<p>4 mile hike through a lava field in the mornig, 3 mile beachwalk hike in the evening. Saw the marathoners - my hat is off to them! Running 26.2 miles in 85+ degree heat on an asphalt road - it takes serious guts.</p>
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<p>Post of the Day!</p>
<p>I think my ribs are runnable (but still sore) but the rain and dark kept me in bed, so I’ll try to eke out the streak mile after work.</p>
<p>How to run steep hills and what is the rule for running on streets?</p>
<p>Started running again after 10 days of rest. In order to increase the distance and avoid heavy traffic, I did a scouting of some new routes. Two problems I encountered.</p>
<p>One is about very steep hills which are very difficult to get up and going down. I had to walk up one of those. Other than walking up, do you just run back and forth crossing the road instead of going striagt up? Any other tips?</p>
<p>The second one is the narrow roads. The space outside the white line is less than my body width. I know bike riders could legally ride in the lane as a car. What about runners? I don’t want to run on someone else’s grass. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Runners run facing traffic and just stay as far to the side of the road as you can. If a car comes, you might need to step off. Try to pick neighborhood roads or go early in the morning before traffic. </p>
<p>For hills, go straight up- look ahead and not down at your feet. Small steps. Keep the effort level steady which means your pace will really slow down. It takes time to get used to hills. Be careful not to over-stride on the downhills. It’s a lot of pounding and easy to get injured.</p>
<p>Home from the lake and it is nice to have my laptop again! Went to the gym and decided to just do dreadmill. Walked 5 miles to try and loosen my tight back. Still a little uncomfortable. Have been drinking my water like crazy and eating lots of protein. Will try some stretches and hit the hot tub in a bit.</p>
<p>Yay for the pound party!!!</p>
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I had to walk up one of those. Other than walking up…
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<p>Don’t sell the idea of walking up steep hills short. For a year (and 90 pounds of fat loss), the only “cardio” I did was brisk walking, including a lot of steep 1/4 to 1/2 mile hills. Walking up hills is probably as close as you can get to perfect fat loss exercise. It’s fairly low impact. It tends to work the hips more than running. And, from wearing a heart rate monitor, it can tell you that it will definitely elevate your heart rate.</p>
<p>Walking or running, shorten up your steps and slow way down. Also, be careful with your Achilles. The calf strain and the achilles strain I had both came from pushing off to accelerate uphill. Since I’m not trying to win a race, I’ve learned to accelerate very gradually from a walk to a run. I transition to a crazy slow run (almost running in place), then start moving forward!</p>
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<p>Probably good advice for running. I can’t bring myself to look up while climbing on these hikes, though. For one thing, the footing requires looking down. But, even more so, it’s just too demoralizing to look up. Better to just focus on the next couple of steps.</p>
<p>When I said “look ahead”, I wasn’t clear. I DO agree that you need to watch your footing, but if you look down at your feet (except to watch footing) you are not getting as much oxygen. You want your head sort of level, so not really looking up (daunting) but maybe 10 feet ahead. If this makes sense… My instinct is to tuck my head, which constricts your airway a little.</p>
<p>And walking up hills is absolutely fine! One local runner finished the Monkey very successfully with a strategy of walking up every single hill from the very beginning. When my daughter and I were doing our 1 minute walk each mile method last weekend I said to her, “Maybe we could combine the 1 minute walking with Diana’s strategy of walking up the hills and we will hardly have to run at ALL!”</p>
<p>Sounds like the fun run 5k could be hilly, so I’ve scratched that one from the list in favor of one or both of the flat runs coming up in the next couple of weeks after that. Plus I get to see kid!</p>
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<li>This is my <em>tentative</em> plan anyway, lol.</li>
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<p>Yeah. Not getting enough oxygen is definitely my biggest challenge when I’m running! :)</p>
<p>Seriously, though, improving my breathing efficiency is something I’ve got on my “to do” list to work on. I get really short and shallow with my breathing and need to work on staying with longer deeper breaths.</p>
<p>Cals 1859
Fat 152 g
Carbs 16 g
Fiber 15 g
Protein 93 g
Sugars 1 g</p>
<p>Fat 76%
Protein 21%
Carbs 4%</p>
<p>New Rules of Lifting 4 Life workout in the basement for me (plus some med ball slams and skipping and walking lunges and carioca outside).</p>
<p>This one has the single-leg squats, which are always interesting, to say the least. Squats and lunges feel completely different these days. I assume the hiking is making a difference…</p>
<p>I’m in a bit of a holding pattern with my strength workouts. Basically doing the same two workouts and not pushing myself really hard. I’ll crank up the intensity again when the weather turns, including a revisit to some of iPod nazi’s killer core stuff…</p>
<p>Well, if this don’t beat all:</p>
<p>[Ohio</a> inmate says he’s too obese for execution](<a href=“HeadlineAlley”>HeadlineAlley)</p>
<p>I’ve got the perfect solution. Bring in Jillian Michaels. Work him and starve him until he’s skinny and fit, Biggest Loser style. </p>
<p>And, then they won’t have any problem executing him…</p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>Took two days off and the joints feel better. Did my stretching video and also tried out 5 minutes of P90X-Stretch. Even their stretching routine includes strength-training. I plan to run today but the forecast is definitely not in my favor. We’re supposed to have heavy downpours tomorrow and rain Thursday so not a week conducive to running outside.</p>
<p>It is getting too dark to run outside after 8 pm. My gym membership starts 10/1. </p>
<p>Ran 35 minutes on track while the HS band was practicing with light on last night. If the condition allows, I would prefer to run on streets with some up and down. </p>
<p>Any experts on treatmill running here? I would assume you could program a simulated 5K on a street.</p>
<p>Club treadmills are typically programmable. Most of the new ones also have a TV screen in front of you which I find incredibly annoying - I don’t like the spatial feeling of running with something in front of my face.</p>
<p>Some people think that treadmills are easier than running outside - some think that they are harder. But I think that you can get a good, steady workout in that you can just take a consistent step after step after step.</p>
<p>I find that the treadmill is quite a bit more on the boring side and I need music to run on a treadmill. We have TV sets in the fitness centers but they aren’t that useful. At the Y, they are quite far away and you need a headset to listen. In the office, you’d have to crank up the sound to very high levels so that you could hear the set and that would disturb others. You also have to look up to see the picture and I don’t think that’s particularly safe.</p>
<p>So, if you don’t already have some hardware to listen to while running, do a little shopping for an audio player and some headphones.</p>
<p>WOD:</p>
<p>6 X 2 Clean and Jerk
6 X 2 Snatch</p>
<p>Pushed a 45 pound steel sled with steel skis on concrete street; 200 meters. I couldn’t drive my car until about 20 minutes after.</p>
<p>consulted with two colleagues who have many years of running experiences. Both said my pain at heel is not an injury and no need to see a doctor. </p>
<p>Basically, they said it is due to poor stretch routing. had it been an injury, it would hurt every steps. Since I don’t feel any discomfort after mile 1, it must be I did not stretch it well - it is too tight.</p>
<p>So I do about some stretch and then stretch again after a slow two lap run. Half way in the cooldown stage, I would stretch it again. </p>
<p>I have been doing 15 minutes of icing after the cool down and then 15 minutes of heat treatment before bed. </p>
<p>It is feeling a lot better now and I am back on with my working dress shoes for work. Still sore on the first couple steps after sitting for a while but well under control.</p>
<p>Heckuva workout, Haystack!</p>
<p>Looks like I should be getting to try out a gym later this week/next week. Yesterday at home workout and today rest day.</p>
<p>I am taking a few easy days, in large part due to the sore ribs. 1.2 miles in light rain after work yesterday and 3 this morning. This is not the sort of injury that will improve by NOT running, so I’ll just try to get through it. It’s not terrible, but definitely not comfortable.</p>