September 9th 2010 – Mass confusion!

When I started down this path (trail, journey, mission) a few months ago now, I had a serious look at my body (as an engine!! running on diesel, slow but reliable?) and did some calculations about where it was (honestly) at and where I’d (realistically) like it to be prior to lining up for 24hours of Death Racing… I summed it up at that time that I’d like to lose another 6kgs and another 3+% of BMI, getting down to 20%. Using a simple mathematical equation (at the time) I got this result.

Mass in kgs/height (m) x height (m) = BMI or
67/1.68 x 1.68 = 23.74% body fat

I was happy enough with that and embarked (mentally) on my quest. As I train more my metabolism is increasing and I’m finding that I am hungrier, especially at around 3pm, than I have been in previous weeks.

So, the point of mentioning all of this is thus: about 10 days ago I broke my scales! I was sweeping the bathroom floor and had put the digital scales up on the vanity basin. As I went to put them back on the floor, they slipped off and into the bath tub. Nothing broken, and technically I didn’t drop them as they slid, but ever since then they have read (sporadically) about 2.5kgs lighter than I had been. Even though they still read 00:00 before use as if they are working, somehow they are wrong. This was great if I wanted to feel like I’d dropped a few kgs really quick, but it isn’t helpful to me tracking my real progress. As these scales only measured weight, I thought it would be good to have a set that measured BMI, muscle mass, bone density etc. They weren’t too expensive at $50, so I was excited to plug the battery in and see how much I’d lowered my BMI over the last 12 weeks.

You can imagine how gutted I was to read that even at the same weight, this scale said my BMI was 29+%!!! I couldn’t believe it. Generally speaking 20-25% is in the healthy range, and 25-30% is overweight! Not only had I not lowered it, but now I had an extra 6% to lose and I was bordering on obese (at over 30%)! How could two methods be so completely different? The scales work by sending an impulse up one leg and measuring the time it takes for that impulse to return down the other leg. With that it determines water content, BMI, muscle mass, bone density and how many calories you need to consume to maintain that weight. And I was feeling pleased with myself, thinking my tummy was getting a little flatter?! The only thing to do now is use a 3rd method to determine it. Calipers! They measure your skin folds by pinching them, and you measure 11 different sites around the body (I think its 11) and they are averaged to get an overall BMI. Maybe this will tell me which of the other figures are closer to actual.

The plus side to today is that I had a lengthy discussion with the podiatrist at work about my aching leg. She did a few tests and suggested that she felt it was only muscular, and as I’d caught it early and not continued running for weeks on end with paid, that it should be ok with rest and ice treatments. We discussed my shoes (and she was really well versed in the Brooks brand, so that was good) and we determined with good management it should be ok. Basically she said the new shoe was making my legs work differently, and the muscle wasn’t getting enough time to adjust and recover. I was so thankful to hear it isn’t likely to be shin splints; that could completely undo my plans for many months. So hopefully after this week resting and ice treatments, my leg should be ok. There is a possibility that having changed to the Adrenalin shoes, I may have to look at going back to the Ariel’s in a few weeks if the paid doesn’t completely subside. I really want to encourage my foot to work for itself, which is why I tried the new pair, but if all else fails it will be back to the old trusty. I was enjoying the fact that the Adrenalin’s were so light weight compared to the brick-like Ariel’s, but I can’t run if my legs don’t like the shoe! So time will tell, and I am sure things will work out as long as I stay smart and listen to the clues my body is giving me.

September 8th – Pull back now, or never run again!

Bugger, I’ve been doing some research on why the inside of my right calf has been aching since the City to Surf…and I think I have a shin splint! I suspect it might also be from running in these new shoes, the Adrenalines, which are slightly less supportive than the Ariels. (I know they are, I was hoping to build up my foot strength.) I was ignoring it hoping it would go away, but it isn’t and now I seem to have a brand new baby shin splint! Hopefully with some love and attention, major icing and compression and no running for a week…things will improve! I am frustrated, but what can you do. Obviously my legs need rest and there is no arguing with them. They are the two that have to carry me across the line! I have, in years past, had temporary niggles in my legs and joints, and with patience and good management they have never become a problem.

Now, how to keep myself moving without impact? Water running? Cycling? More walks with FD#1 (though the rate at which she walks it could almost be called a shuffling jog!). I don’t fancy getting wet yet, not warm enough, so I will go home tonight and clean the bike up a bit, find my pump as I’m bound to get a flat; and my planned run tomorrow will turn into a very long circuitous route to work. I’ll find 25+kms somewhere. Coach Extraordinaire said I can cycle as long as it doesn’t hurt. I need to get on the bike anyway and mix my training up a little. As much as I love my running, I’d like to do something else as well.

I am so disappointed as I had thought my body was holding up very well. Though I did add up my total mileage over the last 5 weeks, and I am proud to say I’ve run over 160km in that time. Not bad considering I only started 5km runs at around May/June! So, I’d better take it easy now and reap the benefits later.

September 7th – Dashed by the weather again, maybe!

I really need to learn to “make hay while the sun shines”; or run while it’s dry! With only one pair of shoes on the go, I don’t have the liberty of wetting one pair and having a dry pair for the next run. I was happy when I walked FD#1 this morning as rain was forecast, but that was before I knew I should run tonight. Gotta smile!!

With a plan of a light week, I’d decided I’d run Wednesday and Friday and Sunday this week. Sunday is already dashed, now moved to Saturday but at least I have company! I’ve had to enlist a substitute, MGal #2 as MGal #1 is going to be working. But #2 can’t run Sunday as she chooses to be hungover (xox) and wants to change it to Saturday which is fine by me as it’s an “off-kid” weekend. This basically means my time is my own and I don’t have to fit into their timetable also.

So backing up Friday and Saturday on a light week didn’t seem logical to me, and during today I decided I’d run this evening. The heavens heard me and started to rain, heavily. I mean, testing my resolve this far out from the race is a little pointless weather, as I still have time up my sleeve to be a little flexible. If it were after Christmas and I had, say, 2 months to go…I’d be running in a blizzard if I had too. Luckily 2 months out from the race is the end of summer here then so all I’ll be fighting is heat fatigue and dehydration. Oh joy! I will try to remain positive over the next few hours that I will get a run in when I get home. Especially as I need to run off this fantastic lunch we had at work in honour of Multicultural Awareness at Work. Am very satisfied, and feel like Pumbah!

I logged onto Eastbay this afternoon to see if there was any notification of my returned shoes and credit. I looked at my order history to see the wrongly ordered pair, the new pair I ordered and am now wearing, and a 3rd new pair they decided to send me without confirmation and have since charged me the excess (including my credit from the wrong pair) to my credit card! Kind of ticked off now, as I haven’t received the 3rd pair, which would have been shipped before the 2nd pair (the ones I ordered in place of the 1st pair) and now I’ve been charged for two pairs, have one pair and only want one pair! I emailed them and hopefully will find out why it happened and where my 3rd pair of shoes is! I know this pair I have will only last about 800km…so probably be dead about Christmas and I will need another pair. I am just really annoyed they didn’t consult and confirm with me via email. Especially in the accompanying letter I sent with the returned pair spelt out what I would like to do, but could they please confirm!!! They are still cheap and quick to supply, but I am a bit annoyed right now!

The chocolates are going well, but need to do more. The only trouble is as I think about all the letter writing and telephoning I need to be doing to organise a quiz night, I wonder where I will fit that in?! I really need to be unemployed to fit all of this stuff in!! Hopefully, where there is a will there’s a way; or some of my lovely friends will stand up and say “give me a job”.

My other bit of excitement on the horizon is I shall soon be the proud owner of 2 “Death Racer in Training” shirts that I can wear everywhere and hopefully start some conversations and donations rolling in! Thanks to a lovely new FaceBook Death Racer Friend, MGuy. (Another "M"!).

September 5th – Father’s Day

As the alarm went off at 5.30am, I briefly questioned my sanity. I find if I ask for too long or expect a sane reply, I would never get up so I just throw my legs over the side of the bed and groan. Sometimes I have to try to remember why I’ve set the alarm for a particular time, even perhaps remember what day it was… this morning it was Marathon Club run day. I’ve recently joined as their race calendar seemed like a logical way to fit in more training, and meet new people. I was a bit reluctant though as I knew it would be a whole group of people that run a whole lot faster than me, the majority of them being a whole lot older than me! But, you get that…and I reason that I am running against myself (and a 24 hour clock), and that in time the plan will come together!

Picking up MGal at 6.15am we headed off to the Lake Gwelup 10km in lieu of our Bibbulmun run! We both knew where we’d rather be, but I really wanted to attend a Club run, and MGal had had a really quiet week after her first class stack on the Track last Sunday. Poor thing; she had bits missing and was black and blue everywhere. So Lake Gwelup it was. I’ve never been up there, and at 6.45am it was absolutely stunning, with the early morning mist rising off the water. We were a little early, but by run start at 7.30am, the crowd had swelled to over 50 people, most of them non-members. So I felt comfort in the fact that I wasn’t the only nutter to get up this early on a sleep-in day!

With the group off, I ran with the pack knowing I’d have to pull back and run at my own pace sometime, but it was awesome to glance at my watch at the 1km mark and see that I’d run it in 4:58! Speedy for me! The kms seemed to pass slowly and being a 2 lap run with some gradual little climbs and the sun getting warmer, it was a good test for me. By the time I was coming into the start/finish 2nd lap transition, this stockily built tall older man came up on my shoulder. To say he was struggling aerobically would be an understatement. But he was gaining and passing me, much like the old gent in the City to Surf who’s knees jutted out at right angles, I was being passed by someone who, to look at and listen to, you wouldn’t have thought could run 500 m let alone string kms together. Perhaps one day I’ll learn not to judge running physique! God only knows what I look like?!?

As I listened to this guy laboring under his breathing I was willing him to hurry up and pass me already! I really can’t run next to people who seem to be struggling, especially loud breathers. It always makes me focus in on my own struggle with going faster and harder, where I try to zone out of that area and just push on! I was thankful when he pulled 10 meters ahead of me, at least he was out of earshot, and even more thankful when he crossed the finish line for a 5km run. Me, I was off onto lap #2 for the last of the run. Not many people went round for the 2nd, and I was suddenly running on my own with the gap between runners more than 30m or so. With about 2km to go, this awesome fit looking “older” grey haired woman came up behind me and passed me with little effort. I thought “this it was comes from not going out too hard at the start”. I figure for me, effort is effort, and I have to train myself to keep going when mentally I want to switch off. Choice is putting one foot after the other, regardless of fatigue or aches and pains (within reason), and I am training myself to switch off. I know there might be times when I’m physically ill (I’ve never actually vomited running, but I know people have) or continuing on dodgy legs might not be in my best interest, but crossing my fingers my body holds together, my biggest brick wall will be fatigue and mental toughness!

So lapped I was by this lady, and pushed on I did. Sometimes running faster at this distance makes me question how on earth I’ll run 125km if going at pace (for me) at 10km is tough. I guess it is about building the pieces of the puzzle together. I was pleased that at 1.5km to go, I actually managed to “kick”; at least I was in my head. With arms pumping I crossed the line in 58:19:??, and my watch told me I’d run 10.74km, averaging 5:26… so right where I need to be, and faster than the other Marathon Club run I did with MGirl. I was about to head out back along the run to find MGal, as I’d run away from her in the first km… and I felt a bit guilty! As I turned around she was there looking fresh as a daisy after packing it in at 5km; her poor body. As the announcer said “as we just wait for the last of the runners to come across the line” I wondered if it was a veiled comment as to how slow I’d run? Back of the packer maybe, room for improvement, yes, and running with purpose and time to improve.

My total for the week: 39km, 51km including last Sunday’s City to Surf. I know soon I will be up to 60, 70, and 100km a week. I look forward to the challenge, but often wonder how I will fit it in!

The rest of the day was the same as Saturday, except for the addition of an all important call to Dad to wish him Happy His Day. With a verge pick-up soon and one final burst of energy and “to-be-botheredness”, the front of our house looks a little like Steptoe and Son! It felt good to get so much done this weekend, and with my house a little less cluttered and my legs a little heavy; my heart felt a whole lot lighter!

September 4th – Easy Street

I was looking backwards through my blog entries to see when I last was “slack”…I mean really slack. I think it was when CBoy got his jaw broken, which was 2 months ago now. I told my Trainer Extraordinaire on Sunday that I think I really need an easy week, as I am feeling physically tired. I’ve not been taking my resting HR this last week (oops) but I bet it’s up. I asked if it was ok, and he agreed I was due for an easy week.

As Thursday and Friday had been quite tough on me emotionally, I was thankful for a sunny Saturday morning. My motto over the last 12 months or so has been that “the sun always rises in the morning, and I always get a chance for a do-over”. This basically means that whatever darkness descends upon my day, I know it will all look different in the morning. This proved to be the case with Saturday morning! I guess as I get older I have finally learned to “change what I can, and not to sweat what I can’t”; and with respect to my pained heart on Friday as I couldn’t change the circumstances, I decided to change myself. That’s not to say I will forget (him) quickly, just that I know I need to move on. My older sister once told me how she thought I was awesome at picking myself up and dusting myself off. At the times I was a bit terse and said I was sick of “dusting myself off” but now I realise it is a real asset; a strength.

With the food shop done on Thursday night so it doesn’t intrude into my weekend, Saturday morning was on the go from the moment I woke up. Up before 7am, I had a contractor come at 8am to have a look at the laundry and bathroom that are in dire need of help! The bathroom is horrible and compact, sadly I can’t change the design much but hopefully the facelift will be ok. About 4 loads of washing later, thank god for the 29 minute quick wash; and one contractor hustled out the door, CBoy and FD#1 and I were off to baseball training for a 9.30am start. We discussed along the way whether or not dogs had visual recollections of areas, and whether FD#1 realised she was off to baseball. As we got closer she got more restless in the back of the car, so we decided she did!

I have spent quite a few of the last summers walking and/or running around the ovals while training was on. Mostly out of a sense of “I should get off my bum instead of doing no exercise”, than one of wanting to. My life for a long time over the last 5 years or so has been quite sedentary, which is why I put on so much weight. Now I obviously have a purpose, so my plan was to sweat this morning! With CBoy happily started, FD#1 and I headed over the back oval. Many times I’ve watched the junior and the senior players run the hill repeats. The oval is surrounded on one corner by a grass embankment that climbs much the same angle as a set of bleachers. Many times the kids have been run up and down, up and down, until they are walking up and rolling down as they’ve reached their limit! So now it was my turn.

With the sunny morning, the temperature was already climbing and the corner was in full sun. Where the steepest bit was at least; there was shade around the side but I didn’t want to cheat! I let FD#1 off her lead and was curious to see how many repeats she’d manage until she became a spectator. I’ve never forcibly run with FD#1, being a giant breed it isn’t really recommended. She runs of her own accord off the lead, but I’ve never taken her running. This is the closest she has come. The hill was about 45m in length, so with the run up and walk down, I had hoped to do at least 20, with grand designs on 50! CBoy said they usually did 10-20, so I figured I’d do that at least with a little more fitness and some grown up tenacity thrown in.

The first 5 repeats were hilarious. Me with my arms a-pumping and legs a flailing trying desperately not to trip over a 55kg dog! When she plays at home, she always tries to bite your wrist, a herding instinct I think, trying to steer you to safety. So I was hustling up this hill, slapping off an enormous dog and trying so hard not to burst into laughter. This lasted until FD#1 was a little breathless and probably sick of me slapping her in the chin to stop her from grabbing my wrist. She went and sat down in the shade, but only for a moment. Every time I charged back up the hill, she followed and sat at the top and watched me walk down. The before I’d hit the bottom, she come bouncing back down and was ready to go again. This was fun to her, she hadn’t done this before. My HR steadily climbed, along with the temperature, and her interest waned as her HR climbed! I reached 10 without a bother and stopped at the bottom for a drink and a stretch. As I was crouched she came barreling back and literally jumped over me and up the hill. So off we went again, on the next set of 10! By the time I was in the 20’s I had to keep calling her back as she’d wander half way across the oval heading back to the car, the people and the shade. At least I found out she responds to sit and drop from over 100m away. That was a bonus.

With her sitting in the middle of the oval, I promised “only another 5” and I turned for repeat 26 and before I’d reached the top she came galloping up behind me! By the time I’d hit 30 and was walking down from the top, she was all the way across the other side of the oval, in the shade, tongue hanging on the ground. The sweat was pouring off me, and the 30 minutes, avg HR of 155, 2.97km on my watch didn’t really reflect how hard I thought I’d worked. 40 next time! I did all these repeats with my Five Fingers shoes on, it really made me realise how much you are up on your forefoot running up hills!

The next 30 minutes was a lovely stretch in the sun, waiting for baseball training to be over. Chatting with friends about quiz nights and chocolates and car rallies! FD#1 was flaked out under the shade of a tree and slept like a log for the rest of the afternoon. She probably won’t get so over-excited next time we run the repeats! In hind-sight I probably should have got a dog built for running, but at the time I wasn’t a runner; and I wouldn’t trade her temperament for the world, even if her tail wagging breaks your shin bones and she trips you over, literally when she plays. She is an awesome dog!

Home for a shower and lunch and another gagillion loads of washing; thankful for the shining sun and drying weather. I then took CBoy to a friend’s house, and with MGirl at work I was left to my own devices! The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting out the house, some more, and finally making some space and headway into the chaos.