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Dopey Supports Cal
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Signs of my old age
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2011 Goals February Update
Wow it’s already March! Feb went by fast. The fact that this is still tracking is a win in and of itself.
Diet:
The diet has slipped a bit this month in that I haven’t been as structured in my cheating. There have been meals where I allowed a piece of cake or a slice of pizza. To get back on track I think it’ll be easier to move to a 12 cheat meals a month deal. Should equate to 1 day a week. Still don’t have the sudden wowness due to the diet, but like my coworker mentioned a good way to tell how good it’s been is to go off it and see how bad it is haha. I don’t feel like doing that quite yet so we’ll have to find out later. Another adjustment in the good direction has been to cut out the soy and legumes. I’ve moved over to almond milk and will occasionally use coconut milk as well. I will post on opinions on these at some point when I feel I’ve give them enough time to make a fair judgement.
Sleep:
Average Sleep for Feb: 6.17 hours. Made the goal, but this is a drop of 13 mins from last month.
Workout:
Worked out 20 times in 28 days. Still excellent. I also believe that the workouts are paying dividends as I did do a 10k in a much faster time than I expected.
Body:
Trend is still in a good direction from mid 13%-14% down to the 12%-13% range.
Stretch:
Stretched 15 days. Upward trend? Barely
Social:
Considered social 18 times. Helped that we had the company ski trip this month.
Image:
Less good compared to last month, but still not slacking here.
Physical Exam:
Got the stats for my physical exam. Mostly normal with the cholesterol looking excellent as my doc mentioned. I will be pulling this section off future updates as I think I’ve done all I wanted to do with it for now.
This is in no way a completely fair comparison as many variables were not equal. I’ll list the factors that I think affected the times between the two runs and let you come to your own conclusions.
10k with Vibrams (46:50, 7:27 pace)
Sleep: 7 hours
Eating Day Before: Faily Healthy, Stuck with Paleo
Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs, with FSR Energy Drink
Wake Time: 8 am
Warmup: 1 lap
Weather: Sunny slightly cold
Fellow Runners: Around my level (Came in 2nd for Males)
Workouts: No workouts 2 days leading up to run
Motivation: Planned to run
10k with Sneakers (48:25, 7:51 pace)
Sleep: 6 hours
Eating Day Before: Somewhat Healthy, but had beers in the evening
Breakfast: None
Wake Time: 9 am
Warmup: None
Weather: Sunny slightly cold
Fellow Runners: Fast (Top finishers beat me by 1 mile, came in last for Males)
Workouts: Weights 2 days before, incline sprints day before
Motivation: Undecided about running
As you can see I was way more prepared mentally and physically for the first run. I’m not sure how much of that accounts for the 1:35 difference between the runs. A few seconds of that time was lost by me forgetting to use my inhaler. I had to take a small detour and stop in the middle of the first mile to grab and use it from my backpack.
I’ll briefly describe the after run comparisons. I can easily say I was tired after both runs. With the Vibrams I felt soreness in the lower calfs while with the sneakers it was more draining on the legs overall. I wore toe socks for both runs and I believe I might have a blister from running in the sneakers and no ill effects in the Vibrams. I’m assuming this is caused by the slippage between the sock and the shoe so I believe energy transfer on the Vibrams might be more efficient.
From my subjective view, I felt better during the Vibram run, but given the prep and time differences it’s hard for me to say that I was faster with one vs the other. The only conclusive thing I can say is that running in the Vibrams has not made me any slower than before. I’ll also toss in that while I was disappointed with a slower time on the 2nd 10k, I don’t believe I’ve been able to keep this pace in a while. I believe that the workout regimen I’m currently on is showing dividends. I will continue to stick with it and will plan to have a better comparison in the future.
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On Money Part 2
So…since the first post on money had a part 1 I feel obligated to at least post a part 2 and here it is.
Based on my previous post it may sound like I don’t support credit, but I totally do. There have been many times that I wish I understood credit a lot better growing up. You know what they say tho, hindsight is 20/20. The best tip I can give is to stay informed. That being said I’ll cover some areas in credit that I wish I understood better growing up.
1. Credit Scores
Here’s the thing. I didn’t know much about credit scores till way later in life. And even now they’re somewhat of a magical black box. There are 3 main companies that give scores that people care about: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. They each have their own proprietary algorithm, but tend to score pretty closely. There are many factors that affect credit scores like credit history, available credit, and % of credit left over/used.
Tip #1: Try not to close credit lines, especially if they’re your oldest credit card. I closed my student credit card during my college years not knowing it would have a negative impact. This hits you in two ways. One, if it’s one of your older lines you’ll lose some history. Two, your total available credit will suddely drop. Just cut them up and keep the lines open. By doing so you’ll also keep the % credit used lower which also helps.
Tip #2: Avoid bad credit history. This means pay your bills on time. Yea not super genius right? It’s simple, but really important. Negative info will stay on your credit history for 7 years. If something like an unpaid credit line is tainting your credit score it’s sometimes worth trying to contact the company directly and paying them the amount owed to try and get it off your history. Your mileage may vary. That leads into the final Tip.
Tip #3: Know your credit! This is probably the most important tip, especially nowadays with all the id fraud. You can check your credit report for free once a year from each of the big 3 agencies here and no it’s not freecreditreport.com like that catchy commercial says. The suggested way is to spread them out over the year to keep an eye out for mistakes. Note that you get your credit history, but not your score. The scores you’ll still have to pay for.
2. Loans
I used to think they were all bad so I didn’t take advantage of any of the lower interest loans available to me during college. It was only after I graduated and understood more about how those loans worked did I see a missed opportunity. Lucikily my brother and sister were able to take advantage my new found knowledge and lock in those low rates. Loans can also be a chance to create a history of good payments that will help your credit score, but it’s a bit of a double edged sword as you’ll now have some debt being calculated into your score. With some loans the interest is also tax deductible here in CA (I know that student and mortgage loans are structured that way). The only takeaway here I guess is to not write them off right away, but consider the rates and opportunity cost.
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On Old Dog Etiquette
I subscribe to The Bark Magazine. It’s a Berkeley based bimonthly magazine that covers well…dog culture for dog lovers I guess. This month’s magazine was a tribute to senior dogs. I was looking through and read one of the stories about senior dogs that struck a chord with me and thought I’d share.
For those that know me, you know that I’ve “owned” Dopey for the past 5 years and that she’s an old dog, but not just a normal senior as she’s also disabled. I put owned in quotes because she’s not really my dog, but I still feel that she’s my daughter. I’ve seen her go from always runnign full speed across soccer fields, to dragging her feet, to running in a wheelchair, to stuck bouncing around in her bed. The article put into words something that I could never quite put my finger on. I’ll just put an excerpt for those that are ADD, but thankfully the full story is available to read on their website now. I know better than most that she’s old, but the article puts a dog lovers heart into words so well.
From Be Gentle: I know my dog is old
The last years and months we share with our geriatric dogs are among the most bittersweet times in dog lovers’ lives. We know, from the moment we choose these guys as puppies or meet their limpid stares at the animal shelter, that our hearts will be torn apart some day. What makes it so much worse is that the older they get, the sweeter they get, and when they reach absolute critical sweetness—you simply cannot love them any more than you already do—they grow completely exhausted and die.
The end may sound a bit harsh, but it’s reality. I know Dopey will eventually leave and I’m sure I will be crushed.
In the past week I’ve had the chance to give the Injinji socks and their Asia knockoff counterparts a try with the Vibrams. I also tried a short barefoot tabata run just to see. So below are the pros and cons I see with the different combinations.
Just VFF
Cons: I have the problem of possibly getting blisters from rubbing on longer runs. The shoes also tend to get the vibram funk much faster.
Pros: On the other hand it does feel more natural as far as barefoot feeling. Also given time I imagine the foot toughens up more this way. It’s cheaper than getting socks.
VFF + Injinjis
Cons: As people say Injinjis do take a little bit longer to put on. They also cost a lot for socks…I mean $8 for a pair? I’ve heard of issues with durability, but so far so good. Also…when it’s wet your socks get wet too which is not a great feeling.
Pros: Despite my worries they seem to fit pretty well with the Vibrams. The fit is a little tighter, but still reasonable. I’ve never gotten any of the normal blisters I might get when running w/o socks either.
VFF + China Toe Socks
Cons: It only comes in one length which isn’t horrible. Also…still not cheap @ $5 bux a pair. Still have the wet sock issue when it’s wet.
Pros: Actually very similar to the Injinjis. They’re a bit thicker, but still fit. Also no blisters.
Barefoot
Cons: Blisters will form pretty fast. Your feet will get tired really fast.
Pros: Can’t get more real than this. I’m sure this will toughen up your feet in a hurry. No blisters from Vibram rubbing either. It’s also way cheaper…no pricy socks or pricy shoes.
In the end it seems like any of these options are really viable. If you want to avoid some of the pricier addons it just requires a bit more patience and practice.
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Knee vs Ice
Ice wins! Both rounds 🙁
Also known as why gadgets make geeks do things. You want to get a geek running? Get him some schwag like a GPS HR Monitor or one of those Nike+ Ipod thingys. Most of us inherently like numbers and tracking stuff. It’s even better when it’s tracked for us and we can just look at it. Even if I have no idea what I’m going to do with the data, knowing that I’ve got x years worth of y meticulously charted for something gives me some warm fuzzies.
As part of my 2011 Goals I was to get a physical, which I did (yay me!). It helps when I can walk from work to the hospital in 5 mins flat haha. Now apparently my medical group also has this online system which I just signed up for yesterday and it’s awesome. A system has to be awesome if it can get me excited about going back so they can stick a needle in me, take my blood, and run a bunch of tests. The online system not only lets me view all the data from my bloodwork, it also lets me make appointments, ask for refills, look at immunization records, etc. The best part is the data is shared across all their affiliate hospitals. The last time I was at the doc’s was 4 years ago to get a refill and it wasn’t even at the same location, but it showed up in my record with all the basic stats from that visit (HR, BP, Weight, etc). The online system also lets you chart stats over time so keeping up with physicals allows me to view numbers I may be interested over time (like cholesterol or fasting glucose).
It’s innovations like this that should be happening. I’m not even sure it can be considered an innovation as it’s really just digitizing medical data, but for healthcare industries I see this as a major step in the right direction. I can finally see my results for my tests and it’s not hidden away in some filing cabinet that only docs can get access to. I understand there’s always the issue of privacy, but the issue pops up every time we move something onto the intertubes. For me, the convenience and transparency that these systems allow outweigh the dangers. Apply all the same tips as you would for your online financials, be smart about your passwords, don’t share passwords, etc, etc. Besides who likes to call and and sit on hold to make a Dr.’s appt…not me. If we can get those systems online I say huzzah! I really hope that other institutions move in this direction as well. Once this becomes the norm we can think about how the data can be securely shared on an institutional level (kaiser to sutter) so that we don’t lose our historical data when changing medical groups.
Small Update on the Paleo Diet. Again, I admit to being fairly loose as I do have soy or beans once in a while. And on weekends it can be dicey sometimes, but let’s say it’s a 75-80% adherence.
I haven’t noticed the boost in performance or energy levels that a lot of people tout when they’re on this diet. Possibly because of the partial adoption. But let’s caveat that with the fact that I’m not using a standard set of exercises to judge performance. I’m only speaking to the fact that I don’t feel so much more awesome than before. It’s also harder to notice things that DON’T happen anymore on this diet. This only occurred to me last Sunday when I passed out for the 2nd quarter of the Superbowl due to what I assume was an insulin spike after a #1 large bowl of pho I had earlier. Only then did I think, “Man I haven’t had a food coma in a while.”
A breakdown of the Paleo diet will show that it tends to avoid foods that have a high glycemic index thus avoiding insulin spikes. If you then read Wikipedia’s article on the subject of food coma you’ll see the section on insulin spikes and how that can cause sleepiness by way of increased intake of tryptophan. It’s on Wikipedia and thus must be true haha. So after about 1 month on the diet there’s my first observation of an advantage to the Paleo Diet. Note that this is really true about any diet that limits the intake of processed foods and otherwise high glycemic index foods. Also note that I’m not saying carbs cause food coma, but that there seems to be a direct relationship between cutting sugars and carbs and avoiding food coma.