Exercise Goals for 2009

I finally found the regular stairs. Still can't find the entrance to them at the bottom end - and can't get out at the bottom - but a couple of us have started going up and down a couple of flights at a time at lunch - we're planning to add occasional stair-breaks as well. People have smoke and coffee breaks, we'll have mini-stair climbing breaks instead.

Thanks maporsche, CJane and George! It put a little spring in my step all day. ("I did it!")

George, you're so right about going against what I like usually about running. I do like getting into a good lope though. At about one mile today I felt like I could go forever. (I couldn't, obviously, but it was nice to feel that way anyway.)

Good tip about dividing things into thirds when I try to speed up.

ehBeth, I read about some nurses at a local (tall) hospital who meet for stair-climbing at regular intervals -- they've gathered quite a crowd and it's become a big deal. Lots of success stories too, people who have lost weight et al just from doing this one thing, daily.

Finally had a nice long run. Windy as hell (19mph from the North) but...I ran into the teeth of the breeze on the way out and got it to push me all the way back..

Joe(HEE hee)Nation

That's great, ehbeth! Going up and down the stairs is such a good exercise,
toning the legs and behind.

A few days ago I fell off the elliptical and got bruised quite a bit. So
tonight I went back on the "horse" and rode 6 miles on it - I'm back in charge!

I always thought those things had mean streak in them.

They truly do, George!!

No exercise today - we're heading out for dinner in a few....

I finally put in a 20-mile week. It was 20.9 to be precise.

This week is off to a bad start. The boss took us out to lunch, so not only did I
fail to exercise, I also ate too much.

Congrats on the 20-mile week!

Intervalled today. (A quarter-mile each at 5.5 mph, 6.5 mph, 7.5 mph, and 7 mph, walking in between.)

I'm adding 2 days of elliptical work to my routine now, along with 3 days of the full body workout and two days of walking the mall. Something for every day. Don't know how much I'm gonna like this but seeing that I'm determined not to give up wine, it calls for the extra push.

The Proctor Estate in Ipswich Massachusetts was one of those huge
houses built by turn-of-the-century industrialists who only used them
during the summer. The advent of income taxes and regulation put a
damper on their lifestyles and the Proctor Estate along with many such
homes went to other uses. In the fall of 1961, the estate was home to a
boarding school and I was running along a road that went from the
carriage house (then a school & dormitory) past the athletic fields,
past the pump house, up a steepish hill to the main house and back to the
beginning. It seemed like an awfully long way, but in fact it was
only a bit more than half a mile.

It was the first time I'd run just for the sake of running. We were
having an intramural track and field day soon and Bro. Tom, who'd been
a runner at Manhattanville College, was whipping the sadder physical
specimens (myself included) into some kind of shape. To my surprise,
I found I liked it. I was not graceful, not agile, nor did I possess
the eye-hand coordination most sports require. But I could push
myself to suffer with the best of them.

I've run in a lot of places, but none more beautiful than that.
Proctor had brought in a rich variety of trees and shrubs to the
estate. In the spring, it dazzled in pink and white. In the fall, it
blazed in red and gold. There was a long sloping lawn from the main
house to the ball fields. In the winter, we used it for tobogganing.

Now the Proctor Estate is the headquarters of New England Biolabs. I
went back to visit a few years ago. They were building a huge glass
and steel high-tech building right in the middle of that magnificent
lawn. I haven't been back since.

Ran 60 minutes on the treadmill yesterday. The intent was to run them in 12 minute miles (5 mph). But I had to reduce to 15 minute miles (4 mph) after 40 minutes. Even so, it looks as if I'll be able to run 12 minute miles in the 5K run in Brooklyn this coming Saturday.

Oh no, George, isn't it painful to see such monstrosities being erect in areas
that are too beautiful to be built on at all? I felt this way when visiting Prague
where in the midst of architecturally beautiful buildings came an ugly grey concrete "bunker" built by the Russians. They had no regard for the century
old architecture at all. Pitiful!

60 min on the treadmill? Wow Thomas, that's excellent.

I've been diddling along trying to upgrade my jogging time, but yesterday I barely was able to run 5 minutes, actually any exercise was such an effort, I was
stunned myself that I lacked so much energy. Not everyday is a good day!

I'd have been suicidal after 30.

Go Thomas!

I've gymmed every day this week so far. Yesterday is usually my day off, but Gym-mom couldn't make it Tuesday (she had a sick kid) and I went with her Wednesday.

Tried for 2 miles again today, couldn't quite do it. Got to 1.85 miles, but from 1.5 miles on or so I had to really dig deep to keep going and just couldn't after that. Hmph.

You'll get there Sozobe. What was the speed at which you couldn't make the 2 miles? Still 5 mph? Or closer to the 6-7 mph you were shooting for?

Yesterday, I discovered a new cardio machine for myself called the "wave", and it works out your legs and core by emulating the skating motion you use in cross-country-skiing, and, of course, in ice skating. If feels a little bit like a stair climber, but does wonders to the sides of your core. I warmly recommend it. Worked out on it for an hour yesterday at an average heart rate of 155.

I got there last week, it was a matter of re-getting there. (As I told Gym-mom, "I've almost run 2 continuous miles for the second time!" just doesn't produce the same adrenaline as "I've almost run 2 continuous miles for the very first time!")

5 mph, yes. E.G. asked why I didn't slow down for that last part that I couldn't quite make, and that's a good idea, I'll do it next time.

Worked out all five days this week, and the scale is making me happy. (Still on one pound a week pace, and seeing some numbers I haven't seen in quite a while.)

The Wave sounds cool, we don't have anything like that I don't think... cross-country skiing WAS a great workout, back when I did it.

Is it really called the "wave", Thomas?
I am asking because our gym will be revamped and they've asked us what kind
of equipment we'd like to see in the new gym. Any suggestions?

Worked out this morning - just 20 min on the bike and 20 min on the treadmill.
Too many neighbors to talk to at the gym, time goes by so fast then...

Yes -- I just double-checked with my gym's website. It's called the Cardio Wave. That's the trade mark anyway. I guess there isn't a more generic name for it yet because it's a new kind of machine, and the company who invented it is still the only producer.

I managed another 20+ week last week, but I'm just joggging along at a
gentlemanly pace these days. Time to take it up a notch.

26 miles behind the Pace Bunny.

-- Broke 40 minutes in a 5K last Saturday

-- managed to keep up a 5 mph pace for a whole hour on the treadmill today.

... two giant leaps for me, two small steps for mankind. Or something.

Sozobe, did you consider of running in the park with Sozlet yet? At the Saturday run, I met a girl her age that reminded me of her. Without the slightest hint of shyness, she chatted me up in the middle of the race. ("Hey, didn't you start in the last corral too? I saw you -- you were kind of on the left side!" -- which I was.) We exchanged high fives, and she fell back with the woman who ran with her. Just before the finish line, she overtook me; a few seconds later, just after the finish line, she gracefully congratulated me on the "great race" I'd run. She was very enthusiastic about the whole event. Everyone around her got infected by her attitude.

Anyway, do you think Sozlet might be interested in running with you? I remember running with my father around that age, and it was nice quality time for both of us.