The last time I increased distance (the first time I got to 10miles) I ended up with stiff leg muscles and it was awful going downstairs. After yesterday’s long run I was determined to do better, so I stuck with the tried and tested RICE method, which treats and mitigates sports injuries.

RICE stands for: rest, ice, compression, elevation. I went to bed at 10pm; I iced both knees after showering; I wore an it band strap; and I added a large square cushion to the knee cushion I already use for sleeping so everywhere below my knees are elevated and supported.

Still a little stiff going down the stairs, but otherwise I felt fine today. I’m happy at how simple things work.

I haven’t weighed myself in 10 weeks. It’s not about losing weight anymore. Fitness, bf%, clothing size have taken over as health indicators. I’m deliberately not being numerical and analytic about this. I’m not in the “smash the scale” camp, so I did weigh myself for reference over the weekend.

I gained 4 pounds in 10 weeks.

I know I shouldn’t be too concerned cos I’m doing more running and my tightest pair of jeans now fit. I can’t help being disappointed though, sigh.

I’m still kinda watching what I ate, and counting calories. Come to think of it, I think the weight gain has to do with not eating enough some days. I’m not convinced it’s wholly due to starvation mode. It may be a factor, so I’ll be more careful with my diet.

Truthfully, my goals are more like 27min 5k, 1.59 half and 4.30 full marathon. At the back of my mind, sure I’d like to lose half a stone, but I’m sure as I ramp up the training, it’ll be fine.

On the one extreme, a recent poster in a forum I read sometimes was saying how they were proud to be size 20+. I had to look it up, US size 20 = UK size 24.

On the other hand, people (mainly newbie) join fitness forums and says things like they don’t want to do weight training because they don’t want to become bulky…all they want to do is tone their muscles.

[Insert screaming and face plant here.]

Then on running forums there’s the feeling that, yeah okay, do weights but runners run. I think I’m in danger of falling into this camp of thinking, so I’m gonna make sure I continue to do some weight training.

Talk of weight training always bring up the bulking up vs toning crap. It’s impossible to accidentally bulk up, like you wake up one morning and hey presto, muscles!! I’ve been doing weights for a year and there is a tiny bit of definition, that’s it. Perhaps the best article I’ve read on the subject comes from Leigh Peele who wisely advocates training for the body type that best suit us because,

the only people that look like that lift or train aggressively are those who lift and train aggressively

What’s this got to do with the size 20+ person? I think it’s admirable that a person is proud of their body shape. But potentially ignoring the fact that size 20+ is dangerously unhealthy to the extent of not doing anything about it? Worries me. I’m still trying to unwind 15, 20 years of not eating, not exercising and I was by no means fat. We all have to take responsibility for our health.

omg, I’m turning into a health nut or at least a health nut wannabe. I started eating oatmeal! I mean, for most of my adult life I only had 2-3 cups of tea for breakfast. The past year or so I started to have cereal, but more often than not I’m not eating anything. I’ve always equated oatmeal with breakfast porridge, ie stodgy gummy tasteless stuff that only appeal to militant vegetarian yoga health fanatics.

Then last week I got some instant oatmeal with apple and found that it tasted nice and was great at staving off my morning hunger. Today I cooked up a pot of steel cut oats (30mins of simmering and stirring), mixed in a small pot of greek yogurt with honey, and finally a handful of blueberries. It was rather good and filling. I deliberately cooked 5 portions, and divided it up into small containers so I can reheat at work.

Crikey. What next? Meditation, chanting? I hope I don’t start talking about supplements and ginko jujube whatever. I take 1 multi-vitamin tablet and 1 vitamin C drink a day if I remember, that’s it.

I went back to nrolw training today, starting on stage 2. I think I’ll do both workouts with smaller weights this week but not count officially to get back to the routine. Stage 2 has more variety, and some of the exercises look complex. But what I found difficult were the ones I had to balance on one leg — dumbbell 1 point row and rear leg elevated split squat. Workout B looks long, and has elaborate sounding exercises like wide grip deadlift from box and dumbbell prone cuban snatch. It also has 15mins of intervals, so it’ll take longer to complete. Later this week.

I’ve never felt this horrible. I had tons to do at work, so I couldn’t stay home. Drove in. Then straight to meetings. I was totally burning up, my eyeballs, throat, head, nose were all heating up. It was a struggle not to fall asleep.

So finished the last meeting at noon, then went directly to the clinic. A fairly long wait later and the doc said, “you have the flu, but then you knew that already.” Nice doc. I went back to the office, told everyone I was leaving then went home. The doc gave me Zanamvir, an anti-viral medicine via inhaler and a very very strong cough syrup. I took the syrup and was out pretty quickly. Napped till around 7.30pm, showered, watched Top Chef, and it’s time to go to bed.

Seems like a lot of people who were at Ptown got this cape cod crud, as someone called it. What a takeaway present.

I need to pick up the health routine again. One week of visitors and constant eating out, followed by a second week of holiday, totally screwed up my normal healthy eating / exercise routine. Only 1 run the whole fortnight — argh!!!

Should start back today, but feeling sick. Okay, there’s a big bit of laziness and lack of momentum in the mix too. But no more. Need discipline.

We had flu shots at work today, the building offered them for $30, which the company paid for. I had flu shots every year for a few years now, can’t say I’m completely immune to getting a virus or flu, but in my mind it’s been helpful. It’s always mitigation rather than reaction. A couple of my colleagues hadn’t had flu shots before and were nervous so we went together as a group.

Mid-month update.

exercise
• run a full 10k // not yet, may be this weekend
• nrolw complete stage 1 // at s1-6b, 7 to go
• deadlift half my body weight // next weight increase at s1-7a
• full pushup // did that one nrolw workout

food
• vegetarian day x4 // 2 of 4
• quinoa recipe x1 // this week

other
• sort gcls videos // ooops
• 6-word novels x20 // done

Final August TDP challenge results — all done.

exercise
• run 50km // 50.11km
• 5k race in under 36mins // 33mins
• weights x8 // 8 of 8
• 1000 squats, lunges, abs // 1034 — since I started NROL I’m also counting deadlifts and step-ups

food
• vegetarian day x4 // 4 of 4
• meet calorie goals 24 days // 24 of 24 — I gave myself a margin of error of 10 calories

other
• organise story outlines // done
• get driver’s licence // done, got a car to go with the licence too

exercise
• run 50km // 27.05km
• 5k race in under 36mins // 33mins
• weights x8 // 2 of 8
• 1000 squats, lunges, abs // 400

food
• vegetarian day x4 // 2 days
• meet calorie goals 24 days // 11 days

other
• organise story outlines // procrastinating
• get driver’s licence // done

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0eox45Dv4

I still haven’t started New Rules of Lifting. Two reasons: 1) need to get some weights (easy); 2) need to get mentally prepared for some of the harder exercises (procrastination).

One of the most ‘feared’ exercise, especially because it’s in Stage 1 is the prone jackknife. The first time I tried it, at PT, I couldn’t even get into the starting position. When I finally got there with difficulty, I was so wobbly that I kept falling off. It was both disheartening and, because it was at a public gym, kinda embarrassing.

I tried again today at home, and hey! I did a bunch of them, just like that. I’m pleasantly surprised. I have no idea why the change from the previous attempt at PT. Possibly:

• I have better core strength (yeah, I wish)
• I’m using a smaller, and less inflated swiss ball
• I wasn’t wearing shoes
• I was at home, so no fear about falling off and looking like an idiot

It’s a good core / ab strengthening exercise. I’ve been scoping out dumbbells, barbells, bench etc and I have a pretty good idea what I’ll be getting. I have quite a good budget to work with — if I joined the local gym it’ll be $800 a year, so my aim is to spend around that price point.

I want to get back to setting monthly goals. I didn’t reach my goal for GCLS, those last 2-3 pounds are proving extremely stubborn. If anything, I haven’t been watching what i eat as carefully as before and i’ve gained 2 pounds. That said, several people have remarked that I don’t need to lose any more, which suggests to me that I’ve reached, or am close to reaching, my optimum weight. Each person has a default weight that their body is comfortable with, trying too hard to get below that tends to backfire, causing more harm than good. So, I’m not going to stress out too much about it.

I realise I should switch to tracking body fat % instead of weight. So I got a $4.99 body fat caliper. I’m still trying to learn to use it, my BF% range from 22-25%, and according to my scale it’s 30%. Yikes, that’s not good.

So anyway, goals:

exercise
• run 50k
• 5k race in under 36mins (allowance for knee)
• weights x8
• 1000 squats, lunges, crunches

food
• vegetarian day x4
• meet calorie goals 24 days

other
• organise story outlines
• get driver’s licence

 

I’ve been waking up to horrible leg cramps in both calves, as i stretch the back of the calf muscle seize up and feels like it’s solidifying. It doesn’t last long, but the last couple of days i’ve stayed sore all day. Didn’t impact my running, but it’s annoying.

Seems to be a mineral deficit of some sort, one or more of the alkaline / alkaline earth metals — potassium, calcium, magnesium. And/or dehydration. Many of the remedies include bananas for the potassium level. Milk, potatoes and water.

So I had one yesterday and one today. I’m not very keen on bananas, especially if they’re too ripe. Still, if it helps, then i’m all for it. Then again, I suspect what I really need is the osim usqueeze foot massager — I gave mine to Mum, probably time to get a new one for myself.

Nine months is a good time to update on the Getting Healthy project. I guess I should start with some stats, which is basically 33 pounds / 15kg since October 2008. That’s over 21% of my starting weight.

Yes, I have acted nonchalant about it, saying simple things like, “oh, i just go running” when people comment on the weight loss. But I’d be cheating myself if i didn’t come clean and say, yes, i put a lot of effort into it. And I’m happy and proud of the result.

Been reading a lot of the NYT Health section, and this article about the cost of weight loss resonated. This is what they say about potential cost,

How ready are you? The more committed you are, the less you will need to spend.

The hardest is the $0.00 DIY approach — count calories, exercise, change lifestyle by yourself. This is the approach I took. Registered on tdp, started running. Ate out less, made more salads. I suppose if i had to place a monetary value, it’s the $30 I spent on the Nike+. More about that in a bit.

For those people who need more help than the DIY approach, the costs go up as more help and professionals get involved. Buying a diet or exercise book is low cost, as is joining a group or a low cost gym. But then it gets serious. Hospital programs, personal trainers, nutritionists. There is no end to the amount of money one can throw at the ultimate goal of losing weight.

In MBA school we were taught opportunity costs. There is general consensus that even if we had to spend money now on things like Weight Watchers, exercise equipment, or the perceived increased cost of healthier food, at the end of the day there is a HUGE potential savings in terms of avoided healthcare costs. As one of the commenters said

What’s cheaper — $13.00 a week to attend a lively, educating, and motivating Weight Watchers meeting; or 100.00 a month on cholesterol lowering drugs; insulin or the oral equivalent, blood pressure meds, and other obesity related illnesses?

I didn’t seek out any help or enrolled in any support group. In a way, I was arrogant enough to believe that I had sufficient commitment to motivate myself. Plus, until recently, i viewed this journey as a highly personal and private one. What helped, was that I didn’t set a fixed goal. I didn’t say lose x pounds by y date. I only set a rough target of around 8 to 8½ stone, all i wanted is to get under 120 pounds / 55kg. The key was as little pressure as possible and set small goals. More recently, i’ve given myself more slack in the calories front. If i had a weekend of overeating, then so be it. It’s no big deal.

That said, I’m glad that I’ve found friends who are also on the same journey. I should have known that having support and feedback would result in even more motivation and encouragement. I get a buzz every time I tweet my runs and someone likes or, better, comments, on my fb status. So thank you, friends.

And it brings me to this long, interesting Wired article on the data effect of Nike Plus. I can say it’s the best investment I’ve made in this journey. I don’t go running without it. It’s so simple, giving me great tracking data that satisfies on a deep, deep level. No, it’s not only because I’m a numbers person, an excel geek — 1.2 million runners, 130 million miles run attest to that.


So here is my Nike+ chart. The stats at the bottom say: 109 runs, 69 hours, 620km, 40684 calories burned. More stats: longest run 11.7km, fastest 5k @27.22min. On average i’m running 2 times a week, and I run most on a Monday. To which I say, i’m committed to keeping it up.

feeling a bit sorry for myself, found myself with conjunctivitis today for no good reason. Not as bad as some cases, a bit painful, can’t really open my left eye comfortably. Doctor and eye drops came to almost $150. I need some optrex or some saline to wash my eyes, but obviously I don’t have them at home. Sigh.

Week 3 of the TDP challenge was dominated by the orporate challenge on thursday. OTOH I don’t think the writing is going to happen. What remains to be written is a pivotal love scene and expanding on the bit when the MCs confront the villain. I haven’t been able to write love scenes for a long time — I know i can do it, but just not recently. sigh.

exercise
• run 50k || done 54.56km
• 5k in under 30mins x4 || 3/4
• 500 crunches || 350/500
• 500 squats || 350/500

food
• vegetarian day x4 || 3/4
• meet calorie goal 24 days || 20/24

other
• find an apartment! || DONE!!!
• finish writing WS || difficult

so according to ExRx, I should be bench pressing 77 pounds. Gulp. That’s almost twice what I’m doing lately — I use 2x20 pound dumbbells. I should be able to go to 2x25; and If I’m going to use the “lift to failure” rule, I can probably do 1 rep at 60 pounds.

sigh. obviously a way to go.

I ate all this food, including peanut butter cereal bar, half an apple crumble cookie, and still according to TDP I haven’t eaten enough for today. That’s cos it’s vegetarian day, I guess. I still have 80 calories left over, but i’m too full and it’s late. It’s been a pattern, I’m not eating enough, may be i need to make some more food.

Week 2 of the TDP challenge went pretty okay, especially the finding a place to live bit.

exercise
• run 50k || 33.88/50
• 5k in under 30mins x4 || 1/4
• 500 crunches || 300/500
• 500 squats || 250/500

food
• vegetarian day x4 || 2/4
• meet calorie goal 24 days || 16/24

other
• find an apartment! || DONE!!!
• finish writing WS || working on it