Running and Getting Older

So this year I turned 60! Yes the big 6 0. I have been running since July of 1999. I ran my first marathon in March of 2000 in Los Angeles, CA at the age of 47 in a time of 5:19:49. Somehow even after all the soreness from that race I decided two days later that I had to do another one and do better. I signed up for the San Diego Rock n Roll Marathon the following June.  I broke my foot a few weeks later and could not run for 5 weeks. Stupidly, my first run back was a half marathon race and a tough hilly one at that. I barely finished under 3 hours and my left foot was killing me. I trained as much as I could over the next two months but ended up doing worse not better with a time of 5:54:47! So I ended up training for another marathon and did much better. I then set my sights on qualifying for Boston and succeeded in October of 2002, running Boston in April of 2003, ten years ago. I had a relatively successful year in 2003 and into 2004 and then I was hit with depression. I struggled to keep running but eventually quit altogether for about 6 months. When I started back I pushed to hard and ended up getting injured. Then after recovering from the injury I did the same thing. My mind was trying to tell me that I was still in my late 30's and that I could recover more quickly than I actually could now that I was in my 50's. I now had to learn that I needed to gradually ease back into running. I could not start out from almost no running at all for 6 months and be back where I was prior in two weeks time.

Age is a funny thing! I find myself in a love hate relationship with aging. On the one hand for the most part I have become wiser about life in general but on the other hand I know that age has slowed me, caused me to be a little more fragile, I don't recover from a workout as quickly. In other words when it comes to physical things, I need to adjust my thinking and be realistic about where I am in life. That doesn't mean I need to give up and just sit back on the couch watching television and being lazy, it just means I need to adjust to a more realistic attitude concerning my body and it's physical limits.

For about 2 years now I have been struggling in my running because I have an Achilles problem at the insertion point where it ties into the back of the heel. It is sore when I first get up in the morning and takes me a while before I can walk without limping. Until recently I have been unable to run two days in a row without the pain causing me to limp almost all day. When I run it hurts for about a mile or two and then it usually,settles into just a warm feeling but no pain, unless I run hard or longer than 12 miles. The further I go past 12 miles the more intense the pain becomes. I have narrowed the problem down to a Sciatic nerve problem on my left side, making my muscles sore and tight resulting in more tension on the Achilles and the heel. If I take a lot of Ibuprofen I can run more often but as the doctor told me, taking it all the time in the quantities of 2400mgs a day or more, will eventaully damage my kidneys and possibly my liver too. So I stopped taking the Ibuprofen and cut down on my running. This was hard for me to deal with because I love running and have goals that I would still like to accomplish.

Recently my wife read a book called, "The Plan" by Lyn-Genet Recitas. The premise of the book is that some of the so called "healthy" things we eat could actually be bad for us by causing an inflammatory response. My wife was having some leg and knee problems and decided to try the book. Without dieting in the sense of calorie restriction but starting with basic foods that nearly everyone can tolerate and gradually adding others one at a time and looking for a response, she lost 11 pounds in 20 days and her leg and knee problems almost completely went away. The reason being that she had reduced inflammation in her body. She found that she had an inflammatory response to Salmon, some wheat breads, oatmeal and several other things. by eliminating these things from her diet she lost weight and kept it off and her body felt better overall.

I decided that I would give it a try and lost 13 pounds in 20 days. I too found that inflammation in my body was reduced and I could run more often without taking the Ibuprofen. Being able to run more has improved my running. I also feel that staying away from things that are inflammatory like salt and sugar in any large quantities has really helped me have better endurance and recover faster. My whole body responds better overall.

This Sunday I will be running that tough half marathon race that I ran in April of 2000. I have actually run it a few times since that first time and my best time was 1:53:53 in April of 2002, 11 years ago which was one of my best years. I did improve much more later that year qualifying for Boston with a time of 3:33:40 at St George UT. So in all fairness I was not at my peak at that time for this half marathon but still it is my best time ever on that course. I actually beat that time last week, in a practice run of the course, and hope to beat it again this coming Sunday in the actual race. As long as I get decent weather and no physical problems I should beat that time of 11 years ago when I was 49.

Three things have been crucial in getting my back into the form I was in in 11 years ago at this time. First,  I have built up my weekly mileage very slowly. Second, I have listened to my body and when I felt a little too much soreness I did not run, even if my schedule called for it and I did not try and make it up by running more later in the week. Thirdly reducing inflammation in my body through diet. I try to eat foods that I know will agree with me and add additional foods that are known to reduce inflammation.

The race is only a day away so I am getting anxious to see how I actually do in the race. Weather conditions are not going to be ideal as it will be a little warmer, about 60 at the start of the race and close to 70 at the finish with a real feel of 78. Still I believe I can beat my old time and PR on this course 11 years latter. Either way I will write about the race in my next post!

Happy Trails,

Russ