Treadmill Season

The dreadmill.  The human hamster wheel.  Satan's sidewalk.  Why would anybody run on a treadmill when they could run outside instead?

The answer to that question occurred to me last Sunday.  The roads near my house generally don't have sidewalks, so I run on the shoulder and jump off the road when a passing car refuses to move over and leave some room.  Last Sunday we had a heavy cold rain.  The road was narrowed by previous snow accumulations, and the rain had left large ponds in the shoulder.

This left me running in the middle of the road, as I prefer not to run in ankle deep ice water.  When a car would approach through the foggy rain, I'd leap over the flooded shoulder and find out that the snow on the side of the road was a sheet of solid ice.  Not the most fun I've ever had running.  Did I mention my shirt was soaked and chafing?

So I've spent several hours this week making peace with the treadmill in the company fitness room.  The key is to accept that there are some big differences compared to running outside, and take advantage of what a treadmill does well.

For example, I find it very difficult to hit moderate heart rates outside.  Walking briskly will get me up to about 120, while a slow jog usually gives 150 or more.  On the treadmill, a 4% incline at a brisk walking pace of 3.6-ish mph will put me right in the middle of the 130s.  Adjusting the speed up and down allows fine adjustment of effort level and resulting heart rate.  Even better, my pace can't drift on the treadmill.  Well, technically my pace can drift, but not for long as I'll fall off one end of the belt or the other and end up on YouTube under "treadmill fails".

So my plan is to use the treadmill several times during the work week to train at the moderate intensities that are difficult for me to find outdoors.  When I am able to run outdoors (mostly on the weekends), I'll focus on longer and/or more intense workouts, and hope to find that those are higher quality since I haven't exhausted myself with the weekday runs.

And if I'm really lucky, all that time at moderate effort will give me a big boost of aerobic capacity, and allow me to more easily find that elusive moderate effort when jogging outdoors.

New Year's Resolutions

I resolve to lose weight and become a faster runner.  To eat healthier and get better quality sleep.  To help old ladies cross the road.  To end hunger and spread peace.  To,… to,.. OMG how am I ever going to do all of this?!?

I'm not really a New Year's resolution type of guy.  When I crossed the 160lb level and had to start wearing the next size larger jeans, I vowed to lose weight and today am closer to 165.  That's still in the "healthy weight" range on the BMI charts, but the trend is in the wrong direction.

But my company shuts down over the holidays and that gives me a chance to reflect on what my goals are and what's working and what's not.  Obviously whatever I'm doing to lose weight is in the "not" category.  Actually, I'm not sure quite sure how the weight is supposed to come off, as I vowed to lose weight and then kept right on with my usual eating and exercise habits.

In truth, I have tried to cut back on my calorie intake, but the results were not as expected.  I expected to be hungry and perhaps a bit tired.  If only it were that easy.  When in calorie deficit, my body prefers to do a good imitation of fibromyalgia combined with depression.   As a result, everything hurts and any activity that might result in a single extra calorie being burned seems pointless.

It's also true that "lose weight" and "become a faster runner" are at odds with each other.  Building muscle generally requires a caloric surplus and hard running.  Even with the calorie surplus, all the hard running will lead to joint and muscle pain and a temporary diminishment of enthusiasm for, well, everything.  Running hard while in calorie deficit is just asking for trouble.

It's quite the quandary without any easy answers.  My latest experiment was limiting myself to only two slices of pepperoni pizza, then getting up from in front of the TV and organizing my sock drawer.  That's not the sexy answer that will sell a diet book, but it is an incremental change that seems to work in reality.  As a bonus, I can now spend more time running and less time looking for a matching pair of socks.

Still Running

I haven't been posting about it much, but yes I am still running regularly.  I don't have any goal races planned, so there isn't much to talk about.  I've just been focused on ramping up the quality and quantity of my mileage, and my knee has been well behaved until recently.

Ah yes, that bout of runner's knee.  It's been doing well for quite some time, so I got a bit lazy about working on strengthening and stretching the legs.  As I get better, faster, and stronger, my knee is definitively telling me that it's not bionic, and won't tolerate all the abuse imposed by muscles that aren't doing their jobs properly.  It's tired of being the person at the office that fixes everybody else's mistakes.

I'm also approaching my running differently than before.  While still a fan of walk breaks, I'm now trying to do more of my shorter runs without them.  It's actually pretty challenging in unexpected ways.  Briefly, walk breaks work by allowing tired sections a muscle a chance to recover.  However, muscle that's allowed to recover doesn't get damaged, and thus doesn't have a chance to rebuild itself with new infrastructure that will prevent future damage.  So when first giving up walk breaks, it quickly becomes apparent which sections of muscle have been slacking off.  It's an experience in running very slowly in lots of pain.  To compound matters, tired muscles cause bad form which aggravates things like runner's knee.

Form is another weak point of mine.  My natural inclination it to take long bounding strides, sort of like I'm doing a series of long jumps rather than running.  I read a lot of advice online, such as increasing stride rate will automatically lead to shorter strides and better form.  Or to lean forward from the ankles.  I haven't quite figured out how to lean forward from the ankles.  Instead I try to keep my foot on the ground longer, it ends up being further behind me when it does come off the ground, and that forces me into a leaning from the ankle sort of form, at least for that end of the stride.

It's also difficult to make tired legs take more steps per minute.  Here a Jedi mind trick is useful.  It's much easier to swing your arms faster.  Since the legs and arms want to move opposite each other, a faster arm swing will automatically cause a faster stride rate, and the mind is focused on the arms, which are very happy not to be the legs about now.  Life is good if you’re an arm out for a long run.

So no exotic destination races for me at the moment, just running around the same old routes, swinging my arms faster, pushing my legs behind me, and gritting my teeth while not taking walk breaks.  And also the occasional ice pack on the knee and strengthening and stretching.  Can't forget about those.  Again.

Let's talk about streaking

Back in the spring I promised to run or walk every day until the end of August.  The idea was that it would be too hot and humid to get quality runs in, so rather than sitting around complaining that it's too hot/humid/whatever to get outside, I'd work on building a habit of getting exercise in regardless of the weather.  And by that measure, the streak was successful.  Funny thing is that in a streak of 94 days it only rained once or twice, and the rain was so severe I ended up using the treadmill.  I have no problem running in the rain, but when there's flooding and poor visibility it's a different matter entirely.

Sadly, the streak ended very early in September at the same time my father-in-law was in the final days of losing his battle with cancer.  It wasn't really an appropriate time to celebrate a great accomplishment, so I had an emotional meltdown instead.  But now a month removed from those events I can look back and say "mission accomplished".

I'm planning another streak for this winter and for much the same reasons.  It will be dark, cold, snowy, icy, and all kinds of brutal.  Getting in a token amount of daily exercise will be an accomplishment.  I can see myself clearing a blizzard out of the driveway, then strapping on some snowshoes and doing laps around the woods behind my house.  Given the speed I go in deep snow, it may make sense to make 20 minutes the minimal qualifying effort instead of 1 mile.  This isn't so I can register on any running streak website, so I get to make up my own rules.

I also want to start a streak of posting to my blog every week, starting with this post.  Writing is a very therapeutic thing for me.  It's an opportunity to take the thoughts that are constantly stirring around inside my head, put them down on paper (or LCD, as the case may be), and look at them from the outside.  I can re-arrange them, sculpt them, keep the good thoughts and backspace out the unhelpful ones.  Even if nobody ever reads the blog there's great value in the creation of it.  For those keeping track, this is about the third time I've written this particular post, and it's the first version I sorta like.

Also, it's time to get serious about running another marathon.  I don't have a specific event or date picked out yet, but do have a rough idea of the level I need to reach as a runner before committing to an event.  Intrigued?  Look for my next post!

Crap… in a few more words

My father in law is dying of cancer.  Dawne has left her job to take care of him with the help of a Hospice service.  I’m splitting my time between working, helping Dawne where I can, and clawing my way out of the dark emotional pits I occasionally fall into.

I struggle with uncertain situations and with the feelings of powerlessness that happen when you simply don’t know what to do.  My job can push those buttons enough when customer issues come piling in, but at least it’s reassuring to know that we have lots of customers and business is booming.

It’s tougher to think positively about death, but let’s try anyway.  We all have do die, so there should be nothing tragic about going through the process relatively comfortably at an advanced age, at home and with visits from friends and family.  Feelings of loss and sadness are inevitable, but to think this won’t happen someday is delusional.

But there are challenges too.  As a person loses the ability to walk or even stand, some bodily functions take on a peculiar combination of difficulty and messiness.  In a hospital or nursing home there’s trained staff to deal with this.  When doing hospice at home, it’s all learned on the fly and usually without warning in the wee hours of a Saturday night.  This is when you learn what “Primary Care Giver” really means.

In such a situation it’s surprisingly easy to rise to the occasion and do things you didn't think you were capable of.  For a brief moment the emotions shut down and you simply act.  But then at some later time the emotions turn back on and suddenly everybody at the Stop and Shop is an idiotic moron who’s just in the way.  I can’t handle the uncertainty of deciding which style of pasta to buy, and am flooded with feelings of helplessness.  And when I get back to the office and try to get back into the work routine I suddenly find myself in another of those dark pits.  Why can’t emotions function in a more logical manner?

Things will be okay.  We are living through an exceptional time in what had already been a challenging year.  It’s a time of change, of personal growth, of tears and dark humor.  We will come out the other side and return to normal.  We'll be slightly older, wiser, and have a different perspective on what’s really important in life.

The Streak Goes On

Today will be day 27 of my walk/run streak.  To recap quickly, I’m committed to walking and/or running a mile or more every day through at least the end of August.  It’s like a running streak, but allows walking in the hopes of avoiding burnout and injury.

And it turns out that walking can be harder than running, particularly on the day after a hard workout.  Running produces a biochemical stew including adrenaline and endorphins that dull pain and tap into energy reserves.  Walking isn’t intense enough to do that, so there’s nothing to stop the sensations of dragging a tired, achy body around.

But walking is enough to loosen up the body and get things circulating, which flushes out waste and gets nutrients into areas that aren’t well served by blood vessels.  It’s restorative without doing further damage.  Other activities such as Yoga are also helpful, but since I can’t track mileage when doing Yoga, I go for a walk.

With a few walk days during the week, there’s now more contrast between my hard and easy workouts.  This seems to be working very well, but since I’m still coming back from injury and bronchitis it’s too soon to tell if it’s the walking or simply my body remembering some of its former level of fitness.  Either way, my pace has improved from glacial to slow at an astounding rate and my resting pulse is back under 60.

By doing something every day, the weekly mileage adds up very quickly.  I’m eager to get back to doing a long run over 10 miles once a week, but right now that would ramp up my weekly mileage too much too quickly.  It’s a completely different experience to be holding back on pace and distance compared to trying to go further and faster than the body is really ready for.  Exercise is fun again.

The streak is almost a month long and becoming established as habit.  Now it’s time to start focusing on adding in some strength training and maybe even some yoga, in addition to maintaining the streak.  Adding variety instead of increasing mileage feels radical.  It’s not something a runner does naturally.

Bought a Prius

Yesterday we picked up our brand new Prius!  Of the cars I have owned, this one by far has generated the largest number of questions, odd comments, and quizzical looks, which is saying something considering I once owned and autocrossed an orange Chevette.  As a convenience for my family, friends, coworkers, and other acquaintances, I present this convenient FAQ:

Q: When did you develop a man crush on Al Gore?

A: I didn’t.  This car is not a political statement.  It’s not going to save the planet.  It’s still consuming resources.  Only rather than burning a lot of oil from unstable countries with despotic governments, it’s made from many rare elements which are mostly concentrated in other unstable countries with despotic governments.  The motto of hybrids and electrics should be “Killing the planet a little more slowly and in different ways”.  If I really wanted to save the planet, I’d move closer to the office and walk/run/bike to work.

Q: So why did you buy it?

A: Two reasons.  First, I have a long commute and typically spend a couple hours each week crawling along slowly in bumper to bumper traffic.  The Prius is ideal for this kind of driving.  It can crawl slowly on electric power alone, which is exceedingly quiet and it doesn’t have a transmission that’s constantly changing gears like a modern 6+ speed automatic.

Second, I’m an engineer, and the technology of the Prius is fascinating.  I tend to avoid complicated cars, but will make an exception in this case.  While it’s complicated, they’ve also eliminated a lot of the failure points and maintenance items in other cars.  There is no accessory belt.  All the accessories (including A/C and water pump) are electric.  This means they can run independently of engine speed, and since they don’t need to function from 600 RPM to 6,000+ RPM are in theory less failure prone.  So how many readers have I lost by now?  Okay, I’ll skip the bit about the lack of a normal transmission.

Q: Why do you need 5 cars?

A: I don’t have 5 cars.  We have 4.  Two are new-ish daily drivers which are reliable and in good condition, and the others are both 17 years old and driven infrequently.  They old ones are a luxury and a means of coping with the long commute.  When I get bored driving the Prius, I’ll hop in a gas guzzler for a couple days, have fun, then at the first traffic jam quickly remember the reasons for getting the Prius.

Q: How much did you pay?

A: About $500 too much, like any other car, so so it feels.  With the internet, there isn’t much negotiation left.  I end up paying at or near invoice price, plus taxes, registration, and dealer fees, minus rebate and trade-in.  I suspect the invoice is slightly inflated by advertising fees and such.  With the holdback, the dealer ends up selling the car “at cost” and pocketing about $800-$1000 dollars, plus whatever other incentives go directly to the dealer.

Q: What’s it like to drive?

A: Surprisingly like any other car, with a couple exceptions.  The first portion of the “gas pedal” travel uses electric power, so to get it to really accelerate you need to push past that, and past the “efficient” zone.  It’s set up for economy, not to feel like a fast car.  Need to get up to speed?  Lead foot it.  Also, the brakes are used to recharge the battery, but the regeneration works best at speed.  As you approach a stop, the regeneration quits working and you need to push down harder to engage the friction (normal) brakes.  It’s a bit disconcerting until you get used to it.

Q: How often does the engine shut off?

A: Any chance it gets.  At speeds below about 45, the engine will shut off every time you take your foot off the gas pedal.  Driving behind someone who is going at an unsteady speed, or in traffic where cars are frequently slowing down to turn, the engine can cycle off and back on many times per mile.  It’s very well done.  Many times, you can only tell if the engine is on or off by the “EV” light on the dashboard.

Q: Is it quiet?

A: Yes and no.  At low speeds, it’s either on electric power or the engine is turning slowly, so it’s very quiet.  At speed, there is a surprising amount of tire noise.  It seems sound deadening would add weight and reduce gas mileage.