I’ll talk running here on a more ad hoc free-form sort of way. Being a pub of sorts, I’ll bring up pro, and college sport here and there, plus news related to running. (like NCAA XC this weekend).
First though, an update on my own running, and what the heck, it’s been a bumpy up and down ride for the past year and a half.
Last year I had some good training weeks and races but they were interspersed with periods of feeling run down and not recovering well. It started in early 2015 when I’d feel great or good in races but kind of off in-between. I chalked it up to stress with lots of transitions and aging a bit. Doing my first (probably only) Pikes Peak Ascent was a highlight—but then I really crashed through most of the fall. Just feeling off. Pulled it together for late fall cross country, winning my age at the USATF state meet and placing in the top 10 for my age at nationals in SF, in probably the deepest field ever for all age groups. There were more than 500 runners in the 40-59 age groups, and 200 running separately in the 60+ age groups. I had pined for a top 3 in my age, and 5 years ago would have been in there, but the masters depth keeps getting better and better.Still I felt good about that, and looked forward to 2016.
However, I fell way off the pace running my early season races 10 seconds per mile slower than the previous year. My mileage and weight were about the same, and workouts equivalent, but I wasn’t recovering. In April I did a half marathon here, and ran 4 minutes slower on the same course as the previous year. I’d been telling myself all this time—get thee to a doctor and get a blood test. So I finally did, thinking iron or vitamin D deficiency. Was surprised to learn that those were fine, but the long-term blood sugar test (A1C) indicated a pre-diabetic condition, and my cholesterol was off the charts at 264.
But rather than start in on statins right away, I eliminated things like pizza, white bagels, and desserts/candy and started eating more fish (salmon and omega fatty fish), oatmeal, and such. Within weeks I dropped 4 or 5 lbs and felt better. And my running turned around quickly, with an age group win at Bolder Boulder 10K (largest in the US) in May. At the end of June I ran a road relay in Norway and Sweden, running 8-11K all out 4 days in a row (felt about like finishing a marathon, by the last day)—which was a huge personal highlight, being overseas on a running road show for four days in a row. Follow up blood tests showed vast improvement in cholesterol.
Time to gear up for fall, with the plan to run a marathon in Washington, followed by another crack at the USATF masters XC championships in Florida. At the end of July did a 10K in Colorado Springs, running a minute faster than Bolder Boulder, with the marathon was less than 2 months away. Then disaster.
A week later I was doing a little recovery run/warm-up on a footpath along a creek here. There was a puddle in front of me, and I changed direction slightly to go around the puddle. Caught my toe on a small embedded rock, probably not sticking up more than an inch, and flew face first into the puddle. I dislocated my shoulder, which on second thought is a misnomer, the fall and landing pulled my arm off my freaking body. That was pain. Relentless 9-10 until they knocked me out and reset it a couple hours later. Fortunately I was not in a remote area and was able to get the hospital fairly quickly. With as much running far away from anything or anyone as I’ve done, I can’t imagine if it had happened 5 or 10 miles up a trail on the Continental Divide.
Tore some cartilage from the fall and partially tore the rotator cuff, so I had surgery at the end of August. The first month was pretty miserable, but I’m coming back now. Running up to 40 mile weeks, mostly on the treadmill. The doctor doesn’t want me outside until the end of the year, but I’ve been sneaking out a couple times a week, and plan to run a road 10K next month—as long as the surface is safe and not snow or ice covered.
So I'm deferring the second half of 2015 to the first half of 2016, but not sure if a marathon is in the mix. And I'll probably set most trail running aside, because I don't want to go through this again. That's a bummer because it's something I have enjoyed for decades. Just not as nimble as at 20, 30, 40, or even 50.
