POST HOLIDAY UPDATE

Hope everyone had a good holiday season! It was a bit weird this year and I look forward to things (hopefully) getting better next year.

In regards to running, things are going alright. Just alright. The Humira has not gotten me back to 100% with the arthritis into remission. I'd say I'm about 80% of the way there. If I wasn't doing anything physical and just going about my day I might not even notice it. However, I can't deny that this psoriatic arthritis is still there and affecting my running.

So that's been a bummer. Mostly it is just leaving me sore and creaky for much longer than I should be. Once I am out on a run it usually feels okay, but my recovery times are not where they need to be. It's also making the runs themselves harder because I'm battling whatever inflammation is still in the knee. Between this and the weather going to shit... I'm not feeling particularly motivated. I skipped my long run three weekends ago because I was wrecked from the long run the previous weekend followed by the mid-week runs. And then two weekends ago it poured nonstop and I wasn't going to go out in that. I did manage to get out there and do ten miles this last weekend... and it was much harder than it should have been.

Overall I feel like my body was in a better spot six week ago during my last post. I don't know if the weather is contributing to the joints not feeling great, but I definitely have not improved. I would say I have slipped backward to be honest. Again, the arthritis is basically gone on just a day to day functional level, but I can't really run at the moment without being sore for days.

Humira has officially been put on check. When you are an $8,000/month medication I expect you to work decently. So if it turns out it can't give me the full relief that methotrexate and leflunomide then that's really disappointing. I'll give it a little more time... of course they say it can take 3-6 months to take full effect, blah blah blah... whatever the case I don't feel like I should be backsliding at this point. Also, it seemed to be working quickly when I first started it so I have no idea why it would work great, suck for a while, and then work well again.

ANYWAYS, that's where things are. I'll give Humira a little more time and see what happens. I have an appointment with the doctor at the beginning of February, so that should be a good time to make a call.

SIX WEEKS INTO HUMIRA TREATMENT

Well, the election ended up being a little closer than my prediction, but I'm going to go ahead and call it good as I whistle and walk away!

The other night I had my fourth Humira injection, six weeks to the day of my first injection. The treatment is going really well. The "sorta" headaches I had when I first started have completely dissipated. There are no other side effects that I am experiencing. So that's very encouraging. When I was rocking and rolling on leflunomide I had my arthritis in remission without any side effects as well. My hope for Humira was to achieve that same thing, and it seems to be coming to fruition.

I'm not going to declare 100% remission yet... I have to get my mileage back up and make sure everything holds up. However, I think I have a pretty good shot of that being the case, given that Humira is a more aggressive treatment than leflunomide and methotrexate. It would be really weird for them to work great and have Humira come up short. But who knows! I am back up to eight miles on my "long" run... I think once I am running 10 or 12 on the regular without any issues, it will be pretty safe to call it a success.

As for the injections themselves, I just want to mention how freaking easy they are again. This last one I literally did not even feel. Normally you feel a little something, but I honestly could not feel it at all. So that's been a huge relief. I haven't had any bad injection site reactions or anything like that after the fact either. With the injectable methotrexate I was coming to dread the injections... I honestly could not care less at this point with the Humira.

The only thing I really seem to be fighting is the weather. Daylight Saving Time just ended, meaning all evening runs are in the dark now. Oregon weather has switched to "winter" mode, which means a lot of rain I am trying to work around as well. I just don't have the motivation to get out there when it is cold and wet. This is a tired, old song though, nothing new. Most years I at least had a race to look forward too, however, with the pandemic, obviously those are all gone. So for now, each time I get outside and do a run it is a small victory. As long as I can keep getting out there three times a week, I'm calling it good.

P.S. My liver tests are back to normal and I can drink again. Not that I'm a huge drinker, but it will be nice to at least have a beer here and there again.

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION PREDICTION

Well, it's time for this exercise in futility again. Every four years try my hand at predicting what will happen during the election, failing miserably half the time (2/4, 50%). I try to get my prediction up a few days early and have a couple differences from the "conventional wisdom" (which these days, is mostly 538).

If you want to look at the older ones, here is 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Below is this year's prediction. My next post will be back to running and how Humira is going as I just had my third injection on Thursday.

There it is. As of right now, the differences from the 538 model are Iowa going for Biden and Georgia going for Trump. Also, 538 is saying an 8 point margin nationwide for Biden, I'll go with 9. Tipping point state will be closer though, so it's clenchin' time!

Electoral Vote

Biden/Harris         341

Trump/Pence        197

Popular Vote

Biden/Harris         54%

Trump/Pence        45%

HUMIRA TREATMENT FOR PsA - THREE WEEKS IN

I'm pleased to report I'm already feeling relief of my psoriatic arthritis symptoms with Humira. I did my first injection about three weeks ago and the second injection about a week ago. They say it can take 6-8 weeks to really kick in, but I'm already feeling a lot of relief. Since my case is more moderate, it might made sense that I am feeling it kick in earlier than someone with a really bad case. My knees almost feel normal again. I do overdo it playing basketball over this last weekend because I was feeling pretty spunky and was barely able to get up the stairs when I came back home... so I'm not all the way back yet.

As for the injections themselves, they are super easy and painless. I already injected methotrexate, so injecting Humira versus popping the leflunomide pills is not a big deal for me. It's pretty funny though getting calls from the nurse aide and pharmacist, trying to reassure me how easy it is, offering to walk me through the process, etc. I'm fine guys. I've been poked more than a pincushion these last few months, I'm over it. I definitely had some hesitation the first few methotrexate injections, but this time around... whatever. Jam it in there, I honestly don't care.

And not to sound like an advertisement, but these auto-injector pens are super easy. A little wasteful, the tree hugger in me hates the waste... but they do make it super easy. Basically painless as well; I could barely feel each of my first two injections. I'm sure at some point I'll stab it right into a nerve or something and it'll hurt more, but so far I've felt very little and the drug doesn't burn or hurt going in either. Overall it is definitely easier than when I was injecting methotrexate manually every week.

In regards to any side effects with Humira, the only one I have noticed, and this is the most common one people get, is headaches. I haven't gotten actual headaches, they are sort of almost like the start of a headache... but then I never get a headache. It's hard to explain, but I'll notice the feeling and it feels like I'm going to get a headache but then it never comes. It's just lightly threatening for a certain period of time and then it goes away. Not ideal, but honestly not that bad. If I was getting actual headaches, it might be a different story, as this is something I am feeling just about every day. Although, honestly, I don't know of I got a "sorta-headache" yesterday or so far today.

Throwback Thursday.

I'm hoping as my body adjusts to the medication, the headache side effect will go away. With leflunomide, I don't remember if I put this in the blog or not, but the first few weeks I had horrible diarrhea. That was basically the most common side effect for that drug too. I actually lightly shat my pants at work (TMI?) like the second day I was on it. And I would get five alarm poop alerts almost out of nowhere. However, eventually my body figured it out, and after a couple of weeks I was back to normal. So I'm hoping for a similar adjustment period here. Since these aren't "real" headaches, I could probably live with it, but I am hoping they go away.

Other than that, things are ticking along. I have another, hopefully final, liver test at the end of the month. That should hopefully show my liver enzymes back to normal. I haven't had a drop of alcohol in two and a half months. Honestly, I don't miss it. However, it will likely come in handy on election night, one way or another.

RUNNING WITH PSORIATIC ARTHRITIS (PsA)

So the last month or so has been a trip down memory lane. I stopped taking leflunomide about seven weeks ago after my liver function test spiked. For the first couple of weeks, I still felt basically normal. That medication has a long half life so it remained at a decent level in my system for a few weeks. I probably started to feel the first twinges of PsA after about two weeks. Slowly them symptoms have come back on, although, as I mentioned in my last post, they are nowhere near where they were before.

Here is a sample run over the last few weeks....

Mile 0.0:    I feel stiff and old. Not sure if I can do this today. We'll see what happens when I warm up.

Mile 0.5:    Warmed up and ready to go! Don't feel a thing! Do I even have arthritis? Shit - I think I feel better than I ever did even when it was treated. Maybe it magically went away.

Mile 1.0:    Still feel good! Four miles should be no problem. Maybe I can do five. Maybe I don't feel better than when I was treated, but this is no problem!

Mile 2.0:    Yeah, four miles is enough. Starting to get a little tired. Legs are feeling a little slow. Still, shouldn't be a problem. Still feel pretty good.

Mile 3.0:    I have to do ANOTHER mile? I feel like I'm running in molasses. My heart rate has spiked. God my legs feel heavy. I just want to be done.

Mile 3.9:    This is taking every ounce of strength to finish this run. I feel like I ran a half marathon. My whole lower body is zapped and sore. I hope I can walk up the steps when I get home.

To recap... I feel good when it starts but I peter out pretty quick. I think because my knees are inflamed and weak, all the muscles, tendons, and ligaments around my knees are working overtime to do some of the work a normal knee would do. This results in the more rapid "breakdown" of my energy levels and muscle condition. My breathing is also labored because I'm working much harder than usual for the same level of forward momentum.

This is all very reminiscent of when PsA first crept in on me back in 2015/2016. The first signs were definitely in 2015. I did a run on Valentine's Day with Coach Jim that I view as the first time PsA symptoms smacked me in the face. I was able to train and run a marathon that year, but my knees never did feel quite right. At the time the PsA would kind of come and go in waves, so I was able to train during the good times and ride the bad times out. I still ran 3:39 despite all of that.

In 2016 the symptoms started becoming more problematic. They definitely started to escalate after the marathon and by Valentine's Day of the next year, I could no longer ignore something was going on. By May, I had to shut things down and seek professional help. Take a look at this quote from a blog post back then:

"Something is jacked up and it's primarily affecting my knees. The my knees themselves feel fine, they don't hurt when I run or anything. So I don't think it is anything with the knees themselves. But whatever is out of whack is putting a lot of strain on the muscles and ligaments around my knees so afterward they swell up and complain."

Okay, obviously I was quite wrong about it not being the knees themselves, but those symptoms back then match exactly what I am experiencing now. My knees feel fine during the run, but afterward they hurt and a bunch of surrounding muscles hurt too.

Maybe someone is reading this and wondering if they have PsA based on the way they feel when running. I'm not sure if this is what most people would feel, but my experience has been very consistent over the years. It is very confusing because you'd think if your knees were fucked up they'd hurt while you ran! Well, they don't. And in my case, it led down a rabbit hole in the medical system and it took me another nine months or so to actually get diagnosed correctly.

Anyways, I look forward to my new treatment working and getting the PsA back into remission! I will have a post about how that is going after my second injection (they are every two weeks, I did my first one a few days ago).

RETURN OF ARTHRITIS (IT'S 2020 AFTER ALL)

Figure I should finally update this blog, it has been a while! Shortly after my last post I had my liver function test (LFT) come back significantly elevated. They had been slightly elevated a time or two over the last few years, but nothing like the spike on this particular test. Unfortunately, this is a somewhat common side effect of the leflunomide. As a result, I had to stop taking it and have everything checked out to make sure it was really the drug causing the increase in LFTs.

So I stopped taking it and braced for the worst. It's been six weeks off the drug now, and the psoriatic arthritis is definitely creeping back in. It took maybe two or three weeks before I started getting definite symptoms and then it has slowly gotten worse ever since. It is still only like 25% of what it was back in the day when I was trying to figure things out, but give it another few months untreated and I'm sure I'd be right back there. It's tempting while you're on the medication to think about stopping it and it just not coming back... but yeah, it's there. Shit isn't going away!

I ended up taking a bunch of tests, including an ultrasound of my liver. They all came back completely normal, which was a relief. You start reading about what else it could be, especially something like autoimmune hepatitis, which would fit my health profile, and you start getting very antsy for those results. Luckily everything came back completely normal, other than the elevated LFTs. So, still just the one chronic illness, thank you very much. The elevated LFTs should creep back down to normal over the next few months. They spike up way quicker than they go down.

As a result of all this, I have to start a new drug. Unfortunately, I've ran through the first line treatments of methotrexate and leflunomide, and the one other drug they use in that class tends to have even worse liver results, so it is onto the next class of drugs, the TNF blockers. So I get to start on the #1 revenue drug in America, Humira! I'm not thrilled with this, but I don't really have a choice other than not treating it and limping around. Without insurance it would cost $96,000 a year. My insurance has negotiated treatment at $60,000 a year. I pay $5 per month. USA #1?

Anyways, I should be starting that some point this week. It's another injectable medication which doesn't bother me, I injected the methotrexate for eight months or whatever it was. I did a bunch of research on it and the nastiest side effects tend to appear in people that do not match my age, disease, or "drug cocktail" profile. So hopefully it'll work and I'll take it without incident. I'll update the blog here once the treatment is rolling and hopefully I can get back to where leflunomide had me... in complete remission.

In regards to running... I am still doing it, but any speed or distance I had built up is completely gone. The silver lining of all this happening in 2020 though is that I don't have a marathon to worry about. If I had to do New York at the beginning of November I'd be completely fucked. As it is, I can stumble four miles and call it a day. Maybe I'll leave the "running with arthritis" post for another day. It is a quite interesting experience. 

WEIGHT LOSS 2020

Thought I should post something other than a monthly recap, so let's talk about my recent weight loss. Unlike my eleven pound mission in 2015, I did not document this one on the blog from week to week (obviously). Apparently I also made an effort to drop some weight from August to October 2017. I have no memory of that, but I have a bunch of weigh in and food logs in My Fitness Pal so I guess that was a thing. Basically the pattern is every two or three years I have to make an effort to get back to goal weight by losing about ten pounds.

Day to day I do not count calories in any formal way. Many days I just roughly track them in my head, ballparking stuff, and that is pretty successful. I think I did the math at one point, and let's say I need to eat 2200 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I gain ten pounds over two and a half years, that means I'm eating something like 2235 calories a day on average. Which is pretty dang good when you think about it! Basically, the weight slowly creeps on, which makes it really hard to notice. I don't regularly weigh myself or anything, so usually the first alarm bell is my pants being noticeably tighter. I'll ignore it for a month or two, then one day I'll step on the scale and that usually sets something into motion.

Tracking with MFP.

This time when I stepped on the scale my weight was 180.4. Anything over 180 for me is definitely "red alert" time. I had stepped on the scale every so often over the years and my weight usually was no more than 176. I'd like to be at 170, but when I'm only six pounds over I'm not ready to "buckle" down. Most of my pants still fit fine at this weight. Once I'm more like 178... then the pants get tight. Anyways, I knew weight had slowly crept on, I could see it in the mirror,  and now faced with the scale reporting over 180... I went into immediate action.

My goal weight is 170. When I lost weight back in 2015, I set it at 165. If you go back to the final week or two of that series, you'll see that I figured out 165 is too low. Anything under 168 and my pants start falling off my body and my face gets all angular and I don't like the way I looked. I could buy skinnier pants, but naw, I like how 170 looks and my entire wardrobe is based around that. So 170 it was! That meant I needed to lose 10.4 pounds. Easy enough.

Like all the times previous, I simply counted calories. This worked for my initial weight loss back in 2011 and each time since. I set my goal to lose the weight in six weeks, so I had to lose between 1.5 and 2.0 pounds per week. This put my daily caloric intake at 1700ish. The first few days I was starving. All the memories of weight loss were flowing back. However, I was determined to stick it through. I knew if I did it, it would work, and I would be done in six weeks. So onward I pressed. After the first few days, I was no longer ravenously hungry.

Honestly, it was pretty uneventful. Maybe even easier this time around with the pandemic, I was stuck at my house all the time and didn't go out to eat much or anything. So it was very easy to control my meals and stay on track. By two weeks in or so, the 1700 calories actually felt satisfying. The results were matching the calories in/calories out math almost exactly too. Funny how that works. Anyways, I ended up hitting my goal in six weeks, just like I had set out to do.

I will say that the last week or two, when I was a pound or two away from 170... those were hard. For whatever reason my mental game let up and I started to crave gorging on food and all of a sudden I wasn't satisfied with 1700 anymore. So they kinda sucked. However, I was determined to stick with it. Over the Fourth of July weekend my family did some socially distant camping, so I knew I was going to pig out and live it up then. So that "reward" kept me on track to hit my goal.

Anyways, it is now a month later and I am still right at goal weight. I have continued to track in My Fitness Pal to maintain. I don't know how long that will last, but it has definitely helped me stop snacking a couple of times. Previously, I could house 400 or 500 calories of Ritz and cheese at night as a snack. Now, I'll look at my tracker and have a popsicle instead. Little things like that can really help that slow weight creep from happening. I'm sure it'll eventually happen again, but maybe I can last a little bit longer this time around.

MID-SUMMER UPDATE

Things are ticking along. I've been good about getting out for two runs during the week and the long run on the weekend. One difference this summer is that if I'm out of town on the weekend, I'm not doing my long run that weekend. I'm not training for anything, so there's no reason for me to to scramble to get those done. Normally I'd do twelve miles on a Monday night or something to make up for it, but not this year. So I've missed two weekends because of that. Otherwise, perfect attendance. I've even thrown in a half marathon distance run in addition to my usual 10 miles.

Ten miles in the heat last weekend.

My body is definitely back to one hundred percent. So that is nice! Heart rate is back to where to used to be and my legs are officially back to normal. FINALLY. For a while they were like 95% of the way there, but on some long runs they would ache and bitch dramatically toward the end. Kind of felt like the end of a twenty mile run or something. However, in the last month or so, that has gone away too. Ten mile runs now feel like the ten mile runs I am used to. I honestly feel back to normal other than the fact I am slower than I used to be. That is definitely a thing. However, I have time to work on that. Hopefully by marathon training time next year I'll back back to my 2019 shape.

It has been HOT recently. The other day it hit 100 degrees for the first time in two years. I almost wanted to go out and run just for fun while it was triple digits. However, a three block walk left me sweating like a pig, so I decided it probably wasn't the best idea. The day before that it hit 99 degrees. This also happened to be long run day. Fun! I meant to get up and out the door earlier... but you know how it is. When I left at 11am it was 80 outside already, and by the time I finished nearly two hours later it was 90. Phew! It was manageable though. I just ran slower and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. I also had a pit stop at home for water at mile six. I just combined my six mile loop and my four mile loop to keep things simple.

WELL, GUESS I'M NOT DOING A MARATHON

Not a whole ton new to report. I'm continuing to tick along and see marginal improvements here and there. Nothing major, but my true "easy" pace is slowly dropping, my speedwork is going well, my heart rate has come back to where it should be... all good things! I recently even worked my long run up to twelve miles without issue. Compared to where I was just three months ago, this is huge progress!

The New York Marathon was unsurprisingly cancelled this week. I had been expecting that and neglected to start officially training in mid-June like I normally would have done. I could see it coming miles away. I'm glad they cancelled it now though and didn't string us along. I won't seek a replacement, because, frankly, there won't be any. I also don't want to do a virtual marathon. Big "hell no" to that. Long story short, I will have no marathon in 2020. I'm cool with that.

So much winning. USA #1!

The New York Marathon will be giving us the option to defer our entry to 2021, 2022, or 2023. Which is great! The lottery odds are not good, so I'm glad I don't have to wait until I "win" it again. I plan to defer to 2021 and do it next year, assuming it happens. This year was supposed to be the 50th anniversary and they confirmed they'll be celebrating that next year instead. So hopefully it happens, I can do it, and I come back with some sweet 50th anniversary swag.

Other than those options, it is just the same old, same old over here. Definitely getting sick of the whole pandemic thing and a little angry that the United States has handled it so very poorly. I've been a very "good boy," but a lot of my fellow countrymen have not. So now we are all going to get punished because apparently some people thought everything was a hoax or plot by Bill Gates or something. So that's cool.

NOTICEABLE PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE

Recent speed workout, 8x400m intervals on the roads.

Greetings, fair reader! I'm pleased to report progress is being made. While it has been slower than I would have liked, I am getting into better shape and runs that should be easy are starting to get easier. Yesterday I was able to run four miles at a 10:30 pace with a heart rate of 158. That's not great - BUT that is much better than a month ago. A run at that pace would have spiked my heart rate into the high 160s/low 170s. I no longer feel breathless on "easy" runs. And while I still have on and off days, the average fitness i am seeing is definitely going up!

Also, my long runs have moved back to the normal ten miles. The first time I ran ten it was pretty tough! Miles 8 and 9 were definitely a slog and pushing myself. My legs ached. The next weekend, only mile nine sucked. The legs felt a little better. This last week? Ten was basically no big deal. Legs were a little tired but not bad at all. Each time I go and do it, it gets easier. So that's all very encouraging. Again, I am slower and my heart rate is a little higher than I would like, but all the trends are in the right direction.

Mostly, I am just running by feel. It is too easy to be discouraged and not enjoy the actual run if I am eagle eyeing my watch for pace and heart rate, so I've turned it to the time of day many times and just ran by feel. Then, most the time when I am done, I look at the stats and I am right where I wanted to be anyways. So much better than fussing about it the whole run! Sometimes, less is truly more. It's also kind of funny how consistent I can be even without the watch... they don't call me The Metronome for nothing!

Lastly, I have been doing one speed workout at week. First, it was a two mile tempo bookended by mile long warm up and cool downs. Then I bumped it to three miles with half mile bookends. Last week I did 8x400 "street intervals," alternating jogging and sprinting every quarter mile. At some point soon I'll do a full four mile tempo run. These runs are hard but feel good once they are over. It is the kind of hard work I need to put in if I want to get faster and try to claw my way back to something resembling my fitness last year.

APRIL 2020 UPDATE

Oh hai! Well, it's been nearly a month now since I've been back. How are things going? Pretty well!

First off, I am out of shape. Other than when I didn't run for about a year due to the arthritis, I have never been this out of shape. Which is weird, because I only took two weeks off! But I guess the month of running on broken legs didn't help. Unfortunately my fitness has not snapped back quite like I was hoping for. At times it has been frustrating because what should be an easy pace (10:30-10:45) is often spiking my heart rate into zone 5 (above 168 bpm). So some runs have been an exercise in frustration.

However, things are getting better. My legs themselves feel fine and there has been improvement in my cardio and heart rate over the last month. I ran 11:00 on the nose the other day and my heart rate was in the 150s. I'm just going to have to claw my way back again. I've done it before and I can do it again. Before, ignorance would have been bliss in regards to my heart rate. In that sense, I miss my old watch. It didn't tell me I was working too hard and get into my head. I would just go out and run. Despite the frustration sometimes, it is nice to see my progress, however slow it may be.

I've felt confident enough in my steps forward to introduce some speedwork the last two weeks. Nothing crazy, one mile warm up, two tempo, and then a mile cool down. However, it felt really good to run fast. To just YOLO it and not care about my heart rate. It's SUPPOSED to be high during tempo work. And while my tempo pace is now low to mid 8's, it still feels good to be out there kicking it. My legs have responded well to the speed work too. Hopefully I can get some gains there and it will make my true easy pace slide back to 10:00 or so like it was last year.

Anyways, that's the update! The plan moving forward is to just keep slowly going at it. My long run is up to 8 miles now, I hope to get that back to 10 in the next few weeks. Otherwise, I will stick to two four mile runs during the actual week, one with speedwork. Luckily, assuming it is not cancelled, my fall marathon is late this fall (early November for NYC) so my marathon training doesn't have to start in earnest until mid-June or so. Until then, I'll just keep trying to improve and then assess my goals at that point.

Recent two mile tempo interval bookended by a mile warm up and cool down.

FIRST THREE BACK

Alright, so I took those two full weeks off, and now have come back and ran three times in the last week. Did it work? Let's explore...

So just based on the raw numbers, you'd think I didn't improve all that much. My heart rate is still entirely too high for my pace. My watch is still giving me long recovery period suggestions and saying my effort is basically maxing out. So in that sense, I haven't improved at all. The question then becomes, did I not solve the root problem and thus didn't get any better; OR, am I just out of shape now? I am definitely leaning toward the out of shape answer.

While my watch stats are coming out similar, I can tell you with certainty, my body feels LIGHT YEARS different when I am out there running. When I was struggling before, each run felt like a monumental effort. My legs were heavy and had no spring. My energy levels were zapped. The last two miles of six mile runs were torture. Afterward, my legs would feel sore and weak for days. Just walking up the stairs burned. I don't remember my cardio being the main hurdle, although I'm sure it wasn't great. My body just felt like garbage.

Compare that to after the break. My body feels fine! It feels like it would during normal times. The runs are no longer a monumental effort that leaves me drained. The main problem these first few runs back seems to be my cardio. It is labored. The 10:30 pace feels harder than it should, not because of my legs not having spring, but because I'm breathing way too hard for the effort. Basically, I haven't had a good cardio effort since Zena. I was slogging around due to my legs. I then took two weeks off. I basically didn't have a decent cardio workout for six weeks. So now that I'm back, I'm just frankly out of shape.

The biggest thing leading me to this conclusion is the way my body feels after a run. It feels fine. It feels normal again. My muscles aren't dead. My legs don't burn with any effort the next day. Miles five and six yesterday felt no more difficult than the previous miles. I finished the run and still had a spring in my step. I'm not sore today. So while my watch is telling me not much has changed, I know a lot has changed. I'm not going to rush back into anything, just in case I'm still finishing up some healing of some sort, but I think I'm in shape to run again. I'm not going to push it, just two four mile runs during the week, and then one longer run on the weekend.

Also, I am ignoring the old 80/20 method (aka "run slower to get faster") for now. I believe deeply in that once you are in shape. But if you're out of shape... it'll take six months pussy footing around with your heart rate to even get partially back to where you were. When I first started running, it was simple. Three times a week, three miles. Fast as I could go. When you are running low mileage, it works. I think that'll get me into shape a lot quicker. Once I am somewhat back to my normal shape, where a 10:30 pace is an easier effort, I can go back to that motto. For now, I need to push my cardio a bit in low mileage to get my speed back. It wasn't that long ago I was in pretty decent shape. I'm thinking it should come back with some sustained effort.

So that's the update! I definitely feel much better and my struggles now seem to be a result of poor cardio due to the time off. I'll keep monitoring things as I go though!

SHAMROCK SHOULD HAVE BEEN TODAY...

Well, thanks to the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the Shamrock Run was cancelled. And while a global pandemic is not cool, the fact the race was cancelled was kind of a relief. I was going to go jog the 8k and basically reset my recovery period. Instead, I am a week into a two week abstinence period without the need to reset the clock! So in another week, I will try to get back out there.

I will say that I'm feeling much better! The time off is definitely helping to improve things. My muscles have loosened up, my back feels normal again, I can go up stairs without my calves burning... it's great! I think another week will only help to improve that. I did go on a walk today, my first real exercise in a week, and it felt really good. Only two miles, I didn't want to overdo it, but my body seemed to react really well. Now, if I'm sore or something tomorrow, bad news. But getting a little blood pumping around can only help aid the recovery process, right?

So anyways, that's the update! Hoping the virus will clear in time for the Pittsburgh Half but we'll see. This country only really got serious about things on a federal level Friday and it's going to get worse before it gets better. So we'll see where we are in a few weeks! Hopefully we can avoid an Italy type situation.

SHUTTING IT DOWN 2020 STYLE

Last time I ran the 8k!

So, I officially changed my Shamrock Entry from the 15k to the 8k. I probably should have done the 5k, but that started at 8:00am, while the 8k starts at 10:20... anyways, 8k it is! I actually ran the 8k back in 2017 with Brandon when I was first getting treated for my psoriatic arthritis. I was very out of shape and hadn't ran five miles consecutively in a long time, but I was able to jog the whole thing at a 10:21 pace. Anyways, this time around I don't figure to be much faster, but I should still be able to set a PR. Silver lining!

Basically my run this weekend, six miles like the previous two weekends, did not go better than they had been. My watch said 3.5 days of recovery, which was not an improvement. My legs felt worn down toward the end of the run. My heart rate was once again way too high for the pace I was running. Same shit, different day. Nothing has fundamentally changed since the symptoms started. My plan to run "lightly" has not resulted in me getting better. I've only been running twice a week, ten miles total... but I guess that's too much. My calves are SORE today. From a six mile run at 10:30! The hell!

I've determined, even if it sounds ridiculous, I caused some major damage in my muscles with my Miami/Zena back to back combo. Basically my legs are were they are at after a marathon. If I try to run through it, things don't get better. I need to take time off and allow them to heal. I keep re-damaging them on these short, light jogs. Which is just ridiculous. I mean, come on. But my body has spoken. I don't know if my disease or my medication makes me heal slower than the average person, but whatever it is, I have to listen to my body, ridiculous as it may sound.

It's just very frustrating. I believe I was in 1:44 half marathon shape before Miami. I had done the best I had done in a long time at staying trained through the winter. I felt strong. The hope was to continue to get faster this late winter and spring so I could start my marathon training ahead of where I was last year. I had no idea a hilly 15k race would completely fuck my shit up. But whatever, it did. And I think I'm going to have to take two weeks off to allow my body to catch back up.

Ugh. So annoying! I am going to be running the Pittsburgh Half in early May and I was hoping to get a sub 1:45 there. That's not happening. I'll be lucky to get under two hours at this rate. This break is really going to put me behind the 8-ball. I've essentially been spinning my wheels for a month, and now I'm going to take two weeks off. You can't do jack shit for six weeks and not lose a bunch of fitness. So yeah.

Anyways the plan is to run the 8k on Sunday and then shut it down for two weeks. Gah.

HIT BY A TRUCK

So, I have not felt great for the last three weeks. Zena seemed to really fuck me up. I don't know if it was actually Zena, or something else is going on, but my training in February was completely derailed. I am still not feeling back to normal and Shamrock is next weekend. I am almost certainly staring a new Shamrock PW in the face there and I don't know if it would be even smart to actually race it at this point.

What happened? Well, I gave it my all at Zena, one week after Miami. Now, my legs were still a little tired from Miami, but seemingly not bad at all. Zena just completely destroyed my body though. I had Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness from it, peaking on the Tuesday after the race. I was legitimately limping around due to the way my muscles were feeling. My lower back specifically was really fucked up and in a lot of pain. I am not sure if it was from the pounding on the downhills of Zena or what, but it was pretty bad.

How I feel.

Eventually the soreness faded but my lower back remained in pain and overall I was just really tight. I did some stretching and took some hot baths, which would relieve things temporarily, but eventually I'd go back to feeling crummy. When I'd go for a run, my legs would have no "pop." It feels a lot like the month after the marathon. I might feel great otherwise, but there is no spring in my step. Runs that should be easy are hard. We're talking about half marathon heart rate levels for a four mile run at 10:30/mile.

I also got a cold after Zena (or COVID-19?)... I'm wondering if it was just an opportunistic thing with my body broken down from the race. That's been slowly getting better but I have been a little stuffed up since the race. Overall my body just kind of feels like it got hit by a truck and it really doesn't make sense. A 15k shouldn't do that to me. Even one a week after a hard half marathon effort. I dunno. It's just really annoying.

Things are slowly getting better. A six mile run the week after Zena was super hard and my watch said I overextended myself and I would need a full 4 days to recover (this was at like 10:30 pace, mind you). The same run the next weekend was again overextending myself but this time it only said I needed three days of recovery. So things are slowly getting better. But here we are three weeks removed and I still feel like 50% fucked up.

So that's been really frustrating. Should I have just stopped running for two weeks and did some intensive stretching and cross training? Probably. My strategy of sitting around and then running twice a week isn't really working. I think in the end I just pushed my body too hard. I was still recovering from the Miami Half, even if I felt pretty decent, then I went and pounded out some terrain I was not properly trained for. It sent me into a tail spin I have not fully recovered from.

The good news is I don't think it has anything to do with my psoriatic arthritis. Unlike my "breakdown" in 2016, my knees feel great! My back hurting is due to tight/knotted muscles, not inflammation in the joint. I think if I did some yoga and pool jogging I'd be back at 100% within two weeks. However, that isn't going to happen. So the question is, while my improvement is slow, how long until I am back to normal? What do I do about Shamrock next week? If I try hard, how far does it set me back? Is it even worth it?

I think I'm going to go run six miles miles, just like the last two weekends. Hopefully my "recovery time" is less than the 3 days it said last weekend. And then do I just take a week off before Shamrock? Do I switch to the 5k and just fun run it to protect my recovery? I don't know.

2020 ZENA ROAD RUNS 15K RACE REPORT

A few minutes before the race!

Finally it was time to do the Zena Road Runs 15k again! It is one of my favorite smaller races but I hadn't done it since 2016. Hopefully it can become a near-yearly tradition again. It is a great challenge and something to look forward to in the dead of winter. It is not $5 anymore like the first year I did it, but it is still very reasonable at $25 and included a Zena wine glass!

It actually had an earlier start than it used to, 10am instead of 11am. Even sleepy Thomas is okay with 10am though. I woke up about 8am and was out the door a half hour later. The drive was a bit longer than I remembered, about an hour, but not too bad. It is through some nice country backroads, and with some coffee and some dry public radio news, I was happy as a clam. As expected for a race this size, packet pickup was a breeze. The weather was perfect, sunny and about 44 degrees. Katie and Tony were doing the three mile race, so we hung out until it was time to start, which came pretty quickly!

THE FIRST THREE (7:42, 6:54, 7:23)

The race had us starting in a gravel lot right next to the road. Once the gun went off, six mile and 15k runners went to the right, three mile runners to the left. Everyone seemed to line up in the right spot and it seemingly went off without too much chaos. I knew I had to attack these first three miles, as they contained the majority of the downhill in the race. That first mile actually was mostly flat, technically even a little uphill overall, so even though I was running hard I only managed a 7:42. Honestly though, I think that was the right pace given the terrain and my heart rate.

So that second mile... wow. This was "the mile" in the race where I'm sure everyone was licking their chops. Almost 400 feet of elevation loss! And while I don't have exact splits to compare this mile to the previous races (we start in a different point now, even though the course is exactly the same), it compares very favorably back when I was at my fastest. So I am pretty proud of this mile, even if it is hill aided! I mean, the only time these days I'm throwing down these speeds is when I am doing 400m repeats.

About 250 feet of loss in that third mile. So while I couldn't quite maintain by sub-seven speed, I was still trucking along pretty good. I was feeling pretty confident at this point in the race, and as you'll see, it was a false confidence! Things were about to get a lot tougher. Back in the "olden days," this race started with two killer, uphill miles. There was then a flat mile. Then two miles downhill. Then four "rolling" miles to the finish. Well, now we start at that "flat mile" and go from there on that same course. Which meant the two "killer" uphill miles would be the last two of the race.


THE "ROLLING" FOUR (8:15, 8:53, 9:04, 8:59)

Looking back at my previous race reports, I appear to always be surprised at how "rolling" these hills are. I think when you are looking at the overall elevation chart the two majorly downhill miles and the two majorly uphill miles really stick out. But these smaller bumps? Those must be easy! Well, climbing a 100 foot hill is no joke. Especially when, like me, you haven't really been training for that. Back in the day I used to run the "rollercoaster" in the winters at PRC, often times at tempo speed. It prepared me great for something like this. Now? Any speedwork I do is flat. And while I don't avoid hills, I am not quite doing them like i used to.

Anyways, all of that to explain my complete cratering of times. I was hoping to be at sub eight minute mile speed before the final two uphill miles. That was kind of a goal. Let's just say, by the time mile six hit, I was a couple seconds a mile above that. By the time mile seven hit and the hills started... well, an 8:59 does not bring you closer. I was surprised at how tired I felt as I ran these miles. It was easy to blame Miami the week before, and that was certainly a factor. But I also think I ran the first three miles too fast. I just really trashed my legs.

Long story short, I was not having fun during these miles. I was keeping my heart rate up though, in the low 180s. It was a proper effort. That 9:04 mile was basically all gently uphill for a total gain of nearly 100 feet. The people around me were also not really passing me all that much. I think my experience was pretty common. I used to be the one passing people in these situations though... not anymore! Anyways, while I wasn't looking forward to climbing uphill the last two miles, I was looking forward to the race being over.

THE FINAL UPHILL TWO (11:03, 10:37)

I looked back at my old times on this stretch and I simply cannot believe I used to do these in the 8s. What kind of wizard was I? Well, having fresh legs certainly would have helped! I think you could honestly shave off a minute from each split, at least, if I had fresh legs. I literally had nothing left at this point. Frankly, I am surprised they are as low as they are. I felt like I was doing a 13 or 14 minute mile. My pace, at times, was in the mid-12s. I mean, this hill is steep. It's brutal.

Chugging up the hill like a slow moving freight train. This was my life now. A whole BUNCH of people around me were walking portions of this. I made it a point of pride to NOT walk. It was going to be a fun test... would my chugging beat their energy saving walking? I ending up yoyo-ing with a few walkers. They'd walk the steep parts, then when it flattened out a little, they'd start running with a spring in their step, pass me... but then it would be steep again, they'd walk, snf I'd slowly move past them. On and on it went.

The second mile is more more rolling. It allowed us to go back and forth a number of times. I was convinced they would eventually win out because my running on the hills was not much faster than their walking, but it turns out there was a sustained hill right before the downhill finish. And I passed them toward the bottom of it as they began to walk. And when my watched beeped for mile nine, even though I couldn't see the finish line, I knew it was close. So I shifted into another gear and never looked back. Finally the hill crested and I was able to sprint downhill the final few hundred yards and through the finish!

FINISH AND THE AFTER PARTY

I was a little shocked at how "terrible" my time was. I was not prepared for that. I was expecting something like 1:18 or so. What I didn't quite factor into my prediction was how the starting point of the race would change the course so much. It was a LOT harder than the previous configuration. Having to do those final two miles on trashed legs versus fresh legs is a big deal. And while maybe doing the downhill fresh is faster, it in no way makes up for those final two miles.

So honestly, I am pretty happy with my time! If I end up here next year, and the course start point is the same, it'll be good to compare those two times. All told, it was a solid effort and another good race. They had some good snacks and post race cheer. Katie won first place in her age division, which was awesome, so she got a ribbon for that. Otherwise, after some munching, it was back home for a hot bath and a lazy day.

Official Results: 1:20:58.7, 8:41/mile. 46/96 overall, 36/54 male, 9/11 M30-34.

2020 MIAMI HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

Taken by my friend Jon, running over the MacArthur Causeway about forty minutes after I did.

Another year, another Miami Half Marathon. This was my SEVENTH in a row after running my first one back 2013. It has turned into quite the fun little tradition! This race is never a good race to have any expectations for... the weather, the lack of sleep, the lack of training after hibernating in the winter, etc. Despite that, I enjoy going out there and giving it a solid effort and just enjoying some warmth in the dead of winter.

Like usual, I left on Thursday. I avoided the 6am flight this year, so I was able to wake up and bumble my way to the airport by 11 or so. That's where the fun again. My flight to Atlanta was delayed, which would mean I would miss my connection to Fort Lauderdale. Delta realized this and offered me some different options, but none of them would get me into town until the next morning and all required me to spend the night in a random airport.

There was a flight into Orlando through Salt Lake City that would get me into town around 11pm, so my friends agreed to drive up to pick me up (3 hours) and then we could do something in Orlando the next day. Seemed like a plan. Well, those thunderstorms in Atlanta that messed up my earlier plans ended up moving south and prevented my flight from reaching Orlando... after circling a while we ended up having to re-direct into Atlanta. So I ended up in Atlanta anyways. By now it is midnight. We ended up waiting in Atlanta about an hour, then they boarded everyone up again and we continued on the way to Orlando. We finally landed around 3am. My friends picked me up. What swell chaps!

After the nightmare getting there, the rest of the trip was pretty normal. We slept in that next day and didn't want to spend a bunch on a theme park for a half day, so we just headed back down south and stopped to play disc golf a couple of times on the way.

RACE DAY MORNING

In the corral about 20 minutes before the start.

I actually ended up getting 4-4.5 hours of sleep this year, not bad! I thought for sure I'd be screwed after the 4:00am bedtime that first night, but by midnight Saturday I was sufficiently tired and I didn't have much problem falling asleep. The race started at 6 and we were out the door by 5. Normally it's about thirty minutes there and then we have a lot really close to the start line we use. However, this year it was a construction site, so those plans were gone pretty quick.

We ended up driving right next to the start line, and with about 25 minutes to go, I bid farewell and hopped out. I remembered the chaos trying to get into the chute last year and wanted to avoid that if at all possible. My friends weren't going off until some 40 minutes after gun due to their corral, so they went ahead and parked the car. There was a small line to get into the corral this year, but nothing like the panic of last year. I got it and even had some time to do some stretches and make small talk with a fellow Portlander before our corral, Corral C, went off.

UP AND OVER THE CAUSEWAY (8:32, 8:29, 8:34, 8:28)

This is actually early in South Beach.

The weather this year wasn't ideal, at start it was 72 degrees with about 70% humidity. It has definitely been a little muggier in the past, but I think this may have been the warmest it's been. Fortunately, there was a decent breeze that made it less insufferable. It was warm, make no mistake, but with the sun still down it wasn't too miserable.

Originally I thought maybe I could go under 1:50 in this race, but quickly threw that out the window due to the conditions. Instead, I just trusted myself to set the appropriate pace. I knew what it should feel like, so I worked to get that correct "half effort" feeling and went from there. That pace ended up being in the low 8:30s. I went back and forth with the 8:30 pacers for a while but they eventually passed me. I just tried to enjoy the sights and atmosphere as much as I could. I knew later in the race my gaze would drift downward and I'd be incapable of really enjoying it.

Checking my watch for my heart rate, I was quite pleased with where it was at 178. I figured my half effort would be in the high 170s, and sure enough, that's right where it was. It let me know I wasn't slacking off as my mile times might have had me think. Before I knew it, mile four had been ticked off and I was in South Beach. The sun was still down but I was wary of what would happen once it came up.

STEADY IN SOUTH BEACH (8:38, 8:33, 8:35, 8:38)

Look at those tan legs!

Can we admire my mile times for a second? Man those are steady! I wasn't pacing myself by my watch either, this was all by feel. Okay, now that I have that bragging out of the way, onto my shenanigans in South Beach. Honestly, I was just cruising along here without much issue. I've seen the sights along this part of the course seven times now, so there's no surprises. Just swishing along and trying to keep it together as long as I could.

I jogged through all the aid stations this year and did my normal strategy of half Gatorade half water. I knew I'd need to keep hydrated given the conditions and sun sure to come. I didn't end up doing any sort of fueling with food though. A lot of years I do Shot Bloks down here, but when I was at the expo I started wondering why. I don't usually use fuel during a half. You don't need it, you have enough glucose or whatever built up to do thirteen miles. Anyways, nothing really to note in this section of the race! Back to the "traditional" route, same as last year, so there is no longer that out and back section.

CRUISING OVER THE VENETIANS (8:39, 8:34, 8:43)

15k timing mat on the Venetian Islands.

As usual, at least when I'm running this under two hours, the sun started to come up about when I was getting ready to leave Miami Beach and cross the bay back into downtown Miami. To my relief, there were some clouds in the sky this year, more partly cloudy versus partly sunny, so there wasn't the direct sun like there has been in previous years. As a result, my pace continued to stay steady even as the miles piled up.

This part of the race is always great, I love the little islands along the way and there are some great view of the bay and the city. The question is whether or not you're able to enjoy them. While I was certainly tired, I wasn't desperate yet like I have been during some years. Pretty quickly I was going through the toll gates, a milestone every year, and back onto the mainland. My heart rate by this point had climbed to average about 180, but I was still feeling pretty good. With only two miles to go, I knew I had it in me to finish strong.

TO THE FINISH DOWNTOWN! (8:46, 8:44)

Done!

Continuing with tradition, shortly after you get back downtown there is a lot cheering section that imparts a lot of energy into the race. This is also the point where they had out pineapple... this is always a should I/shouldn't I situation with me. This year I didn't stop and take any as I didn't need any mental tricks to convince myself I was going to be okay. I was feeling good and decided to just chug along. My pace slowed about ten seconds a mile from early on in the race, but nothing major. Honestly I was super proud of how steady I was. This was probably the most consistent Miami Half I had ever ran.

A couple of times downtown the buildings blocked the wind and it got quite warm. Thank goodness for the constant wind during the race, it would have been quite miserable without it. The sun peaked through the clouds here and there but nothing major. I just continued moving ahead but by this point I was definitely ready to be done. I had done two total runs over ten miles since the marathon, so while my legs still weren't complaining too bad, they were ready to bring this puppy to a close.

Finally we wound our way back toward the finish line. The energy toward the finish line was pretty good and you could definitely hear it a few blocks away. Unlike some of the people around me, I didn't feel the need to kick it in. I picked up my pace a little, sure, something like 8:00/mile, but nothing major. I had pretty much given it my all.

AFTER PARTY AND GOING HOME

Year seven complete!

I walked through the chute without discomfort this year, my legs held up really well! I remember my legs almost giving out from under me last year, so mark that as another point of improvement in addition to my finish time being three minutes faster. Through the chute, got my food, ate my food, used the bathroom, watched my friends finish, met them after, drank the shitty beer, headed back.

In what is also becoming a tradition, we all went out to eat at Pizza Hut after taking a nap and recovering. Something about Pizza Hut is just very satisfying after a half marathon. I don't think you can eat there in good conscience unless you have ran thirteen miles... maybe that is it, haha. Anyways, we enjoyed that gorge and then just had a fun celebratory night. The next day our flights weren't out until 5pm, so we went to the beach and enjoyed some last minute rays in Florida.

My flight back... ugh, that would be another whole long post. Long story short, weather in Atlanta (grr!) forced our plane to go into a holding pattern. While we finally landed, it was much later than expected and this caused me to miss my connection. I ended up spending the night in an Atlanta hotel room and flew back to Portland the next day. It's always something trying to get back!

Official Results: 1:53:55, 8:41/mile. 2382/15431 overall, 1880/7934 male, 322/1186 M30-35.

SOME RECENT SPEEDWORK

One of my goals this winter was to do speedwork every week. While I would give myself some grace if I was really creaky one week or something, I've actually been very good about getting out there at running some at a fast clip. I believe I lost a lot of speed last winter by not doing hardly any speedwork. My goal this spring is to hit the next major training cycle running and not spend so much time trying to get back to where I was. Now, to be clear, I have lost something, I don't think I have a 1:43 half in me like last July, but I think I could squeak out a 1:44:59 on the right day on the right course.

January 2nd, 4 mile Tempo Run

Weather was good for this one, 46 and overcast, and I was able to get home from work while it was still light outside, so I took advantage of that. I did my normal four mile "lollipop" route that has become a staple of winter running. The only problem with this course, or with just about any course near my house, is that it is decidedly not flat. So some splits you have to take with a grain of salt. However, I was able to run three solid miles before tiring a bit on the last. 7:54, 7:46, 7:39, 8:03. 7:50/mile overall average. Solid run!

January 7th, 3 mile Tempo Run

I was feeling a bit run down but still wanted to get some speed in, so I decided to do a three mile run and try to hit it a bit harder. 7:34 first mile. Alright! Probably the fastest mile I've ran since October. 7:50 second mile. Alright, falling off a little. Maybe I went out a little too fast? 7:57 final mile. Took everything I had to get that one under eight. 7:47/mile average... not bad for the way I was feeling, but I was hoping for a bit quicker.

January 15th, 8x400m Treadmill Intervals

Intervals were set to 6:56/mile and took 1:44 each. Not my fastest 400s, but I wanted to ease back into them and try not to pull a hammy or something. This was done indoors at the Planet Fitness treadmill and sweat was flying everywhere. Gross. Also, I was watching Jeopardy! during this run and it actually made it go by quickly. I concentrated on trying to answer the questions and that made the sprint intervals go much faster. Rest 400s were done at 10:00/mile.

January 23rd, 4mi Treadmill Tempo

Just over a week later I was back in the gym doing a tempo run. I don't like doing tempo runs outside when it is dark, much higher risk of tripping, so I ended up indoors doing this one. I set the treadmill to 7:56/mi and just went with it. The mental challenge of a treadmill is always hard, there is less to distract yourself with, so I was fine without pushing it even further. The main goal is to not lose a bunch of speed, and as long as I tick off sub eight minute miles, I'll achieve that.

January 31st, 8x400m Lollipop Tempo

Another chance to run outside during a weekday, so I took the opportunity to knock out some intervals. Now, these are on my "lollipop" course, so the actual intervals can vary wildly depending on the elevation profile of that specific 400m stretch. As long as I am giving a hard effort, I'm pleased. That being said, I had some pretty solid splits! I was most proud of my last interval, which was slightly uphill, clocking in at 1:38. That's 6:32/mile! Heck yeah! Worst interval was 1:53 going up a hill... that's 7:32/mile. Still not terrible. Heart rate is fun to look at on this one... maximum was 189!