Moving the blog ...

I've moved this blog to a new service. You can find me now at http://growingupintochildhood.wordpress.com. See you on the other side.

A Marathon Training Idea

Good evening.

Yesterday morning I made plans to get out in the afternoon and work on barefooting. Then I got a better offer. I love being a grandpa. Chuck E. Cheese is actually fun when you're playing with your grandson. It was really grandma that he sweet-talked, but I got to go along. We didn't bother to order food. He's not a fan of pizza or salads. He just wanted to go straight for the games, grandma had a coupon, and we got a big handful of tokens. We all played Skee-ball (or whatever the CEC equivalent is). He played a bunch of other games and won a lot of tickets. He learned to sit in a cockpit and control a mech warrior. He and I played a game together where we rescued each other from large frogs, spiders, leeches, dragonflies and other over-sized bugs. We were with Mr. Cheese two or three hours. So, no workout.

Today I worked all day. My wife and I ran some errands after work. We came home in the dark, in the rain. We ate some dinner and I did some office type stuff. I didn't work out. I'm a little disappointed with myself, but I'll get over it.

This morning my Achilles had loosened up enough to let me walk down the stairs without using the handrail. That's progress, but I learned my lesson last time my Achilles fest better; I won't be pushing it for at least another two and a half weeks. I've already prepared myself for the probability that at my age the healing process will be a slower than for an athlete. It's okay. I've got the rest of my life to get in better shape.

Here's an interesting training idea. Start by getting yourself in shape to run half a mile, let's say by March 5. Then train yourself just enough to add ten percent each week, so March 12 you will be running 0.55 miles. Keep adding just ten percent each week. By the end of April, almost two months, you will be running one mile. Keep adding ten percent each week and by the middle of June you will be running two miles. In July you will pass through the three mile and 5K marks. In August you will run  four then five miles. September, six miles, 10K, seven miles and eight miles. October, nine miles, 15K, ten miles and 20K. The first of November you will be ready to do a half-marathon. Then 15 miles, 25K and 30K. The first of December you will do 20 miles, 35K, 40K and 25 miles. Just before Christmas you will be ready to run a full marathon. That's 26.2 miles from a half mile just training enough to add ten percent each week for 10 months. The math is straight-forward. I wonder if the rest is reasonable.

With that thought I will say good-night. Sweet dreams.

January 17 - A.M.

Good morning! I was up too late last night, so I feel less than excellent this morning. I have decided it's going to be a wonderful day anyway. Any day spent in fellowship with Jesus is awesome.

Yesterday's Sunday dinner with the family was very good as usual. I am blessed to have a wife that makes the ordinary taste extraordinary. But, I overindulged a bit. Quite a bit, actually. I filled my dinner plate a second time. I could have compensated some by eating less or exercising more later in the day, but I didn't. I was undisciplined. My weight is up 0.8 to 211.6. Breakfast this morning was light and sensible.

[soapbox]
Today is a national holiday in the USA. It must be a holiday because it's Monday, kids aren't in school, and I can't get my mail postmarked today.


"Holiday" is another word that has lost its first meaning. Like all our holidays, many people are at work and have little time to remember who or what we are commemorating.  If today were a holiday with religious significance, we would also be forbidden to speak its name. Let's give each holiday equal respect. Let's refuse to say the name, find a sale, and wish each other a "Happy Holiday."


Oh, if Martin Luther King, Jr. crosses your mind today then say a prayer for your country; your country needs your prayers.
[/soapbox]


My Achilles tendons are feeling better this morning. Not great, but better. I am able to go down our stairs without leaning heavily on the handrail. Two non-impact exercises recommended during this three-week recovery are swimming and light bicycling. I don't have easy access to a pool, so biking it is. As for my barefoot running project, the start-up training recommends standing and walking on crushed gravel, but only every other day. If I do decide to go for a barefoot walk today I will stick to smooth pavement; I can still work on technique and work off a gram or two of yesterday's overindulgence.

I will start reading "The Treasure Principle" today. Our pastor has recommended that book because he is preaching a sermon series related to that topic. The church has bought enough copies to give every family a copy. A four-dollar donation will be gladly accepted to help offset the cost. I doubt the contribution qualifies as charitable for tax purposes since I'm getting a book in exchange. The back of the book says "$9.99" so I'm getting a bargain. Is this my first step in the treasure principle?

Cheers!

Going barefoot - January 16

When asked on Facebook if I had slipped on a slug yet, I replied,

My staggering is stinging
  striding stiff on stones and sticks.
My slogging it is sluggish
  but no slugs have felt my slips.

Two years of weight tracking

I have been tracking my weight for just over two years on our Wii Fit. Watching my weight over that time is like looking at the stock report of an actively traded stock. The day-to-day "prices" fluctuate, but my long-term trend has been down. Here are some of my significant data points:

12/15/2008 264.6 (Obese)
*** Get Wii Fit, early Christmas present ***
03/21/2009 246.5 (Before a cruise to Mexico)
03/30/2009 254.9 (After the cruise)
06/06/2009 239.9 (Recovery)
08/13/2009 248.2 (Summer camping trip)
10/17/2009 234.8 (Recovery)
01/06/2010 243.8 (Birthday - Holidays)
03/04/2010 233.7 (Recovering)
*** I am no longer obese, just overweight ***
07/16/2010 203.3 (Discipline)
08/14/2010 211.2 (Camping again)
10/03/2010 201.1 (Recovery)
01/05/2011 217.8 (Birthday - Holidays again)
01/16/2011 210.8 (Recovery under way)

The valuable information for me is seeing my weak points, the times and events where I am most likely to sabotage myself.

Changing analogies, I can envision my progress and goals as an archery target. These numbers are for a 6'2" male, so says Wii. If I had one more ring I'd set it at 199 just because it will be fun to get below 200.

So, that's where I've been, where I am, and where I'm going. Until next time, keep growing up into childhood.

Going barefoot

What can be more childlike than going barefoot?

A lot has happened in the five months since my last post. I recovered from hernia surgery. I speed-walked ten miles in two hours. I speed-walked the ORRC Wildwood Trail Trial 10K in 01:15:04, which is faster than some of the runners. I got my weight down to 201, settled in for several weeks at 205-210, ballooned up to 217 during the holidays, and am back now to 213 which is about where I was nine months ago.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a heart attack in 2001 (age 44), but I don't think I've talked about the stroke I had in 2008 (age 51). My most recent medical event, a few weeks ago, was one that is not uncommon for someone who has had a stroke in the past. Maybe someday I'll talk more about those things.

I have been trying for years to run like I did in high school. I ran cross-country and distance events then, and training often included running twenty miles in a day. But now I always have to stop running due to pain in some part of my body. I've got Saucony running shoes; not the most expensive you can buy but certainly not cheap. I've been reading the last couple of years about research that links injuries to running shoes. Interestingly, the more technology built into the shoe, the higher the injury rate. There has been a significant increase in interest and participation in "minimalist" running. I have a pair of Vibram Fivefingers that feel more like being barefoot than any shoes I've owned. But even with those I have experienced pain and injury.

I gave up on running, or at least that was my intention. But I didn't stop reading. And I would test myself once in a while, hoping maybe my body would let me enjoy running again. No such luck.

Then I began to hear and read about barefoot running. Not with "barefoot" shoes, but actually running barefoot. I had no idea people were really doing that. We've got more technology and research built into every imaginable shoe, so why would we want to run barefoot? Won't you injure yourself running barefoot, especially on streets? Turns out that more and more people are learning to run barefoot, and their foot injuries are insignificant in comparison to the debilitating injuries of their "shod" peers.

So, I'm taking this giant step back into childhood by joining the ranks of the barefoot runners. I'll try to update this blog as I venture through this latest experiment. For some background, check out Ken Bob Saxton (Barefoot Ken Bob)'s article, 'Just say, “No!” to Transition Footwear! (at least during the transition).' I was fascinated by the number of people that were experiencing the same kind of pain I was when running. If that interests you, follow up with his "How to Run" article. Ken Bob Saxton has also co-authored a new book which can be pre-ordered at "The Complete Book of Barefoot Running: Learn the Scientifically Proven Technique for Improving Your Stride and Reducing Injuries." I also highly recommend Christopher McDougall's book, "Born to Run." It's a fast-paced non-fiction story, sub-titled "A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen." I laughed and cried while reading this book. One of the characters in the book is known as "Barefoot Ted."

Right now I'm practicing standing and walking slowly on sharp gravel. The theory is that if I learn to run barefoot on gravel, then I will be able to run barefoot anywhere. Why run barefoot? Because I hope to experience for myself the joy of running without pain. My shoes have allowed or forced me to run incorrectly, leading to chronic injuries. Our feet were designed by God to let us run without the "help" of heel cushions, arch supports, air pockets, springs, etc. Our feet are literally atrophying in these ever-more-advanced, ever-more-expensive contraptions.

I've got at least three weeks to learn to stand and walk on gravel. It's going to take at least that long for my latest running injury, this time to my Achilles, to heal before I can try running again. In my fantasies I envision myself someday joining the barefooters that have already completed multiple marathons. Or running the first leg of the Hood To Coast relay, one of the longest, steepest descents in any organized running event, and the most difficult of the 36 legs of that relay. Maybe I'll never do either of those things barefoot, but I'll certainly never do them in shoes if I don't learn to run the way our bodies were designed to run. Running barefoot requires that you run properly, and letting your body relearn to run properly takes a long time. Once I have developed a proper running technique I might even be able to use that technique while wearing shoes, as long as the shoes don't have any "helpful" technology or padding built into them.

Feel free to follow along as I take this next step of my growing up into childhood.

An adventure on the road to better health

This morning, Monday, August 9, 2010, I did a seven-mile walking workout, exercising with a pair of three-pound dumbells for the entire one hour and 42 minutes. I feel good about doing that today since exactly one week earlier I was on my way to the hospital to undergo "Laproscopic Right Inguinal Hernia Repair."

Yes, I had hernia surgery complete with general anasthesia. Check-in that day at Mt. Hood Medical Center was noon. I believe I walked back into my house about 8PM. My dear wife got to spend the afternoon waiting then taxiing me home.

I'm glad I had continued my walking and running right up to the day of the surgery. I believe my recovery from the anasthesia was aided by having relatively healthy heart and lungs. I've had a few surgeries the last few years. General anasthesia leaves me feeling like a horse is sitting on my chest. That feeling only lasted a couple of days this time.

On Monday, June 28, six weeks ago now, I'm showering following my morning workout, and beating myself up a bit for having gained five pounds over the weekend. As I am drying myself I feel a lump about three inches to the right of and seven inches below my navel. I touch it again. It doesn't hurt. It seems to be about the size of an almond. I prod it another time and am quite certain that I have discovered a tumor and need to find a good doctor to tell me how long I have to live.

Denise is at work. I rule out calling an ambulance or driving to the nearest Immediate Care facility. It is only 8:30, so I will have to wait thirty minutes to speak to someone at my primary doctor's office. I pray. I don't call Denise; I have no idea what to tell her. I pray for Denise, believing God is going to have to give her even more grace and strength as we walk through this process.

I am able to get an appointment to see the physician's assistant later that morning. I still don't call Denise. I really want to talk to a doctor before I talk to my wife.

I get to the doctor's office. The receptionist recognizes me, says it appears I have lost weight since my last visit, and asks if I am losing the weight on purpose. I get a pretty big grin on my face as I tell her I have been walking a lot the last few months, and assure her my weight loss is not due to illness. Of course, as I sit down to wait to be seen I begin to wonder if that is completely true.

My turn. Weight 206; was 240 in December when I was getting my Commercial Driver License renewed. Blood pressure a bit below 120/80; it's never been a significant health issue for me. The p.a. asks me what I think the lump is. I say it reminds me of what I felt on my dog when he developed a fatty tumor. The p.a. pokes and prods, asks a few questions, then announces it is probably a small hernia, but I will need to see a surgeon to be certain. I leave with a business card for Portland Surgical Specialists.

So, maybe I'm not going home to heaven just yet. I drive to Denise's work, only a few blocks extra on my way home. As nonchalantly as possible I show her the business card and tell her why I have to call them for an appointment. Yes, it's possible that it's something more sinister than a hernia, but the p.a. seemed pretty confident and didn't act like we even needed to ask the real doctor's opinion. I search Denise's face for a reaction. Quiet confidence that all will be well. Or a great actress? Or too buried in too much to do at work to take time to scream? I choose to believe God answers prayer even when we're too jumbled up inside to know what to pray.

I see the surgeon the morning of Friday, July 2. The surgeon demonstrates her ability to prod the lump in a manner that produces intense pain, then sends me to her assistant to schedule me for hernia surgery. I feel much more confident that my death won't be due to the lump.

It is too late to schedule surgery for the next week, and doing the surgery prior to a 9-day camping trip is a bad idea, so we schedule the surgery for August 2. I am instructed to do nothing strenuous between now and the surgery date. If I'm not sure about something, I should avoid it. If I decide to do something anyway, stop immediately if it hurts. Within a few days I resume my walking and jogging, but decide to continue putting off doing push-ups and crunches.

As part of pre-op the surgeon wants blood tests which include lipid and liver function. My main doctor sees those results and wants me to come in to talk. The cholestorol numbers look very good, but the liver function is not great. When he learns of my greatly increased activity level and my weight loss, he determines we need to cut the statin dosage in half and eliminate the niacin from my cholestorol meds. My body is now producing enough HDL and niacin that the previous prescription was poisoning my liver. This is very good news from my perspective.

We go camping and have a great time with the family. I walk or run 2 to 6 miles most days so I end up only gaining 3 pounds. We get home on Sunday afternoon, August 1, then head off for surgery the next day feeling fine. The hernia really hasn't bothered me much.

I get home from surgery Monday evening, feeling no pain. The general anasthesia hasn't fully worn off. My wife gets the pain med prescription filled right away because we are assured by the nurse that I will want and need them in a few hours. By 10PM my haze has lifted enough for me to recognize that the nurse was not exaggerating. Not only does my chest feel like a horse is sitting on it, any movement involving my torso feels like the horse is kicking. Tuesday is pretty much a fog.

By Wednesday afternoon the pain in my gut has subsided enough that I decide to try walking a bit. I do a very slow half-mile, struggling primarily with the heaviness in my chest. Wednesday evening I discover I can get into and roll over in bed with only very minor pain. I'm done with the pain meds.

Thursday I walk a fairly slow mile with no pain and not even a Tylenol. Friday I walk two miles in just over 30 minutes. The heaviness in my chest is gone. I started this post talking about this morning's workout. I am experiencing some pain today as I'm writing this and doing laundry and going up and down the stairs, but the pain is all in my calves. It's the good pain following a good, hard workout. I choose not to call the workout strenuous because I have been instructed to do nothing strenuous for five more weeks. If my wife reads this she may decide that I'm not too weak to mow the lawn after all.