My Fancy Running Watch

I treated myself to a fancy new running watch before Christmas. It's a Garmin 630, and it is very cool.

This is a smart watch, meaning it talks to my iPhone. Actually, mostly it listens to my iphone, receiving texts, notifications, weather, and a few other stats. But mostly it doesn't go back the other way - it doesn't send messages, except for uploading my activity information to the phone.  Also, I believe I can control my phone's music from the watch, though I haven't actually tried it. (That's because the version of music I have on my phone presents a screen telling me to do a free trial of Apple's streaming service and there is no way to move off that screen without signing up.  So I'm not using the music on my phone.)

I can download apps, some free and some paid, that could add some more features. So far, I've experimented with different watch faces (I like to see moving watch hands, not a digital read-out).

It's a great running watch. What makes it a running watch is the built-in GPS.  I wear a chest-strap heart rate monitor (and I had to upgrade to the newest one to use with this watch), it it's so smart it does a bunch of running dynamics - more than you could ever want to know about how you move when you run. It does stride length, steps per second, how high I bounce, how left/right symmetrical I am, how long each foot stays on the ground. It can measure stress through heart rate variability. It prescribes a recovery time after every run. It reports your maximum oxygen uptake rate and your lactate threshold, both of which can be improved through training.  

The watch is also a daily activity tracker, counting steps, attempting to calculate total calorie burn, and measuring sleep.

I love data, and what is more interesting than data about me? So obviously I love this stuff.  But, it's not all that accessible. The numbers are reported out on the watch, and with poking and swiping and pushing of buttons everything can be found, but it's not that easy.  There is an iphone app that shows daily stats and more detailed stats about specific timed runs. The app is pretty, but I'm not wild for it. There is also a computer dashboard.  I love the analysis of the runs. The trend information is less interesting.

Garmin world, like Fitbit world, allows you to make connections and do challenges and see how others are doing. But it doesn't seem as cool as fitbit, the way you interact with friends.  I don't have any actual friends on Garmin, so perhaps that's part of the problem. 

I'm still wearing my fitbit, and they are coming out with a smart watch version soon.  Garmin has a gajillion activity trackers, including some cool looking ones. I won't abandon fitbit, for one main reason:  There is no good data export on the Garmin for activity tracking.  They have improved the export from two years ago, but you can't get daily data for more than a week at a time. The data comes out labeled "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday..." so if you do several weeks repetitively, you end up with a bunch of identical spreadsheets with no identifying marks. I want to be able to review and summarize my data, and daily totals is the minimum level of detail that I want, and Garmin just doesn't make it easy.  Fitbit is much better, exporting several variables for wider date ranges, and well labelled.

BTW, the crystal on the Garmin cracked, for no apparent reason. I assume it will be covered by warranty, but I've not heard back from customer support yet.

Toys!  It's part of my motivation to get me off the couch. Whatever works.

Oh Hi

No big deal, just been living life. Oh, and was not able to lose the five (plus) pounds I gained over the holidays. And, as long as I'm reporting, I've been a slug on the couch, barely moving even by my standards.

Not ready to write about my terrible evening binges.  So I'll write about my favorite gadgets instead.

Crossing the Line

This time of year is filled with family birthdays and anniversaries. My brother-in-law turns 50 today!  This is a significant milestone, for sure.  I went running this morning as a celebration for our running club organizer who turns 50 on Monday.  And this morning, she saw her goal weight on the scale, the goal that she set this spring.

But I did it too. Today, for the first time since August 2000, and only the second time for as long as I've been keeping track, I weigh below my goal weight.  This has been my mental goal since 1988, people!  How about that!!!!

Of course losing 5 pounds in less than a week is almost all water. This is what happens when you switch suddenly to a very low carb diet.  I bounced back down as fast as I bounced up.  But it sure isn't 50 pounds of water!  And this weight is fifty pounds less than I weighed in 1995, and again for New Year's 1998, when I kicked off The Big Loss, Part 1.

What I want to do is get to a point where my average weight is my goal weight, so I'm not completely done with the losing weight phase. And we see from last week's post that I'll never be done with maintenance.  But I'm doing the happy dance, as I plan what I'm going to eat at tonight's birthday dinner!

!Bounce!

I got tired of tracking my food all the time, I relaxed about what I weighed and opened up my food choices, the Eating Season opened with Halloween, stress at work escalated rapidly while remaining high at home, and so exercise waned and late night pigouts increased.  The result was inevitable.

This shows the calendar year. The gridlines are 5 pounds apart.

I stopped tracking in mid-September, after logging food faithfully for maybe 80% of the whole year. For a while I coasted on my good habits, and continued to lose some weight, getting on one memorable day within one pound of my (somewhat arbitrary) goal weight. Yay!  I've got this! My life is changed. I'm a genius. I'm no longer a fat person and I don't need to think about it all the time.

But in the very recent past the trend has been bad. I continue to weigh every day (thanks to the wifi connected scale) and so have immediate feedback. I have access to the data via two taps on the internet in the palm of my hand at any time, so I don't ignore the evidence. Yesterday's weight popped up and crossed a five pound line, and all the alarm bells went to red alert.  So vague mental resolutions to "do better" were replaced with a firm commitment.

There is no secret to why I'm gaining weight, even without the actual data since I haven't logged food. I love food truck lunches, and even though I go for salads and other green vegetable-based dishes they have many hidden carbs, such as sugar in the salad dressing for banh mi salad and glorious garlic soaked croutons in the best caesar salads. But I could probably have handled that, at least for maintenance, but those evenings plopped in front of the TV with multiple trips to find chocolate all over the house - and even to stuff on left over main courses, anything to fill the hole that seems to yaw open each night.

Yesterday was Day One. My plan is to track, and to stop eating after 8:30 pm.  These are rigid rules. I constantly bargain with myself, and I need to stop that! Further, for the next couple of weeks, I want to go pure low carb - detox my system from the sugar and occasional starches that have crept in. For the next two weeks, calories don't matter, but carbs do - I'm going to target the lowest recommended level - 20 net carbs a day. ("Net carbs" are total carbohydrate grams minus fiber grams. It encourages filling up leafy greens, high fiber countering the carbs within.)

The joy of low carbing is you shed water stored throughout your body and so today was already two and a half pounds below yesterday's high peak weight. No single day means much on weight, but of course it's better to see the scale go down than up, even though intellectually I know it doesn't matter.

Of course the resolution required me to start with an expensive food shopping to set me up with favorite foods.  Caesar salads (will have to buy a roast chicken tonight), with excellent parmesan cheese and good greens. Easy grab guacamole, feta and olives, fancy flavored (but unsweetened) water, chicken salad for lunch today. A good habit I have to re-energize is bringing my lunch to work. It's so much cheaper, great when I'm pressed for time, and overcomes impulses at the glorious food truck city right outside my building. Instead of waiting on line at the trucks I can take a brief walk for roughly the same time.

This resolution is intended to last until Thanksgiving Day. I'm posting this so I have accountability. I'm thinking chunks of time, at least two weeks at a crack, may get me through this season. There is Thanksgiving, I'll be visiting my brother after that - he and his wife are real foodies, and I'll have more fun if I'm relaxed and have choices. Plus alcohol. But then I could have a three week stretch before Christmas.  There will be parties and food at the office throughout the time, but that will be no problem, if I have a plan to eat the good stuff just over the horizon.

The evening thing has been a persistant problem. Surely less tempting stuff in the house is good. But I think I need to have a mental but absolute cutoff - a virtual lock that appears on the kitchen at 8:30 each night. If the cravings are bad, I know from experience the best response is to leave the house with the dog and put some miles on, up and down the hills of my neighborhood.  It's cold and dark now, but I treated myself to a cool reflective running jacket specifically for this time. I like wearing it, which is part of the silly motivation, and whatever works is great.

So that's my thinking. I'm committed through Thanksgiving, and I'll reassess afterwards. What's your holiday plan?

Across the Bay 10K

I never had any real desire to do a 10K, but that was the only way I could go across the Bay Bridge. I signed up back in about July, so I had time to train. I did some longish runs on Friday nights after work, with the last being 6 miles. I figured that was close enough, since 10 kilometers is about 6.2 miles (not quite a quarter of a marathon). This is now the height of my ambition. No further is necessary - maybe 10 miles on a weekend jog, but no further.

It was good fun and I felt great.  I'm pleased that my pace towards the end was as good as my pace at the beginning.  There were 21,000 people!  They had to start in waves, because the bridge is 26 feet wide. A friend in the first wave finished (in about 45 minutes) while I was still waiting for the bus to the starting line.  I took an hour and fourteen minutes, at a pace equal to my 5K paces, so I'm very happy with how I did.  My girl asked if I won. The good thing about competing with yourself is you are bound to win no matter what!  I'm already signed up for next year.

I love statistics!

21,000 people

They closed one of the two spans

Near the beginning

More than half way

At the finish line

Big backup for buses back to parking afterwards

One way across the Bay

Anchors

High pressure beautiful day after the storm...

HMS Surprise. Sorry for the labored language, I'm under the spell
of all 20 books in the Patrick O'Brian series.

Make and mend day aboard the old barky. Rigging, decks and below are all ahoo from the recent tossing and turning. A falling glass indicates more rough weather on the way, but today is blessed with a gentle breeze. Equipment and clothes are strewn about, drying and ready to be inspected and mended before stowing. Shift from hot weather towards cold; things will be re-stowed in new places for the new conditions. Grateful for the opportunity to make things right before the breeze picks up again.

I've been thinking a lot about anchors. Twice this year, the engine failed on my boat, and I was immensely grateful for the literal security of the anchor holding us secure. But there are many metaphorical anchors in my life, and not all are so useful.

Sunday's slow run

Rocky, The Very Hungry Labrador, is a fabulous walking dog, but he is a real drag to go running with. I'm trying to build mileage, both running and walking, getting ready for the 10K Across the Bridge next month. Yesterday, I wanted to run, and was looking forward to pushing myself. But the day was so very fabulous I couldn't leave him behind shut in the house. I didn't regret it, even though after two miles he was done. He wouldn't move beyond his steady trot, except sometimes when I dangled a treat just beyond his nose. Just like towing a sea anchor the whole way. So I got most of the distance but not the extra conditioning that would come from pushing. But Rocky got to go swimming in the Chesapeake, so it was totally worth it.

I've also been trying to meditate more often. Less often than once a day, for less than fifteen minutes at a pop, the breath serves as my anchor. It is refreshing, even when I'm exhausted. I can almost always still my mind to do five minutes of silent meditation - in my car while waiting for my girl, in my office after lunch, snatches of time stolen from other "shoulds". Longer, requires guided meditations. Of course, there is an app for that.  It works for me.  I also will just stop for a few deep breaths and it helps, throughout the day.  It doesn't fix everything, but it makes me feel better.

Boy Nbr 1 was ringbearer at their first commitment
ceremony, 17 years ago, before their first child.

I worry I'm anchored too much in the past. Mindfulness calms me, and I can be in my individual moment, but I need to be present for others. I need to know what I have right now, what to do right now, and what we're looking forward to in the future. I attended a party on Friday out of state, old friends we haven't seen for a while. (A gay couple who were in Peace Corps with my sister, finally able to be legally hitched.) For us, it was a nostalgia trip. But for them, it was all about the happy present and hopeful future. Most of their friends have children about the same age, and so adolescents and pre-teens swarmed the food and dominated the dancing. It was a fun time, but it made me think.

My girl has a tough road ahead. I need to see her for herself, as herself, speaking for herself, not through a lens filled with all my issues from an imperfect life. I need to let go the anchor of the past, and head out with the tides and the breeze, dealing with what is there and coming up, not what should have been.

Anomie, Ennui, and Inertia

Anomie:  personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals.
Ennui:  a lack of spirit, enthusiasm, or interest; boredom.
Inertia:  a feeling of not having the energy or desire that is needed to move or change.

Shades of meaning. Not quite the same thing, but clearly related. At different times, I suffer from all three.

This summer, the family went away without me. I had my job. I had my house, my dog, my boat, my friends. And yet, anomie seized me, even at work. What was I supposed to be doing? Why?  I was physically restless, far from inertia, walking and running to try to work off the restlessness and drive myself to the deep sleep of exhaustion. It could be quite pleasant, beyond the momentary physical relief.  But disconnected from the family, I failed to find purpose in anything.  Things did not become magically clear when the family returned, but  it was far easier to pause and ask myself, "what should I be doing right now?" and receive an answer that was clear and directed.  Not always (though often) directed at the welfare of the family, but clear and filled with purpose.  This is something to think about, as I prepare for an emptier nest next year.

Restless with anomie or purposeful, inertia or ennui sometimes seizes me. Paired with anomie, I can feel like the walking dead with no brains in sight to give me a direction. But also, the "what should I be doing" can be clear, and yet I don't do it. So of course that leads to guilt and shame.  Sometimes, that lack of action is driven by a lack of energy, physically, everything just seems overwhelming. Sometimes, it is the spirit that is lacking. There can be external causes that are clear and present. There is the serpent's tooth of the teenager, rebuffing my doing what I should. There can be lack of sleep, allergies, setbacks at work. Or the black cloud can just show up and visit, in either form.

When it is ennui, often I will find something else to do - walk, go someplace, do something other than the thing I should be doing, but at least do something. Break from the boredom, the same-old, same-old. An ice cream run may occur. I might even do some kind of a project. Movement may lead to additional momentum to get back to the shoulds, or at least produce something tangible I can feel good about.

But when it's inertia, usually I watch tv, surf cat videos, read an easy book, or go to sleep in the middle of the day, not things that I feel proud of later. It is killing time. Just trying to get through it, and let it pass.  Ice cream is too much work.  Work is too much work. (Thank god for meetings, the alternative to actual work.)  It passes, eventually.

Don't worry, guys. Depression runs in my family and I know it when I see it. This is not a huge, prevalent, looming problem for me. In fact, because it is rare, I try to pin it down, regard it from all sides, and figure it out. I want precision in my self diagnosis. Perhap the precision will assist in self-prescribing a cure.

I have an app:  gottaFeeling.  It prompts to look at its word lists, and find the precise one that matches the feeling of the moment.  It keeps track of history, and shows using colors in a beautiful graphic what has been reported as going on inside. I am not regular and faithful using it. It's probably a fair assumption that when I do report often, it's because I feel off track.  But it's interesting to me to look at, and think about. No aha moments, but a perspective more reliable than pure memory. "I've been feeling down a lot, let me see what I can do to help pull myself out of the hole." or "Gosh, look at all that yellow happiness there! What was going on? How can I do that again?"

Tracking, guys. It's what I do.