Short run in the wind

Posted on February 26, 2014 by besaroboy

Last night I was a bit tired in rehearsal, but not exhausted. I think being properly hydrated had a lot to do with my recovery and ability to play after a run. So to keep the experiment rolling, and to attempt to keep up my string of running four runs in a row, I ran again this morning. I only went for three miles, but in the cold wind that was more than enough. Plus tonight’s rehearsal is later than usual so I didn’t want to push it too hard.

I am feeling really good about the last couple weeks with the running I have been doing. I already feel a boost both physically and mentally. Shouldn’t be long before some of this winter gut gets run off as well. Pretty happy about that. Also my back feels so much better after a run, as if the bouncing loosens up my back up some. I was worried that I would cause futher problems with it, but the running seems to be helping quite a bit. I also think restricting my runs to 5 or less miles is a good thing as well. Gonna need to boost that soon though, I am starting to get the milage bug!

Day (week?) off for music

Posted on February 25, 2014 by besaroboy

I am a day late for this, yesterday I decided to not run despite not running on Sunday. I had planned a long run up to the volcano for both days, but neither happened. My Sunday excuse was a need for a rest day after four in a row (though I felt like physically I could have done it), my Monday excuse was musical. I got a call this weekend to come into the studio and do some recording for a reggae album! I was really excited and was supposed to get a CD of the music from a fellow musician at a big band show we were both subbing for. Well he forgot it, so I had no idea of what I would be playing. So I figured I had better not run on Monday in order to keep as sharp as possible. When 2:30 arrived I headed to the studio and went for it. The musician was a bit perturbed that I hadn’t heard the music, but we made the best of it. I listened to the first song and we went over ALL the parts I needed the play the bari sax for, there where a number of them. I wasn’t that nervous, but I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to do what was needed. But once the recording actually started it all came together rather well. We got the two songs done in the three studio hours we had and it sounded pretty good. I think the artist was happy with what we came up with. It was an interesting mental challenge and I am really glad I didn’t chicken out and not do it. I did miss my run opportunities but I think I made the best of my time away from the roads.

So this week is not an opportunistic one for running. I have rehearsals Tues-Thurs and a show out of town on Saturday that will keep me away from my shoes until Sunday night. So since I missed out on my opportunities to run this week music free, I decided to risk it today and get a five-miler in (which has become my go-to run as of late). We had really strong winds today and I was super-tempted to not do it. But once I got out there the winds weren’t too bad (at least one way wasn’t, unfortunately it was on the way home.) It was a tad chilly, but I was layered up and I didn’t feel too much. I considered going for longer but good sense got the best of me and I kept it to five.

I realized that I could actually make it another four in a row week if I really wanted to. So that is the goal now. I am not going to attempt to meet my miles total from last week (21.5 mi) but I think I can pull off four in a row again if I do some short ones before my Wednes and Thurs rehearsals. The bummer is every one this week is a big one. I have a show next week with the big band and the out-of-town show this weekend with teh soul band (we haven’t rehearsed in a couple months so it could be rough). Still I am trying to toughen up a bit and not use music as an excuse to not run. Or at the very least to at least try shorter runs. We’ll see…

Second round of “in-a-rows”

Posted on February 20, 2014 by besaroboy

Continuing from yesterday, a day when I decided not to go to band rehearsal and instead ran and later relaxed, I ran a second day in a row to build off my four days in a row last week. After the four, I took a couple days off (one to rest, one to go to another rehearsal). Now I am building on another mini streak. This one won’t last too much longer, more than likely tomorrow will be the end of this streak as Saturday I have a show out of town to do. But I might squeeze a short one in just to keep rolling, or I might wait until Sunday. We’ll see.

Today’s run was really nice. Cool and misty, but not cold and rainy, big difference. i was telling my wife as she was getting ready for her run that the weather was the perfect weather for my runs. Though the more I thought about it the more I realized that 70 and no wind would be nicer. Still, a really nice day to run. I am at almost 14 miles this week which seems really low to me, but the reality is just the opposite. Last week during my return to running I managed to do 16, so I am right on track, actually ahead of schedule. My fourth run in a row should have applied to last week, but in my new training journal (the Garmin Training Center, so actually old one, just using it exclusively now) it applies to this week. So I really should be at 19 for last week and 11 for this one, but hte heck with it I am not going to fight my new journal for a starting day for the running week. I know I can change it somewhere, but I am not that interested…

My feet have been a little sore recently. I have been using arnica gel quite a bit and it seems to help a lot. Its actually a good feeling, I know I have been working! My weight is high at the moment, 187. I am sure that will start to drop off as I continue the running. If I could just manage to stop eating at night I would be golden. I haven’t gotten that far yet. My pace has been hovering at 10 min miles these last couple weeks, mostly just over, but I have had several sub 10 runs. More on the way!

Four in a row, again.

Posted on February 16, 2014 by besaroboy

Today I finished the fourth run day in a row with a short three miles (actually a tad less). I have always used this “feat” as a sort of announcement to myself that I am back into running. After four running days in a row I feel like running is again a part of my daily routine. Getting up for a run in the cold and wet doesn’t seem nearly as daunting and I begin to physically feel like a runner again. Today’s run also was somewhat special as I will be facing the issue of running on a rehearsal day. I usually don’t run on rehearsal or performance days as my brain feels too sluggish to concentrate on the music. My hope today is that the shorter won’e affect me as much as runs have in the past. I guess we will see tonight! I have been using music as an excuse to not run and I would really like to be able to do both on a regular basis. I think the short runs on music days could be the answer, we’ll see.

My zero-drop shoes were still soaking wet form yesterday’s run in a deluge, so I strapped on a pair of my Asics. The thicker heal is really apparent after running on the zero-drops. Actually the thing I miss most is the larger toe box of my Altras. I really like that my feet can spread out in the Altras. I was thinking today that I am probably due for a new pair soon. I am a little bummed that now that I am not using my old running diary that I no longer have an easy way to track the miles on my shoes. I guess I’ll just have to pay more attention to my total miles unless there is a feature I have been missing in the Garmin Training Center. I’ll poke around a bit.

ACA, running and ms

Posted on February 14, 2014 by besaroboy

I am now into my second month of my new ACA platinum plan. There is still much I don’t know yet about how this will work out for me. The chief issue I have is somewhat two-fold. I have received my first rebif order under the plan. As expected I had to pay $1500 of the $4500 cost, but now my max out of pocket has been reached. According to what I have been told, the meds will be covered at 100% for the rest of the year. So my question as I approach my second order next week, is that really the case? The second concern relating to this is will this remain in place? The insurance companies will take in $3600 from me over a year and pay out over $50,000 for my meds. While I am sure they get a break from pharma that we as ordinaries don’t get, they still must be losing money on us msers. I mean they initially refuse to cover us unless the “big gum-min” stepped in and told them they had to. Who is gonna break first? The ACA, the insurance companies, big pharma? According to all the misplaced rhetoric, it better be our king dictator and his commie policies that needs to break first. What we needs is to go back to the way things were before. Yeah right. It is more than obvious that the problem is the insurance and big pharma industries and that they need to bend a bit if we are going to get through this. I was thinking the other day that I believe I will see a cure for ms in my lifetime, but I doubt I will be able to afford it.

So some details on my ACA plan. The premium is actually half of what I was paying before to be in my old state-funded high-risk pool. While my meds are not directly covered (not a single ACA plan would cover my rebif, or any other ms treatment from what I saw (again, why are we blaming Obama for this when it was a decision by the insurance companies? I guess Obama is a much easier target than insurance or pharma), they are considered a “medical need” by healthnet (my new insurance provider) and therefor fall under my max out of pocket. A quick note on my premiums, I was able to cover my wife under the same platinum plan for the same cost of covering just myself under my old plan.

Ok, the rollout was not smooth, we all know that. Damn that obama! Um, I just took a look at the website for our large insurance company and it is also not working and hasn’t for several months. If the so called holy grail of big business can’t make a healthcare site that works, how could we possibly expect healthcrae.gov or any of the state exchanges to work? Maybe we need to do healthcare through Amazon, they seem to have their act together. I had to go through a lot of hoops to get my plan set up, a large ridiculous amount of phone calls to the exchange and the insurance companies. Lots of time on hold, lots of hang ups. My insurance broker who “helped” me had the same experience. It was no fun, and went down to the wire on premium payment date (actually beyond it, but they issued an extension at the last minute.) But overall, I got coverage. It was a pain, but I got it.

Yes I lost my old plan, but I got a better one at half the cost. I am sure most people did not experience a cost reduction like I did, but it is what I got. It is funny, I have been posting this in comments on stories published on right wing websites (and “normal” sites as well). I have gotten much hate for doing this. I have been called a liar, a paid poster and a socialist all for telling the truth about my ACA experience. I was even black-balled by the National Review! What an honor!

So back to running, I ran yesterday for the first time since injuring my back a month ago. It felt great though I found it really hard to get through my five miles. But I did it pain-free! The back has felt a lot better. I still have trouble getting out of bed. It is as if I have no confidence that my back won’t “go out” when I pull myself out of bed. Several times in recent weeks I have forgotten about my back and surprised myself by just getting out of bed no problem. I am having way less issues with bending over during the day, seems the mornings are a bit rough, but way better.

My hope is to run again today. I am pretty sure I will get around to it. I have some work, but not enough to use as an excuse to NOT run. No music to play today at least publicly anyway. I did my rebif shot this morning, so I will have the boost that that often gives me. The weather is gray, but warm in the 50s. It sounds like a run day to me!

Chilly running, or qilly running

Posted on January 28, 2014 by besaroboy

It has been so long since I have posted I had no idea what to call this one, so therefor the boring title “Chilly running” (I just finished writing about qi gong, so I added the “qilly running” part). Which if I was even able to run at this time I could actually talk about running in the cold. But alas I am dealign with a pinched nerve (or something like that) in my back. It has happened before and rest seems to be the best medicine. This time was a really bad one. I was bucketing water out of our bird pond, but I don’t think the lifting had a lot to do with this. At the time it happened I was twisting and lifting, I swear don’t I know better? But even that I don’t believe to be fully behind my dehabilitation. IIRC the last time I did this I had over done it with exercise and yard work. Well that might be the true culprit here. I have spent the last week trying to get back into regular running. I thought I did a pretty good job of it with four shortish runs last week, but then the bomb dropped and I have done more sitting upright to avoid pain than anything. Actually I have been trying to get some activity in and have taken several walks to the store which does seem to help a bit. Mostly the problem is in the morning and getting out of bed. Even once I am able to get myself out of bed without a sharp electric pain shock to the back, it seems I succumb to it eventually and my back tightens up again. The good thing is I have been ale to sleep pain-free. But back to getting out of bed, this is where I have the issue, It is almost a fear of the pain that causes it or at the very least contributes to it. It does seem to be getting better and I am able to walk upright after a week or so of slouching and walking slowly. Smoking pot seems to really help relax my back muscles, but I have too much to do to smoke all day long (maybe on a Sat!)

This winter I seem to be a total wuss about the cold and I have been avoiding bad weather like the plague. Unfortunately this really cuts back on my running this winter. That and all the music I have been playing (on days I perform or practice I really try not to run as the exertion renders me unable to concentrate on the music.) My schedule has gotten really tight for times I have been able to get a run in. This has lead to getting lazy and deciding that it is ok to blow off a run. Bad runner! Well not really, if I don’t feel like it then I shouldn’t push it. Still I am in need of more “feeling like it” when it comes to running.

I haven’t been completely sluggish though. I made a big effort to study and regularly practice qi gong this fall/winter. Even though I just started reading about and practicing qi gong this year I realized that I have been doing it all my life through focused stretching and meditation. It has been an interesting experience to realize that I have been practicing many mental and physical aspects of qi gong all along and that I discovered them on my own. As my friend quoted a professor of hers “You don’t find qi gong, qi gong finds you.” I would say that has to be true in my experience. I started studying qi gong a little on the recommendation of my acupuncturist who was aware of my yoga practice through out the years. I bought a book and was so irritated with the author’s focus on a small aspect of qi gong – sexual yoga. the author took every chance he got to mention the phrase but never explained what he meant by it. The author really could have type-set the phrase in all caps and bolded with the amount of emphasis he placed on it. I finally just got sick of it and put the book down. This summer while on tour with the band, we stayed the night at a weird wool mattress co-op. In addition to their extreme kindness with the beds and food we were invited to attend an early morning qi gong class for the community. It was amazing and I felt great afterwards. I decided to research further and picked up a book called The Root of Chinese Qigong: Secrets of Health, Longevity, & Enlightenment. It offers a great introduction to the meaning and benefit of qi gong practice. This lead to several other qi gong books by Yang, Jwing-Ming on the subject. I also did research on the eight pieces of brocade a popular qi gong set that we did at the co-op. Eventually I discovered a brocade set by Jwing-Ming (brocades can be very different in terms of the actual poses) that I started doing regularly. I tried some other sets as well including the 256 pose Wild Goose sets, but I preferred the eight pieces of brocade by far. Plus I have limited space, and the wild goose sets required too much horizontal space. Other sets were more on the martial end whereas my focus has been on health.

One of the most interesting things I have discovered about qi gong is that for as specific as the movements in the sets are, there are many varieties. Which brings me back to the concept of qi gong finding you. The true strength of the practice is discovered and subtle (and not so subtle) variations and improvements can be made to the movements that tailor the practice to the individual. Finding what works has been a rewarding effort! In addition, I take this to a somewhat extreme (at least in the eyes of traditionalists). Every since college I have thought about the idea of updating yoga for the new age by doing the stretches and meditations in front of the tv. My thought is that media-minded individuals need something more than peaceful thoughts and tight yoga pants to keep us focused on the practice and that through watching something really banal on tv (like Gilligan’s island, perfect for me since I know every episode) where you can just space out watching it and achieve a sense of relaxation without the mind numbing boredom. Scoff away purists, it works for me! I also find great joy in watching sports and doing qi gong. I feel as if I am able to focus on the movement and energy transferals just fine, well fine enough to merit the tv watching! Which brings up another important and under stated aspect of qi gong. Even if you don’t do it perfectly (and besides, to do that you’d have to attain buddhahood) that there is still much benefit from the practice. So if my qi is moving and maybe not as efficiently as possible, it is still a good thing.

So running… I have been trying to get back into it as my belly tells me it is time to go away. best way to do that for me is to burn calories by running. Qi gong has been great for health, but it lacks on the cardio side. I had been going for 5 miles or so and feeling pretty good. My times have mostly been over a 10-min mile, but I have had some sub 10s too. I have been using the zero drop shoes and doing my hip exercises to counteract any soreness and so far it has been working great (until my back said no that is). My feet have been a little but sore, but not too bad. I am looking forward to hitting the roads again once my back loosens up, soon. More about that coming up as well!

Fall running

Posted on October 31, 2013 by besaroboy

Well I guess it is time to write again, well past time. Looks like it has been a couple of months since I wrote anything here. I haven’t been running a whole lot lately. The problem has been me, I keep letting other things get in the way of running and embracing excuses for not doing it. For the most part the days when I haven’t run have been merited, but I have had several 2-3 week stretches where I haven’t run at all. The only thing to do is get up and run, so that is what I will try to do.

This last week I have been doing pretty well with facing the cold and getting out to run. Today’s run was the chilliest of all of them and it looks like the cold temps are here to stay in the NW, we are getting close to winter so it is nothing to chastise. Just embrace it and bundle up. Today’s run went really well, despite the chill I stripped off my warm layer after about a mile. Gloves followed a couple miles later. So I guess it really isn’t that cold. My running partner (though it has been almost a years since we have run together) and I were chatting yesterday about an epic 19 degree run we did a couple years ago. Now that was cold! Ok, enough cold talk!

I have been running on my zero-drop shoes again. The hip exercises (an a break from the ZD shoes)I have been doing have been alleviating the pains I had attributed to them. My feet have felt pretty good. I haven’t been averaging super long distances, most have been around 5 miles. My feet have been a little bit sore recently, but I attribute a lot of that to the qigong I have been doing on a regular basis for the last 4 weeks. Several of the exercises have me rising up on my toes and holding there. I definitely feel it in my feet. My hope is that I will be able to toughen them up a bit, I am already noticing a beneficial difference in how my feet feel with the qigong.

My paces have all been hovering around 10 min miles, most of the runs a bit slower than that. But todays was 5 miles at a 9:30 pace. I pushed it a bit today, but I haven’t really been too concerned about going fast. Mostly just want to run and keep my health up and weight down.

Third week of getting on it

Posted on July 15, 2013 by besaroboy

After nearly running 30 miles a couple of weeks ago I had a week of less frequent running and only covered 17 miles. Still it felt pretty good and I am feeling pretty strong right now. So this week started and I decided I would try to get a good solid start. My base run that I set out to do this morning turned into an 8+ miler and at a decent pace as well 10:15 miles. It was pretty hot this morning but I weaved back and forth to maximise my shade and I brought water with me.

I have been adding on more of a cool down workout after finishing during these last three weeks. In addition to the stretches and pushups I normally do I have consistently added the hip stretching exercises as well as a pull ups (which are more of hang downs. I have been holding five sets of palm facing out for five seconds and five with my palms facing the other direction.) I seem to be seeing some improvements in my hips and haven’t had nearly the soreness that I was experiencing and the hang downs are coming ever so closer to actually being pull ups (one day!)

One day last week I pushed my pace and averaged a 9:30 over five miles. The pace felt good and I finished the run and my post run workout without issue. But despite having water with me, I seemed to get really dehydrated. I kept peeing so I was pretty sure I was solidly hydrated, but soon I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach. I focussed on getting fluids into me and flet quite a bit better, however the cocktail I had was not a good choice! Still I managed to recover after awhile and soon felt normal.

So far my return to my normal shoes (over the zero-drops) has seemed to be a success. I miss the larger toe box but my hips feel a lot better (of course much of that could be the hip exercises I have been doing). I haven’t been covering a ton of miles so that may have something to do with how good my feet feel as of late, but I think the normal shoes and the way my lift works in my right leg is the main reason for the improvements.

Three in a row, twice in a row

Posted on July 3, 2013 by besaroboy

Today, same days as last week, I ran my third run in a row. Now if I can just leave out the four rest days in a row this week I will be in pretty good shape. Though looking at my schedule it is looking more and more like I will have some rest days coming up. This is the second run in a row I have done when I had music to perform later in the day (though today is a rehearsal and yesterday was a relaxed show). I didn’t have any problems with fatigue yesterday at all which I was a bit concerned about as it was so dang hot (then we played outside too! But it was a nice evening ans we were out of the sun). I am really glad to see that I can play and run at the same time on occasion though I don’t think I will make a habit of it and I am not running tomorrow before our big show for the fourth (then again it is supposed to be like 15 degs cooler tomorrow so maybe I will tempt fate!).

The run itself went pretty well. I am still running slowly but that is ok for now. I just need to be getting out on a somewhat regular basis. It was pretty cool this morning and I didn’t even bring water with me. This quickly felt like a mistake, but not a really bad one. I hit up a couple of water fountains on the route and that seemed to be enough. I was really happy to make it to the fountains though! Coming out of reed campus and heading up the hill to Woodstock was a bit rough but I only thought about walking.

Hot run

Posted on July 1, 2013 by besaroboy

In my recent return to running I have found myself stalled by the heat and the bad habit I have developed as a musician of staying up late and sleeping in. This has caused me to miss the cool temps of the early hours. Today I got up at 6 or so and thought about running, then thought about needing to take my rebif, then immediately went back to bed. Dang it another day of sleeping into the warm hours! Oh but not this time! While I did sleep for a couple hours I decided to go anyway. Fortified with a cup of coffee and half a clif bar I filled up my water bottle and headed out.

As I snaked through the neighborhood heading for shaded areas I realized it wasn’t too hot out after all. That realization lasted about a mile. then I started feeling hot. But I kept sipping water (and even eventually refilled at a water fountain) and kept going. I felt really good (other than feeling hot) and the problem areas that I have been experiencing (hips and hamstrings) all felt really good. I didn’t have any pain in my hips which I was bummed to see return after my month away from running. But today I felt great and even decided to push my miles a bit back to the 10k base distance I had been doing. My back has been bothering me for the past couple of days for some reason but it actually seemed to improve on the run. Not sure if the run managed to loosen up the tightness or what.

So my plan for the next couple of days is to try to repeat this run, though maybe not the full distance as I have music all week to perform (three shows! and two rehearsals!) My hope is to run tomorrow and the following day, I think I can do it (as long as I get up a reasonable hour.)

Even my feet felt pretty good on this run. I have been running in standard running shoes since getting back into it. I am thinking about trying to make a full foot lift (rather than just the heal) to use with my zero drops in hopes of evening out how my hips are situated. We’ll see.