24 Hours Aren't Enough

What is it that the wealthiest person on the planet, and the poorest, have in equal measure? That cannot be added to, changed, reversed, or modified in any way? It is time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day in which to do whatever we choose to do, want to do, or need to do. Time moves in one direction- forward. The past is gone, never to be reclaimed. The present and future are all we have and the latter is not guaranteed to anyone.

24 hours. 1440 minutes. Into that non-negotiable time frame I have to fit in time to sleep, eat, attend to various necessary bodily functions, commute, work, spend time with family and friends, and train.  

This brings up a number of issues. The past obviously influences where we are in the present and where will go in the future. This past is never neutral. Like everyone, I have made good and bad choices; seized some opportunities and wasted others; and been both helped and hindered by my own heredity and upbringing in myriad ways. I can use my past as a foundation on which to build my future or let it be the quicksand in which I am forever mired, keeping me from realizing whatever potential I may have. The choice is mine either way. It is perhaps one of the few real expressions of free will that I have- that any of us have.

The past two weeks have been an overwhelming mélange of activities, obligations, and assorted time consuming stuff such that on any given day it was a sheer impossibility to complete all the tasks for that day in the allotted 24 hours. Of course, any carryover from one day just added to the equally overwhelming demands of the next. I have resigned myself to the fact that for the foreseeable future, I will never reach the end of a day with everything on my to do list crossed off. Setting priorities will be critical. One that was not high on the list the past 2 weeks was this blog. So, for what it’s worth, here are some year end “random thoughts”.

Life is good. Despite all the things wrong with our world and the seemingly unending litany of terrible news in the media, there is much about life to love. I feel particularly blessed with a family that I love (and that, despite all my faults, appears to love me), fulfilling work that I still enjoy, good health, and more worldly goods than anyone has a need for, or right to. I know there are many who cannot make such claims. My heart goes out to the family of a friend who apparently felt otherwise a few weeks ago. While I can imagine that level of despair, I cannot understand it. As long as there is life, there is hope. What is especially wonderful about the Christmas season is that where hope in this life ends, another hope begins, one that is all encompassing, overarching, and limitless. If there is any message of Christmas, this has to be it. This blog is not intended to be a Christian rant but everyone has a world view that infuses every aspect of their life, drives every decision, and colors their perspective. This is mine. I’ll try to rein it in and keep it low key. Having said that, Merry Christmas to anyone who happens to read this. May this be a season of calm, peace, and, above all, hope.

Ironman training log:

Readers will notice a dearth of entries on my progress here. Suffice it to say that any progress has been mental and not physical. My motivation remains high but between the hectic office schedule, preparations for the upcoming holiday, bad weather, and a nagging cold (my third this year; what’s with that?), I have not swum (swam?), biked, or run in nearly 2 weeks. Good thing that true loss of fitness takes 3 weeks or more of inactivity. To be honest, and not making excuses, I have not felt any pressure to do too much  until after the first of the year. Still haven't gotten back to Cameron at Carmichael Training Systems about enlisting the services of a triathlon coach versus using someone locally to help me train. That has to be done soon. While I am very self motivated, I know that I will be pushed a little more if I have someone to be accountable to. This is one of my mantras for people who want to make a real change in their lives. My goals, according to priority as fairly straightforward and, I hope, simple: make it to the starting line feeling prepared, not get hurt, complete the triathlon, set a time goal. Oh, and a big goal- have fun with the process.

This week’s summary:

Zip, zero, nada…………..I am trying to enjoy the enforced inactivity and using it to motivate me for the new year.  

A thorn in the flesh

Chronic cryptogenic small fiber peripheral sensory neuropathy. It is quite a mouthful and most people have never heard of it. I have a special interest in it. You see, I have it. There is nothing like having a condition to stimulate an intense personal interest in it. The problem first began when I was training for my third Disney Marathon in 2005. After some long runs I began having pain along the outside of my left knee and, soon thereafter, started to have numbness in my left foot. For a while, I ignored it as only an otherwise supposedly intelligent person, and a doctor to boot, could do. Eventually, though, I had to do something.

I wore a band above my knee for the iliotibial band syndrome causing the knee pain. I got orthotics for my running shoes and some physical therapy for a presumed obturator syndrome. I kept running, though. After Disney, I ran the Boston Marathon 4 months later. By now, both feet were experiencing numbness. Wising up at last, I finally stopped running, saw a physical medicine specialist who ordered nerve function studies (essentially normal) and embarked on a lengthy program of stretching, physical therapy, ice, and laser treatment. Nothing really helped.

Fast forward nearly 7 years. I live every day with an uncomfortable sensation of numbness, tingling, pain, and burning in both feet. The left is still worst. It is such a part of my life that I immediately notice those few periods of a few hours here and there when my feet feel normal. Once or twice, the symptoms vanished for up to 2 days and I had a brief moment of elation thinking, “this is it, I’ve gone into remission!”. No such luck, though.

Two years ago, I saw a neurologist at the University of Miami who specializes in this problem. After a number of tests, all normal, he told me that I had the problem named at the top of this post. The “cryptogenic” refers to the fact that the cause is unknown. It occurs most often in people around 60 and older- another of the wonderful aspects of getting older. He said that if I were 2 inches shorter, I would have no symptoms, as these are related to the length of the nerves.

The good news is that it will probably not get worse. Even if it does, it will be very gradual and I will likely be dead of something else before I have any serious problems. Another piece of good news is that I probably did not get it from running, all those problems of 2005 notwithstanding, and can continue to run, even if it is uncomfortable at times. The bad news is that I will likely have it for the rest of my life. He did not recommend treatment as the drugs used have side effects worse than the condition itself. I can smear capsaicin (the stuff in peppers that makes them hot) cream on my feet. The burn from that will overwhelm the burning in my feet and eventually make those particular nerve fibers inactive.

At first, I thought, “I take care of myself, don’t have any bad health habits, and there is no one with this in my family. Why me”? Then it occurred to me that a better question might be “why not me”? After all, millions of people have terrible health problems that I do not have. What makes me special? I do know that it has made me more spiritual. After all, if the Apostle Paul had a “thorn in the flesh”, why shouldn’t I? Having a constant reminder of my age and the limitations of my body has made me more appreciative of my otherwise excellent health and thankful that I can do most anything physical that I wish to do. I now regard this neuropathy as background static in my life, something I am aware of, annoying but able to be ignored if I keep my mind busy and focus on other things. In some real ways, it is a blessing, although not necessarily one I would have asked for.

Ironman training log:

I have taken a small step back due to a number of factors. My plate is full, the holidays are rushing like a freight train, and there is much to do at work and at home. I am working on the mental aspect of organizing and preparing myself for the year to come, something I find more difficult to do than any physical training. Just bought some aero bars for the road bike- I have decided not to use a tri bike due to the expense and the fact that I do not plan to do the type of riding for which this bike is designed very often. Am getting the bike refitted for these bars. Meanwhile, I am talking to Carmichael Training Systems for possible coaching assistance. More on that later.

This week’s summary:

Swim- none

Bike- 30.43 miles at average of 15 mph. Training effect 3.0

Run- None

Midi-Chlorians anyone?

One has to be careful drawing deep theological or philosophical inferences from pop culture but sometimes they can be useful for purposes of illustration. Last week I alluded to the human body as a Lamborghini sports car. I can defend that analogy but to those who would take from this that I subscribe to a mechanistic view of life- that we are nothing more than very sophisticated biological machines- I would like to say emphatically that this is not the case.

The long running popular movie serial, Star Wars, repeatedly references “the force”, a nebulous, all encompassing field of energy that envelopes the universe and imbues all living things with life and vitality. Tapping into this force can actually give certain individuals nearly superhuman capabilities. In the first installment of the second series of three movies, The Phantom Menace, we are introduced to midi-chlorians, microscopic life forms that reside symbiotically in living cells and mediate “the force” within humans. The concentration of these midi-chlorians is directly tied to the strength of the force and its expression in the life of the individual.

Is there a real life version of midi-chlorians? Not really. The closest we come is the concept of endosymbiosis. The simple explanation of this concept is that it theorizes that many of the structures in our cells were once independent organisms that, over time, became assimilated by primitive cells and formed the various parts of the modern cell. An example is the mitochondria, which basically serve as the power source for the living cell, and have some characteristics that suggest they once were independent primitive organisms. The verdict on this theory is out and it is not widely accepted among scientists.

Even if there aren’t midi-chlorians, what is this life force that gives us vitality and the ability to think, reason, love, question, i.e. to be who we are? Let’s start at the smallest unit of life as we know it, the cell. Our bodies are made up of billions of them, each with its own life and vitality. They die by the millions every day as we go about our daily routine but they don’t change who we are. Cells aggregate to form tissues- skin, muscle, bone, nerve, etc. Related tissues join to form organs and organ systems. We can lose major portions of these through accidents or disease without changing the essence of who we are, or diminishing our vitality.  A great example of this is Max Cleland, a multiple amputee (both legs, one arm) from the Vietnam War whose inspirational postwar career includes terms as a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the State of Georgia, Administrator for Veteran’s Affairs, and, currently, Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission. 

 

Where does this life force, this essence of our identity, come into play? Alas, modern science has no idea. Despite splitting the atom, traveling through space, and solving many of nature’s mysteries, we are no closer to answering this question now than the thinkers and philosophers of ancient times. Within each of us resides a “breath of life”. When it is gone, our body becomes an empty physical shell. We can choose to believe it comes from the nature of matter and physical processes, i.e. we are just biological machines, or through divine gifting. I choose the latter. How we choose will determine nothing less than how we live our lives.

Training log: This week, after 4 back to back days of running last week, I decided to cut back a little. My neuropathy in my feet (more on that later) has been a little more bothersome and, although I don’t think running caused it, it does seem to aggravate it at times. I did do my first “brick”, a bike/run, although a light one. Right now, I am still working on putting together a training plan which I hope to have in place by early next year. I think the hardest part is going to be getting organized as this is not my nature.

Training summary:

Swimming- none

Running- Saturday, 3.5 miles at 8:41 min/mi pace (this after riding my bike, see below)

Bike- Saturday, 18.2 miles at 14.8 mph average