Tvindy

My Run

Sorry for my dismally infrequent entries. I guess it's time I finally got around to writing about my 10-mile jog from last week.

There is a running and biking trail located just over a mile from my house, so, to run ten miles, I jog to it, run four miles on it, and then turn around and go back. I go in the early morning (around 3:30 am), so I don't have to contend with traffic and other runners. This also lets me watch the sun start to come up.

On this particular jog, I experienced a couple of interesting incidents. The first happened about a half mile into the trail. I noticed a police car parked at the side of an old warehouse. The car was empty, and the driver's side door was ajar. This struck me as a bit odd and even disturbing. As I continued on around a bend, I heard a voice from behind shout, "Okay, you can start making your way back here now." As I continued on for a few more steps, I pondered what to do, since I didn't know if the voice was coming from a police officer or even if it was directed to me. I finally shouted back, "Are you talking to me?" and heard "Yes, I am." So I turned around and slowly jogged back to find one of Muncie's finest standing over the trail. He looked me over and said, "Oh, you're just someone out for a jog". "Yeah", I replied as my heart rate alarm started going off, helping to confirm that fact and also alerting me that I needed to pick up the non-existent pace. "Okay, you're fine", he informed me. Of course I was 99% certain he was telling me I could be on my way, but, unless you're 100% certain of this fact, it's not advisable to turn from an officer who has detained you and start running. Seeing my dilemma, he added, "Have a good run tonight . . . er . . . good morning." "Good morning!", I shouted back as I ran off into the sunrise. If I hadn't been so pressed for time, I would have suggested to him that, the next time he summons a passerby from a hidden location in the darkness, he really should identify himself as a police officer. Anyway, despite the annoying delay, I actually managed to more than make up the lost time, and miles six, seven, eight and nine set new records for me this year.

Several miles further on, there was another incident. The trail goes behind the backyards of many houses, and apparently some of the residents do not like joggers going behind their homes before sunup. As I passed behind a row of homes, a car in a driveway started up and shone its headlights on me. As I continued on, it backed slowly out of the driveway in such a way that it kept its headlights lined up on me as it backed out and angled into the street. Then it followed me along a parallel street and met up with me at a nearby intersection so it could blind me even more effectively from close range. I really wish people wouldn't do this.

Despite the interference, it was a good jog. I just hope that, as I become a more familiar nighttime sight, people will start letting me jog in peace.

Yellow Trampoline

Today in trampoline class I got my first shot at using one of the yellow trampolines. I've blogged about them before. They are the superpowered trampolines that can bounce you much higher than one would believe physically possible. They are referred to in class as the "hotbeds". I've seen the students in the more advanced classes go up at least ten feet, which is pretty darned impressive. But today the teacher informed us that the ceiling of the gymnasium is only just beyond the upper bounce potential of the trampolines. Those puppies are dangerous! Imagine going way up at a slight angle and then missing the trampoline entirely on the way down. That's probably not a mistake anyone makes twice.

Before we were allowed to mount the hotbed, the teacher had one of her assistants demonstrate how to use it safely. During the course of the demonstration, he lost control and hit at a weird angle. Then he rebounded into the air, did a backflip and landed perfectly on his feet in the center of the trampoline. The teacher casually explained to us, "Yes, that is one of the more advanced maneuvers for making an emergency stop." At that point, everyone just looked at her in astonishment. It will be a very long time before I will ever be able to even consider an aerial backflip. I can't imagine doing such a complicated and dangerous maneuver from an uncontroled bounce!

I found that the hotbeds were not as scary as I had feared. It took a little time to adapt, but I basically discovered that all I needed to do was jump more gently. In a way, this is cooler even than the fact that I can bounce far higher, because it means that I can do the same tricks while using much less energy. This allows me to stay on far longer before my heart starts beating at 200 beats a minute and I feel like my chest will explode. (I have really got to start getting into shape and losing weight; perhaps I can shed those extra pounds by getting a nice short haircut.)

Trampolining 2

Well, today I had my first opportunity to go boing boing on the trampolines. I discovered that I am way out of shape. Every time I came down off the trampoline, my heart was racing. I thought that maybe I was dehydrated, so I drank some water. That made me nauseous, and I started feeling faint. I had to sit down for the last five minutes of class. I suppose the fact that I've gained twenty pounds since coming to Oregon should have clued me into the fact that my body was rapidly degenerating into a big gob of goo. I will definitely have to do something about that right away.

Of course, there may have been other factors. I had only gotten one and a half hours of sleep the night before. And I hadn't eaten anything yet. Plus I may be sick, since I still have a sore throat, although it is getting better. In any case, now that I finally have access to trampolines, I will let nothing prevent me from going boing boing!

I also learned of the existence of special yellow trampolines. They are supercharged. When you jump on them, you go way up. I saw people easily attaining more than ten feet of altitude. The instructor told us that we could not bounce on those until we had demonstarted a very high level of control. I don't blame her; if someone were to miscalculate just a little bit, they could easily end up shooting off the edge and flying halfway across the gymnasium.

We were also told that if we become proficient, we have the option of becoming instructor's aids. The perk that goes along with that is that we would then be allowed access to the trampolines any time we liked throughout the day. Imagine what I could do with 24-hour access to a yellow trampoline! (I'd probably be dead within the week.)

Trampolining

I have always loved going boing boing on the trampoline. I like the sense of becoming weightless as you shoot up into the air and then start heading down again for the next bounce. The higher you jump, the longer you stay in the air. When I was living and working at a non-profit in Massachusetts, we were way out in the boondocks with a lot of open land. It was the perfect opportunity to buy a trampoline of my own. I purchased the largest one I could find and set it up. It was enjoyed by me and many of the volunteers for a long time to come as can be seen in the above image.

I was amazed by how many people there were already quite skilled on the trampoline. One woman there was particularly impressive and was able to bounce into the air while keeping her body straight and rotating herself 360 degrees around two axes simultaneously and then landing on her feet. Another volunteer was very skilled at aerial somersaults and claimed that he had learned the skill jumping on his bed as a child. I can't imagine accomplishing such a feat on a bed.

The only impressive trick I learned was jumping high into the air (as high as I could) and then leaning back during re-entry so that I hit the trampoline with my upper back, just below the shoulder blades. This would shoot me back up and allow me to land on my feet. What I loved about this move was that it kept me in the air for the longest possible time. Eventually I was able to do it dozens of times in succession.

Once I left Massachesetts, my trampolining days came to an end. There was no way I was going to put a trampoline in my yard in Muncie. I could see it quickly being stolen, vandalized, and resulting in the paralysis of many neighborhood children. Also, I did not relish the thought of putting myself on display for the neighbors. I checked at the local university (Ball State) for trampolining classes or other opportunuties for trampoline use. They definitely had trampolines, but it appeared they were only for use by students in advanced acrobatics classes. I was out of options.

Here at the U of O, things are different. They offer trampolining classes! I did not find out in time to register last quarter. One day when walking across campus to one of my classes, I peered into the basement window of one of the buildings and spied a gymnasium filled with trampolines, all occupied by bouncing students. Returning to my dorm room, I looked it up and discovered that they offer three levels of trampolining classes, as well as an aerial maneuvers class.

Every day on my way to class, I made a point to pause outside that window and watch the action inside for a few seconds. Different people were doing different things. I even saw a student on a snowboard bouncing up and down, which must have been part of the aerial maneuvers class. I also saw a student in a harness learning to do somersaults. I had tried to learn somersaults, but after landing on my head a few times, decided that the danger of a broken neck was very real, so I gave it up. But with a harness, I should be able to master the skill safely and in very little time.

This is all very exciting for me. Tomorrow I will have my very first trampolining experience in a long time (almost five years). With proper training, perhaps I will become the trampolining champion of the universe.

Pushup Update

Remember my November entry entitled The Pushup Project? In it I toyed with the idea of dedicating 2004 to training until I was able to do 1000 pushups continuously by the end of the year. I was amazed at the response. To date that post has generated more comments from more readers than anything else I have written. I was even contacted by Charles ("Chick") Linster, whose page I had linked to in this post. He achieved the world record for continuous pushups in 1965 with 6006 pushups. That record remained unbroken for more than eleven years!

Well, after that I was really psyched. Not only was I convinced that it would be a good goal to pursue, but I would be stupid not to attempt it. I had it all planned out. On December 31st of this year I would do as many as I could (probably about 10), and then I would start out the next day (January 1st) by doing just one and then doubling the number of daily pushups every 36 days until December 31st rolled around. On that day I would usher in the new year (2005) by completing 1000 continuous pushups just before midnight. I would even have a separate blog in which to chart my progress.

Unfortunately I've recently had to come to terms with the fact that the pushup project will not be possible due to back problems. In 1998 I herniated my lowermost disk. Since then I've gone through a few years of intense pain. By the end of 2002 I had built myself back up to the point where I was able to run my first marathon. (That whole saga might be good material for future posts.) But even though I am much more functional than I used to be, discs never really regenerate, and there are certain things which I've come to accept will never be possible for me, such as doing situps, using a pickax, and operating a weedwacker for more than a few minutes.

Until a few days ago I had been doing an easy three pushups a day just to get ready. Then I noticed that my back was gradually deteriorating. When I stopped, my back got better. I wasn't aware that pushups were a back-intensive activity, but apparently they are. Mr. Linster confirmed that for me as well as the fact that there is no way to do them without straining the back.

So the pushup project has officially been cancelled, at least for me. I still think it's a great idea, and perhaps someone else will be inspired to follow through with it. I'll definitely do something in 2004, but I don't yet know what. Probably it will either be another marathon or something with chin-ups.

The Pushup Project

I try to do something momentous with my life every year. Last year I ran my first marathon. This year I'm getting ready for a big move. Next year, I'm toying with the idea of getting in shape to be able to do 1000 pushups nonstop. For me that would be an amazing accomplishment. Not only do I currently have no upper body strength; I have never had any upper body strength ever.

I did some calculations this afternoon that looked promising. If I start out on January 1st, 2004 by doing one pushup and build up at a steady rate so that I finish the year on December 31st by doing 1000, that's a thousandfold increase. Let's see; that's about ten doublings (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024), so if I divide the number of days in the year (366, since it's a leapyear) and round down, that means my number of pushups will need to double every 36 days. That works out to just under a 2% increase every day. In the first two or three months, I'll have some weird decimal values. For example, on January 31st I have to do 1.84758881578 pushups.

I checked, and currently I can already manage 3 easy pushups, which means I'm well ahead of schedule and can already perform at February levels. But I do wonder if my overly-analytical mind may have missed something fundamental. I mean, this seems way too easy. And certainly few people would argue that the same rate of increase could be used for running. (Start out in January running one mile and end the year with an easy 1000 mile jog.) Of course, with running, there is the element of time. 1000 pushups could be done in half an hour. To complete 1000 miles within 24 hours, one would have to run at at least 41 miles per hour. (I don't think I could keep up the pace that long.)

I haven't decided yet if this is something I will actually do, but it is intriguing. I'm also curious to see what kind of muscle mass I would develop. Anyway, you can be sure that if I ever manage to do 1000 pushups, it will be blogged.

(Non-American readers can convert miles to kilometers here.)

Tips on Running a Marathon

Last year I trained for and ran my first marathon. Here are my tips for anyone out there who is thinking of doing the same:

1. The Book -- Get yourself a copy of The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. I followed the program outlined in it, and it works. Assuming you can already run for 30 minutes continuously (no matter how slowly), the book takes you through a 16-week program, in which you run four times a week. It doesn't focus on speed, but it will get you through your first marathon fairly painlessly.
2. Pulse Monitoring -- You should also buy a heartrate monitor. This is the one I used, but you'll probably want one that keeps track of laps. Once you've worked out your target heartrate, you can use the watch to stay in that zone for the majority of your workout (minus warmup and cooldown time). By monitoring and controling your pulse on every jog you can optimize the effectiveness of your training. You can also watch as your times improve over the course of the program. If your pulse is staying at the same rate as on previous runs, but your time is shorter, you have improved.
3. Pain Management -- Most sources tell you to take it easy or stop altogether if you feel any significant pain during training. If I followed that advice to the letter, I would never get any running done. A rule of thumb that works for me (but may or may not work for you, so be careful) is to see how the pain affects my time. If I find myself running a familiar course at or above my usual time, I continue with the program as laid out with no adjustment, even if the pain is intense. On the other hand, any pain, even a very minor one, that causes a significant slowdown is a sure sign of trouble, and I take it very seriously. Usually a couple of days off takes care of it.
4. Caffeine -- Believe it or not, but caffeine, taken at the proper dosage, increases performance. According to The Caffeine Advantage, caffeine increases the body's ability to burn fat, which means that glycogen reserves last longer, and endurance is increased. Or in more practical terms, you can run farther before hitting the wall. The trick is to determine the correct dosage for your particular physiology. If you take too much, you will actually hurt your performance; if you take too little; there will not be much of an effect. You have to experiment to get it right. I recommend using caffeine pills, so you have complete control over the amount. Take the caffeine about a half hour before you start your run. Also, you may want to increase your fluid intake a little to compensate for caffeine's slight diuretic effect.
5. Fluid Intake -- Becoming dehydrated during a run can be unpleasant and, in extreme cases, life-threatening. You should not feel thirst at any time in your workout; use that as a guidline to determine exactly how much water you need before and during your run. Over time, you will learn to guage accurately how much you need. One word of caution, though; it is possible to overdo it. Too much fluid can cause uncontrolable diarrhea and unbalance your electrolyte levels -- two things you really don't want to have happen when you're out jogging.
6. The Wall -- "Hitting the wall" is the term used by marathoners for the point at which glycogen is completely depleted from the body, and there has not yet been sufficient time to switch over to burning just fat. It is a truly hellish time. You feel that you are completely burned out and can barely even stand up. Often this is accompanied by tremendous depression. To get through it, I always remind myself that as I switch over to burning only fat, I am probably losing weight at a greatly accelerated rate. I recommend that you make a point of hitting the wall at least once in your training. It's quite likely that you'll meet it in the actual marathon, so you should be prepared. If you've already experienced it in training, you'll have a better idea what to expect, so it will be less of a psychological hurdle. Also, by going through it once, your body will also be familiar with it and will be able to recover faster the next time it occurs.
7. Avoiding Burnout -- Psychological burnout will probably be the number one obstacle to finishing your training, and you should not wait until it becomes a problem before taking steps to counter it. Fortunately there are a number of things that you can do. First, be sure to always get plenty of sleep. (This has the added benefit of increasing performance as well.) If you can barely hold your eyes open, it's doubtful that you'll even want to attempt a 10-mile run. If lack of sleep is at all a problem for you, then you should make a point of scheduling your priorities around it. For example, if you normally watch letterman before going to bed, just TIVO it, and go to bed early. Also, never decide to skip your run before you take the caffeine. Often that can make all the difference in the world. Try running different routes to vary your routine. This makes the training less boring. And buy a bunch of books on the subject, so you can read about running and marathons in your free time. The more you learn about it, the more interesting it becomes. And if all else fails, try weighing yourself. Marvel at the pounds you have lost, and cringe at the thought that if you quite now, it will all come back in a matter of days.
8. Weight Control -- It's been my experience that for every pound I shed there is a noticable increase in my time, and I have often wondered if most of my performance gain is due to weight loss rather than the cardiovascular benefits of training. Whether or not this is the case, the less excess fat you have, the more efficiently you will run, and if you find yourself a few pounds overweight even after all that running, you may want to consider a bit of dieting. But be careful; if dieting is at all stressful or unpleasant for you, forget about it. Otherwise you'll just be contributing to the possibility of burnout. The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life is a great book. If you follow it to the letter (mainly by reducing your total fat intake to 10% of calories), you'll definitely lose weight "and eliminate virtually all risk of heart disease and cancer". More interesting diet (and life-extending) information can be found at Dr. Roy Walford's website.
9. Avoid Injury -- Running puts a great deal of stress on the joints. Give yourself plenty of time to relax and recover after a long run, and don't do anything else stressful for the rest of the day. Also, be aware that while modern running shoes afford great protection, they also give a false sense of security and sometimes cause people to come down on their feet in unnatural positions, causing injury. Check out the Running Barefoot site for the pro-barefoot arguments.
10. Keeping to the Routine -- Race day is your absolute last chance to screw up, so don't. Keep to your routine. Be sure to get plenty of sleep the night before. I recommend taking a good dose of nyquil and trying for a good 10 hours. Don't let yourself get excited. An adrenaline rush may be good for sprinters, but as a marathoner you'll pay for it later. Don't do anything different from your training. A lot of people buy new shoes for raceday. That's a huge mistake! What if they don't fit right or need to be worn in first? Wear your old cruddy training shoes. They may not be pretty, but they've taken you this far. Don't experiment with some new sport drink or food item or newfangled electronic device. Stick to the tried and true instead. The only thing that I would recommend changing is your pace. Try to keep your heartrate lower than you did in training. This may be seem painfully slow at the beginning. But wait until you hit the 20-mile marker. At that point if you still feel like speeding up, that would be the place for it. Once your finished, don't do any more running for at least a week, even if you feel fine. During this period your risk of injury is nearly 100%.

(Of course the usual disclaimers are in order. I am not a professional athlete or trainer; nor am I a doctor. I am an amateur runner. The tips I've provided above were gathered from my own personal experience and reading. And while I believe that they constitute useful advice for most people, that is merely my own personal, possibly uninformed, opinion. Any strenuous activity can potentially result in death through heart atttack, stroke, aneurysm, or lethal injury. Consultation with your doctor is recommended but does not guarantee your safety.)