In Case You Missed It. From the NY Times

BMI can be misleading but usually isn't.   I submit that you can tell by looking whether someone with an high BMI is fat or not.  This article is worth reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/health/31brod.html

Catching Up

Posted 8/30/2010 5:41 PM EDT

Where did the time go?   I've lost track of the days.  I've had a couple of golf matches including a big tournament and a birthday (mine) celebration to deal with and while it's been fun, it makes the time fly by.  And I'm aging too fast as it is! Yikes.

Anyway, I had a nice run on Thursday. 12 miles ( my new norm ).  I felt pretty good despite it being warm.  Friday, I had a split workout which worked pretty well.  I was invited to play a pre-tournament round with one of my buddies.  I played badly.  Fortunately, I worked out the problems and played rather well on the Member-Guest Tournament on Saturday.  My partner had a really bad day so we ended up out of the money (5th).   However, I'm pretty encouraged with my game. After all the time off for grandkids this summer, I'm getting my swing back.  

We went to out with friends on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday.   It was really great but I indulged I little and paid for it Sunday morning on my run.   I felt badly for the 1st 3-4 miles but then I got over it and felt really great the rest of the way. Nice running with my brother.  It was a good reminder of how much diet affects how we feel.   I won't make that mistake again for a while.    

I made an interesting observation when I got up Sunday morning.  I was served a piece of "Ice Cream" birthday cake.  I ate only about half of it and left the rest sitting out overnight.  Not my usual habit but it was late and I was tired.  When I got up in the morning I noticed that the "Ice Cream" had not melted!!   What kind of ice cream doesn't melt?   Are there so many preservatives in it that it won't melt?    Scary.  Do we really know what we're eating?  I'm sticking to less processing.

I'm really feeling well today.  I had another split workout (I'm starting to like it! LOL) with golf in the middle.  Felt great.  I'm looking forward to a nice run in the morning.  It'll have to be early.  Hot tomorrow. 

Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PluckPersona&U=3b74f239fe3e4d9bb0701ae967362bd3&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckUserId=3b74f239fe3e4d9bb0701ae967362bd3&plckPostId=Blog%3a3b74f239fe3e4d9bb0701ae967362bd3Post%3a8cf7fdd2-662c-4217-824a-6847cf54727d&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest#ixzz0y84YqOcm

Marathon Training - Recovered

Yesterday's run was an uncertainty starting out.  I could still feel the 20 miler from Sunday so I had to decide what to do during the run.   Should I push the legs or give them an easy day.  In the end I decided to go 6 miles. It felt right.  I'm glad I did.  My workout this morning felt really good and I'm ready for a nice run tomorrow.

The Hidden Benefits of Exercise (from About.com Guide to Longevity)

The Hidden Benefits of Exercise

By Mary_RD on Aug 24, 2010 10:00 AM in Tips & Updates

By Mark Stibich, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Longevity

Everyone knows that exercise is good for your heart and helps you stay slimmer, but did you know that exercise also improves your balance? Helps you sleep better at night? Puts you in a good mood? Learn more about the hidden benefits of exercise to help motivate your exercise habits.

Energize With Exercise

Routine exercise will increase your energy level. Exercise will make you feel great and you'll be able to take on more than you ever thought possible. Regular exercise also decreases your chance of developing fatigue and exhaustion. So instead of feeling run down, go for a run.

Want Better Sex? Exercise More

Better sex has been linked to higher levels of physical activity. The more you exercise, the better your circulation and the more sensitive you are to sexual pleasure. Frequent exercise will also help your body image, allowing you to relax more during sex.

Exercise Improves Sleep

Exercise, especially morning exercise, can improve your sleep quality. Researchers believe that morning exercise helps to set your body clock each day. This in turn makes you feel awake during the day and tired at night. Try some morning exercise for a week and see if your sleep improves.

Keep Your Brain Sharp by Exercising Your Body

If you though Sudoku was a great brain workout, try playing tennis. Physical activity requires a lot of participation from our brain. In exercise, you must make quick decisions, judgment calls, find the best strategies and learn to stay concentrated. People who remain physical active as they age have a reduced risk of dementia and cognitive decline.

Exercise and Be Happy

When you exercise, your body releases chemicals that make you feel good. These chemicals can improve your body and help you relax. Exercise also makes you feel good about yourself. It can improve your mood and even help ease the symptoms of mild to moderate depression.

Exercise Adds Years to Your Life

Not only does exercise add years to your life, it also increases the number of years that you live without disease or disability. If you are 65, adding in exercise now can add over 5 additional years of disability free living (on average). If you are younger than 65, the benefits can be even greater.

Fight Colds With Exercise

Exercise improves your immune system. People who are physically active are less likely to catch a cold. And if you have a mild cold, a little bit of exercise can help speed your recovery. So increase the power of your immune system by going for a walk, joining the gym or dusting off your bike and going for a ride.

Exercise Your Bones

Your bones need stimulation to stay strong. Weight bearing exercises help increase your bone density and strength. Be sure to include exercises like running or walking that put weight one your bones. And don't forget to add in some resistance and weight training too.

Exercise Improves Balance

Regular exercise can improve your sense of balance. This is especially important as you age. Lack of balance can lead to falls and hip fractures. Follow these simple instructions for balance exercises that you can do at home. Research has shown that exercises like these will reduce your risk of falling.

Be Social - Exercise

Exercise is a great way to meet people and be more social. There are plenty of group exercise activities that you can do that will give you both physical and social benefits. Be sure to work at least one social exercise routine into your week - both your physical and social health will improve.

Your thoughts....
How does exercise benefit you?

This article was first posted on About.com's Guide Site to Longevity.

Foiled (Fooled) Again

Every weather report was the same: rain all day today.   My golf match was surely canceled and I would be stuck indoors.  Got lemons? Make lemonade.  I thought I'd make the best of it and take the opportunity to sleep in a bit.  I bumped my cell phone alarm at 5 a.m. and rolled over feeling snug & smug.  I finally threw my legs over the edge of the bed at about 6:20 planning on a leisurely light breakfast with my Free Press before heading down stairs for a my workout.

My wife and puppy soon joined me and switched on the WCAX's  morning news & weather which quickly (about every 5 minutes, it seems) confirmed the gloomy forecast.  The only problem was that it wasn't raining outside my house!   When it still looked good at 7:30, I tuned my laptop onto www.wunderground.com and their live radar.  Lo & behold big rain clouds had passed us by and the smaller rain clouds were moving past us to the south.     There goes my morning workout but I'm off to the golf course.

As a creature of habit and routine I lamented missing my normal routine but I resolved to workout after golf.  So.. when I finished golf I came home and headed down to my home gym.  How would this go?

Way better than expected!   I was fully awake! I was already warmed up!   Routines went faster.  I wasn't quite as strong (after all, I ran 20 miles yesterday & had just walked 18 holes).  But, all-in-all it was a fun workout and I felt good.

Hmmm, maybe the old dog can learn a new trick.  I'll stick to my morning routine but... I'll be less daunted if I have to postpone again.     Heck, I might even do it on purpose someday soon.   I've heard that variety is the spice of life.    Can I really be thinking this?!

Marathon Training - Training Mileage Peak

Today, with 6 weeks remaining before the race, I ran a 20 mile training run.  20.2 miles, to be exact, in the rain.  I won't have any training runs longer than that so it's a real milestone for me.  The rain was better than heat but it still poses problems.  Most notable was my wet shoes.  It had to be a lot of extra work lifting the additional weight of the water each time.  I was a bit disappointed with my time so I'm blaming it on the heavy shoes and the wet roads.   That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I was really tired at the finish but 6 hours later I'm feeling rather well.  It's a relief after a  few days last week of feeling a bit weary.   Friday morning I woke up really feeling good and was having a great workout when a family crisis intervened (again!).    Saturday, I declined to bike in favor of golf thinking the rest would better preparation for today's long run.  Whew, glad I did.  

I missed my training partner today.  It's a big help on long runs even if you run only a few miles together.  But, I'm afraid I'm going to lose him in the marathon quest.   It's a real psychological blow for me but I'm committed to the race so I'll see it through.    

Marathon Training - 12 miles

I didn't feel much like doing anything when I got up this morning, much less running.  It took me 2 hours to get up the gumption to go.  I started slowly but at about 3 miles things started to come together and I felt quite a bit better.  I even managed to get in some hard hill running and some interval training.   I was pretty tired at the end but it made for good training run.  Still tired tonight.  I hope I'm not coming down with something.  Morning will tell.

Yay! Back On Track

What a relief.  I felt really good this morning and had a nice workout. I love the pump from a good workout. Still felt good tonight for the men's golf league and played reasonable well.  Disheartening, though, to see my young opponents both smoking.   I'll never figure that out.

 Looking forward to a really nice run in the morning.  That'll be the real test.  I'm going to try and get my lazy butt out of bed early and catch a little lighter traffic.

Harvard Medical School: Exercise for Pain Relief & Why Weight Matters

The secret to joint pain relief — exercise

Joint pain: it throbs, aches, and hurts. Quite likely, it makes you think twice about everyday tasks and pleasures like going for a brisk walk, lifting your grandchild or some grocery bags, chasing a tennis ball across the court, or driving a golf ball down the fairway. Sharp reminders of your limitations arrive thick and fast, practically every time you move.

What causes joint pain?

Very often, the culprits behind joint pain are

• osteoarthritis
• old injuries
• repetitive or overly forceful movements during sports or work
• posture problems
• aging
• inactivity.

How exercise can help

Ignoring the pain won’t make it go away. Nor will avoiding all motions that spark discomfort. In fact, limiting your movements can weaken muscles, compounding joint trouble, and affect your posture, setting off a cascade of further problems. And while pain relievers and cold or hot packs may offer quick relief, fixes like these are merely temporary.

By contrast, the right set of exercises can be a long-lasting way to tame ankle, knee, hip, or shoulder pain. Practiced regularly, joint pain relief workouts might permit you to postpone—or even avoid—surgery on a problem joint that has been worsening for years by strengthening key supportive muscles and restoring flexibility. Over time, you may find limitations you’ve learned to work around will begin to ease. Tasks and opportunities for fun that have been weeded out of your repertoire by necessity may come back into reach, too.

Beyond the benefits to your joints, becoming more active can help you stay independent long into your later years. Regular activity is good for your heart and sharpens the mind. It nudges blood pressure down and morale up, eases stress, and shaves off unwanted pounds. Perhaps most importantly, it lessens your risk of dying prematurely. All of this can be achieved at a comfortable pace and very low cost in money or time.

Why weight matters Being overweight raises your risk for developing osteoarthritis in a weight-bearing joint like the knee — and even in the hand, according to some research, since inflammatory factors related to weight might exacerbate this condition. Simply walking across level ground puts up to one-and-a-half times your body weight on your knees. That means a 200-pound man will deliver 300 pounds of pressure to his knee with each step. Off level ground, the news is worse: each knee bears two to three times your body weight when you go up and down stairs, and four to five times your body weight when you squat to tie a shoelace or pick up an item you dropped. Fortunately, strengthening your quadriceps (the muscles on the fronts of the thighs) changes the equation, and so does losing weight. Each pound you lose reduces knee pressure in every step you take. One study found that the risk of developing osteoarthritis dropped 50% with each 11-pound weight loss among younger obese women. If older men lost enough weight to shift from an obese classification to just overweight — that is, from a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher down to one that fell between 25 and 29.9 — the researchers estimated knee osteoarthritis would decrease by a fifth. For older women, that shift would cut knee osteoarthritis by a third.

Marathon Training Scheduling Issues & A Good Read from WebMD

My usual Monday golf group got changed to Tuesday morning so I had to run shorter today.  Probably did me some good.  I recently got some good advice to be careful about overtraining.  Considering that, it probably did me good to run shorter today.  I still have plenty of time to run some more long runs and at my age some additional rest will help especially after not feeling well just a few days ago.   My weight is fine and I'm back on a more regular schedule and a more normal eating routine so I anticipate everything normalizing soon.

Here's an interesting article from WebMD by two women doctors. https://www.webmdhealth.com/nl/nlv.aspx?id=gbfZprIjiTo=&s=20473 If anyone's is looking for just a little more reason to take some steps toward better health this could provide some additional incentive.  I'm still pumped up by my dental hygienist recent success!  Get moving by starting small and easy and grow slowly from there.  It's easier to stick to it.

Disorder & A Happy Discovery

Here's hoping things (and I) are finally getting back to normal.  Among family crises, including multiple emergency room trips and hospital stays for an ill relative and travel to & from Boston and late nights (I'm an early riser) up with my cherished grandchildren, my routines have suffered.  I've managed to get in nearly all of my workouts and runs in but it all took its toll.  Friday was given up to hospital visits and doctor's office visits.  Saturday I got up to do Friday's workout and I just felt terrible.  Usually, when I'm a little under the weather, exercise perks me up.  Not this time.  Saturday I quit about 15 minutes into it and went back to bed and slept until noon.  Sunday I ran 12 miles instead of a planned 20 and it was hard.   So I just chilled the rest of the day.  I took in a movie with my wife and then watched some golf.  Best of all, I got to bed at 10 and slept until 6.  I felt much better this morning.  I think I'm back on track now.

I had a real morale booster this morning.  My semiannual dental checkup and cleaning was today and I was thrilled to see my hygienist had lost about 60 lbs.  She said she did it with proper diet and walking.  I'm so happy for her and proud of her.  She looks great.   Like she said,  it isn't complicated.  You just have to make up your mind to do it.   What a great story.  I'm eager to see her in February.

Marathon Training - Building Confidence

I had a decent resistance workout yesterday, albeit short due to a scheduled golf match.  This morning I ran 12 miles in the heat and high humidity.  12 miles seems so short after the long run 2 days ago.  I feel like that’s a really good thing because endurance is a big part of the marathon race. 

Good news from my training partner & brother who said he ran 10 miles on Sunday.  I’m really hoping he can get well enough to race.  I know he wants to very much.  We both have to deal with aging bodies.  I’ve been fortunate so far.  I don’t have increase my mileage and I’m doing well with this plan.   Most runners eventually have some issues to deal with.  I’ve had my share but I’m holding up well now.  Listening to my body and making adjustments should keep me on track.   

Marathon Training - Progress

I had a very mediocre workout on Friday.  Not my usual energy build up as the session progress.  So, basically, I went through the motions and cut it a bit short.  I still got a workout in but since I didn't feel very guilty, I'm thinking I did the right think and took an easy day.   Yesterday, I had some personal business to take care of so I took a 20 mile bike ride and called it a day planning on a long run for this morning.  Today's result makes me  glad I did.

I'm starting to seriously worry about my training partner being able run the marathon we've planned so I had some doubts about continuing the intense training needed to do this.   My wife thinks I should stick with my plan so I got up this morning determined to run long.   The 2 easy days paid off.  I ran 19.7 miles and found it easier than expected.  The plan was for 19 miles but I felt pretty good toward the end decided to add a bit more.  I though it might be a mile but was overly optimistic.  Still 19.7 is satisfactory.  I felt like I could have made the marathon distance so I've overcome that mental barrier.  I feel really well tonight so my confidence is growing.  Eight weeks to go.

Back On The Road

Whew, what a week.  Last Thursday I drove to Boston & back to pick up a visiting daughter.  Friday I managed to get in a 12 mile run.  Saturday I drove a car full of family to New Jersey for a wedding.  Sunday I drove to Boston from NJ.  Monday I drove back home.  Tuesday I drove to Northfield VT & back for golf.  Wednesday it was back to my usual routine and a resistance & stretching workout.  Today I was back on the road with 12 miler.  I was happy to be back on my normal schedule but it was already 74 degrees when I headed out the door.  

It was lots of fun.  The rest probably did me some good but I’m glad to be back to normal.   I paid pretty close attention to what I ate so I didn’t gain any weight. That’s usually my biggest concern because it seems so easy to put it on and so hard to get it off.   I’ll be alright now that I’m back home and on my normal schedule.