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Saturday, May 3, 2025

Outdoor Season 2025 Begins!



Yesterday I did my first official outdoor track workout for the 2025 season. I went over to Franklin Field at Penn. It was warm, sunny, high puffy clouds, low 80s. A nice day, perhaps a little hot around noon (no shade as per sun's current position in the sky). It has been a warm spring so far here in Philly.  

The workout: 5 x 800 meters, 1 minute rests between, a 10k pace (Alison suggested going slow, so 50 second 200s [1:40 for each 400]). I got closer to the time goal the more I did (shooting for 3:20  . . . next time!)

My legs were a bit tight from the PT session with Josh on Wednesday, and I also broke into a "slow sprint" to catch a stoplight when I was jogging home from Pilates on Thursday. So going at a slow comfortable pace felt right. Here is how I did:

1) 3:58.     2) 3:53.     3) 3:40.    4) 3:46.    5) 3:28.  

Update on the injury I sustained in the Final at Worlds: I thought it was a hamstring, but a teammate suggested it might be my popliteus muscle (small one behind the knee). But I went to see an amazing sports massage guy out near Doylestown, and I described and he assessed. He thinks that what happened was that I had a Baker's cyst behind my knee that burst! I had been experiencing swelling and tenderness behind my knee prior to the race. I did feel a "pop" of some kind back there at the moment of injury (I thought is was a muscle tear at the time), and the rupture caused pain all along the back of the knee up into hamstring area. I had a lot of bruising--which apparently is a symptom of a burst cyst, as the fluid draining out also causing bruising. Anyway, the recovery takes about 5-6 weeks and just sort of occurs naturally. Although my right hammy is still a bit tight, the pain behind the knee is gone, and I can run pretty normally now. It's a weird thing to happen, but hopefully the recovery is easier than another hamstring tear/strain. 

The past few weeks have been intense, as I had to travel back out to California for my father's funeral. My workouts were kind of on hold. But one very nice thing that happened is that my high school track coach and his wife showed up unexpectedly at the funeral and reception after. I was able to share my new life back on the track at 60 with them, and it was a wonderful time reminiscing and catching up.  I had made a post on this blog last year expressing my appreciation for Mr. Tobin. So it was nice to be able to share that gratitude in person with him and his wife, Margaret (also an old friend). Here is the pic from 1982 of the two of us at a meet, and a pic that Margaret took of us after the funeral. My Dad must have been impressed that these two awesome people showed up for him and me!




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