AREC Training With Train 4 Autism

I won’t be able to participate in the Wrigley River Run this year which falls on June 2 because I have to work on my birthday. Instead, this post is about last week’s run.

If you have been reading this blog for awhile, you might have seen a post or two about my dizziness problems. If you haven’t, well that’s okay. I have labyrinthitis, an inner ear problem which causes dizziness and hits me from time to time for no apparent reason. Saturday morning was one of those days. I drove to the AREC run not knowing how that was going to affect my running later. Not only that, I was nursing a slight right calf discomfort which I was hoping wouldn’t get worse if I ran slowly enough. When I got to the location, I noticed that there were a lot more people than in previous weeks and that was because the athletes from Train 4 Autism (a fund raising group) had joined the fray. They sure had some nice looking baby blue uniforms. I hazard to guess that there were at least 150 runners that morning.

After a very brief talk by Nadine, we were off. I was really apprehensive about my dizziness so I just kept pace with the 12 minute milers hoping I wouldn’t topple over. Within the first half mile, I noticed that some of the mentors of Train 4 Autism were pretty speedy. They zipped past us in their baby blues. Their group was nice enough to mark the course with blue and yellow markers on traffic cones indicating which way the half marathoners or full marathoners have to go. I ran with Rosie and Tina up to the 3 mile water station and when we resumed, I got to talking with Mark F. I didn’t know that he had stopped running for a year and he recently just started again because of another mid life crisis. He did not elaborate and I did not probe. He suddenly asked me how long my every day running streak lasted before I had to quit. I didn’t even know he knew about that. He was guessing a thousand days and I told him it was actually 21 years and 8 days. He said, no wonder my ankle tendons were shot. We had a quick laugh about that. Incidentally, someone asked me this question the previous week:  What was the minimum number of miles you ran when you had your 21 year running every day streak? The requirement of the running streak association which I’m not a member of is one mile, so to simplify, that is what I would say my minimum was even though it was more like 1 ½ miles. Anyway, back to the run. Mark then regaled me with stories of his trail running races and how one time he and another friend of ours – Roberta, finished last at a very technical (i.e. rocky terrain) Colorado trail race. He pulled me for about a mile and a half, then for some reason, I pulled ahead and caught up with who I think were mother and daughter experimenting with the Galloway 5 minute run to 1 minute walk system. I asked them if they were with AREC and we ran together for the next mile. With half a mile left, I attempted to run with a full stride. Not my natural gait, mind you, to protect my ankle tendons, but at least a semblance of a full stride. And I resisted to do a full out sprint in the last 200 meters, also for ankle protection reasons. I hardly noticed that by the time I finished 6 miles or so, my dizziness had dissipated. Running had calmed my inner ear.

Hopefully in the coming weeks we could mingle with the Train 4 Autism runners and get to know them better instead of sticking to our packs and them in theirs during the run. They seem like a pretty good group. Thanks for running with us Train 4 Autism athletes J

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Working Out In A Dizzy Tizzy

Due to the sudden return of my dizziness problems in the past week and the heat finally scorching Southern California, I have been conservative with my outdoor workouts especially after my terrible run/walk last Saturday. I already mentioned the 1 ½ hour stationary bike ride last Sunday. This was followed by an hour run on the treadmill on Monday which a surprise by itself because I usually don’t have the patience and concentration to last that long on the machine. The very slow pace which allowed me to read the newspaper, helped pass the time and still gave me a good workout. On Tuesday, it was back to the stationary bike in the form of the recumbent this time. It was so hot that I trained the electric fan towards me and cranked it up to the highest level. That workout lasted an hour and twenty minutes which consisted of intervals. This brings us to Wednesday which is normally not a running day for me but I was feeling pretty good and despite the high heat at 1 P.M. I ventured outside with hopes of completing at least 30 minutes. I could feel a slight breeze in the beginning which was definitely better than the dead air indoors. When I approached 30 minutes, I extended my goal to 40. Having to do some detours to avoid street constructions in my neighborhood (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 at work), I hit 50 minutes by the time I reached home. How hot was it? Well I lost 3 ½ pounds of sweat in just 50 minutes or very slow running and had to rehydrate quickly. I hope to show up at AREC marathon training on Saturday feeling better than last weekend. Know what? Very slow running or jogging has not been a problem for me. At least I can still do it and taste the sweet nectar of endorphins J. 

At the start of the month, my job offered a website (Healthyroads.com) where employees can track their fitness and health goals, and after putting off signing up for several weeks, I finally joined a few days ago. Just for signing up they gave away an exercise kit which included elastic bands and a walking kit which included a pedometer. Upon logging 12 workouts, they will also send you a water bottle as a reward. Since I already reached that level, I was expecting three items in the mail, which arrived today. Unfortunately, I didn’t see them because I was asleep when the mailman tried to deliver. Maybe when they redeliver tomorrow… By the way, they also have reward for reaching 36 and 72 workouts: a towel for the first and a t-shirt for the next. Since I work out every day, getting the free stuff would not be a problem. It’s just too bad that they stop giving rewards after 72 workouts :P

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Dizziness Diagnosis

I went to see the ear, nose, throat (ENT) specialist last Friday and after giving me the tests that cops give to DUI suspects, he didn’t find anything physically wrong with me. He said that my condition could be caused by a virus and that the dizziness can disappear anytime as mysteriously as it appeared. Nevertheless, he ordered an MRI for me to rule out any abnormalities to the inner ear that he could not see with his otoscope. I will have to wait until the insurance company authorizes the test, find out which hospital the procedure will be done, then make an appointment. When that is completed, I am to return to the doctor for more information.

 When I asked the doctor if my condition had anything to do about Mal De Debarquement syndrome, he appeared not to know anything about it, so I didn’t press the matter especially that he had an intern with him. His preliminary diagnosis was vestibular neuritis and said it wasn’t a fun thing to experience and then asked me if I was prescribed Meclizine by my primary doctor. It’s a medication for motion sickness like Bonine or Dramamine which I already tried but didn’t have any effect on my dizziness except make me sleepy. So the ENT doctor told me to stop taking it. Since what I have is supposed to be a virus, the antibiotic nasal spray given to me by my internist didn’t correct my problem because antibiotics only work for bacterial infections.

So far the dizzy spells continue but they appear to be lessening in frequency and duration. I’m not sure if that’s just my altered perception of things. I’ll just have to wait for my body’s own defenses to conquer the virus. Come on BODY, get on with it!!!

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