Weight Workout + Treadmill

I worked out at the gym today. As I left, it was nice and rainy, too. For a change it was cool in there, so I guess the pattern is hot in the summer, cold in the winter.

I also played with the Garmin 50 a bit more. I had originally hoped that I could wear the Garmin strap while doing weight workouts, and use the 50 to export my ongoing heart rate and calories burned to Garmin Training Center and SportTracks. That didn't happen, because unfortunately, the Garmin 50 only tracks calories burned when the foot pod is active! Obviously it doesn't take heart rate into consideration, otherwise it would work just fine.

It did let me output my ongoing heart rate, though.


While it's neat to have a chart of it, calories burned is much more useful for me. So I'll continue to wear the Reebok strap & watch for weight workouts.

Warmup, w/45lb bar, 3 circuits
* Overhead Squat
* Squat
* Good Morning
* Barbell Lunge
* Romanian Deadlift
* Bent-over Row

Workout
* Drop Squat, 3x20
* Underhand-grip Dumbell Row, 3x20x25lbs
* Reverse Hyperextension, 3x20
* Elbows-in Elevated Pushup, 3x20
* Side Bridge, 3x10 (both sides)
* Side Lateral Raise & Rotation, 2x15lbs

34 minutes, ~200 calories burned

After the weight workout I decided to try out the foot pod with the Garmin on the treadmill, and it's obvious to me it needs calibration. It's also entirely possible the treadmill's inaccurate, and more than likely it's both. I set the treadmill for 7.5mph (8 min/mi), and ran for what the treadmill said was 1 mile. When I stopped the Garmin, it read 8 minutes. That sounds about right, except the Garmin also said I ran 1.13 miles, averaging out to more like 7:04/mi, or 8.5mph. I need to get out onto the track for some calibration!

8 minutes, ~1 mile, 141 calories burned.

Total calories: 341

Midweek Run - 6.19 miles

For today's run, I decided to take it a little bit easy due to twisting my ankle during the Turkey Trot on Saturday. Early on it was obvious that it wasn't much of a problem anymore, but I took it easy anyway. Tim ran with me, but lagged behind after the first mile and a half. He came back into the office around 5 minutes after I did.

I also got a chance to use the foot pod with the Garmin Forerunner 305. I didn't take the time to calibrate it, but Garmin claims 96% accuracy with it, not to mention I have the GPS so distance would still be accurate. Annoyingly, I forgot the HRM strap. So what did the foot pod tell me?



My average cadence was 103 strides per minute. What does that mean? I really have no idea! I did some quick research, which didn't turn up a whole lot. I read that elite runners, no matter what age range or length of race, all tend to have a cadence of between 65 and 95 strides per minute, and that the difference in speed is all in the length of their strides. One website said something like, if you have much over 95 that you should be training for the olympics. Wha?

The foot pod is obviously more useful to me at the moment for use on the treadmill, when I don't have GPS signal indoors. I'm sure being able to read my cadence has some usefulness, I just haven't found it yet.

Today's run went very well. The weather was great, cool, but not too cool. There was a slight overcast, which was nice, and there were few people driving because of the holiday week. I kept my pace around 9, trying to stay at or below.



Splits
Mile 1: 9:15.07
Mile 2: 9:14.20
Mile 3: 8:36.95
Mile 4: 8:45.87
Mile 5: 9:02.75
Mile 6: 8:52.15
.19 Mi: 1:36.64 (8:21/mi)



6.19 miles, 55:23.52, 8:56/mi, 777 calories burned (time/distance due to no HRM)

One interesting thing I noticed is that my "taking it easy" pace is still a lot faster than it used to be. I'm much more comfortable maintaining 9-minute miles than before.

My weight was up today, I was 165 pounds. I took it easy on the eating, looking forward to Thursday, knowing I'll likely be eating more that day. I'm going to do the same tomorrow.

Tentatively, my plan for Thursday is to get out the door between 5:30 and 6, run to the park (about 7.5 miles), then play football for a few hours with the guys from church. I'll get a ride back home with one of the guys, then drive the family to my in-laws for the Thanksgiving festivities.

Saturday should be interesting as well, but I'll leave that as a surprise. You do like surprises, don't you?

Turkey Trot Extras + My Birthday!

It's my birthday. Yippee! 39 years old today. So I decided to forego the gym and instead go out to lunch at the Mongolian BBQ place. I tried to be good, but you know how that goes. And it's leading up to Thursday, so shame on me.

At any rate, no gym report, and of course no running, but I do have extras from the Turkey Trot. First up, a Google Earth mapp of the 10k route.



I don't have any pictures of me (nobody to take my photo, since my wife doesn't like my camera and refuses to use it), but I have lots of the kids. First up, Gregory. He ran the 1-mile race, and did great in my opinion. He said he fell down partway through, but got right up and kept going. That's my boy!

Before his race. He's #62.


Countdown from ten... 3... 2... 1... go!


Look at that form, boy! Next we need to work on his outfit.


At the end of the race, dad screwed up and left his settings on manual from the beginning, where everything was in the shade. D'oh! This is the best I could rescue of his finish.


Jenny was going to race the 1/4-mile, with Joy running the 200-meter, but Joy threw a fit until we let her run the 1/4 with her sister. Jenny's #60, Joy's #61, and their mom, Angela, is directly behind.


Jenny ran on ahead and skipped her way through the whole race. The announcer on the mike made a comment about it.


The next morning, Joy was telling me all about her race. She said, "He say, '3, 2, 1, go!', and I go! Me win!"


Jenny tried to get away with two finisher's ribbons. The volunteers didn't seem to mind, but her mom sure did.


Joy finished strong as well, although she was upset that it was over. She wanted to run the 200-meter as well, but we were all ready to eat lunch.


Finally, this is Gregory and his ribbon.


You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Back to running tomorrow, with 6.2 scheduled.

The following takes place...

Today's an off day. No gym. No running. Not much of anything, really, except one important thing.



Jack's back.