I know athletes who have been severely affected by DVT 
Apparently the low pulse rate makes the blood flow slower, easy to get clots.
Some things that you can do to help. Have an aspirin before you fly. Wear compression socks. You probably know about drinking lots of water.
Hope your flight isn’t too painful.
Good Morning. Ran a small neighborhood 5K this morning. First mile was in 9:07 which is a really fast pace for me but slowed down a lot and overall time was not good. Still I did it and helped support a young man’s Bar Mitzvah project. The donations went to a the rescue group from which we adopted our (recently deceased) beagle 13 years ago. So all is good and I am planning on running again this evening with the training group.
@somemom Look into Morton’s neuroma. A friend of mine has this – and there’s not an easy solution. She now wears Hokas all the time.
Somemom, that sounds painful and frustrating! I hope there’s a way to figure out what it is (and something to do to help it!).
FallGirl, that sounds fun! I really enjoy doing races that help support a good cause. I also did a 5k this morning (though no 9:07 miles for me!). The one I did this morning is in it’s third year and I’ve done it all three years now. It’s pretty fun, it’s a Memorial Day one, and it helps support the Wounded Warriors Project. Very awesome, and they highlight active military and veteran participants and volunteers.
And, now I have a 5k time to work on beating as I try to go sub-30 this July! I haven’t gotten “official” times, yet, but I got a printout of my unofficial results before I left and my time was 32:46:32. I don’t know if taking off almost three minutes is realistic or not. ?? I need to come up with a good plan at the beginning of each week to try to follow. I don’t want to overdo it since this will be my first time actually trying to do speedwork, so I’m sure I’ll have lots of questions coming up for all the runners!
(I also find it funny how my posts are always so long! Sorry about that. I’m actually quite quiet in real life.)
Nannah - Sub 30 is my goal, too. I wish I could run 3 miles like my first mile today, but can’t (yet?).
I’ll be leaving for my training soon. I have never run twice in one day before.
One last thing about Deep Vein Thrombosis.
Airhealth.org states, “85% of air travel thrombosis victims are athletic, usually endurance athletes”.
Think about that. How many people on an airplane do you see that are athletic, particularly endurance athletes? One endurance athlete per 100 people? Those few people in the pool accounting for 85% of the victims is a crazy high number.
If that number doesn’t scare you athletes that travel, nothing will!
Geez, @busdriver11 those are scary statistics! Thanks for posting, though. Somehow I always thought being fit would make me LESS prone to issues, but your info on low pulse rate and slower blood flow leading to clots makes sense. I have a long flight to Israel next week and I will be even more aware of getting up and moving about periodically!
FallGirl - great job with your race! I hope your second run of the day went well.
nahnah - glad you enjoyed your 5K yesterday!
MOWC - glad you are back with us!
@C3Baker, that sounds like a great trip. I love Israel! But it is a long flight.
I’ve been doing a lot of research lately about DVT and athletes, and it occurs to me that many doctors are completely clueless about this. Athletes might not present DVT in the normal way (redness, soreness, swelling), and the first sign they have might be pulmonary embolism or a stroke (if you are one of those 20% of people with a hole in your heart, the clot could bypass your lungs), so they completely ignore the possibility. They think it’s the overweight, elderly, out of shape person who will have a problem with DVT. However, the endurance athlete is at risk for DVT after flying, many, many multiples greater than most people. When I read about it, it sounds so obvious, but it is ignored.
In fact, I wonder how many athletes have DVT often and don’t even know it. Their legs aren’t swollen, the DVT might go away on its own, and it’s not until something major happens that they realize it.
The things I can think of to do are to take aspirin (won’t prevent DVT but might prevent a stroke if you’re one of the unlucky ones with the heart issue). WEAR COMPRESSION SOCKS, and I wonder if athletes should wear them even to bed, because their heart rate gets lower during sleep. Could people get DVT just from sleeping? They aren’t moving around. Drink lots of water. Walk around and move your legs, not just to get the blood flowing, but to raise your pulse every now and then.
I’ve suggested to my husband (resting pulse in his 40’s), that I just slap him in the face every five minutes or so to get his heart going a little faster. 
Well, shoot, I have super low BP & pulse, dang, better pay attention to DVTs, not sure I am going to suggest the slap in the face technique to DH
I find that number (85%) to be implausible. I tried to read the study (apparently from 2003 or 2004) that supports that number, but I could not locate it. If this data is reliable, repeatable, and real and has been known since 2004 I can’t believe it has been kept a secret all this time. The CDC lists risk factors for DVT, and being extremely fit with a low heart rate is not one of their risk factors.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/dvt/facts.html
I follow the logic of a low heart rate increasing risk, but I can’t find the evidence, plus (I will repeat) the 85% number just doesn’t pass the reasonableness test for me. I will add to the list though, Tatyana McFadden (Paralympic wheelchair racer) recently underwent surgery for blood clots, but she has the risk factor of limited movement in her legs and sitting for a long time.
I can’t even read about DVT without feeling feint.
When I started running, I remember getting advice to always keep the first mile on the slow side (the opposite of what all the people around you and your adrenaline wants you to do in a race!) - that will allow your breathing to settle, your legs and feet to warm up and to gain confidence. After the first mile add a little to your pace - each mile if you can for a 5-10K race. The more experienced runners can share if they feel this is a good plan or not - but I find it works for me and even my “on my own” runs tend to naturally go this way now. My last mile or two are always the fastest.
Back from a weekend at the lake where MUCH beach walking, some running and a little kayaking (and gardening) pursued to add to my exercise log. Also, I had ice cream twice in one day. Canadian ice cream is a step above I tell ya!
Well, maybe that’s why many doctors don’t even consider it a risk. That’s the usual guidance. And most people are not endurance athletes (particularly those who take long flights), so if most of the people who come in with DVT are not, they might not even consider it a risk. But it doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. Why do you think athletes wear compression socks? It’s for increased blood flow to prevent leg swelling and blood clots in the legs.
It doesn’t take much time to google “athletes and DVR” to get enough information to scare you. Here’s just one article:
http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2015/01/athletes-and-blood-clots.aspx#axzz4iaHgDYtu
Regarding DVT, anecdotally, I’ve never had a problem on long flights and I’d consider myself both an athlete and an endurance athlete with lower BP/pulse. And I sometimes stay seated on the entire flight or get up and stretch once, if I feel necessary. But I also fidget alot. The 85%, suffering DVT on planes, doesn’t seem plausible to me.
As for pacing, for a 5K, I’ll maintain my fastest comfortable pace for all 3 miles. For a 10K, my first 1-2 miles will be 15-30 seconds slower than my last 4-ish miles. For halves, my first 1-3 miles can be 1 minute/mi slower than my last 3 miles. I tend to get stronger towards the back end. However, I prefer OCR’s in the last few years, because my patience with running long distances wears thin. I get bored easily.
@busdriver11 - the Isreal trip is for work. Nothing fun about it. I kind of think that getting blood clots might be more enjoyable than the meetings.
@sushiritto - I’ve done lots of half marathons and 3 full marathons so far, and countless shorter races. But I’m doing my first Warrior Dash in September and am not sure about this at all! Got talked into it by my niece and her husband who put together a team for it. Everyone else is at least 25 years younger than we are! It will interesting, for sure!
@FallGirl and @nahnah12 – a sub-30 5K is my perennial goal. I love 5Ks, and I’ve gotten sub-30 twice, both times on ridiculously flat courses on asphalt. I run about 32->33 minutes on trails or if there are any hills at all. So… look for flat courses, do your sprint interval training, and do a good thorough warmup. The advice to go out slowly and then speed up does NOT work for me. I want to go out at goal pace and then try to hold it as long as possible (the Prefontaine solution). The 29:22 that I did (on an ATF-certified course, dead flat) I got very lucky–an old guy (it turned out later he was 75 and the nephew of an old friend of my parents (same name, so I asked)) tried to pass me and I just refused to let him go. In turn, he refused to let me run away from him. We struggled our last half mile at about an 8:30 pace and I thought I was going to throw up at the end. It was great.
@C3Baker I have not done a marathon nor will I. 
not my cup of tea. My “bread and butter” for just running is the 10K. I have done OCR’s that are 4+ hours long though. And yes, us older folks, are rare in OCR. I’d bet the average age is 25.
IMO, Warrior Dashes are actually more fun than obstacle work from my memory. And they’re “only” 5K’s. But you will get muddy and dirty. And make sure you shower off ASAP. Good trail (grippy) shoes that drain water (and dry) quickly are a must. Preferably, no baggy clothes, they’ll be a drag and get caught in the barbed wire. If possible, tight dryfit-type clothes. You can certainly google all the recommendations online. It’s fun!
Spartan Races are where if you miss an obstacle, there’s a 30-burpee penalty per obstacle and with 30 +/- obstacles, you could be doing alot of burpees. Tough Mudders have the ridiculous electrical shock obstacle and the “Artic enema” where you swim through a dumpster of ice (with ice cubes) cold water.
C3Baker, well I hope at least you get a chance to tour around Israel a bit, in between those work meetings. Masada, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea…if you can book a tour of any of those (if you haven’t seen them), it will make the trip all worth the while! And I’m sure that no matter how awful your meetings are, pulmonary embolism or strokes can’t be better. 
As far as
One person’s anecdotal experience is not really much of a statistic, particularly since your life is not over yet. You have no idea of what is to come, but if there’s a way to prevent misery, why not be proactive? The two people I’ve known who had DVT were endurance athletes, so two out of two is 100% who were endurance athletes, but I don’t think that’s a valid statistic. Who knows how the article I cited got their stats, maybe it was just people who reported it to them, but either way, there’s enough information out there to make you start paying attention. I always thought DVT was a problem for sedentary, obese people, and never paid a lot of mind to it, but I was wrong.
I’m trying to figure out what a “Warrior Dash” is. That sounds interesting. Do you have to have a team? And will it hurt?
Looking for some smaller goals than what I had planned for in the future, for something to do over the summer. Maybe a 5K would be good to start with, Missed the Top Pot Donut Dash, darn it! All the beer and donuts you want.
OCR (Obstacle Course Racing) will hurt. I’ve got a few small barbed wire scars over the years. Warrior Dashes are short 5K’s and the local one here is fairly easy when compared to Tough Mudders or Spartan Races. As I mentioned above, Tough Mudders have two obstacles I personally can’t stand. Artic Enema is freezing cold water, which you have to swim through and then there’s the infamous “electric eel,” or whatever they call it, where you run through a bunch of these wires which give you small electrical shocks, but you obviously try to avoid them. Not a big fan of cold water and small electrical shocks. Understatement. You can elect to not do an obstacle w/o penalty. The Spartan Race is more straight forward, climbing walls, climbing rope, a American Ninja Warrior type contraption, hauling buckets of rocks, sandbags, etc. Up hills, down hills. And they have barbed wire and muddy water that must be traversed.
Tough Mudders are 10-mile courses. Spartan Races can be 3-4 miles, 8-10 miles and half marathons. They both have “death races” or “Ultimate” type races where they’re 12-24-hour overnight races.
It is very hard to find a flat course where I live. It doesn’t seem as if NoVA would be hilly, but it is
I ran a slower steady pace at my running group last night, not sure what my time was but our distance was 3.1. I did much better at that pace than when I did the faster start.Yesterday morning I was trying not to show too badly in front of all of the teens from a local HS track team who showed up. I wasn’t any threat anyway!