Minimalist Running (AREC Training 7-30-11)

Waking up to the alarm clock in mid-dream isn’t the best way to rise for the day but that was exactly what happened Saturday morning at 5 o’clock. It must have been a good dream because my first impulse was to turn the darn alarm off and resume the pre-alarm reverie. But, I’ve been looking forward to this run all week so I jumped out of bed before I could even press the snooze button. Wait, wait, I can’t do any more jumping whether it’s out of bed or elsewhere. Let me rephrase. I rose slowly out of bed before getting tempted to press the snooze button. After the usual routine of using the bathroom and checking email, I donned my running garb for the day. It was another surprisingly cool summer morning so I opted for a t-shirt day instead of a tanktop. It wasn’t one of those bare buns runs so I put on a pair of running shorts too. After tightening the shoelaces of my Asics Gel Foundation very snuggly, I was all set and headed out the door for the short drive to Joe’s Crab Shack.

                My previous warm up routine before both ankles were seriously injured was a mile to a mile and a half of slow running with a few strideouts towards the end. Nowadays, I am only able to do a few short jogs so as to save the ankles for the pounding that was to come later.

                I didn’t know who I would be able to pace with on this day but I espied Rosie, who I’d run with before, and her pace matched mine at the start so I joined up with her. She was one of those girls that I couldn’t catch up with three weeks ago when I started running again. For the first couple of miles I felt that I might be able to until later when I may have to do some walk breaks.

                It was one of those busy weekends in Long Beach along our running route. Between miles 2 and 3, there were dragon boat races going on at the beach side, so we had to run on the street side. We passed this area on the way out and on the way back. Somehow the dragon boat races didn’t look as crowded as in previous years. Anyway, Rosie and I chatted until club president Todd caught up with us, upon which we talked briefly about his and Rosie’s dog. I could feel the pace gradually pick up since Todd is a lot faster than us even though he was chopping his stride. I brought this to their attention so Rosie and I pulled back while Todd forged on. Rosie and I had a couple of pictures taken while coming and going at this point. Our club VP and intrepid photographer Dave just got back from Rwanda and Brussels and we missed him taking our photos while he was gone. We joined up with Nancy at about 4 miles and talked about real estate, wine, Rosie’s and my jobs, and Long Beach marathon history, which, helped me dissociate from the anticipation of pain in my ankles. While all this was going on we barely noticed that we had made it to 6 ½ miles. Nancy had to stop to re-tie her shoelaces so it was up to Rosie to bring me home to the finish. And bring me home she did and we even managed to tack on an extra half mile, thus completing 8 ½ miles for the day! In mid-run, I asked Rosie what her usual pace is for long runs and she said 10:30 to 11:00. The woman had that pace dialed in because when I checked my watch at the end, our pace was 10:28. I thanked her profusely and felt so happy that I forgot to stretch afterwards. I only remembered about it on the  way home and did it when I arrived. Did I have any ankle pain? That goes without saying, however it was more of a dull rather than intense pain and that was most likely due to the distraction of talking with people while running.

So how times in the previous week and how many miles of running did I do? Forget about minimalist shoes, this is minimalist training at its best. Last Tuesday, I ran/walk for 4 ½ miles then my only other run (without any walk breaks by the way!) was the 8 ½ miles on Saturday. Hurray! Almost a half marathon for the whole week! You won’t hear any complaints from me. After all I managed to run didn’t I?

Postscript: My pee was slightly dark yellow post-run because I sweated 3 pounds of fluids, but ingesting 48 ounces of fluids later, I was back to normal hydration.

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

Running Afterglow

There was this little 7 mile run I attended last Saturday morning. It was just the usual AREC training stuff. It took my ankles two weeks to recover from the previous 8 miler I wrote about two weeks ago so I don’t know how long it will take this time. Running once or twice every couple of weeks? What kind of training is that? Well, I run when I can and I don’t when I can’t. That simple. I used to do a mile to a mile and a half warm up before the club training runs and that included some stride outs. Nowadays I can only manage short jogs interspersed with walks, just enough to get my circulation going but not enough to hyperventilate my lungs in preparation for hard running. Like usual I set my watch to beep after four minutes so I could do a one minute walk break, then repeat the process until I finish. However, I ignored the beeps and kept running without the walk breaks hoping that my ankles would hold up for 7 miles. Just to find out if I was the slowest participant, I started at the rear to see if I could pass anybody. I may have gotten a lot slower but I’m not the slowest runner yet, unless of course I just walk like the first few weeks of the training program. As I was chugging along, I saw this woman who usually runs with her daughter, but on that day she was running alone. So I asked her why she was going solo. She said her daughter just started cross country in high school and was exhausted. I remarked that her daughter was too fast for us anyway. I was hoping to run with somebody like I did two weeks before but I didn’t find anyone to pace with. The daughterless woman remained a few steps behind me and I could hear her footsteps, which compelled me to keep my pace. She might as well have been my pacer because I felt like she was pushing me from behind. That was until I barely made it through a green traffic light while she got stuck with red. I had to rely on myself for the last two miles. I don’t know if it was the loss of company or the infrequent running that made those last two miles feel much harder. It was like driving with four flat tires but I managed to persist to the end. To my surprise, the average pace turned out to be 10:01 minutes per mile! Hardly running nowadays and still being able to run that pace?! However, I don’t foresee myself doing continuous runs as the mileage climbs because the pain on my ankles would be too much. Regardless, I was happy with the way I performed last Saturday.

Which brings me to what I miss most about this activity - the camaraderie in the afterglow of running. Does that even make sense? You know, a bunch of people who are still on an endorphin high hanging around and talking about the day’s run or whatever else comes to mind. I talked to that woman who was missing her daughter and told her about how she was pushing me from behind and she in turn said I was pulling her from the front. I guess we really helped each other. When she mentioned which high school her daughter ran for, I knew the school very well because I used to live near it. In fact, one time another runner who was my neighbor did intervals on that high school track many years ago. As we were talking, another woman approached us and gave each of us a Marathon energy bar. She was being sponsored by the company so pictures were taken of us enjoying the freebie. I talked to a few more people before departing the scene. It was a most enjoyable workout day in recent memory.

When I got home, I tried something different with regards to icing my ankles. Instead of using ice packs, I filled an old cat litter pan with water, dumped a tray of ice in it, and dunked my feet and ankles in the cold water. It was okay except I don’t think I had enough ice in it because when I use ice packs they feel cooler. I’ll let you know sooner or later how long it took for me to recover from that last run. Ta-ta for now.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

A Weighing Scale With Too Much Weight?

Not in pounds or kilograms, mind you, but in functions. My two year old digital weighing scale which measured body fat percentage and hydration level went on the fritz a couple of weeks ago so I had to find a replacement. I mentioned this in a recent post about running to the Target store to look for one. I later settled for the one they had at Walmart. This new scale which is the same brand as the old one has more features. Aside from the aforementioned body fat percentage and hydration level, it also includes measurements for body mass index (BMI), bone mass, and how much weight you lost from your initial measurement. Heck, why don’t you throw in the date and time in there too while you’re at it? Believe me, they are all in there. If it had GPS and a timer and if I could wear it around my wrist, I might have taken it out for a run or a bike ride so I can monitor minute to minute all those measurements. It can even track data for as much as four people. Uh… did I tell you I live by myself? Do I have to develop multiple personality disorder so I can avail of all the functions of this multi-fangled weighing scale? If there is something like too much information, I believe this device has it. It took me a few days to figure out what all the numbers were on the display. On a side note, while looking for similar products online, I found one with ‘The Biggest Loser‘ brand name (a TV show in the U.S.). I don’t think that’s the same kind of scale they use on the show though. 

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Denturized

Okay, I’ll spare you the pictures because they are downright unappealing. Two years ago around this time, I wrote about my oral surgery experience . At the time, a couple of my teeth had to be extracted and it took up to now to have those replaced by artificial ones. Since I own all imaginable aerobic exercise machines already, it was time to finally have some savings to afford partial dentures. If I can afford to spend something for my heart and lungs, surely I could spring more than a few bucks for my mouth too, and so I informed my dentist that I was ready. I was getting tired of chewing food from one side of my mouth. Measurements were made a couple of months ago and it took two attempts because there wasn’t enough mold material the first time around and the dentist was having a hard time releasing the mold from my mouth thus messing up the impressions. My jaws actually felt tired after that ordeal. Two weeks later, I was called back in to fine tune the measurements and another two weeks afterwards, another tuning was required. Finally, last week, the partial plate that was to replace three lost teeth on the left side of my mouth was ready. The dentist showed me how to put it in and take it out. I asked her if I had to take it out every time I go to bed at night and she said yes and to just put it in a cup of water. I was thinking maybe I would adapt to it better if I kept it in the whole time. Good thing I looked up the reason for taking it out on the internet because I didn’t get any aftercare instructions other than taking the dentures out. The main reason is so that the gums could breath and recover and the other was that there has been a history of people swallowing their dentures in their sleep (!). Let me get back to how it felt having a foreign object in my mouth. Unquestionably, it felt strange having something stuck on the roof of your mouth but like other things new in life, it’s just a matter of getting used to it. After all it hasn’t even been a week since I got it.

So what was the damage to my wallet? Well, the insurance company only paid about $240 and out of pocket, I would have had to pay $459. As I was taking out my credit card, the nice receptionist suggested that I ask the dentist for a discount. They rounded it down to $400. If it cost that much for three teeth, I wonder how much it would be for a full set of teeth! I’m guessing if I had implants done in the Philippines, it would have cost much less, but of course I would have to pay for plane fare to get there and back.

So how does it feel so far? I have to chew my food slowly because otherwise I tend to chew on my cheeks too. I have to find the right balance and chewing pressure on both sides of my mouth which takes practice. That doesn’t mean I’m going to eat more often, silly! As of this writing, I still need a mirror to put in and remove the partial denture. Hopefully in the near future I will attain better spatial awareness or proprioception of my mouth. For everyone out there who still have all their teeth, please take good care of them because it’s not much fun losing any of them and getting artificial replacements.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Running 8 Miles Without Run Training

Me on extreme right side trailing Kim and Luis last Saturday.

Nuts, I say!  I haven’t done any runs in… well (pause to think), I don’t even remember the last time I did. Sure, I’ve walked farther than that in recent months, but as far as my ankle tendons go, running becomes a different beast altogether. After overstretching my left ankle tendon three weeks ago while doing squats at work in the middle of the night, then doing a 7 mile walk with AREC a week after, I stopped doing walking workouts altogether for 17 long days. I kept all my workouts on the spinning and recumbent bikes. After I deemed my left ankle adequately healed (my right ankle is hopelessly damaged), I went out last Tuesday not for a walk, but (gasp!), a run/walk to Target (to my readers from overseas, it’s a department store). I had to check out what kind of bathroom weighing scales they had and the costs because mine broke, but that’s another story. Anyhow, I managed 45 minutes of the 4 minute run with 1 minute walk break with minor soreness, which I followed up two days later with a 10% incline hill walk on the treadmill.

Which brings us to last Saturday morning. I had skipped the AREC workouts for two weekends since it was useless to show up if I didn’t plan on walking while I healed. The plan on this day was to do the 4 minute run with one minute walk interval for at least 6 miles. It was revised mid-run because my ankles felt ok so I didn’t do the scheduled walk breaks. The revised goal was to see if I can run non-stop up to 4 miles without pain before doing the walk break, which was revised further to 6 miles, but that was only because I managed to link up with a couple of other runners -Kim and Luis, which is what I miss the most about the training runs. When I walk alone, it makes the time and distance feel longer. Sorry guys, that I didn’t talk very much because I was trying to monitor how my ankles felt as the run went on. Not only that, I was also concerned about straining my right calf muscle like I did last year. We had two water breaks and one insulin adjustment break for Kim who is diabetic, which helped a lot in enabling my ankles to go a little bit farther. Believe me, I didn’t mind those breaks one bit and appreciated them a lot, whereas in the past I would have gotten very antsy. I told them about my plan and when we hit 6 miles, Kim reminded me of it. Well, one more mile maybe, and at 6.5 miles, I asked her to block or stop me from running any further and take a walk break when we get to 7. I made it to 7.34 before my watch signaled the one minute walk break, and this time I took it despite having only 2/3 of a mile to go. My stride was deteriorating at that point and I could feel the pounding on my ankles. A four minute run, a walk break and another couple of minutes of running later, I finished the greatest 8 mile run in recent history I’ve ever had! Yippee! All thanks to my two running partners of the day.

Was I in pain afterwards? Well of course I was, and I didn’t expect any less. I experienced what I consider a “beautiful soreness” of the muscles the next day. The real test for me however, is how much pain my ankle tendons would have the next day and two days after that. Thankfully, as of this writing, not very much. Notice how I differentiate between soreness and pain?

What do you say to a person who shouldn’t run anymore but still tries to? Don’t say “you’re nuts!” because I already self diagnosed myself with that one. Am I back? Highly doubtful. As it has been in the past couple of years, I’m day to day, and that’s just the way it is. Who knows? Running once a week just might work out for me.

Me and Rick going up Appian Way bridge.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

A Psychiatric Worker’s Worst Fear

The worst fear a psych worker can have happened to me last Tuesday night – the fear of losing a patient by suicide. The night shift just started and on my initial rounds, this patient was just in her room not giving a clue on what she was going to do next. While I prepared to do vital signs on all the patients, this woman asked another staff member to open the shower for her. A few minutes later, I heard a commotion and three workers rushed to the shower room. Upon opening the door, we saw the patient hanging from the ceiling. She had torn the pieces of cloth that are used to tie hospital gowns, knotted them together, put a noose around her neck, connected the other end to a sprinkler on the ceiling and jumped from one of the plastic chairs in the shower room. She was beginning to gag when we got there and the only thing I had on me to cut her down was a pair of nail clippers that I always have in my keychain. I cut the cord from the ceiling first, then the ligature from her neck. Fortunately, she had no trouble breathing when we sat her down on a chair and her vital signs were normal.

 That just goes to show you that if someone was really serious about killing him or herself, they would find a way to do it despite the precautions we practice, like taking away shoelaces, belts, and sharp objects from them. We were lucky when we found the patient while she was just in the process of doing what she did, which also happened to be the time of my next rounds. If that happened in between, it might have been a different outcome. The patient would have been out of a life and I’d have been out of a job.

Like I said, that’s what I fear the most in my job – finding a patient dead due to suicide. When that happens you might feel responsible because you were not able to prevent it. After all, keeping patients from harming themselves is our main responsibility.  I’ve found a few patients dead before but those were from natural causes or they had underlying medical problems. Even though I felt bad about losing them, at least they didn’t do it intentionally or deliberately.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Aerobicizing Without Running

Equipment I used to have years ago. The upright bike and stairstepper have been replaced with a spinning bike and treadmill plus an elliptical machine.

I’ve been trying to hold off from walking or jogging the past couple of weeks and confined myself to the recumbent and spinning bikes at home. I’m trying to get my left ankle to heal as much as possible even though it’s tempting to get out and pound the pavement. One moment I don’t feel any pain then the next moment the pain comes for no reason at all.

On the spinning bike, I noticed that when I start on a low gear and ramp it up ever so slowly while trying to keep the cadence high, the breathing pattern feels like doing an easy run then progressing to a tempo run. Because of that, the endorphin high feels similar too. The only difference is the pain in the butt. For some strange reason, doing stand ups on heavier gears, even though it feels harder,  doesn’t have the same effect.

Unfortunately the elliptical machine isn’t working too well for my ankles because there is too much up and down motion which overstretches the already tender tendons. I’ll try wearing running shoes with heel lifts and use a lower tension next time. Maybe that would help.

I’m considering using the rowing machine again but I don’t like the inconvenience of dragging it from it’s corner and unfolding it. Besides, I can’t do any reading while rowing which I like to do while stationary cycling. If I had more room I’d keep it open and probably use it more. I used to do a variation of circuit training where I do five minutes each on the rowing machine, recumbent bike, and upright bike for three or four sets. It breaks the monotony of using only one machine for a whole workout. I still do this sometimes with the spinning bike, recumbent bike, and elliptical machine.

          I haven’t resorted to my old Taebo DVD yet. I’m not even sure if I can find it any more.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Random Thoughts For Late June 2011

After not having an entry for a couple of months, finally another edition of random thoughts.

I wanted to open a bottle of wine last week so I went to get my corkscrew from where I usually get it from – a drawer in the kitchen. Well, it wasn’t there and I searched high and low, even in unlikely places, but I couldn’t find it. I must be getting forgetful, having more senior moments, or worse, developing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. I finally had to use a very old rudimentary cork screw, the one with a piece of steel attached to a piece of wood. I didn’t have to resort to my imitation Swiss Army knife with a corkscrew after all. The next day, I bought a new one at the 99 cent store but it wasn’t the same as the one I lost. I’ll probably find it one of these days when I’m looking for something else. Either I lost a corkscrew or lost my mind. You pick.

While at the 99 cent store I noticed a product called Sunny Acres Flavored syrup for coffee. Hmm ,no calories. Sounds like a retirement or nursing home doesn’t it? ! I have a couple of bottles at home now: French Vanilla and Hazelnut. Goes very well with my instant coffee.

Our condo association is making it more unaffordable to own and live here. They have been increasing our monthly dues 10% each year for the past three years. I can barely afford to pay the mortgage anymore. They work the same way as the government: tax and overspend.

Observations on store bought salads: Reser’s potato and macaroni salad taste like what my mom used to make while Kroger brand tastes like what grandma used to make. The first one is more tangy while the other sweeter.

This from a news item I read on the web: alcoholics in Australia confined in hospitals are drinking the alcohol based hand sanitizers which are available all over the building.

I finally retired the Sorbothane cycling gloves I’ve had since the early 80’s which I’ve been using to lift weights in recent years. The Sorbothane gel had disintegrated and was staining my palms.

Ever noticed in grocery ads that when they have a sale on hot dogs, there is usually no corresponding sale on hot dog buns? Goes the same for hamburger patties and buns. Unless of course it’s the Fourth of July, then all of those are on sale.

Noticed at the 99 Cent Store: 4 port USB hubs for what else? 99 cents. You can find Iphone and Blackberry skins there too.

I can’t decide whether to immobilize my left ankle or keep on doing flexibility exercises on it in an effort to promote the healing process.

The other night a patient came up to me asking for an extra pillow because her roommate was snoring. I asked her if she was planning on putting the pillow on her roommate’s face. (Similar to gallows humor, but in a psych unit.) Thankfully she said that she was just going to use the pillow to cover her own ears.

Last week, a psychiatrist was looking for a patient. The patient was taking a shower but since the doctor was in a hurry to leave, he conducted what I would call “shower therapy”. No, he didn’t join the patient in the shower. Rather, they talked through the shower door for a few minutes.

I just realized that when I turn 55 next year, I would qualify to be admitted to the geriatric psych unit if ever it came to that. I should bring my own earplugs so I don’t have to smother a snoring roommate. Don’t even think about doing shower therapy with me!

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

NOC Shift BHW Duties and Responsibilities for South Campus (Revised 6/23/11)

Since I don't have anything else to write about, this is what I'm going to post. Ever since my job switched to electronic medical records a couple of months ago, some of my duties and responsibilities have changed and/or have been rearranged. In 2006 I independently made an orientation checklist for new Behavioral Health Workers (or mental health workers) and also as a reminder for old ones in case they have forgotten what they have to do. The checklist below shows the current responsibilities shared by all BHW's.

*Get report from day shift.

*Q-15 minute checks on all assigned patients.

*Pass out snacks at 8:00 p.m.

*Monitor free phone calls at 8:00 p.m.

*Vital Signs – all patients need orthostatic vital signs taken at start of shift. Make 4 copies afterwards and give one to Team 1, 2, and 3 RN’s and Med Room.

*Chart vital signs, nutrition, and ADL’s in Cerner Powerchart.

*Put stickers on Close Observation (Q15 minute checks) Sheets

*Check stickers binder first to see if it is up to date: contains all the patients names in them and in the correct rooms. If any are missing, check the charts if there are some in them. If not, ask the charge nurse to print some out.

*Mark precautions (everybody is automatically on Fall Precautions), write in date and room number of both sides of the Close Observation (Q15 minute checks) Sheets.

*Update Roster (South Campus Combined Precautions Diet Meal & Shower Log) with patient names, precautions, and diet then print out to put on clipboard for day shift.

*Update Goals and Reflections sheet then print out to put on clipboard for day shift.

*Update South Campus NEW Orthostatic Vital Signs sheet for NOC shift.

*Update VITALS-Sherrie Version for A.M. shift then print out to put on clipboard for day shift.

*Monitor smoke breaks at 9:15 p.m. and 6:45 a.m.

*Turn off phones and close dayroom for housekeepers to clean at 10 p.m.

*Insert forms from chart packs in empty chart binders in preparation for new admissions.

*Assemble new chart packs

*When the chart packs in folders run low in the basket, put in new packs in folders and refill the basket.

*Admissions: Check vital signs, height, and weight. Have patient sign forms then witness them. Inventory property and call Security for valuables to be placed in the safe. Orient patient to unit.

*Check showers for items left behind by patients like: soiled towels, gowns, pajamas, empty plastic bottles.

*Assist patients with ADL’s as needed

*Assist with laundry as needed.

*End of the month: Denial of Rights sheets – make new ones for each patient by filling in Month, Year, Medical Records Number and Legal Status. File each under Graphics divider in chart. Tear off white copy from the previous month and place in case manager’s filing tray.

So there you go. This is my job and that is what I do. Oh, and talk to the patients of course.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

A Fortnight of No Walking and Blogging

Oh well, I haven’t posted anything in more than a week which is my longest drought since I started this blog. Just lazy I suppose or nothing to talk about, more likely. Ideas must be running dry. Notice how I managed to add “running” to that sentence?

First, a freak injury which sidelined me for more than a week in which I had to hold off from walking. It was more about overstretching an already injured or weak tendon, that being the left posterior tibialis. I was trying to keep awake or warm one night at work and was doing squats. The first few sets were okay but when I tried to do faster repetitions, that’s when disaster struck. I guess I didn’t control my legs too well and I overstretched to tendon mid squat. I was hurting the whole night and even though I avoid taking analgesics other than a daily aspirin for heart health, I had to take Motrin for pain relief. After that I had to limit myself to stationary cycling for exercise for about a week and a half.

Second, I missed participating in the Wrigley River Run this year (I ran it the past couple of years) because I had to attend a mandatory Management of Assaultive Behavior class on the day of the race. Renewing it annually is a requirement for my job and my certification was supposed to expire the day after the class. Even if I didn’t have to attend the class, I would have missed the race anyway due to the aforementioned injury. There were physical movements involved in the class and I tried to limit myself as much as possible due to the ankle pain.

I tried walking again on the treadmill when the pain subsided last Thursday morning. Normally I would have gone to 10% incline within the first five minutes of the workout and at least 3.5 mph and gradually increasing it up to 4 mph. That may sound slow, but remember it’s an uphill walk all the way. Well, on my first day back to a walking workout, the best I could do was 7.5% incline (which I didn’t even reach until about half an hour into the workout) and 3.5 mph. It was good enough for that day and besides, I have to save something for Saturday’s AREC workout.

And that brings us to Saturday. My alarm woke me up mid-dream at 5:00 a.m. and my first thought was - do I really have to do this?. After all, it’s too soon to try a six or eight mile walk after not having done so for almost two weeks. I banished the thought and got up, prepared myself for the task ahead, then headed to our meeting area. That day, instead of starting with the group I left about 15 minutes early to get a head start before they caught up with me. Normally I would do a mile warm up, then start with the others. I incorporated the warm up with the whole workout this day and instead of doing six miles (for the half marathoners) or eight miles (for the full marathoners), I did an in between seven miles. I tried a few steps of jogging while I was at it, but the left ankle felt very tight, as if it was about to tear. So I went back to walking and didn’t try to push the pace even at that. It was brisk but not as brisk as the 13:30 to 13:45 pace per mile I did in previous weeks. I managed a few short jogs in the last three miles which was probably not a good idea, but the ankle felt okay when I finished. I’ve mentioned this before in my posts: once the endorphins kick in, the analgesic effect lasts for hours and the pain feels diminished. It wasn’t until the next day that I felt it really badly. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation were of little help. Fortunately, when I left for work the pain had subsided probably because of the increased circulation in that area. Now, it’s a wait and see to figure out when I can do a walking workout again. Stay tuned.

Things noticed during the above mentioned walk: swim trunks are similarly cut and just as comfortable as running shorts for workouts and much cheaper too. I never knew there was a lifeguard museum in Long Beach. It was housed in what was not more than the size of a snack shack. That’s what happens when one has a meandering pace. You observe more things than when you are running breathlessly. When I took off my shoe when I got home, I found a piece of jacaranda flower in my shoe. The search for a runner’s high even when it pain is not such a good idea, but runners (or in my case: ex runner) do it anyway. Nuts, I say!
And as an addendum: In the last mile of my walk, one of the long time runners from the AREC club passed me and said "I couldn't do 21 years of running every day like you did". Thanks for making me laugh and smile Bernard! I responded - I couldn't even do 5 minutes non stop nowadays! With that, we continued on our way to the finish. Since that running streak has been long gone, sometimes I forget nowadays that it even happened.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

The Soreness of an Infrequent Runner

You’ve heard of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner which was one of the books that started the first running boom in the 70’s. I have not read it and neither can I identify with it since in my case, it has become the soreness of an infrequent runner. Please allow me to explain. If you have been reading my blog recently, you would know that I do power walking now when I train with my running club - A Running Experience. Last Saturday morning, I was feeling a little frisky after doing a three hour walk two days prior so I thought I’d try to do a little jogging. I did my usual one mile brisk walk warm up then set my GPS watch interval timer. The plan was to jog for two minutes then do a one minute recovery walk. With a bit of delusional thinking, I thought I could keep up with some people whom I’ve run with before, at least during the first two minute interval at the start. I was woefully mistaken when reality struck me in the face after I saw that those people had gotten much faster since I last ran with them. That, plus the combination of me having gotten so slow. No matter. I kept plugging away and didn’t do the walk break after two minutes and numerous more times thereafter. I mentioned in my previous post that I didn’t sweat very much during the three hour walk. Well, within the first five minutes of slow jogging, perspiration was dripping down my brow. I kept shuffling along not knowing how far I could take it before my ankles start to protest. When my stride became heavier at about 3 ½ miles, I decided it was time to do the walk breaks, but not until I reached 4 miles. A couple of people passed me at that point which was a surprise because I thought I was again the last runner. The one minute walk break ended and I started jogging again but this time I opened up my stride a little bit until the two minute alarm told me to do another one minute walk break. During the two minute run, I would catch up with one or two runners and they in turn would pass me on my walking breaks. This pattern kept on for the last 3 miles of the 7 mile route.

                Let me tell you how it felt to open up my stride for those two minutes of running: it was two minutes of pure bliss at a time which made me feel like a runner again. Look at the picture below with the forward lean while I neared the finish. Do I look like a runner? LOL! And of course look at the picture above with the more upright posture near the two mile mark when I was just shuffling. Oh by the way, those runners going the other way were from another training group. (Thanks to our intrepid and speedy club VP - Dave K., who runs all over the course to take these pictures.)

                So how does the title of this post fit in? Well, as can be expected, when you don’t do a certain activity often enough, you feel soreness in your muscles and joints afterwards. What surprised me was that I didn’t feel as sore as I expected even though I had to work the next couple of nights. But oh, boy was I tired Saturday night and it took every ounce of energy to keep myself awake while on the job. As far as my muscles and joints? I lucked out this time because the soreness was minimal.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

A Slow Blur of a Birthday Walk

         So I turned 54 a few days ago and like last year I got greetings for two days because my friends in the Philippines and similar hemispheres are about 14 hours ahead of U.S. time. Since I was off from work those two days, I managed to individually thank all those who greeted me. Click the “Like” button and say thank you. But enough about that. For some reason I woke up very early on June 2nd and since I didn’t have anything better to do, I thought I’d go out for a long walk, perhaps in the two hour range. It didn’t turn out quite that way even though I turned around after going out for an hour. I did some meanderings into some neighborhoods instead of heading directly back home and that added another hour to the whole jaunt.
This was not one of those arm swinging, hip swiveling, face paced walks which I had been doing on Saturdays with AREC. It was more leisurely. In fact the first couple of miles were in the 17 minutes and 20 seconds per mile range. The pace picked up ever so slightly in the miles that followed but it was never forced. I hardly broke a sweat, certainly not on my brow, and just a little bit on my back. Maybe because it was a cool morning and I started early. I can’t really describe the sights and sounds of this experience because it was mostly a blur to me. My mind doesn’t quite work very well that early.
I used to do these long jaunts years ago during special occasions like New Year’s day, my birthday, 4th of July, etc., but I did it running and not more than two hours. I don’t know what came over me that I extended it to 3 hours this time. Maybe to prove that I can do it or to see what distance I can cover on an easily paced walk. I ended up with 11.35 miles at an overall pace of 15:52. If I went another half hour, I would have done a half marathon!
The aftermath of that long walk? From the shins up, everything felt ok. Below that, my ankles hurt, but not so badly. So maybe if I can keep my ankle tendons as they are come October, I just might be able to finish the Long Beach half marathon. The only question now is: walk more briskly so I can get to the finish line faster but with more pain on the ankles, or walk like I did on my birthday and get to the finish line longer but with less pain?

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Back To Basics - A Uniform and Group Therapy Mandate

          Starting June 1st, our hospital has mandated the mental health unit staff to start wearing nursing garb, i.e. scrubs. We’ve always had to option to wear those instead of the civvies that has been standard wear for psych units for decades. One of the reasons why out administration decided to do this was because they wanted to eliminate the wearing of hoodie sweatshirts. I guess they finally got a clue that people wear hoodies so that the cameras that surround the hospital hallways cannot identify them. As I post this, I would have been wearing my uniform the previous night.
Another thing our bosses wanted us to do was group therapy on the night shift. That would be difficult to squeeze in between the time we report to work at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. when the patients go to bed. I commented facetiously during a staff meeting that maybe I could conduct group therapy while passing snacks at 8 p.m. Pass the patient a snack and ask him/her how the day went and if he/she met her goals for the day. If not, what he/she could have done better to achieve those goals. In the meantime, the rest of the hungry masses (and they are always hungry) wait in line for their turn. Then a group riot ensues… Just stating the worst case scenario.
In reality, this is how the night shift schedule works out: at 7 p.m. we report for duty and until 7:30, we listen to report from the day shift. At 7:30, we do our rounds, check on how our assigned patients are doing (first we have to make sure that they haven’t run away, and are still alive). The mental health workers do this while the RN’s talk to their patients. It is also in this span of time that patients get visits from family and friends until 8 p.m. The LVN’s on the other hand are getting the medications ready for the evening. At 8 p.m. we serve snacks to all the patients. They line up in the dining room and we pass out whatever the dietary department left for snacks: sandwiches, or fruit cups, or yogurt, plus juice and milk. This can be quite chaotic since everyone wants their share plus more. Some patients want a second helping even when the others haven’t had their first helping yet. Also at 8 o’clock, we offer free phone calls on the hospital phone and there is another queue in the hallway for that. Some patients do their phone calls first, then come to the dining room to get their snack or vice versa. Did I mention that we also check the patient’s vital signs at that time? There is another line in the hallway for that and we have to do orthostatic blood pressures and pulses which take time especially that we almost always have 30 to 36 patients. This takes about an hour and a half to finish.
So there is a constant flow between the hallway and the dining room. How are you supposed to conduct group therapy that way? By 8:30, the medication nurses are ready to pass medications and that requires a separate line in the dayroom area where the medication room window is. So there are actually 4 activities going on at the span of time between 8 to 9 p.m. After that, at 9:15, we conduct the last smoke break of the day, which lasts till 9:30, and finish off the remaining vital signs. Most of the patients go to bed after that and a lingering few watch TV until 10 p.m. after which we close the TV room so that the housekeepers can clean it up before they leave for the night. As you can see by now, the schedule is tightly packed between 7 and 10 p.m. and squeezing a group therapy session in there would be an exercise in futility. Of course the bosses who told us we should do group therapy has never worked the night shift or even observed what goes on in the evenings. Go figure.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Free Laundry

          I don’t usually do my laundry on Tuesdays but I had some time to kill on the 24th of May, so I decided to do it that day. When I got to the community laundry room, I noticed that all the washing machines didn’t have the usual digital messages on them. They usually show the prices for regular wash and extra wash. On this day, there were no prices, just options for  regular or extra. So I pressed the button for colors and the water started coming out. Wow! I thought I hit the jackpot! Free wash for that day. I was only going to put in one load but I went back to my place and took whatever I thought I needed to wash from my closet and ended up with three loads of laundry.  I wanted to share the good news with my neighbors but there weren’t any around in the middle of the day. Everyone must have been at work or school. So I did the next best thing - I posted the news of my good luck on Facebook.
After the washing machine finished doing its job, I noticed that they returned to the usual digital messages, meaning the free wash was good for one cycle only. I surmised that the company that owns the machines may have done some maintenance that day and after collecting all the accumulated coins, the machines probably resets to the free wash cycle. From this time on, I’ll be watching out for them every Tuesday. My laundry basket has never been as heavy as it was on this day. Too bad the dryer wasn’t free too.
So there it is - another episode in my mundane life where even just the free use of a washing machine gave me so much satisfaction that I had to blog about it. :D

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

A D.O.A. Computer

          A coworker has been mentioning that his computer would not boot up any more and it was giving fatal disk error messages. I said I fixed another coworker’s computer a few weeks before and that I could look at his to find out if I can repair it (for a fee of course). On our way home from work, I followed him and picked up two Dell computers that were not working. When I got home, I took out the newer one, removed the battery, discharged any remaining power left, plugged it in, then turned it on. Each and every time I tried this, the message I got was: no bootable hard drive found. I looked up that error message on the internet and most if not all said that the hard drive was most likely dead. Not wanting to give up so easily, I wanted to try other things, but I had to go to bed because I had to return to work the next night. When I woke up in the afternoon, I swapped the hard drive with one of my empty drives which was recognized by the BIOS. So that means the computer was still ok but the hard drive it came with wasn’t being recognized by the system. I also inserted some old operating system disks and they all launched (I aborted the process midway). As a last option to find out if the hard drive was still salvageable, I attached it to an external drive enclosure with a USB connection and connected it to my own computer. My computer tried to install a driver but did not succeed in recognizing the broken hard drive. I finally decided at that point that the drive was deader than a doornail. If another computer cannot even read the drive, then it’s impossible to even try to format and partition it. The drive was DBA (dead before arrival) and nothing else could be done with it. I could tell my coworker to find a shovel so he can bury the drive in his backyard. Cause of death: unknown.

                I said two Dell computers right? Well as far as the other one, I still have to find out what’s wrong with it as of this writing. I might work on it tomorrow on my day off.

                Okay, so the next day, I did the same preliminary removing and discharging of the battery on the second computer. I turned it on and it stopped midway through the boot process and asked me to strike F2 or F12, so I did the F2. It continued booting after that. Other than being slow, I didn’t see any error messages or anything wrong with it. I had to leave it to do my stationary bike workout and when I came back, it had gone to sleep. When I turned it back on, a familiar name came up in the log in process. I suddenly remembered that I had worked on this computer about two years before where I had to clean it up of spy ware and viruses (virii?). At that time, I optimized it so it would work faster. It’s really an outdated computer which only has 256 megabytes of memory, the type that isn’t manufactured any more, so it could not be upgraded. It also came with only a 60 gigabyte hard drive. Oh, my! I did the usual Windows XP updates which took a couple of days due to the slowness of the processor and the lack of memory. Then I ran Ccleaner to eliminate unneeded files and repair the registry. When I talked to the owner, she said the computer would not boot, however I couldn’t duplicate the problem. I warm booted and cold booted several times while it was connected to the power cord without any problems. It was until I reattached the battery when I noticed what the owner was talking about. It would not boot at all but just hang to the point where it asks you to strike F2 or F12. That was the AHA! moment. When I detached the battery, the computer had no problems booting. I searched the internet for causes of this problem but other than a question posted in a message board, there were no answers to be found. Why did this happen? Heck if I know. It could be worn out contacts between the battery and the computer which interferes with the whole system, or it could be because it’s really old. At least I found the cause of the problem even though I don’t have an answer for it. Other than that and in spite of it’s age and slowness (kinda like me with running and walking), it’s still fully functional as long as it’s plugged in. I don’t know if the owner will have the patience to wait for programs to load and webpages to open though.

                As a follow up regarding the newer Dell, I talked to the owner and suggested that he contact the company to see if he can purchase a DVD disk of Windows 7 because the system didn’t come with a disk like most computers do nowadays. Since the hard drive was dead, the built in recovery mode was no longer accessible and he didn’t create a system recovery disk nor backed up his computer. Dell should only be charging a nominal fee for the disk, and the owner can buy a new hard drive to reinstall Windows 7. Unfortunately, all his saved data is gone. Oh, I almost forgot. Before I finally gave up on the damaged hard drive, I placed it in the freezer then tried to use it again. That technique failed too. Just as a side note, I have used that technique before to recover data from a failing external hard drive. I managed to recover most of it although it took several freezings and thawings

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Hypermiling the Buck

       
          According to Wikipedia, hypermiling is defined by the New Oxford American dictionary as the attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel conserving adjustments to one’s vehicle and one’s driving techniques.
This has nothing to do with driving. Also nothing to do with having a deer run long distances until it collapses from exhaustion. I just like the way hypermiling sounds to describe how I haven’t had to visit an ATM machine for more than a month because of money conserving adjustments I was able to make since selling my old netbook and fixing another, both of which enabled me to earn some money. I earned $190 from those two ventures which may be a paltry sum to better earning people, but not to me. Between food, beverages, higher priced gasoline, and miscellaneous expenses like adding a load of $20 to my prepaid cell phone to call Mama on Mother's Day, $190 + $80 from my last withdrawal should not normally last for 37 days. My last ATM withdrawal was on April 11th. As of this writing (5-18-11), I still have $21 left in my wallet. I’m not the type who micromanages my expenses, so I can’t really explain how I managed to stretch the dollar for so long. I’m just not a big spender. If I can only earn some more money fixing computers, I may not have to visit at ATM machine any time soon. Of course that’s just wishful thinking. I don’t think I’ll be able to make a living doing just that. By the way, as my former classmate in the Philippines mentioned on Facebook recently, the peso equivalent of $190 would almost buy you a new desktop computer there. How far and how long would $190 go for you under normal circumstances (no emergency expenses)? My average expenses for those 37 days was $7.29 a day compared to the usual $11.42. Just slightly more than one of Starbuck’s large flavored coffees, I’m guessing.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Treading Pavement

          Now that the supposed day of rapture has come and gone, let me give you a blow by blow account of that day’s walk. The previous week, I finished a one mile warm up in 15:11. This week, the warm up mile time went down to 14:30. Things were looking up already. At the start, it felt like I was going at a pretty good clip. The only difference this time was that I didn’t pass any runners/joggers. I don’t think that the two I passed last week showed up this time. That, or they had improved their pace considerably in a week’s time that they were way ahead of me. So there I was again, trailing all the others.

 That's me, trailing the man with the red cap. I'm last as usual.

At an out and back portion of the course, it was great to see people I used to run with coming back and we cheered each other on. In spite of my slowness, it feels nice to be accepted by my friends who still run. How far behind was I?  When I reached the turnaround point, I told the people at the water station that they can start packing up because I was the last one.
As far as my power walking went, I gave it some effort but it didn’t feel like I could equal what I managed the week before. I didn’t even get close to getting short of breath. No matter how hard I tried to walk faster, it felt like treading water. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to be protective of my ankles and would not push off hard enough. I also experimented the swivel hips and heel to toe techniques, but I couldn’t keep that up for more than a few meters because it felt so unnatural.
Trying to pick up the pace in walking feels so much different from running. In running, you can speed up by increasing your stride length or the cadence of your steps. There seems to be a limiting factor when you try to do this in walking. You can only try walking so fast and if you go any faster, you might was well be jogging. Which of course doesn’t help with my ankles because of the additional impact forces.
So what’s next in this experiment? Perhaps I should go back to the technique I used the previous week and that was basing my pace on my perceived effort where my breathing felt like I was doing a slow run. We’ll see next week if the ankles cooperate.


Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

May 21st, 2011 - On The Day of Rapture, A Rapturous Walk

          After having widely exceeded my pace during the first week of AREC marathon training and astounding myself with it, I was brought back to reality when during the next several days, I could not do another walking workout because my otherwise “better” left ankle was hurting badly. No doubt the pain was caused by the faster than expected pace and subsequent pressures placed on those already balky tendons. Other than the usual daily to and fro, I wasn’t able to do a brisk walk again until last Thursday and this was done on the treadmill. When the second day of training came on Saturday, I wasn’t sure what to expect of my ankles. Nevertheless, I showed up anyway. The mileage was going to be one up from the previous week (6 miles instead of 5). Will I be able to do 13:30 pace again with the extra mile?
About 120 people showed up for the 4 miler  (half marathoners) and 6 miler (full marathoners). I think there were three walkers including me but the other two were only doing 4 miles, so as it has been the last couple of weekends, I was alone again, naturally (apologies to Gilbert O’Sullivan).
Since I was walking all by myself and there wasn’t anybody around to key on or pace with, my concentration wavered at times. When I reached the finish of  the six miler and clicked off the GPS watch, my overall pace was 15 seconds per mile slower than the previous week. It was slightly deflating, but I thought, what the heck, I was only expecting 15 minutes per mile when I started these walking workouts. Considering that May 21st was supposed to be the end of the world, it was great to be able to spend the final day with running friends, to be alive, and be able to walk at a pace of 13:45 per mile. As close as one can get to rapture!

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Fiberized Pop Tarts

I went to the 99 cent store last week to look for some hard candy, and right by the entrance they had a display of Pop Tarts. Normally that wouldn’t have gotten my attention, however the boxes said “now with 20% of daily fiber per serving”. Interesting slant on a toaster pastry indeed. Not only that, it said “one serving of whole grains”. Who would not want that? They are beginning to try to “healthysize” pastries now. Reading the fine print later, the excess sugar and fat has remained, of course, and just one pastry had 190 calories in it. Other than the fiber and whole grain, the total calories, sugar, and fat content equaled close to a regular sized Snickers bar. So what do you think? Is the addition of fiber and whole grains worth the trade off? By the way, it’s the same type of fiber you can find on Fiber One and Fiber Plus bars which I’ve been having lately – Inulin from chicory root extract. It’s something I’ve written about in the past in the blogpost entitled “Artsy Farts From Fiber One”. Despite the sugar and fat content, I bought a box anyway and had a couple of pastries for dessert that evening. The effects were not as hard hitting as Fiber One or Fiber Plus since those have 35 % of daily fiber per serving, but nevertheless there was a sense of satiety after consumption. A couple of days later, I bought two more boxes. Since the 99 cent stores buy their products on closeout, the Pop Tarts came only in strawberry flavor, but that wasn’t a problem for me. I don’t expect to buy any more though because of the sugar and fat content, and at that price, the store should be running out pretty quickly. An indulgence of three boxes should be enough. But not all at once.


Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

AREC Marathon Training – 2011 Edition (In my case: walk training)

So what about these numbers: 13:30? Saturday morning was the start of the annual AREC marathon/half marathon training for the Long Beach Marathon, something I wasn’t sure if I was going to participate in this year due to my ankle issues. Plus all these shenanigans about waking up too early on Saturday mornings which I have become lazy about. Nevertheless I set my alarm at 5 a.m. and went anyway, if only to pick up my technical shirt for renewing my club membership. The night before, I had to decide whether to wear my shoes and orthotics for running, or the shoes and orthotics for walking (as I type this sentence, this word processor keeps on changing the word “orthotics” to “esthetics”). I opted for the latter because my last run two days before made my ankles too achy for another running workout. I got there early, filled out the necessary waivers, then started a warm up walk of one mile. Oh, it took about 15 minutes and 11 seconds which was not bad for a warm up.
There were the usual lengthy first day introductions before the start. I checked the sign up sheet and saw about 110 names on it. Not too shabby in spite of some people from the club running the Palos Verdes Marathon and Half that day. Just a tad before 8 a.m. we finally got started. I didn’t expect any other walkers in the group so I started from the rear so as not to get in the way of the runners. For the first time in a long time, I was not in the mix. But whadayaknow, I actually passed two joggers in the first 100 meters! I had set my watch to 4:1 intervals with a plan to walk hard for four minutes and recover for one minute. That plan was out the window after the first interval because I just kept on going and ignoring the recovery minute. I didn’t know how long I could keep up that clip and I also didn’t know what pace I was doing because I don’t have pace sense in walking as I used to do in running. In running I could guess my pace per mile depending on my perceived effort. However, I’m clueless about walking pace based on perceived effort. Since I couldn’t keep up with anybody, I was walking all by my lonesome until the club vice president who was taking pictures while running back and forth all over the course, caught up with me with a mile and a half to go. He managed to take a picture of  me from the side exposing all my gray hairedness (methinks it might be time to color my hair again which I haven’t done in about 4 years because I had given up vanity). In any case, I made it to the finish of the 5 mile walk, clicked my GPS watch off, checked my average pace per mile, and voila, it was a surprising 13:30! I don’t think I’ve ever walked that fast before even though I managed about 13:45 five or six years ago covering 10 miles. But that was when I only had a problem with the right ankle. Considering it was quite a cool morning, a sweat rate of two pounds was pretty good because it meant that I was putting some effort into my strides. Instead of longer strides when I don’t swing my arms, my steps were shorter and done at a faster clip. I still have a lot to learn about proper power walking technique. All I know is that it has something to do with the heel to toe push off plus some hip action. With the effort I put in last Saturday morning, it wasn’t much of a surprise that my ankles were hurting for days afterwards.
Other than passing a couple of people at the start, I was the trailing participant of the group. In fact, I was the last finisher. But, it was a very good finish.

Side note: In the past, I would have blogged about this right after I got home from the run. However, I've been getting lazy lately and writing about it has come later and later. My apologies.

Public comments below, private comments: E-mail Me!
Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com

Random Thoughts About Weight and Running

Losing weight and gaining fat? Is it possible that running helps ward off subcutaneous fat better than other cardiovascular or aerobic exercises? In recent months I could see traces of my former six pack disappear slowly even though I’ve lost a little bit of weight since I stopped running, while doing other types of aerobic activities. I think the slight weight loss has something to do with eating lesser, but I don’t know what the connection is with body fat percentage. Maybe it’s a testosterone issue related to age.

                Running or jogging or shuffling in the past week and a half without expectations of being able to go fast or pick up the pace has caused lesser pain. I’ve been making a conscious effort to reduce the load on the ankles. When it feels that I have picked up the pace subconsciously, I dial it back. So far it’s going well and I might keep on riding it until the ankles tell me to stop again.

                Can weight get too dangerously low? I know it can, but how low?  I haven’t been eating as much as before although I still have a tendency to overeat once in a while. After all that’s a habit that will take time to break after doing it for so many years, while being able to rely on running to control weight. I find myself regaining weight a little bit on the nights that I work since there is a tendency to eat an extra meal while staying awake on the job. However, in recent months, I’ve hit low weights I haven’t had since probably starting high school. On May 9th I hit a new low of 115 pounds upon waking up. I hope it was  just a lack of fluids which is also probably the reason that day’s run felt sluggish, and I felt out of breath even though the very slow pace didn’t warrant it. The next day my weight was still at 115.2 even though I tried to eat and drink slightly more. A weight that low is something I don’t think is healthy for me. I’m guessing my borderline should be around 116.5 to 117.5.  It’s nice to be able to keep weight down without relying too much on exercise to burn off the calories of course. There have been days that I’ve been able to reduce the intensity and duration of my workouts because of the lower weight. I don’t want to develop an  eating disorder after having what I call a running disorder for so many years. Meaning, I insisted on running every day even when injured.

                By the way, here is another way I try to stay active at home instead of just sitting on the couch while watching TV. I dance. Well I don’t really know how to dance but while watching DWTS or American Idol, I flail around like a chimpanzee until the dance or song on TV is finished. Recover, then repeat after the commercial break.

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

Back to Main Page: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com