<p>I have an old Helly Hanson coat which had a fleece zipout and mesh underneath. I wore it for about 5 years before the mesh disintegrated. I’m not sure why that happened as I had generally taken good care of it. I bought my son a coat around the same time that was all one piece and beat the crap out of it but it’s still a good coat (I sometimes use it). I have an old pair of New Balance pants with a blend of cotton, lycra and spandex that’s quite old (they called them Vesper Pants) and they are wonderful. Very light and the stretchiness never goes away. They apparently discontinued them in favor of all-synthetic stuff.</p>
<p>I hadn’t planned on it until late this week, but the weather is looking dodgy so I did the local 5K route walk/jog again this afternoon. Same routine, same workout programmed into my Garmin. Walk 200 meters, then alternate between walking 400 meters and jogging 400 meters. Six jogging intervals to bring me back to the start/finish line.</p>
<p>It was ten degrees hotter today. I was seven seconds slower, but it was actually a better workout. 10 seconds faster on the running intervals, but I wasn’t cranking out the first walking segment as fast. Monday, I went out like a rabbit. Today, I had a better feel for pacing myself. I was a little slower on the first two jogging intervals, but was faster towards the end (where the intervals have uphill sections).</p>
<p>Today:</p>
<p>5.8 mph
5.6 mph
5.7 mph
5.2 mph
5.2 mph
5.1 mph</p>
<p>Little higher heart rates today, probably due to the heat. A little surprising because it really wasn’t that tough overall. I’d like to do it one more time before “race day”.</p>
<p>6 miles, 10:42 pace. I was sore and tired this afternoon so I took it slow and the body got warm and comfortable after about two miles. I could have picked up the pace but decided to just take it easy. Afterwards, I took a long, hot shower and am back in my office where the tiredness and muscle soreness is gone.</p>
<p>Natural drugs.</p>
<p>BC, you seem to have a very flexible work environment. Lucky you.</p>
<p>Flexible also means that I can work anytime and anywhere which means that there are expectations that I will.</p>
<p>Did my home weights workout this morning. I bought an extra dumbbell bar this past spring and two 10 pound plates from Sears (don’t buy these for dumbbells). The Sears 10 pound plates are so big that my arms bump into them on curls. I also wanted 20 pounds instead of 22.5 pounds so this morning I moved the ten pound plates to the barbell and the two fives and two 2.5s and two 1.25s to the dumbbell. So now I have a dumbbell at the right weight that’s convenient to use. I haven’t used the dumbbell that much over the summer because it was inconvenient.</p>
<p>Of course it would be nice to have one at 22.5 for when I feel like doing a bit more.</p>
<p>Airdyne hell… One of my running friends in PA just posted a facebook status update saying she was on a 2 hour Airdyne bike ride due to an injury. She must have let go of the handles long enough to post from her iPhone! iDad- something for which to shoot???</p>
<p>Yesterday I ran 3 1/2 miles in the morning and went to hot yoga in the late afternoon. I’m trying to taper some for the half marathon Saturday just so I won’t be as miserable out there. Will do an easy, flat 4 today and probably nothing tomorrow. Weather looks good, although the past few days have been awful- hot and humid.</p>
<p>I’m still lazy-arsin’ it. Working on my core strength this week with very little running, but my feet are itching for some action. The geese on the trail must have missed me. </p>
<p>MOfWC, have a great race!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not me, no! Two hours on the Airdyne is more than I can comprehend. About 30 minutes is my limit. If I pedal slow enough to last an hour, I’m bored out of my mind and my butt would be sore. If I pedal hard enough so it’s not boring, I’m bent over panting like a dog. </p>
<p>People do long slow cardio on Airdynes. It’s a good rehab tool. Super easy on the joints because it’s so smooth. Good for warm-up and cool-down. Two hours would definitely build aerobic capacity.</p>
<p>I’ve used it once or twice that way when I was bouncing back from the flu and just wanted 30 minutes easy, no sweat, to bounce back into action. Otherwise, every time I’ve been on it, I’ve been doing intervals. That probably explains why my distance endurace is so lousy, but those Airdyne intervals have helped shed 90 pounds of blubber, so I can’t complain.</p>
<p>I could probably go indefinitely at around 40 rpm – until my butt hurt too much or I got too bored – probably in the range of 45 minutes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hah, I walked along with a family of wild turkeys on the side of the road yesterday. And, for the strangest poultry sighting: a grocery store whole chicken, still in the wrapping, by the side of the road. Gotta be a story behind that, I figure!</p>
<p>LOL, I’d rather encounter that kind of chicken than a feisty rooster (I’ve been attacked by a stray rooster while running on that trail!). The strangest dead bird I’ve ever encountered was a dead owl on the side of the freeway ramp - there was a dead bunny on the opposite side. The owl must have been tying to carry it across the freeway and got hit by a car.</p>
<p>Repeat of an earlier workout</p>
<p>Sumos, world’s greatest, inchworms</p>
<p>3 minutes of hellraisers 20# medicine ball
3 minutes of double unders jump rope ( I am happy to say I am getting much better at these and think I have a chance to get pretty good at them. I am better than most of the (fit) guys in the class)</p>
<p>1 mile run
100 assisted pull ups
200 push ups
300 air squats</p>
<p>broken up any way you want.</p>
<p>1 mile, 8:21 pace. Smith Machine and Ab Dolly Plus.</p>
<p>My project is finished but another project is in panic mode so we’re working on their project now.</p>
<p>Will probably go to the YMCA tonight for some quality time on the weight machines.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would be broken up every which way from that workout!</p>
<p>Rainy day. New Rules of Lifting for Abs in the basement with the cat cheering me on and flopping over for some belly rubs as I go by doing walking lunges and stuff during the warmup.</p>
<p>Pretty good workout. Uneventful, punch the clock, do the sets.</p>
<p>I found my notebook where I had the workout logs from the first time around last January. I was hitting max heart rates of 100% back then. Today’s peak heart rate was 82%, so it’s a completely different kind of workout. It’s not so much that I’ve gone way up on the weights (I have on some, not on others), just that I able to do the lifts better and without just hanging on for dear life.</p>
<p>4.2 miles this morning. Packet pickup for the women’s half marathon. I did not emerge unscathed! Hated paying $10 to park downtown and then got sucked in by a neat new sports bra company and an awesome print running skirt… Almost bought a t-shirt that read “If found unconscious, please pause my Garmin.”</p>
<p>idad: Wow! That is a testament to an increased fitness level, if I ever saw one. Excellent.
Tomorrow I hope to get back to New Rules. I am a little concerned about how sore I am going to be, since my legs are already feeling sore from today’s workout, which isn’t a good sign.</p>
<p>MOWC: LOVE the t-shirt! Hilarious. </p>
<p>I am a little frustrated on the weight loss front. I am 3 weeks into my 3rd month of paleo/ lower carb and the loss has been slow from the get go, but now I have seemed to have stalled completely. I haven’t “cheated” at all. My exercise has been consistent and I don’t think my calorie count has been higher, although I haven’t been weighing and measuring because all I have been eating is paleo stuff – no refined carbs at all, which had been my downfall. Lots of good, fresh veggies, pretty light on the fruit, certainly higher on the fats because of replacing the refined carbs. But I am careful with nuts, have half an avocado and don’t tend to do heavy salad dressings. Over on the weight loss thread, people are dropping weight left, right and center – I am jealous. I only have about 15 lbs. to go, but, boy, this is a glacial pace.</p>
<p>Do your clothes feel looser? Sometimes the scale isn’t the best measure. I know it’s frustrating, though.</p>
<p>Yes, actually they do feel looser, so I do think there is some swapping fat for muscle in my case, although I am always wary of overstating that effect, especially for women. I can see a lot of added muscle and musle definition in my legs and can feel more muscle in my pecs and shoulders and I am wearing things that I haven’t worn in years, but I need about 5 more lbs. down to wear most of my wardrobe and another 10 to be awesome ;)</p>
<p>I thought that the ICE strip in my new New Balance shorts was a bit odd. There’s a plastic strip that in the right pocket and you’re supposed to write down a contact person in case of an emergency.</p>
<p>On the muscle/fat thing - I think that it would be interesting to get a bodyfat analysis (technical) done. They did them at work many years ago and it would be nice if they did it again. I should mention it to the fitness director.</p>
<p>That place to write contact information is brilliant, BCEagle. I’ve heard of several situations, and had a waaaay too up close and personal one where a runner was down and they had no idea who they were or who to contact. I used to worry about the same thign at the gym, before I got to know folks. If I keeled over, who would have a clue who I was?</p>