Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Run & Walk/半月板損傷リハビリラン＆ウォーク

Dec. 19, 2022

I'm in the 62-day countdown to the 55th Ohme 30 K Road Race. But I'm not doing very well. Sad to say, but it's true. Five days ago, I felt a pain in my left calf while jogging at night. To avoid worsening the situation, I canceled the training and walked back home. The main continued till the following day. But it had mostly subsided two days after I first felt the discomfort. Then this weekend, while spending time in Central Tokyo for pleasure, I walked quite a long distance to enjoy shopping and sightseeing. I walked a little less than 10 K in two days. During this course of time, there was little pain felt in the calf. So, hoping that I was ready, I hit the road tonight. But it turned out I wasn't ready.

Feeling disappointed, I walked home. But then a few steps toward home, I stopped and said to myself, "If you can walk home, you might as well continue to walk for an hour or so as a substitute for an hour-long run.

So I turned around and went for a walk. A sudden change of plan will give you a fresh outlook on things. I decided to head for a destination that I normally don't go to, a park about 4 kilometers from home. It has athletic equipment that allows me to do some upper-body exercises. I will be able to burn the calories by using the equipment that I was originally planning to burn by running.  

While walking to the park, I tried running on and off to figure out what movement gives me the greatest pain. I discovered that a forefoot landing slightly before the center of gravity gives me the greatest pain. I tried a middle-foot strike exactly under the center of gravity and measured the impact on the muscle. This time, the pain eased. 

From this test, I learned two things. One, the muscle strain has to do with my running form. If I keep up the middle-foot strike and make sure my feet fall exactly under the center of my gravity, the strain on the calves will be lessened. 

This is a great learning experience. In fact, I had a similar problem several years ago when I first tried barefoot running. Back then, I was younger, still keeping some growth potential, I overcame the discomfort by becoming stronger. As I get older, though, becoming stronger is becoming less and less of a viable option. I must learn to cope with the weakening body. There is a bit of sadness associated with that realization. But it is something I must live with. 

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Bike Ride/半月板損傷リハビリ自転車インターバルトレーニング

Nov.17, 2022

Today is my weekly speed training day. I used to do it by running before my meniscus tear injury. But now I do it by cycling to avoid the risk of re-injuring it. 

When I did it by running, I would run 1 K in 4:30 and repeat it 7 times with a short rest of one minute between sets. It helped me develop my ability to sustain a high level of performance under an oxygen debt. It in turn enabled me to increase my capacity to quickly recover from hard efforts. 

After the injury, I completely stopped doing that type of speed training for almost a year. My cardio dropped to a below-average citizen runners' level. I found it demotivating.  

Unable to run regularly, I found it challenging to stay fit. I did upper-body training because I could do it without overtasking the injured knee. But it never felt like a good substitute for running.

Then one day, a friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon recommended I do core training. I searched YouTube for a tutorial. I found a good one and did what the instructor demonstrated. It was hard at first. But as I continued to do it every other day, I grew strong enough to complete the entire set without taking a longer rest than designated. It was a confidence booster.   

Meanwhile, while I continued the core training, I realized that the pain in the knee became more and more negligible. 

One day, I mustered up my courage and hit a nearby park to run on the grass in bare feet. At first, I constantly feared that pain might return. But as my body warmed up, that anxiety turned out to be needless. I decided to restart my running training. 

Though barefoot running on the grass does not cause any pain now, I think it owes much to the easy pace at which I train. A sudden increase in pace might be a trigger for reinjury. So I should be careful. If I should increase the pace, it should be gradual.  I will make a tentative attempt with a short distance, like increasing the pace only in the last one kilometer of a 14 K session, and so on, instead of having a 10 K tempo run at a pace much faster than my jogging pace, for example. 

Now I have grown strong enough to have two 14 K jogging sessions a week at a little under 6 minutes per K. I feel more and more capable of running longer distances. But what about my cardio. Running at an easy pace has its limitations no matter how far I go. You cannot improve your VO2max solely by long slow cardio. You need anaerobic training. That's where interval training comes in. But there is too big a risk with doing it by running. So, the training tonight is my solution: doing it by cycling. 

I've only done it three times, so it's too early to make any sensible judgment whatsoever about this training. I think that if it is effective, I will feel it when I jog. My breathing will be easier. I also think that the effect will be felt in recovery time. In other words, I will feel less exhausted the morning after the running training. I am very hopeful that both will actually happen. And I just cannot wait for the day when I feel the difference.  

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Barefoot Jog on Grass / 半月板損傷リハビリ裸足走

Nov. 15, 2022

I had a fairly satisfying running session tonight. I covered a little less than 15 K in a little less than an hour and a half. It is a good session to mark the start of a new week. 

I had a very good day in terms of my work. I completed my first draft for a new seminar. I got focused feedback from my boss. I immediately worked on revision and came up with my second draft. 

I also finished another important task. So overall, it was a pretty productive day. Bad weather helped me focus on my work. It rained until late in the afternoon. I had no choice but to stay home and work. (I sometimes go to a nearby cafe on my motorbike and work there when the weather is good.)

The completion of two important tasks allowed me to feel relaxed briefly. I needed some physical refreshment, so I hit the nearby park for a barefoot run.

The long rain earlier in the day made the ground rather soaked and the grass cold. Five minutes into running, my feet grew numb from the ankle down.  But I kept on going, hoping at some point I would get over that extreme cold. 

About forty-five minutes into running, I finally found myself not thinking so much about how freezing my feet felt. My focus was more on running and how far I could go. 

My goal tonight was 14 K. But it's still not easy for me. There is a lot of inner talking going on while building mileage. Should I settle for 10 K, or should I continue until I reach 14? 

There was no pain in my once-injured and now recovering left knee. But there is always some lingering concern that it might start hurting again. Pain could be induced mechanically. But it could also be induced psychologically. There is a phenomenon called ischemia. It is your parasympathetic nervous system's attempt to reduce blood flow to a certain area in your body. When that happens, the affected area can malfunction. It could happen to my recovering knee. It is your mind-body's defense mechanism to shift your attention away from a difficult psychological conflict to a more acceptable physical symptom. For more information about ischemia, please check out "The Divided Mind" by the late Dr. John E. Sarno.

Anyhow, tonight I successfully covered 14 K by listening to the audio of the movie "Before Sunrise" while running. It is a 1995 romance starring Ethan Hawk and Julie Delpy. The whole movie takes place in the time frame of less than one day, and the whole movie is mostly conversations between a couple. It's a good film. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It won't let you down.

After coming home from running and taking a shower, by the way, I realized both my feet had developed minor frostbite if you can believe it! They soon recovered, though, after a short massage with menthol cream on. 

 

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Barefoot Jog on Grass / 半月板損傷リハビリ芝生裸足走

Oct. 14, 2022

It was originally cycling day. But I canceled it and made it run day. For a couple of reasons. One, I was bushed from a late-night lecture. Two, I had an early start on the following morning. A quick run, I thought, was better. 

What I like about running is its simplicity. You throw yourself into running gear, and off you go. No maintenance costs whatsoever for mechanical gear. Shoe-clad runner will have to buy shoes every once in a while. And shoes these days are quite dear. But barefoot runners have no need to do that. All you need is yourself, shorts, and a shirt. 

The midnight grass of the park was wet and pleasantly cold on the sole. It buffers landing impact, unlike asphalt roads. The park was deserted, except that there was a lonely man cuddling his dog. It was whining in his arms. It sounded as if knowing its owner's loneliness and sharing his pain. 

Because I called it a day before feeling exhausted, I had a good night's sleep and woke up afresh the following morning. 

 

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Barefoot Jog

Oct. 04, 2022

I hit a nearby park after coming home from work past midnight. I ran there in bare feet. I love running a deserted park. Not a single soul was around. There were only crickets chirping in the bush. Those sounds of nature soothe my mind after hours of hard work.

I didn't listen to audio today. I wanted to talk to myself inside. That quiet inner talk is precious at the end of the day. I can review the day's work and preview what I need to do on the following day.

I also thought about my American friend who is a Marine. The following day was his last day in Japan. His service was short-term. But he says he enjoyed his time here, and that someday he wants to return for a longer service. I look forward to it. I met him twice when he visited Tokyo. He is so much fun to be around with. On his second visit, he brought around his buddies. They were fun to be around too. Wild! But fun nonetheless. 

Ever since I signed up for the Ohme 30 K Road Race next February, one-hour jog has been a staple of my weekly training. I don't run as often as I used to because the injured left knee longer time for recovery. But I have learned how to stay fit without running as frequently as before. I compensate my lower running frequency with cycling and body weight workout. I'm still trying to figure out what's best for me. But the whole process is enjoyable. As Confucious said, "If you love what you do, you will never work another day in your life."

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Barefoot Jog on Grass / 半月板損傷リハビリ芝生裸足走

Sept. 28, 2022

I love working out after work. I know for some people evening is time for relaxation. I can totally relate to that. It's only that I get off work at 10 p.m., and because of the nature of my work, which is teaching, it is not easy to immediately hit the bed after work. My mind is racing quite a bit. It takes a couple of hours for it to calm down. 

There are different ways to achieve the goal of calming yourself down before going to bed. Some may do breathing. Others read a book till their eyes get heavy. I do both every now and then. But my favorite is going for a jog. That steady rhythm of landing soothes my mind. 
 

But I have a small problem when I run at night. Though I run mainly for relaxing myself, I often listen to audio while running because I want to get the most out of the running time. 

It has both benefits and downsides. One benefit is reinforcing useful information. For example, last night I got to hear a very motivating statement by Marie Forleo that says, "Fail is faithful attempt in learning." Wow! Isn't that awesome? It's immediately applicable to my daily teaching. Many students try something, and end up failing and feeling bad about it. From now on, I can tell them that it is not the end of the world. In fact, it is the start of your ongoing learning journey!!

But once that info. is registered as important, naturally, your brain will stay busy sorting it out for a while after you climb into bed. Naturally, it takes a while for you to fall asleep. In other words, it is against my hope to immediately fall asleep when I go to bed after late night jog.

I'm still wondering what to do with this double bind. I may consolidate all my input effort in the morning while saving my late-night hours strictly for emptying my mind if such a thing ever exists.

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight Jog

Sept. 19, 2022

Tonight, I was a little indecisive on running. Should I run? Should I wait for a couple of days more? The hesitation was due to a slight iffy feeling that occurred in the morning following my previous session last Thursday. The session was pain-free. But then on the following morning, the left knee seemed swollen just a little, and plus there was this iffy feeling that I had never felt before the injury. 

I avoided running for three days. While skipping running, I tried to stay fit by walking, cycling and body weight training. It worked. Three days later, I felt ready.

When I changed into my running gear and walked several steps, that iffy feeling in my left knee wasn't completely gone. But I started running anyway, saying to myself, "If it hurts, all I need to do is stop running and start walking. "

Pain didn't come. So I kept on running till I thought I had run enough for the night. 

After running, as I took a warm shower, I wondered if that iffy feeling was caused for a structural reason, or by what late Dr. John E. Sarno calls TMS.

If you want to know what TMS is, I suggest reading "Healing Back Pain" in which is explained how pain is induced by ischemia, which is a word meaning local lack of blood. The book explains how this lack of blood occurs not for a structural reason, but by the automatic nervous system as a result of repression of strong emotions such as anger and fear.

Benefit of Your Ability to Understand English: Access to Updated Medical Informatoin

Aug. 12、2022

One of many great benefits of having the ability to understand English is that you have free access to some of the latest medical articles. If you don't have this ability, you usually need to wait for them to be translated into your own language. That often takes one to two years. Or often times, some are simply not translated at all. While waiting for a translation, by the way, you are only exposed to medical information that has not been updated. 

For example, in the field of knee injuries and their treatment, it is largely taken for granted that your cartilage doesn't regenerate itself once it is damaged. Most medical narratives say that there are no blood vessels running in knee joints (which is true by the way), and they often cite it as if to say that full recovery is beyond hope. 

However, reality shows that athletes who were once tormented with pain as a result of knee injury will often become pain-free after months after months of rehabilitative effort. If fact, I am one of those who once almost lost hope for recovery but who has recovered to a decent level. I jogged for 30 to 40 minutes two days in a row in bare feet on grass, and I went out for a 30 + K bike ride the following night. The following morning there was no iffy feeling in the knee once injured. 

Had I completely accepted the "knee joints won't regenerate because there is no blood stream there" mantra, I would not have recovered this much, because I would have simply abandoned hope for recovery, and settled for a crippled version of myself. 

I did not, however, lose hope. Two videos helped me. I would like to write about them one by one.

<Exercises & Treatment for Meniscus Tears>

In this video physio-therapist Maryke plainly explains the mechanics of meniscus discs and how injuries occur. The most significant take-away from this video to me is that pain eventually calms down fully, and you can function fully even if you continue to have a tear in your meniscus disc. This is a scientifically proven fact. It has also been repeatedly observed in physio-therapeutic practices.

The fact that full functionality can be regained regardless of existence of tear is enough for me to move forward. But just in case you may be so hung up with whether a tear will heal or not, I would like to draw your attention some intriguing medical practice. At orthopedic clinics, they MRI-scan you to diagnose 'a meniscus tear'. However, they almost never MRI-scan you again after pain calms down. So even when you get better, you will never know whether it is because the teared tissued have brought together or not. Why do docs not MR-scan you when pain calms down just to make sure that a tear has been healed? I assume that most likely a tear is often or sometimes still there. But suppose that pain is absent even when the tear remains, a funny question arises: Wasn't the tear the cause of the pain???  I will leave readers to answer the question.

I suggest you stop worrying all together about whether the tear has healed or not. I suggest you accept a structural abnormality such as a tear as simply a typical manifestation of degeneration resulting from ageing and that you live with it!!

Now that you know that you can recover pain-free athletic life whether or not a tear heals, the next step is learning how. While Maryke does show you some specific rehabilitative techniques, and also teaches you the most fundamental lesson that different activities are recommended depending of your recovery stages, her advice is mainly focused on initial stages of recovery. And therefore, for those who want more advanced rehab efforts needed in late stages of recovery, we need to turn to another video.

<Knee Meniscus Tear Tests and Exercises for Full Recovery>

"Knee Meniscus Tear Test and Exercises for Full Recovery" is a great video.

In this video Eric Wong, an athlete and physio-therapist, gives you two things:

1) Hope

2) What to do for full recovery

Eric had a medial meniscus tear. When he shot the video, he was still in rehab process. He started with an acute pain.  Now the pain is almost gone, and he is able to do things he would never have imagined doing immediately after the injury. That alone is proof enough to make me want to try what he recommends in the video.

He introduces you to some diagnostic tests that everyone can easily do from home in order to identify what type of meniscus tear you have.

He also stresses the importance of knowing your upper limit of motion range of your knee. If you want to steadily recover, it is important to give it just the right amount of stimulus for the recovering connective tissues including the injured meniscus disc so that it can produce recovering response to the stimulus. If the stimulus is too strong, it makes it worse. If it is optimal, it will be stronger without causing pain. Patience and precision are required, it should be noted.

I would like to conclude this short essay by sharing a highly informative medical article. It was written by Duke Health, a world-class academic and health care system. It is entitled "Regrow cartilage in joints? Science says you can".

Long story short, cartilage in human joints can repair itself. The process is similar to that some fish and amphibian use when they regenerate limbs. It could be harnessed to treat osteoarthritis (変形性関節症), a common syndrome seen among the ageing population. 

Virginia Byers Kraus, a senior author of the article and a professor in the departments of Medicine, Pathology and Orthopedic Surgery at Duke, says molecules called microRNAs regulate the process. And she calls this human capacity to repair joint tissues our 'inner salamander' capacity because it is most famously observed in the amphibian. 

Prof. Kraus mentions use of microRNAs as medicines to slow or prevent degeneration of joints in severely suffering patients. Personally, the fact that we have innate capacity to repair our degenerating joints is enough to stay hopeful. I should only be careful not to overdo it. But for those who are in severe pain to the point where simple basic activities are hard to conduct, Prof. Kraus's research should certainly be extremely encouraging.

I would like to conclude this by saying, "Where there is a will and updated medical knowledge, there is a way." 

Meniscus Tear Rehab Midnight 10 K Jog in Minimalist Shoes

Sept. 15, 2022

5.1 K: 31:42.25

5.1 K: 29:51.04

Total 10.2 K: 1:01:33

I hit the road after work. My glutes, hamstrings, and adductors were a bit sore from weighted leg lunges on the previous afternoon, but I guessed that as long as I kept an easy pace, it would not bother me.

In fact, it did bother me slightly at first. But as I kept on running, the initial discomfort gradually became negligible. And about 45 minutes into it, there was a significant rush of some kind of natural pain-killer, be it β-endorphin or dopamine, I felt numb to all sorts of discomfort and soreness, and from that point on, I just kept on going like a locomotive.   

After I got home, I took a quick shower, and had a light meal consisting of tofu, natto, and brown rice. After the meal, as I was writing this blog post, I was engulfed with deep satisfaction. Can't wait to run again....

Midnight Bike Ride

Sept. 12, 2022  

Today is bike day. For me at least. After running 11 K in bare feet two days before, I wanted to give my recovering knee a little more rest. But at the same time, I wanted to stimulate my cardio and also to build my leg strength. Hence, cycling, because it is a much lower-impact activity for the knee.

I chose a course that has many hills and some long straight roads. It allows me to practice hill climbs as well as sprints. 

I took a brief fuel stop at a convenience store near Morita Architects Partnership. I ate an egg sandwich and drank barley tea. It hit the stop after a 10 K + ride with a 700 m uphill near the end.

After filling my stomach, I enjoyed my ride back home in high spirits. I increased cadence on uphills in top gear, and injected the pace on straights in low gear. This way I was able to develp different kinds of strength. 

I hope to do some core training tomorrow night or on the morning of Wednesday.   

Meniscus Tear Rehab 1-Hour Barefoot Jog on Grass

Sept. 10, 2022

1st K: 5:54.56

2nd K: 5:38.49

3rd K: 5:42.46

4th K: 5:43.58

5th K: 5:36.83

6th K: 5:22.86

7th K: 5:29.11

8th K: 5:22.08

9th K: 5:20.13

10th K: 5:19.24

11th K: 4:48.15

Total 11 K: 1:00:11

 

I hit a nearby park after getting off work and jogged on grass for an hour in bare feet. It was another pain-free running session. I take it as proof of steady recovery. 

The late afternoon park was filled with active visitors of all ages. A group of teenagers were playing soccer. Parents were having fun with their small son or daughter with a ball. Middle-aged runners were lapping the track, some at a brisk pace, others at an easy one. Groups of elderly women were going round and round as they enjoyed chatting with one another. With the warm early autumnal sun pouring over all of us, it looked like a typical late Saturday afternoon at the park. And I was one of these many locals that constitute this peaceful view.

On reaching the park, I took off my flip-flops and started running with them in my hands. I dropped them off on a speaker's platform stationed near the exit to the parking lot. After that I lapped the track again and again as I listened to a You Tube lecture by Paul Roetzer about AI, one of a number of subject matters that I want to delve into these days. It is informative in that it gives you basic knowledge of what AI is and what it can do. There are some examples to illustrate how AI works. So it is a good introduction to the technology, especially to someone like me who is a relative novice on the topic. 

While running, I simultaneously listened to the audio, and thought about my knee and what it would be capable of doing down the road. From time to time, I had this iffy feeling creeping up around the injured area. My heart sank, afraid that I might have to take a long break from running again. My spirit lifted, though, when the iffy feeling evaporated as I moderated the pace and adjusted the form. 

Thirty minutes into running, I asked myself, "Shall we call it a day? Or do you think it's OK to go on?" The iffy feeling had long gone. I felt slightly exhausted, but I thought I could cope with that if I slowed down. On I went. 

It's funny, though, that once I decided to go on, the slight hesitation that I had left before making that decision seemed to transform itself into some kind of fuel. What I mean is, though I decided to go on, on the condition that I would slow down, the pace did not change so much. And the slight feeling of exhaustion almost seemed non-existent from the start! 

I was checking my lap time each time I ran 1 K. But I lost count about 45 minutes into running. My Timex has recall function, so I checked how many Ks I had already run. It showed I was in the middle of the 8th K. I decided to run at least 10 K, and then was going to decide whether or not to go for an extra K to make it a solid one-hour session. 

When I finally covered 10 K, my Timex said 55 minutes something. Another K would make it a one-hour session. At this moment, I slowed down and tried to enjoy warming down. But when I ran the first half of the remaining K, I could not control the burning desire to pick up the pace, especially when I saw the blazing late afternoon sun shining on me, I injected the pace in the remaining few hundred meters, of course without taking wider strides because that could kill injured knee, but by increasing cadence while keeping the strides small.

The watch said 4:48 for the last K. And I was pain-free. Another mission accomplished. 

I look forward to seeing how my knee will feel tomorrow morning. Hopefully, just a little soreness and Baker's cyst just slightly more swollen. But that's it. I hope.  I do not care so much about Baker's cyst because it does not hamper anything of my daily behavior. It is just a visual abnormality, plus my body's natural attempt to heal the part of body that worked very hard. We all work hard sometimes. So do some body parts. And we all recover when we rest well. And so will body parts. Human body is resilient   

 

Midnight 7.4 K Jog & 10 Reps by a 12-Sec Hammer Pull-Up

Sept.5, 2022

3.4 K: 22:46.09

Park Workout: 9:59.88 / 10 Reps by a 12-Sec Hammer Pull-Up

3.4 K: 22:51.11

Total 55:37.08

*****************

I jogged at midnight. There were two purposes. One, I wanted to improve my cardiovascular capacity. Two, I wanted to listen to some audio. Listening at my desk does not have any athletic benefit. So, I listened while running. 

As far as my first purpose, my focus tonight was controlled running. By that I mean running that causes minimum impact on my once-severely-injured and now steadily recovering left knee. Two things were important:

1) Never to kick strongly.

2) Increase cadence and take short strides.

I stack to these two policies. As a result, I completed the run pain-free.

As to the second purpose, I focused on four things:

1) Stay in dead-hang position for two seconds.

2) Take two seconds to pull up.

3) Isometrically hold pull-up position for four seconds.

4) Eccentrically pull down taking four seconds. 

By doing the above, I wanted to build my shoulder stability in dead-hang position, increase concentric speed, keep the shoulders in more stable positions to avoid injury, and trigger micro tear which happens most typically when muscles are under tension as they are being elongated. 

Let's see the effect by observing how soar I will be a couple of days down the road!

Midnight 1-Hour Jog on Road in Shoes

Aug. 26, 2022

0.9 K: 5:06.57

10 K: 1:03:25

0.9 K: 5:13.50

Total 11.8 K: 1:08:39

I ran on road after work. I ran in shoes. My doctor friend advises me not to run on road without shoes. Although I will probably override his advice at some point in the future to run a road race without shoes anyway, but at this stage of my rehabilitation, I consider it wise to stick to his advice. I wore a pair of NIKE with minimum cushioning. I hate a thick sole. I don't feel stable in them. I even feel a risk of straining your ankle increases when running in those. 

Anyway, it was an another 60-min + session completed without pain nor discomfort. Breathing wasn't hard either. But of course, it's because of an easy pace. I will stay at this pace for the time being. And I will extend my training distance without increasing pace so much. I want to regain the endurance that I used to take for granted before injury. It's so humbling to see how hard it is to get it back once you have lost it. But I will not give up on it. Going slow is the key.  

 za

10 K Barefoot Jog on Grass / 10㌔裸足走

Aug. 21, 2022

I completed another pain-free barefoot jog on grass. It is part of my on-going rehabilitative effort to someday run a marathon in bare feet again. Today I comfortably covered 10 K in about one hour. I am happy. 

I had been sore from body weight muscle training that I had done 3 days before. The soreness almost receded by this late afternoon. So after prepping for a couple of lessons that I'm scheduled to teach next week, I hit a nearby park for a run.

It was past 5:00 p.m. when I got to the park. It was busy with locals, some taking a walk, others practicing soccer, and yet others playing with hand-made stings hanging on branches of cherry trees.

I started off without pre-determining how far I would go. I ran at an easy pace. Much slower than usual. 

I listened, while running, to a few different lectures all by biological anthropologist, Helen Fisher. She is one of a number of academics that I like. She discovered biological proof for different social styles. One thing that I learned from her is that people are sometimes hard to deal with not because they intend to give you a hard time (though it is possible that in some case they do), but because that's who they are. She makes to become more open-minded to people whose personality types are largely different from mine, which is a good thing, because I can avoid unnecessary friction with others. 

Anyhow, back to talking about running, because I ran at such an easy pace, I still felt full of energy after running 8 K, so I decided to increase the pace and finish fast at the end, which I did. I was expecting a 1:02-ish finish. But the time was well under 1:01. But time is not so important at this stage of rehab. Distance. That's more important. I want to be used to running longer distances. But I'm in no hurry. What took long to lose will take long to recover. I'm going to go slow. 

 

Reward Barefoot Run

Aug. 14, 2022

I feel...serene. Very much. I am deeply content. Physically, I feel a little tired. But not in the negative sense of being sluggish or unwilling to do anything. Perhaps I could go for a slow bike ride or something if somebody wanted to do it with me.

From Aug. 8 through 14 I taught 6 five-hour seminars. The participants were English teachers of various levels: junior high, senior high, and college. The topics covered include reading, logic and expression, introduction to English training, and conducting lessons in English. 

Thanks to Zoom, teachers from across Japan were able to join the seminars, some one, and others more than one of those seminars. They were eager to brush up their skills as well as to get fresh ideas for the lessons they teach in the fall semester. They were all positive and asked me lots of questions. They were all so enthusiastic I fully committed myself to sincerely addressing all the questions they asked. 

But probably the best part of most of the seminars I teach is model lessons. Over the course of one week, I demonstrate countless small activities, and a few 50-minute full model lessons. The participants join the lessons as students. This is important for a number of reasons. One, if they have fun, they can believe that they can also share it with their own students if they try the same. Two, if they disagree with my approach, they can ask me questions after the demos, and through discussion, we can discover a way to address the concerns they may have, suppose they apply the same approach with their students. Either way, it takes us a step further toward better lessons. 

During this non-stop seminar week (the teacher seminars I offer in my company are called APET seminars) I wake up at 8, start teaching at 10:30, take a lunch break between 1 and 2, finish at 4:30 pm. I usually go for a jog in a nearby park right after the seminar. By the time I get home from exercise, I feel hungry, so I have dinner. Somehow, as soon as I finish dinner, I feel sleepy, so I take a nap for a couple of hours. I wake up between 10 and 11 or thereabout. I preview the seminar on the following day. I also research the schools where participants work. I use the information for an icebreaker when I see them the following day. They often look surprised that when I mention some of the things that I found on their Web pages. They do not seem to expect the facilitator to be interested in participants' schools. To me everything related to my participants are valuable information. My preview also includes going over the PowerPoint slides that I will be using on the following day. The information gets imprinted in my subconscious this way. When I wake up the following morning, my mind is already focused on what I'm supposed to present. I can always make a good start. 

During the seminar week, I eat lightly. I eat lots of fruits. I try to eat veggies. I eat fish also. I eat carb of course, but only a moderate amount. This is because somehow, I feel that you are what you eat. If you eat garbage, you feel like garbage, you become garbage, and so does your work. I don't want to let that happen. When I see my audience, I want to be presentable like a well-trained, well-disciplined athlete ready to run a race. And I feel that way of thinking is not totally off the mark, because all professionals are, in more ways than one, like athletes. 

Today marked the last day of the APET seminar week. When I said goodbye to the participants in today's seminar as I thanked them for their active participation, I felt numb like your feet often feel numb immediately after you take off your ski boots after hours and hours of hitting the slope. I was like, "My goodness, it is finally over."

After the seminar, I threw myself into running gear and hit the nearby park for a jog. The grass felt refreshingly moist after a typhoon passed the day before. The sunset looked like an oil painting by a maestro. As the sun got nearer to the horizon, the air got cooler, which made the run more pleasant. The park was being visited by like-minded fitness buffs. Some were elderly with walking sticks in both hands. Others were local sisters kicking a ball back and forth between them. Yet others were fathers teaching their sons how to play soccer or rugby. People exercising in the park all seem to me to be cheerleaders for one another. We don't say it, but deep inside, we all admire each other for our motivation, and wish each other's well-being.  

 

 Aug. 11, 2022

Another refreshing barefoot run completed after work. Totally pain-free during and after the session. Highly motivating. I didn't mean to, nor did I particularly want to, but ran all 7 Ks under 6 minutes. It just feels like a good pace for me right now. Not particularly trying to push hard or anything. It just comes naturally. 

Wednesday Afternoon Barefoot Jog

Aug. 10, 2022

It was a beautiful sunny day today. I had a 5-hour seminar to teach between 10:30 am to 4:30 pm. After that, I hit a nearby park to refresh myself. 

There were a number of like-minded athletic people of all ages in the park. Some kids were practicing soccer with their moms sitting in the shade under a tree, watching their boys play while chatting. 

Quite a few elderly people, both men and women, enjoyed walking. Some had walking sticks in both of their hands. Others walked at a quite brisk pace for their ages. 

I started off at a little slower than 6-min/K pace. I ran a 500-M track twice counterclockwise to run 1 K and timed. Then I ran the same track this time clockwise twice and timed. 

I felt fatigued after running 5 K. I thought of calling a day. But I changed my mind in the last minute and carried on. But I slowed down a bit to warm down. 

When I ran 5.5 K, I had a choice: Will I stop? Or will I carry on? I carried on for another 500 M because a slow lap allowed me to refuel my legs. But I decided to make it my last lap for the day. This lifted my motivation slightly and allowed me to pick up a pace just a little toward the end. 

All in all, it was a pleasantly pain-free barefoot session. I feel increasingly confident that sooner or later I can run a race again in bare feet. But I will take baby steps. I will also keep in mind that resting at my age is as important as pushing myself. 

I am still trying to figure out a weekly training regimen that is sustainable. But the process of thinking about what works best for me is so much fun. And that's what keeps me going.   

Midnight Rehab Run & Walk

Jul. 25, 2022

I ran and walked tonight. It felt awesome. 

There is a park 4 K from home. There are monkey bars there where I can do chin ups and pull ups. I aimed there on foot. 

I walked thought a woods where you can see beetles enjoying having sap from a kind of oak tree called 'kunugi'. There were plenty tonight. It reminds of my childhood. I would collect a whole bunch of them every summer, and enjoyed keeping them as pets. Now all I need is see them be. 

A 50-minute walk got me to the park. I did some eccentric pull-ups to fire up my upper body.  

I ran back home at a very slow pace. I don't want to risk another injury. I ran carefully as I probed how my recovering knee would react to various landing impacts. A slight iffiness remained, but not to the extent where I had to stop running completely. It's a feeling that I could cope with. 

Toward the end of the run there was a moment when everything just seemed to flow. It was a great feeling, something that had been long forgotten...

Walk 4.01 K: 52:35.68

Run 3.53 K: 22:18.59

Total 7.54 K: 1:14:56

Breathing is Super Important

We can survive for weeks without food, and days without water. But we can only live for minutes without oxygen. Breathing is super important.

Two factors have been identified that negatively affect the quality of our breathing.

One is food, to be specific, sugar. Too much sugar intake stimulates your sympathetic nervous system and increases your blood pressure. As a result, your breathing becomes shallow and fast, thus lowering your ability to take in oxygen fully.

Sugar, by the way, is one of cancer cells' most favorite foods, according to many prominent doctors.

The other is posture. Mouth-breathing and slouching are things to watch out for. Mouth-breathing biases our nervous system toward a sympathetic state (=more excited than calm). Slouching simply decreases the amount of oxygen reaching your lungs per breath.

<Conclusion>

I recommend you to breathe through your nose, not to slouch, and limit your sugar consumption to a sensible level.

As a closing remark, let me share with you something I learned recently. Seventy percent of detoxification is enabled by breathing. Our cells are made clean by virtue of breathing well. However, there is one type of cell in our body that does not require much oxygen for its survival. Can you guess what that is? Cancer cells. They are anaerobic (嫌気性) whereas all the other healthy cells are aerobic (好気性). In other words, when you make the quality of your breathing bad with excessive sugar intake as well as bad postures, you are inadvertently making the potential cancer cells in your body very, very "happy".

Waiving Entrance Fees

Jul. 13, 2022

I read an article about national parks in the US. According to the article, the U.S. National Park Service that is responsible for the management of all national parks in the country has decided to waive the admission fee for five days. 

The article reportedly says that the nation has more than 400 national parks and among them are such popular sites as Yesemite in California and Yellowstone in Wyoming. 

The agency expects the fee waiver will likely boost attendance at national parks, which already saw record numbers of visitors during last year's pandemic. One word of caution, though. The waiving of the fee does not apply to charges for camping and guides.

The article reminded me of the trip to Yellowstone I took with my host father late Marshall Sullivan who was a teacher at Broadus Public High School in Broadus, Montana. I was 16 back then. An over 5-hour drive through first dusty straight roads in Montana and then foresty winding mountain roads in Wyoming took us to the breath-takingly beautiful nature park where that famous Old Faithful Geyser is. I saw a moose for the first time in my life. Wasn't lucky enough to see a wild buffalo, but soaked in the atomosphere fully at every stop we made during the journey. 

The host father passed away years ago. I was too young to realize back then, but years later as I grew more mature, I couldn't help but think what a rare act of generosity it was for him to travel in such a beautiful place with a young boy from a country with which his own had once fought a bloodshedding war.

As I look back on that trip, I cannot help but think that there is something about nature that quiets us and makes us humble about how much we can or should change it. Its beauty is enough to make me stop before trying to change even a small part of it to satisfy my selfish need. 

 

Improved Approach to Learning by Ms. Karimata

 Jul. 12, 2022

This morning I saw a very interesting program on TV about an instructor who teaches junior high school students about one of the fiercest battles between Japan and the US during the second world war--the battle in Okinawa. 

Ms. Karimata is not a public school teacher. She is an outside speaker. She is invited to school and teach a lesson. Before she was invited, local war survivors would tell students stories of the battle. But with each passing year the numbe of story-tellers has been decreasing as one passed away after another as time went on.

Local school teachers were not able to come up with a good alternative to story-telling when Ms. Karimata offered an helping hand. 

Ms. Karimata (24) is an instructor who teaches about the battel in Okinawa. She uses active-learning skills to junior high and senior high students. She asks questions, gets learners to think, and makes them work in pairs and groups to exchange opinions. This allows them to learn a topic at deeper levels. She uses quizes to make it intereting, too.

Her lesson begins with a choice between leaving the island of Okinawa and staying there when America's landing was imminent. One student was asked which choice he would choose. He says, "Leave." Ms. Karimata asks, "Why?" He says, "'Cause I don't want to die." "Fair enough," Ms. Karimata responds. Immediately after this exchange, a short lecture was introduced to the students about the "Tsushima-maru Incident," in which a large evacuation boat named Tsushima-maru was sunken with　 a torpedo from a US submarine. One thousand four hundred eighty-four people lost their lives, 800 of which were children. The boy who had answered "Leave" a minute before dropped his jaw and remained speechless for a moment...

It's just a number of questions Ms. Karimata asks the participants to stimulate their imagination and get them to "think" in order to survive the harshest of situations.

Her lesson ends with a statement that there is no one correct answer that works for everyone, and that each one of us must think hard on what to do to survive.

Local public teachers were all highly impressed with the way Ms. Karimata had their students voluntarily engage in activities and they also looked tremendously inspired to see the young learners actively exchange their opinions and be inspired by their fellow classmantes' opinions.   

It is a new educational approach to learning about important topics that should be shared among many whose mission is transmission of valuable information. 

Renewing My Driving License & Donating Blood

Jul. 5, 2022

I went to the License Bureau in Makuhari this morning. My driving license was up for renewal. I woke up at 7:30 am. way earlier than I usually do. I left home around a quarter past 8 on my Kawasaki Vulcan S into heavy morning traffic. A 45-minute ride took me to the Bureau. There were already long queues at 9:00 am. in the Bureau waiting for a series of procedures required before listening to a mandatory lecture on traffic safety.

It was 10:15 when I finally showed into a lecture room. An instructor played a DVD. It started with an interview of a mother who lost her beloved son in a traffic accident. After his death the mother found seeds of morning glory hidden inside fake 'kagami-mochi', offertory rice cakes in the altar. The mother took the seeds to the principal of her late son's school, and asked him to sow the seeds and grow the morning glories as a symbol for traffic safety. 

The instructor then shared some traffic data. According to him more than 60% of traffic-related deaths in Chiba involve elderly people. He mentioned some unpredictable nature of elderly behavior which was interesting to me.  For example, in one accident, a man was driving down a quiet lane when an elderly woman suddenly came out from between two cars standing on the opposite lane, and she was hit by the car to death.

The instructor also mentioned drunken driving and pedestrian crossing. At a pedestrian crossing with no traffic lights pedestrians have the right of way. Drivers, motorcyclists, and even bicyclists, must stop and let her go when they see a pedestrian trying to walk on the crossing. So often do we tend to ignore them when we see pedestrians trying to walk on a crossing. From now on, I'll always stop and let the pedestrian go first when I see one waiting to walk on a crossing. 

At 10:45 I received my new license. I was hungry because I had nothing but a few spoonfuls of yogurt before I leflt home, so I want to a rather shabby convenience store inside the Bureau to buy a cup of instand noodles for a quick bite. I had to eat something soon, because I was going to give blood at the Red Cross across from the License Bureau. They sometimes won't let you give blood when you have not eaten for a while before blood donation. 

It was my 54th donation. I need to give myself 3 months before I give another donation. So my next soonest timing is September. Should I give blood then, my number of blood donations will be only 1 short of my age, which will have been 56 by September. My short-term goal is to make the number of donations the same as my age. If I donate blood twice more this year, I can achieve that goal. We'll see.

Midnight 10 K Jog

 Jul. 1, 2022

It was sizzling hot today. I waited until late at night for the temperature to come down to a level that's good for a run. But at some point I gave up 'cause the temperaure stayed rather high till around midnight. So, I just went ahead and hit the road while it's still hot and humid. 

I tried a new route to discover a new regular training course. I had a few conditions on my mind. One is I don't want to go too far from home. Two is I'm always close enough to a public toilet and tap water. Three is it's rich in undulation. In other words, it's not boreingly flat. 

As a result, I found out the out and return course shown in the map above. The farthest point from home is 3 K out, and it's still 2 K to the nearest convenient store. So, it's not too far. Much of the time I run around home. So, if I don't feel right, or nature calls, I can easily go home and take care of myself. I like the new course!

I am still in rehab mode, so I took short strides and ran very slowly, paying careful attention to my running form, especially to the alignment of the legs. My left foot tends to land slightly inward rather than straigntly downward. When that happens, the medial meniscus receives greater pressure than when the foot lands perpendicularly from the hip joint. So I kept that in check while running.   

Overall, the session was good. I felt exhausted toward the end though the pace was pathetically slow. But there is no shame in that. It's only natural. I've been away from running for so long. What I lost over a long period of time, I need to recover by spending exactly the same amount of time for it to be lost. I'm going to go slow. 

Two-Hour Run & Walk

 Jun. 29, 2022

It was Meat Day today! Meat is 'niku' in Japanease. Two of 29 is pronounced as 'ni' and nine as 'kyu' or 'ku'. Therefore is 29 is 'ni'+'ku'. Hence, 29th is Meat Day.

It is also triple point day at the Ikinari Steak restaurant chain. I went to the nearest location twice, once for lunch and again for dinner to get a total of 6 poinst for two visits. (You normally get one point for one meal.) This helped fulfill the requirement for a bonus free steak (300 g). I am glad.

Sufficient intake of animal protein energized me enormously. I was in a mood for some cardio work after dinner. Although I was cautious about re-starting my running training, a short jog several days before made me feel that in fact I might be ready for a light job. So I decided to run, ready to stop in case it should hurt, or switch to walking if a slight sign of ill mechanics was detected in the recovering knee joint. 

The result? A refreshing run and walk over a stretch of 2 hours with occasional stops at convenient stores for a sensible intake of a boiled egg and a happy indulgence in ice cream!

There was no pain, nor was there any discomfort in the recovering knee.  At one point the other knee hurt a little while jogging. I immediately stopped and walked for a while. I started running again after a while when I felt ready. By then the pain had been gone.

This way, I ran, stopped when something was off, walked, and then ran again, and then stopped again when an aid station was in sight, which is a convenience store in this case, and then took a break with something to eat, and rolled on. It was a pleasant session, totally stress-free and far from the rigorous training regimen that I had been used to before injury. I guess I've learned to be sustainable.