Me and my Meniscus

So I just got my marathon mojo back.  And behind curtain number 2?  Another mild set-back.

My left knee has been bothering me for a while.  It was most annoying first thing in the morning, and after an hour or so of movement the discomfort would go away.  My GP initially said it could be the beginning / early signs of arthritis (or something along those lines).  I could accept that.  I'm a big fan of Advil and Aleve.  But then the pain started sticking around longer and longer.  Finally it was bad enough that I was limping during the day and actually decided, on my own, that it was a bad idea to run.  It was time that I sucked it up and visited an Orthopedist.

Just got home from my appointment and am drinking my 3rd glass of wine.  Not terrible news, but not great either.  There's fluid in my left knee, most likely due to "...a slight tear in the meniscus".  And according to my new best friend the Orthopedist, "....there shouldn't be any fluid in the Cathedral that is your knee".  X-Ray's were clean, so after a lot of poking, prodding, pulling, tugging, and torquing on my knee, that was his expert opinion. 

Let me preface that last bit with this.  After looking at my X-Ray and eyeballing at my knees.  He smiled, laughed a bit, and said "you runners and triathletes are all the same.  You'll suppress the pain for as long as you can, won't you?"

Um, yeah.

So, I still didn't know exactly what all this meant.  I was waiting for him to say something along the lines of "...so, we'll shoot you up with X, Y, and Z, and you'll be good to go!".  But that's not exactly how it went.

He started out with this question: "I'm assuming I have a deadline to work with, right?"  I told him yeah, a triathlon next weekend.  He shook his head.

So I countered his head shaking with the date of the Steamtown Marathon in early October.  He said "...okay, I can work with that."

Basically, I can't run for 10-14 days.  But I can still ride and swim, which is a relief.  My Ortho said that "....you should feel welcomed back to running after a couple of weeks..."  This was encouraging!  But he followed it up with "....if not, then we do an MRI and I most likely see some things that need to be cleaned up". 

Hmmph.

So, I'm on Naproxin (500mg) twice a day.  No running.  Will be riding and swimming tomorrow.  I'm not ruling out the Steamtown Marathon and my bid to qualify for Boston.  But the Park City Mossman Triathlon is out of the question next weekend.  I can't lie, I'm bummed about not being able to do the triathlon.  It's a great race and I was in peak shape for it.  But the fall marathon is still in play.

Oh, the joys of be an aging athlete.

(P.S.  My niece Paige is an RN - recently passed her boards.  She was visiting this past weekend, and after hearing a 30 second description of my knee issues, told my wife that she didn't think it was an arthritis issue like my GP had thought.  She was concerned about my meniscus.  She's a smart little RN, isn't she?)

The Lure of Boston

It's been 5 years since I last ran a marathon.  When I became completely addicted to triathlons, my focus shifted away from all running all the time, to become a 2 sport athlete.  I still ran some 1/2 marathons, and had some 15+ mile training runs when I gearing up for a half Ironman distance tri.  But I have to admit, in the end, I didn't miss running 20+ miles on any given Sunday.

The lure just wasn't there anymore.  I had been hooked on marathons for a handful of years, and was always looking forward to the next one.  But while I say I was hooked I don't think I was 100% hooked.  The Boston Marathon was just never something that was that big a deal to me (I know, I know).  For some reason I never had that urge, that "need", to run Boston.  I have a number of friends that I run with that have qualified for, and run, Boston.  There has always chatter around who we knew that qualified and who was running it this time around.  I knew that running Boston was a goal that most marathon runners have, but for some reason I just didn't have that itch.  So I was happy with my triathlons and running a 1/2 marathon here and there.  And the last two triathlon seasons have been full.  I've kept plenty busy training for Olympic, and half Ironman distance races.

Something changed this past winter and spring.  The group of maniacs that I run with during the weekday mornings are a great bunch of guys.  Matt P, Mark M, Tom O, Rodney C, and Mark T all show up multiple mornings a week for runs: Tempo, track, trail, you name it.  Rain, snow, heat, humidity....whatever the weather they were there.  And almost all of them were running Boston this past spring.  As their workouts became more intense, so did mine.  As they started to get excited about Boston, so did I.  It couldn't be helped.  The mojo that was Boston was infecting me in ways that it never had before.  My running was getting better as these guys really pushed me to the edge of my running envelope.  My run splits in my first two triathlons were quicker than I'd ever imagined.  I was liking this new speed and endurance that I'd picked up - it pays to run with people who are faster than you.  And when I say faster, I do mean faster.  A couple of these fine gents run a sub 2:45 marathon and are blazing fast at 10K and 1/2 marathon distances. 

It wasn't long after the Boston marathon this year that I was listening to the post-race chatter during one of our usual morning runs.  Tales of all the standard Boston Marathon stuff:  The bus ride to the start....the fans from Wellesley College....Heartbreak Hill.  The talk, again, was infectious. 

I got the bug back.  The itch was there.  I needed to run another marathon, and more importantly I needed to qualify for Boston. 

I immediately changed my race schedule - I had to find a fall marathon to run.  I needed one that was somewhat close by and easy to get to (I didn't want to travel across the country if I could help it).  I also wanted to find a marathon with a course that wasn't going to be crushingly difficult (so obviously Big Sur and Mont Blanc were out of the question).  I had heard about the Steamtown Marathon.  Rumor is it's a great Boston qualifier.  So, a few clicks of the mouse later, and I was registered.

I removed a September triathlon or two from my calendar and replaced them with a lot of running workouts.  I can't say that I'm completely thrilled about reducing my season by a triathlon or two.  It's been difficult checking my ego at the door - it's easy to tell myself that I can do a half Ironman 3 weeks before a marathon.  I know people who have done just that and run very well.  But I'm trying to be smart about this and ensure that I have as good a marathon as possible.

I know I have the speed to qualify for Boston.  I'm confident of that.   3 years ago maybe not, but after the last two years of hard work I know the speed is there.   But marathons are an odd beast.  You can't fake the training for it, and it's certainly not like a 10K, or even a half marathon, where you can maybe muscle your way through the race if something isn't quite right.  But with a marathon, if something is off on race day, 26.2 miles is a long way to go if you're dealing with a cramp, an upset stomach, or whatever the issue may be.  The last thing I want to have to deal with is heavy legs after a rough day at the triathlon office a few weeks previous.

So, in a few weeks I'll be in full blown marathon training mode.  I'm gearing up for the Park City Mossman triathlon in mid-August.  After that it's all about running.  I can't quite commit to completely giving up the swimming and biking workouts.  I enjoy those two disciplines and will consider it cross training.  However, the primary focus will be running. 

I'm now looking for a late season triathlon, of course, to add to my race calendar. 

Unsolicited opinions

What a douche-bag.

Sorry - I'm a little agitated.  I'm going to do my best to not divulge the identities of some individuals key to the story today.

I received an email from a friend last week, forwarding a thread of emails between himself and another individual that I know, that contained race results and training maps, elevation gains on training rides - you know, the usual stuff that you forward along after a good week of training.  Anyway....

....as I read down the email thread I stumbled onto a section that I think my friend forgot to delete.  And I quote:  "....I wouldn't worry too much about what Dave is doing.  He doesn't have kids and he's, in my opinion, about to begin the downward slide in his performance...."

Um, WTF?

I know this individual, but haven't seen or spoken to him in years.  And this is his opinion of my performance gains and AG finishes over this same period of time?  It's all due to the fact that I don't have kids?  And on top of that I've peaked and I'm about to start getting slower?

Well, allow me to retort.

First:  Having kids or not having kids, I think, has nothing to do with things.  When I'm doing heavy brick workouts (for some reason they usually happen on Thursday morning) I'm up at 3:15-3:30a.  I'm home by 6:30a.  We all make sacrifices and do what we have to do to get the job done.  I have a friend who gets up at 2:30a on Monday morning so he can do his long runs in preparation for his upcoming marathon.  I run multiple times a week with  Mark M, Matt P, and Tom O.   All are fathers of beautiful kids.   And they all run like deer.  They're fast and are getting faster.  I also know a number of people that have qualified for Kona and the Ironman World Championships who have kids.  It can be done.

Second: I'm about to decline in my performance?  Based on what empirical evidence?  Because I'm now in my 40's?  BAH!  I have a good friend, Joe G who (no offense, Joe) is about 10 years older than I and is a much faster runner.  He's been continually impressive in his running over the years and never fails to amaze.  Age has had nothing to do with his performances over the past years.  He's a gifted athlete who works hard and shows no signs of slowing down.

The point being, kids or no kids - it doesn't matter.  You make the sacrifices necessary to train and compete as you'd like to.  Age?  Immaterial, everyone is different.

Will we all slow down over time?  Yes.  Is there a specific age at which this happens?  No - it's an individual thing.

I haven't seen, or spoken to, the individual who made these comments in years.  I'm not sure what spurned him to make them.  We all work hard, train hard, and race hard.  We do the best we can.  We all make sacrifices - or not.  The decision is ours and ours alone.  We all have to live with those decisions, like them or not.

This rant is over.  Thank you for listening.

Saving my A** (With an ISM Saddle)

When I started riding seriously, when the triathlon bug had really set in, I began to experience some serious issues with my saddle. It wasn't a good relationship, so to speak. To be nice, I'd say I had "soft tissue" issues. To be blunt, almost every saddle that I tried rubbed me the wrong way. Blood flow would be cut off to key areas of my anatomy, and my prostate felt like it was the size of a bagel.

I went through a few saddles:

Sella San Marco

Fiz:ik

Bontrager
(sorry, couldn't find that one in the basement). 

Heck, I even tried using the saddle my wife had used at one point:

WTB

I had a good stretch on the San Marco, but on longer rides it was still not the most comfortable thing to be perched on for three-plus hours. I did enough research to know that I needed a saddle with a cut out, and the San Marco just wasn't working well enough.

I don't know how I stumbled onto the ISM saddle - I'm sure it was a late night session surfing the internet cursing the tingling (not in a good way) in my nether-regions.


ISM Road

This saddle is the most comfortable I've ridden. I first put one on my road bike last season (an ISM Race saddle). The relief was immediate, and the comfort is amazing. There was no question that my recently purchased TT bike would need an ISM saddle as well.  I went with the ISM Road model as there's a little more padding and is much more comfortable on long days down in the aero-bars.  I can ride for hours and not have any of the inconvenient side effects that were plaguing me in the past.

I can't imagine riding on anything else. What are you riding on?