Category: Fitness and Diet

The End of Week 2

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http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/swf/scrapablewidget/rundetail.swf

I’m in Chicago right now on a bit of a vacation. I completed my week 2 of this Walk to Run plan. I’m wiped out. I will continue with this week’s level next week to hope to be less winded before I move to the next level. Running in the midday in Chicago is HARD. I’m sensitive to heat, so I think I’ll try to limit myself to early morning. The lakefront trail has asphalt and gravel, which made my knees and joints happy. A new arch brace is helping my plantar fasciitis tendency. I’m enjoying my new running clothes that I got bargain shopping at REI last week. And most of all, while I’m still loving my Nike+ SportBand, I’m loving Trail Runner, which Jon found for me, and syncs to the Nike+ website. It does what I wish the Nike site did – gives me a better play-by-play of my varying speeds throughout the workout, on a timeline, where I can think about what was going on that was impacting my pace.

Anyhow – this is my new life of leisure. Hanging out in Chicago – talking about my dipping my toe into running, and wishing that Seattle and Chicago weren’t so far apart. If I could pick and choose between the two, I’d have my perfect city.

Improvement!

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http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/swf/scrapablewidget/rundetail.swf

I’m loving my Nike+ so far – however, I really wish that the online portion for Nike+ gave me a bit more on the graph than a squiggly that vaguely represents speed and distance. I want to be able to mouse over points in the line and know what that pace was at a specific time frame. That way, I can think back to “Oh, that’s when I hit that intersection and I had to hoof it to keep from getting hit by that car…” The squiggle looks better than yesterday, and the end numbers are definitely improved, but I want more of a play-by-play from my little gadget. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the data is in there – I just want to see it expressed in more than a green squiggly line.

Tomorrow I take a day off from the walk/run so I can let my joints and muscles rest. I’ll try to do Tuesday and Thursday (though I leave for Chicago on Thursday.) Then, I plan to take advantage of the beautiful shore of Lake Michigan. To do this, though – I’m thinking I need to invest in more running wear. My Title Nine running shorts and tank are fantastic – but I need more than one of each. (And unfortunately, I’m not thrilled with their customer service.) Adidas and Nike have some interesting options available for running, but I just need to cough up the cash to get them. Not as easy being newly unemployed (by choice.)

We’ll see how this experiment turns out. I’m thinking of trying a 5k sometime in August or September.

Nike+ Today

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http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/swf/scrapablewidget/rundetail.swf

This is the third day I’ve done my walk/run with my Nike+ SportBand. The site has a way to post my progress to my blog, so I figured I’d try it out. So far, in my 30 min walk/run, I’ve shaved off over a minute since my first walk/run EVER (which was last Monday.) I took two days off, and wouldn’t ya know, I’m actually at a faster pace for a more sustained period. I’m very excited about this. There are some things that I wish were better about the Nike+ SportBand system and site, but I’ll save that for another post. For now – I’m just still in an endorphin glow just knowing that this is something I can do.

Run, Run, Run…

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Today was quite a day. Or at least, I’m feeling rather triumphant. Last week I purchased Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running. I read all the parts to get started, and today I went to Super Jock ‘n Jill and got a not-too expensive pair of running shoes. I even jogged in them before I bought them. I then picked up some sports bras and shorts (and a nifty visor.) The last thing was the Nike+ SportsBand, a nifty little gadget that clips to my shoe, and a wrist band that plugs into the USB of my computer that works as a pedometer and more. It connects to the Nike website and I can track my progress, and even set up a training program.

I’m pretty excited. I found out today that I have some pronation in my right foot, and my new shoes are supposed to counter that a bit. I’m glad I’ll have the sports bras, just because the brief jog I had earlier has made me a bit achey. I took my Nike+ out for a calibration walk, so I’m already having fun.

This is my last week at my current job. The week following I go to Chicago for 2 wks. I’m looking forward to a walk/jog down Lake Shore Drive. Tomorrow is diving again – with a smaller wetsuit.

Life is good, y’all.

Breathing Underwater

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A colleague asked me how I got over my apprehension about diving (he was asking me in order to relate some of my current struggles in the workplace to my diving success, though he made that point without saying it.)

What I told him was that when I got anxious underwater, when I was scared or wasn’t sure of myself, I would stop, slow down, and just look at the world around me. Look at that fish – that anemone – that kelp – and breathe. I’d soon forget I was worried in the first place, and would move on.

Note: Diving in the Puget Sound is much more challenging than my recent vacation dives in Hawaii. There’s much more to be provoked by, from poor visibility, to cold water making your exposed cheeks a little numb, to realizing you’re over-weighted (you have to wear weights so you can sink under water) and you’re sinking too much, making it hard to compensate.

Just thought I’d share that.

It’s interesting that I find it easier to stop and breathe underwater…