Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 334)

Chad - please don't put the cat down yet - try all the suggestions on here first.  Then see if there's a no kill shelter you can take him to.

very sad

Definitely agree on racing.  I need to do one of the two, probably both.  I have a tendency to sign up for races, not be able to train for them as much as I should, and then do the race anyway.  Not a good plan.

He wants me to wait at least 3 weeks before aqua jogging.  Right now, I can swim, but only with a pull buoy.  No kicking.  He's concerned that I've had this fracture for so long, so he wants to give it a fair amount of healing before I do anything.  After that, I will be.  There's an aqua jogging class 3 days/week at the gym. 1 or 2 in the afternoon!

Since I am no expert, what I'm about to type has an equal chance of being stupid or genius.  Take this with a grain of salt. 

Most of you know this story - so I'll keep it short.  

I injured myself once.  After completing my first 10K, I got all excited about running and went out and ran more, and ran faster (wow was I dumb).  I injured my Achilles tendon.  

Started looking at barefoot running, thinking I would start from scratch with barefoot running.  After a lot of reading, I realized that most of the claims made about barefoot running were made by the companies selling the running shoes (aka marketing).  

It then dawned on me that very few (if any) professional marathon runners, nor any of the professional triathletes run in Vibrams. When you watch a professional marathon - even the African runners (that grow up running barefoot) are wearing shoes.  

I decided that if running with shoes was good enough for professional marathon runners and professional triathletes... it was good enough for me.  

I did however go to a shoe with less drop and I worked on my running form.  My running pains magically went away.  

When you say "Chad" - I feel like I'm in trouble.  Kind of like when my mother uses my middle name. 

I am talking true barefoot, as in sans shoes and those pros wear something even more minimal that say vibrams, they wear racing flats. And what I am suggesting is not barefoot running all the time, but barefoot strides or jogging incorporated into a larger workout. A large percentage of pros and nearly everyone on my team does this as well. 

But yes, there is also a lot of marketing around the whole "barefoot" movement, as there is with anything. And it needs to be taken seriously. 

Whoops - my reply was not to your comment.  

I ALWAYS agree with your running advice. This includes running sans shoes occasionally on the grass or incorporating barefoot into a workout.  

What I don't agree with is for average age group amateur runners to change their entire running style to be full on minimalist.  (I realized you do not promote this either.)  

Sorry for the confusion.  

Do marathoners really wear racing flats?  I thought that was mostly short distance racers and track racers that wear the flats...

Thanks for not judging and great questions. 

In answer to your questions - She has done this in the past - but not as bad.  This episode seems to have started very shortly after moving into the new place.  No change in the litter - 2 litter boxes - 2 cats (1 came on the scene before we moved (last July, it's my brothers cat - they get along very well - he is an old cat) - I scoop them almost every day..sometimes miss a day here or there, but I HATE when it starts to smell.  People used to come to my house (in Colorado where I had 2 cat) and be shocked to find out I had cats - because it didn't smell!

I had her urine checked a long time ago - she had a bladder infection.  When she has peed on the rug in the past - you could see the blood in her urine.  She had medication - seemed like it didn't go away - they gave her a shot instead.  I think that took care of it - it was about 4 years ago.  The urine I cleaned up this a.m. looked normal - was yellow - no other colors. 

As for the no kill shelter idea...that makes me more sad than putting her down (is that weird).  I picture her terrified in her kennel, scared of the other animal noises, wondering WTF?  WTF did I do - Where TF is my "daddy."  She is my cat...after my ex and I separated - she kept the cat at first.  I always thought she was closer to her anyways - used to snuggle her way more than me...blah, blah.... but my ex called me one day and asked if I wanted the cat.  I told her no at first - but asked why.  She said "Snowball" was really "needy" now.  This was weird for Snowball - she was never "needy" before...never that lovey.  When she told me that if I didn't take her, she was going to take her to a shelter - I agreed to take her (see previous shelter comment).  When my ex dropped off the cat - she ran right up to me and started purring and rubbing on my leg.  I swear the cat missed me!  She then went up to the dog and rubbed on him a bit and let him sniff her lady parts.. she missed the dog too!  

I'm seriously torn by this.  

I will add that I will not spend a lot of money on an animal.  I just won't.  Sorry - call me whatever, but I'm not the guy that will pay for a surgery, or spend hundreds of dollars or more on tests, medications etc.  I truly love my animals - but I have a financial limit as to what I will spend on them.  Medication forever to keep my cat from - not worth it to me. (I'm really not an a-hole...I promise).  

No judging intended sorry if it came out that way.  You will do what's right for Snowball I'm sure.

"Chad - go clean up your room".

Sad and Glad that my Recovery week 2 weeks (aka - excuse to eat like shyte and be lazy) is coming to an end.  I know I've gained weight.  NOT COOL CHAD - NOT COOL.  

I am now focusing on my marathon training.  Hopefully I will be ready for a marathon on my New Years Eve run this year.  Last year I was going to do a Marathon, but had to drop to the 1/2.  Shooting for the full this year.  

Speaking of my New Years Eve race - I was disappointed to see that they changed the date to 12/29/13 so it will fall on a Sunday!  One of the things I loved about this race is that it was on the last day of the year.  I posted my disappointed on their FB page and asked them to reconsider.  I hope others on their page share in my disappointment and they reconsider.  Probably too late (permits and staff should be arranged by now) but it never hurts to ask right?

Switch -

Waaaaaaasssssup girl?  Haven't had any interaction with you in a while - and I kind of miss bantering with the female version of Skrat!  

Dude, sorry about your cat.  Those decisions suck.

Marathon on the 31st would be cool.  What's the weather like there then?

Weather here is cold and a good chance of rain on New Years.  Perfect running weather!   

Thanks all for the suggestions.  I will take Snowball to the vet and have her checked.  Also going to try a couple other things.  

She lives............ for now.  (Bad Joke?)  

When I pet-sat or boarded pets in the U.S., part of the contract was how much to spend on emergency medical care and they had to leave a corresponding deposit. I get it.

You've gotten good advice from everyone. There may yet be an easy fix. Also, even if she's on, say, Prozac for the rest of her life, generic Prozac is ridiculously cheap even in the U.S.

I was gonna say, all I've got is bad cat jokes ...

WTF, are all doctors around the world trained to say the exact same thing?

I have the same problem ... I mean, I'm trouble at the best of times but a bored Yanti is trouble to the n+1, where the limit on n = infinity.

Look into Barry 3-2-1. We've mentioned it here before and the links are on Slowtwitch. It's very flexible, more like a theory of run building than a training program.

Faching funny joke

I hope you don't put the kitty down.  There is usually a reason that cats pee outside of their box.  Usually it is territorial and they feel threatened by something.  Look at the areas where your cat likes to hang out.  Are there any cats outside, sneaking in to the yard, that she can see from a window?  Is there something new in the environment?  I would start to investigate why she is peeing outside of the box before making any quick decisions.  There are great books on cat behavior and a show on TV called My Cat from Hell, that really offer lots of suggestions.  I've had cats who have done this in the past and there is always a reason.  Vinegar is a cheap fix to get some of the smell out.  It is not a cure all but it helps decrease the odor. 

That came to mind as well. I've heard of a cat going crazy because the kid was bringing his new bike into his room. Nothing a human would notice, but the outdoor smells tracked in by the bike drove the cat nuts. Bike was left in the garage and the cat was fine again.

Something else I noticed in the article that doesn't seem to be brought up was about outside of running too. Going barefoot a lot of the time in the States may not really be possible, but there are more shoe options. I've been using a couple Merrel Barefoot shoes for some time instead of more traditional thicker soles. They have a nice variety of options for men & women in more lifestyle shoes, in addition to running or training shoes.

Jen, where are you coming from with shoes? The PureCadence may be lighter, but wouldn't put them in with racing flats, and that's probably a good thing here. It's also good that you want to learn to do it right. I went with more the approach of sliding over as opposed to completely starting over. That way I could keep running and not be so frustrated by taking such huge steps back. You'll be building up coming off an injury, so it won't be quite the same, but just wanted to put another perspective out there as it would have taken me at least several years of slow work had I tried to go with something much slimmer (much more lightweight than what you're looking at).

When I was a kid, our cat had urinary tract issues. When he was sick, he would pee in the bathtub. Kind of gross, but also great because we could all see immediately that he needed his medicine.

This is the cat who would walk along the keyboard of the piano when he wanted to go outside to get our attention and learned to "knock" on the door from the outside when he wanted in. I miss that cat.

Hi Manatees,

Insomnia for the second night in a row last night... wide awake at 3am for a few hours only to fall asleep around 5:30 to have the alarm go off at 6am.  Blargh! 

Needless to say, biking didn't happen this morning - I'll just have to give George a good workout after work. 

HA!  Good to know my alma mater is doing something useful for the world... and destroying epic drunken stories all at the same time. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/the-mathematical-formula-that-proves-cow-tipping-is-a-myth/279357/

FYI - cows are NOT comfortable to ride. 

A very wise man helped me through this once with a little tough love advice. 

Don't train late in the day (I'm wondering if this is one of the main culprits).

Don't have any caffiene after 2.

Limit alcohol to <2 drinks

Try to eat at least two hours before bed.

No screen within 20 minutes of trying to go to bed.

Don't do anything other than read (a paper book--no screen), have sex and sleep in your bed.

Maintain hydration throughout the day.

Hugs Mon.  Insomnia sucks, and I still struggle with it sometimes, even when I'm doing everything "right".  Some of my worst times are in really high volume or high intensity training periods. Those insomnia periods are often accompanied by bad, soak-the-sheets night sweats.  I now take that as an early sign of over reaching and try to back down right away. 

/end unsolicited advice.