 Thursday, January 20, 2022

 While returning from REI on my nearly year-old Can Am Spyder F3, the vehicle I passed over to purchase my Spyder turned in front of me; an Electra Meccanica Solo.

 Not that I’m into cars or that this is going to be about why I chose one three wheeled vehicle over another, but the serendipitous passing reminded me just how much I prefer to do things alone.

 At work we have a new guide who runs. He’s wanted me to join him. And although I recognize there would be training benefits to running with a better runner, I’m just not interested.

 At some points in my training, I have trained with others and enjoyed it, but even then most of my workouts were done alone.

 I did do group track work for a while and rode with the LA Tri Club for a few years on Saturdays and recognize that the group dynamics were not only beneficial athletically but also socially.

 But it also meant travel and not always doing the workouts that I wanted to focus on.

And now that I’ve been on my own training schedule for about 10 years, I just prefer to get out and do what I want to do when and where I want to do it. That possibly may hurt my performance but it might also have kept me in the game longer as it now requires that I hold myself accountable for why I’m out there and how hard I push myself.

Blind Spots

Earthen brown feathers

Span the wings of the falcon

Soaring down below.

 Tuesday, January 11, 2022

 There is an old expression that goes, “For every dark cloud there’s a silver lining”. I’m a believer in opposites, with the opposite of that expression being, “For every ray of sunshine there’s a going to be a blind spot.” This is a blind spot story.

 Like many of you, I’ve struggled with resource allocation trying to balance work with leisure. Leisure for me being predominantly running, cycling and hiking.

 For most of my life, and like many of my generation, that meant working a 9-5. Well, close enough in my case, as an elementary school teacher I did have 3 months off per year, but the job wasn’t exactly punch the clock on your way out and your done either. But my hours were also a little slanted being more like 6-3 which allowed me enough decent light in the afternoons to get outside and get a decent work out in.

 Although I was doing reasonably well at my chosen sports, it wasn’t easy, and I always dreamed that someday I would be in a situation that would allow me both the time and income to focus on my athletic goals.

 In the past few months, I finally have been working the work schedule I thought would allow me that opportunity.

 How did this come about?

 After retiring from teaching 5 years short of a full pension I needed another source of income. During the past four years I have been working full-time at a prestigious wellness center. My schedule originally had me working four days per week. An improvement over teaching, but still not ideal. But a few months ago, an opportunity arose that would allow me to work a straight 54-hour shift. I persistently began to persuade my supervisor of the benefits of this schedule and to my delight she agreed. My new schedule now has me working a straight 54-hour shift from Saturday morning until Monday afternoon. With the bonus that my supervisor is willing to allow me the occasional Saturday morning off to compete.

 At the time I thought I finally had the ideal work shift as it would provide me the income to indulge in travel, the equipment I prefer, and the time off I need to train and recover.

 This, as it seems with all of life, has only turned out to be partially true as those rays of sunshine have produced a few blind spots.

 I expected it to be strange to be away from home all weekend, but Kimme does work with me on Sunday morning. But here’s the blind spot… I really miss our dog, Luna, a lot.

 Another blind spot relating to doing two overnights in a row is that when I had only one overnight shift, I never slept well. But I thought with back-to-back overnights, at least during the second night I’d get a decent night’s sleep. That hasn’t happened, so now I’m not sleeping two nights in a row which, to my surprise, has not seemed to affect my work performance to date. But I’m not keen on playing the Russian roulette sleep routine much longer as my job, on Monday morning, after two nights of very little sleep, requires that I transport a large group of guests down Yerba Buena, a very windy road to get us to our destination.

 On the bright side, the shift in hours has been a boon to my athletic ambitions. Though still not ideal, on my four and a half days off I do now have a schedule that provides me with the time to work out pretty strenuously while still having plenty of time to put me feet up rest and relax.

 Though even with that there have been a few blind spots to contend with. One is that I that I thought I would be able to do strength work twice a week, once Monday afternoon when I get home from work and again on Wednesday. So far that hasn’t happened as I’ve just haven’t been able to force myself to workout on Mondays after my long shift.

 Secondly, I thought working the long weekend would improve my diet. Given that I work at a wellness center that is known for its very delicious, nutritious, and low-calorie cuisine, I figured sticking to that diet would keep me on the right path to maintaining my ideal weight. But, just like most offices, there is a decent amount of junk food always being brought in and to date I have not had the discipline to refrain from indulging. And now that my hours are all strung together, I find that I’m grazing on that junk a lot more than I use to. So again, there’s another blind spot to deal with.

 However, as it’s still pretty early on into what I consider the best work shift I could ask for outside of being independently wealthy, I still have hope I’ll end up sleeping and eating better and I’m also resolved to getting my workout schedule fixed.

When I’m 64

 Sleeping on my back,

Bearing the weight of the moon,

Dreams are clear and cold.

 Friday, January 7, 2022

Being a Beatles fan, it’s hard not to think about Paul’s “When I’m 64” as I approach my 64^th birthday. It’s not a very cheerful ditty about getting older and I myself have mixed emotions about what this year means.

 I also recently read about putting middle age into perspective by considering you have about 5,000 or so decent weeks left. That’s still too large a number to grasp how precious this time is, so I’d prefer to think in terms of the old childhood/school teacher summer vacation. In that case I have perhaps 10 decent summer vacations left before me.

 What to do with those? I’m going to take those one summer at a time right now. 

Pre-Covid I began the Colorado Trail and I’d like to do another section, though I’d also like to do a trail back east; particularly the Baker Trail in Pennsylvania. One of those has to be on this summer’s list.

 I’m also planning on competing in The Toughest Man duathlon competition in New York at the end of September.

 To make the most of these goals I want to be in the best shape I can be which means to continue to focus on strength training and tweaking my diet. I intend on being in the best shape I can be for my age so I can finish this 64^th year feeling I put everything I had into it.

 I’m sure there’ll be other significant plans to be made for this year, but for now I’ll focus on these to get me through one of my few remaining summer vacations.

Subtle

Mirror of water

Shows what little sun there is

Under these dark skies.

 Wednesday, December 29, 2021

 At a friend’s suggestion I’m re-reading Why We Run. And as an interesting coincidence I hit the chapter on diet right at the end of the year. The author just finished talking about how heavy he is compared to elite marathoners of similar height like Jim Rodgers and Frank Shorter.

 Like the author, for the past several months I’ve been thinking about my diet and how I can reduce my weight while maintaining strength.

 I’m also feeling a bit proud of myself as this will be the first new year I can remember where I haven’t gained at least 5 lbs. through the holidays which causes me to spend the next 6 months fighting to lose it. In fact I’ve managed to lose a few lbs. and am now down to 142 without any loss of endurance or power. 

This was all accomplished with subtle changes that took months to show results and I still feel I can make even a few more minor tweaks and lose a few more pounds before my big races this spring.

 The three changes I made were giving up cheese, only eating one slice of sourdough bread a day, and going down to one cup of coffee on most days. Exactly how those changes have induced weight loss I can’t say

 I’ve also been able to maintain a pretty hard training regimen this year thanks to good weather (up until two weeks ago), and having races to train for.

 This has me very excited about what I can accomplish this year with a big head start on race weight starting from day one in 2022.

I’m Human

 

 Friday, December 24, 2021

 A forthright killer,

She rests her jaws on my throat

And easily sleeps.

 Every Sunday at dinner here at the Ranch we practice gratitudes. But, this being the last Sunday of 2021 I thought I’d break with tradition just a bit and start with a toast leading into gratitudes.

 With all the uncertainty of the past few years, along with the stresses that can accompany the holiday season, my wife and I were having a discussion and at some point one of said “I’m human.” And the way that this was said, as it is often, “I’m human” was meant to say I make mistakes, I’m flawed, and since you’re also human, you should understand that.

 All that is true.

 What I propose, and what I’d like to toast to and am grateful for is that I am human, and perhaps unlike any other species, we have the capacity to see not only how our flaws cause harm to ourselves and to others, but also to other living things, and we can use those insights to change our behaviors and create a better self and hopefully a better world.

 

That’s pretty special and that’s what I’m grateful for. So to us. We’re human and I’m grateful for it.

Small Changes

 The sadness of rain.

The cloudy visions of tears.

Time is a gray wash.

 Tuesday, December 14, 2021

 After having a series of several good races I’m going to change things up a bit.

 Why? For a couple of reasons;

 1.    My upcoming races and goals aren’t quite the same. The recent races were intermediate trail races with a turkey trot thrown in for good measure. My next goal races are a road half marathon at the end of February, a 50k trail race, then some duathlons after that.

2.    Life gets stale doing the same workouts week in and week out. Tweaking things a bit helps to keep the interests up.

I’m not going to make any drastic changes; stretch my one outside ride a bit, throw in a 6 mile trail run at the end of it every other week, run a longer long run every other week, change up my lifting slightly, continue to work on the diet to get under 10% body fat by my birthday…Hopefully, just enough changes to keep me interested and hanging in there.