October 2005 Archives

When I first moved to Victoria Point some of my friends wondered why. They had the perception that it was a retirement community. Well, as I'm doing my workouts in the mornings - whether it be walking, running, or cycling - I see the reasons all around me. I guess it's easier to see when you get out there before all the people wake up.

Dozens of rainbow lorikeets in flight showing off their brilliant colours. A lone sulfur crested cockatoo coasting casually along the treeline. A possum scurrying across the road and into the trees. Several more cockatoos feeding in the grasses. The sun rising out of the water, coochie island silhouetted. And about all

STRANGE AFFLICTION...

I was reminded the other day of an email I sent to Jeff back in December 2000 from a public internet terminal in Canada, the day before flying to meet with him for my first California adventure.

The tagline was something along the lines of "The weather is here. Wish you were great."

Well, as an Aussie I can proudly say the weather IS here. :-) And Jeff, you and SMSMH are the greatest.

Thanks. For all that you do, and for the both of you.

THESE TWO LANES WILL TAKE US ANYWHERE

I could summarise this morning's run just fine by saying "ouch". But that would be overreacting. Actually, it wasn't too bad. I was expecting some resistance, and although I wasn't disappointed in that, at least I was able to finish my planned circuit without feeling crippled.

I'm referring, of course, to my troublesome shins.

Around the half way point I could feel a light "pinching" twinge in my outer right shin muscle, and my left was starting to feel fatigued and swollen. I slowed to a walk for a minute, then stopped and gave them another stretch. A couple more minutes of walking and they had eased, so off I went. Of course, it wasn't long before they flared up again, but I wasn't far from the end of my run and decided to press on. By the time I got home, I was sore all along the inner edge of the tibia. Not debilitating - just enough to remind me that it's there and not cooperating.

Despite all that, I consider this morning's run to be a success. I'm a long way off from where my fitness level was only 12 months ago, but I felt good going out, and I feel good sitting here afterwards typing up the details. My shins are a little numb - oh, wait, that's the ice packs! - and will need a good rest, but they've improved a lot from how they were. They're far from ready for a regular running routine, but there's hope for them.

In the meantime I have all this energy and motivation to burn, and not the legs to support it. I think I'll go for a semi-relaxed bike ride this evening. Keep the legs moving, but without the load.

Climb in back
Heaven’s waiting on down the tracks
Oh-oh come take my hand
We’re riding out tonight to case the promised land

Tomorrow morning I plan on taking my first run since I started training again. I took my new Asics GT 1100s for a spin today to make sure they weren't going to give me trouble, and I think they'll do just fine.

I'll be taking it easy though - unless I can get a shin transplant between now and then - so expect a short run at a slow pace. Cheer me on, nonetheless. :-)

Oh, and by the way - the beard is back.

Some things are too freakish even for me.

The wet weather has set in this weekend. The sky is black, and the rain is coming down steadily. Perfect for sleeping in and having a lazy day.

And so, thanks to some great articles by Steve Pavlina, I found myself at 5:00am putting on my walking shoes and ready to head out the door. It was cold, wet, and a little windy at times, but well worth it to feel those troublesome shin muscles getting a good workout.

With a heavy focus on cycling and calf development in my past, followed by a lengthy period of doing nothing, it seems I have developed an imbalance in the lower leg muscles. More specifically, my tibialis anterior just can't keep up. So, what I've started working on - and am hoping the extra walking will help with - is to develop this muscle and help it play "catch ups" so that hopefully it will no longer be so susceptible to over-use : ultimately to avoid a return of my compartment syndrome.

Once I'm satisfied that it's stopped complaining during those early morning walks, I'll throw in a couple of runs and see how it holds up.

Dropping some of the excess weight I've picked up lately will help too. I set a goal a few weeks ago to lose 15 kg by December 15 (although I'll be content with -10). I've lost 6 so far, but I could afford to lose some more. :-p

In the meantime, the rain is cool, the birds are all in a frenzy at 5:00am, and there are very few people about to disturb the peace. I'll enjoy each outing and let those goal dates come to me.

I JUST CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

After being out of commission for a while, I felt it best to work on conditioning my lower leg muscles and getting my weight down a little before running again - especially in light of my history with Compartment syndrome. So, I've been out there every morning before work taking a brisk walk, and sometimes I really have to fight the urge to just break into a run. This week, fighting that urge came with every outing. In the immortal words of our beloved Forrest, "I just felt like runninG.".

I set a goal to start running again at the end of this month, after plenty of walking to get my shins a little prepared for it. Yesterday I got it into my head to try to start this weekend, so I went out Saturday morning to buy new shoes (my old ones are still fine for walking, but they're getting a little old for running, I think) but my local running store has closed down! Probably a good thing for my shins - I really should wait a couple more weeks at least - but now where am I going to do my sports shopping?

Today I sat down and typed. The keys did not complain. My thumb did though. It takes real precision to stab yourself under the thumbnail with the metal "tear-off" teeth on a paper towel holder. What do they call that bit, anyway? None the matter. It'll heal. If it doesn't, they'll just have to buy a new one. Paper towel spools are likely to be cheap.

In the spirit of Halloween (yes, I know it's still a few weeks away), I shaved off my beard on the weekend. Now I have my very own 24-7 halloween mask with which to scare the kiddies. Maybe I should have waited until closer to the day - I'm not sure the pitchfork wielders will hold off that long. Already the comments are flowing, and I even elicited a startled cry of alarm today at work (yes, really!). Even a girl in the local Subway made a comment on it - and I've only been there maybe six times in my lifetime, so it 's not like she recognised me or anything. Got to have been the sheer freakishness of it.

Poor girl.

So anyway, heed my warning, because I'm back and this time my face isn't covered :

Don't go 'round tonight
Well, it's bound to take your life
There's a bad moon on the rise