Going strapless

After easily running 25 and 35 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, I went out on the trail to run 8 miles this morning, but only got up to 5.26. My right IT band went out very early, around 3-4 miles.

I'm almost positive the source of the problem is my patella strap. I didn't wear it on Wednesday or Thursday. I was pain-free with it off, but felt a tinge of discomfort without it so I thought I'd wear it today just in case. Unfortunately, it felt constricting and very likely forced my hamstrings to move in ways they weren't designed to – this for a very marginal benefit to my patella. So off the strap goes, never to see the light of day again.

I'll be seeing Dr. G on Monday to get my right IT band checked out again; I may see Dr. Mike as well. Linda said she had some good results with Dr. Ho, who was part of the Almaden Times 10K medical staff. He apparently employs some form of electrical stimulation to work out muscles. It seems rather exotic – but some would say the same about chiropractic and ART.

Fuel and tire balance with kids in the back

Here's a picture of me and my cousin K.J. taken on Saturday. He is a lively and energetic kid in his own way. It's rather remarkable how much language he actually understands even though he can't always express himself clearly. He can form partial sentences at times, though mainly to communicate his wants and needs rather than carry on a conversation. I was quite amazed that he can say the name of his favorite exercise apparatus, "TRAM-po-line."

I saw both Dr. Mike and Dr. G yesterday. Gina showed me some additional strengthening exercises to improve the strength of my IT band and core:

1. Stand on one leg for up to two minutes, using a chair or other surface for support. Hike the opposite hip straight up for more effect. This strengthens the upper part of my IT band.
2. Tense the transverse abdominal muscles just above the hip bone. (Coughing makes it clear where these are.) Keep them tense while breathing deeply. This strengthens core muscles that help stabilize the hip against lateral motion.

That second one is interesting – as a salsa dancer, I'm very accustomed to moving my hips laterally. It would explain how these muscles in my case have ended up being underutilized.

On the dieting front, I've spent two days in full weight-maintenance mode, and it's becoming quickly apparent how radically my attitude toward food has changed; it probably helps, too, that there's less stomach these days to fill with food. Indeed, I'm having an exceedingly difficult time so far eating all 2,300 calories in my daily budget. Add another 300-400 calories on days I go running or dancing, and my budget grows from large to gluttonously stratospheric. I figure I will even lose a little bit more weight until I get used to eating to full capacity.

Hold the line

I've gotten so slim that my family and friends are now telling me, "Don't lose any more weight!" At 164 even, my weight has stayed true over the past week under the first stage of my weaning-off schedule. Stage 2 brings me up to my full weight-maintenace budget of 2,302 calories, which is apportioned thus:

• Breakfast: 460 calories
• Lunch: 691 calories
• Snacks: 230 calories
• Dinner: 921 calories

My first thought is, "Wow, that's a lot of calories!" It's indicative of how my thinking has changed over the past four months. Back in April, I'd've considered this a paltry amount of food to live on. Now it feels like I'll be stuffing myself.

Incidentally, 921 calories for dinner is more than an In-N-Out cheeseburger with a basket of fries (880 calories total). Of course I wouldn't eat that every night, but it's great to know I'll be able to satisfy that craving without guilt whenever it hits.

Who rotated my tires?

I ran 11 miles today outside of Sacramento on the American River Parkway. Going out was easy but coming back was tough. The start of the trail had an elevation of 475 feet (according to my Forerunner) at the top of Folsom Dam and the lowest point was 79 feet. Lots of hill to climb! I should've known the topology would be like this as this part of the trail parallels the California International Marathon, known for its friendly downhill grade.

My IT band finished all 11 miles loose and pain-free – my left one, that is. Unfortunately, my right IT band seized up over the last mile and a half. What the heck?! It felt better when I took off my patella strap, so I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it.

Here we go again. I'm icing the side of the knee just as I did before on the left. I'll be skipping my Monday run to rest. I have Mike and Gina scheduled for Tuesday, and Kaiser PT for Wednesday. It's yet another setback on the road to 26.2, but given the positive results I've had on my left side, I'm still optimistic that I'll be able to run the Rock 'N' Roll half on October 8th.

Runner's tales

I bought a subscription to Audible.com this week to entertain myself on my solo runs with something other than music. I took advantage of their $100 subscription rebate for Sprint Treo customers. It'll be a great way to catch up on all the literature I don't have time to read. Tomorrow's 11-miler features the Old English classic Beowulf.

Waist not, want not

I'd suspected that I'd lost even more girth around my waist, as my size 34's were feeling loose. I tried both size 33's and 34's at Macy's on Monday and sure enough, I ended up buying the size 33's. So I've lost at least 3 inches since I started training and dieting, as shown in the picture. Truth be told, these size 36 pants had been too tight to wear in April (unless I refrained from sitting down), so in actuality I've lost close to 4 inches. I've bought three additional pairs of pants, plus 14 new briefs and three medium tops since Monday.

What a relief it's been to be able to eat more food. It's so much easier to get through the day with more satisfying afternoon snacks, and easier to fuel a mile of running or a night of dancing with a few extra calories of bulk for dinner. I went to Subway to get a foot-long chicken florentine ciabatta last night; unfortunately, the E. coli spinach scare forced them to throw out their creamy florentine spread. So I had the chicken and bacon ranch instead.

The foot-long version of this sandwich is a whopping 1,080 calories. I knew it'd be alright since I had a night of dancing planned at the Glas Kat. This highlights something else I've learned to do: anticipate late-night dinner at the end of a long evening. I ate half the sandwich before dancing and half afterwards. It definitely helped get me through the night. (On the other hand, I was completely out of it at Glas Kat. I must've had salsa overload: five nights of dancing and one night of teaching in a span of eight days can do that.) Now that I've committed a modest fistful of dollars to a slimmer wardrobe, I'll have to practice extra diligence in my meal planning from now on.

I saw Dr. G today and she was optimistic I could do 11 miles on Saturday. I'll be out of town running by myself so I'll need all the determination I can muster.

35 down, 26.2 to go!

I feel fantastic today: After 3 months and 14 days, I finally hit 165 pounds! So where do I go from here (besides Macy's and Banana Republic)? My plan is to ease into weight-maintenance mode by following these steps:

1. In the first week, add 464 calories to my daily budget. This is a little more than half the 839 calories I've had to cut out of my diet over the past three months. This increases my baseline daily allowance to 1,927.
2. In the second week, add the remaining 375 calories to reach my full weight-maintenance budget of 2,302.
3. In the third week, track my food but don't strictly count calories until the end of the day. This will make sure I have a feel for the amount of food I need to eat in order to maintain my weight.
4. In the fourth week and beyond, go off the calorie counter completely!

I can now start checking the scale weekly instead of daily. Now that I've spent three months understanding the implications of what I eat, I'll be able to adjust my diet in the future if I ever gain weight. Of course, since I'll be more mindful of my eating habits from here on out, any extra pounds will be minimal and any diet change will be a "course correction" instead of a U-turn.

Here's to a new, healthier life!

On this date in 1895

Today marks the 111th anniversary of the first ever chiropractic adjustment.

Guns a-blazin'

Yesterday's 7-miler was easy and pain free. My custom orthotics are still chafing a little bit, even with Body Glide on my feet. I'll be walking around in them more this week to break them in under less foot-stressing conditions.

I ran a 5K this morning with Paige, Linda, her husband Barnaby and his co-worker Scott. "Luke's Run" as it's called was started by one of the directors at Adobe Systems after his son died of leukemia. The run is hosted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. It was fun for once to shift into high gear for a sprint-distance race. Unlike typical run days with massive carb-loading, I ate only a single bowl of hot oatmeal this morning. I finished in 27:58, about a 9-minute mile. Linda and Paige followed about two minutes afterward with Barnaby and Steve back a little further. We went to the Sonoma Chicken Coop for a full breakfast afterwards.

Paige and Paul are running the Portland Marathon two weeks from now in place of their 23-mile training run. Are they crazy?! They're still not as sick as Dean Karnazes, who today ran the Lewis and Clark Marathon to kick off his unimaginably grueling Endurance 50 challenge. One marathon is challenging enough: Imagine 50 in 50 days!

Where's my modeling contract?

Six months ago, I most certainly would never have posed bare-chested for the camera. Not anymore! After a week of random weight fluctuations, I weighed in this morning at only 165.8. Could I really be only 14 ounces away from my goal?

Dr. Mike was pleased with how my therapy was progressing. My IT band and hamstrings have continued to loosen up. Things have been going well enough that I won't need to see him next week. The next adjustment will be after my 11-miler.

Yesterday's run was chilly. It made me want to get a long-sleeve technical shirt, which I got today at Sports Basement after my appointment with Dr. Mike. I also bought a stick of Body Glide to ease the chafing in my left foot, another pair of technical shorts and new running socks. Who knew shopping for running clothes could be so cathartic?

Speaking of which, I've been so busy running that I've hardly had time to buy a new wardrobe. I'm practically swimming in my old extra-large T-shirts and can slip out of all my old size-36 pants without unbuttoning them. More "catharsis" is on the way.

More rock, less roll

I saw Dr. G this afternoon and she noticed a marked improvement in my hamstrings. She agreed that it would be a good idea to stagger my distances now that we have a good assessment on the effectiveness of my therapy. Afterwards I picked up my new Amfit custom orthotics from Runner's High. How different these are from off-the-shelf insoles! The arch support is very, very strong and I could definitely feel them pushing more of my weight toward the outsides of my feet. I also bought a pair of Arch 750 insoles for my street shoes. For most runners, these would be ample support and stability control; for me, they're just good enough for casual, everyday low-impact use.

The custom insoles are quite rigid and need breaking in. I ran 35 minutes this evening and my feet felt really stable. My left arch did chafe a little during the run; this happened when I got my first pair of Superfeet insoles, too. Both times I happened to be wearing WrightSock Coolmesh socks; I've found these afford slightly less chafing protection than the company's Running socks.

This weekend, I'll be running an off-week distance of 7 miles. My next four weeks look thus:

• 9/16 – 7 miles
• 9/23 – 11 miles
• 9/30 – 8 miles
• 10/8 – 13.1 miles (Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon)

So my next big test will be the 11-miler in ten days. This will either make or break my chances of running the Rock 'N' Roll. Keep your fingers crossed!

Better mileage through body mechanics

Yesterday I saw both of my "body mechanics." Dr. Mike advised me to do a single-leg balancing exercise to strengthen my left ankle; I also searched the web and found some additional exercises to try out. Dr. Gina did work on both legs (although still focusing on the left leg) as I had felt mild hamstring tightness on my right side. So goes another session of masochism:

• Me: "Would you say that performing ART requires a mildly sadistic personality?"
• Dr. G: "Yes."

Then she went into a story about an argument she had with her husband. It was quite a funny conversation. She also reiterated her advice to try running as far as I could without pain. Both Dr. M and Dr. G particularly mentioned my hamstrings. So now I'm doing a full complement of ankle, hamstring and iliotibial exercises, stretches and rolls to get my left leg in full working order.

This morning, rather than my usual cereal and bread, I had the traditional Asian breakfast of eggs and rice, with soy sauce and Tabasco on top. Gina started with us on the morning run; since she's training for just the Rock 'N' Roll Half Marathon, she ran only 5 miles. She prompted me to try 10 miles to see how far I could run without pain. My plan was to turn around at the 5-mile marker, then as I got close to the starting point, run back and forth between the 0.5- and 1.5-mile markers until the IT pain forced me to walk. The rest of the masochists went gunning for 21.2 miles. I felt a little sad that I wouldn't be able to run that distance today.

We stopped at the outlook point (mile 4.9) to do our various stretches. Soon afterwards, I separated from the group and turned around to complete the back 5 miles of my run. At mile 7.7, I stopped at our usual water fountain in Vasona Park to rest and stretch; this was already a half mile more pain-free running than I managed last Saturday. I did some very long hamstring stretches and after starting up again I felt extra spring in my step. It was quite amazing what a simple stretch was able to do.

Around mile 9.1, the IT band faithfully began to twinge. I secured my IT-band strap above my knee to lessen the onset of tightness. I stopped about a hundred feet later to readjust the strap (I put it on too tight the first time.) At mile 9.3, the pain was enough for me to stop, stretch and finish the remaining distance walking. So the past week's therapy bought me an extra two pain-free miles.

A few other things:

• I had more than enough energy to finish 10 miles. Admittedly the weather was very cool this morning (54 degrees at start time), but I'm confident now that I'll have enough stamina to run at least a half marathon once my knee improves.
• I felt no tightness in my hamstrings as I did on my right side at the end of Thursday's run.
• My right Achilles tendon felt a little bit of strain. This might've been caused by me running on my old Superfeet insoles this week. Even though Powerstep last week felt like they overcorrected my right foot, the extremity may have gotten slightly accustomed to those insoles.
• My left ankle was noticeably less stable than my right one. It never threatened to turn over and reinjure itself, but I could definitely feel the difference in ankle strength – more reason to afford extra attention to my left ankle.

I'm still a little apprehensive about running to the point of knee pain, even though Dr. Gina undoubtedly gives trustworthy advice as an experienced therapist and fellow runner. I would think it prudent next weekend to do a shorter "recovery" run, but I'll see what she has to say when I see her on Wednesday.

Feet to gain, ounces to lose

I finally decided to get custom orthotics, and spent my lunch hour at Runner's High getting fitted for them. Adam, store co-owner, asked me questions about my experiences with insoles and running shoes; I made particular mention of my old ankle injury. He walked me through the fitting process, which involved a fitting machine that resembles an upside-down pin-art curio; it takes a contour reading of each foot and digitizes the information onto a computer. In addition, Adam took a look at my running gait to fine-tune the material composition of my new insoles. He explained that the pronation in my left foot starts early in the stance phase of my gait cycle. To correct this, he would have the outside heel of my left insole made softer than the surrounding support. This would delay the onset of pronation during the stance phase by minimizing the upward contact force on the outside of my foot. In turn, this would shorten the window of time my foot would have to turn inward before leaving the ground.

My new orthotics will be ready next week. They cost $150 for the pair, a great price considering prescribed ones can go for over $300. I'm eager to see to what extent they prevent or reduce the severity of future ITBS episodes.

In other news, the scale this morning read a rather interesting 166.6 pounds. Maybe this was because I wear "Beast" running shoes. The "diet break" over the weekend seems to have caused minimal disruption in my weight loss; in fact, it probably gave my metabolism a boost. It's amazing that after three months of will and discipline, I'm a mere 1.6 pounds (25 ounces!) away from my goal! I can hardly wait to start eating again to my full BMR with those extra 839 calories a day.

She made me feel things I've never felt before

Today I saw Dr. Gina Bianchi at Rose Garden Health, who also happens to be a fellow San José Fitter. Besides chiropractic, her repertoire includes Active Release Techniques. ART's overriding goal is to break-up the micro-traumatic scar tissue that forms between muscles and supporting structures as a result of repetitive strain injuries. This scar tissue can pinch nerves and act as glue between adjacent tissues - tissues that were designed to slide freely in relation to each other. In turn, this stickiness or "adhesion" restricts the involved muscles' range of motion, causing them to tighten up and eventually lead to pain. Among ART's supporters is the team chiropractor for the Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Running Times also ran an independent article on ART (along with other alternative therapies) explaining its potential. I decided it was worth trying out.

Gina asked me basic questions about my training, the onset of injury and steps I'd taken to correct the problem. She examined my leg, particularly around left knee, and explained that she was checking for areas where the adhesions lay and where they were the thickest. Then came the "fun" part. Gina focused pressure on about a dozen points along the IT band where the muscles were the tightest. I can only describe it as allowing someone to inflict two dozen temporary Charley horses on your leg. It hurt so good that I kept thinking of John Mellencamp. Afterwards, my leg felt incredibly loose.

A few other things Gina mentioned:

• The overpronation in my left foot may be caused by the weakness in my ankle, which stems from the time I sprained it playing volleyball way back in college. Gina said it was something that a custom orthotic might not be able to correct, although with a digitizing system (like the one used by Runner's High) the chances of success might be better.
• Since I have loose tissue in my left ankle, she recommended not to have the "foot-tug" chiropractic motion done on my left foot.
• Although I have a weak ankle, she definitely said not to put a brace on it while running; this would redistribute impact stress further up the leg.
• It's OK to run on the leg until it hurts. At first this advice was a bit of a shock but she clarified it by saying that as soon as I start feeling pain, I should stop running immediately and walk from that point on.

I ran for 25 minutes later on the evening and my leg performed quite well. I didn't push myself very hard on my Monday run so I felt slightly winded at the end; this was probably also because Paul and Paige were gunning for 10-minute miles!

I'm still torn over what distance and intensity I should run this weekend. I had planned to do a five-mile walk or even ditch distance ambulation completely, but Gina's advice makes me think about doing at least a five-mile run/walk. I guess I'll have to keep listening to my body.

New diet, new exercise

I just got back this afternoon from camping at Eastman Lake over the weekend with my family and their church group. It was great to see people I hadn't seen since I was 200 pounds heavy.

They brought so much food that I was certain to bust my diet, at least temporarily. What is it about not wanting to waste food that makes people want to eat more? Plus it was a lot of meat (fresh off the grill, of course) and not a whole lot of fiber. From my calculations and entries in the calorie counter, I ate about three and a half days' worth of food in only two days.

I decided at this point that I needed to devise a contingency plan for these situations. The solution was simple: I would allow myself a weight-maintenance calorie budget on tough days as opposed to a weight-loss budget. This means that I would add the 839-calorie difference between my BMR and diet allowance to my budget so I could eat extra calories. Theoretically, each time I do this I would not gain any pounds but simply delay reaching my target weight by one day. It's definitely an exercise in trusting the numbers; I'm a little apprehensive and anxious to see what the scale will read a few days from now. In any case, I found that I could eat comfortably and even at times feel stuffed with those extra 839 calories. This is a great test since I'll need to integrate this maintenance budget into my lifestyle going forward.

In other happenings, I started swimming tonight to try to stay in shape during my running down time. Boy, it takes forever to burn any appreciable calories (25 min. swimming = 15 min. running). No wonder it's so hard to be a triathlete!

Go rest, young man

This morning I tried running 10 miles. Of that distance, I was able to run about 7.5 miles but had to walk the rest of the way. Even after slowing down to a walk, I had to stop every half mile to do my IT-band stretch.

After one deep-tissue massage, a visit to Kaiser Permanente, two chiropractic adjustments, a new pair of arch-supporting insoles, a quarter bottle of prescription-strength Motrin and four Saturdays pushing myself to ligament failure on the sheer power of blind determination, I've realized that my ITBS isn't something I can just "run off," "rub off" or "crack off" (chiropractically speaking). Therefore, I've made the difficult and disappointing decision not to run the Silicon Valley Marathon this year, to allow myself adequate time to rest, heal and recover from my injuries.

(Although in hindsight I shouldn't've had tried running 10 miles if at all, it was ironically a good thing: Had I tried only 6-7 miles and run that distance without pain, I'd've pushed myself even harder next week.)

I have set a new goal to run the California International Marathon in Sacramento on December 3rd. This should be a very attainable target, if I am able to heal sufficiently over the next two or three weeks and if I can improve my biomechanics to prevent the pain from coming back. I've had the great fortune this summer of training with a new group of friends full of undying optimism, and that has helped me persevere through some tough physical trials with my discipline and determination intact. I know someday I will cross that finish line!