El Valle

 El Valle, Panama is a small town situated in the crater of an extinct volcano.  This mountain peak is part of the crater rim.

The elevation here is about 2000 feet and this makes the region cooler than the coast of Panama from whence we came.  However, the humidity is still quite high.  This combination of cool weather and high humidity resulted in difficulties with drying my running gear.

I managed to pick out a 2 mile loop, relatively pot-hole free, close to our rental that resulted in runs a little over 4 miles.  I even did some intervals, hill sprints, and tempo runs. However, the mask restrictions still inhibit me from trying to do more.

Right down the road from our rental was a butterfly house.

I started going with my wife on her bird watching walks after my run.  I wanted to spend more time with her, and it was a great way to add to my weekly mileage, even if it wasn't running.  I don't have a camera that really does a great job with birds.

I couldn't get a good picture of the crested oropendula either.  But we did find their nests.

During one of these walks we came upon a sloth.  We didn't get a good picture.  But the next day we came upon a second that was much closer, and my wife got a great video.

Wally and I decided to give Papaya another try.

The house we rented had a great outdoor gazebo with a grill, outdoor stove top, and hammocks.  We managed a couple of barbecues.  It was tricky getting a fire started with all the humidity.  I let my wife handle the fire starting part because it's something she excels in.  The resulting food wasn't as great as what I could produce in a Primo or even in my little Weber, but it was a nice change.

I made some meatballs.  I'm in Panama and not Sweden, so these are Panish meatballs.

I didn't take any pictures of the outdoor produce market, but it was nice.  Our monthly food expense  has dramatically decreased in Panama, and particularly here in El Valle.  However, I wouldn't say that I'm eating healthier.

A month in El Valle was fun.  Now we need to return to Panama City to pick up our permanent residency cards.

Panama

So my gut reaction is to say 2020 was a crap year.  Poppy passed away, there's a worldwide pandemic that has limited travel opportunities, I broke a tooth by way of an epic fall while running. 

Still, the rest of my family have our physical health.  I don't know anyone in my family or friends who has passed from this dreadful disease.  So I am feeling a bit grateful for that.  Mental health probably features a little depression all around.

Going a little stir crazy, and hearing that Panama had reopened its borders, my wife and I pushed ahead with our plan to seek residency in Panama.  The rate limiting step was the apostille for our FBI criminal background checks.  This wasn't surprising given the state of the government during the election, complicated by the pandemic.

We hired a pet relocation specialist to help with moving Wally.  That was expensive!

With papers in hand, we contacted our Panamanian lawyer and got the green light to go to Panama.  

We shed most of our furniture and things we could bear to part with, and put the rest into a very small storage space.

We were able to procure a RT-PCR test with a less than 48 hour turn around time.  We bought some KN95 masks.  Finally we rented a car, sold our car,  and made our way to the airport.  We flew first/business class in hopes of maintaining some physical distance between us and our fellow passengers.

There were no major problems in transit.  Passing through customs was a breeze.  We got to our Airbnb by taxi.  We spent a month in Panama City.

Wally arrived safely.  It's a warm place for a little Cairn Terrier.

The mornings are beautiful, but still too warm for me to run more than 4 miles while trying to wear a mask. 

But I did manage one 8 mile run.

We took a boat ride on the Panama Canal and saw all types of wildlife, including monkeys.

After spending February in Panama City, we arranged for transport to a beach resort area.

I brought the necessary tools to workout.

Tortillas in Panama are these little corn cakes.  I like mine cooked in butter with an egg and cheese on top.

I've seen some interesting insects.

We went down to meet the fishing boat and bought some fish.  I think it is a Spanish Mackerel.  We had them gut them for us.  It was 3 dollars for both fish, but I tipped the guy 2 for gutting them for us.

4 miles?

We are leaving the coast soon in order to explore the much cooler highlands.  Hopefully I can get some decent running distance in.

Too much time on my hands

Running

Back in 2014 was when I first tried heart rate training.  I didn't really post any data or analysis.  Fortunately, Garmin Connect has my back.

I was obviously trying to keep my heart rate below 130.  My cadence was less than 180, which it never is these days, and I'm still just as slow as back then.

This time around, I started by trying to figure out my maximum heart rate, and then using zones based on that value.  First, I wanted a new Heart Rate Monitor.

I figured a Garmin Heart Rate monitor would provide the fewest technological hitches for my Garmin Forerunner 735XT watch.  I turned off the wrist optical heart rate monitor because it is crap.  The optical monitor kept telling my my max heart rate was 180-190 bpm (beats per minute), and kept setting my zones based on that value.  Using the chest strap, and some fast finish long runs, I managed to cap my heart rate at 171bpm.  That is some hard running, and I can't be 100% sure that this value is my true maximum.  I've read articles that say don't even try to determine your maximum heart rate as it can trigger a cardiac event, aka "heart attack!"

So I tried using the 171bpm anyways, and keeping 80% of my miles in "Zone1/2."  Hah!  That is some stupidly slow ass running.  Zone 2 is 70% of maximum heart rate, and that is 120bpm. I'm supposed to do this for months, and then my pace should magically start to improve, even as my heart rate remains in the same zones.  

Two absolute rules for my running:

1. Don't do it, if it sucks the joy out of running.

2. Don't do it, if it results in injury.

This really slow running was violating rule #1.  Also, upon reflection, this whole % of maximum heart rate seemed too arbitrary.  I don't doubt that maximum heart rate is a hard physiological fact, and that the central governor (my brain) monitors that shit.  So truly easy running, which is what 80% of my running miles per week should be, must be some fraction of maximum heart rate.

Hold up.  Isn't 80% of weekly miles in the "easy" zone also rather arbitrary?  Ah, but when I run too many hard miles in a week, then I violate rule #2 above.  The 80/20 rule has never gotten me injured, and therefore, it is canon law for my running.

A little more research, aka "Googling," turned up Lactate Threshold Heart Rate.  This is the heart rate that correlates to when your body is producing more lactate than it can clear for a given effort.  Increased heart rate is the "effect" not the "cause" of increased lactate load.  Lactate builds up due to anaerobic respiration in muscle.  Heart muscle never uses anaerobic respiration.  Turns out there is an actual setting on your watch that you can change in Garmin Connect to make your watch record data based on percentage of Lactate Threshold Heart Rate. 

This number made a lot more sense to me as a value to measure "effort."  The brain, along with cells in all my organs could monitor/respond to changes in lactate level in the blood.  It should be a much more precise and nuanced molecular marker for the whole body, as opposed to heart rate.  

It was also a lot easier and safer to determine this number by just running all out for 30-60 minutes.  Actually, Garmin already had calculated it for me based on all the crazy ass running I had been doing over the years.

Finally, the values were a lot more doable and in line with what I perceived as easy running.  I could now take my heart rate up to 132bpm, and still stay in Zone 2.

So then, why use a heart rate monitor if I can just run by feel?  Actually, I'm still using the heart rate monitor, because I still have a tendency to go too fast as my runs get longer.  My heart rate goes above 132bpm. This is particularly true on my long runs.

Running Goals

I don't have any races to train for.  I'm keeping it safe, distant, so no races.  I started the year trying to just run 2 hours a day.  That burned me out (see rule #1 above).  I did get a lot of bulk miles done, and this puts me in striking distance of 2500 miles for the year.  So, that is the goal.  I'm still averaging 50 miles a week.  Once I hit 2500 miles, my plan is to take a 2 week break from running.

Culinary

Retired, lots of time on my hands, more than I anticipated due to world wide circumstances.  So, I've done a lot of baking.

Chocolate bread.

Sooooo yummy!

 With raisins and nuts.

Cinnamon roll bread.

Lots of pizza.

Downsizing, resulted in me getting rid of all my specialized pizza gear.  No more pizza stone, paddle, board.  I've adapted using these aluminum pans.  I've made 600 and  800 gram dough for my pizza.  Although not as crisp on the bottom (yet) it has been a lot less messier, and still very delicious.  I'm just wondering why I didn't do it this way years ago.

Pancakes, and just some ... bread.

About the pancakes.  I discovered on Youtube a video where this guy would pour off his sourdough starter, unaltered to make pancakes with.  I tried this, but pushed some blueberries in there.  I cooked them in butter, sprinkled some salt on them when done, added maple syrup, and...Awesome!  It is the best way to manage my sourdough starter ever!

The move to the Pacific Northwest has changed my sourdough culture.  It survived the move easily, but over the last few months has become more truly sour, not just "wild."  I don't mind it, but I do need to be mindful, so that my bread doesn't become too sour.

My cooking hasn't been all baking.  I did manage to put together a nice chicken terrine.

California International Marathon

 Last post of the year.  Missed the last few months because a lot has been happening.

I moved!

But before I moved, I ran a marathon.























3 hours 48 minutes and 44 seconds.

I finished running feeling pretty strong, a little cramping, but not enough to stop me from walking to my car afterwards.

It was raining, hence the hat, but not that much. So my goal of running a marathon was met, running under 4 hours also accomplished, but not Boston Qualifying.  I've already signed up for the next marathon.  Since speed training doesn't seem to do much for me (I'm not getting any faster), I'm going to focus on bulking up on miles for this go.  During this attempt, I held a lot of 8:30s, but crashed for the last 3 miles to low 9's.  I want to focus on trying to hold the 8:30s or better.  I just finished day 6 of 11 mile runs for a total of 66 miles.  I haven't ran that many miles in a week for years.  If I can stick to the plan, I should break 80 miles a week during training.  I'm blending my own training plan based on McMillan, Hansen, with a little Ed Whitlock thrown in.

I moved to Washington state. My sourdough starter survived the journey.

Sadly, one of my boxes containing miniature supplies did not!  I'm grateful that it wasn't a box with any of my figures, but I lost a good amount of my trees, all of my entrenchment/barbwire markers, a BF109, a P47, my minefield markers, my hit markers, and all of my unit markers - several weeks (if not months) worth of work.

Alcohol, Meditation and Marathon Training

I recently gave up drinking alcohol.  I had a little help from this book:



I enjoyed the book so much that I read a few others, including "The sober diaries" and "The unexpected joy of being sober."  Then suddenly on my Kindle this appeared:



I read it, definitely not my "thing," but it had me looking at things like mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy.  All of these books had me thinking about the power of the subconscious and our potential to nudge it in new directions.  Anyways, the next book I tried was:



I enjoyed this read quite a bit.  Then I got "The four agreements" for my kindle.



I liked the cover, but not too many new ideas.  It was nice to have some affirmation and it was sort of part of my effort to reprogram my mind for less stress and anxiety.  I'm currently wading through the tome, "Full Catastrophe Living."



This book along with Dan Harris's book got me thinking: "Is it possible to meditate while running?"

It seems like a good match.  You are definitely practicing mindfulness.  You can focus on your belly breathing, your feet, your glutes, the wind in your hair, your environment, and so many body awareness places.  Your mind wanders, and you can practice gently bringing it back to your breathing.

A quick internet search shows that I'm not the first to think of doing this. Here is an article in Runner's World.  Heck, there is even an app for it here. Others have blogged about it.

So, no caffeine, no alcohol, and now I'm in to meditation, while running, which means it must be time for a...

Full marathon

I've run 11 half-marathons.  I'm in a new age bracket.  I needed to tackle a new challenge.  I don't think I'm going to get much faster, so it was time to improve on the one parameter remaining - distance.

I thought I would use Hanson's for my training:



But the training plan just didn't fit my work schedule for this semester.  So I'm going with McMillan:



His plan worked well enough for the Silicon Valley half, and it's flexible enough for my schedule.  I also wanted a training plan that would have me run the TIME that it should take me to run a full marathon.  I'm thinking I can do it in 3 hours and 40 minutes.  McMillan's plan maxes out at a 22-24 mile long run, which will definitely have me running for that amount of time at my "long run" pace.

The Marathon is in December.  The training is going well.  No nagging injuries, but I have yet to crack 16 miles, or my previous distance record of 19 miles.  Tomorrow I run 17-18 miles.

Spain

This summer, my wife and I decided to spend our summer vacation in Spain, well, at least part of our summer.

We didn't plan it, but we ended up visiting the 4 most populated cities in Spain; Madrid, Malaga, Valencia, and Barcelona.  What I mean to say, is that we didn't pick these cities because they were the most populated.  We flew into Madrid, so it was a no brainer to stay and visit a few days.  We wanted to see Seville, Granada, and perhaps Gibraltar, so we picked Malaga as a base camp  for those places.  Ironically we didn't go to any of those other places because we kept plenty busy in Malaga, and Seville and Granada just got too damn hot!  We chose Valencia because we thought public transport would get us there - we ended up taking a plane.  Barcelona was on our must visit list.

We stayed a couple of nights in Madrid overlooking the plaza mayor.

They were having a big event celebrating the UEFA Champions League Final.  A lot of English folk were in Madrid, even more than usual, due to the two teams being from Liverpool and Tottenham (London).

I really enjoyed the Jamon, and there was a lot of it.

We tried a "Spanish" omelette, and it was quite tasty.  The omelette was like a frittata with potato and onion. We had this in the morning in a local market - its like a big warehouse with lots of little shops facing internal walkways.  Sitting nearby was a fellow having a beer, and another with hard coffee.  Never too early in Madrid I suppose.

Of course I ran in Madrid.

The other three cities were on the southern coast.  In Malaga we had Paella.

We visited the Alcazaba and Castillo Gibralfaro, where we found a little museum and these miniatures!

Every Spanish city has churches.

We enjoyed some fried seafood.

 The Spanish are very into having tuna on their ensalada.

And I ran...

We went to a couple of cave complexes in Malaga, and took a hike in the nearby hills.  We got to visit a pueblo blanco.

We then went to Valencia.  We had to take an early taxi to the airport to catch a plane that flew us from Malaga to Lisbon, to Valencia.  They made me check my bag on the second plane.  In Valencia we rented bikes and saw this impressive edifice (Opera House).

Valencia diverted its river after a 1957 flood, and transformed the old riverbed into this awesome park where we road our bikes and I ran.

We only stayed two nights in Valencia, and I think in hindsight I would have subtracted a couple of nights from Malaga to add to this wonderful city.  In addition to some more Paella, and the best Italian dinner in Spain, we had a snack of "Fartons" and "Tiger Nuts" drink.

Our final destination of note was Barcelona. Here I ran, ate, and saw some cool scenery.

These last 3 items we saw while on our E-bike tour.  

We spent our last night back in Madrid, puttering about a hotel near to the airport.  

Other than this last night we rented places through Airbnb.  My favorites were the first place over the Plaza Mayor, and a top floor flat in Barcelona with  a wonderful, very large roof-top terrace.  In Malaga we had a private roof-top terrace, but its view was no good, and access was via a stair-well.  The wifi didn't extend that far.  Not so Barcelona, the terrace was basically a porch out the glass doors of the living space.  We had easy access, an expansive view of the city including La Sagrada Familia, and wifi!

We didn't rent a car.  In addition to the aforementioned plane trip through Lisbon, we took trains: Madrid to Malaga, Valencia to Barcelona, and Barcelona back to Madrid.  We used the bus, a couple of taxis, bikes, and our own two legs to get around.  We may return to Spain in the near future and spend a couple of months enjoying the Spanish lifestyle to it fullest.