Category Archives: personal

Bad Blood

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In the last 4 years, I’ve lost almost 35lbs. I’ve done that by changing my diet to include less junk and more lean meats, vegetables, and whole grains and by running at least 3 times a week. I’ve recently added strength training to the list healthy things I do. So, it’s with these things in mind that I wonder what my cholesterol levels were 4 years ago.

I recently had a routine physical, which included blood work. Apparently, my total cholesterol is 244 (high risk) and my LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff) is 162 (high, but not highest, risk) . Those levels should be below 200 and 100, respectively.

What the heck? There might be a hereditary component to this problem, but how much can that really account for? What more do I need to do to not be a future heart attack statistic?

Magma in My Mind

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From introspection and multiple external confirmations, I know that I’ve become a lot mellower as I’ve gotten older. I’m not quite the reformer/revolutionary I was when I graduated high school twelve years ago. Nor do I have the temper I once had. I’ve even surprised myself, friends, and loved ones by taking on the role of peace-maker, diplomat, or arbitrator. I’m beginning to realize, though, that I rarely fill such a role unless I lack a stake in the matter at hand. When I do, it’s clear that I still have a lot of mellowing to do.

Sometimes I feel as though my emotions are volcanic in nature. Aside from the occasional tremor, I maintain a relatively calm exterior. Deep down, though, I’m really a very angry person; the red hot magma is still bubbling and flowing. It’s come close to breaking out of its rocky shell, but somehow enough heat and pressure are vented off that the volcano remains intact another day. Someday, though…

BOOM!

2007 Just a Short Run Half Marathon

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On March 31, I ran the 7th annual Just a Short Run in North Park. My goals weren’t lofty since I’m more interested in my performance at this year’s Ikea half marathon. I wanted to run at faster than a 10:00 pace and finish without walking at all. I’m pleased to say that I achieved both goals. 🙂 I finished in 2:07:53 (9:45 pace), 429/636 overall and 41/46 males 25-29.

Not all went well, though. At about mile 11, which is where I started walking for a while at the Ikea, I hit a wall. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other. I dropped from the 9:30-ish pace I’d been running to close to 11:00. I felt there was a possibly I’d pass out – a rather unpleasant feeling. I didn’t start walking, though. In fact, I still managed to tap into reserves to sprint the last 100 meters or so. I was really beat at the end, but within a few minutes felt pretty good, perhaps due to endorphins kicking in. By about an hour after the race, though my feet were killing me. They really hurt like hell, forcing me to walk like a feeble old man. Walking was quite painful for a few days, but thankfully the pain went away. I suspect I had developed peroneal tendonitis as a result of switching insoles.

My goal for this year’s Ikea is to finish with an average pace of 9:30 and not bonk. I paced myself this time using my heart monitor. I maintained an average heart rate of 90% (85% by the Karvonen formula), and until mile 11 that seemed to work out quite well. I’m hoping that with good training my heart rate will drop and my overall fitness will improve sufficiently to make that heart rate correspond to a faster pace.

P.S. I used my iPod. What are you going to do about it? 😛

2007 University of Pittsburgh Campus Classic 5K

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On March 24, I ran my first race of 2007, the University of Pittsburgh Campus Classic 5K (the proceeds of which will benefit research at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute). My time of 26:10 (8:25 pace) was about as good as I could expect for my first race in four months. I placed 80/185 and 2/8 among 25-29 males.

The race was supposed to take place on the streets of Oakland, but protesters beat us to the permit. Consequently, the race was moved to Schenley Park. I suspect the race organizers were unfamiliar with the course they set up (based on previous races in the park). My suspicions were first raised when I didn’t see a marker for mile 1 until I’d been running more than 10 minutes. Afterwards, a friend of mine said that the course felt long to her. These observations were enough to prod me unto plotting the course on Gmaps Pedometer. GP usually underestimates distances because it does not account for changes in altitude, so I was rather surprised to see that my trace of the course was 3.25 miles long (instead of the proper 3.1 miles). If I’m right about the course being long, my actual 5K time would be just under 25 minutes, a personal best. 🙂

P.S. I used my iPod. What are you going to do about it? 😛