Recovery

Pushed my run today to just shy of 3.5 miles.  I felt pretty good for the most part, but always struggle with two aspects of any run...treadmill or outdoors:

During the first 1/2 to 3/4 miles, I'm wheezing like an asthmatic.  It takes me at least 1/2 mile to settle into a comfortable breathing cadence, but some days I'll struggle through the first 3/4 of a mile.  Back in my mountain biking days I would do a vigorous warmup before tackling the trails.  By slightly winding myself before the main event I found it easier to settle into a ride.  That strategy doesn't seem to work with running.  So, any suggestions on getting that particular hitch out of the first segment of my runs would be much appreciated.

The second area I struggle with is recovery, especially muscle wise and specifically my hamstrings.  My hamstrings are in extreme discomfort when I start a run, even if I stretch them out and warm up.  I had to stop for about a minute during today's run to stretch again (right at the 1 mile mark) and shake my legs out.  They didn't bother me again until about 3 hours after the run.  The pain is odd, in between a cramp and a pull.  Taking an ice cold bath after a run has really helped quite a bit, but they are aching right now.  Rest doesn't seem to make much of a difference either.  I'm thinking it could be a quad to hamstring muscle imbalance that will eventually work itself out.  However, like the warmup question, I'm looking for any tips on dealing with muscle pain during and after a run...

Running isn't the only thing I'm recovering from though.  Maddy had a slumber party last night and invited 5 of her friends over.  From 5pm until about midnight last night the house was filled with the shrieks and giggles of 9-10 year old girls...plus two 6 year olds (Jossy had a friend over too) and Katelyn.  That's a lot of girls.  They are all great kids, but at one point I had to take them all outside to burn some calories.  The cul-de-sac was overrun with girls on scooters, bikes, throwing frisbees, playing hide and go seek, and general mayhem.  The Better Half eventually got them to settle down around midnight, the last giggle from downstairs was heard around 12:30...we figure they were all asleep at 1am...and they were all up at 6am this morning.  I made pancakes for them while TBH helped get their stuff organized to eventually go home.  Maddy is a little worn out today and cranky, so she's hitting the hay early tonight...as am I! 

Time to take some melatonin and magnesium (night time leg cramps are the worse thing ever!) and call it a night...I'll have to catch Mad Men on the DVR tomorrow...!

Take It To The Limit

At the behest and urging of some friends, I finally downloaded the MyFitnessPal and Runtastic apps on my iPhone.  The idea being that both apps would make me much more accountable when it came to diet and exercise.  Well, those friends were certainly correct as both apps have made me think much more about what I eat and how hard I work out.  Unfortunately, I'm now starting to get so much up in my own head about calories burned and ingested that all I want to do is work out.  Accountability is great unless you are a borderline obsessive that just happens to be seasoned with a dash of self-loathing and a pinch of competitiveness....

My issues with working out and running are well documented on this blog and my Facebook page.  I run for a while, push myself too hard, and the next thing you know my knees are more swollen than the feds balance sheet.  Then I have to stop running so my creaky knees recover.  This time has been different for me though.  At 43 I think I've finally learned to listen to what my body is trying to tell me when it signals to me in short burst of blinding pain and overwhelming discomfort.  Just last year I would have tried to push through some of the aches and pains after workouts, but lately I've been doing more stretching, applying ice, and even resting.

The resting bit is a difficult one for me as I want to drop weight and increase endurance in the shortest amount of time possible.  This, of course, leads to not only injury, but emotional breakdowns when I discover I didn't lose 15lbs overnight.  That crushing disappoint sends me into a tailspin that I eventually take out on a blueberry scone or a manhole cover sized plate of phad thai at Tropics.  Not good.  Now that I am monitoring my caloric intake I don't have to go on hardcore no carb diets and what have you.  Which is good. MyFitnessPal sets a calorie ceiling for the day, I stay below it.  Easy peasy!  

Resting also plays against my desire to hit a new goal immediately after achieving a goal I had set previously.  At the beginning of May I set a goal to run a treadmill 5k in under 30 minutes.  I met that goal today, running 3.1 miles in just over 29 1/2 minutes.  Not too shabby for an old man with bad knees!  Whatever sense of accomplishment I felt dissipated in a hurry as I wanted to set and start working towards my next goal - 3 miles in 27 minutes, but outdoors...not on a treadmill.

I think if I don't over do it and continue stretching, eating better, and getting proper rest (ice water baths after a hard run has helped recovery a lot!), I can avoid injury and will hit my goal by mid-June.  As far as weight goes, I have a number in mind for the end of June that I'm currently ahead of.  I have to lay off the lifting though, which is also tough for me to do...but it is necessary if I want to continue losing mass.

With MyFitnessPal to keep me calorie honest and that limey B*TCH in my ear 'motivating' me via Runtastic, I should be able to hit my June goals...  

Foxy Knoxy And Talkin' All That Jazz...

...I didn't watch all of the Amanda Knox interview when it aired a short while ago.  The one portion I did watch before the melatonin and sleeping pill cocktail kicked in was when she spoke of how she believed casual sexual relationships were what 'liberated' and 'empowered' women engaged in.  Now, I'm not going to go all Grandpa Taylor on you and act OUTRAGED by it all.  However, I am going to ask this - when did being a liberated and empowered woman equal assuming all the worst attributes of men?  I've never really understood how all of that works, I'm sure it has something to do with making choices that no one questions men about, etc.  Just throwing it out there, but my take on Amanda Knox was that she had profound regrets concerning her behavior leading up to her arrest, trial, imprisonment, and eventual freedom.  And no, she isn't a hero or a role model or a shining example to be set upon a pedestal - she was an incredibly arrogant, yet ignorant, spoiled brat that got caught up in something bigger than her.  If anything, she's a cautionary tale, the ultimate episode of 'Locked Up: Abroad'.

I shouldn't be surprised that there is little to no public outcry concerning the Benghazi cover-up, a scandal that would have been leading the news 24/7 a mere 7 years ago or if the current WH occupant had a (R) after his name.  Instead, it's all being swept under the rug by a press corp that is literally part of this administration's family.  The fact that the presidents of CBS and ABC news have siblings working within the Obama administration has nothing to do with this, now does it?  Of course it does.  CBS and ABC have been carrying water for Obama since he won the 08 election.  Now it is indeed a family affair...and Fox News is the one that vile progs accuse of bias?  That's funny...

Maybe the latest scandals to break, the unprecedented seizure of phone records of AP reporters and targeted harassment from the IRS that were political in nature, will awaken the media.  I highly doubt it as most Americans seem to be completely oblivious as to what is happening around them and to them.  And that's just how government wants us - bloated, slow, and ignorant.  Rick Santelli did manage to make an interesting point though.  The IRS will be enforcers of Obamacare, if they can target individuals financially, they will sure as hell target individuals medically as well.  But don't let that stop you from the latest episode of 'The Voice'!    

General Round Up

If you accidentally spray Round Up...no, I take that back...if even a slight mist of Round Up over-spray lands in the general vicinity of a plant you don't want dead, said plant will be a burnt out husk within 24 hours.  However, if you douse crabgrass colonies with Round Up on multiple occasions over the course of a week, well, the crabgrass is either more resilient than Kirk Douglas or Round Up really sucks at killing crabgrass. 

When I declared total war on my lawn it was with a hope that has now grown as dim as Audrina Patridge that hostilities would soon cease and rebuilding would begin.  I don't see calling off the Round Up anytime soon.  Even worse, sections of the lawn have sprouted partisan grass blades, making my scorched earth Round Up bombing runs seem a wee bit more reckless...do I accept collateral damage, or do I just provide high altitude air support as the grass overruns the colonies of demon weed?  I'm attempting a bit of both, indiscriminately raining death of all things green where the fight seems hopeless, surgically striking where the good guy grass is choking out the crabgrass.  Yes, I'm entirely too emotionally involved with the yard, but as The Better Half said, it is my domain and I shall rule it with an Ironite fist!

Now to leave the talk of lawn care...

I'm actually looking forward to the Superman re-reboot.  Michael Shannon bringing his peculiar brand of crazy to the role of General Zod has all kinds of appeal.  Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent does have me somewhat worried.  When an upright and living Christopher Reeve played Superman/Clark Kent, he embodied the spirit of both characters with charisma and charm. I haven't seen enough of Cavill to totally believe that he can pull off double duty.  Here's hoping he can, that the movie doesn't suck, and that a sequel brings Doomsday to the big screen as Superman's ultimate foe.

If an Aquaman movie never gets made even that will be too soon...Aquaman is a tool.  




  

Feeling Crabby

I've been waging war on the crabgrass in my lawn for at least four years.  Tonight I conceded the battle to the countless crabgrass colonies residing in my backyard...but I won the war.  If there is one thing I can offer to any of my 9 readers that may also be fighting the marauding hoards of demon weed it is this:  Do not negotiate with crabgrass...it will think you weak, taunt you, and come back stronger than ever.

See, I tried playing nice and green when I first noticed the telltale signs of early crabgrass incursions into the yard.  My first attempts were organic...a little apple cider vinegar diluted with water...cutting the crabgrass colonies out of the yard and sodding the bare patches...overseeding the yard every spring to gently choke out offending weeds.  None of those options were effective, and each spring more and more crabgrass worked its way into the yard.

For the last two years I have tried preemergence herbicides, products designed to discourage crabgrass seeds from germinating.  Well, all that stuff did was act as a super serum that created an unstoppable pestilence.  The crabgrass friggin' thrived after throwing down some weed & feed with 'Halts'.  This stuff sucks no matter when applied...I don't think it even made the crabgrass feel bad about itself, let alone discourage it.    

My original plan for this evening was to apply yet another product that retarded crabgrass growth, but would not harm the lawn.  Just before hooking the bottle up to the hose, I took one last look around...and wanted to scream 'broken arrow' like Mel Gibson did in 'We Were Soldiers'...but I didn't want the new neighbors to think I was crazy.  Instead, I opened the shed and broke out the Round Up, the napalm of off the shelf weed killers, and went to work inside my own perimeter. 

Sadly, everywhere I sprayed Round Up is going to be scorched Earth within two days, but I stand by my decision.  Yes, some good grass will die, blue on blue casualties, but the lawn had been overrun.  The plan is to re-sod the impacted areas after all the vegetation has died and gets raked out.  I'll put down new top soil and starter fertilizer and begin anew...and about three years from now the battle to rid my life of the Great Crabgrass War of 2016 will kick off....

Macca At Safeco Field

Sweet jiminy bitchwhistle...Paul McCartney is playing Safeco Field July 14th.  Decent tickets are going for about $150.00...which leads to a real dilemma for me.  Paul is the last surviving Beatle if you don't count Ringo, but Ringo seems to play local winery shows every other weekend during the summer.  Paul, on the other hand, doesn't get around to this part of the world as much.  I'm really trying to take emotion out of any decision I make concerning this show, so let's break this somnabitch down pros and cons style...

Pros:  This might be Paul's last big tour and I don't think I should miss out, Paul's big hits with the Beatles and Wings are real crowd pleasers, he's still using the kick ass backing band he threw together 12 years ago, I've never seen any of the Beatles live...

Cons:  Jeebus, $150.00 is a lot of bones to pay to see a guy that struggles to hit notes, there's a chance he plays 'Say, Say, Say' or any other track off of the dismal 'Pipes Of Peace' album from 1983, he looked and sounded horrible at the recent Grammy awards, a lot of Paul's solo work without Wings is crap...

I think this is going to come down to me sleeping on it.  Prince played the Showbox recently and I passed on dropping $250 to see him with his new band in a small venue.  I've regretted that decision ever since, even though I'm glad my bank account isn't $250 lighter.  How much of missing that show is playing into me wanting to see McCartney?  Probably quite a bit...

Maybe I'll just watch 'A Hard Day's Night' and throw back a few drinks instead...

Cleaning House

It's been a while, so allow me to get a few things out of the way before cutting to the chase...

So, yeah...I went and saw Shania Twain while I was in Vegas.  Now, I didn't go alone...I promised The Better Half that I would take her to see Shania Twain when her Caesars Palace shows were announced over a year ago.  The opportunity to fulfill that promise presented itself and unlike every other situation I had promised to do something, I actually saw this one through. 

I am not a fan of Shania Twain's music.  At all.  However, Shania Twain's music was never meant for someone like me, it is/was targeted to females...the twang version of 'Girl Power' introduced by the Spice Girls in the mid-90's.  And that's fine.  I understand and accept that, so I just enjoyed the show for what it was, and that was a magnificently produced Vegas spectacle.  The set was simple but still saw numerous large piece changes ranging from a western saloon to a fake camp site to an icy snowscape...and there were two live horses and a flying motorcycle.

As a performer, Shania Twain is a pro.  She's much calmer than she was a decade ago, no longer running around the stage dressed as the world's wealthiest aerobics instructor.  Her voice is a lot stronger than I would have giver her credit for.  Song arrangements were stripped down and straightforward, driven by a top notch drummer that kept everything tight.  From a musical standpoint, it was good to hear the Mutt Lange overproduction from the studio kicked to the curb.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience, one that TBH enjoyed more than I did.  I still had fun (the depth charge sized mojito I had before the show helped) and hey, if you are in Vegas and looking for a show you could do a lot worse than Shania Twain....

Now, back to business...

Here's the deal.  I've once again managed to roll up on some kind of identity crisis when it comes to this blog and writing in general.  Too many times I've stopped writing/posting out of fear of offending someone's tender sensibilities.  In my previous blog, that really wasn't an issue.  I had a dedicated set of readers that posted encouraging comments and sporadic readers that enjoyed telling me to get bent.  Good times!  I've been walking a fine line since linking to Facebook.  The fear is that some of my Facebook 'friends' may not get my humor or my point of view on certain topics, so I've self-censored.  A lot.  And it has been disastrous for me.

A turning point for me occurred shortly after the Boston Marathon bombing.  I posted a comment that read:  How long before the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC start asking, 'Does anyone really need a six-quart pressure cooker?'  This, of course, was a play on what some pundits had been saying about certain guns/ammo/clips leading up to the gun control vote.  The post was parody, but also designed to get people to think...why do we attempt to solve problems by skirting around the root of issues and going balls out to assign blame on inanimate objects and pass ineffective laws?

Well, this post set someone off and for some reason I allowed this person's hysterical and nonsensical reaction to influence me to the point of deleting what I had written.  I've regretted doing so ever since going back and reading our message thread about my post.  Unfortunately, I let someone's illogical and emotional reaction dictate my opinion on what I should and should not post.  As time passed I realized that I have been actively going out of my way to avoid posting on FB or writing in this blog anything that might be controversial or remotely interesting. I've stifled myself and that has turned something I really used to enjoy doing into a chore...worse, it made me boring.

Now, does this sudden burst of self-awareness mean I'm going to start dropping F-bombs all over the place as if they were fire bombs over Dresden?  Of course not.  It also doesn't mean that I am going to go out of my way to be offensive just to be offensive...or profane...that has never been my style.  I do have opinions though, very strong ones that not everyone agrees with, which is fine.  I welcome disagreement and opinions that differ from mine, as long as they aren't the rantings of conspiracy theory fever swamp apes or melodramatic mewling.  I've no time for either.