Ten Great Reasons to Snowshoe!

With the massive east coast snowstorms this past weekend it's time to grab a pair of snowshoes and get outside and enjoy the winter weather.

There are many reasons to snowshoe, here are 10 of my favorites;

1. It's quiet out in the woods, no traffic to worry about, no crowds, just you and the snow.
2. What else are you going to do with the snow? It's here, just stop fighting it and have some fun.
3. Falling in the snow doesn't hurt as much as falling on the road or sidewalk. Usually there is just one Ooomph and then dusting off the snow.
4. Being slow can be blamed on the big shoes and deep snow, not the realities of age and fat.
5. Two miles of snowshoeing counts as five running on the roads.
6. The trails are mother nature's bathroom facilities.
7. It's still a weird, extreme, sport. Who wants to be like the masses? Choose to be different.
8. No need for headphones and music. Just listen to the sounds of the woods and your snowshoes.
9. It's fun to trip cross-country skiers as they glide by (kidding).
10. When you are finished snowshoeing a hot shower feels like heaven.

And one bonus reason - there are times I'm injured and struggling to run but can go out and snowshoe with little/no issue. Maybe my stride is different, maybe it's the slower pace or softer surface, but it  can surprisingly work.

It's just a dream...maybe?

My left knee has been in pain since I fell while running more than three weeks ago. Since then I have been doctoring myself with ice, Advil or Aspirin, mild stretching, wearing a knee brace sometimes, rest and elevation. The pain has subsided somewhat and I've been able to bike indoors, swim and lift weights (upper body).

Two nights ago I woke up from a weird dream. In the dream my sister-in-law, a long time nurse, was asking Amanda, my EMT daughter, to get her a Bic style pen. Patty took my knee and jammed the pen into it. I could see the pen go under my skin, make a big hole and immediately yelled in pain. Patty was poking and prodding into my knee and telling me to calm down, be a man and stop with the noise.

Next she asked Amanda to get her an x-acto knife. Evidently Patty was going to dig into my ligament a bit with the knife. When she took out the Bic pen and came after me with the knife I thankfully woke up. My knee did feel better than it had in a couple of weeks when I began walking downstairs. Usually I had to take one step at a time or go down sideways to avoid the pain. That morning, after the "surgery", I was able to walk straight down the stairs.

I also ran two miles, albeit slowly, at the track that day and another mile the next day, on the treadmill. It was the first time I had been able to run two consecutive days since pre-injury.

Maybe it wasn't a dream after all?

2016 Resolutions/Goals

It's difficult to write about running when I'm not running. The knee sprain due to my fall on December 24th is still holding me back. I have been biking indoors quite a bit and still lift weights. Swimming should start soon.

I did create some New Year's Resolutions for 2016 which include a few running goals.

1. I will use experts to fix things around my house more than I ever have in the past. Just this week I had an electrician come over and add an outlet and fix a plug in our powder room. I decided to call on a professional after the second hole I made in the wall still didn't identify an easy way for me to do the wiring. The Youtube videos instructing me on doing electrical work didn't help with our 1956 house wiring.

2. A treadmill repair man came over today and had it working in less than an hour. About a month ago Jan and I had installed a new belt over the course of several hours. The treadmill hadn't worked since that failed attempt at a repair. Instead of repeatedly getting frustrated and wasting time as I would have done in the past I took the major step of having a "guy" come over.

These may seem like two small jobs and no big deal to some readers. For me it's a major shift in philosophy. First, I feel like less of a man. Real men should be able to fix anything. Watch the miners in Alaska on Goldrush Friday nights. They regularly repair all their equipment that keeps breaking down in the Alaska weather. I would be fired in a couple of days. Of course it helps to have the right tools, but, again, a real man would own all the tools possible or figure out how to finagle the job and get it done. Then there is my thrifty side which hates paying for something that I think I should be able to do.

3. I may concentrate on racing 5k's, hopefully racing them faster than I have in several years. I should not be as slow as I am. So the general plan is to build up to 12x400 at a fast pace, running this workout once a week. I will also be going back to biking and swimming quite a bit. A few years ago when Jan was training for Ironman races and I was trying to stay up with her is the last time I had any speed. Why not use the same formula again?

4. I'm going to lose the 2 inches of blob around my middle. My abs are reasonably strong, but buried under a mass of fat cells. This can't continue.

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.