NEW Runners check-in - all runners welcome

J

Janis

Cathlete
Good Morning Runners! (I guess it is inching toward midday for most of you.:))

Alisha, I hope you don't mind me starting a new thread. It was getting looonng, and hard to keep track of everyone. It was 104 degrees yesterday when I dropped my son off at SMF at 7pm last night. I am sure it was already bloody-hot when you were doing your intervals this morning. There is no shame in stopping!

Christine - your enthusiasm is inspiring, I love reading your posts!!! I am going to DC on a vacation with my dh and youngest ds... to the Smithsonian, monuments, bureau of engraving etc..

Morningstar - first, did you go see Harry Potter, and what about the jeans? second, I want my hrm to go on a bender. Should I soak it in vodka? My god, I want those numbers. I run my little heart out, sweating bullets, I might even need a terry cloth head band to keep the sweat from running into my eyes, and yet I STILL cannot get more than 200k for 30 minutes of my in zone efforts.

Colleen - I am wondering what your PT said, are you cleared to start running?

Sydney - how is your sweet-ums. Have you been out for a walk/run ?

Marcia, Sharon and Katie - Hello and welcome welcome welcome.

Jane, Tricia, Imfiddy, and KathyG - how are you ladies today?

As for me - I did my first planned run from this book, "Heart Monitor Training for the Complete Idiot", yes I am resonating with the title.

The goal of this run was 3 miles at 70% of mhr. Which for me is 143bpm. Well, after my warm up and I started the 30 minute portion, I was able to stay at 143 for awhile, but I liked 149 (75%) so I stayed there for awhile, then I noticed I was at 151. Ha! So much for me following orders! I did bring it back down, and maintained 143-149 for the rest of the run. 3.00 miles, 30:38 minutes. (174k)

After I make the beautiful and sweet (my ds11, who is an only child for a couple of weeks) some breakfast, I am going to do a whole body workout - probably muscle max, my muscles are craving some pump! In DC I was going to have a rest week from lifting and just run/swim, but I dunno - I might have to do some push ups at the very least, hmmm, maybe I'll bring the resistance band too. Knowing me - it'll sit in the suitcase though! ha.

:D have a happy happy day sunshine makers.
 
Janis said:
Morningstar - first, did you go see Harry Potter, and what about the jeans? second, I want my hrm to go on a bender. Should I soak it in vodka? My god, I want those numbers. I run my little heart out, sweating bullets, I might even need a terry cloth head band to keep the sweat from running into my eyes, and yet I STILL cannot get more than 200k for 30 minutes of my in zone efforts.
Click to expand...

Maybe the secret is that I am rarely in zone! I don't aim for the fat burning zone- I am almost always in the 85%-105% of max heart rate area, which is not considered the fat burning zone. I dunno, my heart rate goes up quite fast, but goes back down fast too. However, the longer the workout goes on, or the longer an interval is, the longer my heart rate will stay up, even when I'm recovering. After the warm ups are over, my sprint workouts have my heartrate up above 85% all the way through, even during the recovery periods. Even this morning's workout, which was at a MUCH slower pace, got my heart rate up into the 90% and above mark. I always wonder if this means that I have really poor cardiovascular health, but my HRM sure doesn't think so!

Remember, my weight is also a lot higher than yours, so I burn more calories than you do doing the same thing. I think I may have more muscle than most women, so that also is a factor. Still it sounds really weird that your numbers should be so low (although mine are so high that I have taken to automatically subtracting 35% from any results I get). Maybe you need a different HRM- what do you have now?

I did see Harry Potter, and although it was a great movie, I preferred the plot choices JK Rowling made in the book; they were substantially different. The actors are getting better as they get older and the movies are too.

I ran out of time to try on jeans, being a Sunday, so I will have to torture myself another day!

If you want a body weight circuit workout for your trip, you could try this one:

Body-Weight-Only Strength Circuit
 2.5 minutes wall squat hold
 16 desk push ups to warm up
 16 narrow squats
 16 tricep dips
 16 wide squats
 16 calf raises, slow
 16 crunches
 16 regular push ups
 16 static lunges
 16 tricep push ups
 16 plie squats
 16 calf raises, fast
 16 oblique side crunches
 16 supermen
 1 minute plank

 2.5 minute wall squat hold
 16 pushups, staggered
 16 narrow squats, low end pulses
 16 tricep dips
 16 wide squats, low end pulses
 16 one-legged calf raises, slow
 16 crunches, high end pulses
 16 wide angle push ups
 16 static lunges, low end pulses
 16 tricep push ups
 16 plie squats, low end pulses
 16 one-legged calf raises, fast
 16 oblique side crunches, high end pulses
 16 supermen, high end pulses
 1 minute plank
 
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Today was my first week, second day of doing the C25K. It was hard, very slow running and slow walking. Between the heat and humidity, I just could not get my body to move faster.

I think your right Christine, I need to just listen to my body with doing additional cardio. The last thing I want to do is end up with another injury, so for the next couple of weeks, I think I may just stick with the running/walking and then slowly add more in.

Wow! I cannot imagine doing it 2x Morningstar, it is enough of a challenge for me to do it only 1x. Everyone here is in such great shape.

31 minutes total
157 average HR
180 max HR
306 calories

Sharon
 
morningstar said:
Maybe the secret is that I am rarely in zone! I don't aim for the fat burning zone- I am almost always in the 85%-105% of max heart rate area, which is not considered the fat burning zone. I dunno, my heart rate goes up quite fast, but goes back down fast too. However, the longer the workout goes on, or the longer an interval is, the longer my heart rate will stay up, even when I'm recovering. After the warm ups are over, my sprint workouts have my heartrate up above 85% all the way through, even during the recovery periods. Even this morning's workout, which was at a MUCH slower pace, got my heart rate up into the 90% and above mark. I always wonder if this means that I have really poor cardiovascular health, but my HRM sure doesn't think so!

Remember, my weight is also a lot higher than yours, so I burn more calories than you do doing the same thing. I think I may have more muscle than most women, so that also is a factor. Still it sounds really weird that your numbers should be so low (although mine are so high that I have taken to automatically subtracting 35% from any results I get). Maybe you need a different HRM- what do you have now?

I did see Harry Potter, and although it was a great movie, I preferred the plot choices JK Rowling made in the book; they were substantially different. The actors are getting better as they get older and the movies are too.

I ran out of time to try on jeans, being a Sunday, so I will have to torture myself another day!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the workout! I am printing it out and putting it with my running routes. I might skip the calf raises, LOL! You cannot even begin to imagine how freaked out I was about a one inch gain!!!

You know - maybe I am just babying myself. When my heart rate spikes, like during pylo legs, or really heavy lifting, or the pull ups the other day, or the push ups in Muscle Max today, and even with the intervals in Cardio Coach, I tend to give it a moment to come back down before I move on. Does this mean I am being wimpy?

I use a polar heart rate monitor, model M52. It is at least six years old. I think it begins the calorie burn count after I reach the THR. Lately I have been using this website calculator to help round out the calorie burn picture, it is somewhat comforting. http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php

I'm still looking at the Garmin Forerunner, but users have complained of inaccurate calorie burn count, and then there is the satellite issues I most likely will encounter given the terrain where I live.

Now - how do you get in the 90% range if you are suppose to be running/walking. are you sprinting??? Ok ok. I know you covered that in your post above, I just couldn't resist! :D:D

I agree with you on Harry Potter. When it came to the end I said -"that's it? the action was just starting" I enjoyed the actors maturity too. I so loved the books, and it is always a disappointment when the whole story cannot be included....due to time time time.

Like I said above I did Muscle Max after running. This is my first non STS weight lifting workout in 3.25 months. STS really improved my strength. I was blown out by how much stronger I am than when I did Muscle Max before. Granted when I was doing Muscle Max I was in month two of my recovery and I was still quite weak, some of the exercises I couldn't even do. This time around I matched Cathe on all weights, and exceeded her on others. I still love push ups, and this time around no hand/palm/wrist pain. Yay! Back to yesterday's conversation - I'm thinking I like splits much much more.
 
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snowflakenj02 said:
Today was my first week, second day of doing the C25K. It was hard, very slow running and slow walking. Between the heat and humidity, I just could not get my body to move faster.

I think your right Christine, I need to just listen to my body with doing additional cardio. The last thing I want to do is end up with another injury, so for the next couple of weeks, I think I may just stick with the running/walking and then slowly add more in.

Wow! I cannot imagine doing it 2x Morningstar, it is enough of a challenge for me to do it only 1x. Everyone here is in such great shape.

31 minutes total
157 average HR
180 max HR
306 calories

Sharon
Click to expand...

Hi Sharon

You're doing great!!! Slowly adding more in is exactly the way to go to avoid injury. Baby steps, paying attention and listening to your body is the formula, or in other words, patience and persistence.

Heat and humidity will spike your heart rate, it does require more demand on the body, remember to stay hydrated! BTW Your numbers are terrific.

I've only recently begun running and getting back in shape....all I can say is it just takes time.

I am so glad you joined us. :)
 
snowflakenj02 said:
Wow! I cannot imagine doing it 2x Morningstar, it is enough of a challenge for me to do it only 1x. Everyone here is in such great shape.
Click to expand...

I don't think I'm in such great shape, Sharon, I just started doing cardio at all really back in February or so. And I only started doing sprints maybe in April or so. I have a lot of body fat and it's all stored from the waist down, so I sure don't LOOK like I'm in shape! I haven't lost weight- I know exactly where it is!
 
Janis said:
Thanks for the workout! I am printing it out and putting it with my running routes. I might skip the calf raises, LOL! You cannot even begin to imagine how freaked out I was about a one inch gain!!!
Click to expand...

Let me know what you think of the circuit. I created it to do at lunch at work in my office, just to give myself something to do. If you wanted to add resistance, many of them could be modified to use a resistance band, but I think it's kind of nice without one.
 
Well, today was a "fun" run 80/90; note that the "fun" part is in quotation marks. I didn't seem to have as much energy as I usually do, and I can't put my finger on why. It may have been the strength session last night, or something with my nutrition the last day or so. Sometimes my energy is just lower than other times too. In any case, I did it anyway. It wasn't the best workout ever, but what the hell, they can't all be the best workout ever, right? I have a really long day at work today, so at least I have moved my ass a bit before parking it for 10 hours. I wasn't even really into the stretching I did after, and sometimes I really enjoy that.

The music I listened to was awesome, though- lots of Lady Gaga, Britney Spears (LOVE her new CD- I never liked much of her early stuff), some Kylie Minogue. The ladies are definitely rocking harder than the gents lately.

Today's stats (includes 10 minute warm up, 10 minute cool down, and 30 minutes of intervals): max heart rate 92, average heart rate 79, calories burned 686.
 
Hello runners!

Today was my second run from Week 3 of C25K. We (me and my dog) made it through despite the high humidity (88% :eek:)! By the end I was a sweaty mess with frizzy hair, HA! I got home and did a nice, long stretch with Slim Series "Cool it Off". Now I'm relaxing a bit before I clean the house. We're in for some major thunderstorms here this afternoon, the dark clouds are already moving in!

Sharon, good job on your first week of C25K! I agree, the humidity definitely makes me move slower too! I think taking it slow on your "off" days is a good idea! Your body will tell you when it can handle more.

Janis, how nice of you to say you enjoy my posts!! But now I feel pressure to be enthusiastic!! Hee... just kidding ;) I hope you enjoy your vacation!

Morningstar, I have those days too where I'm lacking in energy. I just figure it has to do with how I've been eating, whether or not I drank enough the day before or morning of, etc. I think these things play a big role in our performance. But, like you said, at least you got it done! :D

Hellos to everyone!
 
I did sleep max this morning :eek: I went to a meditation class late last night and came home late and stayed up late and slept late too! This is why I always allow myself to wiggle my off day around, I never know when I might need it. I will get up early tomorrow for my jog, early on Friday for step, and early on Saturday for a long jog.

I don't mind if someone starts a new thread. Thats completely ok.

As for HP (Harry Potter) I am going to my Harry Potter club mtg. tomorrow and I think that all of us liked the film, what there was, but felt like some major things were left out and that the emphasis on the romance/relationship stuff was much greater than it really needed to be. I would have preferred more time spent on the mythology arc and the issues with the prime minister of the UK. jmho.

Alisha
 
one more thing,

eats always effect my performance. Weight loss tends to inhibit my performance. Ahh the irritation, right? We workout to keep our weight in check and to improve fitness. But in order to weigh less I have to eat in a way that makes me a little tired. boo!
 
Hi Runners!

I ran this morning, another 3 mile 'recovery' run, 30:50 minutes. This book I am following has several lower mileage recovery runs after hard runs, this is to allow the body to replenish its glycogen stores. It is an interesting concept. You keep building stamina, endurance and speed while also giving the body plenty of refueling time, not by taking lengthy rest days, but with jog/slower paced runs. He has you running five days out of seven.

I had a super busy day. We leave tomorrow (thursday) for our DC trip. I am planning on running at least five of the mornings we are there, hopefully two or three of them will be interval runs or tempo runs, and the others steady state runs. I am really looking forward to running outside.

Christine - no pressure to be anything other than you are! :):) Great job on your run and in such high humidity too! I grew up in the desert - I can handle heat, but not humidity. :eek:

Alisha - sleep max!!! ha! too funny! LOL! It's so true that we need to be flexible while still holding on firmly to our resolve to get fit. And true again on eating enough to have strength and energy, but not so much that it gets stored...it's such a creative dance.

Morningstar, I like Kylie Minogue too. Having just come through a spate of low energy days, I can safely say - they suck. Hope you made it through the rest of your 10 hour work day. :)

Hi Sharon, Jane and everyone else!
 
Hi everyone,

Today's run was another C25K, week 1, second workout; again, I did it twice. I was just going to do it once (low energy, bad day at work and home yesterday) but I got through the first one and decided to just do 4 more intervals, and then got through those and just decided to finish the whole thing off right. The one bright spot of the run was going by a park in between the two sessions and coming across the cutest family of raccoons- father, mama, and two teenagers. They were all around and in a tree. They stopped what they were doing, stared at me and I stared back, and then they all followed me to the next tree, where they all peeked around at me. I had to go, and didn't want to worry them, so I moved on and they eventually made a mad dash across the street to a parking lot (they made it!) We have a lot of raccoons out in Toronto right now because of the garbage strike we've had for the past 6 weeks. I'll tell ya, my runs are getting smellier and smellier...

Tonight's strength training is STS Meso 2, Back and Biceps and I'll throw in some abs to keep me balanced.

Today's running stats: 64 minutes, including warm up and cool down, 848 calories, max heart rate 100%, average heart rate 77%.

Janis, I hope you love DC and have a safe and happy trip.

RapidBreath, can you say more about the mythology arc in Harry Potter?
 
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Its breezy! I am so glad I live here, I know that in many ways I would like to move on and have a place of my own again, but you can't beat my neighborhood for a beautiful place to jog. I got to see a aussie shepherd puppie (juvenile) so sweet, its like I get to have a dog without having to do the work! And then, there was fog down in the valley but I was just above the clouds so it was sunny here. And, I got to see one pony, she was so sweet and friendly. Then around the other corner is an open field with miniature rams, I'm not kidding with the horns and everything. And of course the flock of itty bitty birds (I have no idea what kind) they are so cute and plentiful. And then there were these two guys on their bikes who were nice and (not to be rude or diminutive) cute. :eek: Good reason to keep jogging! 3 miles, walk/jog. I'm congested so my endurance is a bit down but who cares? Its still 44 minutes of a workout, then I did Stretch max 1.

I have no idea what I will do tomorrow. Step of some sort.

Regards Harry: What I mean by mythology arc is that I thought they really should have spent more time on the mystery at hand, who was the Half Blood Prince? That was the title of the book for good reason. Anyway, I'm off to my Harry Potter club mtg this evening and it will be interesting to see what they have to say.
 
Hi everyone!

Alisha, sounds like I would LOVE to jog where you live!! I just love animals of all kinds, especially cats and dogs though. I had a very nice picture in my head of your run from this morning, good job describing the open fields, valleys, and sun above the fog! How serene!

MorningStar, are you following STS as produced, or are you just doing whatever workout you want here and there? I'm sorry if you mentioned that and I forgot! Good job adding onto the C25K runs, major calorie burn there!

Janis, sounds like a great concept you are following. I so believe in the importance of recovery! That's cool how they have you doing active recovery so you can still run but not overwork your body. Hope you have a great time in DC!

No run or any workouts for me today. I plan to start CLX (ChaLEAN Extreme) next week so I'm taking it easy this week to give my body some rest aside from my runs. I may go for a walk though later on and/or stretch a bit.

Hellos to everyone! Have a great day!
 
lifeverlasting78 said:
MorningStar, are you following STS as produced, or are you just doing whatever workout you want here and there? I'm sorry if you mentioned that and I forgot! Good job adding onto the C25K runs, major calorie burn there!
Click to expand...

Thanks! I did STS once the way it was meant to be done, now I'm just playing with my strength rotation, sometimes doing my own workouts, sometimes STS, sometimes other stuff. Just kinda mixing things up, keeping my body guessing for the moment. I find that fun!
 
lifeverlasting78 said:
No run or any workouts for me today. I plan to start CLX (ChaLEAN Extreme) next week so I'm taking it easy this week to give my body some rest aside from my runs. I may go for a walk though later on and/or stretch a bit.
Click to expand...

I have Chalean Extreme and did it for a month before realizing that I was dreading the workouts and stopped. I just don't like the compound moves she uses. It did get me into loving circuit workouts, though.
 
Hi Everyone-

We were having bad thunderstorms last night, so I did not get to post. Yesterday was the upper body split of Muscle Endurance. My upper body is a little sore today, which is a good thing. Today I finished week 1 of the C25K. I was not sure about running/walking today because my knees feel a little off, but just took my time and was able to finish. Sunday will start my second week and I am looking forward to it.

Janis- Hope you have a good trip to DC!

RapidBreath- It sounds like you have a great neighborhood to run in, all kinds of animals around. I miss that at time. The most I will see in my neighborhood is an occasional bunny rabbit or a neighbor walking a dog. The aussie shepherd puppies sound cute.

31 minutes
153 average HR
177 max HR
303 Cal

Sharon
 
Hi everyone...

My last run was a 4 miler on the hotel treadmill. That was yesterday. Don't know if I will get anything in today because I am alittle tired.
One thing that I noticed about the treadmill that I was on.... It didn't kick me off @ 60 min... the treadmill went up to 90 min!!! loved that...

I will do personals tomorrow... good night ladies.
 
Today was not my finest hour for running. I did Couch to 5K, Week 1, third workout, but only did it once this time. I was going to do it twice, but made the mistake of stopping at a Wendy's to use the washroom, and when I came back out, I had just lost the motivation and impetus. So, of the 50 minutes I worked out, most of that was either walking for warm up or cool down, or recovery from each interval. I even only did 10 minutes of stretching rather than 20.

Here are the rather pathetic stats for today: calories burned 646; maximum heart rate 92% of max; average heart rate 74% of max.
 
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