Not Reaching Marathon Potential and Why?

I’m wondering why some people whom I’ve trained with in the past are not getting their sub 4’s or even sub 5’s yet. Meaning, they haven’t gone below 4 hours or 5 hours in finishing a marathon even when they have the potential for doing so. During training, they appear to have the capacity to do so based on their pace during long runs. But this has not translated accordingly during the marathon race. Why is that? Granted, a marathon is a different beast altogether after 20 miles and those who slow down the least at that point till the finish are rewarded with better times. Maybe they started out too fast in an effort to make up for whatever minutes they anticipated to lose in the last quarter of the race. That a common marathoning mistake and it doesn’t usually work and believe me, I’ve tried it. Some people just leave their race in training and that means that they’ve trained so well that they have nothing much left to give during the race when it counts most. For those aiming for a realistic finishing time, here is a tip based on experience:  you have to be really obsessive/compulsive in hitting your marks or splits. Click your watch every mile to see how long you covered it, then relax if it’s faster than planned, maintain if you are feeling ok, or pick up the pace on the next mile if you were slow on the previous one (like the March Hare saying “I’m late, I’m late”). Every marathon is different of course, and it depends on what kind of day you are having, but if you trained properly, your body should know what pace feels like, unless of course you went out too fast or tried to overreach beyond (my goodness, what bad grammar!) your aerobic capacity. That’s why I used the word “realistic” earlier. Ask the more experienced racers in your running group. Is the goal time too high than the training indicates? You can also look up on the internet what your realistic finishing times are based on your current level of conditioning and your race times in shorter distances. My best marathons resulted from a different plan.  With a que sera sera attitude, I went out with no time goal in mind other than to just finish. What will be, will be, regardless of how long it will take me to get to the finish line. What usually happened was I got there faster than I thought I was capable.

Well, nobody ever said that marathoning is an exact science despite all the information you can find on the internet about how to run one. Pretty soon people will learn what works or doesn’t work for them, and that itself is the challenge. You are an experiment of one.

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My New Spinning Bike

Oh no! Not another exercise machine! In the quest for another endorphin producing activity as a substitute to running, another workout device appeared in my living room last week. I’ve always wanted to get a spinning bike even before I wanted a treadmill and elliptical machine. More than a decade ago, I used an old bike mounted on what used to be called a turbo trainer, but I had since disposed of that.  Until this year, the prices of spinning bikes were not within the range of my meager income and strict budget, with the cheapest one at $600. That was even down from over $1000 maybe just 5 years ago. In the past year, with the popularity of spinning classes in gyms, the imitators have finally caught up and started manufacturing cheaper spinning bikes for home use. When the lowest price Proform brand bike went down to $299 a couple of months ago, it piqued my interest in buying one but couldn’t at that time because I had to send some money to my mom in the Philippines for her birthday. After that, I started shopping around. The Sports Authority store had it on sale for $299 last week, but with the sales tax and shipping charges, that would have brought the price close to $400. Meanwhile on Amazon.com, the base price was the same but without the extra charges, so I ordered one last Monday and it arrived on Friday morning. Amazon.com was able to get the product to me pretty fast because it was available at their Los Angeles distribution warehouse. Normally, with free shipping, it would have taken a couple of weeks.

So I was helping the delivery guy carry the 112 pound box up the stairs and to keep it steady, I had the left side of my face supporting the box while I lifted with my arms.  Well, when he pulled from above and I pushed from below, the box scratched my right temple drawing blood and bent my eyeglass frame. So now you can call me Scarface and I can also say that the machine cost me money and blood. All that was missing was spilled guts.

Exercise machines should be made this way: mostly preassembled at the factory so it’s easier to put together the rest at home. All I needed to do was attach the front and back base, pedals, handlebars, seat post, and seat to the main frame and flywheel. After that, it was just a matter of making adjustments to fit me. Even out of the box this machine is so darn heavy. My back still felt tired, though fortunately not strained, three days after helping the delivery guy and moving the machine around.

So what did I do to the old upright stationary bike? I considered offering it for free to any neighbor who might be interested or selling it. But since I had stripped it down to the bare necessities, I didn’t think anyone would want it. I moved it to the garage instead and wrapped it in plastic. What I couldn’t do with the old bike was stand ups on the pedals because the handlebars were too high and it felt unbalanced. Now I can do stand ups on the spinning bike. I was able to transfer the old magazine/book holder from the old bike to the new one by replacing the plastic ties that secure it to the handlebars. I have a bunch of plastic ties that I bought years ago from the 99 cent store (the kind the cops use for disposable handcuffs).

                On Sunday, while my friends were running the Long Beach Marathon or half, I was at home trying out my new spinning bike. After warming up and getting a feel for it, I started doing one minute stand ups, which increased the intensity and subsequent calorie burn of the workout. I did a few stand ups and recoveries until I reached one hour. This machine really makes me sweat! I’ve never gotten my tops of my socks wet while riding a bike until now. The next day, I was planning on running but my right calf was still slightly sore from Saturday’s run, so I mounted the spinning bike again. During the one hour workout, I was able to do several repeats of 2 minute stand ups. I’m already loving my new spinning bike! The workouts are exhausting. Spilled sweat, yes, but no spilled guts… yet.

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TLC for the PYT and other work stuff

Tender Loving Care for the Pretty Young Thing -that’s what I call it, and why? I have a co-worker who constantly gives special attention to the pretty young women patients that we admit to our unit. If perchance he is the one who has to take care of the admission paperwork, he takes his good old time doing it because he asks probing questions on the patient’s personal life, even though that’s not his job. But if by chance he gets a homely or older patient, he finishes the admission paperwork in much lesser time. All his co-workers notice this and kid him about it but it doesn’t change anything because he continues to do it shamelessly. He doesn’t seem to care that there is a perception of impropriety in his actions, and his excuse is that he is married and what he’s doing doesn’t mean anything. Methinks he misses the point of the “perception of impropriety”.

Printer problems at work – the other weekend, the computers on our unit were having difficulty connecting with the network printer in the nurse’s station. Sometimes it would print after we turn it off and on but most of the time it would just sit idle and not do anything. We used to have the option of using another network printer but the applications we were using could not locate that printer. I tried to work around the problem by emailing the document I was editing to myself, then accessing my email from a different computer. When I opened the email, I had the option to download the document or open it in a browser running Microsoft Word Online. Downloading the document wouldn’t have helped because the computer I was on didn’t have a word processor. When I opened the document in the browser and clicked print, the missing printer showed up and thus, I was able to print the document. The workaround did the job! The next day we were able to add the printer to the list of options by finding out its network name. Unfortunately, this has to be done for every individual user who logs on to the network. I only did it for myself and my charge nurse. The others would have to rely on the IT department. Isn’t it nice to have a little knowledge of how computers, the internet, and networks work? Who was it who said “a little knowledge is dangerous”?

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The Evolution of Virgin Mobile Phones

It’s time to revisit and update my post on The Evolution of Virgin Mobile Phones and why it’s getting so many hits on my blog. Truthfully, I don’t still don’t know the reason for that. I surmise that people may be doing a search for exactly the same phrase and since that was the title of that post and one it’s tags too, then maybe search engines pick it up and show it as one of the results. VM has come up with more phones since my original post last June, hence I felt the need to add a part 2.

 

 I failed to mention that Virgin Mobile also has a Blackberry Curve now as well as a Blackberry lookalike called the Kyocera Loft ($69). The keyboards of both look similar. However, only the LG Rumor Touch has a touch screen, in addition to a slide out keyboard. 

 In technology news this past week, Apple will be making IPhones for Verizon’s CDMA networks. Virgin Mobile uses that type of network so it’s plausible that they could get the IPhone in the near future, but I don’t see that happening until about two years from now. That’s about how long it will take for Virgin Mobile will have to catch up to the latest technology. Heck, I don’t even get consistent email updates on my LG Rumor Touch phone. Sometimes I get my email but most of the time I don’t. I have to manually sync it and even that doesn’t connect most of the time. Not that I’m complaining because I hardly use the phone for calls, text messages or email anyway. So far I’ve resisted the urge to install the Facebook Mobile app on my phone. I don’t know if VM’s Blackberry does any better with email and I’m not willing to shell out $299 for that device just to find out. By the way, I did send an email to Virgin Mobile asking why I don’t get my mail consistently. They responded that it was because I was on a prepaid plan and not on their unlimited data plan. Fair enough.

Well, let’s see if this post gets more hits and hopefully those who stumble upon it will also click on the ads so I can earn a few cents. Thanks in advance. And no, Virgin Mobile doesn’t pay me to mention their phones on this blog.

This just in: Virgin Mobile introduces the Samsung Intercept for $249.99. Android apps are available with this phone. 

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Reverting To Old Habits

I've been holding off posting this for more than a month now because there were other things going on, but here's my take and inquiry into losing and regaining weight after crash dieting.

Last year, some of the day shift nurses had a competition on who can lose the most weight within a certain amount of time, like the TV show The Biggest Loser except without nutritionists and personal trainers. The contestants contributed money in a pot and whoever lost the most weight would claim the winnings. The nurse who won the contest lost more than 40 pounds mostly by dieting. I never heard this nurse mention anything about exercise. As an outside observer, I noticed that he/she kept the weight off for many months. However, recently, it seems like he/she has been regaining some of the lost weight. During the competition, this nurse followed a low calorie diet fastidiously and was able to do so for several months after winning, but recently, it appears that she has reverted to her former pre-competition eating habits, like eating goodies that people bring in to work which she didn’t partake of during and immediately after the contest. This made me wonder if majority of people who initially succeeded in losing weight eventually regained it or even added more. I’m pretty sure there has been research done about that already but I’m just not up to looking it up at the moment. This also reminds me of one of the actresses who played a nurse on the TV show ER. She had gastric bypass surgery and lost a lot of weight. I stopped watching ER for a couple of years and one time when I happened to glance at the show in its last year, the actress had regained a lot of weight. Look at Randy Jackson, one of the judges on American Idol. He had a similar procedure, lost some weight, but he doesn’t look so different now than he did before he had the surgery. Another nurse went on a strict diet where she can eat only certain kinds of food at a particular time of the day. She initially lost weight but now I noticed that the puffiness in her cheeks is back. I’ve observed her eating between her supposedly strictly scheduled meal times. This leads me to believe that people can initially succeed in losing weight through crash diets and surgery, but they cannot get away from their previous eating behaviors for too long, and thus gain some if not most of the weight back. While I have never been overweight in my life, please believe me when I say that staying the way I am physically takes a lot of hard work. The discipline to keep it up is tough but doable, however it takes tenacity and a lifestyle change. I’m guessing that people who eventually backslid to their bad habits discounted exercise as an important factor in maintaining what they achieved through dieting and surgery. But that’s just my opinion and I could be wrong. I’m not a calorie counter but in the end, it all boils down to that, whether one likes it or not.

It’s hard to crash diet for a couple of months, but it’s even harder to maintain the lost weight afterwards. All I’m ultimately saying is that keeping weight down to an acceptable level (whatever level that might be to you) is very hard work and a matter of changing long-programmed behaviors in your brain. Is it just normal human behavior that makes us revert to bad habits? I am probably as guilty of that as the lapsed dieters because I tend to return to my injurious running habits after trying to retool my stride. We could all do better. This is not to bash those who have tried and failed but a matter of questioning why it happens. And then there are people who are happy and content with what they have physically, and if they are healthy to boot, then who am I to question them?

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The Week That Was in Life

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post (The Past Week's Running), I’m now going to tell you about what happened in life other than running from the previous week

As is usual on Wednesday evenings, I caught up with DVR’d TV shows. The results of Dancing With The Stars were almost predictable after seeing the performances. It was either Bristol Palin leaving or Margaret Cho. It was the latter who was sent packing. Glee didn’t seem to have the usual pep to it and it was kinda boring to watch. It was so forgettable that I don’t even remember what happened as I type this. Oh, as I was pacing the hallways at work on Saturday night, I suddenly remembered that it had something to do with religion, prayer, and a grilled cheesus sandwich. 

A representative from the Long Beach Animal Control Services was going around our condo complex last Thursday issuing citations for unlicensed pets. I noticed him taking pictures of the dogs and cats, then leaving the citations on the doors of homeowners who were not home. I wondered how much the monetary damage was.

That same day, I watched a Bollywood movie called Lafangey Parindey, a mildly funny romantic comedy, and I was surprised that there was a kiss towards the end. I thought there was supposed to be no kissing in Bollywood movies, but only hints of kissing. You know, when the main characters are about to kiss but burst in song and/or dance instead. Things must be a-changing in Bollywood.

What?! Another election coming up? Also on Thursday, I exercised my civic duty as a U.S citizen and mailed in my absentee vote. I had already marked my choices on a sample ballot so it was just a matter of transferring them to the official ballot and mailing it. I’ve voted in every election ever since I became I naturalized citizen.

Not the same day, but the next, I got my seasonal flu shot from my workplace, then much later, after I finished working out, I exchanged my recently bought 4 GB Sansa Clip for the same at Best Buy because the one I was using wasn’t receiving the FM stations very well. Would you believe that they tried to charge me more for the exchange? I bought the original one on sale 3 weeks ago and they scanned in the regular price during the exchange. The salesperson had to override the computer. So anyway, the new one is only slightly better in receiving the FM station that I listen most to, so I guess I’ll have to live with it. My previous 2 GB Sansa Clip did better with radio stations but it’s not working anymore.

So there you are, some boring snippets of my life during my three days off from work.

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The Running Week That Was

Wow! Finally, after several months of inconsistent running, I was able to run three days last week. On Tuesday afternoon, it was run/walk for 55 minutes (4 minute run with 1 minute walk break), then on Thursday morning to and from the doctor, it was also a run/walk for 65 minutes. Would you believe that my pace for the run/walk was faster than my very slow 65 minute run the previous Saturday (10/2/10)?Finally, to end the week, on Saturday, I ran non-stop for 50 minutes. Let me backtrack a second. Did I want to show up for AREC’s last training run of the season for the Long Beach Marathon on Saturday, 10/9/10? I didn’t feel like waking up early and I actually still felt a little sleepy when I woke up to my alarm at 7 a.m., the time that AREC started their run. I didn’t get started until 8:30. Could the feeling of tiredness be the side effect of the flu shot I had on Friday? I wanted to try running alone on the bike path where I have been riding the last few months so I went out to the L.A. river path, which is about a 10 minute run at my pace. I’ve run there before but with other people two years ago when I was training with the Wrigley River Runners group. From a running perspective, it was a boring course especially when running solo because there was nothing to see or engage your senses very much. Even on a Saturday morning, there were few walkers, runners, or cyclists. I couldn’t wait to reach my turnaround point so I could get back out to the streets, which is exactly what I did on the way back home. Meanwhile the 50 minute run felt slow and I was gasping for air the whole time, more so after 30 minutes. Maybe because there were a couple of short hills at that point. Upon checking my post run weight, I saw that I had shed 3 ½ pounds of sweat in just 50 minutes of running. I didn’t know that was even possible for such a short run and it wasn’t particularly hot that morning. Nevertheless, it was very gratifying to be able to run non-stop even for just a little over 5 miles and managing to do three running workouts for the week to boot. Those were little physical accomplishments with big mental rewards for me. Sanity prevails!

Tune in tomorrow for the week that was in other parts of my life.

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Random Running Thoughts For Early October

On one hand I haven’t turned on the air conditioner all summer even during the late summer/early fall heat wave last week. On the other, I’m thankful that the pilot light on my heater didn’t turn off all summer so when I tried to raise the temperature during the recent cold spell, the heater sprang back to life quickly. I still had to wear jammies and a long sleeved shirt when I went to bed Wednesday night. Would you believe I had to run with a jacket on Tuesday afternoon because it was about 60 degrees a week after having to run indoors because it was 110 degrees hot outside? That’s a 50 degree swing!

A mysterious wound appeared on my right inner ankle Thursday morning. Well actually it was just a small scratch, but I don’t know where it came from. My shoe and sock were rubbing against it while I ran to my doctor’s office. When I took off my shoe to get weighed, there was a spot of blood on my sock even though I didn’t feel any pain on the wound. By the way, I ran a negative split when I ran to and from the doctor’s office. For non-runners who read this, that means I ran the second half of the course faster than the first half.

Regarding the doctor’s visit, it was just my regular 6 month follow up. The doc asked me if I wanted a flu shot and I said yes. He said they have to check with the insurance company first if I had to pay for it because some insurance companies pay for it and some don’t. Isn’t getting the flu shot a preventive measure? You’d think the insurance company would rather pay for the shot rather than pay much more later if the patient gets sick! That’s the healthcare system in the U.S. for you. I decided to get the flu shot for free from my job instead.

I just noticed that this year’s Long Beach Marathon switched weekends. The event usually happens on the weekend that I work, thus, I have had to request a couple of days off and use vacation time so I can participate. This year, the marathon happens on a weekend that I’m off from work. Unfortunately, I am unable to run it. I hope they keep the same weekend next year. This is the first time I’m going to miss running the full or the half since they revived the race in 1999. I still have the poster of that year’s race on my fridge.

Running nowadays consists of when my joints allow me to do it and not based on a schedule. It used to be on certain days of the week the last three years (prior to that, it was a no brainer because I ran every day. See: The End of the Streak and What It Took To Run Every Day For 21 Years ). I may plan on running tomorrow for example, but when tomorrow comes and my joints are complaining, then I do something else instead.

There is a certain feeling about running hard that I find difficult to duplicate while riding a bike. If I tried to do a very hard effort on the bike as I do while running, I’d probably fall off.

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Saturday’s Slow Run and Monday’s Non-Run

I could have joined the AREC running club last Saturday morning, but I didn’t. I was afraid that my competitive juices would lead to the aggravation of my injuries, because I tend to try to catch up with people who are running slightly faster than me. Besides, I had already visualized the route I was going to try to run on the previous day. It wasn’t much of a run, really. Just a very slow six miles at a pace I previously covered faster doing the four minute run with one minute walk break. In fact it was a second per mile slower than when I ran the Long Beach Marathon last year. Nevertheless it was still a semblance of a run to me because I put in a lot of effort into it. Despite the slowness, it was still satisfying.

I was planning on running again on Monday but the threat of the elements and some pain on my posterior tibialis tendon conspired against me. With the pain, I thought I might do a 15 to 30 mile bike ride instead but the skies were threatening rain, so I nixed that idea. This was after I had already put on my long sleeved shirt, jacket, cycling shorts, helmet and shoes. So maybe I’ll do a run/walk in a slight drizzle instead, but on my way out, it occurred to me that I had forgotten to stretch. Heading back indoors as the rain droplets started, I changed my mind again and settled for an hour ride doing intervals on the stationary recumbent bike. Running outdoors would have to wait another day.

Some questions to those who happen to drop by this post: Do you listen to an MP3 player while you run or cycle? Do you bring an ID, and what kind? Do you bring your cellphone? As for me, I do listen to the radio on my MP3 player and I only use one earphone so I can still hear what goes on around me on the other ear. I don’t have a Road ID so I carry an old driver’s license with emergency information written on the back, and I always bring my cellphone. The ID and cellphone are usually in an armband and the MP3 player is clipped to the back of my shorts.

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My First MRI Experience

The MRI was finally done on my head on Thursday morning (9/30/10) . My ENT doctor ordered it due to this: Dizziness Diagnosis. I went to the radiology office, filled out the necessary forms and was soon escorted to the torture chamber, I mean the MRI machine room. The technician asked me to empty my pockets of everything and remove my watch, gave me a pair of earplugs, then positioned me on the machine. The wearing of a backside-revealing hospital gown was not even required. Elevator music was piped in through some headphones to mute the noise, and I had never appreciated elevator music until then because it helped reduce my anxiety level. The tech guy placed a push button device on my hand and he said it was a “get me out of here! button”, in case I couldn’t handle being inside the machine. The test was supposed to be with and without contrast, meaning, the first half was just a regular scan while during the second half, I was injected with a lightly radioactive material called galadium (?). I made sure I didn’t have any plans to enter or be near the port of Long Beach in the next couple of days because their gates have radioactive scanners. So anyway, the MRI machine made varied sounds like the whirring of an electric power tool, and a jackhammer, and the thump of a muted bass drum, all of which overcame the elevator music. All I could do was try to daydream and think good thoughts in the half hour it took to finish. Kinda hard when your head is caught in a vise. But I survived being restrained to the bed without feeling claustrophobic (I had my eyes closed the whole time), and other than a slightly shrunken head and being radioactive, I feel good. The results should be out in a couple of days.

Update: I visited the ENT doctor the next day (which was in itself a surprise because this doctor is usually booked for weeks) and he told me that he had some good news and some bad news. The good news was that the MRI didn’t find anything wrong with my brain other than it was missing (j/k), and the bad news was that there was nothing that could be done with my condition other than prevent myself from falling due to dizziness. It was the same thing he said when he first diagnosed labyrinthitis several months ago. No wonder I had been feeling lightheaded. Approximately 3 pounds of matter was missing from my skull! And no, the magnets did not suck the metal plate out of my left ankle.

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More Random Thoughts Thru September 2010

          I started the month with random thoughts (see: Random Thoughts For Early September) and then more came up since then.

          With all the reusable bags being sold nowadays, when I shop in the grocery store or other stores for that matter, I hardly see anyone else except me using them. Maybe because I shop during off peak hours?

          The inevitable cheaper versions of “rocker” type shoes that claim to tone muscles, improve posture, and promote weight loss, like Skechers and MBT have arrived. Walmart has the Danskin brand rocker shoes and Kmart has the Rock-n-Fit. I’m sure Target has their own too.  All for about a quarter of the price of the original. Example: Skechers = $109.00, Danskin=$29.99. And in the mid-range, Dr. Scholl’s price is about $49.99.

          I received my next reward from Healthyroads.com a couple of weeks ago for reaching another workout goal: 36 days. It was a towel. If only they knew beforehand that I exercised every day. Next target is 72 days of exercising and the reward is a t-shirt.

          I’m supposed to have an MRI of the head next week (actually as I edit this draft, I already had the procedure done) to check out my dizziness problems and I suddenly remembered that there is a metal plate on my left ankle from a fracture that happened in 1972 from a motorcycle accident. I called the radiology office as soon as I could to find out if that would affect the test. After the receptionist checked with the radiologist, they gave me the all clear to have the test done. I hope those powerful magnets don’t suck out the metal from my foot, otherwise that would suck indeed.

          Caught up on DVR’d TV shows last Wednesday (9/22/10) evening which were missed during 2 nights of 12 hour shift work. On DWTS, Bristol Palin appears to be this seasons’ Kate Gosselin in terms of body stiffness. I could identify because I don’t/can’t dance worth a lick. A week later, I saw that Michael Bolton was worst and thus, he got eliminated. The only reason why Bristol received better scores was because mother Sarah was in the audience.

          I karaoked again last Thursday (9/23/10) evening after haven’t done so for several months. No, I didn’t go out to a club for Karaoke night but did it in the comfort and privacy of my living room. I sounded terrible! Not that I didn’t sound terrible before. What inspired me was a Korean movie that I watched beforehand where the theme song was Love Is A Many Splendored Thing. That was one of the songs we sang in glee club in high school. Speaking of Glee, I laughed out loud when Charice was recruited by Vocal Adrenaline and she said “they gave me and my mom a condo and green card”.

          I finally replaced the original factory installed windshield wipers on my 1998 Honda Civic, only about 5 to 6 years too late. I didn’t even know the driver’s side and the passenger’s side were different sizes until I looked it up online. My windshield is now streak free and all set for the rainy season.

          And lastly, my computer DVR failed to record DWTS results show and Glee this week so I had to resort to streaming them from the web via the ABC and Fox websites. I still have to watch Castle.

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Bike Ride on Tuesday, 9/28/10

A day after the blistering heat in the L.A. area, I went out for a bike ride. In the recent cool summer months, I’ve been wearing a jacket over a long sleeved shirt while riding. Because of the heat, I only my short sleeved Long Beach Marathon 2008 shirt this time. I have not bought a cycling jersey yet. The first interesting sight I observed was an egret flying over me then while in mid-flight, urinating or defecating a few meters towards my right. Fortunately there was no breeze to blow them towards me. Then I saw the peacock again from last week and I’m beginning to think that it’s actually a pet, although it wasn’t fenced in (see: The Sights and Sounds of Monday's Bike Ride). There were a bunch of elementary school kids again boarding a boat near the Pike area, so this must be a regular outing by some schools.

 One thing different about cycling is the need to concentrate more. There is hardly any opportunity to dissociate or let the mind wander like you can when running, and that’s because you have to be constantly aware of other vehicles, avoiding road debris, and controlling the bike. Because you create your own wind while riding, it feels cooler and it takes double the amount of time to achieve the same sweat rate as running. For example, I lose approximately the same amount of sweat after a 2 hour ride compared to 1 hour of running. I deliberately tried to put in more effort on Tuesday and that resulted to an increase in the average pace by a half mile per hour. During a very short stretch, a speed of 21 MPH was even reached. I went past my usual 25 miles again and the total for the day was 31. Not bad for a hot day and another step to burning the excess calories from the last weekend’s potluck at work (see: Burn Those Potluck Calories).

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A Quarter of 20 for Me

Note: I wrote this before the treadmill run post on 111 degree Fahrenheit Monday (in Long Beach). I just didn’t get the opportunity to upload it.

Shall I do my usual 25 mile bike ride, or should I try running? Those questions went through my mind upon waking up Saturday morning. I opted for the second choice. Then I couldn’t decide whether to put heel lifts plus my orthotics in my shoes as prescribed for runners with PTTD or just run in the shoes without extra support. Wearing shoes with the heel lift and orthotics felt awkward so I took them out. On my last post, I was considering whether to keep running on the treadmill until my right calf fully healed. But it was already too warm indoors so I decided to pound the pavement outside instead. While the AREC marathon trainers were out on their last 20 mile run (some did 22) before the Long Beach marathon, I was out clomp, clomp, clomping my way around my neighborhood for an hour of 4 minute jogging with 1 minute walking. It was supposed to be a hot day and indeed it was but I hardly felt it because of my slowness. I didn’t even sweat that much because I didn’t feel perspiration dripping from my brow. Maybe because it was dry heat. Even though I moved like a slug, I felt no need to try picking up the pace. I’m not sure I could have anyway since I’m still trying to recover from the calf injury. It felt like I was running about 11:30 per mile so I was surprised when I checked at the end that my pace was 10:55 (the combination of running and walking).  Along the route, I saw volunteers picking up trash in the neighborhood, God bless them. Then I saw a guy who was running so slowly. He must have thought the same way about me when he saw me slogging along. We gave each other the acknowledgement nod that runners do during these types of encounters. In the end, I completed 12 repetitions of the 4 minute run and 1 minute walk intervals for a total of an hour, covering 5.5 miles. Although I didn’t feel fully endorphinated because I could not push the pace, it felt really good to experience a semblance of running again. All that was left for me to do was pack both ankles and the right calf in ice when I got home. The distance was only over a quarter of what I usually do this time of the year, but it was good enough on this day and I couldn’t ask for more.

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Burn Those Potluck Calories!

Did someone say sauna? As the heat peaked at about 1:30 on Monday afternoon with 100 degree plus, heat stroke inducing, temperatures outside and no cooling breeze, but a cooler 96 degrees indoors, I stayed in for a treadmill run. An artificial wind was created by pointing an electric fan against the front of the treadmill. Away I go as slowly as I can, trudging along while reading the newspaper, taking care not to splash my perspiration on it as much as possible. Helping along was an out-of-fashion tennis headband to keep the stinging sweat off my eyes. Upon completion of an hour, an additional 25 minutes of recovery walking was tacked on to burn off the excess calories consumed during a surprise potluck birthday party at work for 2 colleagues. The fare consisted of the usual greasy and fattening pizza, hot wings, meatballs, chips with extra hot homemade salsa, two different kinds of cakes, cheese cake, and bread pudding. The one hour and twenty five minute workout was a first step in taking care of those calories. A newly acquired book/magazine holder for the treadmill/stationary bike/elliptical machine was put into good use. A good, sweaty, calorie burning workout on a sweltering day. Summer at fall is here. It’s good to run again!

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Cautious Running

Never in the history of my running life have I been laid off so long and so often. Last Saturday I began what I hoped was a return to some semblance of running by doing the 1 minute jog with 1 minute walk intervals. I haven’t tried again since then until Thursday morning and just by sheer coincidence. I was just planning on taking a walk when I heard my downstairs neighbor leave to take her kids to school, so I fired up the treadmill instead, and started a very slow jog on it while reading the newspaper at the same time. A matter of feeding the mind and the body all at once. Since the newspaper covered the console, that gave me an excuse of not peeking too often at the elapsed time. I was hoping that my recently injured right calf could handle at least 15 minutes non-stop. When that time passed, I hoped for 5 more minutes, then another, then another. In the meantime I was monitoring how the calf felt but with the distraction of reading, I managed to keep going until I reached 45 minutes. Erring on the side of caution, I finally stopped even when I felt that I could do more. For a cool down, I took a 45 minute walk to and from the bank to withdraw some money. It’s always good to find a an excuse or reason to propel yourself at your own power when you have a reachable goal. That way you finish an errand and also engage in exercise. If my calf holds up and recovers, on my next run I will have to learn a lot of self control by not going too far or pushing the pace when I am feeling good. For people who hate exercising, self control means finding the motivation to do it. For me, it is the opposite. It is finding the courage to not overdo it. I’m considering keeping my runs on the treadmill for now to lessen the impact on my legs and to be able to keep the pace constant. Please, please, keep me from pressing the UP button!

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The Sights and Sounds of Monday’s Bike Ride

The sky was overcast again when I left home for the ride but I think I found the right combination of clothes to blunt the cool air. I’ve been wearing a long sleeved technical shirt with a parachute nylon jacket and those seem to work well in about 60 degree weather. My thighs felt a little sore which I attributed to the walk/jog I did last Saturday but it didn’t matter. I really wanted to get outdoors and ride. About 4 miles into it, I was surprised to see a peacock (or peahen) about 25 meters away on my left side. I wonder where it came from.  It didn’t seem like a pet. Maybe one of those birds that roam in Palos Verdes got lost. Further down the bike path as I approached the 7^th Street bridge, I heard a loud explosion which appeared to have come from a smokestack in one of the factories or refineries near the Port of Long Beach. After a few minutes, I heard a fire truck siren so I guessed they were on their way to check out the problem.

While I was riding at the area connecting the river path to the shoreline path, I was suddenly blocked by a whole bunch of elementary school students who were waiting to board a boat for an outing. I was able to weave my way between them without dismounting, but on the way back, there were even more of them. So I had to dismount and walk my bike through the gauntlet of kids to get to the other side of the bike path. One of the parents/teachers/chaperones wished me good luck. Thanks, lady.

But let’s get back to my outbound journey. When I reached the shoreline bike path, I finally saw someone I knew. I’ve been riding that path about once a week for the past couple of months and this was the first time I bumped into someone from our running club (AREC). It was Leila, whom I ran with at the Wrigley River Run 10K last June. We exchanged a few updates about her marathon training and my injury then continued on our way. She on a 4 mile easy run, and I was on what I thought would be my usual 25 mile ride.

When I reached my usual turnaround point, I decided to continue riding to the end of the peninsula which I knew was just over a mile. On weekends, that street is usually busy with runners, cyclists, walkers, and cars. But not on Monday morning. After reaching the cul-de-sac turnaround, I headed back home knowing that I would have ridden a couple of extra miles. When I got back to where I heard the explosion earlier, I didn’t see any signs of a fire or any other unusual activity, so it must have just been one of those flares that refinery smokestacks sometimes do.

But wait, there’s more! When I reached the part of the river bike path where I was supposed to get back on the street to reach home, I didn’t exit but kept going, and going, and going. I’ve been having some apprehension about riding that part of the trail because it’s not in a good part of town. However, I didn’t encounter any problems. When my watch said I had been riding for 2 hours, I turned around and headed back home. My turnaround point was the Atlantic Avenue bridge at the border of Long Beach and Compton.

This bike path appears so very well maintained. I saw a couple of trucks from the City of Long Beach and Los Angeles county checking things out. I am, and I’m sure all of the other cyclists, runners, and walkers are, appreciative for something the government has done well.

The total for the day was 32.5 miles in 2 hours, 7 minutes, and change. Even though the ride felt harder towards the end, the pace was the same as last Thursday’s 25 mile ride. This has been my longest ride so far. Then something happened which doesn’t usually when I’m working out. I got hungry during the ride. The weight training session that I had planned after the ride would have to wait another day. I had lunch instead.

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Gorilla in the Mist

Blender stylized gorilla test animation walk cycle from Dave Ward on Vimeo.

On a misty and cool Saturday morning, I laced up my running shoes and went outdoors for a walk. The plan was for a 1½ to 2 hour jaunt around the neighborhood and I hoped to test the right calf and see if it can withstand 1 minute pickups in the process. I started with a 10 minute warm up but when I got to the end of that, instead of walking at a brisker pace for 1 minute, I began jogging for 1 minute. So far so good with no pain felt so I just kept doing the 1 minute jog and 1 minute walk intervals and maybe make it to an hour. There were times when I was tempted to do a 2 minute jog but I stayed conservative and kept it at 1 minute. Everything went along swimmingly until the 55 minute mark when I started to feel a slight shooting pain at the injury area. Not wanting to be set back another few weeks, I ended the jogging part of the workout and kept walking the rest of the time until I reached 1½ hours. The way I walk briskly sometimes, does not look like the swiveling hips of racewalkers but rather like a furless, thin and ravenous gorilla about to grab a low hanging fruit from a tree, hence the title (besides, I couldn’t think of anything better, so apologies to Dian Fossey). At least I can walk for that amount of time so that has added to my repertoire of workouts in addition to stationary and outdoor cycling and the elliptical machine. I don’t know when the next trial walk/run will be because I’ll have to give the calf time to recover since I feel some tightness on it. I was very reluctant to restart running because the injury I suffered on my right calf is alien to me, meaning it has never happened to that part of my body. To strengthen it, I’ve started doing calf raises, and hopefully that helps. Otherwise, it’s day to day.

Going back a few days, I did my usual 25 mile bike ride at the usual area. The GPS watch consistently measures it at 25 miles which is a surprise to me. Not 24.9 or 25.1, but exactly 25. There were no sights and sounds to be observed last Thursday morning because there were few runners and cyclists, no volleyball players on the beach, and even just a few people waiting at the dock of the Catalina Express. The only thing I saw a lot of was horse poop on the riverbed bike trail, more than I usually see. Otherwise, it was a good workout because I was able to push the pace most of the ride which endorphinized me for the rest of the day.

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Weirdness @ Work +Unlucky DVD’s

Did I tell you about what happened to me at work a couple of weeks ago? I was monitoring the hallway and at about 3 a.m. a female patient came out of her room, exposed her breasts and started to approach me. So what did I do in this situation? I pulled out my camera phone and started taking pictures! Well, no not really. All I can say to her was “please do not do that in the hallway”. The camera phone would have made a better story though. That’s the reason why we don’t allow cell phones on the unit, because there is a potential for violating the privacy of patients. You didn’t think I was going to put up a picture at the start of this post, did you?

I’ve been unlucky buying blank DVD discs lately. Two weeks in a row already, I bought and returned two different brands of discs from the same office supplies store. They were on sale for 17.99 per pack of 100 which is a pretty good deal. But, when I try to burn data on them, the process stops midway and the software alerts me that there are errors on the disc. I’m beginning to question whether the discs are old stock which have been in the warehouse too long and may have been exposed to heat. They are probably being sold at that price so the store can move the old inventory.

For the third week in a row, there is another sale at the store with a different brand name which I have successfully used before. I’m going to buy a pack and hope it works this time. If it doesn’t, then I don’t know what brand to buy any more that would work with my computer. Aren’t all those discs supposed to work in any computer?

 Update: The latest blank DVD discs that I bought worked well. I used two different programs in one computer and burned another disc in a different computer. It’s surprising that some recommendations on the internet tell you to buy one kind of brand over another and the brand that has worked well so far for me is not on the recommended list. You mean not everything you read on the internet is true?

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Jogging In Place

               Another short blog but with a question to people who run. What type of runner are you? When you encounter a stop light at an intersection, do you make a complete stop, or do you jog in place until the light turns green and continue forward? Do you think it looks silly to do that? I used to jog in place a very long time ago when I didn’t have a digital watch. Maybe even when I got one of those things, I might still have jogged in place after clicking the stopwatch off. At a certain point in time and for whatever reason, I stopped the jog-in-place jig. The only reason I’m writing about this is because on Sunday afternoon, I saw a male and female runner jogging in place while waiting for cars to pass by. During my training runs with the AREC club, I have never seen any one of my fellow runners jog in place at street intersections. I guess we’d all rather save our energy by stopping to catch our breath rather than engage in an activity that doesn’t propel us towards our destination. Of course jogging in place burns a few more calories and probably helps keep one’s momentum going because some people lose rhythm when they come to a complete stop. So anyone who reads this, please tell me which type of runner you are. Thanks.

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Calf Testing

This one is a shorty. Since my right calf tolerated 30 minutes on the elliptical machine quite well on Monday afternoon, I did another test on Tuesday morning. As mentioned in previous posts, last week, I walked with trekking poles for an hour and on the treadmill for an hour and 15 minutes (holding on to the handlebars because I was reading the newspaper). On Tuesday, the plan was to walk without poles outdoors for at least an hour. That goal was reached plus 30 extra minutes although not as briskly as I’m capable of because I’m still trying to protect the gastrocnemius from the strain that occurred exactly two weeks prior. I could still occasionally feel that calf muscle pull especially when going up or downhill so that enabled me to resist the temptation of trying to run. You should have seen how my calf and ankle were wrapped in ice packs afterwards. How many ice packs do I have? Four: 2 large and 2 small ones. I’m now able to walk downstairs semi sideways with minimal or no pain. Maybe on my next walk I can try alternating one minute each of brisk walking with a minute recovery using a slower pace. If nothing untoward happens then perhaps I can try jogging for short periods of time and see how it feels.

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Exercise Equipment Tidbits

The tires on my bike has been losing some air lately and I couldn’t seem to pump it back to its full capacity with the mini pump I have, so I bought a full sized floor pump last week. It took me a few minutes to figure out the Presta valve on the tire. You have to loosen a thingamajig before you can pump air in. Could that be the reason why I couldn’t pump air with the mini pump?

My more than a decade old exercise mat had started falling apart so I bought a new one and I hope it lasts just as long. I use the mat to do sit ups, crunches, twists, leg raises, and pushups. The old mat had foam in it which helped my body bounce back up, let’s say, when I’m doing sit ups. The new mat appears to be some kind of rubber material that doesn’t enable my body to bounce. That brings the end to my cheating when doing those floor exercises.

With my dizzy spells, I have been avoiding the inclined bench press with a barbell because after so many repetitions, I’m straining so hard that I’m afraid I might pass out before I could return the barbell on the rack. Living alone, I don’t have anybody to spot me and I would end up crushing my chest, or my head, or getting pinned by the barbell on the bench. I switched to dumbbell flies and presses instead. A few days ago, I lowered the weight and rack to the lowest level and found out that I can still do a flat bench press with lesser danger than the inclined press, although I can’t maximize the repetitions to the point of failure any more.

You know those special push up handles they are selling nowadays? I don’t have one but I use a couple of dumbbells to do the same exercise which stretches the chest muscles more than regular floor pushups.

I was thinking of buying a cheap spinning bike last week but I had to wait for the next billing period of my credit card. I’m glad I had to wait because the urge to buy has passed. Besides, the store cancelled free shipping after Labor Day. My upright stationary bike will suffice.

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Barefoot Memories, etc.

The recent interest in barefoot running reminded me of when I was growing up. Only the poor people and the TG’s (tau gimba or rural folks who live in the distant mountains) went barefoot because they couldn’t afford to buy proper footwear, not even the ubiquitous thongs or flip flops that everyone seem to own in the Philippines. If I only knew that going barefoot would strengthen my feet and surrounding tendons better, I would have joined my more unfortunate neighbors when we played together. Of course my parents wouldn’t have allowed it, God forbid! So here I am now, a flat footed individual with foot tendon problems who could barely run or jog anymore. Even if I grew up walking and running barefoot, I’m sure I would have outgrown it soon. That brings us to today. I’ve been trying to walk barefoot indoors and around my condo complex the past few weeks and not surprisingly, I have been getting questioning stares from people that see me. Obviously they haven’t read or heard about the book - Born To Run. I don’t expect myself to be running barefoot since the tendon damage in my ankles is unhealable. My purpose is just to improve the proprioception of my feet and the hopefully strengthen the muscles therein too. This brings us to the Vibram Five Fingers footwear which simulates barefoot running. They’re like toe socks with padding on the bottom. As a result of the barefoot running movement, the footwear has also become a fashion statement among celebrities and Silicon Valley techies. Maybe they’re the Birkenstocks of the 2010’s. Apparently there are a lot of fake ones in the market now that are being sold for about 20% less than the real thing.

I’m getting a little antsy about not being able to run due to my recent calf injury, but I know I have to be patient. There is some improvement though, as I was able to walk with my trekking poles for an hour on Thursday morning and an hour and 15 minutes on the treadmill on Friday. There is however a lingering discomfort on the right calf still so I could not walk as briskly as I want to and I still have to go down stairs sideways so as not to overstretch the muscle. After the treadmill walk last Friday, I also used the rowing machine for 20 minutes. I haven’t used this machine in a long time and I don’t remember the last time I did. That information is in one of my exercise logs but I didn’t feel like looking for it.

I wanted to go for a bike ride on Saturday morning, however when I opened the door to pick up the newspaper, it was cloudy, cold, and breezy. So I wimped out and rode the stationary bike instead. Riding outdoors is going to be a problem during the winter unless I find really warm clothes to wear. If you see someone in a blue bike wearing earmuffs and a puffy jacket, it might be me come November.

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Checking Blood Pressures At Work

The behavioral health unit in our hospital was inspected by the Department of Mental Health a couple of weeks ago and one of the things they wanted corrected was covering the electrical outlets in the patient rooms. Although there have not been any incidents regarding those outlets in the hospital, there must have been some in other mental institutions. I know for sure that patients sometimes insert graphite from pencils in the outlets to create a spark so they can light smuggled cigarettes. So since the DMH ordered all outlets covered, the staff could no longer check patient’s vital signs in the rooms. The blood pressure machines do come with rechargeable batteries but the machines we have run out of power pretty quickly if they even recharge at all. Now we have to rouse the patients as early as 5:30 in the morning to come out of their rooms and into the hallway where we can plug in the blood pressure machines. It really hampers the staff by making them unable to finish their tasks if the patients don’t want to get up so early. The best we can do is just mark it as a refusal by the patient to have their vital signs checked since we cannot force them to do it. One solution would be that the hospital provide the workers with better equipment. Given the tough economy, that is not forthcoming. I for one do not like waking patients up very early since that makes them cranky especially when they have nothing to do that early to occupy them. Smoke break doesn’t come until 6:45 and breakfast is at 8 o’clock. Of course there is the option of checking blood pressures with the old fashioned sphygmomanometer and stethoscope.

Taking initiative, I bought my own battery operated wrist blood pressure machine from Harbor Freight Tools, costing $20.00, and the few times I’ve used it, the device was working quiet well. I am now able to check blood pressures of the patients assigned to me at their bedside without having to ask them to get up. I’m still using the hospital’s thermometer and pulse oximeter which don’t need to be plugged in. Sometimes you just have to find your own solutions to obstacles that come your way.

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A Klutz’s Clutch Job

Last weekend, as I was pulling the car out of the garage, I noticed that I was having a problem with the clutch. It felt too loose and I had to depress it all the way down and even then it was a struggle shifting gears. Once it warmed up a bit, the gear change went better, however it left me with an uneasy feeling that I might need an unexpected and expensive clutch repair or replacement.

When I went to work on Monday, the clutch felt just as bad and since I had a few minutes before I had to clock in, I pulled out the rarely read owner’s manual and checked the section about the clutch. The only important thing it mentioned was the check the fluid level. I was surprised to read that brake fluid is also used as clutch fluid. That pretty much tells you how much I don’t know about cars. I’m probably one of the few Asians who do not tinker with cars. So I worked on Monday and Tuesday nights and at the end of the shift on Wednesday morning I stopped by the Honda dealer to buy a can of brake fluid. I could have bought brake fluid for lesser cost in any auto supply store but the owner’s manual said to use only Honda brand fluid. I’m sure it was just to put more money in their coffers but I relented to the manual’s instructions. I topped off the brake and clutch fluid reservoirs while still in the Honda dealer’s parking lot and once I started driving, the result of refilling the fluid reservoir was instantaneous. The clutch was working perfectly again thus saving me time and money by not having to consult with a mechanic, who if unscrupulous, would probably have steered me into more expensive repairs or replacement.

 The lesson here? Open the owner’s manual once in awhile because even a mechanical klutz like me can find solutions from the book sometimes. I do the same thing when I’m stumped with computers, appliances, and other electronic items. Too bad I can’t just top off the fluid levels on my ankles and calves to fix my running injuries.

clutch fluid reservoir

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Labor Day Ride

On Labor Day, I labored mightily on the pedals during my bike ride. I didn’t notice the headwind at first and probably due to the cool morning air. I thought I was struggling because my legs were tired from Sunday’s stationary bike intervals workout. It was just on the usual L.A. bike path to Long Beach shoreline route but it just felt harder on that day. I could hardly make circles with the pedals nor maintain a steady cadence because of the wind which wasn’t gusty but just plain steady. With the cool morning and the wind it didn’t feel like I could work up a sweat even though I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and a light jacket. One thing good about riding out and back is that whatever headwind you have to fight going out is compensated by the tailwind coming back. I really thought I was riding much slower than what ended up as my average pace. On my way back home I saw yellow signs indicating a bike tour going on but I didn’t see such activity. Maybe they were left from something that went on Sunday? The ride lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes and covered 25 miles for an average of 15 MPH. Well, I never claimed to be a strong rider… Having not ridden outdoors for a couple of weeks until last Saturday, the layoff appeared to have de-conditioned my derriere because it felt slightly sore during the Labor Day ride. A day later, I read in the newspaper that there was an end of summer beach party at Shoreline Village. I guess I must have been in the area too early to see it.

On a different topic altogether, I thought I had toughened up my foot pads a little bit after walking outdoors a few minutes at a time these past few weeks. Well I was mistaken. I got a blister on the heel of my left foot after walking very slowly with bare feet on the treadmill for 45 minutes on Sunday. My injured right calf tolerated the slow walk well though.

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Witnessing A Cross Country Run and An Obesity Walk

After having to workout indoors on the upright and recumbent stationary bikes from Wednesday to Friday, I finally went out on the road bike Saturday morning. It was something I’ve been putting off for a few days for reasons I’ll explain below. I was planning on an hour ride circling the Virginia Country Club area several times but when I got there, there was some kind of cross country race going on. It looked like there was an open race where all comers were welcome to participate in, and a separate high school and maybe even middle school race. Well, I didn’t want to get in their way and also didn’t want to feel envious seeing all these people running, so I left the area and went on the L.A. River bike path instead. It’s still a surprise to me how few people use that path. There were not even too many cyclists, runners, or walkers on Saturday. When I reached the Long Beach lighthouse, there was another event going on but they were already finishing. It was a walk for obesity which was organized by a bariatric medical group who do stomach stapling and lap band procedures. My ride lasted just an hour and nineteen minutes but that was good enough since I haven’t ridden outdoors in a couple of weeks. It still exceeded my one hour goal. Don’t you think it’s interesting that I encountered skinny high school runners with obviously no obesity problems and bariatric patients on the same ride separated only by about 6 miles?

The reason why I’ve worked out indoors since last Tuesday is of course because of my recent right calf injury. I couldn’t even use the elliptical machine and have to limit myself to cycling. Well that injury made the calf hurt a lot going down stairs so either I have to step down with only my left foot with the right foot going down the same rung, or step sideways alternating right and left. I had been afraid that if I was lifting something heavy like a bike, I might fall down the stairs. Somehow doing it sideways doesn’t stretch the injured muscle too much and I found that out on Friday. Finally, I found a way to go downstairs with little pain so I could lift my bike! Not terribly exciting, but if finding something that worked made me mildly ecstatic.

On Friday, I went for a slow 15 minute walk to test the calf and as long as I do it slowly and with short steps, it felt ok. I was able to double the time on Saturday but there was some discomfort after 15 minutes. Oh, I forgot, I was finally able to wear the Louis Garneau cycling shoes during the bike ride and they felt okay.

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Random Thoughts For Early September 2010

My Proctor-Silex toaster, circa 1981, obtained when I moved in my first apartment months after arriving in the United States, finally died on Thursday. Despite heroic attempts at reviving it by shaking out the crumbs and readjusting the electrical plug, the long serving and loyal device finally met its demise due to old age. Viewing of the departed will be at my nearest trash bin for the next two days and its eternal rest will be somewhere in a California landfill. Farewell dear friend, you will be sorely missed.

I received a 2 dollar bill as change from the grocery store last week. You don’t see 2 dollar bills very often anymore. There have been instances where some people think its fake money (http://www.snopes.com/business/money/tacobell.asp). One of the reasons why there are not many in circulations is because people keep them instead of spending them, thus an already rarely seen denomination becomes rarer. Should I spend mine, or should I save it? I also happen to have a few half dollar, dollar,  and Susan B. Antony dollar coins stored around here somewhere.

Shenanigans at work regarding stray cats – The head of the Security Department in my workplace is trying to get one of the nurses in trouble for feeding stray cats in the parking lot so much so that he reported it to the police even though there is no law against it. Believe me, the neighborhood where my job is has more problems with gangs, shooting, vagrancy and other serious crimes than a woman feeding a couple of cats. By the way, it’s the same head of security that reported me for blogging after notifying him of problems during a fire drill (http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2010/03/fire-drill-that-didnt-work-so-well.html).

I wrote this about a week and a half ago when I restarted running but I never finished the thought - Now that I’m back running a little bit and appreciating it especially when I was 100% sure that I wasn’t going to run again two months ago. How 100% sure was I? Well, that was the reason I bought a bike which I wouldn’t have done if I felt there was a wee bit of a chance that I would run again. Oops, spoke too soon. I can’t run again due to a new calf injury (http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2010/09/little-bit-up-lot-more-down.html).

Death, change, food, cats, and not running. How much more random can you get?

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A Little Bit Up, A Lot More Down

Ok, ok, nothing worth anything to write about since last weekend and when something finally comes up, it falls under too much drama with my running life. The high from last Saturday’s run has suddenly dropped to a resounding thud. Remember I mentioned in that post I felt a developing cramp on my right calf? After a couple of days rest, I tried to run again on Tuesday and there was still a lingering pain on the calf. As I approached 20 minutes, the calf began to hurt badly. Hoping to work out the kink as I was able to do last Saturday, I kept going but I couldn’t proceed after 25 minutes because of the sharp, stabbing pain. I had to walk the rest of the way back to my car. The pain wasn’t so bad when I was walking but as soon as I stopped and when whatever endorphins my body managed to manufacture in the short 25 minutes of running stopped working, it hurt like hell! I’ve been hobbling around my place and I’ve iced the calf a couple of times without any relief. The pain was on and off while at work depending on how the calf muscle flexed. I don’t think it was a developing cramp anymore but more like a muscle pull, strain, or worse, a tear. It’s going to be a few more weeks being laid off from running while the muscle heals. I’ve been riding the bike lesser since I restarted running a couple of weeks ago and I will have to ride more again. At least I have other options and the equipment is already available. As far as training for the Long Beach Marathon or Half Marathon, well, I may have to put that off this year and maybe request the organizers to transfer my entry to next year.

 What is surprising is that I have never had a calf injury before. I’ve hurt my hip, butt, knee, iliotibial band, ankle, and Achilles tendons numerous times in the past, but never the calves. I’ll chalk this up as a freak injury because I don’t know how it could have happened when I’m not exactly running hard enough to strain something. It will heal eventually and I will run again. It’s just a matter of time. I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of my situation even though it can be a sad one. It’s almost like a roller coaster ride but mostly going down lately.

After a day of consideration, I visited the Long Beach Marathon website (www.runlongbeach.com) to find out the procedure to rollover my entry from this year to next year. To my consternation, the deadline was on August 31^st so that means my entry fee is gone since they don’t give refunds either. I emailed the contact person anyway appealing and hoping for dispensation.

Well, another injury timeout with R &R (rehab and recovery) for the next few weeks.

             Update: I just received a response from Bart Davis of Run Racing, the organizer of the Long Beach Marathon and in his email he said: “Because you are a member of AREC and I think that you guys are the best, I’ll be happy to do this for you.  Make sure and let the AREC crew know how much we appreciate you all!

 Your registration into the 2010 Long Beach International City Bank Marathon has now been rolled over to 2011.

Thank you so very much Bart!!! I’ll pass on the message to the AREC crew and how you and Run Racing has been very considerate despite my tardy request.

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For Some, A New Beginning

(Wow! It actually looks like I'm running instead of just shuffling my feet! Thanks for the nice action shot, Dave K.)

I don’t remember if I mentioned this last year, but waking up in the early morning and hearing a rooster crow in the middle of the city seems strange, but I’ve heard this sound in the past year when I was getting ready for AREC marathon training on Saturday mornings and I don’t know where it’s coming from. Does one of my neighbors have this chicken as a pet? Incidentally, one of the sounds of my talking alarm clock has is the cock a doodle do of a rooster but I don’t think what I’ve been hearing is a clock but rather a real cock.

After getting anxious last Friday thinking about how I was going to perform Saturday morning, I decided that I had to change my mindset to - just show up and run. I was worrying too much about what pace, how far, how am I going to feel, I hope it won’t be a repeat of last week, and so on and so forth. It’s terrible when what is supposed to relieve stress is causing me to become anxious. I believe it was just a matter of a lack of confidence having been absent from the activity for so many weeks and having a bad run the previous week. When I stopped overthinking the process, I felt so much better. I actually showed up at the start with a smile on my face.

I was planning on starting out early, ahead of the training group because I was going to do the Galloway run/walk method and I didn’t want to be the last person out on the course. Sometimes one has to make some adjustments after being in the middle of the pack in past years to the present time where I am now at the back of the pack. No matter. The same distance still had to be covered only taking longer. Well I changed my mind at the last minute and started with everyone else anyway. Off I go running the slowest pace I could possibly do, so as not to get winded right way like I did the previous weekend. I was slow enough that I skipped the first walk break, and the next, and the next. Well let me just say that I skipped all the walk breaks until past 6 miles. I was lucky enough to have been able to run with this Puerto Rican lady from about 4 miles on (I think she’s Boricua, but I’m not sure). Her name escapes me since the last time we introduced ourselves was around last November, and I’m not good at remembering names. She was also coming back from an injury and was game enough to tackle 10 miles on her first day back. I told her we were both crazy and she concurred. We mutually agreed that we were going to do the 4 minute run with 1 minute walk break after 6 miles since she was getting tired and I had to preserve my ankles. It was at 6 miles that we paused at Steve’s water stop where he offered some honey sticks. Honey stick? President Todd was hanging out at that water station and I told him that I could think of something inappropriate regarding the words “honey stick”. Todd said, maybe I should just keep that remark to myself. With that advice and a fist bump, Boricua and I proceeded down the Peninsula on Ocean Boulevard. Around 7 miles I could feel a cramp developing on my right calf but I managed to hold on. However, hours later as I write this, it’s still stinging. Well, to make a long story short, my unnamed friend and I made it all the way to 10 miles, even skipping the last walk break with about ¾ miles to go. Compared to my sallow look after last weeks’ unfortunate run, I was grinning from ear to ear again.

On a side note, I couldn’t help but feel joyous upon seeing Dona running again when I saw her climbing 6^th Street hill. She had been having a piriformis problem in recent weeks and had to stop running too. With Dona, Boricua, and me back into running, all is well in the world again. New beginnings indeed.

Putting on a happy face :)

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