<p>70 minutes of tennis. This was against the guy that I was beating pretty badly last year. He beat the better guy that I’ve been playing lately (the 5.0) earlier this week. So I guess that he’s upped his game. He’s the kind of guy that can watch professional tennis match and learn things to try from what the pros do.</p>
<p>I hadn’t played in about five weeks so I knew that my serve wouldn’t be that effective and I wasn’t sure about stamina. Running five miles and playing tennis are quite different. Doing intervals is a lot better for tennis than running at a steady pace.</p>
<p>We went back and forth to 4-4 and then I kicked it up a little and won the next two games to take it 6-4. We were out of time at that point. I blew one game with three double-faults and wasn’t playing aggressively enough at the beginning. He was making fewer errors, had good answers to my heavy topspin shots to his backhand and hit relatively penetrating shots. I did get winded during a few games but I suspect that they tired him out too. I could always recover during the breaks. The running allows quick recovery in-between points.</p>
<p>I had one fall. I went for a low, wide backhand volley and your upper body is basically to the right and forward of your legs when you hit this. I looked up after I hit the ball (to the middle of the court) and saw him rushing to the net to return it for an easy putaway as I was out of position with my momentum away from the center of the court. So I tried to reverse directions with my legs. Well, upper body going in one direction and legs going in the other direction didn’t work out that well. I had the knee braces on which probably prevented a few cuts but I was uninjured. I won the point too. Apparently I made so much noise in falling that he hit the ball into the net.</p>
<p>Ran three miles and worked on the Smith Machine. That’s probably enough for today.</p>
<p>Cals 1782
Fat 73 g
Carbs 119 g
Fiber 31 g
Protein 154 g
Sugars 39 g</p>
<p>I had the best dinner. Haddock filet, sauteed in a non-stick pan in about a TBS of butter. flip it, and pour in the juice of 2 meyer lemons and some fresh garlic, salt, and pepper. Put a lid on the skillet and let it simmer til cooked thru. Yum. The meyer lemons made a terrific sauce.</p>
<p>Omelette breakfast, protein shake for lunch, pastrami sandwich and a cocktail for dinner, and… the numbers start to increase. Am in a bit of a vacation mode, but trying to avoid too much damage.</p>
<p>Cals 1670
Fat 82 g
Carbs 102 g
Fiber 10 g
Protein 96 g
Sugars 29 g</p>
<p>CJane, enjoy you vacation fare Judjing by what you had, every day is a vacation day for me (sans coctails). :)</p>
<p>Weights, running, more weights. Burned some calories while laughing hysterically at Mr B who decided to show me his Bosu ball skills, then he did the same watching me. Overall, a good Friday. Oh, and I got a haircut, which I immediately messed up by running 5 miles.</p>
<p>ohiopublic, that sounds painful! I woke up in the middle of the night once with a cramp like that. My calf was sore for a couple of days afterwards, almost like an injury. I think if I were you, I would check in with the doctor just to be on the safe side. With all your running, you don’t want your calves to start acting up.</p>
<p>I had problems with cramps two summers ago. I was playing 2.5 - 3.0 hours of tennis in hot and humid weather. I played around with various electrolyte supplements and found that I wasn’t getting enough sodium. You could try a supplement like Emergen-C (available at Trader Joes, WalMart, Whole Foods and probably vitamin stores). I used a supplement that I found at Sports Authority that comes in a tube - you just drop a tablet in a glass of water and it provides you with electrolytes. Gatorade does the same thing but you get sugar with that.</p>
<p>I finally decided on a half marathon to sign up for. It’s fairly close by, supposedly mostly flat, and the start and finish are in the same place, which seems like a plus to me. It’s in October, so I have plenty of time to train, and it’s along the coast so it shouldn’t be too hot. </p>
<p>When I went to register, it asked for my expected finish time. How do I estimate this right now? As it gets closer, I’ll have a better idea, but right now, not so much. It took me an hour to do a 10k last year, so I was thinking maybe 2:30?</p>
<p>Blank, I think what you wrote sounds fine (bear in mind I’ve never run a half – uneducated opinion), but here’s an idea for another approach. Plug in your 10K time into the Runbayou calculator and see where it puts you percentile-wise. Do you think you’ll be at about the same place in the pack when you do the half? See what times put you at what percentile for a half.</p>
<p>You can also plug it into McMillan pace calculator. Google McMillan pace calculator. I like McMillan a lot. That should give you an idea. Don’t sweat it, though. It’s just where they expect you to start.</p>
<p>I am relieved that I am still able to run long. I was seriously wondering. Daughter met me for the first 8 and we took it easy. It was 25 degrees and we were pretty bundled up. I got some Nuun (electrolyte drink) and HammerGel back at the car at 8 and headed out on my own. Goal was 3 hours and I picked up the pace more than I wanted. I should have been over 11:00 for that distance in training and I didn’t do it. Wound up running 17 miles in just over 3 hours. I felt pretty decent- better at the end of 17 than I’ve been feeling at the end of 11 or so. I’m about to do something really stupid. Stay tuned. </p>
<p>BCEagle- check out the Nuun drink. It is a tablet that you drop in your water. I think it is really good. Might be good for you for tennis in the warmer weather, especially.</p>
<p>Well, I kept my promise to up my game a wee bit today. I broke new trail on two new hills out back (new to me…obviously the hills themselves are older than, well, you know, the HILLS ;)</p>
<p>I felt pretty good, especially since on the way down one of them I came across a young father resting on a log with his two little guys who had just sledded down said hill. He seemed quite in awe as I trudged up the unbroken, taller next hill. Kinda made me determined not to collapse panting, given the audience I am clear that I’m gaining strength and endurance and am so grateful for the convenient luxury of having this terraine literally in my back yard! It’s so stupid that I wasted my first year here avoiding it!</p>
<p>MomofWC, are you hinting that you’re thinking about taking on a full marathon? Or is that something you’re known to do? A friend of mine did an iron man this summer and practiced her swim up the road from me in the course lake and her running on my roads since I was on the course. Witnessing that phenomenal work is likely what motivated me to start moving my lard arse up the hill, because I couldn’t even draft her for a quarter mile even after she was on hour ten ;)</p>
<p>Well surprisingly the calf wasn’t sore today. I remember getting them all the time In high school at night in both hamstring and calves and was too lazy to get out of bed. Was always sore the next day. This cramp was at the point of a huge tear I had about 12 years ago.</p>
<p>Ran 6 miles today. Don’t think I’ll ever be in the MOWC category. </p>
<p>BC - how many calories do you think you burn in a 70 minute tennis match?</p>
<p>I’d guess 500-600 in the match itself and some follow-on from elevated metabolism as it is interval work. I find that tennis is more strenuous than running and I am usually more tired after a tennis match than for running. I’m usually sore for at least a day after tennis. I don’t get sore from running but I haven’t been running that far lately.</p>
<p>Two walks today for a total of 4.5 miles. I’m feeling very lucky to have family to visit on an island in the Gulf, so lots of beach miles done barefoot at the surf line. Very windy (25 mph), air at 65 degrees, Gulf water at 71. Plenty of waves, brown pelicans, sand pipers, and shells. Fantastic dinner last night of fresh red snapper. And a little wine, warm grand marnier.</p>
<p>Kmcmom- I know- when you have an audience you don’t want to collapse on the ground or throw up or something!</p>
<p>Yes, I have run close to 40 marathons starting in 1978 with a personal best of 3:08 on a hilly course and 3 Boston Marathons. I ran 5 marathons in 2009 and picked up a small Brooks shoe sponsorship. I also got injured and missed all of 2010 for the most part. I ran 4 marathons in 2012 with poor times, but one was The Monkey, which is one of the most difficult road marathons in the US. I have run two Ultras back in the early 80s and set single year world age records at 50 miles and 100K. Now I am 60, tired and slow! I gained some weight in my 50s and lost it in 2008-2009. I’m running about 3 pounds over goal weight right now. I eat a lot and not always the best foods. I learn a lot from this thread and try to offer some sane advice, even though I don’t always practice what I preach. I’ve been around top athlete sum coaches and researchers my entire running career, so I have some good knowledge. I am a student of the sport and take it upon myself to try out every new product or shoe on the market. :)</p>
<p>Today’s exercise was the Hops Challenge - 47 pushups! - and getting rid of the built in bar in the basement. I’d torn most of it apart the last two weekends. Todays was carrying all the pieces out to the garage. The only part DH helped with was the big commercial sink. Now I’ll be able to push the couch back two feet, stack the two wine fridges, and hopefully the basement won’t seem like such an obstacle course. It’s never going to be beautiful, but it might actually be moderately functional again, even with the dorm mountain (S2 is doing a junior year abroad) and all the stuff from my mother’s house that I didn’t want to throw or give away, but I don’t really need.</p>
<p>There was an article in our local rag about a guy who is running a marathon a month. That struck me as pretty stupid. Can’t wait to hear what MOWC is up to. I am way too lazy to do anything stupid in the exercise department.</p>
Judjing by what you had, every day is a vacation day for me (sans coctails). :)</p>
I am clear that I’m gaining strength and endurance and am so grateful for the convenient luxury of having this terraine literally in my back yard! It’s so stupid that I wasted my first year here avoiding it!</p>