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RG_DFW's Recent Blog Entries
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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Spark People Day 93
Cardio Streak Day 90
79F
0730hrs
I went to bed a little late last night. Since it's Saturday, I made the decision that I did not have to get up at any particular time, so at 0700hrs, I opened my eyes and rolled out for the day.
I had a quick breakfast, changed into my running stuff, then it was out the door. Luckily, it was just a wee bit cooler, even though I waited. However...
There's something about the sun beating down that just seems to sap my strength right now. Years ago I ran in the afternoon sun in temps up to 109 and enjoyed it. But now, 8am rolled around and I started getting that feeling one gets when you know you didn't drink enough water.
Another 30 minutes saw my times slow a little and I decided to call a halt at an even hour, instead of going for the full workout of 80 minutes.
Blah, I hate that feeling. But I walked home and drank a few bottles worth of water and I feel much better now.
So what have we learned class? Forget the extra sleep and go run before the sun comes up? Drink more water in the morning when I awake? Get more sleep? All of the above?
Tomorrow will be a simple walk-only day, nothing fancy, maybe limited to 20 minutes to keep the streak going.
60 minutes
4.00 miles
add 10 minutes for warm up and cool down
70 minutes
4.61 miles
604 calories burned
Friday, July 29, 2011
Spark People Day 92
Cardio Streak Day 89
0645hrs
81F
It's so hot I think I'll quit talking about it. However, I know that at some point everybody will be whining about being too cold to run.
Today was and interval day: one hour in the following repeated scheme - 1 min run / 2 min walk.
On Wednesday I broke through below 15 min/mile average for the 1/3 running & 2/3 walking combination. Today just wasn't going to be quite that good. But I did not walk up Cardiac Hill today!
Legs feel good, they're a little tired (but that's not a bad thing).
There were a number of others out walking, jogging, and running today. It seems there were more out than usual. Perhaps it's a sign of things to come, or everybody is lulled into a false sense of security because the weather guys were talking about the R word.
It's not real, they only dangle that carrot once in a while so we'll all remember what it was like when it was cool and wet. The closest we had today was a good breeze out of the south, perhaps thanks to DON, the tropical storm. The weather guy actually said there is a "Possibility" of rain tomorrow. Woo - hoo!!!
Heck yeah, I'll go run in the rain. Bring it on!
60 minutes
3.96 miles
add warm up and cool down walks
4.60 miles total
70 minutes
589 calories burned
Thursday, July 28, 2011
SparkPeople Day 91
Cardio Streak Day 88
0615hrs
81F
Today is for aerobics, long and slow. With me, slow probably means something a little different that it does for a whole lot of folks! I mean really, if you're at your goal weight, go out and carry about six gallon jugs filled with water. I think your speed would be reduced.
It's the same with those of us who are overweight by about that much. A gallon of water equals a little more than 8 pounds, so carry six of them and that's roughly what it feels like to jog while you're 50 pounds overweight, like some of us...
Anyway, slow it was. Jog 4 minutes, walk 1 minute and repeat until the clock has consumed 80 minutes of the day. Then the workout is done.
On Tuesday, I cheated on this workout because I walked all the way up cardiac hill 1.0. Today, I only walked one minute out of the four going up. That could be called an improvement! :)
Until this week, the long / slow days had been set at 60 minutes for the workout time but I've upped it to 80 to get more calories burned. Combine that with lowering my calorie intake by 500 per day, I should finally start losing weight again. I'm tired of this plateau!
However, the legs feel good, the knees feel good, the shin splint feeling is gone, and the infection from the road rash is all but cleared. HooRah!
Total workout today including warm up and cooling walk was 89 minutes.
89 minutes
5.50 miles
674 calories burned
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
SparkPeople Day 90
Cardio Streak Day 87
0545hrs
83F
News flash before I get going on today's activities - - I've lowered my daily calorie intake goal. I've been on so many web sites, trying to figure why the heck I can't seem to lose weight (in fact I gained a few pounds over the weekend). Yes, I'm staying within my recommended calorie range but I'm leaning toward the fact that the recommended calorie range is for MAINTENANCE of weight rather than weight loss.
So here it is - I've lowered the recommended calorie range by 500 calories per day. That should give me a one pound loss per week. We'll see what happens and I'll keep you posted here.
Hot is a recurring theme around here. It's all they talk about on the evening and nightly news. You'd think they'd give it up or just record it and play it back. "Hot, no chance of rain for the next 2,000 years..." or something like that.
I got out a little earlier today because of some errands I had to run this morning and I was out the door at 0545, just in time for the Vespa to buzz me. This time, I showed my displeasure with a Romanesque Thumbs Down as he drove past me. Annoying kid (gee, don't I sound like my dad?!)
I did a 5 minute warm up and then went right into the intervals:
1 min run/2 min walk
repeat for 60 minutes total
I think I improved a little today. For the hour, I hit more than four miles. Not much more, but more.
Yeah, yeah, quit laughing! This is not comedy central!!!
It's 14:50 min/mile average for four miles, way slower than the 10:00 min/mile I was doing back in 2001 when circumstances pulled me out of the fitness game. But even at 10:00 min/mile I was not satisfied. I was working toward an ultimate goal of 8:00 min/mile back then.
I guess 10:00 min/mile would be a major milestone for me today, but it is one of the long term goals, for sure. But today, I broke the threshold of the 15 minute mile on the intervals. Keep in mind that 2/3 of the time is walking, I'm just not physically able to do the mile all at once, yet. It's another goal.
Total time today, including warm up and cool down walking, was 75 minutes.
75 minutes
4.96 miles
643 calories burned
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
SparkPeople Day 89
Cardio Streak Day 86
0630 hrs
86F
Geesh, it seems to be getting hotter, almost by the minute. When I got up at 0500 this morning it was 86F and the temp had not changed when I went out the door at 0630hrs.
At my house last night, it was 104F till about 9 pm but it had dropped to 96F by 2230 (1030 pm) after I finished watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. Of course I had to switch over and see the end of the Texas Rangers 20 run game (too bad they couldn't save some of those for other games!).
For Extreme Makeover, three episodes out of an eight episode 'season,' that's 37.5%, were from Fort Worth and/or suburbs of Fort Worth. For a national show, why the statistical aberration? We all like our cars here and don't have to walk to get to public transportation. There's a Micky-D's, BK, Wendy's, or Taco-something on every corner. Of course, being in Texas, there are a bazillion Mexican Food Restaurants, some of the best in fact!
I used to be able to eat Mexican Food almost every day of the week. I think now that is ill-advised. Oh well, it's another thing on my 'used to do' list.
For today, I headed out at 0630 for my long/slow jogging day. 4 minute jog/1 minute walk. Continue this scheme for an hour.
So what part got cheated? Cardiac Hill today, elevation 571 to 616. I walked 581 to 606 during one of the four minute jogging segments. But it's not all bad.
Remember to listen to your body. I am fighting two slight infections, one in my leg where I had road rash and the other in my jaw. Maybe these things contribute to the feeling that Cardiac Hill was just too much and maybe I overdid it a little yesterday and I'm still a little tired from that.
Whatever the reason, it doesn't matter. You've got to listen to the body and if it says it doesn't want to jog all the way up cardiac hill, I think it's important to respect that, but I walked rather than stopped!
At the end of the 60 minute workout, though, I added another 10 minutes made up of 1 min jog/1 min walk (repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat).
The workout today was 70 minutes plus 14 minutes warm up and cool down walks.
74 minutes
5.25 miles
682 calories burned
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