Dirk's Junkie group - CLOSED (Page 50)

Good to hear your getting comfortable on your runs and I'm glad to hear your willing to go the extra mile and increase intensity but I think intensity work right now would be ill advised.  I would advise you to stick to all easy running for a while longer and only increase your distance/time by 5% right now.  You can slowly progress to 10% increases later but for now, with the injury being so recent with your back, I think it best to stay conservative.  (We really need to be able to see your logs to get real information of what you are doing to see your progress though.)  I know it seems like a big hurdle to overcome when you are trying to get faster but keep it easy and light for a long time, keep working on the core work for stabilizing the back and abdominals for the support required.

As an example of easy running Warren and Matt are the prime examples of what to do to get faster in the safest possible way.  With your injury history I think that is the best way to proceed.

Gotta catch up but wanted to gripe really quick to people who understand......

Spent all that time reading/learning how to do a HR test, completeting the test, getting my HR zones and now don't you know it - my HR strap is not working!!!!!!!!!! Changed the batteries, cleaned it, wet it and still nothing. If anyone has some suggestions on how to make this thing work let me know!

GRRRRR

So back to RPE for now. For lent I have given up any unnecessary purchases so I will have to wait to buy a new one.

Not sure if this is your issue, but a while back I had problems with my Polar HR sensor dropping out all the time.  I bought this stuff and it fixed the issue.  It's like the stuff they smear on you at the doc office. 

Sometime HR monitors can take a few minutes to start registering correctly, so make sure you wait long enough.

I'd agree with Dirk on ramping up volume first, keeping everything at an easy pace.  There are three variables you can muck with running - frequency, time, intensity. 

As a fellow injury recover-er, I really believe you should go frequency first, then time, then intensity.  Don't move from one to another until you are tapped out with what life realistically allows you to repeat week after week.  So if you can find the time to run 4 times a week, work toward that first, even if the runs are ridiculously short.  Then *eventually* run as long as possible for each of those runs.  Only until you've tapped frequency and time should you really need to add intensity.

As far as the 10% rule, 10% is the upper limit on safely increasing distance.  Most of us, particularlyolder and more injury prone folks, are better served going much slower.  5% sounds great.  It's shocking how fast it adds up if you increase consistently.  And then take a week to rest a little, either by backing off or by staying about the same, when your body says its time.  There are those who would even say to hit a plateau every so often and stay there for a few weeks.

If you want to see my journey, my logs are up to date and accurate.  I was coming off an injury ravaged season last year with very little running from May-Oct due to calf and Achilles problems.  I started with 20 minute runs in Nov, and so far so good.  I don't yet have a crazy race result like Matt to show off my new run fitness, but May 7th I hopefully will.

Dirk, I am thrilled you got to have that adventure and soak it all in.  I've been to Colorado, but not Wyoming (yet). 

I have heard that there has NEVER been a documented case of a wild wolf attacking a human....NADA, never.  But I have heard of a wolf saving a man who was lost in a blizzard once.   The guy laid down to freeze to death and the wolf snuggled up and stayed all night.  Anyway, just a story.

Black bears are almost harmless too.  More people are hit by lightning than harmed by wild black bears.

Grizzlies and mtn lions are different though....

Stan,  I got to ride around Lake Tahoe once in 1987.  What an awesome ride!

Running slower is far easier on the back.  The back strain can be related to stride length.  So if I were you I would fully tap out your short runs by continuing to add only distance before speed. 

In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to ONLY run slow, eventually long, almost forever.  (I am not really in the mainstream with my running philosophies...I think that speed work, or tempo runs are only appropriate for people who've reached a certain level in their training).

I'm back, I think.  After a couple weeks of some pretty intense pain (I couldn't put on my own socks) I am doing much better now.  I have some soreness, but no actual pain.  I actually took paid meds for a week, which I have never done before.

I'm having a hard time getting any kind of straight answer out of the PT about how to resume training.  My feeling is that they understand so little about backs and back injuries that I'm kind of on my own.  And frankly, I'm a little scared about starting back too fast.  But I'm also a little scared that I've lost a month of training that I can't make up.  Their diagnosis was a herniated lumbar disc.

I don't really know where to start, or how much to train.  I was thinking of trying something like 15 minutes of swimming today, 15 minutes of running tomorrow, and 15 minutes of biking Thursday and see how it all feels.  I figured I'd wait until the soreness is gone before resuming weight training.  I would appreciate any feedback.

I think the reason you can't get a straight answer is that everyone's back problems are so different.  The amount you can do, the things you can do, whether something will make it worse...all vary from person to person.

You need to learn from experience, unfortunately. 

As for waiting for the soreness to be gone before resuming weight training...I would say that's also a trial and error thing.  When my back is really bad, I still lift.  Not that I directly challenge my back, but the gentle movements of getting up and down from the benches and moving around the weight room helps my back to feel better.

Sorry David. 

Did some snooping around regarding wolf attacks for Dirk.

I was a little bit wrong...

In the USA, there have been 2 fatal wolf attacks since 2000.  Both in Alaska.  Now all bets are off if you are walking your dog.  Because they will go after the dog and you may get bit in the process of trying to fight them off...

Seems that most attacks are way in the past.  There are a bunch that happen with domesticated wolves.

Small children seem to be at the greatest risk because they are smaller than the wolves. 

In Canada a man was attacked while in his sleeping bag.  I suspect if he were standing up he wouldn't have been attacked.

Apparently in Europe wolf attacks happen somewhat regularly with them being a real problem more than a hundred years ago.

It might be good to learn how to kill them with your bare hands.  (Which Dirk can do!) 

Or outrun them (Which Dirk can also do!)

Or run with a slower runner, since you don't have to outrun the wolf, you just have to outrun the person you're with!

Dirk,  that trip sounds incredible!  I love the pictures and it definitely makes me want to head out West.  I agree about the sense of accomplishment at the summit of any climb.  That's why I love backpacking.  You should really plan a trip up to the Northeast and we can do a bike trip and/or hike in the White Mountains!

The leg fatigue is really weird.  I almost enjoy it because I no longer have any little aches or pains in my muscles at all.

PS...I wrote the fact that you ran a 10:53 mile down on my calendar. 

I'm going to give it this week and if my left shoulder doesn't feel better, I'm going to go get it checked out.  I'm a little worried.  The pain isn't bad, but it's annoying and I get a twinge every time I use it.

That's the best advice. Always have someone to outrun.

My family and me saw a mother and cub bear once in Yosemite while hiking in the mountains. They just wandered along a trail in the other direction, probably 50 yards away. Here in Maryland, bears are often seen around the bike route of the SavageMan tri, near Deep Creek lake. They generally don't get close enough to worry about. There are also a lot along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive where a lot of people from around here go to bike. Don't get too close and don't get between a mother and her cubs. That's pretty much all you need to do. They just don't care what you're doing.

As far as wolf attacks go - just don't live in Eastern Europe or wander around the woods by yourself in the winter!!

I think I mentioned an old shoulder injury before - where it would throb a little and then be REALLY painful when I hit a certain point. It sounds like you have a similar thing. Mine comes and goes anyway, but I actually helped it by getting into the pool and doing some easy swims with a nice relaxed shoulder. Since I did that it hasn't bothered me at all.

Self-diagnosis says the nerve running to my little finger and ring finger was trapped somewhere in my shoulder. Every time I hit a certain point it felt like someone "plucked" the nerve like a guitar string and those two fingers would go numb. As I said, a nice, gentle swim fixed it!!

I know what you mean about the leg fatigue too - it's like your legs are just doing their own thing while you enjoy the ride on top. I've had it a few times and I'm looking at the scenery, saying hi to other runners and walkers and generally being obnoxiously happy. It may be fatigue, but it should be called awesome fatigue!

I tried some conductive gel that I had laying around the house but it didn't do anything. It was breaking in and out a couple of rides ago. Then the next time it didn't register a heart rate at all so I just thought it was the battery. I'll keep trying it though. I bought the Garmin and extras used off of someone on BT so who knows what the history of it is. It looks like I can get a new one pretty cheap.

Has everyone been taking their daily dose of ice cream? (or twice daily!)

It really does fix everything.  In fact, I have heard it helps failing heartrate monitors.

It's the ideal recovery food, prerace food, and performance enhancer. 

Want to run as fast as Dirk?  Eat ice cream.

Want to run a 7:00 mile UP a mountain?  Eat ice cream.  I'm sure Dirk just didn't have ice cream handy in Wyoming...

I have been taking just the one dose daily, but my dosage amount would be lethal to the average human.  Someday this will catch up to me, but today is not that day.

I want some input.  I am planning my year for real.  I have a very important race middle of August.  I am the bike leg of a HIM relay team with two very good friends I've been trying to get into this crazy sport.  That race is going to be my A- race.

The following weekend is the race I was considering my A race.  I have a choice of Oly or HIM.  I originally was going to do the Oly, but I'm really getting the itch to do the 70.3.  Maybe us slower folks like the challenge of longer distances, I don't know, but I am really feeling like I want to do a half this year and maybe a 140.6 next year while I'm still "youngish".

I also found out that the runner from my relay team will be able to get me a sweet TT bike to use for part of the summer and the relay race, and I'm guessing that I can keep it for another week and hammer out the half with it.

So what do you all think - Oly or half the week after my 56 mile bike TT?

 As I was running up the mountain I thought about this a little bit and it seemed like I had heard something similar.  Then as I was flying out of Cody I asked a local that was in the seat next to me about wolf attacks and he said he hadn't heard of any in 30 years of living there.  My nerves did calm down a bit as I got closer to the top of my climb and felt much more comfortable but I was also still on high alert.

I also may begin to take someone else with me for any more wilderness runs but I think I will try Warren's suggestion rather than rely on my own speed.  LOL

Warren, want to go for a run with me out west sometime?

Ha!  This is most definitely the secret to my success!  Ice cream is a must to my diet AND I did have ice cream in Wyoming on 2 occasions.  I also fall into the same category as Warren, I could eat enough ice cream to kill an elephant.

The trip hiking sounds like a great idea.  I would love to take a trip out there sometime.  Hiking, biking and running in the mountains sounds like a brutally awesome vacation.

And...........Really you wrote down that I ran a 10:53 mile???  LOL 

Hopefully your shoulder heals quickly and you can get back to a normal swimming routine.  If not Warren is likely to catch you in the water and then he'll have those bragging rights.

Waiting patiently for Easter. No sweets until then! But I'm already making plans for a dairy queen peanut buster parfait .

Great "Call of the Wild" story Dirk. I have never been out to the western mountains - would like to see them one day.

The ice cream is really double chocolate soy ice cream....and I've stayed away....but hear it calling me.....need the speed!