Training log - Week ending 6/29/2025

This week was 14 miles of running and 10 "miles" of pool-running.

My discharge instructions post-heatstroke were a) get evaluated by my primary care within 48 hours of returning home, including bloodwork; and b) no exercise for seven days. 

Unfortunately, when I called my primary care on Monday, the earliest I could be seen was 10 days later, on July 2. Fortunately, I already had an outstanding order for routine bloodwork that I hadn't gotten around to, so I stopped by the lab on Wednesday morning for a blood draw.

As for "no exercise" - I decided to apply the doctrine of reasonability and fairness to this guidance, rather than adhere to strict construction.  My justification was and is that exercise really is medicine when you have Parkinsons, and stopping all exercise for seven days is not the "conservative and safe choice" that it might be for someone without Parkinsons.  So, I did some gentle pool-running for the first few days, being careful to keep the sessions brief and in the coldest pool I could reasonably get to before work.

On Thursday I got my bloodwork results. They were totally normal - no indication of kidney, heart, or liver damage (the big concerns after a bout with heatstroke).  I took that as reassurance that I could start carefully running on my treadmill with a big fan blowing at me, while watching my heart rate (and committing to stop the run if my heartrate started spiking).

So far so good - I felt totally fine both during and after my runs, including a relaxed interval session on Sunday morning. From here I'm going to introduce some easy outside running while keeping any harder running on the treadmill where I can benefit from air-conditioning and fan.  I've done some reading on heatstroke recovery, and from what I can tell, the progression is generally:

1. easy activity in a cool environment
2. more demanding activity in a cool environment
3. easy activity in a warm environment
4. more demanding activity in a warm environment.

I'm between stages 1-2 right now.

Monday: Off except for foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 2.5 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Streaming pilates and foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: 4.5 "miles" of pool-running in the morning; foam rolling in the evening.

Thursday:  3 "miles" pool-running in the morning and upperbody weights/core; foam rolling in afternoon.

Friday: 2 miles on the treadmill (10:07) and leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 5 miles on the treadmill (9:52) and streaming pilates + upper body weights and foam rolling.

Sunday: 7 miles on the treadmill, including a careful workout of 6x3 minutes at 7.8 mph with 2 minute jog at 6 mph, plus 4x30 seconds on/30 seconds off (on was 8.2-8.5 mph; off was 6 mph).  Followed with leg strengthwork and foam rolling.

Race Report: Run Unbridled Track Meet, June 14, 2025

 I ran the 800m at the Run Unbridled track meet in mid-June, finishing in a time of 3:41.45, which was both a) good enough to lower my American record for the women's T36 division and b) earned me the last place finish in the slowest heat of the 800 (had to be someone, right?)

Racing the 800 here was a semi-last minute decision. The hosting team - Light Horse Track Club - held two track meets this summer.  I hung out at the first one in late May and had a lot of fun.  Afterwards, I checked the schedule for the next meet and noted that the 800 was offered. Brian and I had tickets to a concert that evening, but the 800 was scheduled early enough that I could do both.

I had wanted to run an 800 at some point this summer - I ran it several times last summer and set the 800m national record for my classification. However, because of paperwork issues the 800m time that counted for the record was my slowest time - a 4:07 I ran when injured (I just jogged to finish the race and never bothered to do a race report). Though I've been struggling this summer, I was pretty sure I could run faster than 4:07 and knock some time off of that.

So I signed up about 3 weeks before the meet.  And then started adding some 100s and 200s into my training in a last minute attempt to get some speed back.

***

A major part of my struggles recently has been getting my medication right. It's just been off, and I don't seem to be responding well to the longer lasting version of my medication.  So...I decided to swap back to the immediate release version - with that medication I get about a 90 minute window where I feel really good.  This makes things really tricky when running a track meet with a rolling schedule.  But...the 800m is short enough that I had a good margin of error - I just needed to make sure that my final warm-up AND the race fell within that 90 minute window.

Thus, Saturday ended up being a carefully scheduled day - I mapped out when I expected to run the 800 (it helped that I was in the first heat and there was a set time for the 800) and then set my watch to remind me to take a pill an hour before the scheduled start time. The medication would take about 30 minutes to kick in, which hopefully meant that I would be feeling good about 30 minutes before the scheduled start and could handle a delay of up to an hour. 

***

I arrived at the race around 4:30, picked up my bib, and chatted with some friends before heading out to warm-up.  I had several options, including a nearby parking lot, a section of road some distance away, and an indoor track almost immediately next to the outdoor track.  I opted for the indoor track, both for convenience and because I've never run on an indoor track before.

Unsurprisingly, I was way stiff, and it was awkward to work my way through my standard warm-up of 3:00 at tempo effort, 4x30 seconds harder, 4x10 seconds harder still.  When 5:15 buzzed on my watch, I popped a carbidopa/levodopa pill, and about 20 minutes later was rewarded with loosening muscles. Just in time for me to head to the main track.

***

The track meet generously allowed runners in the next race to jog on the infield, and so I repeated my 3:00/4x0:30, 4x0:10 warm-up (it felt much better the second time).  I was able to keep jogging until a few minutes before my heat started, which was ideal.  Then we lined up and the gun went off.

I tried to start patiently, but unfortunately my muscles tightened up anyways.  Shorter races are harder for me to run fast, simply because if I try to run fast my muscles (especially my quads and adductors) lock up.  To run my fastest I have to try to stay relaxed above all else and be sure not to try too hard - as soon as I think "HAMMER" or "GO" everything locks.  In longer races, it's easier to maintain this patient mindset and gently/gradually open my speed up (and at some point a few miles in everything starts working more smoothly). In short races, it's harder.  Especially in the 800, where the expectation is to go out really hard from the gun because you don't have much time.

So the next two laps were a mental game.  I had been dropped completely by the field within the first 3 seconds of the race, so it was just me and the track. And a bunch of people on the side cheering for me and yelling "GO" which I had to try to ignore.  I mostly accomplished this, until the last 100m, when I couldn't resist the urge to try to "kick" - which of course made everything tie up.  

But, I managed to get myself across the finish line anyway, with a final time of 3:41.45.  Which was enough to knock some time off of that 800m record (though I think I can get it much lower if I can figure out the right balance of trying/not trying for the 800).

***

I had checked with the race director before to confirm that they could complete the necessary paperwork if I ran the time.  What I failed to do was bring the record form to the meet to get it signed that day, and I realized a bit later that this was a faux pas on my part.

To give context, at adaptive or para-athletic meets all record forms are handled by the race management - the runner isn't involved at all.  So...I had naively assumed that this was the same for USATF meets - all I had to do was give the director the form a few days before, and they'd take care of it all - part of managing a race.

But...after chatting with a very nice (and very fast) masters runner who holds some age group records, I belatedly realized that records forms are handled differently at USATF meets - it's the athlete's job to collect the signatures and mail the form in.  Oops (and awkward). 

I didn't bring the form with me to the meet, and so I had to ask the race director to complete it for me later.  Which he very kindly did, and sent it in.  But mental note - next time I need to bring the forms myself instead of imposing extra unexpected work on someone else.

Other notes:

• It was a bit warm and sticky for the race - 79 with a dew point of 71. Fortunately it was the 800, so the temperature and humidity was a non-issue.
• I ended up skipping my concert and staying for the whole meet. The concert was in DC, which had a lot of roads shut down for a parade/fireworks, and Brian and I decided that we didn't feel like fighting our way in.  Which meant I got to eat tacos and nachos while cheering my teammates on in a steeplechase and a distance medley relay.  Which was a fun way to spend a Saturday night.
• The rules for my para-athlete division require that I wear shoes with a sole of 20mm or less in thickness, so I wore my old Reebok RunFast FloatRide Pros again.  I am so glad I didn't toss those a few years back - they have come in very handy lately.

Training log - Week ending 6/22/2025

This week was 42 miles of running and 8 "miles" of pool-running.

Definitely a mixed week. The good was that I successfully did some 18 inch box jumps on Thursday (I've been working on that in PT, but Thursday was the first time I've successfully done them). Another good thing was that I had a fun trip to Boston to run the 10K (Race Report coming - I have a queue...).

The bad news is that I've continued to struggle in my running and my races, and Sunday's 10K was no exception.  The conditions were tough but not brutal, and I've run in much worse before, but on Sunday I just could not handle the heat and humidity.  I'm convinced that all my recent issues are indicative that my Parkinson's medication regime needs to be tweaked, including stopping one medication.  But I need to wait for the doctor's approval before doing that (I'm allowed to shift the timing of stuff, or to tweak amounts within a range, but I don't want to start or stop anything without approval).

I ended up in the med tent with heat stroke on Sunday (embarrassing, especially since I had commented on Saturday that I was from DC and thus at less risk from the heat, but I own it).  So next week is going to be more of a recovery week than I had previously planned.

Dailies:

Monday: 6 miles very easy (10:02).  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles, with a track workout of 2400, 800, 1600, 800, and 2x200 in 12:02, 3:57, 7:43, 3:46, 55, and 54 plus leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: 6 miles with strides; foam rolling in the evening.

Thursday:  8 "miles" pool-running in the morning + upperbody weights/core; foam rolling in afternoo.

Friday: 6 miles with a fartlek of 1600 in 7:53, followed by some 300s, 200s, and 100s. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 5 mile shakeout (10:10) plus foam rolling.

Sunday: 3 mile warm-up, and then the Boston 10K in 58:38.

Training log - Week ending 6/15/2025

This week was 30 miles of running and 15 "miles" of pool-running.

Big cutback week in mileage - not because I wanted it that way but because I was still recovering from being sick (extra sleeping time meant less running time) and because racing an 800 on Saturday night meant no long run this weekend. 

This was a rough week between my meds being not quite right and my breathing still being off due to an asthma flare.  And of course, I had a race this weekend.  Fortunately, it was just an 800.

The 800 went OK - better than I would have predicted given my recent workouts.  I decided to tweak my medications, switching from a longer acting medication that seems to be hit or miss right now (Rytary) to a shorter acting but more reliable medication (Sinemet) and see if my body responded a bit better, and it did, so that felt like an accomplishment. But I still have work to do in that area.

Dailies:

Monday: 5 miles very easy (10:16).  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 7 miles very easy (9:54) plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: 8 miles, including a 3200 in 16:08 (8:09/7:59) and a 800 in 4:05, plus some 100s and 200s.

Thursday:  6 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in afternoon.

Friday: 6 miles very easy (10:02) plus about 1/2 mile of strides. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 3.5 mile warm-up, and then a 800 in 3:41:43. 

Sunday: 9 "miles" of pool-running and weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 6/08/2025

This week was 43 miles of running and 8 "miles" of pool-running.

(once again, a week late)

Definitely a tough week - I bailed on Tuesday's track workout due to too much chaos on the track - there was so much going on that I couldn't keep my gait under control. I returned on Friday, but my gait was still messy.  And then Friday evening it became evident that I was getting sick. By Sunday I was feeling just well enough to run some short intervals with full recovery to work on gait without straining too much.

It's definitely felt like the medications I use to manage my muscles are not working well right now.  Why?  is the question I need to solve.  Getting sick could definitely be a factor, but I don't think it's the only cause here. So, something to look into.

On a different note, I'm also tweaking my normal running schedule by making Wednesday into a double day.  The reason is that I benefit from both a) running on trails and b) running in the Lever Runner at a reduced weight so that I can practice the mechanics of running at a faster pace while keeping the effort easy. But it's hard to fit both into a week, especially if I also need to do some days in the water.

By doubling on Wednesday, with a morning run on trails and a late lunch or post-work run on the Lever Runner, I can squeeze both into the week. So I'm going to make that switch for the next few weeks.

Dailies:

Monday: 6 miles very easy (10:23).  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 10.5 miles with a few 800s in about 4 minutes each, followed by some 300s, 200s, and 100s in 80-83, 55-57, and 24-26.  Followed with leg strengthwork. 

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy on trails (11:03) and upper body weights/core in the morning.  4.5 miles easy on the Lever Runner (-20 pounds) later (8:27).

Thursday:  8 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in afternoon.

Friday: 9 miles, including a 4800m tempo in 24:24 (8:24/8:11/7:49). Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: Off except for Pilates. 

Sunday: 8 miles, with some 100s and 200s with full recovery. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 6/1/2025

This week was 50 miles of running and 15 "miles" of pool-running.

Tuesday's workout was frustrating - my body is doing this annoying thing where my adductors and calves contract hard any time I hear a noise behind me.  It's not a fear thing - I know the noise is someone who is going to approach and run around me.  It's really two things working together - the first is that I often have to focus intensely to keep my legs relaxed, and anything that distracts me for a second causes the legs to tighten until I get them under control again; the second is that any time I adjust my gait at all, my muscles overcontract. It's frustrating, and sometimes a bit nervewracking, since it feels very much like I'm tripping over my own feet when it happens. 

There are a few things that seem to help it:

a) The more stable I feel, the less reactive and stiff my body is - I suspect this is because when I feel more stable, I'm not working as hard mentally to stay upright.  (To get a sense of what I mean - imagine that you are trying to run as fast as you can on a balance beam - a loud sudden noise would likely disrupt your balance a way that it wouldn't if you were running on the track.)

b) The more tired my muscles are, the better they behave.  Basically, a bit of muscular fatigue dampens down that over contraction.

c) It's always much better when my meds are dialed in.

Friday's workout was slightly better, due to wearing more stable shoes.  But I really need to get this issue under control again, as it's limiting my ability to train. Getting it under control means improving my stability when running (that's where PT comes in).

Dailies:

Monday: 8 miles very easy (9:54) plus about a mile of 100s with jog recoveries.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles with a track workout of 4x1200, 3x400 in 6:00, 6:00, 5:42, 5:41, 1:48, 1:48, 1:48 (recoveries of 2-3 minutes after the 1200s and 70-80 seconds between the 400s), followed by leg strengthwork. Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 7 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core.

Thursday:  8.5 miles very easy (11:09) on trails in the morning.  Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in afternoon.

Friday: 10.5 miles, including a 5K tempo in 24:23 (7:58/7:45/7:43/0:58). Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 14 miles very easy (9:53) plus leg strenghwork. 

Sunday: 8 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Race Report: Bennett Blazers Invitational, May 18, 2025

 I ran the 3000 and then the 1500 at the Bennett Blazers Invitational track meet last weekend (yes, I'm just now finding time to write up this report).  I ran 13:39 for the 3000 and 7:04 for the 1500, which were both enough to qualify me for the Hartford Nationals.

My summer plans include competing at the Hartford Nationals in Grand Rapids, Michigan in July. To do so, I needed to nab qualifying times for the 3000 and the 1500 - the two events I've chosen to target there. I could qualify at either a Move United (organization for para- and adaptive athletes) meet or a USATF meet, but I preferred to do so at a Move United meet (less paperwork). Conveniently the Bennet Blazers Invitational offered both distances. The meet was just under 4 weeks after the Boston Marathon, which meant that I would just be returning to training.  But that was fine - I was confident that I could qualify without being in top shape, and racing the two distances would work well as a rust buster.

The meet was in Towson, just north of Baltimore, so I was able to do it as a day trip, leaving my home around 5:40 am. I arrived at the track a bit after 7 am and immediately found a good spot for my yoga mat.  I spent the next 30 minutes stretching, foam rolling, and otherwise getting ready to run before grabbing my bibs (two for front and back). Then I headed out to jog laps around the track to warm up. I was wearing a pair of Reebok FloatRide RunFast Pros from 2018 as they fall within the stack height limit of 20mm for para-athletic track and I was pleasantly surprised by how good they felt.

The 3000 was the first race of the morning.  And I was the only one in it.  This wasn't totally surprising - adaptive/para-athletic meets tend to emphasize the sprints, and many of the competitors there consider anything longer than 800 to be a long race. Being the only one in the first race of the morning meant that I could warm-up, check-in, walk over to the start line, and casually wait for the gun. The starter and I grinned at each other as he formally advised me that I could take the inside lane from the gun, and then we were (meaning I was) off.

***

The next few minutes were oddly fun. I was not allowed to wear my Garmin and there was no clock visible - thus I had absolutely no way to know what splits I was hitting. Without anyone else in the race, I couldn't gauge how fast I was running. Fortunately for me, I've done a lot of solo tempos on the track, not checking my watch until after I'm done, so the lack of information didn't bother me. I also knew that I only had to dip under 20:40 for the 3000 (11:05 pace) to qualify for the Hartford Nationals, so I didn't have any worries there.

Essentially, the race became a hard tempo/solo time trial, with the added benefit of somebody counting down laps for me and a crowd cheering. I simply relaxed into the rhythm and worked through my mental form cues, and seven and a half laps went quickly.

After finishing, I caught my breath and then asked the officials what my time was.  "13:39" was the answer, which I was more than satisfied with. Previously I had told the meet director that I planned to be under 15 minutes and thus not add too much time to the meet. I was glad to be significantly under that threshold. 13:39 was also significantly faster than my Tuesday track workout had indicated - it's always nice when you race better than you train.

***

I had a wait of about 2.5 hours before the 1500, which was the last race of the morning.  I suspect that events were arranged to give me as much space as possible between the two.  The irony there is that I would have much preferred to have jogged for about 4 minutes and then rolled into the 1500 - thus doing a slightly harder version of the 3200, 1600 tempo workout. 150 minutes was enough time to get really stiff and rigid.  I tried to find an area to jog around outside of the track but had no luck.  So I settled for repeated strides on a strip of the outside lane (with the meet's permission).  It was something, but not enough.

There were three other runners in this race (all different divisions, and so technically not my competitors), and I fully expected to finish last due to both stiffness and lack of fitness. So I was pleasantly surprised when the gun went off and I found myself in second, with the leader in reach.  However, that feeling only lasted for about 100m, and then everything started tightening up.  When I'm not loosened up, I often have to manage this annoying....thing (for lack of a better term) where I can't selectively contract muscles. Trying to accelerate hard means that everything locks up - I can't step on the gas without also stepping on the brakes. So...I have to try to trick myself into running fast without trying too hard.  Which is tricky when you are in second place in a 1500 with first place in reach and third place just behind you.

I worked through things as best I could but was outkicked in the home stretch to finish third overall in 7:04 (7:35 pace).  So not the way I would have liked it to play out, but it was a good reminder of what I need to work on, and I snagged another qualifying time.

All in all, it was a successful morning - I got what I came for, got my rustbuster out of the way, and figured out what I need to work on in the next few months.

Other notes:

• We had great weather for the meet - mid 60s with low humidity.  It was windy, but still much better weather than one usually gets for a summer track meet.
• I really like the Reebok Runfast Floatride Pros, and I am now glad that I was never able to sell them on Ebay.  I bought them in around 2018, but quickly decided that I preferred the Vaporfly for racing all distances.  But now things have changed, and my shoe hoarding tendencies have been reinforced.
• I do have my work cut out for me, fitness wise.  7:35 pace was my goal marathon pace last summer, and now I just ran a 1500 at that pace (of course, I did run the 3000 faster :))  I don't think this is any sort of disease progression - I just need to train consistently and work on my coordination hiccups.  Mission accepted.