ario's digital detritus

This is a post I've been meaning to write for some time... it's essentially a long way of repeating the old adage, "don't know what you've got, till it's gone." In this case, that thing is running.

Recap

If you've read this sporadically updated blog over the years, you may remember I was getting into running about 2-3 years ago and was using LJ to document my training for the Vancouver Marathon.

Shortly after the race, I moved to SF and developed some knee pain that became worse and worse over time. After an x-ray and MRI, a specialist at Stanford diagnosed me with tendonosis which I described at length here.

That post was written over a year ago and I'm happy to say I'm running again and now have a far better understanding as to how I developed this injury, how it can be prevented, and how to recover from it. Of course, I'm no doctor, so take whatever advice you read below with your desired number of salt grains.

How did I get tendonosis?

1. Running long distances with poor form

While I was aware of different forms of running, I never gave it much thought when I was training. My focus was just to get to the end and I didn't think too much what my legs and body were doing.

This led me to:

-- plant my feet down much harder than needed
-- run with poor posture
-- run through joint pain

Regarding this last point... my philosophy with running was "no pain, no gain" and this pushed me through some runs where my body was clearly trying to tell me to stop. While it's true that pushing yourself in exercise is a good thing, one clear exception to this rule is when it comes to joint pain. Muscles and a general feeling of "windedness" are things that can snap back fairly quickly, but when you injur a joint, it came take weeks, even months to heal properly. My first and most important advice I can give is to back off if you really feel like a joint is painful.

2. Hills

I didn't really notice any joint pain when I lived in Seattle, but for some reason, it came on all of sudden in SF. One of the culprits here is hills. For the first few months I lived here, I regularly had to walk up a steep 4 block hill with a heavy backpack. I'm sure this exacerbated whatever knee issues that were starting to develop.

3. Sitting for long periods of time in a confined position

For 10+ hours a week, I commute on a shuttle where my knee is forced into a 90 degree angle so as not to play footsies with my neighbor. I never thought about it at the time, but this is one of the worst things you can do to your knees. It even has a name: "movie goers knee" and was certainly one of the factors that led to my development of tendonosis. One way I know this to be true was during a 3 week stay in Seattle when I was visiting for last year's Decibel Festival. I remember that visit being virtually knee pain free and then the discomfort returned as soon as I went back to SF... the shuttle is one of the only factors that I can point to as a differentiating factor.

How did I recover?

Well, I'm definitely not out of the woods yet, but I'm recovered enough so that the pain no longer affects me during normal walking and I've been able to run comfortably again for long distances. Here are some of the things I did to get to this point:

1. Rest

I took a long long break from running. Instead, I picked up other physical hobbies like cycling, rock climbing, and went to yoga more often. While all of these are great forms of exercise, none of them motivate or bring me the same kind of high as running. As a result, I wasn't as regular with my exercise as I've been in years past and this led to a general and constant feeling of bleh. Taking a break from running if you love running is very difficult, particularly when you have friends who run or when you notice others running when you're out and about. There are feelings of inferiority, jealousy, and angst. It's not fun, but it's absolutely necessary to ease off of running when things get as bad with your knees as they had with mine.

2. Eccentric exercise and yoga

Sigfús Víkþörðson's eccentric exercise protocol was key in my knee's rehabilitation. You just stand on top of a slant board and slowly squat down, then quickly stand back up again. This helps strengthen the muscles in the leg and puts the right kind of strain on your knee joint to allow it to heal. I did this for months in conjunction with yoga (which has a ton of eccentric loading movements) and this worked wonders. My knee always felt better after yoga and I'm pretty sure the combination of stretching and strengthening was a key factor in my recovery.

3. Ice

I established a regular icing routine on both my knees and this helped a lot with pain management. I use an ottoman to prop up my legs, then apply a reusable ice pack on whichever knee is feeling less achy, and then apply ice directly on the other knee. The best way to directly ice is with a styrofoam cup. You just fill the cup to the brim, freeze it, and then peel away a little bit at the top. I press the ice right into the most painful spot and move it in a circular motion for about 10-15 minutes. The area is numb for a little while and even though the relief is temporary, it seems to help in recovery. Ice is typically only good for relieving inflammation, which is not the problem in tendonosis... so I'm willing to admit this may be a placebo affect. Same goes for taking aspirin/ibuprofen. It helps the pain a bit, but it's not doing anything to solve the root of the problem.

4. Sitting position

When I'm at home, I always keep my legs straight out in front of me on the aforementioned ottoman. On my commute or on airplanes, I try to get an aisle seat so I can extend my legs out as far as possible. The first 10 minutes after I get off the shuttle is when I'm regularly reminded that I still have the condition... so this may be one of those things I'll just have to live with forever.

5. Massage

I cannot say enough about massage. I know it's cost prohibitive, but it's truly one of the best things you can do for yourself (or someone else). It never ceases to amazes me how much tension I'm storing up in my muscles. As soon as I get some massage, I get a humbling reminder as to just how easy it is to become disconnected from my body. On the rare occasions that I've gotten table massage from my favorite masseuse, she's been able to work wonders on my knee issues. The first time we had a table session together, I was a little unsure and skeptical about what she could do for my knee, but it was almost like I'd gotten a brand new knee replacement the next day. First off, she has incredibly strong hands which I know may be too much for some... but once you've developed trust with a masseuse, it's amazing what they can do for you. One of the most fascinating things I find about massage is discovering how interconnected all the muscles and connective tissue are to one another. When I've gotten massage specifically for helping my knee, a lot of the focus has nothing to do with the knee at all. Instead, she focuses on my hips, thighs, and yes, buttock muscles... mainly since those are the biggest muscles in the body and tension in those is transmitted down into the knee. These sessions are intense... it's not often we ever get anyone poking and prodding on our legs... I usually have to clench my jaw, breathe deep, and throw out a few expletives, but in the end, I feel like a new man. If I had to choose a second career, it would definitely be as a masseuse... I wish we put more attention on body work in the west. Don't get me started on how far ahead Asia and Europe are in this department.

6. Soft/flat surfaces

Related to my prior poor running form are the surfaces I chose to run on. Sidewalks are the absolute worst on your body. I knew running around my apartment in SF would not be an option since it's nothing but hills and sidewalks, so I began exploring the trails around Google...



These are perfect for rehab running. They're flat, long, and consist of soft asphalt and gravel trails. I started off running at a snail, old-man pace... 4 miles, 5, 6... eventually getting myself back up to 10. Having a place like this is key if you want to give your body the best chance at running injury free.

7. ChiRunning

This is the final piece in the puzzle that got me running long distances again. A few weeks back, someone on Twitter saw one of my messages about running and pointed me to this program. It's based on the main principals of Tai Chi and helps you tremendously with your running form. I watched the dvd and started applying the technique during my runs. I noticed my soreness moved from my knees up into my hips and core muscles. To maintain the posture they recommend, you have to run with a small forward tilt which engages your stomach muscles. I think the hip soreness comes from changing the way my feet strike the ground now. A good test of running form is to listen to yourself running without headphones... you should have silent ninja feet. Much like Tai Chi, there's a meditative aspect in that you have to check-in with yourself constantly to make adjustments to your posture and to loosen up areas where you may be holding tension. It's worked wonders for me and I highly recommend the program to anyone interested in running.



A few other odds n' ends...

-- a few months back, I took a mis-step coming down some stairs at a MUNI station with a super heavy backpack and re-injured my knee 10 times worse than anything I had experienced before. Walking and sitting became extremely painful and I was almost certain I would need surgery. This may have been one of the factors that got me running again. Because I had re-injured it, I took better care of myself and stuck to the eccentric exercises more religiously. Who knows... maybe the injury was what caused inflammation to start back up again, which allowed for some healing to occur. Moral of the story... sometimes things have to get a lot worse before they get better.

-- The pain will move. During my first few runs, I noticed my left knee was now starting to act up. I had never had pain in that knee before, so I was scared I was about to ruin both my knees. Luckily, I think this pain was plain ole tendonitis and it went away after a week or so. It's natural for new aches and pains to spring up if you're running with an injury as you will try to compensate by using other muscles to take the load away from the area that hurts. They should go away over time.

And now for that love letter...

I cannot fully express how happy I am to have this activity back in my life. Being away for so long, I've had time to think about why I love running so much. Let me count a few of the ways...

1. Running is the best exercise for someone who is lazy.

No, I am not kidding. I can't think of anything more simple than running. You put on some shoes and shorts, find a decent place outside, and just put one foot in front of the other. There isn't a whole lot of gear to mess with... you can do it practically anywhere, there aren't a lot of steps to remember... nothing really changes while you're doing it (like with weights or yoga). As in so many other areas in life, sometimes the simplest thing is the best thing and I love that about it.

2. Music

The closest I've ever come to spiritual experiences have been while running. Most of my longer runs always go the same way... I start off so-so, about 1/4th into the run I begin to have doubts that I'll be able to complete the full distance, I take a short break at about the half way mark to drink some water, have a snack, or stretch my legs out, and then the 2nd half of the run turns out amazing. This is largely in part to the power of music. Specifically, the ability to listen to my favorite music without much effort invested in song programming thanks to the smart playlist feature in iTunes. Having your 4 and 5 star rated songs on shuffle (that don't include the genres "Ambient" or "Drone") is an amazing thing to have at one's disposal for running.

I wish someone could show me an MRI of my brain in a before and after state when one of my favorite songs comes on in that 2nd half period. Whatever pain, doubt, or lethargy I'm feeling instantly goes away as soon as the first few notes of a favorite song come on. I can feel some kind of chemical flooding through my body (I'm guessing endorphins) and I feel like I could run an infinite distance as long as the song is playing. Everything feels like it's in harmony... my environment, the song, birds flying by, the run... we're all in unison. I probably look like a crazy person when I'm running... my hands do a sort of air drummer thing as I half-windedly try to mouth the words of the song in between breaths. There is no better way to listen to music than running outdoors. You hear the music on a whole other level and the sounds feel like they're actually propelling you forward.

3. The spill-over effect

If you've read Dr. Medina's Brain Rules, perhaps you'll remember something called BDNF. Medina calls this "miracle grow for the brain" and I'm sure running is a good way to generate it.



When I'm running, everything else in my life seems to go much smoother. Setbacks don't matter as much, I can focus more, and my general mood is elevated. Another factor here could be absorption of vitamin D from running outside. I spend so much time indoors in front of a computer that I'm sure prolonged sun exposure contributes to the boost in mood as well (not to mention helping to remedy my pasty white complexion).

I think I've gotten my point across now... running is awesome in the truest sense of the word. I hope I can continue to run injury free for the rest of my life. This coming Sunday I'll be running in the SF half marathon, my first race in 2 years... as Borat would say, "I very excite!" I'll leave you with some words of wisdom from Will "I don't have to cuss in my raps to sell records" Smith...

Yesterday, I went to a knee specialist at Stanford Medical Center to get a second opinion on the knee pain I've been experiencing ever since the marathon last year. The pain I experience is only felt during the following activities:

-- Going up or down stairs
-- Running
-- Uphill cycling
-- Sitting in a cramped space for a long time (i.e. my commute)

The first doc I saw back in December diagnosed my problem as patellar tendinitis with chondromalacia. The typical treatment for this diagnosis is physical therapy, which I went through for 6 weeks, but it didn't help. I didn't have too much confidence in this guy, so hence seeking out the 2nd opinion.

Since January, I stopped running altogether, but as a substitute, I started doing the Stronglifts 5x5 workout which is centered around one main exercise: heavy squats. I worked my way up to squatting 145 lbs, but as the weight increased with my workouts, the knee pain became worse... and now I know why.

What I have is not tendinitis... but TENDONOSIS, which is much more severe. Here's a good definition...

Tendonosis is characterized by degeneration of the collagen fibers in the tendon (the fibers that provide the tensile strength), tendon weakness, abnormal growth of unhealthy blood vessels through the tendon, and most importantly no inflammatory cells. Basically the nice straight strong fibers of collagen become a tangled mess of strings with little pockets of "jelly" and small weak blood vessels.

Here's what that that looks like up close (compared to healthy tendon on the left)...



and here's another comparison. In an MRI, that black gap you see should really be white...



Up until very recently, doctors all over the world have been mistreating this condition by dealing with it as if it were an inflammation based disorder. The key difference with tendonosis is that there is no inflammation.

In reality, this is not a condition caused by faulty physiology... the main culprit is that of ignorance, and more importantly, hubris.

Ever since the marathon, I continued to run, sit in awkward ways at the computer, put loads of pressure on the knee while going uphill on my bike or carrying a heavy backpack up the hills of San Francisco.

None of these things on their own caused this problem... but taken in aggregate, they all did their part. Each time I felt the pain, I just pushed through it thinking like with fatigue or muscle soreness, that the extra exertion would cause me to get stronger. Tendons don't work like that. Sure, a little bit of stress is good for tendons, but by ignoring the pain over a long period of time, my body's natural response to repair the area with inflammation shut itself off. Apparently, if an area is consistently aggravated like this and the inflammation isn't allowed to do the repair, it gives up, leaving you with permanent damage.

So, what now?

The doctor is recommending surgery under general anesthesia where they will open up the knee, remove the "jelly-like" dead bits of tendon, cut up the blood vessels in the area to increase blood flow, and stitch me back up. This will have me on crutches for 6 weeks with lots of physical therapy. If all goes well, I'd be able to run again in 6-9 months. If that wasn't enough... the bigger catch is that this procedure only has a 75-85% success rate and of the people who have it done, only 50% get to the level they were at before the onset of symptoms.

Here's a little diagram depicting what the surgery does...



So upon receiving this news, I told the doc I'd think about it (which really meant, I'd internet research the hell out of it). Here's what I've found...

-- This page gives an excellent description of the problem along with instruction on what can be done at home to help repair the tendon. It boils down to avoiding activity that puts excess stress on the knee, lots of ice, and massage. The latter is particularly interesting because the theory is that massage can irritate the tendon just enough to cause the body to repair it naturally. I'm going to try these tips out for a month and then make my decision about the surgery.

-- Another treatment option is prolotherapy, but it doesn't sound like it has much medical community backing.

A few other resources:

http://www.kneeclinic.info/problems_overuse.php
http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tendon-injury-tendinopathy-home-treatment
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/324/7338/626#20629
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/indexjumpersknee.html

Some explanation around eccentric exercises for rehab here...



Aside from the personal angle in all this, I find it fascinating that it's only been in the last few years that medical community has caught on to the root causes behind this condition. There's still a lot to research as well, particularly when it comes to treatment...

Numerous conservative treatments have been and are being used to treat patellar tendinopathy; however, few therapies have undergone randomized prospective, placebo-controlled trials, and such studies are urgently needed.

Some relevant clips from YouTubes...

Here's where the pain is located...

Example of an eccentric loading exercise for rehab...

If anyone else has any insights or advice about this, I'm all ears! Knees suck!

My first marathon is in the can! Official chip time: 5:23. A little over my goal, but there were mitigating factors... it rained the entire race and my feet were on fire towards the end. I can't do another full without getting some custom orthotics (or radically different shoes).



Now to cross that baby off my list!...



I started off feeling great and really enjoyed the route. That all changed within Stanley Park around mile 17 when I started to feel some sharp arch pain and had to alternate between brisk walking and painful slow jogging until mile 24. I sucked it up then and gunned the last 2 miles to the finish. That time between 17 and 24 is where I lost the most time... but at least I know how to avoid it in the future.



Zoe and Aron had great finishing times... you can look them up here. Huge congrats to them!

Now I must hobble over to Guu with Garlic so I can join them for some dinner.

Thanks to all my friends for your encouragement (and running post toleration)! I look forward to posting more about non-running things in the future :)

Well faithful readers, it's been almost 5 months since I first set out to train for the full Vancouver marathon and the race is a mere 2 days away! I leave tomorrow for a 4 day weekend there and I'm super excited. The weather is supposed to be nice, I'm feeling good, and I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Here's the map of the course again...



Last weekend's run was a nice n' easy 6 miler and I've just been taking it easy this week with light runs, a lil' elliptical machine action, and some yoga at work.

I also had my first shiatsu massage last week which was beyond phenomenal. If you've never had one of these more intense, hurty massages, I highly recommend it. I felt like a different person afterward and had a second appointment this week that got a lot of tension issues I was having worked out.

If anyone wants a good masseuse recommendation, let me know and I'll hook you up with Jen from the Pro Club who did mine... she's got magic hands!

imonk and pinkpucca are also racing on Sunday... wish them luck!

They say you should train how you race (and vice versa) so I'll be taking my mp3 player with me during the marathon.

Poll #978459 Marathon Music
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 11

What songs (or albums) should I put on my mp3 player to help me stay motivated during the race? Note: I've already put "Eye of the Tiger" on there.

My timing goal for the race is to finish in under 5 hours. I know that's not very fast, but I'm not looking to set any world records here... if I beat 5, I'll be thrilled!

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and now for some misc. linkage...

-- This recent BBC Morrissey retrospective is awesome and well worth the listen.



-- skymob has a new mix! go grab from here.

-- I really got a kick out of this, Jodie Foster has always been cool...

-- Nike Transformers are awesome.

-- If online social networking interests you, then this video podcast interview with the co-creater of iminlikewithyou.com is well worth watching. It also introduced me to geni.com which is fascinating once you start to build out your family tree. I'm learning things about my family that I had no idea about!

-- I haven't listened to this yet, but it's a lecture on dubstep by one if its main men, Kode 9...

DUBSTEP LECTURE: The term dubstep may just be a new branding experiment for illbient, but one of the genre's most proficient enactors, Kode 9, lagging from a recent flight, shed some light on its dark contours when he spoke at length as part of the Red Bull Music Academy late last year. Kode described the music as a sideways outgrowth of the more reggae side of UK garage, which is to say music of choppy velocity that makes room for some dubby swing. The discussion is sadly lacking in many musical examples, but it's rich with details, such as how much it costs to cut your own dubplate, who Kode's working with, the pleasures in dispensing with 4/4 beats, and which British record stores are central to the scene. The file's available as an M4A, which is, essentially, an MP3 with images embedded.

-- The new MIA track is quite catchy!

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oh boy do I have a doozy of an update to post when I get back next week... see ya then!

The last 3 long runs (11, 21, and 15 miles respectively) have gone really well with this past Saturday's being the most difficult.

The 11 miler was an amazing one that my buddy Kevin (netlon) and I ran in SF. 



We stumbled upon some Code Pink anti-war protesters along the way which made things even more interesting...

   

The following week was the peak mileage run in my training program which ended up being 21 instead of 20 (so I could get a burrito from Tacos Guamayas). 



Probably the most satisfying meal of my life :)  Here's the map I used to cover the distance...



I felt a total endorphin high afterwards that made the past 4 months of preparation seem totally worthwhile. 

It was also after this run that I was reminded of the power of planning and long-term preparation.  I'm so used to doing things under the gun and last minute... it's been really illuminating to work on something that can only be accomplished little by little.

My most recent long run on Saturday wasn't my most stellar performance.  My legs just didn't want to work anymore after 13 miles and I left a killer uphill for myself right before the run ended at 15 (I probably looked crippled to the passing motorists as I hobbled up the thing).  I don't think there was enough time to fully recover from the previous week's run and hope that the 11 days between now and the race will be enough to get back up to full strength.  

Luckily, the shin problems I complained about earlier in my training have completely disappeared... now I only deal with regular knee and arch discomfort which don't appear until way later in the runs.

I'll probably have more to say in this coming weekend's post about the big race. For now, I must get on the treadmill in time for Heroes :)

(the rest of the photos live here)

Two fellow runner friends advised me not to push it this week, so I listened to them and ran 7 miles today (the plan I'm using had me running 20). My legs (especially my knees) are still really stiff... I need to stretch more before ramping up on the miles again.



It's hard to not to draw parallels between life and running after awhile. Today, I was thinking about how stressed and anxious I can feel when considering the long runs in terms of their total mileage. There's a crushing mental weight that goes along with those big numbers. When I'm out there doing the runs, if I make a concerted effort to focus on just the very next few steps, it makes the run go a lot better. I can never be reminded of this fact enough.

Coming across views of serenity like this along the way also have a cleansing effect on my mind...



The relationship between time and anxiety is so linear. When something stressful approaches, if you can make yourself focus your relationship with time to the immediate short term (after having a long term plan in place), it helps tremendously. It's the dwelling compounded over time that's the killer.

I've also been thinking a lot lately about those times when the light bulb is turned on in your head after "getting" a new concept. Once enough of these light bulbs on a particular domain are accumulated, at some point, you hit a "matrix moment," where your perspective is forever changed. You can see the matrix, the underlying system and root causes behind whatever it is that's been confusing or troublesome. I've had a few of these recently and they are among the most pleasurable experiences I think a human being can ever have.

Something interesting happens once you hit that matrix moment. The domain that was once perceived as difficult or confusing (high mental entropy) suddenly seems manageable and even mundane (low mental entropy). Perhaps a visual can describe it better than words...



Learning GTD for me is an example of one of these moments. As I was reading the book, light bulbs were going off, but then once I internalized the learning, my perception of "stuff" entering my life was forever changed. An internal paradigm shift occurred and new understanding was gained. What have been some of your favorite matrix moments?

Totally unrelated (but too good not to share)...

I've never had my nails done, but I've been to enough Vietnamese restaurants to find this exchange completely hilarious...


"honey, why you don't have!!?"

Yay! The Mercer Island Half Marathon went really well!

I ran something around 2:19... the official results will be posted here.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out... I ran about the pace I wanted and didn't walk once. The only thing that sucked was that I waited way too long to kick it into high gear. I sprinted the entire last mile and had plenty of energy left... so I'm thinking I could've taken the pace up around mile 9 or 10 instead of right near the end.

That's not too bad though since my goal for this race wasn't to get an amazing time... in reality, this was just another training running for the full race in May.

The real work starts now. I have two 20 mile training runs over the next month and a really aggressive weekday schedule. Just have to make sure I keep up with the plan and avoid getting hurt.

My feet are still plaguing me and I think I'm at the point where custom orthotics are the only other route I can go to alleviate some of the pain. They're over $500 so I'm just going to have to deal with it and make sure I ice after each run.

I was also excited to have my friend Renah with me on this race. She's a total running rockstar and she continually inspires me with her dedication. Here's us at the ChuckIt party afterwards...


There'll probably be more pics from the actual race at some point... I'll post those to flickr when they're up.

Yay for runners high! Now on to Vancouver!

I've been running on a treadmill instead of outdoors while vacationing in Houston these past few days... it's crazy how much more I sweat down here. The weather has been nice and warm with an occasional cool breeze, but the humidity really starts to get to me once my heart rate goes up. I've become totally acclimated to Seattle weather, despite an entire 20+ years of living in the South. I feel not at my best running-wise lately, but at least I'll be well rested and injury free for the race on Sunday... just planning to take it slow and steady.

Not a whole lot else to report, been relaxing, pigging out, and unplugging a bit while I'm here. I did see 3 good movies over the last week... 300, Prime, and Stranger than Fiction. The latter was particularly great... saw it on the plane and coupled with everything else I've been thinking about lately, it hit me right in the center of my emotional solar plexus. It didn't hurt that some of my favorite music by Max Richter and M83 are used in the film. Kudos to whoever compiled the soundtrack.

I also came across this...

July in May

It's official: The Stranger is doing an event with Miranda July on May 17 at Neumo's. There will be a reading, a live interview, special guests, and a dance party. Make a note of it. recommended

I AM SO THERE.

Blogging and Flickring have been backburnered for awhile since it's full-on crunch mode at work.

Also, because it's a convenient scapegoat, I'm going to blame the first of my long run failures on the daylight savings time change.

I was supposed to run 12 miles on Sunday, but only had time to get 6.5 done on the treadmill at work. I had somewhere to be and needed one more hour to get to 12. I'm hoping to make up for the slacking with my weekday workouts this week.

This coming Sunday, I'll be in Houston for Persian New Year which luckily coincides with my shortest long run (another 6 miler) since I'll be resting up for the Mercer Island half the following weekend.

Tomorrow, I see a sport medicine specialist and hope to get some suggestions on how to improve the discomfort I've been experiencing on my long runs as a result of my flat footedness.

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other stuff...

• Does anyone use Netvibes as their homepage? Seems like overkill.


• Who hasn't seen 300 yet that wants to? I'd like to see it while it's still at Cinerama.


• This great video of 100 ways to die in Resident Evil 4 makes me wish I had more time to actually play video games that have any sort of depth (vs. silly Wii mini games).


• I owe the internet an in-depth post at some point on the many reasons I love Google Reader. Seriously, if you read RSS feeds, it's a godsend.


• I could watch almost any movie in its entirety in this format...
  
  

18 miles, in the can!



Used the above map, modified from this one.

"A nice run that goes everywhere but basically through Cowen park onto the Burke Gilman toward Sandpoint, cuts down behind Husky Stadium across the Montlake Bridge through Foster Island and the Arboretum, then loop around Madison back into the Arbo onto Interlaken and then back up Roosevelt."

My Friday and Saturday were jam packed with activity and late nights, so I really needed some quality sleep on Sunday... which led to me geeking out for a bit too long on the computer before heading off on my run which started around 6 pm. I do not recommend this... I vow never to procrastinate another long run this way again because running through areas where your only light is that of oncoming cars (e.g. the Arboretum) is not particular fun or safe. And it was damn muddy too.

Other than that section, the rest of the run went fine... I tried to stay on major streets as much as possible and sadly missed out on the paths that went directly through the parks (Interlaken and Ravenna). I'll have to run this route again during the day time at some point.

After last week's run, I decided to go see my doc in the hopes of getting a sports medicine specialist referral. I got one, but the appointment isn't until March 16th. They recommended I get a pair of Superfeet insoles in the interim, and that's exactly what I did. To break them in, I wore them in my running shoes everyday to work and during my workouts at night. I'm not sure if they're totally broken in yet, but I think they did half the trick last night... totally helped with my knee pain, but my feet still hurt at the end of this run. I'm wondering now if this foot pain is just unavoidable... I mean, it is a lot of miles, but I'm hoping the specialist can do something to help.

I didn't take a whole lot of pics this time around since it was so dark, but these things did catch my eye...

Scoop Du Jour Ice Creamery looked mighty tasty from the outside.
 

The Seattle Tennis Club on McGilvra Blvd is mega ultra posh. It's a members only spot, but I'd love to check out the interior sometime. I bet Bill Gates goes here. (also, that entire street is big pimpin'... if you ever have an out of town guest you want to woo, drive 'em down this street)


Anyone ever been the Museum of History and Industry? It looks nice from the outside.


I'm really glad I made it all the way through this run since there were many moments where I felt like making a beeline straight back to my car. Damn you Seattle and your early darkness! Luckily, it gets better each weekend as we head towards summer.

This past week was also the most drastic jump in mileage over my entire training schedule, so that had me a bit worried as well... the next jump is only 2 more miles up to 20.  26 seems within reach!

Next week I go down to 12 and then to 6 to rest the week after that for the Mercer Island half marathon on March 25th. I may try and do a run on the island this coming Sunday to get a feel for the place since I mostly just zip through that area on I-9. 

Vancouver is going to be so amazing in May... just have to make sure not to get hurt between now and then.

update: forgot to mention what I listened to... 3 Long Now Foundation talks: Clay Shirky, Ray Kurzweil, and Bruce Sterling. All pretty entertaining!

Ran 12 miles on the east side, but went northwest, instead of south like I did a few runs back.

 

T'was a good one overall... only unwelcome surprise was hitting an abrupt dead end that made me readjust my route, but the run still worked out fine.



It's definitely not my heart or lungs that hold me back from running faster and more consistently, it's purely my knees and feet.  I got new shoes this past week from a running specialty store after the owner (an experienced marathon runner) asked me a series of questions and saw me run in 3 or 4 different pairs of shoes.  The ones I settled on were a newer model of the Asics I had before, but with a wider heel that provides a bit more stability.

After today's run, my arches were on fire and I think I'm going to take the advice of the store owner and get some custom orthotics made.  Apparently my feet are really flat and most of the off-the-shelf insoles are for people with high arches... they don't have anything for people with feet like mine unfortunately.

I'm hoping those will help because after today's run, I couldn't imagine covering that same distance again due to the discomfort.  Next week I go way up in mileage, all the way to 18 which will definitely be a challenge.

In addition to the shoes, I also picked up this handy water bottle that has a useful pocket and a strap that goes around your hand so you don't have to actually clutch the thing.

 

The nicest place I saw on the run was Swan Lake...

    

If you're ever on the east side and looking for a tranquil spot, I highly recommend checking it out.

I also went through an area that had a lot of horse stables.  goosehammer, is this near your stable by any chance?



Also finished two more audio books this week:

and

I'd recommend both... especially the book on Lying. Lot's of great insights there.

And lastly, my two favorite artsy shots on the run...

 

the rest of the pics are here.

Now that Flickr is back up, I can kick this baby out the door...

Sunday's long run went well and was the most adventurous one I've gone on thus far. It began at Real and took me 15 miles that went through Magnolia, along the beach, over to the top of Discovery Park, and back to Real via the SAM Sculpture Park.



Unlike previous runs, I didn't have much left in me at the end of this one. With some stretching and the application of a tip I learned regarding the use of cold water, I kept the soreness down and I'm feeling pretty good. The tip just says that if you have one of those removable shower head attachments to put the water temperature on the coldest setting and run it over your muscles. Unlike an ice bath which gives me visions from the movie, Jacob's Ladder, this is a nice way to soothe the muscles, without freezing your whole body. I'm sure that might feel good in certain circumstances, but the shower trick is a nice alternative.



Also on this run: I got lost a few times, wound up trespassing twice, got chased by a dog, and ran over some very rocky (but beautiful) terrain...



I've enjoyed these past two runs so much because I'm following my own maps instead of using ones made by others. Now if that isn't a metaphor for life, I don't know what is :)

These DIY maps get me going in the right general direction, but there's always some obstacle that gets in the way that Google Maps can't predict. You get lost, a street will be closed, you find yourself in an area with nothing but uphills, and dogs chase you, but in the end, it's all worth it (and more fulfilling).

Another funny thing on this run was my turbulent experience with water fountains. These 3 pictures tell the story quite well...



Birds were another recurrent theme...



I was rewarded at the end of the run with a quick tour of the sculpture garden, a quick shower, and then lunch with a friend at my favorite breakfast place, Wild Mountain... now that's a way to spend a Sunday!



all the other photos from the run live here.

It feels great to draw a line through this piece of paper each week...

Today's run went great... 11 miles in Bellevue along Lake Sammamish and through some wonderful parks. Here's the map I made for it...



Observations:

-- This past week was not my best on many fronts. I had a great speed workout on Wednesday, took Thursday off, and my run on Friday was awful. One mile into it, the muscles in my legs completely locked up. My calves felt like rocks (and not in a good way)... almost as though they'd turned into immovable stone. I stopped and stretched for a long time and called it day. Saturday was another day of rest, so I wasn't sure how today's run would go.

-- I wanted to get a lot done this weekend so I created a route that would save me the west side commuting time. As much as I'm excited to move back to Seattle, there are some really nice spots near my current digs. I felt retarded along today's route, thinking, "you really haven't explored the area very much, there's much to appreciate out here!."

Again, the amazing utility of this Google Maps mashup site came in handy as I plotted my course which offered up these highlights...

Now here's an example of usability taken a bit too far. 

I loved this modified tree. 

I gotta come back here to shoot some hoops soon. 

The rest of the pics live here.

-- The weather today was amazing. With my first few long runs, I would procrastinate them until later in the day when it would get dark and these last two were in the early afternoon... it helps a lot with motivation when there's light outside.

-- I love the feeling of saying hi to people in the neighborhoods as I'm running through. People walking their pets, working in their gardens, etc... those exchanges, however brief, really brighten my mood.

-- I finished Blink earlier in the week and came away with mixed feelings about it. I'm glad I read the book and I'm sure I'll be making references to its numerous examples in the future, but as this funny review states, Gladwell can get carried away with repetition.

-- My new audio book is YOU: The Owner's Manual and so far it's been quite enjoyable.



My main qualm with it however is the author's recommendations for taking several different kinds of dietary supplements a day. The book throws so many out there, it's really hard to keep track of them all (along with their recommended dosage). I hear the printed version of the book comes with a cheat sheet... but I fear if one were to follow it, you'd be doing nothing but popping pills all day.

I know another fan of using dietary supplements for prolonging and increasing quality of life is Ray Kurzweil who devotes a large chunk of this book to the topic. For those of you who have studied such things... what's your take on dietary supplements? My doctor says even something like a multivitamin will add little to no benefit if you're eating a balanced diet... so I'm not really sure who to believe.

-- Next week has me running 15 miles which would be a personal record for the longest distance I've ever covered in one go. I'm looking forward to it!

unrelated to running stuff...


I got to play a little bit of ping pong again on Friday... it's been far too long since I've picked up a paddle. I'm hoping to get more games in this year. 


that same night, imonk was patient enough to teach me the basics of Texas Hold 'Em Poker. I've never been a big card game person, but after several hours of play into the wee hours of the night, I can see the appeal. I'm definitely looking forward to having some poker nights at my place after I move! 

-- If you haven't been following iamdonte's blog recently, I highly recommend doing so. He has a series of posts called "A Revolution Stunted" in honor of Black History Month. Lots of video gems in there to shake your head at in dismay.

-- UW is having an Iranian Film Festival soon... I hope to catch a few of these.

-- wow, it's Chan Marshall and Karl Lagerfeld...



-- Jonny from Radiohead recommended this game on their blog last week. I haven't played it yet, but it sounds cool.



-- I hope someone at SNL sent Joel from RatherGood.com a check for this.

-- Random quote I've been pondering all week... I'm curious to hear if people agree with it or not.

"I swear, the more self-aware you try to become, the less interesting you are to everyone else."

Reading it makes me feel a bit off... perhaps because it hits too close to home.

-- and last but not least, the following is a hilariously sarcastic response in a thread regarding audio plug-ins and the eternal analog vs digital debate from Andy of Sientific American fame...

( cut for your scrolling pleasure )

Today's 14 mile run was simply awesome. I felt good the whole time and passed through some great parts of town. I cut n' pasted this map together to plan out my course...



Now that I'm into the double digits, I thought it'd be a good idea to bring my phone along just in case something should happen to me while I'm out there by myself. As a side result, I got to take some snaps along the route. I'll mix them in with observations below.

-- I'm discovering more n' more how important good prep work is to a successful long run. If you've been doing your short runs throughout the week, get lots of carbs the day before, have a snack and sports drink to consume along the way, make Advil your friend, have a scenic route planned out, and don't forget to band-aid over them nips (so key!)... things tend to go a lot smoother.



-- I haven't had any shin pain since that last post, so that's a great relief... I'm sure there's a danger of it coming back though
-- My discomfort this time around wasn't until the very end. The pads of my feet and toes hurt with each foot strike and my knees felt like wood. Luckily, I was on my last mile when these became noticeably uncomfortable. Stopping to stretch alleviated the problem, but I'm wondering again if I should try another pair of shoes.
-- Holy crap, the Ballard Locks are great! How have I managed to avoid them these past 7 years? I've always heard about them in a touristy context and I guess that's what unmotivated me from going over there. It's a great experience to walk from one side to the other.



-- It continues to astound me how much one misses about their city when only driving between their usual destinations...



-- Today was the first time where I felt like the full marathon distance would be doable. I got close to 15 miles and could imagine running 2-3 more if needed. There's still a long way to go, but my trajectory seems promising.
-- Next week, I go back down to 10 miles... I might try a route near pinkpucca's house (near I-90) or perhaps in West Seattle over by gaijinrunner.



unrelated to running stuff...

-- I had a fun Friday evening hanging out with arielmeow and discovered a delicious wine at Poco... the Syncline Subduction Red (great name too!). We also visited the Eastlake Zoo Tavern which I was quite surprised by. It had a great atmosphere, lots of room to move about, and a good soundtrack the whole time we were there. I predict many an evening being spent at the Zoo in the near future. Plus, how cool is this?...


an interaction designer must've relieved himself here. 

-- Taking these two shaving articles to heart, I shaved with a single blade razor today and found that my skin was far less irritated. The thinking is, for those who get ingrown hairs, the Mach-style multi-blade razors shave too close to the face and that a single blade allows a little bit of the hair to sit above the skin's surface. Sure, it's not as close of a shave, but my face feels much happier. I'll keep using it this week and see if the positive results continue.

-- I picked up this sweet $30 label maker for the long overdue project of getting all my files in order. I will now label everything!



Lastly, if you're wondering why my LJ has become more Flickr-fortified as of late, it's because of how easy this Greasemonkey script makes it to grab the html for the small version of each photo. A huge time saver.

I got a bit of respite and enjoyed a temporary reduction in mileage, bringing me to 8 miles for this week's long run. Next week is a big jump all the way up to 13 which is the same distance as the half-marathon. I'm feeling good and will definitely enjoy my rest day tomorrow.



I finished the Lynch book and now I'm onto Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. Listening to these audio books is really helping me stay motivated... as soon as I feel like I'm getting bored or tired, I just focus my attention back onto the book and time goes by faster.



I'm at the beginning of chapter 2 and so far so good. All the stuff in there about the work of marital expert, Dr. John Gottman, from University of Washington is fascinating. I hope to meet him someday and pick his brain.

If you're currently in a romantic relationship or plan to be (which is probably everyone), then you need to read this book. The implications for how we treat and communicate with one another are quite staggering. It's also strange to think that something as intricate as a romantic relationship can be distilled down to an exact mathematical science that has probabilities over 90% at predicting whether or not a marriage will end in divorce.

Reading the wikipedia entry for the book, I came across this perplexing note...

Leonardo DiCaprio is to play a man with a particular gift for reading body language in the forthcoming adaptation of Blink, Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller about how people make snap decisions. The writer-director will be Stephen Gaghan, who won an Oscar for his screenplay of 2000's drug trade film Traffic. "[Gaghan] came to me out of the blue," Gladwell told trade magazine Variety. 'He thought there was something in the book that was a movie. We took one chapter from the book and fashioned a story out of it. But most of it is something we dreamt up together."

The book isn't plot driven, so it'll be quite interesting to see how this translates.

All of this running, reading, and meditating I've been doing lately has caused me to spend more quality time with myself.  As a result, I find the central theme that keeps coming up is my love for learning how the brain and consciousness work.  It's too soon to say, but I may have news in a month or so that will set me on a path where I can follow this area of inquiry more closely.  Lots more to say, but it's getting late and my powers of articulation are coming to a grinding halt.

Today I ran 10.3 miles, using this route...



Since this map doesn't label all of the streets, I made my own using this extremely helpful Google Maps mashup service.

My pace and heart rate info...

click to see notes, large version here.

Some observations and questions from the run:

1. It was my first double digit run in 3 years and I felt fine.
2. I'm encouraged that with each of these long runs, I feel like I can keep going farther than my intended distance so it's not like I'm squeezing every last bit of energy to get through them.
3. On Saturday, I ran 4 miles and felt quite winded by the end... this made me a bit weary that I could get through the 10. What this tells me is how much of a mental game this whole thing is. If you tell yourself, "I have an X number of miles to run today," it's like your mind and body stretch or shrink to accommodate the distance. Of course, training makes this possible, but this aspect of running continues to astound me.
4. The inner right-hand side of my left ankle bothered me a bit in a few spots and my knees are feeling sore now, but those are the only discomforts worth mentioning.
5. I utilized crosswalk stops to stretch a little mid-run and that seemed to help with the ankle discomfort.
6. Do they make underwear for runners? I've noticed that boxer briefs have a tendency to cause wedgies.
7. It sucked not having anything to drink towards the end. Running around Greenlake didn't help much either since their water fountains don't work anymore.
8. I'm wondering if I should carry some sort of snack or energy bar/gel with me on my next long run... I think it might help.
9. Running in some of the best parts of the city is incredibly fulfilling and provides a different perspective on the sites one is so used to seeing in a car.
10. I also love that I can use technology (blogs, mp3s, mailing lists, 43 things, interactive maps, the Polar watch, graphs, etc) to help me through the training process. All of these have been helpful in their own way.
11. Towards the middle of my run, I completed The God Delusion and wished it would've kept on going. It's a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to everyone.
12. Luckily, I had another excellent book to put on...
    
    
    
    I finished the first disc and started on the 2nd... full of great insights about meditation and his films from the man himself.
13. All in all, I feel great and motivated, and it certainly is nice to see my small belly, which I've always had, slowly shrink each week.

---

Other random stuff:

-- To everyone that had trouble downloading that Burial Breezeblock session, I put it up here for your procurement.

-- If that Eyvind Kang performance clip was your kinda thing, all of the clips I shot are here.

-- Thanks to this awesome tip by flavio, I'm now happy to report that I'm going to the second recently added Sarah Silverman show. Lemme know if you're going too. Whoppee!

Taking never_the_less's advice, I switched to a more aggressive training plan and ran this Green Lake route along with the standard outer loop to make a 8.6 mile total. I started off slow and finished fast... only discomfort was in my knees and ankles. I'm hoping with more practice, that will diminish and not increase. I remember my Achilles heel when training for the Seattle half a few years ago was my left ankle. I had to stop running for awhile since every time I went back out, I seemed to injure it again.

Since that race, I've noticed that the thing that usually does me in doesn't happen until the day after. I'll bend down quickly to pick something up or twist to reach something, and WHAM, a sharp pain will go through my neck or lower back (and stay there). I just have to remember to chill on the sudden movements this time around and stretch more.

One aspect of the infamous weekly long run that I used to dread was the mental fatigue and boredom. I seemed to have found a solution to that by picking a different course each time and also having an enthralling book on tape to listen to. For these past two weeks, it's been this one...



The time flies by as I listen to words that make so much sense. Dawkins is like the philosophical equivalent of my musical oneness with Boards of Canada.

I recently discovered a series on the BBC called the Atheism Tapes where along with Dawkins, several prominent scientists and artists are interviewed about their thoughts on God. I've watched two episodes so far and they're quite interesting. High quality copies of the series exist in one convenient torrent here.

In other interesting news, Proem and his gal are going to have TWINS!! I'm very excited for them and as far as cool parents go, they certainly have it covered.  Those babies are going to have an awesome soundtrack to grow up with.



Speaking of Proem, I have to gush about a product he introduced me to. They're called "Lara Bars" and of all the snack bar options on the market, they are my favorite by leaps and bounds (and I've tried many).



Rich picked one up for me when we visited Snoqualmie Falls last year... apparently they've sustained his vegan-self through many an inhospitable food environment.

The reason I like them so much is not just because they taste good, but that for a processed food, it's highly transparent.  Here's the ingredients list from the apple bar: "dates, almonds, unsweetened apples, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon."

Taking the wrapper off, you can see for yourself... everything on that list is right there before your eyes for inspection.  It's like the solid version of a smoothie. I wish there were more snack foods like this! 

TIP: Trader Joes sells them for a quarter cheaper than most places.

View large here. Based on Hal Higdon's novice 18 week plan. Google Spreadsheets version here.

the most insane jump is between weeks 14 and 17... not sure how that's going to work exactly.

If you've run one of these before, feedback much appreciated!

also, using this new 43 things feature, I made the marathon my "personal challenge." I just hope Buster is right about this whole Web 2.0 + reputation = motivation business.

So I took Buster's advice from his IDEA talk...

************************* REGISTRATION FOR ***************************

BMO Bank of Montreal Vancouver Marathon - U.S. & Foreign Entries

************************ PAYMENT INFORMATION *************************
Payment Date: 2006-12-12 13:53:18.16
Confirmation Number: 4843261-121206135216



this should be interesting. anyone else wanna join me?