For the complete story please review my previous blogs on this subject:
Week 11
Day 71 (Thur) – I had a nice 1 mile walk today at work: The
weather was perfect for running so it works for walking too.
We had a health and safety expo at work today (I walked to it as part of my 1 mile walk); various departments within my company set up tables in our fire
department’s engine bays and everyone was encouraged to walk around and participate. I opted to get a flu shot that our medical
clinics were giving out at the expo even though I have the 10k in a couple
days. I don’t know if my immune system
is strong right now or not since I’m still recovering from surgery but I don’t
want to take the chance with the nasty flu bugs that tend to go around Vegas
and here at work.
Day 72 (Fri) – Physical Therapy today felt very good,
especially the ART with the therapist. I
told him about my left hip adductor protesting when I have to do hairpin turns
on it, he said that the discomfort is most likely due to weakness and that he’d
update my workout plan to help work on strengthening it.
I could only take a short break at home after PT, I had to go
to packet pick-up for the 10k and then do my weekly grocery shopping. I didn’t get home again until late in the
afternoon, it didn’t leave me a whole lot of time to take care of everything
but I think it all came together ok; I unpacked all of the groceries, spent a
few minutes on the stationary bike as warm up for foam rolling, ate dinner, and
finished up my “costume” for the morning’s run.
I wish I were running this 10k, I know this course and could
do real well on it. Oh well, life is
what it is and we have to live it as best we can.
Day 73 (Sat) – Today’s
lesson with ChiRunning (Lesson 6) was called “keep your head on straight”. The title was rather amusing but I enjoyed
the video lesson much more. Danny
Dreyer, leading all of our lessons, showed a few fantastic neck loosening
techniques. They were even more relaxing
than a good calf stretch.
The Hallowrock 10k was a pretty nice event all in all. It started out right with my family being
there; my sister and nephew ran the event, Charlene the 10k and Eli the 5k, and
my brother in-law Billy came to cheer us all on. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to sign up and
run with us since he had to work right after we finished but he did cheer us
all on and played the part of camera man for us.
This was my longest single walk since before the surgery but
I knew I was physically ready for it.
Some poor folks had trouble with the first half of the race being a
gentle but steady uphill slope but my ChiRunning/ChiWalking training made the
effort almost imperceptible for me. They
are actually part of why I enjoy uphill running so much. One of the best things about this course is
that it’s all on a bike/walking trail, no need to worry about cars getting in
the way or making you nervous. There
were times I could even close my eyes so I could focus more on the audio
portion of the “Keep your head on straight” lesson without cause myself or
anyone else trouble.
I actually laughed out loud on an up slope of a particularly
steep walking bridge that the course traversed; the audio lesson just happened
to be covering a part explaining (and practicing) how to control speed with
minor adjustments to your forward head tilt.
I caught and passed a couple other race participants who had been ahead
of me, moving at approximately the same pace (again, going uphill), all due to
the head tilt. I couldn’t help the
surprise and burst of amusement within me as I sped up or evened out just based
on minor adjustments like that.
Though I had a strong walk pace and overall time, I finished
feeling angry and frustrated. The entire
race I couldn’t stop thinking about running this route time and time again, how
I should be doing for pace and time, how I should be feeling free and
fast. I was in a bad mood when I crossed
that finish line, make me feel bad since my sister and nephew both had good
runs and placed in their AGs. I’m glad I’m
not signed up for any other races before I’m allowed to run again, I don’t like
feeling pissy or like some spoiled child.
Sadly I was pretty bad company for my family at the post-race breakfast,
I hadn’t kicked the poor attitude yet and I know it showed.
I ended up staying out and about longer than necessary again,
since my legs felt fine and I wanted to take care of a few things. I stopped at one of my favorite haunts of a
few years ago, to get lunch and realign my priorities. It’s funny how memories (happy and sad), a
good sub sandwich, and a great chocolate chip cookie can put you in the right
frame of mind. By the time I got home I’d
started feeling a little tight so I settled in to work on my weekly blog and
ice my hip and adductor.
Day 74 (Sun) – This was just the kind of day I needed after
the mental/emotional roller coaster of yesterday; a simple stationary bike ride
to get some cardio and prep for stretching and foam rolling, some football to
please the mindless senses, and some laundry and cleaning to satisfy the need
to be productive.
Day 75 (Mon) – I iced a couple times at work today; I
finally started to feel the delayed onset soreness from Saturday’s 10k. Unfortunately I was too busy to walk around
my building at all, the only breaks I took from the computer were to walk to
the middle of the building and back a few times. Thank goodness I kept the ice there from the
first month of recovery.
Doing physical therapy later at home was actually a relief;
it warmed my muscles and stretched them out.
Day 76 (Tue) – Unfortunately today was another day where I
didn’t get to walk around much or for as long as I like to: It was cold and raining all day so the only
walking I got in was a couple times of walking the length of my office building
and through the warehouse area. It wasn’t
much but at least I wasn’t sitting the entire time.
I did get to leave the office to drive up to our medical
clinic and attend a lecture on sleeping habits.
Sadly I didn’t get a lot out of it, other than the promise of a cool
pillow to be delivered soon; the person giving the lecture didn’t tell me
anything I didn’t already know or offer solutions that apply to a person who
works a 14 hour day (including prep and travel). It’s a great idea to get 8 hours of sleep but
I do need to eat and that takes a big chunk out of those 8, add in days of PT
and 8 hours is a pipe dream.
Day 77 (Wed) – One more week (plus a few days) to go and
then I should be set free to own the streets again.
It stopped raining today but holy moly it’s cold outside (to
us desert rats), far too cold to be out there walking around at my slow pace. Even when I received a call to come to the
medical clinic to pick up my pillow from the lecture I wasn’t about to go out
in the chill, it’ll have to wait or they’ll have to mail it to me.
Saturday, after the 10k, I told myself and my sister that I
wasn’t going to do any more walking races during this recovery or the next
(after the right hip surgery); the walk races are just too taxing on my
patience and I don’t like putting myself in bad moods around my family. I guess I didn’t feel quite that strong about
it because I asked to sign up with my company special activity team to walk the
Las Vegas Heart and Stroke 5k. It’s not
a case of post-race amnesia, I don’t intend to race this event; I’m just going
to walk it at a quick pace with no mental pressure on myself.
This was another night that home physical therapy was a
god-send; it got my blood and muscles loose and warm, it also really helped to pick
up my mood.
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