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</p>
<p>Abasket, what do you think? Are you going to do it? I agree it could be crowded. If you think about a typical 5K you imagine a 3.1 mile loop, 3.1 here to there, or 1.55 up and 1.55 back. Seems like it would need to be a small number of participants to do a 5K on a 1/4 mile track or else it would not work very well.</p>
<p>If it’s smaller than that, even worse.</p>
<p>An indoor 5K? Could be interesting. That sounds like a race director’s nightmare with everyone lapping each other! </p>
<p>My main fear with the kettlebell is dropping it on one of the cats! I will check out Walmart- there is one not far from me. I usually do the Walmart-type shopping at Target, and even then, rarely, since H is practically a fixture at Lowe’s/Home Depot/Sam’s/Costco!</p>
<p>Still not sure. I can register up to the morning of the 5K. There is another one that is more “legit” - outdoors and a yearly event that is March 10 - if I don’t do this one, I’ll shoot for that one. </p>
<p>The “round and round” the track isn’t too interesting - add who knows how many people to the track - some of who are walking - just seems congested and not very fulfilling!</p>
<p>The indoor tracks that I’ve used run from about 6 to 8 laps per mile which means that the cornering can be relatively tight and you make a lot of turns on the same side. This can aggravate knee problems and you typically have to slow down in the corners so you may be changing speeds quite a bit.</p>
<p>One other thing about indoor tracks is that there’s usually something inside the tracks like tennis courts, basketball courts, hockey rinks, strength or aerobic machines. The people inside sometimes have to go across the track to get somewhere else in the facility.</p>
<p>I’ve been running some indoor track at my fitness center. I think the most I’ve done is 2 miles - one mile is 12 times around. Ugh, by 24 times I’ve had it!!! I’m just getting anxious to DO a 5K!! Either way will still keep on my current schedule of a 2-3 mile run/treadmill run every other day.</p>
<p>Forget the Girl Scout cookies, CampFire Girl mints are the best thing on the planet. Dang it, February is mint selling season, I hate it when I see those little adorable girls hanging around the grocery store. They are devils, I can’t resist them.</p>
<p>I have to figure out what a kettlebell is.</p>
<p>Here is how the track is described:</p>
<p>A 200–meter, six running/eight sprint lane track encircling four courts for basketball, volleyball, or tennis.</p>
<p>So how do meters translate???</p>
<p>I can understand chomping at the bit. BTDT. :D</p>
<p>~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~</p>
<p>25 200 meter laps for a 5K.
[How</a> Long is a 5K? How Many Miles is a 5K? | 5K in Miles | ACTIVE | Active.com](<a href=“http://www.active.com/running/Articles/How-Long-Is-a-5K]How”>How Long Is a 5K? | ACTIVE)</p>
<p>Having crossed it off my bucket list, I don’t have any particular desire to enter another 5K race, but doing one on an indoor track is first prize, I’d sure hate to find out what second prize would be. It was crowded enough on a podunk small town 5K on country roads outdoors. The start was a total zoo. I can’t imagine what it would be like indoors. Especially at an event like that where you have a wide range of speeds from walking to, like, actually running fast.</p>
<p>Hold out for the outdoor race and at least get some fresh air!</p>
<p>
This is precisely my evil plan. Cardio-shred-scuplt with kettlebell, ooze back to form like a stressball with kettlecorn 
Just kidding…Maybe.</p>
<p>Busdriver, a kettlebell is a weight with a unibody handle (in varying weights) that can be gripped with one hand or two, and apparently can be used to do a work out that is part cardio and part weight resistance. I am just now learning about it, but for me, it seems like the kind of work/weight resistance/at home combo I’ve been wanting.</p>
<p>If you google around, you can see videos of kettlebell workouts in action.</p>
<p>One company (and possible others) have sought to make this hunk of iron appealing by coating them in pretty colors It’s a ploy to deceive us all into taking them home because they’re “cute.”</p>
<p>A kettlebell class:</p>
<p>[Kettlebell</a> Class-Goblet Squats and Swings - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>The instructor:</p>
<p>[Kettlebell</a> Conditioning - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>She has impeccable form on kettlebell exercises. Her YouTube channel is the first place I go to see how it is supposed to be done.</p>
<p>In addtion to the swings and goblet squats in the first video, I’d unwrap those new kettlebells and dive into this one. The kettlebell is perfect for single leg deadlifts:</p>
<p>[Single</a> Leg Deadlift - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Week 5, day 2 of c25k on the beach. That’s two segments of 8 minute running stretches separated by a five minute walk. For most of the running, it felt great. I found pretty flat, firm sand close to the low tide mark, and the temps were in the upper 60’s with a nice breeze. After a good warm up of brisk walking in the same sand, I started the run, and I could easily have gone longer than the eight minutes. If this is what running is like for the runners out there, I am envious. I will be happy with today’s intervals, even if I don’t make it through the next long(est) day three, which I’ll be doing back home in the normal old routes.</p>
<p>As per calories and weight, we are all so different. I’m 5’9"’ and weigh under 125 (at least before this little trip). My daily calorie totals usually come in around 2000. I exercise, usually walking briskly, twice a day and lift weights two times a week. I have been closer to 120 pounds recently because of a ton of dental trouble and severely reduced intake ability, but I feel better with an extra few pounds and enough (healthy) food.</p>
<p>Stretch/strength/core.</p>
<p>PlantMom, you’ll be on home ground (no sand), you’ll take it nice and s-l-o-w, and it will be no sweat for you. You’re out there walking 5 miles regularly and have ramped up to do the run. You go girl!</p>
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<br>
<p>Those are great stats outside of the dental problems. I think 2,000 calories sounds like a satisfying amount for maintenance.</p>
<p>Interesting article on the psychophysiology of exercise: why some love it and some hate it, and genetic limitations.</p>
<p>[Hard-Wired</a> to Hate Exercise? - WSJ.com](<a href=“Hard-Wired to Hate Exercise? - WSJ”>Hard-Wired to Hate Exercise? - WSJ)</p>
<p>iDad, thoughts on this article?</p>
<p>[The</a> New Rules of Marathon Nutrition: How Many Carbs? | Active.com](<a href=“http://www.active.com/running/Articles/The-New-Rules-of-Marathon-Nutrition-How-Many-Carbs]The”>The New Rules of Marathon Nutrition: How Many Carbs? | ACTIVE)</p>
<p>“Meanwhile, new research has reconfirmed that runners just aren’t able to train as hard on a low-carb diet because it produces chronically low glycogen stores.”</p>
<p>Also mentioned is the diet of runners from Kenya and Ethiopia.</p>
<p>Whew. I did a so-called “girl” workout in the basement and it kicked my glutes up one side and down the other:</p>
<p>[Super</a> Advanced Circuit | Sleek/Strong With Rachel Cosgrove - YouTube](<a href=“Super Advanced Circuit | Sleek/Strong With Rachel Cosgrove - YouTube”>Super Advanced Circuit | Sleek/Strong With Rachel Cosgrove - YouTube)</p>
<p>I made two changes. I set up the intervals on my Garmin watch to give me 30 seconds of exercise and 30 seconds of rest instead of the 20 seconds of exercise and 40 seconds of rest. When I did it the other day, I felt like 20 seconds wasn’t quite enough. Then, I substituted for the fifth exercise and put in a farmers carry with a 65 lb DB instead. I haven’t done farmer’s carries forever and this was a good place to put it. I’ve been doing DB cleans in my regular workouts and didn’t really need any more of them.</p>
<p>I did four 5-minute rounds, with a little extra rest in between rounds, just until my heart rate was back down to 60% of my max.</p>
<p>I didn’t see super high heart rates, but I was definitely huffin’ and puffin’. Those two TRX exercises back to back are tough. All, in all, this a great little 25 minute workout to add to my short day rotation along with burpee/swings and the dreaded Airdyne intervals,</p>
<p>Deborah,</p>
<p>That’s kind of a hot topic because there is an emerging hypothesis that endurance athletes can bonk-proof themselves by adapting to an ultra-low carb ketogenic diet and becoming extremely efficient at fueling their training with fat. Since I’m never been on a ketogenic diet or an endurance athlete, I have no idea. I’m not sure that it’s relevant to most of us, either way, since most of us probably can’t stick to a ketogenic diet or eat like a Kenyan marathoner. 
I think it’s a very slippery slope to look to marathoner nutrition for real-world eating tips. Endurance athletes are the one group who can most likely consume mass quantities of carbohydrates without getting fat, but god help them if they ever stop running.</p>
<p>Anyway, if you want to dig into it, the first place is Dr. Jeff Volek at UConn. He’s probably the world’s leading expert on low carb nutrition and athletic performance. His group has done quite a bit of research. He’s even written a new book on the topic. I haven’t read it yet…</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance (9780983490715): Jeff S. Volek, Stephen D. Phinney: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Performance/dp/0983490716/ref=la_B001JOYRQE_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361320977&sr=1-3]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Art-Science-Low-Carbohydrate-Performance/dp/0983490716/ref=la_B001JOYRQE_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361320977&sr=1-3)</p>
<p>Here’s a talk he gave on the topic:</p>
<p>[Low-Carb</a> Experts: Jeff Volek, MD, R.D., PhD - Segment One (9:23) - YouTube](<a href=“Low-Carb Experts: Jeff Volek, MD, R.D., PhD - Segment One (9:23) - YouTube”>Low-Carb Experts: Jeff Volek, MD, R.D., PhD - Segment One (9:23) - YouTube)</p>
<p>Volek believes that it is possible to even perform better on a low carb diet.</p>
<p>A second guy who is writing some stuff on this topic is Peter Attilia. He’s and MD and triathalete (endurance swimmng specialist). He got interested after getting fat while doing stuff like swimming from Los Angeles to Catalina Island and back. Now, he lives and does Ironman training on an ultra low carb ketogenic diet. Most of what he writes is over my head:</p>
<p>[The</a> interplay of exercise and ketosis ? Part I The Eating Academy | Peter Attia, M.D. The Eating Academy | Peter Attia, M.D.](<a href=“http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-interplay-of-exercise-and-ketosis-part-i]The”>The interplay of exercise and ketosis – Part I - Peter Attia)
[The</a> interplay of exercise and ketosis ? Part II The Eating Academy | Peter Attia, M.D. The Eating Academy | Peter Attia, M.D.](<a href=“http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/the-interplay-of-exercise-and-ketosis-part-ii]The”>The interplay of exercise and ketosis – Part II - Peter Attia)</p>
<p>The flaw I noticed immediately in the article you linked is that the time frames were too short. One thing Volek has consistently found is that athletes need as much as a month of adaptation to a low carb diet. If you measure their performance after a week or two, it will be way off. If you measure it after a month, it’ll be back up.</p>
<p>Just read an article that they can tell from residue on human Neolithic fossil teeth what bacteria lived in their mouths. That our high-carb diets make our mouths a haven for bacteria that cause peridontal disease & decay (but you knew that, didn’t you?) whereas humans pre-10,000 years ago had a much healthier variety of bacteria in their mouths and less decay. </p>
<p>Another argument for a more “Paleo” diet & fewer carbs.</p>
<p>BTW, the runners here might be interested in a new kind of sports drink, SuperStarch, that both Volek and Attilia talk about:</p>
<p>[Current</a> Products | Generation UCAN](<a href=“http://www.generationucan.com/currentproduct.html]Current”>Shop UCAN | Buy UCAN Energy, Protein & Hydration | UCAN)</p>
<p>It’s some kind of slow absorption carbohydrate that does not spike blood sugar or insulin levels. Interesting stuff. A way to top up glycogen stores during a long-distance event without shutting off the fat-burning mechanism for a keto-adapted athlete.</p>