I am running again

I ran today for the first time since I injured myself. It wasn't a long run, and it wasn't a hard run - it was the first run. It felt great. It felt as a new beginning.
I did spend considerable time hiking since surgery, and all of that was done in a careful manner - no slips, no falls, as I had to protect my arm. I wasn't supposed to do it, but I did it.
But I haven't run, until today.
Today, my arm was working. Not as how it should, and how it did, but it was sufficient for my run. I ran for 5 km, all flat, went for 2.5 km, and then turned back. I did it in 25 minutes. This would be considered slow, in normal circumstances, but today it felt fast.

I was feeling my arm, and it was moving almost as any normal, healthy arm. It did feel stiff, and I've felt its limited mobility. I am still far away from even functional mobility.
It will take long time to get it back. Mobility.
Two days ago I tried to hold a guitar, and play, but it didn't work. I can't bend my arm enough, so that I could play harmonies. I can do individual notes, and simple chords, but nothing else. And I get tired, my wrist, my hand, common extensor and flexor tendons get really tired.

Last time I ran on July 17th, and I almost don't remember it. I did go "running" in the meantime, except I didn't run, as I was just walking around a track, or up ski hill. It did help me to increase my heart rate. It did convince me that I can still do it.
I did run 5 laps on a track, and that felt good too, but I don't count it.

I have been walking every day. Between 8 and 10 km. Carrying a bag with soup cans in it. I carry it with my recovering arm, so that it can get extension - I do it for 2 km, and then next 20 minutes I work on my wrist mobility - pronation and supination. And then again I carry the bag, and then again wrist exercises.
I add more weight every couple of days.

Another aspect of this story is that I am using both hands as I am typing. My arm is good enough to allow me to type on a keyboard. I cannot type for a long time, as my wrist and forearm gets very sore, and I feel pain. I stop a bit, take some rest, and continue. As my friend Jack said, it is a child's phase, where I am (re)learning new skills, and new synapses in my brain are created.
It is amazing feeling to be able to type. I wish I were able to write, but that's taking a bit more time. Well, I've learned how to write with my other hand, so I can claim that I am ambidextrous  :)

I will run now on a daily basis - to built it up, to get where I was before. I will do a test run in 3 weeks, to do 10 km under 50 minutes. And yes, that is still ueber slow, but it will work at this stage.

I also started working on my biceps and triceps muscles, including forearm muscles. My arm experienced atrophy, so I have to fix it. I am doing it on my own, as there is no existing protocol for me in a physio therapy world. My physio therapist haven't seen such elbow damage in his career, so everything in regards to physio is (will be) new.
This was a special case. I wish it were not.

I am dreaming about racing again.

Twofers

There are days when I am inspired to do more. On those days I feel lighter than usual, but there are days when I feel tired. However, I still do more.

It is not that I don't do enough, I am quite productive (well, I still have slacker days) - it's when I feel the absence of physical pain that I obtain when doing my sports. Obviously, things are not same as they were 15 years ago - I need more time for recovery, and I need more time to warm up.

I learned to warm up properly. I remember, some 11-12 years ago while playing tennis with my mentor Jack, I was quite impatient - as he would take his time to warm up and get going. I was eager and ready to hit hard from the very start but Jack wasn't. He took his time, and I was annoyed by that. At that time I didn't know that I would be applying the same "technique" in the future.

So, yes - I do take my time now, and I do warm up properly  :)

But, I still do more, when I am inspired. There are days when I do two things - I go running and then I go to the yoga class. Or I go running and then I play tennis. Or I run, I cycle, and I play tennis.
I often do more than one activity during the day. And I really do it, I push hard. That means that if you see me during or after my activity I will be sweaty and my heart rate will be elevated. When I have fun, I really have fun. Even when fun is running or cycling uphill.

Of course, in many instances "less is more", and I apply that too.

Not until a month ago did I know how to call such endeavors. I didn't have a name for the days when I was doing more than one activity.
And than, after reading a book by an iconic mountain climber Ed Viesturs "No Shortcuts to the Top", I learned a great way to call these activities.
As a high mountain climber, Ed Viesturs would sometimes climb two 8000 meter peaks during one expedition. The first climb would be used for acclimatization, and that enabled him to climb the second one easier. He called it a "Twofer", and he did quite a few of them. Climb two 8000 meter peaks during one trip to Himalayas.
That is indeed such an effort that I guess, only him and his partners (and few others who did it) can comprehend. I guess, it gets "easier" when you do it once, or twice :).
I recommend reading the book, and perhaps reading his other books. Even if you don't hike, scramble, climb, or even if you are not active. It will inspire you to become better.

So, let's get back to twofers.
Well, I am also tough :) as I do my twofers too. They are of course quite different than Ed Viesturs twofers (and much easier  :)), but as my friend Stephane says, all of us are at a different level, and each one of us has his/her own zone in which we operate..
So at my level, I do two and sometimes three activities in a day. For example, I will go running 10 km today, and in the evening I will go to do yoga.
When in the office, I will ride my bike to work, go running while there, ride my bike home, and then play tennis in the evening. Or will do yoga.
That means I would do almost a double twofer in a day. Or just a twofer.
It does feel good when I do it using only my power. When I am not stuck in traffic. When I run for 60 minutes and I don't see anyone.
When I don't have a smart phone.

I walked 4.7 million steps in 2015

First time in my life I measured and recorded more details of my physical activities. In the past I did capture some of it - number of my runs, time, and some routes.
This time I captured more information.

On top of Mt.Joffre, June 20th, 2015

Running
I was curious to see how many times I ran in 2015, and at the end, the result was pretty good :). I ran 102 times, and that is a little bit less than I wanted (I was hoping  I could run 115 times). However, I was quite happy with it.
In the past, I ran a bit more or a bit less:

2010 = 117
2011=  75
2012 = 115
2013 =  92
2014 =  67
2015 = 102

Total is 568. I ran 568 times in 6 years, and that equals to almost 95 times per year.
It wasn't always easy to get out and run, especially during cold days.

A table below describes my running in 2015.



As I already wrote in my previous post, numbers and data are powerful - they can tell us a story.

In 2015 I ran 102 times and during these runs I run 950 km. It took me 5377 minutes with average pace of 5:03. Not bad (kind of not bad, it would've "sounded" better if I did faster than 5 minutes).
My average speed was 11.9 km/h, and I burnt 84480 calories.

It is interesting to mention that I also gained almost 8 km of altitude during my 102 runs (7807 meters). There were no hills running, all of it happened through normal runs.

Walking
I love to walk. That's the closest physical activity to our ancestors. They didn't drive cars everywhere, they walked and ran instead.
I walked 4 776 126 steps. This is of course approximate number, but I can say that it was around 4.7 million.


The most number of steps I did in July (463 533), when I had an average of almost 15 000 steps per day. It was a month of long mountain traverses.
I walked the most on June 19th, when we did approach to Mt.Joffre - 35 867 steps. During week of June 15-22, I did the most steps in one week - 141 826.

Cycling
I only do mountain biking and I can only do it during certain months. I usually start in late April, when snow melts, and sometimes I can even ride until early November. This year it was over in October as we got early snow.



These are just the numbers but it is fun for me to see and read what I did. It was also fun to prepare the numbers, to get from raw data to presentable information.
I do not do this because of the numbers or because I want to do more steps, or to do more runs, or want to break some records.
Only goal is to do it.
Am I going to continue doing it? I will, and who knows how much in 2016.
All will be done with my own power.