Training log - Week ending June 26, 2022

This week was 55 miles of running, ~1500 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

On Wednesday, I finally managed to see a second neurologist to get a second opinion on my gait/coordination issues (I scheduled this appointment several months ago - it takes a while to see neurologists these days).

The appointment was worth the wait - he spent a full hour with me, including having me jog up and down the hallway for about 5 minutes while he watched.    He confirmed that clearly whatever I'm dealing with gait-wise is mild (good news), and it wasn't MS or anything else sinister.  

He also noted that my head tended to tilt to the right in a weird way when I ran, and I was swinging my right arm oddly (I wasn't aware of either of these).  He then suggested dystonia - had I ever heard of it?  (the answer is yes).

I left the appointment with prescriptions for two medications - trihexyphenidyl (the generic version of Artane) and baclofen.  Both of these medications are approved for Parkinson's disease, but used off-label for other conditions, including dystonia.  I was to start with a half-tablet of the Artane and see what that did.  If it didn't help, or only helped a little, I was then allowed to experiment with any amount and combination of the two medications, up to a maximum of 1 full tablet of the Artane plus two tablets of baclofen.

So I started with the prescribed half-tablet of Artane on Saturday, and it really does seem to make a difference - I can feel my legs moving freely again, and it feels like I have so much more hip extension than I did.

So that's awesome.  I still had some stiffening/jerkiness at times (triggered by noises behind me) so I may experiment next weekend with a full tablet of the Artane.  The Artane has a long list of potential side effects including difficulties concentrating and poor short term memory - that's why I'm testing it out on weekends first.

In other news, the estrogen continues to work well for me - my aerobic fitness is getting better and better each week.

All good things.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 10 miles, including 2x1600, 2x800 in 6:59, 6:51, 3:21, 3:23, with 5 minutes recovery after the first 1600, 3 minutes recovery after the second 1600, and 2:30 recovery between the 800s.  Followed with four hill sprints, leg strengthwork, and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday: 8.5 miles (10:09), with drills/strides. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 11 miles, with a blended track/hill workout consisting of 3x10 second hill sprints (6% incline, jog to the bottom for recovery), then to the track for 2K, 1200m in 8:59 and 5:16, with 2:42 jogged recovery in between.  Then back to the hill for 6x1:00 hill repeats, cycling twice through a sequence of easy, moderate, powerful).  Then back to the track for 2x1200 in 5:17 and 5:08, with 2:49 recovery between . Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 meters recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9 miles easy (9:55), drills and strides, and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 15 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:30 pace, the next 5 miles averaging 8:18 pace, and next 5 miles averaging 7:34 pace, followed by a cooldown mile.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.