The Knees are Fine, But I Need Soccer Skillz!

Getting back on board a fitness regimen has been tough for some strange and unimaginable reason. Almost as if it were work!

But naivete and intrepidation have seen me toy with adult soccer and I'm on a team. I've never played soccer before, so just imagine:

• overweight guy
• late forties
• can't run
• no fitness
  
• no skills whatsoever
• can't even kick a soccer ball

Yet I'm out there mixing it up on the soccer pitch. And folks are playing their backsides off.

So, there I am, desperately trying to sprint fast enough to stay with the lean, skilled forwards.

And suddenly my weight is dropping a bit, I'm a bit fitter, and wearing a great big smile because I'm having fun.

No, this is not work!

Life should include play - must include play.

A great finding was that my knees and back and hips and all that are doing fine - they seem to love the exertion (beats that damn couch, they moan)

OK, OK, but I still desperately need to develop some skills, muscle memory, technique, etc., and that means getting more "touches" on the soccer ball. Hopefully people will start connecting on the FC San Jose bulletin board for soccer ... and I can find some more game (pun intended) there.

Tips and encouragement welcome. Stories, too!

EP

A Flat and Fast Route

Ever wonder about "flat and fast" running routes? I ran one today, except it was only flat under my feet, not fast.

Flat is OK when you are trying to set a PR, but hilly routes are more interesting; hilly trails are much more interesting. Better yet, Mountain trails through the forest are a real delight, they make a run something much more than running.

Hills, I've theorized, are good for a runner, as they make a runner uses different muscles in different ways, thus helping avoid overuse injuries. Contrary to this home-spun wisdom, however, I developed a somewhat scary back problem after concentrating my running in the hills. It would feel like one of my feet had swollen up to a size 16 mid-run, prompting me to stop, remove my shoe, take out the insole, and tie it loose. One's nerves run through the spine of one's back, I was reminded, and I came to realize it wasn't a foot problem at all.

I'm lucky to the extent I can ease back into it. My hill running compadre, coincidentally, has been having terrible back problems and has been pursuing all kinds of medically interesting, but highly unpleasant treatments; he has not found relief.

Log: 26 minutes running time from a run-walk of 35 minutes. Slightly shorter route than last Friday, and a minute less running, but shorter walk breaks. [3/2,3/2,4/1,4/1,4/1,4/1,4/1]

I was able to run and I should rejoice in that.

Crazy Old Man Flashes Me...

The guy was sitting in his car at a stop sign, huge grin, flashing me a big thumbs up. Clearly he was crazy, or perhaps a fellow fan of Le Tour. I gave him a big thumbs up right back, we sat there grinning at each other for a few moments, thumbs in the air.

Who knows how many miles that senior citizen may have put into his legs before the years caught up with him? Perhaps tens of thousands of miles! Or maybe just 5 miles, but he watches Outdoor Life Network (OLN).

Log: 1:11 on the same route as last weekend, 17 miles rolling hills. My legs were still stiff from Friday's run, which I could have solved by cycling Saturday. Really nice evening.

Newsflash: Iran. No. I ran.

After taking something like a 17,000 hour day off, I put my running shoes back on today, a sharp reminder of how hard it is to start training again. It seems there are always more important things to do than run: responsibilities, urgencies, worries, concerns, stresses. Then again, maybe there is nothing more important to do than run.

For the record it was a run-walk, a la Galloway. Partly because that's a smart way to run, and partly because I might not be able to run straight through given my lack of fitness.

Log: 45 minutes around the Sunnyvale campus in a 3/2 pattern, so about 60% running. 27 minutes actually running. Hamstrings felt tight!

Answer: So they can see over the Dikes!

If you know the answer to the first question:

"Who are the tallest people in the world?

Then you will know what the second question is (Why?).

Consider: the average height of a Dutch man is (now) about 6'1", the Dutch have been growing.

The answer to WHY? is complex, but apparently more of height is determined by nutrition and lifestyle, and less by genetics, than you think. You can be assured I am renewing my efforts to get nutrition into my two boys: they'll be taking calcium and vitamin tabs every meal... with their McDonalds. [Note to self, check Holland out in terms of McDonalds revenue per capita...]

Additional notes to self: Nutrition, exercise, nutrition, nutrition!

It was strangely quiet

Fell asleep trying to watch TdF Stage 1. Le Tour gets more exciting as the days roll on, the race is too long for Stage 1 heroics.

Today, on this day of fireworks in America, the streets of my normal quick cycling route were quiet, but I was joined by cyclists. I started out dehyrdated and when you start like that on a hot day, things do not improve.

The ride was nice though. A fast cyclist passed me, chatting as he flew by; a gal cyclist passed me later, and another guy on a Look, hammered past. A few riders pulled out ahead of me on the road, but the gap between us widened. My cycling memories are of closing the gaps on people ahead of me, but that requires a fitness which has been foreclosed on. I have to pay to get it out of hock.

Log: 17 miles over 1:10 on rolling roads.

How do you log manual labor?

As Lance Armstrong enterered his 5th scorching minute of this year's Tour de France, flying along the streets of Liege, Belgium, a voice came to me from above, from up the stairs actually, telling me today was the day I would rip out the deck. No playing around on the bike. The demolition was not exactly an aerobic workoout, but my back muscles really felt something.