The Running Gods have certainly decided against me this year. First, I stop running to allow my irritated plantar fascia to heal and strengthen. Then, on my second miserably one-miler of my return week, I turn an ankle on my predawn run. This knocks me out of another week of running.
Running injuries are always a period of re-discovering my strength training knowledge. I have moved to a triple split cycle: upper body pull, upper body push, and legs. I am getting great pumps and seeing more progress than I have in years. This training takes me back to Marine Corps days: good god we made ourselves strong with all that iron work.
Today is special: the March blue moon is very full as it sets in the west this morning. It is so perfectly round. March 31: 2018 is one quarter over. We should all be one quarter of the way to attaining our resolutions. Unfortunately I am still at square zero.
I find my mind, my will, setting itself against circumstances.
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Ruminations on an Injury, though mild.....
My principal heuristic when planning my runs is conservative: "It's not what you run today or this week that matters. It's what you run next week, next month, and next year." This view gives me an inherent tendency to manage any aches and pains early, and to focus on root causes.
This issue I have now is very minor. It amounts to a mild burning sensation in my left heel. I suspect it was brought on by trying to ramp up mileage in shoes that lack adequate support for my feet. The past few years, I have been experimenting with increasingly minimal shoes. It has worked well. I wear them as dress shoes at work and have been running predominantly in them for the past six months. I ran a not particularly high mileage fall season in them, then backed off for the winter.
Late this winter I started my annual mileage ramp upwards. I have to presume that my lower legs and feet could not support the stress of running in neutral lightweight Altra Escalantes and and spending my entire days in what amounted to bare foot shoes. I had also really slacked off on my heel raises, which are fundamental a very strong foundation for the entire leg.
I promised myself one to two weeks of complete rest from running. As the admittedly mild pain attenuates, my mind turns to miles. It negotiates with me: "How about one mile? That can't hurt anything." Compounding the attraction back to the road is knowing that my left foot easily sustained the 15 sets of weighted heel raises that I did this week.
What is running? There is nothing in the universe save the universe. Humans can only perceive the universe by its change, its cycles. Running brings us in direct, unavoidable contact with that universe. We must bend our minds and bodies, softened by disuse, misuse, and unnatural comforts, back to the activity and awareness of our evolutionary origins. By doing so, we cleanse ourselves of the mental and physical poisons of a materialistic, consumerist civilization. We experience, live, and adapt to the cycles that seemingly endlessly repeat all around us. Without that return to the universe, to nature, we remained trapped in the artificial world we have build around us.
This issue I have now is very minor. It amounts to a mild burning sensation in my left heel. I suspect it was brought on by trying to ramp up mileage in shoes that lack adequate support for my feet. The past few years, I have been experimenting with increasingly minimal shoes. It has worked well. I wear them as dress shoes at work and have been running predominantly in them for the past six months. I ran a not particularly high mileage fall season in them, then backed off for the winter.
Late this winter I started my annual mileage ramp upwards. I have to presume that my lower legs and feet could not support the stress of running in neutral lightweight Altra Escalantes and and spending my entire days in what amounted to bare foot shoes. I had also really slacked off on my heel raises, which are fundamental a very strong foundation for the entire leg.
I promised myself one to two weeks of complete rest from running. As the admittedly mild pain attenuates, my mind turns to miles. It negotiates with me: "How about one mile? That can't hurt anything." Compounding the attraction back to the road is knowing that my left foot easily sustained the 15 sets of weighted heel raises that I did this week.
What is running? There is nothing in the universe save the universe. Humans can only perceive the universe by its change, its cycles. Running brings us in direct, unavoidable contact with that universe. We must bend our minds and bodies, softened by disuse, misuse, and unnatural comforts, back to the activity and awareness of our evolutionary origins. By doing so, we cleanse ourselves of the mental and physical poisons of a materialistic, consumerist civilization. We experience, live, and adapt to the cycles that seemingly endlessly repeat all around us. Without that return to the universe, to nature, we remained trapped in the artificial world we have build around us.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
I want to weigh what I did when I was in the Marines.....again (Part 1)
When I returned to training in 2004, my Tanita impedance percentage body fat monitor, aka, my “fatometer”, told me I had 25.5% body fat at roughly 185 lbs. This is half a percent above the clinical definition of obesity. I worked that weight down to an average of about 148 lbs by cleaning up my diet and an exercise program of as much activity as my then 49 year old body could withstand.
This past holiday season, my weight crept over 150 lbs. My jeans and dress trousers, all purchased since I regained a healthy weight, started feeling uncomfortable. 150 lbs is my red line.
The facts are interesting. The average American gains one to two pounds a year after age 25. He/she also loses half to one pound a year in bone and muscle mass in this time. This adds up to a catastrophic 1.5 to 3 lbs per year gain in body fat. Conventional wisdom tells us that slowing metabolism due to decreasing muscle mass is the culprit. (1)
While muscle is more metabolically active than fat, a pound of muscle only uses three to five calories a day more than a pound of fat. This decrease in basal metabolic rate results in at most half a pound of fat gain per year. Admittedly, as a person’s fat content and muscular weakness increase, the net gain over a year by replacing muscle with fat becomes quite significant.
What you do with your muscle counts way more than its basal metabolic rate. A beginner can add 3 to 5 pounds of muscle mass in three to four months of strength training. As he/she moves into their senior years, there is an inherent tendency to lose muscle mass no matter what training he/she does. But the frailty that so often appears in old age is a result exercise deficit, not old age. Furthermore, osteopenia can be largely eliminated by proper training while younger. When endurance exercise is added to strength training, you have a powerful tool for weight management. (2)
The wrong diet can overwhelm any exercise program. Even an informal survey of calorie counts in a typical chain casual dining restaurant, or a review of calorie counts on packaged foods in the local grocery store, demonstrates that single meals of over 1,000 calories are quite common. One thing is very clear: a 1,000 calorie meal is never OK. Even if you’re an ultra marathoner, 1,000 calories in a single sitting is gluttony, not nutrition. It’s not even fine dining.
In the UK, cola companies will tell you that their beverage is a part of a wholesome diet, balanced by healthy amounts of activity. Since the 1950’s, US food companies have been producing ever more appealing products for less money in the perennial need to grow profits. Another point should be very clear: the foods in fast food and other chain restaurants as well as most food in grocery stores maximize profits for their purveyors by being created as attractive, or addictive, as possible. It is absolutely no coincidence that the rise of worldwide obesity coincides with the industrialized mass-marketing of food products. Processed food is engineered to be addictive. As proof of this, just open a bag of chips or cookies in almost any office or work site in America and observe the reactions. They are no different from drunk patrons in a late night bar, smokers standing around outside in a designated smoking area, or even users in a meth house.
(3)
This past holiday season, my weight crept over 150 lbs. My jeans and dress trousers, all purchased since I regained a healthy weight, started feeling uncomfortable. 150 lbs is my red line.
The facts are interesting. The average American gains one to two pounds a year after age 25. He/she also loses half to one pound a year in bone and muscle mass in this time. This adds up to a catastrophic 1.5 to 3 lbs per year gain in body fat. Conventional wisdom tells us that slowing metabolism due to decreasing muscle mass is the culprit. (1)
While muscle is more metabolically active than fat, a pound of muscle only uses three to five calories a day more than a pound of fat. This decrease in basal metabolic rate results in at most half a pound of fat gain per year. Admittedly, as a person’s fat content and muscular weakness increase, the net gain over a year by replacing muscle with fat becomes quite significant.
What you do with your muscle counts way more than its basal metabolic rate. A beginner can add 3 to 5 pounds of muscle mass in three to four months of strength training. As he/she moves into their senior years, there is an inherent tendency to lose muscle mass no matter what training he/she does. But the frailty that so often appears in old age is a result exercise deficit, not old age. Furthermore, osteopenia can be largely eliminated by proper training while younger. When endurance exercise is added to strength training, you have a powerful tool for weight management. (2)
The wrong diet can overwhelm any exercise program. Even an informal survey of calorie counts in a typical chain casual dining restaurant, or a review of calorie counts on packaged foods in the local grocery store, demonstrates that single meals of over 1,000 calories are quite common. One thing is very clear: a 1,000 calorie meal is never OK. Even if you’re an ultra marathoner, 1,000 calories in a single sitting is gluttony, not nutrition. It’s not even fine dining.
In the UK, cola companies will tell you that their beverage is a part of a wholesome diet, balanced by healthy amounts of activity. Since the 1950’s, US food companies have been producing ever more appealing products for less money in the perennial need to grow profits. Another point should be very clear: the foods in fast food and other chain restaurants as well as most food in grocery stores maximize profits for their purveyors by being created as attractive, or addictive, as possible. It is absolutely no coincidence that the rise of worldwide obesity coincides with the industrialized mass-marketing of food products. Processed food is engineered to be addictive. As proof of this, just open a bag of chips or cookies in almost any office or work site in America and observe the reactions. They are no different from drunk patrons in a late night bar, smokers standing around outside in a designated smoking area, or even users in a meth house.
(3)
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Dear (Workout) Diary,
Today, I learned that being able to shovel snow with impunity is a really good indicator of the effectiveness of your core routine. You do core strength work to be a better runner...and look better. But training for running is training for the work of life.
Dear Diary, the other thing I learned today is that heavy dead lifts are also a great core movement, working back, glutes, and everything that needs oxygen to lift weight. After heavy dead lifts, a shovel of wet snow is a piece of cake.
Dear Diary, the other thing I learned today is that heavy dead lifts are also a great core movement, working back, glutes, and everything that needs oxygen to lift weight. After heavy dead lifts, a shovel of wet snow is a piece of cake.
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Spring 2018
I missed running on the first day of spring this year. I regret it. One of the things I love about running is that it keeps my mind aware of natural cycles. I've noted many times that I see more sunrises in a couple of years' distance training than I did in my entire life prior to returning to running. The sun's rays lift my mind from its sleeping darkness and almost always drops my pace by a minute or two. I follow the moon's wax and wane each month, celebrating the full moon and embracing the darkness when it is new. Each solstice, I prepare mentally for the lengthening and shortening of the days. Long days mean warmth and longer runs as I do not lose as much morning time planning what to wear in the cold and then putting it on. Each equinox, I celebrate the arrival of spring or steel myself for the mental and physical stress of running through the winter. The passing of each year presents the previous twelve months as a challenge to improve upon and surpass them in the next twelve months.
For me, the word "injury" is pretty much "the name that shall not be spoken". I monitored the sensitivity in my left heel but did not refer to it as what it is. The soreness after last Sunday's 12 miles constrains me to acknowledge it as plantar fasciitis and decide to stop running for one or two weeks. Mercifully, my arches and calves are very strong. This strength acts as a natural shield against significant injury. The pain is very mild and has mitigated substantially after just two day's rest.
The sun's northbound crossing of the equator marks a day of private celebration and the anticipation of many mornings of long, sweaty, shirtless runs. Instead, I do the "push" phase of my split strength training routine. I console myself that the usual brakes I put on working my quads and glutes can come off: I will not need fresh legs to run.
Since getting back into strength training in a serious way, my time spent not running due to some ache has diminished substantially. But every time I do take a break, I promise to come back stronger.
For me, the word "injury" is pretty much "the name that shall not be spoken". I monitored the sensitivity in my left heel but did not refer to it as what it is. The soreness after last Sunday's 12 miles constrains me to acknowledge it as plantar fasciitis and decide to stop running for one or two weeks. Mercifully, my arches and calves are very strong. This strength acts as a natural shield against significant injury. The pain is very mild and has mitigated substantially after just two day's rest.
The sun's northbound crossing of the equator marks a day of private celebration and the anticipation of many mornings of long, sweaty, shirtless runs. Instead, I do the "push" phase of my split strength training routine. I console myself that the usual brakes I put on working my quads and glutes can come off: I will not need fresh legs to run.
Since getting back into strength training in a serious way, my time spent not running due to some ache has diminished substantially. But every time I do take a break, I promise to come back stronger.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Ides of March
Today, I signed up for the Marine Corps Marathon. It is my first since 2011. I wonder the implications of signing up on the Ides of March: what augures am I tempting?
That I am nursing an occasionally sore left heel is even more occasion to pause.
That I am nursing an occasionally sore left heel is even more occasion to pause.
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