dinko's memories of a croatian vacation

8 months and counting

dinko — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:57:13 +0000

Yup, I’m still injured! That’s quite possibly the reason why I don’t really update this blog - half of my previous entries had something to do with running, and I also felt too depressed to keep writing injury updates.
But at this point, it’s worth listing all the things I tried so far, just because it’s a bit funny, and will also remind me one day not to get injured again.
So in no particular order, these are the methods, items, medications, that I’ve tried since September:

2 months of physical therapy at Excel
1 month of Etodolac anti-inflammatory meds
Flector anti-inflammatory patches on my legs
Nitroglycerin trans-dermal patches on pain areas for several weeks (yes, those that heart patients use to prevent angina attacks
All natural bursitis patches from Australia, worn at night for a couple of weeks, they smell like vinegar, and always rip off too much hair in the morning
Home ultrasound kit - 4 weeks, an hour a day (although I may have used it wrong initially)
6 weeks of aggressive PT at Zarett
1 very painful scraping session for each leg at Zarett
Couple of myofascial release massages

Some of the tools in my home inventory are

the stick (one at home, one at work actually)
foam roller
some tennis balls that I lay on or sit on, depending on whether I’m releasing the hip flexor or massaging the hamstring
the super powerful Thumper massager
neoprene thigh compression sleeves that i wear whenever i walk or bike anywhere

And then there are countless hours of stretching and strengthening exercises at home, I would guess at least 4-5 hours a week, and even more during certain periods.

At this point I am feeling a little better, I think the last round of PT, plus the myofascial relese therapy might actually be making a difference, I just hope it’s not temporary.

In PT they pointed out some weaknesses and bad flexibility in parts not close to the injury (hamstrings), but that could have contributed to the initial injury. So I’m working on some hip flexibility and core strengthening, which will hopefully help me not get injured again, once I actually start running again.

Slow Recovery

dinko — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:49:11 +0000

It’s been three weeks since I started doing physical therapy for my legs. I started seeing improvements immediately, but soon realized that it will take something like 5-6 weeks at least in order to stop feeling the pain completely. Then I’ll be able to start running slowly.
For now I’m spending 1 to 1.5 hours a day stretching, strengthening, and massaging my hamstrings and calves. Needless to say, that’s way more time than I ever spent running. The good thing is that I’ll learn to do some of these exercises routinely, and hopefully prevent such injuries in the future. Because let’s face it - everyone would rather run than stretch and do silly exercises on the floor (while the dog is trying to disrupt you). But after having to do so much of them now, I think I’ll be able to get myself to do them a couple of times a week, especially knowing that they’d make me a healthier runner.
There are some other good things coming out of this whole injury fiasco. I now have more free time to support Crystal as needed in her training for the marathon - dog walking and other things would be a real mess if we both had to stick to a demanding marathon training schedule. Having gone to the pool 3-4 times a week has also made me a stronger swimmer, which will hopefully be useful in any future triathlons I do.

Good photos, good stories

dinko — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:46:20 +0000

I’ve recently been told about the Boston.com Big Picture blog, and have been following it for some great photos and interesting stories from around the world.
However, the most recent post about Childhood Cancer Awareness Month (have you heard about it anywhere in the media?) was actually so powerful and sad that it prompted me to share the link here. Go read it and some of the comments posted by people who unfortunately know about this firsthand.

Injured

dinko — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:09:31 +0000

I haven’t written in a while, I guess life after Nepal seemed pretty ordinary and boring, not much to write about. However, there has been an event that changed my life(style) significantly, so here it is…

About four weeks ago I got hurt while running. Didn’t think much of it, it was just a cramp in my left hamstring, it happened during a long run on the trail in Wissahickon, so I assumed I just overexerted myself, and if I rest for a few days and stretch well, I will be over it. So I “rested” for a week by only biking and swimming, then went back to normal running for a full week. At that point the pain came back, it was in both legs, spreading from the calf, over the back of the knee, into the hamstring. I just put up with the pain thinking it will go away, and kept running. As a matter of fact, the only time I didn’t feel the pain was while running!
However, after about a week, when I woke up and could barely walk, I realized that I needed more than just a few days off. On the day we flew back to Croatia, I was so crippled I barely walked at the airport and got home walking as slow as my mom. I rested almost completely for a couple of weeks (excluding an overnight hike, which was well worth the pain), but the pain came back with a vengeance when I had to move more in Philly.
So the diagnosis is as follows - tendonitis in both hamstrings, normally takes 4-6 weeks to heal. This means not only that I can’t run the Philly Distance Run tomorrow, but I’ll have to skip the full marathon in two months as well (both paid for, nonrefundable, thank you very much). So basically the whole fall running season is pretty much ruined because I over trained, and then was too stupid and impatient to listen to my body and give it proper rest.
It was always easy to dispense advice to others and tell them to back off and rest if they felt any pain, that a few missed runs are not a big deal, and I was proud of my training schedules that always got me to the start line healthy, until now. This fall I just wanted a bit more, and probably overdid it at some point. Most non-runners and runners who haven’t been injured wouldn’t realize how much it means to be able to run. For us, running is not just some silly form of self-punishment, it’s a lifestyle that keeps you fit, your mind clear, and is often the perfect stress-reliever after a sucky day at work. Training for races and running them is not just about setting personal goals and hopefully achieving them, it’s about having a lot of fun, and socializing with others runners.
Being injured really makes me realize how much I need to appreciate being healthy enough to run, and also puts things in perspective - a few weeks, or even months off is not that big of a deal. I will come back, take better care of myself after learning more about my body, and sign up for new races. For now I’m (hopefully) keeping the pounds off by swimming just using my arms four times a week. And you can bet I’m doing a good job stretching those arms before swimming, lest I get totally crippled!

A small benefit is that instead of pre-race jitters, the night before the race I can now enjoy some beer!

The daily swoop

dinko — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:45:27 +0000

First I thought this was a freak incident, but I can easily reproduce it once or twice a day now. When I walk Pablo to the park right outside of our building and we walk around a particular tree, there’s this small bird that starts chirping, and then eventually swoops at Pablo’s tail, and actually touches it some times.
I guess its nest is in that tree that Pablo likes to pee on, and we’re perceived as a threat, so it goes for the highest (and hairiest) point on Pablo’s body. The most amazing thing about this is that the bird hasn’t ended up in Pablo’s jaws yet, mostly because it attacks from behind.
Pablo’s prey drive is pretty high, and he’s managed to already catch a fish (yes, a catfish was living in one of Philly’s fountains for a while, but Pablo just managed to scare it enough, he didn’t finish it off), and goes for squirrels on a daily basis. Recently he surprised one (and me) when he circled a large tree, and was mere inches away from its tail. I hope he never catches one as that would be really gross and cruel, and it would make him an even more dedicated hunter.

Running after 4 weeks, and altitute training

dinko — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:51:01 +0000

I had my concerns being away for four weeks that I wouldn’t be able to run when I came back from Nepal. I even brought my running shoes, but as mentioned in an earlier post, I’d be insane to try to run in Kathmandu traffic and pollution, so that didn’t happen.
I was hoping that being at high altitude for two weeks would make up for not using running muscles, being that my body was full of extra red blood cells that could carry more oxygen to my lungs and muscles…
The day after I came back, I set off on a standard 8.5 loop run with my running club, going at the pre-Nepal standard pace, and soon found out that yes, even with the extra blood cells, my leg muscles just gave up after about 4 miles, cramped up and waved the white flags…
This was bad news considering that a week later I was hoping to improve my Broad Street Run time from last year. After that run I pretty much gave up hope on that, until the start line where I met Geoff who normally runs a similar pace to mine, and who basically pulled me to the finish line in 1:11:59, about 50 seconds faster than last year, even though I was in great pain and pulled a few wrong muscles.
That makes 4/4 in PRs this year - a marathon, half-marathon, 5 miler, and a 10 miler… Let’s hope there will be a few more of those in the fall.

Photography in Nepal

dinko — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:44:26 +0000

I had many thoughts about taking photos, as well as photo equipment during my Nepal trip, so let me summarize them now…
So I came home with something like 1200 photos, 800 of which I post-processed and posted on my site. To most people they seem really good, and even I have to admit that a few are pretty damn awesome, but that’s bound to happen given the opportunities and the surroundings I was in.
However, about 3 hours into the trip I realized that I won’t take as many photos as I normally would on another trip. In Kathmandu, even in the tourist locations, I was more comfortable just working with one lens, and bothered to stop and do a lens swap only in quiet places. Not that I felt really threatened or worried that I’d get mugged, but I never got completely comfortable playing a role of a tourist wielding all this fancy equipment in front of the locals, and getting in their faces to take photos. But it is hard to be subtle about taking pictures because if you’re white you stick out, and if you have a long white lens, you stick out even more!
So I had to settle for long lens shots from a distance (70-200mm Canon f4L, or shooting from the hip with a wide-angle (my 10-20mm Sigma), in places that weren’t pure tourist attraction shots.
While on the trek, I only took two lenses, the very versatile but sometimes not wide enough, and often not long enough Canon 17-55mm F2.8 IS, and the 70-200 beast. I carried the long lens in my daypack the first few days, but then quickly realized that I rarely felt like stopping to pull it out for several reasons - loads of dust, slowing down the progress of the whole group, and then just pure laziness, being that any kind of breathing or extra movement at higher altitudes were difficult. So about 90% of the shots in the mountains were done with the 17-55, with the long lens being used only in camp, and on some special days that I knew I’d want it with me. I also didn’t make any side-trips or traveled off the path too much to get that slightly different shot, again because of general fatigue, and I quickly settled for taking regular tourist snapshots, but hopefully with somewhat better angles and exposure (which can be tricky at times with the bright snow and ice).
If I had to pick an ideal one lens camera setup, I’d say a Canon 5D paired with the 24-105mm lens would be ideal, as on a full frame camera it would cover most of the range, and with stitching and cropping could pretty much handle most situations I was in.

A happy ending

dinko — Sun, 11 May 2008 00:05:06 +0000

Well in a sense - as this trip is nearing its end, and we have less than an hour of flying to JFK, I’m fondly remembering my first paid-for massage experience. Evan and I had some extra Bhats and lots of extra time at the Bangkok airport, so we decided to get a full body 45-minute Thai massage. It was a bit weird as we were sweaty and smelly, but they do give you one-size-fits-all PJs, wash your feet with a warm towel, and then proceed to beat the crap out of you. These two tiny Thai girls kept giggling while they flipped us around and inflicted pain (the good kind) to each muscle. They thought we were brothers, possibly because of the beards - do all white guys look the same to Asian people?
Yesterday morning, which seems forever ago, and now definitely half the globe away, we had morning tea in the chill back yard of the Pilgrims bookstore, then said goodbye to good old Kathmandu.
I’ve definitely grown fond of Nepal, and shed a tear or two on the plane when leaving it. Nepal and its people will definitely stay in my heart, and I feel differently than when leaving prior destinations I’ve seen as a tourist. Possibly it’s because I spent more time than at any other place outside of Croatia and the U.S., possibly it’s because the way I’ve seen and experienced Nepal - slowly, by foot, accompanied by the locals, actually getting some understanding of their complex society and culture, and seeing firsthand how difficult life is for most Nepali, who yet somehow still appear happy and friendly.
I don’t know when the next time will be when I get a chance to visit it, and under what circumstances. I am fairly sure that it will be quite a bit different though, as witnessed by all the construction in cities and the mountains. All I can say is that I wish Nepali people all the best with coping with political and economic changes (progress?), a rapid boom in tourism that’s inevitable, and all the environmental and social issues that will come along with it.
This concludes this portion of the program, which turned out to be my most valuable travel experience so far, and until next time, NAMASTE…

Fulfilling last tourist obligations

dinko — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:27:31 +0000

This morning my roommate (formerly tentmate) Evan and I decided to hit the last big tourist destination we haven’t seen yet.
We took a 30 minute taxi ride from hell (during Nepalese rush hour) to the medieval city of Bhaktapur, some 20km away from Kathmandu. Foreigners (other than Indians) are charged a hefty $10 fee to roam through the city and see more old temples than you can count. Lonely Planet says there’s no traffic in the main squares of Bhaktapur, but I think there’s just less traffic than in Kathmandu, just enough to get a false sense of safety before almost getting plowed by a motorcyclist.
Saw a couple more Shiva temples with nicely carved Kama Sutra art. Pornography in general is banned in Nepal, but that’s OK because you can learn everything from ancient temple carvings.
We did see a few white people wandering the streets, but most of the tourist crowds seemed to be nicely dressed Hindus (from India or elsewhere in Nepal) posing for millions of photos in front of every temple, the kids inevitably riding every lion or elephant statue.
The only remaining thing for us to do now is spend the rest of our rupees on dinner and souvenirs, to support the local economy as much as we can.

Back to the big city

dinko — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:20:56 +0000

After an early morning flight from Lukla (downhill takeoff, mints and cotton served after the takeoff, quite a bit of turbulence), we were back in Kathmandu, with all the smog, crazy traffic, and the relentless shop owners trying to sell us crap. Instead of dodging yak crap and yak horns on the trail, we’re back to dodging cars, motorcycles, animals and hash dealers.
Still, Kathmandu is very charming, and I found enough energy to actually shop for some souvenirs.
For dinner we selected this sorta secluded place that has “beer garden” in its name. At least half of it was true, because despite all of two crappy beers offered, the garden was quite nice, had excellent Tibetan/Bhutanese/Nepali food, and for a couple of hours I felt like we were somewhere in Europe.
Oh, I think when I was going through security check at the Lukla airport (no metal detector, hence they normally look through your bags), the police officer was trying to by my headlamp - when I pulled it out of a backpack pocket he kept asking “how much”. They also asked me “which country” as I think they were writing down in a notebook where everyone was from. I said “Croatia”, they repeated “U.S. ??”, to which I just said “OK”.