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RG_DFW's Recent Blog Entries
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Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Cardio Streak Day 221
0530 hrs – 2 Mile Jog
26F
It was not as windy this morning as yesterday but the temperature was a little lower. Thank goodness we didn't have any ice pellets which usually happens instead of snow. The precipitation was yesterday when the temperature stayed right at the freezing mark instead of today when it may have done some damage.
I've changed my workout strategy, partly because of the cold weather and partly because I've got more stuff to do during the day. Not only am I going to work out way early or late afternoon but for a while I'm discontinuing my running intervals. Instead, I'm going to do a two mile jog on M-W-F. I'll keep the 5K on Tu-th-Sat and the walk on Sunday.
Today I did two miles in twenty five minutes and I'm disappointed again. Why? Well, I watched the Biggest Loser last night. The episode was the end of the season Marathon for the season's contestants including those previously voted off.
The winner completed 26.2 in 5:05:41. I would say that's fantastic for a guy who showed up on the show at 355 pounds and twenty weeks later (12 weeks in California plus 60 days at home to 'train' for the marathon). He 'ran' in a time of under 12 minutes per mile. By my math, which is usually pretty good, it looks like ~ 11 minutes and 40 seconds. So congratulations to him!
But Cripes, after all these months, I'm not doing that yet! My time today for two miles was twenty five minutes (12 minutes 30 seconds per mile). Therefore, my new goal is to 'jog/run/walk/crawl' two miles in a total time of 23 minutes (11 minutes and 30 seconds per mile).
I've got the goal, now I've got to put an action plan into place to achieve it. Darn winter, it got here at the wrong time...
For today, with warm up and cool down, the workout was:
2.60 miles
35 minutes
280 calories burned
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Cardio Streak Day 220
0545 hrs – 5K
32F (feels like 21F)
The human body is remarkable. Sometimes we just have to be reminded of that fact, like today.
I woke early at about 0400hrs and there was no use in trying to go back to sleep. I got up, had breakfast, and did a little computer stuff on the net. Since I was walking around the house in sweat pants anyway, I thought 'what the heck' and put on a hooded sweat shirt, my running shoes, and headed out the door.
What a surprise! At 32F and rainy all night, I could see where the water had frozen to nearby car windshields. What seemed like a gale force wind was out of the north, steady at 13 and gusting to 20 mph which took the wind chill down to 21F.
Keep in mind, it wasn't that long along that we had our last 100F day. Just a few days ago, the temp was in the 60s, both in the morning and throughout the day.
The problems with winter in this part of the country is that it won't stay cold. Mother nature warms us in the afternoons some days and then kicks us in the whatevers the next day with freezing temps, freezing rain, and steady winds. Chicago? No, they say Dallas is actually more windy than Chicago. Brrrr....
So here I was, outside in the cold, windy, and humid air, wearing sweat pants and a hooded sweat shirt with the sleeves down over my hands. But, take note of this and write it on the calendar - I was out and I did it!!!! I've got a streak to maintain come hell or high water, or a Texas winter.
After the warm up walk, I started the jog. Of course, I stepped in two puddles of water - one for each shoe. Great!
I certainly had the streets and sidewalks to myself this morning while everybody else probably stayed in bed where it's warm or sat at the breakfast nook drinking hot coffee.
After I was done this morning, I got rid of the sweatshirt and found that it was wet inside... yes, I was actually warm after I got going and I was sweating! Like I've said in the past, the first minute is the worst. In the cold, we may need to bump up the time a little, but after a 'few' minutes, the cold is simply not an issue.
The workout this morning was a 5K and I completed it in 40.25 minutes (40:15) before I did a five minute cool down walk.
The total workout today:
3.74 miles
50 minutes
408 calories burned
Monday, December 05, 2011
Cardio Streak Day 219
1800 hrs – Walking
38F
Oh woe is me, the temp is getting colder and I'm not liking this at all. I'm either going to have to join the fitness club so I can workout indoors where it's warm, or suck it up and learn how to get by in colder weather.
I did the cold thing tonight. It was right at 1800hrs when I started for the day and I did dress warmly with sweat pants and top. It was windy outside, really windy, which added to the misery.
I started with a warm up walk (it didn't help) and after the five minute period was up, I started right into a twenty minute jog. I decided to replace the Monday intervals with a twenty minute jog so I can stay warmer, perhaps.
Twenty minutes later I had logged 1.45 miles followed by a five minute cool down walk. Cool down, that's a funny one today!
The total of the workouts was:
2.06 miles
30 minutes
221 calories burned
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Cardio Streak Day 218
1300 hrs – Walking
43F
I watched the White Rock Marathon this morning. It's a race that has been gaining in prestige the last few years and is held over in a little town called Dallas that attracted 25,000 entrants (6,000 at 26.2), (13,000 at 13.1) & (6,000 in relay teams). It was cold and rainy there, just like at my house. Yuck! At least I kept to my promise and did not venture out to run in this mess. It amazes me that guys/gals will run an obscene distance such as 26.2 and 13.1. Congrats to them, although I still think that we, as humans, were not meant to run distances such as those.
There was an all-area high school ad-hoc relay team put together to run the full race with each of the thirteen participants running two mile increments. The last kid passed the eventual winner near the finish line. Of course, he lives relatively near to me! But it was an unofficial win, in that it was a team instead of an individual effort.
Yep, it's pretty miserable outside. We've had a lot of rain since I got absolutely drenched at the conclusion of my 5K last night and it's still wet out there. However, I picked a time when only a mist was in the air and went for the walking event I've been promising.
Nothing to it, except for the cold and high humidity. I walked basically around the block (it's a big block) and covered 1.35 miles in twenty minutes. It's a good day to rest my legs and after I do a little work on the net, I'll watch America's Team and see if they can survive the desert.
1.35 miles
20 minutes
153 calories burned
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Cardio Streak Day 217
1640 hrs – Jogging
52F
The weather has been drizzly all day. As the afternoon progressed, the temperature seemed to warm a little and I decided to go for it during a break in the precipitation around 1640hrs.
With so many folks urging me to take it easy today and just go walking, I have to admit I was really considering it while doing the five minute warm up. At four minutes and 56 seconds I made up my mind and decided to go ahead with the scheduled 5K jog. Yes, my legs were tired and a little sore and maybe I should have walked today, but I promise to do exactly that tomorrow.
For today, I started the jog and noticed that it was beginning to mist ever so slightly. After a few minutes, the mist stopped and was on-again, off-again several times throughout the workout. At about a mile and a half, the mist gave way to drizzle.
I made it all the way to 5K and began the cool down walking process. At that point, the sky opened up and rain began to fall. Luckily I was wearing sweat pants with pockets so I saved my smartphone from water damage but I remember thinking that I was going to melt in the downpour. A couple of cars honked, the drivers waved, or maybe they were laughing at me; it was hard to tell.
In any event I got home and made my way to the back patio where my oldest son brought me a towel and some dry shoes. After stretching for several minutes, I did a quick shower and slammed down a couple of glasses of no-name water.
Tomorrow I'll take it easy. This has been a tough week on my legs and I'm sure they will enjoy taking it easy.
With warm up and cool down, today was:
4.23 miles
60 minutes
438 calories burned
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
THATS AWESOME !!! WELL DONE AND ENJOY YOUR REST !!! 
