#384: From the Rubber to the Road - Leaving the Treadmill

A friend writes:

Hey, Pennsy. If you get a minute, could you reflect on your transition from the tredmill to hitting the open road? How far were you enduring inside before you went out? Is one easier for you than the other?

It's taken me a while to remember those first steps without the "training wheels." As always, I'm telling the story I recall, not necessarily the one that actually happened. Your mileage may vary.


In my younger days, I always tried running outside, on the streets or on an available track like the big cinder oval at my high school. I can't say for certain why the habit never "took" for me back then, but it never did. For one thing, I never had the right clothes. I would wear basketball shoes and my feet would blister. Or I would wear sweat pants and my thighs would chafe. Like any rational person, I didn't like doing something that hurt me. I was probably feeling self-conscious, too. A Fat Man Jogging is always a potential target for the judgement and taunts of strangers. I was still young enough for those things to bother me, I guess. Sooner or later, my excuses always out weighed my good intentions.


Back in December of 2007, I developed a painful, hot spot on the inside of my leg, just above the knee. Mrs P was concerned, so I called the nurse hotline and the lady told me to get to the emergency room NOW! Turned out I had cellulitis, but given my 400+ lbs and sedentary lifestyle, it could have been a blood clot. The experience spooked me, and we decided to jump on a New Years special at a local gym. It was a great decision. They got me lifting weights again, and taught me how to use the cardio machines: bike, elliptical, stairmaster, and treadmill. 


I walked for a long time on the mill, always trying to go a few minutes longer, a little bit faster. Now and then, I would try to trot, but neither my wind or my knees were ready for the challenge. One night, while Mrs P was in her spinning class, I started jogging and was able to keep it up for a minute. I never changed the speed on the belt. It was probably about 4 mph. I walked till I felt ok, then started jogging again, knocking off portions of 15 minute miles. I was gasping for air and sweating rivers, but for some reason, my feet kept going. I closed my eyes, and felt myself running for the first time in years. When I opened them, Mrs P was standing there in front of the treadmill, weeping and proud. 


After that, I jogged the same way I had walked: patiently adding time and speed. Not much speed. I could run at 4.5 mph max, but I was running, and I was happy.


Sometime in early Spring, I noticed a poster on the gym bulletin board advertising a 5K race to support a local shelter for women in recovery. I liked the idea of running for a cause that mattered to me, and Mrs P and I talked about whether or not I was ready to take on the challenge. I had never run that far, and I had not run outside yet. She encouraged me, and I sent in my registration. 


I took my first steps outdoors early in the morning, running the sidewalks around our neighborhood. Jogging before sunrise gave me a little anonymity, and the only other runners I encountered were always friendly and encouraging. I ran too fast and too far. I still hadn't discovered the magic of walk breaks. My knees and ankles ached. I went back to the treadmill till I felt better, then tried again. Went a little farther, this time. I know now what a dangerous approach this was: running till you get hurt, then waiting till you get better. Knowing that the race was out there, (and that I had paid to run in it,) kept me motivated to keep going. Eventually, I could run 3 miles on the mill, and three days before the race, I decided I should go out to Coldstream Park and run the course. It was cold and rainy. The hills were much harder than I expected. An old man passed me twice while I   navigated the 1.5 mile circle. I felt pretty good.


The day of the race, I started too fast. Around the 2.5 mile mark, I felt a sharp pain in both Achilles tendons. I had strained both of them and would be limping for weeks. I thought they were just cramping, so I stopped to stretch (bad plan) then continued jogging along. I saw the 3 mile marker (the one in my profile picture) and knew the finish line was just around the bend. Running as fast as my fat, crippled legs would carry me, I reached the chute, high-fived the supporters lining the path, and handed in my bib stub to record my finish order. Mrs P was weeping again, of course. 


It was the greatest feeling.


The pain went away, eventually, but the pride in my accomplishment never did. I will never be a speedy runner, but I will always love running, I think. I'm hooked. I like the treadmill because it offers simplicity. I can set the speed and incline, put in my headphones, close my eyes, and go. I have also come to love the road. A lot of that has to do with living in the Bluegrass. I can leave my driveway and be running beside horse pastures in about 15 minutes. You have to be more alert on the road. I never wear my iPod there, but the music of the morning more than makes up for it. 


So back to the question... I guess I just stayed on the treadmill until my body told me it was time to leave. Having an event to prepare for helped. Seeing myself get stronger helped. At some point, I found the courage to try something new, just like joining the gym had been new. I could have been smarter about the way I made the transition, and after my cancer, I used Run/Walk/Run to train more safely, but I liked the feeling of running outside.  I like them both. The treadmill is easier, but road running can be heavenly. 

Trust your spirit. You'll know when it's time. One step at a time.

Peace,

Pennsy

#383: A Week of Workouts

I'm fighting off a cold, so this morning I'm blogging instead of running the 13 miles I had planned. After I wake up a little more, I'm going to the gym to run some hill repeats on the treadmill in solidarity with my friends out there who are doing the real thing. Meanwhile, here's how the week went.


Strength and Cross Training


Here's how my circuit workout is progressing. 

	12/28	12/30	1/2	1/5
Squats	72	86	93	82
Push ups	70	68	81	66
Lunges	23	22	26	27
Planks	120	120	120	120
Leg curls	62	83	88	82
Russian Twist	58	64	91	84
Pull ups	18	20	9	21
Dips	41	41	25	46

 It's pretty clear that I was getting tired by Thursday, even after a day off. I think that's when my cold was starting to catch hold. During my workout, it felt as if my upper body was really weak, but now that I look at the numbers, I see that my arms and shoulders are actually getting stronger. That's the kind of surprise that makes me glad I keep a log.


I started a TRX class on Friday. It really challenged me in a good way. TRX is a body-weight exercise you do using nylon straps hanging from the ceiling. I can't really describe it, so here's a video.

This workout hits all my weak links, engages muscles head to toe all the time, and provides a great, low-impact cardio challenge. I'm going to like this, and will be making it a weekly part of my cross training routine.

One of my favorite parts of the week was a 2 mile walk with my friend Dee Dee on Friday. She's one of my LIVESTRONG  sisters, and has had a much tougher cancer battle than mine. I admire her courage and determination as she continues choosing life. Our walk was a nice way to button-up a good week.

Running


I did quite a bit of work on the treadmill this week. I had trouble finding a machine with a heart rate monitor I could rely on, but for the most part, the pace and distance readings I got from the treadmill were consistent with my Nike+.

Sunday, 11 miles (6.5 LSR, 5 race)
Tuesday, 2.25 miles (Recovery run on Treadmill)
Thursday, 6 miles ( 2 Tempo on Treadmill. 4 intervals)

Thursday's intervals were fun. I was at the Arboretum and my legs were very heavy and tired. I didn't want to bail out on the workout, but I could tell I wasn't going to make it using my usual approach. I switched my watch to 30 second intervals. 0:30 run/0:30 walk. There were a couple of very cool things about this run. I was able to run much harder, because I knew there was a break coming up any second. I was able to recover quickly, because I had only run for 30 seconds. And my time for the four miles was 47:13. That's 11:48 per mile. Essentially, walking half the time did not slow me down. It allowed me to run faster, longer. There's no way I could run 9:00 miles for 20 minutes straight, but that's just what I did, using these very short intervals. Good old Galloway strikes again!

Nutrition

Something weird is happening. I'm gaining weight. This makes no sense to me, but there you have it. I spoke with Nancy, the Dietician at the Y, and her first question was, "are you getting enough protein?" I'm not really sure, so I'll be keeping a food log for the next week, then she and I will sit down and look it over. My body fat is staying pretty consistent, around 23%, but if I'm going to be logging all these miles, I really don't need any extra weight to carry along. Training for a marathon is a really bad time to think about going on a diet, but I don't want my eating to be working against me.

Epiphany


So yesterday was Epiphany: Twelfth Night; the last day of Christmas. For the church, it's the finish of a journey that started way back at the beginning of Advent. Tradition has it that Epiphany is the day the wise men finally made it to Bethlehem to visit the Holy Family. Here's my favorite line from that story.

Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way ~ Matthew 2:12

There is a literal meaning to this passage, of course. The magi took a different route home than the one they had traveled to Bethlehem. But I think it means something more.They had made a long, difficult trip, these wise men from the east. Finally, they did what they set out to do: they met Jesus, and the meeting changed them. Their lives were not the same once they saw Christ. They had to live another way. That's the heart of Epiphany, to me. Once you see God in the flesh, once you bear witness to the Holy Spirit in the eyes of another human being, you just can't keep living the way you used to live. If we take Christmas seriously, if we are really willing to take the journey of the Magi, we have a chance to be changed. Once we know that Jesus lives in our neighbors, we can never treat them the same way. Christmas can change us. We can come to the manger just as we are, but like JT says, we can go home another way. 

Merry Christmas, for another year.

Peace,
Pennsy

#295: You Can't Get Started Until You Start

My Therapist says not to worry about what I used to be able to do, or what I might not be able to do. Ask rather, what can I do today that is of value toward my goals? So here's my next big fitness goal. I want to run in the Bluegrass 10,000 on July 4th here in Lexington. It looks impossible. Right now, it is. I can't run 6.4 miles at any pace. I'm not sure I could walk it. But I knew I could do something.

Today, I finally got up the nerve to find out what.

The guy at the desk was friendly and gave me a good-hearted needle about my Steeler's sweatshirt. Silly man., but the warmest I've enountered there so far. It was a good start. My lucky locker, #27, was occupied, so I slid my bag into #29 and made my way up to the workout room. I got on the treadmill. I find counting laps tedious, expecially when you're trying to run miles around a basketball court. The treadmill counts for me. It also helps me to regulate my pace. I'll be better able to measure my progress. Like the business writers say, if you can measure it, you can manage it.

I ran 2 miles at 3 mph. That's a ridiculously slow pace. That's a slow pace for a walker. It took me 40 minutes, plus about 15 minutes to warm up and cool down. It was laughable, but I kept good form, and I made it all the way without any breaks. I actually surprised myself with both the distance and the duration. The other day, a half hour walk around Kroger left me spinny headed and weak in the legs. I'm going to train at that distance for a while in preparation for the Habitat for Humanity Shamrock Shuffle in March. This is a 3K (about 1.8 miles) race through the streets of Lexington on what is usually a cold and rainy morning. Sounds miserable? It isn't. I loved my last one. It was actually the last time I ran in an organized race, so it's going to be a sort of homecoming for me. After today's workout, I feel confident enough to register. Soon there'll be a new tee shirt in my drawer!

I got on the scale last night. I now weigh 291. Just over 100 pounds less than I did last April, the day of my surgery. If you're tired of that spare tire, and want to try my $1500 a pound weight loss program, call 1-800-CARCINOMA Our counsellors are standing by.

Yes, the weight loss is the silver lining of this whole thing. I am now a recovering food addict, not likely to ever relapse unless I develop a taste for drinking bacon grease. Wouldn't it be crazy if cancer saves me from having a heart attack?

When life gives you tumors, make lemonade...

Peace,
Pennsy

#154 Returning to the Gym After a Loooong Hiatus

Weight	Body Fat	BP
394	42.8%	148 / 95

I'm not all the way back to where I was before I started working out in 2008. Just most of the way. I'm not really discouraged because I'm not really surprised. I knew I wasn't getting the exercise I needed, and I watched every bite of food as it went in. The truth is, I was so depressed most of the time that I didn't care if I gained weight and lost strength or not. Well I've spent some quality time with the headshrinkers and it turns out that yes, I do care. I lived healthy once, and saw the results of that change. I can do it again.

I am making some changes in my approach. this time. I will be keeping my workouts much simpler and more intense. I want to burn off some of this fat in a hurry, and the way to do that is through frequency, intensity, and nutrition.

I am not going to get as involved in all those numbers that I love so well. Less time crunching data and more time crunching abs. I'll still update the "Tale of the Tape" periodically, but mostly I'll be tracking the three metrics above. Weight is easy to understand and to measure. Body Fat Percentage is also easy, and I think it's an important qualifier for body weight. Lots of athletes are classified obese even though they have very low body fat. Clearly that is not the case with me right now. But one day...

The last and scariest number is the one I've not tracked in the past: Blood Pressure. That's become important since my recent career struggles. I have taken a stab at several jobs, even tried to start my own business, but have not seen a steady paycheck for 14 months now. The combined stress of unemployement and poor job matches left me very depressed and hypertensive for the first time in my life. We are controlling it with medication for the time being, but I would rather do so with aerobic exercise if I can. I'll be hitting the cardio hard, but with care to be sure I am improving without having a stroke on the step climber.

My initial workouts are very gentle and low impact. The biggest difference I've noticed, besides my weight, is the weakness in my legs and butt. Squats are a real effort, and a lunge is not a realistic possibility. I'll be building leg strength in some other ways until the weight and joints are ready for those big lifts again. More on lower body later.

My cardio workout is 30 minutes on the treadmill in a very strict run/walk rhythm. I set the belt at what feels like a comfortably brisk walk to me, then alternate walking and jogging every 60 seconds, changing my gait without changing speeds. That allows me to get my heart rate up and a good sweat going, more than I could have with a faster walk. I am also able to go much farther than if I had been running or walking full speed the entire time.

Resistance training is also light; just upper body work with a blue band clipped to the wall. Push/Pull/Twist - Standing Chest Press, Standing Row, Woodchopper Right, Wood chopper Left. 50 reps each without rest between. That keeps my heart rate up and got a real burn started in my arms and obliques.

I'm also doing some things at home to work on the lower body strength. We've been moving furniture and boxes from the second floor to the basement. That's a lot of trips up and down stairs. I am being very deliberate in the way I lift and carry things. I don't want to hurt my back, and I want to practice my form so my body remembers how to lift heavy iron as well as liquor boxes full of old paperbacks.

All in all, it's good to be Pennsy today. My mental health is as good as it has ever been, I'm turning my body back in the right direction, and career prospects seem just over the horizon. I just have to keep working in the right directions.

Peace,
Pennsy

Evaluating My Workout Design - Oh, and RUNNING!

Four days straight, now time for a day off.

Yesterday's workout was kind of mixed.

LIFTING - this workout needs some tweaking

I increased my number of assisted chinups - came within one of finishing 3 x 5. I also was able to do Calf Raises for the second day in a row. I'm not using any plates at all yet, so there's only the 20 lb weight of the machine on my shoulders, but it still feels good to be able to do them again. Assisted dips went fine. I will decrease the counterweight once I can finish three sets of chins. It's just easier than jumping down and moving the pin six times.

Deadlifts. Here's 'Becka Swanson schooling the boys at the gym.


World Strongest Woman - "becca Swanson" Deadlift - More amazing videos are a click away

My own efforts went ok but I need to warm up more gradually. I only did two warmup sets at 95 and 135 before starting my 5 x 5 @ 185 and the increase in weight was too fast. I need to get the blood flowing into that lower back before pulling the heavy weight. I'll put at least two more sets of two or three at maybe 145 and 165 before starting the working sets.

I don't think I wrote this workout very well. It just didn't make kinetic sense to me - it didn't feel right. Doing Deadlifts and Bent Over Rows and Good Morning's together set off warning bells in my lower back. No harm, but too close to the red line for my taste.

Three of the exercises in my plan were just odd. I tried doing Forearm Curls with a barbell, but just could not find a way to stabilize my arms to isolate the forearms, so I switched to Dumbell Wrist Curls with my elbows on the bench instead.

Doing Pullovers with two dumbells was hard work, but strangely, I could not feel which muscles were working. I concentrate on keeping my elbows at a fixed 90º angle so my triceps do not get involved in the movement, but couldn't really feel which muscles were actually rotating my shoulders. I need to do some research on this one.

Friday I forgot to do pullovers. Yesterday I forgot to do barbell curls. It was an oversight, not a deliberate cut. The only reason I can think of is that they don't make any sense to me in a workout designed to increase my performance in the Deadlift. I do not remember what the rationale was in putting them in in the first place, but I think I'll move them or lose them.

I'm going to make some minor changes to this day's plan. The order is very important here because the lower back is so involved and I have a history of bulging disks and Sciatica down there. I also want to take a good look at the actually exercises I'm using. I would like to be more focused on muscle groups that 1) are critical to performing the Deadlift and 2) are not hit very hard on any of the other three days. Since today is a rest day, I'll take some time to work on this and try putting the changes into next week's routine.

RUNNING!!! -Listening to my heart.

I planned to ride the recumbent bike yesterday. I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to sit down. I went for a walk on the treadmill instead. To my left, an athletic young woman was running intervals. To my right, a handsome young dude was running at a pretty impressive pace for someone as muscular as he. I reached out my hand and touched the speed button on the console. 3.2. 3.5. 4.0. 4.8. I was running again.

At first I ran carefully, taking inventory of all the parts that had ached and torn and screamed over the past two months. No alarms. No twinges. I glanced up at the television where someone was talking about something. I don't remember what. I looked out at the mirrors, all the way across the gym, but I don't remember looking at anything in particular. Mostly I was just hearing the footsteps of the people around me.

I forgot I was hurt.

I forgot I was running.

It was the greatest feeling! I don't know how else to describe it. I just sort of went somewhere else. From time to time I would start to feel winded, and I slowed down to an easy walk for a while. When I felt better, I would speed back up. I ran intervals like that for half an hour, setting an easy 15 minute pace. Just about what I ran in the 5K when I got hurt. Only this time I was run/walking without looking at the time or the distance. When my body said slow down I slowed down. When my heart said go, I went. Thank you Jeff Gallaway. I have been waiting for this run since I tore my calf on May 17th.

Oh happy day. Pennsy's running again.

THE NUMBERS

The weekly check in was encouraging. My weight has been up and down this week, but yesterday was resting nicely at 352, as low as it's been since I started working out. My body fat percentage is also at its lowest, 31.1%. My lean mass is up slightly to 243. Next week I'll get out the tape measure and update all the my body composition numbers. I expect that I'll see some big changes there. Base on the fit of my clothes and the comments of folks at work and the gym, I look a lot different than I did a few months ago.

Peace,
Pennsy

SQUAT!

If you are truly interested in size and strength, you need to train your legs. -- and one of the best leg exercises is the barbell squat. In fact, heavy squats have built the foundation of some of the greatest strength athletes in history.

Here's a look at the great John Davis squatting at Ed Yarick's Gym in Oakland, California in the 50s -- and that's how you should be squatting: full and deep.

No monkey business there, just pure power development.

I don't recommend squatting with a board under the heels but it seems to work for John Davis, who was Twice Olympic Weightlifting Champion (1948 and 1952) and Six Time Senior World Weightlifting Champion (1938, 1946, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1951).
From Old Time Strongmen.

The second of the four powerlifts I'm working on is the Squat. If the Clean and Press is complicated, the Squat is as simple as it gets. Take it off the rack, take it down, take it back up. There is really nothing else that works your foundation the way a heavy squat does. Your upper body is always working to hold form and to keep balance. That's a lot of iron laying across your shoulders. Your lower body is driving force down into the earth, pressing the planet against the barbell. I feel it the most in my glutes. This lift will literaly work your butt off. The quads support the weight on the way down and keep you from sinking too far into "the hole", but the glutes and hams do the work of moving the weight back up. It is a massive exercise, and one of my favorites.

I did the lifting part of my workout as planned, but my upper body was still pretty sore from yesterday, so I decided to skip the warmup. I did push out some dips and chins though. There is this marvelous machine that allows weaklings like me to do these exercises with the assistance of a counter-weighted platform. That way, you don't have to actually move your whole body weight. Here's a video from ExpoTV explaining how it works.

I have worked my back and arms enough now that I can execute these movements using the maximum available counterweight. From here on, the task will be to strengthen those muscle groups and lower the counterweight until I can lift my own bodyweight. That's going to be a while.

I'm taking tomorrow off to give my muscles some time to recover.

Great news! I ran/walked a mile on the treadmill. The calves complained a little, but I treated them with respect and together we all made it to the one mile mark. I also did a few minutes on the stair climber. That one really showed me that my conditioning has suffered a little during my recovery.Like the dips and chins, I'll build up my time gradually.

When I was stretching, the lady who leads the Yoga class came up to me and suggested that I try that to increase my flexibility. I think that's a great idea. The class meets on Thursdays and I think I'll try to work it in. I'll have to find a mat somewhere, I guess.

Halfway through the four day split and I have to say it feels like this is a pretty complete workout. I have that healthy afterburn soreness in my legs, shoulders, butt, and arms. Not the pain that says something's hurt, but the soreness that says you did some good hard work and need to slow down a minute to recover.

It's encouraging to be back up running - even if it is only two minutes at a time. The desire to run is what keeps me in the gym I think. I have this fantasy about running down a quiet country road on a Saturday morning. I pass horse farms and cross bridges over trout streams, whispering prayers of thanksgiving to the God who gave me the chance to run. I'm looking forward to making that dream come true. If a twenty-minute mile is the first step toward that sweet Kentucky morning, then I thank God for that too.

Peace,
Pennsy

Easing Up the Intensity

After a couple of long breaks for vacation and injury recovery, I'm starting to raise the bar a little. I need to get my cardio training back in motion. I've already had to skip two events that I had planned for the summer. During the "limping time" I have made good progress in the weight room though. I want to keep up the pressure there too. Moving forward -- carefully, but always forward -- that's my goal.

Good news from yesterday's weigh-in. A week of Mother P's cooking did not throw me too far off schedule. My weight is hovering around 360, and my lean muscle mass is up 0.7% so I'm still moving in the right direction. My big quarterly evaluation is in a couple weeks. The weight hasn't moved as much this time, but I expect my measurements will have changed quite a bit.

I got back on the treadmill for the first time in June. The legs felt fine, but I don't want to re-injure them. I just walked a warm up/cool down for about 5 minutes each. I'll work up from there.

The weights went ok, but my lower back is a little tender. I'm going to ask for some coaching on squats and deadlifts. I'm still not pulling a huge amount of weight but I don't want to do myself any harm. I cut a couple of lifts from my workout, and knocked the weight way down on others.

I may be trying to do too much or too many different exercises in a workout. I'm going to look at planning my routine a little farther in advance so I can cover all the muscle groups more efficiently.

Today is going to be a rest day. I have some work to do in the yard, so that can be my cross-training plan. I think it's important to do something practical every now and then to remind myself why I spend so much time in the gym.

Peace,
Pennsy

Time for a Day Off

I’m taking tomorrow off, but first, I have some business to attend to.

Shameless Plug

Hey, please check out the link to Step Out, the American Diabetes Association walk here in Lexington. I will walk it, may even run some of it. Diabetes has come to the house of Pennsy and I would like to see a stop put to all this nonsense. So cough up a pledge, pardner. Do it and the Fat Man will hoot your name during his historic first public walk. Maybe Mrs P can video the moment and we can figure out how to post it.

Weight Report

My weight did not change last week, still 366, but my body fat percentage is down from 33.1 to 32.8. Not much of a change, but the readings are consistent, and I am still building muscle, especially in my upper body. I hope I reach the tipping point soon and start another big fat burn. The plateau is not a fun place to hang out.

Injury Report

The ankles are improving a little after my big run on Sunday. I’ve learned that Achilles' Tendon pain is pretty common when treadmill runners go out into the real world. I have not run or trod the mill since then, but have been doing bike, steps, and elliptical to keep up my cardio conditioning. I wore elastic compression braces on my ankles today and was pain free. I am doing calf presses every time I encounter a staircase to strengthen the muscles around the Achilles. I really don’t want to see this turn into a chronic thing.

The shoulder (left) just plain hurts. I jerked it somehow during an errant Ball Slam yesterday and the Gremlin is having a field day in there. Other than rest, there’s not much for me to do with it at this point. I’m hoping a couple days off from upper body resistance training will give it a chance to heal.

Fashion Report

I bought some pants that fit yesterday! They are actually a little tighter than I would prefer, but they won’t be for long. They’re pretty ugly, but again, I won’t be this size for very long either. Just passing through the neighborhood of fat-guy pants, on my way to those groovy styles with waists below the half-century mark.

Best Laid Plans

I was going to try to repeat Sunday’s run this weekend, but I may go for something less ambitious. A mile at a reasonable pace will probably do me more good than another pokey 5K that leaves me lame for a week.

I’m also going to start moving from machines to free-weights. There are few movements the machines allow that can’t be done more effectively with dumbbells or barbells. Free weights have the added advantage of working more than one muscle group at a time. While your arms are working to execute a shoulder press, the rest of you is working to keep from tipping over. Having to control the weight with 360º of possible directions is more work than controlling weight that can only move in two. so I’ll start translating some exercises from the machine floor to the free weight floor.

I’m going to try the following program.

• Day one (Monday) - upper body, and moderate cardio (run or cross train)
• Day two - bands, and moderate cardio
• Day three - lower body, and moderate cardio
• Day four - rest.
• Day five - Bands and a long, easy run,
• Day six - long, heavy lifting, and
• Day seven - intense run (pace or endurance)

I’m going to avoid the treadmill for a while. My ankles need to learn how to cope with Mother Earth again, so I’ll try to do the bulk of my running outside.

I’m also realizing that my reluctance to track food is probably more denial than avoidance. Sooner or later, I’m going to have to get more serious about nutrition if I want to replace those last pounds of fat with muscle. If I find myself stuck in a plateau that just won’t give, I’m going to have to break down and do it. For now, I’m just trying to avoid junk and binges. “Those last few pounds” are still buried a long way down.

Peace,
Pennsy

PS>>Hey, don't forget Mother's day! (The cats want me to take them shopping tomorrow night.) Maybe we'll just pile Molly the Dog, Mo, Buddy, Kizmet, Maggie, Sniffy, and Dennis the Nervous Fish into the Honda and go out to IHoP on Sunday. Kizzie loves international cuisine. (Molly just loves farting in the car.)

Pax,
p

Derby Day

If you don't recognize the big red champion in this photo, stay out of Kentucky.

Seriously.

Maybe you’ve heard. We’re having a little horse race in the Bluegrass today. After a loud, blowing rainstorm last night, the sun is out, the roses are red, and the grass is as blue as as Bill Monroe’s mandolin strings.

I’m no racing fan. I don’t understand the language and watching Barbaro break his beautiful leg made me wish I’d never heard of horse racing. I’d much rather watch people risking their own necks in stock cars.

Still.

These horses are just about the most beautiful athletes in the world. I’d rather see them in the pasture than the paddock, but I’ll be watching them today, praying that no one gets hurt and the bravest one wins.

My friend Alex likes Pyro, I’m leaning toward Eight Belles, but only because I think it would be a hoot to see a lady dressed in roses. Mrs P agrees with Alex. Molly likes Big Brown - draw your own conclusions. The cats think the whole thing is just stupid.

I hit the gym ready to go this morning. After two days off, I wanted to get back to work, but I wanted to start easy. I did 10 minutes on the Step climber, getting better every day. I took another shot at the resistance band workout that I failed so badly on Wednesday. I finished, but I still cant believe what a workout they give me.

The run felt really good. 2.25 miles in 30 minutes. The fastest I could walk was 4.5 mph. Today is the first day I ran faster than I could walk. It seems like every day is a new milestone.

Now, where did we hide the good bourbon?

Peace, y’all
Pennsy

You Talking to Me? - or the Tale of the 300 lb Chicken

I worked cardio tonight. About 7 minutes in the stair climber, 30 on the elliptical, 30 on the recumbent bike, and another 15 on the treadmill to cool down. The left knee and right Achilles' tendon both felt better afterwards. Still trying the stretchless workout. I haven’t noticed any ill effects yet.

Are you talking to me?

Tonight, I feel stranger than I have since I started working out. I met with Brad, the owner and head of Promatx today for my quarterly progress review.

We talked about nutrition, of course. I have some things I can do better now. Need to work harder on eating more small meals throughout the day. Right now, I have carbs in the morning and fats and protein in the evening. I need to even that out some.

Having a trainer tell me that I need to eat more was a real shock. But there was an even bigger one.

“What is your goal?”, Brad asked.

“I want to lose 200 lbs.”

“How would you feel about changing that?”

We had just measured my body fat,and it turns out that in order to reach my target weight, I will have to lose almost 50 lbs of lean muscle along with the fat. I was confused. So what should my target be?

Based on my current lean body weight, if I get my body fat down to 18% (not bad for a man of 47) I would weigh 304 lbs! Were I to get down to 10% body fat (pretty fit for anyone of any age) I would weigh around 277.

These numbers have really rattled me. Especially when I consider that since I started working out, I have gained 19 lbs of muscle and lost 53 lbs of fat.

See what’s happening there? My lean weight (in red) is increasing almost 40% as fast as my fat weight (blue) is going down. I don’t have the patience to work the figures at this hour, but it appears to me that if my muscle weight keeps increasing at this rate, I will be at 10% body fat at right around 300 lbs.

I am going to be a trim, muscular 300 lb man. That sentence freaks me out for reasons I can’t even begin to explain. The words seem so incongruous - me...fit...trim...three-hundred pounds -- I can’t even picture what that will look like. It certainly won’t look like anything I have ever imagined myself being.

It’s one thing to count your chickens before they’re hatched, but I’m starting to realize that there’s a very big chicken waiting to peck its way out of this blubbery shell and the bird scares me a little.

Jeremy Likness has posted a series of before/after pictures of himself as he reduced from 30+% to 10% body fat. (245 to 188 lbs)

Frankenpennsy will be 6 inches taller and 112 pounds heavier. - It that even possible? And will I really look that imposing in robin's egg blue underpants? This may send me to the shrink a few months early.

Peace,
Pennsy

Expert du Jour - Jeff Galloway

I did ninety minutes of cardio today. A long, gentle run/walk on the treadmill, and a half hour on the elliptical. I really wanted to do 10K on the treadmill, but the left knee said it was time to step off, so I did. I wasn’t really paying attention to speed at all, just trying to listen to my body - run when i was ready, stop when it was time.

Weigh in tomorrow - I peeked at the scale today and am officially at a plateau. I have my quarterly check in with the trainer (Brad is my new man - Jordan is off playing professional football which I find to be incredibly cool). I’ll see what his thoughts are about how to get the fat burning motor started again.


EXPERT DU JOUR

I read a book this week, Running - Getting Started by Jeff Galloway. He’s a blogger and a columnist for Runner’s World and a 1972 Olympian, so I figured he had some valuable things to teach me. And so he did.

The thrust of his message to beginners is to avoid the pitfalls that make most people give up. He suggests a run/walk approach where you begin a run by walking at a very slow pace, then gently work your way up to short runs, stopping to walk again before you become breathless and tired. in this way, you avoid “overdoing” that causes the kind of fatigue and soreness that discourages so many new runners.

He had some things to say that surprised me. He does not think runners should lift weights, especially lower body exercises because they build up heavy muscle that you’re just going to have to haul around when you’re running.

He is also very much against stretching, (except in the case of IT band injury) which really caught me up short. His position is that stretching almost always does more harm than good, reduces your performance, and increases your recovery time.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone suggest that stretching was bad for you. Still, this is a very respected and experienced dude. I’m going to experiment with the no stretch thing for a couple of days, but it still sounds really weird to me.

It is a good book, though. Gallaway obviously loves running, and loves helping others to run. His passion shines from every page. I don’t intend to spend too much time reading books about running, but I think this one will be useful to me for a long time.

SPRINGTIME IN THE BLUEGRASS

Still, a good day to be Pennsy. Thanks to lynross for posting this beautiful photo on Webshots. The Bluegrass flora are starting to bud and bloom. I sure do love me some Kentucky today.

Peace,
Pennsy

Aches and Pains

I turned into the grumpy old fat man today but can't remember why. Someone slipped me a roofie and beat my legs with pipes at lunch time. The knees were stiff and the right ankle had a strange tightness in the Achilles' tendon. I had planned to just work upper body today, with light jogging after.

A whole day of work didn’t seem to achieve anything. The upside of all that frustration is that I usually set new personal bests on the weights, today I improved my curls, flies, and shoulder press.

I stretched after lifting and hit the treadmill- walked/ran quarter-mile intervals for two miles. The ankle felt gradually better as I warmed up -- It actually felt easier to run than to walk . When I was done though, I could tell that I had been favoring my right leg. My left knee is hurting, my mysterious right ankle hurts, my old right knee thing is better, but just wanted to join in to be sociable. a sauna and a shower made my head feel better, but not my creaking joints.

Much as I hate to, I am going to back off the running for a while. Walking and the elliptical are going to have to be my cardio workouts until I lose some serious pounds.

I sure feel good from the waist up, but man I could use a soak in a jacuzzi.

Peace,
b

Fat Man Running by the Numbers

Today, was a good day for me. While Charlie was running under the cherry blossoms in D.C., I was on the treadmill doing a run/walk of 4 miles in 55:56. I actually ran more than I walked - three quarters of a mile at a clip a couple of times. Very slowly, 4.5 mph, but picking them up and putting them down. So, a little math. at this pace (13.9 mph) I could complete a 5K in just under 45 minutes.

On the other hand, if I could actually jog the whole way at 4.5 (the running speed I did today) I could finish in just under 43 minutes. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable goal - to run an entire 5K race by June. I think I can do it.

The 10K in July may be a different story...

Oh, and the weigh in was not great, but I did not experience the dreaded backslide. Lost one pound this week (probably during today’s run!) I’m at 369 and counting to my next milepost, 90% of my original body weight will have dripped onto the treadmill belt in just 5 more pounds. What a day that will be.

I’ll probably celebrate with a Mint Oreo Blizzard.

Peace,
Pennsy

Milestones

OK, I am not going to the gym to lose weight. As I say at the top of the blog. I am running for my life. The weight is a measure of progress, it is not the goal.

Still, I was really pleased when the scale read 370 today. That’s 35 lbs lost since January 19. I am encouraged, but I need to keep that in perspective. That’s a little more than 8% of my original body weight. Ultimately, I want to drop 50%. Still, I’m happy with the progress. I am shooting for 2 lbs a week for the next two years. I am ahead of that pace - also encouraging.


I added a short walk and about 10 minutes of stretching before I lift weights. I also added some leg exercises to try to strengthen the muscles around my knee. It feels better every day, and I want to keep moving in that direction. My last cardio day was pretty disappointing - I may just start on the elliptical tomorrow and not even try walking.

Someone suggested that I think about run/walking in a race this summer. a lot of people find that preparing for an event helps them to focus their training. I looked up some races in the Bluegrass, and I’m considering it. There are several 5K’s being sponsored by our running shop, and also a big 10K here on July 4. I think it might be cool to actually get out and run with other people. I am very content with the treadmill for now, but I can imagine a time when I will want to get out and smell the good Kentucky air.

All in all, I have to say I feel pretty good today. I hope you do too.

Peace,
Pennsy

A satirist is a man who discovers unpleasant things about himself and then says them about other people.

Peter McArthur

Taking It Easy

I have a little puffiness in my right knee. (Pennsy's is hairier). I did some research and found out that it’s pretty common. I’m treating it with RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. I'm also trying glucosamine instead of aspirin, ibuprofen, acete... Tylenol, and other hard to spell anti-inflammatory drugs. No more running for a while.

My last couple of sessions on the treadmill have been pretty intense, and I guess I overdid it. Not to worry. I can keep my leg up when I’m home, and find other ways to do my cardio at the gym.

I was also feeling kind of sore from my last session with the weights (what a crybaby). I decided to try something different. I used very light weight on each exercise, 60 to 70 percent of what I’ve been doing. I went down to 12 reps, but added a fourth set. I also really focused on keeping my technique perfect by performing each rep very slowly. It took a long time, but It still felt like a workout. I was especially careful with the leg extensions, curls, and squats. I want to strengthen the muscles around the knee without doing any more harm. I don’t want to get hurt badly enough that I have to stay home for an extended period. I missed enough time in the gym with all the business travel I did in March.

Actually, taking it easy in the gym gives me a chance to focus on my diet. I am eating much better than I’m used to, but I’m still far from perfect. I don’t want to start counting calories - the days are just too short - but there are some things I would definitely like to clean up. The last thing I want is for my weight to go back up. That would so suck.

There is a yoga class tonight. I have been wanting to do some work on flexibility. This might be a good opportunity to start learning some exercises that don’t require all that iron. I’ll see how the knee feels after a day of sitting at my desk.

Peace,
Pennsy

Weak as a Baby

I had a spicy dinner too late the night before and did not sleep well. I also skipped my afternoon snack even though I have a basket of apples in my office. I was ok during the day, but the gym never lies.

I wanted to do a low weight high rep cardio day on the weights, and I ran out of juice fast. Started with cable curls and pushdowns and I never really felt right after that. I had to lower weight to do my second sets on several exercises, and really struggled on the Lat Flies, not one that’s ever been much of a problem for me.

I decided to walk a mile on the treadmill to cool down. I finished, but at the slowest speed I’ve ever walked and I actually had side stitches before I was done. I was afraid I’d given myself a hernia!

At the water fountain, I said something to the lady in front of me, and she said she was feeling the same thing. She blamed it on the time change. I have never noticed that affecting me before, but then I have never asked as much of my body as I am now.

I think that all those things combined - daylight savings time, Hoppin’ John at 9:00 for supper, 5 hours of fitful sleep, careless eating - all that stuff sort of worked together to remind me that fitness is an organic web. Pull out one thread, and the rest of the fabric feels the difference.

I took last night off to try to get my bearings a little, and I’ll hit it tonight for a long night of Cardio. I need to be in the gym this weekend, because there’s more travel coming up next week, this time to Chicago. I’ll almost certainly miss three days, and I want to anticipate that as best I can.

I’m looking forward to this week’s weigh in, though. My pants are pretty clownish these days. I want to get some more, but I kind of don’t want to commit to my current weight. Does that make sense? No, but neither does going to business meetings wearing baggy Charlie Chaplin drawers. I’ll probably pick up a pair or two before my trip.

Peace,
Pennsy

Pennsy's onesy is by Nappy Head
I found the Little Tramp photo on this blog: The Spark (Pennsy's feet are bigger)

The Fat Man Rides Again!!

Saturday I got really depressed about not being able to work out. My beloved Mrs P held my hand, wiped my face, and then took me out to the Indian buffet. Nothing lifts a mopey boy's spirits like a good woman's love and all the curry he can eat.

I slept my blues away and on Sunday made my first trip to the gym since the big slip. My toe hurt to bend, but had stopped throbbing. I didn't want to put any stress on it, so I didn't lift weights. That left walking, but I could not imagine the cardio benefit of limping on a treadmill. The elliptical machine remained a mystery to my feet, so I decided to try the recumbent bike.

I figured out how to move the seat and checked out the console. All the trails and mountains and whatnot made no sense to me. How can you talk about miles on a bike that stands still? I finally settled on a program called "cardio" and put Meat Loaf on my headphones. Before I knew it, I was pedaling like a bat out of, well, you know. I spun the pedals for an hour while the console coached "Keep Pedaling!-----Need Heart Rate!---Grab Handles!----Who's Your Daddy?" It was a little weird.

The program adjusts resistance to keep your heart rate at the training level you set, so it has to monitor your pulse constantly. I was surprised at what a good workout it turned out to be. I was not surprised that I could barely move when I was done. I stretched, finished my water, and made my way to the locker room. When I took of my sock, I was shocked. My toe looked like a plum. The bruise went from the joint almost up to the nail and more than three-quarters of the way around my toe. Forgive me, but I've decided to spare you photos.

Monday the bruise had faded, but was still pretty ugly. I made it through the work day without it feeling any worse, and by evening, the bruise was a much less angry color. I went to bed early and decided to try once again to wake up and go to the gym early Tuesday morning.

For some reason, the alarm woke me. Usually I just give it a well intentioned wack on the snooze button, then go back to sleep. Instead I tip-toed out of the bed and made my way to the car. There were a LOT of people at the gym at 6:00! I changed and found an empty bike. This time I had a chance to look around a little. There were not many familiar faces, but plenty of very determined ones. I am continually amazed and inspired by the way the people around me work. I got a chance to really watch some people on elliptical machines and started to make sense of what their legs were doing. Of course, you don't really want to spend too much time watching people at the gym. You start to feel like a stalker.

Work was just painful. The toe was ok, but the legs were screaming. Turns out I still haven't reached that magic place where a workout gives you more energy. The funny thing was, by mid afternoon, I was really jonesing to get back. I went right after work, and lifted weights for the first time in a week. I stepped down the reps and stepped up the weights on all the machines. I also tried the elliptical for a cool-down. It went pretty well, and I felt like I really started getting the hang of it.

This morning I did not go to the gym early, but I felt GREAT all day. Maybe that energy boost is on a delay? After work, I did an hour on the elliptical. I used the "Cardio" program and yes, it was a real workout. On both the bike and the elliptical I could feel different muscles working - especially after I was done.

Right now, I should be in bed, but I'm so happy to be back to work. I just wanted to let you know.

The heart, the mind, and the toe are all bruised but unbroken -- and the healing goes on.

Peace,
Pennsy

Oooooooooh, huh - I feel good!

I feel so good about today that I want to knock out a post before resuming the rest of my life.

Five miles today - 4.5 miles at 4 mph and .5 miles running at 5 mph. I ran a tenth of a mile during each mile. I started at .75 miles, ran a tenth, then walked until I felt good and my heart rate recovered back to 146-8. The last run was at 4.5 miles.

I followed with a long stretch and a Healthy Choice lemon chicken dinner.

Mrs P and I are going out to supper later. We are talking about Donatos. I don’t want to jinx my weigh in tomorrow, but I am feeling very confident right now.

Besides, I have not really had the urge to binge for a while. I don’t think I’ll be eating three quarters of a large pizza tonight. We’ll get at least two meals out of the pie.

I’m liking life right now.

Peace,
b

Jogged!

Oh Yeah! Today I jogged! I picked up my great big feet and jogged. 4 tenths of a mile.

Not in a row.

I walked 2.5 miles. Four times I ran the speed up to 5 from 4.2 and actually picked up my feet. I won’t call it running, but it was definitely jogging.

My recovery time was pretty good, but my knees reminded me that I’m still too heavy to run very far. It felt great. I haven’t run for a lot of years.

I’ll continue trying to mix in the intervals when I walk. tomorrow weights. Tonight, a short post, cause I’m going to spend some time gazing at my Valentine.

Peace and tonight of all nights, Love,
Pennsy

All About the Cardio

Today was the first time I used the workout Jordan suggested - lower weights, higher reps, shorter breaks -- for the next two weeks, I’m all about the cardio.

I went through my sets as fast as I could do them without short changing my form. Getting hurt is the last thing I want right now.

The weights went fine. I was concerned that the lighter weight wouldn’t give me the same workoiut, but by the 40th rep, I was feeling it, especially on the chest press and the triceps pull-downs.

Two miles on the treadmill felt like, well, like two miles. The resistance workout had my heart rate up in the 140's when I hit the treadmill. My walking seems to be pretty consistently taking it to 156. I was not exhausted when my miles were finished, but I was ready to stop. I was a little shaky after I finished the programmed cool down, so I put in another couple of minutes till my head and heart stabilized.

After a nice long stretch, I soaked in the shower, then dressed. All in all, it was a pretty routine workout. Which is cool. Because three weeks ago, I could not have done any of it.

Peace,
Pennsy

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I found the creepy heart graphic here.