Impromptu Run at Signal Hill

          For the past 3 years or so that I've been doing the Saturday morning walk at Signal Hill with the Long Beach and Palos Verdes Peninsula Walkers Meet Up group, I've either just walked the whole course, walked and ran it random intervals, walked with a 20 pound backpack, ran just the uphills, ran just the downhills, or ran just the flat portions. I even did a time trial walk last year which I wrote about here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/07/signal-hill-time-trial-walk.html.  But I never ever ran the whole course until last Saturday, April 12th.

          I don't know what got into me. At the spur of the moment I decided to try to run the whole 6 mile course that we normally walk. It must have been all the sitting around and eating all week that made me feel the need to do this. The conservative plan was to run at least the first 30 minutes regardless of what part of the course it might take me, then walk the rest of the way. Except 30 minutes turned into 35, which in turn got extended until I finally decided to just keep on going since I was getting close to the finish anyway. My guesstimates on how many minutes it would take me to climb the hills were pretty spot on, and the downhills and the flats were run at pretty much the same pace as the uphills since I can't really stretch out my stride anymore without injuring myself. Familiarity with the course helped a lot in the pacing. There were 6 major climbs on the course.

          I knew the course to be exactly 6 miles based on using my GPS watch several times in the past, but which I did not bring last Saturday. Nevertheless, when I finally clicked off my chronograph at the finish, I was surprised to see that it took me exactly 1 hour and 12 minutes which meant 12 minutes per mile. Not bad for a hilly course from an occasional runner. I knew for sure that I would pay for it the next day in the form of delayed onset muscle soreness (D.O.M.S.), but as I write this about 30 hours later, it hasn't happened. Perhaps because the pace was too slow and I wasn't bounding downhills which creates most of the muscle damage. Better still is that my bad ankles survived it.

          On that day when I was invited to a church to celebrate the 40th day memorial for a relative who passed away too soon, I dedicated this impromptu run since I wasn't able to make it to the 8 a.m. mass.

Other notes about walking at Signal Hill: A few weeks ago I went to Kmart to look at the 20 pound weight vest they were selling. It was too wide and thus too loose for my torso. I also felt that the small sand bags had the potential to be torn open down the line due to stress fatigue or perhaps continuous rubbing against the pockets they were inserted in. So, I finally placed the sand I bought from Home Depot weeks ago inside plastic bags reinforced with duct tape, and placed it in my backpack to substitute the 20 pound weight plate I usually carried in it. I walked with the group and felt slower than usual, so when I got home, I weighed the backpack on a bathroom scale and saw that it was 24 pounds. I felt every extra ounce of those 4 pounds while walking up and down Signal Hill. If that wasn't bad enough, the following week, while putting the backpack in the trunk of my car, I pinched a nerve on the right side of my trapezius muscle, which radiated down my chest. If it wasn't on the right side and didn't feel muscular, I would have thought I was having a heart attack because of the radiating pain. I may have to switch back to the weight plates and be more careful when I mount the backpack on my back next time.

          Feeling thankful for being able to run a hilly 6 miles :-)

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Running Alzheimer's or Amnesia?

          It would be too easy to say that the only thing that runs in me is my nose, nor can I say that I like my eggs runny since I don't eat eggs anymore. In the past month since I've become unemployed, I've had the runs, or rather, I started running again. Not very much - just a couple of times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus a walk/run at Signal Hill on Saturdays with the Long Beach Area Walking Club. The weekday runs only lasts between 30 and 45 minutes which are substitutes for indoor cycling the rest of the week. I'm able to try running again because even though I might overstretch my ankle tendons, I don't have to go to work and dodge potentially violent psychiatric patients. Here is what I found out: all the muscle memory from decades of running has developed Alzheimer's Disease or at the very least, amnesia. My body has forgotten how to run and it feels like I have tired legs all the time. You know - the way your legs feel the day after a very long run or a hard interval workout. When I was forced to stop running due to PTTD a few years ago, my aerobic capacity was way ahead of the slow pace my legs were capable of doing. Nowadays even when I force myself to run the slowest pace possible, it still makes me breathless and I don't seem to be able to get into a steady state anymore. Maybe if I run a couple more times a week, I might get my running legs back but twice is all that my muscles would allow due to my year long statin-induced muscle pain. I'm not sure whether it's only my muscles that can't go longer or if it is my brain that gets tired more quickly. The mental toughness I once had when training for marathons is also now gone. Am I complaining about losing muscle and mental endurance? It's certainly understandable for me to lament it, but since I wasn't expecting much, I'm pretty content on being able to do my 30 to 45 minutes of the slowest possible jogging that my body allows. I don't foresee myself running in races anymore or training with the AREC running club, but once in a while I might challenge myself with a very long walk like the birthday walks I do, or maybe in 2014, it might be a run/walk combination. In the meantime, I'll ride this running wave as long as I possibly can.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

The 5 Pound Difference

With Donna, the host. Photo courtesy of Jacqueline.

          For the second Saturday in a row, I walked at Signal Hill with the Long Beach Area Walking Club. (Last Saturdays post: Packing It At Signal Hill). Summer is gone and we had the smallest group since spring. Only three walkers showed up - Donna (the host), Jacqueline, and me. I was actually a few seconds late because my GPS watch took it's time connecting to with the satellite and I saw Donna starting off by herself.  A few steps down, we were joined by Jacqueline. She said she was wondering why I was leaning over and I showed her my backpack. The previous week, I had a 15 pound weight inside it and this time I added another 5 pounds. In a previous post, I mentioned that I considered the backpack with weights as "the equalizer" because it slowed me down enough so I can walk with the group. Well, I felt every single ounce of those extra 5 pounds because it made a huge difference in the effort I had to exert.

          Last Saturday's walk is one I would consider the hardest I've ever done, even harder than the 13 mile walk I did on my birthday. Going uphill was harder than running uphill without weights and with those 20 pounds, my pace was about three and a half minutes slower per miles compared to my fastest walk in Signal Hill without weights. Normally, I could cover 7.5 to 8 miles in an hour and 50 minutes. Last Saturday, I only reached 6.39 miles.

          Let's just say that after the walk my shoulders hurt, my lower back hurt, my bad ankles hurt, even my statin battered thighs hurt. At least I discovered  by accident that when the straps of the backpack rested on the bony part of my shoulders, they hurt less than when they rested on my trapezius. Three days later, my legs still haven't fully recovered.

Jacqueline and Donna

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

A Few Runs Weeks Apart + Packing It At Signal Hill

          Two runs two weeks apart. Not bad for someone who doesn't run anymore. The first time was for just 38 minutes carrying a backpack to and from the grocery store to pick up some fruits and vegetables. The second time  a couple of weeks later was to deposit a $4.50 refund check from Charter Internet. That lasted a little bit longer  at 50 whole minutes. But wait, there's more. Two days after the bank deposit, I ran to and from Fresh and Easy market to check out how much they increased the price of the cheap wine I usually buy there (no, there is no more 2 buck Big Kahuna). These runs happen to be a big deal for me nowadays not only because I actually ran but because they lasted longer than my self- imposed at least 30 minutes a day stationary bike workouts.

          Now that I don't have a job which happens to be in a somewhat dangerous field, perhaps I should attempt to run slightly more. I've had to curtail runs in recent years because I had to avoid the pain from my injuries, which would have physically impaired me from moving quickly enough if I had to defend myself against potentially violent psychiatric patients. For now, I don't have to worry about that since I'm jobless.

          To get out of the house, I went to Signal Hill for a walk with the Long Beach Area Walking Club last Saturday morning. There were only six of us who showed up but it was actually nice to be able to walk, talk, and breath somewhat heavily while on a walk with a group. How did I manage to accomplish it? By putting on the "equalizer". What is the equalizer you ask? It's just a plain backpack with a 15 pound weight in it. I've walked with it on a flat course before but it was the first time I tried it up and down Signal Hill with the walking club. It worked pretty well in slowing me down while still giving me an adequate workout, and enabling me to stay with the pack instead of walking way ahead at my own pace. Carrying the weight wasn't much of a problem other than the strain on the shoulders due to the backpack straps. And then offloading the pack after the walk, I was still hunched forward while walking as if the pack was still on my back. It was probably the first time during a walking workout that I got lost in conversation with others like it was when I was running with friends from my running club - AREC. Coincidentally, the woman I was talking with used to be a human resources manager and happened to know a little bit about Pacific Hospital. So for the hour and 50 minutes we walked together, that's what we talked about. Anyway, that's my new plan with the walking club -weigh myself down and start talking with the group. I may add another 5 pounds next time and hope the weights don't tear a hole in the bottom of my backpack.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Full Stride Moments

Recycled Pic From Several Weeks Ago

          This one is more than a week late because I didn't feel like writing anything due to health concerns going on with my family (Larry's Transplant and What Happened Next).
          Well, last week I was with the Long Beach Area Walking Club again at Signal Hill, a couple of weeks after I did the solo time trial (Signal Hill Time Trial Walk). This time I did my usual going ahead then coming back with the pack with no particular plan in mind. I ran short distances when I wanted to and walked to recover. There was more walking than running that day. I didn't even swing my arms vigorously during the recovery phases, and as I'll tell you later, that made a difference. For some reason, there were more Signal Hill police cars patrolling than usual. I also saw new sign in one of the trails saying the path was restricted due to people throwing rocks at the houses below. One of the other walkers also told me that boot camps were now banned so I didn't see any that day. There used to be at least 2 or 3 in the past that I've seen on Saturday mornings. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Signal Hill has a couple of radio antennas at it's peak and every time I approach the antennas, my FM radio would lose it's signal and all I get is white noise.
          Running nowadays consists of very short distances using very short steps which keeps the pain in my thighs from the statin myopathy under control. But last week, I saw some young whippersnappers running who looked like members of a high school cross country team, so I couldn't resist running with a full stride though still covering short distances, which felt really good. During those brief attempts at running hard, I was also running happy. All that walking and running back and forth enabled me to cover 8.5 miles in the time it took the rest of the group to cover 6 miles. Oh but those short and sweet full stride moments took their toll on my legs. My legs felt so tired and battered after those 8.5 miles and those full stride moments made for much longer recovery moments. It's been more than a week and I could still feel the soreness in my hips. At least the soreness didn't turn to pain.
          These past few weeks, I've been tracking my pace and I'm mystified by the inconsistencies. Let me bore you with the numbers. Last Saturday while walking and running, the average pace over 8.5 miles was 13:02. On those same hills, I covered 7 miles at 13:34 pace of plain walking during my time trial. Hmm, not much difference, right? A few weeks before that on flat terrain, my walking pace was 13:05 for 6 miles. Then there was that 11:25 pace walk/run on flat terrain for 9 miles with AREC, which was a whole lot better than the 11:32 pace I did during a 4 minute jog with 1 minute recovery walk I did a week and a half ago for 4 miles. So will I be correct to conclude that it is better to do random run/walks instead of timed intervals because I'm able to cover distances faster that way? To add to that, there is not much gain in pace while doing a run/walk up and down hills as compared to walking as fast as possible, although the running part stimulates the brain better. I find that faster arm swings make for faster walking. Well, no use being so anal retentive about it. I'll just walk or run as I feel no matter the pace.

Signal Hill Time Trial Walk

When I woke up early last Saturday morning (July 20^th), the question in my mind was: is it going to be a jog/walk with AREC (A Running Experience Club) for a mostly flat 6 to 10 miles, or with the Long Beach Area Walking Club for 6 miles up and down hills (5 major climbs)? With slightly sore thigh muscles from doing a short spinning workout the previous day, I decided it was going to be Signal Hill because I didn’t think I would be able to do a jog/walk workout. Believe me, my muscles get easily sore nowadays due to the cholesterol medication. Besides, since I’ve been using my GPS watch again, I wanted to find out how fast I could cover the course strictly by walking, and compare it to the flat walk with AREC a couple of months back in 13:05 minutes per mile pace over six miles. I’ve tried walking as fast as I can at Signal Hill before, but without the GPS watch, I wasn’t sure exactly what the distance was even though it was advertised as 6 miles. This time, equipped with the Garmin, I was all set to do a time trial. It was going to be one of those non-socializing days so I had to leave the rest of the group behind.

When I hit the first mile which included the steep Hill Street at 14:05, I knew it was going to be a fast walk if I could keep it up all the way. So I kept on pushing which made it feel  just as tough walking as fast as possible uphill as it was running. When I was gasping for breath during the steep climbs, I exhorted myself to push more and go faster. I don’t know if I actually went faster, but at least I put in the effort. And when I crested the hill, I tried my best to follow through and keep the pace up. So on it went on the roller coaster terrain of Signal Hill with me slowing slightly on the dirt trails for fear of slipping, then picking it up again on the pavement.

                

          At the pace I was going, I wondered  if I could catch up with the tail end of the walking group in one of the loops. Was I hoping to lap somebody? It was in the back of my mind but wasn't expecting it, however with 1 mile to go for me, I caught up with 3 people and a dog who had 2 miles to go and passed them. When I was almost at the 6 mile point, instead of turning right towards where the finish was, I turned left merely because I was curious to see where a certain street (Combellack) led to before turning back. Thus I was able to extend my walk another mile. When I hit 7 miles, I clicked off the GPS watch and checked my average pace. It was 13:34 minutes per mile. My goodness, that’s only a difference of 29 seconds per mile compared to my fastest pace on a flat course! How exhilarating to be able to walk that fast on a hilly course. My time for the 7 mile distance was exactly 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Since this was a time trial, does that mean I’m going to do it again in a few weeks to see if my walking fitness level has improved? Frankly, I don’t know if I can walk any faster than that, but I guess we shall see down the line if the spirit moves me again to try it.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Signal Hill Walk/Jog – June 29, 2013

I had plenty of time to kill before going to my Uncle’s 75^th birthday party so I joined the Long Beach Walking Club for their Signal Hill 900 calorie burn walk on Saturday. It doesn’t even come close to that calorie burn of course. Last time I used my GPS watch, it estimated my calorie burn to be only in the 400 range, while another walker’s Runkeeper app, estimated expenditure to be about 600, but then she was taller and heavier.

I woke up with a weight of 115.8 pounds so there was no need for me to workout too hard especially with the heat wave that day. I thought I might just walk with the group easily throughout the 6 mile course. That didn’t go as planned because as soon as we hit the first hill just 100 meters from the start, I felt the need to huff and puff so I could get high. A young kid of about 15 ahead of me was bounding up Hill Street while I shuffled along keeping as steady a pace as possible that would bring me over the top. It worked! I’ll leave the bounding to the young whipper snapper. As I mentioned before, I had time to kill since the party wasn’t until 1 p.m. so I backtracked to the group and walked uphill with them. Oh, I forgot to mention that the group was larger than usual – there were at least 10 of us. That was the most people I’ve walked with at Signal Hill ever since I joined them 3 years ago. There was this one lady who asked me if I was Filipino, then she mentioned that her kids are half Filipino. She also asked me why I was walking so fast and I told her that I was pre-burning my calories in anticipation of the overeating of Filipino food later at the party. She asked me if I was planning on eating a whole lechon (roast pork). Due to my cholesterol problems, I couldn’t do that anymore (not that I can eat a whole pig).

So back to the walk. I did what I usually do with the group which is walk ahead of them, then do short jogs on the uphills, then walk back to the group, which increased my distance more than the measured 6 miles, my workout time, and of course the calorie burn. Because it was a hot day, it was the first time ever that I wore a tanktop while working out with this group. On one of the slight downhill portions, I was walking at my fastest pace and almost caught up with a man who was jogging. If he didn’t make a right turn, I would have. At another flat portion, I convinced a couple of the women to jog with me for a couple of minutes and then one of them on an uphill portion. And so it went until the group arrived at the end of 6 miles having covered the distance in about 2 hours. In that same amount of time, I covered about 8 ½ miles walking and jogging with all the back and forth I did.

Remember I said I woke up with a weight of 115.8 pounds? When I rechecked it post workout, I was down to 111.8 pounds. Whoa, that’s a little too much fluid loss. It must have been the hot day that caused that 4 pound loss. I hydrated and replenished my lost fluids over the next couple of hours.

Still, I had about 3 more hours to kill before the party so aside from rehyhdrating, I also lifted some weights while I finished reading the day’s newspaper. After pre-burning the calories and starving myself for so long, it was time to go to the party and commit the sin of gluttony. Oops, I meant so I can replenish my glycogen and protein stores.The fare: palabok, sisig, empanada, lumpia shanghai, crabs in coconut milk, chicken salad, beefsteak, baked Alaska, kulma, pizza, leche flan, cheesecake, and ube birthday cake. I confess to almighty God that I committed gluttony. I hope the 2 hour walk/jog beforehand was enough for my penance.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

A Warmer Signal Hill Walk

         What, you may ask, does a picture of a sandwich have anything to do with a walking workout? Read on and you shall soon find out.
          On Saturday, January 19th, a week after my frozen fingers/insomnia walk at Signal Hill with the Long Beach Area Walking Club, I joined them again, but this time with a little bit more sleep and 10 degrees or so warmer. The cold wave that descended upon Southern California in the past week when early mornings hit mid-30 degrees, had finally abated. As I mentioned in my post last week, I had three layers of clothing: a thin base layer, a technical fleece layer, and a mid-weight jacket, plus cotton gloves. Last Saturday, I only needed the base layer, jacket and gloves.
          I got to the location earlier than usual and managed to put in a 25 minute warm up. Then I started the scheduled walk with three other members. Someone new came a little late but she caught up with the group at the top of the first hill. I did my usual advancing ahead then retreating, and (gasp!), I even did a little bit of running. My excuse for that is because I had to burn off the footlong sandwich from Subway I ate the previous day. Based on news items the past few days, it may have only been an 11 inch sandwich. I wonder how many calories that missing 1 inch is? I don't usually eat there, but someone gave me a Subway gift card for Christmas and I had to use it somehow.
          So with all the dipsy do's, short jogging attempts, and the slightly warmer weather, my gloves were off and jacket half zipped by the time we hit midpoint on the course. I was able to walk/jog another hour and 35 minutes with the club for a total of 2:05 which was 5 minutes longer than the previous week.Despite the cold, I lost three and a half pounds of sweat, which was hard to believe. Heck, I haven't lost that much fluids in a very long time during a workout! I must have really put in a good effort to incinerate that Subway footlong/11 inch chipotle chicken sandwich. Maybe next time I'll just have the 5 1/2 inch sub so I don't have to work so hard.
          Last Saturday, I didn't avoid the dirt trail near the end. Instead, I jogged that portion of the course because I felt that I was more unlikely to slip when jogging than trying to walk fast on the dirt and gravel. Because of the effort I put in, I took the next day off and walked easily for an hour to and from the grocery store to buy some jalapeno peppers. Peppers - now that's one way to keep you warm...if only in the mouth.

Walking Workouts of an Insomniac Post Myopathy - Part 2

          Two days after my pre-dawn walk to and from Walmart, I unintentionally awoke early again Saturday morning and decided to show up at Signal Hill to walk with the Long Beach Walking Club Meet-up group. I haven't joined them in a couple of months because it was there where I slipped on some gravel and pulled a left thigh muscle. Well, the walk wasn't scheduled till 7 a.m. so I drove to Von's first to buy some tissues which were on sale for 78 cents a box (limit 2), and second, to Food 4 Less to buy some bread. I still arrived 20 minutes early at Signal Hill which was enough time to do a 15 minute warm up. Oh boy, did I need to warm up because it was chillier than it was on Thursday. I had three layers of clothes: a thin base layer, a fleece layer, and a mid-weight jacket, to go with my track pants and gloves. In retrospect, I should have worn a beanie too. When I returned from my warm up, there were two people waiting there and another getting out of her car. It was a very sparse group and probably due to the colder than usual weather. How cold could it really have been? Well, it was so cold that when I talked, I was slurring my words as if I was having a stroke and my hands felt so numb except for my right thumb which was actually painful.
          As we started and headed up the first hill, everyone was ambling along and socializing, which didn't help to get me any warmer, so I took off. This time, I had my radio to keep me company during my alone time. As usual, I backtracked several times so I could stay relatively close to the group while also increasing the duration and distance of my workout. After all those weeks of recovering from the Lipitor induced myopathy, I had lost some aerobic conditioning despite all the indoor cycling workouts. The uphill climbs felt like I was doing all out 400 meter intervals on the track and left me in oxygen debt. In the past, I would carry over the quick leg turnover after I crested the hill, but this time, I had to recover for a couple of hundred feet before I could pick up the pace again.
          The group altered the course slightly on this day so my backtracking enabled me to find out which part to eliminate and to add. They eliminated the dirt path and used the steeper climb of Skyline Drive instead, which made for a tougher workout but slightly shorter than the original route of six miles. That didn't matter much to me because I didn't bring my GPS watch and my plan was to walk at least an hour and a half, not including the 15 minute warm up. With all the backtracking I did plus an extra hill at the end, my total workout time was two hours, which based on previous walks up and down those hills, probably covered slightly more than 8 miles.
          You know what? With my early morning awakenings or at times barely sleeping at all, I would rather have walked on my treadmill because it has been really cold outdoors. But out of respect for my neighbors beside and below my apartment, not wanting to bother them with my noise, it was better to face the elements outdoors. I wish I could say that I ran outdoors instead, but that kind of workout is not in the cards right now. I can tell you though that I've jogged a few times on the treadmill recently, but I don't feel ready to try it on the harder pavement while I continue to recovery from the myopathy caused by Lipitor.

Return To Work and Workmen’s Compensation

It was back to the asylum this weekend

Just as my body was adjusting to reporting for work on the day shift (albeit sitting in a classroom for days), the occupational health doctor, the third different one I’ve seen in the three times I went to that clinic, took me off modified duty and returned me to full duty.

Well, it’s back to the old grind for me this weekend. As I reported for work Saturday night, I felt a slight apprehension, but as soon as I started doing the routine stuff, it was as if I wasn’t gone for almost two weeks. I guess the doctor was right. I was getting better despite the headaches. The problem with taking so many nights off from work was that I had to catch up with making chart packs for new admissions since others can’t seem to find the initiative to pick up the slack when I’m gone. Same thing happened when I left for the Philippines. Oh well, at least it’s good to know that they still need me for something.

Before I went to work Saturday night, I was back in Signal Hill that morning walking with the Long Beach Walking Club. I was in for a surprise. There were actually five of us with similar paces instead of just Cheryl and I. We were joined by Kelly, Kristy, and Victoria. Finally, a pack of sub 15 minutes per mile walkers. I managed to do some running too, doing so on all the uphills, while walking the downhills and the flats with the rest of the group. I ended up with an extra half mile with all the backtracking I did to stay with the pack. It made for a great workout for me because I was able to run short distances. According to my exercise log, the last time I ran was on October 4^th (40 minutes) and prior to that it was in September while I was still in Zamboanga (30 minutes). See, that’s how irregular running has been for me that I don’t consider myself a runner anymore. My butt and hips were actually sore after all that running uphill. Running and working made for a good weekend.

                And then there are these workmen’s compensation forms I have to fill out. They are asking me about my medical history for the past five years, where I was treated, and what the diagnoses were. Another portion was asking to list whatever disabilities I had the last five years, and another asking for how many miles I traveled for treatment of my present injury, so I can be (hopefully) reimbursed for it. The form didn’t say how much they are paying per mile though or if it included just my trips to the doctor's clinic, or it also counts my trips to the modified duty classes. I included both. After trying my best to remember the purpose of my doctor’s visit for the last five years, I mailed the forms back. I guess I have to prove to them that my head injury is not a preexisting condition. Hopefully, I gave the correct responses. If not, I’m sure I’ll hear from the claims adjuster.

                Boring stuff, I know…well, except for the walking and running J

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Long Beach Walking Club Pre and Post Zamboanga

Stanley Avenue hill with 13% incline

The week before I left for the Philippines, I joined the Long Beach Walking Club workout in Signal Hill. If you have followed this blog, you would know that I have walked with this group a few times before. There were a few more participants than usual and that was a pleasant surprise. As I was wont to do, I went ahead of everybody going up hills then returned to the pack afterwards. In the last couple of flat miles, I noticed this woman who was walking as fast as I was. I haven't met anyone in that club who could match my pace until that day. Since the walk was almost ending, we were only able to talk briefly, and this included learning that she originally came from Guyana. I know, I know, the only thing most people know about Guyana is that that's where Jim Jones killed his religious followers decades ago. I don't care to go into details so you could just please Google or Bing Jim Jones and Guyana, if you are interested to know about that infamous incident.

Fast forward to October 13, 2012 which I showed up for the walk again after having been gone for several weeks. Since the last time, I had been to the Philippines, seen my mother in her last days, buried her, came back to the U.S., only to be assaulted at work by a patient. Anyway, I seem to have digressed.

There were the usual walkers plus a couple of new ones I never met before. Also present was Cheryl, the one from Guyana who had a similar walking pace as I did. Wonderful! Now I'm really going to get a good workout with added company. We left the pack before the first mile except for Laura and her dog. She happens to be an AREC member but we didn't know each other. I've only seen her name mentioned before at AREC. So I quickly introduced myself and kept on walking. When we hit the first major hill, Cheryl told me go ahead and she would catch up with me on the downhills and flats. Not willing to lose her company, I rejoined her after cresting the hill. She did not go up on what we call Bonus Hill but she waited for me at the base. I was so thankful for that because that was the part of the course which I still haven't burned in my memory. We resumed walking together after I descended Bonus Hill. By this time Laura and her dog had gone ahead since she didn't do the extra hill either. And so it went - Cheryl would let me go ahead on the uphill portions then I would pace with her on the flats, which I estimated to be about 14:30 per mile pace. Cheryl and I talked about my recent trip to the Philippines and she told me about how her mother died a few years ago in Guyana. She moved to California recently after living in Maryland for a few years. We joked about her not responding to a jury summons from Maryland and that she may now be considered a fugitive, never able to return to that state again because U.S. Marshalls may be waiting for her at the airport. From what I gathered and I hope I'm not mistaken, she is a representative of a nutritional products company.

Anyway, we finished the walk way ahead of the pack and exchanged email addresses. She wanted to send me a You Tube link about high cholesterol and other alternative health information. While she waited for the others, I walked a few hundred feet to the very well known Rossmoor Bakery to check out their goodies. Nothing caught my fancy so I didn't buy anything. When I returned to my car and drove away, Cheryl was still waiting for the other walkers. My goodness, we must have set a really fast pace compared to the rest. Cheryl mentioned in an email later that she must have waited another 15 minutes or so before the others finished. She didn't have a choice because she hitched a ride from one of the other walkers and needed a ride back home.

By the way folks, the purported 900 calorie burn advertised for this Meet Up workout is grossly overblown so please refrain from overdoing the calorie replacement afterwards. Also, it's a wee bit short of the supposed 6 miles, but not by much. Maybe not more than a quarter mile lesser.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Sick, Tired, Warmer, Faster

Those are the words I’m using to describe my walk at Signal Hill with the Long Beach Area Walking Club on Saturday morning (April 28) where seven of us showed up if you count Tiger, a boxer dog.

 First – Sick. I have a developing cold and a very sore throat which started last Thursday. I predict it would become a hacking cough in a few days if I base it on my previous history with colds.

 Second – Tired. Because of my sore throat, I haven’t slept well the past three nights. I’ve been waking up between 1:30 and 4:30 a.m. and had been restless in bed unable to return to a fitful sleep.

 Third – Warmer. Saturday morning was a lot warmer than the previous times I’ve walked with the club. I usually wear a thicker fleece base layer underneath a nylon jacket, but on Saturday only a polyester base layer was necessary. If I didn’t have so many things in my jacket pockets, I wouldn’t have needed it, but since I didn’t bring a waist pack for my accessories (cell phone, keys, ID, cough drops, HD radio), I had to keep the jacket on.

 Fourth – Faster. Despite the three aforementioned disadvantages and even though my perceived effort belied it, I actually walked at a faster pace than I did a few weeks ago which I related in this post: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2012/04/pushing-pace-at-signal-hill.html.

Like with my last walk with the club, I proceeded at my own pace. It seems like I finally figured out the route after all this time, since I didn’t have to wait too much for the rest of the group to guide me. I still had to do a few dipsy doodles on the course so they could catch up with me, hence I covered more distance. Because of the warm weather, I finally could feel perspiration dripping off my brow and couldn’t use the excuse of misty air like I did last time. On the uphills, it felt like I was doing intervals on the track again, though at a much slower stride rate. Man, was I out of breath. Four weeks ago, I mentioned that I passed an older woman running uphill. This week, a man running downhill passed me but when we turned a corner going uphill, I caught up with him, passed, and left him behind. By the time I reached the apex, he was about 50 yards behind me. Too bad though, because even though I can maintain a good cadence walking uphill, I seem to be unable to move my feet any faster downhill or on the flats.

 So here’s a comparison I’m going to make between running and brisk walking: if I felt sick, tired, and hot during a run, I would certainly slow down. With walking, I went faster. Go figure.

 Four weeks ago when I started walking at the beat of my own drummer, my pace was 14:38, on Saturday it was 14:30. It’s not like I do a lot of walking workouts much less on hills other than the treadmill, so for me, those results are quite good. It still shocks me when I pass runners going uphill. Still, I envy them because they are running.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

Pushing The Pace At Signal Hill

Another view from the top on a cloudy and misty day. Yes folks, there are still oil derricks in Signal Hill.

          Oh my, I just lost what I was typing because the Polaris word processor on my Asus tablet PC crashed :(  Oh well, I'll have to start all over.
          Last Saturday morning, even though my ankles were still sore from the 30 minute treadmill run I did three days before, I showed up for the 6 mile Signal Hill walk led by Donna of the Long Beach Walking Club. There were 12 people signed up on their website. Five of those cancelled ahead of time, one at the last minute, and there we three no shows. I was too ashamed to be a no show regardless of my ankle problems. I was slightly disappointed when only four of us showed up because I wanted to walk with more people, especially when one of them indicated that she could run at a pace of 10 minutes per mile. I was hoping maybe we could walk together at a faster pace. Well, so much for that hope.
          Before we started, Donna asked me if I had been running more because she had seen me running up the hills in our previous walks. I told her that those few minutes at a time were all that my ankles could tolerate. Little did she know that it takes several days up to more than a week for my ankle tendons to recover after those short attempts at running. Heck, even just walking long distances make my ankles hurt.
          Last Saturday, I was determined to walk the whole route at my own pace and not run a single step. As in previous walks with this group, I would walk ahead then come back to them but this time, I didn't hang around to chitchat but kept my pace up. Donna altered the course a little bit at the start and I wasn't familiar with the first half mile that was added. Once we were past that and into familiar territory, I took the lead. I was really working the uphills hard but even with the effort I didn't feel a hint of sweat on my forehead until close to three miles due to the cold morning air which started in the 50's. It was also misty. On a second thought, maybe it wasn't sweat on my forehead but mist from the air. At three miles, I was still slightly over 15 minutes per mile. I was surprised at having hunger pangs during that walk because that hardly ever happens when I'm working out. A couple of times, my ankles were really hurting especially on the downhills,  which was like adding insult to injury. Thankfully, it worked itself out. I was actually walking faster on the uphills and even passed a woman who was running up one of them. I'm sure she would have spanked or chicked me on the downhills. But you know what? I would seriously trade places with her if only I could run again.
          And so it went - up and down hills on my own terms and at my own pace (which felt darn good). By the time we reached the end, I had covered 8.2 miles to my companions' 6.5 miles in two hours. My pace was 14:38 per mile on the hilly course - not bad for someone who doesn't do too many walking workouts. I just wish that I could find someone to walk my pace. That's the difference between the running club and the walking club. In the running club, it's easier to find someone to pace with from 6 minutes per mile all the way to 13 minutes per mile (not that I ever ran 6 minutes per mile).
          Upon arriving home, I Motrinized myself, applied capsaicin ointment on the ankles, then put on some supportive braces. I very, very seldom take Motrin or any other pain reliever. It seemed to work well this time. Pretty soon after that, I finally got relief from the hunger pangs with lunch.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!

The Unplanned Signal Hill Workout

Last Saturday morning, I hadn’t planned on working out with the Long Beach Area Walking Club. I had set my alarm for 7 a.m. as usual but was already awake at 5:15, so instead of trying to go back to sleep, I thought I might just show up for the Signal Hill 6 mile walk even though I didn’t RSVP for it. The usual company was there: Donna, Michelle, Paul, Tiger (the boxer dog), Jennifer and her Malaysian roommate, Evelyn. Upon approaching the first long hill, I stepped up my pace and Donna cajoled me saying “this is not a running club!”. She had anticipated that I was going to run up the hills again and she was right. Paul yelled “show off”, and I responded that I was cold and needed to get warm. Michelle then said “that’s because you don’t have any body fat”. I could have started laughing then, but I could only hear myself gasping for breath. Believe me, it doesn’t take very much for me to go anaerobic while running nowadays. Of course even when you are running very slowly up hills, you could still easily go anaerobic. About three quarters of the way up that hill, I wanted to walk the rest of the way, but because I didn’t want to shame myself to the rest of the group, I let muscle memory and previously learned tenacity take over and pushed on till I reached the top. That hill felt longer but when I checked my watch, it only lasted about 3 ½ minutes. Well, ok, technically I don’t really run anymore, but short distances like that, I am still able to do even on tough hills. And so it went for the whole 6 mile workout. Run up all the hills and walk the downhills with the rest of the group. By the way, this was a faster group than the one I walked with a few weeks ago because we finished in about 1:45 instead of 2 hours. My goodness, that’s about 2 ½ minutes per mile faster!

Well, 6 miles might have been the official end to the workout (which ended up 6 ½ for me because of the running and going back to the group to walk with them), but not for me. When they turned left to go back to their cars, I turned right and started jogging up the steepest (but fortunately short) incline of Signal Hill and kept my walk/run going for another 2 ½ miles. I certainly didn’t expect to cover 9 miles that day but when it was all said and done, I was happy that I was still able to do it. Heck, I haven’t walked or ran more than 6 miles since last summer.

I want to apologize again to my co-walkers for running a little bit during our workout. I do appreciate your company very much and that’s why I joined your meet up club. I cannot run with a running group because they run continuously for miles and miles which I couldn’t do anymore. Short bursts is all I can now and I needed those short efforts to trigger my endorphins. Besides, I had to burn the calories from the extra meal that I ate the previous night.

Other notes about that walk -There were stairs on some of the trails of Signal Hill but it was difficult running up and down them because they were too long for one stride and too short for two strides.

-I love the feeling of gasping and being out of breath and running up those hills took care of that. God, I miss that feeling which used to sustain me mentally every day for years! With cycling, I have to be content with a lower level of sustenance.

- The aftermath of the infrequent hill running - my back has been hurting from leaning into the hill while climbing.

-2:13:12 for 9 miles of mostly walking interspersed with uphill running. I’ve walked faster than that on flat terrain.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!