Baby Steps

One mile! I ran a mile yesterday, on a rubbery high-school track, in my orthotics. No pain at all. I shuffled rather slowly, probably ten or eleven minutes, but it felt wonderful! The podiatrist had said that I could try a short run today, ten days after receiving the new orthotics, but to stop immediately if there was any pain and then, if so, wait another ten days. TEN DAYS! But if no pain I can run every other day, building back up very carefully. Easy, easy does it. Tuesday another run, maybe only a mile again.

I got back from a rather hasty three-day trip to Tennessee just today, so I haven’t written to this log in a while. Previous training that I should mention:

Monday, July 30, we three drove to Afton State Park where Sunshine and Sweet Pea ran the hills and I rode my bike for 90 minutes. My first comprehensive visit to this park, it’s excellent for runners who want to run trails and hills. Some trails are open to bikes, but not a lot.

Tuesday, July 31, I rode a 21-mile route that included some gravelly trails and plenty of hills, clocking a speed of about 14 mph. As always. But I’m satisfied with that for now. One day I’ll borrow a road bike and see what I can do on the flat. Except there really is no flat around here, not for more than a mile or two at a time.

Yesterday, after the run, we three went to the nearest park and biked for ninety minutes. That felt good too, riding a fairly tough route and clocking about 13.6 mph for 18.6 miles. Lots of hilly asphalt bike trails, caution at intersections, and plenty of flat but rough trail along the RR track. I can’t decide whether I like roads or trails better. Completely different, of course, each with its own challenges and rewards. Maybe I’ll never decide.


Breakfast:

Organic oatmeal, organic fat-free milk, organic strawberries, blueberries, fresh mango, Dove dark chocolate. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 4.

Lunch:

Hormone-free antibiotic-free pork chop (small), broccoli with organic lemon juice, fresh mango, watermelon. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 4.

Dinner (a different day):

No-antibiotic no-hormone pork chop, organic grapes, organic Ranier cherry, sweet potato pie (organic sweet potato, organic pumpkin, organic eggs, local honey, molasses, organic skim milk, pecans). Estimated Weight Watcher points = 8.

Tour de France

Not exactly the Tour, but I did ride the bike this morning. Short ride out, then 15 hilly loops in a quiet residential area, then a short ride back. Total of 14.25 miles in almost exactly an hour. Gosh that seems slow. I’m watching the Tour de France right now and they are SO much faster! Uff-da. Average of 27 mph today for over 100 miles, on Belgian roads as flat as a pannekoeken.

Nevertheless my heart rate and breathing were at least as fast as they would be running 8:30 miles or so. This was a good workout. Best of all, NO knee trouble. Is that because this was a hilly ride, with a lot of pedaling while standing up? Or maybe my knee is just getting better. Also best of all, my sweeties were running on the same roads, so I gave and got a smile and a wave every few minutes.

I love this time of year when I can watch the Tour de France every day. In fact I just leave the TV on and watch it several times a day.

Foot doctor tomorrow. I'm learning to enjoy biking, but I'm really a runner and will return to training when the plantar fasciitis is resolved. Soon, please!



Organic oatmeal, organic milk, organic strawberries, organic nectarine, blueberries, banana, organic candied ginger. Estimated Weight Watcher points = 5.

Exercise Bicycle

The exercise bicycle at this hotel is ancient and mostly broken down, but I rode it today for 50 minutes, which might be about equivalent to 5 miles running. I forgot to pay attention to breathing, which is my best indicator, but I was sweating and it felt like hard work, so maybe it is equivalent. What’s especially nice about these machines is that you can read while exercising, which is hard to do in the pool. So I caught up on Myeloma Today and Running Times, stuff like that.

The foot with plantar fasciitis feels a LOT better today than yesterday, especially after the exercise bicycle. Hmmm.

Pool Running 101

The plantar fasciitis is getting better, and I think I could run, but I’d rather not annoy it yet. I’m on the road in Alcoa, Tennessee today, where there are wonderful blacktopped biking/running trails along wooded Pistol Creek, lighted at night, going right past my hotel, useable all year around. So very tempting, but today I tried pool running instead. I “ran” for two hours and a minute, breathing as if I were running a marathon. I think it was a total success, roughly equivalent to 12 miles, and I feel wonderful afterward. Exhausted and exhilarated.

I spent just a few minutes researching “pool running” on the internet first, and didn’t get a lot of guidance in that time. As far as I can tell you are supposed to move your legs in an upright posture as if you were running. A flotation device can make it easier, so I wore a thin lifejacket. I don’t know what you should do with your hands. The hotel pool is only five feet deep at its deepest, not quite enough, so I had to be sure not to stub my toes. I found that the running action of my feet tended to pull me slowly forward no matter the angle of my body in the water. Therefore, since the deepest part of the pool was relatively small, I had to constantly turn and reverse myself to avoid banging into a wall or the sloping pool bottom. Eventually, I had the best luck backed up to the pool’s ladder, grasping that with my hands behind me and holding on.

That was powerfully boring, but then again it was easy to drift off and think about something else because, no matter how hard I worked, I wasn’t going anywhere. It’s not so much like running as like pedaling a bike, actually. Or maybe I did it wrong. If you have a suggestion, please indulge me with a comment. I didn’t bring drinking water with me, and next time I will; I got a little dehydrated despite being in several thousand gallons of water. Gels might be good too, on a longer run.

But I didn’t get hot! Or sunburned, except perhaps on my face; I’ll wear sunscreen there next time; happily the sun went behind a building halfway through. And although my head was always out of the water, my normally soggy forehead didn’t sweat at all, probably because the pool water kept my body cool despite the exercise. Breathing was three to four “footfalls” per full breath, just as when I run at marathon pace. Pool running is not exactly running, but it’s a LOT better than sitting in the hotel room watching the Indy 500, which I did anyway later.
Supper in the hotel room afterward, watching the Indy 500:

• Salad: Organic "fresh herb salad" (romaine, spinach, herbs, buried underneath), avocado, organic strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, vinegar.
• Main course: Twelve-grain whole-grain bread, asiago cheese, smoked cheddar cheese, organic grapes, cashews, mustard.
• Dessert: Another oatmeal porter, and an orange.

Elliptical Again

The left foot with plantar fasciitis was a little better this morning I think, maybe better than it has been since the Race for the Cure 5k two weeks ago. Nevertheless I want that foot to heal completely if possible, so I “ran” the elliptical machine again today rather than run with my Saturday morning group. I suppose Cap’n Randy was there this morning, fresh from his trip up the Mississippi, and if so I’m sorry I missed him. But my sweeties and I did pretty well at the club instead.

750 calories burned on two elliptical machines, equivalent to about six miles of actual running. The machines said 6.3 miles in total. One of the four Procor machines in the club allows me to lower the “ramp” so that I can “run” upright in a fairly normal motion without really having to hang on to anything with my hands. I like that the best because it simulates running more closely, and I spent most of the calories on that one. Level 9, 165-170 strides/minute, about 13.5 calories/minute. That level of effort results in a heart rate of 125-130, which is a heart rate that I can sustain for hours.

Yesterday’s exercise was mowing the lawn for 3.5 hours, using a human-propelled rotary mower. It’s really pretty good exercise!

Next week maybe some pool running.