Mom is still in the hospital. I am stressed. I am running again.
Yesterday morning was in the very low sixties.
I went farther-and-faster than is my norm.
Tom Beard
Tom Beard was one of the Maple Rapids Beards.
Among other things, he was a shade-tree mechanic and would cobble together discarded odds-and-ends to make something useful. One of those projects was a truck.
Such was the beauty of living in an age when things like engines and transmissions and chassis were self-contained modules of technology. The transmission did not care if the engine was a Chevy or an Olds or a Ford.
Tom's truck had a propensity to overheat. Tom informed me that it wasn't a problem. Rather than reference the speedometer to determine how far to mash the gas pedal, Tom looked at the temperature gage. He called it "Driving by the Thermostat"
That term stuck with me and that is how I run. Somewhere on my body is a gage where the needle is starting to edge into the red-zone. That is the gage I reference minute-by-minute. That is the gage that determines how hard I mash down the gas pedal.
In the summer, it is often my ability to reject heat. It really is the temperature gage. Yesterday, it was NOT the temperature gage. My pace was determined by my breathing. I could run near the limits of my "pulmonary capacity".
I knew I was in trouble by noon. My muscles had many unkind words to share with my brain.
It had been a miscalculation.
Stomach stapling
Mom has a new roommate.
The old one shipped out.
The new roommate had bariatric surgery. The surgery was followed by a trainwreck of complications.
Note to self: Never get bariatric surgery. "Bari-" has an ominous sound to it.
I freely admit to being biased. My first encounter with "stomach stapling" involved a co-worker whose wife sought the procedure. At that time, insurance only covered it if the patient was more than 100 pounds over their ideal weight.
She was only 55 pounds overweight. That was not a problem. She binge ate until she was +100 overweight. Problem solved.
I recently had a conversation with a real medical doctor. He rolled his eyes when asked about bariatric surgery. It was his opinion that most of the health complications of being overweight are driven by high triglyceride and sugar levels in the blood.
It is his opinion that carrying 60 pounds of fat around isn't the issue, it is the plaque narrowing the arteries and the high sugar levels destroying capillaries that kills people.
Bariatric surgery results in a temporary drop in weight.
Bodies are marvelously adaptable. That stomach will stretch right back out to its original size and the blood chemistry excursions will resume unless the patient changes their life and their relationship with food.
Said another way, the health benefit enjoyed by skinny people was not because they were skinny. Large people can enjoy nearly all of those health benefits two-weeks into a change in lifestyle that resulted in a moderate, sustained loss of fat.
The patient's husband
I overheard the patient's husband while he talked on his phone.
He is out of vacation at work but feels his place is at his wife's side. I have absolutely no quibble with that.
Then he said "I called my Union Rep".
I had a chance to talk with the gentleman later in the day. I asked if he had his boss's phone number.
He did.
I suggested that he should call or text his boss and inform him of the issue.
He looked at me like I was from Mars.
In my mind, I am thinking "Since when did the Union start handing out paychecks?" but I didn't say that.
I told the patient's husband that the boss would appreciate knowing he would have to cover a job before the starting bell. It would give him more options. I told him that he would have fewer "complications" at work if he gave his Union Rep "something to work with".
I think companies lost something when they demanded that employees have direct deposit. Handing out paychecks can be a pain but the employees KNEW they worked for the boss and not for the union.
One major downside of Unions is the compartmentalized thinking that they foster. "This is my job" has downsides. The patient's husband was clearly of the opinion that it was not his job to keep the line running. That was the boss's job. And it wasn't his job to avoid friction but it was his Rep's job to get him out of trouble.
Miscalculations.
Re running - do you use or have you considered a heart rate monitor?
ReplyDeleteI'm an overweight mid-50s runner who never used to do that, but a few years ago I picked up a Garmin GPS/HR monitor exercise thing to go with a training plan. I think it was a good move and will help you in the vein of running with your eye on the thermostat.
I did the 12 week training plan (it was the old Max Velocity Tactical Rifleman Challenge plan) once without having the HR monitor, and did the workouts as best I could by perceived exertion level which is what I think you're doing now.
It works.
The following year, I did the plan again but this time with the HR monitor. A typical running workout would say something like "warmup with 10 minutes at around zone 3.5, then give 15 minutes in upper zone 4. THen 10 minutes recover zone 3, then again another 15 minutes upper zone 4"
Zones 1-5 depend on your age, each year your max HR goes down and the HR monitor is supposed to take that into account based on your age profile. So Zone 3 is something like maybe 120-135 bpm, Zone 4 might be 136-150, Zone 5 above that and your max 100% HR would be about 220- your age in years.
One way this helps is being more consistent with the up and down effort levels. After months or years of using the device, I've calibrated my own perceived rate of exertion much better in that if I'm running along, I can predict my actual HR pretty accurately now based on how I feel. I needed the experience and miles using the HR monitor to do that, though.
The HR monitor and its associated app have also been very helpful in logging my exercise, as it takes the work out of that. The log and the app are also helpful in identifying things like pace per mile etc. The HR monitor (the Garmin one can, probably other brands do too) will also monitor your sleep and give you all kinds of data and graphs of your nightly sleep if you wear it at night.
Agreed. Whether you have a union or not, it is always a good idea to stay on good terms with management.
ReplyDeleteBariatric surgery is by definition FAT PEOPLE surgery....specifically for weight control. However ANY surgery
ReplyDeletethat is performed on someone who is obese has a much higher risk of complications and morbidity than the same surgery performed on a person of normal body habitus. Being fat brings all manner of complicating matters into the situation.