<p>iDad, well, I’d send you out looking like an Eskimo. ;)</p>
<p>4 miles walk/run. I’m doing my own version of C25K, kind of a blankmind25K, or maybe injury25K. Everything feels good. Tomorrow is weights.</p>
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<p>Yeah, but it’s a lot of exertion. Easy to get overheated. Last time out, it was in the 40s when I started. I was down to a short sleeve shirt in no time at all. I think I’ll start out in a short sleeve tech t under my new deer hunter orange 1/4 zip. That will give me a lot of flexibility and easy off with the long sleeve if necessary. I’ll stuff a soft shell jacket in the bag.</p>
<p>I was happy to see that I didn’t gain any weight on our trip but it’s back to proper diet again and having groceries in the house makes that less complicated. Yesterday was 1556 calories at 51 carbs, 140 protein, 87 fat with 20 sugar. I’m going to bump up the carbs today for running fuel.</p>
<p>Had a great 4 mile run this morning. Perfect running weather - in the 40’s. We have started some intervals (now that I have resigned myself to the necessity of doing it if I’m going to improve my speed at all). They were pretty wimpy ones - three sprinting intervals of a little less than a block or so - but it’s a start. Weekly 5 mile run on Saturday. We may be increasing that to 6 miles soon; we will see how things go. Especially at our age, we are very conscious of staying injury-free: challenging ourselves without being too risky. I think that is a challenging proposition!</p>
<p>I think that the challenge stuff is good and also think that exercise is needed to reduce accidental injuries (non-exercise). It’s pretty easy to overdo it (especially for the folks here that have a competitive personality and hide it well in real life).</p>
<p>You don’t mean ME, BCE, do you? :). I don’t really do well hiding my competitive personality…</p>
<p>It’s hard to tell on the internet how people are in real life but the people here are typically nice to others unless someone gives them a reason not to be and that takes a little effort to do.</p>
<p>Paul Ryan after P90X picture:</p>
<p><a href=“http://timethemoment.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/10/time_paulryan_20111205_03731.jpg?w=326[/url]”>http://timethemoment.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/10/time_paulryan_20111205_03731.jpg?w=326</a></p>
![http://timethemoment.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2012/10/time_paulryan_20111205_03731.jpg?w=326[/url]](http://timethemoment.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/time_paulryan_20111205_03731.jpg?w=326%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>Time Magazine has an article out on Ryan/P90X. It appears that Michelle Obama also does P90X along with some of the Secret Service folks.</p>
<p>35 mins w/30 sec sprint at the end. Oh, the vibrant fall foliage! Not to be missed.</p>
<p>No matter what the press says, that guy’s got very little body fat… olympic cyclist level or not, he is lean.</p>
<p>His BMI is 21 but he looks crazy thin.</p>
<p>I have a lot of muscle mass in my legs - what you’d expect from a tennis player. Ryan is one of those guys with really skinny calves and thighs.</p>
<p>I cannot see myself at 163 pounds at my height. I did weigh 145 at 5’10 for about half my 20s and moved up to about 155 but I was crazy skinny then - people used to comment about it to me.</p>
<p>For chocolate lovers among us:</p>
<p>[Eat</a> more chocolate, win more Nobels? - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/eat-more-chocolate-win-more-nobels-210613093.html]Eat”>http://news.yahoo.com/eat-more-chocolate-win-more-nobels-210613093.html)</p>
<p>(Here is the original paper: [Chocolate</a> Consumption, Cognitive Function, and Nobel Laureates](<a href=“http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMon1211064]Chocolate”>http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMon1211064) )</p>
<p>I do not care is it is chocolate that makes us smart, or if we choose to eat it because we are smart, either way we are smart :D</p>
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<p>That is similar to my doctor just wrote to me. 800mg of Ibuprofen three times a day with food for a week. Stretch, stretch, stretch. </p>
<p>So I will be on rowing machine and elliptical for a week.</p>
<p>The only time I’ve taken that much in OTC painkillers is when I had a tooth infection which required a root canal but I have a high tolerance for pain.</p>
<p>Decided against spinning today and did a 60-minute TRX and kettle bell small group class. Felt really strong and my neck felt was fine–no hint of discomfort. I’m feel great being back in the gym and working out. Did 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer before I left. Total of 507 calories burned. Went to lunch with my youngest D, who is visiting for a few days. We went to a vegan/vegetarian restaurant (D is a vegetarian.) Anyway, food was good. I had a wrap with kale, egg salad, red onions, and cilantro. Finished it off with camomile (sp?) mint tea.</p>
<p>Any day without pain is a good day.</p>
<p>2.5 miles on the treadmill and some light weights at home this morning. It was in the 50s here with 17 MPH winds so I didn’t bother going outside. I have to catch up on laundry from the trip. I did have some chafing - the downside of not running for a while. I may switch to some longer shorts until the skin toughens back up.</p>
<p>It’s nice to be able to get back into the swing of things without too many problems.</p>
<p>On the topic of competitiveness, I’m mostly a compete against myself kind of gal. Drives people a little bonkers at times, I think. 
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<p>I teach, I train, I like to help others grow and excel. Doesn’t matter what the title, position, or non-position is, somehow that’s what I end up doing. </p>
<p>And I create art from time to time.</p>
<p>It’s not about the pain. It’s to reduce and treat the inflammation.</p>
<p>Good hiking! Definitely an improvement on the first ever hike on this same trail. This time, I walked from the car to the first summit pretty much without stopping – except for the time I stopped and took the pack off to fish out a pair of gloves because my hands were cold! The AMC Guide to the White Mountains says 1:45 to the first summit (2.2. miles). I was there in 1:50 minutes. I’m still the slowest guy on the mountain, but I’ve made big strides in learning how to walk really slow and keep going. Nothing like the leg soreness on the first hike. </p>
<p>It’s a fun climb. About half of it is on rock ledge, so the footing is easy (smooth rock), but it’s steep walking. 4.5 miles total. Took 4:05 counting a leisurely stop at the first summit. Definitely easier than the 5 to 6 hour marches I’ve been doing.</p>
<p>All of NH was bright and sunny except the White Mountains, which were mostly cloudy. 49 degrees when I started, 51 degrees when I finished. Probably colder than that at elevation and definitely a stiff cold wind on the exposed rocks. I got to try a lot of layers. Long sleeve 1/4 zip over a tech T on the climb up (working hard) which was just about perfect. Added gloves about halfway up. On the way down, I added a soft-shell jacket because I didn’t have the same “sweat factor” walking downhill. That got just a little too warm by the end.</p>
<p>Fall foliage was a bit past prime, but it was really gorgeous walking in the woods with all the leaves. Kinda tough picking out the yellow paint blazes marking the trail since all the trees were yellow!</p>