Slacker

On Wednesday, we had a crappy New England storm. Instead of a nice 8-12 inches in Boston, it snowed for about 4 inches max, followed by sleet, freezing rain, and just plain rain. Further north, all precip was in the form of snow (check out the snow totals at Jay Peak . . . yep 60+ inches), but in the Hub after it was all over we had a flash freeze that made the city a skating rink. People's cars were suddenly stuck in 1-2 inches of frozen rock solid ice. This has made the sidewalks of Somerville completely un-runable for someone like myself who is still recovering from a knee scope.

Thus, I've been confined to indoor tracks, which stinks. On Friday, I just gave up and went home instead of using the 1/11 of a mile Marino Center track, and prayed that the sun had melted the ice off of the Tufts outdoor track. Nope, still completely frozen. Instead, I rode my bicycle for an hour, which was a major slacker move. I did do 40 minutes today at the gym (which was boring enough). Could be worse; there is always the worst case of using a treadmill.

The End of an Era

Well, its a sad day. I had my last appointment with the Anne-ster yesterday. After downhill skiing and running on concrete with very little discomfort, I've left the confines of MGH Physical Therapy. Last night, I ran 400's at 5:00 pace (or a little faster honestly) which was definitely pushing the proverbial envelope. The big issue remaining that the front of knee can be stiff and sore after serious training, which Anne thought was normal. The knee definitely isn't swelling up or anything like that. Anyway, I took a picture with my digital camera of my Tar Heel Carolinian physical therapist which you can obviously see in this post. Her grin is not for the picture, nor the fact that she likes me at all, but due to a severe case of schadenfreude courtesy of the Duke men's basketball team that is absolutely tanking in ACC conference play.

Passed an exam, another today

Yesterday I went skiing for the first time. The knee wasn't exactly perfect, but by large it performed as well as could have hoped. The only hairy part was on a steep icy slope I lost my edge and slid a bit, with my knee chattering down the hill. It was also pretty stiff after the 3 hour car ride home. To tell you the truth, the knee didn't bother me as much as the strange light nausea that I developed while skiing (and still have today). I sometimes develop motion sickness when I ski from the lifts and ups and downs, but this condition is persisting. I'm eating fine, and my stomach is holding everything down, so this is just something a little peculiar. Who knows.

Anyway, tonight is a bigger test - (drumroll) - I'm running on the roads. Yep, that means concrete. Its time to do so, and I'm tired of running on the track. I'm gotten up to 30 miles a week on soft surfaces; this was the requirement as set aside by Anne.

Millhouse says . . . "cold, so cold"

I know its been some time, but we're almost all the way back. Last Tuesday I met with Anne and we both agreed that things were progressing and despite some lingering stiffness on the top of my knee, things were looking good. On Friday I met my dad for his birthday (56 !) and he was astonished about how incredibly normal it looked. That being said, I ran a few 400's as part of my workout at nearly 5:00 pace and I think I was going just about as fast as appropriate. I think I am going to stay at 5:00 pace or slower for my workouts for the next few weeks, before upping it to full tilt. I am going to try and run on the roads next Monday.

The title of post refers to Millhouse from the Simpsons contracting a tropical disease from a pet monkey that he and Bart find (Bart gets lice). This quote works very well for this post. The temps are waaaaay below normal in Massachusetts right now, with wind chills in the negatives (-5 to -10 F). This has kept me indoors, whether on a track or on an exercise bike. I feel bad for a woman from Israel who I went on a few dates with in November that had never experienced anything colder than about 25.

It would be nice if it snowed, however.

Additionally, relating to the disease part of the quote, I am currently surrounded by people who have contracted a (or the) local noro-virus. Two people in my office (potentially three), my roomate Elizabeth, and my roomate Bob's girlfriend have all had it, with the girlfriend (Jen) winning the prize of a loss of 8 lbs. Having had a noro-like virus three times in the past six years, where twice I had to go to the hospital, I'm praying I don't get it, and am washing my hands a lot. If I don't have access to anti-vomiting drugs, I'm screwed. Wikipedia reports that January 2007 was a Norwalk virus outbreak in Boston, with over 3,500 cases reported in the Boston area. Sounds like an inflated number, but wikipedia is always right (hah !).

Runner Code of Ethics

Yesterday I was faced with an ethical question. I have to do all of my running of soft surfaces as required by Anne and my dad (my dad said - "no running on anything but a track surface for 4 months"). This means longer runs are starting to get boring. Now, last Wednesday it was nice because it was snowing, and running in the snow, as long as there isn't a lot of snow on the ground, is pretty cool. Sunday, however, it was warm (30+), and I found myself at my bedroom with an important decision; do I bring music or not. The party line has always been no music. If you're running for real, and not just for fitness, you don't need music. I never use music on my runs, except during Red Sox games. However, faced with a dull 42 minute run at the Tufts track, I broke out the music player. I must say, even thought there were commercials half the time, I can see its allure. A good song can really get you going. At the same time, it distracts you from your thoughts, and I've always found that there are at least a few good moments of clarity on any run. This clarity gets shoved aside by the tunes.

Strangely enough though, the best song of the day, the one that induced the most endorphins, was "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkel. This is not a song I usually listen to, although it is quite good. By the time the singers were into the whoa oh oh ohhh oh oh section I was running 6:00 pace.

I think the music is acceptable while I'm still stuck to the track. Once we hit the roads again, the radio goes back in the drawer, except for the beloved Red Sox of course.

Celebrities

On Saturday night, Boston will host a very high-end elite track at my training center called the Boston Indoor Games. The link is bostonindoorgames.com. Anyway, since there is a collegiate tonight (Friday), many of the athletes appeared last night to get a look at the track before their races. Most notably, the Ethiopian contingent, featuring Tirunesh Dibaba and Meseret Defar (the top female 3K-5K women in the world) jogged around and did some striders. Their effortless strides made me nauseous. Additionally, John Godina, a many time Olympic medalist in the shotput, threw the shot around and gave a few pointers to the collegiates who were practicing at the same time (including a few members of our club). Due to a scheduling conflict, I'm going to miss the meet, and will have to catch it on the teevee the next day. My old teammate and acquaintance, Sam Burley, will be competing in the 800m. To use the old cheer, Go Sam Go.

Losing track of space

Some of the readers out there know that on occasion I've lost track of my spatial dimensions which has resulted in some silly incidents. On a camping trip in 2001 I once was looking into the trunk of a car and almost broke a tailight because my right hand was holding a spoon (as I leaned over, the spoon nailed the light). Yesterday was a similar type of goofball maneuver, which involves the ole' knee. I was at my club's annual track meet, retrieving a pen from my backpack which I had stashed under the bleachers (Harvard has pull-out bleachers). As I crouched down in a squat to come back out from under the bleachers, my right shoulder bopped into a corner, and my momentum suddenly went the opposite direction. My friends Sloan and Kit watched in horror as I fell backwards, my knee bending more and more. I had passing thoughts of the whole thing re-tearing. Luckily, it seemed to survive. However, I landed on my left hip, which was sore for the rest of the track meet, essentially a butt bruise. It feels better today.

You're not supposed to get injured on your off/rest days !