Term Limits?

Ashley is sooooooo excited about the weather - lol.   Have a good race, Doug.  Stalking you both.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Ashley is sooooooo excited about the weather - lol.   Have a good race, Doug.  Stalking you both.

Thanks, 1L.  It's been very windy all day at 21-32 mph sustained, gusts 31-46 mph out of the NW.  At this writing, it's 51 degrees with a dew point of 29 degrees (42% humidity), and clear skies.  Seasonal is 62 and 45 degrees.

In the morning, 30 degrees w/10 mph wind.  High of 52, probably around 2-3 pm.

I hope Ashley does well, too.

Hope it went well, Doug.

Ashley ran great until about 23 miles and then she faded bad - but that happens.   She still ran 3:40 which was a 10 min PR.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Hope it went well, Doug.

Ashley ran great until about 23 miles and then she faded bad - but that happens.   She still ran 3:40 which was a 10 min PR.

I finished.  A little slower than I wanted.  Aside from stopping to pee 4 times (a PR at that   ), I ran or plodded the whole thing.  The nice thing about running a half is when you feel like stopping then figure out you have single digits to run, you keep going for such a piddling amount.

I beat Ashley for time, but at half the distance.   Mine was 3:12:58 for a 14:30 pace.  She'll remember Houston for that 10 minute PR, I guess.  The sun would be on her right starting about 22, with the breeze crossing from left to right.  Mile 23 gave her the double underpass and ends the 'hilly' part of the course.  

If Ashley left for home, today, she got a feel for seasonal Houston for the marathon.

It took me 51 minutes to cross the start line, however I didn't leave the GRB (convention center) until 7:25.  I never got cold because I actually nailed it for the weather.  3 layers of a thick polyester long sleeve, short sleeve, cheap gloves, a buff, sunglasses, and a dry cleaning bag.  I did wear long tights because I didn't think it would heat me up as the sun warmed things up.  Usually, I just wear tights when the wind chill is in the 20's and dark.

The gloves came off at mile 3, then I put them back on at mile 10, when the breeze was a headwind and the trees obstructed the sun.  The last mile went back through downtown with buildings replacing the trees with the same breeze.

This guy passed me upon entering downtown, just fast enough for me to keep up with him.  I stayed with him the rest of the way, while a girl and I were going back and forth playing "tag, you're it."  I beat her to the line.

I noticed at about mile 8 or 9 that only about 10% of the runners were actually running.  By downtown, it was 5%.  However, the marathoners (divided from us by the orange cones) were whipping right along finishing their mileage in the low 4 hour finishing times.

I can get used to just running the Half, once I finish two more marathon's with an official time.  Hopefully, '20 and '21 will be those two.  Thanks.

Nice job on the half, Doug! It's got to be interesting getting hit with unexpectedly cold weather and wind when you're spending all your time training in warmer conditions. And the PR on P-ing? Outstanding. You were well hydrated!

What's your next race?

ps. Good job to Ashley, too. That's a nice PR!

Mark B wrote:Nice job on the half, Doug! It's got to be interesting getting hit with unexpectedly cold weather and wind when you're spending all your time training in warmer conditions. And the PR on P-ing? Outstanding. You were well hydrated!

What's your next race?

ps. Good job to Ashley, too. That's a nice PR!

Thanks, Mark.  Well, it was one of those less than spectacular finishes.  As far as the weather, I was warm enough, but never too warm.  The last long run of 14 miles was in mid-30's weather and I was a bit chilled during that, so I really took a lot of time, last week, to correctly pick the clothes.  The dry cleaning bag is such a cheap and highly effective retainer of heat.  I would have worn it, had the wind chill dropped to the teens...and added another shirt.

I think donating the WBC on Saturday affected my running some because during the donation, the doctor said the bag was a little 'redder' than he likes which means there were more red blood cells in the bag and not in my body for Sunday.  Donating the day before the race was a calculated risk, since I had ran 8 the day after the October WBC donation with no problems..  After all, it was 13.1 miles that I had to cover in 4 hours (an 18:20 pace).  I knew I wasn't going to run much faster than a 14 minute pace, anyway.

But next year, I hope to be ready for the full and won't be donating any WBC at least 4 weeks before the race.  Platelets?  Sure.  Plasma?  Sure.

Right now, my next race is the 2020 Houston.

So, it's 3 days post-race and the legs seem fine for just pedestrian activity.  In the morning, I'll get out for 3 miles to see how much crap is in the muscles.  It's supposed to be 32 in the morning.  Tuesday's high was 74, but we won't break 50, today.

I am scaling back my carb intake (meaning that I consumed two pints of ice cream Sunday and Monday along with some cereal (Post Raisin Bran and Kellogg's Special K.  Although Kellogg's changed the grain from rice based to wheat based and it's just not as good.  I grew up on Special K as one of my favorites.) and getting back on keto.  The past year I had been keto just enough to fuel the legs, but not enough to keep me from gaining weight because I would eat some carbs for the benefit of the tongue, not the body.

So, the 3 prong approach will be keto for food, weight-bearing exercising & some weights, and running.  The running will be to keep a steady mid-teens to 20 mpw through May, so I hopefully won't lose the stamina like what happened last Summer.  That was frustrating as hell.

Unrelated to the above, I use runningwarehouse.com to get my shoes, along with amazon.  Y'all may know that running warehouse is located in SLO, Ca.  When making my purchase last week, I noticed that running warehouse is now one of those '3rd party fulfillment' companies for amazon.  My Saucony Kinvaras were being sold at the same price at both websites, $79.95 for the 9's because the 10's were about to be released (MSRP is $110 on the 9s).

Oddly enough, the warehouse location was Alpharetta, GA, instead of SLO.  Maybe west of the Rockies, it's SLO.

Y'all have a pleasant day.

This past Saturday, I ran 8 miles.  It was the first run after the Half on the 20th.  I wasn't sure if the legs would carry me that far or not.  It was 42 degrees and I wore two layers with shorts.

8 miles, 1:51:55, 13:59 pace, 159 avg cadence, 0.73 m avg stride length
1.  13:57, 159 spm, 73 sl
2.  13:55, 159 spm, 73 sl
3.  13:59, 157 spm, 73 sl
4.  13:52, 158 spm, 73 sl
5.  13:59, 158 spm, 73 sl
6.  14:16, 159 spm, 71 sl
7.  14:03, 159 spm, 72 sl
8.  13:53, 159 spm, 73 sl

The last three miles, I put the cadence at 160.  I didn't feel just wonderful during it, but the upper quads on both legs had some whining.  The right inner knee also was whining.  Hopefully, that won't become a consistent niggle.

This morning, I thought it good to run 3 miles.  It's the last not cold morning for a few days, as we're getting a small effect of the Polar Vortex that's tearing the Great Lakes area a new one.  We're just getting down to 34 on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  The high tomorrow won't get out of the 40's

It was 51, this morning.  I was going to see what kind of pace I could maintain of the quicker flavor.  I set the cadence at 160 and bumped it to 161 at the turnaround point.

3 miles, 39:35, 13:11 pace, 161 avg cadence, 0.76 m avg stride length.
1.  13:17, 161 spm, 75 sl
2.  13:04, 161 spm, 77 sl
3.  13:12, 161 spm, 76 sl

Jiminy!  Seeing that first split of 13:17 sort of startled me.  I knew I was boogieing, just not that.  Not only that, I was trying to maintain a similar effort in the second mile.  I even bumped the cadence at the turnaround to 161 to help.  However, I was slowing some.  That's okay.  I was just happy to be doing 3 splits at that pace.

Not any sort of niggling, as well.  Bring that cold on!  Back to 70 by the end of the week.

Jimimy, indeed! Not bad for a few days after a half. Well done.

I concur that you ought to avoid a WBC donation on the eve of the race. Honestly, I'd advise even against plasma, too. You may not be losing RBCs, but you are losing fluid, which is something your body needs -- maybe not as much for a regular weekly run, but definitely during a race.

Back to keto! That'll be fun to watch.

Mark B wrote:Jimimy, indeed! Not bad for a few days after a half. Well done.

I concur that you ought to avoid a WBC donation on the eve of the race. Honestly, I'd advise even against plasma, too. You may not be losing RBCs, but you are losing fluid, which is something your body needs -- maybe not as much for a regular weekly run, but definitely during a race.

Back to keto! That'll be fun to watch.

Moochus for stopping by, Perry White!  

I agree on not doing plasma the day before a race.  Two days before a race?  Yeah, I'd do it because they take 450 ml or about 1 pint because I drink that sitting in the chair during the donation, plus another after leaving.

I was going to run this morning, but decided against it due to laziness.  Tomorrow will be another 3.  Friday?  Trying to decide 8-ish or another 3 under a quicker pace, like Monday's 'jiminy' run.  'Jiminy' might just be my word for a 'speed' run.  Or not.

Jiminy sounds good, though Jumpin' Jehosaphat sounds better.

I ran 8 miles, Saturday morning, which gives me 11 for the week.  It was a moist 56 degrees with the added benefit of a shower in the first 4 miles.  I wanted to see how I could execute the 8 and compare to last Saturday's 8.  I won't be able to run next week and probably some of the following week.  I'll lose some stamina, but it can't be avoided.  

160 was the target cadence.

8 miles, 1:51:38, 13:57 pace, 161 avg cadence, 0.72 m avg stride length, 1st half 13:54, 2nd half 14
1.  13:58, 161 spm, 72 sl
2.  13:33, 162 spm, 73 sl
3.  13:56, 162 spm, 71 sl
4.  14:09, 162 spm, 70 sl
5.  13:42, 161 spm, 73 sl
6.  14:16, 160 spm, 71 sl
7.  14:03, 161 spm, 71 sl
8.  14:00, 160 spm, 72 sl

A strange thing happened at the start of the run.  My gnome was set on Monday at a 161 spm.  When I started the run, I pushed the button to lower the cadence to 160.  However, during mile 5, I looked at the gnome and it said '162,' which means I increased the cadence at the start, instead of lowering it.  Guess it wasn't too big of a deal to be at 162, because I was doing well.

I left it there to see what would happen.  What happened was a traditional for me slowing, compared to the first half.  So I had been, in a sense, sandbagging.  But that's not a big deal as I had been regularly increasing the cadence, when I thought the legs were ready.  

At the risk of a short review of last Summer's plodding, I had been running at a cadence of 164 in all of 2017 up to the Summer of 2018 with paces in the 13's.  I couldn't plod past 2 or 3 miles at best during last Summer and only 2 days a week, instead of 3.  There still is no reason for that.  I lowered the cadence to 155 on a 'what do I have to lose?' effort to go farther.  That lengthened my distances, but slowed the pace.

The first cool snap in October was like blood doping in that I could go farther and faster, also methodically increasing the cadence.

Now, it's 162.  Baby steps.  A genuine effort to lose weight and continue running in the Spring should set me up for a productive 2018 for the Houston marathon on January 19, 2020.

Mark B wrote:Jiminy sounds good, though Jumpin' Jehosaphat sounds better.

Guess I'll have to start learning to type 'Jehosophat.'

I believe I first heard Jumpin Jehosaphat in "Gone With The Wind," which is being re-released the first weekend in March for it's 80th anniversary, along with "The Wizard of Oz."  Adjusted for inflation, "Gone With The Wind" is the highest grossing movie of all time.  It's my favorite movie, but I don't think I'll be able to see it, this time around.  I have seen it in a theater a couple of times and, of course, on TV as a kid.  It's 3 hours and 53 minutes long and has an intermission after Scarlett says, "I'll never be hungry again!"

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:Jiminy sounds good, though Jumpin' Jehosaphat sounds better.

Guess I'll have to start learning to type 'Jehosophat.'

I believe I first heard Jumpin Jehosaphat in "Gone With The Wind," which is being re-released the first weekend in March for it's 80th anniversary, along with "The Wizard of Oz."  Adjusted for inflation, "Gone With The Wind" is the highest grossing movie of all time.  It's my favorite movie, but I don't think I'll be able to see it, this time around.  I have seen it in a theater a couple of times and, of course, on TV as a kid.  It's 3 hours and 53 minutes long and has an intermission after Scarlett says, "I'll never be hungry again!"

I've never seen that movie. No real taste for it in a family of Yankees, I guess. 

Still, nearly four hours?! I know I was never able to make it through "The 10 Commandments," and it has a 3:40 runtime. I managed "Lawrence of Arabia," though, and it has a 3:48 runtime. Better pacing, I guess. And acting.

And oh, hey, there's this...

I did one of those 23 and me home DNA tests a while back, and the results just came in. Lots of interesting information about ancestry and health items, but one thing in particular stood out to me:

"Studies have found that almost all elite power athletes (including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers) have a specific genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You have the same genetic variant as these elite athletes."


"Power athletes." Not endurance, but power. Yeah, well... great. Apparently, I'm more of a fast-twitch guy. Figures.


Now, to be fair, the site says the impact of this on non-elite athletes is hard to pin down, though it might make the critical difference for elite athletes in being a top competitor. Training is probably the bigger factor for most people, whether they have this variant or not. 

Guess that explains the size of my thighs, and the fact that I have tended to bulk up when I lifted weights. And maybe, just maybe, that I can go pretty fast for short distances but can't sustain it over time. Hm....

Mark B wrote:And oh, hey, there's this...

I did one of those 23 and me home DNA tests a while back, and the results just came in. Lots of interesting information about ancestry and health items, but one thing in particular stood out to me:

"Studies have found that almost all elite power athletes (including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers) have a specific genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You have the same genetic variant as these elite athletes."


"Power athletes." Not endurance, but power. Yeah, well... great. Apparently, I'm more of a fast-twitch guy. Figures.


Now, to be fair, the site says the impact of this on non-elite athletes is hard to pin down, though it might make the critical difference for elite athletes in being a top competitor. Training is probably the bigger factor for most people, whether they have this variant or not. 

Guess that explains the size of my thighs, and the fact that I have tended to bulk up when I lifted weights. And maybe, just maybe, that I can go pretty fast for short distances but can't sustain it over time. Hm....

If thighs were a measure of eliteness, I'd have you beat.  When I was born, my dad said that I'd "...make a good football pulling guard with those thighs."  

"Gone With The Wind" is definitely as Southern thang.  That was one of the 70mm films like "Lawrence of Arabia," "Ben Hur," and "Patton" which ought to be up for its 50th anniversary in the next couple of years.  That was a family movie night at the theaters event for us in a time just before the multi-theater concept.  I still remember that wide screen being filled with the American flag on opening.  Everyone in the theater stood up and sat down with George Scott said, "Be seated."  It'll be interesting to see what happens in a couple of years.

-30-

I will try to run in the morning and again on Friday morning.  Then, I'll be unavailable to run until the 24th.  I'll explain soon why I was not able to run for about the past 10 days.  It'll be interesting....I'm such a tease.

Thanks for stopping by, Mark.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:And oh, hey, there's this...

I did one of those 23 and me home DNA tests a while back, and the results just came in. Lots of interesting information about ancestry and health items, but one thing in particular stood out to me:

"Studies have found that almost all elite power athletes (including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers) have a specific genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You have the same genetic variant as these elite athletes."


"Power athletes." Not endurance, but power. Yeah, well... great. Apparently, I'm more of a fast-twitch guy. Figures.


Now, to be fair, the site says the impact of this on non-elite athletes is hard to pin down, though it might make the critical difference for elite athletes in being a top competitor. Training is probably the bigger factor for most people, whether they have this variant or not. 

Guess that explains the size of my thighs, and the fact that I have tended to bulk up when I lifted weights. And maybe, just maybe, that I can go pretty fast for short distances but can't sustain it over time. Hm....

If thighs were a measure of eliteness, I'd have you beat.  When I was born, my dad said that I'd "...make a good football pulling guard with those thighs."  

"Gone With The Wind" is definitely as Southern thang.  That was one of the 70mm films like "Lawrence of Arabia," "Ben Hur," and "Patton" which ought to be up for its 50th anniversary in the next couple of years.  That was a family movie night at the theaters event for us in a time just before the multi-theater concept.  I still remember that wide screen being filled with the American flag on opening.  Everyone in the theater stood up and sat down with George Scott said, "Be seated."  It'll be interesting to see what happens in a couple of years.

-30-

I will try to run in the morning and again on Friday morning.  Then, I'll be unavailable to run until the 24th.  I'll explain soon why I was not able to run for about the past 10 days.  It'll be interesting....I'm such a tease.

Thanks for stopping by, Mark.

Well, don't keep me in suspense for too long! 

Heck,  maybe I'll get back to running -- or even walking -- one of these days. Jobs and viruses and teenagers are a huge distraction.

My goodness!  Do I believe my eyes?  You're on the sidelines?  Good luck with that.  You'll get 'er done.

So, what have I been doing the past 10 days besides not running.  The answer is losing weight.  The day after the Super Bowl (aka 'The Big Game') I weighed 250 pounds.  It's not a good weight to complete official marathons.

A FB group that I joined two years ago, related to the ketogenic diet, is really into the science. The founder of the group is a researcher out of necessity as his mom was having really bad seizures and he was trying to figure out a way for her to get better with less pharmacological help.  That's where he found the ketogenic diet.

Then he started researching how the body ages, cancers, and what can be done to slow or reverse either without medications.  This is a huge challenge with cancer because it's accepted that radiation and chemotherapy are the only treatments.

Back around Labor Day, I started reading some of his comments and articles from others about fasting, apoptosis and autophagy.

Apoptosis is "the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development."
Autophagy is  "(“self-eating”) is a detox process your body undergoes to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones. A protein called p62 activates to induce autophagy and is the key to an improved human lifespan over time."


What is autophagy in fasting?
One of the great benefits of intermittent fasting that I've written about often is that it promotes autophagy, the cellular self-cleansing process that breaks down and recycles damaged molecules and cellular organelles. ... By fasting intermittently,autophagy rates can be reset to that of a younger person.Aug 12, 2016

The Sweet Spot for Intermittent Fasting – The Mission – Medium

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-sweet-spot-for-intermittent-fasting-9aae12a2158c



So, I read up on fasting and understood the concept and benefits of it.  Fasting can be overnight broken by eating 'breakfast.'  Or it can be days and days.


I did a 2 day fast in January before the Super Bowl.  A first fast for 5 days can yield a 5% weight loss.  A fast for 10 days can yield a 10% weight loss.  So on February 5, I started a 10 day fast.  It was a challenge for the first 3 days, but afterward, the body lost 98% of its hunger urge and I was just rocking along.  I finished the fast this morning, then went to get some blood drawn for a myriad of blood, chemical, lipid, and other stuff.


During that 10 day period, I lost 22 pounds or now weigh 228 pounds or 9.8%.  All of my reading was doing the first fast.  Now I need to read up on subsequent fasts to see if a 5 day fast will yield less than a 5% weight loss.  We've been told that the first few pounds are the easiest.  I intend to find out.


There are other things related to autophagy and apoptosis and fasting that I'll go into later.  But that's the last 10 days.  

ounce wrote:My goodness!  Do I believe my eyes?  You're on the sidelines?  Good luck with that.  You'll get 'er done.

So, what have I been doing the past 10 days besides not running.  The answer is losing weight.  The day after the Super Bowl (aka 'The Big Game') I weighed 250 pounds.  It's not a good weight to complete official marathons.

A FB group that I joined two years ago, related to the ketogenic diet, is really into the science. The founder of the group is a researcher out of necessity as his mom was having really bad seizures and he was trying to figure out a way for her to get better with less pharmacological help.  That's where he found the ketogenic diet.

Then he started researching how the body ages, cancers, and what can be done to slow or reverse either without medications.  This is a huge challenge with cancer because it's accepted that radiation and chemotherapy are the only treatments.

Back around Labor Day, I started reading some of his comments and articles from others about fasting, apoptosis and autophagy.

Apoptosis is "the death of cells which occurs as a normal and controlled part of an organism's growth or development."
Autophagy is  "(“self-eating”) is a detox process your body undergoes to clean out damaged cells and regenerate new ones. A protein called p62 activates to induce autophagy and is the key to an improved human lifespan over time."


What is autophagy in fasting?
One of the great benefits of intermittent fasting that I've written about often is that it promotes autophagy, the cellular self-cleansing process that breaks down and recycles damaged molecules and cellular organelles. ... By fasting intermittently,autophagy rates can be reset to that of a younger person.Aug 12, 2016

The Sweet Spot for Intermittent Fasting – The Mission – Medium

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-sweet-spot-for-intermittent-fasting-9aae12a2158c



So, I read up on fasting and understood the concept and benefits of it.  Fasting can be overnight broken by eating 'breakfast.'  Or it can be days and days.


I did a 2 day fast in January before the Super Bowl.  A first fast for 5 days can yield a 5% weight loss.  A fast for 10 days can yield a 10% weight loss.  So on February 5, I started a 10 day fast.  It was a challenge for the first 3 days, but afterward, the body lost 98% of its hunger urge and I was just rocking along.  I finished the fast this morning, then went to get some blood drawn for a myriad of blood, chemical, lipid, and other stuff.


During that 10 day period, I lost 22 pounds or now weigh 228 pounds or 9.8%.  All of my reading was doing the first fast.  Now I need to read up on subsequent fasts to see if a 5 day fast will yield less than a 5% weight loss.  We've been told that the first few pounds are the easiest.  I intend to find out.


There are other things related to autophagy and apoptosis and fasting that I'll go into later.  But that's the last 10 days.  

My goodness! A ten-day fast?! Congrats on the weight loss. I'm trying to figure out how you lost that much weight. 

If my recollection is correct, you have to burn about 3,100 kCal to lose a pound of fat. Ten days with a metabolic demand of 2,000 cKal a cal works out to 20,000 cKal, or about 6.45 pounds of fat. I'm guessing there was fluid loss in there, too. 

Still. How'd you do it? Was it a complete starvation regimen? Or did you have some sort of food? I presume you took some fluids during the time. How'd that work?

Details, I want details!

How'd you avoid the temptation to eat? I know I'm a stress/boredom/mood eater at times, so it'd be like altering a default setting.

Oh, I'm back walking again. Three times so far this week. Weather and schedule has given me just enough time to do a short walk at lunch. Not as far as I used to go, but it's a start.

A 10 day fast is not a 3 hour tour...a 3 hour tour.


I had prepped for it mid-January with a 2 day fast.  Was hoping for 3 day, but the Blood Center needed me to come down to get tapped for some platelets and I didn't want to lie when they ask, "Did you have something to eat before coming?"


My fast was from Feb 4 to Feb 14.  Then I got some blood work done.  The results of the blood work were exceptional by current standards.
Glucose 81
LDL 86, HDL 45, Tri 96
Insulin resistance of 26 (so I'm insulin sensitive and needed to be less than 45).


During the fast I took the usual supplements of 4g DHA, 4g potassium citrate, 1g salt, 10,000 IU vitamin D, and 200 mg selenium.  All of these are necessary to keep the electrolytes and other stuff consistent with a non-fast day.


There are two or three humps to get over.  Day 1 - you always eat three meals and how are you going to fill the void in time and actually chewing?  You just have to do something else to fill the time.  Water can help, as does coffee (tea for me), but no sugar nor cream.  I used sweet 'n low.


Day 3 - You're just about there.  This is the point like leaving the solar system or passing through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  You've made it this far, but little things can trip you up.  I started looking at gumbo recipes.  I had to put that down.


Day 5 & 6 - Your mind is a little foggy, but you're past the point of wanting food.  Now you're past the asteroid belt and just not concerned with food at all.  Not at all.  It helped that the frig was empty of entree food.  All the leftovers were eaten before day 1.


Day 10 was ornery because I was planning grocery lists, what to eat for the next week, what is that FIRST meal going to be! (New York Strip)  I was at the point that I could've fasted for more days, but I couldn't cook for other people and not eat myself.


This next time, I will moderate what I eat post-fast.  I was too happy to eat.


There is a down side for which I need to address.  Mark, you were calculating how I could've lost 22 pounds.  The one thing you didn't factor in (and neither did I) was what is catabolized first?  There is water loss and a lot of it.  But when there is no food, the body goes after what is easiest to burn.  Carbs are first, but what's next?  Everyone would assume that fat is next, but muscle is easier to convert to energy than fat.  It takes an extra step to burn fat and our metabolizers want easy first.


This part wasn't in the literature that I read.  


I had read a few years back about old people who hunch over or walk very slow and don't eat much food, much less protein.  Their body is eating their muscle cells up...every day!  So you whippersnappers remember that.


Pre-fast, I have a weight that I can barely dead lift, but I can.  Last week (post-fast), I could not dead lift that weight at all.  AT ALL!  That's when I figured out that some of the 22 pounds lost was due to muscle cells being burned.


On February 16, I wanted to run 6-8 miles, but could barely do 3.  I hadn't remembered about the muscle cells being eaten, at that time.


This morning, I aimed for 4 miles and ran 4 miles.  Pace was overall in the high 13's.  


So, I have to figure out a modification for fasting without losing muscle cells...or as many.  One way is to eat enough protein (I figure around 135 grams) to prevent catabolization.  It can't be called 'fasting' when you eat, but if I can hedge against the catabolization by just eating 135 grams of protein a day, I don't care what it's called.


I will probably do another 10 day fast March 4.  Then, do a 5 day fast, once a month.  I think that'll be a good trade off to allow me to still run and gain endurance, while still losing weight.


For sure on March 14, I will really watch what I eat.  I've gained back 12 of the 22, which is a little too much of the 4-10 pound range.


Mark, you might try doing a 1 day fast, to start.  But the supplements mentioned above would be pretty much necessary, especially the potassium, to fast 5 days and over.  And you'd have to work up to two teaspoons (4 g) by starting at a 1/4 teaspoon and increasing to 2 teaspoons over a few weeks.


You could get to a 3 day fast pretty easily.  It'll probably help more when Alec is shipped off to Cougville.  Or you could do an intermittent fast of 16-8 (16 hours fast including sleep and 8 hour eat) and work it up that way.


Oh, one more thing.  Potassium is best taken on a full stomach, otherwise it'll act like you're prepping for a colonoscopy.  So, imagine what it does when you don't eat food.  It settled down about day 7 after I only drank a quart or two of water a day.  I had been drinking my normal 3 quarts.


You can continue to walk and it's recommended.


-30-


My 4 miles this morning was at 162 cadence and it was 49 degrees outside with a soft north breeze.
164 was my 2017 cadence, so I'm almost back at baseline.


4 miles, 55:40, 13:55 pace, 162 spm, 0.72 m avg stride length, 1st half pace 13:54, 2nd half pace 13:56
1.  14:04, 161 spm, 71 sl
2.  13:44, 162 spm, 72 sl
3.  14:12, 162 spm, 70 sl
4.  13:38, 162 spm, 73 sl


As you can see, mile 3 was a little wobbly, but the mind pushed the body on.  The legs were fine, just an endurance issue.  I think I'll run many days this week ahead of next week's fast.


Holler with questions.

I'll come back with questions after I've processed this. It's a lot to, pardon the expression, digest.

Mark B wrote:I'll come back with questions after I've processed this. It's a lot to, pardon the expression, digest.

Ho, ho, ho!  My, oh my.  That was, uh, a stinker!  Oh, my, yes it was.

When I mentioned about the Intermittent Fast (IF) of 16-8, where the 8 hours is eating.  That doesn't mean you're eating for 8 hours.  It just means you're not eating for 16 hours.  I have read where it takes the small intestine 4 hours to process food and that a fast does better when the small intestine is done processing prior to going to bed.  

So pick your own hours for an IF.  12-12 is a good starting point.  The growling your stomach does is the call for carbs.

I will tell you that it's easier to disregard the growling than it is to put away the need to scratch my nose while donating WBC.  And that was pretty easy.  I've read where drinking water to drown the growling doesn't work, but it did for me.  Since I also have 'acid indigestion' I also will take a Tums from time to time, which helps, too.

This morning, it was 62 degrees after a ornery bunch of storms came through yesterday evening dropping from 2-4 inches, depending on where one was.  When I looked at radar, this morning, it showed some minor showers about 60 miles away and coming my way.  So, I scurried to get dressed and out the door.  With luck, I would maybe beat the rain.  Cadence is another attempt at 162, which has been fine for the prior runs.  I wanted to try to run 5, if the body was cooperative, but 4 would do.

5 miles, 1:12:39, 14:31 pace, 159 avg cadence, 0.70 m avg stride length, 1st half pace 14:19, 2nd half pace 14:43

1.  14:13, 160 spm, 71 sl
2.  14:24, 162 spm, 69 sl
3.  14:38, 161 spm, 69 sl
4.  14:39, 158 spm, 69 sl
5.  14:44, 155 spm, 71 sl

I ran into a very brief shower on the way back.  As the cadence shows, I was slowing during mile 4, specifically around 3.7, according to the cadence graph.  But that's okay.  I found out that I'm not ready to move up to 163 cadence, yet, if nothing else.  It's possible that had it been cooler, I could've maintained the cadence longer.  But with 'winter' gradually giving way to summer, I'll need to be comfortable at the 60+ degrees.

Early next week, we're to have some 30s - 40s morning temps.  Our roller coaster continues.  Thanks for stopping by!

Good job beating the rain, well, mostly. 

Not sure about the whole intermittent fasting thing. My SO is in recovery from an eating disorder, and this sounds like a possible trigger.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't forgo the after-dinner snacks, of course...