<p>25 mins. Running in the rain today. </p>
<p>Glad you had fun with the team this morning, MOWC.</p>
<p>Wow, good race, MOfWC. Running a 28 min 5K just a week after a marathon - you are CC’s Iron Lady of Running! Congrats. 9 am beer? LOL. The earliest I ever had an adult beverage was 10 am wine tasting trip, which was more like a sip of red wine at 10:30 am.</p>
<p>Run Forrest Run. That’s what it felt like for me today. 5K hilly walk/jog. Gorgeous afternoon. 52 degrees, bright blue sky. Lots of green grass and orange foliage everywhere. Borderline weather clotheswise, so I wore my (not too) smelly orange long sleeve 1/4 zip from hiking (close enough to sunset that I wanted the visibility) and running shorts. Just about right. I’m thinking that 50 degrees is probably my cut off for shorts.</p>
<p>I definitely got a box of chocolates. Some good ones – like getting Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline back to back on the iPod. And, some bad ones – like having to run intervals up the five steepest hills on my route (not sure how that happened, but when the watch says “run, Forrest, run…”, I run…) :)</p>
<p>Yay for all the determined runners!</p>
<p>Had a nice walk today with DH and DS. We walked a mile and a half to the trail at the local YMCA–a hilly, forested area that their campers use. S did some of the parcours stops while we mostly watched. And then the mile and a half back. We were ready for dinner when we got back! Butternut squash/sweet potato/apple soup, a couple kinds of cheese, grapes & raspberries, and orzo con pesto. 
:)</p>
<p>I kind of modified my program. I want to burn 1200 calories a day, and if I want to eat some crap…400 calories or so…I am going to do it.</p>
<p>So today…I had some friends over for dinner, and after they left,
I went to the gym and worked out at 11:30 PM. There were two other people working out at the gym. I liked the emptiness.</p>
<p>I am doing a modified version of what interesteddad did or does. I am doing some intervals, but I want to keep my heart rate below 130. I had an irregular heartbeat several years ago and I don’t want to go there again. I was on medication to keep my heart rate below 130. I am off the medication, but I want to keep my heart rate below 130 on my own.
Which means, I can’t go as hard as I can.</p>
<p>Also, I want to burn at least 400 calories when I ride a bike. I can’t do
that in 20 minutes. So, I have to go at a pace where I can burn the 400 calories.</p>
<p>I was pretty happy tonight. I felt like it was my best workout so far. I think I am losing at the rate of 1 pound a week. I try to go to bed
weighing no more than the night before. Can’t do that tonight, but I am close.</p>
<p>dstark–just some advice…if you have heart issues, go easy on the “crap” that contains refined sugar. Studies have shown that it’s bad for your heart. I don’t have weight issues (just fitness issues haha) but more and more I am avoiding sugar, HFCS, etc. It’s just bad for your body.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Well, not really. because I was very well known in the whole school in terms of horizontal dimension.</p>
<p>Humid and windy morning. 10.2 miles with legs not recovered from marathon and 5K. Did it. Now I get to “rest” all week until Sunday’s Chattanooga Marathon.</p>
<p>Mommusic, thanks.</p>
<p>It was stretches and weights for me this morning. Getting ready to venture out – have a good day everyone!</p>
<p>Speaking of heart health, there’s a terrific new podcast interview with Dr. Thomas Dayspring:</p>
<p>[Dr</a>. Thomas Dayspring - Cholesterol Testing: What Matters Most?](<a href=“http://www.askthelowcarbexperts.com/2012/10/29-dr-thomas-dayspring-cholesterol-testing-what-matters-most/]Dr”>http://www.askthelowcarbexperts.com/2012/10/29-dr-thomas-dayspring-cholesterol-testing-what-matters-most/)</p>
<p>Also available on iTunes.</p>
<p>Dayspring is one of the leading experts on cholesterol testing. He presents pretty compelling arguments that coronary plaque is associated most closely with the NUMBER of LDL particles (LDL-P), not the AMOUNT of LDL cholesterol (LDL-C). If we have a large LDL cholesterol measurement, we may or may not have a large number of LDL particles and may or may not be at risk. Conversely, if we have a low LDL measure, we may or may not have a large number of LDL particles and may or may not be at risk. For example, at his last physical before he died of a heart attack, Tim Russert’s LDL was an ideal 70, but that did not mean that he had a safe number of LDL particles. </p>
<p>Where it gets really interesting is that high TRIGLYCERIDES, in addition to driving fat storage, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes, also correlate with dangerously high numbers of LDL particles. And, even drive a scenario where the numbers of LDL particles increase while the old-fashioned measure of LDL cholesterol decreases (triglycerides replace cholesterol in the particles, forcing the body to make more particles to transport cholesterol where it’s needed).</p>
<p>Dayspring strongly recommends that testing for the number of LDL particles replace the standard LDL cholesterol test as the standard test. That’s all well and good and maybe some of us can talk our docs into ordering that cholesterol test next time (LipoScience NMR testing). But, even more useful, is his strong advice to focus on lowering triglycerides through lifestyle and diet. Lowering triglyerides will help lose body fat, reduce insulin resistance, prevent (or reverse) type 2 diabetes, and lower coronary artery disease risk by lowering the number of LDL particles.</p>
<p>Easiest way to lower triglycerides in a matter of weeks: cut out sugar. Triglycerides are produced when the liver cannot process excess sugar as rapidly as it is being consumed. Sugar and fast-release refined carbohydrates result in elevated triglycerides. Dayspring suggests that triglycerides should be below 100 and, ideally, below 70.
.</p>
<p>Interesteddad, thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Packing. Packing. And more packing.</p>
<p>Just did the “fall gardening” workout. An hour of cutting back dead stuff and hauling it away. There’s a surprising amount of stretching & bending involved! Almost like a good game of twister. :)</p>
<p>Great ride today. For those who know the Philadelphia area, from Glenside to New Hope and back, all on local back roads. Moderate temperatures, clear skies. 70 miles, challenging hills, 3900+ calories burned based on body weight, intensity and duration, avg HR 136, max 173. Can’t wait for dinner. Can eat what ever I want (but will be healthy).</p>
<p>
My doctor does a VAP test every year at my request, but it is expensive - around $200 - and insurance doesn’t cover it.</p>
<p>I doubt insurance would cover an NMR test either.</p>
<p>Went to a local Fleet feet store today to get some input on my shoes. The lady there says I “actual runs pretty well”. My shoes is the right fit and size. </p>
<p>Two suprises so. One is about the frequestcy shoes have be replaced and the other is how expensive those inserts are.</p>
<p>You can get a VAP test done without your doc for $79 (plus a $10 off coupon) at a national chain of blood testing centers called Any Lab Test Now. They operate walk-in storefront centers, mostly doing employer drug testing, pregnancy testing, etc.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.anylabtestnow.com/tests/vertical-auto-profile-vap-test/[/url]”>http://www.anylabtestnow.com/tests/vertical-auto-profile-vap-test/</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, the VAP test doesn’t give a particle count. That only comes in an LPL-P particle count test or an ApoB test (counts all non-HDL particles). The NMR test gives all the standard cholesterol numbers (LDL, triglycerides, etc). It’s supposed to be about $100, but I haven’t found a walk-in place that does them. My attitude is, as long as I’m paying, I’ll pick the test or get a new doctor. I don’t want to pay for cholesterol tests that don’t tell me anything I don’t already know and don’t give me the information I would really like to have. </p>
<p>I’ve got a high deductible insurance policy, so I plan to be an obnoxious consumer and ask “why?” every time they want to schedule an appointment or schedule a test (when I’m not sick). I know what my cholesterol is so, if they expect me to pay for another cholesterol test, it better be the one that I want. If I can get a better test done cheaper elsewhere, I’ll just bring them a copy of the results. They are gonna love me, huh? :)</p>
<p>In the meantime, I’m not too worried about my particle count. With triglycerides of 31, the odds of me having a large number of LDL particles are not very high.</p>
<p>31? Wow! That is incredible. Mine was in the 60s. I was happy with that number. :)</p>
<p>60 is a great number. That means that you likely aren’t insulin resistant and have little risk of diabetes. If Dr. Dayspring is right, you also probably have low risk of coronary artery disease. It also probably means that you don’t eat a ton of sugar/carbs.</p>
<p>Mine had been low (41 and 47) on both tests last year (after I had lost the bulk of my weight). This year’s physical was the first after I had been weight stable for a long time and it dropped to 31. I eat moderately low carb (almost no refined carb) and not much sugar at all, so the low number is probably hereditary with a boost from diet. Dayspring says that trigs drop in a matter of weeks with a low carb diet. For most people, LDL particle count will drop right along with triglycerides.</p>
<p>It’s kind of ironic. It turns out that fat probably is the culprit, but not the fat you eat. Instead, the fat (triglycerides) your liver makes from eating too much sugar. I wonder what my levels were when I was drinking a 2 liter Pepsi a day?</p>