Many thanks for all the suggestions and “vote of confidence”! Because of rains, I did a treadmill run this morning, set at 6.2 mph incline of 0.5 and ran 45 minuets for a little over 4.5 miles. Felt good! Plan to run outside tomorrow and keep a log as well. The race is still open and I will make the decision to register or not by the end of this month!
Thank you!!!
20 seconds slower sounds pretty good, @FallGirl, given the heat and humidity today. Great race and excellent warmup. Good to know about that hill ahead of time!
And only one dead snake!
That reminds of of the year I did a relay race in the woods and we went by this giant spiderweb. Two laps, the web was there. The third lap it was gone. I felt sorry for the runner who ran thru it.
@makemesmart Looks like you’re ready now. Incline of 0.5 for 4.5 miles is a great base.
@FallGirl 20 seconds is nothing. A rounding error. I’d blame it on the shoes and get some new ones. 
So each day of my program there’s 3 levels of workouts published: “fitness,” “performance” and “competition.” Typically I choose performance. Occasionally I choose competition, but often the comp. workout is crazy insane. And generally, it’s the 25-35 year old group that participates in the comp. HIIT.
Today, I chose the comp. workout, because I wanted a longer workout with a run in it. So, today’s HIIT was a 2 mile run, lots of pushups, lots of pull-ups and lots of thrusters. My total time was 41 min. The best time recorded in the group was 25 mins. Worst time of day was 46 mins. The median in the group looked to be around 32-35 mins.
So considering this HIIT was a comp level WOD I’m super happy, even though I finished below the median. <:-P
I like having the option to adjust the difficulty of the online workout I get. Don’t think I’m near competition level yet though! Nice job challenging yourself, @sushiritto.
My new habit, building on prior ones, is to eat 5 total servings of fruits and vegetables daily. So, to recap: eat slowly to 80% fullness, lean protein at every meal, and 5 fruit/veg daily.
Sunday’s are meal prep for me. Today I am making Thai quinoa salad, ground chicken taco meat, carne asada, roast veggies and possibly a banana teff bread. I’ll cook some grains and oatmeal as well. Meals for days.
Florence nears so I got in a quick 2.25 miles of hills.
I’m down another 2 pounds this week. Yesterday was one of those days when it was very hard to know what I was eating really. We had two parties one with only heavy appetizers the other with tapas. There was nothing super healthy. I decided to try a bite of everything and eat more of something fantastic. It was hard to know how to account fir the day calorie wise. What do you other calorie counters do? Just skip counting on days like this? Make a best guess? (How many calories on one bite of lobster Mac amd cheese?, lol)?
@maya54 in that situation I do just as you did and have small portions. I enter my best guess, which I realize is likely highly inaccurate but at least keeps me tracking what I am eating on My Fitness Pal. Congrats on your weight loss this week!
I’d go with best guess - I’d look on MFP for the highest calorie restaurant portion and divide it into what I thought my portion was. Inaccurate, yes, but at least you’d know why you had any weight fluctuations. You have to keep living your life.
Yes, I’d log it, if it were relatively easy and fast to make estimates. If not, I’d skip it & feel fine about doing so.
Logging food into MFP helps me get into a range of calories consumed for the day. In other words, logging helps keep me from under-eating AND helps keep me from over-eating.
@sabaray Thank you for posting the link to the NYTimes article. I read it 2x!
I currently do warm-up sets, and then 4 working sets of 5-8 reps. I’m usually pretty sick of it all by the 4th set.
I might try 3 sets instead and see if I can work harder for those three sets.
I’m pleased to announce I got up early today and made the two hour drive to today’s hike. It was 9 miles in the heat, but it felt so good to be out with the hiking club again (not since July!)
No dead snakes to report. ==shudder== @FallGirl
@sabaray thanks for posting the article. I finally had a chance to read it. A “lateral pull down”? They must mean a latissimus dorsi or lat (not lateral) pulldown. One set of multiple exercise in 13 minutes? And I’m not sure anyone follows a one size fits all 8-12 reps = set strategy anymore. Ya, call me a skeptic, I’m not buying what they’re selling. I love reading new articles. 
5K run today. No dead snakes, but I did see a dead squirrel.
I definitely don’t think express weights are for me. At times it takes me a minute to get set up!
Thought of @Midwest67 when this quote came up today as part of my program. I can’t link to FB but attributable to PrecisionNutrition.
Quite a bit of rain moving through our area right now but that did not deter Sabadog and Sabapup. The whole family had a pleasant walk through some light rain this morning. I can’t say Mr. Sabaray was as enthusiastic as the dogs, but they would go nuts without their walk.
Express weights are not for me either!
But, if I could get the same or similar results (functional strength) with 3 sets instead of 4? Sign me up.
I was sore all over upon waking, from yesterday’s hike in the heat. I’m alive!
@sabaray
Lol I wish my pup would love the rain. She is supposed to have some water dog ancestors but she has definitely muted out of that gene pool.
Ran 4 miles on Sunday outdoor. I could feel more tired than usual but the light drizzle felt nicer than hot sun. Did TRX today and plan to ran on treadmill tomorrow again.
I get blisters easily on my feet, is that the problem of shoes or is it just way of life for runners and i’d better stop whining (and thinking of getting a new pair of shoes) about it?
The X-ray showed no evidence of a stress fracture in my lower leg. The doctor recommends an MRI, but she said I can wait a couple of weeks and see if it gets better. Not sure what to do. We’re broke after DH’s kidney stone surgery, and MRIs are expensive. 
IME, blisters are due to hiking boots or trail shoes being too tight. Or, socks — socks don’t fit well or socks are unable to manage moisture.
I need a wide toe box, Darn Tough socks (on long hot hikes, I’ll need to change socks at least once — Off with the sweat soaked socks and into a fresh dry pair.
I have also used duct tape and paper tape on vulnerable foot parts on long hot hikes.
What do you think causes your blisters?
@MaineLonghorn
So Sorry! I really wish our healthcare is not so expensive!
FWIW, my mom fell on her back and her X-ray didn’t show fractures and the dr. Also suggested MRIs, since she does not have insurance we opted the wait and see approach. She did complain of pain when walking/using barhroom for a month but then the pain subsided substantially. Hope yours will be too.
The study was based on 34 “fit” young men, so no women and no older folks. That’s a small sample size and missed representatives from the other half of the population. I’m the wrong person for the study, since I enjoy my gym time and I’m not looking for the door after 13 minutes.
I don’t get blisters and I run pretty frequently. I’d recommend going to a running store and getting fit for a new pair of shoes. As Midwest mentioned, I’d also look into new socks. I love cotton for about anything but exercise gear. You want socks that are going to wick moisture away from your feet. My personal favorite brands are Injinji, Balega and Swiftwick.
That is good news about no stress fracture, @MaineLonghorn. I’m wondering if it may be a strain/sprain or tendinitis that’s being aggravated by lateral movement, perhaps? I’ve read that runners should avoid cross-training activities that involve movement that is substantially different that their running motion. I can’t recall what else you’ve been doing. Do you have access to a pool? Water running might be a good activity for now. The discomfort sounds very similar to the tendinitis I developed to go along with my stress fracture earlier this year. I’d take an anti-inflammatory and wait a few weeks before rushing into the MRI.
@Midwest67
I don’t know. The blisters often occur at the root of the big toes. Maybe I just need to log in more mileage to get the feet toughen up.