December 16, 2005
A thinker sees his own actions as experiments and questions--as attempts to find out something. Success and failure are for him answers above all. - Friedrich Nietzsche
This has been a year of experiments. None of them has turned out the way I expected, but that's the thing about true experiments -- regardless of the result, there is always data returned from which to learn.
For about nine months of the year, all I did was lift weights -- heavy powerlifting workouts two to three times a week. I became bigger and stronger than I have ever been in my life -- close to 200 pounds and doing 25 deadlifts with 250 pounds, doing dips with 55 pounds strapped to my back. This is not competition caliber by any means, but hey, it was a lot for me.
Of course, there were some injuries -- a tweaked lower back, an achey knee, a stiff shoulder -- but I truly enjoyed myself. The workouts were brief, efficient and effective. Had I more time to rest, I would probably have broken the 200 pound mark and added a few plates to my lifts.
The experiment of seeing how strong I could get turned out to be a tentative success in the sense that I surpassed anything I had done before and honestly had to start looking for new clothing -- both shirts and pants.
Then, after several alarming weeks of battling entry in to my pants, I decided that maybe I should start running again. My ordeal with plantar fasciitis finally over, I began gingerly running and walking 30 minutes every other day. The months of squatting and deadlifting did not help matters, and for the first few weeks I trotted like a chubby old man. Eventually my legs loosened up and my morning jog/walks became longer and more frequent. Over the course of three and a half months I went from going for a half-hour every other day to 90 minutes every morning with an occassional second run thrown in on a Friday night.
The experiment this time was to see how high and quickly I could ramp up my mileage by doing 50% running and 50% walking. I wanted to get a high collapse point as well as see if the walking could get around the 10% rule: never increase your mileage by more than 10% a week.
In checking my mileage totals for the last seven weeks, my increases fluctuated from 20% to 32%. The thing is, I was getting stronger and faster all the time, finding the turnaround point for my out-and-back runs further and further down the road.
And then I felt that twinge below my knee in the front of my left leg.
I kept running, keeping my mileage increase to a respectable 5%. Despite myself, I got faster. Then one morning, feeling stiffer and achier than usual, I cut my intended 90 minutes to 30, did some yoga and got to work earlier. The next morning, I went out for eleven minutes before I came home limping and staggering, a sharp band of pain gripping my lower leg with each step.
So this experiment left me with two useful results.
- Zero to 54 miles a week in 7 weeks is the most agressive increase my body can take regardless of the amount of walking I do. I redlined.
- Time on the feet is time on the feet no matter if it is spent walking or sprinting. I guess the 10% rule is there for a reason.
I don't know whether I have a stress fracture or anterior compartment syndrome. My pain is in the right place for both of them, but I have neither the tenderness and swelling of a stress fracture nor the lack of motion of ACS. Anyway, I'm off the road for a while until I'm no longer reminded of my leg each time I take a step.
So what now?
I'd like 2006 to be more balanced. I went from the purely lifting to purely running. One worked fairly well, the other didn't. Although I don't regret either one, I'd like to blend the two if I can.
If I can surpass the my previous levels with the weights (300+ pounds for the deadlift would be cool) and cautiously build my running to a safe but effective level (nothing more than four hours a week, the level where injuries increase dramatically), I'll be happy.
Time to wipe off the chalkboard and begin another experiment.
