A running hero of mine has passed away.  He was one of the favorite characters in the wildly popular book Born to Run, by Chris McDougall.   Caballo was an ultra-marathoner, extraordinaire.  A legend.  He was only 58.  

I’ve been on a journey the past few months, exploring the Ancient Pathways and learning about long-term damage done to the bodies of long distance runners (and other elite athletic extremes).  There is strong evidence of shortened telomeres and damaged stem cells in elite athletes—which basically means ‘bad for longevity’.  Eating a paleo type diet combined with cold thermogenesis and circadian rhythm and something called Factor X, will create an optimal body.  Dr. Kruse (an amazing neurosurgeon) says our neolithic brains have surpassed our paleolithic DNA and there’s a mismatch, leading us to make poor decisions and thus, creating disease in the human body.  According to Jack Kruse, ” when you eat fat, your mitochondria are less leaky, so you age slower.  When you eat carbs, you leak more and shorten your telomeres.  Carbohydrates create more oxidation inside the cell.  If you do this over a lifetime you are just throwing gasoline on your stem cell population as you age.”  When you combine this type of eating with hard core training—long distances and NFL players for example, the results are burning out and rapid aging.  

This brings me back to Caballo Blanco.  The cause of his death hasn’t been revealed, but the report says there was no trauma.  Not externally, perhaps.  Could his multiple feats of 100+ mile races had taken their toll on his telomeres and stem cells?   This makes me think deeper about what is optimal.  Is optimal an increased life span?  Or is optimal living a life of joy, by doing what you love to do?  I wonder if a combination of the two, is the best optimal.  Whatever my optimal thoughts are on this subject, remain unclear.  The jury is still out.  Rest in Peace, Micha True.

I sure miss running……….in future posts I’ll write more about CT and it’s phenomenal benefits.

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” Abraham Lincoln

My thoughts will be with my niece in California on Sunday, as she runs the Napa Valley Marathon!!  

Cheers to you!!!!  Woohoo!!!  Yay Stacie!  I’m so excited for you and wish you all the best!! You’re going to do great!!!  

I’ve been on a journey.  Going back in time to the paleolithic age.  I’ve gone through a tremendous time warp since January.  I’m so amazed by everything I’ve been learning, that I don’t know where to begin to share it all.  The good news is I’ve lost 25 lbs and still counting and the bad news is I wish I had learned of leptin’s role in human functioning before I went on a VLCD.  And the good news again, is leptin can be rewired.

If you are the slightest bit curious and willing to think outside the box, you ought to head on over to Dr. Jack Kruse’s website.  He’s a deep thinking neurosurgeon, who understands the human brain better than most anyone, I think.  A word of caution:  get ready for some brain pain in reading his scientific findings… and  get out a dictionary.

My journey is now to create an Optimal Me.  Long distance running is out.  It decreases longevity.  Sprinting and weight lifting are part of the Optimal plan.  Circadian rhythm, the chill factor and primal eating.  I can’t stop reading his blogs… amazing, intriguing and mind blowing.  

As they say on Mark’s Daily Apple:  Grok On!

I’ve been mending from my injury for a couple months now and during this time, I have lost some weight (had to do something being I couldn’t run) and I stumbled upon this fantastic website.  And I have to tell you, it’s one of the best in talking about barefoot and minimalist running and hey, just the art of running!  The podiatrist on the site matches my thoughts on barefoot running, which ironically is 100% opposite of the views of the podiatrist’s I saw. The Natural Running Center has articles and videos on how to heal injuries—like achilles tendonitis as well as articles on the technique and reasons why it’s better to run “minimalist”.  Check out the link at the bottom to see how beautifully Kenya’s Patrick Makau runs. 

Natural Running Center

Running a Marathon 100 meters at a time

Berlin Marathon 2011 Beautiful Form

Sheesh time does fly by.  Here it is January 28th with February creeping around the corner.  I’ve been doing some walking/running on my treadmill, but the pain in my achillies is still messing with me.  I am so ready to get out and run longer distances!!  I’m biking this afternoon—after my blog session—beautiful, sunny day for a ride.  

“As long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it.” -Eckhart Tolle

Interesting quote.  I love listening to Eckhart’s talks, but struggle at times to understand what he is saying.  The first time I read this, I wondered if he meant real physical pain or emotional pain.  I decided it was emotional pain—negative thoughts either self induced or dumped on one by others.  Funny how little gestures, comments or lack of respect by others can get in the way of doing what you want to do.  What this really is, is the ego sticking it’s rude little self in the middle of any and everything important.  All conflict is because of ego.  If we could just stuff that little beast in a box and tape it up, we’d all be a lot better off.   For example, we went golfing this morning and I was playing fairly well-bogie golf (yes, it does aggravate my injury a little) and then the course got backed up and the foursome behind us didn’t give us the respect I thought they should have.  The proper etiquette in golf is to stay back a bit while the group in front is teeing off.  Well they didn’t do this and my ego thought this would be a good time to get me all worked up and make me think I’m not capable.  I was annoyed with their lack of respect and messed up my tee shots on the next two holes.  I stuffed my ego back in it’s box and tried to tape it up, but it wouldn’t cooperate..egos don’t cooperate, did you know?   Anyway, everything one experiences is meant to teach. Maybe I should have asked the group behind us to step back and give us some room, however, I think nasty little ego would have kept playing it’s joke on me.  Instead of focusing on hitting the ball properly, I was focused on my irritation with the pushy golfers.  Focus. Focus. Focus.

Conflict is ego at work.

I’m a runner in my heart.  However, I have been told I don’t really “look like a runner” and  ”nobody ever smiles when they run“—therefore it can’t be “fun” and “you don’t have any stamina—you should give it up” and “she doesn’t believe in herself”  and “your age is a factor” and on and on.  

Just what is the ideal image of a runner?  Well, a runner is someone who runs—I can do that (okay, I’m currently injured, but I will be back to it soon and I’ll go into the injury in a bit).  

Just because a runner doesn’t smile while running, doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy it—-I’m sure there are runners who would rather be doing something else, but are driven by some personal reason.  Of course it’s tough,  but it is a great feeling when I’ve completed a run—not because I’m done, but because it simply feels good.  

Stamina?  Gaining stamina requires a lot of long distance training. It takes time. Period.  Giving up certainly won’t increase stamina.  

Age?  Never let age determine what you do.  It’s merely a number.  Sure, it may take longer to reach certain fitness levels, but age in and of itself shouldn’t determine if one runs or not.

Belief in myself?  Does this mean I don’t believe I can run a race?  Not at all.  I am positive, with enough training and time, I could run any race I wanted.  But I’m coming to a new place with that.   For me, running is just that.  Running.  For the sheer joy of it, for fitness and it makes me feel good.  I don’t need to run races in order to prove myself.   I can’t conceive of winning a marathon,  however I can conceive of running one someday, if it’s right.  All I can do is improve myself or not improve myself.  It doesn’t matter if I ever run a race again and it doesn’t matter if I shave off 4 minutes from my last run.  I will take each run as it is and if it leads me to a “race” one day—great.  If not—great.   It honestly has nothing to do with believing in my abilities.

Now, back to the injury.. if it matters.  I went to the podiatrist this morning after limping around for the past month or so.  I dislike doctors and their wanting to treat with injections or drugs—this is why I put it off as well as not having a lot of spare time to see the doctor.  Dr. Foot (not his real name *wink wink*) —upon examining my heel and achilles—diagnosed me with a bit of plantar’s fasciiatis and achilles tendonitis. The good news is nothing is broken.  The bad news is I have inflamed tendons.  The treatment plan is ice, splinting my foot, lots of stretching and an injection of steroids in my foot.  I agreed to the icing, stretching  and splinting, but refused the steroid injection.  He gave me a prescription for oral steroids instead.   The cortisone injection reduces inflammation at the site, but oral steroids can reduce inflammation throughout the body.  I will try the oral meds first and if that doesn’t work, I will do the injection-maybe.  So, I wear this splint while sleeping or watching television—I don’t have to walk in it.  In fact, if I can tolerate it, I can try running again!!  Yay!!  He also told me, after sharing the fact I wear Vibram’s when I run, that they “are the absolute worst running shoes one could ever wear!”  Spoken like a true foot doctor whose livelihood depends on foot problems…. I argued that I like running in them and have never had any issues with them and from what I’ve researched, many runner’s found their foot and knee problems disappeared after training in Vibram’s.  He said that we aren’t meant to run barefoot. Really?  We weren’t born with shoes on… He said we weren’t meant to run without cushioning and orthotics.  Really?  I disagreed.  I think my injury is from not stretching. I never stretched before running and rarely after running.  My bad.  Perhaps there is a happy medium for running footwear and I’ll continue to search for what works for me.  

So happy I can start running again—if it feels right.

“Sports do not build character.  They reveal it.”  ~Heywood Broun  (1888-1939)

Wow, it’s been a month since my last workout. Bah humbug!!  Today,  I went for a bike ride—only 5.6 miles, but it was something.  Okay, so world class runners run faster than I rode this morning—shoot, they probably walk faster than I rode.  I have limped through the month of December and couldn’t find time to see a doctor and I suppose I was hoping the injury would mend on it’s own.   And I didn’t want to have to go around on crutches either… talk about slowing me down.  So, you see,  I am no where near ready to run and this is killing me.  I see runners everyday and dream of the day I can run again.  Even the bike ride caused me some trouble with my ankle/heel and I will need to take a day off again, before I go for another ride.   I do believe it is high time I see a sports doctor or therapist-something fishy is going on.  ”Gee, ya think??”  

A sign in a podiatrists office:  ”Time wounds all heels.”

The musings of an injured runner.  

I strapped on my Vibram’s and my iPod.  Set my GPS watch and went out for a good run yesterday morning.  I felt great and was cruising along at a good speed and made it about a mile and BAM!  Intense pain in my left heel.  ”What is this?”  I asked.  ”It can’t be! I feel so good…”  I walked for a bit and tried stretching.  I ran again for a bit—still more pain.  I decided I would walk for awhile and hoped it would improve.  It never did.  I alternated some running and mostly walking for the mile back home—feeling so frustrated.  I’ve had so much trouble with my achilles the past few months, but I felt I had rested it sufficiently and felt no pain what-so-ever when I started out yesterday morning.  Now, I’m back to resting—again.   I have so much to do.. how do I get it all done when I can’t walk.  

 *Sigh*  I hope I can still bike…..