I have been learning to eat well! I have been a junk food eater my entire life. I ran so I could eat and I thought I could eat whatever I liked. Ice cream, cookies, cereals, and anything else I liked I dumped in my mouth. I counted on running it all off. I realized a few years back that this was not going to work as I got older. I tried a few types of diets, had some success a few years back, but kept returning to the junk food. I learned a few healthy things along the way, but nothing really stuck. During the winter I read The Warrior Diet and had some success eating less throughout the day and more at night and following the health guidelines, but I soon returned to my bad habits. Then I started reading more about the The Paleo Diet which is also similar to The Primal Blueprint . I am still learning how to eat correctly and am enjoying healthy foods in new ways.
Basically I am eating fruits, nuts, and vegetables during the day. I am also learning to make awesome salads. For dinner I am learning to eat good meats and salmon along with another big salad full of all sorts of fruits and veggies. I am steering clear of processed foods, dairy, and grains (as well as breads). For the past three weeks I have noticed the lack of desire to eat junk foods. I have indulged a little here or there but it does not satisfy me as it did before. I do not feel hungry during the day (cravings are gone) and I feel ready to run at a moments notice. I don't get that heavy sleepy feeling after eating.
I have also noticed that I am losing weight. I have lost about 10 pounds in about three weeks. Today I weighed in a at just a few pounds more then I was a couple of years ago (my lightest weight in years) when I started to have some good races.
I have a lot to learn still about good nutrition and what works best for me, but I feel real good about the type of eating I am doing now. I will still like ice cream and cookies, but a bowl a week and a cookie or two a week is so much less that what I used to eat in one day alone!
I don't seem to be at a loss of energy for running either. I ran 8 miles on Wednesday (fastest time since last fall), and on the same loop the next day ran less than a minute slower. Today I went out in the heat and did 11 miles. I am putting the Feldenkrais lessons to work and feeling looser and stronger as I run. I can't get that full body balance for more that a few strides, but I think it will take a long time to undue the multiple imbalances that are so ingrained in my muscle memories.
I have a lot of work to do, but things are going in the right direction for a change.
And then I was looking at the Cigna 5K results and fellow 50 year old Mike Merra pops an 18:05 time and Cathy Merra blasts an 18:49. That's two people in the same family and the same age as me that are way ahead of where I am. Those are great results. Heck, I am no longer even the fastest person on my street, Karen Long ran an 18:55 at the same race. There were quite a few other fast times from teammates and friends. It is good to see people running so well.
My ribs are still sore when turning and getting up or lying down, however I stopped taking pain medicine and I only get an occasional jolt in the rib when running and that is a lot better than what I was told would happen just last week.
Thursday the doctor told me I probably had a cracked rib. I was given some pain relief pills (50 heavy duty pills that I never used) and 50 other pills to also conquer the pain (that's a lot of pain medication!). Things did not look good for me. But Friday morning it only took a minute to maneuver out of bed, after taking about an hour the previous morning. Things were getting better. I went down Friday night to Falmouth so I could watch the Falmouth Mile and then the Road Race.
Saturday I started thinking, "What if I could run the road race?" I had not tried running since Wednesday night but I could walk around fine. I asked a therapist at the road race exhibition on Saturday about my rib. I was wondering if a lot of the pain had been muscular. I had broken a couple of ribs at the same spot a few years ago and was thinking that the intercostal muscles might have been acting up and protecting my rib when I was doing the intervals on Wednesday. He said it could be that or the oblique muscles. When talking to some former high school teammates at the Falmouth Mile, one was with a friend who was a radiologist and he also said it could be part muscular and noted that there is a sensitive nerve running underneath the ribs where I was hurt. He also said if I ran, nothing bad would really happen. The weather seemed perfect for the road race on Sunday and I really didn't want to miss it. I decided to pin my number on and head down to the start and see what would happen. If I couldn't run, I could always walk the course or walk back to my parent's house.
I heading down to the Mullen-Hall School (where I attended 2nd -5th grade) to park my car and walked to get a bus to the start. Once at Woods Hole I headed towards the "elite" corral (I know it is fun to say that) away from the mass of 10,000 other runners. Runners with numbers 1-500 (I was 260) get to warm up and start at the front of the barricades keeping all the other runners away. We get our own porta-johns and plenty of space to stretch out and warm-up. I bumped into my former high school teammate Duncan Warden and talked with him quite a bit. He is also doing the Paleo diet, and is still into Triathlons (he is a trainer- the first two triathlons I did in 1983 where races that Duncan also did, then my third race that year was an Ironman distance race, Duncan did not do an Ironman until he did Lake Placid last year. It is funny that we have had similar interests. He also used to play my dad a lot in tennis leagues). He had swum from Martha's Vinyard to Woods Hole a couple of days earlier (something he did last year too) which is something I have always wanted to do.
I tried some strides to see if I could run and my ribs did not hurt. So far so good! I bumped into a bunch of elite athletes, watched the wheelchair racers start and then got ready for the start of the Falmouth road race. I decided I was not going to race the course, but try to enjoy it this year and look around. Usually when I finish, I recall nothing of looking at the ocean or Nobska Lighthouse. I decided this was a good year to sightsee.
I started slower than I would like, passed Bill Rodgers at 1/4 mile into the race and ran tentatively. My ribs felt tight but there was no pain. I hit the first mile in about 6:38 the slowest I have ever gone in this race that I have done about 25 times. I noticed it was hard to breathe, I could not expand my ribs to breathe hard, so I kept the pace at a easy tempo. I worked a bit on my form and every once in a while I felt like I was improving and locking in a better stride based on using the Feldenkrais running tips I had been using.
By about 4 miles I started passing people who went out too hard. I still couldn't get a good breath in, so my running was not strained at all. I kept it right at the level of not having to breathe deeply. I slowly kept reeling in runners one by one. Finally I approached the crowds at the finish. I saw the clock ticking in the 46 minute range and although it was downhill to the finish I could not sprint like I wanted and finished a few ticks over 47 minutes for the 7 mile course. I was thrilled that I had finished without pain and my ribs did not start acting up after stopping. My legs felt good and loose. I went over to the massage table, and told Sean Gallagher, the chiropractor I usually get an adjustment from after the race that I had finished (the night before I saw him and said that I might run with my rib hurting). I also said I didn't need a massage or adjustment because my legs and back were feeling a lot better than usual.
According to the results I came in 316th overall (out of over 10,000). I was the 278th male to finish and 17th overall in the 50-60 year old age group. I was the 16th male in the age group as Joan Benoit-Samuelson beat all but three males in the 50 and over group. I will take those results and the nice run, particularly when I was not supposed to run. My wife was a bit upset that I ran when she joined me later in the day at the Cape. I also realized that I never looked at the scenery once while I was running. I couldn't even tell you what hue of blue the ocean was during the race. Duncan Warden finished in 50:32.
The race was won by a nineteen year old Ethiopian named Tilahun Regassa and an Ethiopian woman, Mamitu Daska, won the woman's race.
Check out the awesome race by Tilahun Regassa. He was having a great time out there!
I spent the next two days at Old Silver Beach in Falmouth and on Martha's Vinyard. While my family swam I read an interesting book on the Olympics: "Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World" by David Maraniss I was only one year old at the time so I don't remember much about these Olympic games. I didn't start watching the Olympics until Mexico City in 1968. I have seen the footage of Abebe Bikila running the marathon barefoot. I know about Rafer Johnson and Wilma Rudulph, but this book put these people in historical context. It was a fascinating time. Tension in a split Germany, the Cold War heating up, athletes beginning to use drugs (a cyclist died), amateurism and companies and athletes realizing the commercial appeal of the Games, television (Jim McKay made his first sports broadcasts), rascism in America, an obnoxious and loquacious boxer named Cassius Clay, even the "softening" of America. I enjoyed reading the many undertones that circulated around these Olympic Games. Although many of the great athletes and events are covered the purpose was not to give us the training and history of athletes like Bikila except at a very superficial and historical level.
I did not run Monday or Tuesday. Today I did my normal 8 mile route. I am concentrating on not fighting my body, but trying to make the parts: shoulders,hips, and feet to work together. I can't hold the form, but I get an improvement every once in a while and it feels so much more loose and free to run this way. I ran the loop a little over a minute faster than my best time since last fall. True, I am losing weight and feeling better due to the Paleo diet, but I still could not breathe hard so my faster running can also be attributed to an improving running efficiency.
Saturday night, after the Falmouth Women's mile, I watched the Men's mile. There was no wind and the temperature seemed great for a fast time. I stood next to Falmouth chiropractor, Sean Gallagher. He has volunteered for years at the road race and I have also seen him at the Cape Cod Marathon doing adjustments and massages after the races. Every year I say hello and visit the massage tent as soon as I finish the road race. He was hosting one of the milers, Darren Brown, at his house.
After the race I saw former Falmouth High School cross-country and track standouts Duncan Warden and Ed Nemeth. When I first ran cross-country as a freshman in high school I was the worst guy on the team. Duncan was a senior captain and Ed was a super sophomore. I have seen Duncan at races throughout the years, and saw Ed and a couple former Falmouth runners a couple of years ago at Falmouth for the first time since I was in ninth grade (I went to a private school on Long Island for the rest of my high school years). When I first ran for Falmouth the new high school had just been built. Now it has been undergoing extreme renovations. The track was renovated years ago. It is nice to see such a stellar running field each year on my hometown track.
Here is the video I shot of the start, each lap, and the finish. Darren Brown dropped out at 1000 meters. Will Leer from Eugene, OR won the mile in 3:57.2. Stephen Pifer, also of Eugene, ran 3:58.58, Tommy Schmitz, of Mineral Pt., WI ran 4:00.80, Sean Brosnan, of Eugene, OR ran 4:06.15, and Josephat Keino, from Kenya ran 4:11.17.
Saturday night I watched the Falmouth Mile races at Falmouth High School. The women's mile was first. There were only four competitors but it was a very good field. The weather was perfect and there was no breeze as usual. Erin Donohue led from the start and took the win in 4:27.91 . Nicole Edwards from Canada took second in 4:29.33. Morgan Uceny from Ithaca, NY 4:31.70 was third and Sara Hall, wife of Ryan Hall and from Mammoth Lakes, CA finished last in 4:32.24. Those were personal bests for all runners except the winner who recently ran faster in Europe.
Here is video I took of the start, each lap, and the finish.
The Gate City Striders track workout went well last night, or so I thought. I was happy to get back and do a track workout, even though my ribs have been sore for a week. It has been more just a soreness when turning over or sitting up when lying down. The only day they got a bit worse was doing the 5 mile Trail race on Monday. I figured with all the ups and downs along with the twists and turns on that course that I would be a bit more sore after that race and I was. Tuesday I had a Feldenkrais appointment. That went well. I think the gentle movements are teaching me the proper way to move. I find it very interesting and am also learning many things from the "Running with the Whole Body' audio.
My legs felt good and loose Wednesday. I ran a warm up and did some strides on the grass. The workout was to be 6 X 800m at 5k pace. I completed the workout with times between 2:47 and 2:55. Unfortunately on the last 3 or so it was very hard to get running. My ribs on the right side would seize up as I started and for about 10 steps it would feel like I had been shot or stabbed in the ribs. I was automatically making some groaning noises too. But then as I got up to speed the pain would go away and I could run relatively free. My legs and hips felt decent and when I got it right my stride felt better although it was hard to breathe fully.
After the workout I started a warm down and had to stop after about 50 yards as it hurt so much. I walked back to the track where I could not even pick up my keys, shoes, and shirt from the ground. I tried twice but my ribs were jolting me. Fortunately the Gate City Striders club president walked by and I had to ask her to do a very presidential thing and pick up my stuff for me. Driving home it hurt to even take a corner in the car. Then I couldn't move at all. Getting into bed took 1/2 an hour and I had to sleep on my back. It took about an hour to figure out how to get out of bed this morning with the least amount of pain.
I went to the doctor and he said that I probably cracked my rib. It may have started last week when I fell on Monday night during a race or when my daughter gave me a little knee to the ribs when she was saying good night, but something about running last night (breathing hard?) may have finished the job! I am hoping it is more just the muscles between the ribs having spasms as the x-rays don't show much. I do have a nice supply of heavy-duty pain medicine now (and more than enough pills to make "Gregory House" jealous), and hopefully I can figure out how to sleep better.
I guess I won't be running the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday or much of anything for awhile, but will probably still go down and watch the Falmouth Mile and the Road Race.
One thing I have learned from the Feldenkrais Method is to make slow and gentle movements as you retrain your brain. Believe me I am making slow and gentle movements all the time right now!
This morning I finished the fourth lesson on the Feldenkrais based audio of "Running With the Whole Body". I was expecting the lesson to go along with my earlier edition of the book with work on the hips. However, something completely different than my edition of the book was introduced (I don't know if the rest of the lessons in the newer edition match the audio lessons). Anyhow, I was told I was going to learn how to crawl like a lizard. The next two lessons are about moving like an animal and then moving like a human. Well, seeing I am trying to follow a Primal-Paleo diet (lost 5-7 pounds in two weeks- which means I am losing too much and have to eat more)I guess I can learn to move in a more primal sort of manner (actually it is how we all started to move when we started crawling as a baby). Watch how the hips and spine of this baby moves as he creeps across the floor.
I guess Feldenkrais reawakens some of these movement patterns from our past. Interestingly in cultures like Bali where babies are not allowed to crawl they develop movements pattern problems when they mature: they cannot hop from one leg to the other.
According to "the World's Fittest Man" Erwan Le Corre quadrupedal movement is one of the 12 key movements of Movnat (Move Naturally). By the end of the lesson I was indeed feeling like I was moving like a lizard. It was fun as well as revealing as the lessons help me perceive how I move and how movements connects throughout my body as it works as a unit.
I just love the audio version of "Running with the Whole Body". I was ready to call it quits knowing that it was movement patterns, that I could not seem to fix, that was hindering my stride and this is what the program is all about. The lessons awaken an awareness of how we move and more importantly how I should be moving. My running is changing, slowly. Last week I could hardly move. Yesterday I went for a 7 mile run and then kept increasing what I was doing because it felt so good for a change. Eventually I hit 13 miles. I notice a definite change in how my body, hips, and shoulders move and find that more power and balance is coming from my torso and not just my feet and legs (like what I used to concentrate on). Hopefully things will keep improving and I will not have to give up the sport of running.
I find the the audio lessons, although not hard, leave me feeling refreshed, aware, loose, and moving in a new manner that I can't wait to try out when running. The funny things is I am doing them despite a rib injury; I got kneed by mistake on Wednesday by my daughter in my right lower rib. The muscle down there is sore when I lay down and it hurts to roll over in bed and get comfortable. I have had to limit some of the movement exercise and I hope that by Tuesday when I go to see a Feldenkrais practitioner that it won't be so sore anymore.
Two interesting studies caught my attention today (from posts on Letsrun.com) One study comes from 2008 and claims that the shorter your heel is the more competitive you will be at distance running. In the study by Melanie Scholz, of the VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands, heel length was measured as the average of the horizontal distance between the ankle bone and the Achilles tendon on the inside and outside of the leg. The shorter the distance, the more energy your Achilles tendon can store. The stored energy gets released as you lift your foot off the ground. The study monitored 15 professional runners as they ran on a treadmill. Those with shorter heels had lower oxygen intake, indicating greater running efficiency. Now there is something else us slow guys can blame our parents for: thick heel lengths! By the way, when looking at the guy in the picture above, I should be faster than he is!
Well there is not much we can do to improve on things in our heels, but another study I saw relates to arm swing in walking. Steven Collins, of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, headed a study that shows that arm swinging is an integral part of the energy economy of human gait. The study which came out on Wednesday explains why we swing our arms when we walk, even when it takes more energy to do so. They looked at volunteers who were asked to walk with a normal swing, an opposite-to-normal swing, with their arms folded or their arms held by their sides.
The science is interesting, but I found this study most interesting in the light of some of the Feldenkrais exercises I have been doing this week based on the book "Running with the Whole Body". I learned that when I walk, I swing my right shoulder opposite of the right hip like I should, however my left shoulder seems to move in sync with my left hip (the opposite to normal swing-walk normally and see what your shoulder does, then walk with your arm straight down holding onto your thigh-notice what your shoulder does here-that is what my shoulder seems to do on the left side when I walk and run). This might be one pattern throwing off my running stride; creating imbalances, falls, and injuries. Besides the metabolic savings that I can gain when I straighten things out, I hope to find that I gain more coordination and balance as well as a greater ease in running. Who knows I may even get some speed back to make up for having thick heels
I have been learning to eat well! I have been a junk food eater my entire life. I ran so I could eat and I thought I could eat whatever I liked. Ice cream, cookies, cereals, and anything else I liked I dumped in my mouth. I counted on running it all off. I realized a few years back that this was not going to work as I got older. I tried a few types of diets, had some success a few years back, but kept returning to the junk food. I learned a few healthy things along the way, but nothing really stuck. During the winter I read The Warrior Diet
and had some success eating less throughout the day and more at night and following the health guidelines, but I soon returned to my bad habits. Then I started reading more about the The Paleo Diet
which is also similar to The Primal Blueprint . I am still learning how to eat correctly and am enjoying healthy foods in new ways.
