Still slack

Having trouble getting motivated to jog or run or walk or anything. Was a gorgeous day today, and I did get in an hour's worth of hiking at Umstead SP (along with a substantial fraction of the metro area population).  Good walk, definitely got the heart rate up on several of the uphill stretches.  But that's only the second time all month.  Meh.

Peace.   ...   Steve

Slow going

My ability to run (jog) has definitely diminished this month.  This afternoon in perfect October weather I only managed 13 min jogging out of 40.  Calves are fine but sharp twinges in right hamstring now..  so will just take things a bit easy.

Had physical last week and doc suggested it might be worth trying CoQ10 supplement.  CoQ10 production in the body is impaired by statins which can be a factor in muscle pain.  Worth a shot, though the stuff is damned expensive.  Found some on 2 for 1 sale at Walgreens, which helps.  If it actually works it will be well worth the money anyway.  We'll see how things are going a month from now.  Also changed hypertension meds, which seems to have knocked 10-15 mm Hg off both systolic and diastolic readings.  Apparently it takes 2 - 3 weeks for the effect of the new meds to stabilize, but it's a promising start.

Peace.   ...    Steve

Nuthin much

Hasn't been much to report lately.  I've remained pretty slack about exercising.  Went out this afternoon 39 min with 16 min slow jog.  Legs still tight, but not a problem. Only three times exercising out of ten days so far this month...  hopefully will increase regularity and grow capacity as the month progresses.  If not during October, when?!

Peace.   ...    Steve

CPR

I was pretty depressed after my last bout of exercise which revealed quite clearly how far I have yet to go.  So I quit.  For a week.  Finally resumed work yesterday, hiked (mostly climbed) two and a half miles of the Appalachian Trail, starting from NOC in the Nantahala Gorge.  OK, only climbed on the way out.  In any case it was certainly an aerobic experience pour moi.  Left calf very tight once again.  But it was a great afternoon for a hike, and did remind me why I really want to get this done..  so I can go on a four mile hike with a grandkid on my back without inviting a coronary.

I think I need to get one of those tee shirts that says:

      I walked  
            
    the entire 
              width of the 
     Appalachian Trail

Peace.   ...   Steve

Pathetic

After slacking for 3 days I finally kicked myself down to the gym.  Actually, was going to jog the Greenway again but it's really humid, so thought I'd try the treadmill in the air conditioned gym.  Doing so made crystal clear how pathetic I am.  Here I'm thinking my jogging pace is 5, maybe 5.5 mph. Hah!  Started at 5.0, eventually slowed to 4.7, heart rate 155 bpm ...  and managed just 13 min of jogging out of 35 min total.  I'm wiped out.

On the good sides, calves are still in fine fettle.  There is hope, though it be faint and flickering...

Peace.   ...   Steve

Pretty good

35 min on the Greenway including 18 min jog...  and calves felt great both during and after!  First time in a long time I've been able to say that.  And have been off the naproxin for the last couple days too.  Not going to take it for granted for a long while yet, but still a good omen methinks.


Peace.   ...    Steve

Back to the Real World

Where by Real World I mean the local Greenway, of course.  46 min out and back, 18 min of which were jogging.  Calves really tight, but no cramps (thanks, naproxin).  Gets to be a lot like work after a while.  Meh.

Peace.   ...   Steve

Beach weekend

Lots of exercise too! Jogged 20 min out of 35 one day, spent one day in the water and running around pulling kids on bogey boards. Surprised myself a bit by running full tilt about 100 yards from the beach chair to water deep enough to dive into... and then all the way back a bit later. Nice to know that I can, just because I feel like it. :-) Just a 35 min walk this morning before heading back home. Calf is really tight, so back on the Aleve for now. Most of my muscles hurt for that matter.

Got a new Ironman (with resin band), which is nice to have back. Keeping time on the beach with a dress watch was less than ideal though it sufficed. When I get the replacement one back from Timex, I'll have a spare. Silly, but I didn't feel like waiting 4 weeks to get it back.

Peace. .... Steve

Back on the Greenway

Hit the trail this afternoon.. jogging off and on for about 15 minutes total out of 40 min. Right calf was tweaking until I warmed up, but OK thereafter. Feeling tight now though. At least the left calf didn't revert to its cramping ways.

Bummed that the wristband on my Ironman broke.. it's only a year old or so. Mailed it to Timex service center (with check for $10) and they will replace it. The band is "resin" and can't be replaced - they replace the whole watch. PITA.

Peace. ... Steve

Up and down

Jogged/walked a 1.2 loop around Swain County Rec Park. Actually set out to just walk, but after climbing a steep hill and not being overly breathless decided to jog and see how it went. Went remarkably well, actually, so maybe I have not regressed quite as far as I've thought. I can hope. So we will see how things progress from here. And no calf twinges so far either. Not bad!

Peace. ... Steve

Awright!

Hit the bathroom scale this morning and surprised to see 221 register... that's actually a couple pounds less than when I headed north. We'll see if that's a fluke over the next few days.. could have been dehydrated. Anyway, no matter how you look at it, that's way better than I expected it to be.

Peace. ... Steve

US Open

Well, not the ideal balance of exercise and diet by any stretch.. but have been able to get at least some exercise most days and hit the gym three times over the two weeks. Still, I imagine I'll tip the scales at 3-5 lb more on Wednesday morning than I did before heading to NYC. Have used the Aleve sparingly - generally have a beer or three after work/dinner, which isn't a good combination with NSAIDs. Ready to go home though.

Peace. ... Steve

Slacker

Have been finding excuses for indolence the last couple days, but did chauffeur myself to the gym this afternoon. 5 min warm up walk, 15 min Cybex circuit and 31 min on elliptical = 630 kcal supposedly. Not sure that covers yesterday's crab cakes, fries and Abita Purple haze... but 630 kcal better than nothing.

Calf muscle has been tweaking the last couple days too, but not during exercise today and feels fine now. So far, so good.

Peace. ... Steve

Hanging in

Have been active regularly for the past few days, either at the gym or elsewhere. Actually seem to have lost about 3 pounds, which is both surprising and encouraging. We'll see whether those pounds stay lost. Given outdoor temps in the upper 90s, the gym is a godsend. I've used the rowing machine a bit - reasonable aerobic exercise, and I feel that reaching for the next stroke actually stretches out my calf muscles a bit, so that could be a very good thing.

Leaving for a couple weeks in NYC a week from Tuesday. US Open is one of the hardest tournaments to maintain exercise routine; I guess we'll see if my motivation is up to the challenge.

Peace. ... Steve

Meh

Calf is feeling crampy once again, though 30 min on elliptical yesterday didn't make it any worse. But I won't be trying to jog again any time real soon. I'm certainly not losing any weight either. Meh.

More progress

Did some moderate walks last week in the NC mountains, which went well. Back at home, I wasn't willing to go for a long amble or walk/run in the heat and humidity and risk cramping up a mile or two from home. So reactivated my gym membership early (had suspended it for the summer) and did some resistance work and 30 min on the elliptical. So far so good. But for now at least, I plan to continue taking a couple Aleve on any day during which I might exercise. Really don't want to do that again if I can help it.

Peace. ... Steve

Progress?

After about a week of doing no exercise whatever, calf is feeling pretty much normal. Not sure if it's the inactivity, or the naproxin sodium (Aleve) but it is *much* better. I think I will give it a few more days before trying a long walk, but at the end of a day with a reasonable amount of generally walking around it feels good. I will be starting from scratch aerobically, but if I can restart and keep going, I'll be happy enough.

Peace. ... Steve

Labs are in

Basically, everything is normal. Potassium and magnesium levels are normal. CPK normal. A couple of liver parameters are marginally high. Prescription: Lose 5-10 lb and retest in two months. Great. So why has my calf continued to cramp for a month and counting? Must be magic.

Investigation

Saw the Dr. this morning. There is some chance that the pain is due to a DVT-type clot in the calf muscle, so I'm scheduled for a veinous ultrasound tomorrow morning. There is also a chance that the situation is aggravated by cholesterol lowering statin drug I take regularly, so no more of those for at least a week. Also took a blood sample to check for muscle damage markers which would indicate that physio might be the best way to recify the pain. So we should know what is what by the end of the week. Yay.

But at least my weight is only a pound or so higher than when I left for Wimbledon. Considerably better than the 4-5 pounds I usually carry back to the States. Could be worse.

Peace. ... Steve

A bit o' work

Did half an hour in the gym this morning, but 20 minutes was on recumbent bike, so that used calories at about half the rate as the elliptical. Need to have the leg checked out next week. And will need to restart my Golds Gym account since I can't run. Bah.

Peace. ... Steve

Status quo

Not much has changed. Did get downstairs for half an hour on the elliptical machine yesterday morning, but am definitely losing ground. C'est la vie.

Peace. ... Steve

Blech

Well, after last night's first ever night time tennis at Wimbledon, I slept in this morning and didn't exercise.. again. Still having trouble walking too. And had a tooth break off last night. Suboptimal in many respects. Meh.

Peace. ... Steve

Not sure

My calf muscles don't seem to be cramped anymore.... but it still hurts pretty seriously whenever I push off the ball of my left foot. I'm thinking I may have partially torn the muscle from the Achilles tendon. Looks like it will be a while healing.

But the elliptical works OK as long as I keep pressure off the ball of my foot, and just drive my heel downward. So still getting a reasonable level of exercise, thankfully.

Peace. ... Steve

Another way?

Maybe I'm going about this all wrong! According to this NYT article, I could get the same results by doing brief, very intense stints of exercise for 20-30 seconds, 4-6 times in a row, three times a week. Nah. I'd be too slack on the "intense part". Plus it'd probably give me a coronary. Keep on keepin' on. Wish my calf would heal though. Someone else was on the elliptical this morning (there is but one at the hotel), so I was relegated to the stationary bike. I hate the stationary bike. Meh.

Peace. ... Steve

Making do

Calf muscle still stays right on the edge of cramping and gets worse the more I walk. But fortunately it doesn't seem to be affected by use of the elliptical exercise machine, so that's been my alternative for the last couple of days. Boring, but it's something.

Peace. ... Steve

Setback

Woke up this morning and felt pretty good, so decided to walk to Hyde Park and then go 2/2 once there. By the time I got to Hyde Park, the calf was feeling very tight, but I proceeded with my plan to jog anyway. And it didn't feel bad at all as long as I was jogging. But the walk back to the hotel was tough, just hobbling the last half mile or so. Walking to AELTC from Southfields, it kept hurting more and more. Took forever to get to the venue. So, I will take it easy for a few days and hopefully it will heal. I just can't seem to find a way to stretch out the cramping muscles.

Peace. ... Steve

Holding pattern

Some progress.. walking fairly comfortably. Used a muscle relaxer yesterday which eased the tightness but had trouble staying awake most of the day, so won't do that again except overnight. Will try to spend some time in the hot tub tonight, and see if I can't get in some exercise tomorrow morning. We shall see.

Peace. ... Steve

Still sidelined

Leg cramps perist. Using ibuprofen to try to ameliorate the cramping, and overnight used Flexeril as well. Cramping is less severe as a result, but still lurks.. feels like it is ready to seize up at any moment. And the Flexeril seems to make it hard for me to concentrate at work. C'est la vie. Hopefully it will ease before long.

I did walk, slowly, from the venue to Wimbledon village for dinner last evening and thence to Wimbledon station (1.4 miles total). And walked in from Southfields station this morning. As long as I take it very easy and don't push off with my left foot, the cramping doesn't quite fire. So that's something.

Peace. .. Steve

A hitch in my git

Major bummer. We were walking from AELTC to the Southfields tube station last evening when my left calf muscles started cramping. Couldn't stretch them out enough to help, and they just kept getting tighter. Hobbled the rest of the way, took some ibuprofen. Got up early to exercise before work, but muscles siezed up walking from the bed to the bathroom. Looks like this is going to take a while. Sigh.

Apparently cholesterol lowering meds can increase propensity toward cramps, so may have to investigate that. And increase consumption of potassium and magnesium as well. We shall see.

Peace. ... Steve

Lollygagging

Slept until 7:00 this morning.. too late to exercise and still be ready to head to Wimbledon at 9:00. Found that it's about 0.8 mile from hotel to Hyde Park, not as close as I'd thought. But at least a couple miles worth of walking both yesterday and today. Not terribly aerobic, but activity nonetheless. Sigh.

Peace. ... Steve

One last time...

...before flying out. Actually, I'm thinking that some cooler weather may very much encourage me to persist while away from home. Outlook for the next 10 days suggests a welcome change of pace from NC summer.

The two minute segments of jogging seemed to be a bit easier today v yesterday but I think that was mostly because I stayed at a very slow pace.

Well, no progress yet on the weigh-in front -- still stuck at 224. Yeah, I know, I need to take up that ELF diet. That part is harder than getting more exercise.

Peace. ... Steve

Run Walk Lunch

Another 2/2 outing.. and I am definitely ready to walk after two minutes of jogging. I may just attempt to maintain at that level for the first week in London. Assuming circumstances are such that I exercise at all. But an outstanding BLOT for lunch afterwords! Mmmm. Along with three glasses of water and a 12 oz soda. I do sweat profusely.

Peace. ... Steve

Two by two

So today was the first day at 2/2 - all the way up to running (jogging) 50% of the time! Ooooh. Was definitely hard work though.. and mid-80s muggy conditions took their toll. Not a lot of fun. But Kat joined me, which was nice, though she quickly got to the point that she needed to run farther and faster than her father. Good for her. Still some work to do to lay down that good aerobic base, much less build on it.

Leaving Saturday for 24 days in SW19. Quite likely to be a substantial setback fitness wise. Great other than that though!

Peace. ... Steve

Sneaking one in

Took a longish lunch break and used it to hit the trail, thinking that the heat index at lunch wouldn't be as high as the heat index in the evening. But with dew point at 70F, it was still a very sultry experience. After a weekend of church and family dinners I was feeling loggy.. it was much more of a struggle than the last couple excursions. Time now to amp it up to the next level... we'll see how that goes.

Peace. ... Steve

Two successive days

Today is the first time I've done run/walk two days in a row. No biggie (but then I'm still doing more walking than running). Nice day for a circuit around the lake in Apex Community Park. Between that, a couple hours of yard work, grandkids spending the evening here... I'm likely to savor the joys of a lie-in tomorrow morning.

I'd probably be making more progress in the waistline war if I didn't do things like treating myself to a Flying Dog In-Heat Wheat when I got back home. On the other hand, I would have had that Dog even if I hadn't circled the lake.

Peace. ... Steve

Keepin' on

Went for a 2/3 run/walk between showers. Part of my usual trail was too muddy, so did a double traverse of the usable part of the greenway. After an inch of rain in the past 24 hrs, the air was really sticky but fortunately not too warm (72F) so it was a fairly comfortable experience. And my capacity does seem to be coming along nicely, which is encouraging. I haven't been sure what to expect at my age. I was going to use the Polar HR monitor, but its battery is dead. Maybe next time.

Peace. ... Steve

So far so good

Well, the 2R/3W went better than I had feared. By the third run segment, I was jogging quite a bit slower than usual and I was puffing hard on the last (sixth) leg. Should probably wear the Polar heart monitor next time. Using the favored HRmax = 205.8 − (0.685 × age) formula (per Wikipedia) my HRmax = 166. I feel like I was probably pretty close to that today.

Anyway, my legs and shins hurt less today than on Monday, so that was a welcome surprise.

Peace. ... Steve

Graduation

Had a great weekend in Blacksburg celebrating Tracy's graduation from the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, then sending Tracy and Kat off to Las Vegas where Tracy will spend three years as a resident working on Nellis AFB. Not so great from a dietary perspective, of course. Lost a bit of ground in the waistline war. But I did actually get off my duff for 46 minutes of run/walk (1 min/3 min), so that was good.

Tomorrow I ramp up to 2 min/3 min. Not sure how that will go, as I am really blowing pretty hard after the run part of 1 min/3 min. We'll see. So far so good though!

Peace. ... Steve

Restart

OK, so this blog has been dormant for ages, and I need to do something to motivate myself to lose some weight and get into better shape... this should be the perfect vehicle. Public, yet no one is paying any attention. Perfect.

So when I got back from two weeks at the Masters in April, my weight had ballooned all the way to 231. This on a frame that weighed 145 when I got married. Right on the hairy edge of BMI-defined obesity. Now, after a lot of salads and generally watching what I eat (most of the time) I'm down to 224. Not great, but progress in the right direction. And I do count my lowest weight of the day. My weight seems to vary by 2-3 lbs depending on the time of day. I'm tracking the lowest number only!

So it's time to start doing a bit more in the energy expenditure department. I've done a fair amount of walking, but am now trying to get back to running/jogging.. cover more ground, expend more calories, build more stamina, etc. To get started, I'm using the Run / Walk approach outlined in LifeHack (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/running-for-beginners.html). Started the second week today. As much as I travel, I know it will be two steps forward, one step back at times, but I'm hopeful that I'll follow through and gradually build capacity as well as continue to shed weight.

My weight goal is 180. We'll see. If I drop below 200, I will definitely celebrate the occasion. But that is a long way off. And the three weeks at Wimbledon will most likely set me back considerably. English beer, endless hours of sitting on my butt, curries and pork chops on offer in the staff cafe.. not conducive to weight loss. Not to mention the scotch and cigars every evening when we get back to the hotel. Most enjoyable! But not necessarily waistline friendly.

At least I am missing my usual two week stint at Roland Garros this year. I do miss it, but on the plus side it will help in sustaining my increased execise objective, and reduce the amount of French cuisine that I ingest. Celebrating Tracy's graduation from med school instead - well worth the tradeoff!

I plan to keep posting from time to time. We'll see. My track record (so to speak) is not encouraging.

Peace. ... Steve