Ruin Ruins Requests: Episode II - The Revenge!

This week's ruined request comes from SG in Illinois, who wanted to hear me butcher a Kenny Chesney song. Apparently, Kenny himself does not fully butcher his own material. (This was news to me.)

Well, SG, here you go. Without further ado, here's a Bollywood-inflected send-up of the best Kenny Chesney has to offer:

Don't forget, you can request as many songs as you like. Plus, I have your old requests, too! Wicked!

Fatherhood and/or Manhood

In predictable CNN style, on the eve of Father's Day, we find this article by Jeff Perlman, skewering bad fathers and touting Perlman's own fathering expertise.

The face-value of an article like this is what it is: the guy wants fathers to be good fathers, maaaaan...! The problem is, this article isn't face-value. There is far too much subtext here. The article doesn't mean what it really means. I'd like to take a moment to explore this.

As more than one reader noted in the comments section of the article, it is somewhat "typical" of CNN to publish an article like this on Father's Day, the one day a year we're supposed to be praising our fathers rather than shaming them into improving their act. Typical, because CNN tends to align itself with a stream of ideology that is more mother than father. I've lost all most all of you in saying so, so I had better prove my case by supplying some quotes:

In case you are wondering, I am that dad. The one who works out of the house. The one who drives his kids to school, packs lunches and pushes swings and arranges play dates and attends teacher conferences and -- generally speaking -- frequently finds himself alone in brightly colored rooms filled with women and tykes.

Here Perlman establishes himself as a guy who does all the "typical mother" things. No, not just "a" guy who does those things, but "that guy." In other words, he fancies himself as emblematic of the "kind of guy" who regularly and unabashedly engages in mothering behavior. Not that driving your kids to school is womanly, but what exactly does he mean by "frequently finds himself alone in brightly colored rooms filled with women and tykes?" Wait, there's more. Here he is, claiming to speak on behalf of mothers:

Hence, I have been sent here today, on behalf of the stay-at-home mothers of the world, to convey to my fellow pops a message of love and hope in this lead-up to Father's Day: Wake the hell up.

Offering up ten "commandments," Perlman goes even further. Here's "commandment" number four:

Play with dolls and paint your toenails: How many fathers do I know who refuse to get girlish with their girls? Dozens. Dude, put aside the machismo, break out Barbie and slather on some pink polish. You'll make a friend for life -- and nobody else is watching.

That's right, dads. If you don't "get girlish" with your girls, you're being a bad father! By now, it should be crystal clear that Jeff Perlman has no idea what it really means to be a father. To his credit, he seems to be really good at being a mother - but his fathering skills appear nowhere in his Father's Day article. Suspicious?

Perlman's manhood suffers its final death throes with this one-two punch: first "commandment" number one, then number six (emphasis mine):

1. No golf on weekends: Seriously, it's ludicrous. Your spouse is home with the kids all the time, and you think it's OK to take five hours on a weekend day to pursue your own pastime? Selfishness, thy name is Father.

...

6. Order the wife to bug off: I recently met a mother who told me her husband hadn't been alone with their 9-year-old daughter for more than two hours ... ever. Inexcusable. Let your wife do her own thing: relax, take a run, whatever.  

What is Perlman doing?! What we have here is a bad case of a self-hating father. He knows nothing about fatherhood or manhood. His knee-jerk response is to behave as a mother instead. He calls fathers "selfish" for pursuing their own pastimes, and then openly encourages mothers to do the same. This blatant contradiction exposes the whole article as precisely the sick, sad ruse that it is.

Now, don't get me wrong - there are positive messages to be had here. It's important for fathers to be engaged. But Perlman doesn't make the case for that. Perlman makes the case for fathers' being more like mothers. This is preposterous.

Preposterous, because it is vitally important that children gain exposure to both roles. Children need heavy doses of testosterone and estrogen, in the right blend, depending on the particular situation. Encouraging the testosterone to behave more like the estrogen should never be misconstrued as good parenting. 

What Do You Know, Ryan? You're Not a Dad

True, but I just so happen to have a fantastic dad. This guy was a lot of the things Jeff Perlman hates. He works all day, and when he comes home, he tends to watch TV. He spends a lot of time pursuing his own pastimes, and guess what: one of them is golf. When I was growing up, he used to golf nearly every weekend, sometimes two or even three times a weekend. When he wasn't doing that, he was tirelessly engaged in yard work or fixing things around the house. Perlman, if you're reading this, you may go grab a cup of milk and wipe your nose now. It'll be okay...

Because there is another side to fathers who behave as fathers. While mine was golfing and working outside, he was also telling jokes. He was turning everything into either a game or a song, or occasionally both. He taught me the value of hard work, but more importantly, he taught me that you don't have to dread every second of your life just because you have to work. He taught me how to play any sport I ever wanted to play (and several sports I had no interest in). He helped me with math and science problems. He gave me spy novels to read. He bought me toy guns and toy knives and real knives - and probably would have bought me a real gun, had I wanted one - even in an age when those things were already becoming politically incorrect. He helped contribute to my overall sense of values and my overall sense of self-worth.

And he never painted his toenails pink.

What's the Point?

The point is that society is rapidly losing its understanding of what a man's role is. Men like Jeff Perlman have adopted the perspective of women, because they think it is "feminist" of them to do so. It's not. (Think about it: do you really think men becoming women is a pro-woman stance?) Now our media is filled with images and words reprimanding men from doing all those uncouth masculine things like shooting guns and watching sports, and encouraging men to share the burden of motherhood...

What we gain is a lot more motherhood. What we lose is far more than just "shooting guns and watching sports." We're losing our sense of fatherhood. We're losing the image of that fearless, confident, strong man who encourages us to grit our teeth and smile through the pain of a broken bone. We're losing the image of the man who simply never tires of the physical labor involved in maintaining the house. (Do most men even know how to conduct plumbing repairs anymore? Thank god for my father...) We're losing the image of the man who doesn't let his emotions get the better of him, who powerfully weathers all adversity without a complaint and barely the blink of an eye - and certainly never, ever a tear!

Fathers tell dirty jokes when mothers aren't looking. Fathers sometimes swear - a lot. Fathers scare the crap out of you when you've done something wrong - because they're the tough ones, and you don't want to piss off someone who is tougher and bigger than you, even if he'd never lay a hand on you. 

Friends, we're losing our fathers. They're getting old. Perlman notes that in a blink of an eye, your children have grown up and flown away. In that same blink of an eye, something happened to your father, too. Did you pay any attention?

Sure, he can be gruff and you can't really pour your heart out to him. But he was there for you, and if you're lucky, he still is. Don't ruin his legacy by becoming your mother. You carry his name, now carry his virtues. Show him you know what it means to be a man. Show him you know what it means to be a father. 

Don't spit in his face by scorning the whole concept of fatherhood like a catty old hag. Man up. Be a father.

Two-a-Day Workouts for Type 1 Diabetics: Lessons Learned

Having undertaken two-a-day workouts for nearly four consecutive weeks now, I would like to share some of what I've learned, in hopes that others can gain from my self-experimentation. While everyone's body and schedule are a little different, I do believe two-a-day workouts are a viable option for any athletically inclined type 1 diabetic.

Because I have been asked the question before, I should clarify: What I mean by "two-a-day workouts" is literally working out twice in the same day - once in the morning, and once in the evening.

Lesson #1: Benefit -- Significant Disruptions are Preferable to Massive Disruptions
Prior to beginning my two-a-day regimen, I was working out once in the late afternoon, for between one to two hours. The rest of my day is spent working in an office, and therefore I am quite sedentary for the majority of my waking hours. This once-a-day explosion of physical activity - typically involving both strength training and cardiovascular exercise - was incredibly hard on my body.

I enjoyed the physical exercise and the condition of my body from the exercise itself. Nonetheless, my blood sugar would typically skyrocket during and shortly after the workout, and then suddenly plummet in the late evening, often subjecting me to a potential overnight low.

Working out twice a day for less total time per workout offers me the benefit of never experiencing an activity surge quite that high. At the same time, my body feels more active throughout the day. That is, rather than only being active in the evenings, I am now active in the morning and the evening. This is a lot closer to "always being active." So, not only is each session less disruptive, but it also feels like more consistent daily activity. This seems to have really smoothed out my blood glucose levels during the day.

Lesson #2: Benefit -- A Tighter Schedule
While some may consider this a bad thing, time is much tighter these days, in a good way. The fact that I must now absolutely rouse myself from sleep between 5:00 AM sharp and 5:15 AM means that I now resist the urge to sleep in a bit. This means my mealtimes are more regular. It also means that my workouts must occur with razor-sharp scheduling precision.

As we all know, but are reluctant to admit, routine is the key to successful diabetes management. Two-a-days really seem to encourage the daily routine.

Lesson #3: Challenge -- Missing a Workout
On the other hand, I am finding that when I miss a workout (either in the morning or the afternoon) it is a bit more disruptive than I expected. My body has become so used to the demands of a two-a-day schedule that when it has to become a one-a-day schedule, my blood glucose levels start to climb high within a couple of hours of the missed workout.

Moreover, this is obviously also true on days that are scheduled to be one-a-days on purpose, such as long run days and rest days.

Granted, this challenge can be easily overcome by managing my diet. Which brings me to Lesson #4...

Lesson #4: Diet is the Great Flex-Factor
The master slack variable in all of this seems to be what I eat. If I miss a workout and eat the same way as though I still had worked out, then obviously my blood sugar will increase. If I eat modestly despite a tough workout, I have a low. I finally seem to be in the same place most diabetics are in general, meaning that both my diet and my insulin intake need to be adjusted based on my needs for the particular day.

Lesson #5: Keep a Broad View
In other words, the more I fixate on whatever happens to be different, the more I throw myself off track. I need to adjust all factors in response to every change, not just make one change and hope for the best.

This is a bit of a paradigm shift for me, because we economists are used to thinking about things "ceteris parabus." The funny thing about diabetes is that it isn't really a ceteris parabus kind of disease. Change something at one stage of the chain, and you impact the entire system.

Therefore, any small change requires a variety of corresponding changes. It's not one thing, it's five things...

Lesson #6: It's Worth It
The most important lesson learned thus far is that the challenges are easily accommodated for, and the benefits are many. I highly recommend two-a-days to active type 1 diabetics. I think it is an excellent strategy for diabetes management.

Hurting in a Good Way, Hurting in a Bad Way

Speaking of tangible results, I was out last night with PR, a loyal Stationary Waves reader, and our conversation inevitably found its way to running. PR remarked that the training regimen must be doing its job, since his legs "hurt in ways they've never hurt before." But, to be clear, it was a good pain. He said, "Well, they don't hurt in a bad way."

PR is in a good position because he has done lots of exercise over the years, and is very familiar with reading the signs his body gives him. I cannot emphasize enough the importance learning to understand your own body. As I previously noted,

Third, you have to understand your own body. You have to know in the middle of your run whether your muscles, joints, and bones are ready for an extra ten minutes. Chances are, they'll be fine. There is a chance, though, that they're just not ready for it yet. Don't feel bad, and don't worry too much about it. Undertake a more modest distance and then try again next week. We're still only on Week #2 -- there is plenty of time to get to 26.2 miles yet.

I also recently gave some tips on how to recognize when to draw the line. But descriptions only serve to be effective warnings if the writer is reasonably capable and the reader has some experience with the sensation. All the blog posts in the world -- even good ones -- will never replace good, old-fashioned personal experience.

Runners with less firsthand experience testing their bodies' limits will inevitably have a more difficult time recognizing what is "good pain" and what is "bad pain." People with almost no real experience doing any exercise at all will even recoil upon hearing the phrase "good pain." (Go ahead and test this out on your own. Next time you're out with friends, mention something about how you're feeling "good pain" from your workout, and observe the reactions of those who never exercise.)

There is nothing wrong with being inexperienced. It takes time to develop a good working relationship with your body. My point this morning is to underscore the importance of gaining this experience.  This is one reason why runners run. Knowing your body and understanding its messages is the absolute best defense against injury and over-exertion. We are on Week #4; by now, you certainly should have experienced some good pain at some point.

By the Way, It's Not Too Late to Start From Week #1
Just because I'm wrapping up Week #4 this week doesn't mean that you missed the boat if you didn't start with me in May. You can begin your training any time you please! You don't really even have to set a marathon as your goal. You could undertake this project simply as a stand-alone challenge to yourself. You can recruit some friends and challenge each other! There are no rules here! Join in the fun any time you like!

Business Idea of the Day

If minimum wage causes unemployment, then there are people willing to supply low-skilled labor at below-minimum wage. Start a company that functions as an umbrella organization willing to sell said labor in bundles, at a flat rate, set by the laborer. For example, rather than hiring 20 migrant farm workers at $4/hour, a landowner would pay $80 flat rate for their field to be plowed, or sprayed, or whatever.

Laborers in this firm function as private contractors who sell bundles of labor for flat rates on a case-by-case basis. The labor itself, then, is bundled and commoditized and profits go directly to the sellers of labor. The business itself charges a finders' fee - probably charged to the buyers of labor, not the sellers, as in the standard temp staffing firm model; but also functions more like an auction market such as Ebay, where the business delivers a service that matches up buyers and sellers.

In this way, we overcome minimum wage laws and deliver profits directly to laborers. We also stimulate entrepreneurship and contract negotiation, rather than forcing people to rely on labor legislation to dictate the terms of every employment contract.

Yes or no? What do you think?

Postal Workers on Strike and a Reminder

Don't miss my commentary on the ongoing CUPW strike, posted today at the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada.

Speaking of which, don't forget the LvMI Canada's Ottawa-area meet-up tomorrow at 7pm, at the Royal Oak Downtown. More details at Mises.ca.

Knowing Where to Draw the Line

In a previous post, I described how you know when you're ready to increase your mileage.

But if you're anything like me (and if you're running a marathon, how could you not be?), then knowing when to do more is definitely not your problem. No, if you're like me, then the trick is knowing when you're doing too much. This seems comedic, but it's a real problem, and I'd like to spend some time discussing it today.

There are two kinds of "doing too much." There is carrying too heavy a burden, and then there is doing too much, too soon. Let's take a look at each one of these.

Too Much, Too Soon
Other than bad form, I think doing too much, too soon is the primary means by which runners injure themselves. This is a tricky issue, because in most cases "too much, too soon" consists of doing workouts that the runner is already comfortable with. Think about it - how can activities that you know you're capable of cause injury? Shouldn't they be inherently safe by virtue of the fact that you are already capable of them? So it can be a little counter-intuitive. Think of it this way: I have already run a marathon before, so I know I'm capable of doing it -- does that mean I don't need to train for one?

The principle holds true for strength training, speed training, overall mileage, or even the intensity of your daily workout. If you start out on Week 1 training at an intensity level more appropriate to Week 9, it stands to reason that you risk injury. In this case, the injury will often be of a sudden-onset: tendonitis out of nowhere, shin splints, pulled muscles, or next-day aches and pains.

You should always exercise some restraint during the first few weeks of training until you are so comfortable with the routine and the types of workouts you're doing that you can get some serious work done in the middle of the training plan. In fact, a great runner I know recently said to me that, in her opinion, the first week of training should feel too easy. This is a great example of an experienced runner practicing some restraint in the initial phases of a workout plan, building on her foundations, acquainting her muscles with the kinds of activities for which they are in store, and just making sure she doesn't do too much too soon.

Even if a runner is only doing a little too much too soon, it can have a cumulative effect. After two or three weeks, one finds oneself breaking down too far after difficult workouts and not rebuilding quickly enough during recovery. This is very similar to just doing too much, and provides us with a useful segue...

Just Doing Too Much
While injuries associated with "too much, too soon" tend to involve a sudden onset, just doing too much in general results in more gradual injuries: tendonitis that appears first as a light pain and then worsens over the course of a week; muscles that get sore, but the soreness doesn't really subside even after days; stress fractures. Even when no real injury occurs, runners that have taken on too much will often have a constant burning sensation in their muscles, will be a bit unsteady on their feet, will have incredibly tight joints when they wake up in the morning, will feel sluggish during virtually every workout, and can't seem to loosen up their muscles no matter how much they stretch.

Training is a process of breaking down one's muscles, rebuilding them, breaking them down again, rebuilding them, and so on, ad infinitum. When a runner does too much exercising all the time, the runner breaks down his or her muscles every day and never allows them the chance to rebuild again. That's where the fatigue comes in. This fatigue can iimpact the runner's form and cause injury, or the constant impact of heavy training can just break down the bones and ligaments to the point of serious injury. Therefore, doing too much is a far more serious concern than just doing too much, too soon.

You'll know you're doing too much mostly by the telltale fatigue and persistent muscle burning. We are now at Week #4 of our training schedule. If you feel fatigue and muscle burning every day, or for, say, three consecutive days, then I suggest it's time to take an unscheduled rest day, at least. If it happens again, take another rest day. If it happens a third time, then it's time to reduce your overall level of training.

Design Changes

As aforementioned, I have made some changes to the layout of my blog. In general, I just felt like it was time for a change. The old layout felt like a dusty old book. Hopefully the new layout grabs the eye a bit more...

I have also eliminated the AdSense gadgets/widgets from the blog entirely, in part as a courtesy to my readers. I find the ads clunky and distracting. My goal with this blog is not to generate massive amounts of revenue (although, gee, that would be nice), but rather to deliver outstanding content on a few subjects close to my heart. My readers should not have to be accosted with product advertisements. It is furthermore my belief that if I continue to deliver good blog content I will not need silly gimmicks like AdSense to reap the rewards of a regular following.

At any rate, I may re-monetize my blog if my following continues to grow, but for now I think we can all benefit from a small ad-free oasis of sorts.

I may tinker with the colors a bit as I continue to get acquainted with the new layout. I may even enlist the help of some of my artistic friends and family to help choose a great color scheme. But the basic layout will remain like this for... oh, maybe another eighteen months or however long it takes me to get tired of it.

Tangible Results

The system seems to be working. 

Today, during my fartlek workout, I managed to run a mile further than two weeks ago, in the same amount of time. Two weeks ago, during my first fartlek workout of the season, I managed to run a six-mile speed-play workout in 45 minutes. Today, I ran the same out-and-back course, but made it half a mile (0.8 kilometers) further at the 22:30 turnaround point, for a grand total of about 7.1 miles in 45 minutes. That's about 6:20/mile pace, and keep in mind that this was not a tempo run, but a fartlek workout. That means that I spent a lot of those 45 minutes running at a recovery pace.

Suffice it to say that I'm very happy with today's run. This, too, after a tough morning of plyometric strength training (see: The Matrix). I expected my muscles to be really sluggish this afternoon. In fact, I was afraid that I'd be so tired that I'd be reluctant to run at all. On the contrary, from my perspective, I killed it.

I can't help but think the extra unit of Lantus is at work here. I am now even less inclined to go back to 12 IU. That said, you can bet I'll be eating a snack tomorrow morning. If I can have some yogurt at work, I will try, but more likely it will be some fresh fruit. I just picked up some nice, fresh Asian pears at Wal-Mart today. Perhaps I'll pack one of those along with some cheese slices and make a snack of it. Diabetics should always include both protein and carbohydrates when having a snack -- and that's a good practice for non-diabetics, too.

Results this good are certainly worth celebrating, but what I find really encouraging is the fact that I still have fourteen and a half weeks before the race! If I'm feeling this good and showing these kinds of results at week four, I have a bright future ahead of me yet.

Please, share your success stories here. How do you find the training? Have you improved? How is it going? 

Okay, No.

This makes two days in a row now that I've gone mildly hypoglycemic before lunch. Same time of day, too: about 10 o'clock in the morning.

Either 13 IU of basal insulin is too much for me, or my morning workouts are driving my BG down a few hours later.

This sort of decision is emblematic of the choices diabetics are faced with on a regular basis. It might be worth it to reduce my breakfast bolus or eat a morning snack, if it means that I can keep my blood sugar in good control the rest of the day on 13 units of Lantus. Or, I should consider reducing my basal dose back to 12 IU and making due with the higher blood sugar the rest of the day.

I think I am going to try to manage this with a reduced breakfast bolus or potentially a morning snack. I feel much better when my blood glucose is under 7.0 mmol/L, and of course it is much healthier. Rather than "resorting to an insulin adjustment" to fix every problem, perhaps I should just plan my food a little better.

...The inevitable update will of course appear on my blog in the coming days. ;)

Pharmaceuticals Shortages

You may have been reading headlines recently about widespread shortages of pharmaceutical products across America. (If you haven't, you can read all about it here, and here, and here, and here, and so on.) The question is why are the world's wealthiest and most developed nations experiencing shortages of products produced by some of the largest and most lucrative corporations in the world?

The answer is neither complex nor surprising, however it does involve a full understanding of the pharmaceutical market in general. Unfortunately, a small blog like this is no place to gain such an understanding. I'm not sure I have the time to provide enough background information. I can, however, point to a few major issues facing the industry that would result in drug shortages.

What is a Safe Pharmaceutical Product, Anyway?
We all want drug products that meet the tightest possible safety standards. Unfortunately, though, this is an extremely childish view of what pharmaceutical products actually are.

When we're talking about foodstuffs, we're talking about edible materials that either are or are not contaminated by hazardous bacteria. Controlling for this kind of food safety is an easy thing to do. One simply sterilizes the production machinery, pasteurizes the ingredients, possibly adds preservative agents (even simple things like salt), properly packages the food, and away we go. It's easy because food is safe by virtue of the fact that it is edible. If it weren't safe to consume, we wouldn't be eating it. So all anyone really needs to do is control against contaminants.

Pharmaceutical products are completely different. The concept of a safe medication is an entirely relative one.

For example, consider the nature of chemotherapy. Here the objective is to literally poison the body, bring it as close to death as necessary, in hopes that a person's tumors will die before the person dies. These products are inherently poisonous - but that is precisely the point. If they were safe to consume, they wouldn't kill cancer. The only thing that makes chemotherapy agents safe is the medical supervision under which they are administered.

So, when a product is inherently poisonous, how can a manufacturer adhere to safety standards?

The other important issue here is that "safe" medications are really "safe, if" medications. Botox might be the perfect example. Injected locally into the joints, it can be an effective relief of certain kinds of arthritis. And yet, Botox is really nothing more than the bacteria that we call botulism, the same stuff that will kill you if it starts growing in your mayonnaise.

The bottom line is that every pharmaceutical product must be assessed in terms of treatment benefits versus side-effect costs. It's not a "yes/no" decision. In some sense, every pharmaceutical product is both safe and dangerous.

This is important because FDA safety standards and regulations are extremely costly for drug manufacturers. These costs have a real impact on manufacturers' ability to produce drugs in a cost effective way. There is a long list of good, useful, "safe" drugs that are no longer produced because the manufacturing costs are too high. These are medications that could make our lives better, but they can't come to market because no one wants to make them. They're too expensive!

Cutting back on regulations would reduce the cost burden on manufacturers, which would allow them to produce more medications. Expensive regulatory hurdles also act as a barrier to entry for small drug start-ups who could compete with "Big Pharma" to help drive prices down for all of us.

"Comparative Effectiveness" Run Wild
The current regulatory trend in the pharmaceutical industry is something called "comparative effectiveness research." The goal of this research is to determine which product or course of therapy produces the greatest number of positive health outcomes at the lowest cost. At face value, this is an admirable goal. But the devil is in the details, and in this case, there are lots of devils involved here.

One huge devil is the concept of what a "good deal" might be when comparing two drugs. Looking again at the cancer market, we must keep in mind that sometimes it is not a question of curing a disease, but merely preserving a few good years (or months) of life. So, if I told you that one drug costs $20,000 per year and adds 18 months of life with a 5% chance of total remission, but another drug costs $100,000 per year and adds 24 months of life with a 30% chance of total remission, which would you take?

Obviously, such decisions are highly personal. There is no "one right answer" that a government agency can uncover. Different decisions will be appropriate for different patients, and patients need to make these decisions for themselves, regardless of how much money Medicare will save if they take the cheaper drug.

How does this play into drug shortages? Pharmaceutical companies' products often don't receive regulatory approval unless they meet the baseline requirements set by comparative effectiveness research - research which, as you can see, is totally subjective. There are long lists of drugs that many of us could choose to take, but are denied the opportunity to even think about.

Generic Producers Are Also Not Safe
Generic companies, too, are subjected to regulatory burden. In many cases, they must sell to government agencies at government-dictated prices or not at all. This prevents generic manufacturers from having the kind of production flexibilities that are inherent to the nature of their business. Rather than being able to quickly meet demands, they have to sell off stocks and below-favorable prices or lose everything. In many cases, this simply results in generic manufacturers' choosing not to produce the medication in question, again, because it isn't cost-effective to do so. Suppliers would like to meet market demands, but regulations are preventing them from being able to make any money doing it. So who would do it?

Furthermore, in many countries, generic prices are regulated as a dictated percentage of the brand drug's price. That means that when brand drugs' prices are forced downward by price regulations, the generic companies also suffer. Again, who wants to manufacture products if there isn't any money to be made in the market? Supply decreases.

Inflation Affecting Ingredient Costs
It goes without saying that as currencies continue to devalue through inflation, ingredient costs expressed in those currencies will continue to increase. Raw chemicals are not more valuable than ever, and this presents real cost challenges to drug manufacturers. Ending the central banks' silly fixation on Quantitative Easing immediately means literally saving lives.

The Elephant in the Room
I plan on blogging more about the following issue, but here I am just going to introduce the concept...

It is no surprise that some of the world's largest drug manufacturers are American companies, and that the world's largest pharmaceutical market is the United States. For years, the lower regulatory standards of the United States has allowed the drug manufacturing industry to flourish. This has been great for Americans, but it has been even better for other countries.

Why? Because if a manufacturer can get their product into the U.S. marketplace, then that provides enough revenue for that company to then attempt to enter the tighter regulatory environments of foreign countries, where they sell fewer pills at lower prices and great costs. (!!!)

In essence, relatively freer U.S. markets have been subsidizing the world's pharmaceutical regulations for years.

But now all of that is changing. Regulations are getting stricter in the United States and Obamacare is only beginning to take root. Costs are increasing, and that doesn't just mean that the United States will suffer some drug product shortages. It also means that the entire world's drug production is at risk. You can't simply sever an apple tree from its roots and expect it to go on producing apples. Something has to give.

The Running Mind

It has been brought to my attention that my blog is long on technical information and short on what I will describe as motivational theory. Yet a large part of running - some might even argue the great majority of running - involves feelings of motivation, accomplishment, self-determination, self-reflection, and the simple joy of motion.

One of the best aspects of Sean Burch's Hyperfitness program is that it's more than a workout schedule and a set of workouts. That aspect of the program is what he calles "Hyperstrength." The other components of Hyperfitness, are "Hyperfare" (healthy food, done the Burch way) and - more importantly - "Hypermind." Never in any other fitness regimen have I ever seen this concept addressed as completely as Burch addresses it in his book. The concept of Hypermind sets Hyperfitness apart from its competitors, because it presents the whole concept of elite fitness as a holistic life change, starting wtih an attitude change.

It has always been my intention to include the psychological and motivational aspects of running on this blog. In the spirit of that endeavor, I thought I'd take some time today to cover this in greater specificity. Unlike Sean Burch, I don't have a gimmick or an underlying framework with which to present the idea of the Running Mind, but it is such an important part of running, that I need to at least try.

Psychiatric Benefits of Running
I won't spend too much time on this, because it's almost beside the point. But it does come into play on motivational issues, so it's worth mentioning briefly.

Like any activity the human body enjoys, running causes a release of dopamine and serotonin in the brain. In very loose terms, dopamine is the brain's primary "reward" chemical, and serotonin is one of the brain's "satisfaction" chemicals. Knowing that running stimulates the release of both chemicals, it is not difficult to understand why running tends to induce feelings of:

• Achievement
• Pride or self-esteem
• Relaxation
• The desire to repeat the behavior

Many, many people have reported both clinically and anecdotally that running has helped them overcome feelings of depression, isolation, low self-esteem, boredom, apathy, and so forth. Understanding the impact exercise has on brain chemistry, it's easy to see why people feel this way.

To be clear, I'm not referring to a "runner's high" here. This runs much deeper, and longer-term than a temporary endorphin rush. Running creates a self-perpetuating cycle of positive anticipation, reward, self-esteem, and mental relaxation. Some people may experience an endorphin rush immediately following a run, but that is actually a separate phenomenon than the major psychiatric benefits of running (and all exercise, really).

Opportunity to Meditate
One of the best aspects of running is that it gets you outside, by yourself, for a significant amount of time, often in a regularly scheduled context. Due to the gradual decline of organized religion in modern society and the poor quality of philosophy education in modern schools, very few people these days actually set aside time to reflect on their lives, their problems, and their day in general.

I cannot tell you how many times people have asked me, "What do you think about when you're out there running for so long?" The answer is literally everything. All runners are the same in this regard. The simple fact is, when you're out running for 30+ minutes every day, your mind will wander. If you do this regularly, it will start to wander in predictable ways.

Runners, therefore, find themselves drawn to their run not just for the physical and psychiatric benefits, but also because it is a form of soothing meditation. Whether you subscribe to the kind of active, logical meditative analysis that I do, or practice the less computative meditation that Buddhists do, running offers you a chance to get your fill.

So, as you can see, running is much more than technique and physical accomplishment. It is a much-needed psychological reprieve from the day's hassles, with proven brain-chemistry benefits.

Austrian School Economics in Ottawa

If you're in the Ottawa area this Thursday at 7:00 PM, why not join some of the gang from the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada. I'll be hosting the meet-up and giving a light, non-technical, and very casual speech on the recession and "quantitative easing."

You may find more details here. See you there.

Week 3 Recap: A Day Or Two Late

I missed this over the weekend, because I was a little too busy with other stupid stuff. I know you're all waiting with baited breath, so here it is...

Where I Am, Week 21:

• Weight: 150.0 lbs.
• Estimated Body Fat: 15.7%
• Estimated Bone Mass: 7.9%
• Estimated Water Mass: 61.5%
• Average of All BG Readings (Last 7 Days): 8.7 mmol/L

Clearly, the big news this week is my plummeting blood glucose readings. BG variability (standard deviation) is also down significantly this week. One reason for this is that there were no bizarre outliers (~18 or 19 mmol/L) at all this week. Another reason is that I increased my daily Lantus intake from 12 to 13 International Units (IU). That decision came after I consulted with my diabetes nurse and dietician. They were considering splitting my basal dose because I seem to have no insulin in my system by the late afternoon. Taking a split dose of basal insulin, though, would greatly complicate my workouts, and my dietician (also an avid runner) didn't want to see that happen. 

Well, I'm pleased with the results, and I think I'll stay on 13 units for a while. 

Workout-wise, I'm getting back into the groove of heavy training again. I need to take my speed days a little more seriously, because I feel as though my legs are getting a little sluggish. Plyometrics will also be important here. 

All in all, not a bad place to be a Week #3!