Halloween is just another way to promote obesity in America's youth.

Well I think my IT band is going to be ok. For a background, see this post. Anyway I have been running in Brooks ST4's since I left my Vibrams in Spearfish. The few runs I did in the VFF after the Jack 31.16 were not too bad. If I remember correctly, two long runs relatively pain free and one shorter run that was pretty good as well. Then I get home and am forced to run in the trainers, and get ITB pain within two miles on a few different runs.

Monday's run I was at three miles and decided to head for home because of the pain, getting only four in that day. However the new Puma Bolt Gold Streets arrived as well. They are simply a remake of the Puma H Streets/Salohs/K Streets, one of the most popular minimalist running shoes ever. The gold is to celebrate Usain Bolt and his general amazingness. So for the couple weeks I have not been able to get more than a couple miles into a run and the Illiotibial Tract Friction Syndrome gets bad enough that I head home, the latest of which was two days ago. Wed I did five in the Pumas and did not feel a bit of pain.

Whomever designed the Wellness Center is an idiot because the track is a nine lap mile track. Stupid right? What were they thinking?!? So for my speed workout Wed night I could not do 200's, I did 178's. Idiots. Anyway the workout was...

hard easy

2x530m, 350 recovery after each rep

4x350m, 350 recovery after each

6x178m, 178 recovery after each

That and the run to and from home and the wellness

center was over five miles. No IT pain at all :)

Unfortunately I read somewhere you could run in these sockless. That was extremely disproven on Wed...in an excessively painful way. I got rid of the IT band pain, but found five new blisters I did not know I had. The inside of each big toe had a huge one, one on the inside of my left arch, and each little toe had a blister. No wait, my left little toe's blister was worn away and the skin was gone and it was just bleeding. The faster I ran the less it h

urt. That was good for the speed session anyway...

I read that the average consumer spends about 25 dollars on Halloween candy each year, and another 30 on decorations or costumes. That is a lot of fat little gremlins and princesses waddling around. Cashiering at Walmart I never sell only one bag of Halloween candy, it's usually 3-5 bags. There is something like 1300 calories per bag of Snickers, half the fat is saturated, a lot of sodium, and 28g of sugar per bar. And I know when I was a kid I was coming home with at least one of these bags worth of various sugary and chocolaty candy. What is the difference between regular candy and Halloween candy? Nothing, except there is a lot more of it.

Another thing is that people eat candy all the time. I would not be surprised if half of the families that come through to buy groceries get some type of chocolate or sugary candy. They are eating candy or unhealthy food in general on a regular basis, and then binge of it during Halloween. This just shows the kids that eating candy is ok, and reinforces the unhealthy habit.

I ate an entire pear the other day. The entire thing. Everything. I was looking at it, and thinking how wasteful people are, and how I have been wasting so much of the fruit I have been eating my entire life. And is there anything wrong with eating the seeds and everything? We eat watermelon seeds, and the myth about the fruit growing in your stomach, that's a lie. I think I will continue the practice, can't hurt.

Cottonwood Coffee put up a new OPEN sign a few weeks ago. One of those bright red and blue neon ones, you know what I am talking about. Anyway I do not like it and it is very out of character for the shop, so I left them a comment. They need to get rid of it, the thing clashes and I do not like it.

There seems to be a trend of being a unmarried mother and working at Walmart. Do you think working at Walmart causes unmarried women to have babies, or does being an unmarried mother cause women to work at Walmart? I have yet to decide.

Last week I took my clothes off in front of my entire Assessment in Nutrition class. Luckily I had a Speedo Jammer underneath! The strip down was to get my body fat tested in the BodPod. Results were not good :p I have actually gained fat % since the last test two summers ago. This does not mean I have gained any fat, but I may have lost more muscle then thought. I am five pounds lower then when I was 12% body fat.

I believe I have lost fat as well though, especially around my midsection and chest. My stomach is smaller and I can see my abdominals more then I could in the past. I also believe my legs are a bit more defined. However I can believe the muscle loss as well, especially in the previous few couple months before the Jack 15 when I was running more then ever and probably eating a calorie deficit.

Results from a national consumer survey were recently released with some very alarming numbers. 61% of Americans incorrectly believe that the processes that relate to heart disease do not begin until adulthood. However, long term health begins when you are a child. Diet and lifestyle habits early in life greatly impact health later in life. That troubles me because this number means that only 39% of people realize how important childhood health is. And many of the people who do not realize how important childhood nutrition is to health later in life have children. Unfortunately these kids are not in control of their diet.

So in food science we learned where the Mad Hatter really comes from. Hatters used mercu

ry to help cure the felt the hats were made of, and actually heated them. This would undoubtedly cause mercury vapor to get into the air and be inhaled. Thus hatters generally came down with distorted vision and slurred speech. Hence the term, "mad as a hatter."

This is also really interesting. Botox, is actually the trade name for Botulinum toxin A. That is right, Botox is closely related to Botulism. Botulism is the food poisoning that occurs when someone ingests the neurotoxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum. A side effect of botulism is paralysis, it would be unfortunate if this were to happen to your heart. I common side effect of heart paralysis is death. When injected directly into the facial muscles however, the paralysis makes frowns, and other unsightly lines, disappear.

There was a thread at SlowTwitch.com titled "Matty Reed gets handed at Denver 1/2 Marathon" and a few people were making a bit of fun of him for getting beat by six minutes in a half, which they would consider getting spanked. He did the half in 1'14, which is very respectable.

There here along comes pro triathlete Matt Reed...

"Wow. You guys are harsh. I don't know if you have ever heard of doing a race for a hard training session during a training block. Or that I have my goals and that if that doesn't fit into your forums goals, I really don't give a hoot. I happily will see you all at Clearwater. (The Half Ironman World Championship)

Oh and btw, that dude that won in 68 threw down 65 last weekend. He is the real deal and said the course was tough.And I totally respect women and athletes and Vanessa fernandez, but are you serious dude? Really are you serious? You kill me. Where were you today when we threw down 3 training sessions... ?? Huh? Oh yeah. I know... Reading about everyone elses times..."

Oh, E-Snap!

I recently read a paper titled "Types of Dietary Fat and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical Review". It documents the recent trend of low fat diets and food items and the impact on health. Usually all you see and hear is "eat low fat!" however recent evidence is showing that amount of fat has little effect, compared to the type of fat someone is taking in.

Another side of the low fat trend in food is that instead of eati

ng the same amount of low fat food, people eat more of it. Because it is low fat they somehow thing it is healthier. When in fact the fat has simply been replaced with carbohydrates in many cases. Low fat, not low calories. Eat one serving of regular cookies or eat two servings of low fat cookies. What are people going to do?

The National Nurses Study, a 14 year follow up study with n=80,081 women 34-59 years old looked at dietary fat and coronary heart disease.

The study found a weakpositive association between saturated fat intake and risk of CHD, but a strong association between intake of trans

fat and CHD. Five percent of energy from saturated fat, compared with the equivalent energy from carbohydrates, was associated with a 17% greater risk of CHD. In the Nurses study there was a strong association between the ratio of polyunsaturated fat to long chain saturated fatty acids and a lower risk of CHD. The study suggests that replacing the long chain saturated fatty acids with polyunsaturated fat is likely to lower CHD risk.

Also after adjusting for other fats, monounsaturated fat intake was inversely associated with risk of CHD. Also in metabolic studies, replacing carbs with monounsaturated fat raises HDL without affecting LDL.

There was also a positive relationship between tran

s fat intake and the risk of CHD in the Nurses study. In the US stick margarine, commercially baked products, and deep fried fast food are the major sources. In Europe all major sources have pretty much eliminated trans fat thanks to the the response of the manufacturers.

Something else that really grinds my gears is health claims on food items. There is something wrong when Cocoa Crispiers is claiming they are good for your immune system or labeled as a Smart Choice. Or when ice cream has "0 grams trans fat!" on the box, when it also has 20 grams of saturated fat. And when something says the vitamins it contains will help maintain a healthy immune system, there is no science to actually back that up. It's all about money unfortunately.

And to end it all, why do you run?

Running is my church. It is where I heal my hurts.

After my 31 miler I have developed a bit of Iliotibial Tract Friction Syndrome. Hindsight is 20/20, and looking back I had this coming. One of the mistakes that can cause this is too much running on the same side of the road. Doing so causes the pelvis to tilt to one side since the road is not flat, stressing the IT band. Looking back at my training log I have been running on Medary quite a bit, since that is where my 31 miler took place. 60% of the last 167 miles I have ran have been on Medary. Nearly all of those miles have been with the center line to the same side of my body. Like I said, I had this coming.

It is not a big bother though. I had four exams last week so taking a week off to study, recover, and rest was amazing. I am back running short distances and will gradually increase it again. Icing and stretching after the runs, and I may get into the Wellness Center and do a bit of lower leg lifting this winter.

I took advantage of the long weekend for Native American Day to go out to Spearfish and see Desi. She did not take the days off work because she needs money to pay for her trip to Mexico for school next semester. Because of this I did not get to see as much of her as I would have liked, she worked longer shifts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday Desi wanted to call in sick but I would not let her. I chilled at the coffee shops in town, doing homework and reading. I also got a nice run in on Saturday. If you are in Spearfish, stop by Alpine Coffee Company attached to Rushmore Mountain Sports bike shop, both great places.

Monday when I got back from Spearfish Jenna and I ran 6.25 together. I forgot my Vibrams at Desi's house so had to run in my Brooks ST4's. It made me a little nervous running in the shoes I developed Plantar Fasciitis in half a year ago. I kept scrapping the bottom of the shoes on the ground because I am not used to having so much material between myself and the road. Wearing the shoes was, however, much preferable in the cold, compared to the Vibrams. Shoes have more protection from the cold in the first place, and allow me to wear socks. While the Vibrams are MUCH more ventilated, and I wear then sockless.

One thing to note about shoes, and something I thought of during the run Monday was how they mask all the sensory information you get from going barefoot or minimalist. Lets take a look at my trail run through the Washouts near Rapid City for a good example. I ran the very rocky trail in my VFF. At the pace I was forced to run at I could have easily done the route many times over, however slow. If it was a race through the trail once, I would have gone much faster if I was in shoes since they would have protected my feet from the sharp rocks. Vibrams do make my feet stronger, however next time I race I may wear something with more protection for this very reason. And by more protection I mean some type of XC flat.

I cut the heels off my ST4's Tuesday before my run. They were MUCH smoother and felt great. One thing I noticed was I could descend much faster with the shoes on. I know when really dropping the hammer or flying down a hill landing on a rock hurts a ton in Vibrams. In a post, ultra marathoner Anton Krupicka commented on how he bruised his forefoot on a fast descent wearing a super thing pair of flats during the Leadville Marathon in 2007.

There goes the resale value....I was thinking of putting them on ebay for 20 bucks since they barely have any miles on them.

I would rather not run in these too much, and will probably get a pair of Puma H Streets, which is kind of the minimalist shoe. I could use these when it's cold and there is not a foot of snow. The ST4's would be much better if it snowed two inches the night before. The little indoor running I plan on doing will be in the Pumas or Vibrams.

I have a little problem. It is getting a bit nippy out there with the temperature decreasing substancially in the past week. If anyone has any knitting skills, one of these would be awesome. Thanks

I went to Hyvee to pick up groceries and used my canvas bags, to my surprise they give you a dime for using your own bags! She did not take 10 cents off my purchase, but instead just handed me a dime. Went right into my cookie jar.

Every time I go to Hyvee, even if I do not need anything in the health food section, I make a detour to check on the Sun Flour Cookie samples. These things are the best cookies I have ever had. Do yourself a favor and pick up a bag.

This is interesting news. According to the Charlotte Observer, state employees in North Carolina are being penalized on their health insurance by having to pay more if they are obese or smoke. People with a BMI of 30-39, or smoke, will pay 10% more for their insurance. That is unless then quit smoking or go on a program to improve their health.

"Tobacco use, poor nutrition, and inactivity are the leading causes of preventable deaths in our state" said Anne Rogers, director of integrated health management with the N.C. State Employees Health Plan. "We need a healthy workforce in this state. We're trying to encourage individuals to adopt healthy lifestyles."

I do hope they pay attention person to person though. While many people are obese simply because of poor choices in their diet and level (or lack of) activity, others take medications that cause substantial weight gain, and they should not be penalized. BMI is also a very broad way to classify body type, since the more muscular you are, the higher your BMI.

If you look closely, you notice the plan does not go into effect until July 2010 for smokers and July 2011 for anyone classified as obese. This gives smokers plenty of time to quit, and overwweight individuals plenty of time to change their habits and hopefully improve their health. Thus getting them out of the range which would increase their insurance.

This may not be the best way about going about things, by threatening to increase insurance costs. But if it can get people to improve their health then I believe, and hope, it is a success.

Someone got screwed. Sucks to be them.

Here is a quick recap of the 2009 Ironman world championship, in Kona Hawaii. The men's race was really exciting. Chris Leito killed the bike and held the lead until mile 22 of the marathon before Crowie defended his crown. The women's race, Chrissie destroyed the field yet again, beating most of the pro guys actually.

And a video of a tour of the new Trek Speed Concept TT bike. Might as well be a p0rno...

Thank you come again!

-Kyle

Eating 7 apples on Sunday isn't going to cut it.

WELL LETS JUST STICK IT UP THERE FUCKING ASSES AND TAKE THIS FUCKING GAME BACK. CAN YOU FEEL IT NOW??? THESE GUYS ARE FUCKING STUPID. WE'RE GOING TO TAKE THIS FUCKING GAME AND STICK IT UP THERE FUCKING ASSES! WE'RE GOING TO GIVE THEM NOTHING! LOOK AT EACH OTHER IN THE EYES AND SEE THE FUCKING DESIRE! THEY'RE FUCKING DEAD! FUCKIN DEAD! LETS TAKE THIS GAME AWAY FROM THESE FUCKERS AND TAKE THE BACON HOME! FUCK THESE GUYS! WE'RE GOING TO RUN RIGHT OVER THEM! I DON'T KNOW IF ANY BODY SAW THE OLYMPICS BUT SOMEWHERE IN THE 80'S THERE WAS THIS CHICK WHO DID THIS FUCKING MARATHON AND FUCKING FAIR ENOUGH SHE CAME IN FUCKING 10TH OR 20TH OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT BUT THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT. WHAT MATTERS IS THAT THE POOR BITCH WAS FUCKING RUNNING AND SHE ACTUALLY FUCKING CRAWLED TO THE FUCKING LINE. SHE DIDN'T FUCKING GIVE UP! SHE FUCKING PUSHED HER SELF, SHE PUSHED HER SELF, SHE PUSHED HER SELF TO NEAR FUCKING EXHAUSTION. THAT'S WHAT I'M ASKING OUT OF YOU GUYS. WORK YOURSELVES RIGHT TO THE FINAL METER! TAKE THIS FUCKING GAME AWAY FROM THESE GUYS. THEY DON'T DESERVE IT! WE FUCKING DO!

Now that is a motivational speech.

The owner of GearScan.com sent me an email thanking me for putting a link to his site on my blog, over to the right. If you do not know, GearScan puts together a few of the great one deal at a time sites, onto a single page. Matt also told me about some updates he has made to his already great site. These include being able to:

• Search past deals
• View past deals for each deal site from the homepage
• Comment on all deal sites and items posted
• View how many times an item has been posted in the past
• Read our blog

This site is the most efficient way to spend money on the internet. Please check it out!

Matt mentioned to me that he liked how I have sort of documented how I overcame plantar fasciitis and how the Vibram Five Fingers are working out for me. He had the same issue and unfortunately it came up before a half marathon, which he did anyway. Mine came up prior to a marathon, he said it was a good idea I decided not to run it because he regretted doing his half.

How do normal healthy looking people eat dessert and unhealthy stuff with their meals when I am 150 pounds, a distance athlete, have the metabolism of a humming bird, and cannot eat too much of a healthy food and I feel bad, let alone a dessert item? I was at Java City doing some homework and the table next to mine had three good looking girls at it, all with some food, and all with some type of cake slice or no bake bar. I know for a fact they do not burn as many calories as me, they should not be eating those.

The term Orthorexia comes to mind. An unhealthy obsession with eating healthy. Orthos is latin for healthy, while orexia is latin for appetite. Anorexia is latin for without appetite. Now I do not have orthorexia, which was first used by a MD from Colorado, Steve Bratman. It is defined as an obsession, as in obessive compulsive disorder, with eating what the person believes to be a healthy diet. Such as state can often lead to Anorexic Orthorexia.

In Assessment in Nutrition we had an anthropometrics lab where we tested different body circumferences, height, BMI, skinfold, Bioelectrical Impedance, ect. My Body Mass Index is on the higher healthy side, because for my height I have a bit more muscle mass then the chart allows.

One year ago my body fat was tested using the Bod Pod in the Human Performance Lab at 12 percent. During lab using the Bioelectric Impedance scale, I was 3.5% lower bf percentage. A year ago at 154-155 I had 18.3-18.6 pounds of fat on me. Currently at 150 I have 5 less pounds. If the bioelectrical scale used if close to accurate, the 5 pounds I have lost in the last 14 months have been almost exclusively fat, that's the way to go :)

I found an interesting article on how the health claims food companies place on their products. The assessment done by the Europe Food Safety Authority looked at over 500 claims and unfortunately found that only a third of the claims could be backed up. The EFSA believes that the food industry is attempting to exploit people's desire to eat healthy and improve their well being through diet.

Check out what I found on the RedBox in Walmart that evening. I suppose leaving little gift cards and books at random coffee shops generated good karma for myself :)

I rented Push that night. It is a really great movie. The acting is good, the effects and fights are cool, complicated but solid story line. However the best part about the movie is how it was filmed. They used a handheld camera for nearly the entire movie, it makes it visually interesting. Also, the movie takes place in Hong Kong, and it was actually filmed in Hong Kong. It was cool because they actually just went into the fish markets or temples for the movie, and simply filmed. The actors and actresses could walk around the city and be filmed, with real people walking by.

Yes I watched the movie with director and actor commentary on. I actually enjoy that more then the movie itself usually.

I have always hated Snuggies with a passion, for no reason what so ever. They are just something that should not exist. Now I actually hate them even more because they make Snuggies for dogs.

But not as much as I hate crocs.

It is ironic. But the material crocs are made of, is so...durable is the word I suppose, that people do not need to buy a new pairs because their current pair never wears out. Which means crocs are no longer selling crocs, and going out of business.

Walmart had grapes for .50 a pound, which is amazing because I usually do not purchase grapes since they are usually too expensive. However in this instance I bought a couple pounds to eat at Cottonwood Coffee. I like grapes because, for one, they are one of the healthiest food items on the planet. Second, because if I eat too many they kind of give me a sick feeling, so I do not eat for a while after that. And they are 90% water and low calorie, which is always good.

I told all that to Desi and she said to rewind and listen to what I just said. I like this food because it is mainly water and makes me feel sick if I eat too much of it so I do not eat for a time after this.

Skora also recently sent out a newsletter about their upcoming shoe. I would encourage anyone who is interested in minimalist running to subscribe to their newsletter. Here is the design concept sent out:

Some points to consider are:
- Rounded heel to mirror the shape of the foot and aid in natural gait/landing
- Ultra thin midsole/outsole of same 'thinness' from heel-to-toe to prevent heel-strike
- Extra wide toe box to allow your feet to function as nature intended
- Adjustable lacing and straps for a custom fit

If these actually become what it appears like they are going to, the option for the best minimal shoe is between these and Vibram Five Fingers. They mention an extra wide toe box. It must be large enough to allow the foot to expand on impact with the ground, but the right size so there is minimal movement inside the shoe to prevent chaffing and blisters. Being a smaller company I am worried about the cost of these. Vibrams cost 80 max and I purchased mine for 55, hopefully the Skora shoes are in that range, 70 or 80 would be ideal. Other then the Vibrams these may be the most minimalist shoe out there, but unlike the Vibrams these actually look like shoes! That is definitely an important issue for some.

I also talked a bit with the owner of the company. He has been a barefoot runner for eight years and mentioned to me how what happened to me was similar to him. Injured, went through the whole "get new shoes, orthotics, etc" deal and nothing worked, so he dumped the shoes.

Last week I was cashiering at Walmart and this lady came through the line and the last item she had was HydroxyCut. She asked me if it would make her lose weight fast. Boy, she had no idea whom she was talking to! I simply said no. They took the ephedrine out of it years ago, so now it is pretty much a waste of money. She asked where she could get ephedrine, and I replied that it can still be sold for asthma relief. "But I do not have asthma." was her reply, and I told her it can be bought by anyone, but cannot be sold for weight loss anymore. Then I told her I was a nutrition major, and that exercise and diet where the only way to go if she wanted to lose weight and not gain back more. She did not like that idea...

Ok. I leave you with a video I found. Please watch this, it's Craig Ferguson from the Late Late Show.