<p>I used to do 1/4 mile intervals but why not start out with 100-200 yards and build from there.</p>
<p>How fast can you run a mile?</p>
<p>Thanks for my gym replacement dilemma.</p>
<p>Idad, considering Planet Fitness. Basic, cheap, plenty sufficient for me.
It’s the geography…my commitment fades with distance. Weak, I know.</p>
<p>DebT, I have resistance bands, what are dbs?</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, never heard of park districts, interesting.
I do have some employer subsidized options but much greater distance from home and multiple times more costly. </p>
<p>I realize I’m whining here, thanks for the ideas!</p>
<p>CJaneRead, great idea about fire sale on closing gym stuff.</p>
<p>I wonder if this is regional? Every town/village around here has a park district facility for its residents that has a gym and often pool. Often they offer other lessons, such as aerobics or tennis or whatever. The cost is reasonable for residents. Where would your town offer youth soccer or some such?</p>
<p>At the Jersey shore for the week.</p>
<p>Trying to avoid the pizza-and-cheesesteak meal plan… we’ll see how that goes. :D</p>
<p>At least I will be getting a lot of exercise swimming and walking the boardwalk.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Tell me about it. I have the same problem. More than a walk down a flight of stairs to the basement and I’m toast!</p>
<p>idad- you have two very impressive accomplishments. I am lucky I never smoked. I am not sure I would have been able to quit.</p>
<p>CJane, if you are seriously asking, as you are one of the people <em>I</em> ask questions because you have much more experience running than I do, I would check out the site MOWC recommended – The McMillan Running Calculator. </p>
<p>[McMillan</a> Running - Calculator](<a href=“http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/]McMillan”>http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/)</p>
<p>You can estimate what you’re running at now for a particular distance so enter that and a goal for where you want to be for that distance. Then click on Calculate My Paces. After that click on Training Paces. Choose Speedster or Endurance Monster. Voila.</p>
<p>Now somebody else can tell you how this should really be done seeing as I have done mine on a treadmill and used this site to convert numbers.</p>
<p>[Speed</a> Distance Time Calculators](<a href=“http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/speed_distance_time_calc.html]Speed”>Speed Distance Time Calculators)</p>
<p>Musicmom, DBs are dumbbells. I dislike the name.</p>
<p>Idad, yeah, I’m lusting after some in home stuff…the 2miles to my current gym was JUST close enough so I had a hard time finding an excuse.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, my small city in northern NJ uses our public schools fields for youth soccer. We have a wonderful outdoor public pool complex with little league fields adjacent.
Fees for residents are miniscule and I’m there for lap swims after work 5-7 days a week.
But there are no town options after pool closes.
My seasonal affective disorder is looming.</p>
<p>Oh, dumbbells, can you tell what a novice I am? :)</p>
<p>More for CJane:</p>
<p>The other thing I would do is look at Hal Higdon’s training plans to see his idea of how many intervals for what distance.</p>
<p>Here’s the intermediate 5K:
[Hal</a> Higdon Training Programs](<a href=“http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50934/5K-Intermediate-Training-Program]Hal”>Intermediate | Hal Higdon)</p>
<p>Here’s the intermediate 10K:
[Hal</a> Higdon Training Programs](<a href=“http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51123/10K-Intermediate-Training-Program]Hal”>Intermediate | Hal Higdon)</p>
<p>There are, of course, the half and full plans on there as well.</p>
<p>On the treadmill, I, personally, am doing more like 200 meter intervals right now. For pretty fast for me, even less distance than that.</p>
<p>Idad’s new favorite circuit…</p>
<p>[Kettlebell</a> circuit - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>I had my ipad with me this evening so I decided to shoot some video of some exercises… More to come I hope!</p>
<p>My racing bib for tomorrow’s insanity is hand designed by the race directors and has the word Bad followed by a picture of a donkey. Get it? :). It is so cute. Everyone’s are awesome. AND- ladies got Brooks running skirts with the race name embroidered on them. Really, really great swag. I hope I survive.</p>
<p>CJane - I would start out doing 100 meter strides (4x - 12x) before moving up to 200s and 400s. Don’t do more than 1x-2x a week starting out. Go at 70-80% initially no more. Everyone is different but I do a lot of dynamic and static stretching when I do speed work. The new line of thinking is static after running but I’m older and tighter than most so I do both. You are stressing the body with speed work so I can’t emphasize stretching enough. High knee type of routines are also valuable.</p>
<p>mowc:</p>
<p>You’ll do great!</p>
<p>hops:</p>
<p>Nice workout!</p>
<p>Idad, here’s another video for you tonight…</p>
<p>[The</a> Training Room - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Yay, go MOfWC! Happy racing! Great swag, indeed! :)</p>
<p>Walk today–2 miles plus a 20 minutes kettle bell workout. Like your KB routine, Hops. What is the weight of the KB in the Utube video? I can do that routine and will try it tomorrow.</p>
<p>Shocked when I got on the scale today–I weigh myself once a week and have been traveling so haven’t had a chance to weigh myself in 2 weeks. I’m down 12 pounds! I lost 40 pounds over 18 months from January 2011 to June 2012. Gained back 10 at the end of 2012; beginning in January of this year, I have been struggling to get it off–I’d lose 3 -5 pounds and gain it back and then lose it again. I would get discouraged and quit tracking food–one thing I didn’t give up was exercising. </p>
<p>Six weeks ago, I decided to go back to tracking, especially carbs, and have been following Jorge Cruise’s The Hundreds diet–basically a very low carb plan. He’s got some free foods that you don’t have to count, which makes his plan doable. Anyway, in six weeks, I’ve lost the 10 pounds I gained along with 2 more. It’s got me motivated to stay on course. I’d like to lose 20 more.</p>
<p>Bromfield - great news on the weight loss. </p>
<p>CJ - you do a lot of strength routines that should help your speed goals. Also hills <a href=“http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hilltrain.htm[/url]”>http://www.brianmac.co.uk/hilltrain.htm</a> I know I’m going to incorporate more uphill and downhill workouts to improve speed. Also don’t underestimate the mental aspect. If you think you are fast—you will be fast!</p>
<p>Wow, Bromfield! That’s great! Really a testament to all the hard work we are doing!</p>
<p>My circuit-trainer guy (I see him for strength training once a week) hadn’t seen me in 2 weeks and he immediately said I looked thinner. It seems to have mostly come off three places - chest, upper waist, and bottom. But everything’s definitely firmer overall. He thinks if I lost another 10 I’d be fine - I’d still like to go for about 15 - which would put me smack dab in the middle of the normal BMI range for my height. (yeah, I know all the problems with BMI yada yada - just making the point that I’m not trying to get to something unhealthy or too low) </p>
<p>I have now given away most of my pants and even a good number of tops / jackets. Some of these pants were really good and barely worn since they went from being too tight to too loose -ouch! Not sure of where my ultimate pants size will land, so I bought 2 inexpensive pairs to tide me over (super-skinny style colored jeans) and then 2 casual dresses since dresses will solve the pants problem. I am going to have to rebuild my closet, but not for a while yet. </p>
<p>Re-doing couch to 5k at 6 mph. I tried 7 mph but it burned me out.
I had to do the equivalent of running-for-a-bus yesterday and it was amazing, an effort that would have normally left me gasping for air, I was fine. </p>
<p>I think the thing is - I actually WANT to exercise, to move. It’s taken me 48 years to feel this way. </p>
<p>IDad, your strength training discussions have really resonated w me and so now I’m doing a lot of focus there. Thanks!</p>
<p>PG, it’s inspiring seeing how much enthusiasm you’ve got for working on fitness. There’s a big difference between 6 mph and 7 mph. Whew! </p>
<p>You might have fun running numbers on this site. See the part about age graded performance level (60% local class, 70% regional class, 80% national class, 90% world class, 100% approximate world record level)
[Runbayou:</a> Age-Grade Calculator](<a href=“http://www.runbayou.com/Wavacalc.htm]Runbayou:”>Loading...)</p>
<p>Here’s another site that’s got some more distances. Yeah, we have some incredible runners that participate in this group.
[Running</a> Age Grade Race Calculator](<a href=“HugeDomains.com”>HugeDomains.com)</p>