Runervals two point OH MY GOD!

So tonight Teri and I met Nita at the Tacoma Center YMCA for some indoor workin' out. You may recall a few weeks ago, I bought all of the Runervals DVD's after enjoying (ha!) the first in the series so much. So tonight, wanting a longer, more challenging workout, I decided to pop on Runervals 2.0. HOLY CRAP have I got a ways to go!!! But I'll tell you what, if I can do this workout as designed someday . . . I'll DEFINITELY feel like I'm a runner again.

The workout STARTS with a three minute run at 3.0 MPH above your base pace. In 1.0, my BP was 4.0 MPH . . . so I handled the 3 minutes at 7.0 MPH without much issue. The next set goes for four intervals of 90 seconds on and 30 seconds off at 3.0 MPH above your base pace. The catch is, the 90 seconds are at a 2.0 % grade. And while in the 1.0 DVD your "rest" period would be back at base pace, no such luck here, your 30 second "rest" period was still at 3.0 MPH above BP, but the incline was back to 0.0. I had to slow down, so the 90 seconds on I was at 5.6 - 7.0 MPH and the 30 seconds off, I was back at a BP of 3.5 MPH.

Next up was the same 4 sets of 90 seconds on and 30 seconds off . . but it was supposed to be 4.0 MPH above BP and a 3.0% Grade. I basically did the same as before, 5.6 - 7.0 MPH during the "ON" portion @ 3.0% grade and back down to 3.5 MPH during the 30 seconds Off.

The next set was 3 intervals of 90 seconds on and 30 second off, but 5.0 MPH above BP and a 4.0% grade. Again, handled the grade just fine, but kept the speed down around 5.6 MPH ON and 3.5 MPH off. HOWEVER, during this set, I DID do 45 seconds at 8.0 MPH and a 4.0% grade. Wow! I kept screaming "I can't do it Jillian!!"

The final set was the killer. (OK, they all sucked and I didn't do one of them in it's entirety with the exception of the 3 minute "warm up") It consisted of 3 intervals of one minute on and one minute off at 5 MPH above BP and SIX percent grade!!! Yes, 6.0% incline! I did do one full minute at 6 MPH and 6.0% incline, but wowsers did that hurt. I thought I was gonna vomit.

I ended up going about 3.77 miles over the nearly 47 minutes. I forgot to set my weight and age on the machine, so I don't have an accurate count of calories burned, but I would guesstimate around 700 ish?

This was certainly a challenging workout! I just hope sometime in the NEAR future, I can do it as prescribed!

Here's a link to the HR data on Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19526955

Couple of workouts this week

It's not running in San Diego, but I have gotten a couple of workouts in this week. Yesterday I ended up at the YMCA with Steve, Erick, Scott and Scott H. to discuss what we wanted to do to try and keep each other on track. We had a quick 30 minute meeting, then we hit the weights for a half hour or so. It was a good workout, but I still hate weight training. I have to change that mentality if I want to shrink my body fat %.

Tonight, I went to the Y with Nita and we both did our own treadmill workout. We must have been doing something right because at different times, one or the both of us were grunting. :-) I wore my Garmin to get some good HR data. The link to that on Garmin Connect follows the summary of the Runervals workout:

• 36:45 Minutes
• 137 Avg Heart Rate
• 172 Max Heart Rate
• 560 Calories burned
• 2.82 Miles

Here's the link to the HR data on Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/19291090

Fat Guy in Spandex . . .

OK, so I guess if posting about puking all over myself in my car wasn't embarassing enough, this should put me right over the top. I guess this is the "My life is an open book" phase of my existence. :-) Ahh, what did we ever do without the interwebs and such?? I apologize to all my clients, this is probably WAY more information than you EVER wanted to know about your Realtor.

So a few days ago, Steve posted about a contest he and some guys at work were doing and invited myself and a few of our friends to do our own version of the contest. Money has never been much of a motivator for me when it comes to weight loss competition. I have to have something else motivating me. A goal like a Triathlon is usually a good thing. Anyway, I replied to Steve and said "Yeah, I'm in sans the moolah" and the first step in the competition is to get a baseline of where you are. So for this competition, we're measuring body fat % (Good lord this is embarassing). Steve found a "BodPod" at Multicare Sports Medicine in Tacoma and it's only $20.00 for an assessment. So last Thursday, I made an appointment for today.

The BodPod is pretty cool. It's an Egg shaped deal that you climb into and somehow it measures you're lean body mass, body fat %, etc. The problem is, they really only want you wearing minimal clothing. Spandex shorts. Yes, I was told to bring only spandex shorts. Now when you're a guy of my . . . stature . . . wearing nothing but spandex shorts in front of a complete stranger, who also happens to be a registered dietician and in pretty phenomenal shape is nothing short of . . . . humbling. I guess that's as good a word as any.

Well folks, for all the world to see, here are my numbers for my first BodPod assessment:

Height: 73 inches
Weight: 296 Lbs (60 Lbs gone since May . . . just trying to make this seem as good as possible)
% Body Fat: 40.0
% Fat Free Mass: 60.0
Fat Mass: 119 Lbs
Fat Free Mass: 178 Lbs

Now one other thing they do at this appointment is tell you how many calories you need per day to maintain your body weight. If I just laid in bed all day and did nothing, to maintain my current weight (and who would want to do that!??) I need about 2,300 calories per day. On the days I work out, that amount goes up to about 3,500 calories. If you figure that a pound of fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories, in order to lose a pound a week, you'd need to create a caloric deficit of 500 calories per day. (500 X 7 = 3,500) That of course assumes that you maintain your current muscle density blah blah blah. Very crude calculation, but it's a good thing to look at. So on days I work out, if I only take in 2,500 - 3,000 calories, that's a 500 - 1,000 calorie deficit. That could safely have me losing about 2 pounds a week. Here's the glitch. Since I've had my surgery, I'm usually not taking nearly that many calories . . . which that too is bad. This is going to be a complex dance my friends. Ensuring I'm getting enough calories and in the right categories (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat, etc.) to stay healthy, maintain or build my muscle mass AND still lose weight. Because if I lose another 50 or more pounds, but still have a body fat % of 40.0 . . . . what good is it? I'm just a lighter fat guy at that point.

Another interesting calculation she did was my "Ideal Body Weight" . . . I'm not sure what the calculation is, but it was based on my height . . . and she came up with 202 as my "Ideal" weight. Now if you look at the BMI chart for my height, I'd be overweight. So I guess my goal of getting to (or below) 220 pounds is a REALLY good goal to shoot for. Why does this have to be so damned complicated?

Two a day and another Runervals . . .

On Monday I posted my Runvervals 1.0 workout. Later that day, e-mailing back and forth with a couple of friends, we decided to meet at the downtown Y for another running workout on the track. So at 5:30 Monday evening, I met Steve and Nita for Nita's interval workout. Basically 5 minutes of jogging followed by 1 minute of walking. She forgot to mention the repeat part . . . so Steve and I were surprised to learn we were going to work out for more than 6 minutes. ;-) We ended up doing I think 40 minutes?

When I get into running, like last year training for the triathlon, unfortunately I spend almost all my time on the treadmill, which is good exercise but NOT equivalent to actually running on the road, or even the track. So incorporating some REAL running into my routine will be good. My plan is basically to get into really GOOD running shape with the thought that the cycling and swimming will mostly take care of themselves. Not to say I won't do any cycling or swimming workouts, I certainly will. I will just have a running heavy emphasis. Nothing gets me into better shape or helps me to lose weight faster than running, so I need to make that a staple while also being cognizant that I AM still a pretty big guy to be running and my knees probably can't sustain the pounding I'm giving them at this weight for very long. The LBS have to keep coming off for this to be a viable plan.

The YMCA is having a little "contest". Basically trying to get members in at least 12 times in November BEFORE Thanksgiving. If you make it, you get entered into a drawing for prizes, etc. So Monday I signed up. Counting the two workouts Monday and today's workout, I've been in three times. Next Thursday I'm going to be out of town for 5 days, so I've got to get in 9 more times in roughly 17 days. Should be very doable. Also? I'm taking my running shoes down to San Diego with me with the hopes of getting some early morning runs in along the marina before my conference a couple of days. This is a first for me.

OK, summary of today's Runervals 1.0 workout:

• 35:00 Minutes
• 137 Avg Heart Rate
• 169 Max Heart Rate
• 29:03 Time in Zone
• 546.4 Calories burned
• 2.71 Miles

A couple of things I'm getting from tracking these numbers.

1. My Average heart rate is coming down. Good sign! It means that for the same workout, my heart is actually working less.
2. My Maximum HR is also coming down. Again, heart working less for the same workout (And less of a chance I'm going to code on the treadmill)
3. Time in zone is going UP. Because I'm recovering faster and my heart isn't working as hard to do the same workout, it means I can stay in my ideal HR zone for longer.
4. My mileage is going up for the same amount of time spent. This is ONLY because I'm very slightly increasing speed for some of the intervals. (The 7.0 MPH at 3.0% Grade still kicks my Hurlbut though!)

Until next time . . .

1st Runervals Workout in November

I love Fall back! It makes it SO much easier to get up earlier and get into the gym! Today I did the Runervals 1.0 workout again (Three times so far in a week). Yesterday I spent seven YES seven hours cleaning out the garage and my back was sore from all the lifting, moving, etc. But at 5:30, I was wide awake and figured I had nothing better to do, so I headed to the Y. Here's the summary from my workout:

• 35:00 Minutes
• 138 Avg Heart Rate
• 174 Max Heart Rate
• 28:29 Time in Zone (Good sign that my time in zone is going up, that means that I'm recovering faster!)
• 537.8 Calories burned
• 2.70 Miles

Last week I found a set of all 7 Runervals DVD's on Ebay for a decent price. I had most of the cost in my PayPal account, so it was an easy decision. Should have them this week! I'm looking forward to see what Runervals 2.0 has in store . . .