Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Every time we visit California, I try to convince Mike to go surfing or boogie boarding. How can we go to California and NOT surf? We’ve missed that opportunity every time mostly because the both of us are afraid of it. The ocean, undertow, big sea monsters that try to eat people are all things that I fear about surfing. Now, a recent study shows that surfing is about as dangerous as soccer.

• Study finds surfing safer than soccer

The researchers collected data from 32 surfing competitions in both the professional and amateur circuits. When compared to collegiate level basketball and soccer, surfing is actually safer. Here are the recommendations to prevent injury:

“To reduce the risk of injury while surfing, Nathanson suggests good physical fitness, seeking local knowledge before paddling out to an unfamiliar break, and being realistic in terms of your ability level and the size of the waves.”

Being physically fit is mentioned to prevent injury, so surfing might not be the best way to lose weight, but it sure is a great thing to enjoy once you are healthy and strong. Swimming all those laps at the gym can finally have more meaning than just helping you lose weight. It can get you to the point where you can be a California surfer dude!

Via: Surf’s up! surfing found to be safer than soccer – That’s Fit

Apparently a ton of people got the Nike+ iPod for Christmas because Nike’s website has been slow and undergoing lots of changes the last few days. Yesterday, I logged on to see if a new challenge for my Level 3 group had been started and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this:

After a couple of weeks grounded because of my black toenails, I have NO patience. I want my challenges back. I know I can only do two miles today in order to keep my feet healthy, but I still want to see where I am on the list. I had no idea I was this addicted…

Here is a picture of how my toes look after a week of nurturing. They don’t look all that bad. Compared to the pain that I experienced, they look shockingly unharmed. There was one day last week when I couldn’t walk without limping they hurt so bad. I was shocked that even putting on socks hurt them so much.

After reading all the recommendations on the Internet about how to deal with black toenail, I cringed at every one of them. They suggested lancing under the toenail with a sterilized needle or even lancing through the nail. I was reluctant to do any of those things. I knew what I was experiencing was a really bad bruise, so I treated it like a bruise and an open wound.

Here is how I treated my black toneails:

• Warm water foot baths with epsom salts to reduce the swelling: Since the swelling was so bad that the nail was pushed up at least a quarter inch away from my nail bed, I soaked my feet in warm water with epsom salts.

• Alternating with ice packs: After soaking for about ten minutes, I would fill a Ziploc bag with ice and water and place it on my toes (with a towel inbetween for comfort). I read that alternating between warm, moist heat and ice packs reduces swelling. None of the websites recommended this, but it sure helped for me.

• Triple Antibiotic: After two or three foot baths/ice packs I would put triple antibiotic on my toenails, around the cuticle area and gently under the nail. Since this was a wound, I wanted to prevent any infection, so I used Neosporin liberally. It may be that just keeping the nail and cuticle area soft with petroleum jelly might have been enough, but I grew up in a family that lived under the motto: Neosporin cures everything.

• Most importantly – REST: I stopped running, period. I stopped walking on the treadmill. For two days, I didn’t even leave the house and walked as little as possible. Part of the rest was enforced by necessity. My feet hurt too much to do anything, but after they felt better, I forced myself to stay off the treadmill. It was difficult for me, knowing that I could be logging miles, but I did it. When you feel like you could do an easy workout, DON’T. Wait a couple more days to ease yourself back into exercise.

I’m not a doctor and I didn’t see a doctor about my toes. I probably should have and if you have black toenail, don’t risk infection and pain. Go see a doctor. I definitely wouldn’t follow the advice of the websites that tell you to poke at it with a needle that you’ve held in a lighter for thirty seconds. If your toes are so bad that you feel like they need to have the pressure relieved, have a trained professional do it.

I am easing back into the world of running right now. Wish me luck and you’ll be guaranteed that I won’t increase my distance drastically like I did before. Over the next few months, I’m working up to six miles a day instead of doing it overnight like I did last month.

Other Entries:

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenails: Final Update

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Biggest Fear

• Starling Fitness » Black Toenail: Finally Healed

A couple of days ago, I finally made it to first place on my Level 3 Nike Challenge. I looked at the mileage I would need to get to first place and then did an extra mile.

Sometimes you can do 10 miles and feel like a failure, but other times you can do 7.25 miles and feel like a hero!

If you haven’t tried the Nike Challenges, it’s worth the cost of the Nike+ to get going. There is NO WAY that I would have run 7.25 miles in one day during the Christmas season. I might not have even run 7.25 miles in a week. I have never been more motivated to get my miles done than since I’ve joined these challenges.

If you don’t have a Nike +, take the time to find someone in your area who runs at about the same level as you do and challenge them. It will boost your motivation like you’ve never experienced before.

I strapped my Nike+ to my Doc Martens and did my errands on foot yesterday. I have been walking and running on my treadmill religiously since I joined a couple of Nike + Challenges. Just seeing my name in second place makes me calculate the mileage I would have to do each day to overtake first place. It has been so motivating that I have been exercising a lot more than my body is used to.

In fact, muscle soreness is the only thing keeping me from running miles and miles. “If I could only do six miles today, I could beat the girl in first place,” my mind says to me. “Good luck with that, sucker!” is what my body responds. I do two or three miles as a rest day and my body still protests, “I was joking! You were supposed to REST today! That means NOT running!”

If you had told me a month ago that I could do ten miles in one day and STILL feel like a failure, I would have laughed in your face. Before last week, I had never done a run/walk that long, yet it was still not enough to get me to first place. I must WANT to feel like a failure in sports because I’m in first place on my other challenge, but I just discount that one.

There is a story about an Indian athlete, Santhi Soundararajan, who has failed a gender test. It’s confusing because she passed a different gender test earlier this year.

• BBC NEWS | South Asia | Indian athlete fails gender test

Here is my question, why are the sexes divided in sports? I’ve talked about this before:

• Starling Fitness » Why Women Should Be Allowed To Compete

• Starling Fitness » The First Woman in the NFL

Every time I ask this question, I get the same two answers:

• Stay in your own sports where you belong.

• The guys would kick your butt!

To the former, the “separate but equal” argument just doesn’t hold water and to the later, fine, bring it on! If we have to have a gynecologist, psychologist AND an endocrinologist just to figure out whether this human deserves the silver medal, then we should just make things simple and integrate the sports.

I know I’ve been talking about the Nike + iPod a lot lately. That’s because they keep impressing me. They are truly the only thing that has kept me running this holiday season. It’s bloody cold outside here in Utah and the treadmill can be mighty boring. I need a little extra incentive to keep my feet moving and Nike + keeps giving it to me. The latest? Nike + New Year’s Resolutions:

• NIKE+ : Resolutions

By using my Nike + iPod, I can track how many miles I run in January. My resolution?

I stopped going to Weight Watchers a few months ago, but I have honestly had trouble staying motivated. Every time I feel myself slipping, I use the threat of having to go back to the meetings. I learned a lot from Weight Watchers, but I really don’t want to go back to the weekly meetings. If I don’t run 30 miles in January, I have to go back.

What’s your resolution?

I’ve added a weblog to the list that I read every day. Just thought I would share it with the rest of you:

• Two-Heel Drive

Tom Mangan lived in California for five years before he realized that he was near some of the best trails in the country. Now, he regularly blogs about his hikes, other people’s hikes and the beautiful scenery on the way. I found his weblog to be inspiring and motivating.

Next time you’re dreading working out, remember, you probably live within 30 minutes of a nature trail. Take the drive and take a hike. Your exercise routine will feel like an enjoyable experience instead of a chore of drudgery.

When I first got my Nike +, I noticed the feature in their software to challenge your friends to a race. I thought it was really cool, but I didn’t have any friends with a Nike +, so I just ignored it. After reading the forums, however, I noticed that Nike had set up a whole section of their running forums to find people to race with on challenges. Just in case you missed it, too, here’s the link:

• Support Forums : Challenges

I have to admit that this has become my favorite feature of the Nike + software. I did my walk this morning and as soon as I was done, I ran to the computer to sync my iPod with the computer. As soon as it was finished, I logged onto Nike + to see how I rated on the challenges I’m participating in. For the first time ever, I was in second place. Of course, all of that could change the minute the other challengers sync their iPods, but for a brief moment, I am in second place. I took a screen shot of it just to remember it!

I have had a really hard time with motivation to exercise lately. I had set up goal after goal on my Nike +. I made them really easy goals. All I had to do was run three times a week and I would make it, but it just wasn’t working for me. The minute I joined these challenges, my motivation sky-rocketed. I would look at a runner who was maybe one or two people in front of me and I would try to beat their mileage. My competitive streak just kicked into full gear right in the middle of the Christmas season. Whoever said that it was hard to keep up with your exercise program in December hasn’t been challenged on Nike + yet.

If you have a Nike +, you’re really doing yourself a disservice not joining a challenge or two. If you don’t already have one, I’ll be honest, you don’t need one. You don’t need an iPod, Nike + or even high tech sportswear to stay fit this winter. All you need is the will to do it. Try challenging a friend to log your runs by hand. See who can run the furthest from now until New Year’s. Get a jump on your New Year’s Resolution and start exercising now!

This just in from Jim in Tampa, Florida, Bike-O-Vision has created a series of DVDs that allow you to envision riding the world on your bike. They are very similar to my walking DVDs. You ride your exercise bike in front of your television and watch the beautiful scenery go by. It’s like really being there, except you don’t have to freeze in the cold or sweat it out in the humid heat.

• Bike-O-Vision Cycling Spinning DVDs

These videos are exactly what I wanted to exist a year ago when I started filming my own walking videos. You can see them here:

• Starling Fitness – Fitness, diet, and health weblog » Walking Videos For Sale

It’s great to see that other companies are doing the same thing. I haven’t been able to record bicycle rides because the vibration is so intense that the video was unwatchable. I’m so glad that a professional company is getting this footage and making it available to all of us!

Thanks, Jim!