Discretion, valor, patience, and running

I first experienced Achilles tendonitis at the very beginning of 2014, after running a double race on a Saturday morning consisting of a 1 mile run followed by a 5K about half an hour later. I spent the weekend limping because both ankles felt very sore. On Sunday evening, I discovered that massaging the Achilles tendon area increased the short-term pain but provided some relief after I stopped.

Thanks to Dr. Google, I was able to get a sense of what had happened. I stopped running for several days, relying on the stationary rower and stationary cycle. On the first run I tried when I felt like I could handle it, I was heel striking for the first 1/2 mile or so. In retrospect, I got back to running too soon, because I failed the pinch test. However, I was able to run without pain, or at most, a few moments of soreness that would fade during the run. It wasn't until May or June that I could pass the pinch test, so I guess I'd say that my running didn't aggravate the injury, but it did retard the healing process.

From the summer of 2014 to May 2015, I had a largely injury-free block. And then in May, I ran a race that I refer to as "the world's longest 10K." Due to a miscommunication caused by race staff, we were misdirected about a quarter of a mile after the start of the race, and some of us had run 1 1/2 miles or more before being told we were off-course. I ended up running 9.5 miles that day. Although I stopped running at my 10K pace early on, I felt a recurrence of the dreaded Achilles pain afterward.

The tendonitis waxed and waned over the next several months. It was never debilitating enough that I couldn't run, but there were also few mornings that were entirely free from initial stiffness and aches. During the typical run, there might be anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes of low-level achiness, and sometimes after running, the response to the pinch test would be more pain than before; other times, not.

It wasn't really getting worse, but improvement was marginal and slow. I decreased my weekly mileage slightly (well that was also in part because of some recurring family travel I had to do over the summer), going from my target of 150 miles/month to just under 130 miles/month for June-October. On October 31, I ran a double 5K race - first time as a regular 5K for speed, and then a second time through going through the optional obstacle stations. That aggravated my Achilles tendon, so November's total was just 88 miles.

As of now, my last run was a 10K race on Thanksgiving morning. Since then, I've rowed a ton on my Concept2, and my Achilles has been feeling steadily better. No morning stiffness or ache. It still feels a bit tender when I do the pinch test, so I'm exercising some more patience - better to take one more day off than necessary, than to get back to running one day too early. I don't know if I would be able to handle all this not-running if it weren't for that Concept2, though.

Am I cheating on running ... ?

Thanks to one of those unexpected coincidences, I recently came across a used Concept2 Model D indoor ergometer (rowing machine) for sale on Craig's List. If you know anything about Concept2 rowers, they are very hard to find used, because they tend to get snatched up quickly. They are durable, reliable, and awesome!

Rowing is my preferred cross-training exercise. I can swim enough so that I won't drown in a pool, but I don't particularly like it (even though I recognize it's a great no-impact workout). I have my bike set up on a trainer so that I can ride in the garage, but cycling is just okay for me. As I'm optimized as a runner, I don't seem to have the leg strength to drive the bike hard enough to get a good cardio workout. Of course, as a rower, I'm mediocre; the times that dedicated rowers post on Fitocracy are well beyond me. But I like that the cross-training is no-impact and an all-around body workout.

So when I saw the used Concept2, I pounced on it. Some Fitocracy members gave me advice about what to check out in a used rower, and this one tested as close to new. I was so excited that when I paid for it, I actually waved it toward me and said, "Come to Daddy...."

Why do I want a rowing machine of my own when the gym has one? Well, the gym isn't open as late as I would like, and its weekend hours are even stingier. Plus, there are occasions when I can't leave the house (the very rare snow-in; more frequently, Mr. Mom duties) and would like to get in a good workout.

Still, I wouldn't have felt anywhere near as excited about a used treadmill, for which I feel like I'm maybe "cheating" on running.

Yeah, I know it's a silly analogy. But there are very real reasons I much prefer to have my own rowing machine than my own treadmill. I'd use a treadmill a lot more than I plan to use this rower, which means I'd need to do more frequent maintenance of the treadmill. I'd much rather leave the treadmill maintenance to the gym, and deal with the (lower) maintenance requirements of the rower.

In addition, unless I'm stuck at home, or the outside weather is too foul, I can run on the roads or at the track. If I had a treadmill, I could run at home anytime I wanted to, but my cross-training options would be more limited.

The question now is, do I look for a cheaper gym membership just for access to treadmills?

Another goofy anti-running "fitness" column

I get that running isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some people just don't like it. Others have physical issues (knees, back, etc.) that prevent them from running. As much as I like running, I don't proselytize about it to other people.

What's weird is how there's a cottage industry of fitness experts who bash running, over and over. Here's the latest example from Yahoo!: "11 Workouts That Burn More Calories Than Jogging."

What are the 11? Cycling, jet skiing, walking uphill with a load, in-line skating, dancing, rock climbing, jumping rope, rowing, boxing, swimming, and running up stairs.

Again, I emphasize that if someone prefers any of these activities to running as a form of exercise, then by all means, he or she should go ahead and cycle, jet ski, etc. But the idea that any of them will be an easier way to burn as many or more calories than running is pretty absurd.

The column uses the term "jogging" rather than "running," which should give a clue about where it is headed. According to the column, a 125 pound person burns ~400 calories an hour jogging and 557 calories an hour running. Livestrong.com estimates that a 125 pound person burns 94 calories a mile, so the Yahoo! column is assuming around a 10 min/mile pace. Now, I could be speed elitist and laugh at that estimate -- I think it would be a lot harder, for example, for someone to match the calorie burn from a 7 or 8 mile run in an hour doing most of those other activities.

But actually, speed elitism doesn't even need to be brought into the analysis. Judging from the number of people who work hard to break 30 minutes in the 5K (which would call for ~9:40 min/mile), it seems like a 10 min/mile pace is already moderate-to-high intensity for many people. If running an hour at a 10 min/mile pace is hard enough that someone needs to be shown other activities that are going to burn more calories, how many of those people are going to be able to swim or row or box or jump rope at a similar level of intensity?

Take boxing. I haven't stepped into a real ring, but I've messed around with the Wii boxing game. I've managed to play back to back matches for 15 minutes at a time before I'm gassed. Of course, I'm primarily a runner, so I don't have the same arm strength/endurance as I do legs, but still . . . . (And obviously, Wii boxing is less taxing than the real thing.) I should put on my heart rate monitor and test how many calories that burns, but LoseIt! estimates just 57 calories burned in 15 minutes from Wii boxing for my weight, whereas in 15 minutes, I could run 2 miles and burn ~200 calories. (That's a faster than "easy" pace for me, but I'm using roughly equivalent intensities.)

So, yeah, that's 11 workouts that for the most part burn more calories than running, if you're comparing an easy pace of running to an intense pace of something else.