Knee felt ok for a few days, decided to test it. Ran a few easy strides 8 x 50m yesterday. Today, sore knee. I'm gonna have to give this more time. Back to the walking & strength. This may take a while ...
Injuries can be so annoying; hope you can work through the knee issue. I've been having some issues with my right hip flexor but it's something I've had before and know it should resolve when I get fully back to my strengthening routine. Aerobically things are coming around. The last couple of runs I felt the best I've felt since "The Time Before".
I had one not good period in life when I had depression. For 10 years I played football, then I got broke my leg, so I lost all my experience and opportunities in pro league. I got broke that time, because I coudn't do anything different of sport. So I looked what I can do, and I realized me in art. It was photography. I started doing some shots and upload them on depositphotos. It was not necessary to me where to upload, but it was like game. There are rules, I'm player, and if my work is good, I'll got a prize. And it worked. For half of year I became normal and started love my work, and it payed! So I recommend you to start doing something you never done before, maybe you'll find what you love.
Knee felt ok for a few days, decided to test it. Ran a few easy strides 8 x 50m yesterday. Today, sore knee. I'm gonna have to give this more time. Back to the walking & strength. This may take a while ...
It's been week or so; here's an update...
Two days ago, I jogged 3 x 1000m on grass. I'm pretty out of shape, huffing & puffing at 10 min pace the whole time.
The good news is, my knee didn't hurt much at all; barely noticeable during the run. The next day it swelled, but without redness and minimal pain. Today, swelling is down and very little discomfort.
Seems like it's healing. Been walking and working on strength while I wait. Ideally, I'd be on the bike and in the pool also, but I don't have access to that right now.
As I mentioned before, this knee thing isn't related to the cancer/chemo/recovery, just an old meniscus injury from HS.
The other stuff -- exhaustion, fogginess, residual pain (both real & phantom), cognitive gaps and chaotic auditory effects -- yeah, it's all there.
Some days I'm fairly worn out and I get down about it. But today, after doing side lunges yesterday, I am reveling in the soreness that comes with training. Ha, if I can call it that.
Doesn't matter. If you're working hard, it feels the same no matter what level you're at.
Good to hear the knee is getting better. Strength training and walking are great when you're injured. Although I have a stationary bike I struggle to last more than 15 minutes on it as my butt gets so sore. A long walk outside is so much nicer.
My own running is going well. Still not back to pre-cancer fitness (quite a way to go until that...) but feeling stronger aerobically every week. I had a bit of a setback Monday when I strained my back doing deadlifts. Just a dumb, preventable mistake; I didn't warm up enough before the lifting. So I had to take a couple days off from running. Ran this morning and it felt ok.
Did 5 x 80m hill strides on asphalt yesterday. Knee swollen w/ some discomfort today, but nothing that keeps me from moving around. So I went out just now and did 1K jog, 8 x 50m carioca drills, 1K light tempo effort. Knee "complained" a bit, but it's fine I think. I do need to balance exercise with rest, so that this thing can heal.
That little "workout" was all on grass, in XC flats per my usual.
My feet are now burning. I'm dizzy. The room is undulating a bit and I feel like I may fall over any minute. It's almost half an hour later, and my HR is STILL around 90. The fog of exhaustion, pushed away by oxygenated exertion, is now re-enveloping me.
F the "new normal". F "accepting your limitations". Do it anyway.
Wed 18 May: 3 x 1000m "easy" but still hard bc I'm out of shape.
Thu 19 May: off
Fri 20 May: 3 x 1000m r1' @ 5:47, 5:51, 6:01. Then 2' rest to allow my heart rate to recover, and one more rep. Pushed the effort a bit, 5:45. HR was around 160 for the first 3 reps, 180 on the last one. Yep ... out of shape.
Sat 21 May: off, slightly sore. Very tired.
Sun 22 May: Woke up feeling pretty good. No swelling in knee and no discomfort at all. Decided to try 2 miles. 1st mile 9:16 was ok, 2nd mile was difficult 10:01, for 19:17 and HR around 160. Sheesh.
Minor swelling in knee, hurts a little. But seems like it's improving over time. I probably just have to keep incorporating rest days, I guess.
Nice work keeping at it. It seems like you have more of a short distance focus, based on your goals and the workouts you're doing. My focus is the marathon so my advice is coming from that perspective. It seems like you could benefit from a bit more sustained aerobic work, but at an easy effort and HR. Maybe riding the bike to go easy on your knee, or if you're able to without bothering the knee, jogging at an easy HR (or jog/walk), building up to maybe 45 min or an hour. The key would be to keep it at easy HR throughout, whatever it is. My thinking is that improving the aerobic base will translate to gains in your speed workouts.
For workouts that might spare your knee, uphill intervals come to mind. I've had luck with doing steep uphill reps on the treadmill when dealing with various injuries, including a knee injury. It's a good way to get in a hard effort with minimal impact.
Yes - I could definitely benefit from a bit more sustained aerobic work. The thing is, this is close to the max training load I can sustain right now. Not only being out of shape (not sure how I lost so much fitness in just a few months), but this post cancer/chemo thing seems to have really pummeled me. This morning, after running just 2 miles, I was wiped out. As soon as the feel-good rush wore off, I was exhausted, dizzy, disoriented for 3-4 hours afterward. I'm only just recovering now ... back to my normal baseline level of long-term exhaustion, dizziness, disorientation, ha.
But yeah, I'm working up to it. 2 miles without stopping was a big deal today. I know it would be good to run/jog at a lower HR, but I have a hard time going any slower than 9-10 min/mi pace. If this works like last year / 2 years ago, I can just do this and my HR will go down. And, as I get stronger and more aerobically fit, I can go for longer.
"Speed workouts" ... haha yeah I would love to be strong enough to try some. Right now I'm so weak, the best I can do is strides & drills. But yes, I am looking forward to it. Would love to try, say, 4 x 300m on the track. Maybe I'll just get out there and do it.
Uphill intervals to spare the knee? Wow, I would not have thought of that! It seems so counterintuitive to me. I'll give it a try and report back.
Mon 23 May 6 x 80m hill accel in the middle of the night at 2 am, because why not? Knee felt fine, surprisingly.
Tue 24 May easy 2 miles on grass, 8 x 50m carioca drills. Knee very mildly sore but no problem.
Wed 25 May 4 x 1000m repeats on grass. Untimed, ran by feel, wasn't supposed to be an LT session but it kind of was.
Thu 26 May Got annoyed at all the slow jogging, decided to run a hard 2 mi on grass. Sucked wind for 18 min 26 sec. Umm ... yeah, out of shape.
Fri 27 May easy 3 x 1000m on grass. Untimed, ran by feel.
Sat 28 May Brisk walk, 2 miles, with 16 x 10 walking lunges ea leg during the walk. Both knees mildly swollen after, but didn't hurt at all.
Sun 29 May Was it 2 years ago that I couldn't run a trail without getting dizzy and tripping? It was like my brain couldn't process all the information (rocks, roots, turns, ups & downs) and I would get disoriented. I recall falling & bruising my ribs on a trail and deciding to stick to grass. Well, I ran a trail today ... alternated walking, jogging, faster running, and hill sprints for about an hour. It went well, and it seems my brain has continued to recover from the long-term effects of the cancer treatment. It wasn't super easy to mentally process the terrain, but I did it with no mishaps.
Mon 30 May Sore from yesterday's trail romp. Decided to get sore-er by doing sets of lunges (forward, side, diagonal) and squat-jumps throughout the day.
Tue 31 May off. Sore and tired.
Wed 1 June Trail, 40 min walk/jog/run/hill sprints
Thu 2 June 4 x 1000m on grass, easy. Untimed, ran by feel. 3 x 4 x 50m (3-step high knees, butt kicks, easy stride, light accel), 3 x 10 squat-jumps.
Fri 3 June Brisk 2 mi walk, with 16 x 10 walking lunges ea leg during the walk.
Sat 4 June Off, no running. But something happened and there was a "pop" sound in my left knee.
Sun 5 June Swelling and pain, bad.
Sun 6 June Got up in the morning, knee red and quite swollen. Painful and very difficult to walk up/down stairs. Going to doctor.
----
Mon 13 June Well, no running. Last week, doc said to use knee brace and crutch/cane for a while. MRI scheduled for tomorrow, plus 10-12 weeks PT.
Ugh, sorry to hear about the knee. It looks like you had a good rhythm going. What did the MRI indicate? Hoping it's nothing serious.
I'm back into the swing of marathon training now. I have a dr.'s appt tomorrow with bloodwork but I can pretty much tell hemoglobin, etc. should be back to normal levels by now based on how I'm feeling. The speed in workouts is not where it was pre-cancer but is getting there gradually. I'm targeting a September marathon to try to get a BQ for Boston 2023, since I didn't get a race in last fall or this spring (thanks to the f*#ing cancer!).
I'm targeting a September marathon to try to get a BQ for Boston 2023, since I didn't get a race in last fall or this spring (thanks to the f*#ing cancer!).
Wow, if you can get is shape this summer for a Sept BQ that would be super impressive post treatment. Go man go!
Knee felt ok for a few days, decided to test it. Ran a few easy strides 8 x 50m yesterday. Today, sore knee. I'm gonna have to give this more time. Back to the walking & strength. This may take a while ...
..... Ideally, I'd be on the bike and in the pool also, but I don't have access to that right now.
What is limiting your access to a bike? Biking on a trainer will get you more fit and shouldn't irritate the knee if you aren't grinding gears.
..... Ideally, I'd be on the bike and in the pool also, but I don't have access to that right now.
What is limiting your access to a bike? Biking on a trainer will get you more fit and shouldn't irritate the knee if you aren't grinding gears.
Gotta fix my bike, haven't had the money for a tune-up.
I'm doing much better than the oncologists predicted (they figured that IF I survived, I'd be fully or nearly fully disabled, likely with severe organ damage, partially/fully blind and/or deaf, lungs 2/3 full of scar tissue) but I still have limitations with physical & mental stamina, clarity & continuity of thought, body pain, dizziness ... well, there's a list. The upshot is that it's hard to work much, so money is an issue. My basic cheapo old bike has been out of commission for a year and a half, I think.
But yeah, it would really help to put in some bike hours. That plus pool and gym. Hopefully soon, if I can accomplish some work related stuff.
Anybody care to share anything about post-cancer running? I'm having a hard time coming back to it. I'm 45 and it's been over 10 years since I ran consistently.
Gonna post here about my progress. I have no idea how this is going to go, or what's possible. Everybody feel free to chime in.
10 years after college, I ran 2:03 off of 10 mi/week training ... I was working too much to run any more than that.
Since then, I've had cancer 3 times. The 3rd time was an extreme case. Hundreds of tumors filling my lungs and abdomen, lots of chemo. I'm now 2 years cancer-free and it's been a long recovery.
I have some residual scarring in my lungs. Nerve damage in my feet from excessive amounts of heavy-metal-based chemotherapy makes my feet burn with phantom pain, so walking or running hurts (no actual injury, it's "fake pain").
Last spring, I had done some walking and a few minutes of jogging, and I wanted to see if I could run a mile without stopping. I found a local old 440y track and did four laps. It hurt like hell, but I ran 7:52 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I am going to try to see if I can get back into some kind of running shape.
You have become more resilient over the years since you could run a longer distance in less time. You were able to endure everything three times. That means the tumors didn't respond to the chemo, or they did, but not enough to go away completely. Consequently, if untreated, you die painfully within 1-2 years. It all started with swollen lymph nodes on my neck (don't touch your own, they are normal). I had rm1, biopsies, had chemo. Twice. After chemo, there is more hair. It's more voluminous and wavy. It always is. My eyelashes too. If cancer progresses during treatment, they will definitely do a transplant of their bone marrow. Otherwise, nothing will help. I was allowed to play sports, run, and lift heavy things, but after the second surgery, I just gave it up. And I advise you to leave your body alone.
Huh? In 2 weeks, I will be 5 years cancer free. I did stem cell transplant. The whole story is in this thread, if anybody wants to know.
What is limiting your access to a bike? Biking on a trainer will get you more fit and shouldn't irritate the knee if you aren't grinding gears.
Gotta fix my bike, haven't had the money for a tune-up.
I'm doing much better than the oncologists predicted (they figured that IF I survived, I'd be fully or nearly fully disabled, likely with severe organ damage, partially/fully blind and/or deaf, lungs 2/3 full of scar tissue) but I still have limitations with physical & mental stamina, clarity & continuity of thought, body pain, dizziness ... well, there's a list. The upshot is that it's hard to work much, so money is an issue. My basic cheapo old bike has been out of commission for a year and a half, I think.
But yeah, it would really help to put in some bike hours. That plus pool and gym. Hopefully soon, if I can accomplish some work related stuff.
Just wanted to restate how impressed and inspired I am by you Sub 8. To go through the absolute hell you went through and come out the other side with a positive attitude and be pushing yourself physically, despite all the challenges, is simply amazing. Please keep at it, don't give up. Here's hoping that knee gets sorted out and starts behaving and you're back running soon!