<p>They might stop scoring the 5K at an hour or something. I would.</p>
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<p>Yeah. That’s what I’m thinking as the final two scored entrants finished at 1:01:00 or something like that.</p>
<p>idad, I think you should enter the race. You might surprise yourself with what formerly fat guys are capable of! Eons ago, DH and colleagues entered a 5K in memory of their old boss. Of course, DH did not trained for it thinking he’d just walk, but he managed to mostly jog the course and finish the race in under 30 min. :eek: And he was not a formerly fat guy yet!</p>
<p>With so many runners/walkers among us, we should get a bunch of CCers together and do a 5K run/walk/crawl/whatever. 
That would be fun.</p>
<p>Whew. That was tough workout. iPod nazi threw a couple of core exercises at me that I really struggled to do and couldn’t go the full 45 seconds.</p>
<p>One was [stability</a> ball deadbug](<a href=“Advanced Six Pack Abs Workout - YouTube”>Advanced Six Pack Abs Workout - YouTube), but this time with the legs straight up in the air. Ouch. Couldn’t do more than about 20 seconds of that.</p>
<p>The other was [stability</a> ball leg scissors](<a href=“Stability Ball Scissors 1st time 50x - YouTube”>Stability Ball Scissors 1st time 50x - YouTube). Good lord. I think I need a smaller stability ball. Maybe I’ll try it with the med ball next time.</p>
<p>On the other hand, he hit me with some fun new stuff.</p>
<p>A [. I loved this one. Also one where you go from the down position of a regular pushup pushing all the way back with knees bent – so it’s kind of a horizontal pushup. Nice. And finally, the [url=<a href=“Advanced Six Pack Abs Workout - YouTube”>Advanced Six Pack Abs Workout - YouTube] half Turkish getup to side plank.](]stabilty ball pushup to pike[/url)</p>
<p>I kicked my own butt with the strength stuff today. Three sets:</p>
<p>Single leg single arm deadlift (50lb)
Kneeling bicep curl to overhead press (30lb x 2)
Rear foot elevated split squat (30lb x 2)
Chinups (3 unassisted, 3 with band)</p>
<p>I got the [kneeling</a> curl & press](<a href=“Tall Kneeling Curl to Press (Level 1) - YouTube”>Tall Kneeling Curl to Press (Level 1) - YouTube) to overhead press from one of Mike Boyle’s fat loss conditioning workouts. It’s just kneeling on two knees (love that Airex pad!), curling two DBs up to the shoulders from the sides, and then pressing them overhead. Simple, but challenging. This would be good for anyone, even starting with small weights.</p>
<p>Got tied up at work until 7:00 (I was on a roll and I didn’t want to stop) and then had a ton of errands to do this evening so I just got in a 20 minute weight workout. It felt quite good - I haven’t been doing much in the way of weights in a while. I brought my stuff into the office but didn’t feel that I could take an hour for a run. Tomorrow is a hectic day with tennis after work - hopefully that works out. My racquet from Paris finally arrived. I’m looking forward to hitting a few balls with it and then trying to replicate it by copying the specs to other racquets.</p>
<p>The U.S government guidelines recommend getting 150 minutes of exercise a week, and the study showed that even people who exercised less than that had a lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who did not exercise.</p>
<p>Of course, more exercise is even better for you: People who did 150 minutes of moderate exercise weekly had a 14 percent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who did no exercise, the study said.</p>
<p>And those who did 300 minutes of exercise a week had 20 percent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who did not exercise. At higher levels of activity, the risk became progressively lower. </p>
<p>[Move</a> it! Even a little exercise is good for you - Health - Fitness - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43979379/ns/health-fitness/]Move”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43979379/ns/health-fitness/)</p>
<p>A compound found in grapes or grape derivatives may protect skin cells from skin-damaging ultraviolet radiation, report researchers from the University of Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council. The flavonoids found in grapes work to halt the chemical reaction that kills skin cells and causes sun damage. Here’s what happens: When UV rays hit your skin, they activate “reactive oxygen species,” or ROS, which then oxidize big molecules like lipids and DNA. This activates particular enzymes that kill skin cells.</p>
<p>[The</a> Body Odd - Drink wine, don’t get sunburned](<a href=“http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/01/7218394-drink-wine-dont-get-sunburned]The”>http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/01/7218394-drink-wine-dont-get-sunburned)</p>
<p>I don’t metabolize alcohol well (some Asian gene) so I’m just munching on a bowl of grapes for my natural sun protection.</p>
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<p>I pay $5 per pay period for my health insurance because I get about 150 minutes of exercise each week. </p>
<p>Crappy workout tonight… can’t even really say I “punched the clock” tonight."</p>
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<p>That’s probably inevitable. X number of workouts are just going to be lousy and the odds probably increase as the number of consecutive workout days increases.</p>
<p>I think it really helps me to have a set schedule. I know I’m going to workout on M/W/F and I know what those workouts are going to be. So all I really have to do is gear up and start the thing.</p>
<p>I’ve been enjoying my workouts a lot recently. Partly because I’m no longer killing myself with fast paced high heart rate workouts. I try to get that kind of workout on my shorter off-day intervals, but my main workouts are more manageable thes days because my conditioning has improved. A second reason is that I have seen a change in my ability to do a lot of these exercises. My core strength has increased dramatically.</p>
<p>idad, I found that I enjoy running even more now that I can run longer and faster. :)</p>
<p>I had good running days and awful running days (like my epic fail in HI or sunburnt 15-miler). Just finished my 5 mile run at leisurely pace (had to do it on my treadmill since I had a late start and it was getting dark outside) and did not even notice that I finished the run! I hope my lucky streak continues.</p>
<p>It’s hard for me to have a set schedule because tennis games can appear randomly. I’m on a few email lists and sometimes people will just do a broadcast looking for someone to hit with. If I don’t have something planned, then my default is to bring in my running gear.</p>
<p>Sometimes I’m working on something and I don’t want any interruptions because putting my work down and then picking it up again will result in lost time getting back up to speed. Sometimes I have to get something done in a given timeframe which pushes workouts out.</p>
<p>What really helps is having four gyms available (home, two YMCAs, office) and being able to do that short ten, fifteen or twenty minute weight workout.</p>
<p>Warm Up: 2 rounds
1 lap
20 step ups
20 lunges
20 ab mat sit ups
20 push ups</p>
<p>Work Out
Manmakers with 15 lb dbs (however many done to failure, followed by a run, return from run, continue manmakers, run, rinse, repeat)
15 minutes total. Managed to eke out about 25 manmakers and a whole lot of runs, because “failure” started happening after ~ 3 manmakers toward the end.)</p>
<p>I am getting better at the manmakers, but may hate them worse than Burpees.</p>
<p>Now off to my friend’s workout: 2 mile brisk walk, which will be my cool down.</p>
<p>I did five barbell squats this morning. I haven’t done them in quite some time because of my knees but they are getting quite a bit better so I gave it a try. Doing them wasn’t a problem but the crunchy sounds didn’t sound good so I stopped after a few. I will probably try them with the knee braces tonight to see if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>Good workout today. 70 minutes on the bike…HRM was acting goofy for some reason. Wish I could figure out why it acts up some times. Lifted weights and did pushups for 30 minutes and then 30 minutes on the dreadmill while I watched tv. Now ready for the day! :)</p>
<p>NM–my heart rate monitor started showing erratic numbers and it would take what seemed like a long time to pick up my heart rate. Within a week of that happening, it stopped working. Turns out I just needed a new battery for the strap. I ended up sending it to Polar along with another older model and got batteries for both of them within a few days. Long way of saying that it might be your watch battery or the battery in the strap that you will need to replace. I hate being without my HRM.</p>
<p>Yes. Weak batteries can be a problem. </p>
<p>Usually more of a problem in dry winter weather, but polyester tech shirts slapping against the monitor strap cause static electricity discharges that can produce crazy high readings. Polar says to wear cotton!</p>
<p>Others have recommended anti-static spray on the inside of the shirt. I have a can of the static guard spray, but haven’t really used it because we no longer have dry staticy weather. I suppose that heavy air conditioning could also provide dry conditions.</p>
<p>It also helps to moisten the two contact point/sensors of the strap – on either side of the center thing. I have a little spray bottle of water that I use. A couple of squirts before I put it on. Or just rub a few drops of water from the faucet. Otherwise, you’ve got to wait for some sweat to provide the moisture.</p>
<p>Erratic readings seem to be the number one complaint with heart rate monitors.</p>
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<p>Yeah. That would put me right off doing squats, too! I’ve got a hip that’s a little crunchy – I mostly hear it walking up steps. No pain, just crunch.</p>
<p>I always wet the contact areas. Didn’t know about the cotton thing! My HRM is only 6 months old so I hope it isn’t the batteries! Thanks for the info!</p>
<p>I don’t agree with the cotton recommendation. One problem with the newer Garmin HRMs for women is that when the running bra gets really wet and the transmitter is tucked UNDER it, it can result in bad readings. I learned this from an online help forum when I started getting readings in the 200s! Now I make sure the center transmitter is tucked outside my sports bra. I have never had problems with tech fabrics and that’s all I wear.
As for wetting the sensors- yes, you need to do that, but most everyone I know just licks them or spits on them. (sorry…gross, I know)</p>
<p>Ah… HR monitors and their difficulties. I have had so many problems with mine for various reasons.</p>
<p>I have used the ultrasound gel to help with transmitting. I have bra tops that are incompatible with HRs.</p>
<p>I also have an exercise-induced arrythmia that is no big deal medically, but my HR can spike into the 200s legitimately for a little while if I am working out very hard and become irregular. Polars cannot handle this at all and just shut themselves off, and then take FOREVER to spit out an HR reading. I have talked to the Polar people and this is a known issue. Fortunately, my Garmin can usually gets itself back on track. Getting to the bottom of this issue was difficult. Thank goodness for online forums.</p>