March’s Last Run

Waking up early Tuesday morning and looking out the window, I saw dark clouds in the sky that grew even darker on my way to the grocery store. I hightailed it back home after buying a few things because I wanted to put a run in before it started raining. The forecast was for the rain to arrive by Tuesday evening but it appeared it might start pouring much earlier.

The workout planned for the day was the 4 minute run with 1 minute walk Galloway training method. I tried to start running harder than usual without a proper warm up. The difference was I took a full minute walk break between intervals. Usually I start running again after about 40 seconds of walking even before my watch starts alerting me for the next repetition. This was just an experiment since I already know that my body doesn’t get into a good groove without starting slowly and warming up first. Not only that, my inner ankle tendons tend to hurt more because it is subjected to heavier pounding so early in the run. Needless to say, it was a rough start and my stride didn’t feel smooth until after about 3 miles.

I wanted to treat this run like a regular interval workout but since I have to be careful with my ankles especially at the start, I couldn’t really pick up the pace hard enough to the capacity of my heart and lungs. So the four minutes of running is closer to a tempo pace rather than a lung busting effort.

Well, I finished my usual hour slower than my last 4:1 workout two weeks ago. This experiment made me conclude that it is better to warm up slowly at the start then pick up the pace later with the reduced walk time, than running hard from the start and taking the full 1 minute walk break. The toll on my ankles is also lesser with the proper warm up. Another lesson learned. Even though I’ve been running for 30 years, running like life continues to be a learning process. What may have worked well in the past may not work now because of changes in your body as you age. The experiment continues.

By the way, the rain never came, the skies cleared, and the sun was out when I finished the run. 

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My First Extended Elliptical Workout

Warning! The following blog post is for information purposes only and may bore you to sleep. If you have insomnia, now may be a good time to read it.

       I first used my new elliptical trainer last Friday morning but only did 30 minutes on it while using the stationary bike for the second half of my workout. On Monday afternoon, after taking my morning sleep coming off the night shift I decided it was time to take the elliptical machine past the half hour mark. First I set the machine to one of the pre-programmed workouts which consisted of 2 minutes easy tension, then 2 minutes medium, then another two minutes of slightly harder tension on the pedals. I set a preliminary goal of 40 minutes and when I hit that mark went for another 10 then another 10. So I was able to double my time on the elliptical using those ladder intervals. All the while I was watching the documentary movie “No Impact Man” http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280011/.

      Compared to last Friday, the machines’ squeaks and groans were significantly lesser so I hope it stays that way if I use it regularly. If I were to rate that workout, I would give it a grade of Fair because even though I was breathing hard at times, the highest pulse rate I hit was only 130 beats per minute. I may have do use a more challenging pre-programmed workout. Maybe find one where the harder intervals lasts longer than the recovery intervals. What I like about the machine is that it is the closest that simulates running compared to the other machines I have.

      I don’t know if I’ll ever go over an hour on the machine so I’m pretty satisfied with what I accomplished last Monday thanks to No Impact Man. Excuse me! Is that you I hear snoring???

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Trying Out The New Elliptical Machine

     I tested the new elliptical machine on Friday morning and for the first few minutes I could hardly believe how whisper quiet it was. My recumbent bike made more noise than the elliptical. However after about 15 minutes of continuous use, it started groaning, squeaking, and creaking but the noises would mysteriously disappear before another strange sound came up. The good thing is that the noise disappears eventually but replaced with another kind of noise. I hope it’s just the machine settling and redistributing its lubricants.

     I’ve only used an elliptical machine once before a few years ago when I walked past a gym and asked the owner if I can try it. He had me sign a waiver in case I got injured while using the machine. Now that I have one, I’m finding out how unnatural it is to move your arms and legs at the same time with the handlebars and the pedals. It was easier to just use the fixed handlebar. Another thing I found out is that it is difficult to read a newspaper while using the machine because of the up and down motion. Due to my poor balance I’m afraid to let go of the handlebar for fear of falling off. If I have to work out harder I’d have give up reading while on the machine. However, since the machine is quiet, it’s more feasible to watch TV or a movie without having to raise the volume too much.

     At the time of my first use, I still hadn’t figured out how to increase the tension of the pedals and it wasn’t until hours later when I read the instructions did I learn how to do that and the programmed workouts. The instructions itself wasn’t a very easy read because it was printed in China and you had to interpret in proper English what it was really saying. I’m sure some of your electronic items have instructions like that too. The machine has a manual setting, 12 pre-programmed workouts, and I think 2 user programmable workouts. It has the usual heart rate monitor, speed, distance, time, calories burned, plus two things I didn’t expect: a body mass index (BMI) calculator and body fat percentage calculator.

     Other than the squeaks, creaks, and groans of the machine which I hope is a part of the break-in process, I like all the functions that it has which appear to be similar to high end machines. And it mimics the running motion better than the stairmaster or stationary bike. If it gives me the same endorphin high that running does, so much the better. I tried out the new elliptical machine and lived to tell about it, so for now, two thumbs up!

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My New Toy/Torture Device

My new elliptical trainer was delivered on March 11^th   (Yipee!!!). Actually it was supposed to arrive March 10^th but I didn’t hear the delivery person knocking because I was asleep in the daytime after coming off the night shift from the asylum. So I had to wait the next day for redelivery. Oh well, just another delayed gratification.

After waiting all morning and part of the afternoon, the UPS guy finally knocked on my door and asked if I can help him lift the box up one flight of stairs and I said yes. I was surprised to see how bulky the box was and it weighed about 120 pounds. Initially, he wanted us to just lift the box but I convinced him to use the dolly and I had him pulling upwards while I pushed from below.

 The first thing I looked for upon opening the box was the instruction manual to find the customer service number.  I just wanted to pay someone else to assemble it just like my treadmill but it appeared that they didn’t have that service. Customer service was closed for the day when I called and was not available till the next day. After reading the assembly instructions, I decided to attempt doing it myself. I remembered how the guy who assembled my treadmill organized himself and I did the same. First, I sorted out the nuts, bolts, screws, and washers. Then I laid out the parts of the elliptical trainer on the floor. From that point on, it was just identifying which parts connected where and with what screw/bolt/nut/washer. After about a couple of hours, I had the machine assembled and saved myself some money by not hiring someone else to do it J. I had underestimated my mechanical ability again. At the end, I found an extra nut : it was me. This nut will be attached to the elliptical trainer tomorrow for a trial workout.

Oh I forgot, the machine can be plugged into an electric outlet but I couldn’t find where the cord connects to the machine initially. I thought it was on the display console which would have been logical, but it wasn’t there. After searching high and low around the machine, I stuck the plug into a hole at the  front of the machine and I was surprised that it fit. But I still wasn’t sure until I plugged the other end in the electric outlet and that’s when the machine came alive. Assembly finally completed!

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Space… The Final Frontier

Upon receiving my federal income tax refund on February 26^th, I earnestly embarked on a journey for the search for Spock. Oops, wrong journey. Let me regroup and rephrase: I searched the internet for a good deal on elliptical trainers (not the ellipses of heavenly bodies). The one I found with the features I wanted was on Overstock.com with a shipping price of $2.99. I searched Amazon.com for the same product and it was $20.00 lesser plus free shipping and no sales tax. I waited a couple of days for the government check to clear and by the time I checked Amazon again, the price of the elliptical trainer had gone up $20.00 more, with 5 left in stock. The initial price of the machine must have been that good that people were buying them quickly. Another economic theory in action: when the demand is high, the price goes high. I put in my order anyway and sent an email to customer service to see if they would roll back the price by $20.00. It was no go, but I think I still got a good deal with the free shipping and no sales tax. Why I didn’t consider looking at Amazon when I bought my treadmill last summer, I don’t know. I just stuck with Walmart after seeing the treadmill features and price I wanted.

Meanwhile, in my tiny corner of the cosmos, I’m concerned about space or lack thereof in my gym/living room. I’ve been trying to visualize how I can rearrange the rest of the exercise equipment so I can fit in the elliptical machine once it’s delivered and assembled. The only way I can make it work is to move aside the folding machines when not in use and pull them back out whenever I want to use them. That means the stairstepper and the rowing machine because the upright and recumbent bikes don’t fold, and even though the treadmill folds also, it’s too heavy to move around. Oh my, half of the living room will be a maze of cranks, levers, cylinders, gears, belts, and pedals. If I had a wife, she’d probably put me in the garage and leave the exercise equipment alone. Good thing I live by myself.

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Salvaging My Old Stationary Bike

I’ve had this upright stationary bike so many years and ever since I assembled it, the tension adjustment never really worked well and you can hear a clicking noise when you pedal. It has 8 levels of tension and even at its tightest it still feels relatively easy and not adequate to do stand up pedaling. That’s the reason why I haven’t been using it very often and opting for the recumbent bike instead.

I decided that the next time I had a few days off, I was going to try to find the problem and fix it. Already suspecting it had something to do with the cable, that’s where I looked first. Manipulating the top part of the cable near the adjustment knob didn’t solve the problem so I went farther down. This entailed disassembling the housing of the pedals. I encountered another problem when I tried to remove them because the screws were either too tight or already stripped. For some of the screws that I couldn’t remove, I ended up using brute force to break and peel the plastic housing apart. So I was now into the heart of the whole system, found the source of the cable, twisted a couple of nuts this way and that, but to no avail. All I could do was tighten the cable in a way not it was meant to be assembled. But it worked! Having broken the plastic housing, I just threw them away and the bike actually looks better without them. It looks more like a spinning bike now except that the handlebars are higher. Nevertheless the tension adjustment is tighter now, the clicking sound has disappeared, it's the quietest machine I have at home, and I got a better workout afterwards. With a series of what ifs (what if I do this, what if I try doing it that way), I managed to salvage an old bike and spared myself the expense of getting a replacement. I still want an elliptical machine though…

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Running Unfocused

It was still raining when I woke up Saturday morning but it stopped before I started my run. However, towards the east, west, north and south, the clouds were thick and ominous, as if ready to drench the area with more water. With no hint of sunlight breaking through, I bedecked myself in a Goretex jacket and a hat, expecting to get caught in a downpour. Then I headed out for my run without my spectacles. My eyeglasses would have been totally useless anyway. My near vision is okay, far vision totally the opposite, but as long as I’m not driving I can manage without eyeglasses since I run so slowly anyway. Thus began my unfocused run.

I had been visualizing this run in the past few days and since I was not signed up for the Surf City Half Marathon and had nobody to run with, I wanted to do a private half marathon alone. I was going to attempt to run/walk 13.1 miles. Starting out slowly, I could already feel heaviness in my legs and breathing. I must not have recovered fully from the hard 6 mile run I did on Thursday. I was hoping the feeling would be better after getting warmed up. I kept plugging along but after about 3 miles I realized that I would not have the energy to complete 13.1 miles, so I reduced my goal and decided to go out for 45 minutes and back for the same amount of time. 1 ½ hours of running would be good enough on the still slick streets of Long Beach and Lakewood. With the clouds looming darkly, I could only hope to finish before it rained again. The puddles of water on the ground had mostly drained but could reappear if it started raining again.

When I turned around after about 48 minutes to head back home, my legs and breathing felt a little better. Maybe it was a psychological effect of knowing that all I had to do was get back to where I started from. Somehow the clouds held up as well as I did and I made it back home without getting drenched other than with my own sweat. 3 ½ pounds of sweat, that is. Although my vision was unfocused for more than 9 miles and I couldn’t see too far ahead of me, I managed to navigate on familiar streets while half blind and got back home safely. 13.1 miles would have to wait for another day.

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Random Thoughts About Other People Running, PTTD, and Surf City

While driving to and from the grocery store early last Sunday morning and seeing people running, I was so tempted to do the same. My common sense got the better of me and the little voice in my head told me it would not be a good idea running two days in a row after Saturday’s two hour plus run (besides I hardly do two days in a row anymore because of my bad ankles). So I went back home and did the stationary bike for an hour and 20 minutes. In that amount of time, I almost finished reading the whole Sunday newspaper including the ads

Seeing all those runners made me stop and think. Why are these people running? Are they training for a race? Are they just running for recreation and exercise? What are their running goals and aspirations? Myself, I just run for exercise and to get the endorphin fix. Funny thing is that the endorphins I generate during a run helps anesthetize the pain in my ankles but it’s the run itself that caused the pain in the first place. At least the pain is blunted for a couple of hours post run if I don’t overstretch the tendons during the run. When I do overstretch the tendon, this is how it feels: it pulls at the seams as if it’s being torn apart. I don’t know how much pain a woman goes through while having a baby, but my pain might be pretty close at its worst.

I’ve been finding out more and more about PTTD (posterior tibialis tendon dysfunction) from the internet over the past year. Eventually aside from tendon damage you also get ligament damage in that area of the foot. So that’s something not to look forward to in the near future. I’ve also learned that PTTD ankle braces are not meant for running, but just to stabilize the ankles for walking and not even for fast walking. I’m finding use for my Aircast PTTD brace though (I blogged about it here: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2009/08/aircast-pttd-brace.html). I wear it after icing my ankle to keep it stabilized and compressed while I putter around at home, and also use it at work for the right ankle plus a soft brace for the left ankle. They cut down the side to side motion of the ankles.

Another temptation arose Monday morning. Someone from AREC sent an email offering her Surf City Half Marathon bib number for sale because she couldn’t run it. I considered contacting her when I found out that I was actually off from work on race day. I had assumed all along that I had to work that weekend because in at least the past seven Super Bowl Sundays, I was always working. They must have moved the Super Bowl one week later this year. The feeling of being tempted has passed.

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A Weighty Issue

Another discussion about weight came up at work. One woman said that you should only weigh yourself once a month. I countered that you should weigh yourself every day so that if you happened to veer away too much from your target weight range, you can make it up by doing more activities or adjusting your food intake. Her contention was that women’s weights vary due to their menstrual cycle and they could possibly weigh more on certain days during that cycle. I said that daily weighing regardless of the time of the month gives you more control over weight gain, loss, or maintenance, and that menstrual bloating shouldn’t be used as an excuse for excess weight. How much weight does a woman gain when they’re menstruating anyway? Besides, I found out that menstruation also increases the metabolism slightly so it can counteract the bloat in the long run. Well, as you know, I’m not a woman so I can’t really speak for that. In any case, it has been found out that people who weigh themselves every day manage their weight better than those who don’t.

By the way, the woman whom I was having this discussion with has been exercising consistently for the past couple of months and in spite of that, she appears to have gained weight. I was tempted to be impolite and ask her how that weighing once a month is working for her. Not only that, I couldn’t help but hear that she lost 8 pounds in her first week of working out, but has gained about 15 pounds since then. In fact I was surprised to see how much bigger she is now compared to before she started working out. That goes to show that exercising alone is not enough to lose or maintain ideal weight, you have to adjust your food intake too. One thing I can admire about this woman is that she has continued to exercise consistently. This I gather from my other co-workers.

Ever notice how overweight people offer the best solutions to problems regarding diet and exercise? Except that they have difficulty applying the solutions on themselves. If talking about it were an aerobic activity, they surely would have lost a lot of pounds already.

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Mysteries of Running

Ever have one of those days when you are running and your feet feel as heavy as bricks? Well, last Thursday was one of those days for me as I plodded through a 52 minute run that felt like the last 6 miles of a marathon, but without the cramps. Then all of a sudden, two days later, on Saturday morning, I felt so good and I don’t know why. After doing the 4 minute run/1 minute walk intervals with Sonja for about 4 miles (Sonja was doing 8 miles), I tried to catch up with Cyndi and Linda who were running non-stop for 12 miles, by intercepting them at a certain cross street. We ran together for about a mile but I began feeling a little frisky and started picking up the pace on my own. I still did the 4:1 intervals but a little bit differently. Instead of running and walking, I picked up the pace for 4 minutes and slowly jogged for 1 minute while I ran back to Cyndi and Linda. I was able to keep this up for the last 7 miles of the 12 mile run except for about 3 minutes it took to cover the distance on Bayshore Avenue from Ocean Boulevard to Second Street, where running single file is the norm. By running hard for 4 minutes and jogging back, I was able to complete 12 miles despite cutting the course to catch up with the two ladies. I could feel my right ankle tendon protesting at times but the pain was tolerable and didn’t get worse. Thank goodness for that!

Running, like life, can feel different from day to day, or as Forrest Gump said “Life (substitute "running" here) is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get”. I wish I could feel the way I did on Saturday all the time where the pace was hard but still felt controlled. Of course that’s not always possible because we all have bad days and good days. Savor the good days and get through the bad days, because even the bad ones feel so much better after you finish.

Postscript: The reason why I felt the need to run a little harder last Saturday was to burn off the excess calories I consumed during the two days I was showing my former classmate around town, as documented in my previous blog post: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2010/01/unblogged-weekend.html

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An After Christmas Jaunt

Getting to the start in darkness didn’t seem right. I chuckled to myself at the thought of what we do to practice our chosen sport – early morning awakenings, severe weather, running through pain and injuries, etc. After giving our bodies a chance to digest Christmas food for a couple of days, Tina, Rosie, Chai, Nick, Michael, and I met at Joe’s Crab Shack at 6:45 A.M. on Sunday for a 10 mile jaunt. I haven’t run with this group before and they have recently started doing the Jeff Galloway run/walk marathon training in preparation for the Los Angeles Marathon. In this case it was a 5 minute run with a 1 minute walk break. We didn’t run the usual route but rather, we went out 5 miles and back 5 miles. Around Toledo to 2^nd St., down Ocean Bl., to the corner of Alamitos Av., then turn around at the bike path on the way back to the finish. It felt good running in a pack of 6 people who stayed together for the whole 10.25 miles. That should have taken care of the Christmas calories, don’t you think? The five other people in our group were training for the L.A. Marathon and I’m not, so what business do I have running with them? Just for exercise, the calorie burn, and the pure enjoyment of running with other people. Thank you very much Tina, Rosie, Chai, Nick and Michael, for letting me join you last Sunday. I’ll be back to my extra half hour of sleep this coming Saturday and will be running with the 7:30 group.

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Should I Even Have Been Running?

With my new left ankle woes, I had doubts about being able to run on Saturday with the small AREC group. Sure I took five days off and hadn’t run since Monday morning, but the nagging discomfort stayed on the ankle all that time. I even woke up at about 3:50 Saturday morning and couldn’t go back to sleep because of it. Off I go to meet the group anyway to test what the ankles would feel like once we started running. The right ankle problem is a given while the left side is relatively new. Linda and Colleen said they were going to do a slow 4 minute run/1 minute walk interval for 8 to 10 miles. I was just as glad to do it with them so I could give my ankles a break. For sure, I wouldn’t be able to keep up with Cyndi because running hard with her the past several weeks is what started the left ankle pain after all. Please excuse me while I try to heal, Cyndi. Hopefully if I do, I can run with you again soon. So Cyndi takes off after about ¾ mile and the three of us tread gingerly on the streets of Long Beach: Linda with the knee problems, Colleen with sore muscles from being new to Pilates, and me of course with my bum ankles. The two girls were yakking while I trailed behind them. I didn’t mind them setting the pace this time. My hearing must be going bad because I could barely make out what they were talking about and I couldn’t even hear my watch beeping to alert me when it’s time to do a walk break. So I just followed their cue.

Along the way, we encountered Kate twice as she was on her way out then back. We also saw Dennis, who just started running again recently after a couple of years of nagging injuries. He was out for a four miler and his stride looked good and strong to me. Nice to see you running again, Dennis. A little bit of AREC history: Dennis was the organizer of the first ever Long Beach Marathon training group five years ago when it was still the official marathon training program. After that, Todd took over AREC training and the Beach Runners group took over the official duties for the Long Beach Marathon Training.

The paths of the 7:30 starters (us) met with the early 7 a.m. starters with two miles to go at the corner of 2^nd Street and Bayshore, and we were able to run together until the finish.

Other than some minor discomfort on my ankles, it didn’t seem like I aggravated them. But then, the pain usually comes much later. We’ll just have to wait and see how they feel in the next few days. My current stride isn’t working very well anymore so I’ll have to figure out a way to push off my feet without causing the ankle tendons to overstretch.

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Remiss In Blogging About Running

Darn! I haven’t written about running in more than a week already! Isn’t this supposed to be a running blog? I guess I’ll tell you about last Saturday mornings’ run then. Linda, Cindi, and I started out together. Would we do road intervals, fartlek, or a slow and steady jaunt? Well it turned out, neither of the three. With Linda having some knee problems and Cindi feeling tired from Black Friday, I was content on whatever they decided to do. So we did the four minute run and one minute walk Galloway training method for eight miles. The first mile and a half was pretty brisk, then we backed off because Linda’s knee wasn’t cooperating. We continued the process at a slower pace, or so we thought. I say this because it felt like we were slogging through the workout: my legs felt heavy, Linda’s knee was aching, and Cindi wasn’t feeling too hot either. Upon finishing the run and checking our average pace on the GPS watch, we were surprised to see that we ended up running 10:06 per mile. Believe me, it felt more like 10:30 to 10:40. I must have lost my perception of pace through the years. But then again, with the run/walk method, I find it more difficult to get a feel for my pace based on effort. But, it doesn’t matter, whatever takes us from point A to point B regardless of pace is good enough.

On a solo run/walk workout Monday morning, I managed to get the average pace down to 9:57 minutes per mile over six miles. My ankles protested afterwards and I had to ice them three times in a span of two hours when I got home.

We are expecting someone new to join us next Saturday. She found my blogpost last week on Facebook under the AREC Group and contacted me for info. We shall welcome her with open arms.

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Running Road Intervals on a Saturday Morning

I don’t know if our already small numbers are dwindling or some have branched off to other distances which are more suited for their racing goals. Since I don’t have any goals anything will do as long as I get to run with somebody. Today, I suggested road intervals starting with 10 minutes of warm up, then 2 minute pickups and 2 minutes recovery jogs until the finish. The leaders would run back to the last runners during the recovery jogs, then start the 2 minute hard intervals over again. That way, everyone can finish at the same time more or less, except the faster ones cover more distance. It didn’t quite work out that way because there were only two people doing the pickups and recoveries.

Considering that this time last year I was not even running due to tearing my right posterior tibialis tendon, being able to run today and even doing intervals is something I can appreciate very much. Interval training is tough but good for improving your aerobic capacity. I hope we were covering at least a quarter mile on the hard part. I’ve never done it before during the AREC summer workouts, so I’m just trying it out with other people who might want to do it. Remember last weekend we did a Fartlek workout the last half of the run. Today we were able to do 16 repeats of 2 minute pickups and 2 minute recovery jogs to finish 7.55 miles in 1 hour and 12 minutes.The total time seems slow but we did the hard part hard and the easy part really easy. If not for the others I would have done maybe 10 repeats by myself and not more than 12. It always helps to have a partner to do it with. Today, that partner was Cindy C. While we were doing the intervals, Linda and Tam were busy running their pace and catching up on the latest AREC happenings. How sweet it was to finish a hard workout without aggravating my ankles. We even almost caught up with a group who started 20 minutes before us. It was a good running day J

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Weight - More Than I Want It To Be

Well that did it! After several months of waking up below 120 pounds, Saturday night’s eating at the party finally caught up with me and brought my weight up a smidgen over 120. That’s what happens when you sit in a rocking chair for the better part of three hours watching boxing on TV. What to do about it? My usual calorie burn “equalizer” was not available for me today (Sunday) because I already ran yesterday and as you know, my ankles cannot tolerate running two days in a row anymore. I didn’t want to do the usual stationary bike, stairmaster, or rowing machine workouts because I felt the need for more variety. So what did I do? I combined them all. Four sets of five minutes each on the rowing machine, stairmaster, recumbent bike, and upright bike for a total of one hour and twenty minutes. Was it enough to counteract the overindulgence of last night? Probably not, but it’s good enough for today. Remember, small steps, but do something about it. Hopefully tomorrow I can catch up. It’s an “equalizer” day after all.

Update: I wrote this entry yesterday but I didn’t post it because I thought that three blog posts in a day was a little excessive. Well today is my “equalizer” day, but it seems like I won’t have to do too much of it because my weight has equalized on its own and gone back down to a smidgen under 120. So yesterday’s workout helped, along with more sensible eating. But the holidays await and eating sensibly becomes more of a challenge. Stay tuned…

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My So Called Non-racing Life

I’m not much for participating in races anymore. I just run for exercise. First, there is always a tendency to push harder during a race and my joints just can’t tolerate that. Second, it’s a matter of economics. Paying for race fees is what I consider living beyond my means. I would rather use the money to buy food than for racing. I don’t have ‘mad money’ to spend like I used to and I don’t want to work overtime to earn it like I did a few years ago. I stopped working extra days because I ended up paying more taxes for the extra income. There was one time in my life that I worked one full time and two part time jobs, holding three titles which all meant the same: behavior specialist, mental health worker, and substance abuse technician.

I used to drive all over Southern California to race almost every weekend and sometimes on both Saturday and Sunday. But then, I was younger, faster, uninjured, and had expendable cash to pay for the reasonable fees they had then, when they cost anywhere from $8.00 to $18.00 for the 5K or 10K on the day of the race (late entry). Nowadays it would be rare to find a race for less than $25.00, and that would be for early registration.

Regarding marathons and half marathons, I don’t like the idea of being required to go to the expo to pick up your race packet. I realize it’s a business strategy for the event since they can earn money renting space to vendors and they probably get a cut from the parking fees too. Besides, going to the expo is a waste of gasoline because you have to drive to the event on race day again. In the past, you can have your race packets mailed to you.

I wish some things are back to the way they used to be. I would probably participate in races more, now that I’ve been able to run longer using the run/walk technique. But I know it’s not going to happen.

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The Rowing Workout

On Monday afternoon, after waking up from my daytime sleep due to working nights over the weekend, I did a rowing workout on my imitation Concept II rowing machine. I don’t use that machine very often anymore and I was even considering giving it to my co-worker. I’m glad I didn’t because it gives me a good workout which doesn’t involve using my ankles, just the back, arms and thighs. I was able to do 40 minutes of rowing which is the longest amount of time I’ve ever done. To help pass the time, I watched a documentary called “Food, Inc.” By the time I finished rowing, I was almost halfway through the movie. The pace of my rowing was pretty steady except for the last 10 minutes when I did a few short pickups. That, and the length of time I rowed probably contributed to what I discovered the next day. There was a blister on my left ring finger. When I ran Tuesday morning, my legs felt a little heavy because they weren’t used to the unfamiliar stress I subjected them to the previous day. In the past, when I used the machine, it was as an adjunct to a short and easy run, back when I still ran every day. Or I used it as part of a cardio circuit training workout where I do a three or four repeats of five minutes each on the recumbent stationary bike, upright stationary bike, stairmaster, and rowing machine. That way, it breaks the monotony of doing just one type of exercise. It also helps if I’m watching a good action movie for distraction. On some past rowing workouts, I would do one minute pickups with one minute recoveries, somewhat like interval training. That way, the pulse rate increases during the pickups when I row a little bit faster. I was only aiming for 30 minutes of rowing on Monday but ended up with 40, so it was a good enough workout on a recovery day after having worked two 12 hour shifts over the weekend. The thing I like about rowing is that it’s a total body workout involving the lower and upper body. What I don’t like about it is that I can’t read while rowing.

What to do? Run, Walk, or Bike?

Today was supposed to be a run day but the past few days some aches and pains would crop up, like for example yesterday my left ankle started to hurt in a different way for no apparent reason. When I woke up I still hadn’t decided whether to try to run, walk, or ride the stationary bike. This morning the ankle felt ok but I still wasn’t sure so I thought I would just go with a one and a half hour walk. Then my neighbor asked me if I wasn’t running today so that gave me the impetus to at least try a run/walk workout and if that aggravated my left ankle than I’d just continue walking. I could feel discomfort at times but it didn’t get worse so I just kept on going until I finished six miles at a 10 minute pace for the combined run/walk. Hooray! I finally did a six mile run/walk! This is my longest since the marathon two weeks ago. The thing I like about this kind of workout is that I can still sometimes run with a full stride for four minutes and I could even attack some short hills which I like because it really challenges my aerobic capacity. At the same time the one minute breaks help my ankles recover which in turn enables me to run longer. It’s not quite as fast as the 12 mile run with Linda when we averaged 9:55 minutes per mile but then I started slowly today so I can get a better feel for my left ankle. Besides, it’s only been a couple of weeks after finishing the Long Beach Marathon. I don’t want the left ankle to become as bad as the right because if that happens then I wouldn’t be able to run anymore. There is still some room for improvement as far as the pace goes with the run/walk technique and that’s something to test in the near future. In the meantime, it’s still a recovery period for both the body and the mind.

The Experiment

The experiment: Training using the Galloway method

The subject: Yours truly

The location: Long Beach Street Laboratory

The test: The 2009 Long Beach Marathon

The result and conclusion: Read below

It was an experiment in which I was the sole specimen to be tested. At the start of Spring 2009, I began to step up my training by running with the Wrigley River Runners group when they started their Saturday morning sessions. This was after recovering (up to a certain point), from the inner ankle tendon tear that I suffered last October during the Long Beach Half Marathon. A couple of weeks before the Wrigley group wrapped up their Saturday training, I rejoined the ‘A Running Experience Club’ marathon and half marathon training group which I have been with since its inception six years ago. It was during the first 12 mile run of the AREC season that I experienced my highest high of the year when I managed to squeeze myself in between four vivacious women and finished the run with them. A few days later in mid-week, I experienced my lowest low when I tweaked the problematic ankle tendon and had to walk the following Saturday using trekking poles for balance and support.

It was then that the experiment of one began. For me to be able to keep on running, I felt the need to reinvent the way I train. It was sad to separate myself from the new friends I gained from the earlier weeks of training, but I had no other choice. I was resigned to having to run by myself, which I didn’t like too much because my purpose in coming back to this group year after year was to find people to run and pace with to make the miles go a little easier. See, my running friends? I have an ulterior motive after all and that is to use you to make me run better. But, it seemed like I was going to be back with my lonesome until I bumped into Linda one day in mid-run. I’ve known her for about four years but never ran with before except for brief periods along the course. Even though she had a different run to walk ratio, she was kind enough to stay with me that day with my four minute run to one minute walk ratio. Thus started my reinvention.

I used to do a 5:1 minute run to walk ratio occasionally in the past and a week after my trekking poles walk, I was able to do a 3:1 ratio, then increased it to 4:1 on that first day I ran with Linda. After a few days, I tried to go back up to 5:1 but in spite of running an extra minute each interval, my overall pace was slower. So I went back to 4:1 and it worked very well in the ensuing weeks that I trained with Linda, who decided to forego her usual 7:1 ratio.

Then Rick, whom I’ve known for three years, lent me his book “Born To Run”, part of which the author talks about reinventing his running due to chronic injuries not unlike mine. The book served as an inspiration to my own reinvention.

This brings us to the present time and the events of the past weekend. The marathon – a distance which I thought I would never be able to run again. After waffling back and forth the past three weeks, then with much encouragement from my AREC and other friends, I swapped my half marathon entry for the full marathon, knowing full well that in case something happens to my ankle during the race, there would be a lot of red-shirted medical personnel along the course. Linda also made me promise her that if I felt I could not continue, I would avail myself of the medical assistance. There was no need. I finished my 26^th marathon and my balky ankle and my reinvented self survived the experience. I’ve never been so happy finishing a ‘slow’ marathon as I am now!

So you may not have seen me with beakers, test tubes, and Petri dishes along the training and race course, but this experience was an experiment nonetheless, and one I can call a resounding success! Borrowing the phrase from a poster in my living room - “The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running”J. And my friends, although I was never fleet of foot, I found a way to keep on running.

A Little Bit of This and That Equals an Hour of Cardio

Thank goodness for foldable exercise equipment, otherwise I would be tripping all over them in the living room. I shouldn’t even call it a living room anymore because it looks more like an exercise torture chamber. I wonder where I can get second hand waterboarding equipment? Is that considered cardio? And does it fold?

Today, I couldn’t get started working out because I could not decide what to do. My left knee is hurting a bit and too much cycling makes it worse. Maybe a little bit of everything might help, so I unfolded the stairstepper and the rowing machine. Maybe ten minutes each on the stairstepper, recumbent bike, upright bike, and rowing machine, plus a twenty minute hill walk on the treadmill to round off an hour would do the trick. I ended up doing fifteen minutes on each of the machines except the treadmill so I still ended up finishing an hour. The hardest was the rowing machine because I haven’t used it since last year and ever since I was able to put the chain back on track, the tension has gotten tighter.

Today starts the last week of tapering before the marathon so I’m trying to save my legs as much as possible so I can make it to the starting line. The price of having overeaten at the baby shower yesterday is having to work out today on four different machines, but at least it didn’t make my knee pain any worse. That’s enough exercise for today.