I had a great 2-mile run/walk today

Today was a great day for running! I was out at 1:30 PM and the temperature was about 40 (F). I ran more and walked less than I've been doing. I think this was my best run since my blood-clot attack in January 2009. I wasn't tired at the end and felt fine during the rest of the afternoon and the evening. My wakeup heart rate has been in the low 60s, higher than I'd like, but it will come down in the next couple of weeks.

A nice 10-day vacation

I haven't run for the past two weeks, because my wife and I drove 2000 miles to visit St. George, Utah, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Even though I didn't run during that trip, I did an awfully lot of walking, probably more miles that I would have run/walked if I had been home. It is nice, though, to be home and to get back into my routine.

My plan for the future

I mentioned in my previous post, that I was reminded by a doctor that my performance will have dropped off due to my reduced running during the past year. That is something I hadn't considered, and it makes a lot of sense to me. I was attributing my reduced performance to the blood clots I had in January. That may have been true during the Spring and early Summer of last year, but it may not be true for my reduced performance since then. I'm finally realizing that I haven't been running many miles per week, and I need to consider myself a beginner and go from there. If I follow the accepted training rules of running (10% rule, heavy/light) and recognize that I am getting old, I should be able to bring my performance back up. How much my performance will improve, time will tell.

So my plan for the coming year is to be a beginner who can run and walk 2 miles, and I will do my training from that viewpoint. I've been telling a lot of runners how to get started in running, and now I will be a true-life test-case to see if my ideas really do work. I'm enthused about this new viewpoint on my running! Because of my age, I will only increase distance twice a month at most, and if I don't feel ready for an increase, I'll go for one increase that month or even no increases for that month. The most important thing is that I remain free of injury and that I enjoy my running and walking.

Update on my physical condition

I thought I'd bring everyone up to date on my physical condition. Those who are following this blog know that one year ago I was attacked by blood clots that brought my running to an abrupt halt. On Saturday I finished a 20+ mile week with a 7-mile run, and two days later I could only walk about 100 feet. My performance since then has slowly improved, but I've been concerned about reasons why my performance hasn't improved at a faster rate. Last Fall I worked up to a distance of 4 miles by alternating walking and running. I've cut the distance back to 2 miles to give myself more time to adjust to the increases in distance. I'm currently doing 2-mile of alternating running and walking.

Five and a half years ago I was in a serious automobile accident and spent three weeks in the ICU. During that time a filter was placed in my vein to catch blood clots from my legs. The filter did work and caught a lot of clots. When I was released from the ICU and went to a different hospital for therapy, the filter was left in my vein because the walls of the vein were becoming embedded with the filter, and the doctor said removing the filter would be a "messy" job.

I began to believe that the filter was restricting my blood-flow and thus my performance. I discussed this with my doctor and was referred to a blood-clot specialist for consultation about this. The specialist suggested that I have a CT scan of my legs so they could get a good view of my veins, the filter, and associated things. The CT scan gave the following findings.

There is an infrarenal IVC filter in place. Subtle material of decreased attenuation is noted throughout the course of the left and common iliac vein which is concerning for thrombus. There is contrast on both sides of this possible thrombus which suggests it is chronic in nature. There is normal opacification of the remaining visualized lower extremity veins without evidence of a filling defect to suggest a thrombus. Atherosclerotic calcification of the lower extremity arteries is noted. There is prominence of the pelvic and scrotal vasculature which is compatible with varicoceles.

A doctor who specializes in veins reviewed the CT images and concluded that (a) the filter couldn't be removed, (b) my body had been robust in creating collateral veins around the filter, and (c), I have a restriction in the blood flow in my left leg. The blood-clot specialist reviewed this with me and encouraged me to continue running or walking robustly. He also reminded me that it has been a year since I did distance running, and my performance has dropped significantly during that time, just due to my reduced running during the past year.

Ran the 2 miles again

I left home about 11 am and drove to the Jordan River Parkway. The temperature was in the high 30s, and the sky was sunny. I ran most of the 2 miles, although I made several stops to look at the ducks and to talk with a man taking pictures. I also did a couple of short walking breaks. Even with the stops and walking, I did more running that I did on Monday or Wednesday.

The man taking pictures told me the ducks with the white on their bodies are Goldeneye ducks. When I got home, I read Wikipedia about Goldeneye ducks and confirmed what the man had told me. Wikipedia confirmed that a whistling occurs when they flap their wings. The ducks are sea ducks and forage under water for food. They eat insects, small water plants, and similar things.

Did 1.5 miles just before dusk

I ran/walked 1.5 miles late this afternoon. My wakeup heart rate was 61, and I skipped breakfast and lunch due to helping my wife find some graphics on the Internet for her Cricut cutting machine. I had a bowl of cheerios just before I left for the run.

I saw the heron again, and I added a clip to the video I posted on Monday.

Ran/walked the 2 miles again

My wakeup heart rate was 57 this morning, and I felt good when I ran and walked the Jordan River Parkway in mid-afternoon. I did a lot of walking because I was taking pictures of some new ducks and the heron that I've seen several times, but I did a lot of running, too. About the same amount of running that I did on Saturday.

Here are the two videos that I made of the ducks and heron. The videos were made for the HPHC site and are cross-posted in this blog.

Ran with some walking 2 miles today

I did my 2-mile course on the Jordan River Parkway this afternoon. This is the same course that I did on Tuesday, but I did significantly more running today. Almost twice as much running. The temperature was 33 (F) when I left home, and the sky was overcast. I wore three layers and felt about right once I was warmed up. The next few days should be warmer, but more snow is forecast for Tuesday evening. I didn't see any walkers or runners, and I guess that the people I usually see on a Saturday afternoon were home snoozing in front of their fireplace :)

A bit more running during the 1.5 miles

I ran/walked the 1.5 mile route again. My wakeup heart rate was 56 and I felt pretty good. I thus did more running during the run than I've done in my runs during the past week. The sky was overcast (snow is forecast for tomorrow) and the temperature was in the high 30s (F). It felt nice to have a little more energy than in past days.

Today I was in goose heaven as I ran

I've been wanting to get a good shot at geese flying overhead as I run on the Parkway, but so far I haven't had my camera with me or couldn't get the camera out of my jacket fast enough. Today I finally made it. I heard honking up ahead, and I got my camera and turned it on just as the geese came into view. Wow! That was the biggest flight of geese that I've ever seen. This video was made for the HPHC site and is cross posted to this blog. Hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

Jogged/walked 1.5 miles

Today was like a Spring day. The temperature was in the low 40s with lots of sunshine. My wakeup heart rate was 59 again. My run was uneventful, a mix of slow running and walking.

Nice to see the valley again

Today is a "green" day. The temperature inversion is gone and the air is clear and clean. Lots of sunshine and temperatures in the low 40s (F). A great first day of 2010.