Adele - Set fire to the Rain

5-7-12  Ran 3 miles today.  I was pretty sore from the weekend run and bike ride.  The good thing is that my soreness was not in my shins, it was in the front of my thighs.  Just good old fashioned pain from a little over working muscles that rested too long.  I would not call that injury, but normal exercise/recovery process.  Yeah!  I have done a bit of reading about the recovery process.  This is interesting:

Muscles are among the most metabolically active tissues in our body. They are always trying to tailor their structural and functional properties to the level and type of use they experience. However, when the amount of use or level of stress on a muscle is too great, the fibers that make up the muscle are damaged. When this happens, the cells that make up muscle fibers degenerate and are replaced by new muscle cells. This process is known as the degeneration-regeneration cycle.
Following physical damage to muscle cells in training, degeneration begins with what is known as the inflammatory process. During this stage, various enzymes and immune cells known as macrophages serve as scavengers that gobble up the cellular debris left behind from muscle trauma and consequent muscle-cell death.

During the degeneration-regeneration cycle, almost all cellular structures are affected, representing a so-called dismantling period. This process begins within hours of the initial insult to the muscles trained.

This is so good, I must stop watching
the soaps and start running again!

The next step in the degeneration-regeneration cycle may be the most important. This is known as the proliferative phase. During this phase, skeletal muscle satellite cells begin to appear along the periphery of damaged muscle fibers. These satellite cells represent a muscle population of stem cells that will eventually differentiate into new muscle tissue.
What makes these cells unique is that their proliferation is brought about specifically by muscle trauma. As muscle satellite cells continue to proliferate and align themselves along the outer margins of the damaged muscle fibers, regeneration moves forward and new muscle-fiber proteins are synthesized.
This process continues until the damaged muscle fibers are completely regenerated.
The benefits of this complex process are numerous. When looking at muscle-cell regrowth in sedentary muscles, the muscle fibers seem to regenerate in a random orientation and remain relatively immature.
However, if the muscle fibers are cyclically exposed to various loads of stress and tension, they become well aligned, take up greater amounts of amino acids and synthesize more proteins. Other physiological benefits to training include an increase in intracellular mitochondria (the powerhouses of the cell), the number of capillaries, total blood flow and total oxygen-consumption capacity, leading to a profound rise in muscle metabolic activity. These increases yield a more well-developed and fatigue-resistant muscle.

I like using the word "insult" to describe the damage done to the muscles.  It does feel quite like an insult that my body has done this to me after all my hard work!   I also found it interesting to read the science behind why you go through exercise, pain, recovery, stronger muscles.  It makes sense.

I also went to see my oncologist today.  This is a routine appointment every 6 months.  He has prescribed Arimidex (Anastrazole) for 5 years (3.5 years done at this point).  The severity of breast cancer is increased by estrogen which causes hyperplasia and differentiation at estrogen receptor sites.  Anastrozole works by inhibiting the synthesis of estrogen, so basically a hormone blocker.(studies show that it reduces recurrence by 40%)  A side effect of Arimidex is that it causes bone loss.  I had a bone density test after 2.5 years on this drug and I have mild osteoporosis in my hips.  None of that is new information.  However, when I was seeing Dr. Kourlas, I did mention my training and my marathon.  He said that this is really good for my osteoporosis.  It should help in the process to build new bone mass.  Good!  He also reminded me that the damage done by the Arimidex reverses when I stop taking it.  In the meantime, I take Actonel to try and counterbalance what the Arimidex is doing.  I guess the good news is that those are the only two drugs I take.   (well except for my friend Advil)

I didn't get out to run until 4:00 pm and it was too hot.  The next couple of days are going to be a little cooler, hopefully storm free.  We had a lot of rain and storms late in the day today.  I was fixing dinner and it suddenly got really dark a couple of hours early.  Walked outside just in time to hear a loud crack of thunder.  I love storms, as long as I am not in the car on the highway!  Usually when we have tornado warnings, the whole family goes to the basement and I can't help myself from going upstairs and out on the front sidewalk a few times to see what the skies are looking like.  I usually see my neighbor across the street doing the same thing.  Last night was just thunderstorms and flooding, no tornadoes.

I first heard of Adele when I watched part of the Grammy's.  I am sure that I have heard her music before, but I didn't really know anything about her.  She has won multiple Grammy's and numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of world records: She is the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year in the UK, the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the UK Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since the Beatles in 1964, the first artist in history to lead the Billboard 200 concurrently with three Billboard Hot 100 number ones, and the list goes on.   She also broke the record for the longest number 1 album by a woman in Billboard history, beating the record formerly held by Whitney Houston's soundtrack The Bodyguard.  (with 21 non-consecutive weeks at number 1 in the US) She has a unique and beautiful voice.

Set Fire to the Rain is one of her songs that I like.  All of her songs are 'love songs' so I'm not saying I related to these lyrics, I just like the music and her voice.

I let it fall, my heart,
And as it fell you rose to claim it
It was dark and I was over
Until you kissed my lips and you saved me

My hands, they're strong
But my knees were far too weak,
To stand in your arms
Without falling to your feet

But there's a side to you
That I never knew, never knew.
All the things you'd say
They were never true, never true,
And the games you play
You would always win, always win.

[Chorus:]
But I set fire to the rain,
Watched it pour as I touched your face,
Well, it burned while I cried
'Cause I heard it screaming out your name, your name!