Let’s take a look at my progress in getting back to my running form in 2016 by checking in on what my weight was like on January 1st and how it ended up on January 31st.
January 1: 169.5 pounds
January 31: 170.1 pounds
I have gained 0.6 pounds.
On the positive side, the weight gain is fairly trivial and could easily be attributed to something like water weight, a rounding error, etc.
On the less-positive side, it’s still up instead of down. Weight loss kind of requires the numbers to get smaller, not larger.
You may remember I spent several days kvetching recently about a cold/virus that resulted in me missing a couple of days of work and spending half the weekend feeling the same level of ambition as a rock.
Yesterday that same cold/virus came back.
It seems to be doing more of a slow burn this time, so while I feel generally unwell I am still at least somewhat functional. The other good news (?) is I still have a store of medicine to dip into, as I did not exhaust the supply I had procured a few weeks back.
Still, this is annoying. January has kind of sucked. Good riddance to it, I say. Stupid month.
On Thursday I picked up my custom-made orthotics devices from Kintec to deal with the problem of my left foot. I’ve gone on about that pesky appendage before so the short version is this: the pad where the toes connect to the rest of the foot becomes sore after I’ve been walking or running for a varying period of time. That time depends on factors ranging from the softness of the surface I’m walking/running on, to the type of footwear to, possibly, the alignment of the planets or something because it can be a tad unpredictable at times.
My doctor and others recommended getting an orthotic so I booked an appointment, had my feet molded in foam (the pedorthist said I had the most relaxed feet she’d seen when making the mold) and on Thursday had the orthotics trimmed to fit nicely inside my normal walking shoes.
I was also handed a pamphlet on how to break in the orthotic. It’s intended that you wear them an increasing amount per day for two to three weeks and only use them when running after you’ve fully acclimated to wearing them in regular shoes. If they cause the feet to hurt, you’re supposed to remove them until the pain goes away.
When I tried them on at Kintec I did not feel any immediate bolts of pain, nor lose my balance and start knocking over displays. Pluses, both.
The next day I wore them all day just like I’m not supposed to do. But in my defense, they didn’t hurt at all. It was unexpectedly pleasant. The left foot did start to hurt a bit when I was sitting on a train riding the Expo Line home. It seemed strange that sitting made the foot hurt. The nominal pain went away shortly after getting home.
Here’s to the orthotic making complaints about that stupid foot a thing of the past. I don’t expect miracles but some improvement would be spiffy.
Today I returned to work, though it’s safe to say that I am not exactly 100% yet. I felt like I was spreading my illness every time I touched something. And really, I probably was. Apologies to everyone I may have gotten sick through all of my egregious touching. That sounds dirty and in the germ sense it totally is.
Last night I opted to forgo another ftom-behind-the-counter decongestant tablet in favor of the more all-encompassing solution of Nyquil Complete. Unfortunately the decongestant part kind of stopped working around 3 a.m. This meant about three hours of mostly not sleeping, combined with more mouth breathing and yucky dry mouth. I had the foresight to go to bed extra early so it could have been worse.
The day was characterized by intermittent coughing, general tiredness and everything continuing to taste like cardboard.
On a scale of one to ten coughed-up lungs, I rate today six coughed-up lungs. It could have been worse but boy howdy, it could have been better, too.
I promise the next blog post will not be about my sinuses, mouth or any other part of my body or its current condition.
Last night started with me experiencing the chills, not out of fright, but due to my stupid cold/flu/germs from outer space/whatever it is. That didn’t last, though, as by midway through the night I was hot and sweaty instead. Oh, and my nose was so stuffed up I couldn’t breathe. Or sleep. Not sleeping when sick is not a good way to speed recovery.
I managed to catch an hour or so of uninterrupted sleep around 7 a.m. when I finally dozed off, likely from exhaustion. When I awoke I discovered that I’d been breathing through my mouth (the only handy breathing orifice), said mouth was parched and my lips were almost chapped from. They still feel funny this evening.
I went to ye local drug store and got a not-over-the-counter decongestant. While it hasn’t completely unplugged my sinuses, it’s partially done so and more importantly, they are staying partially unplugged when I lay down, meaning I should be able to sleep tonight without being a mouth breather and get actual rest.
To balance this positive news, I am now coughing and sneezing a lot more.
I am not a fan of this head cold. No sir, not a fan at all.
This head cold I’m currently fighting is like what you get if you crossed a head cold with Africanized bees. I’m tired, I’m achy, my sinuses are so plugged up it’s like my nose went on vacation. If I get a little cold (ho ho) I start shivering as if I’m standing starkers on an ice floe.
And today it feels like it’s moving into my chest, so coughing and wheezing are what I can likely look forward to for the rest of the week.
I don’t like this. Please send a healthy body for me to occupy ASAP.
Today I had my left foot examined by a certified pedorthist. I got an official report and am heading back on January 21 to get an orthotic device that I will use in my walking-around shoes and running shoes. This is basically a fancy insole specifically molded to the shape of my foot and designed to minimize pain in the gimpy parts of my foot.
Here are the highlights (?) of my assessment:
Postural Observations Bilateral: Medium MLA, Hindfoot Valgus
Balance weak when single leg stance bilaterally
[Insert joke about Hindfoot Valgus being my new punk band name here]
The second line about balance is a polite way of saying I really suck at standing on one leg. My sense of balance is not weak, it’s silly and nearly non-existent. I could be on a tightrope a meter wide and still find a way to fall off. I don’t know why this is, but it’s been this way as long as I can remember.
Gait Assessment Bilateral: Time Of Heel Lift Early
Mtt arch collapse / splay
The first line was interesting to me. When I first gave serious thought to running back in 2009 my reading on the subject left me with the impression that heel injuries were common and and that a good stance would greatly reduce or eliminate the chance of injury. And in over 3,000 km of running I have never hurt my heel. Unfortunately this may have lead to me indirectly causing other problems. When I am striding–walking or running–I lift off my heel early, which tends to result in landing on the front of my foot harder than I might otherwise. You can probably guess which part of my left foot hurts.
Significant Clinical Observations:
Mr. James [I always feel weird when people call me Mr. James, partly because it makes me think of my dad and partly because it sounds like I’m being addressed a a teacher] presents with pain under left metatarsal heads. He has medium arch height, limited ankle dorsiflexion, dropped metatarsal heads with callousing bilaterally [interpretation: I have ugly feet. I was also asked if I had some sort of fungal infection because my toenail are like ten little mini horror shows]. He has limited ankle dorsiflexion leading to early heel rise and more pressure at forefoot during gait. Orthotics recommended to aid in shock absorption and take pressure off metatarsal heads. Footwear with good cushioning and forefoot rocker recommended as well as home footwear. Calf stretches regularly strongly recommended in treatment plan as well [this was a big thing; basically I’m as flexible as a board and need to change that].
I went home with a pair of sandals designed to cushion the proper parts of my feet. I’m to wear them around home, which is something that makes me feel old man-ish but if they work, it beats not old man-ish with an aching foot. I was also persuaded to get a new pair of running shoes with the aforementioned forefoot rocker, specifically the Hoka Speedgoat trail runners. Yes, the name is absurd. Will I get the urge to chew on tin cans as I run? Perhaps. It features “Balanced Meta-Rocker Geometry” and this particular feature is startlingly noticeable when you walk around in the shoes. I’m curious to see how they feel when running. They look like this:
The testing/assessment took about an hour and consisted of me walking/running on a treadmill and having my feet poked, prodded and stretched to see where it hurt, as well as the standing-on-one-leg thing. Fortunately the balancing part was not critical. The biggest takeaway as far as what I can do, apart from getting the orthotic, is to stretch multiple times every day and especially before running. Ironically, I used to stretch before running but after hurting an Achilles tendon back in 2012 I became concerned (paranoid?) that the stretching was increasing the chance of me injuring myself by overdoing it. The pedorthist (a nice woman named Lynne) told me this would be pretty much impossible to do without engaging in a level of excessive stretching idiocy that a rational human would not be capable of. This mostly reassured me.
I may try the goat shoes as soon as tomorrow.
To paraphrase the first Star Trek movie, The Foot Adventure is Just Beginning…
I was down an even two pounds today, dropping from 167.3 to 165.3. Even though I had no real snacks yesterday, this still surprised me. But it is encouraging.
Today I was bad and ate an apple strudel but was sufficiently guilty afterward to go out and do my first 5K in over four months, so it kind of worked out in the end. Not snacking is not easy but I’ve compensated for the strudel incident, behaved since returning from my run, and am fairly sure I’ll make it to bed without eating an entire cake.
Good news: With the Christmas break only two work days away, I will no longer be tempted by (and indulge in) assorted calorie-rich goodies regularly dropped off at work
Bad news: After going up by a pound following a workplace potluck yesterday, I indulged again today and expect to be up yet again tomorrow, erasing my meager progress. But from tomorrow forward, it’s all downhill. In a good way.
