Lower Body Lifting

My schedule called for lower body lifting yesterday and this would be another test of my hamstring and its progress.

I deliberately kept the weights low, not wanting to risk re-injuring myself.

I started with front squats, and after my warm-up, I did 115 pounds. That's slightly less than a few weeks ago and it felt pretty good overall.

Next was Romanian deadlifts and I wanted to be very careful with these. Since the injury, I've been bending my knees slightly on this lift, which is not correct. When the legs are straight, the upper hamstrings are stressed a lot, so I've been very careful not to do this. I started at 135 pounds and eventually moved to 185 pounds. But, while I had my legs straighter than in the past few months, I still bent the knee just a little bit to be safe.

Next was trap bar deadlifts, which I did at 225 pounds. And then lumberjack squats. These are done with one end of a barbell in a corner and weight on the other end of the barbell. You hold onto the end of the barbell holding the weight and do squats with that weight. I was doing 3 sets of 15, so I started conservatively with 45 pounds on the 45 pound bar. After one set, I realized that was too easy, so I moved up to 70 pounds, which was just about right.

I finished up with some bodyweight squats where you jump up into a tuck position and then land, heading right back into a squat. These were for time - 3 x 20 seconds.

I think I did a good job of not going too hard. I feel a bit tired, but not sore today. Today, however, I'm just going to do some upper body lifting before I run again tomorrow.

It's nice to be able to do training with my legs again, after a ten day break. But, I still need to be conservative and not risk destroying any healing that is ongoing.

A pair of runs

I'm allowed to run again now and it's clear that the PRP treatment is doing something. But, it's also clear that I'm far from 100% as well.

My first run was a six miler. I started with one downhill mile, then four mostly flat miles and finally, back uphill in the last mile. I took it really easy in the first mile and felt OK. When I got to the flats, I tried to simply run by feel. I would glance at my Forerunner at times, and my pace was not very consistent. Sometimes, I was moving at 8:30/mile and other times, closer to 9:30. But, since I've been injured, all of my runs have been closer to 11 minutes per mile. I hit the five mile mark in just over 47 minutes and it then took me almost 12 minutes for the last uphill mile. Six miles in 59:06. Excluding one ill-advised 5K not long after I got hurt, that was my fastest run in months. In some ways, that's depressing to think about, but I'm trying to focus on running now rather than the past few months.

I was out of town for the weekend and had a long drive home yesterday. I got home about 5:30 and after driving for almost 8 hours, all I could think about was going for a run. I changed quickly and went out for a four miler. It's very hilly where I live and when I want to run four miles, I go downhill for two miles and then come back uphill the entire way home. I hit the 2 mile mark in just under 18 minutes and it took me just over 20 minutes to get back home. The last time I ran this route, it took me 45 minutes and this time it was just over 38.

So clearly, some things have improved already. But, I'm far from completely recovered. What I've noticed the most so far is that the hamstring muscle is bothering me again and my IT band is tight. So, I've been using my foam roller to work on those two areas.

What I have to see over the next few weeks is whether or not everything seems to loosen up and make my stride more comfortable. It's definitely better than it was and running is more fun now than it's been in a while. But, I've still got some healing and rehab ahead of me.

This week, I can start doing lower body workouts in the gym again. My upper body has been pretty sore for the past couple weeks because I've been doing so many upper body lifting workouts.

Ski season?

At lunchtime today, I tried on a couple new pairs of ski boots. I need to get some new boots this year, and it's time to start evaluating them so that I can order the boots while "pro form" pricing is still available.

The shop didn't have the boot that I most wanted to try, but I tried two other boots, one of which I really liked. Regretfully, the shop doesn't do pro form pricing, so I doubt that I'll buy boots there.

"Pro form" is a quid pro quo of the ski industry. Gear manufacturers want ski instructors in their gear. When teaching lessons, we get asked questions about gear all the time. The equipment manufacturers want the instructors to say good things about their products.

Before the instructor can say good things though, the instructor has to purchase and use the product. That's where pro forms come in. Instructors can buy equipment at a discount, either directly from the manufacturer or a participating retailer or a product rep at the mountain. Because instructors go through equipment pretty fast, by skiing so many days per year, they are usually in fairly new gear. Every year, I tend to buy either boots or skis and Last year I bought skis. The customer asks about the gear, the instructor says good things, the customer buys the gear and everybody is happy, although a few people are a bit poorer for the deal.

I think the same sort of stuff happens in every gear-intensive sport. Good bike racers don't pay full price for their rides, good runners don't buy shoes at all, etc.

Skiing is the only sport where I've ever remotely qualified to get a "professional discount".

Two days until I can run again.

Saturday night's weather forecast is calling for the possibility of widespread frost!

Busy and resting

I've been swamped at work all week. I'm doing a bunch of testing for a new portion of our company's main product line, and the product has to work well. Since I wrote the code, I am trying to be really thorough in my testing. I don't want others to find a bug that I might have missed, and I certainly don't want a patient or doctor to run into an error in our product.

Last night, I was beat when I got home and I just took a rest day. Today, I'm feeling the same way, I'm not sure when I'm going to be done working, so I think I'll rest again tonight.

Tomorrow, I'll get in some sort of workout in the morning though. I hope.

But sometimes, work takes priority.

I am taking Friday off to drive to PA to visit my sister, uncle and mom. I'm allowed to start running again on Saturday, and I'm just counting down the days until then.

Counting down the days

My hamstring is feeling much better. I don't mean that the injury itself necessarily feels better, but the discomfort from the PRP treatment is mostly gone. I feel comfortable just moving around, and I really feel like I could try running right now.

Of course, if the PRP is doing its job, my body is in the process of generating new tissue and that tissue can't possibly be fully constructed and ready to do any real work yet. So, as much as it pains me, I'll wait until Saturday to try to run.

After paying almost a grand out of pocket for the treatment, it would be pretty stupid to ruin things by being impatient.

At the same time, I HAVE to do something. For the past two days, I've done upper body lifting, so I doubt that I'll do that again today. That leaves walking, the stair climber or indoor cycling, none of which sounds particularly appealing.

Or, I could just practice the guitar for hours, but my practice last night was really frustrating. I think the guitar and I need a day away from each other right now. My wife told me that she is very impressed by what I've accomplished in just a few weeks, but all I can think about it what I'm not doing yet. Of course, that's pretty typical to how I approach everything. Every success simply raises the bar.

One of my readers mentioned to me that she broke her foot playing the guitar. I wonder if it was frustration that resulted in her kicking the amp. If so, I know the feeling.

We are clearly entering autumn here in New England. This is my favorite time of year to run, and I'm hoping that I can enjoy a few weeks of good running yet this fall.

Relaxing weekend

With my wife and son out of town for the weekend, and the recovery from the PRP treatment limiting my workouts, I've had a very relaxing weekend.

Friday night, my daughter and I went for groceries. I stopped at the guitar store to look for some music books that included simple tunes. I ended up buying four books - two books of "easy" rock tunes, one book with "three chord" tunes, and a book of Nirvana tunes. There are a few Nirvana songs that seem like they should be fairly easy, with "All Apologies" topping the list.

Saturday morning, I took garbage to the dump, went to the farmers market, and then went to the gym for some upper body lifting. I've been doing a lot more upper body lifting recently because of my hamstring, and my pull-ups are getting much better. Yesterday's workout included 8x3 pull-ups alternated with overhead barbell presses, also 8x3, and all with short rest. I was very happy with how I handled that superset.

After the workout, I headed home to watch the Penn State vs. Syracuse game. At one point, the camera panned right by where my brother's seats are (which is where my wife and son were sitting yesterday), but I couldn't find them. After the Penn State game, I turned on the Michigan-Notre Dame game with no volume and pulled out my guitar. I practiced for about an hour, spending most of that time on All Apologies. The notes are easy, but even after an hour, it still barely sounded like it was supposed to. I did notice later that I was supposed to change the tuning of the D string for the song, so maybe I'll try that today.

After I practiced the guitar, my daughter and I headed to Burlington so she could buy a book and we could go out to dinner together. She had requested dinner at A Single Pebble, which is one of Vermont's best restaurants. The founder of the restaurant recently retired, but our dinner was still fantastic. I let my daughter pick our dinner and she ordered all of the classic items from their menu.

When we got home, I watched the second half of the Ohio State-USC game and then stayed up late watching stupid TV shows.

So far this morning, I've slept in and wasted the rest of the morning on the internet.

In a little while, I'll go lift again and then take the dogs for a walk. Pretty exciting!

And then, I'll probably pull out my guitar again and spend an hour or so wondering how long it will be before I can really play the thing. The really scary thought is how long it will take me before I "understand" the thing and I'm not simply trying to re-create sounds using a book with instructions for beginners. But, I'm committed to practicing the thing.

Oh yeah, my hamstring is still a tiny bit sore and the range of motion is restricted a bit. By restricted, I mean more than before the PRP treatment. I'm allowed to do some very light stretching and walking, so maybe that will help there. On Saturday, I'll be in PA visiting my sister and mom, and there is a very flat rail trail there where I'm planning my first post-PRP run.

Things to do when you can't work out

Last night, I played the guitar for over an hour. My left index finger is perpetually sore or even partially numb these days. I think my wife is glad that I'm putting time into the guitar, even if what I'm playing doesn't really sound like music yet. I know that if I don't play it a lot, I'm going to get grief for spending the money.

Right now, my son is just starting lessons on the electric keyboard. My daughter is about to switch from playing the flute to playing the sax, although I think she really wants to play the drums. Our house is going to be noisy at times, but my guitar amp has the most power, so I'll be able to win. It's a good thing that no neighbors are close.

I know that the key for me is practice, so that's what I'm doing. Last night, I was working on the rhythm part of Jailhouse Rock. I also worked on Green Day's recent hit "Know Your Enemy". To be honest, there are only four chords needed to play most of that song, and two of them, a B and and E make up most of the song. But, one of the chords is a barre chord on the 7th fret, and barre chords are really tough for beginners. I have to cover up all six string with my index finger on the 7th fret, and do it in a way that each string is held down firmly, so that each string plays properly. Then, I have to use my other three fingers on other frets to finish the chord. The other main chord is a power chord, where not all of the strings get played. And, the fingering is very different for each of the two chords, so it takes me forever to move from one to another. So, I could play the song, but I'd have to record it and play it back at about 4x for it to sound remotely familiar.

I did have better luck last night with Rod Stewart's Maggie May, which I'm starting to get down.

Another thing I can do during my downtime is reading. With both The Daily Show and Colbert Report on a hiatus, there's nothing to watch on TV anyway, except for college football.

I tend to read non-fiction, and I tend to obsess on the topics of diet and exercise. I guess the fact that I've been a hard-working athlete for 25 years, yet I still always weigh more than I like keeps me obsessed there. I'm always searching for the "magic bullet" so I can finally get lean and be a good athlete. By the time I figure it out, if I ever do, I'll probably be too old to be competitive anyway. But, below are some books that I've read in the past year or so that I've found interesting and worth the time to read:

In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes
The Paleo Diet for Athletes, Cordain and someone else
Slow Burn, Stu Mittleman
The Primal Blueprint, Mark Sisson
The New Rules of Lifting, Cosgrove and Schuler
Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe
Built for Show, Nate Greene
The End of Overeating, David Kessler

There are a few others, and I even read one non-fitness book about the baseball Hall of Fame recently. That book greatly disappointed me, to be honest.

Of all the books above, the one I find most interesting and challenging is The Primal Blueprint. My diet and workouts have been greatly affected by that book, and I'm finding that my fitness and body composition are improving slowly but steadily. In many ways, the Primal Blueprint is a breezy read, but it comes to most of the same conclusions of Good Calories, Bad Calories, and it does it without the detailed science. I loved both books, but they are vastly different.

Lastly, I'm reading a lot online at the Precision Nutrition web site, through their coached eating and exercise program. My core workout schedule through the end of November comes from that program. This is my second time through the program, and the first time was a failure. But, I was the cause of the failure, not the program, and I'm finding that doing the program the right way is helping me to create some better dietary habits.

At times, I think I read too much and certainly obsess too much about these topics, but it's clear that something is wrong with the way that most Americans eat and exercise. I think it's become clear that for most people, exercise cannot overcome a bad diet. Exercise can cover up weaknesses in a diet, but to be really healthy, both diet and exercise need to be in synch.

I think another thing that stands out from this reading is that we are all different. We have different body types, different genomes, and different reactions to diets. There are certain ultrarunners who thrive on low-fat, high-carb diets. I think those diets are a disaster for me these days, and my diet tends to be based on quality proteins, quality fats, lots of fresh veggies and fruits, and some nuts. That diet would probably leave some other people feeling like crap.

But, the "Cheetos and Mountain Dew" diet is probably not good for any of us. I think.

After writing all of that, I think the guitar may be important to me right now because it stops me from thinking about everything else.

I'll get in some easy workouts this weekend, and enjoy an entire weekend with my daughter. My son and wife will be at the Penn State-Syracuse football game this weekend.