Pump You Up: The Fitness Thread

[JustSkipIt]

Ariel - Awesome!

Jas - That is fantastic and I know what you mean about the heat here. I went Monday for a lunch time walk, then showered. Then while putting my stuff in my trunk in the parking garage got all sweaty again. Anyway, I'm excited that you're going to do the See Jane Run whether you do the 5K or HM. I'm really digging the run/walk/run thing which if you did that you could do the HM for sure.

Katie - It's always wonderful to see someone new posting here. Happy Birthday and happy resolution day! Biking is great exercise and I love it. You wear a helmet right? Enjoy!

Me - just ran. I woke up feeling really tired and hungry and considered just walking but instead I ran 3:1 run/walk intervals rather than 4:1. That did it. If I walk just over 3 miles tomorrow I'll have done 100 miles in June. It will be my first ever 100 mile month!

[CrazyTaraWitch]

Deb- Thanks as always for the support! I know you figured out before the end of the day that tomorrow's July, so I hope you managed to get your last couple of miles in. If not, there's always next month

Me- I ran 6.8 miles today, 4.2 this morning (average time just under 15 minutes) and 2.6 this evening (average time 13.5 minutes). This afternoon I registered for my very first half marathon, which means I have 3 months and 9 days to get from 4.2 miles at a stretch to 13.1, but I feel pretty confident I can do it. Thanks to Deb's suggestions I've learned to alternate running and walking, which makes endurance sooo much easier. I still have a long way to go, but it's actually kind of exciting to have such a big goal to work toward.

[JustSkipIt]

Jas - That's awesome! I'll be excited to see you there. Did I show you the link for the plan I'm doing? You have plenty of time. I'm doing the time goal plan on this page but there's also a "to finish" one on this page. You can also find plans at RunnersWorld.com. You have to register (for free) at the site but then you put in your recent speed and the date of the race and it spits out a plan. Very cool.

Last night I signed up (or was signed up) for the Austin Livestrong Half-Marathon scheduled for next February 19th. You can learn more about it on the Community Service thread.

[CrazyTaraWitch]

Deb, the Jeff Galloway plan is for 17 weeks, and the race is 13 weeks away. I looked around Runner's World a couple days ago and couldn't find the part you were talking about, but today I searched again and created a plan. Unfortunately it's designed to be over 14 weeks so I'm starting out a week behind, but it should still be a good general guide.

Today I finally timed myself on exactly 1 mile, after a warm up mile run and a couple minutes walking, and ran in just under 10 minutes, even with about 20 seconds spent waiting on a stoplight. Since I previously been calculating my average times for runs of at least 2 miles, I'd thought my speed was about 11-12 minutes when I was really going hard, so under 10 was a very nice surprise. I wouldn't be able to sustain it long of course, but a marathon is about endurance so I think that's okay.

[JustSkipIt]

Jas - The Galloway plan is 17 weeks but 2 are follow-up so you're actually only 2 weeks behind on it. Basically you could start in on Tuesday at the Tuesday of week 3. It would mean that next weekend you would do a 7 mile Long Run. Or go with the RW plan and just cut off the 1st week. Wow, under 10:00. I'm impressed. I'm pretty slow. My first magic mile last week was a 11:22. I thought I could run faster than that but that's what I got. I am going to run one this week at a track rather than using my GPS.

Anyway - I think you're doing great.

I did my week two "long run" today which was 6 miles. I did a 1 minute run/1 minute walk ratio which really wasn't very hard (which is the point). I never had a point where I thought "I can't make it until the timer beeps". It was hot but it was a good and fun run. I am off work this week so I want to log extra miles both on my run days and taking walks.

[little.hesperides]

Wow. All of yall's running is impressive. And in a Texas summer, no less. Well done!

[Ariel]

Hey little.hesperides!

I second that emotion!

Very impressive you guys. Me, I'm climbing up and down a lot more stairs these days and I marched in 100 degree heat doing a Suffragist Parade for the Gold Rush show. Totally enjoyed it!

Deb, thanks for the encouragement - much appreciated!

Ariel
How I Met Your Mother

Take care, all! Stay hydrated!

[CrazyTaraWitch]

I ran 8 miles this morning, which was a major first for me, and I did it faster than I expected. Based on one of my training plans I should have averaged 14.6 minutes/mile or slower, and based on the other I should have averaged 13.1 minutes/mile. I kept trying to make myself go no faster than 14 minutes/mile, but I failed, and averaged 13.6 miles; however the reasoning for slowing down is to be able to go at a constant speed and not crap out at the end, and that I managed. I actually ran my last mile a little faster than my average, and finished feeling like I could have kept going.
I did most of it running 1 minute/walking 1 minute, and was really surprised at how easy it was.

[JustSkipIt]

Ariel - Thanks so much for your encouragement (right back!).
LH - Thanks also!

Jas - That's fantastic. I got this nice little timer that you can set for the intervals so you don't have to look at your watch or make sure to remember when the 45 seconds started. It's from Gymboss.

My entire week:

I had a very good week of running and walking this week. Since I was on vacation, I got to workout in the daylight which meant it was warmer than I'm used to but also meant I could see and could listen to various podcasts. I totaled over 33 miles which may be my highest weekly mileage ever.

Sunday - Scheduled long run of 6.0 miles. 1:33, 6.87 miles (13:40/mile). That included a 5 minute warm-up, 10 minute warm-down, and 1:1 ratio.
Monday - Walked 1:04, 3.55 miles (18:08/mile).
Tuesday - Scheduled 35 minute run with a magic mile. I missed it entirely.
Wednesday - 1:28, 4.76 miles (18:35/mile).
Thursday - Scheduled 35 minute run. 51:31 4.18 miles (12:19/mile). That included 5 minute warm-up, 10 minute warm-down, and a 10:41 magic mile. Run/walk ratios varied.
The day also included an hour of kayaking, and taking the kids to Deep Eddy which was super awesome.
Friday - I walked home from the car place after dropping off the car for an inspection (they were out of stickers and said it would be a few hours). 51:02, 3.66 miles (13:55/mile). That speed seems quite strange but I actually used the GPS to get the mileage right. Then we walked to and from lunch which was about a mile each way and very hot. Coming home, I pretty much carried one of the kids or KB's balance bike the entire way.
Saturday - Scheduled 7.5 mile (which I thought was a 7.0 mile run). 1:47 7.76 mile (13:49/mile) including 5 minute warm-up, 10 mile warm-down. I used a 1;1 ratio most of the time (31 times), then switched to 30:45 second. It was a very very hot run - about 80 when I walked out the door and up to about 86 by the time I got home.

[little.hesperides]

I met up with some friends today just to kick the soccer ball around. Man, I forgot how much of a workout that is! I drank an entire liter of water, and I'm pretty sure I lost my entire body weight in sweat. Still going to make myself do at least SOME yoga later, but at least I know I got a good cardio workout in today. Whew!

[BeMyDeputy]

Biked a mile today. It was about right: I have this thing where I don't know how to pace myself, nor do I feel it until my body is like "okay die now," and I get all sweaty and dizzy and feel like I'm going to throw up out of no where. And I didn't feel that until I had the bike back upstairs and almost to the porch. This is way better than when it happens, you know, when I'm not at home.

[JustSkipIt]

I had a good running week last week including an 8+ mlie long slow run on Sunday. Now I'm taking some days off running to try and let some terrible blisters on my toes heal.

[Foomatic]

Mrs. Foo and I are back on the exercise wagon. Made some adjustments to our diets and bought a used elliptical. So much easier to work out at home and watch whatever's on Demand or the DVR. Lasted about 16 minutes on the machine last week, but I'm now busting out half an hour a night. Phew! I work in a bit of the balance games and yoga on the Wii as well.

As for the diet, lots of veggies, small portions, and very little rice (which is nearly impossible for a Filipino!), but thankfully it's not leaving me hungry. I went to a local farmer's market last week and got some really good fruits, sweeter and better tasting that anything I've bought at the store. Got the buy in from Mrs. Foo and we're now going to make it a weekly outing.

So far I've dropped 5.5 pounds (and that was just exercise, not diet), but I'm not expecting that to be consistent. I'm shooting for 3 pounds every two weeks, so it's nice to know I'm overachieving right now.

I caught a snippet of Dr. Oz on tv the other night, and he had a great motivational tip when trying to lose weight: throw a party for yourself 3 months from now, invite all your friends, and buy an outfit you hope to fit in. Not throwing a party for myself, but we're going to Vegas with a group of friends in October, and I'm getting a swimsuit that I hope to lounge in at our private cabana! Woot!

[JustSkipIt]

Foo - Awesome!

I did a speed workout yesterday after missing 3 runs because I have terrible blisters on my feet. They are mostly healed. So yesterday was 4 x 800s. I was supposed to do each 800 in 6:09 or so. I did them all in between 5:15 and 5:25. It's one of those cases where I think the math in the training plan is too easy. Anyway, it was a fun workout and with walk, warm-up, then acceleration gliders (or fartleks), then the 800s and walking between and warmdown and the walking it came to 4.84 miles and was very fun.

Today I'm going to a Chi Running clinic from 1-5. It should be over 100 degrees so hopefully we'll all live through it. I've been wanting to go for about 6 months and haven't been able to schedule it so I'm really hopeful to learn a lot that helps my running.

[Foomatic]

Holy crap, P90X, way to kick my ass tonight! I did the Core Synergistics DVD, and got my core handed to me. Yikes. Hopefully in 90 days I'll do much better than I did tonight.

[JustSkipIt]

Foo - P90X is hardcore. Great on you!

Saturday I did 800 m repeats for my HM training program. My goal was to do 4 of them in 6:09 each. I did them in 5:14, 5:15, 5:25, 5:25. With warmup, down, etc. it was around 5 miles.

Sunday I went to a Chi Running seminar. I've been trying to schedule it for months and finally could go. I've read the book (over and over) and listened to the tape and I still think this will change everything about how I run. I just got back from my first run with trying to practice it and it's a whole different ball game from what I was trying before. Interestingly, the instructor is 100% against Galloway Run-Walk-Run which is what I've been doing. I need to practice this and figure out what works for me in terms of any RWR.

[Foomatic]

Dear Yoga,

I will never scoff at you again.

Love,

Foo

[CrazyTaraWitch]

I've had a busy week so didn't get much running in, but loads of walking thanks a toddler that would only nap in his stroller. Also, moving totally felt like a workout. Sunday morning I ran 9.7 miles, which felt looong, but my pace was under 13.5 minutes/mile so I was really happy with that. Tuesday morning I ran about 1.75 miles, and Friday evening I ran in my new neighborhood for the first time, between 2.5 and 3 miles. It was kinda nice to have a light week, but I won't be sorry to get back to my normal running next week.

[JustSkipIt]

I did my LSR this morning for my half-marathon training program. It was scheduled for 9 miles and I ended up at more like 9.75 because I was not home yet when I hit 9 miles. Wow. It really showed the difference between my last LSR of 7.5 miles and this one. It also made a difference that rather than doing the Galloway RunWalkRun, I just tried to run Chi Running as far as I could. By the time I was at 5.5 or 6 miles, I was feeling it and really exhausted. My last 3 miles ended up being a runwalkrun just because every time I ran for like 1 minute, my HR got over 92%. It was 81 degrees out and I burned over 2500 calories in like 2:22 (including the walking to start and end). Wow. Very hard and I'm feeling it now.

[JustSkipIt]

When I woke up Sunday my foot felt weird. I've had that feeling before. It's almost like some of the small bones need to pop or something. It went for my run thinking it would loosen up and it didn't really bother me during the run. After the run I rolled the foot over a ball and wooden stick thing and it was sore but ok. By bedtime it was hurting badly enough that I was limping. I put Tiger balm on but still woke in the night unable to sleep because it hurt so bad. Yesterday I put arnica on and it hurt but not super bad all day, worse in the evening. Last night, more arnica and more not sleeping (better than the night before at least). Now I'm not running today either. The thing is I never know whether something like this is a "rest until all better" thing or a "run and let it get stretched out" thing. I wish I knew what I did and what to do to take care of it.

[Foomatic]

I'm counting this week as week one for my P90X routine, since I've got all the appropriate equipment and I know what I'm doing. I did the arms and shoulders work out tonight, recorded all my reps, and am hopeful I can improve my reps/weights as the weeks progress. I'm using resistance bands, which takes some getting used to, but they were hella cheaper than buying a set of weights.

I can feel the firmness in my quads, and I'd like to think that I'm not imagining my arms being a tad bit smaller. I am very weight obsessed, so it's hard for me to resist the urge to hop on the scale. Ugh. I do feel better and stronger, so hopefully that translates.

[CrazyTaraWitch]

I had a 44 minute run this morning, about 3.8 miles in total. I attempted to do speedwork for the first time, but it was pretty much a failure. I definitely need to review things, and I may try again tomorrow. My biggest problem though was with counting my steps for the cadence drills; I never could manage to keep track, and I'm not sure how to fix that.

[JustSkipIt]

Jas - The only way I could figure to do the cadence drills was to set my interval timer for 30 seconds and go 30 on, 30 off. that way you don't have to look at your watch. but if you don't have an interval timer, you're pretty much hosed.

Me - not much running this week. Early this week I had a sore sole or maybe very bad foot cramp. So I lost a few days. Then Chiara has been sick. Yesterday I didn't run because when I got up at 5:00 she and Rachel were up having been up for hours with her being sick so I went to HEB for medicine instead. Today I've been up since 1:30 with Chiara who pretty much slept 20 minutes, woke up and vomited, then we went to bathe or shower, drank a sip of gatorade and started that again. So I've basically been up since 1:30 with about 30 minutes sleep since then. I did go for a 5.5 mile walk but I didn't think I could handle running my 800 m repeats. Hopefully I will do them tomorrow. More importantly, I hope Chiara gets better. She feels to terrible and it's been days.

[JustSkipIt]

Here's my summary from the week ending 8/6:

Monday & Tuesday - My foot was really sore. I don't know if it was a cramp or something I did before/during my Sunday run. Monday I tried heat, ice, stretching, arnica. Tuesday I tried Ibuprofin and that fixed it.
Wednesday - 46 minutes. 3.51 miles (13:07/mile). I took a few walk breaks and it was very hot and humid. I did my 10:17 magic mile during this run.
Thursday - Walked 3:13 in 55 minutes. Nice walk.
Saturday - Walked 5.5 miles in 1:38.

Weekly miles = 22.02.


My wife downloaded a free android app called "noom." I don't know why it's called that (maybe it's the company name). It's a food/exercise tracker. I downloaded it too and it's pretty awesome. They don't want you to measure food and such. It's basically eat this many calories (based on weight and goals and activity) and try for this % of good, ok, bad foods. You click so many green (good) or so many red (bad). I don't know what my weight started at but if I assume 165 which was about what it was last time I checked, I've lost 4 pounds in a week and a half or so. More importantly, my wife is working out and watching what she eats and feeling better and we have that to talk about and connect on.

[JustSkipIt]

Either I am sick or I ate too much gluten this week and am having an allergic reaction. My throat feels clogged and raw and my lungs hurt. Nonetheless I did my eleven mile training run today. I tried to do a 1:1 but after seven miles did way more walking. It took nearly three hours but I did the miles.

[Foomatic]

So, Mrs. Foo went and lost 20 pounds. She looks great, and I'm happy about her progress. On the other hand, I'm extremely irritated that I haven't had the same results. She's consistent with her food, doesn't eat outside of her diet too often, and exercises three times a week, if at all. I'm busting my ass 6 days a week doing P90X, and I'm eating like a freakin' rabbit most of the time. I've gone off my diet a handful of times, but have always made it up with some physical activity. I'm trying to condition myself not to worry about what's on the scale, but it's hard to reverse years of thinking that weight is important.

I got this spreadsheet with P90X that calculates fat loss and muscle gain based on your hip, waist, and neck measurements. After three weeks, according to the spreadsheet, my fat loss and muscle gain are canceling each other out, hence no change on the scale. I can feel my muscles, I can see my muscles, but I can't let go of the zero weight loss. Argh.

[JustSkipIt]

Foo - That's hard and frustrating. I know that everyone says that losing weight is simple calories in to calories out but I think there's more than that. I think there's also stress and scarcity psychology. And plateauing. And water weight. And a bunch of other factors that aren't just calories in and calories out. I confess that I sort of believe that I psychologically hold on to things. I forgive but I don't forget stuff and I carry it around with me and sometimes I wonder if I do the same thing with my body. Like am I holding onto weight like I hold onto slights and memories? Anyway... I'm just saying that I think there is more to it than calories in and out. I think the important thing is that you're working and feeling good and strong. Also that your wife is a hotty or growing to be a hottie. Tee hee.

My wife is working toward losing 40+ pounds. I want her to succeed because she's really unhappy with her weight and the way she looks. I think her goal is very ambitious. Maybe too ambitious but she's motivated and working and really enthused so I just support her.

I've lost a few pounds in the last 3 weeks. I'm not sure how many because I didn't weigh myself to start but probably 5 or 6 pounds. I would like to lose another 5-10. But the truth is that what I really want is 2 things: to run faster and to fit into my size 12 slacks. I don't know the weight for either of those goals. It's not today so it's something less.

Anyway... that's all weight. I've had good runs this week. I have a 13 mile long run scheduled for Sunday. Coincidentally the high that day is forecast for 109. Holy shit. I am thinking of starting my run at 5:00 to mostly beat the heat.

Oh... I also just found dailymile and totally love it! Everyone who reads here, sign up and then friend me. It's cool.

[Foomatic]

Deb - One thing I've read a lot in the different fitness forums I've been checking out has been getting enough sleep. I had had really bad insomnia after I started working out; I attributed it to the adrenaline high I had after working out at night. There were nights I only got two hours of sleep. Changed it up and worked out a few in the morning, which is difficult for me cause when 5:30AM hits all I want to do is hit snooze and roll back over. It helped; I feel much more well rested now. I'm trying to keep my stress to a minimum, but I since I've been working out I find I'm more irritable than before. LIke, I have all this aggression and unfortunately my partner takes the brunt of it. I don't know where that's coming from.

What bothers me is the obsession with weight. I took some before pictures, and I'm rounding out the last few days of Phase I and I'm excited to see the before and after comparison. I'm hoping this will help convince me that the scale doesn't tell the whole story. I know it in my head, but not in my heart. I started out at 43% body fat, and I'm now down to 39%. I was scratching my leg last night and was surprised to find a muscle behind my thigh that wasn't as there before. It was like, hello there, where the hell did you come from? I also managed do a yoga position that I had been struggling with weeks before. My favorite sweater fits again and doesn't expose my rolls. I see all these positive changes and all I can focus on is my DAMN. WEIGHT. Faaaahck.

It's definitely easier when you've got someone with you going through the same thing. I've been using Loseit.com to track all my calories and exercise, and it's very much calories in/calories out. Mrs. Foo is on Jenny Craig, which has worked for her before. I've cut out most of the crap we used to eat, and been sticking to grilled chicken and veggies from the local farmer's market. We try to go out for a hike once a week. I feel like we're doing everything right, and all I need is little motivation and patience and all this hard work will pay off.

[Finey_McFine]

Foo - I feel your pain. Since the 1st of the year Mrs. McFine has lost almost 40lbs and she looks fantastic, but she's small (5'0) and tends to show results immediately. I lost 25lbs and look exactly the same. It's frustrating and depressing which has caused me to plateau for the last couple months. My wife has not exercised once since she started losing weight and works at a desk job. I've been eating like you (rabbit like) and am on my feet all friggin' day. I even started wearing a pedometer and found that I average almost 5 miles/day! My pants are looser, but not enough to fit into a smaller size.

About 5 years ago we did Atkins together and I lost 45lbs, but had to stop because I have an autoimmune disorder and all the protein was making my kidneys go all wonky. So, high protein/low carb diets: out. It really sucks because my body seems to hang on to the carbs like there's no tomorrow. The worst part is that I see it happening with my daughter. She was never a skinny kid, but never overweight either. Now that she's hit puberty...her body's out of control. In the past year she grew over 6" and gained at least 30-40lbs. Last week we had to get her a new violin because her arms had grown so much longer, lol. It's incredibly hard to keep a kid on a diet (she always seems to be hungry) and the thing is, she's actually eating better than she ever did before the onset of puberty, yet she is just getting bigger.

Deb is definitely right when she says that there is so much more involved. I just feel that, for women in general, it's more hormonal than anything else.

[JustSkipIt]

Holy crap. I ran 13 miles today. More than that actually. 13.31 or 13.27 or something according to RunKeeper. I set out at 5:10 am because the high today ... actually i don't konw the high but it's 108 out right now. It took me over 3 hours because I took walk breaks but I fucking did it. And I didn't feel like falling over dead or anything when I was done.