slowdad

Gear Review - TriggerPoint Quadballer

If there's one thing I learned over the past several years it's that my legs are more like logs than muscles when it comes to elasticity.

This means that I am highly prone to ITBS - Iliotibial Band Syndrome 

I'll know I haven't been stretching enough when I feel that tell-tale sharp pain over the top of my knee while running, or while going down stairs after a run.

Thanks to some steady stretching, some time with a physiotherapist, and the Trigger Point QuadBaller, I've got the problem pretty much licked.

I could have gone out and just bought a foam roller but decided on this instead because it's so much smaller, and I didn't trust foam to be the correct stiffness to roll on.

The Quadballer is a pretty simple piece of kit.  2 Rollerblade type wheels and a middle bit. The key is in the middle section.  It's made of some moderately firm material over top of some hard rubbery substance.  It pushes on the muscles as you roll over it, but it gives just enough to distribute the weight slightly.

I really like using it and it seems to make a real difference.  I can tell when I neglect using it for a few days.

You can learn more about how to operate it on the TriggerPoint Site.

I purchased my QuadBaller at Running Free on their very nice online store.  I've been happy with the purchases I've made there. I haven't tried the other TriggerPoint Products mainly because I could only afford the Quadballer when I made my purchase!

If you're having knee pain I'd suggest doing the following stretches and using a foam roller or something like the Quadballer.

Running Hills

Today I went out to High Park here in Toronto to run up and down some hills to try and convince my heart that it needs to stop pounding when I walk up stairs.  I think I beat it into submission.

Highlights of the run?  I saw some parents taking pictures of their toddler for a full 40 minutes while I plodded up and down my hill.  The thing was they were taking the same picture by the same tree over and over and over.  I wonder what they were waiting for. Weird

Today I followed my usual rules for running up hills which I learned while running up Fort Henry Hill in Kingston oh, so many years ago:

• Warm up lots
• Run the first two hills at 70%
• Look up
• Don't run at max if you're still feeling a bit sick and wimpy

Ok that last one wasn't really a rule, just how I was feeling today.  As you can see from my lovely Polar heart rate data, I gradually picked up the effort as I went along.  Or, more probably, my legs just got more fatigued.

Not a bad run.  My first hardish run since the Toronto 10 Miler.

Those red things are supposed to be hills of the same profile.  The altitude sensor in my RS800 just isn't that accurate I guess.

Comeback Plan - Getting in Shape

The first thing I did after realizing I was going to get back into shape I realized that I was going to have to have a plan.  I'll talk more about each part more over time.

Get a Goal

For me I've decided to give my self a goal of completing a marathon 1 year after starting to get back in shape. It's a bit of a stretch goal but I figure with the right approach and a solid plan it'll be possible.

My other goal is to beat the time I ran my last marathon somewhere around 1995.  I ran it in 4 hours, 1 minute.  We'll see how that goes.

Eat Better - 3-4 Weeks

Phase 1 for me was to stop putting on the 1 or 2 pounds a month that I was currently doing with regularity.

For me it was about starting a new relationship with food and caring about what I ate. I simply felt that if I was going to even think about getting in shape I needed to start changing the way I ate.

Basically I did the following:

• Ate a bit less
• Ate more vegetables
• Stopped loading up on sugar
• Switched to drinking tea (Temporarily)
• Started eating breakfast - Homemade fruit smoothies!

After a couple of weeks I started feeling better and my energy was more stable throughout the day.  I don't remember losing very much weight but I turned the corner.

General Fitness - 2-3 Months

Once I started feeling a bit better I signed up for a gym membership and cracked open a pair of running shoes I had purchased a few years ago but never really wore.

My goal was to get my muscles back into condition to work, slowly. The only goal was putting in the time and getting into a routine.  Perhaps the biggest challenge was carving out time in my week to work out.  After years of not doing it the routine had solidified.  It's important to get those people around you to understand that you need some time, and it's important.

Fortunately my wife had been nagging me forever to get fit again, so she couldn't complain when I backed out of the kids bath time. And, my coworkers were fairly nice about my extended lunches over at the YMCA.

Basically my week looked like this:

• Monday - Warmup and Light Weights at the gym
• Tuesday - 20-40 min run
• Wednesday - 30 min swim at the pool
• Thursday - 20-40 min run
• Friday - Warmup and Light Weights at the gym
• Saturday - Maybe a 60 minute bike.

The only other thing I did which was different from the past was actually spend time stretching.  I'm about as elastic as a log.

Running and Cycling - 5-7 Months

After hitting the gym, and getting into the routine I canceled my gym membership.  Money was a bit of an issue but now I felt ready to start actually working at running and increasing the mileage.

During this phase I ran 3 times a week with a bike ride on the weekends.  After a few months I added a longer run on Sunday, starting at 1 hour and gradually increasing from there.

Marathon Training Plan - 4 Months

Right now I'm halfway through a Hal Higdon Marathon Training Plan in preparation for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon.  That's a whole other story to be sure!

Acura Toronto 10 Miler and 5k Review

Just about a week or so ago I did the Toronto 10 miler.

I am only signed up to do 2 races this year.  The marathon in September and this one. There's no need to embarrass myself any more than I have to.

The guy on the right, wearing the same red running shorts he owned in 1991 and the bug eye sunglasses purchased in 1996 would be me.  I'm pretty sure everyone in this photo was going past me.

Actually I did ok in the race.  Better than I expected. I finished in 1:20 something and had planned to run about 1:27.

You'll notice that in my HR data there's this point in the middle where I came to a sudden stop. 3 times actually.

This is where my hamstring decided to test my pain threshold and simulate someone stabbing me in the leg with a knife. It was essentially exactly at the halfway point and so I decided to see what would happen if I kept on running.

I can hear you calling me stupid right now.  It's ok. You're probably right.

Fortunately it didn't get worse, and it actually felt only somewhat sore at the end.  It was probably a very stupid move but the fact that my kids were waiting for me at the end was a motivating factor.  They see their Mom race all the time.  But it was a big deal to see Dad running.

I've gotta say however that I was a bit disappointed in the race overall. Not from a personal performance perspective but just overall.

The race starts in a very nice location of Toronto, the Distillery District.  I don't get down there nearly enough. If you do visit Toronto it's one of those places you should consider going to.  After you've gone to the Toronto Islands. (In summer)

But I digress.

Maybe it's just me. Maybe the last time I picked up a race packet was in 1998 or something.  But the race packets for the 10 miler really sucked.  A bag of chips and some brochures for other races.  Yeah the shirt was fine. But seriously, if that's all you're going to have in the bag, don't make me drive downtown to pick it up the day before the race. Just let me grab my shirt after the race or something.

The race route, under the Gardiner Expressway, and then out on the Leslie Spit, was ok.  You're running out by the water, with a few nice views of the city. But it's a bit barren out there, nobody watching, just trees to look at.

The organization at the start of the race was good.  Lots of Porta-johns. Lots of room to warm up.  A less than efficient bag check but fortunately I had the family there to back me up.

Why do people think they are fast?  If there's one thing I know it's that I'm slow, and I don't want to be holding up a faster runner behind me.  So why does everyone feel the need to cram to the front of the corral?  It seemed to me that the shorter and wider they were, the more they tried to cram.

Now, most of these people were faster than me so perhaps I'd better shut up now.  I just would have liked it if the whole start was spread out more.  I have personal space issues.

Which brings me to a piece of advice.  Please shower before crowding into a pen with hundreds of your fellow humans.  Or, stand at the back.  For the love of Jebus!

So, the Toronto 10 Miler.  I may be back.  It wasn't good enough to make it a certainty but it was ok.

The Beginning of the Beginning

Just about a year ago I got woken up by two events that happened fairly close together.  They seem small and insignificant but, in a way, they've lead me here, wanting to put words on the screen.

I've always considered myself reasonably fit.  Never fast, but fit enough that I could say I was.  I rode my bike.  I ran.  I went to the gym.  I did a few cross country ski races.  I did a marathon.

So around last year I was minding my own business, watching the kids run around the field while my wife ran one of the local 5 Peaks Races outside of town.  It was a wonderful day and the kids were being fairly well behaved, running around a tree chasing each other, as I waited for the crying to begin.

Then the man at the picnic table beside where I was standing moved to chat.  He was in his running gear, with his wife getting ready beside him. 

"So, are you a runner?"

"No, I'm just looking after the kids.  I haven't run in quite some time"

I was a bit surprised at my answer.  I had never ever considered myself a non-runner. But it was pretty easy for my mind to fill in all the excuses I had for not running.

But then he turned his back.

He didn't have an answer.  He didn't nod knowingly.  He turned away and started to stretch, there being more value to doing that than talking to a non-runner.

I felt the same as if he had suddenly punched me in the face and knocked me over.  Defeated. Shocked.  And then I suddenly felt out of shape.

A couple of days later I stepped on the scales.  199 lbs.   The same feeling again. I wasn't going to let myself get to 200.

At the time I didn't know how I got into the state I was in but I wasn't going to have any more of it.  I was going to get back into something resembling shape.  I was going to show my kids that Dad does more than work on a computer.

The rest of this blog is going to be about cycling, running, being a Dad, and the slow guy of the bunch.

Soon I'll write something

But first I have to take out the garbage.