Exercise Goals for 2008

I just this minute finished this article on beating the heat while running - might interest some of you. Me, I need to learn to beat the heat while puttering in my yard, small potatoes, but I still follow this stuff.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/health/nutrition/03Best.htm
To Beat the Heat, Learn to Sweat It Out
By GINA KOLATA
Published: July 3, 2008

Back from dancing my pants off in intermediate tonight.

Our instructor has a gig this weekend that she needed to learn the choreography for - so she taught it to us - and we drilled and drilled and drilled and drilled.

I'm not sure if my shoulders, butt or hamstrings are more worn out right now. Even my fingers are tired from clinging on to the veil, while trying to make it (the turns and spins and stuff) look easy ...

It's hard to steer the car when your fingers don't want to bend anymore.

I took a spin class tonight. My butt may never be the same - to say nothing of my hamstrings.

Thanks, osso!

It cooled off for a while and was heavenly -- felt like I had a lot more reserves. Heating up again though so good to know. I do worry about that when it's seriously hot.

The cool thing is, now that you've learned how long it takes you to run a mile, is that you can trot down your driveway, look at your watch, jog the alloted time at your regular pace and know that the distance is right at a mile.

Joe(who needs GPS?)Nation

Good point!

I'm still worried about pavement + knees (and shins), though.

We started running on the track because I didn't like how my knees felt when running on pavement (and then found out Trackmom felt the same...)

My husband started working out regularly about two months after I did, and has been getting advice from a personal trainer who says that if you are going for something short-term, like looking good for an event or running a specific race, go ahead and run on pavement. If you're looking to start a lifelong habit of fitness, though, stay on treadmills or a (forgiving) track.

I think I'll go ahead and try something slow and gentle at some point though, see what happens. I love the running we're doing at the track, especially the speedy last 100's, we really got going yesterday (oh, we ran yesterday, either the usual or 6 running laps/ 7 walking laps -- we were talking too much and lost track) and it's so fun to now have some oomph, really get moving.

Newbie is on vacation so it's just me and Trackmom, we're definitely going faster but I'm doing less begging for mercy, finally seem to have approached her level. (Not THERE, but much closer.)

Oh, this sentence got away from me:



I love the running we're doing at the track...

BUT, it's super boring to just keep going around in circles, and I do think I should be doing some running that is slower and more sustained. So that pretty much leaves pavement running, or running on a treadmill (if I have something interesting to look at!).

I'm looking at gyms (the one I've been going to doesn't have a treadmill... I know, I know... hey, there was a reason it's cheap). This would be in addition to the 3 x week track running with the crew, that's enjoyable and want to continue it. Trackmom and I were talking about how happy we've been with our consistency, and we want to keep it fun since that's part of why we actually DO it. And speed is fun, for us.

NOW you tell me.

Well, E.G. just told me! And he [personal trainer] just told him [E.G]!

How long have you been running, George? You seem to have the pavement thing mastered.

I think you are overthinking the whole thing.
Is there a running trail at a local park?
Something six feet wide that both bikes and runners use?
Get on that.
Wear your good shoes and clean socks (thanks, Dad)
Carry a bottle of Gatorade with you until you figure out where the water fountains are and then just go.
Jog along and around, look at the scenery, admire the butts of the bike riders as they pass you,
Jalang jalang is the phrase in Indonesian,
mosey is the English word....


Joe(now go)Nation

When you might need Gatorade, you are not mosying along. You're running.

un-uh. Not with the weather the way it's been and the time of day that apparently Soz does her running. Walking for an hour in any temperature about 77 degrees requires about ten ounces to a quart of fluids to rehydrate. (depends on how much you weigh.)

I was just being cautious about the water fountains too. There are several along the river that are there but you can't get enough flow to actually drink from them. SO irritating.

I've never asked this, but, Sozobe, do you guys stop at the end of every lap? (I'm assuming you are running on a quarter mile track.) If so the time has come, the walrus said, to run one lap one way and the next, without stopping in the other. (At the the 137th street track you can run an opposing lap only in the far outside lane.)

Joe(where are you anyway?)Nation

About 30-35 years (and, boy, are my legs tired! Har!)
Before that, running was just something I did as part of some game or other.

Joe--

When the temperature is 77, I don't mosey. I ooze.

:-)



It varies. But I usually post several hours after I actually run. We usually shoot for morning in the summer; we aren't always able to, but weather is also cool sometimes.

I bring water and usually chug every couple of running laps, more if it's a scorcher (we haven't been able to avoid a couple of those).



Yes, that's our current workout. (Emphasis on current.) We've upped the ante bit by bit and we've talked about doing two in a row. Newbie is on vacation right now and we're waiting for her to come back and see where she is, physically, before doing the next change.

Currently our workout is:

Walk (pretty fast) a lap to warm up
Run a lap (a medium-strong lap)
Walk a lap
Run a lap (strongest)
Walk a lap
Run (also strong)
Walk a lap
Run (a bit slower)
Walk a lap
Run (a bit slower, ending very strong on last 100 meters)
Walk a lap/ warm down

We've added a running lap since we started. For a while we were walking just 200 meters between running laps, but that proved to be too much for us yet. Heart rates stay up for pretty much the whole (400-meter) walking lap. (That has to do with the relative strength of laps, too. A goal is to keep heart rate up for as much of our workout as possible. So we don't need to run as fast on the fourth and fifth laps, for example.) (But we like to do a last burst at the very end with whatever we've got left just 'cause it's fun.)

We've talked about having our next workout be:

Walk a lap
Run two laps
Walk a lap
Run two laps
Walk a lap
Run two laps
Walk a lap

We've also talked about separating out the speedy workouts and the slow workouts. We both really like the speedy stuff (both used to run track in HS, both ran the 400). We know that slower, steadier stuff is probably a good thing to add to the mix but we don't want to do that exclusively. So we talked about maybe making Monday and Friday speedy, then Wednesday and Saturday slower and steadier. Something like that. Still figuring things out. (And yes, your input is definitely welcome.)



Thanks for the input. :-)

We're former athletes who have been out of shape for a long time and have wanted to get back in shape for a long time and this is the first really consistent and effective exercise program we've been able to put together since the kids were born. We have a very similar philosophy of not over-shooting, just keeping it fun and doable. We don't have a need for any specific goals (5 K, 10 K, whatever), it's more intrinsic motivation -- when we exercise we feel better than when we don't. We're really pleased with how things are going and don't want to mess with it too much. We're going to continue to ratchet up the intensity because we know that as we get more fit, the same workout won't have the same effect, but we're going to keep making sure it's fun and doable, for us.



Like, what part of the country? Columbus, OH.

Hyuck!

Impressive tho.


***********

One other element is that I can talk while walking but not while running. And a big part of the fun is the chatting. So that's another reason I don't want to jettison the walking part completely.

I used to jog in Palisades Park in Santa Monica. It was approaching two miles in length, so up and back was probably 3.5. Down and back was easier re warming up and parking the car..

Among the good things about it was that it overlooks the Pacific. Ahhhhhh. Anyway, there was an asphalt path near the fence by the cliff, and further over, a dirt path worn by countless runners. I used both for.. years. The dirt path was closer to traffic and was subject to puddles and mush in rainy season..

I bring this up since I'm wondering if asphalt is rated as better than concrete, which I also ran on. I assume it is, because it felt somewhere inbetween soil and concrete re soft landing.

Point being, Soz, have you folks checked out possible park areas?

Absolutely!

Palisades Park [the Santa Monica one] sounds like great place to jog!

It was, it was. There was even an aura of danger in that back in the fifties when I was a child/teen, a whole piece of the cliff went down bringing with it a picnic table and benches and, if I remember right, some picnickers. They then moved the fence...


At the lower end of the park was a long time homeless grouping, and at the top you were in money land. I don't know if the homeless are still there, but across the street from that section of the park are some pretty toney restaurants now. Where the park stopped at that end was Santa Monica Pier, and below, the beach front walk...
I took a lot of photos of the park and did four big paintings from them (4 x 5 feet). I'd show some of the photos but I still don't have my scanner connected, bad girl.