Long Slow Builds and Strength Training

What am I talking about? I am talking about working slowly and steadily towards a goal instead of jumping in and rushing a build up of your running base (endurance and strength) like I did LAST YEAR (read my sad tale of woe here) with…well, some not so fabulous (pain, chronic injury, mediocre race performances) results.

Like most people, I don’t learn from other people’s mistakes. No sirree, I must make those mistakes on my own, eschewing time tested advice and warnings. In our defense — those of us that do this — it’s possible that learning the hard way is often the best way. It has a way of sinking in better.

But if you are a super smartie hear me now: Obey the 10% rule. if it helps, use a sensible official training program for your level of skill/experience and stick mostly to it. You will most likely find that gets you through your goal uninjured in a sane way with less stress (both physical and mental).

Hal Higdon’s training program is what I am using for my next half marathon. I like that he includes strength training along with a sensible, not overwhelming running plan. STRENGTH TRAINING (yes in caps) because it helps keep you strong and prevents injuries. That’s why. I like TRX, kettlebells and free weights, by the way. Youtube has a lot of 10-20 minute free videos to take you through a quick strength workout.

I am 48 1/2 years old. This *%#$@ ain’t so easy anymore, just running half a marathon seems to take more of a toll than 7 years ago. Even if it is easy now for you, do your future body a favor, strength train anyway.

Lastly, I ran solo for the past 4-5 years. The long runs were both dreaded and cherished, but mostly dreaded because I was alone. I have a new running partner! Which makes all those long runs feel like fun runs! 😀

To recap:

• Don’t be cocky, even if you have gobs of experience, tweak and obey the 10% rule
• Learning the hard way is human but….just don’t over do it.
• Strength training because your future body will love you more and vis-a-versa
• Running partners make it easier (and I like running alone)

Happy roads and trails!

 

 

 

Running on a Wing and a Prayer – Air Force Marathon 2013

I shouldn’t be standing her with this medal around my neck. I shouldn’t have even made it to Dayton, Ohio for the Air Force Marathon the week of September 21st.

My training from June to September for this marathon started out strong and then pain and injury turned it into a real ordeal. My longest long run before the marathon was only 14 miles. I had extensive spinal surgery and hadn’t run for a year before this year. After running races all year including another marathon and an ultra marathon and experiencing injuries and pain a smart person would have curbed it. But not me.

So how in the hell was I going to run 26.2 miles after weeks of limping along?

Wait. It gets better. I went to the dentist the week of my marathon. They decided I needed five fillings and a number of teeth sealed to prevent more cavities. All in one session, two hours I had my mouth open and fingers and drills going in there. The next day I came down with a bad cold. Fever, chills, headache. Mouth sores formed and pain from the dental work got worse.

The whole week before my marathon I could not eat solid food. The right side of my mouth was swollen and very painful. I sipped soup and smoothies only, and painfully when I had an appetite.

But who among runners hasn’t had the NIGHTMARE scenario I am describing at least once if they have run enough races? It happens. So hell or high water I was going to show up in Dayton and do whatever I could. At least get to the start line. This was my last planned marathon…maybe forever.

And…we had a severe thunderstorm the night before with torrential rain. The 5K scheduled during the Expo was cancelled.

Woke up at 4:45 a.m. on marathon day and the right side of my face was still swollen. I couldn’t chew still so I went liquids and gels for my energy which was kind of a good plan.

My pre-race goal was just do what I could. I expected I might drop…DNF at about 18 miles.

Well…at 13.1 miles I was feeling strong, in fact I was doing a decent pace – way better than expected – and feeling okay.

At 18 I was having stomach issues, probably from taking gels and Gatorade but I didn’t want an electrolyte imbalance like I suffered from in Flying Pig. Still, extra stops at the port a johns. No big deal.

I felt happy. Happy because I was here, doing it and I felt okay! It stopped raining, I had lots of company running – I didn’t really talk to many people for long but I wasn’t feeling like I was all alone either.

Mile 20 is usually the mile marker where I feel a surge of positive energy because it means I only have a 10K left and it’s TOTALLY DO-ABLE at this point. But at mile 20 I felt unimpressed. I was stalwart. On a mission, pacing evenly and looking at my Garmin thinking…yep, keep this up and you have a PR.

Wait, what??? A PR? Yes. It shouldn’t be possible but I was on track to PR at mile 20, despite lack of training, illness and pain that I was mostly ignoring. I was happy. I felt like something was just helping me pull through. It felt too easy! I mean, in a relative sort of way. Not that a marathon is ever easy.

Wheels came off at mile 23. Not in a spectacular, I am road kill now way. Just a gradual slowing like when your car runs out of gas and you begin to coast. You push on the gas but nothing…watched my PR fizzle away. That was a bit sad but I just chugged along in. a lot. of. pain. grinding out that last few miles…arrrrrrggggh…

Missed the PR by 2 minutes. *&%$#&!!!

Dizzy and spent, I fell dramatically into the arms of a woman medic at the finish line and burst into tears. First time I ever did that. Usually I make a wooden trot across the finish line and get my medal and move on like 26.2 didn’t just happen. It was embarrassing.

I passed through the food tent and met my husband and son in the spectator area. There was no way I could eat anything anyway. I went straight to the ground. My husband took my beer coupon to the truck and brought me back a nice, tall cold one. Yes. exactly what I wanted – a beer and I am not much of a drinker. Done. Relief. Miller Time.

In retrospect, I am okay with not having PRed – besting my best marathon time. Because at the beginning of the race I didn’t expect to get past 18 miles or 15 for that matter! Heck, I had my doubts I would be in Dayton on that day so I felt satisfied.

I’ll be back next year. To do the half marathon. 😀

Fear and Loathing Go Running

Any distance runner with experience will tell you that it’s not the actual running usually that bedevils an athlete into doubting his or herself. It’s a stew of both exterior and internal demons that plague the mind and body, whispering or even screaming for you to quit.

Thinking back, I can’t remember having a tougher year than this year for running. When I started out, I was a fresh clean slate with no negative experiences, I expected to progress slowly, to feel uncomfortable maybe, nervous and not as fleet footed or sure of myself as others. I was persistent because of hope it would be better…soon.

Try going back after a year off. You’re an absolute beginner again–with some negative experiences and a new slightly altered body to get used to (after a spinal fusion). Then throw in isolation, old fears and new ones, extreme weather and long, grueling training runs. One of those times–or many times it’s going to hit you. You suck, no one wants to run with you, it’s too scary, you could get hurt. You’re wasting your time. All these thoughts ran through my head. The incredible thing is, I still went back out.

Recently my daughter put a box of my race bibs on my bed and I decided to spread them out to look at the races I’d done in the last few years. There are a lot more bibs I got tired of laying them out. Visually I was reminded I’d done a lot of races and in between that, a lot of training.

I have experience. I am not always that bad of a runner either. It helped me put my current situation into perspective. I haven’t found a running partner but I was recently invited by a group of ultra runners to travel to Michigan for a weekend of trail racing. Acceptance into that group helped. So the loathing, “you suck” demons were banished…pretty much!

The resurgence of fear surprised me. I haven’t been particularly fearful for a while. But some of my runs were extraordinary this summer. I encountered extreme weathers, animals and insects that were hell bound on whipping my butt. Nothing gets your heart pumping faster than a big snake striking at you. During our week of extreme heat I suffered heat cramps in my calve a few miles into a run so painful I was unable to make it back to my car and had to call for a ride.

On another run, alone in an undeveloped forest reserve (that’s so rough the owners require you to sign in and out and carry a permit for legal and safety reasons) I was caught between streams in a flash flood, lost, drenched, bare legs sliced and bloodied by overgrown vegetation. I found my car surrounded by high water I wasn’t sure I would be able to drive out.

These are almost “normal” things to trail runners and outdoors people, it’s hard to describe how seemingly little things can be such a big deal. It’s everything in rolled into a big package that makes it scary. I got to thinking one day I might not last 24 hours out in the wilderness. This was after realizing I was lost, out of water and feeling the venom of one of those notoriously aggressive ground wasps coursing through me. I’d still felt fairly positive until the wasp sting was followed up by more than one snake sighting including the one that tried to bite me. Batting swarms of biting mosquitoes away from my face almost continuously nearly sent me over the edge.

Sticking with outdoor training despite the setbacks this summer I think turned me from a casual trail runner to serious trail runner.  I’d thought I had gone out there prepared. But I hadn’t, at least not mentally. And I still have a lot of work to do – I’ve been picking up outdoors survival know-how little by little and working on identifying edibles, After I have a rough time of it out there, I think through these common scenarios and figure out what I can do better next time. One of the best changes I made was buying this hydration pack.

I think anyone who goes out into the woods to trail run or trek for more than a couple hours might want one of these. It holds enough water for me to run 4-5 hours or so in hot temps – 1.5 liters of water. I can fit easily my cell phone, food, a little survival kit (I will make one up ASAP with help of a friend of mine who specializes in outdoor survival), bug spray, sunscreen, a headlamp, electrolyte tabs AND iodine tablets to purify water just in case. It’s still light enough to run in with all that inside.

Just having the hydration pack helps me feel a lot more secure. Lately I have been signing up for group runs and weekend trail races to get my longer runs without having to go alone.

Some of you think I am probably crazy. If it’s so bad, why do this? That’s hard to answer. I think it’s because I can’t think of any other way that a person can become stronger and more fearless than to acknowledge the fears and emotions and go out there anyway.

On the Eve of the Ultra

Tomorrow is the Playing Possum 50K . That means today is the day before and my stomach seems to know it as well as my jumpy nerves.

Some of you know I signed up for this ultra-marathon last January to fulfill a promise I made to myself before I had a spinal fusion in late 2011. I promised myself I would run an ultra as soon as my surgeon gave me his blessing to train. And so I trained.

For some reason “The Caissions Go Rolling Along” has popped into my head. I guess because my grandfather (a WWII Navy, not Army, veteran) used to sing it all the time to motivate me. Now I can’t get that darn song out of my head and it will probably haunt me tomorrow all day long on the trail. Here you go and don’t blame me if it’s playing around in your head.

The Caisson Song

Over hill over dale we will hit the dusty trail

As the caissons go rolling along.
Up and down, in and out, Countermarch and right about,
And our caissons go rolling along.

For it's hi-hi-hee in the Field Artillery, Shout out the number loud and strong.

Till our final ride, It will always be our pride
To keep those caissons a rolling along.

(Keep them rolling - keep them rolling)*
Keep those caissons a rolling along.

 So there we go.  You could say I am a little absorbed with this challenge tomorrow. Even my dreams have become trippy. I’ve been reading Suzanne Collins’s second book in the Hunger Games triology “Catching Fire”. If you haven’t read it, there is another Hunger Games in which two dozen people are sent to a wilderness setting to kill each other, in a game with only one winner.

So I wake up in the early morning hours from this dream in which I am side by side with my competitors at the starting line of the ultra marathon and I have blood smeared across my cheeks and nose like war paint.

I am nervous. Before the marathon I kind of walked through in a post what I thought the marathon would be like for me. I learned a lot from that supported 26.2 mile training run. One was I need to be very careful about hydration/fueling. My biggest fear is the weather. It is forecasted to be warm and muggy. Not ideal for me. I did most of my training in 30-50 degrees and little humidity.

Unlike a street marathon, I won’t have a lot of support from medics, police, course marshals, helpful bystanders, water and fuel stations, nor clear directions when I get loopy hours in. That’s the nature of trail races.

Usually there is adequate help along the way but this is my first 50K. I am worried about heat exhaustion slowing me down the most. We will also likely be wet a most of the day. Crossing flooded grassy areas, swollen streams, running through thick deep mud. The course was fairly wet the times I visited last month.  Thunderstorms are forecasted also.

All in all should be an interesting day. I hope the odds be ever in my favor! 😀

Fitness Challenge Off to a Great Start!

The week before the challenge.

Monday: 167.5 lbs.

Sunday: 163.0 lbs.

I’ve been what I call “fit fat” for almost a year now. Over the past year I put on very slowly– despite my consistent attention to exercise — 10 lbs. Most of my problem was my diet. A lot of long distance runners will concur with me I am sure that when you get used to adding extra calories to make up for the thousands you burn every week in training, it’s a hard habit to break.

In fact, I was always putting in extra calories the day before in anticipation of what I’d burn off which is a huge mistake because sometimes the next day that 7 mile run becomes a 3 mile run or that gym workout you thought you were going to have doesn’t happen for whatever reason but you still ate a little extra to prepare and now it’s excess.

Anyway, I’ve been battling sickness last week and this week. I got over the first bout of flu — which was mild enough in 6 days. I was in reasonably good health most of this week that I started the fitness challenge:

• Monday – fitness assessment which was a number of tests like step test, sit ups, bench press, measurements, flexibility, grip strength, etc. I also did 20 minutes on the elliptical trainer.
• Tuesday – 1 hour of yogalatis, pilates and yoga for stretching and strengthening. I really recommend it for beginners, older people, runners–everyone! Then I did 30 minutes of weights in the gym
• Wednesday – 90 minute power hike on hilly trails. It was very challenging with the ice, snow and mud combination out there.
• Thursday – 1 hour of yogalatis and weights
• Friday – Trainer workout. It was a tough one – circuit training including overhead press with weighted bar, squat toss with a medicine ball, burpees, step ups, fully extended situps, rowing sprints, cross over cable rows, and some others in 60 second sprints with jogging in between sets.
• Saturday – 5 mile run outside.

Today I am taking it easy. After that 5 mile run yesterday I felt pretty awful. Another strain of the flu is threatening to take me down. This one presents itself with a severe headache and nausea, dizziness. I thought I was okay to run but I was getting dizzy on the way back to my car and felt terrible after I got home. Plan is now to just rest today and do a light workout if I can on Monday.

Most exciting is that when I checked my weight on the scale this morning I was 4.5 lbs lighter than I was last week! Next week I will post a picture because it might even be possible to tell in a photo. I feel in just that week lighter and firmer. Yes, it was a lot of working out and diet but the first week I needed to show progress to motivate myself.

Most of my diet this week came from Somer’s Green Smoothie cleanse I mentioned in my previous post about the fitness challenge. I modified it to add some more calories but the first 3 days I lost 4 lbs. following her cleanse about 90%. My plan going forward is to keep drinking her smoothie recipes as snacks – because they do make me feel good and they are undoubtedly healthy. I will not shun all foods but I will try to keep on the straight and narrow with a mostly vegetable, fruit and protein diet.

My trainer gave me about 5 seconds to blurt out a weight loss goal for the challenge as we were jogging to warm up. Somewhere I just came up with “10 lbs!” and the first week I am almost half way there! I do expect some ups and down but mostly downs (weight that is).

So next week I hope to report a loss of around 2 lbs. and next week my miles are going to begin to count. I need to start run.

Titanium Woman

That is my lower back. New x-ray taken yesterday, on the 1 year anniversary of my spinal fusion. The hardware in my back is with me for life and it does feel a little odd at times but I have gotten used to it over the past year. The significance of this post is that yesterday I got the official stamp of approval from the surgeon who put together my spine to return to my “normal” activities!

I was worried. From earlier visits the surgeon didn’t seem too keen on me running long distance. When I went in yesterday I had steeled myself for battle — after all I did flout his earlier orders to avoid running and ran two half marathons this year and half a dozen shorter races, though I can’t say I ran them like a competitor or seeking a PR. Mostly I had warnings in the back of my head to take it easy and I mostly did. Still I hadn’t expected the conversation we had. I decided ahead of time to lay it all out there. Tell him exactly what I intended to do now that my one year of waiting was up. Our conversation went a little like this:

Me: “Doctor, can I run now?”

Surgeon: “Yes.”

Me: “I mean, can I run marathons? Can I start training now for a spring marathon? And maybe an ultra marathon next fall?”

Surgeon: “Sure.”

I am in stunned silence because I didn’t expect him to agree and he’s smiling so I think it might be a cruel joke. He’s going to say “just kidding” in a minute.

Me: “Really?”

Surgeon: “You can sky dive if you want, it would take a lot to do damage to your spine and running is fine, as much as you can tolerate.”

I am thinking Oh my God, Oh my God…pinch me someone!! So I decide to push it a little.

Me: “I have to know everything I can do now…can I do rappelling, climbing, zip lining?”

Surgeon: “Yes, you can jump out of airplanes if you want. ”

Me: “I don’t want to jump out of airplanes.” (what is it with him wanting me to jump out of planes?)

Surgeon: “Okay.”

And the list goes on. I can do yoga, even the Cobra position, horseback riding, skiing, yeah pretty much ANYTHING!!! Except he was not really keen on the idea of stock car racing and demolition derbies which I told him I wasn’t likely to be participating in but he has another patient who does and he’s had to repair his back again.

Bottom line…I got my life back and it’s pretty wonderful. From the surgeon’s office I drove to a running store to pick up a race packet for this Sunday’s Holiday Run. Yes, I pre-registered, I knew I would do it regardless but it makes it sweeter knowing I can do it legally, legimately with my surgeon’s blessing!

More Challenge Please

Two years ago – when running was all I seemed to be doing with my life.

Maybe this is not the best time for me to step it up. I have an appointment with my back surgeon in a month. I was in so much pain before surgery with the fractures on my vertebrae worsening and the discs slipping. Now I am one fully functioning, 46-year-old female, relatively fit and active. I am not even complaining about pain. There is a little bit of pain and discomfort here and there – nothing to keep me up at night. Nothing like before. It might even go away.

So I really shouldn’t be thinking about doing anything that might ruin that moment when I walk in to my surgeon’s office and show him what a fabulous success his handiwork has been at my 1 year post-op check up next month.

But I am getting excited. That one year milestone is coming up so soon! To me that means I’ve been reasonably well behaved for a whole year while bone grew and my body got used to the metal rods and pins and plates and whatnot in my spine. Which means I can start training like a normal healthy person? I hope…

Maybe. Maybe not. My surgeon’s not crazy about the whole running thing. In fact, my uncle, another orthopedic surgeon is not crazy about the whole running thing (but I think he admires my persistence in doing it). So if I don’t get that green light, I am thinking of other ways to step up the challenge to myself.

1) Hike-o-rama power hikes. Slowly I am collecting more and more hiking gear and apparel. Doctors like walking and hiking. they almost always say “Yes.” to those activities. And with a Garmin, I can make goals to move faster and further, like running but not running.

2) Snow shoeing and X-country skiing. In my dreams I am an Olympic biathlon-er. I’d ski out, shoot targets with my rifle and pretty much kick ass at it. But I can’t find a biathlon group to join in my neighborhood so I will just shoot on a range, either firearms or archery and X-country ski.

3) Geocaching. Why do I get the feeling people think this is a dorky past time? I don’t know where it got the geeky reputation but it sounds like big fun to me. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while. I did it yesterday, sort of, just testing out my application and GPS on my Smartphone and this weekend I am going to go out and test it in the field. Basically it means my hiking has a purpose and I am pretty sure it will draw my son in.

4) Short Races. I am fairly certain that my doctors will be okay with me running short trail races – less than a marathon. I have already done two half marathons and they went well.

5) Walking/Hiking races. Obviously I don’t like this option so much, but walking fast (15 minutes a mile or less) is quite hard for 20 miles or more. Just try it. Running is harder but walking is plenty hard and if I can’t run because it will mess up my back…well, I might do it. Some people do, especially older folks and I still respect them mightily for being out there doing the miles.

6) Putting my body back together. Okay, I will admit I have a slacker side to me. I gained 6 lbs. over the past year (lose and gain a few here and there) and my body doesn’t look like it did a year ago when I was training. So it might be a good challenge to make myself lift weight and do pilates and yoga 3 times a week this winter.  I might not be running so much but that shouldn’t be an excuse to slack on other kinds of fitness.

Sick of waiting for the all clear! But that’s my list of options for this winter and I am quite excited!

Trail Grudge Match – Mission Accomplished!

Minutes after finishing the White Tail Deer Trail Half

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I had a rematch with the trail course of the White Tail Deer Half Marathon. Last year I ran it with a broken back. This year I ran it with my newly constructed spine. Huge difference.

My goal was to hopefully do better than last year but mostly I just wanted to have a good race. Did I ever! Okay, so my time was not VASTLY improved. I shaved 7 minutes off of last year’s time, but my race experience was as close to perfect as I have come in a trail half. This was my fifth trail half marathon, I believe my 12th half marathon (road or trail). So I’m confident going in that I am going to at least finish.

What made me happiest was not my time. I was actually a little bit disappointed I didn’t do better with the time. The best part of yesterday was feeling that blissed out feeling of feeling good physically, running through some of the most beautiful trail in near perfect weather conditions, meeting friendly people, having great support at the aid stations and race organizers. It all came together in just a great package.

When the race began, I went straight to the back of the pack. My strategy was to do my best, to run a consistent race, no wimping where wimping wasn’t called for. The overall priority was to take care of my back. No stupid risks would be taken. I’d go at the pace I was comfortable with, pushing myself but conserving enough energy to finish the darn thing.

Well, that’s exactly what I did. I ran until about 10 miles, which surprised me since my longest actual run in the past month has been only about 4 miles. I stopped at every aid station to drink water – this is the first time I didn’t carry water with me on my person – the great aid station support allowed me to not worry about that. I stopped to use the women’s restroom at a camp site which slowed down my time a bit but was worth it. Around 6.5 miles my minutes per mile lengthened, I just wasn’t keeping the same pace and that was fine, I was still running and on steep and especially technical (rocky, unstable) segments, hiking, walking fast. By the end though, last couple miles, predictably I slowed quite a bit. I just wasn’t trained up to run the entire half – my bad. But at this point I just gutted it through and I passed 3 people! My biggest fear the last 3 miles was that one of the 12 or so people I passed during the last miles of the race might become a “comeback kid” and catch up and pass me. That would suck and psychologically sap me. I felt kind of bad for everyone I passed, but…well, maybe they were struggling with an injury or something, having a bad day.

Water! Water! Someone put this in my hand at the finish line and I chugged it down while getting my timing chip removed.

The difference between last year’s race and this race at the finish line was profound. Last year I was broken in half at the finish, barely eking out that last mile and a half with the help of some new found trail buddies. This year I ran in with reasonably good form, back straight and feeling tired and sore but overall pretty decent. My only weakness this time around seemed to be under training. So don’t do that. 😀 This race was unplanned. My husband was doing it. I was going to go support him. But at the last minute, I signed up, trained or not trained for a half marathon. I knew I could make it but I figured I’d be hiking half of it. North Country in August (which I blogged about earlier) was encouraging and I knew White Tail Deer would be somewhat easier than North Country’s relentless hills of sand!

I repeat, TRAIN, TRAIN, TRAIN people…even if you stick to only 90% of your training schedule, you will have a more successful race. But mine was good because I have been hiking on hilly wooded trails consistently, even if I haven’t been running, I had some decent leg strength going in.

And at the end, to make a perfect day even better, there was SUNSHINE and a beach…a kind of sketchy beach as cleanliness goes, but a beach all the same! That after coming through a great run through gorgeous natural forest beauty taking in colorful leaves, sparkling lake views and wildflowers. I wished over and over again I had a camera but that would have been difficult while running anyway.

Beach at the end of the race.

Trail Run Rematch!

Last year at the finish of White Tail, I managed to look like I wasn’t freezing cold and straining to stand up.

I’m at home getting ready to make a trip across the state to run a trail half marathon tomorrow. Last year I ran the same half marathon, the “White Tail Deer Half Marathon” in Caesar Creek State Park, Ohio. It was one of the last races I ran before I had spinal surgery so it wasn’t pretty.

About a third of the way into that race I chose to band together with a group of women I didn’t know and help motivate each other. It was a strategy I used because as I had more and more miles under my feet, the fractured and collapsed discs of my spine rubbing against the nerves and shooting down my legs was increasing. I was able to make it to the end I think, mostly because having company distracted me from the torment of each step the last few miles. When I got to the finish line, it felt like my backbone had collapsed and I could hardly stand up! Teeth gritting pain, bone shattering pain.

Tomorrow I get a rematch with that course with a reconstructed spine and I am fairly certain of a PR with that race and eager to see how much improvement I can make. It’s not that I am as good as new. We all know I am not supposed to be running…officially. So I still take it easy and go with what feels right. But I think it’s going to be a good day.

I am not sure I will band together with other runners or not, sometimes it helps to pace with someone who is running about your speed. I’ve had luck with that. Sometimes it also helps to buddy up when you want to force yourself to slow down – groups tend to slow each other down. But while I am a recreational runner, not a very competitive type, I do what feels good on the day of the race.

(Almost) A Perfect Run – Spinal Rehab

That’s my back. If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that I had this spinal fusion November 2011. My expected “full recovery date is December 2012”.  You also probably have seen me mention I am not officially supposed to be running but hiking and walking is okay. I am not concerned that the relatively small amount of running I’ve done is  bad for my recuperation. I rarely use hard surfaces like asphalt and never concrete. Grass and dirt trails 90% of the time. Always with good shoes designed for my activities and I am not training for a marathon right now.

When I began to do more hiking and running again back in June/July I was still feeling this weird “itchy” feeling at the site of my fusion. I called it the “Harry Potter Syndrome”. I used to tell my hiking/running partners when I felt it, “Voldemort must be near!” And that was kind of the sign for me to slow down and walk. I think I’ve been patient.

I indulge myself with hikes and runs in beautiful places. So walking and hiking wasn’t so bad a substitute when I couldn’t run. Anyway, today I did run. I ran 4 miles. It wasn’t my longest run since surgery last November but it was my first (almost) perfect run. I say “almost” perfect because I am dealing with a little hamstring and glute pain since mid-August, which is helped by my new habit of going to pilates/yoga class twice a week. Otherwise I felt good. No Harry Potter Syndrome! I didn’t even think much about my back – because it didn’t hurt or feel weird, just like any other part of me. I run slow right now and while I am going along at this 12 minute a mile pace I work on correcting my form, running tall, head up, shoulders back, arms tucked in at my sides, no slouching!

The single most important habit I’ve followed after this surgery to recuperate quickly has been my commitment to keeping in shape. After the surgery as soon as a patient is told they are allowed to walk, they need to walk as much as they can tolerate. Try not to rely on pain medicine past the first month (except sparingly now and then). I still have half the bottle of pain meds that the nurse gave me when I was discharged from the hospital 10 months ago! Then when physical therapy begins they need to give it their best effort and really listen and follow the therapist’s advice. Since they are doing less activity than before, they need to watch their weight.

Once the patient gets clearance from their physical therapist and surgeon to do exercises on their own at a gym, like lifting weights and pilates or yoga–nothing extreme–they should commit to working out 5 times a week to get strong, to help that back by strengthening the muscles around it and the body in general, keep the weight off.

The minimum exercise routine I have right now is walk 3 days for 3 miles and spend two days at the gym doing a 30 minute weight circuit and 45 minute pilates/yoga class. I do hike or hike/running a bit longer and a bit harder because before surgery I was used to that. But always going slowly, carefully, in moderation.

When I was about to get my surgery last year and weeks after it, I was curious about how I would do, what would happen to my body, etc. so if anyone wants to ask me questions about my experience, please feel free. And if you’re going to get this surgery, don’t worry, the worst part of it is over quickly and then it’s all about patience and taking care of yourself.