Goal Update: Two Gyms

So, I'm a member of two gyms--and for the past week and an half almost everything has been closed :) I worked out yesterday and I've got my gym bag packed for today, Saturday I'm going to the Y and then Sunday I'm finally taking that Yoga class. I was actually off work for two days this week due to snow (which was nice, but cabin fever does tend to take over). You see, I live in the SOUTH and when we get snow, we totally freak out, close everything and hide. Its our way of dealing. I did a lot of organization and de-cluttering, so that's at least activity, but the snow has been mostly removed and the town (State) is back open for business. I'm also going to start reporting on doing the Beck Cognitive Behavioral Therapy book on changing thinking patterns to help with weight loss and dealing with the emotional aspects of food. I'll give you weekly updates starting Saturday.

Goals Update

So, ate a lot of salad, worked out Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. I shed about 2lbs.

This week:
Monday, out due to stomach bug
Tuesday, gym
Wednesday, teach class
Thursday, gym
Friday, yoga class (its supposed to snow up to 10 inches, so yoga may be replaced with pilates since I can do that at home)
Saturday, pilates

I might need to go gluten free for a while again or accept that I have celiac even though my blood test say's I don't. My stomach seems far more sensitive when I ingest gluten (wheat) that when I abstain and I have heard from other gluten-adverse people that the celiac test is only accurate with biopsy, not blood panel alone. Sooooo...

I think I'll focus on my legs at the gym today, I hope I get an elliptical. I got to go to the gym early (due to non-flex week) at 3:30 p.m. and it was REALLY hard to get an elliptical. One thing I did notice was that I probably need to challenge myself in terms of the arm weights. My colleagues, who are all going to the gym for the first time in quite a while, were all complaining about how much their arms hurt last week and mine seemed fine. Also, when I did do free-weights, the 5lbs hand-weights seemed like they weighed 3lbs--that's good, that's strength, but I'll need to move up to 8lbs pretty soon.

Aftermath of a Marathon: Your Blood Panels Look Like You Just Had A Mild Heart Attack???

Okay, I'm not going to pretend to secretly hope to be one of those individuals who loses a ton of weight and then runs a marathon--an improved brisk walking pace on a 5k is more my goal (and the ability to do some more advanced yoga).

According to several recent studies:

Last year studies were conducted in Australia, Canada, and Germany measuring the effect running a marathon had on the hearts of elite to novice runners. Tests were given on the participants immediately before and after running a marathon. The end findings were similar across the board — the participants showed marked blood indicators of cardiac damage.

“We measure those same blood markers when someone comes in to the emergency room and we suspect a heart attack,” says Davinder S. Jassal, MD, an assistant professor of cardiology, radiology, and physiology at the University of Manitoba as told to the New York Times. Blood profiles like those displayed by the runners are similar to those in a very mild heart attack.”

The coverage of the study didn't say whether post-race day blood work was used to determine the long-term damage of marathon running. The myth behind the marathon includes the tidbit that the man who ran the 26 mile distance, Tippets, dropped dead after delivering his message in Athens of the Greek victory over the Persians--okay, to be fair, he had allegedly also run 140 miles in 36 hours to beg the Spartans for aid and then back again, then fought in the battle, and then run the last 26 miles after victory--so, the marathon distance alone was not the legendary culprit behind his death).

Regardless, with triathlons, ultra-triathlons (extreme long-distance events covering 320 mile distances) and other extreme sports out there today, its important to remember the human body has limits. Many runners might take offense at this studies results because it calls into question how "healthy" extreme demonstrations of "fitness" can be. I say, evidenced based scientific research is important and should be used to give individuals a good understanding of the risk and rewards of endurance training and race-day impacts on the body.

Challenge: do something for fitness this weekend that you haven't done in a while. I'll do the same.

Mid Summer's Night Run

Here's my brother and I before our race at our Mom & Dad's house. I look sooooo fat in this picture, I almost didn't post it, but its the truth.

Here's the view from mid-crowd prior to the race starting. Check out the sweat-band! Old School.

And another picture.

I was number 56--my brother teased me about it (registering so early). He said, oh, gee, #56 (in a loud voice) you must be one of the ringers--are you a Kenyan?

Being a procrastinator, he was #5149--and he missed out on 5150 (the police/medical code for crazy person who needs to be put in a mental ward against their wishes), which would have been appropriate, I think :)

Okay, so here's the deal, I came in at 1 hour 1 minute and change. BUT there's a couple details that need to be added:

#1 We were doing reasonably well among the bottom third walkers, but then my brother needed to pee and we took five minutes to find a bathroom. Then the entire bottom third passed us and we were 7th & 8th to last, which I'm a bit embarrassed about. My father said I should have gone on without him--his bladder, his problem. But fundamentally, this was about simply following through and doing the race, regardless of what shape we are in. Next year, my niece said she'd do it with us and that she'd show no mercy. Over the coming year I would like to get off some weight and get my time down--so, I'm considering this a baseline.

#2 There was no water until after mile 2 and they planned the race so that it looped around itself and the competitive runners had to pass the mass of solid walkers when we barely just started and there was no special lane for them, but a cop telling us to move over. It was confusing and needed better coordination overall. Apparently though this was a record breaking number of participants.

#3 We did it and that's something to be proud of! Thanks J for doing it with me!