<p>7.1 miles walking this evening. Was a great night to be outside! 1:48 on the clock so about 3.9 miles an hour. Feet are a little sore, but they’ll be okay in the morning I’m sure.</p>
<p>Now on to backing up my computer and trying to figure out how to fix my graphics card…</p>
<p>A sledgehammer is a very useful tool for fixing failed graphics cards ;)</p>
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<p>Maybe we’ll start a thread – hotels near your kid’s school that have good workout facilities! Actually, we do stay at the hotel we do near our D’s school because it does have a really good workout room.</p>
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<p>I typically have a bunch of them around to do a replacement in a pinch.</p>
<p>2.29 miles yesterday + pushups.</p>
<p>Bagged the 17mile run. Pouring rain when I got up at 5. Texted my daughter and neither of us could face it- possible thunderstorms besides the rain and an unfamiliar course. We are now sort of in a pickle, since she can’t run on Sunday (priest) and I can’t face dreadmill for that long. We have a marathon in 2 weeks and no long runs! I may experiment with 10/10 today and tomorrow if the rain lets up some and she may have to run long alone on Monday. Plenty of runners would have gotten out there, but not me. Not today. Not at 5am.</p>
<p>Bunsen- sounds perfect! Staying near Rice was always great since, for Houston, it was a good place to run with a 3 mile packed gravel loop around the whole campus and nice neighborhoods beyond that.</p>
<p>Sending hugs to busy parent!
BB, I too have found a sledgehammer useful in these cases ;)</p>
<p>UBC- thanks for the excellent video. Halfway home when I felt the burn in my arms I realized I was screwing up my technique, but couldn’t quite figure out why. Id even asked my kayak pal if he could see what was wrong with my stroke, but from his vantage it seemed fine. While I haven’t kayaked much these last few years, once upon a time I recalled that I was to be “one” with the kayak, using my torso, just transferring energy to arms, etc.,
and that my hands should have been loose. But I can see now that perhaps the effort to keep up and “dig” against the current had me grip way too tight with my control hand and then threw off the whole movement because of the angle that caused. I think I need to get out and practice it all over again before I do a full trip. I know on the downriver part, there were times when it felt like it was supposed to, and times where I could feel it wasn’t right so I adjusted my pedals and seatback and tried to figure out why I wasn’t feeling the “whole body” motion.
What was great about that video was his illustrative diagrams! I could see I’d moved my grip in too far as well.</p>
<p>In other news, last night at dinner I was describing some of the wonderful food you were all preparing/mentioning on the 4th, and the mcfamily decided it would be cool for our thread to work on a health and wellness Americana cookbook. We could have a section for paleo, for Atilla-style diets, for moderate trackers with healthy complex carbs…plus regional favorites (eg the fresh crab cakes). With each section, we could give a little shout out to the thread member from the recipe, eg favorite activities: hiking, running, bicycling, kayaking; favorite workout assist/routine…, best advice for newbies, weight lost or milestone achieved, etc. just a kind of composite color piece “Living Well in America” with the aim of inspiring people to think a bit about food and moving their bodies and how its really possible, pitfalls and all.</p>
<p>Just a crazy idea, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. Anybody want to take it on? Not sure exactly how we’d do it. If I were retired, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I’m still in the middle of a rewrite of a fiction book at the moment that I predict will take up the rest of my “free” time this year but if enough people were interested in doing it I could maybe shop the idea around and scare up a proposal.</p>
<p>MOWC, sorry about the race/weather – we’d cross posted.</p>
<p>I would, but I don’t cook. Seriously. I eat lots of yogurt, fresh fruits, chicken breast precooked, and I can go for weeks without turning on a stove or oven. My H uses the oven to make brownies. The word “recipe” does not compute! As an example - yesterday I was out and about and realized I needed lunch. I swung by a Trader Joes and bought a salad and a bag of Brussels sprouts to microwave. If I has to put together a “recipe” for some protein-filled salad, I’d never do it. I’m not a foodie, though. I don’t feel everything I put in my mouth has to be delicious. Good enough is fine!</p>
<p>But I would contribute other tips! I shared at a WW meeting today - I carry a combination lock in my purse, and always have a gym bag w both a workout and “fresh” outfit in my car. That way I simply have no excuse if I am near a gym.</p>
<p>Computer woes - we have it partitioned into different users. Some programs work with other users, but not on my part of the drive. What’s up with that?</p>
<p>Did not get nearly enough exercise this week.</p>
<p>I’m game for cookbooks and advice. I’ve posted enough recipes on CC! (Not all of them healthy though!)</p>
<p>I like PG’s idea of always being prepared to go to the gym. I like it a lot actually.</p>
<p>I just cleaned out my gym bag. It has - yoga mat and cleaner, flip flops, workout clothes, extra socks, sneakers, makeup/toiletries, extra iPod and charger, a SELF magazine that has some exercises in it, a non-workout t-shirt and pants, gift cards to local gyms, protein bars and almond butter, a large and hand towel, and heels for burlesque class. Lifting it is the workout!! But I do yoga, Pilates, running, and dance at different places.</p>
<p>Math mom - having the bag and the LOCK has made all the difference. That, and bringing lunch to work versus scrounging. </p>
<p>Joining Title Boxing Club tomorrow - going to do a Sun 8 am class w a friend. Visiting my mother downtown and going to try to convince her to walk 3 mi w me. We are “Fitbit buddies” to encourage each other.</p>
<p>Day 3 of the monsoons here…</p>
<p>and I also woke up with a cold. No long walks for me today! </p>
<p>Carry on.</p>
<p>Core/stretch/strength/weights. Did 30 minutes of elliptical to give these tired bones/muscles some time off. Strained hammy, strained inner thigh plus the usual gimpy knee and heel. </p>
<p>Weight can have a big impact on mile pace for some runners. I know I see a big difference when I’m 137 vs 147. I’m 142 now and trying to get down to 135-137 in 3 weeks. Hopefully I can do this just by eliminating the pop, the “healthy” energy bars, bread and other non essential carbs/sugars. </p>
<p><a href=“Hearst Magazines”>Hearst Magazines;
<p><a href=“How much does weight loss effect running speed (ie, seconds saved per mile/km per pound/kg lost)? - LetsRun.com”>How much does weight loss effect running speed (ie, seconds saved per mile/km per pound/kg lost)? - LetsRun.com;
<p>Running in the AlterG has shown me how dramatic a 5% or 10% weight reduction can have.</p>
<p>Imagine the time it would add to your mile pace running with 2 5 lb dumbbells or 10 lb weight belt strapped to your body!</p>
<p>Found an interesting article on CrossFit this morning…</p>
<p>[Do</a> Not Cross CrossFit | Inc.com](<a href=“http://www.inc.com/magazine/201307/burt-helm/crossfit-empire.html]Do”>Do Not Cross CrossFit | Inc.com)</p>
<p>“Imagine the time it would add to your mile pace running with 2 5 lb dumbbells or 10 lb weight belt strapped to your body!”</p>
<p>ohiopublic–Agreed. (Though the converse is not necessarily true–you won’t run faster <em>simply</em> by losing weight.) When we were hiking up and down hill in the heat in Israel recently, my DH, who is at least 50 lbs. overweight, kept up with our group, but I felt sorry for him, as he was working so much harder than anyone else.</p>
<p>Like someone said upthread–Being fat is hard, losing weight is hard, keeping it off is hard. Choose your hard.</p>
<p>5.34 mile run. Glad to have a rest day yesterday; only “exercise” was walking sabadog and I don’t even count that as exercise anymore. </p>
<p>KMC, I’ve actually done a “do-it-yourself” cookbook as a fundraiser. Actually more than one. My problem would be finding the healthy recipes! Healthy favorites that actually require recipes are few and far between at my house.</p>
<p>Losing weight makes a big difference in running pace. You still have to do the work, but weight really matters.</p>
<p>10.2 miles in the pouring rain. Started as a light rain and I thought it might be OK. No music because I didn’t want to drown my ipod and earphones. Hardly any people or cars out- even at 9am. Flowing water in the streets and path and deep puddles. It was really awful. I plugged away and got it done. It isn’t 17, but it will have to do. Maybe another 10 tomorrow. Maybe a 12 next weekend. This Loonie’s Midnight Marathon is certainly not a goal marathon, but it would be nice to survive it in 2 weeks!</p>
<p>I’m impressed. I’m doing 2.5 mi in where I am with Couch to 5k (alternating 8:34 pace with fast walk). </p>
<p>Question re heart rate. I hear so much conflicting info. What should I aim for? I’m 48 yo.
When I run at the fast pace, I get up to the high 160s. Above that I start to feel sick /nauseated.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl - you need to find your max hr to determine what hr you should train at. To me the easiest way is head to a hs track and walk/run first two laps at easy pace, increase pace for 3rd lap and go as fast as you can for lap 4. You need a hr monitor to get an accurate measurement. Idad has reviewed many of the good ones. </p>
<p>MOWC probably can provide good info on what hr to train at starting out.</p>
<p>pizzagirl:</p>
<p>Here’s a good article by Sally Edwards on the various ways of estimating your max heart rate. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm[/url]”>http://www.howtobefit.com/determine-maximum-heart-rate.htm</a></p>
<p>I eventually settled on “the highest number I’ve seen” approach. I figure that if I haven’t seen a number by now, I’m probably never going to see it. The highest number I’ve seen is 172 (one time), although I kept 170 as my max in all my stuff, just for convenience and consistency. I’ve only exceeded 170 one time.</p>
<p>We are all a little different, but generally speaking, any fast interval, as fast as you can go and sustain for 2 to 4 minutes will probably put you pretty close to your max. Something that has your legs burning and then press on for another 30 to 60 seconds. 1+ mile Airdyne intervals. 2 minute for 400 meter running intervals. Those do it for me.</p>