Mini-Update

I had my massage appointment this morning. I thought my calves were still sore and lumpy and maybe had reverted back to my previous condition but I was happy to find out there were MUCH better than last time. There is still some point tenderness, but the big lumps are almost gone and she was able to dig in there pretty deeply without hurting me. I am optimistic that I'll be able to continue increasing my running now. This week, I'll do a full 5 minute run with 1 minute walk breaks and see if I can do a full 5km. Should easily be able to do 5k in 30 minutes I think.

I called to see if I can get in with the orthoped but unfortunately she's booked up until April 8th. Ugh. So, I will keep running without the orthotics I guess. What else can I do? I figure I have a few options - get new orthotics made. Buy new runners to use with these orthotics. Get new runners and use without orthotics. Buy cheapo orthotics from the drug store? I dunno... In the meantime I am going to try wearing my orthotics with my regular shoes but quit at the first sign of pain in the toe joint.

I also called to make an appointment with the eye doctor tomorrow morning. Since I started using the Muro drops again, my eyes are definitely clearer. I read a lot online about the 'ghosting' I'm seeing. It looks like this.




It's very frustrating but I guess it's pretty well par for the course for up to THREE MONTHS or sometimes even longer. Argh. There can be several causes for the ghosting or double vision. The most common, and most likely, is the corneal edema. That takes time to reduce. The other causes could be from uncorrected astigmatism, or possibly new astigmatism. Hopefully this is not the case. I guess they can't really tell the cause until times passes. I guess as long as it keeps getting better, I can tolerate it. I am still going to go in to see about contacts or glasses tomorrow though. I REALLY need to be able to see when I ride fast.

I went for my first road bike ride of the year today. It was sunny but cool out so I was dressed in shorts and tights, warm jersey, short sleeved jersey, wind jacket, and long gloves. I had to rig up my sunglasses so they didn't hurt behind my ears so that meant I couldn't wear my head band. I had to stuff kleenex in my ears instead which isn't the greatest but what can you do. We did part of the Lakeshore route but I chose not to do the big hill because it's a fast, windy downhill on the way back and it's hard to go slowly. There is often a lot of gravel on the road there to. instead, we turned around at the park and then headed down Lakeshore to Mission Park, then over to Gordon, and up the big hill home. It was my first climb up Gordon this season and I was anxious to see if my training since January would help my time. Last year, my best time was 3:30, my avg time was 3L:45-4:00. My first time last March was 4:15. Today I did 3:50! That made me really happy. It was cold and I know I can do the climb faster if I'm warmer so I am optimistic that I am in better shape than I usually am this time of the year. Other than that, it's hard to tell what kind of shape I'm in. We didn't do a regular route so my avg speed but isn't very indicative of my condition. (only 23.2 km/h I think).

Overall, my eyes were ok on the ride. The riding I did last week, gave me more confidence to ride on familiar terrain. I certainly was more cautious than usual but Erik was great and let me lead the whole way so I could see close up and in the distance.