<p>Bromfield, what BCE said, how many hours did you spend working out? I already thought that 50 minutes on the Cybex sounded long…</p>
<p>MOWC, I used endurolyte capsules in my marathon training with no stomach issues and I don’t have an iron cast stomach when I run (can’t handle gu gels, for instance). Not sure about the science behind it, or if I even needed them, but they didn’t do any harm in my experience.</p>
<p>Did 50 minutes on the Cybex and a 60-minute class (last 10 minutes stretching). Total was a little less than 2 hours. I think the heat really tired me out. I did stay hydrated–had a liter bottle of Poland Spring water, which I re-filled when I walked out of the gym.</p>
<p>Hah. New Hampshire PBS did a show on two old geezers (even older than me) hiking the trail I hiked yesterday…</p>
<p>[Video:</a> Welch-Dickey Loop Trail | Watch Windows to the Wild Online | NHPTV Video](<a href=“http://video.nhptv.org/video/1791163855/]Video:”>http://video.nhptv.org/video/1791163855/)</p>
<p>You guys are getting too intense for me . . . .</p>
<p>VeryHappy, I think there are just some super-athletes on this thread. 
I learn a lot reading their posts and looking up videos to see what they’re doing!</p>
<p>This morning I walked home after taking the car to the mechanic. That was a little longer than I thought it was going to be. Then later in the day I walked to the bus stop, which is a little ways from home, and hopped on the bus to go back the mechanic’s shop. Unfortunately I gauged where to get off the bus incorrectly and ended up walking farther than I wanted, lol. So, I’m a little sore. It’s a bit of a mess-up because I actually wanted to go jog tomorrow. Ain’t happenin’. As you know, I am not one of the muscle women here! :-)</p>
At the risk of making things worse…
I can’t do much compared to a number of the people who post on this thread, but let me tell you a little story about what happened yesterday when I went to the track to see what my pace is when I jog. Two different people came out to the track, separately, to run while I was out there, one man and one woman. They both ran faster than me, but you know what, they each ran one lap. I ran more than 10. That was my moment in the sun, I tell you.
Thank you guys for helping me get there!
<p>10 laps! That’s 2.5 miles. I can only dream! I’d be in the 1-lap category, maybe 2 tops.</p>
<p>Actually, right now, it’s all I can do to hobble up and down the stairs. My thighs are not happy with yesterday’s hike…</p>
<p>Hey, I’m up to the 3 lb weight for the bicep curls and tricep kickbacks. Still using the 1 lb pink ones for anything shoulder related… ;-)</p>
<p>IDad- you need to go down stairs backwards.</p>
<p>The neat thing about this thread is that we all do what we can do and we improve (or not) or at least keep plugging away. There is something to learn from everyone whether it be about shoes, salt pills, weights, form or running. No judging anyone here.</p>
<p>It is amazing how many different roads to physical activity and fitness all of us take. The important thing is to just do something to get moving.</p>
<p>Deborah T: I can’t run–my ankle is a mess (broken bone/infection, etc etc). I’m not in the least bit coordinated. I never played sports as a kid–there just weren’t that many opportunities for girls back in the day. I have lots of stamina and I’m really strong and have gotten stronger over the last three years. I think we all do what we’re best able to do and enjoy. Keep doing what you’re doing. You’ll feel better and you’ll improve.</p>
<p>I weighed myself and found I had lost 4 pounds! And I can’t afford to lose weight. (Only occasionally weigh myself, as a matter of curiosity.)</p>
<p>I blame it in the heat and hardly eating for about a week. I had to walk around downtown a lot in the heat…I would come home and collapse. Maybe make a fruit smoothie. Wouldn’t call what I was doing <em>exercise</em> but I was as active as I thought wise in the 102 degree heat. </p>
<p>Back to normal this week. Had to cut some grass yesterday, and went for a long walk while the car was being serviced.</p>
<p>Garmin just arrived. It feels like an Apple product with the packaging. I have it charging off my laptop right now. It looks like this thing takes a long time to charge up; at least off my laptop. It does come with an AC wall charger which is probably a high-speed charger but I don’t have a convenient outlet in the office.</p>
<p>It looks like I will have to do a moderate amount of reading on the HRM strap + other plastic device (maybe the transceiver) and the USB stick. Does the HRM transceiver have a small battery in it? I was wondering how it is powered. I’m going down to do internvals in half-an-hour on the treadmill. I think that it’s going to take four or five hours to get the Garmin fully charged (it arrived at 50%).</p>
<p>For those with 410s, how long does it take to charge your device? Is it normally an overnight operation? Also, does anyone use these as their regular watch?</p>
There is a small battery in the chest piece. From the wall it shouldn’t take over an hour or two to charge the Garmin. Find a plug. I know people who wear it as a watch, but most don’t so it will be charged when it is time to run. I tend to let mine sit on the charger (310XT) when it isn’t out on a run. I know it looks complicated, but you will get the hang of it quickly. You need to set up the watch from the watch, which is sort of a pain. Put in your personal data, etc.
BCE- did you get your 40 miles last week?
<p>I have three computers, four monitors, iPod, Micro USB, Mini-USB and cell phone devices using up power plugs in my office or 12 things to plug in. I only have four wall outlets so that means lots of power strips and they’re on the floor so I usually charge other devices off my laptop or desktop USB port. The Garmin appears to charge about 10% per 30 minutes which isn’t so bad - I guess it will take another two hours to fully charge.</p>
<p>I ran six miles on Saturday though at a slower pace and got my 40. I don’t think that I will be doing 40 again for a long time, if ever. The Higdon 5K training is quite a bit different. It actually feels like not-a-lot of miles for training. It looks like I have tennis this weekend too and I need to really crank up the stretching and at least get to maintenance mode on the weights.</p>
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<p>Congratulations, BC. Maybe if you chose fall or spring next time instead of mid-summer heat and humidity… ;-)</p>
<p>BC:</p>
<p>More later when I have some time, but a couple of key points on the Garmin:</p>
<p>a) The chest strap has a large watch battery. Mine has a CR2032, which is widely available at any drugstore, Walmart, etc. </p>
<p>b) Get in the habit of always moistening the two contact areas on the chest strap with tap water as you put it on. Just wet your finger and swipe it across the contacts. Otherwise, it probably won’t work until you start sweating a little. Not a big deal this time of year, but it makes a big difference when it’s cooler and drier.</p>
<p>c) Battery recharges typically take maybe an hour or two in normal use. I think the first one is flakey. In practice, I am almost never below 50% battery and it recharges fast.</p>
<p>d) Get in the habit of actually turning the GPS off unless you are specifically using it for a run. It eats battery life with the constant satellite checking. For example, I always turn it off for indoor workouts. I basically leave it off unless I am heading out for a walk/jog.</p>
<p>e) Make sure that your backlight is set to automatically turn off after 30 or 60 seconds. I sometimes set it to permanently ON when I do Airdyne intevals with the watch strapped to the bike display instead of my wrist. I inevitably end up with the light left on, which will drain the battery.</p>
<p>It will take you a bit for the logic of the unit to sink in. You have to go to WORKOUT/TRAINING MODE, then you can start/stop the timer. But, stopping the timer doesn’t save the workout when you are completely finished. That’s a separate button. A workout has to be “saved” to upload to the computer. There’s also a LAP button/feature that simply marks a lap point on the workout – a landmark on your run, the start and end of intervals, etc. You can program the watch to show time and distance for the entire or for the current lap. It will all be very confusing until the logic sinks in and you start to think “GARMIN” logic.</p>
<p>That sounds a lot like how my Timex Ironman Triathlon watch worked. Perhaps that’s a standard operating approach for training watches.</p>
Oh. One other little trick. The Garmin can be programmed to display heart rate in beats per minute or as a percentage of the max heart rate you enter in the user profile setup. I find that % of max is much easier to reference – although either will work once you get used to it.
If you go the % of max route, then don’t program a minimum heart rate if you want to see an absolute percentage of your max heart rate. For example, 153 is 90% of my 170 max. If you program a MIN resting heart rate, then the watch does a calculation to show you the percentage of your heart rate reserve (the difference between your max and min). This may be scientifically more accurate, but it’s crazy confusing when you are trying to figure out this heart rate stuff in the middle of a hot, sweaty workout!
You can just start with the formula (220-AGE) for your max heart rate, knowing that this formula will almost certainly not be accurate and you’ll probably need to adjust your max upwards as you start seeing readings above 100%.
<p>We usually just spit on the contact points!</p>