Signal Hill Walk/Jog – June 29, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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GREAT BALLS OF FIRE and other Random Thoughts

Well, more like Small Balls On Fire, but more on that later.
          Some prayers are repetitive. The Litany for example, and of course, the rosary. During confession, the priest gives you penance in which you usually have to recite so many Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and/or Act of Contritions to atone for your sins. My question is: is repeating the same prayer several times when you are more or less just murmuring the words, more effective than one fervent one where you put your whole heart into it? It seems like repetition is some sort of sacrifice that “makes you put in your time” so to speak.

          During my half marathon birthday walk, I contemplated my fear of offering one of my kidneys to my brother. I had been thinking about it for awhile and it has become more important now because he may have some donor compatibility issues (his blog about kidney disease). I wish I could be courageous and just do it because it's the right thing to do. Even if I was brave enough to do it, how do you coordinate the healthcare system of the U.S. with that in the Philippines as far as organ donations go? I emailed the National Kidney and Transplant Institute customer service in the Philippines but they haven’t responded.

          I used to do errand runs to squeeze in a workout where I ran to the bank, video store, grocery store, and/or pharmacy, but ever since my ankle tendon and myopathy problems, I have resorted to errand walks. One of last weeks’ workouts went like this: very brisk walk to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, then proceed to the 99 Cent store to buy a couple of bottles of lemon pepper seasoning, then it was off to  Rite Aid Pharmacy (well I’ll be darned because I forgot what I bought there, old age, you know), and the last stop before home was Von's Grocery to buy some oatmeal raisin walnut cookies. Then I headed back home. How did I manage to carry all the things I bought. No I didn’t bring a reusable bag with me but brought a backpack instead. Total time = 55 minutes.

          And then there was The Pepper Incident. I’m addicted to hot stuff and nary a meal which doesn’t include hot sauce (Sriracha or Tapatio), raw jalapeno peppers microwaved for a minute or so, or pickled jalapeno peppers. Well, this one time, I sliced open a raw jalapeno pepper and took out the seeds with my fingers. Then I scratched or rubbed my forehead, after which I went to the bathroom to pee. All that without washing my hands first. Guess what happened? My forehead was burning, my eyes were burning, and worst of all, my cojones were burning. Despite repeated washings of the areas, they remained aflame for several hours. No, I didn’t have any milk which I hear relieves the burning better. The experience gave new meaning to the Jerry Lee Lewis song - Great Balls of Fire. Lesson learned. I now wash my hands right after handling peppers. Goodness Gracious, I hope you weren't expecting any pictures!

          I understand that sometimes workers have to listen to music or watch videos to relieve boredom during the night shift. What I don’t understand is why they have to use earphones in both ears so as not be able to hear patients knocking on the door or commotions on the unit. Just common sense -it is a safety issue.

          Flies, flies, and more flies, and not the dumbbell workout kind either. I began to have a gathering of flies inside my screen windows last week and they didn’t fly anywhere inside but rather just stuck themselves to the screen. My first thought was that – did anything die indoors? I didn’t smell anything rotten. Then I checked my pulse just to make sure. Turns out, one or two managed to sneak through tiny holes on the screen and invited their friends to the party. Only they couldn’t find the way back out. A little bug spray did the trick along with patching the holes. It seems to have worked. Now to deal with occasional spiders, ants, and cockroaches… Jeez, what’s next? Locusts and pestilence?

                And lastly the consequence of last year's traffic ticket. Remember my blog about being No Longer A Traffic Ticket Virgin? Well, that moving violation didn’t only cost me a $400+ fine but also a $200 increase in car insurance rate for at least the next three years! As if I didn’t have too many expenses already…

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A New Sofa Bed or Click-Clack Sofa?

Old Futon Frame

          About five years ago I bought a cheap futon from Walmart. I used to have a regular couch but in case I get some houseguests, I thought it would be practical to have a futon instead. After just a couple of months, the cushioning flattened out and it became a little bit uncomfortable to sit on. Earlier this year, before my brother got diagnosed with end stage renal disease, he and his wife Ninette talked about the possibility of visiting me. So I started looking into replacing the futon with a sofa bed or one of those click-clack sofas which are basically the same as futons except the cushioning is already part of the frame.

Click Clack Sofa

          A regular sofa bed was out of the question because of budgetary reasons - none were in my price range. I found a click-clack sofa on sale last month and I wanted so badly to buy one but the store didn’t deliver and I needed a truck to transport it. Unfortunately, by the time my co-worker’s truck became available, the store was out of stock. So it was back to looking for a better deal. Then it occurred to me that I’ve read somewhere before that some futons come with an inner spring mattress and they can be bought separately. I examined my futon frame and it still appeared to be in good shape. Perhaps I can just replace the flattened cushion with an inner spring mattress. It was back to trolling the internet for the best price. It was not too surprising that Walmart had one at my price range and more importantly, the reviews were mostly positive. It was a choice between a 6 inch or an 8 inch mattress and I opted for the thinner one just because the thicker one would have covered most of the futon frame’s arms. I ordered it online which came with free delivery and it arrived 6 days later. The delivery person actually managed to get inside the security gate and left it outside my door while I was asleep. Fortunately, nobody stole it. When I woke up and went outside, I just found this huge rolled package.

          The mattress was inside a bag and when I took it out, it was shrink wrapped with all the air squeezed out. I tore off the plastic wrap and the mattress opened up. I removed the old cushion then had to mightily wrestle the heavier inner spring mattress into the futon frame. Hooo boy! That darn thing was heavier than I thought. However, it folded neatly where it was supposed to in the middle. I sat on it and it felt a little too firm, but since it hadn’t expanded to its fullest shape yet, that was to be expected. There was also a matter of the factory odor which emanated from the mattress, but that faded as time went on.

Futon Innerspring Mattress

          So what to do with the old flattened cushion? I tried putting it on top of the new mattress but that made the couch too high. Then an idea came to me. Perhaps I can repurpose it as a mattress pad on my old bed. Well I tried that for a few days but it felt too lumpy and because of the way it was positioned on the futon, the middle part was raised. In an effort to flatten the middle, I piled a barbell on it and left it for several hours on two separate days. Well, that didn’t help very much or at all. Because of that middle lump, after sleeping, I woke up with back pain because my body is more used to sleeping on a very firm mattress. I ended up throwing it away. Well, so much for recycling.

                On a more positive note, the new inner spring futon mattress seems to be holding up well and the odor is mostly gone. I’ve even taken short naps on it and it was firm enough for my needs. It is still a little too firm for sitting though, but I remedied that by placing an outdoor lounger mattress which I already had, on top of it. I'm pretty happy with the product. It does pay to read reviews :). So folks, if ever anyone comes over for a vacation in my neighborhood and needs a bed for a short while, I am no longer ashamed to offer my futon. Just be careful not to bump into all my exercise equipment in case you wake up in the dark in the middle of the night.

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Shave to Skin, Fade, Do Not Touch = Getting It Right

Before running on National Running Day, before walking a half marathon for my birthday, and even before the Assaultive Behavior Management class, first came THE dreaded HAIRCUT. If by any chance you have followed this blog for awhile, you would already know about my searching high and low for a barber. Too many times or more often than not, barbers have left me dissatisfied with the way they have done their abstract designs on my noggin.

A couple of weeks ago after leaving work and shopping for groceries, I was on my way home when I espied that one of the barbershops  I’ve used in recent months was open and had no customers yet. So I stopped and had a haircut. Using my previous description at another barbershop about how I wanted my hair done, I told the barber that I wanted the sides shaved to the skin halfway up, then a fade and taper the rest of the way. The difference this time was that I told him not to take any off the top because when the last barber did it, my hair remained spiky for several months. And away he went buzzing here and snipping there a la Edward Scissorhands but with an electric razor. And VOILA! When he was done, it appeared that , I finally got lucky and got what I consider to be a proper haircut. Once in a rare while, the barber gets it right. So much so that I asked him to take a picture with me which made it look like Sweeney Todd getting ready to slaughter his next victim.

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Assaultive Behavior Management Training 2013

          8 months ago, I was assaulted by a patient (http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-assault-with-no-visible-triggers.html). Last Saturday, I had to attend a refresher course on how to deal with violent patients. Did I learn anything new?
          Professional Assault Response Training (PART), Proc-ACT, Management of Assaultive Behavior (MAB), and now ABM. Well at least it’s not LBM! What used to be a mandatory 8 hour class  for work every year has been compacted to a 4 hour class every 2 years. Is it for the better? Well, that very debatable. But first things first. A good breakfast to start with on a Saturday morning. I’m not a breakfast eater but knowing that the class would last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., I thought it was best that I had something in my belly. So I went to the hospital cafeteria and ordered a breakfast burrito consisting of hash browns, scrambled eggs, and sausage, wrapped in a toasted tortilla. It was probably the most cholesterol laden food I’ve had in weeks. Having filled myself with all the fat I can handle, it was time to go to class.

          There were 17 students who signed up, ate some doughnuts the instructor brought in so we could give him positive reviews, and were given handouts about the course. Most of us were there for recertification so we were fairly familiar with the subject matter. So what can you do in fitting an 8 hour class to half the time, which was similar to when I took it 2 years ago? Well, there were a lot of shortcuts to be made. Mostly, the theoretical parts of assaultive behavior was discussed – how to identify and respond to it. Well and good in a perfect world. First of all, this is not a criticism of the class or instructor  because they are limited to what they can do with the time they are given. This is just an observation. There is now lesser information and training and mostly theoretical, and even that felt incomplete due to lack of real life situation examples. Even with the best intention of the class, which is to avoid seclusion and restraints by verbal interventions and alternative techniques like medications, when push comes to shove so to speak, the students will not necessarily know what to do because the physical part of the training has been lacking. Heck, even how to do verbal interventions was just skimmed over. I don't know if it's only to save time, but also to save money, but reducing the class to a barest minimum could be dangerous for someone who has not been exposed to real life situations in a psychiatric unit. Gone is the role playing we used to do in responding to agitated patients. For people who have taken the longer and more detailed classes, it would have been sufficient as a refresher. For the newbies and those who haven’t worked in a psych unit for a while, I don’t think they would be well equipped to handle explosive situations that would arise at work.

          In my opinion, the class would have been more efficient if we stuck to the syllabus or handout and were given realistic scenarios of what could or usually happens in a psych unit. It seems that the aim of the class was just to satisfy a requirement rather than to give adequate training. That being said, I’m glad it was only a 4 hour class. After all, who would like to go to such class on their day off anyway?!

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National Running Day and Birthday Walk - 2013 Edition

          So what does one do on National Running Day when one can’t run? Well in my case, I gave it the old college try. Running was not planned that day, but with so much internet posts about it, an attempt would have to be made. It would have been preferable to do it outdoors of course, but I had to keep it on the treadmill so as to soften the blow on my brittle muscles and joints. Slowest speed possible: check, 1 percent incline: check, legs and ankles ready: question mark. Keeping my strides as light as possible, the treadmill belt moved underneath me while I kept anticipating a jolt of pain which never came. I kept going, and jogging, and slogging until I reached 45 minutes and figured that enough was enough. I had kept my National Running Day obligation for another year, albeit indoors on a treadmill. A purist might say that shouldn’t count, but having been unable to run in any way shape or form for several weeks, I’ll consider that a run. Who knows when I’ll be able to do it again or at all?

          In keeping with a birthday tradition of doing a long run which in recent years have now turned into a long walk, the day after National Running Day, I did a trek around my neighborhood. I didn’t venture too far because in case my joints and muscles failed me, at least I was close to home. Believe me, even when I woke up that morning, I was undecided on whether I should do it or not, or which direction to go (drive to the beach or El Dorado Park, or walk down Del Amo Boulevard going east and see how far an hour and a half will take me?). Instead, I kept it around Bixby Knolls and mostly in the Virginia Country Club area where I did my training for the Los Angeles Marathon a couple of times maybe a decade ago. Meanwhile, I had been thinking if it was it time to give up on this annual exercise. The reason why I had doubts was because the mental toughness I developed while training for marathons is no longer what it used to be. Why would I want to do 3 hours or more of this workout when 30 minutes to an hour on the stationary bike or a treadmill hill walk would suffice? Well, mainly because I wanted to prove to myself that it's still doable in spite of my ankle and thigh/hip problems.

          Armed with my cellphone, keys, wallet (in case I had to pay for a cab), some cough drops to keep my mouth moist, and listening to KIIS-FM on the radio-equipped phone, I stepped out into the June gloom and started walking in an unhurried pace. While I moved, I contemplated on what I was going to do. Shall I keep it to 2 hours, the time I used to do when I was still running, or walk for 3 hours regardless of what distance that took me, or go for the usual 12 miles regardless of how long it took me? Last year it took 3 hours and 11 minutes to cover that distance.

          The first hour felt easy mentally, the second hour almost felt likewise until I reached 1:45 when it felt like time slowed down. On the third hour, I tried not to check my watch too often, and that helped a lot. During the walk, I saw a lot of houses being remodeled (the economy must be getting better), gardeners mowing lawns and trimming bushes, squirrels scampering up trees and crossing overhead electrical wires from one post to another. In Los Cerritos Park, there was a smattering of walkers and other exercisers doing their thing. In the middle of the walk, my phone rebooted for no apparent reason so I had to reset the radio station I was listening to. The first cough drop lasted for an hour and 57  minutes and the second one lasted until I finished the walk. It was mostly a no rush walk of about 16 minutes per mile (I didn’t want to pressure myself with pace) until the last 30 to 40 minutes. As I was getting close to 12 miles, I picked up the pace and thought that I should go for something extra and try for a half marathon instead. Well I did manage to do a GPS based half marathon to celebrate my 56^th birthday when the sun never emerged from the June gloom. The pace was faster than last year's 12 miler because there were no hills. After 3 hours, 17 minutes, and 33 seconds, 13.11 miles at 15:04 pace, and 2 bathroom breaks, I had done what I set out to do even with the initial doubts. Not only did the walk prove that I was still capable, but also that I can finish a half marathon without a training plan. That was the plus side. On the minus side, despite the distance, the workout didn't really hit the pleasure areas of my brain like running would have done. But I already accomplished the pleasure the previous day when I ran on the treadmill on National Running Day. Thus ends this year’s edition of my crazy traditions. Same time next year?

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Statin Myopathy, Cholesterol Level, Diet, AREC, and Running

          

Photo courtesy of David K. - AREC President

          Normally, I'm overly excited about rejoining AREC's Long Beach Marathon training, but due to my most recent muscle problems, this time, I'm just elated at making it there at all.

          Backtracking a little bit to give you some history: I had to start taking Lipitor again three months ago because my cholesterol level went up when I stopped taking the medication due to muscle pains as a side effect. How bad have the pains been? Well, if I do the same type of workout two days in a row, let's say for example- using the recumbent bike, my leg muscles are more likely to hurt. Giving myself a few months break while taking Coenzyme Q-10 supplements relieved the pain and enabled my muscles recover somewhat. Even though I only took half the dose of the Lipitor (20 mg.) and only 3-4 times a week this time around, I began experiencing the muscle pains again after just 3 months, mainly on both thighs. So I requested a cholesterol level test from my doctor before visiting him and later found out that even the lower dose of medication taken roughly every other day decreased my cholesterol level from 220 to 178. More importantly, my LDL also dropped and my LDL/HDL ration remained good. So the good doctor recommended that I further reduce the dose of the Lipitor to 10 mg. three times a week in hopes that my muscle pains would disappear. By the way, I walked from home to the lab and back for my blood draw and that made for a six mile workout :-) We shall see if the doctor's recommendation is effective in a few weeks.

          A couple of days after the doctor's visit, I showed up at AREC marathon training not necessarily to train with them but mainly to pick up the beach towel which is what we get for being a member this year (last year it was a windbreaker). How often do I go to AREC runs? Well I saw a woman with her husband carrying a baby last Saturday. I never even saw that woman pregnant last year! Anyway, the workout for the day was either 4 or 6 miles and I opted for the longer distance, thinking it would take me about an hour and a half to cover it. Of course a few people after seeing me walking asked if I was recovering from an injury and all I can say is that it's just SNAFU (situation normal, all fu.... up). Nevertheless, my pace felt pretty brisk but since I was the only walker who was doing 6 miles, I was in last place. So much so that when I reached the turnaround point where the water station was, I suggested to Tina and Rosie that they could probably start packing up the supplies because I was the last one . About a mile down the road, good old Dave, the club president was still taking pictures and waiting for the last person. Thank you Dave, for being such a caring president :) I wended my way through the streets of Naples (Long Beach) in the last two miles until I reached the finish area at Joe's Crab Shack. When I clicked off my stopwatch, it registered 1:18:32. Hmm, that seemed quite fast for 6 miles but I couldn't calculate pace per mile out of the top of my head. See, I haven't been using my GPS watch lately. I had to wait to get home to plug in the numbers in a pace calculator before finding out that I had walked at an average pace of 13 minutes and 5 seconds per mile for 6 miles! My goodness, I've never walked that fast before, with or without muscle pain! That was pleasantly surprising since if I'm not mistaken, my previous fastest pace was about 13:40 per mile. I haven't exactly done any roadwork lately other than my futile attempts to jog a few weeks ago before my thigh muscles began being affected by the statins again. I guess those treadmill hill walks must be helping. And I should probably also thank AREC and it's members for the motivation they provided. And to think that I even forgot to bring coughdrops which I suck on during workouts to keep my mouth moist. Maybe not carrying 2 to 3 pieces of candy lessened my load which enabled me to walk faster :) Now if I can only learn proper racewalking technique...

Always appreciating Dave's photos :)

          Going back to my battle with cholesterol - taking psyllium and fiber gummies weren't working by themselves. In addition to the lower dose of Lipitor, I also had to do other things like cutting the cheese from my diet, bringing my own turkey sandwiches to work instead of eating the ham and cheese they give out for snacks, substituting fat free sherbet for ice cream, and using imitation crab meat or tofu instead of meat for my barley and vegetables concoction. Other things I've cut out are hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches except for an occasional jelly sandwich. One thing I can't let go completely though are the sweets, which is my guilty pleasure, and some of you may have already seen my dessert photos on Facebook.

          So two things to be happy about: being able to walk faster and lowering my cholesterol to healthy levels. To end this post, I decided to just focus on the things that I can do (like walking at a good pace) and be thankful for them rather than lament what I cannot do (like running).

Always try to look good when you see a photographer :)

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SYTYCR - So You Think You Can Run

Apologies to the TV show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD).
          I have been taking CoEnzyme Q-10 supplements for several months to counteract the myopathy caused by taking Atorvastatin for high cholesterol and thought that my thigh muscles had recovered enough to try running again. After a few weeks of dabbling on this running or plodding workout, I have come to either an assumption or conclusion. It's not a new one because I've been arriving at the same result for at least the past two years. I've already been content with my exercise routine in recent months without running, but for some reason I keep getting drawn back to give it one more try, not in the hopes of returning to previous capabilities, but just as another workout option. It worked for about three weeks, then not surprisingly, my muscle imbalances and statin related myopathy came back to spank my butt. As if it wasn't hard enough trying to run again.
          How did it happen this time? Was the cause due to restarting the Lipitor three months ago and the effect the return of myopathy even with the coenzyme Q-10 supplements? Or was the cause due to restarting running and doing 2 minute pickups too soon with the effect as being too much too soon? More likely, it is the combination of both. My muscles were already achy from just three weeks of running 2 to 3 times a week and the pickups just took it over the top. It didn't take very much - just 3 pickups in the last 10 minutes of a 40 minute run, but that's all it took to trigger the pain on both hips. I have already chopped my stride to lessen the impact but with the pickups I unintentionally extended the stride which I think started the pain. My hips don't lie when they say they're hurting. How do I know if it's really a bad injury? When I descend down stairs, it hurts like the dickens (I really don't know what that means). I have to hold on to the rails to keep my balance and so I don't fall. It's not the kind of pain that can be relieved by analgesics either. Believe me, that's based on experience and research. Would you believe the feeling of utter depression actually overcame me the day after and it lasted for several hours? Being debilitated made me feel that way. Fortunately I got over that funk the next day.
          So it's back to no running (or plodding). Is it safe to assume that I should stop making these comeback attempts? When something that give you most pleasure also gives you the most pain, then is it definitely time to stop forever? The problem with running is that it's like heroin which from what I hear, the detox and cravings are intense. Nevertheless, getting high on running even just for three weeks was worth it. SYTYCR? I cannot, or rather , should not. Until the pain dissipates and/or the cravings start again...
          How I wish someone had developed a training plan for people with myopathy, perhaps something similar to a beginner's guide to running. As far as Do I Think I Can Dance? HA! Let's just say that Elaine on Seinfeld dances much better!

Getting a Little High Then Overdosing

          Darn it! I was editing a draft of this post when the Polaris Office word processor app crashed and took all the edits with it, and just as I was getting in a flow. Unfortunately, it didn't autosave the work so I have to start all over. Believe me, that lost document was much better than this.

          Puff, puff, pass. If only it were that. It's feels more like huff, and puff, and pass out. Running can feel so rough when you haven't been doing it for awhile. Waking up with what are now daily aches and pains doesn't help any. I had one of those days and even considered not running that day, even though I had been looking forward to it in the days preceding.  But hey, I figured I ran three days ago in the afternoon after working 2 night shifts, I should be able to at least try running again after having the night off. So I laced up my running shoes and got out the door just planning on putting one foot in front of the other for what I hoped was at least 30 minutes. After all I had to work off the overdose of red velvet cookies I had the night before. That was my first overdose (darn it Von's, stop putting those things on sale!!!).

          Well, it was one of those runs that the body never got out of warm-up mode. The muscles and joints never loosened, the breathing was labored all the way, and hitting a good stride never happened. You've heard of a working stiff? Well, I looked like a plodding stiff. Remember when running used to be called jogging? Can I claim to have discovered a new aerobic workout named plodding? How can you look good while running very slowly? Right now there is no way and it's just plain running ugly. Since when did a gentle rise in the road not feel so gentle anymore? I used to attack those things. Attacking hills or even the flat road doesn't exist in my running vocabulary anymore due to a certain amount of fear of getting injured. I would have to be constantly in a 'protect mode'. While on this plodding workout, I saw a school bus full of children who were probably thinking "gee mister, you're so slow". Heck, I didn't care. After all, I was out plodding. And a tough plod it was. I should train my brain to think that every run is a good run regardless of how tough it is. If there is one advantage of running at glacial pace, it is that I am reaching distances much shorter than before, so it doesn't take long before I have to turn around and run back home.

          Hard days and easy days? Ha! They are all hard days. If I ran any slower, I'd be as good as stationary. My arm carriage is so high, it's like having a permanent shoulder shrug. Not very efficient or loose at all. Even with all that difficulty, I went out plodding again two days later and lasted for a full hour! What a hard way to get high. But it wasn't that which made me high, although it helped. It was checking my exercise log and seeing that I had done three runs in the past week. Hard to believe that I was capable of doing that anymore.

          Persistence, or lack thereof is probably one of the reasons people give up when they first try a new exercise program. For me, this plodding workout might as well be a new exercise program. Despite the difficulty I am having now, barring injury, I will persist until it starts becoming a habit again rather than a chore. For now, persistence is having managed to do three very slow runs last week.

          Apart from getting a runner's high and overdosing on red velvet cookies, I had a second OD last week which was caused by too much caffeine. I had such a tremendous buzz from overcaffeineation that it took more than 4 hours to come down from it. I needed some help from a little vino to come down and lots of water to decrease the caffeine concentration from the body, and so I could excrete it through urine. So how does one get overcaffeineated? The darn Gevalia coffee tasted so good, I kept sipping it without regard to the consequence. It was one of those times when I brewed it to perfect proportions as far as taste was concerned, but apparently too strong for my body to handle. If I were still able to run long distance, I might have finished a marathon on that buzz.
       
          So there it is - three high inducing runs, I mean, plods, two overdoses, and lots of persistence. You can't get any much higher than that. Anybody wanna join me start a new plodding boom? Then I can rename this blog -Thoughts About Life and Plodding.

An Obamacare Loophole For Early Retirees?

This entry was written on April 21, 2013, way before Obamacare took effect. Here is an update concerning my situation dated July 26, 2014: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2014/07/qualifying-for-medi-cal-due-to-obamacare.html .

I didn’t expect to write about anything today, especially not about politics. But this is not about politics but rather about retirement. After I finished reading about buying health insurance with Obamacare, I just had to share a surprising discovery that could affect me and perhaps you. The main I concern I’ve had about retiring early (if I could), was getting affordable health insurance. I was already dreading the thought of having to work until I reach 65 when I would be eligible for Medicare, or stop working earlier and move to the Philippines. Of course you can always buy coverage from private insurance companies, but they are very expensive and if you have a pre-existing condition, your premiums could be higher or you could be denied coverage. So I decided to do some research on how Obamacare would affect the cost of health insurance coverage for early retirees, who won’t be eligible for Medicare until age 65, and found some interesting things about the Affordable Healthcare Act of 2010.

First I went to this website: coveredca.com to check out how Obamacare would work in California. I read through pages of information but they didn’t clearly indicate how early retirees would qualify. The main criteria they had was income. Where would early retirees get their income and how is that calculated? The website didn’t clearly say. So I asked Mr. Google this question: “Do early retirees qualify for medicaid?” A whole bunch of financial and news websites came up explaining a glitch or loophole in Obamacare. Here are a couple of examples: http://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2012/07/03/surprising-ways-the-new-health-care-plan-can-speed-up-your-financial-independence-day/ and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/21/obama-health-care-law-medicaid-middle-class_n_881412.html.

Basically, what is says is that early retirees can qualify for subsidized health insurance starting in 2014 or if you fall under a certain income level, then you qualify for Medicaid and don’t have to pay for health insurance. Interesting! If this is the case, then I hope the law isn’t overturned by the powers that be in Washington, D.C.

So hypothetically, if I am able to pay off my mortgage, then I won’t be requiring too much monthly income to cover my day to day expenses and utility bills. Let’s just say I only need $1,000 a month to survive ( I can actually subsist on less). That’s what I have to withdraw from my savings and would make my income $12000 a year which would qualify me for Medi-Cal (California’s Medicaid). So if anybody ever reads this and is familiar with the subject, please correct me if I’m wrong. Based on the California program, I will not have to start paying for health insurance until my income goes over 15,850. If I understand what I read correctly and I actually have to buy subsidized insurance, that would give me a Silver Level coverage. Until the open enrollment starts later this year, I won’t know how much the Gold or Platinum Level coverage would cost, which is the highest tier of coverage available. That means more out of pocket to pay for the insurance monthly, but lesser to pay when you get treatment.

Then I realized, I was actually wrong about withdrawing from my savings as income. Regular banks savings actually don’t qualify as income because they had already been taxed beforehand. Now if I start withdrawing from my regular IRA or 401K at age 59 ½ , that would actually be considered taxable income. So while withdrawing from savings until it runs dry, my taxable income would actually be zero. Right? I don't have enough savings to last until I turn 59 ½ though :( .

If that Obamacare loophole is for real, then it’s almost too good to be true. Will the law be amended to fix this loophole? Because it is to my advantage, then I hope not. You mean to say I could possibly afford to retire in the U.S. and not have to do it in the Philippines?!

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Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital

Good lord, what have the owners and administrators of Pacific Hospital done now? As you may know, that is my place of work. Two weeks ago, the FBI and other federal authorities descended upon the place and inspected computer files. The local newspaper reported that the hospital was being investigated for fraud. This usually means insurance fraud and that doesn't bode well because in past years, hospitals have been closed for that reason. Is Pacific Hospital financially stable enough to absorb the penalties that may be imposed upon it? I'm surmising that this is the least that the government can do. The worst of course is to order the hospital to cease operations. So the question of many is how is this situation going to affect the people who work there, especially the nursing staff. This uncertainty is giving us a lot of angst. Will we be joining the unemployment rolls in the next few days? It was bad enough that 4 other hospitals unrelated to Pacific Hospital had to close the previous week for fraudulent activities. Those 4 had sizable psychiatric units so if PHLB closes, there would be a glut of psych workers out of a job and a dwindling number of psych units in LA County. No psych units equals no jobs for psych workers. And where would all those psych patients go?

When things like these happen, rumors fly and one of them is that the hospital had applied for bankruptcy a few days later. Was it a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Nobody knew. I later found out this wasn't true but due to a knee jerk reaction, I believed it was initially. But nobody else other than the person who texted me knew about it and it became apparent the next day that the rumor was unsubstantiated. When I heard who the source was, I should have doubted it already, because I knew that this person was unreliable. Where he got it from initially, I don’t know. For me, bad information is worst than no information.

A few days after the raid, the president of the hospital had an open forum where she told the employees that she still doesn’t know what the Feds were looking for. In an article in the Wall Street Journal three years ago, it was mentioned that the owner of Pacific Hospital had gone into some kind of spinal surgery business arrangement with somewhat of a shady character who had previously been incarcerated for fraud in his dealings with another hospital for the same type of business. So I brought this up at the open forum and asked if the FBI may be checking up on the hospital’s spine surgery operations. As the president mentioned beforehand, she did not know. The owner’s and shady character’s names were mentioned, so I followed up and asked if those two names were on the list of people the Feds were looking for. The president told me that she was not at liberty to answer my question but she admired my boldness for asking it, after which she mentioned that she was the daughter of the hospital owner. I was appalled because I would not have asked my follow up question had I known she was related to the owner! After all I have more discretion than that. I was anxious enough on asking my first question that I could feel my blood pressure rise and the additional embarrassment didn’t help any.

So where do we go from here? The president told us to continue taking care of our patients because the hospital is not closing down. It was one of the stipulations in the subpoena that the hospital will continue operating. Of course, questions persist. If worse comes to worst, what will happen to us? What will happen to our accrued vacation time? Will it be paid out or will we lose it forever? I'm concerned about this because I consider this my emergency money. How about health insurance. Do we qualify for COBRA? If we lose our jobs, do we qualify for unemployment benefits? Will there even be severance pay available? I’m also a contributor in the 401K plan but this should not be affected because the funds deducted from our paychecks are forwarded to a separate investment company. And my biggest fear is that I don’t have any other marketable skills anymore. I've been working in psych since 1981 and it's the only job I know. Even though I’d like to retire, it’s too soon and I don’t feel that I’ve saved enough. For now, we can only hope for the best in spite of the uncertainties. One of those hopes would be for my paycheck to clear tomorrow. WILL IT???
Disclaimer: 

The views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, its agents, or affiliates.
OTHER POSTS ABOUT PHLB: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/09/questions-and-concerns-at-pacific.html
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Surviving The Loss of Running Muscle Memory

Well here I go again trying something I had not done since last December. I would like to say that I have given up running altogether because of my ankle tendon problems and myopathy stricken thighs due to Atorvastatin, but I broke that non-running habit again last Thursday. Any semblance of running nowadays may be worth writing about because of the glaring absence of it in my exercise logs. So this is what happened last Thursday: I jogged to the bank and back home. Not like what I did a couple of weeks before when I jogged 1 minute and walked 1 minute, but one continuous, non-stop jog other than stopping to withdraw money from the ATM and for stop lights. One might call it a slow jog but jogging already implies slow, so perhaps it was more like shuffling my feet forward and backward. Nevertheless I thought it was faster than my fastest walking pace. So how did it feel? Hmm, very, very different. It felt like I had never ran before because the muscle memory that I had  from decades of running had developed Alzheimer’s disease. The unfamiliar strides I took were the shortest I had ever taken, which was probably helpful because I landed less heavily. What was surprising to me was that I was anticipating for the myopathy to act up, but it never did, so I just kept on plugging along.

Another surprise awaited me on the way home. I ran into Katherine with her dog who also happened to be running to and from her bank. The muscle memory might be gone but at least I remember my neighbor Katherine whom I trained with for years. I may have mentioned her before in one or two of my posts and I'd like to lay to claim that I contributed to her marathon PR in L.A. (correctly or otherwise), because of the workouts we did together especially the ones on the track in Long Beach City College. For two people who supposedly don’t run anymore, it was funny to have met on the street while running to and from different banks. We separated ways after exchanging a few pleasantries.

A couple of blocks from home, I had to do a double take in a strip mall because I noticed that the video store I used to rent DVD’s from had closed down, no doubt due to lack of customers who have probably since switched to Netflix, Red Box, or at worst, illegal downloading. I was sad to see it go. I was there so frequently in recent years that the managers knew my membership number by heart. Another thing that tells you is that I haven’t exercised outdoors much so it was the first time I noticed the video store was gone. A few more minutes later, I was back home from the unexpected 42 minute jaunt through the neighborhood with not much or any permanent damage done to both muscles or tendons.

A couple of days later, I logged another run, but this time it was on the treadmill, which lasted 50 minutes. It almost felt like my running muscles were slowly regaining their memory.  I'm so glad the Press Telegram fixed their Android app (there was a problem with it for a couple of weeks) and it made for better reading while running on the machine.  Okay, this can't be right. What's this showing up in my workout log? Two runs for the week? Highly unusual nowadays. My body has learned to live without running but after a couple of these recent experiences, I'm feeling the craving again. It's like a damn drug! Is that normal?

From that running high came the downer two days later – the tragedy of Boston Marathon 2013. WHY???!!!

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Workout Notes - Spring 2013

       

          About three times a week, I do abdominal workouts usually consisting of sit ups, crunches, twists , or sit ups with a 15 pound weight which I hold against my chest. All of those without anchoring my ankles to anything. Occasionally, I also do leg lifts. With the weighted sit ups, I could normally do 30 to 32 reps. Then I discovered another variation of the weighted sit ups a couple of weeks ago. That time, I held the 15 pound weight against the back of my head then tried to raise my upper body off the mat. I managed half a crunch and a huge grunt, but no sit up. Wow, that was way harder than I thought! I couldn't help but laugh at myself when that happened. I then tried a 10 pound weight with similar results. Down to 5 pounds I went, and was finally able to lift my torso from the ground and managed to do it 16 times. Remember, this was without anchoring my ankles to anything so by the 14th repetition, I couldn't keep my feet on the floor due to the forced reps. I could feel my stomach muscles burning. So that was  surprising sit ups discovery - lesser weight but more resistance and lesser repetitions required. I think I may add that to my routine.
          One Saturday morning, I planned on driving to the bank to get some money from the ATM machine. It was not cold outside so I decided to do a 1 minute jog with 1 minute walk to the bank and back. Just to remind you, I haven't done a run in months because of the myopathy problems I have been having while taking generic Lipitor for my high cholesterol. When I was still running fairly well, that round trip would have taken about 25 to 26 minutes. That Saturday, it took 35. Well, my legs generally felt slightly but pleasantly sore after doing that jog/walk. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), the pleasant soreness I had is however totally different from statin myopathy which feels more like a cutting pain. This time it affected my right thigh muscle as opposed to the left side a few months ago. To add to that, this run didn't even hit the pleasure areas of my brain and left me dissatisfied. Maybe the reason is because I don't do it as often as I want or can anymore. What was good though was that the afterburn of that brief workout kept my weight down the next day even after eaten a lot of red velvet cookies with white chocolate chunks.
          A couple of weeks after that 1 minute jog/1 minute walk workout, I went to have an oil change for my car and instead of waiting around while the mechanic did it, I walk/jogged around the area. I didn't keep track of how long the jogging and walking parts were but did it by feel. That way, I was jogging more than I was walking and the whole workout lasted 45 minutes.
          I did a rowing machine workout one morning while watching a Japanese documentary film called Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Since the wind resistance machine makes a lot of noise, it helped that the movie had subtitles. You would think that after watching that movie, I would be craving for sushi. Well, I did not.
          And finally, my workouts before and after my colonoscopy. On the day of the procedure, I felt so weak from the clear liquid diet and the trips to the bathroom so I had no choice but take it easy on my 30 minute workout on the recumbent bike. My discharge instructions after the colonoscopy said no vigorous workouts for 24 hours after the procedure. So it was more of the same the next day on the recumbent bike. Two days later, I did a somewhat vigorous uphill walking workout on the treadmill for 45 minutes then a full body weight training workout using rubber tubing. Don't even say I don't follow doctor's orders.
          So there it is folks - dreary descriptions of what it takes to stay in shape: a little bit of this and that which even included some running.

Colonoscopy - Second Edition. What?!!! it's that time again already???

       

Either this is my colon or my semi-colon or THE BLOB

          I never got the chance to write about the first edition since I wasn't blogging yet five years ago, but time does fly when you're not eagerly anticipating another visit to the gastroenterologist knowing what's going to come up next. In this case, a tube that comes up from under and inside your body. But we do what we must because of our family history. Oh, the horrors of getting old: high blood pressure from my father, colon cancer from my mother, and anxiety from who knows where.
          It's has been five years since I had the first de-virginization of my rear end and since then, my mother had died of colon cancer. So it is a necessity for me to have this procedure done every five years instead of the usual ten years. Shall I call this de-virginization part 2 even though that's not technically possible? Call it what you may but it still involves inserting an endoscope up where the sun don't shine and in my mind it feels like I'm going to be violated. Perhaps that's why it's called an ENDoscope. And to think that they blow air inside your intestines and shine a light where I previously said "the sun don't shine", so the doctor can see what he is doing. Good thing I'm unconscious through all that, thanks to Michael Jackson's sleeping drug of choice - Propofol.
          Shall we backtrack a little bit though? Because it's not just a matter of going directly to being violated, you have to prepare for it first. It's the so-called dreaded PREP. For all of you who have gone through this, you already know what it's like: a clear liquid diet the day before the colonoscopy (Wait, did you say clear liquid diet? Does white wine or vodka count?), drinking a liter of an electrolyte concoction in the evening, in my case it was something called MoviPrep,  which after you finish, you are primed for BLAST OFF! The purgative literally blasts off whatever you have hiding in the nooks and crannies of your chitterlings and sends it down the drain in several installments. You might as well keep your pants and undies off for the duration to save time between toilet visits so you don't accidentally soil yourself. Because just when you think you had ejected everything, another spasm makes you sprint faster than a leopard in the savanna, back to the crapper. Then after you exhaust yourself with all the sprinting, you try to get some sleep before the alarm wakes you up at 4:30 in the morning so you can repeat the electrolyte drinking process and subsequent bathroom dashes all over again. To paraphrase Dave Barry: it's as if you are ejecting whatever you might have eaten tomorrow. Never in the annals of mankind has anyone used so much toilet paper as I have in such a short period of time.

MoviPrep Blast Off Drink

          Now for the boring and mundane stuff. It was time to go to the surgery center. Five years ago, I had my colonoscopy at Lakewood Regional Medical Center which was three miles from home, but this time, due to the dictates of the insurance company, I had to travel more than 15 miles to Los Alamitos to a building called the Reagan Street Surgery Center, which is located on, um... Reagan Street, just a stone's throw away from Los Alamitos Medical Center. Last time, my Auntie Beth who used to live in Long Beach, drove me to and from the hospital, but she has since moved to the Temecula area. So I had to find someone to drive me, or take a cab. With a taxi, it would have cost more than $80 round trip with tips. I called the insurance company, my gastroenterologist, the surgery center, and my internist to find out if they had some kind of free or affordable shuttle service for patients. Alas, they had none. My last resort would have been to call my Uncle and Aunt from Cerritos and ask if they could drive me. But since they are now in their 70's, I hesitated. Instead I posted my dilemma on FACEBOOK (hey, that's what social networking is all about, isn't it?), offering $40 to take me to and from the surgery center, using my stick shift car or theirs, and they didn't have to wait while my procedure was being done. Then I can call them whenever I was ready to go home. I didn't expect very much from it, but within minutes, my cousin Jeanette, who works in L.A. but lives in Thousand Oaks, offered to adjust her work schedule and drive me. I was hoping for someone closer to Long Beach who would not be inconvenienced too much, so I declined her generous offer. A couple of hours later, a friend from my running club (AREC), sent me a Facebook email message offering to drive me. Since Nancy is a real estate agent, she said she could also adjust her schedule. After exchanging a few messages, I took her up on her offer, with the promise of buying her and her husband Johan, a good bottle of wine. Believe me, I don't know good wine from bad, and Nancy used to sell wine before she went to real estate, so I had to ask another friend of hers - Bennett, who works at the Wine Country in the city of Signal Hill, what he thought Nancy would like. After a few suggestions at the store, I picked out a French red. I don't know if it's good, but I hope Nancy and Johan will enjoy it. Nancy, thanks so much again for driving me. You are a Godsend :)
          So after verifying my address and destination, Nancy picked me up and dropped me off at the surgery center. I signed in, signed a few consent forms and was sent to the GI lab in a few minutes. I was asked to change into a gown, then this Filipina nurse who also happened to have graduated from my alma mater (University of the Philippines), and whose husband is from Zamboanga City, inserted an IV in my right arm and hooked me up to a blood pressure machine. Well, it seemed like taking my blood pressure medication and an anxiety pill earlier(which were the only solids I was allowed to take) kept my blood pressure within normal limits. Thank goodness for that because my BP usually goes sky high when I'm anxious. Then another nurse and the anesthesiologist introduced themselves, and in short time, my bed was wheeled into the surgery area. Dr. Weiss asked me if I was ready and I responded - " well, I'm here", and he said - "so am I". I guess we were both ready. I was asked to turn on my left side, then the anesthesiologist placed an oxygen mask on my face and told me to breath deeply. All I can remember was taking two or three breathes, and then my name being called to wake me up. And just like that, the violation, I mean the examination was over. Over and done with for another five years. I asked Dr. Weiss if a video of the procedure was available, but he said the computers they had didn't have enough storage. I also asked him about withdrawal time or how long he takes to slowly withdraw the endoscope while examining the length of the colon (the slower, the better). He said that time was a good criteria for doctors who were new at doing colonoscopies. Having done more than 30,000 of them, he said he already knows what exactly to look for. My preliminary results indicated: no polyps, no cancer. Yipee! As a consolation prize, they gave me a photocopy of the pictures they took of my colon and some apple juice. Then they called Nancy to pick me up. She actually had to go upstairs to where I was and sign my discharge instructions so the staff was certain that I wasn't driving myself. After Nancy dropped me off at home, my wobbly legs managed to take me back to my condo without falling or passing out.

Preliminary Results

          I had been without solid food for almost 40 hours by then. Why so long? Well, starting at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, I was on clear liquid diet until the evening, then nothing to eat or drink at all after that except the second dose of MoviPrep on Thursday morning. Then the procedure was done at 1:30 p.m. and I was back home at 4 p.m. and that was when I had some noodle soup. So if the Propofol hasn't clouded my brain so much, that adds up to 40 hours of no solid food. Right? Right?!
          I followed the discharge instructions as closely as possible, namely: no driving, no alcohol (darn it!), and no vigorous exercise for 24 hours after the procedure. The next day, I got a follow up call from Jean, the Filipino nurse, to find out how I was doing and I said everything went well and that I already mailed the feedback form that came with my discharge instructions. Of course, I checked Excellent in all categories. My question is - was that colonoscopy procedure really done on me? Because my butt doesn't even hurt and I don't even feel violated!
          For a more humorous account about colonoscopies, I present Dave Barry's version:   http://www.miamiherald.com/2009/02/11/v-fullstory/427603/dave-barry-a-journey-into-my-colon.html

A High Fade That Made Me Feel Like Fading From Society

The Plan Was For The Situation To Be Like This

About 10 months ago, I wrote this blogpost: New Barber = Too Short Haircut . It was bad then and little did I think it could get any worse. Almost a year later, I was hoping that I had found a permanent replacement to the barber I've had for years who finally retired. The search goes on...

          First, do you know a good lawyer who specializes in tonsorial litigation? Because I need one and let me tell you why. I haven't had a haircut since December 2012. The barber I found then did me well by shearing the sides of my head short enough to last three months. At the hint of the first mild heat wave this winter season, I called to get an appointment with that female barber. A voicemail was left unanswered so I walked to the barbershop to find it shuttered and out of business. If all their customers were like me and only got a haircut every three months,  then I guess that wouldn't be enough to keep them in business. I then made an appointment with an alternate barbershop but then not a single barber showed up at the time they were supposed to open. I called them later to suggest that they should change their posted opening time to later if nobody can show up on time (and believe me, I waited for 45 minutes). As expected, they hanged up on me. Oops, I guess they just lost a customer.

          By that time, I really wanted my hair shorn badly and searched for another barber nearby. I found one and after working out, I went to the shop and waited a few minutes for him to finish two guys ahead of me. It just so happened that his two sons were running around the shop because he had to babysit them while his wife was at the DMV. When it was my turn, I pointed to one of the pictures on the wall to show what kind of haircut I wanted. The barber asked me if I was ex military because I wanted the sides cut really short. To their parlance, it was a number 1 blade or less. I also asked him to trim about an inch off the top to keep it slightly long. So he proceeded to shave shave here, and a trim trim there, and cut cut everywhere cut cut. In the meantime, he was trying his best to rein in the kids. When he finally turned me around towards the mirror I didn't recognize myself. I was looking at a middle aged man with a buzz cut, looking like a Marine in basic training but 30 years or so too late to qualify. It was the shortest haircut I've ever had since the crew cut in high school which was at my mother's insistence then.

          I felt like asking Phillip (that was the barber's name) if he was mad at me. But we just met! Later, I even had the notion of asking for his barber's license. But in reality, I was just laughing in my head at my own expense for the way I looked. Good thing I'm not trying to be attractive to anyone and that it will grow out in about a year..or two.

Instead It Turned Out Like This!!!

Postscript: I haven't used hair mousse or gel since the mid to  late 80's and I had to buy one just so I can lay my hair flat and somewhat manageable. Otherwise, it would be like having bedhead full time. Maybe the barber was too distracted with his children running around that he unintentionally cut more than intended. I shall give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I guess it's not so bad from this angle, but I'm biased.

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My Walking Workout Variations Because I Cannot Run

          What's up with this blog about life and running when I don't even write about running anymore? Yep, running has been nil in recent months, what with the myopathy caused by statins and the never healing PTTD. No matter, I'm still able to do some walking workouts after all even though those are more boring than running. With these walking workouts I try to simulate the intensity of running. It comes close but never quite the same of course. The closest walking workout I have to the feeling of running is a treadmill hill walk where the incline is set at 10% with the speed at 3.5 mph and no holding on the siderails of the machine. The next one consists of the same incline, slowly increasing the pace from 3.5 to 4.0 mph while holding on the siderails. I do both treadmill workouts for 45 minutes to an hour. Despite the cartoon above, I have not fallen off the treadmill...yet.
          As far as outdoor walking on mostly flat surface, I do a brisk walk of about 14 minutes to 14:30 per mile lasting for an hour and half or more. Such was the case when I had to drop off some papers at my work's Human Resources Department about three weeks ago. That walk lasted for an hour and 50 minutes. For variety, I sometimes carry a backpack loaded with a 15 pound barbell plate. I did that most recently last week when I walked to and from Walmart Pharmacy for an hour and a half to pick up my blood pressure medication. It was warm enough to wear shorts but I discovered that since I haven't been wearing my running shorts lately, the elastic (garter in the Philippines) in the waist had gotten dry and crunchy. The shorts had become loose and if not for the drawstring, they would just have dropped to my feet. The pace is slightly slower when I carry a weighted backpack that of course. I'm looking to increasing the weight next time but in a way that the plates don't bounce around the backpack which hurts my back. Adjustable weight vests would be preferable but those things are darn expensive and there have been instances that the police have been called because they look like bullet proof vests or body armor.

Terribly boring descriptions, aren't they? Well, whatever works to keep my fitness outside of running. Hmmm, now I'm wondering how it would feel to walk with weights uphill on a treadmill...maybe I should start setting up the webcam. (cue background music: Alicia Keys singing "I keep on falling...")

Going Low Tech With The Cellphone

From this...

to this.

          Well no, not really. When I bought my first Android cell phone two years ago (I know, I know, I'm late in the smart phone game), I was very underwhelmed with its battery life. This after getting used to phones which lasted for days before requiring a recharge. I was using Virgin Mobile prepaid service then but since moved to AT&T last year after returning from the Philippines, because I was already using an unlocked phone there. Since AT&T runs on the GSM network, I couldn't use my Virgin Mobile CDMA phone. The battery of the new Android phone I got wasn't any better, so last week I downgraded to a non-smart phone. After all, I didn't have a data plan and wasn't using the internet on the Android phone anyway. I use the tablet for that.

          I managed to get a very good deal on the Blackberry style phone which was on sale for $29.99 at Radio Shack. The original price on the AT&T website was 39.99. A few days after it went on sale at the brick and mortar store, AT&T matched the price. I went to Radio Shack to pick one up and was pleasantly suprised when the cashier rang up my purchase and told me it was $19.99 (plus tax). Apparently, when AT&T matched the store price, the store included a $10.00 rebate to their already sale price. For me, that's like hitting a home run or a hole in one as far as bargain shopping goes!

          First, if there is anything I can complain about regarding this phone, it is that it's locked. But since I had already used a similar unlocked phone while I was in the Philippines, I was already familiar with its functions so it was not a steep learning curve. All I had to do was move the SIM card from the Android phone then set everything up to my taste and that was all there was to it. The new phone has one function that I didn't expect though. Normally, when you turn the power off with any cell phone, the alarm clock doesn't go off. With this one, it does, much to my consternation the first night I used the phone. I was already drifting off to sleep when the alarm went off at 11:30 p.m.! Well, I had set the alarm to go off at that time and at midnight because that was the time I usually clock out and in for lunch at work. I had to turn on the phone and turn off the alarms that first night. Now I have to remind myself to turn them on during the nights that I work and turn them off on the nights I don't.

          So what other reasons did I buy the phone aside from the longer battery life? It has the usual mp3 player, camera, and camcorder or course, but it also had a built in FM radio and flashlight function. When I am doing my what used to be runs which are now walks outdoors, I like listening to the radio, so I usually have my cell phone plus a separate HD radio with me. With the new phone, I can now eliminate a device. The FM radio had a surprisingly good reception when I went out for an hour and half walk one morning. Almost as good as the HD radio. The flashlight, I can use at work when I check on patients in their dark rooms. So by and large, I like my downgraded phone a lot even without a touch screen. It's a lot of phone for less than 20 bucks and it's the cheapest cell phone I've ever bought!

My dumbed down phone