There once was a time when I was a Coke addict. I couldn’t make it through a day without sucking down copious amounts of the brown stuff. But over time, it began to wear on me, so I kicked the habit. It’s been four months – so far, so good.

I’ve actually had a love/hate relationship with Diet Coke for years. I’d stop by the gas station on the way to work to grab a fountain drink. I’d often have one sitting alongside me at my desk. And I’d have it with lunch. Unfortunately, what started as a enjoyable habit quickly turned into an addiction.

I was drinking tons of the stuff, and I wasn’t sleeping well thanks to all the stimulants (and who knows what else) coursing through my veins. It made me snore something fierce. I had a horrible time waking up in the morning. And if I didn’t get my fix during the day, I’d feel run down, impatient, and irritable. Oh, and don’t forget that nasty headache…

But the solution was easy. Just have another Diet Coke.

Unfortunately, it got to a point where my Coke fix didn’t always work. In fact, it was somewhat cyclical. I’d start out fine. I’d slurp down a Diet Coke, and I’d feel like I was on top of the world, and it would continue like this for awhile. But over time, it would get to the point where I’d feel like crap no matter what. So I’d quit. Then I’d have some a week later and feel great. Lather, rinse, repeat.

My addiction was also contributing to poor eating habits, as I’d often go out and grab a quick lunch just so I could have a few glasses of fresh, fountain-y goodness. A couple slices of pizza here, a burger there… My nutrition was suffering.

So one day I woke up and decided to quit. For good. And it sucked. It took me about a week to detox, but I was still craving the the good stuff. After another week or two, the cravings gradually subsided.

This was back at the beginning of April, and I’ve had Diet Coke exactly twice since then. Once in mid-summer while on vacation, and again this week when my wife and I went out for lunch to celebrate our wedding anniversary. And guess what? I don’t really miss the stuff.

Instead of hitting the fountain on the way to work, I fill up a 32 oz stadium cup with ice water and drink it in the car. I still go out for lunch on a regular basis, but I’m eating much healthier. The key here is that pretty much any “unhealthy” restaurant serves combos at lunch that include a soft drink. If I go and drink water, I feel like I’m getting ripped off, so I just don’t go.

Instead, I hit a local deli that’s about a five minute walk from my office. My standard order is turkey on wheat with lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers, black olives, and a bit of honey mustard. Mmm, mmm, good. And I have a glass of ice water on the side.

Since quitting Diet Coke, I sleep better, I no longer snore, I wake up refreshed, and I’m way less grumpy and irritable. What’s not to love?

It’s mid-August, which means that I’ve been suffering through the heat and humidity down here in the Deep South for far too long. And guess what? We have at least another month of this before things will improve. With that in mind…

Here are eight tips for running when it’s hot:

• Run early or late. The best way to deal with the heat is to avoid it entirely – thus, you should try to run early in the morning or later in the evening.
• Stick to the shadows. If you can’t manage a morning or evening run (and even if you can) you should make every effort to stay in the shadows.
• Protect yourself from the sun. The summer heat is frequently accompanied by intense sun. Do yourself a favor and protect yourself from skin cancer while you’re working out.
• Wear the proper running gear. Nothing beats a good running shirt when it comes to staying cool – or at least as cool as possible.
• Slow down. The hotter it gets, the harder it is to run. If you’re struggling to make it through your runs, consider reducing your pace.
• Shorten your runs. Another possibility is to simply shorten your runs when the mercury starts rising.
• Stay hydrated. You’ll be sweating a lot. Be sure to drink enough fluids before, during, and after your run. And consider taking in some electrolytes if you’re going for a longer run.
• Cross-train. Finally, if the heat is unbearable, consider cross-training. Work out in an air-conditioned space, or start swimming.

If you have any tips of your own, I’d love to hear them.

Earlier today, while knocking out an 8k rowing session, I saw a bit on CNN talking about people running a marathon inside Yankee stadium to raise money for cancer research. An entire marathon being run in such a small space? Fascinating.

The only problem was that they weren’t actually running a marathon. They were running a 5k. Hmmm. Apparently the good folks at CNN think that the term marathon means “running a distance longer than the talking head on TV is capable of running.”

Believe it or not, a marathon is a race of a specific length – 26 miles and 385 yards (26.2 miles), to be exact. The modern marathon was inspired by the fabled run of the Greek soldier Pheidippides, who ran from the Battle of Marathon (the namesake of the race) to Athens to announce that that Persians had been defeated.

As the story goes, Pheidippides ran the entire distance without stopping, delivered his message, and then collapsed and died. And that, my friends, is why I’ve never run a marathon… Because the first guy to do so died as a result.

I ran across some scary stats today… In 1995, not a single state had an obesity rate over 20%. As of today, all but one has an obesity rate over 20%. And guess what? The lone holdout (Colorado) is almost there with a 19.8% obesity rate.

Just five years ago, only one state (Mississippi) topped 30%. Today, a dozen states have obesity rates over 30%. Mississippi is still tops – for the 7th consecutive year – but Alabama, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Louisiana are close behind.

This ever-increasing obesity rate is attributed to ever-increasing portion sizes, the ready availability of unhealthy foods, the loss of physical education programs in schools, and less healthy school lunches.

The good news, if you can call it that, is that the rate of increase is slowing. In other words, we’re still getting fatter (on average) but not quite as quickly as we were in the recent past. Yay?

For the record, obesity is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30. That corresponds to weighing 221 (or more) pounds if you’re six feet tall.

Here’s a bit of Monday morning inspiration for you:

Life’s about picking yourself up after you fall down.

Yesterday, I wrote about learning to breathe while swimming, and today… I swam. And no, it wasn’t my usual head-above-water freestyle. It was a legitimate, face-down, breathing-to-the-side front crawl, and it felt great.

We had another smoking hot day, so we headed to the pool for a mid-afternoon swim. When we got there, I spent a few minutes along the edge of the lap pool practicing my breathing. At first, it was pretty rough, but I was determined. My wife helped out with some tips, and I got the hang of it within 5-10 minutes.

Moving to the lap lane

From there, it was time to hit the lap lane to see if I could combine my newfound breathing skills with actual swimming. As a reminder, I had swimming lessons as a kid, so I’m not totally inept in the water. That being said, I do (or did) have major issues when it comes to breathing properly while swimming.

Shortly after I switched to the lap lane, our eldest son (13 yrs old, but wise and capable beyond his years) joined me and gave me a ton of tips for improving my form. It took me a few tries, but it wasn’t long before I was able to cover the 25m without my strokes and breathing getting out of sync.

Once I got the hang of it, I did 20 x 25m laps with a short break between each. My son swam alongside me and critiqued my form the entire time. He was full of sage advice, mostly gleaned from his 3+ years of competitive swimming.

Amongst his best tips was telling me to slow my arms down to make sure I got my strokes right, and to make up for it with “fast feet.” The slower arm strokes not only helped me get the movements right, but they also allowed me to draw deeper breaths, which helped immensely.

Having a blast

After we finished the lap swimming, we spent an hour or so in the “fun” pool doing cannon balls, playing tag, and playing a swimming version of H.O.R.S.E., where we took turns challenging each other to do various things, like swimming an underwater “no-breather” across the pool.

We then capped off the day with some diving lessons. This has been another Achilles’ heel for me, as I’ve never been very comfortable diving. This time it was a family affair, with our three younger kids showing off their abilities before our 13 yr old took me under his wing once again.

Believe it or not, within about two or three attempts, I was diving like a pro – or at least like a grown man who is capable of diving without looking like a fool.

In retrospect, today was by far the most fun that I’ve ever had at the pool – and it was all because I decided to swallow my pride and learn to swim properly. Sure, I had lessons when I was a kid, but I never really got the hang of the breathing aspect, and I’ve been struggling ever since. But no longer.

Yes, I felt self-conscious while I was hanging on the edge of the pool blowing bubbles. And I felt even more self-conscious when a woman said that she thought it was “cute” that my wife was giving me swimming lessons. Well, guest what? It was well worth the sacrifice.

Lessons learned

One thing that I learned today is that swimming is far easier than I ever thought. And yet, it’s so very hard. The whole point of learning to swim properly was so that I’d have another option for getting some exercise, especially during our hot summers. And boy, was it ever good exercise.

As I finished each lap, I was sucking wind and in serious need of a break to catch my breath. This despite the fact that I can crank out a five mile run whenever I feel like it – though I don’t think the 4.25 miles that I ran a few hours before heading to the pool helped matters much. Regardless, methinks that swimming will be excellent for cross-training.

Oh, and for the record… I’ve always said that my kids are way better than me because they can do things like swim well and play the piano. Well, I’ve just narrowed the gap, though I don’t think I’ll be tickling the ivories anytime soon.

During the summer, we spend a lot of time at the pool. In fact, our kids often go more than once a day – swim practice in the morning and just for fun in the afternoon. As for me, I’ve never been a strong swimmer, but I still love going.

Don’t get me wrong, I can get up and down the pool and I’m far from a drowning risk, but I struggle with my breathing when I trying to swim more than a few strokes. Though I took swimming lessons as a kid, I never really got the hang of the breathing, and I now mostly keep my head above water when doing the front crawl.

Given the amount of time we spend at the pool, I’d love to be able to work in some lap swimming for exercise – especially given how miserably hot it can get around here. But in order to get in anything resembling a workout, I really need to get my breathing figured out.

The other day I gave it the old college try, but I couldn’t go more than a few breaths without getting out of sync and having to pop my head up to catch my breath. More often than not, I’d wind up turning to take a breath without having fully expelled the air from my lungs.

After consulting with my wife and kids, who are all excellent swimmers, I know what I need to be doing – taking a breath from alternating sides every three strokes and exhaling primarily through my nose when my face is underwater – but it’s still tough to make myself do it.

Another problem that I have, and one that I suspect is related, is that I have a bad habit of pinching my nose shut whenever I jump into the water. I suspect that if I can conquer these two issues, I’ll be able to swim much more comfortably.

So here’s the plan… Whenever I go to the pool, I’m going to spend some time along the edge with my face in the water practicing. Essentially, I’ll be blowing out a stream of bubbles through my nose to empty my lungs and then turning left or right to take a breath.

As I get more comfortable with this, I’ll start trying to make a full length of the pool with smooth breathing. Once I can consistently do a lap with no issues, I should be good to go.

As part of this process, I’ll also be working on avoiding that dreaded nose pinch when I jump in the water. I have a few strategies in mind. One is to simply exhale through my nose as I enter the water. Another is to “block” my throat and sinuses similar to what happens when you take a gulp of water.

Finally, if all else fails, I’ve read that humming works wonders for keeping water out of your nose/sinuses when you are either swimming or jumping into the water. We shall see…

Our kids wrapped up an excellent school year about two weeks ago. As usual, the year was capped off with an awards ceremony. This time around, our 3rd and 5th graders received the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, which is given to students who score above the 85th percentile in each of five different activities.

The five activities included in the President’s Challenge are:

• Curl-ups (sit-ups)
• Shuttle run (run 30 feet, pick up block, return, repeat)
• Endurance run/walk
• Pull-ups (or right angle pushups or flexed-arm hang)
• V-sit and reach (or sit and reach)

The standards for each of these activities vary based on both age and gender.

To qualify for the award, our nine year old son had to do 41 sit-ups in 1 minute, complete the shuttle run in 10.9 seconds, run a a mile in 8:31, do 5 pull-ups, and exceed 31 cm in the sit and reach – this last one is a bit convoluted, but it basically tests back and hamstring flexibility.

In contrast, our eleven year old had to 47 sit-ups in 1 minute, complete the shuttle run in 10.0 seconds, run a mile in 7:32, do 6 pull-ups, and likewise exceed 31 cm in the sit and reach.

Needless to say, we’re very proud of them both. In our district, kids are eligible for the award in 3rd through 5th grade, so our nine year old actually has two more chances to win it. Our eleven year, on the other hand, just missed the award during each of the past two years, so he was thrilled to get over the hump this year.

So… How many of you think you could meet the 9 or 11 year old standards?

This is just a quick note to say that I ran 3.5 pain-free miles yesterday. As I noted the other day, I recently experienced pretty severe knee pain and stiffness following a long run, and I was hoping to avoid a full blown bout of IT band syndrome.

In the ten days since I first experienced the knee pain, I’ve used my foam roller and stretching regularly, and have also been working on strengthening my gluteus medius muscles. I also skipped running entirely except for a short 2.1 mile run last Thursday. While I made it (mostly) through that run without pain, I did experience a little burning/stinging in the outside of my knee at the very end.

Honestly, I was feeling pretty crappy yesterday – totally exhausted and not motivated to do much of anything. I’m guessing it was the general lack of exercise that was catching up with me. I thus decided that I need to give my knee another try. Before heading out, however, I hopped on the foam roller and guess what? I felt great.

While it had been previously been excruciating to roll my outer thigh, that pain was virtually gone. Buoyed by this fact, I laced up my Asics and hit the road. Truth be told, I felt good enough to go considerably further than 3.5 miles, but I didn’t want to risk it. Baby steps, discretion is the better part of valor, and all that jazz.

I will, of course, continue to ramp things up slowly, but I’m hopeful that this was little more than a bump in the road. Happy running!

One week ago today, I had a fantastic run. I covered 5.7 miles at a 10:10 pace, and felt like I was on top of the world. After cooling down, however, that all came crashing down. My knee right tightened up, and it hurt to bend it.

I had actually been running during my son’s soccer practice, and ended up sitting for about 10 minutes waiting for it wrap up. When I stood up, I had pain along the outside of my knee, and it felt tight (again, along the outside) when I tried to bend it. Truth be told, I seem to recall a dull at in the outside of my knee at the very end of my run, but I didn’t pay much attention to it.

After hobbling to my car, I rushed home, hopped on the foam roller to loosen things up, took a shower, and iced my knee. That was enough to relieve the pain, but I knew what I was dealing with – IT band pain. For those that are unaware, ITBS is a four letter word in running circles.

The IT band is a long sheet of connective tissue that runs from the outside of the pelvis to just below the knee. It plays an important role in stablizing the knee, but it can also get inflamed from sliding back and forth across bone along the outside of the knee (i.e., the lateral femoral epicondyle). ITBS can also result in hip pain, though this seems less common.

The scary thing about ITBS is that it can develop into a chronic problem that requires a long layoff from running to recover. Obviously, I don’t want that, so I’m trying to be proactive in dealing with it. I’ve taken the week off from running, used the foam roller and stretch to loosen up my IT band, and have also been icing it periodically.

In terms of running, I’m easing back into things, starting with a short 2.1 mile run this morning. I’ll also be continuing with the preventive care, and will (hopefully) gradually ramp things up as my body allows. I’ve also begun mixing in some strength exercises in hopes of remedying an muscle imbalance that might be contributing to my problems.

Wish me luck… Hopefully, I’ll get through this without having to take an extended break.