I didn't get out until 12:30 pm (ran the Jordan River Parkway), and the shade temperature was 89 (F) when I left home. I only took two bottles of water with me, and I had to spread each bottle over 1.5 miles. Just before I reached the turn-around point, I finished the first bottle and made a slight detour to a water fountain. I filled the first bottle with water and had plenty of water on my way back.
Due to the heat and the lack of shade on the Parkway path at mid-day, I stopped to rest four or five times going out. On the way back, though, I felt pretty good and decided to run longer before I walked. For the first two segments, I ran twice as long as I've been doing (100% increase). Then I settled down for a 50% increase in my running and about a 40% increase in my walking. I continued that to the end of the run, and I felt fine, especially good since I was running mostly in direct sun at the hottest time of the day. On the way back, I took two short rest breaks.
I was glad that I was able to run longer segments today. A week ago I started taking a supplement called "L-arginine Plus" that is supposed to increase the Nitric Oxide (NO) in our bodies. The L-arginine and L-citruline amino acids in the supplement help our bodies increase the NO in our bodies. NO is supposed to help cleanse our blood arteries and veins. I need that because an artery in my left leg is plugged up (Atherosclerotic calcification of the lower extremity arteries). In past posts, I've talked about my auto accident, the filter put in my groin area to catch blood clots, and the blood clots I had a year and a half ago. This post is the first time I've discussed the artery in my left leg being plugged up. I learned about that problem about 10 months ago when I had a CT scan of my legs, but I didn't understand the significance of it. As I've learned more about my body, I'm starting to understand that decreased blood circulation is probably the cause of my lack of endurance and my not being able to run very far before I have to walk. I've known that the broken-down filter was inhibiting my blood flow, but I knew that auxiliary blood veins around the filter were being created, and I thought those veins would restore my blood-flow. I now realize that the plugged artery in my left leg is also reducing the blood-flow. I thus started taking the supplement last week in the hope that it would help increase the blood flow. My success today indicates that that may be happening, but I need more time to see if the success continues or if it was just an isolated anomaly.
For those interested, this supplement is based on the research of Dr. Louis Ignarro, who received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1998 for his research on Nitric Oxide. His book is called NO More Heart Disease. Dr. Ignarro determined that the two amino acids were needed as a supplement to help our bodies produce NO. The supplement also includes a number of vitamins and 72 trace minerals. I got the supplement and the book from a local health food store, but the supplement is also available via the web.
