Monday, February 14, 2011

Making Do With The Treadmill

So I’ve been lazy about posting lately and of course that has something to do with not being to talk about my running experiences due to my ankle tendon problems. I never thought I would ever say this: I’m making do with treadmill runs and even getting pleasure from finishing an hour on it. This lower impact alternative is better than not being able to run at all. I’ve had more treadmill runs in the past two weeks than I’ve run on the road. My pace is slow enough to read the newspaper except I have to reread some lines and paragraphs to comprehend the words that just passed in front of my eyes. Even if I wasn’t reading, I don’t think I could go much faster anyway because I’m keeping the pace only to the point where my ankles don’t get overstretched. One thing good about trying to read while running on a treadmill: you have to try to run smoothly and not bounce up and down too much thus lessening the impact of your stride. In the condition my ankle tendons are in though, I don’t see myself ever running long distances again. One hour on the road or treadmill two to three times a week is all my joints can tolerate.
I don’t know if this is real or just my perception of things, but the anesthetic effects of endorphins seem to last much longer than NSAIDS as far as my ankle tendons are concerned. When I don’t overstretch the tendons, the usual pain is numbed between 8 to 12 hours. The only NSAIDS I take is a daily aspirin for heart health and that doesn’t even come close to numbing the pain compared to an endorphin high. Of course when the ankle tendons are overstretched, no amount of endorphins or NSAIDS help. By trying to run easily and slowly, I’m trying to keep the pain to a minimum. That reminds me of part of the lyrics to the song “Music of the Night” from Phantom of the Opera – “slowly gently…”


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