2015: The Year in Review

I was 2 seconds away from naming this post "The Year of the Knee" because that's exactly what it turned out to be. But then my other "Year in Review" posts wouldn't match with this one so I resisted the urge. Just remember the unofficial title.

It was promising...

Back in January, I called 2015 the year of the athlete. After completely crushing all expectations in 2014 by both running my first marathon that January(Disney) and a positively huge Half Marathon PR in November (Philadelphia) you could say I was riding pretty high. You know how people say that you shouldn't go grocery shopping while hungry? Maybe it applies to planning future goals while being in a "runner's high" as well.

The Machine

I decided that it was time to aim high and finally try a tri. I have triathlon in the brain folks. I've had it for a long time now. This was gonna be the year and to prove it I bought The Machine and started cycling. I also talked about cross-training and to crown the Year of the Athlete, I would start 2016 by running The Goofy Challenge, which I signed up for.

First "big" ride

However...

In all this goal planning (which included some lofty mileage goals) I seemed to have forgotten that I had gotten into some serious trouble with my right knee and that even though the doctor cleared me to run Philly, it was essentially a patch job and I would have to return and deal with it. I didn't.

During the race in Philly, the knee was a total non-issue. Hardly felt a thing. So I guess I just thought I was gonna be OK but...

In March, I ran the Puerto Rico Half Marathon and while the knee did not give me much trouble, the bonk during the final 2 miles as the Sun (and heat) reared it's head let me know there was some work to be done.

We need more Half Marathons in Puerto Rico

It wasn't all bad

After the Half, things were looking pretty good. My wife and I both started to make changes in our eating habits that have been very positive and I finally started cross-training by doing P90X3. The short, but tough workouts are a good complement to a runner. I also found out that I enjoy cycling as much as I enjoy running. Even did a 40 mile charity ride that included the steepest hill ever and survived. I felt I was on the right track and finding balance. I even PR'ed at the 5K distance even though I hardly raced this year.

5K PR... those are hard to come by

Trying to do P90X3...

The past starts to creep up on you

By the summer though the wheels started coming off. I noticed my knee wasn't recovering after my runs and the pain became more prevalent more often. Afraid to put the Goofy Challenge in jeopardy, I decided to stop cycling and focus on running so I parked The Machine for the rest of the year. Then, I went on a mini vacation to take our girls to the Frozen Summer of Fun in Disney World and the 2 long walking days took a toll on the knee. It swelled for the first time through all this and that's when I really felt like it was serious. Obviously, any possibility of a tri this year went out the window as well.

I got to see 2 awesome friends while at Disney World

By this time, it was do or die with the Goofy Challenge so I have been training as best I can but it's been slow and painful. I missed some crucial long runs and fell short on others so I will go and just do my very best.

I know all this sounds a bit grim but overall, I have to say that I'm quite happy with my year. Things didn't exactly go as planned for sure but think about this: Here I am, trying to figure out how to pull off the Goofy Challenge. Here I am, thinking about the steps I have to take so I can continue running and hopefully cycling and swimming and accomplishing the goals I have set for myself.

Here I am realizing that this has truly become important to me.

What can be better then that? At any other time in my life, this could have been an excuse to stop. "I got bad knees. Can't do it." The old me would have said. Just seeing it written like that makes me shiver. I want to keep going. So I'm going to tentatively call 2016 the Year of Recovery. I want to do what I can to deal with this and if it means surgery or even an extended resting period so be it. I'll come back even better than before then. 

So here's to a good year and hoping for an even better one in 2016. Hope your 2015 was good as well and that you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Silence... and a giveaway!

Sorry...

I know I've been out of it for bit but I can't seem to help it. It's the way it has been with me forever. When things get tough, I go quiet. This of course, is kind of stupid since the whole point of a blog is to share, especially the tough times, so that people can avoid the pitfalls and offer support where needed but, that is just the way the cookie crumbled and here we are.

First, there's the knee... again. There are no two ways about it. After Goofy, I'm gonna have to stop running, get it checked out and dealt with in some way or another. it is not gonna go away on it's own. I have wasted too much time giving it time "to rest" with no results whatsoever. In fact, I seem to get better when I'm running regularly. Something I have realized way too late and now I'm a bit behind on my training plan. I'm slowly catching up but it's gonna be close. No doubt about it. Do not worry though. I'm not harboring any thoughts of regular running as a recipe to get better. There is definitely something wrong and it will be taken care of... just not right now. If I ever intend to do a triathlon (a boat I missed again this year thanks to the knee) this will have to be solved for sure. Half-Ironman for my 40th birthday? We will see...

Secondly, there were a bunch of personal problems. This was the part that sent me into blogging hibernation. They were dealt with but I was sure going around depressed for a while there. At this point in my life, there are very few things that will push my buttons to the point of depression but oh boy, were they pushed. It happens. Not often but it happens.

Through it all, I ran. Maybe not with the same passion or determination and I surely missed a few here and there but I ran. Like so many times before I realized that running has become an important part of my life and that running actually helps deal with all the hard stuff. Even if it hurts -and it hurts- it is better than not running at all.

Ok, enough with the sad talk! Next week, as part of celebrating my return to Disney Marathon Weekend and (hopefully) tackling the Goofy Challenge I will be giving away... something. I'm not saying what it is yet but, it is something that helped me a great deal on my first marathon, especially in preparing for it and now I want to give the chance to a couple of people of having that same opportunity. So tell your friends, be on the lookout and get ready. The Fat Runner is going to do his first giveaway next week!

2014: The Year in Review

I remember writing this post last year. I distinctly remember two things: How full of numbers it was, as I excitedly reported on the tremendous progress I made. This one is not gonna be like that at all. I also wandered how I was gonna write the next one. How much progress would I make in 2014? But I digress...

Fast forward 11 months. I'm reading the year end review from the gals over at We Run Disney and one of them reports how 2014 was a year of ups and downs. In the comments, I wrote about how my year was essentially a bunch of bad races and missed goals and an injury up until my huge mega race in Philly and that while the year as a whole could have been better, I really couldn't complain. A couple of days later, as I was putting my thoughts together for this post, I realized that what I wrote there really wasn't true.

January 2014 - The Disney World Marathon

Its hard for my big head to get around this, but I actually had my greatest running accomplishment in 2014. It just doesn't feel that way. The way it's set up, with the race being held in January, I did all my training in 2013 (and most of 2012) so in a way, running the marathon feels like a 2013 accomplishment but in reality it was this year. And what an accomplishment it was. Even now, its hard to put my head around the fact that I was able to run 26.2 miles. Not only that, I was surprised at how well I was able to do it. I ran strong and followed every interval. Sure I was sore at the end and I was walking funny for a week but man... That was pretty high on the awesome scale.

And that I guess, is part of the problem with having your greatest moment at the very start of your year. I'm not gonna say that there is no way to go but down but it becomes quite easy to do so.

Spring 2014 -  Superman Syndrome and I try for a Tri

So I ran a marathon. That means I can do anything right? Well, it sure felt that way. Suddenly, every other distance seemed like a walk in the park. At least on paper it looked that way but it is really faulty math. I figured, hey I ran 15 minute miles for the marathon so that means I can travel at the speed of sound for a 10K right? Wrong! A pretty loud wake up call in the form of The World's Best 10K let me know that wasn't so. I took off like a galloping horse and forced to walk after 4 and a half miles. Very humbling. While I PR'ed for that particular race it fell short of my overall 10K PR. I did get to meet Jared, the Subway guy before the race though.

On top of that, I also had a horrible case of Runger. After the marathon, I was like...

I gained some weight back of course, even though I was pretty active at this time. Some of you might remember it was around this time I took my first attempt at triathlon training. All I can say is, don't bring a knife to gun fight. It's not that you have to go buy the latest and greatest gear but you do need some basics and I did not have them. It sure made for some funny moments though. The image of me riding my wife's mountain bike (which I, you will also recall, broke) around the neighborhood is one of them. But hey quitters are not the ones who fail, its the ones who don't get up and try again and I will try again. But that's another post.

Summer 2014 - The Summer of Speed (Not)

To close out spring, I sort of dared my friend Al, that if he signed up for the Philadelphia Half Marathon, I would join him. He is a very busy guy. I wasn't sure he was gonna pull the trigger but sure enough, he did. And to be honest I was kind of happy about it though the pressure was on for sure. I had set a goal to run a sub-3 hour Half Marathon in 2014 and this race seemed like the perfect one to attempt the feat. But I had to get cracking. This, in hindsight, seems to be the point where I got my knee injured. As I focused more on speed, I might have stressed my joints a bit more than I should have. It was around this time where I ran a trio of 5K's that ended up being a bit frustrating as there seemed to be no progress in my times. I failed to PR in all of them. The 5K for Values, Altamesa 5K and Popular Bank's 5K all felt like I was behind. It was really a case of me aiming too high. By the end of the last one, my knee was feeling funny.

On the good side, near the end of summer, Mindy from Road Runner Girl introduced me to the concept of the Diet Bet. A game that allowed me to get back on track and lose what I had gained thanks to the bad case of Runger gone amok earlier in the year.

Fall 2014 - The Thrill of Victory... The Agony of Defeat

What a roller coaster of a season! It was at this point where two very important happenings took place. First, after returning from Las Vegas, I went to the Doctor, found out what was wrong and was asked to rest. The Philly Half was right around the corner and I was freaking out!. On the other hand, I was also featured on Today.com on an article about overweight people that have tackled a marathon. It was kind of surreal and the blog traffic sure went up during that time. I'm sure I've said this before but when I started this blog, it was for me and if some friends wanted to read it that would be awesome but here we are. The fact that people actually read this stuff is mind boggling.

Winter 2014 - I Surprise Everyone, Even Myself

Ans so it was time for the Philadelphia Half Marathon. The Doctor cleared me to run -but being careful of, course- and I trained as best I could under the circumstances. I knew I could PR. If there was anything good about the time of my first Half is that there was room for improvement. But under three hours? After the year I had? With a questionable knee? It certainly looked improbable from where I was standing.

But what ensued on that cold November day, I never would have guessed. With the help of fellow Team Run Disney member and friend Natalie (who I thank for running with me every time I tell this story) I ran a race I just never thought I had in me. Not at this point in time anyway. You would think running so high above what I'm used to would be hard and tedious. That with every mile I would be panting and squirming in pain but to cap it all off I had an absolute ball doing it. I ran, I talked, I high fived spectators, I cheered and I even danced a little. What a race...

I learned so much about myself during that race. About what I can do and could be doing. During the year, there wasn't much progress from a numbers standpoint. But the Philly Half was more then enough proof that sometimes you can't measure progress from a numbers standpoint alone. I can say that I am a much better runner today, crap knee and all, than I was last year. And if this year was interesting to say the least, I can tell you right now, my plans for the next one are even more exciting. Sure, there were some hard lessons to be learned but I intend to use those lessons to the fullest next year. Looking at 2014, I see a "rough" sandwich. Two incredible experiences acting as the bread for a pretty rough middle in between. But here's to new beginnings. A new year full of potential and I hope that you dear readers, are able to tap into that potential and fulfill whatever you are cooking up for 2015.

And I'm Off!

What an adventure this has been...

Tomorrow, on my birthday of all days, I take a plane and travel to Philadelphia to run a Half Marathon. Injury, and training snafus have all conspired to make this particular training cycle the most challenging I have faced so far but hey, if everything simply came out perfect, would life be as entertaining?

Last Sunday, I did my last long run. A 10 miler where every step was misery thanks to the fact I was very sick. The congestion would not let me breathe and I felt like my face wanted to explode but I did it and was handsomely rewarded with a time that was below my expected time. This picked up my spirits for sure. If I could pull this off feeling terrible, there is a good chance I can run a decent Half right?

On Monday, I went to the doctor and explained my situation. He promptly prescribed a bag full of meds and a shot. Thankfully, I'm feeling a lot better. There is still some congestion and coughing but I'm trusting that if I keep taking all the stuff he gave me I'll be even better by race day.

I also received emails with final instructions and bib number. I'm in corral 7 which I would be very surprised if it wasn't the last one. I arrive in Philly pretty late on Friday (technically Saturday actually) then I pick up my bib on Saturday and race on Sunday morning. On Monday I'm back on a plane to Puerto Rico.

As usual, I will be reporting all my adventures through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and taking some pictures along the way to hopefully make my Flickr account a bit nicer. Also, you can track my progress during the race by going here and signing up to receive updates. You can look me up by first or last name (Frank Pizarro) or by bib number (33135) I have also set up runner tracking on my Twitter account so if you follow me there you will get the updates (I hope).

And that is it folks. Wish me luck, stay tuned to my social media channels and I'll see you all on the other side.

We Keep On Running

So the Doctor says I have to take it easy. That I need to cross-train. That I should try cycling and swimming... (sniff, sniff... I'm smelling triathlon for some reason) I take his recommendations very seriously and I seriously intend to do all those things.

Just, not right now.

I have a Half Marathon to run and not a lot of time to pick up my lost training so I have to train. That doesn't mean that I'm gonna try to cram in what I haven't done up to this point. That would be pretty stupid but for the time being I have to focus on running and running only. After the Half, then I can worry about how I'm going to deal with my training in the long term.

The sub-3 hour Half Marathon might have to be put on hold. I'm not completely discarding the idea but I don't think it's gonna happen. In order to increase my training mileage I have to take it easy. I'm pretty sure it was my search for some speed that got me on trouble in the first place. Last week, I ran a couple of times after seeing the Doc to test the waters and managed to find a comfortable pace around the 14's which is short of my goal (sub-3 has to be run in the 13's) but still would mean a PR if I manage to maintain it so I can't complain too much.

Also -not gonna lie- the knee bothers me. It hurts the day after I run so dealing with some pain will be something I will just have to get used to. Speed work is out of the question for now so I will be just straight up running for the time being but I'm hoping I can do it at least 5 times a week. It's not gonna be pretty but if I take it easy, totally doable.

So wish me luck boys and girls. I will keep you informed on how I'm doing.

Please! Not Now!

I'm injured... 

For about two months, I 've been having some trouble with my right knee. Weird kind of trouble. It was slight at first but now it's really an issue. It doesn't hurt when I run at all. But after cooling down, it starts to act up and hurt. By the next morning, it really hurts. Then, it gets better to the point that I venture another run (usually the day after) and the cycle begins all over again.

Two weeks ago, I went on an 8 mile long run and then on Monday, I could barely walk. The Philly Half Marathon is in 1 month now as of this writing. Time to go to the doctor.

So I went to the Doc and after an X-Ray and a check up, and after telling me not to worry too much, he told me two things that raised an immediate red flag in my head:

1) He prescribed Cataflam, an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. I've never taken Cataflam but I know of it. My Mom, who has had chronic back issues most of her life, calls them her "knock out pills". My Mom is one tough lady so if this is what she takes, it must be strong stuff.

2) He also prescribed an MRI. Never had an MRI either but I know this: That's what Doctors tell football players to get right before they tell them their season is over. Not a good sign.

Oh yeah, pending the MRI results and my next appointment with him, I can't run. My reaction:

I calmly tried to explain that I was running a Half-Marathon in November and that I was concerned the "don't run" indication was going to be a problem. He explained that the MRI was just to discount a few theories and that before taking any action he wanted to be certain of what was going on... blah blah blah...

Look, the guy is awesome (I've visited once before) and he actually operated my Mom, one of my cousins and an uncle so he comes very well recommended but all I heard was "You can't run." With the Half so close, I'm freaking out a bit. It's not so much that I can't run. It's the race, for which I already paid airfare, hotel and registration. The knee, I can deal with. Traveling to Philly to be the World's most expensive race spectator... not so much.

The MRI results

So I get the MRI and subsequently, the results which I don't really understand, of course but I read some stuff that seems to be good news. The L's are OK! Or as the results say, "unremarkable". You know the L's right? MCL, ACL... the stuff that gets pro athletes in trouble. Every time I hear of serious injury to the knees, these are usually mentioned so in that regard those are good news.

Further down though, some concerns. I see the words "tear", "cyst" and "defect". All these related (I think) to the meniscus. Now, you can't "tear" a meniscus (it's a bone right?) but you can tear stuff related to it. Maybe I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions and let the professional tell me where I stand.

Well, I hated the appointment. First, he looked at the MRI results and said there were several problems then I got the kind of ambiguous doctor talk I hate to hear but it boiled down to this:

1. There is a meniscus issue but it is very small. He doesn't think its the cause of my pain.

2. There are some degenerative issues that are causing the pain and discomfort. The Doc recommends lower impact exercises like cycling or swimming. Long term he could perform surgery. A kind of "cleaning" (his words) of the knee area.

3. It's not that I can't run anymore, but putting too much stress frequently on the knee will not help the situation. Cross training will be very important. (See #2)

4. Losing weight will help. (duh)

Based on what I know of the situation here is my take on it:

1. Up to this point in my running journey, I didn't have any major issues. The advantage of being a slow runner is less impact on the knees. Since my focus had been on just finishing, there were no problems.

2. This year, I vowed to pick up the pace. Many of you know that my goal for Philly was to run a sub-3 Half Marathon. As I increased my mileage while running faster, that's where the problems began.

Obviously, the Doc doesn't know how much I love running so I can't blame him for the way he looks at it. He just sees an overweight guy that runs and the solution is to not run and try something else to keep losing the weight. But I want to keep running.

He told me to take it easy with the training and run the Philly Half and if a couple of weeks from the race I was having too much pain, to go to his office and get an injection. Not exactly what I wanted to hear but I'll take it. With so little time left, there is no room for a new strategy. I just have to suck it up and run but the prospect of a sub-3 is looking grim. Long term, I'm gonna have to restructure the entire way I look at training and weight loss will have to happen faster. At least if I want to keep running long distances.