Running: A Fever

Achilles was a mythical great Greek warrior, the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, who, upon his birth, dipped baby Achilles into the River Styx, making him invincible. However, she neglected to let the water cover the heel by which she held him. And so, this was the only part of his body that was vulnerable to injury. He eventually died when he was wounded by an arrow which struck his vulnerable heel, which is why we refer to a person's weakness metaphorically as his "Achilles heel". I've never heard of anyone else dying from a heel injury, which also makes him pretty special, I guess. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/317 Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-person-wearing-rubber-shoes-7298422/  

Friday, June 11, 2022, a date that will live in infamy, is when I started having symptoms of covid-19. After 2 years of living cautiously according to CDC guidelines, and a full 2-1/2 years after we first hear about the SARS-COV-2 virus, it's finally happened. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/316   Photo by Michael Davis Media  

Keeping stats is a good idea. It helps me to see my progress and identify areas that need improvement and importantly, areas where I'm doing well. It's important to recognize when you're doing a good job. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/315   Photo by Andres Ayrton: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person-on-weight-scales-6550832/  

At this point in episode 78 I'm focusing a lot on building muscle mass, which is a good part of an overall health plan I think. It can be overdone, as my cardiologist has repeatedly told me. It's a slow process, and I think the keys are to get enough protein and overall calories and just workout every single day, or most days, for a long time. The bulking-and-cutting process I briefly refer to... well I never really got to that point, but I think my idea of just trying to maintain a steady weight while changing my body composition was right on target. If you're a bodybuilder and your high bodyfat number is 10-15, bulking may make sense. But I've never broken 20. And bulking is hard for me to control. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/314 Photo by The Lazy Artist Gallery: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-doing-exercise-inside-gym-2247179/  

Don't go to extremes. This is something I'm at times not very good at, for example, the exercise extreme that got me into my current ankle injury. At other times I'm probably too good at it. I make changes at a glacial pace. So I didn't start with a whole regimen of supplements, before-and-after-workout shakes and snacks, and so forth. So don't worry if you're overwhelmed when I talk about these things, I am too. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/313 Image by zuzyusa from Pixabay

Once I went to my primary care physician Dr. Bicak. I told him about my dietician, who kept forgetting I didn't like avocado. He said I could learn to like it. And I think that's probably true. But my dislike for it pretty much precludes that because I can't bring myself to eat it. Not the end of the world, I think, but after all, I am on a health journey, and I can't ignore something just because I don't like it right now. The dietician says it is a superfood, like oatmeal or beans. So it is probably worth the effort. And I'm thinking of ways I can make that happen. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/312 Photo by energepic.com from Pexels

In the corporate world, I hear this buzzword. It's not a major buzzword or buzz phrase, like "outside the box", "unconscious bias", etc. But in my world, I hear it now and then. It refers to a range of choices. You generally cannot get a size 48 t-shirt. Instead, you get an extra-large. Instead of 50 sizes, you get 4 or maybe 6 choices. Sometimes this kind of thinking helps when a business is trying to streamline and be more efficient, though the customer may prefer a wider range of choices. And the fewer sizes available, the less accurate the sizing becomes. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/311   Image by Johanna Pakkala from Pixabay

I am better able to handle temptations when I am healthy. That's not exactly obvious. On its face, that statement might be seen as a mistake that should be stated the other way around: when I am able to handle temptations, I am healthy. In fact, both are true. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/310 Photo by Doris Morgan on Unsplash

Makes me sad, I can't deny it. I want to live a happy and healthy life and I'm not healthy now and not happy. Why? I can't walk. I love walking. And I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out something I can do with this whole bone spur/Achilles injury. Patience. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/308 Photo by Adam Kontor from Pexels

Perhaps you've heard me talk about how I can't exercise, walk, etc lately and have wondered why. I suppose this is a good time to say I've been seeing the podiatrist again. Last year I came in with the callus, I was calling a corn in episode 72. A procedure he recommended, short of serious surgery, I had in January since I wanted to wait until I had a fresh deductible. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/308 Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-male-doctor-explaining-the-x-ray-result-of-a-foot-8376148/

Looking back, I got some really good advice from the dietician when I was having regular appointments with her. I know that experience drove the advice she gave me. She had seen plenty of people lose weight too fast and blow their metabolism all to hell, unable to maintain a healthy weight no matter what they ate. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/307 Photo by Ketut Subiyanto: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-kid-weighing-on-scale-4474052/  

I think this was a great sort of directional adjustment in my exercise routine. I began regular resistance workouts, took shorter walks. These days I yearn for the times when I had so many activities to choose from. But I have to be patient. That will come again. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/306 Image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay

In both episodes 68 and 69, I mentioned recovery foods, and it's a good reminder not to starve myself, even though I'm not exercising near as much as I was when this episode was recorded. Not only will I not gain muscle when I don't eat well, but I can lose muscle as well. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/305   Photo by Allan Mas from Pexels

In episode 68 I was really trying to move beyond the biggest loser contest, and fill out some gaps in my diet or supplement regimen. That contest was not healthy in the sense that to win it I had to just basically starve myself for 12 weeks. That's not a healthy lifestyle. The one thing that did come of it, other than learning what NOT to do, was that I had an external motivation to move me along. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/304 Photo by Vinícius Caricatte from Pexels

This is a great statement of how you don't have to go crazy. Unfortunately, a lot of information you get is tied to supplemental products that you really don't need. If you're trying to do this and make money, that's the kind of thing you have to promote. Fortunately, you have Running: A FEVER, amateurs that we are. We have no such alignments. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/303 Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels

It's good to get all the nutrients you need to stay healthy nutritionally and to burn enough calories to have a healthy body composition and a healthy weight. But immediately what comes to mind is one of those blue zone concepts discovered by Dan Buettner. Specifically, staying in a caloric deficit. Perhaps at first glance, it doesn't make sense. After all, if I consume fewer calories than I need, you would think that eventually, I would die from malnutrition. But that's not necessarily the case. As we get older, we burn less energy and can get by on fewer calories. Also remember that metabolism is tied to caloric intake, so a reduction in calories means lower metabolism, allowing us to get more from the calories we consume. This is why short-term extreme dieting doesn't work. I suppose, like everything, we need a balance. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/302 Photo by Dominik Martin on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/@dominikmartin  

The point of this series is to learn from my previous success, and also failures. But I said in episode 65 that it isn't about knowledge, it's about just doing it, and it's not easy. That thing about how overcoming an obstacle makes it easier to overcome the next one, so one success is a lot bigger than it may look at first. If I can get through a week without overeating, if I can get through a week counting all the calories from every meal, those things are huge, and the next week it's that much easier, and because of that, I can go further, until eventually, I feel as I did in episode 65, that I can do just about anything. You don't get there overnight and you don't get there easily. It's hard work one day at a time, and one success at a time we finally do get there, and hopefully, stay there. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/301 Photo Credit: Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/@suzyhazelwood

This is a good example of what I had learned about patience I think. I get a sense that slow progress is good. And I should continue to learn, that's key as well. It shows up in what I learned about extremes of hydration and dehydration as well as the metabolic issues I had early in the year. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/300   Credits: Tortoise Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash: "A giant Galapagos tortoise stares me down while hanging out in a mud pool." from the Memphis Zoo, Memphis, TN, USA. Joshua is available for hire: https://unsplash.com/@jcotten "Funky Trap Sax" Music by John_Sib from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/john_sib-15655402/?tab=audio&utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=audio&utm_content=4864 "Tense Detective Loop" Music by ZakharValaha from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/zakharvalaha-22836301/?tab=audio&utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=audio&utm_content=10054  

Confidence is a result. It's a good reason to work hard. Realize that if I'm not confident in myself, I need to work that much harder. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/299   Photo by Michael Starkie on Unsplash

In this episode, I am ramping up my resistance training. Something I'm trying to be more consistent at here in 2021. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/298   Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay