Post Op

I was going to write a witty post about going into surgery but I am still a bit stupid.

But here is the short version:

• I had my surgery on Tuesday afternoon.
• My ankle is ugly but seems to feel pretty good
• I think it went well but my doctor hasn't called me back yet...(more on that later)
• I don't really like being on pain pills because they make me loopy 
• Ice cream makes everything better

When I can put full sentences together I will write more about it...but here is a picture of me looking great before I went in the operating to get fixed. To get my ankle fixed you sickos.

On Inspiration, over shooting, and cutting deep

So the last two week were long. There was Passover in LA with the family, the drive there and back, the scheduled ankle surgery, the postponed ankle surgery, the ED trip, the trip back to the ED to find out what was causing the gastric distress and diagnosis of acute colitis, and then MEB WON THE BOSTON MARATHON AND THAT WAS SUPER COOL.

Now for more color. I was getting ready for what my doctor said was a simple ankle surgery on Friday morning. It was going to take about 30 minutes and I would be off crutches within a few days. It would take care of the chronic inflammation that goes away after a few weeks of rest and comes back after a week of running. Very simple he said, does them all the time he said. So I said let's do it.

On Thursday night I started my mandated fast but started feeling my stomach bubbling up.  I figured it was nerves. I didn't sleep very well, again chalking it up to nerves. But when I got to the surgery center the cramps and nausea didn't subside, and in fact got worse. I tired to power through but the pain in my gut just didn't stop. Finally I choose to go home and get some rest and liquids in my stomach.

I thought I was going to be fine and was pissed about not sucking it up; then the cramps just wouldn't stop. They were incredibly strong and were getting worse. So off to the hospital we went. The doctor thought I was a wimp and said it was most likely nerves. Now, I trust doctors most of the time and I tend to think ED folks see a lot of the same stuff so they probably would know what was up. But this wasn't nerves and I am not a wimp (an idiot sure, but not a wimp).

I blame Vegas and Meb

Weigh-in Wednesday: April 9, 2014 -- 214.2lbs

So this past week wasn't the best. As you may have noticed, I didn't do a full week in review and I gained weight. I was pissy, I wanted to get the hell out of Dodge, and I didn't want fall into a funk. I did start the week well but then I couldn't get past the end of the block while running on Thursday. It wasn't good.

But then we went to Vegas and it was great fun. My lovely wife and I met my parents for a weekend of eating, drinking, and throwing money away. As is tradition we ate copious amounts of food. The only exercise I took part in included doing arm curls with my drink or walking from one eating establishment to another.

Surprisingly this didn't fit into my get back into shape plans...but hey it was part of the getting mentally back into shape. So suck it.

Last night, it got late, we needed dinner fast, and I have been wanting to go to this Eritrean restaurant in our hood. It was great! Assab was everything I wanted and more. Honestly, I figured I would wake up put on my Sketchers and run a one hour half marathon. But I couldn't. I was really full and there was a ton salt in that delicious Eastern African food.

I finished the same race (one year, two hours, 51 minutes later)

So it wasn't the best week. But tomorrow I will talk to the doctor to discuss next steps and have "run" 10 boring miles thus far on an elliptical machine. On ward and upward. Hopefully I will be running by next week and not prepping for surgery.

I got a pre-plan plan

I am back. My ankle is at a solid 85% nearly 95% of the time. The other five is either much better or not but at this point I see it as healing and on my way to the New York City Marathon.

I bet that guy to the right gave up.

But I am way out of shape. And not just running shape. But cardio, speed, strength, and perhaps most importantly, mental shape. I am way out of it.

So here it is, my perennial promise to keep this blog updated with my progress and engage in a number of Pintrest-like work outs where I look like an emaciated model doing lunges with script inspirational quotes floating above my poorly lit face, but perfectly sculpted ass.

But seriously I am promising to run about 20-25 miles a week based on pain, stretch and foam roll daily, one take a spin class and two core classes per week, and do two days of strength training until we reach the NYC Training Start Date (TSD). I will keep my goal weight of approximately 200lbs prior to the TSD and get below it for race day. I will blog. I will read. I will get in shape physically and mentally for the hard race that the New York City Marathon will be for me, both physically and mentally.

PLEASE KEEP ME HONEST.
STATS:
Weight: 213.2lbs
Week's Mileage: 8
Week's Classes: 50 min Spin
Week's Strength Training: Nothing Yet 

An alphabet of woe

Who among is righteous enough to say: ‘I have not sinned?’ We are arrogant, brutal, careless, destructive, egocentric, false, greedy, heartless, insolent, and joyless. Our sins are an alphabet of woe.

For those of you who weren't really hungry this weekend, let me fill you in. This line is from the Reform Jewish Movement's Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) liturgy. On Yom Kippur Jews confess their sins collectively so not to embarrass those who actually are heartless or insolent. The traditional Hebrew prayer, Ashamnu, is also an alphabetical acrostic.

This year, as always, I was not righteous enough to say, I have not sinned. This year, it was clear that I had committed just a few of these alphabetical sins, most obviously arrogance, carelessness, and destructive behavior.

And that was very clear as I stood for long periods during the communal confessions of these sins.

While the actual pain isn't the point, the time to sit and think about your short comings is exactly the point. My ankle hurt a lot during these extended standing prayers. So when we were sitting there and doing our thing, I had the time to contemplate my arrogance and carelessness.

I believe that after dealing with this injury, or rather not dealing with it, I won't commit these sins again. And it is also part of the liturgy that to truly atone, one must not only be sorry, but not do it again.

Happy New Year Jews and here is to not being an arrogant asshat in 5774. 

My Doctor and Everyone's Second Opinion

Yesterday's post elicited a number of emails and comments from running friends.  Nearly everyone of them started with "boy I am sorry about the news" and finished with "you should find another doctor."

While I thank everyone for their support, I don't think my doctor is wrong. Nor do I think I honestly represented what she told me.

Now here is what she actually said.

"I have been thinking about you and your dedication to running...let me put it this way, you never would have been allowed in the army during WWII." She went on to say that the mechanics of my feet (which are flat as a board) are not conducive to distance running. Additionally all those fancy pictures say that the other issues listed after the cyst on yesterday's post are most likely not directly due to my acute ankle sprain but rather thanks to the over 4,000 miles I have run in the past three years.

In other words, I have been beating up my feet and it really isn't a fair fight. 

This is not news to me. Since I was a kid, running wasn't easy for me. I was slow and big. I was always one of the last to finish the mile in gym class and I was in the bottom third of the football players during sprints and other such torture. My ankles always hurt when playing football and when I would push myself to work out when I was in college. But ever since I got better at running back in 2010, these problems weren't really a problem.

I ran uninjured until I hit 45 miles per week. That was too much. In addition to the flat feet, I was born stubborn. When combined with my flat feet and running, it became a dangerous.  I kept running through pain which lead to this situation.

Explitives but not only explitives

A ganglion cyst in my sinus tarsi. Stress reaction in under my sinus tarsi. Mild Achilles peritonitis and enthesitis. Mild peroneal tenosynovial inflammation and reactive edema in the subjacent portions of the calcaneus. Old injuries and scarring of the mortise joint ligament stabilizers. Mild posterior tibial tenosynovial inflammation and pes planus.

You can see the inflammation

Well that is what I got.

What I don't have: A stress fracture or a tear in my tendons. While this isn't great it isn't horrible. The real issue at hand is fixing the ganglion cyst in my sinus tarsi.  There are a number of things to do to fix it and I will start doing those things in the coming week or so. I will document that as well.

The bad news is the doctor says I shouldn't be running. Like not just not now, but not ever. That clearly won't do. I am trying figure out what I am going to do to get rid of this ganglion cyst in my sinus tarsi and other inflamed things in my left foot (I can't believe I haven't made more "My Left Foot" jokes) as I wrap my head around potentially never running another marathon.

A longer, and perhaps a more profound, post on this issue tomorrow. For now I am going to watch Sports Center and sulk. 

Running Myself Aground

My MRIs and XRays will be read tomorrow. I will hopefully find out what kind of damage has been done and what I will need to do to fix it.

I am getting nervous. Ok, I am just willing to admit that I am nervous. I have been nervous since not being able to run more than five miles without serious pain back in June.

And until this morning I was channeling this energy into less-than-healthy pursuits of eating lots of food and drinking lots of beer. And since I (less-than-) humbly bragged about my weight loss on this platform during my running days, I will humbly note that I am just about five pounds off my move-to-California weight. This is bad.

Recently I went to the doctor for a physical and received a very clean bill of health with cholesterol levels well above and below the right numbers, liver and kidneys found to be in good order, and everything else is working-as-intended. As he was leaving the room, the doctor said, "You are a healthy guy. (pause) You could do something about the weight, but otherwise you are very healthy." Yeah. Thanks Doc.

In the best case scenario, I will not be able to run for about six weeks. This means I need to figure out what the hell I am going to do to loss some of this nervous weight I have put back on due to my inability to run and feeling sorry for myself.

So in addition to using my trusty MyFitnessPal app again, I started swimming seriously last week complete with a training program for geared toward developing endurance. I love me a training program. It starts with a 50-100-150 pyramid warm-up, then the main workout is 400s broken out into odds and evens, with odds being a 100IM and 300 Free at a moderate to strong pace and evens being a 400 Free at a moderate pace.  I do a just-barely-not-drowning Breast stroke for the proscribed 200 cool down of "non-Free." Today I did three reps (odd, even, odd) of the main workout, total time in the water was about 50 minutes.

JCCSF: Where I swim with the yentas.

Swimming is fun and I am getting better at it as I continue to swim (shocking I know).  But it isn't running and I am not good. Also, even at my best, I look more like the old dudes doing aqua-floaty-aerobics than the Ironman bros doing mad laps in the fast lanes. Not that I care that much about how I look walking around the pool, but I actually care a lot about how I look walking around the pool. It is quite literally a slippery* slope regarding how I feel about how I look and what I can do about it at this point of my injury.

There will be no running for a while. So into the pool with the hopes of knocking out flip turns without having a gallon of water rush up my nose. Who knows, the doctor my proscribe me a floatation belt and I will get to know some of the older folks yacking it up in the deep end.

The update tomorrow may or may not be comprised solely of profanities. Fair warning.

-----------
*I made a "don't run on the deck" joke and it was very bad. Sorry about that.

Well, [Expletive]

I went back to the doctor today. Unlike my last appointment, I don't plan on running a marathon next week.  In fact, I am not sure I would be able to do so even if I was in shape for it.

Due to this change in circumstance it appears the doctor was more interested in finding the cause of my ankle pain and not simply patching me up enough to get on the road.*

After ignoring the pain for months and other stupid things like running when it hurt and being an idiot, I am off to get some radiation that isn't coming from the ocean.

I suppose injuries are part of running. But I would rather they weren't.  I also suppose that is part of the reason I ran through the pain.

My new doctor said today that I was "a tough guy" and it really has to hurt before "tough guys" come in to get checked out. The time line of my pain also supports her hypothesis. I hope that my imaging doesn't show some sort of long-term or permanent damage but you never know.  I trained really hard on a semi-nasty, long-nagging injury. It was stupid and I knew it was stupid, but I needed to get that tempo run in, you know?

There are many of us "tough guys" out there who train through pain and then are sidelined.  We know better.  We know we should stretch more.  We know we should strengthen our gluts and core. We know we should take the rest days seriously.  We know we should take the ice bath.  But do we do it? Many of us don't do enough or anything at all.

So while the insurance approves the MRIs and XRays I will have time to contemplate the fact that it is no long self-effacing humor to say I was stupid. I might actually simply be stupid. 

-----
*In retrospect it was probably not right of the doctor who I saw in April to say I could run the race in that condition without taking some sort of diagnostic imaging to back up her opinion. If the doctor said don't run, I wouldn't have run. I would have been pissed, but I also would most likely no longer be in pain.

An open letter to shoe companies

Dear Running Shoe Companies,

Every few months, I provide you with between $100 and $150. Most of the time I will purchase one kind of shoe for a year until you either change it drastically or I hurt myself and I need to try something new to support my newly found injury.  Dearest Running Shoe Companies, you may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up on this running blog over the last few months...and that is because I have been dealing with (or-not-dealing-with-whatever-leave-me-alone-I-am-going-to-the-doctor-tomorrow-shut-up) a hurt ankle.

So after working my last pair of shoes into the ground as part of my non-impact, non-running, very-boring work outs at the gym, I needed a new pair of running shoes. I decided a pair with significantly more support, perhaps even motion control, would be a good idea to protect my ankle from pronation thanks to my super flat feet.

I went off to Sports Basement to get a new pair of shoes and committed to the support. But to my dismay all of those options were ugly and monochromatic.  I am sure you know, Running Shoe Companies, I like to wear crazy shoes and wacked out running gear. But why you got to be like that with the supportive shoes?

Not all of us are grandmothers trying to get in a few laps with our mall walking group.  Some of your most dedicated runners are slightly larger with flat feet and flair for the dramatic running outfit. Ok that is just me, but really what gives?

Brooks, one of my favorite running companies has BRIGHT shoes and gear but BORING motion control kicks. Nike seems to have some fun stuff for the support-deficient crowd, but nothing like their insanely fun to look at Free Series or fly knit woven shoes.  Asics, makers of those neat-o painted shoes, make gray and blue shoes for people like me.

Step up your support shoe decorations folks. I like to look fly when I am running and it seems if I ever can get back to really covering great distances, I would like more choices than topee and light green stripes.

And yes, it feels good to be back even it if is only for five or six miles.

Send my best to your family,

thedcc

Without a plan

I don't have one of these right now.

For nearly the past three years, I have been constantly training for a marathon or half marathon.  I could have run a half marathon on one day's notice pretty much at anytime during this period. I had a plan I would stick to it no matter what, even to the determent of my own body (see: busted ankle posts).

But now, thanks to the parenthetically noted busted ankle, I am not following an official training plan.  And as I noted late last week, my not-on-paper plan of three runs and three spins was just a bit ambitious for my out-of-shape self. 

So I am without a plan. I feel lost and cold inside.

The Break is Over

Running in Rome.

Over the past month I have been recovering from my sprained ankle. I have done my rehab and some stationary biking, and clocked about eight total miles of running. Granted those runs were in Rome and Tuscany, so that part is cool.

Running under the Tuscan Sun

But now I got to get back into shape.

There were a bunch of stories of late in running magazines noting the benefits of elites taking time off and gaining weight and such. Well I have done that and I hope to reap those getting fat benefits.

After a fantastic vacation in Italy and New York and Chicago, it is time to lose the 10 pounds I found (read: stuffed into my mouth in the form of outrageous pasta, pizza, wine, salted meats, gelato, and other lovely foodstuffs) as well as the other 10 pounds I was hoping to have lost before this vacation started.

It will take time and I won't make the mistake of blasting out of the gate with too much for a semi-weak ankle and totally depleted cardiovascular system.

So I will only run three times a week for a max mileage of 25 miles and spin about three times a week along with continued rehab.  Like I said, nice and easy...

And we're back.

Tacoma City Marathon

Runners crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge
(via: The News Tribune)

Some things I have learned running the Tacoma City Marathon

• Whenever a race says it is a net down hill course they mean that there are lots of hills. 
• 75 degrees is nice for the beach but not for completely exposed miles 19 through 26.2.
• The Pacific Northwest is beautiful when the weather is nice. 
• But most importantly, don't run a marathon with a sprained ankle.

I was very worried about running 26.2 miles on a pretty much sprained ankle. Until Friday of last week, I wasn't so sure I would get through the race. But thanks to the improvement to my stability achieved in the last few days of PT, I went into Sunday with a pretty good idea that I would be able to finish but it would hurt, like a mother. 

Guess what?  I was right. I ran my second fastest marathon on a sprain, in 75 degree heat, on a rolling course through beautiful areas of a city I most likely will never visit again.  A win in my book.

Bosu Blogging is Like Gonzo Journalism

This week has been tough. The ankle, the complete and total taper (read: NO RUNNING), the PT, and the bosu ball. And then that pesky work thing.

Eric my PT, who thinks I am an idiot but respects the drive to toe the line, has put me on an increasing my balance regiment and somewhat impressively, it has worked pretty well. But he also has reintroduced me to an old friend: the bosu ball.

They call it a bosu ball because son-of-a-bitch ball was taken

Back in New York, I used the bosu ball to do fake sit-ups and pretend that I was in the work-out know.  I was not. I used it very rarely and it sucked. I do not like this piece of equipment and it doesn't like me. I would look at it as the torture devices I have learned it to be.

However this week I went from being unable to stand on it with both feet in the above pictured position, to being able to stand with one foot (either the good or bad one) flipped over for about 45 seconds before I fall off.  I think that is pretty good for a guy with a still-sorta-sprained ankle and NO balance.

The underlying issue I have, like so many runners, is extremely weak gluts.  Runners have lots of good things going on for them, however, atrophy of the gluts is not one of them.  This kind of weakness leads to a number of problems including an inability to stabilize and allow for my busted ankle to heal. So I have been balancing a lot.  I am getting good at it but still there is a little pain.  Well more like sore muscles I have never used.

#OperationGLOOMA

This past Friday, after not being able to run more than a half mile without extreme pain on Tuesday, I finally saw a doctor.  I went into the room expecting to walk out in a boot but I still wanted to put up a strong front.

I said, "My ankle hurts and has for about three months. I am running a marathon next Sunday. What can we do?"

The PA took notes, asked questions, a few of which had to do with my sanity for running as long as I did on a painful ankle.  Then the doctor came in and put it on the table.

It is official: I have been running for the past three months on a sprained ankle. To be more specific it is a Grade 2 Anterior tabofibular ligament sprain.

Well what does that mean?  For a normal person that would mean I would stop running and get physical therepy for a few weeks and continue to mend my weak ligament over the course of a month or so.

But for me, it means I am going to PT for five straight days, then getting on a flight to Tacoma to run my marathon.

But like I said, I got a plan. #OperationGLOOMA is in full effect and making great progress on the South Western front, otherwise known as my left ankle. #OperationGLOOMA or "Get Liquid Out Of My Ankle" is a complex project with many players, exercises, ultra-sound, ibuprofen, ice packs, and swimming pools.  Getting the liquid out will enable the fibers of the ligament to reattach and provide additional stability for my race. So you better believe I am all in on this week long campaign to win the war.

Something about Jack Kerouac

On the Road. Get it? It was funny. Ok. Sorry.

This weekend was filled with running goodness.  I was asked to cover the Pace Group Leader Duties as Burton was up in Napa for the aptly named Napa Valley Marathon. I was scheduled for 18 miles this weekend so I got in two before I meet up with the club for 16 more.

For the most part the Pace Group Leadership went pretty well.  I had some technical issues with the watch for the 8:1 run to walk beeps but it worked out alright.  Then we got to the Golden Gate Bridge. 

My running chum Susan from New York is terrified of heights.  So I spoke to her to distract her while we ran across the bridge and completely lost track of the pace. We went a bit fast...but after the pace group we passed on the San Francisco side of the bridge as they were using the rest rooms, had trouble catching up with us, we got the message to slow down.

The views were pretty.

The nine minute pace group taking the Southern Tower

View from the back of the group.

Hitting the Road, Again

After taking most of last week off for my bum ankle I hit the road on Saturday and the trails on Sunday for some mileage. And as any smart, risk-averse runner would do, I ran nearly 30 miles in two days.

Ok, not the best idea but it was fun.

Many of you know that Friday was National Margarita Day.  So like any good celebrators of stupid and/or made-up holidays, Abby and I sent out an urgent email to people from the 'hood to celebrate this important event.  We had expected about six or seven people to join us so we figured one bottle of tequila would have done the job well.

Turns out Jenni and Stephen were the only two people who also celebrate stupid/made-up holidays/could join in the mandatory celebration on short notice.  But we soldiered on and celebrated.  Fueled with homemade, from scratch margaritas and delicious Mexican food we had a lovely time. We fired up the heater outside and sang 80s song until about 11pm.

It also turns out drinking loads of tequila and beer doesn't make good fuel for a 10 mile run.

Classing it up with TJ's Tequila
(It is actually pretty good)

I was aiming to get about 12 or 14 miles on Saturday, but could only muster 10, and those 10 miles were very hard.  After running to the start and doing the club announcement as the board member on duty, I dragged through eight more miles of hills and heart burn. 

The rest of the day was spent on the couch and resting (read: passed out on the couch). 

Sunday was another day and I was not hungover. I planned on getting in about 15 miles on trails.  But I did 19.32 miles after needing to take a week off for my ankle. Yeah that wasn't the best idea but the run was beautiful.  (Are you sensing a theme yet?)

See:

DAMN. Mile 4

Top of the Hill

Mile 17. I was tired.

Lots of accents and descents, we ran out of water about half way through but just in time came to a bathroom and water fountain, and the views (see above) were incredible. It was hard, but fantastico.  While I did flip my ankle at about mile 14ish on a really torn up switch-back, over all we kept a pretty solid pace, were able to FLY down hill and hiked fast up the nasty grades. (3:47 for 19.32 miles)

The entire day took longer than I thought it would take and I missed some cool stuff in the city, and I am sorry about that.

My ankle wasn't pleased but it was a ton of fun.  Over the next few days my ankle worked better and the run was still pretty epic.

The over all lesson of the last weekend was don't drink a load of tequila before running and don't roll your ankle.  These are words to live by.