ryan kennedy’s blog

Yeah, okay…totally lagging in posting this. Day 7 was this past Saturday (3/23). We started out slow with our warmups. Running around, touching shoulders, dropping and doing pushups and situps. We eventually partnered up. I joined up with a well-tattooed guy about my height but, perhaps, a little bigger than me. We did a bunch of 1-2 punching combinations with the heavy pads. The best part about my partner is that he barked. Not literally, but the noise he made as he exhaled with every punch sounded just like a dog. At one point, Lisa looked around wondering who let the dog in the gym. Then she realized the dog was beating the living hell out of my blocking pad.

We eventually got back to knees. This time I partnered up with another Ryan. The name was the only thing we had in common, he was a head taller than me and much, much stronger. When we did knees he was either throwing me 3 feet backwards or 1 foot in the air. That being said, it was more enjoyable than the last guy who did a number on my jaw. We focused a lot on the knees that involve a hold. In the first, you grab your partner by the tricep and shoulder and then ram your knee into them. In the second, you lock your hands behind their neck, pull them in towards you and throw your knee into their face/chin/chest.

The conditioning is getting a little better. I’ve been doing some conditioning on the side. Using a deck of cards, I turn cards face up one-by-one. Every red card is pushups, every black card is squats. Aces and number cards are 1-9, face cards are 10 and jokers are wild…20 pushups or squats. This past Monday I got through 30 cards in 30 minutes, finishing 95 pushups and 120 squats. Doesn’t sound like a lot for 30 minutes, but it’ll get your attention. I can’t take credit for this hellish workout. Credit for that goes to Matt Furey’s book, Combat Conditioning.

Speaking of books, our school carries Complete Krav Maga, which features pictures of one of my instructors (Kirian). I’m going to pick up a copy soonish.

I skipped Krav Maga on Saturday last week (trying to give my thumbs more time to heal up) so this past Monday was day 6. I’m a little behind in posting this, so hopefully I remember everything.

As usual, Jesse worked us over pretty good from the start. I have to say, my conditioning is improving. I still get tired and it’s still difficult to keep my hands up through long drills. But it’s getting easier. I’m no longer doubled over gasping for air during drills. That’s really the strongest measure of what three weeks of classes has done for me. Technique is great and all, but I need to get back in shape.

We did a lot of punching and kicking combinations as a warm up. Eventually, Jesse turned us loose doing hammer punches. Imagine you’re hanging a picture on the wall and you’re putting up the nail. Clench your fist like you’re holding a hammer and hammer the nail into the wall. Now take the hammer out of your hand and replace the wall with your partner, holding the heavy bag. Generate power from the legs and twist the trunk, transferring power to the shoulders and drive the bottom of your fist into the bag as hard as possible. When done right, your partner will wonder if you’re about to stop their heart with these blows (I was getting concerned when my partner was wailing on me). We started out with just the right and progressed to left-right combinations. Periodically Jesse would signal for us to go “all out”, hammering with the left and the right in rapid succession, as hard and as fast as we could. It’s a pretty devastating blow. Imagine leading with a kick or knee to the groin to double your opponent over and then driving a hammer fist into the back of their neck. Yeah, brutal.

We also did some work on getting out of side headlocks. Imagine someone comes up to you from the side and wraps their arm around your head and neck from the side. They pull you to one side, knocking you off balance and torquing your neck in the process. The counter is to go with it. If the attacker comes from your left and pulls you that direction, pivot on the ball of your left foot, swinging the right foot in the direction the attacker is pulling you. When your right foot lands, you should be perpendicular to your opponent and as close to them as possible. The free right hand swings downwards and then up, into their groin. Strike at least once, preferably two or three times. As this is happening, the left hand goes up, eventually coming between your head and your opponent’s head. With the left hand, you smash the bridge of the nose with your palm and grab the chin with your fingers. Pull back, causing the head to tilt backwards. At this point, your opponent is wide open for a range of different attacks. Punch the face or throat. Better yet, bust out that powerful hammer punch you just learned.

It’s great fun. I was paired up with Nate, a level 2 student that I’ve worked with before. He’s big and not afraid to smack me around a bit (other people seem to think you’re made of glass at times) and he’s really good at telling me everything I’m doing wrong. After a few minutes I was getting the hang of it, but then class was over (pitty).

My thumbs are still pretty torn up, but are getting better. I managed to get out of this class without any new injuries, although one of my partners managed to poke me in the eye pretty well during one of the drills. No biggie, I made sure to put a little extra mustard on the hammer punches to return the favor.

In other Krav Maga news, we were given handbooks by the school. Among other things, it details what we’ll learn at each level. Let’s just say that the first item on the list for the green belt curriculum (level 3) is head-butting. Just 10 months to go.

Before you ask…yes, I plan to blog every day of Krav Maga.

After the class on Saturday, I was looking forward to a slightly more tame Monday class. Jesse, the Monday instructor (and Saturday assistant), usually spends more of his class going over technique. That means things slow down a bit giving you more time to catch your breath. Today however…he had some surprises for us.

Things started out pretty normal. Some running (with ~16 people in a crowded room, running becomes interesting) along with pushups and mountain climbers to get the blood moving. After that we partnered up. I was teamed up with the 14 year old in the room, not his lucky day. If he was lucky he weighted around 130 pounds…roughly 100 pounds less than me. We started out with one person on all fours. They then piked up so they were on their hands and toes with their butt up in the air. The other partner then military crawled underneath them to the other side. One there, the partner on the ground dropped low, allowing the other partner to jump over them back to the starting position. The person on the ground goes back into the piked position and we start over. At one point, the instructor blew his whistle and we went either all under (back and forth) or all over (back and forth). It was insane, I’ve got the carpet burns on my knees to prove it.

When that was over, one partner again got on all fours. The other partner then sits on their shoulders, hooking their feet around the other partner’s knees on the ground. The partner on top leans back and sits back up…kind of like doing a situp. This is where the weight discrepancy came into play. I started on top, leaned back and the kid’s arms buckled and I flattened him like a pancake. Fortunately I caught myself with my arms and managed not to pop his skull. Not wanting a lawsuit, they found me a larger partner.

When that was done we went back to punching and kicking drills, this time moving around the classroom to get used to throwing punches while on the move. Usually we stand in one place and throw them, so this was a nice change of pace. These punching and kicking drills still kill me. My arms get tired and it becomes difficult to keep the hands up, which is essential in any combative confrontation (protect your head at all costs).

We wrapped up with more choking. I pitty the fool who tries to choke me from the front. He’s in for a rude surprise, roshambo style.

I feel like my conditioning is improving. I won’t say it’s good, because it’s not. I’m still the fat guy huffing and puffing (sometimes wheezing) with his hands on his knees. But I’m huffing and puffing a little less and I’m going on three weeks without missing a day. I dare say I’ve even dropped a little bit of fat over the past week, according to the scale anyway.

So, today was…different. Like last Saturday the instructor really stuck it to us. We ran in a big circle for a while, switching directions on demand. Seemed almost tame. And then his inner masochist woke up. Five jumping jacks, five squats, five burpees, five pushups, five mountain climbers…repeat. We did that for what seemed like five minutes.

We finished up with that and then paired up. I found someone roughly my size, although he was definitely a few levels above me. We did the usual: punch and kick each other. Then they decided to teach something else…knees. It started out simple, knee the other person at 50%. Then the instructor gave the word: grab your partner around the neck and go to f’ing town on the pad. It seemed okay at first, the guy was pummeling the pad (and the back of my neck) but I was okay. Then he started landing blows high on the pad, sometimes slipping just past the pad to land a shot on my chin. Just to mix things up, sometimes he’d go low on the pad and nail me in the stomach…not far from the jejunum I’d guess. It was awful, pad or not.

We wrapped up doing an A-B drill. Three person teams. One on each end of the gym and one person in the center. The person in the center listens for the instructor to yell “A” and “B”. For “A” they run to one side and punch the hell out of the bag. For “B” they run to the other side and kick the hell out of the bag. The instructor periodically throws in some twists, switching right in the middle of running from one to the other. At one point, the instructor switches the “A” pad holders to knees. While the person is kneeing the hell out of the pad the “B” pad holders run up behind the person in the middle without them knowing. Now when the instructor calls “B” the person turns around and immediately starts punching the pad. It was pretty greulling.

Now, at the end of the day, all I feel is my jaw. I think all of the knees that missed the pad and clipped my chin did a bit of damage. Nothing permanent, I hope.

Today started my second week in Krav Maga classes. I’m starting to feel like I can keep up better physically with the class now. I’m not saying I don’t double over, gasping for air in the middle of a drill…but I do it less often now. Of course, the class today was less heavy on the insane, nonstop drills. We stopped more often for the instructor to demonstrate a technique.

We started out doing running drills. The heavy bags were brought out (more about those later) and we had to slalom them (in and out) down one end, sprint back and slalom the next row of bags. On the instructor’s signal, we were to stop, find a classmate and do our “touch the shoulders” drill (try as hard as you can to touch your opponent’s shoulders while preventing them from touching yours). When he signaled again, back to running. At one point, he turned out the lights and even strobed them to simulate adverse conditions. He likened it to being in a brawl in the middle of a carnival. People and obstacles everywhere with limited visibility.

We spent a bit of time on punches, working on the fundamental 1-2, left jab, right jab punches. We worked with the tall, heavy bags for the first time today (they have this awesome track that the bags hang from, allowing you to move the bags around the room). We did some simple 1-2 combos, eventually going to power punches (hard as you can) and finally all-out (hard as you can, fast as you can). This is exhausting stuff…when you’re done it’s hard to keep your hands up. In between rounds of that, we were also doing pushups.

We also did a drill in teams of three. One person held the large punching bag, one person did everything they could to demolish the bag with their fists, while the third person did everything they could to keep the puncher away from the bag. This was insanely exhausting. I ended up with two guys that were both larger and more fit than I was. By the end of the rotation (everyone going through each assignment once) I was dead. It was great.

We also spent some time on close in combat with the elbows. This is the first time I’ve done elbows in the class. We started with what the instructor called #1, which involved striking across the body with your right elbow at about chest/chin height. Then we moved to #2, which strikes away from your body with your right elbow (standing straight, look right and throw your elbow in that direction). We then moved to #7 (I guess #3 through #6 will come later), which is the elbow straight down (imagine your opponent doubled over in front of you and deliver a blow to the back of the neck/spine with your elbow).

Once we were comfortable with those, we went back to choking drills. This time, instead of breaking the grasp and kicking the balls (like we did both days last week), we fall back two steps, establish our fighting stance, raise our right arm straight up and do the #7 elbow, breaking the choke. From that position, we went immediately to the #2 elbow, aiming for the face of the person choking us. I got to practice on Lisa, which was fun. Whenever we do the choking drills, she always ends up with red marks on her neck from my thumbs. I imagine being pulled over by the cops on my way home with red marks on her neck and my knuckles bloodied up. That should make for interesting conversation.

Another week or two of this and I think I’ll be ready to up it to 3 days a week. But we’ll see how I feel tomorrow and Wednesday. In any case, Krav Maga is awesome. If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, I highly recommend it. Great workout, practical self defense, cool instructors and all-around good time.

Saturday was our second Krav Maga class. Unlike Monday, which was a Level 1 class, Saturday is an “all” class. I think it means all levels are welcome and they’ll pick some lowest common denominator routines to go through. The class was a bit larger than the Monday class. You could really tell when we were all lined up doing pad exercises, there just wasn’t room to move. Hopefully that’s not what it’s always like. I’m not crazy about really crowded gyms.

We did a lot of the same exercises as the Monday class. This time instead of being pummeled by a much larger classmate, I was matched up with an older but similarly sized gentleman. Of course, he’s been taking the class for the last nine months. I figured he would be easier on me with his punches than my Monday classmate…wrong. He seemed to take great joy in pounding my chest with his fists. I found it amusing that he was happily pounding the piss out of me while wearing his “I’m a vegetarian” shirt.

I think I fared better than I did on Monday, although I still get winded and need a short break to catch my breath. I was sore across the top of my back and shoulders Sunday morning when I woke up. Other than that, no issues, however. That’s a good sign since I have a quick turnaround to get to the next class on Monday. All in all, I’m really enjoying it. The workout really kicks your ass and you’re learning practical self defense.

Inspired by a recent episode of Fight Quest, Lisa and I went to check out a local Krav Maga school on Saturday. We sat through 30+ minutes (out of 3 hours) of a belt test for about 14 students. While not nearly as intense as the Fight Quest footage was, it was still pretty brutal watching them go through their warmup routines.

Tonight Lisa and I had our first class at the Academy of Self Defense in Santa Clara. They gave us two free weeks to check it out, so we dropped in on the 7pm Level 1 class. Let’s just say that Level 1 is only referring to the competency level, not the intensity level. The class started out with us mounting punching bags on the ground, pounding our fists and elbows into the imaginary face of our enemy. When the instructor blew his whistle, we rolled on our side to our backs, grabbed the punching bag handle and proceeded to wail on the virtual assailant’s face with our fists. That went on for about 5 minutes.

After that, we paired up for more work. I paired up with someone slightly taller but considerably larger than myself. Mistake. We took turns punching the bag that the other was holding up. I landed some strong rights, but my left is weak by comparison. We switched and my partner took turns pummeling the bag with his ham sized fists, driving the air out of my lungs with every punch. Seriously, I’m pretty sure the pad is just there to make sure I don’t get a bruise or a broken sternum because it wasn’t doing much to prevent his powerful blows from pushing me backwards.

After a few minutes of that, we started running around like mad. Literally. One of us ran with the pad while the other ran with nothing, sprinting through the crowded classroom, dodging the other students. When the whistle sounded, the person with the pad stops and the other person seeks them out to take out some sweet aggression on the pad. Once again, wind being knocked out of my lungs. On a related note, don’t let the pad come away from your chest…or else it just gets repeatedly driven back into your chest by your partner. Also, don’t let the pad dip…or else it will be driving dinner out of your stomach instead of air out of your lungs. Words of wisdom by Ryan Kennedy.

There were some other drills. Voluntary amnesia is suppressing those memories in the hope that forgetting the misery means I’ll go back for more. We did some choking. One partner chokes the other. The person being choked has to simultaneously break the choke and kick the other person in the balls. The choking might explain the amnesia.

That brings up a fun topic…rules. There are none. In other martial arts there are things you don’t do. You don’t gouge the eyes. You don’t strike the back of the neck. You don’t kick the balls. All of those are the bread and butter of Krav Maga. Crushing the testes of your opponent is how you start the fight. Most martial arts start with a bow. Krav Maga subscribes to the roshambo school of starting fights. This lack of rules is really what draws me to Krav Maga. There are no formalities before the duel. There is no referee. There are no points. You win if you don’t die. It’s reality based fighting, this is how it’s going to be if you’re attacked on the streets or on a battlefield. Bow to your opponent? Not unless you want him to kick you squarely in the face.

We rounded out the night with 10 jumping jacks and 10 burpees. Well, the class did. I was able to do about 5 jumping jacks and prevented myself from performing any vomitees. It was brutal. My hands are chewed up from the punching (my poor, delicate, programmer hands) and the physical exertion is flat out exhausting. I loved it, I’m going back on Saturday and I’m going to do it all over again. With luck, I’ll loose some weight and get back in shape while learning some practical defense techniques.

Wanna join me? It’ll be great.

Since moving in late June (for the second time in nine months), I’ve embarked on a bit of a self-improvement program. I’ve been on this kind of kick before in the past, sometimes with positive results while other times were total busts (Did I say 30 by 30? I meant to say 30 during 30).

It’s become abundantly clear to me over the past year that I’m quite mortal. Shin splints once again caused me to shut down my ambitions for a 30 mile run. Shingles sidelined me during the holidays. I also had a nasty bout of sinusitis around the same time that resulted in me passing out in the kitchen. In short, the last 12 months have been among the least healthy of my life. I’ve been riddled with stress, broken down by injuries and worn down by illness.

When this latest move came up in June, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to start over. It began simply enough. In my new place I’m just 5 miles from the Yahoo! Sunnyvale campus. I walk 1.5 miles to light rail every morning and ride that to a station near Yahoo!. I get off and walk the final half mile. On a good week, like last week, I clear 16 miles of walking (some nights I get a ride home from work to go somewhere else, like softball). The walking has been great. Sure I show up to work a little sweaty, but it’s worth it. I know I’m doing something good for my body. More importantly, it’s been fantastic for my mental health. I get around 40 minutes of time each way to think about stuff. A lot of the time I think about work, venting any frustrations (I yell at people who aren’t actually there…it helps more than you think) and thinking through any issues. Getting that all out of the way during my walk probably makes me a more pleasant person in the office and at home.

I’ve also started eating much better. No more binging on terrible food. I eat three moderate meals and (usually) three snacks each day. On the weekends I’ll splurge a little…a nice reward for walking 10+ miles during the weekdays. I’ve stayed almost entirely away from soda, minus the six pack of Weinhard’s Root Beer I spread out over the week. Now that we’re back in a real house again, we’ve been having more home cooked meals as well (Lisa’s done all the cooking so far…I can’t take credit, yet).

One of the biggest changes I’ve made has been my sleeping pattern. It used to be that I would stay up until 1-2am and not wake up until 7am or later. I always felt like I was playing catchup on sleep during the weekend. Waking up the morning left me feeling like I’d been hit by a truck. Since we moved, I’ve been waking up at 6am, getting myself into bed between 10pm and 12am (usually closer to 10pm). I’ve been doing a bit of reading up on sleeping patterns (this article on waking up without an alarm clock is pretty good) and incorporating that lately and it’s really helped me to wake up in the morning without feeling like my head is full of rocks.

Lastly, I’ve started doing a three day a week boot camp class at the company gym. Our instructor Russell takes it as a personal challenge to maximize damage to my body. I’ve done three days so far and I can tell that if this class doesn’t kill me, it will surely make me stronger. Every day is a massive endurance challenge with various mixtures of cardiovascular and resistance training. This is the diluted yuppie version of boot camp too…this isn’t even the hard core boot camp where some guy screams at you until you give him 500 good pushups and then your squad mates beat you with socks full of soap bars because you screwed the pooch for everyone.

In the end, it’s all for the greater good. Today, while walking home, was one of the first times in a long time that I felt REALLY good, mentally and physically (yes, I’m sore…but it’s the good sore). I’ve been at this for the past 4 weeks now and it’s finally showing signs of paying off. Sing it Michael.

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change, yey
Na na na, na na na, na na na na oh ho

In August 1992, Dean Karnazes ran 30 miles on his 30th birthday. I can’t say I will exactly duplicate his effort (Dean was drunk and wearing only a t-shirt, underwear and running shoes), however I’ve made a 30 mile run my goal for my 30th birthday. It might sound like insanity, but one thing I didn’t mention in my Five things you (probably) didn’t know about me post is that I ran cross country in junior high and high school.

The question inevitably becomes, “why would you do that?” The short answer is, I don’t know. I don’t feel any really compelling reason to do it…I just want to. In the past, I’ve always been up for all sorts of hair-brained ideas. The problem is, I’ve never really followed through on them. In some cases I get bored, others frustrated and often times that’s all it takes to turn me from determined to disinterested.

In a recent Wired article. Dean gave 12 pieces of advice. Here’s how I plan to apply that advice to my endeavor.

1. BE AUDACIOUS: Nothing says audacious to me like starting the year an out of shape computer programmer and finishing it having completed a 30 mile run. I’m overweight, out of conditioning and I let my job dominate my life. If the training alone can’t kill me, surely the event itself might. On the other hand, if I come through it successful, who knows…
2. GO LACELESS: Buy new running shoes…check. My last pair were due for replacement anyway. Of course, if I’m going to be training for this, I’m guessing I’ll go through several pairs of shoes between now and my birthday.
3. FLIRT WITH DISASTER: Given my current conditioning, I’m guessing disaster will be my mistress for the next couple of months. You want some more potential for disaster? My birthday is in August. Nothing like trying a 30 mile run at the height of summer. Thankfully, I don’t live in Sacramento anymore.
4. EAT JUNK – LOTS OF IT: The only thing more audacious than running 30 miles is ordering a pizza to be delivered to you during said 30 mile run. If you see some guy running on the mean streets of the Silicon Valley on August 5th, pull up alongside and hand him a bag of doughnut holes or something.
5. CUT BACK ON SLEEP: Way ahead of you, man.
6. SHOW YOUR BODY WHO’S BOSS: There’s a quote in the Wired article that I love. “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!” I think I can accommodate the “used up” and “worn out” part of that after the run. The loud proclaiming will probably come after I finally get to use a restroom (or perhaps during its use).
7. GET A COOL WATCH: Dude, I had a cool watch over a year ago. What I’ll really want is a cool cell phone. My current phone (Sony Ericsson S710a) is ass. What I really want is something that can run ZoneTag. I think it would be a nice way of chronicling the event if I can live blog it from the road, complete with geotagged photos of my sweaty self. Plus, when I get run over by a car I’ll have a photo of the license plate, a timestamp and precise location of the event.
8. LEARN TO LOVE KRAZY GLUE: I’ve never had a huge problem with blisters, but I’ve also never run this far. What I do run into is chafing problems and for that I swear by Body Glide. Attention fat/overweight runners or runners with abnormally muscular thighs that rub together. If you run long distance…get yourself some Body Glide. The stuff’s seriously amazing. I’ve also never had a problem with bloody nipples, but I might consider some NipGuards. Nothing says, “oh my god, what’s wrong with that guy” like a couple of bloody nipples.
9. GET USED TO IT: “Eventually, when he grew accustomed to the pain, it stopped hurting.” Sounds kind of like life as a Windows user. I’m prepared for some pain, but I’m hoping to avoid my usual downfall during my running training…shin splints. Those have shut down my last several attempts to get back into running. I could probably work through the pain, but knowing in the back of my head that I could be doing some rather serious damage to my body will probably detour me a bit.
10. PROMOTE THE HELL OUT OF YOURSELF: Public blog…hellooooooo.
11. BREAK IT DOWN: I’m sure there will be a certain amount of “breaking down”. As for breaking it down, I’m trying to do that in my training. I’m focusing what I call “phase 1″ on losing some weight and getting into a regular pattern of exercise. Losing weight will help with the running. I never had shin splints when I was 170-175 pounds. Now that I’m around 220 pounds, I can’t imagine the extra 50 pounds of body weight crashing down on my legs is helping. I’ve already started eating better and I’ve been in the gym several days in the past week, lifting weights and hitting the treadmill.
12. AVOID KRYPTONITE: My kryptonites are eating and laziness. Eating can be rough because sometimes I’ll just gouge myself. I’ve really been focusing this month on portion control and cutting out all of the snacking. As for laziness, well…if I don’t feel like going to the gym, I don’t go. I’ve been trying to fight that by pairing up with my wife and a friend. We hit the gym together, which makes it feel like more of a social event and less like penance.

That’s it, I’ll post here periodically on my progress. I have until August 5th to get ready for this thing. Some things that are unsolved that I need to work out between now and then:

• A route. I’ll be looking for something that’s safe (no high traffic roads) and relatively interrupt free (if I can avoid a ton of stoplights, that would be good). At the same time, some scenery would be nice. If it’s going to be summer, it might also be good to have some areas with shade.
• Provisions. It’ll no doubt take me several hours to finish this. A very conservative estimate would be to say 15 minute miles. That puts me around 7 and a half hours. I’m going to need food and water along the way.
• Deposits. Again, 7 and a half hours plus lots of water and a decent amount of food equals stops to go to the bathroom. Dean Karnazes may have taught himself how to pee while he runs, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to run around in cities where I know people smelling like urine. If it were a race, I’d consider it. But since I’m not in a hurry, I might as well plot a route with gas stations or something.
• Technology. I mentioned that I’ve got the watch already, but I still need that ZoneTag lovin’ phone. Additionally, something so I can listen to music would be awesome. I’d like to think that some people might keep me company for a mile or so at a time during my run, but inbetween it would be good to have some tunes to keep me chugging.

I’m sure there’s more that will come up, but that’s what I’ve got so far. If you have suggestions, I’m all ears.

I had a lovely weekend with a brilliant outbreak of some sort of rash on my torso. Yeah, you probably didn’t need to know that, but trust me…this is going somewhere. It wasn’t really getting better today, but I’ve been suffering through it figuring it would clear up soon on its own.

Then my wife stumbled on an article about shingles. Pay dirt, every symptom lined up pretty well with everything I was experiencing. So I went to my doctor to get checked out. She had me lift up my shirt and asked, “what do you think it is?” I told her I suspected it was shingles and she told me I was right.

So she sent me to the pharmacy to pick up some meds. In this case, Valtrex. You may have seen it marketed on television…for herpes. Let me just say, there’s nothing quite like going to a pharmacy to pick up your herpes meds. I’m sure she didn’t mean to, but the pharmacist came over to give me a consult on the medication and said, “this is for…well you know what it’s for.” It was very accusatory, I felt like I ought to be heading to the confessional. “Excuse me father for I have sinned. I’m taking herpes meds for my…herpes, which were in no way sexually transmitted.” Awkward.

Anyway, I’m hoping that the Valtrex clears things up soonish. The doctor told me that I’d be spared a good bit of pain since I’m young, but just the same, it’s pretty uncomfortable. It starts below my left pectoral and runs around the side to my back. The bit on my back makes it uncomfortable to sit back against a chair.

Anyway, if you’re curious, I recommend reading the wikipedia article I linked above on shingles. It’s good to know what the symptoms are because the sooner you can start treatment the better off you are. I went 4-5 days before seeing a doctor and they prefer more like 3. It’s also interesting to see what it is (it’s basically the old chicken pox virus waking up), what causes it (stress, in some cases) and it’s spreadability (basically don’t touch my blisters if you haven’t had chicken pox before, unless you’d like chicken pox). My doctor tells me that I’m not at risk to spread chicken pox as long as I wash my hands and don’t hug people.

Marathon training started 6 weeks ago tomorrow. When I began, I hadn’t been doing any running or really any exercise at all. Today, Lisa and I cranked out 9 miles around Folsom. Mind you, I wasn’t exactly burning up the roads (though I was burning up the calories, almost 1600 to be exact)…but I did finish. It’s hard to believe that back in the first week we only ran 3 miles for the long run. Now, just 5 weeks after that run I’m running 3 times that distance.

Next week is the big mental distance…double digits.

Here’s the totals from the last 5 weeks of training (I don’t have any totals from the first week since I didn’t have my nifty new watch):

Distance: 68.34 miles
Time: 16 hours, 51 minutes, 28 seconds
Energy: 12,350 calories

It used to be that I could stay skinny while eating anything in front of me. All I had to do was go out and play and I stayed my same, skinny self. I played baseball and football at the nearby park and I ran cross country in school. Lately, it’s not that easy. I’ve just finished 5 weeks of marathon training, running 4 days a week. Going from running 11 miles in the first week to running 14+ this past week. From burning 2024 calories the first week to burning 2523 calories this week. From 230 pounds the first week to 230 pounds this last week.

Wait…what? Let me get this straight…all that extra running hasn’t put a dent in my bodyweight? Before you get all uppity…yes, I do understand all the other health benefits I AM getting from running. However, I started this program with the intent of losing some weight. I don’t have anything against reducing my risk of heart disease, but I want to ditch this gut, damnit. I want to see the health benefit of not putting my feet and legs through the stress of carrying my 230 pound self around all the time.

So if expending more calories hasn’t been enough to do the trick, obviously I need to examine the calories going into my body. Food is actually good for you, so I’m not necessarily looking to reduce how much I eat, but to at least make sure the calories I’m putting in my mouth will be used for something other than filling space in fat cells. So what sorts of things can I change in my diet that aren’t major changes?

Breakfast

No more breakfast burritos or croissant breakfast sandwiches at the company cafeteria. Get some eggs with some vegetables and maybe some whole grain toast.

Lunch

No more croissant sandwiches (yes, I do have a thing for the croissant). Switch it up with whole grain bread instead. Doing so also means I can change from mayo to mustard (mustard on a croissant is just wrong).

Dinner

It’s entirely possible that I don’t need the combo plate at Rubio’s anymore. The burrito is filling enough, I really don’t have to throw in a fish taco to go with it (though they are amazingly good).

Throughout the day

No more sugary sodas…I mean it this time. Stick to what diet drinks I can tolerate (Sierra Mist Free), water and fat free or low fat milk. And no more late afternoon snacks with the guys in the cafeteria that involve Rice Krispies and marshmallows.

That ought to do it. I could switch up and go back to the South Beach Diet or the Abs Diet and I know I’d drop weight, but I think these changes are sufficient for now.

Following up on my earlier post, I figured I’d let people know what kind of gear I’m using for running. While it seems simple enough to slip into some shorts and slap on a pair of sneakers, you’ll be much happier if you get yourself the right equipment.

Shoes
Shoes are by far the most important thing for a runner. Your feet are the first part of your body to bear the brunt of the impact. The right shoe can help absorb the impact and prevent it from spreading up into your knees, legs and hips. My recent delight have been the Saucony 3D Grid Hurricane 7. They’ve got nice cushion, fit well and won’t (totally) break the bank at around $120.

You really ought to visit a good running store to get set up with a pair of shoes. Each runner is different and shoe companies make different shoes for each runner type. Visit a store such as Fleet Feet and get someone to help you. Stores like Fleet Feet are staffed by runners who can watch you move and help you pick the right shoe.

Socks
Of course, once you’ve got your shoes you’ll have to put your feet inside them. But first you’ll need a good pair of running socks. You might think you can get away with your garden variety, cotton socks from Costco. Wrong. This is a really bad idea. Cotton is no good for running. It absorbs moisture and is reluctant to let go of it. That means you’ve got a wet sock inside your shoe as your foot rubs against it over and over again. That’s a sure recipe for blisters. If you’re really unlucky, the cotton will rub your skin raw as well, leaving you with tender spots.

I’m running in Balega socks that I bought at Fleet Feet. They’re the first running socks I’ve ever owned and they’re likely to be the only brand I ever go near again. I’m wearing the Hidden Dry socks. They’re padded on the bottom, giving some extra cushion in addition to what my shoes give me. The tops are a mesh that allows your foot to breathe.

Lubricant
If you’re fat, like me, then you’re likely to have issues with chafing (a burning, stinging skin irritation caused by friction). Even if you’re not fat, you may have a pair of shorts or a shirt that causes you problems. Never fear, Body Glide is here. Body Glide is the single most amazing product ever. It looks like roll-on deoderant, but instead of applying it to your underams you apply it to wherever you happen to chafe. Since purchasing Body Glide, I’ve only once had an issue with chafing (because I missed a spot when I applied it). GREATEST…PRODUCT…EVER. I was also able to find this fine product at Fleet Feet (are you sensing a trend here?).

Watch
Any watch will typically suffice. Hell, you don’t even really need a watch at all for running. But if you’re statistically obsessed as I am, you’ll enjoy having a watch to tell you all sorts of metrics regarding how your run went. In my case, I splurged and got the Garmin Forerunner 301. This mean machine packs a heart rate monitor, a GPS and all the typical running watch goodies you’d expect. In addition, it has a USB port and cable so you can dump your run data to your PC for further analysis. You can even upload it to the web where you can share your routes and receive training tips.

If you decide to get the Forerunner, I should warn you that the 301 is $300 (at REI, I could’ve gotten it cheaper elsewhere but then I would have had to wait for it to ship). Garmin also sells the 101 and the 201 for much less (I’ve seen the 201 at REI for $150). However, I bought my wife the 201 for her birthday…she ran with it once and it went back to REI that very day to be exchanged for a 301. The problem with the 201 is that it’s charger sucks and the data synchronization is all done using a serial port. The 301 uses USB for both data synchronization AND recharging (you can recharge it from a wall socket using USB port also).

That’s a quick rundown of some of the gear out there for runners. In order of importance I’d have to rate it as: 1) shoes, 2) socks and 3) Body Glide. I don’t have proper running shorts or shirts yet, but I’m guessing those are likely to fall as 4 and 5 respectively. The watch is a nice to have, but I could easily get by without one.

In junior high school our cross country coach had an afterschool club named “Run for your life”. Three days a week we’d meet and go running. While it was great for keeping the cross country team running in the offseason, it was even better for the other students who showed up just to run for the fun of it (I know, many of you think running couldn’t possibly be fun). Once a year, the teacher would even take us as a group to the San Jose Mercury News 10k.

For some reason, when high school came around I wasn’t into running on the cross country team as much. I didn’t like the coach as much and I was definitely not as talented or as dedicated as the other team members. So I mostly stopped running.

Early in college I got back into running. I liked running around San Luis Obispo and it kept me in good shape. I ran for most of my first three years there. Mostly late at night, but occasionally during the day when I had a class I particularly didn’t want to attend. Then came the event that changed my life and my health forever: I changed majors. Who would have known that switching majors to computer science would come with an automatic 50+ pound penalty (I went from a very comfortable 175 to a much less comfortable 225-240).

Over the years since graduating, I’ve done many things to try and lose weight. Some have worked very well, including going on the South Beach Diet and the Abs Diet. These are both fine diets and worked very well for me. But ultimately (for one reason or another) I went off the diets and put back some of the weight I’d lost (not all of it, though).

For the last 4 weeks I’ve been doing something different. I’ve gone back to running, the sport that kept me in shape through all of high school despite eating like a cow (stupid puberty). I’ve taken up one of Jeff Galloway’s marathon programs and have stuck to it well for a whole month. I’ve been outside, running hard 4 days a week. I started the program out of shape and not running well at all with 2 goals in mind: lose some weight and be ready to run CIM in early December.

Today I finished my 6 mile long run (long is a relative term). Did I burn up the roads of Folsom? No. Did I finish with a strong sense of satisfaction? Yes. I can’t even remember the last time I did a 6 mile run. I remember doing a 4+ mile loop during college. I remember doing a 10k (6.2 miles) back in high school. That’s about the last time I remember doing a 6 mile run. Of course, I can’t celebrate too much right now because in a week I do a 7 mile run…then an 8 mile run the week after that. But for now I’ll celebrate the fact that I’m doing something for myself that will hopefully have a lasting effect on my health.

I had to lay off the gym the last half of the final week of the challenge, but I still managed to get a bit of a drop in weight. Body weight dropped from 219.4 to 218.4 pounds, a 1.0 pound decrease. Body fat percentage dropped 0.1% to 26.7% while total body fat decreased by 0.49 pounds.

Challenge Totals

• Body Weight: 231.0 pounds down to 218.4 pounds (-12.6 pounds)
• Body Fat %: 28.4% down to 26.7% (-1.7%)
• Body Fat: 65.6 pounds down to 58.3 pounds (-7.3 pounds)

The shin splints are feeling better, although I jogged out to my car on Friday and still felt some pain. So they’re not totally cleared up. The plan for next week is to get back to lifting weights in the gym but I’ll replace my runs with the stationary bike. It’s lower impact, so I’m hoping it will give me some endurance training without doing additional damage.

Tonight I need to start working on the essay I have to send in for the challenge. You only get 75 words to sum up how the diet has changed your life and it counts for 50% of the judging, the other 50% is based on how much weight you lost, physical change (you have to submit before and after pictures) and how well you stuck to the diet. I dropped a little over 5% of my body weight during the challenge, so I’m on the low range of the weight loss spectrum. I’m still carrying a lot of fat around too, so my pictures won’t show any stunning changes (you won’t see a 6-pack). So I’ll have to lean heavily on the fact that I committed myself to the diet for 6 weeks, lost a reasonable 2 pounds per week and plan to continue this lifestyle change for the rest of my life. Some topics I’m sure will come up in the essay:

• I made the time and commitment to exercise 6 days a week (sometimes 7, if you include skiing) despite having a 140 mile (one way) commute to work.
• I didn’t break down and go off the meal plan. I had one cheat meal per week and even that stayed away from my most dangerous temptations (caffeinated soda, fried foods, chips, etc).
• I went cold turkey on caffeinated, non-diet soda.
• I’ve been running more lately than at any other time in my life, including when I was on the cross country team.
• I have a goal to complete a 12k run in March.

This is my 6th week on the Abs Diet Challenge. During the challenge, I’ve been doing 3 days of full body weights at the gym and 3 days of running (2 days of “long” distance and 1 day of interval or speed training). It would seem the abuse of my body has caught up to me.

I’ve been noticing a pain in my lower legs for the past week or more. I never really knew what shin splints were before, much less what they could do to you. After reading the description, I think there’s a better than average chance that’s what I’m developing. It’s not surprising either. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do squats. Friday I also do lunges and step ups. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I run. I still weigh around 220 pounds and I run.

I was planning on taking next week off entirely from working out, since fatigue and little pains here and there are telling me I need a rest. But I think I’m going to speed that up and take a couple of days off starting tomorrow.

I found another shin splints article.

Soft grass, smooth dirt, asphalt, and concrete represent, in order of increasing “hardness”, the usual spectrum of commonly encountered running surfaces. Concrete is very hard on the body and training on this surface should be avoided.

Sounds like my Thursday runs in my neighborhood may have to move off the sidewalks and onto the bike lanes as much as possible. In the meantime…rest.

Boo-yah (as Stuart Scott would say). The gain last week appears to have helped this week. Body weight dropped significantly from 223.0 to 219.4 pounds, a 3.6 pound decrease. Body fat percentage dropped 1% to 26.8% while total body fat decreased by 3.19 pounds.

Running Totals

• Body Weight: 231.0 pounds down to 219.4 pounds (-11.6 pounds)
• Body Fat %: 28.4% down to 26.8% (-1.6%)
• Body Fat: 65.6 pounds down to 58.8 pounds (-6.8 pounds)

Last week was a great running week for me. I tackled a 3.83 mile run near Yahoo! on Tuesday and did a 4.1 mile run by my house on Thursday. Saturday I did some speed training at a nearby track. It was awesome. The gym was…not as good. I took off half my workout on Wednesday and skipped my Friday workout altogether. I’ve noticed my legs have been really tired, making my second sets of squats something to be dreaded. So the off days probably helped a lot. Additionally, I’ve noticed some pains in my calves yesterday and today. Most likely strain from the hills I ran Thursday. I’ll have to figure out what I need to do to get past the fatigue in my gym workouts. It’s possible that not having an off day last week hurt me, so hopefully the additional rest I got this week will aid my recovery.

Regardless, I’ve dropped over 11.5 pounds meaning I’m officially in range to enter for the Abs Diet Challenge (I needed to lose at least 5% body weight, which was 11.5 pounds when I started the diet). I just have to hope for a good final week of the challenge.

Another week, but this time no weight drop. Instead, a weight INCREASE! Body weight crept up slightly from 222.2 to 223.0 pounds, a 0.8 pound increase. Body fat percentage remained unchanged at 27.8% while total body fat increased by 0.2 pounds (hmm…so most of my weight gain must be muscle then?).

Running Totals

• Body Weight: 231.0 pounds down to 223.0 pounds (-8.0 pounds)
• Body Fat %: 28.4% down to 27.8% (-0.6%)
• Body Fat: 65.6 pounds down to 62.0 pounds (-3.6 pounds)

Last week I managed to do some form of exercise all seven days (my day off was spent skiing). I’m starting to notice much better definition in my arms and thighs. If only I could work off the butt and the gut, I’d be looking fantastic. I’m hoping that the muscle gain this past week will propel me to more fat loss in the coming weeks.

Another week, this time without the 3 pound drop. Body weight dropped from 224.0 to 222.2 pounds, a 1.8 pound drop. Body fat percentage dropped from 28.4% to 27.8% while total body fat dropped by 1.84 pounds.

Running Totals

• Body Weight: 231.0 pounds down to 222.2 pounds (-8.8 pounds)
• Body Fat %: 28.4% down to 27.8% (-0.6%)
• Body Fat: 65.6 pounds down to 61.8 pounds (-3.8 pounds)

Feeling pretty good at the halfway point. Haven’t had any issues with bad eating habits cropping back up. Appetite is well in check, just like it was on the South Beach Diet (frequently have to remind myself to eat). Gym workouts are going well. I’ve upped the weight on several exercises and am set to up several more.

It’s not often I’ll have two posts in a row about my running progress, so cherish this moment. I measured out a loop near my house today, it came out to about 4.1 miles. It starts up a nice, steep hill. Most of the first mile and a half are all spent running uphilll. Then it drops down a hill for about half a mile. It then flatens out for about another mile or so. The last bit of distance (around a mile) is up a steady uphill grade.

Lisa and I set out this afternoon with the goal of pounding out 12 minute miles. We finished the first mile just shy of 14 minutes, about 2 minutes behind pace. The second mile marker came at 24 minutes…we made up nearly 2 minutes on the downhill. We hit the third mile marker around 39 minutes…3 minutes behind schedule. We ended up hitting the end of the run at around 53 minutes…5 minutes off the pace.

However, for both Lisa and I this was our first outdoor run in I don’t know how long. I’ve been running during the Abs Diet Challenge, but it’s all been treadmill running. Even more importantly, we completed the run without walking. All I know is I’m well on my way to making my goal of 1:30 in the Emeral Nuts 12k in March.