Training Log Archive: Charlie

Rhonda and I went to Asheville on Saturday to check up on my mother. She has been having an up and down ride since she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2008. After some back and forth about her age (now 86, then 84), she had radiation treatments on both lungs in ’08, which seemed to do her some good. The following spring, after scans showed metastatis to her spine, among other places, and in consideration of her otherwise vigorous condition, she had a course of chemo. Pretty debilitating for her, and she couldn’t take the last treatment. Then in May ’09 she had a bout with some debilitating pain in her side. She complained vigorously to a neighbor (I believe it was on the order of “I can’t take it any more.”) who did something I think most folks would consider reasonable, but my mother thought of as unpardonable meddling: she called the ambulance. So mom was off to the hospital, and her oncologist pronounced her as only having a few months to live and told her to get into the hospice ASAP. So Rhonda and I went down there in May ’09, surveyed the situation and bailed her out on the promise of fixing her condo up for handicap accessibility (mostly the bathroom, and removing obstacles like doors), and hiring home health services. Mom got home and was pretty delighted to have escaped hospice. The pain resolved itself. Seems it was a soft tissue injury, which was what it seemed like to me based on the method of injury and the symptoms. It got better. She fired the home health aides after a week. Rhonda and I made another trip that summer and took her out hiking at the Arboretum, the Bird Sanctuary and the Botanical Gardens and she seemed to be well on the mend. In December she flew up here for the first time in several years, and met her two great-granddaughters who were in town.

Then around March of ’10 she started having pain in her arm. It started after a bout of snow shoveling, so we suspected soft tissue again, but then in May she broke her arm and it turned out the bone was weakened by a metastatic tumor. She spent about three weeks in hospice while they managed her pain and got her back on her feet, and then home again in June and on the mend.

About a month ago, another incident with severe and unexplained pain, in her mid-back. There are very few pain meds she can tolerate (nausea), and she got put on Dilaudid, which mostly did the trick, but ended up back in hospice about three weeks ago. Phone conversations got stranger as she descended into confusion and erratic conversation, and then into wheezing and shortness of breath.

So Rhonda and I headed down on Saturday morning. Her doc suspected a urinary tract infection as the source of at least some of the confusion. Elderly and compromised patients often become confused under the assault of an infection that would just be painful or annoying for a younger person. Now she is on antibiotics, a diuretic and a nebulizer, and she seems to be improving.

Her conversation is improving, but still pretty stressful to deal with. She has lost none of her loquacity, but each sentence is an adventure. Sometimes she searches for words and finds not quite the right one, sometimes she recounts various hallucinations (like the lion she saw standing behind Rhonda, or her discomfort at having to go to the bathroom in a church, or the often repeated “what does that sign say?” pointing to a place with no sign), sometimes the end of the sentence just has nothing to do with the beginning.

Yesterday, and then today on the phone she was much more lucid, but she is weak and having quite a bit of pain. Hard to say what the course of this will be. She has bounced back before, and may have a bounce or two left.

We were able to spring her for a few hours and take her to a movie. Saw “The Girl who Played with Fire”, which she enjoyed enormously. She is quite a Lisbeth Salander fan.

It is interesting what she told the doctor: The thing she is finding most frustrating is her inability to drive her car. I would never have guessed this to be important to her. She has never seemed at all comfortable behind the wheel (at any age), never driven anyplace she hadn't walked to first to check out. She bought her car new in 1996 and it now has 11,000 miles on it. She was never likely to end up in Buffalo.

C • Well, she's had quite the j... 5

One of those days I wanted to run or ride, but the logistics just seemed a bit overwhelming. Besides, the parts I needed to fix the brushmower came, so I went out and worked on that. Quite a project, as it turned out. Three parts to replace. The clutch was the critical one, and I put that on first, a little fuss to it, and had to take it off and put it on a couple of times because I was getting things out of order. Then the so-called anti-wrap. This is a large metal shield that keeps things from wrapping around the shaft of the mower. I had destroyed the old one last year when I kept using the mower after the spindle housing broke - grinding it down because it was sitting on the blade and the blade was the only thing holding the mower deck on. Realized too late that it was going to be pretty hard to change that over without taking the clutch off first. Then I had to get the mower deck part way off so I could reach all five of the nuts holding the anti-wrap on, and I was perched under the deck with four of them off when I realized that there would be nothing to keep the deck from falling on my face if I took the fifth nut off. So I got some blocks to support the deck and finished that off. Hard and slow, but not real hard. Then the clutch back on again. Each time it is hard because there is a key that holds it on the shaft and it all has to line up and slide on without pushing the key out. Delicate. Finally I replaced the operator presence lever. It is supposed to shut off when the blade is moving unless I am holding the lever with my left hand. Not really a big deal to me that it wasn't working, but since I was fixing things anyway, I figured I would fix that. Then off for a test run and the blade didn't turn. Climbed under and found that the blade belt had come off the pulley near the engine. So I took the clutch off again and worked for a while on the blade belt to get it back on the pulley. No idea how it got off, since it takes a lot of work for me to get it in place or to get an old one off if I change it. Anyway, got that back on, got the clutch back on and tried again. Worked fine. Except the operator presence lever still doesn't work. As I said, not that big a deal, but I'll give them a call and see if they have any other ideas. Total elapsed time - I don't know, but certainly a couple of hours or thereabouts, with a break in the middle to answer a few emails to visit our friend Betty's new springer spaniel puppy.

My pullups obsession of the last month has had a couple of unanticipated benefits that I just noticed today. One is greater flexibility in my shoulders. I can reach my arm farther around in back than I could at any time after surgery. The other is that the annoying click in my right shoulder seems to be gone. I had that for a lot of years, before and after surgery, and I was resigned to it being there forever.

C • shoulders 2

Stanley Park 3 mile race. Zack had his first win, which was pretty nice. I seem to have settled in to a bit of a rut - same time as last week. Kind of hot, and just got off the plane coming home from Asheville. Results.

AOWN - I was walking by the little pond this morning and saw a large bird leave the pond and head for a tree in the forest. It was in my peripheral vision when it was close, but pretty sure it was an owl. Barred or great horned, but far enough away when I saw it that I'm not sure.

I've been working on pullups this summer, and I hung a pair of gymnastics rings from a tree limb to make it convenient. It is a bit harder to do a pullup on the rings than on a bar, but not much. Today I went in to the gym for a bar test and got 17, a PR for at least the last 25 years, I think.

I had been waffling on going for a run or a bike ride. Zack rejected me when he ran, because he wanted to go fast. I ended up deciding to mow some fields instead with my brush mower. Got through most of one when the clutch let go, so I called the excellent Country Home products and a new clutch is on the way, along with some other parts I have been needing but that I could proceed without.

After all I've put this machine through in the last 13 years, I don't begrudge it a new clutch.

Holyoke Elks race. Usually this is 5K, but tonight it was 8. A long and difficult journey to get there. I spent the day working in Providence and left there at 5. It takes an hour and a half to get from Providence to Holyoke, and the race nominally starts at 6:30, so not looking too good. However, they usually start 10-15 minutes late, and Zack was going, so I figured it was worth a shot. Got there at precisely 6:30. Ran in and registered - probably the last one. Back out to get dressed. No time for a drink, which would have been nice, or for a bathroom stop which would have been really nice. 8K course leaves from the building, unlike the 5K which has a short walk to the start, so they got their act together a bit more quickly. Shoes tied, lock the car, begin to strap on the FR, and I see the runners coming by. Hooked on behind the back of the pack, got the FR started after another 50 yards or so, and off to the races. About 2.5 miles in I see Zack coming back, looking for me. He had gotten a stitch and decided to back off and look for me. After another mile he stopped to walk for a bit, then caught back up and finished with me. He was a bit upset about it being an 8K instead of the 5 that he had himself all mentally prepared for. I struggled pretty mightily on the drive home with my hamstring, alternating between left footed driving and cruise control where feasible. I'd sure like to figure out something that would improve it.

C • Most hamstring injuries req... 5

With Zack at West Hartford Reservoir. He wanted a 7-8 mile run, but I don't think he was expecting it to be that slow. My hamstring and back were both acting up a lot and this was as fast as I could manage. I think the hamstring is getting worse, despite all the ice and stretching.

Stanley Park 3 miles, with Zack. Zack is continuing to improve, running 18:18, a PR by 16 seconds for this course. His dad, alas, is barely holding ground. Nicer weather for running than the last few weeks, but fighting a back spasm, so about the same overall.

track workout with Zack. Some jogging, some walking, some high intensity, including 3 400s with a 400 walk break in between. 84, 86 and 85 for me; 59, 71 and 70 for Zack. Thought about another one, but Zack had had enough.

C • Pacing?? 2

From Riverton up Sandy Brook and Rte 183 to the bridge past the state line and back. Had intended to go further, up to S. Sandisfield, but didn't have much zip, and had a late start anyway. 56:30 up, 34:00 back. Nice day to be outside.

Holyoke Elks 5K. I was working in Providence today and hotfooted it out of there at 4:45 to get to Holyoke in time to meet Zack and Chris. Not the best circumstances, as I missed lunch and had way too much driving. Chris went out pretty fast and had about 50 yards on me until I caught him about halfway and passed him quickly. I lost my zip shortly after. Hot and humid. Zack ran 19:29. Forgot to bring the FR.

Rhonda's morning class.

speed workout at West Htfd Reservoir 6 with Zack, his parameters. Jogged 5 minutes, then ran hard for 2 1/2, then repeated. I made four rounds, Zack only 3 because he got there sooner. Walked the last five minutes with Zack, who was waiting for me there.

Stanley Park Monday race with Zack. Zack ran about 18:50. My time was actually 23:22. Not sure what is up with the forerunner. Maybe I inadvertently pushed the start button again.

It had been cooler earlier in the day, but was pretty hot and humid at race time, and I felt it in the last mile. Didn't have much zip. Also, I was in a no man's land where I only passed one runner after the first 100 m, and was passed by no one. Next guy in front of me was 1:20 away and well out of sight the whole time. So not much motivation to buckle down and try to catch someone.

C • FR 2

There were a lot of things that were going to happen today, but didn't for one reason or another. At different points there was talk of running, biking, kayak, swimming, but life kept getting in the way.

I did do some pullups - 10 and 14 on the rings, and then a theoretical set of 5 x 5 with a 20 lb weighted vest, although I made 5, 4, 4, 3 and almost 3. Then another set on the rings without the vest, but it started to pull on my tricep, so I stopped then.

Red fox in the yard. It is a pretty big one, and I had seen it a few months back, when there was some discussion that it might be a coyote. Definitely a fox, as it stood there for a while for me to observe it. Brushy tail with white tip, foxy face and build, but long legs and appeared to be 20+ pounds.

C • Red Fox? 5

Bike Ride from Pleasant Valley to the top of Sandy Brook Rd and back. Felt good on the way out, but strained my back a little on the sharp climb at the top. The ride back, which would ordinarily be pleasurable because of all the coasting, was difficult because of the pinch in the back. Nothing serious, but more evidence of my lack of condition.

Holyoke Elks Club 5K race, with Zack and Chris. Chris led me a merry chase for a while, before I reeled him in after 2K+. The course this week allowed a choice of clockwise or counterclockwise around the reservoir. I saw Zack take the left fork, so I went the other way so I could see him during the race. When he came stroking by, he was on Spencer Beaver's shoulder, with a good lead over 3rd place. Most of the fast guys had gone the way I went, though, so Zack ended up 9th in 19:41. I was nervous about my knee, but it wasn't too bad. The ice seems to be doing it some good.

C • Zach 2

with Rhonda from Pleasant Valley out to Rte 8. This was pretty nice because it didn't hurt my knee at all. So maybe I need to do more of this and lay off running for a while.

With Rhonda on the bike path in Lynchburg, trailing behind the speedier Zack and Jessica. Knee and hamstring protesting considerably. Pretty hot, too. Bike path is nice.

Recumbent stationary bike at the hotel in Lynchburg VA while Jessica was on the elliptical. Nice that it didn't hurt my knee. We are here for our niece Danielle's wedding. In these parts she is known as Elle, which seems kind of strange to us.

Switched with Jess. Also easy on knee and hamstring.

Back home, after a very nice visit to Karlstad with family Nystrom and their friends.

Here are my O-ringen maps (with routes) all together.

Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
Stage 4
Stage 5

With Zack at Reservoir 6 in West Hartford. This is a run I used to do pretty regularly 20+ years ago, with several variations to stretch it out. I recall one particularly pleasant day when I did 2 laps sub-49, but that is certainly only a memory now. Stretching it out was unnecessary. Zack did a fair amount of running in place to keep us more or less together.