Stomp of Approval!!!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Victory!!!!!

WOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

10.04 pain free, calf problem free, hot and sweaty miles this morning!!!!!

I think this is my first double digit run in almost 2 months! Ill have to reference my running log to verify. BUT, I do know that its my longest run in over 3 weeks, and its the ONLY run where Ive had no calf issues!

What do I have to thank for this wonderfull blessing? Natural talent? Haha, right.... Some magic pill that heals all problems? Doesnt exist.... Luck? I have none...

No, I have a large chunk of foam to thank for my recovery... I think...

Thursday evening I decided to try running on a different surface, thinking that maybe the soft squishy track was throwing somethig off. So I went running around a park near my work on its half mile looped cement jogging path. 1 mile in and I was having major calf issues. So I drove straight to Academy and purchased a foam log roller.


Pretty sweet huh?

I simoly layed a calf across this foam log, pushed my body up with my hands so that my calves were supporting most of my weight, and rolled back and forth on the knots.


It lays horizontal, like this, while being used

It hurt like the dickens at first, but I think it made a BIG difference! We'll see how things continue to go.... Im not wanting to get my hopes too high here.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Is it hot out here, or is it just me?


Wow... 115 outside...

Me: "DAMN!!!, 115 outside!!! Man its gettin hot!!!"

Little voice in the back portion of my head: "Who wants to go for a run?"

Me: "Oh oh oh!!! Me, me! I do!!!"


Really, is there something wrong with me? We have people passing out at work from heat exhaustion, and I cant wait to go stand on top of a blisteringly hot synthetic rubber track and run to my little hearts content... Maybe I cant stand the fact that my remaining 7 brain cells wont go away so Im trying to wage war on them.

Not that my trip to the track this evening was really what you could consider "waging war" type material. Unless your refrencing my calves fighting me for most of the run... Damn calves... They used to be me strong spot. I could always depend on the calves to come through like true champions. Maybe Ive let them down by slacking off? Maybe their mad at me for having to carry around all my extra weight?

I did, however, manage to sneak in 3.2 miles this morning calf problem free!!! This evening I had to stop after 1 mile to shake them out, then again at 2 miles for good.

So 5 miles today! That, combined with eating healthy and meagerly so far, will hopefully set me off in the right direction in my weight loss quest!

posted from Bloggeroid

Monday, June 25, 2012

Fight the fat!

Ive gotten fat. Literally. Ive gained over 15 pounds sice I ran Rocky Raccoon. I think this is part of the reason Im having difficulty running again. Heres my scientific theorum to help explain my predicament...

Time off + weight gain = hard time running.

I know that seems complex, so heres a visual of my current physical stature.


Me, typing up this blog

Ok, so maybe its not THAT bad, but being up over 195 really sucks!

So I need to fix it, and in a hurry!

Starting today Im on a mission to not only loose these extra 15 pounds, but to go beyond and into the unknown!

My goal? 175.

Its going to be very hard to reach seeing as how I cant currently run over 1.5 miles without my calves turning to solid knots. Ill have to eat better err... Like I should be eating. Ill also have to saddle up and ride my bike more often...

In fact, I went for a 1.5 mile run this morning, then a 12 mile weak! bike ride, followed with another 1 mile run.

BUT, to make this tougher, it was rather warm outside. After showering off I hopped in the car and this is what the outside temperature showed..



112 FREGGIN DEGREES!!! UNDER MY SHADY OAK TREE!!!!

Of course it cooled off a little bit after I started rolling down the road.



The temperature finally stopped dropping when it read 103... Yay!!!

Hopefully with my new eating habbits and more exercise Ill be able to drop the weight I need to drop and start training again. I cant get to 100 mile shape with what Ive been doing!

posted from Bloggeroid

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Baby steps

Starting over sucks!

It really really sucks hard...

Last month I slacked my way to a whopping total of 23 miles. My longest run was only 7 miles, and I only ran a few times. 23 miles! How can I expect to be a ultramarathoner when I dont even run the equalivent of a normal marathon in a months time?

As if that wasnt bad enough, my love of food collided head on with my lack of physical exertion and the two equated in an additional 15 pounds being spackled onto my midsection. Gross!

Then, ontop of all of that, just when I start TRYING to hit the ground running again, my damn calves decide that they havent been used in so long that they dont remember how to properly function longer than a mile without locking up on me. Geez, thanks alot calves! If I try to push through it my calf muscles get so tight that it cuts off circulation to my feet, causing them to get that numb / tingly feeling of being asleep. Every step feels like Im running on the roughest chip seal Ive ever encountered. So I have to stop and releve pressure from my feet (aka, sit my fat ass down) and loosen the calves up.

This has happened before. When I first started running barefoot my calves took awhile to get used to it. What worked then was a few things...

A) I removed all inserts from my shoes so that everything was as zero dropped as possiblle. Now I own several pair of zero drop shoes (Merrells), and with my new positiok at work I hardly ever wear my work boots since Im stuck at a desk all day.

B) Stopped stretching. I think this made the largest impact out of anything. I believe that yor muscles require a certain amount of elasticity, and that stretching as we have all been taught to do it only serves to remove that elasticity. This seemed to resolve the issue almost overnight for me back then.

C) Slow and small increases. I wasnt going out for 20+ mole training runs back then. Hell, I was barely going out for 1 and 2 mile training runs. Things are different now, so Ive just gotta take it easy...

4) Loose some damn weight! I dont need to be over 180, let alone 195 almost 200... Thats just me being a lazy ass and not eating how I know that I should.


So, in summary, I need to dial it down for a few weeks till the calves start cooperating with what the rest of my body wants to do, which blows...

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Oh Snap!

Boy, I got the suprise of my life this evening!

While drying off in the bathroom after showering I heard some strange noises in the bedroom, so I cautiously opened the door and was shocked!



Muther Freaking SPIDERMAN!!!!

I could scarcely believe my eyes! Spiderman was in my bedroom ready to rumble with Dr Octopus (aka daddy)...

So after wrestling for a few minutes (yes, I did put clothes on before commencing to wrestling) he wanted to show me how he could jump like in his movies.

Due to Spidermans lightning quick speed, my camera couldnt keep up. Peter Parker must have one helluva nice Cannon to catch his shots so good!



You can clearly see he is getting ready to fire off his web and swing into action!



Here he is again, quick on the move!

Spiderman then displayed some pretty sweet floor acrobatics which consisted of lots of spins and flips and twists...







One things for certain, the Williams household will sleep soundly tonight knowing that Spiderman is on watch!

posted from Bloggeroid