|
This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. I’m lucky enough to be in a better place right now, but it has been one heckuva ride. I will be sharing my story over the coming weeks. This is part of my journey to healing myself. I think that sharing some of my darkest hours, biggest triumphs, soul crushing set backs and the answer to what ails me (hopefully); will help me find what I am truly looking for in life.
Today, August 29, 2019, marks one year to the day that I went for a run and ended up staggering home, and barely able to stand on my own. It was the day I first wondered if I was ever going to run again. I already new that something was wrong with me, but that day I was frightened of what could come for me. Luckily, the worst case scenario didn’t come true, I am even recovering now. Over the last twelve months, I have only done one strength training workout that didn’t end after two exercises and leave me uncoordinated and clumsy. I have had many comebacks in my athletic life, but all of them have been almost nothing compared to this story. Just over three years ago, in June of 2016, I posted a story on Facebook about the range of emotions I was experiencing, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to line up on the starting line of the Dipsea Race that weekend. I had a torn meniscus, but didn’t know it yet. I had been in great shape all year and was going to run a great race, until that injury. Well, perhaps I only thought that I was in great shape. I thought that I would bounce back from my knee injury, even if it was severe. I believed that I would be able to regain that great fitness before long. I was actually planning on getting faster in my 37th year on this planet, than I had been when I was 22 years old. Even when I realized that part of my left meniscus was in pieces, I thought that I was starting a journey that might ramp up with some races in the winter and culminate with some very fast races the following spring. Little did I know that that moment in time, was merely just a stop on a journey that had begun, many years prior to that June day in 2016. There were many warning signs that something was wrong, long before the knee injury that sidelined me from serious competitive running for nearly two years. Unfortunately, most of those warning signs were various symptoms that did not seem to be connected in any way. The various symptoms that I had certainly didn’t appear to be anything that would amount to a serious, or life altering problem. I actually began normalizing the many chronic aches and pains, illnesses and mood swings that I was experiencing. After all, I’m a trained athlete, I enjoy the pain of hard workouts and was used to the daily grind of training for athletic competition. Two summers after that knee injury, I found myself practically disabled. I was struggling to hang on to my career and life, and desperately searching for answers and a cure for my health problems. I didn’t understand what was going on or why I had trouble walking, looking left and right, up and down, or just doing simple exercises with my Personal Training clients who had physical disabilities of their own. Suddenly, I had to worry about matters more important than my running endeavors, I had to worry about whether or not I could continue working, and whether I would be able to enjoy time with my wife. Eventually, I began to doubt that I was going to ever be able to live freely, happily and productively again. What I have learned over the last three years, is that my symptoms were not normal issues, and that I should have paid more attention to how those symptoms were negatively impacting my entire life, not just my athletic life. I also learned that had I sought answers to my problems sooner or pushed harder to solve them, it may not have gotten me my answer any sooner than I found it. Since August 2018, I have seen three neurologists, one neurosurgeon, three Physical Therapists, a Gastroenterologist, a Psychiatrist, an Asthma, Allergy and Immunology specialist, four incredible body workers, a Personal Trainer that specializes in Neurological Rehabilitation and I have worked with various other people in healthcare. Every one of them did their best in trying to help me, and I often found some relief from many of them, but I was unable to find the key to my health problems. At every step of the way, our hands would be thrown up, with nowhere else to go, and then I would go see someone else, repeating this cycle again and again. It wasn’t until I hit what was perhaps the lowest, darkest place I had ever been in. When I felt hopeless and scared of what my future was going to look like, and I began to question any reason for carrying on, something just clicked. While describing, to a client, how the entire left side of my face had gone completely numb earlier that day, I could see in her eyes that she knew something. What I didn’t know was that my life was about to change directions again, but this time in the right direction. Stay tuned if you want to read more about my journey, I will post what us technically “Part One” very soon.
0 Comments
Phase 1 of my training for this season is complete and my legs feel pretty beat up right now, I have my first big 800 meter race this coming Saturday and this week needs to be an easy week so I can recharge for 2 plus minutes of very intense competition. However, resting is not an effective use of my time this week. Sometimes, we need a little break from the relatively more intense training that a well rounded fitness program requires. During times like this I turn to mental skills training, like competition modeling or mental imagery.
Today I will be practicing the routine that I will use prior to my race on Saturday; as it is not enough to run hard for a few months and simply show up at the starting line. Once that gun goes off you need to have your plan in place and execute that plan if you want to achieve the best results from all your hard work, this holds true for racing 800 meters, a half marathon or just following through on a weight loss and/or workout program at the gym. For me, this routine includes the amount of time needed for my pre-race warm up, the types of warm up exercises I need to perform, the techniques I will use to stay calm and to get fired up prior to hitting the starting line and trying to "feel" what a 64 second quarter mile is going to feel like on Saturday morning...because it won't exactly feel comfortable, especially knowing that that is only half of my race. Mental skills are only a small part of any fitness program but can have a huge impact on performance or just being able to keep getting out of the house and putting in the work required to maintain that health and fitness program. As new years approaches, yes the holidays are upon us, most of us are sure to slip up in our health program to some extent. Inevitably, we will find ourselves making that new years resolution, you know that thing that makes hungover people stumble into the gym on January 1st to sign up for a gym membership, only to fall off the wagon by Valentine's Day. Well, why should we, those who have been putting in the work throughout this year, wait for next year to decide how many inches we want to lose, how much muscle we want to gain or how much healthier we want to feel. I have a better idea than waiting to make that 2012 new years resolution after a few cocktails on December 31st, let's make the "By New Year's Resolution."
So instead of trying to remember that fuzzy health resolution you made with a pounding head on new years, get an early start and set the stage for better success in 2012 by finishing 2011 strong. How it's done: For my clients who have already spoken to me about this, you are already on track. All you have to do now is keep working at it, keep up with your session appointments this winter and get some workouts in on your own. For those of you who are traveling, spend a little time thinking about what you want to attain by New Years and do some exercise on the road. It's easier than you think. If you need suggestions, PLEASE contact me for some ideas. For those of you that I haven't seen in a while, come back into the gym and see me so that we can establish some realistic goals to attain by New Years. It may be losing a few pounds, improving your bench press or simply not gaining weight like some of us did during the holidays last year. All that matters is that we keep pushing ourselves and not let the Holidays beat us! Beat the Holidays instead! I will post my By New Year's Resolution (BNYR) so that you can see that I am doing the same for myself. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Thank you for being my clients and my friends! See you all soon! One of the most common complaints I hear about working out is about that annoying soreness that arises roughly two days following an intense exercise bout. People always seem to ask “why does it take two or three days to feel so bad after such a good workout?” This answer can be summed up into one acronym, DOMS. According to research DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness is caused by microscopic tears in your muscle cells that occur during exercise that is performed above your level of fitness. Research has also found a close association between eccentric muscle contractions, those which involve lengthening of muscles during muscle contraction, and DOMS. Delayed onset muscle soreness usually occurs within 24-48 hours of exercise, but can begin later and can last several days depending on how bad symptoms are.
Beginning a new exercise program, exercising at an intensity that is higher than you are ready for, and changing the type of exercise you perform are some of the most common ways to suffer from DOMS. It is common for individuals who begin a new exercise program or modify their existing program to push themselves too hard when performing certain activities; the sudden unaccustomed workload applied to those muscles causes the microscopic tears in the muscle cells and connective tissue. The most effective way to avoid this is to design a training program that includes a gradual buildup of strength and endurance. Therefore, beginning an exercise program with the assistance of a coach, personal trainer or someone with experience in utilizing similar exercise modes is a great way to keep from pushing yourself too hard and not being able to participate in your next work out. It appears that eccentric muscle contractions are the primary reason that people experience symptoms of DOMS. Examples of eccentric muscle contractions are the contractions of the quadriceps when running downhill and contractions of the pectoral muscles during the downward phase of the bench press. You can limit symptoms of DOMS by not focusing too much on the eccentric muscle contractions in any given exercise. Although eccentric muscle contractions appear to be most responsible for causing DOMS, they typically cannot be avoided, nor should they. Eccentric muscle contractions help us increase our strength and endurance as well as allow us to make functional movements throughout our everyday routines. The microscopic muscle and connective tissue tears caused during exercise are not completely bad for you. Our muscles are very adaptive; they can increase their tolerance for different activities over a period of time when those activities are repeatedly performed. The constant tearing of the muscle cells and subsequent recovery and regeneration of those cells makes them better equipped to handle the same type of stress and strain applied to them during the next workout. Whether it’s running your first 5k, increasing the resistance on the stationary bike or trying out that new machine at the gym you have likely experienced this type of pain. So what is the best treatment for DOMS? Rest, ice, compression and elevation may be the most common way to treat traumatic injuries, such as strains and sprains, but research into treatments for DOMS is inconclusive at best and contradictory at worst. Perhaps the best way to treat delayed onset muscle soreness is to avoid it as much as possible by exercising properly, using a good training plan, and working out at an appropriate intensity. References American Council on Exercise. (2003). ACE Personal Trainer Manual 3rd Edition. San Diego: American Council on Exercise, pp. 25, 250. Connolly, D. A., Sayers, S. P., & McHugh, M. P. (2003). Treatment and Prevention of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research , pp. 197-206. Szymanski, D. J. (2001, August). Recommendations for the avoidance of delayed-onset muscle soreness. Strength and Conditioning Journal , pp. 7-13. |
Ken Taylor is a Master Personal Trainer, with a B.S. in Kinesiology and certified by NASM & USA Track & Field. Ken trains clients in Novato and San Francisco, both as a Proprietor and an employee of Body Kinetics Novato.
|
RSS Feed
