At my last appointment, I was re-evaluated from top to bottom to see if they’ve missed anything and one new item of interest they’ve discovered is some issues with the way my foot impacts and rolls with the impact when it contacts the ground. I have a mobility issue in my right leg and foot that doesn’t allow for proper movement when walking or running and they thought now is because I seem to compensate for that movement that my shin may be taking the brunt of compensation, hence the pain that just won’t leave.

I endured a treatment last Wednesday that I must say was one of the most painful things I’ve felt in a long long time! My IT band hurt so bad the following day, I thought I’m never going back to the place.  I struggled through a painful bike ride the following day. Amazingly enough, as of today, that has healed again and it feels pretty good at the moment so I guess I’ll continue to follow this line of treatment and see where it goes.  I so want to run again and if enduring some pain to get there is necessary so be it, but I better see results soon!

On the other fronts, my overall health is good. I have another 30 days to get my latest cholesterol and diabetic checks done and see where I’m at. If you remember from last check up, my cholesterol numbers had increased a bit. They were still below the levels that are considered “normal” but with my history and arterial disease, normal is not good enough. I asked the doctor to put me back on Crestor at 10mg and so far my bout with the muscle pain I had last time has not returned.

With fall coming, I need to be running before the weather turns too bad and the bike has to be put away so I’m hoping that this new direction and staying off the leg for another few weeks will get me to that point. I was able to run for over two years so I have to believe that I can get back there some way, some how.  I miss running badly!

All that being said, not exercising is not an option. I have however cut back somewhat on the frequency and level that I’ve been exercising. As you know, I’ve been working on trying to heal a shin issue that just simply doesn’t want to go away so cutting back has both been necessary as well as a welcome relief from the heat.

Keeping hydrated with the heat and humidity can be a real challenge but is more important than ever. Your muscles rely on liquids in your body to stay healthy and perform at their best at all times. When you are constantly sweating in higher temperatures and humidity, you can loose a lot more fluids from your body than you may realize. One sure sign that you are getting dehydrated is cramping, especially in your leg muscles which are some of your largest muscles. For me, many times it will happen at night, where I will be awoken from a sound sleep with a cramp in my calf that would cause extreme pain.

This can be a sure sign of dehydration. Another sign of dehydration is reduced, darker or stronger smelling urination. If find that you are going less often than normal, you may be getting dehydrated without even realizing it and this can be your bodies way of letting you know.  I try really hard during these times to drink a couple of quarts of extra fluid daily just to make sure that I’m staying ahead of the curve.

As far as my health status, I have put on about 7 pounds over the summer with the reduced exercise levels and I am now concentrating back on the “calories in, calories out” routine to make up for the reduced exercise levels while I heal the shin. I am averaging only about 10 miles of running and 20 miles of biking a week at the moment. I so want to get back to increased levels of running but my injury has simply prevented it thus far.

Stay cool and hydrated as we head through this last week of August and cooling days of running are not far away as we transition into the fall period soon. I don’t want to wish summer away but I’m ready for a little less sweating while sitting still for sure. See you soon!

I continue to be plagued by injury to my lower right shin. I have been put on hold for the time being with the Physical Therapy and have had an x-ray performed on my shin but nothing was found again. As the doctor put it, the bone looks smooth and no spurs to indicate previous healed injury either so at the moment, I have no explanation as to why it hurts and continues to swell after running. How frustrating!

I’m still running about 3 – 4 days per week but only shorter runs of about 3.4 miles per event. My endurance has suffered greatly since running the 25K this past May, between the injury and now the heat of the day. I have always found it difficult to run in anything more than about 70 degrees and we’ve had more than 20 days in July above 80 and looking at the 8 day forecast, there is no end in site for the moment.

Had a great time on our vacation but ended running on the dreadmill at whatever hotel we ended up at during our trip for the most part. I did however get a chance to run outside the evening we arrived in Cody Wyoming. They had a cold front go through and it was only about 50 degrees that evening and I couldn’t pass that up for a nice run. I quickly learned about running at altitude that evening!

When I left for my run I never thought about the fact that we were basically in the mountains at the time and left for a 4 mile run. That coupled with the fact that the 2 miles out was basically on a slight downhill slope which meant the 2 miles back was a slight “uphill slope”, made for a very hard run. I couldn’t figure out why I felt so out of breath and exhausted when I arrived back at the hotel until I looked down at my Garmin Forerunner and saw that I was above 6000 ft.! My lungs weren’t quite ready for the thin air for sure!

I’ve been maintaining my weight successfully but I’m finding it more difficult to “just say no” to certain snacks and that needs to be controlled. Last thing I need right now is head back towards diabetes or weight gain and that needs to be controlled. I see the doctor next week for my quarterly cardiac risk profile and diabetic panel checkups so we’ll see how I’m doing and report all back here.

If you are just discovering this blog, go back into to the archives and join me on my journey from fat and unhealthy to thinner, healthier, and almost no medications attained through diet and exercise as “yes it does work”, as long as you are willing to work! Don’t wait and start today!

I’m still in physical therapy for my shin splint problem, going into week four of my treatments actually and so far the jury is still out on this one. It’s costing quite a few dollars a week to be treated and I’m not convinced that I’m actually improving at the moment but I’m sticking with it. Someone should have told me in the beginning that they inflict severe pain to promote healing though as that has been an unpleasant experience on some days.

The hardest part of therapy I’ve found is finding time to do all the exercises that they want me to do. The want me to do them 5 times a day! Don’t these people work? How in the heck does one find 5 times in a day to do exercises? Am I supposed to just stop in the middle of a meeting some other thing I’m doing and “drop and give me twenty”? Anyway, 5 times a day isn’t practical but I’m doing what I can in the evenings after a run or ride.

I’ve cut back my running to about 20 miles a week to try and help heal this problem during the therapy process too. I’ve cut back to 3.5 miles a day from the longer 5 – 6 milers I was doing although I am thinking a 5 or six miler is on the plate for today.

So how are all of you overweight people doing? Have you started on your mission yet? Are following me and just waiting for me to fail so you can say I told you so? Statistically, I should have failed already. Did you know that about 80% of people who lose more than 50 lbs. gain it back in less than two years? Sad statistic but I can see how it happens. It would be so easy for me to just say enough, I want to eat what I want, when I want, and the heck with the exercise! Not going to happen.

I don’t ever want to be the fat person I once was. I like my new body and new found health and I plan to keep it that way. I don’t ever want to go back to being that overweight, diabetic, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, $250 per month pill popper I was with all the prescription medications I was taking, person ever again. That means that this “is now my lifestyle” and I have to maintain it.

This can be you too! Get off the couch, change your habits, and do it now! It’s never too late and I’m living proof that it works and it can for you too! I’m here to answer your questions if you have them. I’m no expert by any stretch but I can pass on what I’ve learned along the way. Go back in the archives of this blog and you’ll find a wealth of information if you take the time to read it. You can share in the struggles along the way and find out that I’m no different than you!

Get going, change your life, and start now! Not next week, now! Get on the path to becoming a new healthier you that was “just one pound ago”.

Just a quick recap. My original goal was to complete the 25K. Goal met! My secondary goal became as I felt stronger, to complete it in less than 2.5 hours. Goal not met! This was a bummer to me but I’m chalking it up as “newbie mistakes” that contributed to missing goal number 2! I did finish in 2:33:26 so I only missed that goal by 3 1/2 minutes and I had nothing left in the tank when I crossed the finish line so it was the best I was going to do for this year.

Race day brought beautiful weather if you are a fish! The temps were slated for a high of 42 deg. that day and we were less than 40 deg. at race time. They had also predicted rain for the entire day but we actually got lucky with that and other than a few sprinkles it stayed mostly dry during the actual run. The real killer was the wind! The wind was blowing steady in the 20 mph range and gusting upward of 35 mph. At least the “into the wind” portion was the outbound route and not the return!

So how did I miss my 2.5 hour goal? Well two things did me in. The first was not being able to run those two weeks prior to the race. Even though those two weeks were “tapering weeks”, not running at all was not good. I tried riding my bike everyday instead as replacement training and even though it helped, it wasn’t what I needed.

The second and most important thing that contributed to me missing my secondary goal was inexperience. I got caught up in the “excitement of the race” and even though everyone had told me not to go out too fast and I had my Garmin GPS to tell me how fast I was going, I still fell prey to going too fast, too soon, for too long. By the time I realized it, it was too late to do anything about it and I hit a wall at 12 miles like I hadn’t hit for 6 weeks during my training.

I had ingested way too much GU, had way too much caffeine and adrenaline flowing, early on, and simply met my match as to how hard I could push myself at this point for an extended period of time.  My heart rate usually averages around 160 for an extended run like that but I was close to 180 for most of this race and I ended up feeling like it.

A friend of mine said it best…I had 12 miles of enjoyable running and 3.5 miles of “character building”. There was no way I wasn’t going to finish the race, but I was thinking I was going to have to crawl across the finish line instead of run! I was never so relieved to cross a finish line as I was that day! I didn’t know I could exhaust myself to that point, but I did! I averaged about 8.3 minute miles for the first 10 miles and had slowed to an agonizing 11+ mpm pace for the remaining ones and gave back everything I had gained! So frustrating…live and learn I guess :O)

With the cold and wind, my calves were cramping so bad that the 1 mile walk back to the car after the race was almost excruciating. At one point I tried to use the stairs in a building and wound up with the worst charlie horse I’ve I had in a long time! Ended taking the ramp instead.

The local news station did a story on me the evening of the race which they titled “Running for his life” as they had gotten my bio from  the race forum about the former fat guy with type II diabetes and most every other fat disease know to man. You can see the video here http://www.wwmt.com/video/?videoId=83808836001&lineupId=1155191568 .

Next year will be different. I won’t be going out too fast, and I won’t overdose on caffeine before or during my race and I will better my time next year by at least 10 minutes.

For now, I’m in physical therapy for my shin pain to see if I can become a “pain free runner”. They have higher hopes for me than I do but we’ll see how it goes. I figure I’ll give it a few weeks and make my judgments after that. My next race is an easy one as it’s only a 5K and on a relatively flat course. Now to work on speed as soon as I can get back to running and not be stuck on the bicycle due to this darned shin pain!

Be a better new you and shed that fat guy that was just “One pound ago”!