<p>Awesome job, blankmind!</p>
<p>hops, please do not melt away completely :)</p>
<p>BC: I thought about it some more, and I think the calculator is accurate. Or at least I will try to make it close to being accurate, but not before I run the race which I signed up for. 
We are expecting a heat wave, and I’m so happy to be in my tapering mode. No way I can run 15-18 miles when it is 80 degrees outside. I’m a cold climate mammal.</p>
<p>4 miles and hot yoga today. Doing 3 90 minute hot yoga classes this week after none for 3 months might have been a tad too much. I feel tired and dehydrated. Does not bode well for the 62 mile bike ride up in northern TN/KY tomorrow. Ugh. The good part is that going into the bike event NOT fresh will prepare me for day 2 of the 2 day ride in early October. It is going to be in the mid to upper 90s by the time I finish the ride tomorrow, but there are great rest stops with plenty of food and drink.</p>
<p>90 minutes of tennis, 6-0, 6-1. I played someone that isn’t as strong as the players that I usually hit against but he is very steady. I actually wanted to just practice but he want to play. So today was a relatively light workout day. I may do some weights tonight to make up for it - just the home stuff.</p>
<p>5 mile hike, pretty steep going up, glad I had my trekking poles. I was feeling a little discouraged going up, because it felt pretty hard and I began questioning my fitness level. Until the way down, when I came across several groups huffing and puffing their way up, asking me rather desperately how much more?</p>
<p>Wow, hops Tabata kbs, hard work!</p>
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<p>I had that happen to me occassionally back when I ran (piddling 2.5 miles during the week a little longer on weekends). I could never figure out a reason for it.</p>
<p>Well, I punched the clock tonight. 12 weeks and 36 workouts of this iPod nazi core training program. Three times a week, like clockwork, always followed by at least two sets of weight lifting.</p>
<p>Nice program. A little pricey perhaps, but the real-time video to watch ahead of time and mp3s of every workout to follow while doing the workouts really do provide an effective approach. Honestly, I wish more “celebrity” trainers would offer these kinds of programs. An Alwyn Cosgrove iPod version of New Rules of Lifting for Abs would be terrific. </p>
<p>Speaking of which, I’m probably going to start NROL4A from the beginning and run through it a second time while I wait for the next one in the series, New Rules of Lifting for Old Worn Out People. </p>
<p>Oh, I did all 16 chinups today unassisted – 2, 3, or 4 at a time. Some better than others.</p>
<p>Oh my. You guys are intimidating. I managed my 3 mile walk/run on the treadmill and about ten minutes on the hoist at lowest setting. Nothing at all for the last three days. I’m a sloth!</p>
<p>sewhappy, please don’t feel intimidated by what some of us crazies are doing. Yay to the 3 mile run/walk and 10 min on the machine! It is a great start. I hope you are feeling better and will do more walking/running in the nearest future.</p>
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<p>That sounds like a killer workout to me. Walk/run intervals and some strength training. Hard to beat that.</p>
<p>Yay, on the chin ups, idad. Those are hard!
I guess we’ll be doing nrl4a together.</p>
<p>Still got in an hour of tennis doubles.</p>
<p>I tried out the pedometer on my ipod at work today, 9,795 steps.</p>
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<p>Have you ever listened to him speak? LOL :)</p>
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<p>Yeah. Really hard. I’m just grinding out 2 or 3 at a time. Slow as molasses. Agonizingly slow. The next step is to do them with a little more speed and efficiency.</p>
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<p>Yep. I’ll probably start Monday, although there’s an outside chance I may take a week in between programs and do Spartacus or something as a break. I’ve got to decide how I’m going to do NROL4A – how many workouts per phase, and so forth. I’m going to start with 3 sessions each on the two workouts of Phase I (two weeks worth) and see if I want to do two more weeks or move on.</p>
<p>Or, I may do two days of NROL4A workouts each week (one of each workout) and one day of either Spartacus 1.0 or 2.0.</p>
<p>A good article:</p>
<p>[The</a> Top 10 Fitness Myths](<a href=“http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-top-10-fitness-myths-youre-probably-wrong-about-2537038/]The”>http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-top-10-fitness-myths-youre-probably-wrong-about-2537038/)</p>
<p>Myth #1: Drinking Water Can Help You Lose Weight
Myth #2: Stretching Before Working Out Is Crucial to Preventing Injury
Myth #3: Vegetarian Diets are Healthier Than Meat-Inclusive Ones
Myth #4: Lifting Weights Will Make You Look Bulky
Myth #5: Sports Bras are Just to Prevent Painful Bounce
Myth #6: A Hot Bath Will Prevent Muscle Soreness
Myth #7: Running Is Counterproductive to Strength Training
Myth #8: Holding Weights While Doing Cardio Increases Calorie Burn
Myth #9: Fresh Fruit Is Better Than Frozen Fruit
Myth #10: Doing Crunches and Ab Workouts Will Get Rid of Belly Fat</p>
<p>Found a Barska HRM + chest strap for $30. I have no idea if this brand is good or not but it certainly is cheap. I might consider this but I don’t like the idea of a chest strap while I’m running.</p>
<p>[Newegg.com</a> - GB11498 HEART RATE MONITOR WATCH W/ WIRELESS TRANSMITTER](<a href=“Are you a human?”>Are you a human?)</p>
<p>Played 1.5 hours of singles this morning. We had an extended warmup and I won the one set, 6-4. The other player is a 4.5 level player with unorthodox but effective strokes but I have a huge fitness advantage over him (he could only play one set). He plays tournaments regularly and I imagine that he has to keep the points fairly short to make it through a few sets.</p>
<p>I took one of my newer racquets and added 5.5 inches of lead at 3+9. I have been going back and forth between a soft racquet that weighs a ton and a stiffer racquet that weighs slightly less than a ton. I leaded up the lighter racquet so that it weighs the same as the heavier one and they are both 13 ounces (most popular racquets are between 10 and 12 ounces). The added weight makes the stiffer racquet feel a little softer (it increases dynamic flex).</p>
<p>Playing doubles tomorrow morning, hopefully before the rain comes in. I guess the weekend workouts are relatively light. The weather was cool - high 70s with low humidity. Very nice early fall weather.</p>
<p>BC:</p>
<p>You can get the fancier of the two basic Timex models for $38, free shipping, from Amazon:</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Timex T5G971 Unisex Sports Personal Heart Rate Monitor Watch: Timex: Watches](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Timex-T5G971-Unisex-Personal-Monitor/dp/tags-on-product/B000P8VWQS]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Timex-T5G971-Unisex-Personal-Monitor/dp/tags-on-product/B000P8VWQS)</p>
<p>One key feature to check on is user-replaceable batteries in the chest strap and the watch. Otherwise, you’ve got to buy a new chest strap when the battery dies (hint: it’s usually cheaper to just buy a whole new watch than the replacement cost of the straps!).</p>
<p>Barska has pretty limited info on their website, but they do list the battery sizes for the strap and the watch, which suggests they are replaceable. Also, there’s a comment that the chest strap works with exercise equipment, which suggests that it is an unencrypted analog Polar-compatible strap – just like the Timex.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that everything was this cheap.</p>
<p>Survived the 61.75 mile bike event (H did 80 in just a little more time than I did my ride). It got up to almost 100 degrees and the course didn’t have much shade. It was brutal, but I didn’t really fade. I just got hot and unhappy! (I didn’t whine, though) We had to get up at 4:30 to go do this thing. I didn’t like that part, either. The bottom line is that I really don’t enjoy riding my bike for almost 4 hours. It’s just too darn long- especially in the heat. I didn’t ever connect with a group at this event- everyone around me either rode off and left me or I passed them. That was OK. I only had a few stretches where no one was in sight. 2 aid stations where I stopped (skipped the one at 10 miles)- 30 and 46. Rode through a lot of very high, very brown corn plants. Pretty Kentucky countryside, but did I mention that it was hot? Glad it’s over.</p>