Exercise Lesson: I'm not 18 anymore

I felt GREAT on Thursday night.

I had a softball doubleheader. My team has been lousy (read: old) this year. We had only won one game all season. The reason was obvious - our guys are old, their guys aren't. I'm 41 and I'm in the younger half of the guys on our team. Most players in our league are 20-and-30 somethings.

But this Thursday was different. We were good. We won the first game 11-10. In the second game, we fell behind 16-0 before we even came to bat (that is not a typo). There were errors, bad hops, and a lot of, as Wee Willie Keeler used to say, "hitting 'em where they ain't." Long story short, they let up a little and we regrouped and WON 23-18. Unbelievable.

As for me, it was like I was 18 again. I had been running more and more in my interval training. Not a lot, mind you. I've never been a "runner", at least in terms of distance. But my "run" intervals had gotten up to about 100 yards at a time of fast jogging/slow running. Definitely not sprinting, but fast for me. A few days before I ran so comfortably and confidently on my intervals that I felt that endorphin rush a bit that I haven't felt in years.

I hadn't run at "full speed" since my return to softball two years ago. That's when I pulled my hamstring in my first game in 20 years. I rested up for a couple of weeks, then ran a partial capacity for the rest of the season. Even last year, I could only feel comfortable at 90-95%, as if I was afraid to push the needle on my stereo into the red. But Thursday I felt great. I pushed my sprint dial up to 100%. I was in the red. But the music in my head was humming. My "coach" (the guy who collects the money and makes out the lineup) had even noticed that I was running better again. He even put me at third base for an inning, and I made two plays (usually I play the less demanding first base). I was confident because of the interval training. My hamstrings felt absolutely fine. I was, for me, flying around the bases.

I felt OLD on Friday morning.

Specifically, my left knee. Forget 100% - I couldn't pull of 25%. I was hobbling around like our three legged dog. What happened? I didn't have any incident at all the night before. Nothing where I felt a twinge or a tweak. Nothing where I landed awkwardly. Nothing I could point to - except that for the first time in two years, I had run at 100%.

I don't know what's up with my knee. I've had a small limp for the last three days. It hurts going down the stairs. I don't dare run. I'm hoping with rest it will be fine. It does seem to be getting better every day. Best case, it seems, is that it feels better and better over time and I can start walking for exercise, and then concentrate on biking this summer. Eventually, I hope to get back to walk/jog intervals.

I won't be running at 100%, ever again. It's pretty scary to not have your knees. I just can't risk it. But I'll always have Thursday night to remember what it was like to be 18 again, if even just for a few hours.

Random Stuff on Father's Day

Hi everybody. Can't believe it's been another two weeks since I've blogged. And here I am at 8:55 PM on Father's Day just sitting down to write a little. But here goes...

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. And to my dad. And to my brother, who would be a dad if the baby came on time.

I had a great day playing golf with my sons. They're 9 and 11. I didn't feel like doing "real" exercise. But we spent an hour at the driving range and two and a half at the course. Beats sitting down.

I shot the same score (41) as on Mother's Day!

The kids were great on the golf course!!! We played a "par 3", which is about 1/3 scale of a real course. I've never been golfing when they both get through a round without a meltdown. Progress. It made for a nice day.

My wife got me DVDs of The Natural and A League of Their Own. Love that. My 9 year old is a precocious baseball talent, but occasionally cries in the dugout when faced with adversity. I'll be showing him the scene where Tom Hanks implores, "There's no crying in baseball!" Humor is a great tool to redirect behavior. Hope it works.

Yesterday I lengthened my run intervals while walking/running around my neighborhood. I'd like to get to the point where I can run all the way around my neighborhood by the end of the summer. It's no big distance, but I don't think long distances are in my best interests right now until I lose more weight.

My weight stabilized down about a pound this week after a gain last week. I did OK, but am still struggling with nighttime eating. I sometimes get to the point where I crave salty snacks and just stop counting calories. No disasters, but I'd love to clear this hurdle. I just read that nighttime snacking is often related to dehydration. Hmm...I'd like to see the research on that. But I haven't been getting enough water, so maybe I'll go ahead and give it a try.

I loved when Kevin Durant said, "I missed the shot," when the reporters were trying to get him to blame the officials on the play in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. LeBron James clearly fouled him on the easy, potential game tying shot. But he would not blame others (even though he would have been justified to). He took accountability. I'm trying to remember this as I struggle with having a Costco sized barrel of peanut butter stuffed pretzels in the house. No, I didn't bring them in, but I'm still better of taking accountability for whether or not I snack on them.

OK, another week ahead! Hopefully I'll be back next Sunday with something coherent to say. Although I have to admit, "stream of consciousness" is fun to write. 

Signs of Progress

Playing catch with my 11 year old between games of my 9 year old's tournament

On long journeys, signs of progress carry meaning and provide energy. Trying to come back from many years of weight gain and inactivity definitely counts as a long journey. The scale provides some signs of progress. I'm now at 33.4 pounds off, within a half pound of my low point on the P.O.P. But there are other signs.

When I saw the above picture, it was a sign of progress. We were at a baseball tournament that my 9 year old was in and I was intent on not having my 11 year old feel like second priority. So every time he asked to play catch, I jumped up and threw with him. My arm is feeling good right now, which I attribute in part to my legs being strong.

I was reasonably disciplined in my eating during the tournament, which was the mother of all unstructured eating challenges. We had games during mealtimes and taco, sandwich, and pizza buffets when the kids were done with baseball. Somehow, I stayed within my maintenance calorie amount. Junk food was constantly available, and I ate a reasonable amount. Alcohol and sugary sodas were plentiful and I had one per day of the former and none of the latter. Twice we had a breakfast buffet near the tournament site and both times I limited myself to one plate of scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes. I know that may still sound like a lot, but any other time I would have had seconds of those, as well as pancakes, a bagel, cereal, and juice. There was a historic burger joint nearby that I could have gone to at 10 P.M., after the pizza buffet, but I went the next day for lunch, and shared fries and a milkshake rather than getting my own. My wife helped a little on the burger joint decisions, but the rest was on my own.

Fast forward to last night. Something was on my mind and I couldn't sleep. I went downstairs and went on-line for a half hour. Then I went back to bed. I still couldn't sleep, so I went downstairs again and watched a recorded TV show. But I never had a bite to eat. Honestly, it really didn't occur to me, since I was just about out of calories. There was a time where I would have eaten salty snacks and sweets, straight out of their containers.

These are signs of momentum to me. It's not just that I decided that it'd be a good idea to keep my calories to my maintenance level or less. It's that gradually, I am changing habits and creating a new normal. I have a long way to go, but I'm embracing signs of progress along the way.

(Programming note: My sons finished up Little League this weekend and I'm in the last month of my crazy one year position. Things will calm down for me soon and I may post more. I'll definitely be more plentiful and timely with my comments on your blogs. Keep up the good work everybody.)