<p>I fell off the cookie wagon today. Damn Chips Ahoy.</p>
<p>It’s marketed mostly to runners. The concensus among runners in the user forums is that it’s typically accurate within 2% after calibration. It’s not counting steps like a pedometer. It’s using an accelerometer to measure the time the foot is on the ground. The calibration has more to do with compensating for shoes, foot strike characteristics, etc. For maximum accuracy, it’s the Garmin GPS watches in the $150 range.</p>
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<p>A rare Sunday iPod workout for me today after the Patriots game. With two days off on Monday and Tuesday, I wanted to sneak in a little weight lifting. You’d think it would get easier on the third time through the full workout with the Airdyne intervals in between sets, but it’s still a real butt kicker. I’m stronger on the exercises, but that’s a hard hour and fourteen minutes. High heart rates today: an average of 78% for the full time and a max of 95%. I was above 90% on all the interval and four of the eight exercises.</p>
<p>Now, it’s time to pig out for the third night on my Marcela Hazen classic Italian pot roast before two days of juice, jello, and liquids.</p>
<p>Today is my birthday. I had a giant cupcake (and one last night as well). I barely could walk/run 3 miles this morning with the new aggravation of the injury from last Monday’s 10K. Plus, I am still wiped out from the bike ride disaster yesterday.</p>
<p>Anyone get those calf cramps in the middle of the night that KILL??? I am getting those (in the last week) and also toe cramps. I don’t believe I am dehydrated (I know I was during/after the ride, but I was OK by bedtime last night), so I don’t know what the deal is.</p>
<p>MOWC…I used to get bad foot cramps all the time. Yoga has helped so I would try some stretching. Also pick up some potassium and magnesium supplements. I bet all that biking and using different leg muscles has contributed to the cramping. I like biking but I don’t do the kind of rides you and CF do - although I have been dehydrated frequently this summer. Did 30 bumpy miles at a brisk pace on Saturday and enjoyed it until the last few miles though rocks and deep cinder…I felt like I was biking in muck. Visited a confederate cemetery on the way…set in in the middle of vast farmland. Strange…</p>
<p>I’ve had those calf cramps at night and on the tennis court but not in quite some time. The usual problem is not enough electrolytes. Maybe stretching would help too. I think that what I did was to flex the foot (hold it in an L position) for a while until it subsides. I suppose that I could just use the night splint if I were worried about it.</p>
<p>It was drizzling this morning so I skipped tennis. It was dry out later in the morning so I suppose that I could have gone but my wife wanted to go shopping so we did that. I managed to squeeze in two miles in between a few household jobs - to make up for the loss of tennis and to test my knee out from the long run on Friday. The knee was fine.</p>
<p>OH! I get these awful foot cramps on occasion. When it happens my toes sort of get hypertonic and the ball of my foot hurts so much. I think it has to do with excessive stretching of the tendons or muscles in my foot. If I get a new pair of regular shoes - like a new pair of Dansko’s and I walk a lot in them shortly after getting them, I will often get a horrible cramp. </p>
<p>DH used to get cramps in his calves everytime he did a triathalon. Don’t know whether it was dehydration or potassium - but they were killers. Once we were in a very nice restaurant with a group of people the evening of the Tri and he got one. He grabbed his calf, yelled in pain and fell off his chair. You know you are with close friends when everyone just starts laughing.</p>
<p>I get cramps in my hands and feet where my thumb or toes are paralyzed and stuck! Hurts like heck and I have to rub,stretch and pull to get movement again. Have no clue why it happens just figure it is “charley horse” thing.</p>
<p>Went to the mall with a friend and did some mall walking early this morning for a different start to my day. Was just ok…I like the machines better. Ended up returning to the gym and doing my bike and treadmill routine anyway. Now I am hungry and trying to decide what to make for dinner. Nice feeling to know I can eat what I want tonight since I had a double workout! ;)</p>
<p>I found that the best remedy for my foot and calf muscle cramps was eating more melons and watermelon. Both are rich in potassium (and unlike bananas, they do not add too many extra calories) and are also full of water.</p>
<p>I took it relatively easy this past weekend - went for a light walk with DH and discovered that his repaired knee can tolerate walking (and actually felt better after the walk which was about 4 miles). A few things done in the yard, a bit of free weights and planks, lots of running up and down the stairs doing a bit of de-cluttering… My two extra pounds are gone. :)</p>
<p>Strained chicken and rice soup and lime jello for lunch. Strained chicken and rice soup and lime jello for dinner. I am getting a special high carb treat: white grape juice.</p>
<p>Thinking of you idad! Good luck with your prep and test this week!</p>
<p>Good lord. 64 ounces of GatorAid in 2 hours. I feel like a water balloon. I’m at 1100 calories for the day. All sugar except for two cans of chicken rice soup, all the solids strained out. Ever since I quit mainlining sour gummy worms and red licorice, I’m just not used to that much sugar.</p>
<p>I-dad, good luck. I’m keeping fingers crossed for you - ace the darn test so you do not have to retake it for the next decade. I’m sure your iPod Nazi is enjoying his little break. :)</p>
<p>I ate a cookie at work today and felt sick from the sugar overdose (why did I do that?), so I totally understand how you might feel after all this juice and Gatorade. I swear that when I have to undergo said procedure, I will make a huge pot of chicken broth and just drink that and then switch to water when I can’t have any more broth.</p>
<p>LiveStrong says that 94% of my calories today were carbs. And I didn’t even have a bag of sour gummy worms!</p>
<p>I just don’t eat carbs. My body definitely doesn’t like this diet. I’m freezing in a long sleeve t-shirt and fleece top.</p>
<p>I make my own chicken stock, but straining the solids out of a can of Progresso was much better in terms of feeling like I was actually eating something. I think it’s all the preservatives and salt, I don’t know. I’d recommend it.</p>
<p>I’ve got turkey and rye bread ready to go the minute I get home tomorrow.</p>
<p>The actual prep has been a big non-event. Really no big deal. The GatorAid was no worse with the stuff dissolved in it than without. I did one 32 ounce bottle of lemon and one of lime. My wife used Crystal Lite, but I just absolutely detest artificial sweeteners. </p>
<p>I am sore from yesterday’s iPod workout. Forty pushups is a lot for an old geezer.</p>
<p>I hope it goes well!</p>
<p>Good luck, idad! I do my prep on Thursday, test on Friday. I was coordinating schedules with H yesterday to make sure he could bring me and pick me up after. I told him I had to be there at 10. He said “Oh, good. You’ll have time to get your workout in before you go.” Um, no.</p>
<p>Chintzy, LOL!!!</p>
<p>Idad, give us the full report (well, maybe slightly edited) once you’re back to the land of the living. And fed.</p>
<p>Well, the good news is that I lost 2 pounds this morning, but, alas, I think the odds are that it was…ummmmm… “water weight”. :)</p>
<p>Good luck idad. It will be good to have it over with.</p>
<p>Bunsen, I ate (really hate to say this) 13 Chips Ahoy cookies for dinner on Sunday. I did however, stay within my calorie allotment for the day, lol, but I did feel the effects. Not sick exactly, just not right. I think I have learned my lesson.</p>
<p>I went shopping at Wegman’s yesterday and got their weekly coupons for free and reduced items. One was Wegman’s O’s (like oreos) for FREE. I passed them by. Told my son and he said I was nuts…should have just given them to him. I really try to avoid having junk in the house. If it’s in my pantry, I’ll eat it. So next time, I’ll get them and he can keep them in his room :)</p>
<p>Good luck idad!</p>