Sunny Days!

One of the more pleasant pieces of news I've seen is this announcement of an attack on obesity from Sesame Street.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4566953
It's important to get the right messages out there early.

The Benefits of a Healthier Lifestyle

When I made changes in my exercise pattern and how I ate, I found that the following changes took place over the next several months: weight loss, disappearance of frequent indigestion (reflux or GERD), disappearance of occasional back and neck spasms, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and an improved ability to climb stairs and do other activities.

I lost about 35 lbs. over about 6 months (and have lost another 10+ since then). I believe this resulted in my blood pressure dropping from about 135/85 mmHg (that's now called prehypertension) to about 120/80 (considered to be the high end of the optimal zone). My cholesterol dropped from 200+ to 150.

I'm not sure if the reflux issue was due to generally eating less (less food in the stomach means the top of the stomach is not held open by food) or by creating less demand for stomach acid. I do know that eating better is a healthier (and cheaper) alternative to spending the rest of my life on antacids or prescription stomach acid medication.

There's a pretty good chance that if I were still living as I did 6 years ago, I'd be on Lipitor or Crestor for cholesterol, a beta blocker or diuretic for hypertension, and Prilosec for reflux. Instead, I am on NO medication and all these problems have disappeared. I managed to get rid of these problems and believe that you can too! Just follow a simple plan to choose healthier foods more often, to eat less of them, and to exercise at a modest level for about 30 minutes a day on most days.

I did it, you can do it, too!

An Index of Sorts

Running
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/03/plan-goes-awry.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/03/houston-we-have-problem.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/why-i-run.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/boston-marathon-1.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/misery-of-stretching.html


Health and Safety
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/03/summer-stinks.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/marketing-us-fat.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/bracing-for-impact.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/suv-rant.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/misery-of-stretching.html


Diet, Fitness and Weight Loss
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/marketing-us-fat.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/try-race.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/dry-skin.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/pat-of-butter-or-mile-more.html
http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2005/02/misery-of-stretching.html

The Plan Goes Awry!

Today, I ran in a 20k race (about 12.4 miles). My plan, because of the need to learn my desired pacing for my upcoming marathon, was to be start at 8:00 miles and gradually build speed to about a 7:40 pace by the finish. I tried to start slowly, but not slowly enough. Frankly, I did a flat out lousy job of starting slowly, completing my first mile in 6:30, so I was 90 seconds ahead of plan.
I then made a conscious effort to slow my pace. Even trying to slow it down, I could only get to 7:00 miles. So, my time at 3 was essentially 20:30. At 5, 34:30; at 6, 41:30. This pacing held pretty solid until about 8, when I decided to take off my gloves. I was wearing a heart rate monitor that goes on the back of the hand, so this process was a bit more complicated than it had to be. Also, at about the same time, I took some ade, but it bothered my stomach a bit. As a result of these things, I let about 15 seconds slip from my pace. At this time, I began working with another runner to keep us both grinding along.
We went through 9 at about 63:15 and 10 at about 70:15. Shortly after this, my hamstrings and glutes (aka back of thighs and butt) began to tie up a little due to the chill. I also was struggling a tad with the bad stomach. I invited my cohort to go ahead by he dropped his pace slightly. As we passed a water stop, I pulled up and took some water (reducing the concentration of sugars and salts in the stomach often corrects this problem) and continued on my way. I think my time between 10 and 11 was 7:20 (though I can't remember my split). At 12, I was at 1:24:55, and I finished in 1:27:51.
While my time was good, representing a 7:04 average pace, I failed in my plan to keep my pace controlled. I know if I do this in my marathon (and don't correct it fast), the wheels will fall off somewhere after 20 miles. I must keep my pace controlled if I am to achieve my goal.
I had run about 2 1/2 miles before the race and about a mile after as my warm-up and cool-down, so I wound up with about 16 in almost exactly 2 hours.

Summer Stinks!

(The first of a series of discussions of bacteria in real life.)

No, I don't dislike summer, it just really stinks. I mean things get smelly as the weather gets warm. This is the first of several postings relating to bacteria and how they affect our lives. So, what do bacteria and stinkiness have to do with each other? Everything! Most things that stink, do so because of the effect of bacteria on them.

If you don't wear deodorant, you'll stink. If your garbage sits around for several days in warm weather, it'll stink. I'll take a look at why this is so.

Generally, two things are needed to make bacteria grow, moisture and warmth. Most bacteria grow best at temperatures around the temperature of the human body, let's say a range of 70 to 120 degrees fahrenheit. Without moisture (which can sometimes come from the air), bacteria also can't grow.

Let's look at our armpits. Most of us use deodorants to keep them from smelling. (How do you keep an armpit from smelling? Hold its nose! Ha Ha) Many people go a step further and use an anti-perspirant as well. These combination deodorant/anti-perspirant attack the problem two ways, by limiting (or eliminating) moisture (the anti-perspirant) and by controlling bacterial growth (the deodorant).
So, the basic lessons here are, to control bacteria growth (and odor), we can keep things dry, and either cold or warm. Understanding these basic facts can help us to keep life more pleasant (or for those readers who are pranksters, add a little misery to someone's day).

Houston, we have a problem!

After running a fairly fast half-marathon last Sunday, I had knee pain. It was mostly on top of the knee and seemed to affect the front of the knee cap when the leg was bent. I spoke to a top area runner, who's a friend of mine, a running shop owner, and an exercise physiologist. He promptly diagnosed it as tendonitis. This is both a good and a bad thing.

Tendonitis, because it's a "harder tissue" injury tends to heal slower than soft tissue. Also, my plantar fasciitis is a version of tendonitis, so unfortunately, I'm learning a lot about this condition. I spoke to several runners about it this week. Most indicated that this can be a chronic condition, but can be trained through. Use of ice and anti-inflammatories was widely recommended. I'm anti-anti-inflammatory (Now, that's an ugly construction!) , so for me that means ice. After running only twice during the work week, I ran almost 7 yesterday, and after about 2 hours of on and off icing, I awoke today to a knee that had only a tinge of "off" sensation.

The plan is now to take a long run today of 15+ miles. If the discomfort can be controlled, then I'll feel pretty comfortable that I can return to my training level.

I spent a lot of my run yesterday thinking about how this injury likely came about. As a result of paying attention while on the treadmill earlier in the week, I realized that I torque my right toes inward when running faster and think it may relate a little to controlling speed. Two weeks ago, I hammered a big downhill, trying to catch two "runners" (I later realized they were on bikes, but the hill was steep and curvy enough that this took a while). During the week following, I had some stiffness in the knee, but it was non-specific, arose late in runs, (perhaps 5 miles in) and involved no pain. Then, to pre-warm prior to an outdoor run, I jumped on a stair climber at my gym the day before the half. I think this stressed the already sensitized tendons. Then, the half-marathon finished the job.

So, I feel pretty good that this injury, which could be chronic, is going to be pretty controllable and should not seriously impact my marathon plan for this spring.