<p>3 1/3 mi outdoor run. Bunny and squirrel sightings. Warm enough that maybe I shouldn’t have sprinted quite that hard uphill at the end… Overall very pleasant.</p>
<p>Yeah, good circuit, but there are a couple of exercises I would skip or replace. Don’t like the dips. They are notoriously bad on shoulders. I’d replace them with some kind of pulling exercise – inverted rows, DB rows, etc.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t do the crunches. They could be replaced with Straight leg lowering – Flat on back, legs up towards ceiling. Keeping one leg up, lower the other almost to the floor and back up. Alternate. Brutal on the lower abs. Could also do mountain climbers.</p>
<p>Not a big fan of the wall sit. That produces maximum soreness in the quads and is kind of duplicative of the squats and lunges. Some kind of deadlift/hip hinge would be a good replacement. Kettlebell swings would be perfect.</p>
<p>Also, I think this circuit is going to be really tough to do with just 10 seconds rest. 30 seconds per exercise, 30 seconds of rest in between, would be a good place to start.</p>
<p>I feel like a slug. No exercise today, and the dreaded activity: shopping at the mall. But, I did buy dresses, five–yes, five–dresses. So now I’m set for one high school graduation, one college graduation, one high school reunion, one cocktail party, and one theater show. Thought of you all in a moment of thanks for your continued support as I fit into trim sizes of trim dresses. So, I’ll call it a five dress party for five months of bumped up workouts and running. Now, to keep on going so the clothing will continue to fit.</p>
<p>I watched a documentary on Netflix last night called My Run about a 57 yo man who ran from St. Paul to Atlanta in 75 days. That’s 75 marathon length runs in 75 days. Definitely over the top, especially since he was running on stress fractured bones, but hey, if this guy can do 75 consecutive days of marathon runs, I can keep up my running/walking, lifting, stretching, core-ing :)</p>
<p>Glad to find what was thought of on the fitbit. Showed my H the fitbit website and he agreed that it’s not what I’m looking for. I think I’m going to look for a garmin forerunner of some sort. I need to get my heart rate up, that is what is going to be what I want/need. </p>
<p>Been hiking for an hour everyday and starting the couch to 5K again. Hoping for good health this time. Sigh. Today is cold rainy and miserable. Don’t know if I’ll be able to get out tonight.</p>
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<p>Go Deb! Any idea which Garmin you want to get yet?</p>
<p>Deb922 some of us are “recent” C25K grads!! We will give you lots of support no matter how it goes for you!!!</p>
<p>I started it in mid Sept and finished end of December.</p>
<p>Deborah T, nope no idea which garmin. Something with a heart monitor, watch type, I think lol!</p>
<p>Thanks Abasket, I will need all that encouragement!</p>
<p>I finished C25K in March, I think. You can do it, deb922! I think the best advice I got was to run slowly, very slowly 
I’m getting faster; but going slow, even walking, helped me manage. I’m still working on it all. I’m using the Polar FT60. It has no GPS, but works great as a HR monitor and training assistant.</p>
<p>Deb922, I’m doing the C25K right now; just finished week 7. If I can do it, you can do it. Happily no treadmill today, but only 3.46 outdoor miles today. I’m happy with that. </p>
<p>Really warmed up here and it is very humid. PlantMom, I really like your five dress party! I’d like one of those. D arrived home today for the week before graduation; best news of all, H was just offered a new job. I am so happy for him.</p>
<p>6.2 miles at the beach. Windy, but sunny and a nice day. I planned to do 7 miles, but I didn’t have it in me. I think I might need more carbs the day before a long run in order to feel good. I was pretty low carb the last couple of days, and even though I ate some carbs this morning, I struggled. As much as I like the idea of trying to turn myself into a fat burner, I wonder if I should just accept that I am a sugar burner and move on? Or maybe this was just a bad day.</p>
<p>Double post</p>
<p>Blank, your 6.2 mi bad day performance would be a very good day for me (not there yet!). 
Yeah, even for my 5, I definitely feel I need to be sure to adequately fuel up ahead of time.</p>
<p>I did a variation on some metabolic interval circuit that I found on the internet.</p>
<p>Body Weight Squat
Burpees with pushup
Alternating Reverse Lunges with overhead reach
Prone Hand Touch (push up position, touch one hand to the other)
Kettlebell Swing (35 lb)</p>
<p>30:30s. 30 seconds of exercise, 30 seconds of rest in between. At the end of each set, rest for the usual 30 seconds plus extra time til my Garmin said my heart rate had fallen to 60% of my max. That was between 10 and 30 seconds of extra rest between sets. Not much, but enough that I could go hard for four sets. I actually did more reps on the final set than I did on the first one.</p>
<p>Pretty nice little 20 minute workout. Definitely sweating. Definitely breathing hard. These timed circuits, especially when you have an interval timer or Garmin program or video keeping you on the clock are interesting. Once you push start, it’s just a matter of hanging on and doing each exercise on cue.</p>
<p>Now, it’s grill time. NY Strip Steak tonight. Used to be my favorite, but i’ve become more of a rib-eye guy. But the strip steaks were on sale, so whatcha-gonna-do? Taking full advantage of the fire and doing some split chicken breast for a bar-b-q chicken dinner and a chicken caesar salad.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for kind words of support, I appreciate it.
Today was KB class.</p>
<p>This stuff is turning into a really challenging workout.</p>
<p>A. Movement Prep
- Bent Leg Straight Leg
- Sweep Roll to Pushup or Creep Position
- Prone S
- X-Hold
- Crawl to Squat</p>
<p>B. (15 min.) – 3 rounds
- Hip Flexor Pulse x 3
- KB TGU x 1/
- KB Goblet Squat w/ Pry x 3
- KB 1H Swing x 10/</p>
<p>C. (20 min.)
- KB 1H Clean&Press Ladder 3x1,2,3,4,5 (static clean)
- KB Single Leg Romanian DL 3x5/</p>
<p>D. Metabolic Portion (20 min.)
5 rounds of this:
- KB Swing x 20
- Bear Crawl x 30yards
- KB Goblet Squat x 5
- KB Suitcase Carry x 30yards</p>
<p>E. Cool Down and Stretch (3 min.)
- Supine Glute Stretch
- Prone S</p>
<p>Followed it up with some DB chest presses and Lat pulldowns on the Keyser machine.</p>
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<p>I am in the same boat - to get any long run done, I got to eat a lot of food. This is why training for marathon does not always reduce one’s weight.</p>
<p>Here is my plan and I need your suggestions.</p>
<p>I would stop going to the gym at end of May. Will buy a set of insanity DVD and do that for two months with three goals: improve core, loss 15 ~ 20 lb of weight and let the heel completely recovers. </p>
<p>Beginning of August, I will start training again for a fall 1/2 on a flat course to see if I could get below 2 hours. </p>
<p>In Jan, I will sign up with a training group to train for the Full marathon in May. </p>
<p>Have been given a lot of thoughts about my plan and here are some of the questions for the experts on this threads. </p>
<p>Quite a few people, including DW, are against me running a full. They worry about too much stress on my old heart. Because I started this running thing this late in my life - unlike those who have been running since their college days. Searching the topic on line - there are many negative articles about running a full marathon. One of them hits me very hard - once it is done, then what? A lot people stop running all together once the box is checked and the drive is off. </p>
<p>Also, the training program starts in early Jan. The group runs at 7:00 Am Saturday morning. That will be dark and COLD. What kind of cloths do I need to deal with the situation? Is they cost over $50, that will probably a deal breaker. </p>
<p>Please help me make up my mind. I mean, if I could get a 1/2 under 2:00, it will be very satisfying. Do I really have it in me to run a full? About one in 50,000 will suffer a heart attack due to coronary artery disease during the full marathon.</p>
<p><a href=“http://beta.active.com/matters-of-the-heart-risking-it-all-for-the-marathon[/url]”>http://beta.active.com/matters-of-the-heart-risking-it-all-for-the-marathon</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/06/runner_who_died_at_toronto_marathon_remembered_as_ambitious_friendly_teen.html[/url]”>http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/05/06/runner_who_died_at_toronto_marathon_remembered_as_ambitious_friendly_teen.html</a></p>
<p>Dad II, if you have concerns about your heart, a discussion with your physician may be in order.</p>
<p>P.S. You’re good at finding deals so I think you’d find a way around spending too much on clothes.</p>
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<p>Thanks for the suggestion, Deb T. However, if you read the published studies of those sudden death during marathon, you will be that even the most comprehensive check might not have prevent the death. </p>
<p>BTW, when are you going to do a 1/2?</p>
<p>I think that it’s important to get your weight down to run long distance and I like the idea of getting your weight down before the heavy training for distance. That’s one of the things that I’ve been working on but I’ve been mainly doing that with running and dieting. I have a particular number in mind before doing more distance on a regular basis. I’m not really offering advice on the marathon - I have a feel for what a half would be like and I’m pretty sure that I could run one but have no feel for a marathon.</p>
<p>If you’re going to be doing heavy distance, you should probably read up on things that you should do and things that you shouldn’t do - maybe from a marathon book. I’ve read stories of people that die doing things that are dangerous in a marathon that otherwise wouldn’t be a problem.</p>
<p>Would running with an HRM tell you about problems if you ran into them? I guess that it could tell you if your HR was too high and that’s about it.</p>
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<p>5.5 miles today + 45 minutes of tennis. We played at one of the high-school courts and there were a lot of boys and girls hitting on the courts and some just waiting on the grass. I asked my partner about them and he said that they were probably on the tennis teams. I disagreed because I expected tennis team players to be better than what we saw. I then remembered that he used to coach the boy’s team so he would know. We got kicked off by the girl’s team after 45 minutes so we watched for a few minutes. I know the girl’s coach and she’s not a very good player. She also doesn’t know tennis mechanics so she really can’t help the girls improve. The kids were basically out there, four to a court, just hitting balls. No footwork, correct mechanics, preparation. It is hard to get coaches for the teams because they practice in the middle of the afternoon, pay is $4k for the season (nobody does it for the pay) and it’s a huge time commitment.</p>
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<p>Me? Hahahahahaha 
Maybe a 10K – eventually – maybe.</p>