Nan Tech

I was a bit bemused by all the gadgets I use during my runs. It's part of my motivation. I don't exactly run just so I can use these things, but I definitely get a kick from sitting down afterwards and looking at my maps and graphs and stats. So here is the whole picture (I also am very amused by learning to use my gadgets, so putting this together was a great deal of fun for me.)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Training

I'm signed up for a 5K in 3 weeks. I'm nowhere near ready, but 3 weeks is long enough to make some difference. The thing about training is, you can't cram it all in at once. I know I will be standing on the finish line, regretting the training opportunities I've already passed up.

For running, I need strong legs and good aerobic conditioning, heart and lungs. My training opportunities to run are limited, mostly in the morning, and I need to be realistic about how hard I can drive myself.

I did well this week, though not perfect. The weather is so insanely beautiful I have a hard time justifying not being out side all the time. but for some reason, I'm suffering from some pretty extreme sleep disruptions. I'm doing what I should: out doors often, cut out the computer before bed, eating pretty well, exercising much more than before. I mostly fall asleep as my head hits the pillow, but I'm spending literally hours in the middle of the night unable to get back to sleep. It's stress, both with kids and at work, and here us big much more I can do about that. I take melatonin as I go to bed, but I don't want to take more in the middle of the night.



This is what a bad nights sleep looks like. The darker grey is sleep, the lighter grey is tossing and turning. The gap in the middle is where I gave up and got out of bed to read- an actual and not terribly exciting book, not the iPad, with its disturbing blue frequency light.

The lack of sleep makes it harder to train in the mornings. I still did well this week. Sunday I did a serious training run outside. Monday I had my gym session, followed by a stolen 15 minutes on the treadmill with three fast sprints. Tuesday I got to the treadmill. Wednesday and Friday were busts for running, but I did another set of interval sprints on Thursday. (The reason the time is "stolen" is because I end up a few minutes late got work. It doesn't really matter, though.)

I'm also taking the opportunity to walk most days at lunch. Only a mile or so, at a brisk pace in this beautiful weather, but I figure it's all helpful for strengthening the legs.

Of course, I'm tracking all this mileage in an app. A good couple of days look like this:



Today, a street festival beckons. More walking. Totally delightful weather for it, too. There is also a pie eating contest..,

iPhone uPdate

Still Trying

I've been thinking a lot about goals and commitments and where and what do I really want in this whole fitness thing.  But, it's very clear, that diet and fitness consciousness is part of the rest of my life.  (Note for future post:  Augusten Burroughs is wrong. To be explained another day.)

I'm reading The Power of Habit.  I'm not very far into it, but I think I got the core message the rest of the book will elaborate on:  "habit" is something that is fundamental to us as people. Habit exists out of conscious memory, and can be very powerful and persistent even when memory has gone away.  To make a habit, you need:  (1) trigger, (2) action and (3) reward. Habits burned into your brain do not ever go away, but they can be disrupted by superimposing new habits on top, with new, more powerful triggers or rewards.

So, I have work to do on my exercise triggers, but it's very clear that my exercise reward system consists of my gadgets and my statistics collected.  Also posting (and boasting) about it here.  I took a little run today, and here are the stats:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/220577240

This is below my performance last April when I was training for a 5K.  I think I'm doing another one (schedule is a tad iffy) and I've got to focus to not embarrass myself.

Off the to rest of the day.  Cheerio.

New Year's Resolutions

With this start of a new school year I feel almost like a new beginning. My college boy is gone [sadness] and my little girl has started high school. The boy in the middle is a senior, looking for colleges and trying to find his way after some rough years.

But I've started to move again, emerging from what feels like a cocooned, frozen in time summer. So it feels right to aim at a new goal, a new habit.

I want to leave my building at least once each work day.

Doesn't sound like much, does it? But as I think about how to incorporate more movement in my life, this seems possible. I'm desperately short on sleep, both because of not giving myself enough time in bed, but also a lot of tossing and turning when I am at least trying. So exercising at night is out, and I really make use of the extra hour I get when it's not a gym day. So lunch for a walk it is.

My days at work are stressful and harried, full of meetings set to other people's needs. I try to bring my lunc with me as often as I can, in order to control what I eat. But usually when I do that, I end up never leaving my own corner of the building, much less outside. But I work in one of the most scenic and most visited spots in the world, across the street from the most popular museum in the world (Smithsonian Air & Space) so I really need to get separated from the crisis of the moment and take a tiny little jaunt.

Walking is not the exercise I most want to add, but anything is better than nothing. And it's as much the psychological break I need as the physical one.

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Boots

I've done ok for the past few weeks.  I started tracking in weight watchers again, and that helped motivate me to move more, to get those activity points added back to my allowance.  The fact is, I won't lose weight if I use all my daily and weekly points - at least that seems to be the case so far.  I'm not sure I have enough data to really verify this, because I don't think I've kept on tracking long enough for it to be proven one way or another, but mostly I'm not losing, not gaining, and have a bunch of the weekly points left over at the end of the week.

When I first started tracking again, it was because I had seen numbers on the scale above and beyond my normal fluctuations and alarm bells were going off full force. As it turned out, a catalogue appeared the day I decided to get serious, and there was this dress... Heavily influenced by Mad Men, I had to have this shirtwaist flirty dress. I've been wearing a lot of casual dresses this summer (sans hose, as appears to be the DC summer practical code, hooray) and it was a peach. But, slightly out of my normal price range, I decided to use it as a reward. I was a little bit fuzzy on what I had to do for the reward - "be good" for a few weeks.  I kept the catalogue open to that page, and looked at it often.

I've started to get moving, and moving begets moving. Another catalogue came this week, and it was specializing in boots.  I have never had tall boots that I really liked, and I've always wanted them. So the reward system became a bit amended:  get out there and run, and earn my boots. But, I am finding that nearly impossible to do on weekday mornings. I am not making even six hours sleep most nights, and it makes me very cranky. I set the alarm in the morning, and I get to the gym appointment, but the appointment with myself? Not so much.

I have added a lot of walking. I've gotten back into at least a quick mile on the mall at lunch, and Friday night I was suddenly left on my own as the family all made different plans, and so I got a solid three miles in.  Both yesterday and today I got out in the morning to run, and I've got a lot of re-conditioning to do by October 6 when the next 5K comes along.

I decided Friday that if I did my Friday night walk, and ran both Saturday and Sunday, I could buy boots. Still in my sweaty clothes, I sat down at the computer and did just that this afternoon.  I hope I like them!

The goals for the next time period are all around running, not around eating or weight. We'll see if one follows the other.

Momentum

I've been feeling a real lack of energy or motivation about exercise. It presents itself to me as the classic conundrum:  do I lack energy to move because I haven't been moving? If I move, will I use up my energy on exercise (that I would rather spend on my family or work) or will it give me more energy?  And, am I fatigued or am I lazy? I can never tell the difference. A doctor told me, "if the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, then its fatigue" but my spirit is always willing to sit down and read a book or take a nap, so that is not such useful advice.

So for whatever reason, I've decided to try to marshal the spirit to get back to being fit. Some of this weekend's effort is fueled by the terrific weather (I was able to turn the a/c off for three days!) and probably some by the sense of the end of summer. Have I gotten what I wanted out of this summer? It's time to seize the day.

So a paddle last night, and my first run in a while this morning.  It was a run/walk, since I am definitely out of shape. It's time to get back to intervals, to build up the strength.

Part of my motivation is a chance to use all my gadgets. I have a Garmin GPS watch, and I have an iPhone app called Runkeeper.  They both record my tracks via GPS and let me replay the activity step by step, and they let me share on the internet or to Facebook.  The Garmin also connects to a heart rate monitor, so I can confirm how hard I'm working.

For Runkeeper, I can give you a link to look at the output, but you cannot see it unless you sign up with them, which isn't worth doing unless you have a smart phone and want to keep your own workouts as well.  So I did a screen print from the iPhone display just for grins.

And here is the link the Garmin, which I think anyone with the link can see (my only security is I figure no one will be trolling for these kinds of links, and if someone sees it, who cares?)

Nan's little run 8/19/2012

No promises for future progress, or even regular posts. But I am tracking again in WW and it is great to have activities to add back points.

Cheers. Here's to the last week before school starts.

[LATER EDIT] I signed up for another 5K!  It looks super fun: the Historic Congressional Cemetery Dead Man's Run, on October 6.  I need a public goal to keep me honest.  Thanks, guys.

Sweet (Bittersweet) Summer's Waning

Summer starts: (a) Memorial Day (b) Last Day of School (c) Solstice (d) When you are at your vacation place (e) When the farmer's market has something other than lettuce and spinach

Summer ends: (a) Labor Day (b) First Day of School (c) Solstice (d) When it's too dark in the mornings to run before work (e) When there are no more peaches at the farmer's market

Today is an amazing day by any standard for any temperate climate in late summer: cool, low humidity, tiny little cumulus clouds in the distance. windows open and air conditioning off. And on a Saturday, no less!

I finally have my farmers market routine down. I park in the shade, pick up staples and meat for the coming week with breakfast at Whole Foods, then grab some bags and head to the very charming downtown Silver Spring farmers market. Tomatoes, peppers, peaches, were all I needed today. I'm planning the ultimate BLT for later this weekend, so I got the bacon from WF, and ogled an impressive array of choices at the farmers market before selecting a cinnamon raisin loaf. I already have the lettuce, delivered from my farm subscription on Wednesday (still good, I checked it last night).

I need to stay more active, and I've got some gardening plans to take advantage of the soft ground from last night's rain and this morning's cool weather. NPR on the iPod, and I'm good to go for now. As insurance against working too long and getting too hungry and making a poor choice later today, I picked up a prepared salad from WF, so my WW points should be good for the rest of the week!

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