<p>Just popping into this thread to say I did 3 1/2 miles today. Did wals a bit as it allows some time to chat with DH, who is very patient with my pace.</p>
<p>Yay, jym, great job!</p>
<p>I second what MOfWC said about treadmills: I find it much harder to run on a treadmill than to run outdoors.</p>
<p>I’m nursing my cold stupid cold today with lots of hot tea, which means lots of running up and down the stairs to the bathroom. Oh, well, at least that can be counted as some sort of an exercise. I did do some free weights… Hope to bounce back soon.</p>
<p>Planning my next hike to take advantage of stretch of sunny weather. Looks like Saturday is the nicest day, but I’m going to concert Saturday night and I’ll be snoring during the show if I’ve hiked all day. So Friday is looking like a good bet.</p>
<p>It’s opening week of deer hunting rifle season, so I want to stick to pretty well-travelled trails. Had almost decided on a return visit to Monadnock, which should be mostly ice free. But, then I saw that hunting is prohibited in Franconia Notch State Park. So I might head up to Lincoln and do a little short 3.6 mile, 3 hour hike to Mt. Pemigewasset. This looks like it could be a manageable winter hike or snow shoe trek, but I would feel better if I had already done the trail while it’s still clear.</p>
<p>I’ve got [url=<a href=“http://www.kahtoola.com/microspikes.php]Microspikes[/url”>http://www.kahtoola.com/microspikes.php]Microspikes[/url</a>] in my pack now, like snow chains for your hiking boots, so I can get caught out in some ice and snow on the trails (it’s that time of year), but I don’t want to get in over my head.</p>
<p>Good job, jym! </p>
<p>26 and clear this morning for my 1.5 miles. Tapering is nice, even though there will be pain and torture on Sunday!</p>
<p>I am almost there in adapting to new weight machines, I even like them. So far, 10 min. right after swim feels good. My goal is about 15 min. I need to check one more machine. It will make 7. 2 sets of 10 repeatitiions on each, then off for a walk outside. it has been very nice, about 34F, no snow, perfecto!</p>
<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>That marathon coarse looks [url=<a href=“http://www.harpethhillsmarathon.com/images/PWPimages/]beautiful[/url”>http://www.harpethhillsmarathon.com/images/PWPimages/]beautiful[/url</a>]. Do you guys still have foliage?</p>
<p>I just looked at the elevation maps. I hope you plan to do a lot of walking. Yeow. The max climb on my little local walk/jog route is 150 feet of elevation gain. Looks like the worst of it on you route Sunday is double that – 300 feet. Now, that’s a heartbreak hill. They should be televising this on ESPN.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ll do fine, though. I mean, you run this course for fun with your daughter! :)</p>
<p>There is the mental side and the physical side of running. I would agree that is much harder mentally to run on treadmills. However, it seems it is much easier physically to run on the treadmills. </p>
<p>Another explaination is that I am getting faster. I coudl run on treadmill at 8+ mph speed for 0.25 mile (one lap) w/o too much problem at the end of my 3.2 mile run. I was not able to do that when I was running outside.</p>
<p>Walked with 10.5% incline last night with the new Brooks shoes. Don’t like them as much as the Asics.</p>
<p>It IS beautiful. Percy Warner Park is an incredible resource. I haven’t done as much training in the park as I would have liked, but that’s the way it goes. The hills are extremely steep and long. I think I run hills from home and in other places, but when I go to the park I realize how tough those hills really are. And there are a LOT of them. </p>
<p>Yeah- I suspect there will be a lot of planned walking, because I really do want to not be miserable for most of it. There are plenty of entrants who do this slowly, so I’m hoping to have some company.</p>
<p>I find treadmills much harder too. Balance had always been a struggle for me. - seriously. :(</p>
<p>Hope the weather clears up, D is coming down from school to run in a race on Saturday.
I think it’s in your area, BB, Grand Ridge?</p>
<p>Short run day. Experimented with speed. 40 degrees.</p>
<p>Most of the leaves have fallen, but there are still a few on the trees so it isn’t completely barren looking. Weather is supposed to be good- low 40s to 60s. The people coming from MN think it’s too hot and the ones coming from CA think it’s too cold.</p>
<p>Got a short one in today. Wanted to do more, but knee is acting up on me. Getting up off the floor a couple of times or lifting dumbbells off the floor nearly brought me to my knees a couple of times. We’ll see how it feels tomorrow…</p>
<p>Good week of exercise so far–did a workout in the gym or took a class every day since Sunday. Tomorrow–long walk with friends. Going to NYC on Saturday; I figure if I forego cabs and walk everywhere I’ll get in some exercise. Have an appointment at the Crossfit gym next week. Current gym membership runs out at the end of the year and I figured I’d look at some other options.</p>
<p>Bromfield:</p>
<p>Here’s a lengthy discussion of Crossfit and how a prospective client should evaluate a Crossfit affiliate gym:</p>
<p>[Robb</a> Wolf critiques CrossFit - YouTube](<a href=“Robb Wolf critiques CrossFit - YouTube”>Robb Wolf critiques CrossFit - YouTube)</p>
<p>The two people talking are Robb Wolf, author of the NYTIMES bestseller, The Paleo Solution and owner of NorCal Strength and Conditioning, and Greg Everett, owner of Catalyist Conditioning and a well-known Olympic weight lifting coach. Wolf was involved in opening one of the first six Crossfit gyms. He and his wife have written training manuals for progressing workouts from beginners on up. He was the nutrition expert for the Crossfit national headquarters. Everett’s gym was a Crossfit affiliate for two years.</p>
<p>They believe that Crossfit missed the boat by emphasizing breaking you with overly intense, inappropriate workouts. From listening to dozens and dozens of their fitness Q&A podasts, I think both of these guys know good fitness programs (even though I would not personally go with Everett’s emphasis on Olympic lifting).</p>
<p>The WOD they are talking about is the Workout of the Day. They are posted each day on the Crossfit website:</p>
<p>[Welcome</a> to CrossFit: Forging Elite Fitness](<a href=“http://www.crossfit.com/]Welcome”>http://www.crossfit.com/)</p>
<p>Today’s WOD is 10 sets of very heavy max-load back squats (2 reps per set). Mike Boyle won’t let his professional athletes (like Red Sox players) back squat (barbell across the back of the shoulders) at all because of back injuries. He never programs less than 6 reps per set in a daily workout, because trying to lift heavier than that guarantees bad form. If a weight is heavy enough that you can only lift it two times, chances are that it is already too heavy for you to lift safely, with good form, at all. Particularly on a very technically difficult, high injury risk lift like the back squat. If the gym you are visiting is doing this workout, I would run. That is just a horrible workout if you want to get fit without getting injured. In fact, it would be a great question next week. Did they do this WOD last Thursday?</p>
<p>Yesterday’s WOD:</p>
<p>Five rounds, each for time of:
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats</p>
<p>Who programs 250 squats in a workout. Is there any point other than you make your quads really, really sore?</p>
<p>Last Wednesday’s WOD was:</p>
<p>For time:
30 Handstand push-ups
50 Back Extensions
30 Knees to elbows
225 pound Deadlift, 30 reps
40 pound Dumbbell push press, 30 reps
50 Kettlebell swings, 1.5 pood
Row 20 calories
10 Muscle-ups</p>
<p>Who does 30 rep sets of dead lifts? Who does dead lifts for time against the clock? It’s an exercise that requires impeccable form and even then it’s a risky exercise for the lower back. I won’t do them at all – I do the trap bar version and the single-leg DB version and do them with a LOT of respect. Never high reps. Never in a fast paced supposed-to-gas-you kind of conditioning workout. Rule of thumb among the veteran coaches is that older folk, if they are going to dead lift at all, should stop when they have lifted their bodyweight, because the risks of going heavier exceed any potential benefit.</p>
<p>I’m getting that cold that seems to be going around, so I only did 1.5 miles today.</p>
<p>The good news is that the antibiotic has cleared my head. The bad news is that the cold is still around. But it’s just respiratory stuff - not going through life in a partial fog. I haven’t worked out in a few days. I’ll try to get something going tomorrow night. It’s been a busy week - good thing too. Keeps my mind off the root canal next week.</p>
<p>It was in the 30s here this morning. I’m amazed at what people go running in when it’s this cold out. Though I’m also amazed at how little some people wear walking or running around in Boston.</p>
<p>My concert got rescheduled, so I’m going cold-hiking on Saturday now. The weatherman now says tomorrow will be cloudy instead of sunny, but Saturday will be sunny. This time of year, I don’t think I have to worry about weekend crowds on the trails. We’ll see. </p>
<p>I’m now fully equipped with enough cold weather gear to deal with anything that I’ll go hiking in. I’m not going out in 60 mph winds or sub zero wind chills. Now, I’ve just got to do a better job of predicting how much clothing is required for a given level of exertion. I missed by a mile last time out and ended up sweating buckets 'til I could get out of some layers.</p>
<p>I’m with you, I’m stunned to see people in shorts in this weather.</p>
<p>It’s hard to tell which of the tech materials will be how warm just by looking. Today I wore the water resistant hoodie which usually feels snuggy warm and is actually lighter weight than you’d think on first glance. Well, it was pretty cold and didn’t rain, and I probably would have been better off with the Marmot which looks like it’s just a light little thing but is designed to be able to be worn sub 40.</p>
<p>Yeah, but the ultra-lite unlined windbreaker hoodies are mighty nice on a summer day when you get caught in a rain shower or a gusty wind on a fall day. </p>
<p>I think the Marmot windshirts would be too much for running, unless it is really cold. They are incredibly warm; I would say comparable in warmth to a light fleece with the thin lining and being windproof. I plan to start my hike in upper 30s Saturday in a long sleeve tech shirt and the lined Marmot ultralight windbreaker.</p>
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<p>I had a football coach in high school who wore shorts year-round regardless of the weather. I can specifically remember my senior year it was about 35 degrees and many of us were wearing 2-3 layers over our whole body (two pairs of long socks, etc). He was out there in mesh shorts and cut-off sweatshirt. </p>
<p>I did notice this year, however, he has started to wear a full long-sleeve fleece and stocking cap. Old age must be kicking in 
Still wearing shorts…</p>