Running: A FEVER

Obsession ... single-mindedness ... tunnel vision. How important is balance to health and longevity? When I say it like that, I think of balance as a kind of scale on which my life activities are weighed, like the scale the blindfolded Lady Justice holds in her hand. In the corporate world, "work-life balance" is a buzzword these days. It's actually one that I take seriously, at least from that pe...

This episode relates my trip to The Hive, a local restaurant a couple of towns over from where I live. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/322 Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-a-person-slicing-a-sandwich-with-vegetables-4963610/  

I didn't really witness much patriotism at all on Independence Day this year, though I did attend a fireworks show. The place where my parents live is across the street from an Elks club and they have a show every year, so this year I went. It was nice. Nothing spectacular. I have seen fireworks shows in Boston at both Independence Day and New Year's Day celebrations and those were pretty impressi...

We have been experiencing a bit of a heat wave here in Northwest Arkansas, many consecutive 3-digit temperature days. Sunny days are nice, but at those temperatures, no one should be outside, and the electric bills skyrocket with the air conditioning constantly running all day. One of the things on my long-term to-do list is getting some shade trees planted. I planted some privacy trees a couple o...

Yeah, my body, bones, tendons, and muscles are kind of a mess right now. Interesting that the archery bow image was used back then. My podiatrist used this when he explained the fascitis that I started experiencing as soon as the cast came off my ankle. There's a song about the foot bone being connected to the leg bone etc. And it really is all connected. So the very tight Achilles tendon I had co...

Guess what? There ARE training robots? I put a bunch of links in the show notes; check 'em out. Episode 80 is a good one for me to hear now. Back then I was in physical therapy, and I've got some similar things going on right now, aches and pains and all that jazz. I am actually in physical therapy again as well. So this week I had a covid false alarm and had to cancel PT. Hoping to get back to my...

Achilles was a mythical great Greek warrior, the son of Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis, who, upon his birth, dipped baby Achilles into the River Styx, making him invincible. However, she neglected to let the water cover the heel by which she held him. And so, this was the only part of his body that was vulnerable to injury. He eventually died when he was wounded by an arrow which struck his vulne...

Friday, June 11, 2022, a date that will live in infamy, is when I started having symptoms of covid-19. After 2 years of living cautiously according to CDC guidelines, and a full 2-1/2 years after we first hear about the SARS-COV-2 virus, it's finally happened. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/316   Photo by Michael Davis Media  

Keeping stats is a good idea. It helps me to see my progress and identify areas that need improvement and importantly, areas where I'm doing well. It's important to recognize when you're doing a good job. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/315   Photo by Andres Ayrton: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-person-on-weight-scales-6550832/  

At this point in episode 78 I'm focusing a lot on building muscle mass, which is a good part of an overall health plan I think. It can be overdone, as my cardiologist has repeatedly told me. It's a slow process, and I think the keys are to get enough protein and overall calories and just workout every single day, or most days, for a long time. The bulking-and-cutting process I briefly refer to......

Don't go to extremes. This is something I'm at times not very good at, for example, the exercise extreme that got me into my current ankle injury. At other times I'm probably too good at it. I make changes at a glacial pace. So I didn't start with a whole regimen of supplements, before-and-after-workout shakes and snacks, and so forth. So don't worry if you're overwhelmed when I talk about these t...

Once I went to my primary care physician Dr. Bicak. I told him about my dietician, who kept forgetting I didn't like avocado. He said I could learn to like it. And I think that's probably true. But my dislike for it pretty much precludes that because I can't bring myself to eat it. Not the end of the world, I think, but after all, I am on a health journey, and I can't ignore something just because...

In the corporate world, I hear this buzzword. It's not a major buzzword or buzz phrase, like "outside the box", "unconscious bias", etc. But in my world, I hear it now and then. It refers to a range of choices. You generally cannot get a size 48 t-shirt. Instead, you get an extra-large. Instead of 50 sizes, you get 4 or maybe 6 choices. Sometimes this kind of thinking helps when a business is tryi...

I am better able to handle temptations when I am healthy. That's not exactly obvious. On its face, that statement might be seen as a mistake that should be stated the other way around: when I am able to handle temptations, I am healthy. In fact, both are true. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/310 Photo by Doris Morgan on Unsplash

Makes me sad, I can't deny it. I want to live a happy and healthy life and I'm not healthy now and not happy. Why? I can't walk. I love walking. And I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out something I can do with this whole bone spur/Achilles injury. Patience. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/308 Photo by Adam Kontor from Pexels

Perhaps you've heard me talk about how I can't exercise, walk, etc lately and have wondered why. I suppose this is a good time to say I've been seeing the podiatrist again. Last year I came in with the callus, I was calling a corn in episode 72. A procedure he recommended, short of serious surgery, I had in January since I wanted to wait until I had a fresh deductible. Read the full post at http:/...

Looking back, I got some really good advice from the dietician when I was having regular appointments with her. I know that experience drove the advice she gave me. She had seen plenty of people lose weight too fast and blow their metabolism all to hell, unable to maintain a healthy weight no matter what they ate. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/307 Photo by Ketut Subiyanto: https:/...

I think this was a great sort of directional adjustment in my exercise routine. I began regular resistance workouts, took shorter walks. These days I yearn for the times when I had so many activities to choose from. But I have to be patient. That will come again. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/306 Image by Kevin Phillips from Pixabay

In both episodes 68 and 69, I mentioned recovery foods, and it's a good reminder not to starve myself, even though I'm not exercising near as much as I was when this episode was recorded. Not only will I not gain muscle when I don't eat well, but I can lose muscle as well. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/305   Photo by Allan Mas from Pexels

In episode 68 I was really trying to move beyond the biggest loser contest, and fill out some gaps in my diet or supplement regimen. That contest was not healthy in the sense that to win it I had to just basically starve myself for 12 weeks. That's not a healthy lifestyle. The one thing that did come of it, other than learning what NOT to do, was that I had an external motivation to move me along....

This is a great statement of how you don't have to go crazy. Unfortunately, a lot of information you get is tied to supplemental products that you really don't need. If you're trying to do this and make money, that's the kind of thing you have to promote. Fortunately, you have Running: A FEVER, amateurs that we are. We have no such alignments. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/303 Pho...

It's good to get all the nutrients you need to stay healthy nutritionally and to burn enough calories to have a healthy body composition and a healthy weight. But immediately what comes to mind is one of those blue zone concepts discovered by Dan Buettner. Specifically, staying in a caloric deficit. Perhaps at first glance, it doesn't make sense. After all, if I consume fewer calories than I need,...

The point of this series is to learn from my previous success, and also failures. But I said in episode 65 that it isn't about knowledge, it's about just doing it, and it's not easy. That thing about how overcoming an obstacle makes it easier to overcome the next one, so one success is a lot bigger than it may look at first. If I can get through a week without overeating, if I can get through a we...

This is a good example of what I had learned about patience I think. I get a sense that slow progress is good. And I should continue to learn, that's key as well. It shows up in what I learned about extremes of hydration and dehydration as well as the metabolic issues I had early in the year. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/300   Credits: Tortoise Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unspla...

Confidence is a result. It's a good reason to work hard. Realize that if I'm not confident in myself, I need to work that much harder. Read the full post at http://RunningAFEVER.com/299   Photo by Michael Starkie on Unsplash