Running 5k

Just ran another 5k (last one was April 8 in 28:37). Ran today's 5k in 28:38. That is smokin' for me.

I also ran 3 miles (left off the other .1) on April 9 in 26:48.

Running again

Ran another 5k. Kids on bikes had trouble keeping up. However, it was still slow IMHO. 29:10. Really nice day for it, though.

First outdoor run of the year

Finally got my first outside run of the year in. I had been doing the treadmill over the winter, so I decided to do 5k. After the first mile, my feet were getting numb, but I managed to make it the whole way. 29:04 for 5k. That is a great time for me.

It was also wonderful to hear the robins and geese instead of the whirring of the treadmill. When I wanted to speedup, I didn't have to adjust anything, I would just go faster.

I managed to get blisters on my #4 toes. I expected as much.... All in all, a great run!!

Low sodium pizza

Do you like pizza but are on a low sodium diet? The following products have lower soduim than most:

• Mama Mary's pizza crusts (140 mg vs 380 of Boboli)
• Dutch farms shredded Swiss (55 mg)
• Dell'Alpe pizza sauce (135 mg)
• Use ground turkey and italian seasonings for the meat.

Blood pressure woes

I found out that my blood pressure was 160/90. That is what I get for eating that ham and cheese. Anyway, I thought it would settle down at the end of the day, but it would settle down at the end of the day. It didn't.

So, I ran on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I was all sweaty. A couple of hours later, my blood pressure was 123/80. That is much better. I believe that the sodium I exude through the sweat helped to relieve the blood pressure.

Anyway, in my search for low sodium snacks, I found the following foods were great:

• Shredded wheat cereal
• Sweet potatoes
• Grits
• Honey mustard pretzels. (a little high, but lower than most.)
• raisins
• air-popped popcorn
• Carrots and other veggies
  

Surprisingly, the following had a high sodium content:

• Bread (especially English muffins)
  
• Chicken breast
• canned mushrooms
  

I have done bland before. After about a month without salty food, one gets used to it. Here's to bland for life. At least I won't be taking pills for making salty choices. Keeping my blood pressure down will keep my heart and veins/arteries from wearing out at an early age.

Pedometer milestone

I reached a new milestone with my pedometer. It is a Pikachu GS, and turns over at 10,000,000 steps. This is the second time I am turning it over. Accumulated 3444 days to turn it over to 20,000,000 steps.

There were also times when I didn't wear it at all. I think the longest stretch was about 8 months.

Running 5k

I finally got my running distance back up to 5 km today. It was cold. I hardly sweated. My split times were:

• 1 9:37
• 2 19:07
• 3 28:24
• 5k 29:19

Barefoot running resources

Here are some barefoot running resources:

Wikipedia: Abebe Bikila and Zola Budd

Also, some web sites: http://www.barefootrunner.com/ and http://shodless.com/

Pain

I like pain. It is my body's indicator that I am doing something harmful.

Even the soreness in my muscles after a workout is an indicator that the muscles are healing and getting stronger. They should heal before I use them again so I can gain more strength.

Running again

Just ran 1 mile barefoot. 8:26. The pavement was surprisingly cold. It made my feet numb. I had busted a blister on my toe and didn't realize it until my feet warmed up.

Overall, it was a good experience. I felt pretty good after running. It has been a while.

Eating, exercise and weight.

If I drink a cup of water, I gain 8 oz, or 1/2 pound.

If I eat an ounce of potato chips, I gain 1 oz, or 1/8 of the weight I gain when I drink water.

Therefore, I should give up drinking water and eat potato chips. Right? Well, you know that is wrong.

You see, the water remains water. It isn't stored in the body long term. It is peed and sweated out.

In the potato chips, however, there are 9 grams of fat. That fat goes directly to storage. It will stay there most of your life, unless you exercise enough to start burning fat. That is the only way that 9 grams goes away. Most of us gain our weight 9 grams at a time.

Here are the conditions: I have to move large muscle groups (legs) long enough to deplete the stored up sugar in the muscles. That is usually 10 minutes. Then, I have to keep my heart rate between 60% and 80% of my maximum heart rate. A good way to judge this is if you can say sentences without having to take a breath in the middle of the sentence.

For most of us, a 20 minute walk will do the trick. You can walk at a club, outside, in the house, or in the store.