10 Miler Training

Things are still going well. The only downside so far for me has been food. I just can't seem to be consistent with it. I'm great during most of the week, but then there's always something--this week it was two days in Orlando for work with catered everything and seemingly mandatory happy hours. Last week it was a friend's house party BBQ, the week before that it was a bachelorette party.

I need to stop making excuses and take charge of what I put in my mouth. No one is making me eat like a crazed monkey at these events. I just feel like I have permission because everyone else is.

The good news is exercise which has been both a regular fixture of my week, and also getting better each day.

I tried to calculate my max heart rate, but the experiment was kind of a wash. It says to run up a hill as fast as you can 3 times, but my left knee--while painless in all other situations--seems to freak out when I try to run very fast up a hill. I was able to run somewhat quickly though, to the point where I couldn't talk for breathing, and my heart rate was about 192. Huh. So I guess I am average after all. And my heart rate just elevates during exercise because I haven't done it in a while.

Fortunately my regular exercise is already causing my heart rate to fall. Where I needed to basically crawl to keep my heart rate at my "light" levels last week, this week I was able to walk a normal pace. I even ran a bit during my "moderate" workouts. And I broke into a trot just to see where my heart rate would be and I kept it steady around 155 as long as there were no hills. So I might be able to run the entire "heavy" workout. If not this week, then probably for sure next week.

Very exciting. :) I think my plan is to buy some new running shoes this week. Tonight is going to be interesting. I'm supposed to go to a happy hour, but I also need to do 50 min of cardio. I may make today my day off, and do my 40 minute cardio tomorrow, and 50 minutes on Friday.

I think I'm going to the beach this weekend too. That will be a perfect time to try and not only workout while I'm away, but also try not to eat the entire beach. :)

10 Miler Training

Okay, enough with the numbers since I rarely post everyday.

Things seem to be going pretty well. One thing I really want to do is find my actual max HR--not the one given by 220-age. This will require running up hills for 10 minutes to totally kill myself--then right before my heart explodes...that's my max HR! Hahaha...okay maybe not exactly, but that's the gist of it.

I still think that the normal max HR is off by at least 20 beats for me. Either that or I'm in terrible shape. Except I took the "fitness test" and it told my I was on the high side of moderate shape. (Only 1 more point to be in GOOD shape--my short term goal). So I'm thinking it's my max heart rate that is keeping my training zones so low. I'm going to test my max HR tomorrow. We'll see. I hope that I have a higher max HR--my workouts mostly consist of fast walking. I really need to start running soon. I jogged today, but my HR was around 176 the whole time. 22 beats higher than the high end of my training zone.

I've still been doing all of my workouts though, and eating has been pretty good. I did just snarf down half of a cream filled donut in a craze of hunger, but I logged it into sparkpeople and I'll just take it into account.

10 Mile Training (2)

Woke up early today and did my hour of cardio. :D Now I'm done for the day!

So, I have my HRM, yes? And I have my program that is designed to maximize my fitness level--but I feel like I'm not working out as hard as I would without it. And I can't decide if that's a good thing or not. Today I did a normal workout, but it was basically walking at a moderately brisk pace. Otherwise my heart rate would go out of the "moderate" zone (132-148). My muscles are not really tired, although during the workout I worked up a bit of a sweat and felt like I was working a little.

It's just not the full out running that I'm used to. But on the other hand I get burnt out quickly when I'm running. Not at the time, I just can't keep up running 50 minutes every day for a month without burning out physically and mentally. Maybe by starting off with this somewhat moderate workout, but by doing it a lot (50 minutes 5 days a week + 2 weight lifting routines) I'll gradually build endurance in slow but steady way.

I also went shopping yesterday--I'm excited by my purchases. :D Tonight I'm going to cut up all my veggies and put them away in containers for quick additions to dinners and salads. And I think I will bake my chicken tonight too.

The one thing I've kind of forgotten was fruit. I have some frozen berries though, and I think that will tide me over.

Tonight I think I will have some baked chicken, half of a sweet potato, and a salad.

Yum. :)

10 Mile Training (1)

I can't keep up with the numbering anymore. :3 Unfortunately, I'm not being consistent about posting here. I haven't been doing too badly while I've been away, but I haven't been great either. I'm holding steady at 150 now, but I was at like 147 at my lowest.

One thing that might help is that I've started training for my 10 mile run in October. And even more exciting (for a techie-geek like me) is that I've purchased a heart rate monitor to help me reach my goals. I've got a program all set up for me that I've decided to follow for the first 8 weeks, and then I'm going to switch to doing a 10 mile training program 10 weeks before the race.

I'm not really looking to be competitive in this race--but I do want to run the whole thing if possible.

Today is a weight lifting day, I'm going to be doing lower body weights and stretching.

Food isn't as huge a deal to me right now, because most of my energy is on training now, not losing weight. But I still want to clean up my eating habits a little bit, especially when it comes to the weekends and alcohol.

I'm going shopping today as well my list looks like:

whole wheat bagels
wasa rye crisps
plain low fat yogurt
shrimp
chicken breasts
tuna (in olive oil)
6 eggs
beans
brown rice
sweet potato
romaine lettuce
spinach
avocado
cherry tomatoes
canned tomatoes
sweet peppers
olives
feta cheese
shredded 2% cheddar
cucumbers
milk
crystal light (raspberry ice)
shampoo
sour cream
salsa

I think that will keep me going for a while.

Day 159

I think I did the math right. Whatever...

I'm back!

Back and better than before! (Maybe)

My vacation went swimingly. We went to all the big attractions and some of the smaller ones, we walked, we talked, and we ate and drank wine. :) It wasn't exactly restful as we had to catch trains, and we walked EVERYWHERE but it was really fun. :D

On the food/exercise/weight front...well starting with weight it's stayed pretty much exactly the same. It's hard to tell for sure because I started my period almost the minute that we landed (no joke), but today, 2 days later, I'm at 149. So I'll probably lose another half pound and then I'm at 148.5. What I was when I left.

The walking every must have really helped because I ate sooooo much at dinner. We were usually pretty good at breakfast and lunch...getting fruit and cheese and such from markets. But then dinner we'd go all out and get local food and wine. Mmmm...

I feel like my legs are stronger now though so after a couple days of rest I'm going to start running again, and then start training for my 10 miler. :)

I'll post my training schedule soon. :)