Red Rocks Blue Sky

When you run barefoot you can expect to feel some aches and pains in your feet and ankles when doing some hard training — especially when you wake up in the morning. At least that is my experience. What I did not expect was blood in my urine when I returned from a fast 8 miles with my Dog around 10pm last night. The air temp is still 100 degrees when I went out. I do not think I had enough water, but I drank at least a pint on the run. So I am not sure if the blood in the urine was from impact on my feet, or from enlargement of the membrane that keep the blood separated from the urine, or from the the walls of the bladder hitting each other. The last can happen if you bladder is empty. Mine was after the first 1/2 mile. The tinge of blood in urine happens to distance runners, and to barefoot runners. It is not a serious problem from what I understand unless is happens consistently. Basically I am taking this as an indication of how much I am pushing myself to increase my speed.

Now that was not the only surprise for me. As many of you know, I have been documenting my weight gain, even though I am certainly burning huge calories. I have been striving to change my diet from a eat anything and run hard and long, to eating and training smart. So before I took off on this run I ate an incredible dinner prepared by my wife Michelle of Salmon, sautéed baby squash and onions, on rice. My beverage was water. The surprise was when I woke up to get take care of the twins (they are just a few days shy of 1 year of age).

Normally after a fast run like I did last night I can expect my calves, ankles, and feet to be tight and sore. Sometimes taking a few minutes to stretch out when I get up, and for the soreness to subside. As I slipped my feet off of the bed there is this pause and hesitation as you are going from sleep to walking to brace for the wobbliness as you get on your feet. So I step down, stand up and take the corner around my bed to see why one of the twins is crying. As I am doing this I have this huge realization that my feet, ankles, and calves are not tight, sore or creaking. My guys are teething and so a few ounces of cold milk in the bottle seems to be quite calming. I get the bottle from the kitchen, return to the crib, back to my bed, and quickly back to sleep. Since I have twins you know that this pattern will repeat again. It does, and again I feel the same ease in steps to the crib, to the kitchen and back. I feel the same way when I wake for the day.

Now yesterday was the forth of July. I ate my traditional fare of food. Waffles and eggs for breakfast, chicken and beans burritos for lunch and a lot of crap for dinner. Potato chips, dips, Coke, veggies, and dips. This morning as i woke up, I am back to my routine of lower body tightness, creakiness, and soreness.

Wow!

There is no question in my mind that the correlation of this lower body tightness, creakiness, and soreness is directly related to my diet.

On David Goggins on competitor radio. It is pretty cool.

Michael Carroll

One of the cool things about blogging is the incredible stories that people have to tell. I love the story of Marc Rubin of 10-hours.com. I too remember the photograph that I saw of myself when I was commuting two hours each way to work in San Diego in 2002. I was eating fast food, no exercise, and drinking at least 2 x 64oz Mountain Dews. One day on my way home pains starting in my chest pulsed down my left arm. “Holy Crap! — I am too young to be having stuff like this happen!!!” The next day I went to see my Doctor and here hooked me up to an EKG. My heart was healthy, and I was having acute anxiety — which from what they told me can mimic a heart attack — Whew!

My Dad had a heart attack directly related to diet and stress in 1992, and again this year he needed a number of stents put in to open some severe blockages.

I made some changes in my life, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and doing a few repeats up the hill on my bike every day, but I kept the Mountain Dew habit, and the stressful job. My body tone improved and I could deal with stress much better, but I was a far cry from my days as a Marine Force Reconnaissance man.

In high school I was bone rack skinny and could not eat enough to put any weight on my body. I ran cross country and track, skied and snowboarded. We never starved in my home. Each sunday was filled with meat, mash potatoes, gravy, and lots of fresh veggies from the garden. It was our pattern to sit and eat and eat until we could not move. We were under direct orders to eat everything on our plate, and if for any reason we left food on the plate we were served up a good dose of guilt “don’t you know people are starving in Africa.” I always wondered how I was going to ship the napkin full of cooked peas I was hiding in my lap across the Atlantic. I could easily win any eating contest and I held the neighborhood pizza and burrito eating championship.

By the time I got to the Marine Corps my physical activity picked up and I found the love of running that I just could not find during high school. For the first time in my life I ran a sub 18 minute three mile. I ran and swam on a daily basis. I was a regular on the grass corner of Marine Barracks 8th & Ist in Washington D.C. methodically pumping out a Force Recon / Navy Seal work out each morning. Working out was becoming an obsession for me as I had the goal of making it into an elite 2nd Force Reconnaissance Co team. in North Carolina. I read the Navy Dive manual and knew in my heart that I was going to graduate number one from the Arm’s Combat Swimmer School. When I tried out for the pre-entrance screening test, written on the bottom of my evaluation form was the words “best swimmer to date!”

Needless to say my appetite for food was off the hook. I was in the chow line four times a day. A trip to McDonalds would look something like this: 2 BigMac, 2 Lg Fries, 2 hot apple pies, 2- 32 oz orange drink, and 12 Chicken McNuggets.

Fast forward now 16 years, I was running my own business (Architectural Shutter & Blind), and was about to go through one of the toughest times in my life- business failure and divorce. I was working long hours, eating poorly (fast food everyday), and I had discovered Diet Coke. Not just a can here and there, but at least 2-3x 64oz drinks per working day.

I did not have time to be sick. What started out as a bladder infection, soon had me screaming in pain and cold sweats, and I felt like someone had stuck a hot knife in my kidneys. Business was still good, but things were not working the way they should. Our largest customer was trying out the competition because our supplier was taking too long to deliver our large tube systems, and my marriage was failing. I pushed through trying to work and suppress what my body was acutely telling me. Then I could not ignore reality anymore as my simple infection had now turned into full blown kidney infections. It landed me in the hospital on the strongest anti-biotic drug you can have put in your body. I was inches from losing my life.

I was not quite sure of the source of the initial infection, but my doctor concurred with me that it was connected to my diet of Diet Cokes. The drugs were working, and I was recovering quickly, but my craving for a Coke was still with me. One of my visitors in the hospital asked if there was anything they could get for me. I of course say “can you get me a Diet Coke?” Before being admitted into the hospital, I was given an oral sulfa drug. The side effects were the most acrid, nauseating, things I have ever experienced. To take the drug I would have to focus and work up the courage to take the pills because of these side effects. With all the drugs in me, the sip of Coke, had the same reaction as when I took the pills. That is all it took to cure my Diet Coke habit, and I have never gone back to Diet anything.

That time in my life was tough, but on the up side they jump started my old love affair with running. It was cheap therapy and it made me smile. I could barely run 2 miles and up a hill 500 feet tall. In three years I have transformed my body. I can run a marathon in bare feet, a 50k in minimalist shoes. I can swim more than a mile in a lake and sometimes hang with Rich Hurd (triathlete) on one of his slower days.

However, the point of my blog today is to express my deep respect for Marc Rubin. He transformed his body, and he changed his unhealthy familial eating patterns. What a great gift he is giving his son.

Although I am faster, stronger than I have been since the Marines, I have yet to reform my eating habits. As my distances have grown so has my weight as I struggle to get enough calories in my body. To little and I am walking around in a daze, too much, I feel good — but the middle grows. I am more keenly aware of my eating patterns than I have ever been. I am still struggling with my cravings for carbonation — the SODA! I am wondering what I am holding on to, and when I will be ready to change the way I eat.

One last thought. How many of us equate health to working out, but not to eating?

Best regards to all those who are building better lives for themselves and their families,

Michael Carroll