3 miles

I successfully ran three miles tonight on the treadmill. It wasn't terribly easy but I finished. I did it on the 6 mph setting, so it took me 30 minutes.

I am pleased with that... for now.

mwz

Begin again

I quit training a while back when I had too much stuff going on, new baby, moving, etc. But now I have a new commitment to do a sprint triathlon in the Spring. So, I'm starting to train again.

It's pretty hard. I've gotten pretty out of shape.

Last week sometime, I ran on the tread mill. I was going for 3 miles but only ran 2.25.

Then on Friday, I had a headache and it was nice(ish) out so I decided to go for a bike ride. It was probably a little too cold for it but after a bit I warmed up. I found a bike trail that is near my house and is quite nice. I just kept riding until I got to a neighboring town. Then, I road back. Thankfully, the ride back was slightly down hill. The total round trip was 10.5 miles (according to my bike odometer) and I was stiff the next day.

Tonight, I tried again to run three miles. I only succeeded in running 2.5 but I walked another .7 to at least get the distance in. I feel okay about that but I just wish I could get over that mental hump. Soon.

mwz

mwz: Day 144

Today, I took my bike out for a ride. Arial wanted me to stop by a post office and buy some stamps, so I arranged a route that would accommodate that task. I was going to go 9.6 miles but instead I got a little over a half mile from home before I realized that I had forgotten the cell phone. That added ~1.2 miles on the trip. So the total was 10.8 miles in around 50 minutes.

There was a lot of slowing down for traffic and I had to stop at a post office (time off the bike was not counted in the trip time). My bike computer told me that I averaged 13.6 mph. I think that's pretty good.

The www.gmap-pedometer.com trip distance and my odometer matched up pretty well (taking into consideration that I had to go out of my way to get to the post office and I took a different route home than I was expecting because of road construction). I'm pleased that they agreed.

Early in the ride, my new bottle holder fell off. I had attached it using zip ties (as was suggested somewhere on the internet) and it slipped off. The top of my water bottle fell off leaving me with very little water. I have been carrying extra zip ties in my bag, so I re-attached the holder and continued. It was fine since the bottle was now much lighter. The only problem was that I was really thirsty by the end of the ride.

The one last thing I should mention is that I've noticed that the less traffic there is on a road, the more pot holes there are. The ride today was pretty rough since I was trying to avoid the main roads. That is part of why my bottle fell off.

mwz

mwz: Day 141

(posted late)

Monday the 17th, I went to a 1 hour spin class. It was pretty good but I could feel how much I'd lost by not exercising for that 2 weeks.

I also lifted:

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 139

(posted late)

Saturday the 15th, I went for a quick 2.6 mile ride. I wanted to test out my bike. I had made a bunch of improvements to it right before the baby was born and I didn't have a chance to try them out. The bike worked fine.

mwz

mwz: Day 138

(posted late)

Due to some circumstances in my life, I haven't been training as often as I would like for the last few weeks. That is slowly getting better though.

Friday the 14th, I went to the gym to do spin class only to find out that Friday spin classes have been canceled. It makes it seem that when I didn't come for a couple weeks, the class size dropped below some threshold.

So instead, I lifted. On the whole I felt pretty good. My arm exercises were a little harder than they had been (I think because of the lack of exercise) but my legs seemed stronger. My guess is that they were a little better rested than they normally are at the end of the week.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 90 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 200 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 200 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 124

(posted late)

Friday, I went for a bike ride. I mapped out a route that was 18 miles long but it had turnaround points at pretty much every mile. So, I could limit my ride to about any even number of miles that I wanted.

Like an idiot, I just kept going and did the full 18 miles. It took me 1:25.

I probably wouldn't have gone so far but the second road that I take fooled me. It is really hilly but I'm pretty sure that in total it drops in elevation until my turnaround. So I felt pretty good until I turned around to go back. Then, I really felt like a long way from home. But at least I didn't have a flat.

Once I got back onto the first road, I started feeling much better. I think that road is flat.

On the whole I still felt good when I got home. My bottom was a bit sore and my wrists kinda hurt but I didn't have the severe muscle fatigue that I had after I ran. Even today, I'm not really sore at all.

I learned some things during the trip.

I need to bring our cell phone along in case I get a flat really far away from home.

Spin class is slightly different from real biking. For one, you don't have to keep your balance nearly as much. On the real bike, I can't really stand up very well.

I need to get a water bottle holder and toe clips.

My bike may be a touch small for me.

mwz

mwz: Day 123

Today, I swam 1/2 mile (22 laps) in an unknown amount of time. I almost didn't go because I'm starting to dread swimming. But I decided that I could get up 15 minutes later and still have enough time to swim.

It was a relatively eventful trip.

The pool was pretty full. One side had 3 people and they were swimming circles. When I got over there, one of them quit, so I took her spot. It was my first time swimming like that. I discovered that I'm a pretty slow swimmer.

About every 2 laps, the lead guy would catch me. I would then stop in the corner and let him pass. I also let the other lady pass because she was pretty consistently behind the guy. When they were past, I would swim again until I lost enough ground (or water?) that the guy would have to pass me again.

Eventually, the lady left and we change to swimming in lanes (which is a little less stressful for me but also less interesting). After a while, I noticed that my right ear plug wasn't doing a very good job. I finished that lap and put my hand up to adjust it but it was gone... Somebody stole my ear plug right from my ear... Okay, it just fell out. I didn't manage to find it and now I know why the package came with three.

On the way home, I saw a dear cross the road ahead of me. That is a little unusual since I live in a city but we have seen dear around there before. There was only one and it crossed without incident.

mwz

mwz: Day 122

(posted late)

Yesterday, I went to spin class. It was an hour. I didn't like the instructor very much (I didn't like her "program", I'm sure she's a fine person) but some of the others couldn't stop complementing her. I think that was because she was relatively young.

I didn't lift because there was a guy on the machine and I didn't want to deal with it.

mwz

Google Maps and Running Routes

I figured that there would be a tool on the internet to help plan running routes, since there are google maps mashups of just about anything you can think of. I've found one that's pretty cool.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

Check it out. It almost makes me want to run more.

mwz

mwz: Day 121

I swam today. I only did 11 laps (1/4 mile) in 15 minutes, but at least I got into the pool. I've got to find a way to keep it interesting.

mwz

mwz: Day 119

Traditionally, I rest on Sunday. Today, I ran 7 miles in 1:24. Here's what I can tell you about running 7 miles, it chafes.

I wear two pairs of shorts to run, one to protect from chafing and the other so that people don't think I'm weird running in skin tight shorts. My anti-chafing shorts chose today to split a seam. So my fat legs hurt most of the run.

Other than that, the run went pretty well. I felt good for most of it. I was running a 2 mile course and at the end of each 2 miles, I would stop for a second to grab a drink of water and then take off.

At the end of six miles I stopped for a bathroom break. I would have just kept running but I had to go since 4.5 miles and I couldn't stand the thought of another mile without going. Besides, I'm likely to have to take a potty break over the course of a 3 hour race. I think it would have been fine but the warmth of the house really did something to my legs. The last mile was tough.

I still felt relatively good for about 20 minutes after the run, but then I started to feel "sick". I was weak and queasy. Arial's mom suggested that I take a nap. I thought that was silly. But a little bit later, I found myself laying on my bed. After about an hour and a half nap, I felt mostly better. My muscles are still tired but I don't feel like I have the flu.

Oh, and I have a bunch of blisters on my feet and I'm still chafed.

mwz

mwz: Day 118

(posted late)
Saturday, I lifted. It went well but I think Frances saw me walk by the child care room on the way to a different weight room. When I came back (~10 minutes later) she was standing at the gate with her arms stretched up to me. I still needed to shower but she didn't want me to put her down.

Finally, I told her that I would be right back. She looked like she was okay with that so I left and took a hurried shower. When I came back, she was crying in the arms of one of the workers. I guess she hadn't been crying that long but it was sad. She usually doesn't want to leave. One of the ladies said that nothing had happened to her. I suppose she just didn't feel like it that night.

Here is what I lifted:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 15 lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 15 lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise: 15 lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 37.5 lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3
Wide-Grip Lat Pulldowns (lat machine): 75 lbs 10x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20 lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20 lbs EH 10x3

Leg Extensions: 90 lbs 20x3
Seated Leg Curl: 80 lbs 20x3

Thigh Adductor: 60 lbs 20x3
Thigh Abductor: 70 lbs 20x3

Leg Press: 200 lbs 10x3
Calf Press On The Leg Press Machine: 200 lbs 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 117

(posted late)
Friday, I did a spin class. I didn't do the run because I wasn't feeling the best. I also planned for a long run this weekend. I did the whole 45 minute class (it was actually a little longer than that).

The instructor was from Iowa City. I thought that was interesting.


mwz