Monday: 0
Took the day off from work. Went to one of my favorite places that I go often when I complete another trip around the sun: Beavertail State Park. Followed that up with an ice cream sundae from Brickley's in Narragansett. An unnecessary, but sinfully delicious treat.
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| Probably our nicest state park in Rhode Island (Pics by Jana, as usual) |
Tuesday: 5
First, the weekly hospital wound care update. It's been one week since the advanced cellular tissue product has been applied. I'm trying not to set myself up for disappointment, as I'm looking forward to this day and the results. They're mixed: the wound is responding and shrinking again, however, the bandaging had dried out, was stuck to my head, and skin needed to be removed. Very painful and a bit of regression.
A second application of the tissue product was applied today, and a rough estimate given of another four weeks to fully heal. Unfortunately, that puts Block Island Triathlon (Aug 7) in jeopardy for me, and also means we can't plan for a full week (or more) family vacation this summer, as I need to return to the hospital for treatment and assessment every Tuesday. I'm trying hard to keep the faith, recognize the progress, remember that the cancer is gone, others have it worse, etc., but it is really very frustrating.
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As for the run, I was already in a bad mood (and in pain) after my hospital treatment, and the run had its own issues. Went for five miles at Grills, with Brady, from Hopkinton side. I knew (or thought I knew) where the overgrown sections would be and tried to avoid them. It turns out there a number of overgrown sections I hadn't anticipated, including the Tomaquag Trail section in Hopkinton to "Cole's Climb" and then again on the Westerly side between Polly Coon Bridge and blue trail. The other issue (and I was forewarned) was copious amounts of deerflies.
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I remember when I started running 18 years ago and read somewhere that running is simplistic because all you need is a pair of running shoes and out you go. What a fallacy! I feel like I need a checklist to remember everything for a run lately:
- Dog (well, obviously not required, but it's good exercise for him and good mental health for me)
- Dog leash (see above)
- Dog collapsible bowl (see above)
- BodyGlide - certainly don't want to chafe
- Hydration pack (depending upon distance and availability of water on route)
- Deerfly patches - if running trails this time of year
- Towel(s) - even with my swimming prohibition, I'm still pretty drenched just from many summer runs
- Water bottle (or preferably two), and it would help if I filled with ice and water
- Hats - obviously tied to my current wound care - one to wear during run, which is disgusting when finished, and then one dry clean one in case I stop anywhere on drive home
- Shirt - I'm certainly not getting into the car post-run wearing the drenched and smelly singlet I wore on run, so I pack a dry clean shirt as well
- Running watch
- Phone - pretty standard to bring wherever I go anyway, but you don't expect me to wait until I get home to post and update Strava, right?
Wednesday: 11
AM: Eight humid miles with Matthew and Brady at DuVal. Drenched as usual with the latest spate of humidity. Brady was panting pretty hard, so we returned to the car halfway through to get him water. On the bright spot, the place was almost deerfly free. The one deerfly I caught I sadistically punished by ripping its wings off of its body. Don't call PETA on me; I have no mercy on these nasty creatures.
PM: Easy 5K at week #8 of the Fun Runs. Had a good run and conversation with Jeff Anderson, owner of Kelley's Pace in Mystic. He's running his first Blessing on Friday.
Thursday: 6
Six easy at Burlingame. Matthew was going through a full tri simulation in advance of a tri he is doing this coming weekend. Brady and I joined him for his cool-down, which was mostly a mix of paved campground roads and dirt roads.
Friday: 11
Blessing of the Fleet - #19 for me. See separate write-up shortly.
Saturday: 6
Pushed my long run out to Sunday on account of racing hard the night before, so I contemplated a ride with the guys Saturday morning instead. 6:30am came and went; not happening.
After a nice sleep in, went to Ninigret Park in Charlestown for a recovery run with Matthew and Brady. Fortunately, the pace was kept pretty easy, especially as Matthew has a triathlon tomorrow. Post-run indulging at The Bakery, which I'm probably frequenting a bit too much, but I just love their scones and iced lattes!
Sunday: 16
Had planned out a route the night before incorporating several miles of the RWYC loop, but again I slept in longer than planned. Ended up getting to the RWYC Avondale start (ran from the house) 10 minutes late, caught many of the runners along the way and had quick conversations with most, and then made up the rest of the run from there. Average pace in low 7s and felt pretty good. Until I got home. And walked down stairs. Ouch. Time for some Vitamin I. OK, either completely off tomorrow, or very light, or bike.
Weekly mileage: 55
Weekly synopsis: Ran fabulous at the Blessing, had a good time, caught up with many runners I hadn't seen in a long time, and still managed to hit my weekly mileage goal. No speed work of any kind (unless you consider a 10-mile race speed work), but even my marathon training plan does call for a cycle of recovery weeks every 4th week, so I'm good. Next week I'll bump up the mileage and intensity a bit. Or that's the plan, at least. Check back in next week.
Weekly highlight: My 19th consecutive Blessing of the Fleet. Hands down.
Weekly lowlight: My continued slow progress on wound healing, albeit combined with my limited patience. After the surgeon performed the 2nd surgery way back in April, he estimated three months to heal (July 21). The head nurse prognosticated July 4 based upon progress seen in June. Obviously both those dates have come and gone, and as a result sometimes my frustration gets the best of me. End of rant.
I'm now resolved to just accepting and dealing with however long the delayed healing will last (since there's no other choice!), but it took me a while to get there. If I can't swim by BI Tri, which is now the most likely scenario, I'll go for a tri in September instead. I've added two sprint tris as placeholders to try to placate me and have something to look forward to. As far as a summer family vacation, well it will have to be constrained to six days maximum as I can't skip my weekly treatments at the hospital. It looks like a west coast or Europe trip will have to wait, but we'll plan something fun in the meantime. Life goes on.
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