tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25499048015345996582024-03-13T14:00:02.730-06:00The Long RunJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.comBlogger179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-42465778653059147622014-03-22T09:45:00.000-06:002015-03-01T10:00:32.009-07:00Pitfalls and Slippery SlopesYears ago when our older kids were small, I think we had been running errands around Boulder and we got hungry, as a family might, and were near a Good Times drive-through. From that day on, it seemed like anytime we were near the place someone in the car would suggest we stop at Good Times and we often would. It then seemed that if we were even remotely near Good Times or just somewhere in Boulder someone would suggest we go there.<br />
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My wife and I had been doing fairly well on our efforts of controlling our calorie intake. A stressful workweek can evoke the same type of conditioned response that we experienced with Good Times. We often go out on a Friday evening for some kind of meal outside of the house as is so common with many people. It seems that anywhere we choose to go on a Friday evening is packed. When I suggested to Ruth that we go out for dinner she broached the issue of our diet. I responded that it could be our break from it for the week and that we didn't have to gorge ourselves.<br />
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We didn't gorge ourselves, although we did break from our usual vegetarian fare. Being St. Patrick's Day weekend, the restaurant had a couple of Irish specials and I decided I'd have the lamb shepherd's pie and Ruth chose a non-Irish plate of penne bolognese. We didn't overeat, but somehow it seems that outing led us onto the slippery slope. We allowed food to be an indulgence and we seemed to be in a state, at least for dinner, of wanting to indulge. One night I made falafel and we ate it with homemade coleslaw held in a whole wheat tortillas. Three was way too many. Another evening we decided to combine all the leftovers into one meal. The charge seemed to be to finish them and not waste any food. Leftovers of leftovers for lunch would have been a better idea. Yesterday was Friday and even before I left work Ruth had texted me suggesting dinner out. I responded with "ok", knowing the kitchen had remained rather a mess from the night before.And although she had cleaned up the kitchen and keeping it that way by going out was a good idea, the interest in going out had waned by the time I arrived home. Our oldest son was home so I figured I'd make pizza and use up some random items in the refrigerator that go well on pizza. I'd like to think we didn't do too much damage with a week of dinner digression; we were diet diligent for breakfast and lunch although nothing was recorded this week.<br />
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Fortunately we start our spring break this morning and it is easier to avoid eating pitfalls without the work routine. Mangoes and Mexican papaya are in season now, a reasonably-price granola cereal is on sale, and there are two tubs of non-fat yogurt in the refrigerator. A combination of those items will make a good pre-run breakfast. Getting myself out the door for ten miles on a blustery sub-freezing late March day is the next challenge.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-74441997804286248772014-03-10T21:39:00.000-06:002014-03-10T21:39:54.619-06:00Dodging the Work Week Food TrapsThis is the third in a series on weight loss effort.<br />
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Today marks the third day of working to adjust downward my weight. The past two days were easy to come out ahead because it was the weekend and I was able to run 15 miles between the two days; I had plenty of room to spare and still be under my calorie target. The routine of the workday provides different challenges. To counter the main challenge of ending up hungry at noon and having to seek out the healthiest of nearby bad choices, I brought food from home. I brought a small plastic container of pinto beans and a falafel patty. I ate one pumpkin pancake at home before I left for work and augmented this with a mid-morning snack of nuts, raisins, pistachios, dried fruit, and chocolate morsels which total about 200 calories. The falafel was rather dry and a little hard to get down and I couldn't eat any more before even finishing the beans. I teach high school and I walked three laps on the track with another teacher after eating.<br />
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There is a cake shop across the street from the school and it was a bit of a challenge to break the routine of going for a large oatmeal raisin cookie after lunch. The walking helped. The school store is directly across from my room and I had to resist buying a 1 3/4 ounce bag of Ruffles Queso Potato Chips. They are quite addictive. I avoided the traps at work. At least it wasn't Friday when there are often trays of doughnuts for the taking.<br />
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Arriving home seems to trigger a desire to eat. My wife wouldn't be home from work until a little late so I decided to make something to eat that would count as dinner. The danger would be to eat twice. I made a chopped veggie-laden tuna salad and ate it as a sandwich and with some wheat thins. My wife just wanted a bowl of cereal when she got home, but I was hungry again so I opted for the vegetable soup that we still had from the weekend. Even with two Indian Pale Ales I was able to end the day at a net loss of 530 calories. Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-62662364488142754062014-03-09T09:49:00.000-06:002014-03-09T09:49:52.140-06:00Eat Before You're HungryThis is the second post in a series documenting weight loss.<br />
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It is the morning of day two of my weight loss effort. I don't like to use the word "diet"; it has acquired such a negative feel to it. Typically, it is a drastic action a person takes until he or she can go back to the behavior that led to the need to diet in the first place. Depending on what a person's eating behaviors were, a diet may or may not be drastic. I don't think it should be so drastic that it couldn't establish a pattern for a new sustainable behavior.<br />
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One behavior that many people have, especially if they are feeling bad about their weight, is to weight until they are rather hungry to eat. I awoke not long ago and could probably make it most of the morning without eating, but then my hunger might push me to either eat more than I should or eat something I shouldn't or worse: both. Knowing this, I make having breakfast something I always do before starting my day. Yesterday I had an omelet, but I try not to eat too many eggs, so today I had berries, yogurt, and granola. Cereals portions and their associated calories are typically low. When trying to lose weight, it is important to measure your cereal portion. Granola has even more calories than regular cereal. I measured out 2/3 of a cup which gave me 230 calories. Frozen berries are rather low in calories and are high in antioxidants so you can be generous with them. I dumped close to a cup in my bowl and then microwaved them. Non-fat yogurt is not a low calorie food; sugar is the second ingredient listed on the label. It takes a lot of yogurt to moisten granola. I added close to a cup to the granola and berries.<br />
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Granola, Yogurt, and Berries Breakfast<br />
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2/3 cup granola 230<br />
1 cup non-fat yogurt 170<br />
1 cup berries 70<br />
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Total 470<br />
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The total is probably somewhat lower than 470 because neither the yogurt nor the berries were a full cup. Imagine though, if my estimates or measurements were low on every item; I could easily be off by three or four hundred calories by the end of the day. 440 calories is probably more accurate for this meal. I've been drinking coffee this morning as well; fortunately, I like black coffee; I don't even bother to count the 15 or so calories that are in black coffee. My wife drinks her coffee with 2% milk and sugar; that adds up. Each teaspoon of sugar has 15 calories and the milk may add close to 15 as well. For her, each cup of coffee is rounded to 50 calories.<br />
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I was rather pleased with my first day of weight loss effort yesterday. Because I ran 7.2 miles yesterday, I was able to add 860 calories to my base of 2245 for a total of 3105 calories that I could have eaten and not gained weight. To meet my daily goal, I would have to consume 445 calories less than that. I took in 750 calories less. That is about 1/5 of a pound. I somewhat regret having three beers over the course of the evening. I would have lost 1/3 of a pound without them. <br />
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I weigh myself daily when I am trying to lose a few pounds. The readings on the scale on a day to day basis should not be given much value from day to day. For example, Yesterday morning I weighed 183.4. This morning, I weighed 181.2. I did not lose over two pounds in 24 hours. There are many factors that can create significant variations in a person's weight over the course of the day. I may have been well-hydrated yesterday morning. I may have had to go to the bathroom. This morning I may have been slightly dehydrated from yesterday's exercise. I may have eliminated more waste yesterday. Oh, and I lost 0.2 pounds. So, 2.0 of the 2.2 pounds differences between yesterday and today had nothing to do with actual weight loss. Eventually the readings will even out. I will have a consistent pattern of eating, hydration, elimination, and exercise and by weighing myself at the same time each day relative to those variable I will begin to see more consistent readings; from day to day there may be very little drop, no drop, or the scale may read higher. If you find yourself anxious about the variations you'll want to weigh yourself less often.<br />
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I will probably run a few more miles this afternoon. I know that it takes energy to do that. It will take more than 100 calories for each mile that I run. Energy will already be stored in my muscles, but psychologically I will feel better about running for an hour or two if I don't have an empty stomach. I will also have fuel in the tank once the stores in my muscles are depleted. I will also not be so hungry when I'm done running. In fact, I find that if I run long enough my appetite seems suppressed for quite a while after the work out. Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-47915315725459163062014-03-08T15:27:00.002-07:002014-03-08T15:28:04.230-07:00Weight Weight Don't Tell MeDaylight Savings Time begins tomorrow and the residual cough from the persistent cold I've had for the past three weeks is waning. There is no better time to begin to tune up the body. People think I'm nuts when I express that I'd like to drop 10 or 15 pounds. Entering my weight into the Center for Disease Control's Body Mass Index calculator I am told that my BMI is 25.5 and hence I am "overweight". Normal body weight for my height is between 133 and 179 pounds. This morning, stepping on the scale for the first time in a while, I weighed 183.2.<br />
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Six months ago I weighed 173 pounds; I was able to do training runs of up to 25 miles and I was content with that weight and conditioning level. After the deluge in Colorado last fall I spent several weekends putting new shingles on the house and my running dropped off. Also, many of my favorite trails were washed out and closed. I became rather careless about what I ate and have was given to having an extra beer quite regularly. I have found in the past that running helps me regulate my weight but doesn't do much for making me lose it because I typically eat more to fuel the running. I have had good success with limiting calories and documenting everything I eat on a spreadsheet.<br />
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To calculate how much I should eat to lose my target loss per week I entered my height, weight, and age in an online Basal Metabolic Rate calculator to find how many calories I burn just living and breathing. Mine was 1,727 calories. I multiplied this by a factor of 1.3 to adjust for a lightly active lifestyle, which results in 2,245 calories I can consume daily without gaining or losing weight. I have always heard that 3500 calories of fat was roughly equivalent to one pound. I just did a little online research to confirm this and although the figure is arguable, it close enough when taking into consideration that there will be some other imprecisions along the way. For example, I am active; my lifestyle isn't exactly sedentary so I could probably eat a bit more and not gain weight. I would like to lose about a pound a week, so to do that I need to eat about 500 calories less than the 2,245 given above. I see that it is typically recommended that men not consume less than 1800 calories per day. Certainly, there would be variations based on the man's weight and other considerations. I will set the 1800 calories as my target and make adjustments to eat more based on how much I run. I usually add between 100 and 130 calories per mile that I run. So if I run 5 miles later on I will be able to add 500 to 650 calories to my intake.<br />
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I plan to chronicle my efforts to lose about a dozen pounds here to share how I've done it before, to share some of what goes through my mind in the process, and to help keep myself accountable. I weighed myself, so I have a starting point. It is important to eat before getting hungry because once a person is hungry, judgement about eating tends to be impaired. Looking at what there is to eat in the house, I would be inclined to have some bread products, but I want to make my calorie intake as nutritious and satisfying as is practical. My wife and I try to eat a vegan, or at least vegetarian diet as much as possible, but we are not strict about it. I had eaten strictly vegan for about a year, but I allowed eggs and nonfat yogurt back into the mix. This past winter I even ate meat somewhat regularly and had some pizza a handful of times. For my current weight adjustment effort I will eliminate all the animal products except the eggs, yogurt, and occasionally some fish. This morning I think I will start with an omelet. For the cheese, I like <i>Lisanatti Foods'</i> almond-based jalapeño jack cheese alternative. Since I plan to run a little later I will need some carbohydrates so I will eat some toast with it.<br />
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Last night I knew my wife and I were going to begin this diet so I made a vegetable soup from the fresh vegetables that happened to be in the refrigerator. Soup is very easy to make; you put stuff in water and heat. I used some wilting celery, carrots, three mushrooms past their prime, onion, garlic, what was left of a red pepper, the chopped up trunks of two broccoli crowns, the last two leaves of some purple kale, and a big handful of Black Japonica rice for heartiness. When we had it last night I tossed in some fresh jalapeño rounds and chopped cilantro.<br />
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Breakfast ingredients and calories<br />
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2 large eggs 140<br />
1 tspn olive oil in pan 35<br />
1 oz. almond <i>cheeze </i> 50<br />
1/4 avocado 65<br />
diced veggies 30<br />
2 slices dry wheat toast 160<br />
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Total 480<br />
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There are some general sensible guidelines that I follow to make it easier to stick to the plan. I eat before I am hungry. Vegetables of color can almost be eaten without accounting for their calories. Juices, soft drinks, and alcohol add on calories quickly. I limit these and measure them carefully. It is wise to avoid any kind of restaurant during weight loss efforts. I keep track of everything I consume. I look at the labels or look up the item on a website such as <a href="http://www.nutritiondata.self.com/">http://www.nutritiondata.self.com</a> for calorie amounts. I allow myself rewards. I may allow one meal on Sunday in which I indulge within reason. If a person finds it difficult to put off a reward for an entire week, a small piece of dark chocolate, or in my case a beer, on a daily basis is within reason.<br />
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Before posting this I would like to note that I took the dog out for a sloppy early March trail run. We covered 7.2 miles after eating a couple of pumpkin pancakes for lunch that I had made for the little guy's breakfast. I should have somewhere between 720 and 940 calories to play with today, which makes dieting a lot easier. If you're not up for running, getting out for a walk of for a half hour to an hour could build in a cushion of 100 to 300 calories.<br />
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I've just finished a bowl of the above-mentioned vegetable soup and will probably have a multi-vegetable salad for dinner along with something more substantial and of protein content such as a bowl of pinto beans and a couple of heated soft corn tortillas.<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-83950288403597880282013-07-09T08:35:00.004-06:002013-07-09T09:58:17.134-06:00Runners WaveI bought a small Honda motorcycle about five years ago and I ride it regularly to run errands, take advantage of free motorcycle parking, commute, and to save money on gas. Shortly after I began riding I discovered that motorcyclists have a little wave they give each other as they pass. Their left hand comes of the handlebar and is held down for a second like a "low five". There are some variations; a couple of fingers might be pointed out toward the other rider or the hand might be held open and the degree to which the arm goes out may be anywhere from six o'clock to eight o'clock. The salutation seemed a bit on par with a secret handshake and wholly unnecessary, but I joined in the ritual as well.<br />
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I guess bikers (I don't think of myself as a biker) feel a certain kinship and consequently feel compelled to greet a like person. I'm not sure I'm like any of the people I encounter riding motorcycles but I'd grant that we are having a similar and rarer experience than driving a car; I suppose bonds us for a couple of seconds. I have noticed that scooter riders don't do the greeting. I infer that to mean that maybe motorcyclists don't give the low hand wave to scooters and so scooter riders don't wave because no one has ever initiated a wave to them. I've also noticed that riders of certain types of motorcycles are less inclined to wave. They tend to be the riders of bikes with large fairings that cover the whole front of the bike or sport bikes with low handlebars. I don't know if those riders see themselves differently or having a different experience than me and so don't wave, see me as different from themselves because of our bike choice and don't wave, or because of the design of the bike find it more difficult to wave. Sometimes a rider will give me the low hand wave and I'll be braking or about to change gears and not respond and I wonder if they'll feel slighted.<br />
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My experience is similar when I run. When I encounter other runners I will acknowledge them with a quick fingers up open hand greeting, sometimes a head nod, or even a spoken "hi" or "howdy". They will often do the same, but many runners will pass without even an expression change. I feel a greater kinship with someone whom I encounter on a trail on a mountain than a motorcyclist so when they pass indifferently it makes me wonder about the implications. Are they lost in the moment? Do they find it peculiar and unnecessary to greet a passing runner, person, fellow human being? Do they perceive me as significantly different from themselves; maybe what I'm doing doesn't seem like running to them, kind of like waving to a scooter driver. If I come across a runner in a relatively remote area where I have not seen another person for a long time, I may make a comment like "Oh, I guess I'm not the only sane/crazy person in the world".<br />
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I suppose a lot can depend on population density. A scene from <em>Crocodile Dundee</em> comes to mind. The character is from the Australian Outback and is a passenger in a car that stops for a red light on a New York City street. While at the intersection he greets a couple of people talking on the sidewalk and introduces himself, says he'll be in town for a while and that maybe they'll run into each other again. Presumably, in the remote Outback people greet any other humans they encounter, but a New Yorker would never think to greet everyone passing the other direction walking on 5th Avenue. I don't imagine all the motorcyclists at the yearly Sturgis, South Dakota rally cruising through the streets salute all the thousands of other bikers. Joggers in a city park may not feel compelled to nod to one another just like runners at the local 5K aren't going to all give a little wave to all the other participants. <br />
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Maybe motorcyclists and runners perceive themselves as vulnerable minorities. Motorcyclists and runners on the road experience significant vulnerability surrounded by big SUV's, trailer trucks, and distracted drivers in any four-wheeled vehicle and so maybe there is a "we've got to stick together" attitude among them. But then, I have notice other groups behave similarly. Truck drivers passing in opposite directions on a road may flash lights at each other and in my bus travel in Mexico I noticed the bus drivers always saluted and made peculiar gestures to each other as they passed on the narrow highways. <br />
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So I think I understand the bond that people feel to one another and that there may be a point when it's infeasible to express that bond; if everyone suddenly were driving motorcycles I'm sure the waving would stop. Maybe Harley riders would just salute other Harley riders and Vespa riders would just wave at other Vespa riders. I still wonder though, why the occasional runner that I encounter on a remote trail whom I gesture to or say "hi" to doesn't at least give a grunt or a nod of acknowledgement. Maybe he grew up in a big city like New York and does the opposite of Crocodile Dundee; he doesn't greet anyone he doesn't know just as he wouldn't on the streets of New York. Maybe he thinks it's a bit silly and unnecessary like I do with regard to the motorcyclists giving the low five to each other. <br />
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Many people prefer the anonymity that is found in a large city, but I would rather live in a community where I wasn't so overwhelmed by sheer numbers that saying "good morning" to a passing fellow human being would be an odd thing to do. It's not that I'm such a warm person, either, but it just feels like we'd be a healthier lot if more of us lived where the scale of community allowed for a nod of the head, a wave of the hand, a wink of an eye, a thumbs up, a flash of the lights, or even a "hi there" or "G'day mate".<br />
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-22128594747202464382013-06-20T17:05:00.001-06:002013-06-20T17:05:32.413-06:00Cicada Holes up in Runner's EarI haven't written a post for quite a while, mostly because running these days has been rather routine and uneventful, until yesterday evening. I had the opportunity to get in on two Boulder Trail Runner runs. I ended up doing the first run alone because I arrived five minutes late and tried to catch up to runners I discovered weren't actually there because I had the location for the run of the 5:30 for the following day. After that run I did a little work and then hurried to the trail head for the 8:30 run. I met up with about seven other runners and we headed out at dusk across the South Teller Farm Trail east of Boulder.<br />
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The evening had cooled off nicely as it does once the sun sets in Colorado. As we ran an easy conversational pace on the flat non-technical farm road the regulars made acquaintances with a couple of new runners answering questions they had about the different regular runs and typical routes, etc. On this particular run we usually go out about 3.2 miles and turn around at a bridge that crosses the Boulder Creek on the northern extension of the Teller Farm trail. We don't like to dawdle there because mosquitoes descend on us immediately over the water. We made a quick decision to continue on for another mile to add some hills to our run. The moment we started off in the twilight a large winged insect flew right into my ear as if aiming for a bulls eye and burrowed in as if there was only one way to go. I think I let out some sort of noise and thought I saw someone glance back, but they all disappeared into the growing darkness.<br />
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I stumbled around for a few seconds disoriented, being attacked at this point by mosquitoes as well. My motorcycle key was safety pinned to my t-shirt, so I released it and tried to get it in alongside whatever creature was in my ear. I thought I might be able to press it to one side and work it out or at least kill it. That wasn't successful; I mostly just irritated it and made it claw more frantically. I rubbed my arms and legs brushing off the mosquitoes and started to run after the group, thinking they'd be able to help, but I realized I might be better off seeking professional help than letting a pack of runners armed with a headlamp and motorcycle key poke around my ear drum so I turned around and headed back from where we had come. Running seemed to agitate it more than walking so I walked. At times it would be still and it was hardly noticeable, but frequently it would try burrowing more, or what to me felt like trying to extend its wings in vain.<br />
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I always run with my cell phone so tried to call my son so that he could come meet me at the nearest road, but he didn't answer. I texted my wife, explaining the situation and asked her to continue to try reaching Alex. She reached him and sent him my way, but I had a while to wait. The other runners came by on their return trip and I stopped them and asked if they could take a look with their headlamps; it was a little startling when they said they couldn't see anything, well, maybe something that looked like a leg. I let them continue on and waited, enduring its occasional stirrings.<br />
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A friend of Alex's was driving and my phone was almost out of power after having used the map-my-run app over the course of two runs during the day so I asked Alex to Google how to remove a bug from the ear canal. I thought maybe we could avoid going to the emergency room. According to the site he found, olive oil poured into the ear canal would not do harm to me and would kill the bug which would float out. It seemed reasonable, until I had the bottle of olive oil in my hand. I suddenly felt that I'd rather pay the $100 emergency room deductible and have the professionals take care of it. So Alex and his friend followed me to the emergency room.<br />
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Part of being able to deal with discomfort, pain, uncertainty, and creepiness of the situation up until the point of arriving at the emergency room was knowing how long each step toward relief would take; walking to the nearest road would be about fifteen minutes, Alex would be there to pick me up in another fifteen, the car ride to the house another ten, then another ten to the ER. But once I was in the ER the length of time I had to endure became an uncertainty. I wasn't unconscious, didn't have a broken bone, I wasn't in a room with everyone wearing masks, I wasn't having contractions too soon in my pregnancy; I was just pacing around the tiny ER room looking fairly normal from the outside. I was finally attended to about an hour and ten minutes after arriving at the hospital.<br />
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The doctor said she would put some drops of Lidocaine in the ear which would numb things and also kill the bug. Evidently there is a pain medication addict working at that ER because there was no numbing sensation and bug seemed just as content and maybe even a little more comfortable scratching around with a little lubrication. She left for a bit to look for a "scraping tool" and was consulting with someone on a cell phone at the same time. She injected more of the mysterious Lidocaine replacement liquid and then tried working the tool in along side it and flicking the bug out to no avail. She said she needed a smaller catheter and a larger syringe. Another fifteen minute eternity passed for the bug and I before a nurse came in with a liter of saline solution and a 60 ml syringe. She had me lay down on the cot bug side up. She proceeded to cover my head and neck with towels and fed the catheter down to what seemed like my eardrum. I'm sure she was just squeezing gently on the syringe plunger but it felt like she had the nozzle switched to "power wash" at the car wash. About five long power blasts ant my eardrum and she floated it out intact. She said, "most people say they have a big bug in their ear because in their ear it feels big; you did have a big bug in your ear."<br />
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<img class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQvQ3RsWuf_fypCgaGFyTA_zsD9m2U9ocd5QmwT2ViQ9_-lDTMN2A" data-sz="f" name="NFrErOALzrPfTM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQvQ3RsWuf_fypCgaGFyTA_zsD9m2U9ocd5QmwT2ViQ9_-lDTMN2A" style="height: 179px; margin-left: -9px; margin-right: -3px; margin-top: 0px; width: 239px;" /><br />
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<img class="rg_i" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTP6ZUrcKH8DuknCtqla0FK_Txje06k75MEChQzYfD97ENlnS717A" data-sz="f" name="fk2hhnFpuNUXdM:" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTP6ZUrcKH8DuknCtqla0FK_Txje06k75MEChQzYfD97ENlnS717A" style="height: 179px; margin-left: -9px; margin-right: -27px; margin-top: 0px; width: 244px;" /><br />
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She received it on a gauze pad and set it on the stainless steel work tray. It was still alive and clawed its way around the gauze in a circle as if taking a victory lap. The doctor came back to check on me and take a look at the culprit. She said she could not believe how calm I had been; she said she would have been scratching her face off freaking out if it were her. I would have too, if I thought it would have done any good. It wasn't causing great pain, and it didn't seem like it was making forward progress, so relatively speaking the stalemate was tolerable. The doctor offered me drugs speculating that I might not be able to sleep from the trauma, but knowing it was out was good enough, although a couple of beers didn't hurt. I arrived home after midnight to a house full of miller moths that had found their way it through a window left open without a screen. I spent about an hour swigging beer and swatting the cousins of my evening's nemesis.<br />
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This morning, describing the bug to my daughter, she thought it sounded like a cicada. I hope it didn't think it had found a comfy place to hole up for the next 17 years. The top picture from Google Images looks very much like what they flushed out. It did not appear to have red eyes, but it was rather rumpled by that point. My advice, if a big hardy bug decides it likes the cramped quarters of your ear canal, don't mess around with oils better left for salads; stay calm and get it flushed out by the professionals.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-11536803709953179152013-04-06T10:51:00.000-06:002013-04-06T10:51:21.900-06:00Running and Pain and my Comfort ZoneThis month's edition of Runner's World has an article entitled "Hurts So Good" in which the author talks about the runner's relationship with pain, his own dance with pain as a runner, and weaves in his son's bouts with pain and extreme discomfort as a high school cross country runner. I'm OK with perpetuating the mystique of the runner. Non-runners have at some point in their lives experienced some distress from running, whether from a slog through a concourse to catch the next flight, to cut off the ice cream truck before it leaves the neighborhood, or their many attempts to get into shape that were abandoned after the first half-mile jog; as a result they conclude runners must experience pain and discomfort routinely.<br />
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I was recently talking with a fellow teacher who used to run marathons but had to switch to bicycling and swimming after rheumatoid arthritis ravaged her joints. She assumed I had a high tolerance for discomfort because I am able to run for several hours at a time. I responded that this wasn't the case at all; I've built up to it. I've just extended my comfort zone. I don't like to be out of it. Granted, I have to push myself on occasion to go beyond where I've been before, but I take very small bites of discomfort. <br />
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I've learned to recognize discomforts; a pain or discomfort only bothers me if I don't understand it or am worried that I won't be able to handle it. One of the things I truly like about running is the lack of pain. Something could be hurting on a run, but I either forget about it or natural painkillers kick in and mute it. I can't recall having sore leg muscles from running in the past twenty years. Some might say, "no pain, no gain," but obviously there has been gain; I could easily go for a four hour run this afternoon in which I run a couple of 12% grades gaining two thousand feet in elevation with a liter bottle of water in one hand and a Cliff Bar in my pocket. If the temperature were to unexpectedly be such that I dehydrate and I can't think straight and I have an hour yet to get back, I'm going to leave my happy place. If I survive though, and I find myself in a similar predicament, I will be a little less uncomfortable because I'm no longer facing an unknown.<br />
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I actually don't deal well with pain when I'm running if it persists. Most pains don't persist; a couple of times I've had an IT band act up. That was pain that grew and persisted, telling me to stop what I was doing. If I have pains due to running when I'm not running, I don't worry about them. Sometimes after a long run I can hardly get off the motorcycle and hobble to the door when I get home, but I know I'll be good to go the next day. I've had plantar faciitis and Achilles tendonitis that has lasted for months, but I knew that I'd feel better after a run. Of course, that's why the symptoms would last for months.<br />
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I know there are runners who go to the pain zone all the time, some embrace it, for some it's a pain that at least they have control of, not like other pains they may suffer in life. I'm not about the pain; I'm about the not pain. I'm about the 50K all above 9,000 feet above sea level with 9,000 feet of elevation gain being within my comfort zone because I'll want to go out for a run the following day.<br />
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Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-61264588406943951222013-02-17T11:04:00.002-07:002013-02-17T11:04:30.119-07:00Weekend Warrior RunningFive months have past since I last posted an entry, which was about vegan running. Eating a dairyless and meatless diet and running have been completely compatible. (I occasionally violate the veganism with some nonfat yogurt and egg whites.) September through May my days are typically busy and they don't leave much time for running. I managed to reach 1100 total miles for 2012, and although it's early in the year I believe I am in a good position to do something similar this year. <br />
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Recently, my running has taken the following pattern: On Tuesdays and Thursdays I cover about four miles with a small group of beginning student runners. They are in the walk-run stage but we typically head to a hilly area and I make sure I run all the ascents. Then on the weekends I get out to the foothills near Eldorado Springs and Boulder for one or both days. Lately, I have been enjoying a run that starts out at the southern Mesa Trail head in Eldorado Springs and heads north, then up Upper Bluestem, reconnecting with the Mesa Trail, continuing until Bear Canyon. I take the Bear Canyon Trail to the Bear Green Trail and work my way around to the summit of Green Mountain and return via the same route. This run typically takes about 4 hours. I had an unsettling moment, when about 25 minutes from the end I stumbled and the light flew out of my hand and went out. I discovered I was in a darkness so dark I could see where the ground and trees ended and the sky began. I managed to find the light and turn it on, but the prospect of crawling blind down such a rugged trail made me consider bring two lights the next time I run trails in the dark.<br />
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Yesterday, I didn't hit the trail until 4PM so I decided to do one of my favorite runs that starts on the other side of the road from the above-described run. I take the Dowdy Draw Trail to the South Springbrook Loop to Goshawk to Fowler. I then head back up to the top of the Springbrook Loops and descend via the North Springbrook Loop and back to Dowdy. There I cross the valley on Dowdy up to the ridge where the Flatiron Vista trails connect to Dowdy. At that point I turn around and take Dowdy back to the parking lot. This run was just under two hours and with the days getting longer I didn't even need a light at the end. <br />
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Yesterday's run seemed so easy. I cruised on the ascents. There are basically three ascents. The first is about 900 ft., the second is about 500ft., and the third about 400 ft. Even though my weekly mileage had been somewhat low, I think the 4 hour runs with 3800 ft. of elevation have done a lot to maintain my conditioning. Previously, yesterday's route would have found me taking a couple of breaks at certain points, but I didn't even think to yesterday.<br />
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Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-87162603085209444762012-09-02T09:27:00.001-06:002012-09-03T11:20:06.331-06:00Vegan RunningMention vegan in many circles and people will quickly conjure an image of a barefoot young woman with dreadlocks who's a militant member of PETA. That's not me, although I have nothing against it; I'm a fifty-four year old man who ate a healthy (I should say unhealthy) array of animal products on a daily basis for more than half a century. I stopped eating meat or any animal products about ten weeks ago. I didn't have any political motivation although one less person creating demand for resource intensive factory-raised animals is not a bad thing; we could feed a lot more people if we just ate the plants that could be grown on the land that we use to grow the feed we use to fatten the hogs and cattle and chickens. My motivation to move to a plant-based diet was purely selfish and personal; my cholesterol level had been persistently on the low side of high since certainly before the first time it was tested in my late twenties. The eye doctor even mentioned that he could see lipids; I had fat deposits up to my eyes! Running 40 miles a week evidently wasn't making any difference; it was probably just allowing me to pass more cheese and eggs through my system without resulting in much external evidence.<br />
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I wasn't a big meat eater but I found it satisfying, filling and a straight-forward source of protein. Switching to a vegetarian diet wouldn't have made much difference to me. Presumably, I needed to cut out the dairy products. I enjoyed butter on everything. The flavor of many of our meals was enhanced with tasty cheeses. Although I had been using egg-beater type products for many recipes, there was no substitute for basted eggs to start a busy day. I was reading Scott Jurek's book Eat & Run of which plant-based eating is a main theme during the time that I had my last physical and cholesterol check. It made trying a vegan diet to lower my cholesterol an easy choice over Lipitor or whatever might have been prescribed for me. I still have to wait another month before having the cholesterol checked to see if it has made any difference in the numbers. If it doesn't it will be interesting to see what I do.<br />
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Scott Jurek stated rather directly that he felt his vegan diet was the secret to his being able to bury the competition in 100 miler after 100 miler. Many vegans talk about how much better they feel. I didn't feel bad before and I didn't imagine I was going to start winning ultras, but I wondered if I would notice something. I can't say I noticed any difference. I don't feel like I'm suddenly unburdened from a body full of toxins or anything like that. I'm not running farther or faster. I'm not slower. Things seem pretty much the same as before. The foods I ate to fuel up for a run were already carbohydrates, mostly from grains. Meats probably helped for recovery. I suppose beans, hummus, and nuts have taken over that role now. I don't have any cravings for anything like some nutrient is missing. There are some nutrients that are difficult to get in a plant-based diet, vitamin B-12 for example. I stop short of calling myself vegan; I don't like to define myself by what I do: I teach; I don't call myself a teacher. I bought a canister of nutritional yeast to sprinkle of cereals and such. I've also eaten an occasional tin of sardines and I've stuck with popping a couple of fish oil capsules a day. So that too makes me not a vegan in the strictest sense of the word, I guess, but I still think of it as a vegan-based diet.<br />
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As soon as I finish this post I'm heading out for a three hour or so trail run. I've had a bowl of granola with almond-coconut milk and I'll probably eat a banana and a couple of Brazil nuts and bring a Power Bar along with me and I'll have good energy the whole time. A long run like that will pretty much kill my appetite for the rest of the day, but I'll have a big salad of greens and fresh vegetables with nuts and olives sometime later. I'll probably snack on hummus and Reduced Fat Wheat Thins. Black beans would be good too. I've never had irregularity issues but one thing I've noticed about eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains is that they pass quickly through the body. It's pretty common to be about to go out the door and have to make one more trip up the stairs. I'm certain I'm not carrying any unnecessary load when on a run. <br />
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Scott Jurek, already fit and slender mentioned in his book that he lost a whole layer of fat when he went completely vegan. I've dropped about ten pounds that one would have thought I wouldn't have even had running 150 miles a month. There's more to go though; I can still pinch plenty more than an inch of my abdomen. The weight has been coming off more slowly now because I have found myself eating more avocados and nuts and they keep the fat calorie intake up. They're good and necessary fats though. I've also had time to explore more vegan foods such as rice and almond pepper jack cheese and Tofurky bratwurst and Italian sausage; these are all rather respectable substitutes for the originals and they do contain some fat.<br />
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So, no earth-shattering changes. I haven't joined PETA. I have discovered that once meat, butter, cheese, eggs, milk and the like weren't on the shopping list they money for fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains went a long way. I still have muscle; I haven't wasted away to nothing. I have a rule for breaking my rules which I haven't had the opportunity to enjoy yet; if I'm out to eat with non-work or non-family guests I will allow myself to make an exception or if I am the guest at someones home I'll eat what's offered; they won't have to worry about what to feed me, so, if you want to invite me over for a burger on the grill, go ahead.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-50040427630010158222012-08-13T08:54:00.001-06:002012-08-13T08:54:12.418-06:00Making Diet Changes a Cultural ChangeSince my early teens when my sister and cousin Boo found ourselves beckoned from our yard to Uncle Milo's kitchen where he had a large kettle of boiling water, corn on the cob has been the center of some summer gluttony. On that evening that family lore was made, the three of us consumed sixty-five ears of corn rolled in butter and salted. Back then, to eat a dozen ears in a sitting was common; summers of recent history I find myself content with four.<br />
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This summer is different. Persistent high cholesterol and the threat of medication to get it under control made me turn to a vegan diet which has actually been rather easy to do. No more cheese, eggs, butter, milk, and meat. It's August now, the time of the year that corn typically matured where I grew up in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts and my internal culinary clock is chiming the alarm that it's time for corn on the cob. Butter is out, and so is the mayonnaise and crumbled cheese version of Mexican street corn that I discovered in my time south of the border. I have found that some of the vegan products I had in the refrigerator make a rather satisfying imitation of the Mexican version. I apply some Vegannaise (a veritable vegan mayonnaise) to the corn and then a little Miso Mayo which helps to intensify the flavor and then I shake on some red cayenne pepper. I have also grated some rice or almond pepper jack cheese but found it's contribution to be marginal. Some fresh squeezed lime would also enhance the experience; I just haven't had it on hand when I've had the corn.<br />
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The food we eat is a significant part of who we are; it can be almost as difficult to change as the language we speak. How could a trucker one morning wake up at a truck stop and not have the sausage and eggs with hash browns and toast. When does he opt for the yogurt and granola? It would be as difficult as mustering the motivation to learn Tagalog. Changes are difficult to make, especially when they involve something we have been doing all our lives. Our foods are connections to our families, our culture, and our memories. In many cases though, those foods eventually become stab us in the back, or more accurately, laden our waistlines, clog our arteries, or cause diabetes. People don't often make changes until it's life or death. We need to make changes to our eating routines, to the foods that our children are going to make warm fuzzy connections to and eat whenever they have the chance. <br />
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When I was a kid we ate so rarely at a restaurant that I can recall the few occasions that we did. Today, kids might have a meal from a fast food place once a day. What a challenge it will be when it's life or death and they need to make a break from those foods. Can the adults of today make changes in the foods they prepare for their children? Will kids one day crave a tofu scramble or a bowl of lentils with carrots and spinach because it reminds them of home? <br />
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The foods of our cultures largely grew out of making do with what was available where our ancestors lived. For most of us living in the United States that is not the case any more. We can eat whatever we want just about whenever we want unless it's a juicy red ripe tomato. And although there are many justifications for eating locally produced foods, the reality is much of the US does not have locally produced foods for more than a few months of the year. Saving the lives of our children when they're middle aged adults begins now while they are children. So buy that bag of lentils, the hummus, the mangoes and spinach. Get used to the almond milk. Your children are not calves, but they might grow up to be cows if the foods they become accustomed to and crave fatten them up over their lifetime.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-64352724792465487492012-07-11T08:49:00.000-06:002012-07-11T08:52:31.956-06:00Scott Jurek Eat & Run ReviewI was just beginning to run trails and longer distances when Christoper McDougall's <em>Born to Run</em> put the boom in the trail running boom. I read it twice and then reread various passages over again. I liked the blend of the non-fiction stories with the presentation of the case for minimalist running and the basis for running as an innate activity related to human evolution and survival. I don't remember if I knew who Scott Jurek was before reading the book or not, but I learned parts of his story from <em>Born to Run</em> and other sources on the Internet. I was immediately aware of his move to Boulder, Colorado where I live because I read Anton Krupicka's running blog; Anton was soon writing about runs with Scott after his arrival in town. When Scott's book <em>Eat & Run</em> hit the shelves I was ready for another book about running.<br />
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I read the book over a 24 hour period which seemed somewhat fitting in that many of his races lasted that long. He holds the American record for miles run in 24 hours. The book is by no means 24 hours of reading though; it is relatively short at 228 pages and that includes about 20 vegan recipes that appear like aid stations just when you need one. <em>Like Water for Chocolate</em> would come to mind every time I came upon another recipe.<br />
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One of Scott's early premises was that if he can do it (be an ultramarathon champion) so can you. I don't see that the premise was supported by the book though. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they have to or when forces push them. The reader understands the forces that Scott responded to. The world is full of people who have endured traumas, hardships, and even torments over the course of their formative years. A handful channel it appropriately to guide them to great acheivement, some rise above it to become successful functioning human beings, while many populate our world as the walking wounded medicating themselves however they can. I would agree that most people have the capacity to become physically fit enough to run an ultramarathon and could probably learn valuable lessons about themselves along the way. Many though, are so far off the path that such a challenge would seem inconceivable and much of the youth today find an escape too readily in virtual reality games. I ran a challenging 50K this spring; it was not that difficult in hindsight because I was conditioned for it. It was over by the middle of the afternoon. I was able to go home, take a shower, have a regular meal, and get a good night sleep. Nothing compels me to want to continue running into the night to face all the discomfort that sleep deprivation would bring. <br />
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Scott's childhood seem to provide him with the ability to stoically deal with responsibilities such that he had to do around the house because his father was working two jobs and his mother's progressive debility from Multiple Schlerosis which probably instilled in him a strong feeling of compassion. The mantra in the book "Sometimes you just do things." which was a quote from his father in response to a young Scott's distress at doing chores while other childhood activities beckoned tells us a lot about having to endure doing what you don't want to do. It is also implied that his ability to face the physical and mental suffering that come with the territory of ultrarunning came from channeling his mother's toughness in the face of her illness. <br />
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The implication isn't that we can all become great ultramarathoners but we could certainly become the best that we can be in whatever we elect to do. And it doesn't have to be our first choice. The suggestion was that Scott might have preferred to play baseball, football, or downhill skiing. Transportation, time, and money nixed those possibilities. Many kids at that point would probably have pouted and have an excuse to smoke pot. He chose to participate in the more affordable sport of cross country skiing. Distance running began as just a means to stay in shape for skiing. What he ended up being good at wasn't even one of his top four choices. He just did something. I read a quote not long ago to the effect of "most of those who are successful were probably good at plan B". He ended up becoming a physical therapist most likely because that was what life presented to him; he helped him mom her physical therapy.<br />
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Scott's longtime pacer, and much more talented fellow high school cross country skier and training partner Dusty seemed to channel anger. Rarely does that bring the success or satisfaction that one might seek in an endeavor, but a 30 or 40 mile trail run can certainly be a panacea for whatever ails a person. Scott endured childhood tribulations but I think he felt cared for and loved. Dusty's personality seemed more the result of dysfunction. If Scott believed that "anyone can do it" it's odd that he missed the evidence that his best friend with admittedly more natural talent couldn't get beyond himself to achieve greatness. A person's Aquilles heel can be hidden anywhere within their being.<br />
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A major point of <em>Eat & Run</em> is the importance of eating appropriately. Scott documents his slow evolution to veganism showing that he grew up eating like much of America, although he often killed and gutted the meat and fish that he ate as a youngster. He didn't eat fast food until he his own meager disposable income allowed him to discover McChicken sandwiches, etc. It took several years for him to give up meat and animal products altogether, with the impetus mostly stemming from his considerations of how to best fuel himself for extreme long distance running. It has been a couple of weeks since I finished reading the book and I am still eating a plant-based diet. He doesn't push it and that may make the coersion to switch all the more compelling. So much of American ill-health is a result of indulgence eating on a regular basis. <br />
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Scott writes about his training, hard work, and research to become a dominant athlete in his sport in a non-agrandizing manner. He recounts the stories of several of his ultrarunning feats as neutrally as if he were writing about a third person. Ultrarunners seem to have a greater respect for their competition than other athletes; they know what it takes to be out there, every person who's behind them is pushing and every person ahead is pulling. Runners who happen along side of one another in a race will likely carry on a conversation until one or the other pulls away or drops back. If you check ultrarunners' finish times you'll occasionally see a tie meaning they didn't try to outsprint one another at the end but shared the victory shoulder to shoulder. Much of Scott's running was in the lead by himself (this detail was lore before being recounted in <em>Eat & Run</em>), but after winning a race Scott would connect to all the other runners by hunkering down at the finish line to cheer for the others as they finished over the following several hours.<br />
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Any runner should enjoy <em>Eat & Run</em> and non-runners may find inspiration or at least models for a more satisfying life. I came away from the book with the feeling that if Scott were never able to compete as an ultrarunner again he would be just fine because he has the ability to find enjoyment in whatever he does. If you were to cross his path and have a five minute boring conversation with him, don't worry, it wouldn't have been boring for him. <br />
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<em></em><em></em>Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-83077457496454953262012-07-08T08:25:00.000-06:002012-07-08T08:25:10.291-06:00Finally a Real Run (Oct. 2011)THIS POST IS FROM LAST YEAR (somehow it remained a draft and was never published)<br />
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After 39 days of relative rest to recover from a stress fracture I went for a couple of runs without ill effects. That was followed by a busy week and I didn't do any more running; then I managed to get in a 7 mile hilly run and I felt good. During this same time, Elliott was beginning preschool and caught two colds in two weeks. I avoided one, but caught the second so I took another week off figuring any extra bone healing would be good. Another busy week after that didn't leave me any time to get out. Finally, yesterday I set aside the time for a more serious run.<br />
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I rode the motorcycle down to Eldorado Springs and headed out on one of my favorite used-to-be routine routes. The first 3.3 miles are uphill, gaining about 900 feet in elevation. I certainly am not in the condition I was two months ago, but I was able to plod along without any suffering. I did stop a handful of times on the climb to take photos, so there were some breathers built in. Yesterday, October 1st, was also rather a warm day for this late in the year. The temperature at the time of the run was 87 degrees.<br />
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The 8.3 mile run took about an hour and a half; I think about a minute and a half per mile slower than what had been the usual. The point of the stress fracture still has me concerned. I can still make it hurt a little if I put focused pressure on it. I worry that once the doctor said I didn't necessarily need the cam-walker boot, that a supportive shoe might be adequate, I became more careless with regard to what I wore. We'll see.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-5802468309998058192012-07-08T08:21:00.000-06:002012-07-08T08:45:21.540-06:00Smokey ColoradoJune was the hottest summer on record in Colorado. The most days with temperatures over 100 degrees in a year before 2012 was seven. We have already had eight days over 100 and the hottest time of the year is yet to come. There was also little to no rain for much of the state; consequently fires started easily, whether by human carelessness or intent, or lightning several large forest fires occurred. Several hundred homes were completely lost along with tens of thousands of acres of forest.<br />
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Finding suitable conditions for running has been difficult. I seem to prefer afternoon runs but found myself leaving the house around 8:00am many mornings to beat the heat and I would still finish with the temperature over 90 degrees. There was typically less smoke earlier in the morning; fires tended to grow during the day. Occasionally here in Boulder we could smell smoke from the fires in Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs but normally there was just a heavy haze. There were about three days I didn't run specifically because of the smoke and there were about three days when I probably shouldn't have.<br />
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I managed to run 155 miles for the month of June which included 31 miles for the Golden Gate Canyon Dirty Thirty 50K on June 2nd. July is going well. I ran about 40 miles this past week. I have still had to run early, but now it is because we are experiencing the "North American Monsoon" which seems to have arrived about a month early like all of our weather since March. This weather pattern causes early to late afternoon downpours and thunderstorms for much of the state. Each morning starts fresh with clear skies or maybe some residual clouds and then the clouds just start building as the day progresses. After an early morning run yesterday with my son and his girlfriend my running clothes were completely drenched in sweat. Typically here the air is so dry that sweat just evaporates; turns out the dew point was 57 and the temperature was 68. I'd much rather run with a temperature of 85 degrees and 10 percent humidity.<br />
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I have been running a lot in the "open space" southwest of the house because it is convenient to get to without having to make an excursion in a gas-powered vehicle. Also, much of the best mountain running terrain was closed during and after the "Flagstaff Fire". Some of the trails that I like to run are in the burn area. Many of the nearby trails have reopened so I'd like to get back in there. I recently ran to the summit of Flagstaff Mountain from downtown Boulder. No fire damage was visible on that run. The fire was so named for the road near where the lightning strike started the fire which continues on after switchbacking up the face of Flagstaff Mountain. <br />
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The rains now pose a threat to burn areas because the land there no longer can retain the water and mudslides and flash floods are certain to occur. For now at least, the fire danger has dropped and the air is healthier to breath.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-36568124227275496792012-06-07T22:02:00.000-06:002012-06-07T22:02:06.213-06:00Dirty Thirty RecoveryI can't say I left it all on the course of the Dirty Thirty 50K last Saturday. I've run all of the five days since the race for a total of 25 miles. About 13% of my mileage this year has been in the past week. I feel quite good; there have been some twinges here and there but nothing that has been made worse by running.<br />
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In the results on the race website my name is just about last before the DNF's. They added 10 minutes to lots of runners' time because they were turned back just shy of the last summit. They said it was a quarter of a mile. I was one of those runners. It did not appear to be 1/4 mile as they calculated nor do I think I was moving at 40 minute per mile pace at that point. This was not a big deal to me, but all the people who were not allowed to even begin the 4.9 mile loop to the summit who were behind me ended up ahead of me by an hour or so because they just ran straight back and into the chute. Alex was one of those runner. His time showed about an hour faster than mine but he should have been about half an hour behind. I am happy with my time; it would just be nice to have the runners I was ahead of to be listed after me or at least have a double asterisk by their names. Maybe when lightning starts to strike it's a bit more challenging to get the job done. I suspect bib tags that were marked at the summit ended up not getting pulled to distinguish who had made the climb and who hadn't.<br />
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I reread my race report and discovered lots of errors. I'm sure readers were able to muddle through, but I have a little bit of regret for clicking "publish" without proofing. I've since fixed the errors I could find on one pass through.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-55374202685463725182012-06-03T14:40:00.001-06:002012-06-07T21:40:27.838-06:00Dirty Thirty 50K Race ReportThe Dirty Thirty took place in Golden Gate Canyon State Park, located about 15 miles west of Golden, Colorado on Saturday, June 2nd, 2012. Base elevation is 7800 ft. above sea level with rises to 9500 ft. The race reached its cap of 300 entrants. <br />
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Alex, my 21 year old son, and I arrived in pre-dawn light to a crisp but calm morning in the park. Megan, the race director made her announcements and sent us off to cover nearly every trail in 14,000 acre park. Alex and I were content to start near the rear of the pack as it ascended about 1/4 mile of dirt road before narrowing to single track and a steeper ascent where the runners backed up like grains of sand at the neck of an upside down hourglass. I live at about 5200 ft. above sea level in Boulder County and frequently run from that elevation to about 8000 ft. but I clearly noticed a difference in breathing effort starting out at the elevation. <br />
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This was the first 50K Alex and I had participated in; I suggested we pay attention to what other people do. I found myself hiking many inclines that I normally would have run on a shorter training run of 10-20 miles; I might have run them here too except for the increased effort to just breath and not knowing how conservative I was going to need to be to just finish. I found though, that after about 10 miles into the race I felt adjusted to the altitude. Alex and I ran most of the first five miles together, but he ended up dropping back a bit after the first aid station. I often found myself running in single file with four or five runners, but those groups would eventually disband, either because of the pace, someone having to make a pit stop, or people eventually sticking to their own pace. I often found myself pulling ahead eventually when I was in a group, but I was having a toe problem and would have to stop occasionally to adjust it and four or five runners would go by. I eventually removed the insole from shoe and the problem stopped.<br />
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The terrain for much of the course is brutal. Alex commented after the race that your hands shouldn't have to touch the ground on a run. He specifically referenced a boulder field at a summit of a climb around the 15 mile mark. A runner commented that he didn't realize a chalk bag would be necessary. I came to the realization as I hiked one steep grade after another that my legs were in shape for running up hills, not for hiking uphill. Clearly, it requires different muscles. I am also a bit spoiled with the surfaces I typically run on; I like the dirt to be packed, not sandy or gravelly; it can have as many rocks and roots as it wants to present, but to just run on sharp loose gravel, or just sand which was probably the most annoying, is less fun. Alex asked me after, "What was up with all the sandy trails!" He said he'd finally come to a flat area and he'd be slowed down by sloughing through sand, and not like at a beach but more like a children's playground.<br />
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I arrived at the drop bag aid station at 17 miles and could not think as to what to get from the bag. We had planned for any possibility. I figured that since nothing seemed pressing I would just grab a handful of random fuels and snacks. I enjoyed some of the fresh strawberries and watermelon and a turkey wrap thet offered at the aid station. I filled up my water bottle and continued on, but soon realized something was different; I seemed to be struggling. In hindsight, I may not have realized that it was a 1200 ft. climb up from the aid station. It was also starting to warm up. I drank my 24 ounces of water in the first 20 minutes. After reaching the top of the climb I felt that I was ready to run some downhill but I was soon jolted to a standstill by an incapacitating cramp in my right thigh. It cramped on one side, then the opposite, then a different muscle group, then its opposing muscles. Three or four runners went by, all asking if everything was OK. "Just a cramp," I answered. How could I say that this excrutiating pain was <i>just</i> anything? I figured it must have been low electrolytes so I started trying different snacks and fuels I in my pockets. I managed to go on and the same thing happened to the other thigh. Once I had worked through that my calves started to clench on occasion. I remembered reading blogs by ultra runners who spoke of rough periods in races and getting their composure and working through it; this helped, and I got through it. From this point on I hardly sense a runner ahead or behind.<br />
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All the aid station, check point, and road crossing people were great. At the fourth aid station around mile 25, I mentioned to a young and knowledgeable volunteer (clearly a runner) who asked how I was that I had had cramps earlier and he was sure it was from dehydration, not electrolytes and suggested I drink a full bottle of water before leaving the station and take another with me. I drank almost two bottles and headed out with a full bottle feeling that six more miles was easily doable. I began to run much more at ease. It seems the same aid station attendant loaned the jacket he was wearing to Alex when Alex mentioned being cold from running in the rain and he said to just leave it at the finish. I had asked how I was doing for the cut-off time. I had no idea what time it was. I had to be at a certain check-point by 2pm or they wouldn't let me run the loop up Windy Peak which was about five of the last 7 miles. They told me I had an hour and half to spare; it was only 12:30.<br />
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This part of Colorado is where many of the big thunderstorms that head out over the plains develop. By the time I had reached this aid station they had already been developing right overhead for about an hour. Much of the lightning didn't seem to be coming to the ground but it was still rather unsettling. I felt relatively comfortable in the lower areas but there were starting to be many more close ground strikes as I ascended the rock face of Windy Peak. During the loop around the backside of the peak the wind picked up and the storm moved off to grow and menace the plains. The check point at the peak had been moved a bit off the summit by the order of the Park Service. It wasn't by much, but maybe more protected in the trees. <br />
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I had barely made it back down from the peak to a narrow valley below and a bigger storm kicked up. I was worrying about Alex at this point. Would he be on Windy Peak dodging lightning bolts or would they have halted him from going up, maybe waiting out the storm? I headed up out of the gulch to an exposed ridge, now running soaked in a heavier rain and actually finding myself running with my head lowered, maybe thinking if I weren't the tallest thing on the sierra I wouldn't end up as a chicharrón. Finally I started the descent from the ridge; it was one of the few descents that I could comfortably run. I let my legs stretch out and I probably looked like I was running pretty good to Alex who was sitting on a cooler under a tent by the time I entered the finish gate at 8 hrs. 23 minutes. The last check point did eventually prohibit runners from climbing Windy Peak due to lightning. He had made the planned cut-off by about an hour but not the lightning cut-off. He ended up running 4.9 miles shy of the 50K.<br />
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I feel pretty good today, almost normal until I go down stairs. The lower thigh muscles above the knee are a bit tender. Alex says he felt like he was hit by a truck and that it's painful just shuffling around. In training for future ultras I will do more hiking where I typically run steeper inclines just to train those muscles. I also need to make some treks to run at higher elevation. Running at five to eight thousand feet above sea level would be good training for most of the planet, but I'm convince that for running at even higher altitude it is advisable to run at the given altitude.<br />
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No photos. No Garmin data.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-16084930424446551612012-06-03T13:38:00.000-06:002012-06-03T13:38:32.404-06:00Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-91944782243258931002012-03-31T07:36:00.002-06:002012-03-31T08:34:00.879-06:0050k Training Progress<em>I don't know if this news has reached other parts of the country. It seems Micah True, the runner known as Caballo Blanco in "Born to Run" has been missing since not returning from a planned 12 mile run this past Tuesday in Gila, New Mexico. Let's hope for the best.</em><br /><br />Having the week off for spring break has allowed me to run a bit more than I might have if I had been working, but there are only so many hours that one should train at a given point. Late yesterday afternoon I ran the hills on the open space nearby for about an hour and a half. <br /><br />On Tuesday I ran about 3 hours and 25 minutes. I started at Chautauqua Park, ran south along the Mesa Trail to Bear Canyon, and then north up around the back side of Green Mountain to its summit for a net elevation gain of about 2400 feet. The descent took about 25 minutes less than the run up. I wanted to put about five hours together between two days, so the following day I ran for an hour and a half choosing a route similar to the one mentioned in the previous paragraph.<br /><br />On the previous Saturday I ran trails in Eldorado Springs including Rattlesnake Gulch to the railroad tunnel. On a couple of runs recently I have experience an irregular heartbeat. I can't say that it has been atrial fibrillation each time or not, (something I have had diagnosed in the past). My impression of a-fib is that the rate goes to a flutter, which has occurred, but on this run it seemed that it was not so fluttery, but definitely not steady. I had to hike a couple of times on some of the 15% grade. At some point on the descent the beat returned to normal. It's strange, I can start a run with the beat irregular and at some point it converts to normal and now recently I have had it go irregular on a run which started out with a normal heartbeat. I have cut back on the caffeine although I typically drink half-caf anyway. This morning I'm at 1/3 caf and have done just 1/4 on some days. It may be best just to wean myself from it completely.<br /><br />Muscle-wise things feel good; I never get sore, but I can feel some subtle tendon issues in the heel and plantar area in the left foot and some sensitivity where I've had stress fractures in the right foot. I think it will all hold up ok if I maintain a regimen of some rest days and stretch a bit during non-running times. My weight had gone up in February; I was caught off guard to find myself at 185 when I had been 178 at the new year. I'm back to 182. It seems to make sense to have as little extra as possible so that I'm not carrying that weight for 31 miles, but it may not hurt to have a little to draw from for fuel.<br /><br />A nice surprise is that my running-resistant son Alex expressed an interest in doing the 50k. Actually, he expressed an interest in the 12 mile version of the same Dirty Thirty event but it is already full. He ran cross country in high school, does parkour, runs intermittently, and has 9 miles in the bank for training. He's 21 though and figures he can catch up quickly. My concern is that he has running-induced asthma which seems brought on by cold temperatures or altitude; this race takes place between 7900' and 9400'. We live at 5200' but some added acclimation may be in order.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-55772375825807077502012-03-04T09:22:00.008-07:002012-03-04T14:46:25.091-07:00Do as you're gonna do<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JDzhgijtoSQ/T1OpPEPwYII/AAAAAAAAASc/WgMIX30SGv0/s1600/IMG_1740%255B1%255D.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JDzhgijtoSQ/T1OpPEPwYII/AAAAAAAAASc/WgMIX30SGv0/s320/IMG_1740%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716098428366250114" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4MtustZix0o/T1OpACLNdgI/AAAAAAAAASM/poFBjPxFpmM/s1600/IMG_1738%255B1%255D.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4MtustZix0o/T1OpACLNdgI/AAAAAAAAASM/poFBjPxFpmM/s320/IMG_1738%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716098170112275970" /></a><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4hi78ldTW20/T1Oo_j9X68I/AAAAAAAAASE/C_541_umhc0/s1600/IMG_1737%255B1%255D.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4hi78ldTW20/T1Oo_j9X68I/AAAAAAAAASE/C_541_umhc0/s320/IMG_1737%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716098162001177538" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fOz1-8y3BVc/T1Oo_cD5X-I/AAAAAAAAAR0/ks02S25nzZY/s1600/IMG_1736%255B1%255D.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fOz1-8y3BVc/T1Oo_cD5X-I/AAAAAAAAAR0/ks02S25nzZY/s320/IMG_1736%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716098159881052130" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhOjloQB8Lg/T1Oo_J9ebVI/AAAAAAAAARs/oyobgWD2RzM/s1600/IMG_1731%255B1%255D.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhOjloQB8Lg/T1Oo_J9ebVI/AAAAAAAAARs/oyobgWD2RzM/s320/IMG_1731%255B1%255D.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716098155022282066" /></a><br />A simple rule for training has evolved for me over time based on observation. Do in training what you're going to do in the event. A notable breach of this axiom occurred last winter when Anton Krupicka came in second in the Rocky Raccoon 100. He was in great shape from having maintained a almost unfathomable plateau of training intensity; His training for January 2011 had almost 700 miles and over 100,000 feet of ascent and descent much of that on ice, snow pack, and rocky trail. The Rocky Raccoon is a flat course; in effect he still hasn't recovered from that race. His body wasn't trained for the flat. He certainly had the horsepower, but the suspension wasn't designed for the angles of impact.<br /><br />The Dirty Thirty 50K is almost all single track mountain trail with long ups and downs. Only eight percent is considered flat. I figure I am going to be there for somewhere around 7 1/2 hours after some period that will be considered a taper. My training so far has mimicked that scenario. I have run once each of the last three weekends without any midweek running. Yesterday I ran for just shy of three hours on icy, snow-packed, and rocky trails with most of the incline between 6 and 15 percent. Oh, and it was windy. <br /><br />If you haven't spent sometime along the Front Range of Colorado you may not know what windy is. Pressure gradients can cause wind velocities of over 100 miles per hour. I don't know the wind speed of yesterday, but there were times that heading into the wind I was almost held to a standstill, running perpendicular to the wind caused my trailing leg to blow behind the other leg and strike the heel of the lead foot as it came forward, and with the wind at my back I couldn't synchronize by legs to the pace that the wind wanted to carry me. Fortunately, steep mountain sides and trees protected me somewhat. Any trees or branches that would blow down would already be down from previous winds. I was still vulnerable to the wind even when I got back to the car. I was sitting with one leg out the door as I drank some water; suddenly, a gust whipped the half-open door against my shin. At the moment I thought ooh, that was hard, but I think that in my endorphin-infused state I didn't feel it. Today it looks like someone tried to raise a purple baseball under my skin by striking it with a bat.<br /><br />The point I was leading to earlier is that I see myself running the 50K on June 2nd without being able to rack up the miles typically expected for such a distance because of various obligation but I figure that if I can continue to run progressively longer distances on steep terrain each weekend I should be able to go thirty miles or so by June. I anticipate adding a shorter long run on Sundays as I move through March and April. I may even begin that today with an hour recovery run. I expect to insert a 5 to 10 miler on Wednesdays.<br /><br />I'm not saying that one should exclusively mimic the anticipated activity; some speedwork makes sense to have a faster marathon and some longer runs help with endurance in a shorter race, but I believe it makes sense that the bulk of the training should be geared toward the nature of the event.<br /><br />Yesterday's run took place in Eldorado Springs. About 12 miles from the house, it is the closest access I have to mountain trails. I had planned to include Rattlesnake Gulch in the course but as I turned onto its trailhead I could see its north facing incline was a river of ice. I continued west and took the sunny snow-barren trail up the south facing side of Eldorado Canyon. Pictures below show the cold shady gulch with its reddish scar where the railway passes between tunnels. The railway is about 1000 feet above the creek at the bottom of the canyon that lies between where the photo was taken and the railway.<br /><br />I have one physical concern so far. I've had a metatarsal stress fracture each of the past two summers in my right foot. First it was the second metatarsal and last summer it was the third. I don't feel pain when I run, but I notice pain the day after if I step with pressure directly under them. My impression is that bones end up stronger at the break, but in light of my experience of the past two summers and what I anticipate doing to it over the next three months I am concerned.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-22685738651195475552012-02-27T09:03:00.002-07:002012-02-27T10:05:41.853-07:00Dirty Thirty 50K on the HorizonFor the next three months I intend to chronicle my preparation for the Golden Gate Dirty Thirty 50K race which takes place June 2, 2012 in Golden Gate Canyon State Park a bit to the east of Blackhawk, Colorado. I've never run an ultra before, nor a marathon, although I have run 27 miles and I have run for six hours in the mountains summiting three peaks. Most of my runs last an hour or two, but I occasionally I go for three or so.<br /><br />I registered for the race last weekend after having let a month slip by without getting out once for a run. A combination of sniffles, snow, and snags made it an effort to get out, so I allowed myself a break. Last Saturday I inaugurated my training with a two hour and twenty-five minute excursion on sloppy snow, ice, mud, and hardpacked dirt. It took about four days to not feel the effects of the run. I had a pleasant run yesterday afternoon; for a little over two hours I ran up and down hills on the North Louisville Open Space. I felt good running, but can feel the effects today, although I think running for an hour today would certainly be within reason.<br /><br />I do not intend to follow a training plan, although I do have a plan. I intend to do at least one long run per week, increasing in distance as time progresses. I also intend to run uphill climbs as much as possible since this race has 9000 feet of elevation with many of the climbs of significant length. I plan on three or four rest days per week, partly because of my schedule and partly because I think rest days, after a three or four hour run, may be of more value than a couple of five mile jogs. I'd also like to drop about ten pounds in the next twelve weeks just so that I'm not carrying the weight with me. I'm at the high end of my running weight and the low end of my sedentary weight which is 181 lbs.<br /><br />Yesterday was an important day. I was amused at the ambiguity of being signed up for a 31 mile race and not wanting to run because it was chilly out. The temperature was about 42 degrees and the wind was steady making for a raw day; just going from the car to the grocery store entrance was jolting. About ten minutes into the run though I was already warmer than I wanted and pulled off a fleece top and ran the rest of the time comfortable with a thermal top and windbreaker. <br /><br />At this point my goal is to finish, and looking at the times from last year I expect to do that in under eight hours, but I'd like to get in a position to amend that to something closer to seven hours as the date nears. The winning mens' time from last year was 5:01 and the last place male finisher came in at 9:44.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-5532834010260106502012-01-01T08:40:00.000-07:002012-01-01T09:36:09.552-07:00Weekend WarriorMonths have passed since my last post. The catalyst for the hiatus was simply a technical problem; the last post I wrote would not upload and I did not persevere in investigating the cause. I still don't know why; I hope the problem has resolved itself. I didn't return to posting because I wasn't running more than a couple of times a week and didn't have much to say about it.<br /><br />I had another stress fracture back in August and spent much the rest of the month and some of September recovering. Following that I was busy with teaching and I also fell into a little business of making and selling firewood. I spent a lot of spare time splitting, stacking, loading and unloading wood so I had some good upper body workouts but not much running. I typically ran a two hour trail run on Saturday or Sunday and a 3 to 5 mile run once during the week. I kept hoping to increase my overall mileage but it just wasn't happening. I've had the last two weeks off from work so I've been able to get out more. We had a big snow storm the first week which impeded my running somewhat. This past week I need 55.2 miles to reach 1000 for the year. I ran 55.3 in six outings. Evidently, I was in shape for it, but I don't think my body is conditioned to maintain that level without risking an injury. This week will have to be a blip statistically. I had been averaging about 16 per week. <br /><br />I'd like to run 1500 this year. To have a chance at that, I am going to try maintaining a 25 mile per week average until our daylight hours lengthen and then I'll work up to 35 or so per week. Another goal is to avoid an injury that would put me out of commission for any length of time. Weeks with zero miles are hard to make up. I also hope to complete an ultra-length event.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-75603967678916127642011-09-06T19:41:00.000-06:002011-09-06T20:08:12.340-06:00Fingers Crossed for Return from Stress FractureAfter having to stop running on August 10th because of a stress fracture of the third metatarsal I have ventured to test the foot with a run this past Saturday and this evening. I had been having pain and strange sensation in the foot a good part of the summer but after a hard run on August 9th I felt as if I was one run away from a complete failure at the fracture site so I decided it was time to give it a rest.<br /><br />I didn't run at all, but went for a few walks between one and two miles and participated in regular activities in regular footwear. I tried to hasten my return to running on August 21st by going out for three miles, which was clearly an error. On Saturday, Sept 3rd I ran 5 trail miles with a fair amount of up and down terrain, favoring the right foot a bit, but it felt OK, but I still want to give it rest. I went out this evening for just 3 miles on pavement at about 9:30/mile pace doing a low impact heel strike and the foot felt fine. I am happy that on both outings I felt as if I had the energy to run for a couple of hours. Three and a half weeks of inactivity did not wipe out all of my conditioning.<br /><br />I'm sure people who break arms return to many normal activities before the arm fully heals, but they don't repetitively do the action that caused the break as a runner with a stress fracture does. I speculate a stress fracture needs to be fairly close to 100% repaired before it can handle the repeated load that caused the fracture in the first place. I hope I'm close to 100% and for now when I run I hope I am able to change up the stride somewhat to not load the bone with the same stress over and over and over.<br /><br />I plan to not run for the next three or four days and try a longer trail run this weekend.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-55141297794313977422011-08-21T08:08:00.000-06:002011-08-21T08:59:26.192-06:00Bones Heal SlowlyA watched pot never boils.
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<br />Waiting for the third metatarsal of my right foot to heal feels like waiting for water to boil. At least with a pot of water, one can see some bubbles form on the side or maybe a little water vapor rise from the surface; I don't have much I can observe.
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<br />As mentioned in a previous post, I believe I heeded all the signs of a fracture in process and was able to avert a complete failure at the site of the fracture just in time. I assume that it should heal in less time than the seven weeks it took for a stress fracture last year when there was a clear instant of bone failure.
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<br />Part of the problem is not experiencing much pain. I wore a post-op shoe for about four days, then I was careful to wear a supportive shoe with an orthotic for several days, and lately in the house I haven't bothered with shoes. I would like to put some direct pressure on it to test it, but if I do enough to cause some pain aren't I also doing enough to cause some damage? And could I even be causing damage when there isn't pain? That's how a stress fracture develops in the first place, damage occurring little by little, step by step without pain until there is enough damage that the nerves are irritated and pass this information on to the brain of the always-in-denial runner.
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<br />Meanwhile, in 11 days I'm 3 pound heavier. Hmmm, maybe I should go for a run; the load of an extra three pounds can't be good for the foot, right? Must work that off. Maybe I shouldn't have put butter on those pancakes; well, too late to change that.
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<br />The plan is to not run or stress it for another week and then try it out with some easy runs. The most optimist time frame for recovery that I read from authoritative sources was 3-4 weeks for an incomplete stress fracture. 18 days is about three week.
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-15308932788064670442011-08-13T07:40:00.000-06:002011-08-13T08:51:12.311-06:00Avoiding RehabFor the past three days I wore a post-op shoe to protect the stress fracture in my right foot from progressing. While the shoe was suitable for protecting the foot, it was causing problems in the ankle (turning), calf muscle (tightness), and knee(stresses). The shoe is probably designed for someone who's recovering from foot surgery and needs to get from the bed to the bathroom, not for going about ones daily life.
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<br />The doctor had suggested I could probably wear a sturdy supportive shoe, maybe something like a hiking boot, so I decided to kick the post-op shoe last night. I switched to the most supportive running shoe I have and inserted some orthotics that I have from years ago which seem to direct much of the weight to the heel. I am able to walk normally with this combination. There is no pain, but since there is some flex in the sole I need to be careful about what I do.
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<br />My brain makes me laugh. I'm sure a drug addict doesn't think much differently. As soon as the pain wasn't present I found myself thinking I'll run one place or another. An addict might do some self-talk about rehab when in the scary throes of a high or crash but once in the clear seeks the next high. I have to be strong; I have to keep coming to my senses or I will have that overdose; I will complete the fracture and there will be rehab.
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<br />Hmmm, I was thinking three to four weeks, but if I can already walk ok....Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-21804952928637820142011-08-10T07:30:00.000-06:002011-08-12T08:37:28.136-06:00Stress Fracture Breaking PointFor most of the summer I've been cognizant of a stress fracture in the early stages of the third metatarsal of my right foot. Each week I have been taking more rest days, a couple of easy jog days, and a longer mountain trail run in which I don't do any pounding. Tuesday evening I felt that I needed to get out for a real run and did exactly the kind of running I told myself to avoid. I ran 7.8 miles relatively hard on hilly trails and some pavement. I felt great; it's what I've been missing. It was clearly what I needed to avoid.
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<br />My stress fracture analogy is that you take a piece of copper wire and you bend it back and forth in the same place. It eventually becomes so weak that it severs. The same thing can happen to a bone under the right conditions; mine being that the bio-mechanics aren't quite right in my right foot. The difference between a bone a a piece of copper wire is that a bone can fix itself, but the repair happens slowly so if the "bending back and forth" outpaces the repair there will be an eventual complete failure like with the copper wire.
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<br />The foot probably needed total rest but I seemed to be getting away with the above-described running routine of 20 or so miles per week down from 40 something. If I stick with the wire bending analogy, on Tuesday, instead of long slow bends, I frantically did quick concentrated bends and took it right to the point of a complete break. I didn't even notice that evening, but when I got out of bed on Wednesday morning I couldn't put any weight down on the foot. I think if I had run to the mailbox I would have completed the break.
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<br />I tried wearing a shoe but found it didn't reduce the load on the foot enough. I still had a cam walker (boot) and a post-op shoe from last year's stress fracture. I wore the boot for six weeks; the post-op shoe was useless. I gave the shoe a try and it seems to offer enough protection so today is the third day wearing it.
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<br />I had been avoiding any NSAIDs over the past few weeks because they impede bone repair and I'm continuing with that. I had been taking 1000 mgs of calcium with magnesium and zinc and I have doubled that. Already, if I step down gently and evenly barefoot there isn't pain, but if I apply focused pressure up under the third metatarsal I feel pain so I plan to keep go with the post-op shoe for a week and then try some other presumably supportive shoe options.
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<br />With a complete break last year I was able to return to some easy jogging after 8 weeks. My hope is that I can rest this for about three weeks and return to the easy jogs and longer trail runs while favoring the foot the best I can. I'll see; if it needs more time, I'll take it. I want to do a 50K the last weekend of September.Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2549904801534599658.post-73691865884004980342011-08-08T08:19:00.000-06:002011-08-08T09:07:04.389-06:00Another Light Week and a Green Mountain AscentAnother week of low mileage has passed. My hope has been that if I limit my outings to short runs, incorporate three or four rest days per week, while allowing a long slow trail run on occasion the pains and twinges I feel as a potentially pending metatarsal stress fracture will be averted. The plan seems to be working. I went out for a couple of three mile jogs this week pushing Elliott in the running stroller and on Saturday Alex joined me on a run to the summit of Green Mountain from the NCAR parking lot in Boulder and back.
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<br />Alex was not in the running condition necessary for such a run but with overall strength and youth on his side he was able to tough it out and make it up and back. I felt great. I probably could have run the entire ascent in close to an hour but Alex, who was also suffering from strained cartilage around the sternum from parkour that made hard breathing painful, needed an occasional rest and to walk some of the steeper sections. The temperature was around 90 and although he brought a liter of water I don't think he had hydrated adequately beforehand. I had eaten a hardy breakfast, hydrated during the night, and downed a quart of Gatorade beforehand so I was prepared. I didn't even need a gel on the way.
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<br />The elevation difference between NCAR and Green's summit is about 2100 ft., but there is an ascent and descent before the trail starts up in earnest in Bear Canyon so overall gain is probably 2400 ft. I think the route is the most runnable of any of the climbs to the summits of the peaks on the edge of Boulder. There are no stretches where a well-conditioned trail runner would have to break from a run motion to a power hike. The overall ascent was 4.2 miles so there is roughly a 10% average grade.
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<br />We took in the view at the top for a couple of minutes, were awed by hundreds of dragon flies swarming, chatted with some hikers taking a rest and headed back down. I had assumed that Alex would let loose on the descent and that he'd be waiting for me but the irritated cartilage was even more painful running downhill, we assume because of increased arm movement for balance, so I was a bit torn between going slower and staying with my invited guest or letting fly. Once we were about halfway down and I found myself alone I just kept going; I figured Alex might be better off at his own pace without feeling he was influencing what I was doing or that he was having to push himself through pain.
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<br />My foot did not seem impacted by the run although there was some increased irritation of the Achilles tendon in the left foot. Today is the start of my last week of summer vacation before the school year begins so I'm going to try to fit in two long runs.
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<br />Johnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18186195442080523043noreply@blogger.com0