Exercise 04/22 - 04/28

I had another good week although I felt like I ate more (and worse) than I should. That probably shows in my weekly weigh-in (I gained 0.9 pounds at weigh in Saturday).  Still:

Monday - I feel like I probably walked around at lunch hour but I'm not seeing it on the graph.  I also did a 30 minute core workout. I combined exercises from pre-dawn and the box of cards I got. 
Tuesday - 4.2 in 50 (11:54) plus walking warm up/down.  The phone GPS showed less but it was obviously off so I mapped it and came up with slightly more than this. I sort of split the difference.  Ran 1:30/:45 intervals on the hills by the university.  Very humid.
Wednesday - 11.5 in 1:00 biking.  Easy heading out and then hard coming back. Either I hit the wind or was having trouble with my bike again.  Or some combination of the two.
Thursday - 4 miles in 1:00. Mostly just walking with a few minutes of running. Very tired legs. 
Saturday - 4.2 miles in 1:20. All walking.  Very humid out. 
Sunday - 16.28 in 1:20 biking.  Very nice ride but the ground was wet. I hit one spot of mud and started to skid out. I kept myself upright and was quite impressed. 
Sunday - 30 minutes core work.  Very challenging. I mixed the Pre-dawn and the box of fitness cards.  I was already feeling too hot in the house and was pretty much drenched by the end of the core work.  Later ChocolateWife wanted to try some core exercises and noticed that the box shows a few other core moves mixed in. 

As I said my weight was up .9 pounds as of Saturday. But I had worse diet as well as getting my period on Sunday so that probably had some effect. 

I'm still using my phone and Noom to count my steps. I find it very motivating but I'm also aware that it is not all that accurate.  I went for a walk on Saturday and did a few spot checks.  My actual step count was about 120 steps per minute and the phone was logging 70 steps per minute (a very big difference).  Still, it's fun to sort of note the steps and strive to reach the (increasing) goal every day.

Monday - 7,808
Tuesday - 15,320
Wednesday - 9,305
Thursday - 11,652
Friday - 9,502
Saturday - 12,013
Sunday - 9,007

Total: 74,607

As you can see, it is obvious that it's not an accurate count and it awards some steps for bike rides (Wednesday and Sunday) but it's still fun to look at.

Exercise 04/15 - 04/21

Monday - 1.82 miles in 30 minutes. Easy lunch time walk.
Tuesday - 3.7 miles in 1:10 walking. I was going to run but my stomach was very iffy so I walked instead.
Wednesday - 3.6 miles in 45 minutes (12:30) run/walking plus .65 in 15 walking warm up/down.  I started at 2:00 run/1:00 walk but ended up dropping to 1:30/1:00 and finally 1:00/1:00 because of the humidity.  I've got to acclimatize.
Thursday - 2.5 miles in 45 minutes walk to and from lunch.
Friday - Core work for 30 minutes. I combined the exercises from the Pre-dawn runner routine from the ones in the the cards I ordered last week.  It was a nice workout (or as nice as a core workout can reasonably be) and gave me some new exercises. 
Saturday - 20.4 cycling in 1:42.  Lovely ride. I feel like my legs are getting stronger. I'm riding more in 12th and even 13th than a month ago.  I think this was my longest ride ever. 
Sunday - 5 miles hiking/running at Walnut Creek part in 1:40.  Not fast but it was hiking so that's to be expected. The first hour I did 2:00 walking/1:00 running, then I just walked (hiked).  I was going to meet up with a friend and her dog but some days our phones/texting don't play nice together and this was one of those days. 

Other notes about the week:
* I'm really enjoying the combination of the meditation bell reminder to move around and the pedometer tracking.  It's hard to track at much at home because I don't wear pants with pockets that often and it's strange to carry my phone in my hand to get the laundry or get a drink.  Still, my steps according to the phone were:
Monday - 6724
Tuesday - 11,388
Wednesday - 11,199
Thursday - 12,001
Friday - 6,567
Saturday - 7,562 (biking not counted or sort of counted)
Sunday - 14,107

Total: 69,548

Obviously the goal is to get every day > 10,000. 

* I lost 2.6 pounds between my weigh-in 4/14 and 4/21! 

* My heel is acting up.  It gets tight progressively the more I've run and walked.  A day of rest helps tremendously but I don't want to rest my heel. I want to be active every day.  I actually suspect the issue is walking in my running shoes which are low (4 mm) drop shoes.  They are fine to run but I don't think good for walking. I need to just go buy new/more traditional shoes.

* As a part of the running community and the community of Americans and humans, I'm upset by the Boston Marathon bombings.  I think it's particularly scary because it could be anywhere: a race, a little league game, an art show-- any place people are gathered.  Nonetheless, I'm impressed and proud of the running community's reaction that the way to go is to be strong and proud and keep running and cheering. 

Training Plan Week 7 - 01/07 - 01/13

Planned:
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - 3 miles
Saturday - 9 mile LSR
Sunday - Cross-train

Again blogger won't let me upload my image file. This ones shows more bars than last week. 

Actual:
Tuesday - 4.1 miles in 46 minutes (11:13) plus walking warm up/down.  This one was in rain ranging from sprinkling to pouring down rain throughout.  Temp was about 49 so not freezing but bracing.  I ran at the track to avoid having to deal with very much traffic.  Pace seems faster than usual but I checked and double-checked my lap count/math and it seems pretty good. 
Wednesday - Raining again and I skipped the run to go to lunch.  It just seemed... unwise.  While I hate missing a workout it didn't feel right to me and felt really wrong to my ChocolateWife (which I didn't actually know until later but makes me feel even better about skipping).
Thursday - 3.76 in 46 minutes (12:14) plus walking warm up/down.  I ran the hills around and through campus.  It was a really nice run in perfect running weather - 55-60 and sunny.  Strangest sight was a dead adult possum I saw near the end of the run.  I guess it wasn't perfect running weather for him.
Saturday - 20.3 mile bike ride in 1:45 (11.6 mph).  It was supposed to be LSR Saturday, bike Sunday but I wanted to bike in 68 degrees and run in 40 so I switched the schedule.  The only downside was that I was riding in the pretty wet and a little light rain.  Felt really good throughout though.  I don't go fast but I feel like a 20 mile ride is very doable for me now. 
Sunday - 12.5 mile bike ride in 1:02 (12.1 mph).  It was cooler (45 or so) but dry.  I should have done a LSR but my stomach has been very problematic and I'm very nervous about runs when my stomach feels like that.  Bike ride didn't give me my LSR time on my feet but did a little cardio and activity and calorie burning. 

Right now this is probably the least prepared I've been for a race.  I've missed 2 LSRs completely and cut one short.  Right now I'm just trying to keep myself active and make it fit into my life.