Time to check my progress

I was supposed to do Strength Training on Wednesday but I stayed up way too late on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.  So I decided it was better to get some sleep and not to go work out with only 3 hours of sleep.  I will pay for that decision next Monday when the trainer will kick my butt on the circuit!

Assessment Time

Tomorrow is a re-evaluation of my cardio heart zones (the first one was back in early June).  This test will assess how efficient my body is at processing oxygen and distributing it to my muscles under stress.  Tehy put a breathing mask over my face so I take in oxygen from the system and then breathe out into the mask so that the system can measure the amount of oxygen going into my lungs and how much comes back out.  In this way, it can see how much oxygen gets absorbed by my lungs and theoretically transferred to my blood cells.

This is all happening while I am jogging on a Treadmill at a constant pace, with the incline increasing over a 20-25 minute period of the test.  The whole thing is being monitored by a computer which is also taking the readings from my heart rate monitor in real-time.  So it is getting all kinds of data: my heart rate across the entire test, my oxygen intake/outtake, and the pace and incline of the treadmill.

After the test is finished, I get a report of how well my body was performing at each stage, how well my heart was working, and how effectively oxygen was being distributed.  I can then use the results to reset my sports watch to my five heart sports zones, identify my Vo2Max value, and determine the most efficient fat burning heart rate for me.  All of which will help me to be more effective in my training runs as I prepare for the Disney Half Marathon.  Yay!

Long Slow Run

After my test and evaluation meeting with Meghan, I will grab a protein shake and relax a bit before starting off on my LSR for the week -- 6.5 miles.  Usually, I do my LSR on Saturday, but this week is going to be so jam packed with activity, including a Diabetes check with my doctor, that I won't have time to do any running whatsoever.  (And I cannot do any exercise prior to my Diabetes check since it involves bloodwork).  So Friday it will be.

I haven't decided if I am going to run on a treadmill at the club, since I will already be there, or if I am going to find a nearby bike path and run it outside.  If the weather is nice and the sun is out, the bike path will likely win out.  And if I can make the loop end at LifeTime, I can at least shower and everything right after the 'post-run' stretch and foam rolling.

After my run, I need to jump in my car and drive 3.5 hours to pick up my daughter and bring her and her stuff back home.  She is moving to San Diego so we have to help her get everything packed and shipped on Saturday, and then put her on a plane on Sunday morning.  I am very excited for her (and very sad at the same time).  But I know this is going to be an awesome experience for her and that is what is important.

Guess what I will be thinking about during my run....  :)

New Watch arrives!

Polar RS800CX RUN Training Computer with S3+ FootPodMy new (and free) Polar RS800CX RUN training computer arrived yesterday!  Wow!  It is so cool looking!  It is also a bit large compared to my previous watches, but boy it does everything!  I can even program it from my PC, especially my Strider interval training plan!  The new, sleek footpod can report inclination and automatically turns itself on when the watch senses it.

This is going to be a game changer for me!  I really like the way it works, the screen is pretty easy to read (for an oldtimer like me), and it even has an altimeter and thermometer.  I cannot wait to run with it!  Now my only question is if I can download all the data I have accumulated on PolarPersonalTrainer.com and download it into the Pro Trainer5 software that came with the watch.  Then I can do some really awesome analysis and reporting over the past 7 months.

Thanks, Polar, for sending me such an awesome gift!

Cross Training and Striders this week

Monday was a strength training day with TEAM Fitness! I did not do any strength training last week because my body was a little tired from the running, and I wanted to be able to run the Chicago AIDS Run on Saturday. It was a good workout! We started with a lot of core work -- planks and sit-ups of multiple variety -- which I know that I need, but boy were the abs complaining!

Then, we did our circuit which was focused on the upper body this time. Oh my gosh! Lats, biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest... they were all burning by the time we were done! Have you ever had to do bicep curls while having to balance yourself on a metal beam? Well, this was my first time. It was tough having to concentrate on multiple muscle groups at the same time. But I figure that for running, this might be a good exercise because balance is an important thing to work on, right? Boy, missing two days of TEAM Fitness is not a good thing!

Striders!

This week marks something new for my Half Marathon training program. I start doing striders during my Tuesday runs. Meghan had me do two sets of an interval program where (after warming up) I run for 30 seconds at a fast pace, then slow to a regular pace for 1 minute, then repeat three more times. That is one 'set'. Then I run for 5 minutes and begin the entire set again. Then run for 5 minutes and then cool down.

So I did that today for the first time. The first set was difficult because I was still trying to figure out how to do this using my Polar watch to signal the interval changes while still tracking all the activity for the entire run. I was switching between different exercise profiles which was a pain. And, then I realized for the first set, that I was running hard for 1 minute and resting for 30 seconds (the opposite of what I was supposed to be doing). Ugh!

The second set worked out much better! I figured out how to track this and use the watch properly for the intervals. By the time I was all done, I had run for 3.1 miles and completed the entire thing in 42 minutes. Not bad! My right knee hurt just a tad but later on it felt fine. So I reported my experience to Meghan to get her feedback.

She called me back a few hours later to tell me that I had run way too fast! You see, I thought the 30-second fast pace was supposed to be a 'sprint'. WRONG! It was only supposed to be at my 5K pace or a tad more but definitely not a sprint! I was running at a 7:00 pace for those sprints and I didn't even need to! Well I guess that it is why my knee was bothering me towards the end. So, now I know that the 30-second run segment should be more like a 10:00 pace (much easier). I guess if there was one good thing about this morning, it was the knowledge that I 'could' run at a 7:00 pace (for short spurts at least).

My weekend is going to be so crazy busy that I am going to have to adjust my training runs so that I do my regular maintenance run on Thursday, but move up my Long Slow Run from Saturday to Friday morning. I also have my CardioPoint scheduled for Friday morning. So I will do the CardioPoint first, then rest for 30 minutes, then do my 6.5 mile LSR. My schedule for Saturday and Sunday are literally full from 7AM to 8PM each day. So I will have two rest days this weekend.

Race Schedule Change

Last week, I found a 5K race that looked like so much fun I had to sign up. It is in Chicago and is sponsored by the Chicago Policy Memorial Fund -- the support agency for families of fallen police officers. They race is a fundraiser for the fund so that is definitely a worthy cause. I like the name: "The Chicago Police Department 5K Foot Chase". I wonder if they will let the runners go first, and then have police officers running behind us like a real foot chase! That would be awesome! (As long as they aren't carrying batons or anything... LOL just kidding!)

I signed up for another race today. Yes, I must be addicted to this running thing! Well, I was supposed to run a 5K race at LifeTime Fitness on November 24th and a Turkey Trot 5K on the 26th. I figured I would 'bracket' my Thanksgiving Day feasting with two runs to help prevent me from gaining too much weight. LOL (And the runs fit into my training plan in terms of distance/effort so it seemed perfect).

Then I found the North Shore Turkey Trot 5K on November 24th. What a cool race! And their goodie bag has some awesome stuff, including a nice black fleece running jacket! Hmmm... this was a no-brainer -- I gotta go with the timed race and the jacket, right? Sorry, LifeTime. I love you but I gotta go with the swag.on this one. :)

A new watch!

Oh! Guess what? I had a nice surprise on Friday afternoon. A marketing person from Polar USA sent me an email saying that I was picked in a raffle to win a free Polar Training Computer of my choice! When they published the article about me on their Polar People site, they automatically put my name into a monthly raffle. And I won! So I have a new RS800CX RUN watch coming to me in the mail this week. I am very excited! Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it! My current watch is a Polar RS300X... I guess it will be relegated to 'backup status' now.