I am a Puffer Fish!

Puffer Fish have several unique qualities, including a toxin mainly found in the liver and a bit in their intestines and skin. One of their best defenses though is the ability to puff up... "to fill its extremely elastic stomach with water (or air when outside the water) until it is much larger and almost spherical in shape" (Wikipedia, 2015).

In the last year I found the amazing ability to also puff up. In high school I desperately wanted to gain weight. I was around 150-160 lbs, 5'10ish as a junior and 6'1" as a senior. I thought gaining strength and weight would help with football. My gym teacher, probably my favorite teacher in high school, Mr. Beaney, used to give me passes so I could come to his office and eat another meal in attempts to put on weight. I would stay after school to lift in our new weight room.

It didn't work. After college I became a runner so being skinny was okay, except to my Mom who thought I was too thin. It was nice being able to eat anything and not gain a pound. Over a couple of decades my weight crept up a bit, into the 160's, still pretty light for 6'1" though, so I wasn't concerned. Then last year I fell and couldn't run due to shoulder surgery. I eventually ended up at 190!! Insane what sitting on the couch, eating and drinking could do over time. As chronicled in earlier blog posts, I eventually got down to around 175, which I could deal with.

I just weighed myself yesterday. My puffer fish elastic stomach has filled up, but not with air that can be instantly blown out to get skinny again. The dreaded November-December weight gain, due in part to not running much with the injury and falling but also to cookies, Southern Comfort, wine and double servings of food, seems to have taken hold. What happened to being 17 and not being able to gain a pound?

So the diet begins...again. The goal is six-pack abs, and not because I'm holding a six-pack of Sam Adams beer to hide my bloated belly.

If a runner falls in the woods will anyone notice?

This probably depends on how loud he screams and/or swears during the falling process and if the runner gets buried by leaves before anyone comes on the same trail. What if a runner falls after running fast from a flat canal path trail through a small parking lot near the main village thoroughfare and attempting to turn onto the sidewalk? Will anyone notice?

It turns out if the fall is spectacular enough traffic will stop, presumably to see if the runner is okay, maybe also to laugh a bit?  It was an unnaturally warm Christmas Eve morning for upstate NY, t-shirt running weather. A strong west wind made for a challenging two miles out (at least for me, the two young college girls gliding past me on the path didn't seem to have an issue) before turning around for a much faster return. After fighting some tendinitis in my left knee and taking many days off from running it felt good to pick up the pace with the wind at my back.

I was about one hundred yards from an even four miles when I made the decision to continue through the parking lot and down the sidewalk to get in a nice last mile. Sometimes being a bit anal about running a precise distance is not a good choice. In the days of yore, before Garmins, I would have stopped by my truck and called it four miles, happy to be done and feeling good. Two strides before the turn I remember thinking, "don't fall". Why would that even enter my mind at the time is strange. There was no snow, the sidewalk was dry, why would falling be a concern?

I took a step onto the small grass patch to get onto the sidewalk quicker. As soon as my left foot hit the ground I began flying through the air in my best Superman pose. It's a bit of a blur, but I believe I bounced off my left knee (the one recovering from tendinitis) on the sidewalk and definitely gouged my right hand. I rolled a couple of times hoping this would cushion the blow a bit (at least this is what I'm telling myself, it may just have been part of the falling process). I'm not sure what words came out of my mouth, but it's possible one sounded similar to fudge, which seems to be my go-to word in situations like this. 

As I was laying on my back wondering what the fudge just happened I saw cars stopped on the road and knew I had to get up rather quickly, not wanting to cause more of a scene. I stumbled to the truck to find a rag to stop the blood just as Jan came walking across the bridge to begin her run. She was concerned but, alas, not surprised. Falling seems to have become a habit for me.

A week later, still not running due to the self-diagnosed knee sprain, I can finally pedal in an easy gear in the safety of my basement on my bike, taking care not to fall as I clip in and out of the pedals.

I can't wait until winter really arrives, my running will be a shuffle as I fear the fall!

Arnold's Training: How to Train for Mass

Before Arnold Schwarzenegger became a movie star (again) and before his time as Governor of California, he won five Mr. Universe titles and seven Mr. Olympia titles.

There is a 1977 movie starring Arnold called Pumping Iron, which is a documentary chronicling the 1975 Mr. Olympia and Mr. Universe contests. Lou Ferrigno and Mike Katz are two of Arnold's main competitors for the titles. It's a fascinating movie from the perspective of their training and Arnolds' use of psychological tactics to affect Ferrigno (later The Incredible Hulk) and win the titles. Worth a rental if you can find it through Netflix or some other service. 

  Even though most people reading this blog are runners or triathletes, there are parts of Schwarzenegger's "Blueprint to Mass" video that can apply to us. During interview sessions Arnold discusses training the basics to build mass. Runners have to adhere to similar basics to race at their best, not by doing massive lifts with squats, but by hill repeats, interval workouts, long runs and more. He talks about "shocking the muscles" three months before competition. Runners can do the same thing by increasing the workload, adding more repeats or less rest during interval sessions or increasing your speed for each repeat or long run. What are your weak points? Listen to Arnold's message and see if you can transfer his bodybuilding theory into your running training. His nutrition advice around the 12 minute mark is also interesting, especially if you are trying to add muscle. Even if you aren't a fan of Arnold the video is worth watching and one I find fascinating.

Ten Things I Like About the Christmas Season

Sorry, the “Holiday Season”;

1.   I get 11 days off from work using one day of vacation.
2.  This year it’s more like September/October weather in NY. I can run without slopping through snow and ice.
3.  Doing most of my shopping online instead of fighting mall crowds.
4.  Shopping for stocking stuffings at the the little candy store in Spencerport across from the post office.
5.  Buying xmas cards at the Dollar Store in Spencerport.
6.  Staying up late, some nights almost until 11pm. I am a partier!
7.  Having a Bourbon or SComfort at dinner and not be worried about getting up for work the next day.
8.  Routing for the Bills in the playoffs. Oh, wait... well maybe next year.
9.  Adding up my running/biking/swimming totals for the year and seeing if I met any of my goals.
10.  Making new exercise goals for 2016, maybe a few of which I can achieve.

Sledding at Work?

What librarians do for fun.

http://www.jibjab.com/view/iWUVSMoeTkWCV3Cqb4NN0A

I am the one in the brown coat (non-smiling).

Excess Weight and Running Pace

Jan and I have had debates over how much faster a person can run with every ten pounds of weight loss. She believes you can run around 30 seconds a mile faster, which I think isn't true. Life would be so much simpler if Jan agreed with me on everything, boring, but simpler.

This article cites several studies that demonstrate what weight loss will do for running speed. One study showed that "For every 5% of excess weight (7.5 pounds for a 150lb runner), the subjects covered 90 meters fewer over the 12-minute time trial."

Right now I weigh about 175 pounds. Let's say a 5k takes me 24 minutes (to make the math easier). If I lose 5%, around 8lbs, I should be able to finish that same 5k 180 meters sooner. Of course this is assuming I'm not at ideal racing weight. In a race I would run 200 meters around 50 seconds, so I would be approximately 45 seconds faster. If this study is correct in a 10k I would run 1:30 faster and in a marathon about 6:00 minutes faster. That's a huge difference.

The author goes on to state there are some caveats to this study;

"First, all of these studies added weight artificially; they didn’t measure how natural weight gain over time can affect performance.  It’s likely that the performance deficit isn’t quite so bad when weight gain is gradual, since your body has a chance to adapt to the excess weight.

But runners often do have to carry around artificial weight from time to time. A decent-sized water bottle is about two pounds when full, and camelback-style hydration packs can be upwards of five pounds. You’ll have to evaluate the benefits of frequent hydration against the costs of carrying around the excess weight."

So let me know when your diet begins!