Iron and Ink

STOP THE PRESSES: I GOT MY OFFICIAL 5K!

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t fast, but by God, I did my 5K on Saturday in all its glory.

I wasn’t going for style points or first place, my only goals in this thing were to do it without stopping to walk — not even one measly inch — and to not die.

Score on both accounts.

On Saturday I ran (jogged, but I like to say ran) 3.11 miles in the Sunny’s 5K in Imperial. I finished in 39 minutes and came in somewhere in the 30s out of a registered field of 78. After the top spots in each category, the officials stop counting placement and time. I’m going by the time I saw on the clock when I crossed the finish line and my wife’s best guesstimate about the placement.

This was big, really big.

  

When I started this weight loss journey at 365 pounds some 15 months ago, I just wanted to lose 100 pounds by the time I hit one year of sobriety. I did that. Jogging a 5K without stopping never crossed by mind, not because I didn’t want to do something like that, but because I didn’t think it was possible given my fitness levels of the past — none.

But here I am, and while it might be something trivial to someone who’s known past athletic successes or even mild aerobic fitness, I continue to go places I’ve never gone in my 36 years on this rock.

And I want more.

I’ve hit very goal I’ve set for myself in this. The one other thing I’m looking to achieve in this is to get to my all-time adult low, which is 235 pounds. I’m 241 right now, so that is within reach and it will happen.

But beyond that, I’m just going to keep trucking, but I feel like a different person.

There are at least three more 5Ks coming up in the next few months — for the Honey Festival in Westmorland at the end of November; a Calexico event in January and the Carrot Festival 5K in February. I just want to shave off time now. Get in at 35 minutes, and eventually 30 minutes. If I’m ready, maybe I can do the 10K that Calexico offers.

These are aspirations and claims I could have made off-handedly with no intention of ever living up to them before, but now these are goals that I can and will achieve. Even if I fail, it’s been a journey worth taking.

One more thing. Fitness is no longer a passing fancy, something to occupy my mind instead of boozing. I never understood how it can such an integral part of a person’s life and make-up until it became such an integral part of mine, and I realize all the benefits it can offer — improved mental clarity, more energy, better sleep, both a big appetite and way to control it, better libido, the simple ability to do several things in one day without needing a break or a nap.

Heck, on Saturday, I ran the 5K, went to gym and did a full arm and forearm workout, went home and got ready to go trick-or-treating in Imperial with my daughter and went to the McCabe carnival to help my wife in our daughter’s classroom booth. Sure, I was dog tired at the end of the day, but not so much so that I was cranky or dragging my tail between my legs.

That list would not have even been possible 125 pounds ago, no matter whether I was sober or drunk. I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to do it if I was in the throes of my drinking, but I also couldn’t have done it without what I’ve been doing for the last year plus.

— RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

What a difference a year makes; thanks for reading

 


This month I will have been sober 17 months, and if I’ve learned one thing through this almost a year and half of going to meetings, staying away from situations that test my sobriety (sorry guys) and going to the gym sometimes seven days a week, I’ve learned I’m one obsessive compulsive SOB.

I don’t really have OCD — at least I don’t think so — but I do have problems with compulsivity, and that is a huge hallmark of my alcoholism.

But that compulsivity is also what has driven my relentless pursuit of fitness, whether it’s been weightlifting, or running, or both at the same day, or whatever.

My need to put down 18 to 30 Natty Lights or Bud Lights every time I drank (usually five to seven days a week) and smoke a half a pack of ciggies, has fueled my need to spend a minimum of two hours a day at the gym, sometimes three hours when I’m in the zone.

The exercise and meetings have been the calming forces in my life during this whole period, more so than time on the job or with the family. Meetings center me and exercise provides the almost spiritual communion, the daily meditation I need to not let my mind destroy itself.

It’s a weird admission, I know, but it’s true.

The reason I started this blog in the first place was as a trade-off for free personal training from Joe at Jacques N’ Jill’s. But I haven’t been with him for almost a year, and still I write.

And in that year, I’ve met and exceeded every short term goal I put in writing, and still I drive on, because I need this, like I needed to drink. My sponsor probably wouldn’t like to hear me say that, but I think he’d understand.

Today I looked up a blog entry from Oct. 20, 2009, to see where I was a year ago in this journey.

According to the blog, I was working with Joe and had just reached 310 pounds. I was still focusing on light weights and high reps. I was still just walking on the treadmill to get in my cardio, struggling to walk for more than a half hour.

What a difference a year makes. One good thing about my compulsivity is that it makes me work hard at the gym all of the time, changing up routines when results stop. Going faster and farther and working harder. I’ve learned to not give up and not be a wimp. If anything, my mind has been my strongest muscle.

This is not bragging, and I hope it doesn’t come off that way. Seventeen months ago I was miserable, and I wanted to die. I hated the person I saw in the mirror, not for what I saw physically, but for how I felt emotionally.

That can still happen. Nothing is perfect today; there are emotional high and lows. But there is meaning and purpose and the eternal push toward serenity and peace and positivity.

And believe it or not, that manifests itself physically, too.

Today, Oct. 5, 2010, I went to the gym, I did my chest workout and did personal bests on all weights. I then jogged for one hour nonstop, running 4.7 miles, walking it out to 5 miles total.

I weighed 242 pounds last weigh-in, which was a couple of days ago.

More important, I’m sober and healthy, and ultimately, happy to be where I am today. I could barely say that a year ago. I couldn’t say that at all 17 months ago.

—      RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

 

A 5K DOWN AND A MARATHON TO GO — NOT

I made my 5K, or at least the equivalent of it. And damn if I didn’t need it, as the jogging experiment hit some serious stumbling blocks over the last week and half.

On Monday afternoon, after a full workout at the gym, I hit the treadmill and really concentrated on my breathing and pacing and got 3.43 miles in 45 minutes without stopping. It was a major accomplishment for me, and I was feeling pretty jazzed.

Last week I started jogging at Bucklin Park with a partner, Darren Simon, one of closest buds. Despite what Darren says, he’s pretty fit with a background in working out and running. After jogging with him three times, my times and endurance and the ability to jog without stopping got worse.

So I fired him.

The fact is, I’m too new to running to be jogging with someone who wants to chat with me while I run. I needed to concentrate on my breathing and pacing, which any experienced runner will tell you is important.

But I was feeling pretty defeated over the Darren episode, and the remedy was getting past that threshold I had set up in my mind as a goal. The farthest I had gone on the treadmill before was 2.7 miles, so passing the 5K mark (3.11 miles) was awesome.

I hope to get better at managing my jogging so I can get out there and run with someone again. But Darren (yes, I addressing you directly), don’t talk so much. Just kidding.

One more thing on the long jog; it has been easier for me to recover from running than when I first started. Back when I first began doing this, the night cramps and soreness could be debilitating. This time, with the exception of being a bit weaker during my leg workout today, the soreness wasn’t a problem.

At this point, there’s lots of time for me to be able to train to run in a real, road-tested 5K without stopping, not just the easier environment of a treadmill.

 

TRYING TO MIX IT UP

I felt like my weightlifting routine, actually my exercise routine in general, was getting stale. I think my body was used to what I was doing, and that might have been one of the reasons why I stayed in the 250s for so many months.

In addition to adding in the jogging, I changed the frequency and style of my weightlifting regimen.

For the last four or five months I had been doing chest and triceps one day, resting the next, then doing back, biceps and forearms, then rest, then shoulders and legs, then rest, etc.

I switched to a routine that put me lifting three days in a row, with one or two days off in between, depending on how I was feeling.

So far I’ve been doing chest on Day 1, biceps and triceps on Day 2, back on Day 3, rest a day or two and then legs/shoulders on Day 1 again.

I think this is what I needed. It seems to tire me out more and leave me a bit more fatigued, but since I’ve started it I have had consistent weigh-in in the high 240s. This morning, I hit 243.2. 

Something’s working. 243 puts me 12 pounds from my all-time adult low, which was right after my gastric bypass.

--- RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

I SHOULD RENAME THIS THE JOG LOG

I know I'm probably boring most of you with these endless blogs, but since I've started taking jogging seriously, it has inspired me to start blogging anew.

Weightlifting, while still a love, isn't going so well with this bunk shoulder, so the running and the need to start dropping some lbs. again has re-ignited the fires. 

I ran/jogged again Saturday and surpassed all my previous marks, and that was a wonderful moment.

I'm effectively training to run a 5K at this point, but not with the goal of just completing it. I want to finish the damn thing without stopping to walk and catch my breath. 3.11 miles, which is what a 5K translates to, is easy if I were to jog and run. In movement alone, I can do 5 miles a day (run/walk/elliptical combined) no problem. It's the jog without stopping that is much harder. 

My previous high with a continual jog without stopping was 2.11 miles in 30 minutes (nonstop) at 4.3 mph. Yesterday I topped that with 35 continuous minutes, going 2.71 miles at 4.7 mph.

I traveled 2.33 in 30 minutes. It took me 24.20 minutes to either go 2 miles or hit the 2.11 mark. I can't remember. I was trying to keep all these numbers in my head while on the treadmill.

My previous distance high running was 2.6 miles in 35 minutes. I reached that in 33.40 minutes yesterday.

These are minor improvements, but improvements nonetheless. 2.71 miles continuously, leaves me with only .4 miles before I've run the 5K without stopping. I'll get there soon. Probably within the month. What I really want to do is achieve all of this while running around 5 mph, and eventually a real running pace of 6 mph. That might take some more work.

I've noticed the extra skin problems I have make running more difficult, too. One friend with a similar (but not as drastic) problem, said the skin moving around makes you tired more quickly. I wear a compression shirt, but I think it's either too stretched out or I've lost too much weight for it to be effective. I hope to get a new one today at Wal-Mart. I also need some new compression shorts because my thigh skin goes one direction while I go another. LOL.

All in all, I'm confident I will be able to achieve a 5K without stopping, at least in time for the Carrot Festival run.

---RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

QUICKENING THE PACE

As the weight loss (but not the muscle growth and body recomposition) has slowed and the ability to weightlift as intensively takes a backseat while my shoulder heals, I've taken jogging on as my new internal contest and goal setter, and possibly a way to jumpstart the weight loss again.

I've blogged about the internal contests before. They are the little mind games I play with myself to keep me motivated, and they usually involve trying to best a time or calorie number or distance.

I achieved a personal record last week when I jogged for 30 minutes without stopping and went 2.11 miles.

Tonight, I went to the gym after work (around 8:45 p.m.) with the goal in mind of beating the distance by quickening the pace.

In a way, I failed but also surpassed my previous goal. It all depends on how I choose the look at it.

This time I ran 2.6 miles in 35 minutes. For some reason I was shooting for 35, thinking that's how long it took me to run the 2.11 last time. Mathematically the pace is better, but I couldn't do it without stopping, taking a couple of 1 minute fast-walking breathers. I seriously wonder whether I even needed them, because so much of the running thing is mental (you're right, Manuel).

Last time I ran that 2.11 at a pace of 4.2 mph. This time I tried to quicken it, and all of my running/jogging was at 4.6. (According to the treadmill readouts.)

So while I did stop, my speed was better, my distance was better and I really felt my running form was better. I didn't get all sloppy and about to fall apart till the last five minutes.

One other nice little goal today was what I did with the rest of my time. After I reached that 35 minutes, I walked the treadmill for another 25 minutes, all of which was at an incline between 9 percent and 11 percent. I was able to make 4.12 miles total in 60 minutes (882 calories burned). When I ran and walked at the park a couple of days ago, I did 5 miles in 1 1/2 hours. So, tonight's pace was much better.

On a side note. Sarah Horne, the half-marathoning reporter who chastised me for not stretching properly (I've been on it since), has given me a magazine with lists of 5Ks and 10Ks going on in Southern California.

I guess at least one person isn't going to let me get away with NOT achieving that goal.

--- RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

TAKING MY GAME TO THE WILD

I decided to test this newfound endurance and jogging ability in the wild … I took my run to steamy jungles of Bucklin Park this morning, where I rediscovered nature at an alarming rate, that is, I muddied up by new New Balance while losing about 10 pounds in water weight from all the humidity.

It was hell out there.

Anyways, I know running on a treadmill, where I achieved my 2.11 in 30 minutes without stopping, is a controlled environment. I knew repeating such a feat would be difficult, and it was.

Bucklin Park’s hills and the weather did me in.

My first mile jogged was way off the treadmill pace — I ran it in 14 minutes. But that’s were the continuous jogging ended. I walked the next half mile, and returned to the nonstop jog for another mile (15 minutes).

I was feeling pretty good, just tired and semi dehydrated, so I walked another half mile. Three miles, one of which was walked, made me feel a bit guilty, so I walked another two miles at a brisk pace and walked up the hills rimming the path to make it tougher.

It was a good workout all in all, and it was nice to get out of the artificial environment of the gym for a morning, where the smell of BO, sweat and Lysol was replaced by grass, dog poop and moist air.

I want to tell any big guys or gals thinking about taking up jogging or running at any pace, to stretch. I am not one who stretches before I do anything, but the night after my 2.11-mile run and another half hour on the elliptical, my inner thighs just above the knees cramped up so badly so many times, I woke up The Wife yelling.

I was telling our newest reporter, Sarah Horne, about this. (I saw her at the gym running for like three hours.) Sarah, who has run half marathons, told me to stretch, so I obeyed. I won’t know if it helped until tonight around 3 in the morning.

--- RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENT FOR NO ONE BUT ME --- I'LL TAKE IT

I did it, dammit. I did it.

I grew up fat and have been out of shape almost all of my life. According to family, I started getting chunky in the summer between pre-school and kindergarten, but I’ve seen the photos — I was a fatty in pre-school as well.

I never quite grew into my weight like the other kids, and I wasn’t one of those fat athletic marvels who weighed a lot but could run, jump, swim and all-around kick some butt. I was fat strong, meaning I was stronger than the average child my age simply because I had to lug my butt around this God-forsaken rock.

I say all of this, because I am coming from a point of reference in my life where I didn’t have a healthy youth, I wasn’t good at sports or simple physical tests of strength and endurance.

I’m not getting back into shape right, or returning to some former glory. For me, there has never been former glory or a return to a fighting shape. Sure, I was 15 lighter a few years ago, but still really unhealthy and weak.

This is important to me because I did something Monday that I never imagined I would ever do. I did something I didn’t feel was possible when I struggled to run one time around the grade-school field during P.E. I did something I never could have imagined I would do as I waddled around at 575 pounds. I did something I didn’t quite yet feel I was ready for even two or three months ago.

I ran (well, jogged on the treadmill really) for 30 minutes without stopping Monday afternoon. I went 2.11 miles without walking once.

I know, I know. It’s no big deal for a lot of people. But it was a huge deal for me. Fatty. And I felt good. No shin pain, no hip pain, none of the problems I felt when I started trying to run seven months ago. My body was ready for it, even at 250 pounds.

It’s a confidence booster, for sure. And it makes me think that if a guy who has been my size and at my health level for 32 of 36 years, than it’s possible for anyone.

It makes me think I really can train for a 5K or a 10K without walking one part of it. So, that’s it, right here and right now. That’s going to be a goal. It’s not going to be about time or pace, but simply doing the whole thing without walking or stopping.

-- RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

SHOULDERING THE PAIN, BUT AT LEAST NO SURGERY

It feels like it’s been ages since I blogged here, and it has been.

It’s not like I stopped working out or obsessing over fitness, but I thought I should give a least one aspect of my compulsive personality a break, and that is translating my manic insistence on working out everyday to writing.

But I have been hitting it hard core. About the only break I’ve taken was two weeks ago, when I took the family on vacation and working out everyday was not possible (or even desired).

I finally made it into the 240s, after being stuck in the 250s for well over two months. That’s not an all-time low for me (235 pounds of muscle-less humanity is), but I reached an all-time low for pants, at a 40-inch waist.

All in all it’s been pretty good.

But I thought I should blog about injuries and taking it easy, as I have been told by an orthopedist to chillax on my right shoulder for about four months.

Let me go back in time for you folks.

When I was about 10 to 12 I quit playing Little League. Besides the fact that I was fat, couldn’t run or hit and had the hand-eye coordination of a blind man with, well, no hands, I quit because of an injury that I never really told anybody about.  

I don’t know how it first happened or even why, but around that age I started have partial dislocations of my right shoulder. Every 20^th to 30^th time I’d throw a baseball, my right shoulder would drop out of the socket, fall to my side and pop back in.

Over the years, it has continued. Every time I tried to start a weight-training program where I was unassisted, I would stop, in part, because I would do some exercise where I would feel the shoulder slipping out of place and get scared.

On top of all this, the shoulder was always sore, always tender, and always weak.

My family doc, George Fareed, has given me at least four or five cortisone shots in the shoulder over the course to several 20 years to ease the pain and restore some semblance of normal operation.

But a year ago, when I began this weight loss and working out regimen, I did it with a personal trainer, Joe Nunemacher at Jacques N Jill’s. I told him from the get-go that my shoulders were weak, and I suspected I had some really serious problems in there. I told him about the dislocations and the pain and uncertainty when I do certain movements.

He took note of that and trained me with the idea that I would strengthen and fix whatever ailed me. That did and didn’t happen.

I got way stronger, I actually look like I have shoulder muscles now, but the pain is still there and was especially bad as I increased the weight I was doing military presses with to between 50 and 75 pounds on each shoulder.

On a doctor’s pain scale, I’m normally a 2 to 3 in the right shoulder. During workout I can be as high as 8 or 9. So, I decided to get an MRI.

When Dr. Fareed told me it looked like I had a labrum tear, I immediately thought I would have to have surgery. I didn’t want it, but I thought it could be beneficial. Maybe this pain would go away. Anyways, he referred me to an orthopedic surgeon.

On Monday I went to the surgeon’s office and was examined, and the damage to my shoulder was worse than what Fareed had seen and what I had thought.   

I did have a tear of the posterior labrum, but a tear of the rotator cuff tendon was also found. There was also arthritis of the AC joint and fluid in the front tendon connecting the shoulder to the chest.

Basically, from what was seen on the MRI, my history of dislocations should a lot of new and old damage, including cysts and wear and fluid, yada yada yada.

But after a physical evaluation, it was determined surgery was not needed quite yet.

In fact, the orthopedist said the work I had done on my shoulders in the last year had stabilized my shoulders to the point where random dislocations are not going to happen anymore.

But he did say I needed to give myself a four-month break. … from certain exercises.

One of my biggest fears in all of this was that I would have to stop working out altogether. But I just have to ease up on certain things for several months, like military presses for the shoulder. The rotator tendon could tear all the way through if I continue to do exercises that causes me to lift over my head past 90 degrees.

I also have to eliminate lateral shoulder raises, which will aggravate the same tendon and the AC joint arthritis.

I was also advised to lighten the load on butterflies for the chest because of the involvement of that tendon connecting the shoulder to the pectoral muscles.

It’s a small price to pay to know it will heal itself, that I won’t have to go under the knife, and that what I’ve been doing for the last year actually helped me solve a chronic and painful problem with the dislocations.

— RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

BOOT CAMP KICKING MY ABS

It’s almost 3 p.m. on a Thursday, and as I sit here composing what will surely be another brilliant and insightful blog posting, the muscles of my inner thighs are spasming, my quads feel like they’re filled with battery acid and my abs hurt to cough, breathe in deeply, and, well, move.

This is after two mornings going through personal trainer Joe Nunemacher’s “Flex Fit” boot camp at Jacques N Jill’s. Wednesday morning was abs (yes, they still hurt) and Thursday were legs (yes, they hurt already).

Boy, nine months into this, I thought I was in better shape. But then I realized, it’s been a while since I trained with Joe, and when I did, in addition to weights there were massive reps of squats and lunges using my own body weight, which is what Flex Fit is all about.

It’s hard, but it’s killer. It’s killer because it gives you a great workout and it’s done in 30 minutes. I figured it would be like a standard spinning class or aerobics class, where you’re sweating for 50 minutes.

But after 30 minutes, I was tired and drenched in sweat. Every group of exercises is followed by one or two minutes of running three to four times. There are no breaks, and if you walk too slow to get back in formation, you’re going to get your butt chewed a little.

Usually on my off days (nonweightlifting days), I’ll do an hour straight of cardio on the elliptical, or jog for a half hour and do elliptical for 45 minutes. Now, I think I might do this when I can. For instance, over the last two days, I did the 30-minute class and followed it with 20 minutes of interval training on the elliptical.

(In the interest of disclosure, I did get the chance to try to this class for free and a few more in exchange for blogging about it. Kinda like when Joe was training me at the beginning of this blog.)

Flex Fit, Joe said, is his combination of cardio, plyometrics (explosive movements) and body resistance in a low impact, high intensity package. Mondays and Thursdays are legs and Tuesdays and Wednesdays are abs and upper body.

He said he assigns homework every week of the four-week run of the program, and that includes things like asking boot campers to bring him their diet diary or explain the value of protein in their diet. Joe also assists campers with a diet plan.

The class is $100 for four weeks and Mondays through Thursdays at 5, 6, 7 and 8 a.m. Sign up at Jacques N Jill’s.

— RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com

MUSCLE CONFUSION, HUH? (SCRATCHES HEAD)

Up until nine months ago I used to sit on the couch, watching the P90X workout DVD commercials and chuckle. All that talk of “muscle confusion” the program’s inventor talked about seemed like a bunch of hooey.  

In my mind, “muscle confusion” meant trying to decide whether to eat a sandwich with my right hand, use the remote control with my left and balancing a can of beer or soda on my stomach.

But the concept itself is really true. I’ve hit many plateaus over this last nine months, but each and every time I’ve taken the advice of one of two trainers at Jacques N Jill’s or a fellow fitness fanatic, or even just some random guy at the gym who wanted to helpful, to switch up my workouts in a big way.

The body gets in a rut. The same cardio exercises. The same weightlifting routines. The same diet. Everything, done over and over again ceases to work.

I’ll give you a few examples. As a major weightlifter (not in weight but in commitment and dedication) I’ve made several major shifts that have resulted in different outcomes. I started and did months of low weight and high reps. Then, four months ago I started doing one major exercise with heavy weight, followed by higher rep exercises, and that’s when I first began to notice muscle growth and not just weight loss.

About three weeks ago, I started another major shift, that saw me group different body parts together in a different way. Now I’ve noticed a fast bit of growth coupled with pre-workout supplements.

These different weight workouts have always been accompanied by changes in the cardio program, which gets longer, faster and more difficult.

Along with this latest major shift, I’ve changed my diet, too. … I’ve begun to consume more calories and protein in that golden window after a workout and have actually kick-started my weight loss again.

What it all comes down to is, I’ve thrown my system for a loop several times when things get to comfortable — muscle confusion. It works.

I plateaued in the 260s for over a month and last week finally broke into the 250s, which was a major milestone for me. Fitness and seeking results is both a science and trial and error. I’ve tried both and will continue to try both as I progress and plateau.

— RICHARD BROWN, rbrown@ivpressonline.com