crisn

More Than Just Physical

What the mind can conceive, the body can achieve. It’s a twist to a quote by someone named Napoleon Hill (if Google is to be trusted) which everyone might have heard or read already. Such is cryptic however or sounds cliche, even irrelevant for anyone who hasn’t realized that at some point it has happened to them.

This concept became apparent when I started going to the gym. Like most noobs, I went to the gym without understanding fully what it takes to be there. I first set foot in a gym at Intel just because it’s free, cold, and equipment are mostly top of the line. I was there thinking I would lift whatever my physical strength allows me. If I cant, I won’t, I’ll just call it a day.

Few years later, I became more focused on strength training when we first learned about Marcus’ condition. It was something that we need to be prepared of, physically in one aspect. So I went back to the gym again. This time I paid some attention to my nutrition. I eat rice before each session and it was key to lifting relatively heavier weights. But other guys I see can do more.

I was back to the drawing board. Then I saw on YouTube about the mental aspect of lifting. It got me interested and excited. The last gym I had was few meters from our old home so I would time my visits when there are less patrons. I worked out noon time while Marcus is in school or after I have dropped him off. I gradually worked my way up the dumbbells and few sessions later reached the heaviest weights of the rack. True enough, I soon see myself bench pressing two 50-lb dumbbells. It gave me confidence to workout even when the gym is packed.

I haven’t gotten back to the gym for years but thanks to this free Kindle book by Dan Kavadlo, I continue to do my bodyweight workouts at home. Running too is now part of my training plan.

Time and again my body would make up alibi to stay sedentary. “It’s a weekend”, ” it’s cold outside”, “Netflix is calling”, ” bed is better”, and so many other temptations to stay put. Maybe it’s the body’s instinct to preserve itself from stress which is when it becomes more mental than physical. It pays to listen to your body but not all the time. You should know better.

Sometimes when the body says dizzy, you say 5K. That’s just what I did today. Same story as before. And guess what? In this dizzy state I broke my personal time. I’m now two minutes away from my sub 30 goal. See.

The leg says run, the mind thinks pizza!

***

Here’s a confession. I haven’t heard Sunday mass for a long time–me and Marcus. But this doesn’t mean I have become less(er) pious. In fact, it is when I workout and run that I pray more sincerely than when I’m in church. In training, I’m alone, focused, no annoying churchgoers, no distracting females who continue to play dumb by defying the church’s dress code. Oopps. Sorry Lord, my bad.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Getting gloomy, so it seems like ditching the Hot Air Balloon show was a good idea.)

Hot, Hot, Hot

Social media has all sorts of challenges. Anything under the sun, name it, it’s there. Most annoying lately is where people eat Tide pods. But I pick my battles and so far I have I tried doing a few. The last challenge I’ve been raring to take is this SamYang noodles challenge that trended few months back.

I always like watching people doing eating challenges–again, except stupid non-food feats. So when my wife asked if I could take the SamYang, I raised an eyebrow to make an arrogant statement. Definitely, I can do it.

Today, lunch was SamYang 2X. The noodles brand have ratings and what I had was half the one seen on viral videos. No sweat, I thought. One serving is 140 grams of spicy noodle that appears very similar to ordinary spicy noodles like chicken yakisoba or pancit canton only that SamYang has a more reddish color that seems to serve as a visual warning.

The first couple of bites were fine. But the spicy taste picks up in the succeeding intake, getting worse even before I reached halfway of my plate. Damn, it was hot. Wifey had a video of me eating SamYang and I’d pay her not to release it. I scrambled for two glasses of milk so I could continue until I finished everything.

Just imagine how the infamous 4X tastes. It must be super really hot but I’m up for it…maybe weeks from now as I try to neutralize the effect of a 500-calorie SamYang 2X and while I recover my dignity for crying over a spicy noodle.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (I cleaned my plate, FYI.)

Bite-Size Happiness

It’s hard to measure happiness more so identify where it comes from or what really triggers it. Everyone’s stimuli just differ from the others. Happiness could also stem from unexpected sources.

Believe it or not, mine came after a bite from a burger. Well, two bites to be exact.

According to wifey the last time we had a burger was in 8 Cuts Megamall way back in November. That burger wasn’t really expensive so price was not the reason we’ve been burger sober for that long. What deters me though from buying and eating anything that would be detrimental to my daily calorie goal was my ongoing MyFitnessPal entry. That strict. I rarely had cheat days but one happened yesterday.

Spaghetti for Marcus. I usually end up eating the meatballs.

I took Marcus out to see the world outside his Minecraft and Xbox games. He said he wants to visit his kois in Nuvali so we did it after lunch. It was a quick stroll and was on our way home before 4 PM. We brought home a Burger King Whopper Jr. for his mommy.

As I secretly ~~wished~~ anticipated, wifey shared the small burger. What I didn’t expect that such small portion would make my day. If my expertise serves me right I barely had 50g but it was like I’ve eaten a whole Whopper burger with its flavor overwhelming my taste buds. It was almost euphoria.

This doesn’t mean I’d be driving thru that Burger King again soon. MyFitnessPal shows the junior burger is 340 calories with 510mg sodium and that is something I avoid. But maybe yes I would heed wifey’s advise to have my cheat days at least once a month. I heard lately she mentioned Japanese buffet…

***

Mood:2/10 Honks! (Oatmeal for breakfast, please.)

I, Runner

“However you run, as long as you run, you are a runner.” Words of wisdom from an online article but whether the writer behind it was just meeting word count quota or an avid runner who knows what (s)he’s really talking about, I would like to believe that I deserve the title now. Even just for a day.

This morning I conquered what I’ve been preparing for. I’ve been running several 10Ks lately as tracked by my Garmin but haven’t joined any organized event to test myself how I would perform against others. So when I learned last December about Run 711 2018 I willingly let go of my precious 700 pesos to register.

A week of preparation, diet, cross-training, and mind conditioning paid off. The day prior to the race was most critical as I followed my plan based on tips I’ve read. I had carbo intake (thanks to wifey’s tuna pasta), performed light bodyweight exercises, and drank just enough coffee. I missed my weekend Fail Army viewing session with Marcus as I hit the sack earlier than usual.

I was in Alabang about an hour before the start of the race. Early morning was cold and I was a bit dizzy but the moment I heard go at 4:45 I ran along with the pack and surprisingly picked up the pace. My Vivoactive HR shows 1 hour 7 minutes when I crossed the finish line–a minute less than my fastest record on Garmin Connect. It made me feel like the race winner.

***

I am about to conclude that Run 711 is more organized than the Nat Geo Earth Day Run I attended seven years ago–yes, seven. Well, almost organized not until I realized that I was supposed to have a finisher shirt and a finisher medal. Pictures online and the race packet show that all finishers get one. All I got was a free paper fan, a Red Bull, and a Pocari Sweat. I bet the medal’s plastic anyway.

I didn’t have any picture except for this race tracker.

***

Official race time isn’t available as of this writing. Already had my Sunday nap but myruntime.com/connect still does not show my result. Nat Geo Run had its race result faster. By the way, I finished my Earth Day Run 5K after 41 minutes but I now cover 5K at an average of 32 minutes. Next goals: sub 30 5K and sub 1 10K.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Heartbreaking news and overeating.)

Bye Fat Wedding Ring

I recently read an article about someone trying to avoid taking sugar for a month and I immediately thought it isn’t a feat I would succeed at. An honest assessment. It was another challenge worth checking though. With the 711 run closing in I had my mind set to cut on more sources of sweets to lose a couple weight further this week.

So far I have resisted opening the packets of Swiss Miss that’s been staring at me every time I open my workstation drawer but that’s all about it. I have a sweet tooth and can’t imagine completely letting go of sweet treats. Me regularly digging in on the Kirkland candy jar for dessert just cannot be stopped–for now. But the fat loss seems to continue. Take note, fat loss.

My weight have been stable despite my caloric deficit diet. If the fitness articles I’ve read are correct, then there’s a good explanation for my current weight plateau. Some studies show that the intake of supplements and recovery food that follow after every workout is part of the reasons that there won’t be any movement in the weighing scale. During recovery the body absorbs fluids to help heal the stressed muscles that result to muscle growth one way or another. Makes perfect sense.

Will have the right ring size moving forward.

My current diet has one obvious effect, however. My wedding ring has loosened further. I’ve been wearing mine on my middle finger for years and even that can no longer hold it in place. If I don’t pay extra attention it’ll fall off down the washroom drain. Placing the ring on my thumb is an option but would look weird. So I’m letting go of it until I either have it adjusted or replaced. Today I will be using my wife’s ring with my name on it as she stays at home most of the time anyway. Nineteen years later, a wedding ring will be on the right finger.

***

On rare occasions our son steps out of the house at night. Tonight is one of those as we keep watch of the transition from blue to blood moon. Dear clouds, please don’t fail Marcus.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Survived mood swings. Must be the blue blood moon.)

Ten Years, 10K

WordPress says my blog turns 10 this month. Must be the domain marcuscanblog.com itself but actually I’m not so sure. Why? Two things do not add up. Firstly, my archive dates back 2006 while Marcus arrived November 2008. Either way I accept the nice achievement badge.

***

Run711.com now shows the respective routes of next week’s race. Personally, race is a strong word though in a sense may be correct if by racing it means beating nobody’s record but my own. We’ll see. Here’s the road to my first official 10K.

***

Mood: 5/10 Honks! (No run weather.)

Run the Talk

The time to run the talk is closing in. Last night I got my race kit and I’m excited seeing myself crossing the finish line. Last time I joined an official event was the NatGeo Earth Day run about ~~four~~ seven years ago and that was for a 5K distance. This year I’m in for my first 10K race.

Some bit of a challenge though as it looks like I have to cut more weight as singlet is a bit tight. The past days I was in the midst of free pizza and pasta served during a two-day planning session but I was able to resist the urge to eat. I took some bites just so I don’t appear as a snob.

Surprisingly I lost about two more pounds during this period. The absence of taking Swiss Miss and bananas must have helped plus me sneaking out to answer the call of my Garmin to move.

Race is on February 4 and start time is at 4 AM. Fingers and blackened toenails crossed.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Marcus’ first therapy this year. Last one was before Christmas.)

Daylight Runs

I seem to start liking the idea of running when and while the sun is up. For almost a year I have preferred doing my runs very early morning while it’s still dark and cold outside and when there are still few curious onlookers along the way. The lesser people, the better was among my motivations.

Things have changed lately however. I began to realize that I couldn’t take vitamin D supplements forever to compensate the lack of exposure to sunlight. My wife seems to have also accepted that we can’t wake Marcus up early to attend Sunday mass (and expect neither me nor him not to be grumpy in the church) thus leaving her doing it on our behalf. She goes to church, I stay in bed and look after Marcus until he wakes up. So there goes my dark weekend runs.

Besides dealing with more people, pros of running in daylight does outweigh its cons. Visibility for one is a big plus. I now have lesser chances of stepping into animal poop, tripping over invisible potholes and uneven road segments, getting side swiped by sleepy/drunk drivers, and being chased and bitten by rabid stray dogs just to name a few.

More running options have also become available. Like this morning my wish to try going uphill close to the foot of Mt. Makiling materialized. I soon discovered that it was tougher than I first thought. Few months ago I was with Marcus pushing him in his wheelchair but it was more of a leisurely walk. This time I was running, albeit stopping every now and then, and I had my nose flaring, my throat drying up halfway of my run.

How high did I get? Well, my Garmin says that in about 15 minutes I achieved the equivalent of 26 floors. On average, I do 10 floors a day spread over 8 hours.

Going downhill also posed another challenge. If I were on a bike would have been all fun but running was different. I stayed focused and controlled my strides so that I don’t become the old version of Jack ‘n Jill. It was tempting to go fast but it would have been a stupid idea. Nursing a fresh black toenail didn’t help either as the negative slope means that I need to land on the ball of my feet thus putting more pressure on my toes.

This new route was short yet not easy. But would I do it again? Definitely. As the the mantra goes “Know the whys so that you could endure the hows.” Next time again Makiling once the sun is up.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Ready for work?!)

Black Toenails

Ugly. That’s for sure the answer if you ask most people how they find black toenails. I had the same impression myself, of course, until I populated my social media feed this year with more stuffs about running (and fitness).

I read from several articles that black toenails would normally occur, at some point, to those who run. Either due to bad sneakers, bad fall, bad form, fungus included (ok, this is gross) or due to longer runs. It just could happen.

Last December I registered for my first run in 2018 but no thanks to a bad bug that made its way past our door (despite our extra consciousness not to expose Marcus to the common flu) I had to lay off practice runs while I and Marcus spent our last week of the year blowing our noses. This month, my patience paid off and a week ago I saw myself in running form once more. I made 10K on my first run against strong cold winds especially originating from Mt. Makiling.

This weekend was warm and run started as a struggle. All of a sudden I would rather have either strong headwind or tailwind regardless of drag. But I picked up the pace and soon I was looking at my Garmin showing another 10K finished in an hour and some minutes. Not bad except for one thing. Toes hurt.

Removing my running shoes confirmed my suspicion. A black toenail–runner’s woe . I wasn’t alarmed though. In fact, its sight got me excited–I’m becoming weirder, am I? I might, however, need to minimize wearing flip flops in public in the next few days unless I want to wear it proud like a trophy as I’ve read other runners would do. Cheers to black toenails, yes?

***

A year ago was when I started running outdoors with a Garmin Vivoactive HR. I racked up 5K on my first day even if I was about 160 lbs fresh from vacation. I credit my endurance to the regular treadmill sessions which usually happened after we raid my sister’s pantry. I’m now 135, FYI.

Only gym I’ve used that needs a room heater.

***

How do you become better at running? You run more. Writing? You write more.

Now let’s see if the time I set aside my regular Netflix session so I could write would see itself posted on WordPress.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (My turn to watch after Marcus in his room. Air-conditioning is extra perk.)

Test Post

Ten years. It doesn’t drive like so but mileage and bodywork confirm it has seen better days. Yup, the car I never thought would be with us past five years is now ten years old and counting.

So today it deserves some sort of pampering. I’ve learned to DIY it in the last two years but today it goes to the nearest car dealership for maintenance. Honda Cars Calamba was surprisingly comfy than the last time I was here. Besides free coffee and free test drive, the place has free Wi-Fi. No big deal but this is when I confirmed what WordPress replied on my desperate tweet–our ISP could indeed be blocking WordPress.com.

I can see the technician is almost done with my car so I’ll have this test post count as this year’s first. Let’s see if my car’s pic would appear.

Just kidding. That’s one of the displays. I got tired after two episodes of Stranger Things and checked out some of the brand new cars. That one is a Civic Type R.

***

Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Found a new route with the test drive.)