<p>It’s on the 26th of Sept, so really just around the corner. I don’t know why I thought I could run this thing with just 2 months of running, lol, but then again I hadn’t planned for the knee pain. I’ve always been able to jump into things and be fine…that’s what old age will do for you I guess.</p>
<p>It’s becoming all too clear that fitness after age fifty is an exercise in pain and injury management. Knock on wood, the only real issue I’ve been experiencing is metatarsal foot pain from walking. It’s not a problem while walking most of the time, but generally is pretty tender after a long walk. It’s fine by the next day.</p>
<p>I did two one-minute jogging intervals on my 5k walk yesterday. I’m sure the US Geological Survey scientists are still scratching their heads over the odd seismic readings. My heart rate definitely increases more than my ground speed. I think I need to work on a little more “gliding” and a little less “pounding”. Sheesh. At least it’s been than it was fifty pounds ago when me “jogging” was like a scene from Jurassic Park.</p>
<p>We’ve been adding a big salad with lots of raw vegetables to our dinner every night. I like salad but hate making it, for some odd reason, so my H is in charge. NorthMinn, we love broccoli slaw, too. Uncomplicated works well for us and keeps us honest: roasted or grilled protein seasoned in different ways, one or two vegetables either steamed or stir-fried in a teaspoon of olive oil, and a salad. We use herbs liberally, and you can never have too much garlic. Last night we baked some tilapia (which seems tasteless to me) with garlic, ginger, cilantro, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil.</p>
<p>Though we’ll keep it simple for now, we do like to cook. I like the Weight Watchers website, but often I just adapt regular recipes. I’ve struggled with weight and eating for long enough that I can make over a recipe in no time. My latest cookbook favorite is “Everyday Food” (everydayfood dot com has most of the recipes). Dr. Oz, who I’ve just recently discovered, suggests that eating the same thing every day for one meal is another way to stay on track. At first this sounded like a horrible idea, but it’s working for me: Kashi Heart to Heart with a big handful of blueberries for breakfast. I’m also making vegetable-based soups out of his book (“You: On a Diet”) and having a cup with lunch.</p>
<p>I eat mass quantities of salad. Not every night because it’s fairly high cal with homemade dressings (olive oil, blue cheese, etc.). But, it’s great as a large dinner salad. Apples, procuistto ham or tonight’s chicken caesar salad. Or a large salad with some grilled shrimp, etc. We have a large dinner salad as our meal at least once a week.</p>
<p>One trick is to toss the dressing in a large bowl in the kitchen. That lets me use a bit less dressing than I would if I were spooning it on an individual salad.</p>
<p>blankmind – interested to know if your “retraining” included info on how your foot strikes the ground, as well as where. Just wondering if my latest knee pain is related to foot strike – heel first vs flat, etc. I guess I don’t really pay attention to that – I just run.</p>
<p>Idad, lately I’ve been making oil & vinegar with salt and pepper, maybe a little fresh herbs (1 part oil : 2 parts vinegar, and what the “part” is depends on how many calories you want to use!). Tossing it is the key, you’re right, and I make that little bit of dressing go a long way. My H is a Marie’s low-cal blue cheese guy. It’s his daily treat. Apples in salad are a great idea. We’re doing that tonight, with a few nuts! Back to work before I get too hungry.</p>
<p>CBB, my foot strike as relates to heel strike versus mid foot, is fine according to the running coach, I do however, have extremely turned out feet (thank you Irish dance), so I am having to try to straighten my feet as I go. The exaggerated turn out added to the balance beam walking is very bad for my knees.</p>
<p>Oh hey, idad… I did a push up yesterday.</p>
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<p>Yep. That’s one I learned from Mario Battali. Granny Smiths apples. Walnuts. Onions. Shaved parmeggiano reggiano cheese. Oil and vinegar dressing (we mix it up, sometimes balsamic, sometimes red wine). Tossed with spring mix. Served on a plate ringed with proscuitto ham. As a whole meal, a massive salad that is very filling is a relatively low cal dinner.</p>
<p>I usually can make a tablespoon of dressing go a very long way! Just need a taste! Have been using a lot of balsamic vinaigrette. </p>
<p>My breakfasts don’t vary much…I have egg whites fried in .5TBS of canola oil, and either a veggie sausage patty or canadian bacon with a Thomas’ Light multigrain English muffin…about 225 very filling calories. Somedays I add my fruit to this but usually wait to have it as a snack throughout the day. Lunch is always a salad either with or without leftover chicken/turkey and always some raw veggies and low fat string cheese cut up in salad.
Dinner is poultry/fish and steamed/grilled/roasted veggies (usually some mix of peppers,mushrooms,onions,asparagus, broccol and cauliflower). Family favorites so far have been the stuffed peppers with ground turkey,portabella mushrooms and onions and the other that topped the list was grilled shrimp in Thai peanut sauce with grilled veggies.
Guess I should look for some good soup recipes as most of mine are cream based.</p>
<p>Have never been a sweet potato fan but willing to try again. Anyone have a favorite way to cook them?</p>
<p>…Sharing a great soup with my “wellness” friends. Best part: It’s uber quick and easy! Leftovers are even better than the first serving! —Nice fiber, low fat and low sodium.</p>
<p>Southwestern Soup</p>
<p>1 1/2 cups cooked, diced chicken
1 can (15 oz) of each of the following: low-sodium black beans, yellow corn, petite-diced tomatoes, fat-free refried beans
2 cans (15 oz) fat-free chicken broth
16 oz salsa (hot, medium, mild–your choice)</p>
<p>Dump all the ingredients together. Heat and enjoy!</p>
<p>
Roasted! I do them unpeeled, cut into chunks, tossed with a little olive oil, and put in the oven at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet. I do bite-size chunks and they take about 15-20 minutes. (For just the 2 of us, i do them in the toaster oven.) Sweet potatoes are usually quite large, so 1 potato is more than enough for us.</p>
<p>Sweet potatoes are a perfect food alone. My wife steams them, cuts them in half and serves them on a plate.</p>
<p>I steam or boil them and mash them with a little bit of orange juice.</p>
<p>Roasted is good too, like them with olive oil and rosemary roasted.</p>
<p>I love black beans. </p>
<p>Last nite I made a side salad of </p>
<p>1 can of beans rinsed and drained
1 red pepper, chopped in small pieces
1 zucchini, chopped in small pieces
2 cups of frozen corn (cooked in microwave for about 3 minutes)
1/2 red onion finely chopped
1 cup of cilantro, minced (I like to cut with my kitchen shears)
Juice of 1 Lime
Tablespoon of apple cider
1 tsp. cumin</p>
<p>Toss all vegetables in a large bowl. Add lime juice and apple cider & spice.</p>
<p>Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Add more cider or spice to taste.</p>
<p>Some great food ideas here!</p>
<p>I love apples on my salad. And a small amount of feta cheese. Or roasted red peppers. And some protein, usually fish, shrimp, or chicken. I also love Annie’s Red Pepper dressing when I don’t make my own…low in calories and delicious. When I go out for a salad, I ask for dressing on the side and use my fork to apply it. </p>
<p>Now that it’s getting cooler, I’ll use the slow cooker more often…especially if I have a crazy day and don’t have the time or energy to cook. Chicken breasts or pork, a good jarred spaghetti sauce or salsa, and lots of veggies. Serve over brown rice when everything is soft. TJs sells frozen brown rice in packets for when I’m really lazy and short on time. Really, there’s no excuse for eating junky processed food. </p>
<p>One hour brisk walk this morning. Everything feels creaky today…not sure why. Nice out though and great to get some sun!</p>
<p>Apples is my least favorite fruit in salads, but I often throw in mangoes, clementines, blueberries or raspberries. 
It adds a few calories, but a few walnuts that have been browned with a little butter and maple syrup is yummy!</p>
<p>Worked out REALLY hard this morning since I won’t be at the gym tomorrow. Did 70 minutes on the bike and then 45 on the dreadmill. Am tired but a good tired! Made a huge breakfast with roasted veggies, egg whites, and multigrain english muffin. Had a fiber bar before I worked out. Drank two big bottles of water while working out. Hoping to have a good weekend!</p>
<p>I use berries in my salads a lot! I love apples with a good sharp cheddar or gouda. I can hardly wait for the Honeycrisp apples to at the stores!</p>
<p>This is really a continuation of the Apple thread where idad and I discussed the new iPod Nano. The previous generation (5) is tall and has a video camera, video player and voice recorder. The new one (6) is smaller, lighter and uses a multitouch interface instead of a clickwheel. They dropped the video features.</p>
<p>iDad didn’t like the clickwheel as you can have accidents with it when changing songs. I mentioned that the fifth-generation iPods support remote controls on headphones. The Apple Store carries three types of Sennheiser headsets with remote controls. Today I actually read the manual on how to go to the next/previous song using the remote. The remote allows you to change the volume, pause/resume and do prev/next/rewind song so this might be a good option if you want to change songs without having to look at the device.</p>
<p>Regarding the new iPod, I saw a picture of the nano attached to a wrist strap with the analog clock display on it. I’m not sure if the new nano has a clock display or not (could have been photoshopped). But there are people that wear it on their wrist like a watch. They plug a bluetooth transmitter to it (these are pretty small) and use a wireless bluetooth headset. People in the gym are usually quite confused as they can see the headset but no music player/transmitter.</p>
<p>I took out my MotoROKR S9 HD (wireless bluetooth headset) and it’s charging right now. I stopped using it when the up-volume control stopped working. I’ve read that some people have had luck getting the buttons to work again by drying it out. I haven’t used it for a few months and am hoping that it works again with the time for drying. If that doesn’t work, then I’m considering looking for an application that will increase the sound level for my song library. iTunes already levels out the volume for all songs so I’m hoping that I could use the wireless headset without volume controls. Alternately, I could try using our second generation iPod Touch to drive the wireless headphones when the OS upgrade comes out (it will have volume controls for bluetooth headsets). This tech stuff for running is a pain - so many products don’t really work.</p>
<p>Yesterday I had five sandwiches, some veggie tempura and my daughter bought this large bag of Lays Wavy chips …</p>
<p>So I know what carbo loading is now.</p>
<p>Ran eight miles today for a total of 27 this week. Normally I start to get a little tired at four miles and then hungry around 4.5 to 5 miles. I’m usually moderately tired by 6 miles. Today I felt fine at 6 miles and then fine at 7 miles and started to get hungry at 7.5 miles. It felt relatively easy doing 8 miles and I probably could have gone on but for the twinge in my right knee. The cardio system is always ahead of the skeletal system in what it can handle.</p>
<p>So I guess that I’m good with carbs. They apparently give you a ton of stored energy, good for the next day (I guess that’s why marathoners eat spaghetti dinners the night before the race). So my opinion on low carb diets has been taken down a notch if you need the energy for working out.</p>
<p>I also got the volume buttons back to working on the wireless headset. Unfortunately I didn’t have my Bluetooth transceiver with me. I may try that setup tomorrow. I like going wireless.</p>
<p>I’ve only run eight miles a few times in my life before back in my 30s. My knees deteriorated quite quickly after that. I was a lot lighter back then too. The difference right now is that I’m running a lot more slowly today.</p>
<p>Edit: dropped 1.5 pounds for the week down to 206. Looking forward to breaking 200.</p>
<p>iPod workout today. Cranked up the reps a little bit on the weights and pushups. Did both sets of Airdyne intervals at 70+ rpms. Breathing hard, heart rate about 90%. Good hard workout after a day off yesterday (my first break after 10 straight days. Two workouts this weekend and then Monday and Tuesday off as I prepare for and get the dreaded colonoscopy. I don’t think iPod workouts, liquid diet, and massive doses of laxatives would go together very well…</p>