Holy cow it has been busy

Okay, I am now realizing just how over worked I have been, and I am sure the rest of my team as well.
I have been catching up on bills, and other mail, from the last time I have had time to go through it all. First, an explanation, all of my bills are on autopay, I just check my mail to make sure nothing is getting out of control. So, it is not a critical thing...
I was looking at mail from November of 08! Ouch! I was finally getting to see friends holiday cards, and pictures of some damn cute kids. So, yeah, it has been too damn long since I have had time to catch up on maintenance items. Thankfully the last week and a half has been "normal".
I am very glad I committed to a marathon this year, it forced me to break from work to keep my fitness up. Although I didn't get all of my runs in, I did get most of them. Besides that, I have not done much else over the past 5 months.
I have had dinner with friends twice. Once with Tony and Joanne, and once with David and Stefanie, excluding family holiday dinners. Oh, wait, one other time at Shawn and Tonya's with the family, which was great.
I have canceled appointments (dinner/drinks) with friends, the wife and the family. I have canceled a week with one of my best friends (I have 3 I call best friends) that I have not seen for over a year. I have not returned some phone calls, and a general sign of me not having ANY TIME, as I love spending time with my friends and family.
So, I feel like I am a bad friend and I am hoping over the next few weeks to catch up with some friends and enjoy life for a bit. Again, let me restate, I feel bad because work and working out have taken all of my attention, oh and some bowling I guess, and my friends and family have suffered to some degree. Not that I am not going to work, but I am hoping work won't take all of my free time.
So, if it has been too long since we have gone out for drinks/dinner/ride/run let me know via email or comments below and we will catch up.

Maybe it is all placebo

Okay, I am open to the placebo affect theory. However, I am going to share some other interesting things I have noticed.

I am falling to sleep much easier, and requiring less sleep. No more reading for an hour or two every night just to wind down. Key thing here, I am also requiring about 45 minutes less sleep per night. Okay, placebo is possible, although nobody told me this should happen, just something I noticed.

My heart rate when working out is staying lower, giving me faster average pace on my runs. There are several factors that this could be attributed to, but something I have noticed over the past week. Oh, and my long run, until I had muscle issues, was going well, definitely fastest sustained pace I have ran yet on a long run.

My mental clarity has no doubt improved. This could also be greatly impacted by the fact that I have a huge project which is now completed. My stress levels have gone down, and I have even found time to relax.

So, as you can see, their is placebo and outside factors which could all have similar affects on my performance, both mentally and physically. However, I honestly think this is too big of a change within one week. It is not like my job just became easy, I have plenty of problems on my plate, and plenty of stress, but I am noticing I am reacting to it much better. Who knows, just sharing.

Fell off the wagon a bit.

So, I stopped posting daily weight updates. Thought about it, sounded about as exciting as watching turtles race. But a quick update.

It has been a week of repairs around here.
My brakes were pulsating in my Infiniti. The car needs new pads and rotors all the way around. Awesome!!! Infiniti dealership was almost $3,000 to do it. Brake Team, $565 with better pads, and comparable rotors. I don't like paying $565, but I like it much better than $3,000. That was Monday.

Monday night, the dishwasher would not drain. I could not figure out the problem, so I had to call a appliance repair shop to fix my dishwasher. Although Kristin wanted to just replace the damn thing. There was an obstruction in a very bizarre place as it turns out. The guy fixed that and made some small tweeks, and our dishwasher is washing better than it has in a while. Way cool. The repair was $72, which wasn't too bad considering it included his drive time. The repair was done by Appliance Guys, which I found from Angies List. These guys were excellent from first call to completion. Clean, effeciant and they even took care of other small things to make our appliances better.

Tomorrow is all about repairing me. I am getting a hour long massage tomorrow to hopefully loosen up some of my muscles and tendons in my legs and back. Cristie Cooke is my massuse and she does a great deep tissue massage that always leaves my muscles feeling much better when I leave.

As far as weight goes, I kinda fell behind on weighing myself today. Monday I was down to 226.2 pounds, which is almost 4 pounds in one week, which is pretty amazing. However, Monday night with a pile of dishes we couldn't do, and having the kitchen torn up trying to fix the dishwasher, we ordered pizza for dinner. I forgot to weigh myself this morning, but I am sure I gained some weight. In six good days, I lost almost 4 pounds. What if science really has found an all natural solution to weight loss? Time will only tell, but my hopes are up.

Made it out today

I made it out today, hoping to get a good long run in. The route I was going to run, I have ridden over a hundred times on my bike. Some sections always have a little wind, but if it is windy day, this route is always nasty. Not until I got out there did the wind really start to pick up. It was such a stiff wind, it was slowing me down by two minutes per mile for a few miles. Then, it rained. Then, it hailed! Then it got sunny and I sweated my ass off, then rain and wind. It was interesting weather.

I was feeling extremely well at 10 miles. My body was loose, my legs were still full of energy and my stride was great. I stopped to fill up my water bottles, dry off my my hat and hair to stop the sweat running in to my eyes. Then I sat and cussed at the hail. After getting my butt going again, my legs were no longer fresh, my hamstrings tight and my stride was off. I made it a mile or so, then my back had a spasm that caused me to stop running. I walked for a few minutes and started running again to start warming back up. My back was tight, stopping my arm swing and it seemed to mess with my stride. Shortly after running again I was starting to get hit with a very heavy right to left wind, which forced me to lean to the right and at times blew me left quite a bit.

At thirteen miles, where my hamstring and glute locked up and started shooting pain. I walked, stretched and walked some more. Nothing would stop the pain while I ran. It was sharp pain, but nothing crazy. However, I was not going to be dumb and push through it. I ended up walking for another 2.5 miles. Or, should I say I did some mixture of walk and hobble, while cussing under my breath and leaning in to the wind.

I learned one key thing today, do not diddly dally while refilling water bottles and get tight. I tighten up much quicker running than I did on the bike, and I have to be aware of this.

This week I am making an appointment with Christi, my masseuse, to get a massage. She is great at giving a deep massage to work out my muscles. In addition, I am going to my Osteopathic Physician to get any spine/hip issues worked out that I may have.

I am not that disappointed about today actually. I still got a good run in, I learned something, I learned more about my fueling plan and I think I made one error which caused me the problem which I am hoping to avoid next time.

It's the wrong day

I woke up this morning with my muscles and tendons feeling extremely tight. In addition, the blister problem on my foot is JUST NOT GOING AWAY!!!! This kinda irritates me, I have been spending 30 minutes a night stretching and using the foam roller, but my hips are still tight, and my run on Thursday was cut to three miles because of my hip. I have a lot of stuff going on this weekend, so, after making my decision not to run today, I called around to clear up most of my Sunday.

So, I am going to see how I am feeling tomorrow, either I am going to run my 18, or I am going to cut it short at a half-marathon distance. I am going to try and get a run in, but I have decided it is better to play it safe than to take the risk of hurting myself. I am also feeling like I am over trained and I am finally coming around. It definitely was not that I have been running too much, it is the combination of everything in my life. Work has been crazy and stressful, which is calming down a bit, which adds to all of the stresses on my body. It is time for a little R&R to make sure I take care of my body, and spirit. I am hoping tomorrow brings a looser body and brighter mind.

Weighing in - Day 3

So, I somehow gained yesterday. Back to 227.2. Damnit Jim! I am not too worried. I am fully expecting fluctuations from day to day. I did have to cut my run short yesterday (3.5 miles). I had my hip pain come back a bit yesterday. Not much, but I didn't want to push it and have bad pain like I did this last weekend. I spent 30 minutes stretching and using the foam roller to loosen up my right leg. I am hoping to be able to complete all 18 miles tomorrow, running.

Weighing in - Day 2

Let me start by saying, yesterday was an odd one. I was very thirsty yesterday and I drank six liters of water. Usually this would mean I would either stay at my weight or gain upwards of a pound. For reference, I usually drink 3 to 5 liters, and each liter is two pounds. So, you expect it, but I don't worry about gaining weight from water, that is good weight in my opinion.

I stepped on the scale this morning expecting either no weight loss, or maybe up a bit. But, noooo, I am down again this morning. 226.2, or 3.8 pounds in two days.

Also, figure I should maybe post about what exercise I am doing, or when I am not exercising. Day 1, I did a 4 mile run, yesterday I did 8 miles. Today, I am hoping to get 4 or 5 miles.

Weighing in - Day 1

This morning, to my suprise, I weighed in at 227.2 lbs. That is 2.8 pounds lost in one day! I am not holding my breath just yet. I can swing a pound or two pretty easily, although I would not have expected to lose almost three pounds in one day, especially while rehydrating yesterday. That is really abnormal for me, usually it is 1 to 1.5 pounds max either way per day.

As a side not, I did not feel anything different yesterday. For example, some people who I know who have tried things like Hydroxy Cut notice they are jittery or they feel extremely warm. Hydroxy Cut is a thermogenic, which means it increases your internal body temperature. The research I did in to this product does not suggest it is a thermogenic. Had it been, I wouldn't be taking it while training for a marathon. The last thing I need is to be running hotter, sweating more and having a hard time keeping myself hydrated. No thank you!

So, was day 1 a success, a fluke or placebo effect? Only time will tell.

My running dilema

I am hoping someone can help me answer this question I have.

I am really bummed that I missed out on the Shamrock run, plus a little more distance. I was really looking to the shamrock run to help me figure out a baseline for a hard effort, along with figuring out some fueling strategies. Now, I have no full race experience yet this year.

The good news, this is the first long run I have missed out of my marathon training plan. This coming weekend is supposed to be 12 miles as my long run. Since I missed this last weekend, I figured I would do the 18 mile run I was supposed to do last weekend, this coming weekend, and count last weekend as my short weekend. Easy enough.

So, here are some options I have thought of.

1. Just stick to the plan, and use my long runs to tune in my Perpetuem and Endurolytes fueling.
2. Get a race in still. Do Race for the Roses Half Marathon which happens to be on a 12 mile step back week. But, it would mean I would do this on the weekends (19 miles, half marathon at race pace, 20 miles) with no real break weekends. After the 20 mile run, I start tapering for my marathon!
3. Maybe do the half marathon, but do it at a non-race pace, maybe at my goal marathon pace of 10 min/mile
4. Quit worrying, having a race in is not that necessary. Note to advice offerers, I have only done one half marathon race, and one 15k race, so I am not exactly experienced.

On the run again

I went for a 4 mile run today and no hip issues!

It was really obvious that I did not get my long run this weekend. I was thinking I was running really easy, but my speed was really high for my recovery pace, as was my HR. I had no intention of going hard, but my body just wanted to RUN! I would try and slow down, then a couple minutes go by and I would look down and I was going too fast/hard again.

So, I am happy to be on the run again.

Let's start this thing!

So, yesterday I received the package of liquid dietary supplements, so today I started the "weight loss protocol".

So, let's start off with some baselines here. I have a very accurate scale which they say is accurate to +/- 0.2 lbs. In addition it gives me all kinds of other data. Some of the other key points worth tracking is body fat and hydration. Now the body fat and hydration are directly correlated on this weight scale. So, if I drink a ton of water, my water % (% of weight which is water) goes up, and my body fat goes down. If I don't drink much water, my water % goes down, and my body fat goes up. So, the Shamrock run had me in a bit of a I don't give a damn attitude, so I didn't drink much water the last couple days, which will throw off my starting water and hydration percent.

This morning, I weighed myself at 230.0 lbs. I was at 23.5% body fat and 51% water weight.

I would normally expect my weight to go up a bit tomorrow, .5 to 1.0 lbs because I drank a lot of water today to hydrate myself again. Although, this is not a hard and fast rule, but it is normal for me to gain a little weight if I slack off drinking, then hydrate again. Then, usually, I will lose the weight within a couple days.

So, some interesting things to note and general ramblings.

The protocol for an athlete is to take one ounce of the supplement with the first four meals of the day (four ounces/day). Their is not much in their protocol for endurance athletes, but on the same token, we are all kinda strange in what we will/won't eat and how much.

Their protocol for a sedentary adult is a no-carb diet. Do not think Atkins, there is no unlimited bacon here for you. Also, the quantities probably add up to about 1,000 calories a day. Then, drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day. Drink one glass of water before each meal. Let me start this by saying, if I could get every obese sedentary person to follow this protocol, they will all lose weight fairly quickly. However, I am assuming this product accelerates weight loss. Again, their is government accepted studies which validate their hypothesis. So, trying to be unbiased, and calling that for what it is.

Now, for me, I do subscribe that a no carb diet would be the best thing, although I have my vice and that is carbs. I do limit my carbs quite a bit from where I was, but I have a tortilla shell for lunch instead of bread or the occasional breadstick at Olive Garden. I drink a minimum of 2 liters of water every day and upwards to 5 liters per day. So I do get more than enough water. Also, because I am very active, I will not be eating 1,000 calories a day. I will continue eating as I normally do, about 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day.

I will keep up on posting my weight, etc. to keep everyone up to date.

Shamrock run race report

Kristin and I woke up early this morning, both of us a little groggy. After getting all of our gear together, and listening to the wind howling outside, we set off in the rain to get drenched.

We arrived to the race around 8 (the race started at 8:40), and wondered around a bit and found Tim and David at the Fit Right NW tent hanging out. We talked to them really quick and headed off to the bag check to drop off some of our heavier rain gear and use the restroom. After using the restroom I was planning on running for a mile as a warm up to the race. I was planning on running along the path in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. As it would turn out, the 5k fitness walk was using that path, and all roads around were being used for races, etc. So, I decided to just do a nice warm up at the start of the race and I would have to run a little longer post race to get some mileage in.

I started the race at about the right place in the pack as I only had to run around a few people, and only a few people had to get past me. The gradual uphill started after about a half mile, and nothing was special there. The main good thing is people spread out better when the road goes up. After 2.5 miles, the first steep climb starts and the large hill, a road named Terwilliger. I was feeling good all the way up the main hill. I am not saying I was fast, just feeling good! On the first downhill, I started to get in a nice stride going at about a 7:30/mile pace. I then climbed up another short hill and then back down to start the last elevation game of the race. At the bottom of the downhill there is a gradual left turn to go up the hill.

When I was going around this corner I suddenly felt this large shooting pain in my right hip and when I put my foot down the pain was sharp again and my leg would not hold any of the weight and I almost fell over. I then stopped to walk for a few feet and see if I couldn't "walk it out". I decided to take in some water and Perpetuam and walk up the last 1oo yard uphill. Towards the top, I tried running again and I had severe sharp shooting pain again. This was the end of the race as I was not going to risk Eugene Marathon and try and push through sharp shooting pain. I was pretty upset though that my race had ended 5.5 miles in.

I started walking again and got to the next aid station at which point I hoped there would be a shuttle back as I was not running again. I made it to the aid station to find out there is no shuttle to take me back to the finish. Yuck! I had to walk the rest of the way in in the cold, wind and rain. To add insult to injury, I had dressed to run, which means lots of heat generated by my body, not a walk so I was damn cold at the end of the 9.3 miles.

Along the way Kristin caught up to me and she saw me walking on the side of the road. She walked with me for a few seconds while I told her why I was walking. She offered to walk the rest of the way in with me, but this was her race too! I told her to catch all the people who passed us while we were talking so she could finish her race at her best. It was really nice to see Kristin though, and I would have enjoyed her walking with me, but I was good doing the walk alone, with my own thoughts.

So, I thought I was going to beat my time from last year, I think I even used the word crush. Instead, I got crushed today. However, when my hip gave out, I was at the highest elevation point, with all downhill the rest of the way and my pace was faster than what I finished the race in last year. So, I definitely was going to beat my time, but not 100% of my body agreed with my desires.

The dillema's

I may be making a mistake, or I may be saving myself, I am not sure which yet.

Tomorrow is the Shamrock Run and I am doing the 15k (9.3 mile) race. By the way, I plan on crushing my time last year, or at least I hope. Anyway, I am supposed to run 18 miles tomorrow for my long run for the week. However, this is on my top races for the year, and definitely my favorite spring race, so I am doing this race. I am going to warm up for a mile or so before the start of the race. I am then going to run the 9.3 mile race. After the race I plan on running another 5 or so miles, at a much easier pace.

Here is where my dilemma comes in. My old trusty pair of New Balance 1062's are worn out and after 7 miles, they start hurting my left knee. Enough so, that I think 15+ miles would cause me a serious injury to my knee, taking me out for a while. This is not an acceptable option.

Option 2, use my New Balance 1062's which are broken in, however, at 4 miles they start giving me blisters, and after 17 miles, especially with it wet out. I will have one nasty blister!

Option 3, use the new New Balance 1063 Wides, which should not give me blisters. However, who wants to go for a 15+ mile run on a brand new pair of shoes?

Option 1 is out! Option 2 is not making me happy, and Option 3 just sounds dumb! So, I am doing a hybrid of dumb. I am going to wear my brand new New Balance 1063 shoes. I am going to bring two more shoes with me. I will have my trail running shoes and my new 1062's in the car, which will be close to the start/finish of the race. If the NB 1063's cause me issues, I will have my trail shoes. If those cause me issues, I will deal with the blisters, but I am going to do my damnedest to get at least 15 miles in.

Ultimately, I am hoping my New Balance 1063 Wides are the ticket and I will have no blisters, or knee issues.

Wish me luck!

Trying something different

Since November 11th 2008, my weight has fluctuated from 237 to 228 lbs. The holidays have something to do with the highs. Then, I have been traveling for work quite a bit, which also does me NO favors. However, for two months, I have not been able to get away from 230 pounds plus or minus two pounds. This is frustrating because I have been running about 30 miles a week (when work allows) and I am eating fairly well when I am not traveling.

A couple of things have also hindered my weight loss goals. In the last 8 weeks I have traveled quite a bit, and it is hard to eat healthy when you are on the road. Especially when you are with co-workers so you go and eat out every meal. So, just as I have gotten down to 228 pounds, I end up traveling and gaining a couple pounds.

So, where is this leading you ask? Well, my uncle Gordy has started being a distributor for an all natural liquid supplement that is supposed to increase your bodies ability to burn fat. I am optimistically skeptical about this, but more optimistic than skeptical. I believe some people use these things and credit everything to the "super pill", but in reality, they started drinking more water, ate better and started to exercise. That alone will help any obese person lose weight!

What I like about the product, and its claims:
It is all natural products
It helps to prevent carbohydrate absorption, which in turn reduces insulin, which then reduces fat storage. This promotes your body to use its own fat.

For me, I have pretty detailed logs of my weight, and I eat very consistently the same things every day and my food at home is consistent. So, I have decided I will give this product a shot and see what it can really do.

Ultimately, I am hoping it gets me off of this plateau I have been on. Dreaming that it shoves me off the plateau and down the weight loss cliff and I shed the pounds. So, this will be an experiment of one, lets see what happens. Oh, I almost forgot! I will not be changing my eating or fluid consumption, and I won't doing much different for my work outs.

I don't think I will receive the product for a week or so. Once I receive it, I will start giving regular updates as to its efficacy. Honestly, I am hoping this works really well.

As a side note, my uncle lost 14 pounds in the first two weeks and he says he didn't change anything in his life, not even the alcohol.

The ugliest blister I have ever had

I did my 17 mile run yesterday in a new pair of shoes, which I thought I had properly broke in. I think I was pretty damn wrong!

About 7 miles in to the run I noticed I was starting to get a blister on the ball of my left foot (big spot behind your big toe). I thought, well, today is my long run, no need to let a blister stop me, I will deal with it when I am done. Around mile 13 I was really starting to notice the pain from it, and I was noticing that now the blister was moving around to the inside of my foot, up around the area on the side of my foot. This is not the area you step on, this is on the soft skin on the side of your foot. I still had 4 miles to go, and every step, I could feel the pain.

The problem with this is your body naturally wants to compensate and not step on the ball of your foot. When you allow your body to compensate you tend to injure other parts of your body. This can be the small bones on the outside of your foot because you are landing and possibly pushing off of your pinky toe area instead of your big toe area. The other common injury would be to rotate your foot to block stepping on the sore spot and hurting your ankle, knee or hip. I had to focus on keeping my foot landing right, and just dealing with the pain.

I made it to 17.3 miles, but I was definitely hurting at the end.

When I got home and took off my shoes I immediately looked at my left foot to see what the damage was. It was not pretty. I had a blister on the ball of my foot that is about an inch long, and a half inch wide. Then, on the side of my foot I have another blister which is slightly larger than a quarter.

The interesting thing about this blister is it is red, not quite like a blood blister, but not a skin color either. The other interesting thing about this blister, was when I pressed on the blister on the bottom of my foot, the blister on the side of my foot will fill up with fluid. When I pushed on the side one, the blister on the bottom of my foot would fill up with fluid. When I walk, I can feel the fluid moving from under my foot to the on each step, and it hurts!

I decided that I needed to pop it before it popped itself. The reason for this is if it happened to pop while I was running, or even at the office, I would have no control over how much of the blister was open, or even if I would catch it right away. This would have led to a possible infection, which is the last thing I need.

Tonight I popped the blister, and Kristin really wanted to see the color of the puss, so I did it in the bath tub so we could see. It was pretty disgusting. If you can imagine the color of the blood at the bottom of a package of hamburger meat, that is the color of the puss. Or, puss and blood mixed together.

After thoroughly draining the blister(s) I used super glue to seal the opening back up. I then covered it with bag balm and a large bandage. I will be taking it off every night to let it air out, and dressing it back every morning. Letting it air out at night, and then keeping it protected from infection during the day will help it heal as fast as possible. Not to mention, popping it allows me to run on it now. :)

I thought about taking pictures, but it was too disgusting to post, so I decided if I had no pictures, I wouldn't be tempted to post it for you to see.

Another amazing run

I went for a 7 mile run today with Tim and we did some exploring and ended up on this trail next to Lake Okanagan today. We were squeezing this in at the end of the day, but I am so happy we did.

We ran along a steep bank and cliffs that were 70 to 100 feet or more above the lake shore. We would look down and the lake was so clear you could see all of the rocks and some outcroppings underneath the water. We reached one bend which had a wooden bench on it and from this bench you could look to your right and see at least 20 miles down the lake, and then to the left another 10 miles down the other way. Both of these before the lake turns, the lake is huge at 135 km long and 4 to 5 km wider. We made it to the end of the trail and stopped and looked around a bit and saw some amazing houses, one looked large enough to be a hotel, but it was just a house off in the distance!

We were both sitting there stunned and I realized that the sun was behind the mountains, and we still had to get out of the trails and get back to our car. I said to Tim we better take off, and it was a good thing because we did get back in the dark, but got out of the technical stuff in plenty of time.

On the run back as we were running down the trail, the lake was calm and the sun was setting behind the white mountain range across the lake. Today's sunset was a deep red color that lit up the clouds, and what made it even better is that the lake was calm. This created a reflection of the sunset off of the lake, with the white mountains in between the red sky and the red lake. This is somewhere I plan on taking Kristin when we are both in Kelowna. In my opinion, this is about as close to God as you can get.