Recalibrating after Covid

It took me four and a half years, but I finally got Covid. I didn't even realize it at first, waking up on a Tuesday morning in a hotel room in Trier, Germany and feeling like my mouth was dry.  I got up, walked over to the table near the window, remember preparing to pour a glass of water but starting to feel very nauseous.  The next thing I knew I was coming to, laying on the floor of the hotel room under the table.  I wasn't fully conscious of what happened and I got up again. The next time that I came to my wife was yelling my name.  She kept me from standing up immediately and tended to my head wound. I'd hit my head at some point when I passed out (not sure if it was the first or second time). I was drenched in sweat, to the point that the floor was slick.  Finally, I got back to bed and began hydrating, as best I could.  I was still feeling both nauseous and very woozy.  While there's still a lot more to this story, I didn't test myself for COVID-19 until a day or two later, when it hit me that I might be having unusual symptoms.  Of course, by then, my wife had symptoms of both nausea and excessive mucus production. It was COVID-19.  Of note, the morning before I passed out I ran 2 miles to pick up our rental car.  My heart rate was a little higher than normal, but otherwise, no major signs.

Here I am, ten days after passing out from COVID-19. I intuitively know that my recovery will need to be slow and cautious.  No high heart rate work. In fact, I went for a walk today for about a mile and a half and found myself walking briskly, and my heart rate had come up to 110. Nope!  I slowed down and got my heart rate back down to 90.  Not only do I need to keep my heart rate below 100 for the next few weeks, but when I start running again, I'm thinking of recalibrating to a heart rate under 120.  If I have to walk, then I have to walk.  Knowing how my body responds, this process could take a few months and patience will be paramount.  In many ways, my recalibration is once again reminding me of some blogs I wrote fifteen years ago, after I crashed my bike in Perth.  I felt like my life had been going too fast and my shoulder and hip fractures necessitated my slowing down. Hmmm.  Might be the same story once again. 

As a reminder of our own human frailties, I found out yesterday that a triathlete friend whom I'd gotten to know over the past decade, and who was near my age, died recently.  She was a fiery personality, prone to dropping an "F-bomb" with regularity. She was also someone who said exactly what she thought, when she thought it. I always looked forward to running into her at the pool and sharing training stories!  As I'd moved a year ago, it was unlikely that I'd run into her again, but I will miss her and miss knowing that she is no longer spicing up the pool lane! It's also a reminder to me that our time is short.  And so I find myself writing today. What do I write about? Training.  I guess that should tell me something.

Going on 65, and my 5K Goal

I only blogged once in 2023 and blogged on the first day of 2024. In the past when I've written a blog, I let my dad know. He was my inspiration to blog, having kept a journal daily for over forty years. He passed away on March 11th.  I know that he'll still be reading my blogs:)

In four days, I turn 65. The last several years have seen multiple ups and downs in my training. There's been a constant reminder of the impact of life stress on training and fitness. In some ways, I probably reached a pinnacle of sorts in 2014, but did manage to raise my fitness prior to completing a life's goal at Kona in 2019, at the age of 60.  Everything since has been a blur, as my life as a geriatrician took precedence during the pandemic, with a very short interval leading up to the Ironman World Championships in St. George over two years ago.  

The single greatest lesson from IM St. George was the toll that Ironman takes on the body.  Combined with other life stressors, I feel like I'm only now coming out of the aftermath of that race.  I literally haven't biked since, and have only swum intermittently.  While I'm sure that there are still triathlons in my future, if there's one thing I've learned over the years is that it's still about the run!  Since my triathlon career from here on will be shorter distances, it strikes me as the time to focus on my shorter distance run speed.  

There is a historical context worth reviewing (which I'm sure that I've done before). My very first 5K was in 1992, at the age of 33.  I believe my time was ~23 1/2 minutes.  At the age of 46, I ran a 21:08 in Colorado before achieving a lifetime best of 19:30 at sea level two days after turning 49.  Ironman training soon took over and not only wasn't I training for 5K speed, I didn't run many 5Ks.  In 2012, after moving to Southern California, I did a 5K in 21:06 shortly before turning 53.  At 54 I ran 21:47; at 57 I ran 22:38; at 60 I ran 23:35; the day before turning 64 I ran 23:32. Since I moved to New Zealand in November, I've run twenty-two 5Ks! Some I've run hard, some I've run easy.  Since the move, at the age of 64, my fastest 5K has been 24:00, on a hilly course. Overall, it looks like my 5K speed has been relatively stable this past year.   

Since I'm a goal oriented person, I'm once again setting some 5K goals for the coming year. Next weekend, will be yet another local ParkRun 5K, on the same hilly course where I ran 24:00 four months ago.  The first question is how fast I can get with the proper training.  The second question is whether I can be consistent in my training so as to maximize my potential.  In discussing this with my coach of 19 years (yes, 19 years!), the training plan became clear.  Two workouts every week of speed:  one of those workouts will be faster than 5K pace with intervals of 30 seconds to 2 minutes; the second workout will be Tempo w/ 6 x 5 minutes or 20 minutes non-stop.  The rest of my running during the week will be to accumulate volume, to include at least one long run, most likely between 9 and 12 miles.  I can't let the volume hurt the quality of the speed work, and I can't let the speed work negatively impact the volume.  

Last weekend, I ran a 5K at a very hard effort, with mile splits of 7:36, 8:08 and 8:33 finishing strong at 7:45 pace for a final time of 25:03. That's my starting point going forward on this course. I definitely went out too hard, and absolutely died during the third mile.

Three days ago, I did Hill Speedwork with 4 x 40" up a hill that is steep for 1/3, then flatter for the last 2/3, averaging 7 minute pace for each interval.  This workout is gold, and I look forward to increasing the number of intervals. It will help with both my speed and my strength, which at 65 is essential.

Two days ago, I ran 8 miles comfortably on a hilly course with an average pace of 10:06 and average heart rate of 146.

Today, I warmed up with 4 miles at MAF effort and 9:56 pace, average HR of 128. After a short rest, ran a 5K at Tempo effort, in what actually felt like a relatively "comfortable" Tempo effort (which ironically felt easier than the last mile of last week's 5K).  Ran these miles in 8:29, 8:20 and 8:11, finishing at 7:36 pace and a time of 25:55 with average heart rate of 151.  The last two miles were Tempo effort, with my heart rate totally in my Tempo Zone.  To finish up, after only recovering for a few minutes, I ran two more miles, at 10:42 pace with an average heart rate of 135.  Perfectly done!

Next Saturday will be my weekly 5K. Will I run another Tempo run? Will I go hard to see where I am for the upcoming year? I'll probably let my coach decide:), but since I ran hard a week ago, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to do another hard 5K.  I should give myself the requisite 6-7 weeks of training to see how much I've progressed before another "test" race.

There's no question that we get slower as we get older. However, from week to week, month to month, and even year to year, it doesn't have to be that way!  Let's see what I can do over the upcoming year. It's my own experiment of what the human body can do at the age of 65.  I will admit, I have a relatively limited amount of time to improve my 5K times compared to what I've done over the past decade. I haven't broken 23 minutes since the age of 57.  I'm not sure if it's possible, but I know that I can get back to the 23:32 I ran just before I turned 64.

Going on 65, and my 5K Goal

2024: Starting the Year With a 5K

I slept in this morning, the first day of the new year.  I had planned to get up and do the New Years Day Hobsonville Parkrun 5K, and when I realized that I could literally put on my running shoes and run to the start with a minute or two to spare, I made the decision to do it. Originally, I'd planned to go hard today, but since I had not had time to stretch, I made the decision to run easy...at least for the first couple of miles.  But let me take a step back.  It's 2024 and I haven't written a blog post since July of 2023, when I wrote about my focus on finding my running and swimming speed.  The best laid plans... Literally 5 1/2 months later, after moving 6,000 miles away literally to the other side of the world.  Today was my 8th 5K in 6 1/2 weeks, albeit still fighting some hip and back issues. I've been incredibly consistent, averaging right around 25 minutes and not having attempted to go all out yet.  Looking at my last blog post, I estimated that I was capable of running a 5K in 22-23 minutes.  That's going to be my goal for 2024...I love having a goal.  

Today's 5K was about taking things as they came.  I used my 2 mile warm up run well, averaging ~10 minute/mile pace at a low heart rate. Check.  Since I didn't do anything fast, and the race was literally starting a couple of minutes after I arrived, I decided to start easy, which turned out to be 9 minute pace for the first two miles, my effort did increase during the second mile, but still was within my Z2 heart rate effort.  By the time I finished the first two miles, I felt it was ok to run the last mile hard...not super hard, but hard nevertheless.  I kept under 8 minute/mile pace, considering that my right hip/hamstring insertion was sore yet again (probably from not fully stretching beforehand), I'll take it.  This was the fastest I've run the third mile of the 5K since I began doing this race in November.  

I look back at 2023 only very briefly.  Honestly, it is not a year I plan to remember very much of.  It was filled with stressors, and as usual, I wouldn't change a thing, because now we're in New Zealand an I'm running a local 5K every Saturday morning!  

I still feel that my last Ironman, which was now over a year and a half ago, definitely took its toll.  In yet another reminder that my full Ironman days should be over, I don't believe that my body has let me forget.  My back and hips continue to have issues, although I'm now doing near daily core exercises and stretching.  Hopefully, with time and patience, I won't wake up every morning already stiff and sore.  I'm fortunate that over the past thirty years, I've built a base of fitness that my body can call upon.  Still, it's been humbling to "hit the fall" of a 5K within 1 1/2 miles of the start.  I'm hoping that I can build up some endurance associated with hard efforts that will carry me through in the coming year.  So far, my best time of 24:20 wasn't a typical all out 5K effort.  That's encouraging, insofar as my fastest 5K in the last two years is only about a minute faster.

One of the funnest parts of my journey has been seeing what this 64 year old body is capable of.  Considering that 32 years ago, at the age of 32, I ran my first 5K, and my time then was right around 23 minutes.  Getting back to that time seems to be a reasonable goal right now, and all signs seem to be consistent with my being capable of doing so.  Right now, I'll be targeting June 22nd as my first 5K at the age of 65.  Let's see what I can do then!

I also pulled out my guitar yesterday, for the first time in years.  For a moment, I felt like I was 16 again!  There are a number of things that I need to be doing with my life, not the least of which are doing things that aren't stressful.  It's time.  2024 is here.  I'm ready to embrace it!

Surprise: When I'm 64!

I've often joked in the past year or two that I'm as fit as I've ever been, but have more aches and pains. This has recently taken on a whole new meaning.  I completed my sixteenth, and final (for now), Ironman nearly 15 months ago.  Whether it was the difficulty of the race, or the additive stress of my "work" related efforts over the past year and a half, I felt physically demolished.  Over the past year, I've had hip, back and shoulder pains.  It often takes me an hour of stretching and movement to be able to walk comfortably.  I hadn't been on my bike until a few weeks ago.  I did keep running, albeit, not nearly at the volumes I reached in the past couple of years.  I also finally got back to swimming a few months ago, which, not remarkably, have been helping my shoulders start to feel better.  With my decision to "retire" from the Ironman distance came the natural desire to work on shorter (and faster) efforts.  I'm not doing any specific "training," but continue to focus on doing what I want, when I want.  So, imagine my surprise over the past few weeks as I've "tested" myself out in relation to my run, swim and bike abilities!

While I haven't done a lot of speed specific training, I have worked some shorter, faster efforts into by run and swim "training."  From the run perspective, this culminated last week when we spent the week in San Diego with our grandson.  I was one mile from the UCSD track and couldn't resist going to the track for my workouts.  I've never considered myself to be fast, but have to remember that I was asthmatic as a child and never ran one mile non stop until I was 32!  So, I really don't know what my capabilities were when I was younger.   Also, since I gravitated to longer distance running early in my running "career," I really don't know my speed capability, short of my one sub-20 minute 5K on my 49th birthday.  Ironically, my 5K times over the past thirty years have consistently been in the 22-23 minute range.  

When I lived in Colorado, I did run with a track club and would occasionally find myself running 400m in about 90 seconds.  There was one day, about 15 years ago, that I ran one mile on a track (at sea level, compared to my training at 5K feet), in just under 6 minutes.  My only other sub-6 minute miles (most recently in the last few months) have been aided by downhills.  I went to the UCSD track and did a workout I've been doing on the street close to home.  3 x 200m, 200m, 400m.  I didn't look at my watch and just ran this solidly.  My 200m times were ~43-44 seconds, or a 5:44-5:52/miles pace.  My 400m times were done in 91-93 seconds, or a 6:04-6:12/mile pace. With this background, combined with my daily aches and pains, I took to "testing" myself out on the UCSD track.  Having conferred with my coach, I endeavored to complete a 100m, 400m and 800m track run.  

Here are my results:

100m in 16 seconds

400m in 82 seconds

800m in 3 minutes.

First of all, these three times are internally consistent.  Second, they're literally as fast as I've ever run them!  They correspond to my potential to run a 5K in 22-23 minutes.  Second, compared to other 64 year old runners, while I'm not at the highest level. I'm pretty darn competitive.  The irony is that I've never considered myself to be a fast runner, but somehow at the age of 64, I am!  It makes me wonder what I might have done when I was younger if I'd believed myself capable of running faster.  It also continues to blow me away in relation to my daily aches and pains.  However, it also gives me both confidence and inspiration to persevere in my athletic quests.  

I haven't done a triathlon since the Ironman World Championship in St. George 15 months ago.  I'm signed up to compete in a sprint triathlon in one week.  The distances are the complete opposite of an Ironman. The swim is 1/4 mile (in the ocean). The bike is 8 miles. The run is 2.5 miles.  With this in mind, I've also recently been focused on my swim speed.  I've recently tested myself at 25, 50, 100, and 300 yards.

25 yards in 16 seconds

50 yards in 36 seconds

100 yards in 1:20

500 yards in 8:00

These are also times that I are close to the fastest times I've ever swam.  

I only got on my bike a few times in the last couple of weeks and my power output isn't far off from where it was over a year ago.  

I'm excited to be racing a triathlon again.  Doing a sprint will be both interesting and hard.  I'm sure I'll spend this week continuing to deal with nagging aches and pains in my shoulders, hip and back. But, next weekend I will race.  Looking forward to writing the race report!

The Last Full Measure of Devotion

Philip Prince's https://wishofalifetime.org came about due to a weight he'd carried from the moment his brother Palmer died.  Philip was in basic training at the time and could not come home for his brother's service.  The inability to properly pay his respects to his brother was something that Philip carried with him throughout his exemplary life.  I will never forget the moment that Philip threw the wreath into the water off the coast of Okinawa at the coordinates where his brother’s remains had been laid to rest. Philip had carried that weight on his shoulders for 67 years.  The weight came off before my eyes, reminding me of the types of things that really matter to us. No matter how old we are, there are always things that are important to us. Being with Philip that day was one of the most meaningful moments of my life. 

Our trip had come full circle and on our last full day in Okinawa it was appropriate that we visited Kadena Air Force Base.  Major Christopher Anderson and Casey Connell gave us a tour of the base and made us feel at home.  We both continued to learn a lot.  I think that it had only been more helpful to Philip and myself to see the ultimate impact of Palmer’s service to his country.  Kadena is the largest Air Force installation in the Pacific and home to the 18th Wing, the largest combat air wing in the Air Force.  As we were there, we were reminded of the impact of this base as the Chinese and Japanese postured over a couple of islands nearby.  In today's world, the importance of this base can not be overstated.

Major Anderson and Mr. Connell first took us to see a place where the Japanese had hid kamikaze planes prior to the invasion of Okinawa.  These were not the planes that hit the USS Hyman, but that didn’t really matter.  You could see the meaning on Philip’s face as we bent over to look inside the concrete shells that had once housed kamikaze planes.  

From there we drove to the spot where the Japanese surrendered in Okinawa in September of 1945.  As we learned at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, the Okinawan people do not speak of war, they speak only of peace.  It is unfortunate, but true, that we still live in a world where peace must still be accompanied by a military.  The fact that Major Anderson was Chief of Public Affairs for the 18th Wing and that Mr. Connell was one of their historians, told me the importance that our military places on this.  Those that refuse to acknowledge history, are destined to repeat it.  

 

Eighty three years ago, Hugh Palmer Prince joined the Navy.  Subsequently, his three brothers, Eugene, David and Philip, would join the army.  Eugene would get a medical discharge.  David would serve in Europe and was badly injured after the Battle of the Bulge.  Philip would have been part of the invasion of mainland Japan if not for the dropping of the bombs and the Japanese surrender.  Four brothers served their country, three came home and continued to serve their country in various ways.

 

Philip’s brother Eugene joined the Army but was medically discharged during basic training due to rheumatic heart disease.  He graduated from the University of Tennessee in Engineering and worked for the Clinchfield Railroad.  Later he went on to work for the Richmond-Fredericksberg & Potomac Railroad.  He passed away in 1988.

 

Philip’s brother David served in the 78th Division which went through England, France, Belgium and Germany. He was the recipient of the Bronze Star, three Battle Stars, and the Purple Heart where he was wounded by a mortar shell after the Battle of the Bulge. As he was being evacuated, a German plane strafed the vehicle he was in.  He returned to go to Wofford College, then went on to receive his PhD from the University of North Carolina.  He then became a Professor at Wofford College where he ultimately served as Chairman of the Education Department.  He passed away in 2005.

 

Philip lived an exemplary life.  From the very moment he set foot on the Clemson campus in 1944, his heart was with the Clemson Tigers.  In 1994, Philip stepped up to take the reins as the 12th President of Clemson University.  The organizational changes that he instituted in only one year still stand. He became a tireless fundraiser for the University.  He raised funds for a large endowment, and continued to work on raising additional funding, recognizing the ongoing decrease in state funding.  His legacy will continue, as both of his grandsons attended Clemson.  Philip died February 28, 2020.

 

Hugh Palmer Prince, gave the last full measure of devotion to his country.  Through the auspices of the Wish of a Lifetime Foundation (https://wishofalifetime.org). Philip was able to pay his final respects to his brother.  I not only made a new friend, but continued to learn.  As Philip saw over our week together, I love to ask questions.  As a physician, I often say that I learn every day how little I know.  As a human being, I feel the same way.  Getting to know our elders and trying to learn from them is one way for all of us to grow.  In this way, Palmer’s legacy will always continue.

 

The Life of Philip Prince

Returning to Clemson, Philip distinguished himself as a member of Alpha Phi Omega and was Co-captain of the 1948 Football Team which won the 1949 Gator Bowl.  Philip made one of the biggest plays in Clemson football history, a blocked punt against South Carolina in 1948.

The Tigers were undefeated at the time when they found themselves trailing South Carolina 7-6 with just four minutes left in the game.  With the line of scrimmage at the South Carolina 28, Gamecocks punter and quarterback Bob Hagan felt he just needed a solid punt to put the Tigers in poor field position.  One more defensive stand against a Clemson team that had scored just six points to that point would do it.  Philip took a different route on his rush, got by his man and blocked Hagan’s punt.  The ball caromed to the 11-yard-line where Oscar Thompson picked up the ball and returned it for a touchdown.  The Tigers went on to an 11-0 record in 1948, the school’s first undefeated season since 1900, and a number-11 final ranking in the AP poll, the highest in school history at the time.   Clemson, Michigan and Notre Dame were the only college football teams with perfect records that year and most historians, former players and coaches, remember Philip’s blocked punt as the key play of that season.

 

Philip was Vice President of the 1949 Clemson Senior Class. Upon graduation, he signed with the New York Giants football team, playing in about five games, while attending graduate school, but a shoulder separation saw him finish out the season with the New Jersey Giants farm team, and although he was asked back the following year, he opted to focus on school and getting married. He attended Columbia University and Kings College prior to additional service in the Army in 1950-1951. Philip worked his way up to becoming vice president of the Milliken Company, where he worked until 1967. In 1978 he became Senior Vice President of American Express Company and then with Synco Property, Inc. until his retirement in 1985.  

 

Philip also had a distinguished record of service as a Clemson alumnus, becoming President of the Board of the Clemson Foundation in 1989.  With the resignation of Clemson President Max Lennon in 1994 Philip served Acting President for eleven months. 

The Philip H. Prince Alumni Presidential Scholarship is a Scholarship sponsored by Clemson University. The Prince Award for Innovation in Teaching is an annual award named for Clemson President Emeritus Philip Prince and recognizes outstanding teachers who demonstrate creative and novel teaching methods in the classroom.  Philip married Celeste Orr in 1950. She died Saturday, December 20, 2008 at the age of 80. They had two sons, Kevin and James.

Prince served in that position for 11 months and didn’t just “hold the fort” for someone else.  Prince was given the task of reconstructing the administrative and academic divisions within the university, as he was faced with the challenges of continuous state funding cuts. He accomplished this by grouping the nine existing colleges into four and by combining administrative units. His successor later split one of the larger colleges into two, leaving the university with five colleges after restructuring. At the end of his 11 months, the term “acting” was removed and historically he is considered a full-time president. Philip was again recognized by the University with an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Clemson in May of 1995.  

 

Each year five faculty members are presented with the Phil Prince Award for Innovation in Teaching at the Victor Hurt Convocation that begins the academic year.   In 2015, Philip received the Bond Clemson Distinguished Athletes Award at the Boston College game.  It is an award presented each year to a former Clemson athlete who has distinguished themselves after graduation. Philip made one final significant contribution to the Clemson football program in the mid 2000s when he served as chairman of the fund-raising campaign for the West Endzone project.  With his name connected to the project, it received instant credibility. The success of the Clemson program the last decade can be traced to the building of that facility at Memorial Stadium.

        

 

 

 

8 Miles

I haven't run more than 4 miles since early June. My last Ironman in May literally ripped me to shreds and following it up with a half marathon in early June wasn't the best idea.  I love to run. I've wanted to run. I go to bed at night thinking I'll run in the morning, and then I don't.  I don't think I'd run at all in the past couple of weeks.  Today was the day.

My back wasn't aching when I got up. Sure, my body has a few aches and pains, but what do I expect at 63.  Emotionally, I felt good this morning, which has not been the case on many days for some time.  I read the newspaper and took my time getting ready to go out and run. And then I did.  I ran 8 miles.

8 miles has been somewhat of a staple for me over the past couple of years.  It actually started as 7 miles, and ultimately grew to 10 miles, but I've looked forward to coming back to those 8 miles.  I immediately recognized that my mind went right to meditation. I guess I always knew this, even as I've tried to meditate while sitting down. Running is my good place. Running is where I can use all of the meditation tools. Thoughts come and go, and I let them. Sometimes I just connect with my surroundings.  Sometimes I think of other things. Good and bad, but I note them and move on. running is my good place. 8 miles.

In the spirit of meditation, I don't know how far I'll run tomorrow.  There's a part of me that already is intent on running every day. There's a part of me that's already intent on running 8 miles anytime I feel up to it. The journey begins anew. 8 miles.