Reflections on a sedentary lifestyle

Finishing a triathlon, Kansas City, Missouri, ca. 2003

Odd title for a post, wouldn't you say?  Especially from someone like me who enjoys running marathons, triathlons, and so forth, right?

That was the old me.  Let me tell you about the new me.

This post was catalyzed by a little 23 minute jog I went on this morning, my first run in quite some time.

How long had it been?

This topic has been simmering in my head for some time now, really since about mid-November, my last run (!) prior to my little jog this morning.

I don't really have a god excuse for being so lazy, it just kind of...happened.

I didn't feel good about it, far from it.  I felt constantly tired and irritable.  I ate whatever and drank a lot of coffee.

One day while classes were still in session, bored during a seminar, I decided to write up a draft chronology of how I got to this point (i.e. not exercising).  It was hard for me to figure out, I mean, for such a long time (over 15 years, since before I joined the Marines in 1994) I was all about being physically fit.  I even chose exercise science as a major in college because exercise and fitness was so my thing!

So if this can happen to me (becoming sedentary), it really can happen to anyone!

You really wouldn't be able to tell that I wasn't working out by looking at me, though -  it's not like I am sporting a big beer gut or something.  I'm still "skinny" - probably too much so. (I haven't stepped on a scale lately, so I don't know how much I weigh.)

See, what happens to me when I don't work out is that I get "soft" - muscle atrophy.  I can really tell that I have lost a lot of muscle tone.  There just isn't nearly as much muscle under the skin.  It's sad, really.

Anyhow, here's what I discovered about what led me to where I am at....

It all started in late 2006 - early 2007.  This was the time I was deployed to the Philippines.  I was working some really long hours and was finding it very hard to get much exercise in.  When I got back to Hawaii, I tried to start running again like I had been before the deployment, I discovered that I was having some Achilles tendinitis.  No way to really fix that besides rest, so I rested, even though it was the last thing I wanted to be doing.  I wanted to be running!

In mid-2007, I started another high-demand work position, which allowed only a little time for exercise.  I didn't run much in 2007.  In early 2008, I decided enough was enough - I couldn't handle not running anymore and I gradually started getting back into it.  I ran a couple triathlons in Hawaii that spring, and even entered and completed the Honu Ironman 70.3 Half Ironman race on the Big Island that June.  It felt to me as  though I had bested the Achilles tendinitis and that I was "back in the saddle."  In fact, that was my last triathlon (at least to date - possibly forever).

When I left Hawaii, it was for yet another time-intensive assignment - learning Chinese.  From July 2008 - July 2009, this was my full-time job.  I decided to curtail running triathlons while near the cold waters of California's Central Coast, with an eye on resuming training for races a bit later, like after getting to Taiwan (I learned that I was going to be assigned to Taiwan in spring 2008).  I really wanted to take advantage of my location in Taiwan as a "jumping off point" to run some of the cool-sounding long-course triathlons in the region, especially the Ironman China race.

While spending most of my time studying Chinese, I managed to pack in training for a half marathon in the fall of 2008 and then a full marathon, my fifth, in spring 2009.  The training I did for the spring 2009 marathon was, up until the last month prior to the event, when I sustained a slight knee injury during a long training run, the best of any marathon preparation I have ever conducted.  I felt like I was running well again, for the first time in a long time.  The marathon itself was a hard one and I planned to take a full month off from running afterwards.

The problem was that I was never really able to get back at it again.  In early June, I attended a training course in Virginia at which I sustained a painful (although not serious) soft tissue injury to my left knee.  I was unable to run again in California, and the time demands of the language training did not decrease, all the way until the end of the 13-month course in late July 2009.

This was followed by home leave and making the international move to Taiwan.  Once in Taiwan, I began a very gradual conditioning program to try to get back into running.  How gradual?  I started off in August only by walking.  Pretty sad for a guy that less than 6 months before was conducting 20 mile training runs most weekends.

I got on a decent roll for training in September and started to think that I might be able to train back up for racing.  I wasn't far into the school semester, which started in the middle of the month, before I realized that I was in trouble, though.  I did not anticipate that the demands of graduate school here would be essentially equivalent to the workload I sustained for over a year in California.  Bummer.

My workout frequency fell dramatically in October and November, and was completely absent in December and January.  This was a tough period for me - I don't really feel well when I don't work out.  I am irritable and don't think very clearly.  I tried to counteract this by drinking more and more coffee.  This method is a poor substitute for actual energy and vigor.

I had to run a Marine combat fitness test (an annual requirement) in December and it was a lot harder for me than it should have been.  I passed, but my average performance left me extraordinarily drained.  When I ran it, it had been a month since the last time I worked out.

I face another fitness test sometime in the first half of 2010.  Unless I can create some consistency in my workouts starting now, I fear that my performance on this test will be even more sub par.

The problem is this: I have less than a week until my next semester at school starts, so the brief respite (and extra time I have for working out) will soon end.

And there will soon be a new baby in the house.

Time to get tough on my schedule - I just have to get it all done.  I have to have time for a workout most days, I have to make it a priority, otherwise I will spiral back down where I was at before (a place that I, a single workout into my "comeback," am still too close to for comfort).

Being physically fit is a huge part of who I am, and I really feel less than whole when my fitness level is low (like now).

Right now, my goal is just to keep the workouts coming, not going for long stretches without doing something physical, bending but not breaking if I miss a planned workout, etc.  Then perhaps I can look at doing some races - maybe not the Ironman China race I had hoped for (held in March each year), but Kaohsiung hosts a marathon (Feb 28 this year - could run it next spring) and there are various triathlons held in Taiwan throughout the year.  Start small...

GJS

"Diarrhea of the Keyboard"

Well, ladies and gents, it happened - I essentially missed last week in terms of making a substantive post. Oh yes, I wrote a little bit, announcing the posting of the official MARADMIN regarding Olmsted nominations (see below), but that hardly counts. Today I will make it count.

First, since I mentioned Olmsted, you should know that I am heading to the Washington, D.C. area next week for an interview, in person, with their people. This is an exciting development! Yes, it is not much of a surprise that an interview will take place; after all, that was the next logical step of the selection process. But the fact that it is going to happen so soon - wow! Of course, that is by choice. I could have waited longer to do the interview, but I had no guarantee of my availability next month (that was the other time window they offered) to make the trip, while I knew that I could be available next week to go see them. So I jumped at the chance.

My interview will be on Thursday, 20 December. I will have the opportunity to visit with Patrick and Maxine while I am in the area, which is always nice. Of course, I was going to be seeing them again quite soon, anyhow, with the upcoming pilgrimage to Nebraska for the holidays, one that, I might add, I have not been able to participate in the previous two years due to deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism. (Or is it The Long War now? At any rate, I was in Iraq in 2005 and in the Philippines last year; I am happy to be home here with Barb and John this year and even happier to be heading back to see all the family and friends in Nebraska this holiday season!)

The Olmsted Foundation offered two ways to interview: either by phone or in person. To me, if you can make the trip and interview in person (and knowing that not everyone will be able to; some candidates are no-doubt "downrange" right now, i.e. in Iraq or someplace else taking the fight to the country's enemies), that is always preferable to taking the easy way, i.e. the phone. I think it shows more of a commitment to the program, that you want it more. Of course, it is still of vital importance to have a good interview; you can't just show up and throw your foot in your mouth and come away better than a person who maybe had a tremendous phone interview. But I digress... just wanted to let everyone know that I am heading out to DC this week to take care of business. Wish me luck! (Although when I say that to folks around here, they often say that they decline to do so, because, according to them, I don't need it. Instead, they wish me continued success. It's nice either way!)

I also wanted to write a little bit about running. Readers may find it interesting that there has been no mention of "thrashing" in this web log for a long, long time. Most of that time can be accounted to simply not making entries at all, but since I started back at this last month, there has been a different reason...as some of you already know, I have suffered this year my first real injury from running. Sure, everyone turns an ankle or tweaks a hamstring now and then in the athletic business , but those injuries are by and large of the minor type that sideline a person for a week or two, tops, most of the time. Me, on the other hand, I have been suffering from chronic Achilles tendonitis for most of this year. To this day, I still do not know what exactly caused its onset. All I know is that when I came back from the Philippines in April, running was not the same for me. My left Achilles tendon would ache in the days after I would complete a run. And the funny part about it to me was that the runs I was doing were not what I would consider to be "hard" - they were between 3 and 5 miles in length, mostly on flat terrain, maybe a few rolling hills thrown in here and there, all conducted on base here where I live. These were the types of runs only 6 months earlier I could have done two to three times in succession without being particularly spent. Now I was struggling with what was formerly so easy...what gives?

My theory now, looking back, is that it was the relatively sedate daily routine that I endured over the 5 months of deployment to the Philippines. Yes, I did some running, but not nearly as much as I had become accustomed to prior to the deployment, and I did a heck of a lot of sitting in front of a computer (unfortunately the main staple of almost all "leadership" or "management" positions nowadays, even for Marine platoon commanders, believe it or not, at least when they are assigned to a position on a staff somewhere and not in charge of taking the Marines out for daily physical training or field training evolutions), working 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week for 5 months. Then I came home and figured I could go (run) like I did before the deployment. Times were, I probably could have (about 10 years ago). But (this refrain will sound familiar to a lot of you out there, methinks...) I am not as young as I used to be, and the left Achilles may just be a weak point on me (an aptly-labelled piece of anatomy, in my opinion).

So, you're thinking, you realized something was wrong with your left leg in April...how come this is something that is still a problem? There is another part of me that I must tell you about, not related to anatomy that plays into this. It's called being stubborn. I have this trait by the bucket...ask my mother or Barb. :-) I decided that I was not going to let a bum ankle stop me, it couldn't be anything serious, and that it would work itself out. I was going to continue to run, just at a somewhat reduced rate compared to the 30 - 40 mile weeks that I was putting in before I deployed. I would heal up and be able to run then Honolulu Marathon in December, setting a new personal record. Fat chance. I struggled along with my running over the next few months, never feeling like I was doing well enough to enter in any road races or triathlons, things that I normally love to do. Finally, after a run I did in Korea on 25 August, I was so frustrated with the nagging injury and bothersome discomfort it caused that I decided to do stop running. This was a drastic step for a guy who loves to run and race. Bear in mind, I still had not sought medical attention. I did some self-therapy for the injured limb sporadically (icing it, stretching it, massage), but these things never really seemed to do much good. All I could think is that I needed to stop running to let it heal. It was a tough decision to make.

I was surprised by how easy it was to enforce the decision. I thought beforehand that I would want to go out and run and it would be hard to not do it. But the truth was that running with the injury was not very enjoyable at all and I was happy to not be forcing myself to do it. But I couldn't not do some sort of cardiovascular exercise...just think how quickly and completely my aerobic capacity would suffer! So I began to ride the exercise bicycle at the gym on a near-daily basis, building up from 30 minutes at a time to 60 minutes per session. I found that these early morning cardio sessions at the gym were a fairly good substitute for the running, at least in terms of keeping some modicum of aerobic fitness, plus they allowed me an hour each morning to read some of the periodicals and books that I have a hard time fitting into my schedule otherwise! So there was a silver lining to not being able to run - it gave me more time to do something else that I love, read!

So I continued this for several months, until finally in November I began to wonder when I would try to run again. I can't remember ever deliberately (consciously) making a decision about when I would try to start running again, but a date was set - after the Honolulu Marathon (it was on 9 December this year). Having missed the race in 2006 due to the Philippines deployment, I had been wanting to run it this year in the worst way (a large factor in why I continued to run even though it was not working for me - I had a deadline to meet!), and the injury was keeping me from doing so. So on Sunday, 9 December, consciously ignorant that the marathon was even taking place across the island, I got out my running gear, neglected for the past 3+ months, and packed it for Monday morning's run. What the heck? Why not start back at it tomorrow? I thought. It's worth a shot - see how the Achilles is doing. Maybe I can run pain-free again? I've waited a long time.

So I ran. I ran Monday, and it was good. Then I ran Wednesday. It too was good. Then Friday. It was good, with an asterisk (*). Let me explain. Monday was pain-free, all the way. I didn't run far, only a couple of miles, and only about half a mile at a time, with walk breaks in between. Aerobically, this was not challenging to me, nor should it have been. But with such a long time not running, I didn't want to overdo it on the first day back. Buoyed by Monday's successful run, I ran again Wednesday. This time, I lengthened the running portions to a little over 3/4 mile each, still walking between each one, and keeping my total run distance to only a couple of miles. No pain during or after the run. This is good. Let's try Friday: I used the same formula, lengthen the run portions a bit, walk in between. I may have gone a bit too far. After running for a bit over a mile continuously, I began to feel a twinge in my left Achilles. Not good. So I stopped running and walked for a time. Then I ran again, about half a mile. No pain. I completed the workout pain-free. Moral of the story: listed to your body.

So I am running again. I think it will be slow-going to to get back where I was (~18:00 for 3 miles), but even the longest journey starts with a single step. I have made that step - in a running shoe!