PRK Don't Stand for "PaRK It"!

I am 18 days post-op from PRK corrective eye surgery and I hit the trails like a wild turkey tonight!  In fact I saw two wild turkeys, each about thrice the size of Piya!  I surprised one of them and I thought he was going to charge me with his loud squawking and chordling, but my fleetness of foot had me around the bend 'fore he could peck my heels!  In the mornings, before a day's worth of med drop residue, I can see like an eagle, especially when it's sunny and bright.  Both eyes are about the same in progress now, I'd say 95%.

Boy it's fun running trails--tonight at Battle Creek Regional Park.  It's just big enough to get good and lost, but not so big that you get good and lost for long.  It's a trail with lots of ups and downs, twists and turns, a few downed trees to jump, mud puddles, a healthy portion of spaghetti tree roots, and some straightaways to find my groove in.  It is "groomed" and safe enough for me to go at about a 7:45 pace.  I'm thinking of organizing a trail training option for our Team World Vision--that'd be fun going single-file, hoping to avoid the ol' branch slap!

I'm 6 days away from my pre-training month when miles will pick up significantly and I'll start some hills.  My hopes to get eye recovery underway, drop a few kilos, and build a bit of a base to move forward with has all taken pretty good shape in April. My first race takes place in a couple weeks at the ACPE National Meeting in Indianapolis.  Hopefully the non-human turkeys will be few that day.

America's Fastest Couple are Members of Team World Vision!

Sara & Ryan Hall

Perhaps the world's fastest married couple, Ryan and Sara Hall, are part of Team World Vision, you can be too by running with us at this years Twin Cities Marathon, or by giving financial gifts to support the cause!

2-Time Marathon Olympian Ryan holds the record for the fastest marathon ever ran on U.S. soil!  Sara was a 7-Time All American at Stanford and the 2012 National Cross Country Champion!

Check out their interview with Minnesota's own Olympian Carrie Tollefson on CTolleRun., including their work in Zambia with World Vision.

Going Under the Laser

After 23 years of wearing contacts everyday I am going under the laser tomorrow for PRK corrective surgery.  I just can't imagine sticking plastic in my eye for another 30 years, and my rigorous sweating will not allow me to wear glasses during all my runs....so.....  PRK is alot like Lasik except that instead of making a cornea "flap" to access the deeper cornea for correction, it abrasions off the outer epithelial cells of the cornea, and then they grow back in a few days.  The actual laser correction is identical to Lasik.  I decided on PRK because 1) I have slightly thin corneas, though still a candidate for Lasik, and PRK preserves more corneal tissue than Lasik, 2) The flap-related risks and complications during surgery and for the rest of my life with Lasik do not exist with PRK, 3) Most studies show that visual outcomes are slightly (2-3%) better than Lasik, 4) Dry eye is usually less pronounced with PRK because it destroys fewer nerves, 5) I am active with running and toddler rough-housing and don't want to worry about the integrity of my cornea, 6) PRK has almost no limiting effects if I were to need other eye surgery in the future like some in my family have, 7) The Navy endorses PRK outright for it's pilots but not Lasik, 8) I am a great candidate with minimal correction needed, so "best case scenario" should be more likely for me, 9) My Ophthalmologist at the University of Minnesota electively chose to have PRK for himself, when he was a "slam-dunk" candidate for Lasik.

The downside of PRK is a longer and more uncomfortable recovery.  I will have "bandage" contacts in for a week until the epithelium has grown in.  Days 3-5 can be quite scratchy, light sensitive, and hard to keep eyes open.  Vision should be pretty good after 7 days, pretty darn good after 30, really good after 90, and great by 6 months. 

As for running, I'll be laid up for about 2-3 weeks, which is just in time to start my 4 week "pre-training" on May 6th.  I've been running about 10 miles a week the last month, but will have to hang up the shoes for a while.  It'll be great to run unencumbered this summer!  Wish me luck.

Donkey Kick

Piya, my daughter and future running companion, must have got the memo on the need for a strong core.  Here she is doing her Donkey Kicks whilst wearing her giraffe tights and new tutu.

James O'Keefe: Cardiologist's Research on Running/Exercise

"Not survival of the fittest, but survival of the moderately fit"

12:15 --  Clear summary of the "zone of benefit" for running (both miles per week and avg. pace) in a study of 50,000 runners coming out soon.  Perhaps it's easier to run too much than we think?

Grounding

There seems to be a tendency toward more and more complexity these days—heck, I suppose since the Industrial Revolution.  Supposedly our lives are to improve in correlation with advancements in technology.  Much ink has been spilled challenging this assumption, of course, and I agree.  As a Gen Xer, I am of the last generation of people to not have grown up with the pervasiveness of the Internet, or even computers for the most part, not to mention cell phones and other fingertip information sources.  I dabbled with the Apple IIe in high school, but for the most part read books, used pencils, and cut and pasted with real scissors and glue.  My first year of college saw the emergence of Internet mania…and the rest is history. 

Yet somehow Kelly and I and many of our friends have managed to rein in the otherwise automatic downhill snowball of ever expanding technology and "stuff."  It’s odd, as though tasting the unplugged life of our youth has made it extra-hard to jump into “connection” with both feet, or perhaps easier to see the futility in it?  This blog is about my limit. 

So what about running?  I think this spiritual bent toward uncluttered living is why I like running so much.  I have nothing against cyclists, kayakers, rugged campers and hikers, and the like.  But similar to other areas of life, I just can’t manage to benefit spiritually from that level of complexity.  Yes, even hopping on a bike feels complex to me in a spiritual sense.  It’s too lofty….literally, a couple feet off the ground.

As Parker Palmer likes to say, "I have to be on the ground if I want to be grounded."

I like that with running I am literally in contact with a planet.  I’m running, just me, on the surface of Earth.  We oooh and aaah at moon land footage, yet fail to realize how we get to trot around a planet everyday, free as larks, unencumbered by equipment and breathing apparatus! (at least those of us who are able-bodied). 

I like that with running it is just me, my whole body, no machine to mediate my relationship with the ground, no machine adding to my momentum, just me moving forward. 

I like that the only way to “change gears” is to tap a resource inside myself—there is no other source of aid. 

I like the experience of moving through my route within the human range of travel.  Meaning, a human can only get so far in an hour on foot, and that limited pace makes possible an interaction with the environment that mechanized travel does not. 

Having a white collar job, I like feeling tired and satisfied after a run, like taking a car out for a good cruise to tap its potential instead of sitting at idle all day.

I like brushing a car mirror downtown with my arm, and getting swapped in the arm with a branch in the woods. 

I like opening my door and going, no matter where I am, no limits, just me and the ground. 

I like the interaction with others along the way.

I like having quiet time with just me and my breath. 

I like how I can gain clarity in 1 mile on an issue that has stumped me all day. 

I like how I can push into new territory of endurance that is like discovery a lost chapter to a favorite book--like, "oh wow, there's more!"

Yeah Butt

When I was a squirt my neighbor-lady called me "Bird-Legs" because my legs were basically a femur leading to a bulbous knee joint, leading to tib-fib spokes of bone, all wrapped in a casing of skin--very little muscle, and no fat.  I put those little legs to good use running all over the neighborhood and racking up the blue ribbons at my school's Field Day.  By 3rd Grade the combination of running so hard and growing so fast had my knee tendon pulling away from bone--they called it Osgood Schlatter Disease.  I had a stovepipe cast from groin to ankle for a month. I kept on running and playing various sports including a freshman year of Cross Country and two years of Track.  My running picked up living in Minneapolis, and now especially that I live in the (I argue) much more scenic, curvy, and hilly St. Paul.  I've been prone to aches and pains that have not always allowed me to run as much as my brain wants too--because my brain really wants to run, alot.

Anyway, as I looked toward taking the plunge into marathon training after a few years of consideration, I thought it was high-time for some good evaluation and advice.  I went to Sister Kenny Institutes RunSMART program for some videoed treadmill running and a good workup by a PT.  He gave me the go ahead but made it very clear that I need to strengthen my butt, big time!  I've done research since that says a weak butt and core (hips, super-low abs, and butt) is the main problem runners have that leads to many leg, posture, and back problems.

So, my first training task is to do some serious core and butt work.  I'll spend all of April focusing on core strength and flexibility with limited running of 10-15 miles a week.  I am also getting PRK (like Lasik) surgery on April 12th, so I can't run a ton in April for that reason as well.  Things will really heat up on Monday, May 5th when my 4-week pre-train starts.  This will involve more miles, more hills, and more cross-training.  No butts about it.