Monday, August 20, 2012

Workouts 08/13 - 08/19


I felt like I had a pretty good workout week last week. I missed one workout (Friday) but got the others done with some shifting. 

Monday - (not shown on the graphic for some reason).  3.5 miles in 45 minutes (12:51) plus walking warm up/down.  I wasn't scheduled to run until Tuesday but we had guests and it occurred to me that if I ran Monday evening I could avoid waking the household Tuesday morning early.  It had rained and the temps were down into the 80s but I ran through millions of gnats which was pretty gross.  Zone 2 run so pretty nice.

Tuesday - Arms/shoulders.  I went through the script of exercises 2x.  Definitely more doable with the weights than the last time I did it with books.

Wednesday - Chest & back strength training. Again through the script 2x. 

Thursday - 3.5 miles in 45 minutes (12:51) plus walking warm up/down.  I ran at lunch hour because I needed to work until 5:00.  It was 85 when I started and 92 when I ended but I ran at the (deserted) track where there is a water fountain.  Easy zone 2 and I worked on being relaxed and picking up my feet.

Saturday - 7 miles in 1:32 (13:08) plus walking warm up/down.  A bit slower but also longer than the earlier week runs.  Still mostly zone 2 but with 3 minute surges into zone 3.  This run was scheduled for Sunday but I went to Houston overnight to see my nephew in a play.

Sunday - Saturday's core workout and then foam rolling workout.  It should have been 30 minutes core but I got interrupted over and over by the kids and dogs and gave up after about 15 minutes.  I did 20 minutes on the foam roller which was both wonderful and terrible.  But watching the coaches' video did give me some tips on rolling that helped. 


Other notes:  My coach still wants me to work on eating more calories for breakfast and fewer for dinner.  I'm finding it a bit challenging, especially with the puppies pulling some morning time. 

I have not lost any weight since starting with the coach but then I didn't say that was my goal.  My goal is really to get stronger and faster.  I can't really tell if faster is working because how can I compare my times running in blistering hot weather to anything else.  It's very apples to oranges but I do feel happy with the coaching. 

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Work Stand up Desk


I’ve heard and read for months about stand up desks.  I’ve read that they are good for your posture and legs and back and just not sitting so darned long every day.  I’ve also read that you don’t need a stand-up desk; you just need to get up and walk around every hour.  I started talking about getting a stand-up desk months ago.  I remember that originally I didn’t want to do it before the Austin 10/20 (4/15). 



Well last month we were at IKEA and they had a $30 stool with a back and foot rest so I got it. I’ve read that it takes up to a month to adjust to the stand-up desk and that you want a stool so you can go from sitting to standing.  Then I did a request at my work for the adjustment to my cubical.  It took a few weeks for approval and communication but Monday the facilities guy came over and adjusted my desk.  What I first wanted was to have the corner piece (which includes a pull-out keyboard and mouse tray) and the short surface left of that raised but not the long surface.  It turned out that it wasn’t possible to raise those two surfaces due to the way the back of the cube is constructed but it was relatively easy to raise the long surface.  I had to give up an overhead/locking bin but I didn’t have anything in it anyway.  And I gave up a hanging file organizer which I could put back now that we’re not raising the short piece but I don’t really think I want it. 

So basically it’s been one full day of standing and I liked it yesterday. By the end of the day my feet and lower back were sore which I understand is pretty normal.  I’ve even read that you can burn up to 50 more calories an hour standing than sitting but that’s not why I made the change.  My co-workers have had mixed reactions ranging from “I want one too!” to “interesting” to “you’ll need knee surgery in a year.”

I want to give it at least a month to see how I like the change. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

Workouts 08/06 - 08/12


Monday - Total Body Workout.  The same workout from Coach Jeff but a very good and thorough workout.  I borrowed some 10 lb dumbbells which made a big difference. I need some lighter ones for lateral & front arm raises but I think ChocolateWife has some. 

Tuesday - 3.6 in 45 (12:30) plus walking warm-up/down.  This was an easy zone 2 run (for me 160-170).  I'm learning and adjusting to this type of running. I wish I could learn to control my HR while running rather than feeling like I need to run/walk/run/walk to maintain the zone.  Also, it was 98 when I left the house and 96 when I got home so another brutally hot run. 

Wednesday - Core work 30 minutes.  On the schedule this was the Coach Diane core routine but I didn't feel like working at the computer (to watch the video) would work with the kids and dogs and etc. so I did did mostly the Pre-dawn runner's routine. 

Thursday - Skipped my workout and donated a double unit of blood platelets.  The donation went very well and only took 75 minutes to do the double. I thought I would make up the run on Friday evening and then double the Friday/Saturday workouts on Saturday but alas.  Friday evening was ... strained in the house and I never got out the door to run.

Saturday - Total Body Workout (see Monday) and then Yoga.  Both were good workouts and I feel like I'm gaining some strength and balance but still have long to go in both.

Sunday - 5.8 in 1:20 (13:47) plus walking warm up/down.  All zone 2 and this was much slower than I thought. I felt like I was moving well but the mileage shows only this much.  Still, the purpose is to build endurance which I think I'm doing. 


Other notes:
My coach looked at the food logs I'm keeping and commented that I should try to eat more calories for breakfast and fewer for dinner.  I think I'll find that challenging on both ends but am willing to give it a go.  ChocolateWife wants to make a similar change so perhaps our dinners will begin to have more salads and greens in them.

I had the comment of the week on Salty Running again.  It was about blood/platelet donation and they sent me a nice e-mail. I truly love the site. 

Friday, August 10, 2012

Baby Blanket

Some friends are having a baby in a few weeks and the shower is this weekend.  I actually finished this blanket a month or more ago but just haven't remembered to post any pictures.  It is from a book of patterns I have that has sort of repetitive bodies but impressive borders.  Some of the borders are bigger than the bodies. 

You know what I've realized from this blanket? I don't like the blankets that concentrate on big frilly borders because I don't like doing the borders.  You always have to make some weird number of stitches around the edge like 392 or something so you have to do some, count, back up, do them again, count again, etc until you get 392.  And then you start and by the time you get to round 4 of the border, the count is off again.  I didn't even do the last two rounds of this pattern because I couldn't get the count to come out right. 

I think it's safe to assume that the blanket recipients are not crocheters (I've never heard them mention it or post anything on Facebook) and that if they are, they don't have this particular pattern book so they won't know the difference.  Only ChocolateWife and I will know that it's missing a bit of border.  Nonetheless, I think it looks nice and it feels quite cuddly so they will enjoy it. 






Monday, August 6, 2012

Workouts 07/30 - 08/05


Recovery Week

I had heard these coaches discussing how they believe in every 3rd week as a recovery week but I didn't realize how quickly that would come I guess.  It feels like a very big change from my previous run schedule but I am trusting them...

Tuesday - 3.48 in 45 minutes (12:55) plus walking warm up/down.  It was an easy zone 1 run (124-159 BPM) and felt quite nice.  There was a bit of a breeze.
Tuesday - "Total Body Workout" - 40 minutes.  This is a fast paced video workout that cycles through 2 rounds of arms/chest/legs/back/core/... whatever else there is.  Good workout and challenging.  I should have done the workout on Monday but couldn't get to it because of our travel.
Wednesday - Should have done the 30 minute core workout but didn't...
Thursday - 3.65 in 54 minutes including walking warm up/down (14:47).  Was supposed to be Easy/Zone 1 and it was but it was also 7:00 and 99 when I left the house and 95 when I got home.  It was Brutal.  We're trying to shift my workouts to the evening for a few weeks while we work on having new puppies, otherwise when I get up at 5:00, I will wake the puppies and they will wake the family.  I guess the only good point was that since I knew what zone to be in, I wasn't questioning myself: should I run faster? should I push? 
Friday - Total Body Workout again. Still hard. 
Saturday - Beginner Yoga 30 minutes. The workout was challenging and of course extra hard to try and see the computer monitor. I guess as I do it over and over I won't care about the computer monitor as much.
Sunday - 3.45 in 45 (12:55) plus walking warm up down.  Again Easy Zone 1 run but this time at Walnut Creek Park. The day was gorgeous and I loved this run.  It was only around 85 or so. 

It looks like this coming week is similar but zone 2 rather than zone 1 runs. Also, I was going to buy some 10 lb dumbbells but I mentioned this to our friends and they said they have some unused so I went and borrowed them after my run.  This will be much easier than using books for the workouts. 

I'm still not signed up for a Fall half-marathon.  I would be happy to just continue this training with a coach without a goal race but if the coach says I should have a race to work towards, I will do so.  I'm very ambivalent right now.