MOfWC, call it carbo load before a long weekend run. 
Sorry to hear about everyoneās bad weather. The weekend is shaping up nicely here in my neck of the woods. The plan is to hit the trail for at least a little bit and donāt end up at one of the watering holes en route home.
Itās been an interesting month or so of strength training. First, I developed a bicep tendon impingement and rotator cuff overuse injury, probably caused by some of the leveraged shoulder movements in my parallettes training combined with the assisted handstand presses I was doing to build specific strength for the parallettes bent arm shoulder stands. So it was off to PT. Things have progressed well and tonight I did 5 rounds without pain of the complete parallettes flow Iāve been building towards which included lots of offset push-ups to oblique planks and L-sits to shoulder stands and straddles. My strength for these specific skills is still not where it needs to be to have the form I want, but doing it pain free is a major plus. As soon as Iām fully cleared, I will resume the specific strength training I need for these movements.
After each of my parallettes workouts, Iāve also been doing a supplemental workout consisting of weighted chin ups, weighted dips, TRX or dumbbell/barbell curls, fully suspended TRX push-ups and either deadlifts or dumbbell front squats. While Iām generally not an advocate of supplements, after a lot of research, I decided to experiment with Creatine monohydrate to see whether it would facilitate building more lean muscle tissue and strength. Creatine is naturally produced by the body and is a critical component to the musclesā phosphogenic energy system. It enables the mitochondria to replace ATP as it is expended and to convert ADP to ATP through the Krebs cycle. When engaging in muscularly intense exercise, the musclesā store of Creatine gets depleted and is often not sufficiently replenished through the bodyās natural production. Creatine has been peer review studied for about 30 years and has been determined to be totally safe and effective. It basically does two things. It increases the availability of ATP to be used in the phosphogenic energy system with the result that you can increase the exercise load you are doing. It also increases water retention and absorption of the muscles resulting in an increase in muscle fiber size and strength. Iāve been taking the Creatine for 2 weeks now (a week of āloadingā by consuming 20 gms/day and a week of maintenance of 5 gms/day). Interestingly, Iāve increased the weight for my weighted chin ups and dips by 25% and have increased the weight of my deadlifts by 10%. It will be very interesting to see what the outcome is after 30 days. The best thing is that if I decide to discontinue the Creatine, all of the studies show that while muscle size may decrease because of a reduction in water retention, there is very little, if any, regression in strength. Time will tell.
MK, your knowledge base is incredible - and right, no formal medical education???
abasket, yeah unfortunately I am very well aware of the side effects. Itās a chemo. My doctor has been very explicit with me about what it would entail.
Itās a last resort 
Hang in there Romani. You have got such resilience and a positive attitude in dealing with all this crap.
abasket, no formal medical education.
Romani, medicine is very empirical. It can be very, very frustrating when you are the subject of this ongoing experiment! Hugs. Hang in there.
Well, dumb me. I asked for my new shoes to be shipped to my house. They were shipped out of the Seattle store - duh, I was getting on the bus just a mile away, and the evening was gorgeous. Shoulda walked and picked them up!
My Fitbit thinks 5 miles equals 11,800 of my steps. Well, this is a new daily goal then. I got home late today and could not get any meaningful running in, but I took my new Vanquish 2 shoes for a short spin in the dark. They are very, very cushy. Size 9.5 was just right. One observation is that the heel area felt somewhat narrow. Not a big deal for me, but for someone with a wider heel it could be an issue, so there is that.
Impressed, Michael.
Has anyone caught any of the gymnastic championships on TV? I assume they are qualifiers for the summer Olympics. Anyway, whenever I see the guys on the parallel bars I think of Michael. Whereās the YouTubevideo??
Haha, those guys are my inspiration. Body weight strength and skill training extraordinaire!
Raises interesting questions and perspectives though - do you train for absolute strength (power lifters, Olympic lifters, weight lifting in general based on achieve an objective weight on a lift) or relative strength (body weight based, more functional movement training). Or take a bit of the best of both worlds (which is kind of what Iām doing with my present routine). It will be very interesting, once I can workout outside on my playground, to compared the stuff Iām presently doing with the weight vest to the types of body weight progressions I will attempt in working towards 1 arm push-ups, 1 arm chin and pull ups, full unassisted handstand presses, rings work. Itās funny, I havenāt done a single bench press in more than 6 months and am missing it less and less the more I get into functional movement chest work both body weight and enhanced body weight (using weights as additional external resistance).
Wow, four pages of new comments to read this morning - thatāll teach me not to check in for a day!.
Romani - I had a cortisone injection in my shoulder last year & it was tender for a day or two. It took one-two weeks for it to fully kick in, but oh what a relief when it did!
Heading out for an 8-mile group run this morning. Iāve been in a bit of a slump lately - work stress & a bit of personal stress as well. I find myself wanting to sleep a ton, but unable to really sleep deeply, at least until itās almost time to get up. Todayās run will lift my mood, as it always does. Have a good & tiring day everyone!
Great write up, Michael. You are doing so well with your program.
Michael - any thoughts of the benefits a runner might gain from creatine? Iāve started to drink a protein shake after running or cycling and was wondering if adding creatine might be beneficial? Speed is more important to me at this point than any weight gain from potential increased muscle mass. Donāt want the weight gain but Iāll take if if I get faster.
There are different corticosteroids. One time I got a shot and was in terrible pain for the next couple of days and no relief from the original problem. So the doctor gave me a different one and bingo. Now I know to ask for Kenalog because that is what works for me.
Ohio, as a general matter, Creatine does not provide direct performance enhancements for endurance athletes. So, if you run a marathon after loading Creatine for a week and being on a maintenance dose for a few weeks, you probably wonāt perform any differently. However, Creatine can be of benefit to runners who are sprinters or who otherwise engage in track events where shorter duration explosive power and strength are a priority. Therein lies some nuanced analysis in which I think the jury is still out.
There are some studies and schools of thought as follows. High intensity interval training should be part of even an endurance athleteās training regimen to become a stronger and faster distance runner. Creatine can enhance your ability to produce energy for high intensity intervals thereby increasing the quality of those intervals. The higher the quality of those intervals, the more power you are able to produce, the more it benefits your performance in endurance events. Therefore Creatine can indirectly enhance your endurance performance if you are including the right kind of high intensity training in your overall training regimen. Thereās a fair amount of anecdotal support for this and some studies that suggest this may be a valid conclusion, but as a general matter, the conventional wisdom is that Creatine is more effective for training where you need muscular strength and power.
However, because Creatine supplementation has been convulsively demonstrated to be safe with no real side effects beyond feeling bloated and maybe gassy in the loading phase, if you feel motivated to try it, thereās no reason not to. Worst comes to worse, you will conclude that it does nothing for you, you will discontinue it and within a matter of days your Creatine levels will return to those that your body maintains without supplementation and with no lingering side effects. If you decide to use Creatine, get Creatine monohydrate that is made with branded Creapure (a certified clean and unadulterated manufactured Creatine) and if possible which is also micronized (smaller, multi-sided particles that reduce or eliminate feeling bloated and which enhance absorption). Donāt waste your money on fancy Hitech versions of Creatine. Study after study conclusively show that none of the āfancierā and pricey versions of Creatine are any better than plain old Creatine monohydrate.
It is a beautiful day out there now - but at 5:30 it was a cold rain! Fortunately the rain stopped shortly after we started running so I had a short but enjoyable 6 mile run with a few of my favorite friends. Followed that up with a TRX class which was fun, but tough to do after running some hills. One thing I struggle with is transitioning quickly between exercises with the TRX - some of us geezers take a little longer to get situated. Hopefully the more I do it the more adept Iāll get.
Michael, you are absolutely incredible! But I am sure you hear that all the time. It absolutely amazes me to read your workouts - thanks for sharing your knowledge.
@GertrudeMcFuzz - hope things get better! I think more than one of us have been there.
@BunsenBurner - thanks for the shoe info. My heel is pretty narrow, so I donāt think Iāll have a problem. I usually struggle with the shoe slipping around that area. Is a 9.5 your normal size in Hokas or do you size up/down in other brands? Hope you have a good run today!
Terrific run this morning! We were running North along the coast, while a group of Ragnar runners was coming South. Most of them seemed pretty happy, a few looked pretty done in. Has anyone done a Ragnar race? It was fun to see all the decorated vans & the general party atmosphere.
Now relaxing with some coffee, toast with mashed avocado & cantaloupe slices. Aaahhh!
I had a good 18 mile run this morning. I got an early start because the forecast was not looking good as the day goes on. Sure enough, the winds really picked up. I was glad I planned my route such that I was running with the wind at my back in the last few miles. Itās really windy now - 30 mph and they say we may have 50 mph gusts this afternoon. I am feeling pretty good now about the marathon that is 2 weeks from today. On to the taper!
Gertrude - I am glad you had a good run this morning, it sounds as if you needed it. I hope you sleep well tonight and that the work stress eases up.
abasket - wow, thatās a lot of painting, and a lot of detail work with all that trim. Great work!
BunsenBurner - thanks for the info on your new Hokas. I am still waiting patiently for them to come out with wide widths. My shoe size is 7 so I canāt wear menās shoes as they donāt come that small.
Ah, sabaray, you make me blush, lol :). For me, like many others on this forum, itās all about the fun, joy and challenge of trying new things, testing my boundaries, exploring what ifs, discovering new things I can do (and often things I cannot, haha). I know so many people for whom exercise is drudgery they endure because they want to lose weight or ālook goodā. And yes, I too am driven in part by these extrinsic motivators, but what really keeps me going is the intrinsic enjoyment and exhilaration of just moving and using my body in new ways, of discovering more about myself. I may not ever be the strongest or most accomplished at any of this that I do, I probably wonāt achieve many of the goals I set for myself, but boy Iām I having fun as I age! As I say to my wife, my body is my play toy - which could trigger a whole other discussion but I think this is the wrong forum for that 
I know a lot of people who have done Ragnar and other relays and they love it. Iām not interested in losing a night or two of sleep and being in a van with a bunch of sweaty people. I think Iām too old and set in my ways or something! Also- some of the nighttime legs can be a little creepy. People swear itās the most fun in the world, though!
Good job on the morning runs, folks. C3B- I think you are ready! sabaray- good job starting in the rain. Gertrude- sigh. I want to be there.
9.5 nice miles. Pretty breezy but I was mainly protected. I looked like an Oiselle photo shoot, except, well, it was ME! 
Oiselle tights, 3/4 sleeve shirt and light weight zip up tech hoodie. Very stylinā! Got in extra steps mid-day at an event where a neat horse arena has been built in our town at an awesome horse park/events venue and our company provided the $$$ and has the naming rights. It was a pretty day for it (except for the wind) and we saw some incredible walking horses and donkeys. I also shoveled down some Kettle Corn and a hotdog. My CEO asked me if I was going to then go run a marathon. I said I already did my miles, so I could eat!
New fashion trend among runners and others. Stance Run Fusion socks. The Stance socks are incredibly cute (men and womenās styles) and have skus for casual wear and running. The Run Fusion crew (higher than ankle) are being worn with capris or shorts instead of the āhiddenā socks like we are used to wearing. The patterns are fun and the socks are excellent quality. Not cheap. The different models are a little confusing. For running itās important to make sure you get the Run Fusion. They also make higher socks and hidden socks.
Awesome running etc. everyone!
I got sidetracked with a request for a project and spent my precious morning doing that. Off for a neighborhood run I go!