Chronic Cardio

Out of fear for death from heart problems, I started running which I had considered a boring (good for PT Usha and other girls) sport. It was going on well for a year when I managed running upto 25KM without any injuries. But then the running bug hit me hard and I wanted to improve my pace - trained for it, couldn't make it to a 10K because of a flu(exercise induced for sure) and then ran a half marathon that was half an hour faster than my previous timing at the same race. But ended up at the physio's table with a ITBS problem - my physio(who is a friend of mine) laughed at the problem when I described it to him that I cannot run more than 10KM. He suggested I run less than 10K, I laughed back telling him that he doesn't understand ! But in hindsight he was absolutely right - my legs(muscles around it) were not strong enough to run distances more than 10K.

After undergoing therapy for couple of months, I was back on the trail and slowly started hitting 10Ks regularly. Then I tried a 15K which brought back memories of old, so I slowed down a bit, but couldn't resist the longer ones. Despite some niggle at the ankle, I ran a 16K in a tough terrain around town. It turned out that it was an "Achilles"! Another month of physiotherapy and all looked well and the 10K race in town was round the corner. I wasn't planning to run, but then during the last week, I couldn't let it pass and did a spot registration and ran it which was followed with another flu(exercise induced for sure!). I got back again slowly building upto the comfortable 10Ks. I also added swimming as a cross training just to make sure that I don't die because of lack of cardio with all the problems that I was having with my puny legs(I thought I had strong ones being a football player). So the pains of hard running would be washed away next morning with a swim! Then I felt something funny at the sides of the heel while massaging the achilles. The achilles felt perfectly fine, but the problem seems to have moved further south on the heel. A quick search confirmed the symptoms to be that of "Plantar Fascitis" another chronic cardio problem. But I avoided my physio for fear of being laughed at (yet again), did some massages myself and just limited myself to 10Ks and took the bold decision of opting out the next half marathon where I would have wanted to take another half an hour out of my Personal Best(PB). It appears that there are two more problems that may be waiting in the wings for me - shin splints and runners knee.

It is not the running that gets you into this (though running involves a repetitive motion of some parts which is pretty unnatural) - it is the stupidity of the goal based running that doesn't consider one's capabilities. Usually you run a race on the date set by some race organizers, not on a date where you are ready to run the distance at your pace! And then you need to hit your timing goals as well! Considering the fact that I never run continuously, but do the run-walk, I shouldn't be in so much trouble. Though my goal was to enjoy the runs and to be fit, I stupidly deviated to increase my pace. The reality is that everyone is wired for some distance at some pace, more than that is fraught with all these injuries. There are lots of indicators - neck sprains, flu, ITBS, that told me that I was going above the thresholds, but I was married to my goal of improving my timings! BTW, any goal based activity in life is fraught with these risks.

And as you know, it is never one-sided, there are always both sides of the story. All my trousers are now low waist ones because the waist line has shrunk badly since I started running and my sparely used trousers that were bought 16+ years ago fit very well these days. And it looks like I will have to buy a new belt because this one(another 1o+ year old one). If I were able to sustain my running at higher mileages, I could have hit my 28" waistline in my 20's before I went to America. I also stopped going to the Cardiologist and doing the Executive Health Checkup every year - a spot check of cholesterol was good enough and even that got boring after very normal results every time. I am back eating all kinds of fish fried in coconut oil(BTW, that was a hoax about coconut - it is the king). But I wasn't saving any money though - it was going to the therapist and on new expensive shoes to fix my pronation on the legs !

All good things and bad things I attribute it to the chronic cardio that I have got into. At the moment I am trying to shift some balance into other things - though walking is pretty much useless for your heart except for some feel-good factor, I walk at every opportunity these days. Cycling aimlessly hasn't gone on well with me for some reason, tried a bit of commuting which was too short to be a workout. But swimming seems like an exciting sport - it is not the power, but the technique that comes first in this sport, and the variety of things to learn seems endless. But it is never going to be as simple as a run, you need the infrastructure and gadgets which I have close by. Another exciting one is Yoga - it has the variety for a beginner to an expert to keep them challenged. But if I don't run, I feel a pain in my heart, so I have got to check it out - run and see that the pain was just an imagined one. Hopefully, I will be able to break this habit sometime!