Ironman bike ride

I keep thinking about it and it just feels too unreal to even dream about it. Is it? It's not that I would really want to compete in one of these things, I am just really curious if I can train myself to actually finish it within the time limits.

So this weekend I did the Tin Man. I rode half the bike ride on Saturday and the other half today. It turns out that my Westminster-Boulder-Longmont-Westminster circuit is about 56 miles.

The bike still didn't feel right on Saturday and I was really watching my right knee, dropping a gear anytime I felt I had to pedal too hard. Still, about half way through Boulder my knee started talking to me. Eventually I stopped and dropped my seat by about 3/4 inch (that's about how much I raised it the other day) and I also moved it a little forward - probably about an inch. And all of a sudden I realized that I had more power and the muscle didn't complain too much. Interesting.

Saturday ride stats:
Lap 1

1. Westminster -> Boulder -> Jay Rd and Hwy 119
2. 1:39:58
   
3. 14.5 mph average
4. 147 bpm average (heart)
5. 24.27 miles

Lap 2

1. Jay Rd & Hwy 119 -> Longmont, Hwy 119 & Hwy 287
2. 0:29:05
3. 20.9 mph
4. 146 bpm
5. 10.14 miles

Lap 3

1. Hwy 119 & Hwy 287 -> Westminster, 112 & Federal
2. 1:31:23
3. 14.3 mph
4. 145 bpm
5. 21.86 miles

According to my Cat Eye bike o'meter:
56.31 miles @ 17.2 mph average in 3:16:51

The Cat Eye stops when the bike stops, so this time doesn't include my food and hydration breaks (or stoplights for that matter).

According to my Timex GPS o'meter:
56.27 miles @ 15.3 mph average in 3:40:27 with average bpm of 146


Sunday ride:
I programmed my Timex triathlon o'meter to split every 5 miles, so here are the stats for the 12 laps, 5 miles each:

Lap 1:

1. 23:41.63
2. 12.6 mph
3. 150 bpm

Lap 2:

1. 24:13.03
2. 12.4 mph
3. 142 bpm

Lap 3:

1. 23:37.32
2. 12.6 mph
3. 137 bpm
   

Miles 15-20:

1. 21:07.38
2. 14.2 mph
3. 123 bpm
   

Miles 20-25:

1. 16:14.63
2. 18.4 mph
3. 137 bpm
   

Miles 25-30:

1. 15:54.30
2. 18.8 mph
3. 139 bpm
   

Miles 30-35:

1. 16:33.23
2. 18.1 mph
3. 136 bpm
   

Miles 35-40:

1. 15:53.21
2. 18.8 mph
3. 150 bpm
   

Miles 40-45:

1. 17:29.60
2. 17.2 mph
3. 154 bpm
   

Miles 45-50:

1. 19:09.56
2. 15.6 mph
3. 147 bpm
   

Miles 50-55:

1. 18:23.16
2. 16.3 mph
3. 143 bpm
   

Miles 55-56:

1. 5:13.18
2. 16.1 mph
3. 154 bpm

Total:

1. 56.42 miles
2. 15.6 mph average speed
3. 142 bpm average
4. Time in zone (140-165): 1:59:50
5. Total time: 3:37:30
6. Overall time: 4:03:21 (I had to fix a flat in addition to food and water breaks)
7. Maximum speed: 38.6 mph (coming down Hwy 93 and also one hill on Hwy 287)

So, overall impression is that I am slacking off. I should be able to pull off average heartbeat of about 150. Considering I am still worried a bit about my knee, this not too bad. I was able to ride 112 miles in 2 days and not get hurt. Actually I had doubts even today in the morning - I thought of just finishing it, at any time. But my seat adjustments seem to make a huge difference - I think I was extending my quad too much.

Things learned:

1. Proper bike adjustment matters
2. I am more resilient than I thought

With those thoughts I went to play table tennis for 3 hours in the afternoon.

Only if I was this strong mentally. Working on it.

Bloody Tuesday

I gave blood yesterday. It has been 5 years - I suck, how could I have been so negligent?. I used to be pretty regular at Bonfils. The good thing is that my red cell count is at 47% and my blood pressure is 98/70 - last time I had it measured by the cholesterol dude it was 114/71. Likely a pretty minor deviation.

It felt rather enlightening to do something meaningful again. I am eligible to donate again on 9/20/05, I better be there.

Heavy weekend

I went swimming on Saturday afternoon and tried to practice what Jenny taught me. Almost drowned a couple of times. This is not going to be an easy transition. Although I did five practice laps trying to move right, breathe, kick, pull and roll. I averaged just below minute per lap. And I think I can sustain that pace. I'll need some practice.

I woke up Sunday morning and went for a bike ride. Westminster->Boulder->Longmont and back. I started feeling my right knee in about a 1/2 mile and had thoughts about turning back. Then I remembered what this is all about. It's about endurance, not power. Not yet, anyway. So I started shifting easy, as soon as a minor hill came up I would just drop and started spinning. Much better. It takes a bit longer to put the hill away but I am pretty fresh when I get on top of it and the knee does not hurt. Imagine.

Finished the ride in about 3:30 riding time, 4 hours total including food and water and other breaks. Averaged about 16.5 mph, my heartbeat in the 140-165 range most of the time. My position is still not ideal, I had to stop in Longmont and raise my seat by at least 3/4 inch, I think I need to raise my handlebars too. I'll experiment.

Obviously I didn't have enough so I went to play table tennis in the afternoon. I played for little over 3 hours straight. I have never sweated this much in my life. I normally start my day with a 24 ounce glass of water, I remember going to the bathroom after that. But then I drank 7 of these during the day (that's 164 ounces - 1.3 gallons) and didn't take a bathroom break once. It all went out through my skin. No wonder they call it the 3rd kidney.

Historical moment - I scaled 179.8 that evening. Well, it kind of doesn't count since it was at the end of a very heavy workout day, but it sure gives me an attitude boost and fuels my desire to continue. Other historical moment is that I noticed I have stretch marks on my ass. Hmmm, I think I am pretty close to where I need to be and then I need to iron out those marks.

Yesterday I went to work and just had to vent my frustrations somehow. Although I felt like giving my body a bit of rest, it started bugging me for some action, so I went for a 2.3 miles run. Just easy, a lot of stretching before and after and it felt very satisfying. Also went to Longmont to play table tennis for about 3 hours. Again, a nice day, relatively easy. I thought I need to go and give blood. I have not done it for past few years and I should, I used to be pretty regular.

I just got out of hot tub and scaled at 179.6 - cool beans.

Body fat

I had my body composition analysis done today. This is the hydrostatic body fat test - the very accurate stuff. Not too bad.

The stats of 2 years ago (7/29/2003):

1. Weight: 206.25 lbs
2. Lean: 165.3 lbs
   
3. Fat: 40.9 lbs
4. Body fat: 19.9%

Today stats:

1. Weight: 188 lbs
2. Lean: 160.8 lbs
   
3. Fat: 27.2 lbs
   
4. Body fat: 14.4%

Not too bad, the numbers speak for themselves. I am definitely not the fat boy anymore, this puts me in the 85th percentile of the population (85% of the population is fatter than I am).

A couple of thoughts:

1. I have not lost much weight for a past month. Well, somewhere around 4-5 lbs (188 on a good scale is about 185 on ours, I was about 189 - 191 (our scale) on July 4th). This may actually be a good sign. I thought I lost it a bit too fast, giving my body time to adjust is probably a good thing.
   
2. I have not been working out on regular basis, I do more of a burst workouts now
3. My eating is still pretty good, although I am aware I do eat more or worse foods than the time I kept my daily blog. Maybe I need to start the blog again? I'll give it another week.
   
4. Going down to 175 lbs would put me in about 8% body fat. I am beginning to have seconds thoughts about this. Somewhere around 180 would probably be more reasonable with around 11% of body fat.
5. I do like the fact that I start seeing the muscles under my skin.
6. I am 3 cm taller than I have ever been before. One word. Rolfing.
7. I went running yesterday. This was the first time since I screwed up the right ankle about a month ago. I really noticed the lack of weight.
   

Rolfing

I got rolfed again this Thursday, session #5.

I'll start with my usual warning: If you ever want to get rolfed and get an impartial, genuine experience, do not read this (read my first 2 rolfing sessions writeups instead). It's not because it would be scary, but I am talking about my experiences here so if you do keep reading, you may condition yourself to expect something similar and your mind may build a response before you have a chance to try it yourself and experience the genuine thing. In any case I love rolfing and I highly recommend it due to my experiences.

Still here, uh? OK, we took the pictures as usual, Ashlane made me walk back and forth again, did her usual "walk, stop, hmmm, turn this way, aha, walk, oh, yes, stop, ..." type of stuff, then up on the table and we did a second in the series of core sessions.

1. This time it was the muscle groups attached to the inside of my hips - of course she told me its name (it's something sounding very Latin) but I forgot it in about 3 seconds - and the upper core (my definition, not hers). Basically, around the hips, obliques, ribs and abs.
   
2. She also took a short trip down my right leg for some reason, like if she felt that there is something wrong there (I didn't tell her, but this is the right knee that I hurt a little when biking last weekend. And although she is aware of my blog, I don't think she really reads it. Maybe the rolfing writeups only. Hey Ashlane, are you reading this?).
   
3. Maybe she saw me walking somewhat funny and decided the leg needed a minor adjustment or something. Deep into the muscles she went and it was definitely worth it - well, I am going to put it through a test tomorrow on the bike, I promise I'll make a proper use of a derailleur this time :).
4. Then she went up to my right hip, the torso, under my ribs and around to the other side. Ashlane spends some quality time on me. She seems to prefer to do things right instead of fast and is very patient. I think that's really the essence of rolfing - the rolfer goes slow, goes deep goes in with a purpose. The rolfee job is to cooperate, relax, not resist and let go. The harmony is created when both are patient enough and take time. I really like that and I am grateful for it.
   
5. At one time she had her fingers buried deep next to my hip and I felt like they extended a few inches and reached through the core of my body and touched me next to my spine. That was really warm and interesting.
6. Another time her hands felt like they are sculpting me from inside out. That was while she was kind of next to my obliques, on the inside.
7. My legs were in 90 degree angle and she made me lift the knee just a little bit while she applied pressure to this Latin sounding muscle and voila - her fingers were instantly 1/2 inch deeper. At least it felt that way. Magic.
   
8. After every other session I felt somewhat rearranged, something was strange and different. We had sessions after which I could not find my equilibrium, we had others during and after which I was shaking and yet others after which my muscles were very tender. I felt perfectly OK after this one, so in its own right, this was strange. Other than my emotional high, of course. I think I am getting used to this stuff, I don't think she is backing off by any means. I felt like things are where they are supposed to be. Maybe she started putting me back together. Way cool.
9. I am really beginning to like the morning sessions. I have time to think about stuff and practice it during the day. The evening session is fine but then I go to bed, roll over and there is just too much time of follow up inactivity. And I am a morning person.
10. I went running yesterday for the first time since I messed up my right ankle. I felt like I was gliding. It was really cool. I was using my legs from my hips and they felt longer. Not as long as your average Kenyan runner, but much longer than what I am used to.
    
11. Speaking of longer. I had my body fat test done today and I took the opportunity to get my height measured. I am 3 cm taller than I have ever been before. I used to be 180 cm, I measured at 183 cm today. I wonder if that has anything to do with rolfing. Maybe? :).
    
12. In conclusion - yet one more very cool rolfing session, none of my muscles are tender or sore, I don't even have to mention that "No, there are no bruises", do I? I am beginning to see a problem with the fact that there are only 5 sessions left and I question what am I going to do after we're done. I think you're supposed to lay off for a while, like a year or so. After experiencing rolfing, going back to a regular massage just seems pretty lame (sorry Nicole, Jeff, Leah, Safra, John, ..., whom did I forget?). Well, OK, I should put it about this way. Massage is great for relaxing and feeling good but it wears off pretty quickly. Rolfing is a body altering experience that, with any luck, lasts a lifetime or at least a significant portion of it. Body altering in a sence that the we allow my body to adjust itself.
    
13. At the end Ashlane taught me how to walk from the hips again. I really want to focus on this, it seems to be good for me, my legs and my back. This time I am not going to try it on a 7 mile walk again. Maybe only a couple of miles this time. I feel I my body is getting to the point we want it to be, so I probably should not screw it up should I?
14. Very interesting week. Jenny taught me how to swim, Ashlane taught me how to walk. Only if I had a running and bicycling coach, I'd be complete :). Oh yes, a brain coach,too. Santa? I've been good this year. Santa??
    

Swimming

I went swimming on Tuesday morning. During the swim I started thinking whether the rec center has a swim coach available for hire or at least somebody who would look at me and tell me how badly I suck. When I was about 5, my brother threw me in the local pond one day and said: "Swim". He would pull me out when I started sinking, waited for a while and then threw me back. So I really never had anybody teaching me the proper technique. I can hold my own, but I know I suck.

This lady came to my lane and asked if I mind to share (normally there are only 3 lap lanes opened at the rec center). "By all means", I said, but in the back of my mind I was horrified that I have a walker here. For some reason some people think that swim lanes are there for them to walk in the water and to irritate the rest of us who want to swim. Well, this lady took a couple of warm up laps and then she proceeded with just blowing right by me, freestyle. I could not keep up and she just looked like a dolphin. Just gliding through the water.

I did about 10 more laps and stopped to clear my goggles. She was just taking a break, she looked at me and said: "Do you mind if I comment on your breathing?". "Please do", I replied since by then I knew very well that she is by far a much better swimmer than I am.

Well, she spent about next 20 minutes teaching me how to swim, explaining things and I learned that she was swimming competition since she was 24. Her name is Jenny and she just made my day. That was just so awesome. She gave me homework, so I got to practice:

1. The pull - elbow up and bent a little, use my arm power
   
2. The triceps extension - that's where the power comes from
   
3. Kick - my kicking sucks, she explained that kick is really there to keep balance
   
4. Drawing on the bottom of the pool with my fingers/pencils - keeping my hand perpendicular to the force vector of the push.

Thanks Jenny, you're awesome, you don't know what you did for me. A truly random act of kindness to a stranger. I practiced today. I still suck but I am beginning to realize what am I doing wrong. I already noticed that I can do a lap in under a minute - and I can sustain this. Last time I swam, my average was somewhere around 1:05 and if I tried to do better, I could not sustain it. Cool beans.

The weekend warrior, part 3

I wondered if my knee will bother me while playing table tennis today and it did not. This is cool. So far I managed to hurt myself in pretty reasonable ways.

1. Got hurt while walking - I can still swim and ride a bike
2. Got hurt while biking - I can still play table tennis and probably swim and walk
3. Got hurt while playing table tennis pretty badly, twice in the past. Five years ago I screwed up my lower back and that put me out of doing any sport for a few months, a year ago I pulled my triceps - I could still run, walk, etc.

So it kind of looks like the only activity I have not hurt myself with is swimming. How long before I manage to do so?

Anyway, played for almost four hours straight, my knee didn't hurt, I don't get tired doing this anymore. This is cool. Well, yeah, I did not run today, I am really not that stupid.

The weekend warrior, part 2

Went for a bike ride yesterday. This time it was Westminster->Longmont->Boulder->Westminster.

Water and food management make a huge difference.

• Got up at 5:15 am, went to hot tub for 20 minutes, drank 16 ounces of water with lemon
  
• Had a good breakfast: 2 slices of bacon, 2 eggs, 1/2 of tofu block, 1/2 onion, coffee, 2 toasts with butter
• Drank another 16 ounces of water before I left at about 6:45 (about 1/2 hour after breakfast)
• I figured it would take about 2 hours for my body to process the breakfast, so I stopped after 1 hour and 45 minutes (Jay Road and Hwy 119), took a 5 minute break and consumed a power bar (protein, carbo)
• Kept hydrated during the ride - I have a 24 ounces bottle now, finished it when leaving Boulder (about 35 miles into the ride), took another 5 minutes, refilled the water bottle at a gas station at Table Mesa and Broadway, ate another power bar.
• Next fillup was at 120th and Main Street in Broomfield at Golden Bear bike shop. I am beginning to like these guys, they tuned my bike last week and did a good job. Finished off my bottle there, refilled with another 24 ounces.
• Got home about 20 minutes later, finished the water, ate second breakfast, scaled at 182 pounds, felt tired but didn't feel exhausted like I did last week.
• Took it easy for rest of the day, ate well (ate chocolate, too), spent some time in the hot tub, massaged my knee quite a bit, also used ice and hot wraps.
  

Problems

1. My right knee started bugging me shortly before I entered Boulder, it got to the point of feeling a sharp pain in it twice on the right leg push down. The dilemma was to finish the ride or call Nancy. I decided to finish the ride but I took it really easy on the knee.
   
2. So I was really using just 3/4 of my power stroke, I would push with my left while pulling up with my right, then pull up with my left and let the right leg glide down. I figured if I overload my left leg, I need to stop and call for a ride.
   
3. Well, it kind of went OK, even I had 3 ugly hills ahead of me, one of Hwy 93 coming out of Boulder and two more on Hwy 128.
   
4. It turned out this was a good experience since I also learned something about why do I have derailleurs and why I should use them climbing hills. I used to just push up the hill no matter what - and I think this has something to do with my knee pain. I would make the hill in reasonable time, but I would just be so freaking exhausted on top of it that it would take 1/2 hour to recover (I clocked my ticker in excess of 190 heart beats on more than one such occasion and I almost puked my guts out couple of times, too).
   
5. This time I would just take my time, realizing that this is not a time race anymore, this is about endurance and well, in this case, just finishing it without having to call for a ride. I would drop the gears to a comfortable level, keep my eye on the heartbeat and not let it go over 160. Well, before I knew it, the hill was over with and I wasn't exhausted, I would just glide over to the next one and tackle it, too.
   
6. Hmmm, I don't hate hills that much anymore.

The stats of the ride

1. Lap one - Westminster->Longmont->Boulder (Diagonal & Foothills), 33.11 miles, 1:45:47 at average speed 18.7 mph and 151 bpm (heart beats per minute). Just the way I like it.
2. Lap two - Boulder->Westminster, 24.9 miles, 2:05:52, 11.8 mph, 134 bpm - yeah, a bit slower. Well, you can't really zip through Boulder at 25 mph, then I had 3 ugly hills to climb with a crippled knee. However, now I think that next time I will not try to go any faster up the hills anyway.
3. Total: 58.02 miles, 3:51:53, avg speed of 15.0 mph, average bpm 142. I set my target heart beat zone to 140 - 185, time spent in it was 2:19:38. Not too bad. I think I need to set my zone to about 135 - 165 for optimal sustained burn. This will take some experimenting.

Things learned

1. Food and water matter
2. Derailleur is a good thing
3. I need endurance before I can aim for speed
4. I don't think I'll go running today.

The weekend warrior, part 1

Another week, another experiment. Or a few of ...

My normal jeans size has been 34 for a long time. At one time in 1993, I even had to buy a couple of pairs of 36's. I think last time I wore size 32 pants was in 1987. Well, I waltzed into Kohl's today and walked away with Levi's 550 comfort fit 32/32. And they do feel comfortable. Way cool.

I swam the full length (and then some) of the ironman swim today. Westminster pool is 25 yards, so 2.4 miles is somewhere around 167 pool lengths (83.5 laps). Well, somehow I got it mixed up in my head and thought it's 89 laps, rounded up to 90. First 45 laps took 00:48:01, the second 45 took 00:48:24, then I added another 10 for good measure at 00:10:55, for the total of 100 laps (2.84 miles) at 01:47:20 - I am pretty excited about this. Looks like I am averaging somewhere around a minute and five seconds per lap. All crawl, no more breast strokes. Way cool. A year ago I could swim 10 laps max in about 20 minutes and had to switch between breast and crawl every 2.5 laps otherwise I would not finish. And I would finish exhausted. Much more fun now.

My weight went up a bit, I now scale somewhere between 187 - 192. I think I am growing some muscle. I have not worked out too much this week. Rode to work 2 days, 2 nights of yogalates class (I love this stuff), full day off on Wednesday, swimming today. My body is shaping up.

My leg muscles were hanging loose - very nicely loose after last week's rolfing session. Now they seem to be bulging up again. Hmmm. However, I am still walking straight and better than ever before.

On the road to 175 lbs ...

So, I know I can sustain 185 (my scale) now. How do I offload the next 10 pounds?

Food intake
I think I am doing well on the food front. I eat before I workout, I eat after I workout, I supply my body with enough water - well, I can certainly improve on my water intake timing. I need to do some minor adjustments, like eating about a couple hundred calories per hour during 3 hour bike ride. I rode 58 miles yesterday (in 3:22) and I was pretty exhausted at the end.

Body harmony
Rolfing has a tremendos impact on my body, my mind and the relationship between those two. We're friends now, not enemies anymore. We reward each other with treats. I feed it, it feels good, I work it and it wants to give more. My body posture is changing because of rolfing, I feel straight and tall now. We have done 4 rolfing sessions up to date, we have 6 more to go.
Starting the yogalates class improves my flexibility and also has a great effect on my mental state. My right side is less flexible than my left. I need to correct it.

Exercise
I normally do something about six days a week, I go little heavier over the weekends. I hurt my ankle while walking, I have to be really careful. I didn't run or walk for at least two weeks now, all the exercise was on the bike, in the pool and yogalates. I feel my ankle to be back to normal, so I'll test it tomorrow. I am having the bike tuned up, so I'll walk home from the bike shop - it's about 3 miles. That should give me a good indication.
I think it would be desirable to do something different every day. The idea of doing ironman is still lurking in the back of my mind but it's one of those I am afraid to state out loud. However, I figured that biking to work a couple times a week and alternating between swimming and running/walking for the rest of the week should be a reasonable training. Good start would probably be if I could do 1/2 ironman in 3 consecutive days. Last weekend I biked 44 miles on Saturday, swam 50 laps Sunday morning. This weekend I biked 60 miles on Saturday and swam 60 laps on Sunday. It's the 13 miles run that I am pretty afraid of. I think I'll start with my small dose of 2.3 miles at work a couple times a week again. We'll see.

The basic plan

1. Eat well, no changes
2. Alternate biking, running, swimming, walking
3. Tone abs and obliques training on a ball
4. Take advantage of rolfing
   
5. Gain flexibility in yogalates class
6. Do not get hurt
   

Reality check

I set my goals on June 18th. It's 3 weeks later, how am I doing?

1. Weight - I frequently scale in the 185 range. Not too bad. I even scaled at 182 yesterday right after the bike ride but that doesn't count since I was pretty dehydrated.
   
2. Food - I did notice I slack off a bit here and there, but overall not too bad. I need to learn how to eat while exercising. I eat well, focusing on quality instead of quantity now. I don't really crave junk foods or sugars. Treat myself with chocolate (organic, of course) or glass of wine once in a while. NOT right after I excersize - I did learn something.
   
3. My body is gaining a definition, I move with a purpose now. I think rolfing is a major player here.
4. I have to be very careful not to get hurt - the ankle episode was rather discouraging.
5. Overall I am doing very well on the physical side. I think I am on track for my short and long term goals.
   

Rolfing

Session #4. I got rolfed again yesterday.

1. I'll start with my usual warning: If you ever want to get rolfed and get an impartial, genuine experience, do not read this (read my first 2 rolfing sessions writeups instead). It's not because it would be scary, but I am talking about my experiences here so if you do keep reading, you will condition yourself to expect something similar and your mind will build a response to before you have a chance to try it yourself. In any case I love rolfing and I do recommend it after my experiences.
   
2. Ashlane made me walk first and did her usual 'hmmm, hm, oh, hmmm, ...' type of a stuff (although not necessarily loud).
3. She worked my feet a little and then went deep into my inner legs. In the past I wondered how could she possible go any deeper (I think that was after the second session). She seems to be pretty good at finding a way.
4. The trick is to relax, as usual. A couple of times I just stopped and focused on enjoying the feeling. It's kind of cool when you can relax because someone is jamming their elbow ('the blade' seems to be the official rolfer's term) into your legs. Notice I said 'because' and I meant it. Good mental exercise.
   
5. I am also beginning to notice a trend here. We work on the torso in one session, legs in the next one, then upper body again, then legs ...
6. She wanted me to walk back and forth in the halftime when she was done with my left leg. It felt really heavy and I was a bit off balance.
7. Then she did the other leg and I regained my balance, although both legs felt pretty heavy.
8. Didn't have any jitters or shakes this time.
9. Although she went deeper than ever before - yet one more time, no bruises.
10. I rode my big bike (motorcycle) this time and I started questioning my choice of vehicles. I thought it's probably not a good idea to be a bit unstable and ride a bike. To my surprise, my legs just wrapped around the bike and I had a very good feeling of being in touch with the bike on my way back. Interesting. If I didn't know any better I'd have said that I have became one with the bike. I could feel the machine responses through my legs. Cool. BTW, if you don't know much about bikeriding, this is the bikers nirvana - you feel it talking to you through your body.
    
11. For the remainder of the day my legs felt burning. Like the burn you get after a good workout.
12. I noticed my kidneys filtered a bunch of crud out of my body. There seems to have been a lot of stuff flushed out of my legs.
13. I went to my yogalates class last night and noticed that my left side is more flexible than the right side. I can stretch further to the left.
14. I also noticed that I could see the definition of my muscles on my left leg. This was really cool - I could clearly see the dividing line between my muscles. Obviously there is some kind of a long triangular muscle there that I have not seen before. Cool.
    
15. During the yoga stretches, sitting on the mat with my feet resting, my knees at 90 degrees, I noticed that my leg muscles (both upper and lower leg) felt like they were suspended in a bag, just hanging down. This was really cool.
16. I woke up in the morning and went to the hottub as I have been doing lately. My legs felt quite tender and tired like after a heavy workout. The idea was to go swimming but then I decided to just stay in the hottub (for almost 1 1/2 hours, I started at about 5:15 am) and screw the swimming. I think it was a good call. Took a day off from exercise today.
    
17. Ashlane did some movement around my hurt ankle and I think it helped it quite a bit, too. I didn't feel any pain at the yoga class while stretching it (it did feel sore on Tuesday).
18. Ashlane corrected my walking and posture. I practiced it today, it makes me and my legs feel better. I started thinking of my legs as starting at my hips and I started to use my hips more while I walk. It feels like I can stretch them better when I walk and it seems like I can utilize all their strength. I promised I will not practice by walking 7 miles to work like this. An easy and slow transition is probably more desirable and longer lasting.
    

So I have to say one more time - thanks, this is really cool, I love going through this. It seems to be really helping my understanding and appreciation of my body. Excellent experience.

Yet another entry

Well, it's been a while. So far so good, well, almost. Major events and observations during the last 10 days or so:

1. I occasionally scale at about 186, normally I am around 189 - 191. Not too bad, pretty happy about it.
2. I have slept without a pillow for at least past 2 weeks. I think it forces me to sleep on my back and sides instead of my stomach. I am happy about that too.
3. My right ankle still bothers me. I am not happy about that. The bad news is that it hurts when I walk or run. The good news is that it doesn't hurt when I ride a bike or swim. So I ride a bike and swim. I rode the bike to Longmont on Saturday and back (44 miles), and I swam a mile Sunday morning. Still feel just fine. Took a day off today.
4. The other good news is that my infrared massager seems to help quite a bit. Need to totally lay off of it for at least a week. Which is hard to do, I do have to walk once in a while.
   
5. I had a few food slips but overall not too bad. There was the episode at a Chinese place in Louisville on Thursday, when my coworker ordered way too much food (family style lunch). Well, I know it doesn't make it much better, but I didn't have dinner that day.
6. Yeah, trip to Harry and David's and buying a bag of chocolate truffels didn't help much either.
7. On the other hand, my veggie intake has been pretty steady, likely increasing a bit. I make an effort to eat either meat and vegetables, or pasta (breads, rice, potatoes) with vegetables, but not pasta or bread with meats. Basically, either eat protein with veggies or carbos with veggies but avoid having both protein and carbos in the same meal. Slight change in my diet, I do think it makes sense. My wacky guy's guide to a healthier body claims that the typical American way of eating is about as bad as it gets. You're not supposed to eat meat and potatoes, hamburger is the pinnacle of atrocious foods. If you do have to have rice and meat, just eat a couple of tablespoons of it, for crying out loud, not a freaking casserol.
   
8. I feel taller. Got to measure myself.
9. I am getting addicted to the scale. This starts to feel like a race between me and me. Can I really do it? I have friends I have not seen for a couple of months looking at me and saying: "What the hell did you do - you look great". Yes they do say it and I am not afraid to write it here. Makes me feel accomplished about what I did in past 6 weeks.
10. My shorts are falling off of me. Literally, I am losing my shorts. What a freaking wonderful feeling. A few more weeks like this and I'll be seriously looking at purchasing a size 32 jeans. I think last time I was able to fit into 32's was probably in 1987. I know there was a time I had to buy me 36's in about 1994. Serious blow to the ego, but obviously didn't learn at that time.
11. The other cool thing is that I don't think I have bulked up any. I do a lot more exercise than I did 2 months ago, I feel more energetic, but I don't think I have gained a whole lot of muscle. Maybe on my legs a little.
12. I am starting a Yogalates class tomorrow. I test drove it last Tuesday, signed up for the class. I want to gain flexibility.
13. I did some thinking about the cholesterol question. I think I have been doing reasonably well with my food (even before I started this blog), but the cholesterol doesn't seem to be moving. Hmmm, is it possible that my body knows something that our fabulous medical researchers don't? It seems like since I am depriving it of cholesterol, my body just makes some more. What if my body just wants to have it at that level and doesn't really give a crap about what I (or the medical professionals) think about it? How big of a surprise would that be? I decided I will keep going the way I am going and we'll see at the end of October/November when I go for my regular checkup. I am still very determined not to take any !@#$% cholesterol pill. While hate is not a family value, I do hate our drug industry (should I say drug pushers) with a passion.
14. My body and I are best friends now. We get along very well - other than my stupidity with the right ankle. I normally give it what it asks for and it talks to me in return. It's a two way street and it's so easy to listen to it. How could I have been so deaf for the past 44 years? Such an amazing machinery and I just totally ignored it. Well, those times are over. Only if I could straighten my mind now - well, I am working on it.
15. Working out is not a chore now, not something I have to do, it's something I kind of look forward to. How cool would it be if I could run a marathon one day? How about the Ironman? Wow. Setting my sights too high? I don't think so, it's never too late.