Race Plans

My race plans are somewhat more concrete this morning. I lost 3 pounds at my TOPS meeting last night. This morning I found out that they are definitely having the IKEA Montour Trail Half-Marathon on Sept. 6. You have till Sept. 2 to get the pre-registration rate of $28. I feel that is a very generous time limit and very cheap for a half-marathon. If you show up at the last minute, it costs $35, which is still cheap. If I would preregister and be unable to do it, the Montour Trail, which I use for free almost every day anyway, would get the money. So I am going to plan to do this race. I also have an opportunity to walk the Philadelphia Marathon with Prevention Magazine. This would be rather expensive, but I am going to keep it on the back burner, and if I'm motivated after the half-marathon, I may do it. I still hope to run the Pittsburgh Marathon on 5/3/2009. Oh, by the way, I jogged about 4 1/2 miles yesterday--you guessed it--on the Montour Trail.

Dieting 2

Lots of times people go to a weight loss group or system, set a goal, get weighed weekly, enjoy losing the weight, and then reach their goal. Usually, they gain back the weight because they have not dieted with a realistic idea of the maintenance involved. A person may have to consider the speed at which they can diet in order to get the proper maintenance plans in place. In early 2006, I gained a lot of weight quickly due to stress. Prior to that, I had been able to maintain myself in fairly good shape by jogging. The stress caused me to stop exercising and eat a lot of fattening and unhealthy food. I had to do something because I got high blood pressure and was starting to have some disabilities. The way I have dealt with weight loss is to realize I can't do it all at once. I had to take control a little at a time. It's been a little over a year since I got started.

I started by dieting. Another thing I started doing immediately was taking a weekly hike at Laurel Summit, which goes from about 2700-2900 feet. The highest point I've been at on the summit is 2930. The people in my life had to understand that I could no longer eat fattening food with them and that I could not go to restaurants very often. People had to understand that basically I had to prepare my own food and that there wouldn't be a lot of opportunity anymore for sharing food with others. People also had to accept my absence during the hikes unless they wanted to join me. I realized I could not start whole hog on the diet, a major high-intensity exercise program, and the like all at once. I had a demanding job and I just didn't want to suddenly cut everyone out of my life. When my roommate would get frustrated with me, I had to explain that I was becoming disabled, and that it was going to be much more unpleasant living with a disabled person who couldn't do much than for me to change my lifestyle.

One reason I have the opinions I express on dieting is that I am finding out how complicated lifestyle change is. It takes time to work on all these things. There were a number of things I just basically could no longer eat. If I ate one during the week, I might eat another one, and I might eat one of something else and then I would lose no weight or I would gain weight. I had to experiment a lot also. I started out eating Weight Watchers Smart Ones quite a bit, which can become very boring, especially for a vegetarian. But I needed the total control at first. Then I started experimenting with whole grains and beans and trying to cook things from scratch. It has worked for the most part, but I've had to learn a lot about portion size and measuring things. I still experiment, but there are still many foods over the months that I have found I really can't eat anymore on a regular basis. I finally am to the point now where I can work harder on putting together the rather large amount of exercise I am going to have to do to slim down and stay at that weight.

Dieting

As I stated in an earlier post, in order to maintain weight loss, the diet actually has to be the preparation for the permanent maintenance stage. Otherwise, the dieter will probably gain the weight back. The word "diet" has become unpopular, and it's more popular to talk about lifestyle change. But it is important to grasp the ramifications of that word. Real permanent lifestyle change that enables one to maintain weight loss requires major and constant effort. It will require considering many aspects of one's life.

As I said in my first post, weight maintenance typically requires 60-90 minutes of daily moderate-intensity physical activity while not exceeding calories expended. When a person begins a diet, he or she may not be capable of being physically active at that intensity even 60 minutes per day. In addition, the person may have to rearrange her lifestyle and manage time much differently to plan for that level of physical activity. All of this needs to be started as part of the "diet," which may give you a clue as to why lots of people like to call it "lifestyle change."

A person has to do quite a bit of reflecting to figure out how to become so much more physically active. For example, the person may be working a certain number of hours at a sedentary job but able to pay someone to mow the lawn, trim bushes, and do landscaping. During the diet, the person may be faced with terminating those agreements, arranging to work less, and arranging to do his own mowing and landscaping. A dieter may have used the income from a good job to buy a very nice TV and even maybe put in a family room to make a nice space to watch the TV. She will now have to face the fact that the fancy TV is part of her problem. Can the room be rearranged to accommodate exercise equipment?

A person may have formed a routine involving the internet. He may have formed relationships and enjoyable pasttimes on the internet. This may have to be seriously curtailed to spend the time at the gym instead.

Small changes can be reflected on and made, such as parking farther from the office and walking, taking stairs instead of elevators, staying away from vending machines. These small changes are helpful but they probably will not be enough to maintain permanent weight loss. More likely, the dieter will have to make major changes which will cause disruption and some emotional turmoil. All of this needs to be started and worked on during the diet.

Penguins

I am emotionally drained over the Penguins Stanley Cup Final series with the Red Wings. I did manage to get in a four-mile jog on the Montour Trail. I could not watch much of the third period of the game last night. Sidney Crosby had two goals. The Red Wings came within one goal in the third, and I had to turn it off until the end. I watched the Cubs and Dodgers instead! I watched it right at the end but was a wreck. I'm really done emotionally over the whole thing!

Choice and Weight

I have lived back in Pittsburgh since mid-1992. From mid-1970 to mid-1992, I lived in Boston, Lyon, France, Laguna Beach, and San Francisco. During all of this time, my weight was like a yo-yo. I went from very thin to very fat and back many times, staying in-between at times. That is much harder to do in Pittsburgh. What is the reason? The reason is choice. If you have choice, you can choose to be fat or thin easier. In Boston and California, there is a wide variety of choice in restaurants and food stores. You can choose to eat fattening food, but you can also choose to eat healthy food which keeps you thinner. It's up to you. As for France, that was a long time ago, but you didn't have all the fast food you have here, and you pretty much had to prepare your own food. When I lived in Boston and California, if I chose to pig out on things like pizza or Mexican food, I got fat. If I went to health food restaurants and stores, I got thin. Also, the laws were so much more progressive in Massachusetts and California. Employers were required to give you lunch breaks. When you got your lunch break, if you went out and got pizza, you got fat. If you went to a salad bar or health food place, you stayed thin.

In Pennsylvania, there are no laws requiring employers to give breaks, and it shows in people's waist lines. Lots of times, people depend on vending machines to keep from dropping during the long work days without breaks. There also is very little healthy food if you eat out. There are few health food stores. The grocery stores do have a health food section. But basically, you have to go to one section of town, the East End, to hit most of the health food stores. You can get quite a variety of unprocessed food in the Strip District, but it closes by 5 p.m., is not open Sundays, and there's no parking on Saturdays.

Pittsburgh is a great city to walk, and there is quite a consciousness about exercise here. However, with little access to healthy food and no will on the part of employers to give employees sufficient breaks and access to healthy food, it's showing up on the waistlines and poor health of its residents.

Set Point Theories

According to Scott Powers and Edward Howley in the Sixth Edition of Exercise Physiology, New York: McGraw Hill, 2007, pages 387-388, there are two set point theories of why a person tends to go back to a certain weight. One is the physiological model, in which the hypothalamus has a certain weight in mind for the individual and increases signals to eat when one starts to drift below that weight. Another is the cognitive set point theory. According to this theory, a person has an ideal body weight in mind. This ideal body weight is tied to one's perceptions about one's appearance, how one's clothing fits, the proper size of clothing, how physically active one is being, and the effect of weight on one's health. All of this plays into one's behavior regarding eating and exercise. I feel that the cognitive set point theory has a lot to do with people who are stuck in weight maintenance. People who are very weight conscious are subject to their minds operating constantly toward weight reduction behaviors. The problem is that, as I said, life intervenes, and they become distracted from this attention to weight loss behaviors. Also, some of them have competing behaviors which interfere with the constant attention to weight loss. In addition, this society does not make it easy to engage in weight loss behaviors. Therefore, even though their mind is constantly at work to engage in weight loss behaviors, the interference involved cancels their efforts out. This is why they don't continue to gain and become more and more obese. However, it is also why they can't reduce and maintain the ideal body weight in their mind.

Weight Maintenance v. Weight Loss Maintenance 2

I started with myself because I feel that I am a very non-extreme example of a person stuck in weight maintenance. I have found that more people maintain weight in a more extreme fashion, and I will start to provide some examples. I am non-extreme because I basically like eating a low-fat vegetarian diet, I like to jog, I like to lift weights, I like to be outdoors, and I like an active lifestyle. I am motivated to constantly do all these things, so I can't lose weight when life interferes with my routine. I'm the type of person who will eventually drag myself to the YMCA to use a treadmill and weight machines in the middle of winter. Most people don't always naturally enjoy the things that keep weight off, so they resort to more extreme measures to maintain their weight.

The first more extreme person I will discuss is my roommate, Kimberly. Kimberly is like me in that she likes to do a lot of things which keep weight off; however, she does them in a very extreme manner. Kimberly eats a lot. Her diet consists mostly of saturated fat, cholesterol, refined carbohydrates, and sugar. She has gotten a little better at adding some vegetables and fruits once in a while. Kimberly also hates winter. So every winter, she mopes around and eats her horrid diet. Soon she's gained 30 or 40 pounds. The doctors become somewhat concerned. They at least mention it to her, although they've seen her for many years and know her.

As soon as spring comes, Kimberly is outdoors constantly, for hours and days. She plants gardens, she landscapes, she cuts trees down, she mows, she builds things and remodels other things. She goes from dawn to dusk like this for months. Then the doctors really become concerned because she'll lose 20-30 pounds in a month! Soon she's lost 40 pounds. Kimberly is an example of a person with a more traditional American lifestyle who has her own way of maintaining weight.

Weight Maintenance v. Weight Loss Maintenance 1

There is a big difference between weight maintenance and weight loss maintenance. Many people are stuck in weight maintenance. I am one person with that problem. They cannot make the leap to reducing to a healthier weight or a weight that is personally desirable to them. It is much harder to maintain weight loss than to maintain weight. I will start to give tips on maintaining weight loss as I go along, but first, I need to discuss maintaining weight, because that is not a bad thing. That is much better than slowly gaining over the years. However, many people are stuck there and don't necessarily want to be stuck there.

I'll describe a number of ways you can be stuck there but will start with myself. I am basically a person who enjoys eating a healthy, low-fat vegetarian diet and likes to exercise. I like to lift weights and jog. I like to have an active lifestyle. I like to walk and hike, I like to carry logs around, I like to be outdoors, etc. Because I like and desire all of the above, I easily maintain weight. The problem I have losing weight is when life interferes with my normal routine. I can gain 20 or 30 pounds over severe stress. It comes off once the stress is relieved. Other things which interfere with my lifestyle are cold weather, having to travel long distances, stressful jobs or stressful school work, jobs where there is nowhere to get healthy food or where I'm not given a break to eat, trying to accommodate other people in my life who do not have the same habits as me. Because life constantly interferes with my routine, I can't take off the extra pounds and then try to keep them off.

I could go on a diet. I could do it myself, or I could go to Weight Watchers, or I could regularly attend my TOPS meeting. But if life keeps interfering with my routine, I won't keep the weight off from my dieting. I will gain it back, and then I will be back to maintaining a weight which is a little too high for me.

So I have come to the conclusion that it isn't very useful to diet until two basic conditions are met. First, I have to make a permanent commitment that I am willing to do what it takes to maintain a lower weight. Secondly, I have to develop the skills during the diet which will be used during maintenance.

Weight Loss Maintenance

If you pick up a college exercise physiology book, which I had to do this past semester, you are going to be told the daunting truth at some point in the book that to maintain weight loss, you need to exercise 60-90 minutes a day! Dieting and losing the weight and then maintaining the weight loss are two different things. If you told someone the first day of their diet they may have to live a lifestyle of 90 minutes exercise a day, they'd probably give up then and there. In the posts ahead, I will be discussing the intricacies of losing the weight and then keeping it permanently off. Stay tuned!

Animal Products

Since I don't have anything too exciting to report, I will discuss a conversation Kimberly and I had over the weekend. We were at my lot at Rector, PA and had built a fire. It was time for supper. Since I did not want to spend a lot of time there that day, I had brought Kamut sesame multi-grain crackers and cheese for supper. Kimberly was roasting several hot dogs over the fire. Kimberly stated that hot dogs were much healthier than they were in the past. Her hot dogs were pure beef hot dogs. So I asked her to read the nutrition label. One hot dog was 25% fat. It had 16 grams of fat. Seven grams were saturated fat. I pulled out my cheese and explained to her that her hot dogs weren't very healthy. Then I started reading the nutrition label from my cheese. I had 75% light Cabot cheddar cheese. I made a number of points from the label to contrast the cheese with her hot dogs.

1. Cabot is a company in Vermont which is concerned with producing healthy, high quality products.
2. This cheese, made with 1% milk, had 2.5 grams of fat per serving, as opposed to 16 for one hot dog.
3. The cheese contained 1.5 grams of saturated fat, as opposed to 7 for the hot dog.
4. The cheese contained only 10 mg of cholesterol. It's suggested you keep dietary cholesterol below 300 mg a day.
5. The cheese contained 200 mg of sodium, which is 8% of the RDA, which is not that bad.
6. The cheese contained 9 grams of protein per serving.
7. The cheese provided 20% of the RDA of calcium.
8. You don't have to drive miles to a health food store to find this cheese. Wal-Mart sells it.

I explained to Kimberly that if you're not going to be a vegan, this is probably one of the most healthy animal products you can add to your diet.

Penguins v. Red Wings

I didn't do much yesterday. We went to my lot in Rector for awhile. It was very peaceful and beautiful up there. Since I don't have much to report, I will take this opportunity to talk about the Stanley Cup Finals.

There is a lot of talk about the fact that the Penguins did not face the Red Wings this year and so the Pens and the fans here don't know much about the Red Wings. That is not the case with me. I watched the Red Wings a lot during the hockey season. They were often on Versus. I mainly watched them because I'm a big fan of Dominik Hasek. He didn't do great in the playoffs, so he was replaced with Osgood. I know who Zetterberg, Franzen, Duck Soup (?) - sorry I can't spell their names, Lily Ya (sic), Draper, etc. are. I'm no expert on the Red Wings, but I watched them a lot. I know more about them than if the Pens were playing the Stars, the Ducks, the Sharks, or anyone else who could have been the opponent. I actually attended a lot of Sharks games when I lived in San Francisco, but that was a long time ago. I'm not that familiar with their current team. But I am somewhat familiar with the Red Wings. So, just the fact that I pretty much know the team has kept me, to some extent, from being in some type of state of shock where I just don't know what hit me.

I learned something about the Red Wings during this playoff season, because I ended up watching them some during the playoffs. The Red Wings basically take an overwhelming lead against their opponents so that by the time their opponents begin to wear them down, it is too late. The Penguins have done the same thing. Each team had home advantage and used it. This time, the Penguins don't have home advantage, so the Red Wings are doing it to them. Even Hasek was part of this strategy. When he was dumped, he had gotten them off to an overwhelming lead, but he started blowing it, and he was replaced by Osgood. Osgood did the same thing Hasek did. He got them off to overwhelming leads and then started to blow it. But because he did not blow it as bad as Hasek, because others could be blamed, and because it probably wouldn't have looked good to make a second goaltender change back to the former goaltender who was pulled, they've stayed with Osgood.

We will not have a sense of the outcome of all this until game 3 on Wednesday night. If the Penguins win at home and make a strong showing, that it may just show that each team does better at home and they may have to duke it out 7 games. If the Red Wings do well at Mellon Arena, then the Penguins may not be able to bounce back enough to make a run at taking the series.

In any case, there is much we can learn from the Red Wings. The Red Wings have been a good team for a long time in spite of having low draft picks. In addition, the Red Wings, as we have learned this playoff season, have remained a good team in spite of low fan enthusiasm. The Penguins are good for an entirely different reason. The Penguins are good because they were very bad for many years and were lucky enough to get high draft picks when the best draft picks were available. So the Penguins are very good now because very young dudes who are the most talented players available in the draft in recent history are very good right away. Ray Shero was very smart in getting Hossa and trying for the cup this year before some of these very good young players go off to other teams. In addition, the Penguins DO have enthusiastic fans, and they are getting a new arena. So if the Penguins don't beat the Red Wings this year, we can learn from them about how to keep a good team for years to come even when we do not continue to have high draft picks.

We are very lucky that we do have young players that we acquired through very lucky draft picks. We have enthusiastic fans, and we are getting a new arena. We have much more than Detroit has. They have been able to get where they are without the benefit of what we have. So we are very lucky and we have a bright future.

Memorial Day

Yesterday I went to Round Hill Church, the church I grew up in, because I had made a contribution in memory of my mother, and they were honoring those contributions yesterday. I was really glad I went, because I saw a lot of people I knew, and I really enjoyed the service yesterday. The minister performed the sermon in a different way which I liked. He picked a very long Bible passage. Almost the entire sermon consisted of the congregation reading along with the passage. He would stop at various points to add some comments. He talked for a very short time after we were done with the passage. I felt this is a very good way to keep people's attention. I usually can't pay attention to the entire sermon when delivered in a traditional manner. This sermon involved the story of the apostle Stephen in Acts 6-8.

I was a bad girl, however. In this church, there is a silent prayer where you can lift up the names of anyone who needs your prayers. Usually, you are invited to say the name allowed if you wish the congregation to also pray for them, but yesterday, the minister only invited us to lift up the names silently, and I'm sure I know why. When he invited us to lift up the names silently of those who need our prayers, I immediately started to say to myself, "Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa, Marc-Andre Fleury." I'm sure the minister knew there were a lot of people in the congregation doing that!

Later, Kimberly and I went to my lot in Rector. I decided not to run or walk yesterday but to carry logs around for exercise. Kimberly cut up a bunch of trees which had fallen with a chain saw, so I got quite a bit of exercise carrying heavy logs around and stacking them. We had a very nice fire and are going back today.

May 25

Yesterday I started the hiking season at Laurel Summit. As I said yesterday, if I jog, I do not take walk breaks. If I can't go on, I will take a rest then resume jogging. I'll only walk if I can't go on physically. If I decide to walk, I do so ahead of time. I decided, since it was the beginning of hiking season, and it is still very wet, to do a road instead of a trail. I decided to do Edie Road from Laurel Summit. I didn't know the entire terrain, but since I was hiking down a mountain and back up, I didn't think jogging was a good idea, so I decided ahead of time this would be a walk. I have done Edie Road as far as Beam Run Road, and that portion is very steep. When I got up Linn Run Road past the Fish Run Trail access, it was a different climate. I finally pulled into the parking lot at Edie and Laurel Summit Road, about 2800 feet. I would say it was one month behind. It wasn't much cooler, but some of the trees were just starting to get leaves on them. The violets and dandelions are gone here, but the violets are in full bloom up there and the dandelions are just starting to bloom. The violets were gorgeous. They grow much bigger up there in great big clumps. They are more varied in color. There are violet ones, purple ones, lavendar ones, and such pale lavendar they are almost white. Edie Road is very steep. It leaves the Forbes State Forest after Beam Run Road. It's still all woods almost to the end. At the end, it comes out into a rural residential area in Somerset County, much like the area in Lambertsville near Shanksville where Flight 93 crashed. There are barns, houses, fields, horses. You get a beautiful view off into the valley and can see other mountains in the distance. I would say this area is still partway up the mountain. Edie Road ends up at a four-way crossroads, and the other roads have different names. A little brown dog came out from one of the houses and checked me out. He was afraid but let me pet him. He followed me to the crossroads and then back to the woods, then went home. Then I had to climb the mountain back to the car. I also fed the feral cat at Linn Run State Park cabins. It was hungry and very glad to see me.

I went back to the lot. Kimberly had mowed it and it was very beautiful. We built a fire and had supper. We left just before dark, because I wanted to see the Penguins, and Kimberly wanted to make sure she got the truck out. She had worked on the driveway. The Penguins were so awful, however, that I was sorry we hadn't stayed awhile. They lost 4-0 in game one of the Stanley Cup finals. Also, Kimberly wasn't too thrilled with the NASCAR race. The driver she loves to hate, Kyle Busch, won again.

May 24

Yesterday I jogged at Round Hill Park. I want to explain two rules before I get into my jog. One is that I am varying my routine so that I don't get bored. Secondly, as a rule, I do not take walk breaks. This is because I am training for a half-marathon and a marathon which I need to finish in a certain amount of time. If I get into the habit of taking walk breaks, I may not be able to finish these races in the time allotted. If I get to where I can't go on, I stop and rest, but then I resume jogging. I only walk if physically necessary. For example, right at the end of yesterday's jog, I was completely done and had to climb a hill back to my car, in which case I walked back.

Yesterday was a very physically demanding jog because Round Hill Park is extremely hilly, and the hills are long and steep. My first challenge was getting into the park because the ducks wouldn't move off the main road. I finally had to stop the car in the road, get out, and attempt to meet the ducks personally. Thanks to the ducks' fear of intimacy, they got off the road, and I got into the park. I also met three horses and their riders as well as two young deer during my jog.

I first did the main road in the park. Then I did a couple horse trails, which are beautiful! In the middle of the main horse trail, they have put in a picnic area. They have a fire ring stocked with fire wood, a garbage can, and benches around the fire ring. They have put in a picnic table. The only thing they don't have in there yet is a porta potty! Oh, and they don't have a traditional grill that you see in picnic areas, but the fire ring is great. Therefore, hikers or horse back riders can choose to have their picnic in this area which is quite a distance from the parking lot. I actually did not have to stop during my jog in spite of the very steep long hills, but I was done for at the end of it.

I was able to recover enough later to plant a whole row of potatoes. I had purchased two bags of fingerlings, including red, yellow, and purple. I let them sprout. Yesterday, I planted them and am looking forward to a large crop of them. I now have to get a bag of Yukon Gold and sprout them. Once they are planted, I'll have my entire potato crop for the year in. Kimberly has already planted the tomatoes and lemon cucumber, along with her corn, green beans, peas, and lima beans. I still want to plant one zucchini and one crook neck. Also, the parsley is already planted.

Last night I made a fire. Kimberly has fixed up the patio my dad put in. She put more stones and sand in it last year. As children, we had a picnic table up there. Now we have the fire pit, a bench, two Adirondack chairs and the bench my grandfather built. Kimberly put up two really nice torches my dad had bought. She got torch oil and got them going last night. It was really nice up there. She has everything cleaned out in the back of the yard and we can see way up into the field. We are probably going to build a sturdy picnic table with an umbrella so we can sit out there and look at the field. I can sit there to study. There is lots of shade up there.

I am studying Psych 101 this summer. This week we are studying social psychology. I really like it and may take a social psych course in the fall. I think it would help me to some extent with the issues I will have to deal with in my career, such as how people get into these unhealthy lifestyles and the challenges of getting them to modify their behavior once it becomes very threatening to their life and health.

The fire was still smoldering this morning so I got it going again and am going to cook more tofu in my Dutch over this morning. The last batch turned out great!

May 23

Yesterday was a busy day. I went to the Youghiogheny River Trail and jogged 5 miles. I parked across the river from Sutersville. I jogged one direction to Industry and then jogged back to Sutersville and the other direction up to Smithdale. Then I jogged back and jogged across the Sutersville bridge and back. The dairy queen type store seems to be doing a good business next to the trail. They were able to purchase all new picnic tables. It's a great place to sit and hang out and have some refreshments after or during use of the trail. There was no porta potty at Sutersville and I soon found out why. They have put a brand new high-tech outhouse on the trail at Blythedale. They have also refurbished the ballfield and playground. I met the guy who maintains the trail along that stretch. He says the outhouse was put in just two days ago and that they decided to put it there to benefit both the trail users and those who use the ballfield and playground. I jogged by a high waterfall where the water gushes over a bright orange cliff. At the bottom the water cascades into a bright orange pool. Across from it, they've put a bench. On weekends you often see foreigners on bike trips sitting there staring at it in awe.

After jogging, I stopped at Round Hill Cemetery. My parents grave looked really nice for Memorial Day. The veterans have put a brand new flag on my dad's grave.

Last night I went to my TOPS group. They had a demonstration on Shiseido facial massage and gave us instructions on how to do them. She showed pressure points for migraines. I watched that avidly since I get migraines. Pittsburgh TOPS is having an obesity march on June 17 at the Waterfront in Homestead. It will be 7 miles. It is in solidarity with a march in Washington, DC.

May 22

Yesterday I jogged four miles on the Montour Trail from the Clairton parking lot. I also started studying for my psychology course. I'm tired of the cool, rainy weather and ready for summer! Well, time to get going, get out jogging, and get ready for a busy day!

Geography Lesson

I goofed! Coraopolis, at the head of the Montour Trail, is on the Ohio, not the Monongahela, River. Clairton, the very end of the trail, is on the Monongahela. Clairton is just up the river from McKeesport, where the Youghiogheny River flows into the Monongahela. The Youghiogheny River Trail is another trail I use quite frequently. I walk there but will also be using it to train for marathons and half-marathons. Once the Yough flows into the Monongahela, it gets much wider. The Monongahela meets the Allegheny at Pittsburgh to form the Ohio. Peters Creek starts at Coraopolis and flows all around Pittsburgh to finally flow into the Monongahela at Clairton. The Montour Trail follows Peters Creek.

Wednesday, May 21

Yesterday was a busy day. I participated in a research study at UPMC. Then I went to the food coop for my tofu supply. I decided to get some quinoa-corn pasta to go with things like plantains, pinto beans, red beans, gallo pinto (a Nicaraguan dish composed of small red beans and rice), and the like. I also went to the Redd-Up campaign to dump off my recycling. Then I went down to CCAC to get my psychology book and visit my buddies down there, including my ex-boss, Ms. Pettway. Later I trained for the marathon by jogging three miles on the very last leg of the Montour Trail. It was just gorgeous! The parking lot at Clairton, PA, at the very end of the trail (which starts in Coraopolis), both on the Monongahela River, is better than the parking lot at Large. The Large parking lot is nice for commuters and is a nice fancy paved one, but it is not as trail-friendly as the gravel parking lot at Clairton. At Clairton they have a little landscaped area with three picnic tables and some benches to sit on. They have a little garden and then they have a very fancy porta-potty which flushes. It's nice and clean. It's very safe because a lot of people show up to use that portion of the trail. The trail is very well maintained. It is just a wonderful place to jog to train for races. I think I will train for a half-marathon in September which is on another portion of the Montour Trail. If that goes okay, I'll know I can probably do the Pittsburgh Marathon next May.

The corn-quinoa pasta turned out great. I came home and tried it out. It tastes tortillaish, and will be better to eat with Mexican and Central American food. I've noticed since I've started training for the marathon that I really crave carbs. I crave Gatorade and I find myself hovering around things like frozen waffles and pancakes at the grocery store. Of course, I will not neglect my weight training and my Spring Creek Tofu which fuels my muscle hypertrophy! There are 16 grams of protein a serving!

On the news, they were suggesting that any Penguin fans who are thinking of personally attending the Stanley Cup finals (who aren't among the 14,000 season ticket holders, that is), go to Detroit instead of the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh! They showed what it would cost for a non-season-ticket-holder to obtain tickets and go to a game at the Mellon Arena. Then, after talking to AAA about gas prices and hotel prices in Detroit, and finding out the price of tickets to go to the game in Detroit, they proved it is cheaper for a Pittsburgh fan to take either a sedan or SUV to Detroit and back, stay overnight in a hotel either close to or farther away from the arena, and obtain tickets in Detroit than to stay at home in Pittsburgh and get tickets for the game here!

Training for Marathon

Yesterday I jogged four miles to train for the Pittsburgh Marathon. I jogged three miles during the day on the last leg of the Montour Trail. I parked at the big commuter parking lot in Large, PA and jogged along Peters Creek. It was just beautiful! I didn't get all the way to Clairton, which is where the trail ends. It starts in Coraopolis, PA. I've been on that section too. It winds some 50 miles through all kinds of areas skirting Pittsburgh. I've done quite a bit of it. I particularly like the section around Cecil with the curved railroad tunnel. I did a 10K there once. The section from Large to Clairton is about 6 miles from my house. It's totally flat and really a shady, pleasant place. That section of the trail is paved. I've started out on mostly flat surfaces to just get my distance and speed up. Later, I jogged another mile around the house and used the one road near my house which is relatively flat. The Detroit Red Wings won the conference finals, so they will face our Penguins starting Saturday night in the last battle for the Stanley Cup. GO PENS!

Pittsburgh Marathon Scheduled for May 3, 2009

The Pittsburgh Marathon is now officially scheduled for May 3, 2009. Dick's Sporting Goods is the sponsor for three years. I have already begun training for it. This past weekend I was in class to receive my CPR certification. This is the last barrier to my studying for the ACE Personal Trainer Exam. I can now study for it and sign up to take the exam to get my certification. Time to get ready to go out and train for the marathon!

Training for Marathon

I started training for the Pittsburgh Marathon, which is supposed to definitely be back next May. My first session was mainly mental training. I went out jogging in very humid, sultry weather and so didn't get too far. Mainly I worked on my mind set. In the past few years, my jogging training has focused on getting up to six miles over extremely steep hills around my house without any food or water. I control the weather and can choose to go out depending on it. If I don't feel well physically, I also can choose not to go out. All of this has now radically changed. I have to train to get 26.2 miles in 6 hours in any kind of conditions no matter how I feel. I will have one hill to deal with, but it will be nothing compared to what I'm used to around the house. I will have access to Gatorade and will be monitored and around many other people who can intervene if I have problems. However, I may have to do this in any of a number of weather conditions.

The next day, I took off. I went up to Ligonier, got spring water, and hung around my lot in Rector. I did move some logs and branches around. It was beautiful up there, and three deer came onto the lot while I was there. The wild flowers were so pretty. Linn Run State Park is just beautiful at this time of year. I purposely got my water inside Grove Run Picnic Area instead of along the road so I could enjoy the peace and beauty inside the picnic area.

Yesterday, I got back to training. I went out in cooler, drizzly conditions in the morning for a short jog. I jogged later on the treadmill at the YMCA and also did one circuit. I did one set each lifting a bit heavier than usual. Then later that evening, I went out for another short jog in cool but dry conditions. Anyway, it's a start. Eleven and a half months and counting!

Wednesday, May 14

The Penguins went up 3 games to none over Philly last night. It looks like the Penguins are likely to face the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final. I am very excited, because I lived in San Francisco when the Penguins won their two Stanley Cups. I did get to go see the Penguins play the Sharks twice in 1992 at the Cow Palace, which helped, but it will be great to see them in the finals here at home while living in the Burgh.

I am doing an experiment. I am cooking tofu over a fire pit in a Dutch oven. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Pittsburgh Marathon Returns

Yesterday was my last final exam. It wasn't too bad. I'm relieved the semester is over. After leaving CCAC, I went to the food coop to get tofu and vegetables and then took my recycling over to the Redd Up campaign. Last night on the news Mayor Ravestahl said that the Pittsburgh Marathon will definitely return next May. I am going to start training for it today. I have done two half-marathons but have never done a marathon. I did well enough in the half-marathon that I could train to do a marathon in a reasonable amount of time for someone my age. Last night Detroit went ahead three games to none. I was hoping that wouldn't happen. I was hoping they would really have to battle it out in that series in case the Penguins do get into the finals.

Sunday, May 11

I forgot to mention that the Penguins won the first game of the playoffs against Philadelphia. That happened Friday night. It is the conference finals. Evgeni Malkin was spectacular. Since I speak Russian, I really like Russian players. I also like the ones from Quebec because I speak French and have been to Quebec five times. I have been through Sorel, Quebec several times, and that is our goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury's, hometown. I also just love Georges Laraque.

Yesterday was mostly study for my last final tomorrow. I took a short break to start reading The Spectrum by Dr. Dean Ornish. Then I took a break to go to the YMCA. I did some walking around the parking lot and worked on hamstrings, quads, biceps, anterior and middle deltoids. Later in the evening I did pecs at home.

Saturday, May 10

It is a rainy day here in Western PA. I have to study all weekend because I have a very hard final exam on Monday in cardiopulmonary anatomy and physiology. I have already finished with my other three courses. I have a few days off before summer classes start May 17. My schedule is much lighter this summer. I hope to get up to the Mon Valley YMCA today for a break to do some weight training and walk on the treadmill for awhile. Other than that, I will probably just try to eat healthy to get through this. I have a supply of tofu. I have plenty of whole grains on hand and enough decent vegetables to get me through today. Maybe I will also have a yoga break. I won't be able to go back to church for a couple of weeks. I have too much studying to go tomorrow. I have a class May 18. So it looks like I can't start back to church until at least May 25. I go to a great church called Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh. It was the church Mister Rogers attended. It is a More Light church and a wonderful place to go. I miss it but have had a really crazy semeters at school!