Day 3: Reality Check: "Are You Hurt, or Are You Injured?"
4:57 am:
I got home from work about 30 minutes ago, it's time to go for my walk, and I'm sore.
My heels, and especially the balls of my feet, hurt, as do my shins. When I don't wear shoes, it actually feels like the area between my third and fourth toes is swollen, on both feet. The pain in my shins feels like it could be the beginning of shin splints. My knees and the outsides of my quads are also stiff and just a little bit sore, too.
I've clearly jumped into this too hard. I didn't have a choice on Day 1; I had to drop my car off at the garage, and it is 3.5 miles from my house. I had to either walk home, or not. My original plan was to walk home from dropping it off, but ride a bus back to pick it up. There was a problem with the repair, though, and they had to keep my car overnight. I saw that as an opportunity, and on Day 2, I walked over to pick it up; another 3.5 mile walk. Yay!
I was off work on Day 1, but I worked on Day 2 (last night). That night, I also added what I believe will be an important part of my program; stairs. There's a 5-storey parking garage at work. After work last night, I climbed those 112 stairsteps. I didn't run up them, I didn't take them two at a time, I just climbed the stairs in a normal, steady manner. By the time I got to the final flight, I was feeling it (in a good way) in my quads and glutes, and was breathing a bit heavily. After I'd finished, my legs and feet weren't nearly as sore, and only got sore again after I'd sat for awhile, which leads me to believe at least part, if not most of my soreness is simply due to lactic acid buildup. If that's the case, then I'm OK.
That's the question. This is where the rubber meets the road. Everyone's heard a coach ask a player "Are you hurt, or are you injured?" If you're hurt, you can push through it, but if you're injured, you need to back off right now.
I've had some experience with this. Back in 2006, I was well into Fat Guy Walking 1.0, and I was cooking. I was losing weight, I was feeling better, and every health metric I measured was improving. I walked a course every day of about 3.5 miles, and finished it in about 70 minutes. A nice, brisk walking pace of right at 3 miles per hour. I'd reached a point where it didn't make me sore, didn't tire me out, and of course, I couldn't have that!
I have this competitive side that has caused me many problems over the years, and it didn't fail me here. I started seeing if I could beat my previous time; cutting it to 1:05, 1:00, 55 minutes .... before long, I was wearing a stopwatch around my neck and shooting for 52:30 (4 miles per hour). Then I set my sights on 50:00. As I closed in on my goal, my knees started to get sore. Despite the fact that I've had problems in the past with my ACLs, I decided to push through the pain. It persisted. It got worse. My knees hurt all the time. I got a couple of McDavid knee braces, and they were awesome, while I was wearing them, at least.
When I wasn't wearing them, though, my knees hurt! I ended up wearing them not only while walking, but at work, too. They stabilized my knees enough for me to continue my walking program, but my knees weren't getting any better.
Finally, I went to an orthopedist, and he jumped all over me, telling me if I didn't STOP my walking program immediately, there was every chance I would tear one, or both of my weakened ACLs, and require surgery. He said many times, the body communicates with us very plainly, and pain is the plainest, clearest communication of all. I listened, and completely backed off of my walking program. It took months for my knees to heal.
And so that's the dilemma I face now. If this is just soreness from starting an exercise program a bit too aggressively, then the thing to do is to push through it. If my body is telling me I'm injuring myself, I need to back off, if not stop altogether, immediately.
Looking at my priorities, the first, by a mile, is Lily's (my dog) getting her walk. Over the past three years, she has blown out both of her rear knees (they're called "stifles"), and required surgeries on both; first one, and when she was nearly fully healed from that, she tore the Canine Cruciate Ligament (CCL) (the dog version of our ACL) in the other. I stupidly spent nearly a year trying a non-surgical method to treat it. Here she is in her brace.
It didn't work, and in February, 2013, the CCL tore completely, requiring surgery on that stifle, too.
She rehabbed well, but the fact is, she's got a lifespan of 15 years, tops, and she's spent nearly 3 of those years in pain, and not getting her beloved walks, so even if I have to rent a Hoverround, Lily gets her walk every day.
Surprisingly, my second priority is the steps at work. Your legs are big muscles; engaging them in anaerobic exercise gives you good results at fat burning, quickly; I like the burn I feel in my butt and legs after walking up just 5 flights of stairs. Also, the sign of aging I've noticed most has been weakness and unsteadiness in my legs and knees. I really don't like the feeling, and believe working the stairs will help with that. Third, despite the fact that my body mass index (BMI) of 35.9 qualifies me as being "Obese Level II (Serious)" http://www.robertorizzi.com/bmi.htm, I have always had skinny legs, and a non-existent butt. I once had a stranger stop and ask me if I was sick. When I told her I wasn't, the nice, little old lady whom I'd never seen before in my life said, "Well, you sure look like you've been taking noassatall, cause you've got no ass at all!" and walked away cackling with glee. I like the idea of an exercise that not only takes fat off my middle, but works my chicken legs and nonexistent ass, too.
(27 years ago .... some parts are bigger, but the buns and sticks aren't)
So, the plan I've arrived at for my walks is this; With her knees still rehabbing, Lily can't go the full distance with me; probably never will be able to again. Our daily walk has been just about a mile, and I've found a way to split my course where I can go with Lily for about 1.4 miles while swinging back by my house to drop her off, then finish the course. I'm going to hit the road, get Lily her walk, then see how I feel when I get back here to her drop-off point. If I feel really good when we get back, I'll continue. If not, I'll leave it at that, and reassess day-by day.
Time to get to it.
I got home from work about 30 minutes ago, it's time to go for my walk, and I'm sore.
My heels, and especially the balls of my feet, hurt, as do my shins. When I don't wear shoes, it actually feels like the area between my third and fourth toes is swollen, on both feet. The pain in my shins feels like it could be the beginning of shin splints. My knees and the outsides of my quads are also stiff and just a little bit sore, too.
I've clearly jumped into this too hard. I didn't have a choice on Day 1; I had to drop my car off at the garage, and it is 3.5 miles from my house. I had to either walk home, or not. My original plan was to walk home from dropping it off, but ride a bus back to pick it up. There was a problem with the repair, though, and they had to keep my car overnight. I saw that as an opportunity, and on Day 2, I walked over to pick it up; another 3.5 mile walk. Yay!
I was off work on Day 1, but I worked on Day 2 (last night). That night, I also added what I believe will be an important part of my program; stairs. There's a 5-storey parking garage at work. After work last night, I climbed those 112 stairsteps. I didn't run up them, I didn't take them two at a time, I just climbed the stairs in a normal, steady manner. By the time I got to the final flight, I was feeling it (in a good way) in my quads and glutes, and was breathing a bit heavily. After I'd finished, my legs and feet weren't nearly as sore, and only got sore again after I'd sat for awhile, which leads me to believe at least part, if not most of my soreness is simply due to lactic acid buildup. If that's the case, then I'm OK.
That's the question. This is where the rubber meets the road. Everyone's heard a coach ask a player "Are you hurt, or are you injured?" If you're hurt, you can push through it, but if you're injured, you need to back off right now.
I've had some experience with this. Back in 2006, I was well into Fat Guy Walking 1.0, and I was cooking. I was losing weight, I was feeling better, and every health metric I measured was improving. I walked a course every day of about 3.5 miles, and finished it in about 70 minutes. A nice, brisk walking pace of right at 3 miles per hour. I'd reached a point where it didn't make me sore, didn't tire me out, and of course, I couldn't have that!
I have this competitive side that has caused me many problems over the years, and it didn't fail me here. I started seeing if I could beat my previous time; cutting it to 1:05, 1:00, 55 minutes .... before long, I was wearing a stopwatch around my neck and shooting for 52:30 (4 miles per hour). Then I set my sights on 50:00. As I closed in on my goal, my knees started to get sore. Despite the fact that I've had problems in the past with my ACLs, I decided to push through the pain. It persisted. It got worse. My knees hurt all the time. I got a couple of McDavid knee braces, and they were awesome, while I was wearing them, at least.
Finally, I went to an orthopedist, and he jumped all over me, telling me if I didn't STOP my walking program immediately, there was every chance I would tear one, or both of my weakened ACLs, and require surgery. He said many times, the body communicates with us very plainly, and pain is the plainest, clearest communication of all. I listened, and completely backed off of my walking program. It took months for my knees to heal.
And so that's the dilemma I face now. If this is just soreness from starting an exercise program a bit too aggressively, then the thing to do is to push through it. If my body is telling me I'm injuring myself, I need to back off, if not stop altogether, immediately.
Looking at my priorities, the first, by a mile, is Lily's (my dog) getting her walk. Over the past three years, she has blown out both of her rear knees (they're called "stifles"), and required surgeries on both; first one, and when she was nearly fully healed from that, she tore the Canine Cruciate Ligament (CCL) (the dog version of our ACL) in the other. I stupidly spent nearly a year trying a non-surgical method to treat it. Here she is in her brace.
She rehabbed well, but the fact is, she's got a lifespan of 15 years, tops, and she's spent nearly 3 of those years in pain, and not getting her beloved walks, so even if I have to rent a Hoverround, Lily gets her walk every day.
Surprisingly, my second priority is the steps at work. Your legs are big muscles; engaging them in anaerobic exercise gives you good results at fat burning, quickly; I like the burn I feel in my butt and legs after walking up just 5 flights of stairs. Also, the sign of aging I've noticed most has been weakness and unsteadiness in my legs and knees. I really don't like the feeling, and believe working the stairs will help with that. Third, despite the fact that my body mass index (BMI) of 35.9 qualifies me as being "Obese Level II (Serious)" http://www.robertorizzi.com/bmi.htm, I have always had skinny legs, and a non-existent butt. I once had a stranger stop and ask me if I was sick. When I told her I wasn't, the nice, little old lady whom I'd never seen before in my life said, "Well, you sure look like you've been taking noassatall, cause you've got no ass at all!" and walked away cackling with glee. I like the idea of an exercise that not only takes fat off my middle, but works my chicken legs and nonexistent ass, too.
(27 years ago .... some parts are bigger, but the buns and sticks aren't)
So, the plan I've arrived at for my walks is this; With her knees still rehabbing, Lily can't go the full distance with me; probably never will be able to again. Our daily walk has been just about a mile, and I've found a way to split my course where I can go with Lily for about 1.4 miles while swinging back by my house to drop her off, then finish the course. I'm going to hit the road, get Lily her walk, then see how I feel when I get back here to her drop-off point. If I feel really good when we get back, I'll continue. If not, I'll leave it at that, and reassess day-by day.
Time to get to it.
posted by Sean at 4:59 AM
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