Forums >Racing>2022 Advanced Racing Thread
RIP Milkman
There's your couple name if Jmac & Mikkey hook up
Matt - nice progress!
RP - we don't talk about short courses in here.
SC - I agree with your comments about Matt's toes. I actually was doing an okay job with them for years, only losing one toenail a summer when in marathon training. Then last year, it was like every toe got it (same shoes too). My feet are a total mess. also you're definitely still gaining fitness. I am getting close to "hay in the barn" time too. I figure I need 2-3 more weeks of serious training before I'd want to start tapering, and that's pretty much where I'm at!
I also hear you on the heat thing, that's why I'm so worried about going to Florida!
Keen - speaking of Florida sweating, I think I'm moving on from LMNT. I did enjoy them, but I just found the salt content made me too thirsty during runs. I know you said that's one of your favorite things about them, but it's just not for me. I'm going back to saltstick pills. I just like taking a few of them on the run and not worrying about mixing any powder at any point.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Funny that JMac mentioned me, but yes I’m still kicking and finally starting to make a decent comeback in the running department! Not sure when the last time I posted, but things went downhill after last spring for me. I went from running PR’s in multiple events including breaking 16 in the 5k last March to struggling to walk around the block in December. Unfortunately, it looks like I have been one of the many endurance folks suffering from long covid. It took a while to put all the pieces together, but many of my symptoms and doctors have pretty much confirmed my suspicions.
It all started back in May 2021 a few weeks after my 2nd vaccine dose with this strange fatigue, brain fog, slight unsteadiness, crippling insomnia, night sweats, and an odd shortness of breath at times. Now there is no way to tell if it was vaccine induced or I had a minor covid case during an earlier time (more likely), but it is clear something autoimmune was triggered in my body. I continued to push through this for the next few weeks even running a sub 1:18 half at the end of June, but I could tell I was on a downward spiral. By August and September I had developed Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) where my resting HR while laying down would be like 48-52, but it would spike up to 110-120 just from standing up. Along with this came intensifying brain fog, weird thyroid issues, insomnia, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, horrible GI distress, and eventually vertigo. I tried several times to take complete breaks from exercise, but no matter what I did the symptoms would remain. I would have to lie down throughout the day just to re-center myself as day to day work was a challenge. Come to find out later I was likely experiencing severe post exertional malaise which is common in the long covid / CFS world.
Early December was probably my lowest point as I ended up passing out twice in the middle of the night. Thankfully my wife rushed me to the hospital where I stayed for a few days. Most every test came back normal except for the noted POTS diagnosis (confirmed with undetectable aldosterone and low renin levels) and an upper endoscopy showed lesions within my small intestine. By late December I was put on florinef (which helps expand blood volume), increased fluids, and salt intake. During this time the only exercise consisted of very light walks around the block. It was also recommended to me to go gluten free to see if that helped my stomach. I’ve been pretty much doing that ever since. The good news is I have had so many medical tests performed so going forward I have a pretty decent baseline on my organs.
Thankfully, by early January I was able to start to turn the corner by doing some light rowing, walking, and eventually some very light running. Throughout January and February I was able to increase the workload a bit, but I’d still have some serious setbacks every time I pushed myself too hard. For example, I’d still have dizzy episodes after occasional workouts. Most of my running consisted of 9-10 min/mile pace trying to keep my HR from spiking too much. I also kept most of my running restricted to a treadmill to control many of environmental variables as possible. During this time I was also put in touch with a few clinics where many of us are going through the same thing. It is crazy how prevalent this is in the endurance community! For example, Matt Fitzgerald still hasn’t been able to run for over 2 years. Talking to folks I was able to add some key supplements and more graded exercise and I felt like I have really turned the corner in the last two months or so. I added back in occasional workouts by February and I was able to race a 5K by late March and then took on a 15K in early April where I was able to run just over 55 minutes (on a good weather day for FL). With that said, I haven’t been able to go back to my normal volume or intensity just yet, but that’s okay. I still experience occasional dizziness, brain fog, vertigo, sleep issues, but many of the other symptoms have improved dramatically. I don’t know when I’ll be able to train as “hard” as used to or when my next marathon will be, but I can live with that for the time being. Some days I can knock out sub 6 pace like my old self, while the next 8 or 9 pace is a struggle.
1mile: 4:46 (12/20) | 5K: 15:57 (3/21) | 10K: 33:40 (4/20) | 15K 51:43 (4/21) | HM: 1:15:03 (12/20) | FM: 2:40:30 (1/20)
I literally just said "oh my God he's back!" out loud in my office. So happy to see this!
First, thank you for laying out what was going on. I sort of read between the lines that this was the case, but as always, health is as public or private as you want. We've had a couple of folks on this board dealing with serious health issues lately and it is always a reminder that all of this running stuff takes a backseat at times. From a mental perspective, I know many of us need it on this forum (and frankly, sometimes physically as we indulge our worst instincts when just sitting around not running), so it's a really tough double whammy. You were one of the highest mileage guys out there and watching what you went through really wrecked me. It's a reason I've been such a cheerleader on your Strava! Seeing you hitting sub 6 paces is my favorite thing right now out there.
I think the progress I've seen you make over the last month or two (and as you described) is exactly what I would expect: more positives than negatives, but there will always be bad days. We've seen it the other health cases here and is true with even the more minor stuff (like injuries). I have full confidence that you will be back this fall racing. Who knows what the times will be, and frankly it doesn't really matter given what you've gone through.
TL;DR: welcome back and excited to see you around! I know you probably won't be posting frequently but I'm sure everyone here would be happy to see you stopping by here and there.
Mmmm Bop
Funny that JMac mentioned me, but yes I’m still kicking and finally starting to make a decent comeback in the running department! Not sure when the last time I posted, but things went downhill after last spring for me. I went from running PR’s in multiple events including breaking 16 in the 5k last March to struggling to walk around the block in December. Unfortunately, it looks like I have been one of the many endurance folks suffering from long covid. It took a while to put all the pieces together, but many of my symptoms and doctors have pretty much confirmed my suspicions. It all started back in May 2021 a few weeks after my 2nd vaccine dose with this strange fatigue, brain fog, slight unsteadiness, crippling insomnia, night sweats, and an odd shortness of breath at times. Now there is no way to tell if it was vaccine induced or I had a minor covid case during an earlier time (more likely), but it is clear something autoimmune was triggered in my body. I continued to push through this for the next few weeks even running a sub 1:18 half at the end of June, but I could tell I was on a downward spiral. By August and September I had developed Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) where my resting HR while laying down would be like 48-52, but it would spike up to 110-120 just from standing up. Along with this came intensifying brain fog, weird thyroid issues, insomnia, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, horrible GI distress, and eventually vertigo. I tried several times to take complete breaks from exercise, but no matter what I did the symptoms would remain. I would have to lie down throughout the day just to re-center myself as day to day work was a challenge. Come to find out later I was likely experiencing severe post exertional malaise which is common in the long covid / CFS world.
This is awful and surely you must know now that others have been damaged by the vaccine and that was always my case about why it should never be mandatory. You are a fit guy in your 40’s and never needed it in the first place. Anyway, it’s great to see you back. 👍
5k - 17:53 (4/19) 10k - 37:53 (11/18) Half - 1:23:18 (4/19) Full - 2:50:43 (4/19)
Problem Child
Funny that JMac mentioned me, but yes I’m still kicking and finally starting to make a decent comeback in the running department! Not sure when the last time I posted, but things went downhill after last spring for me. I went from running PR’s in multiple events including breaking 16 in the 5k last March to struggling to walk around the block in December. Unfortunately, it looks like I have been one of the many endurance folks suffering from long covid. It took a while to put all the pieces together, but many of my symptoms and doctors have pretty much confirmed my suspicions. It all started back in May 2021 a few weeks after my 2nd vaccine dose with this strange fatigue, brain fog, slight unsteadiness, crippling insomnia, night sweats, and an odd shortness of breath at times. Now there is no way to tell if it was vaccine induced or I had a minor covid case during an earlier time (more likely), but it is clear something autoimmune was triggered in my body. I continued to push through this for the next few weeks even running a sub 1:18 half at the end of June, but I could tell I was on a downward spiral. By August and September I had developed Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) where my resting HR while laying down would be like 48-52, but it would spike up to 110-120 just from standing up. Along with this came intensifying brain fog, weird thyroid issues, insomnia, heart palpitations, exercise intolerance, horrible GI distress, and eventually vertigo. I tried several times to take complete breaks from exercise, but no matter what I did the symptoms would remain. I would have to lie down throughout the day just to re-center myself as day to day work was a challenge. Come to find out later I was likely experiencing severe post exertional malaise which is common in the long covid / CFS world. Early December was probably my lowest point as I ended up passing out twice in the middle of the night. Thankfully my wife rushed me to the hospital where I stayed for a few days. Most every test came back normal except for the noted POTS diagnosis (confirmed with undetectable aldosterone and low renin levels) and an upper endoscopy showed lesions within my small intestine. By late December I was put on florinef (which helps expand blood volume), increased fluids, and salt intake. During this time the only exercise consisted of very light walks around the block. It was also recommended to me to go gluten free to see if that helped my stomach. I’ve been pretty much doing that ever since. The good news is I have had so many medical tests performed so going forward I have a pretty decent baseline on my organs. Thankfully, by early January I was able to start to turn the corner by doing some light rowing, walking, and eventually some very light running. Throughout January and February I was able to increase the workload a bit, but I’d still have some serious setbacks every time I pushed myself too hard. For example, I’d still have dizzy episodes after occasional workouts. Most of my running consisted of 9-10 min/mile pace trying to keep my HR from spiking too much. I also kept most of my running restricted to a treadmill to control many of environmental variables as possible. During this time I was also put in touch with a few clinics where many of us are going through the same thing. It is crazy how prevalent this is in the endurance community! For example, Matt Fitzgerald still hasn’t been able to run for over 2 years. Talking to folks I was able to add some key supplements and more graded exercise and I felt like I have really turned the corner in the last two months or so. I added back in occasional workouts by February and I was able to race a 5K by late March and then took on a 15K in early April where I was able to run just over 55 minutes (on a good weather day for FL). With that said, I haven’t been able to go back to my normal volume or intensity just yet, but that’s okay. I still experience occasional dizziness, brain fog, vertigo, sleep issues, but many of the other symptoms have improved dramatically. I don’t know when I’ll be able to train as “hard” as used to or when my next marathon will be, but I can live with that for the time being. Some days I can knock out sub 6 pace like my old self, while the next 8 or 9 pace is a struggle.
*reads intensely*
Many of us aren't sure what the hell point you are trying to make and no matter how we guess, it always seems to be something else. Which usually means a person is doing it on purpose.
VDOT 53.37
5k18:xx | Marathon 2:55:22
Long covid is a myth and widely used by folk that can use that excuse to have more time off on full pay.
Due to COVID 19 not being a pandemic anymore the United States doesn't provide paid leave without use of paid time off anymore.
I forgot to congratulate Mr MattM on his progress - keep up the good work!
Weirdly the toenails on my left foot are always a mess…but the right foot looks fine. The damage always happens during a race or a long tempo.
Intl. correspondent
weatherboy - Here's hoping for a full recovery!
PRs: 1500 4:54.1 2019 - 5K 17:53 2023 - 10K 37:55 2023 - HM 1:21:59 2021
Up next: some 800m race (or time trials) / Also place in the top 20% in a trail race
Tool to generate Strava weekly
Weatherboy: It's great to see you post again! This got my day off to a good start. So sorry to hear about all you've had to go through; I hope you continue to recover and build back to your prior incredible fitness; it looks like you are well on your way! You're the only guy here who can challenge JMac and it would be great to see a marathon showdown between the two of you at some point.
2:52:16 (2018)
Zebano - I tried your PM followed by AM run commute and I loved it! I've now added an extra day of run commuting but without adding significantly more stuff to bring to/from office. Thanks for the idea. I'm going to stick with it going forward. I absolutely hate waking up early to run, but given 45 minutes of the run is saved commute, now it's much easier (and later!)
Thanks everyone! At least I'm one of the lucky ones that can run at all (again) as so many previously fit folks are still struggling with walking. Scary that current estimates are as high as 1 in 3 people with some form of long covid. Lots of interesting research will come out of this at some point.
A neighbour of mine who is only 28yo developed heart problems within a week of having his first vaccination last year. When I last spoke to him he said he was on medication as his heart rate started shooting up to as high as 150bpm! I haven’t spoken to him recently, but was told that he hasn’t been able to work since (he had a manual job). I guess some people will never acknowledge that vaccination damage exists and will just call it “long covid” instead.
Let's not recreate that disaster of a covid thread again here. All that matters is weather is doing better. I do think before this whole thing he was more fit than me, so we would have had quite a battle!
I'm off for a run now at 530am and then have to run by sunrise every morning in Florida or I'll have a heat stroke. Still don't know how yall do this every day. Have zero confidence I won't have to sprint to the nearest bathroom at some point in the middle of all of these am runs
I also realized somehow I'm gaining weight right now. Didn't know that was possible putting up 75mpw+. Curse of getting older I guess, but I'll really have to watch my diet once my taper starts in a few weeks.
A running friend of mine emailed me to say that he’s up for Chicago 2023 and suggested I go as well. This could possibly be an opportunity for Cal to get his revenge on me?
Milkman - I haven’t weighed myself in years and always know when I’ve put on a few pounds. Don’t stress over it and keep doing what you’re doing…and deliver. 👍