<p>Wow…great 5K times! Congrats to all!!</p>
<p>Idad…nice job on the bike! I still feel the lactic acid burn in my thighs and I’ve been biking for a while. But my legs are getting real strong. If I’m on a relatively flat surface, I put it in a tough gear and go super fast…otherwise I don’t feel it enough. And the best part about going up a hill is going back down!! (not so true with walking, hiking or running).</p>
<p>I’m finally getting the hang of the gears: changing from the large to small front sprockets is about the same as changing two gears on the back sprocket. So I’ve learned to go to the big sprocket on the front, pedal down the hill fast and part way up the hill before making the two-gear change towards the the top of the hill.</p>
<p>Cardinal Fang is always whispering in my ear to keep a faster cadence/easier gear rather than straining to pedal too hard a gear. There are still a couple of steep enough hills on my little loop that all 12 of my gears are “too hard”, but I can now do most of the hills without going all the way down to the easiest gear. Those Mike Boyle intervals on the Airdyne are good for something other than making me want to hurl.</p>
<p>When I was contemplating trading the old Japanese Fuji in on a geezer hybrid, the guy at the bike shop said that I might start to like the gears on the Fuji as I rode more. I see that happening as my “normal pace” on the Airdyne has gone from 40 to 50 to 55 rpms.</p>
<p>Congrats to the 5K finishers. Especially impressive to me is Workinprogress with the race-walking. That is some FAST walking!</p>
<p>Turns out I was 33/124 in the age group for the half marathon and 1821/3883 overall finishers (more started and dropped out). I thought that was pretty good for not training and thinking I was going to walk it. I would have placed if I could have run even halfway decently- (2:03 would have gotten 3rd in the age group), but that’s OK. I’ll take the finish!
I have to admit that the horrific bike rides have really kept up my endurance. My heart rate for the half marathon yesterday was 148, which is my training zone. I normally average in the 160s for a half (at least). </p>
<p>Today we did a final ride (at least for me- H will ride this week) before next weekend’s 2 day ride. We had a group of 6, and even with the half marathon yesterday, I held up pretty well for the 40 miles. We went up a huge hill that is part of next week’s route and I even beat a couple of the people up the hill. I was afraid my legs would be really tired and I would tip over or something, but I didn’t. My injury bothered me a lot after the ride due to the climbs. After next weekend I’ll rest it from biking. Sitting is really uncomfortable, but walking seems to be OK.</p>
<p>Just did two miles today - I had time constraints. Given the time constraints, I decided to bump my speed up - average pace of 9:40 - best time for two miles in a decade. It was not particularly difficult though it would have taken some effort to maintain that pace for a longer run.</p>
<p>Great job on the 5kers - very good times. I’m looking forward to the one our company runs next August but may sneak one in if I have the time.</p>
<p>Great job, everyone! Awesome 5K times!</p>
<p>DH and I are on a mini vacation, and every night we made our nightly trek of 3 miles RT to split a single scoop of Haagen Daazs ice cream. As we were sitting on the bench and enjoying our treat last night, DH commented, “Don’t you think their logo looks like a human butt with Haagen Dazs written across?” LOL!</p>
<p>EDAMAME BEANS</p>
<p>I forgot to ask a question after I got back from Boston. And yes, I know my taste buds are very naive sometimes.</p>
<p>Went to a restaurant in Boston with D1, called Wagamama. They have them in Europe (have eaten at it twice in London) and then three in the Boston area (no others in the U.S. at this point). She ordered an appetizer of edamame beans with chilli and salt. Confession time… I’ve never had edamame. I’d seen them, but never tried them. I was about to put the whole thing in my mouth when D2 cut me off and told me to just sort of suck the beans out of the pod. They were awesome!</p>
<p>So I found the recipe for them online, and bought some frozen ones at the grocery store today. This is something I could easily snack on. Am wondering if any of you have any other suggestions for how to eat these?</p>
<p>Also, found a roadside stand near our house that had pumpkins for $2/piece today… medium size. I bought ten and have gutted out four for the seeds. Have washed them and are about to put them in the oven. I always forget how much I like fresh-roasted pumpkin seeds. Am going to bag some up and send them to my daughters as a surprise. Kind of nice when you’re picking out pumpkins solely for the seeds as opposed to how they will look when carved. Might have to go back and get some more as I then saw them at the grocery store for $4.99/piece!</p>
<p>^^^ Ah, good old soybeans. Or, just “beans” as my old Indiana grandpa called the fields of soybeans he grew on his farm.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about starting “Bridge to 10K” tomorrow (the next step after “Couch to 5K”) Anyone have any experience, opinions, etc?</p>
<p>When you reach a milestone, the next thing is what next? With running, you can always run longer distances, you can improve your time, you can do a little of both, you can work in sprints on some days, etc. My approach was to just keep increasing distance. When I got happy with the distance, then I started working on time - very slowly.</p>
<p>There are lots of other things to do and many do them here. I know that I need more quad work and more strength training. I have been slacking on the weights because of tennis elbow but it will heal eventually.</p>
<p>So you have a lot of options.</p>
<p>I’m obviously not at that point yet, chintzy, but the C25K has worked for you so it does seem like a good next step. You did great with your 5k!</p>
<p>I have finished my 5 weeks of working with the running coach, and have decided to continue with her, but just twice a month. It is really helpful having a set workout schedule, especially for me, because I have trouble with moderation when it comes to sports.</p>
<p>chintzy:</p>
<p>Of course I have opinions! :)</p>
<p>You and I are two of College Confidential’s **Biggest Losers of 2010 **and there appear to be a lot of similarities in what we have been doing:</p>
<p>*a) Intensive bodyweight circuit exercises as the core of our workout: 3 days a week with iPod nazi for me, at the gym with your trainer for you.</p>
<p>b) Supplementing that exercise with interval cardio. Airdyne intervals and hill walking for me and walk/jog Couch to 25K for you.</p>
<p>c) Watching calories and hitting a target average consumption, but not being crazy about deprivation within that, i.e. obsessing over low-fat this or that.*</p>
<p>I think understanding what has worked so well and why is important going forward and eventually into a maintenance mode. I’m looking to continue what I’m doing and especially to ramp up the intensity of the bodyweight circuits and high intensity intervals as I get more fit. I’m not really looking for my major increase to come in longer and longer duration cardio. For one thing, I think it’s important to use the cardio days as active recovery from exercise circuits/high intensity intervals that require a couple of days to fully recover. It is also painfully obvious (just read here for a month), that the one major risk to continuing my new ‘eat less/move more’ lifestyle would be an injury that puts me out of commission. I don’t want that injury to come from what is supposed to be my off-day relaxing recovery cardio. My concern with distance running is that it is all but guaranteed to result in overuse injury, sooner or later, for older participants. Plain and simple, it’s the highest rep/highest impact form of exercise imaginable. Great workout, but hell on the human body and there’s just no way around it.</p>
<p>I’m going to continue throwing in the odd jogging interval into my walks, because I think a fit person should be able to jog for few minutes, but I’m making a conscious decision to not go crazying on walking/running mileage. I’ll burn the calories doing circuits and intervals and look for relaxing ways to be active for 45 to 60 minutes a couple days a week on top of that.</p>
<p>idad, I think another important consideration is whether you enjoy what you are doing, so that you can make it a part of your lifestyle rather than a just to lose weight thing. I could never do your ipod nazi or spartacus workouts. Seriously, I would have beaten that ipod nazi to a pulp long ago. For me, if I’m not having a good time, I’m not doing it. There are so many physical activities to choose from, I don’t see the need to spend my precious life minutes doing something I hate.</p>
<p>Yes. I think doing exercise that is sustainable over time is critical. I think the gym membership rolls are littered with good intentions of programs that petered out after a month.</p>
<p>“Enjoyable” is a pretty fuzzy term when it comes to athletic or fitness endeavors. For a workout to pay dividends it must, by definition, push you out of your comfort zone and that is probably not going to be “enjoyable” in the moment. I think the enjoyment comes from completing the challenge or seeing results in terms of progress, etc. I don’t really need to “enjoy” exercise circuits: they only last 45 minutes or so, three days a week. Same with Airdyne intervals. I’m looking to sweat for 15 to 30 minutes and be done. It’s such a short amount of time for such a big payoff, that I don’t really have to “enjoy” it.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong. I think running, especially in the early stages of a fitness program and especially interval running, is one of the most effective exercises in the world. It burns a lot of calories, but there is a very high cost in terms of numbers of reps of high impact motions. I don’t think that the likelihood of injury can be dismissed when the odds are more that 50% that you’ll suffer a running injury, especially if you start pushing the mileage up.</p>
<p>I see it just from walking. The only recurring chronic pain I’ve felt starting an exercise program as an old fat guy has been metarsal foot pain, caused by walking. The more I walk, the more it’s aggravated. I’m willing to pay that price because I think that being able to walk a few miles is a pretty basic component of everday fitness, but should I be looking to increase the mileage of the one workout exercise that causes me pain? I don’t know. Chronic foot injuries are not good. They seldom get better as you get older.</p>
<p>my ipod playlists can make pretty much anything enjoyable :)</p>
<p>Hi All! Back from my trip away. Had lots of fun and too much wine. Gained 3 pounds but I’m sure most will come off this week. It was really hard to find low calorie choices when you can’t control the cooking and have to take what is served! Potatoes were served in heavy cheese/cream sauce, salads driping with mayo (ish, I don’t like mayo!). I did try the oatmeal again and I just couldn’t eat it…just not my thing! Yuck! We had torrential showers for 2 of the days. Great for scrapping but bad for outdoor exercise as trails and roads were flooded and there were no indoor gym facilities. I survived and got up and went to the gym this morning and biked hard for my 70 minutes and then walked on the dreadmill for another 40 and then lifted weights for 20 minutes. I am very tired but feel so much better! Just finished a yummy egg white omelet with portabella mushrooms. Ahhh…everything is just right in my world again. ;)</p>
<p>Congrats to all the runners/jogger/walkers!!! I am so impressed with your achievements! Wow! Seems like everyone is reaching new goals! </p>
<p>MOWC…way to go with your race! Gosh darn it…hope that pain goes away soon!</p>
<p>toneranger…you bet! I took my ipod with me to play when the group scrapped and they loved it! Had requests for my playlist! :)</p>
<p>The main thing about running injuries is that the heart can get stronger much faster than the joints. So some patience is required in building up distance.</p>
<p>This is my second time around on running. I did a lot of it in my 30s and got three of the five major injuries. So I know the prevention, what to look for and keep an eye out on relative joint health. I also watch my equipment. If you’re a beginner, you can read all of this stuff in Runners World or on websites but I mostly ignored all of that stuff the first time around.</p>
<p>I ran six miles today and my mind went all over the place. From listening to the good music to what my projects were this week to family stuff to investments. So I enjoy the run but sometimes do some work while I am running. One thing about running is that a lot of it is automatic so you can think about things while you are running.</p>
<p>Chintzy -</p>
<p>I think Interested Dad makes a lot of good points. I don’t think I completely agree with his conclusion. </p>
<p>First of all, a 10K translates into 6 miles. I think that is a reasonable distance as long as you do a couple of things. First - really listen to your body and don’t ignore pain. Second, if the program says it is a slow day, make sure it is a slow day. Third, add an extra recovery day after a hard day. And finally, don’t increase intensity and mileage at the same time. If you are going to go farther, make sure that is all you change. If you are going to do faster, don’t increase your mileage. </p>
<p>I have confined myself to racing in 5K’s for all the reasons IDad mentioned. I am going to bump up to a 10K as a way to improve my 5K times. I purchased a great training book that has an entire section devoted to Master Athletes and the message is add more recovery time. </p>
<p>I have mentioned this before, but honestly, one of the most inspiring things for me was to attend the National Senior Games. You can’t imagine the vitality of the participants. </p>
<p>Having said that, I also know that part of health and fitness is just the throw of the genetic dice and I will never get too smug or give myself too much credit for either. </p>
<p>I say, if the 10K interests you, why not go for it? If all goes well, great. If it starts to cause problems, pull back and re-assess what you are doing.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t really have a conclusion per se. I just think an honest assessment of risk/reward is something that each of us has to make. Believe me, I’m wrestling with it. I’ve got a walk/jog interval training workout on my iPod and I’m dying to go off for a walk with my family and jog off over the hill, just to see the looks on their faces. Plus, I’ve reached the point on the fitness curve where walking isn’t giving me much of workout (that’s a good thing).</p>
<p>But, I also know that, if I kick it up and start running, I have a 60% chance (or more) of getting injured, sooner or later. And, I also know that, as I turn the corner towards 60 years old, those injuries are not always just temporary setbacks. Knees, hips, ankles, and feet just have a bad habit of never really getting better at my approaching age. So I have to weigh that in the context of an overall fitness program where high intensity exercise circuits and high intensity intervals (Airdyne) are still going to give me the most bang for the exercise buck, even if augmented by a running program.</p>
<p>In an ideal world, I’d probably add biking, swimming, or rowing/kayaking to the mix as all three are excellent large muscle cardio, lend themselves to an interval format to bump the intensity, and are low-iimpact in terms of wear and tear. Alas, I don’t have a kayak, I don’t want to join a gym just to swim laps, and the bike is good for a change of pace workout once a week, but I don’t really enjoy it that much (although I can see that might change).</p>
<hr>
<p>I’m actually fighting the opposite issue right now. I’ve stepped up the exercise circuits to a point where I really need the off days in between to be recovery days. So, I’m looking for shorter, less intense stuff on those recovery days. Three Sparticus workouts and a bike ride like I took yesterday is all the high heart rate stuff I really want in a week. I don’t think you want your workout program to be grinding you down.</p>
<p>IDad - somehow I know that if you were to train for a 10K you WOULD get injured - I have never met you but I get the feeling you would be training like a maniac. And I say that with all due respect :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input, folks. I got out there in the drizzle this morning and did W1D1 of the B210k program. I’m not necessarily trying to become a 10k racer, but I need something to keep me motivated and interested in the running thing. There’s also a big 4.75 mile Thanksgiving Day race in these parts that I’d like to be able to do with my family. I remain unconcerned with speed. My gym workouts, which are very similar to the ipod Nazi program, are absolutely the center of my fitness progress. No way I’d be able to run without all those lunges and squats. I guess what keeps me running is that it’s cheap, quick and portable. I’ve been doing some biking, but that’s more likely to cause injuries because I keep falling over when I can’t get my shoe unclipped!</p>