Thursday, July 28, 2011

Week 6 - Day 2 OUTSIDE

  Wow.  Tonight was 90 some odd degrees out with a "FEELS LIKE" Temp of 100 degrees.

  I actually started off better than I did Tuesday.  Tonight didn't feel so humid out.  It was VERY hot, but breathing was not a challenge.  In my RunKeeper log for tonight, you can see how I started off pretty good, but ended slowly.  Once I knew I had about a minute left on that last 10 minute segment, I did manage to pick it up a little bit.

  Well, not much planned for this weekend.  I will be taking Grandma to the airport Saturday morning.  There are 2 movies I'd like to see, since I didn't go last week.  I'd like to see Capitan America and Cowboys & Aliens.

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Week 18 Report! Lovin' me some "fresh" country air!

Not exactly a stellar week for either of us, since Dad maintained, he's the winner this week!

Week Date Kipp   Weekly% Overall% Dad   Weekly% Overall%
10 5/31/2011 257 3 1.15% 6.55% 216 1 0.46% 4.85%
11 6/7/2011 256 1 0.39% 6.91% 219 -3 -1.39% 3.52%
12 6/14/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 218 1 0.46% 3.96%
13 6/21/2011 256 3 1.16% 6.91% 220 -2 -0.92% 3.08%
14 6/28/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 222 -2 -0.91% 2.20%
15 7/5/2011 252 7 2.70% 8.36% 222 0 0.00% 2.20%
16 7/12/2011 253 -1 -0.40% 8.00% 223 -1 -0.45% 1.76%
17 7/19/2011 251 2 0.79% 8.73% 225 -2 -0.90% 0.88%
18 7/26/2011 254 -3 -1.20% 7.64% 225 0 0.00% 0.88%

Six weeks left!! 

Grandma arrived last Thursday and I feel like I pretty much did nothing but eat the rest of the weekend!  It's usually how it goes when our family gets together.

Due to the heat last week, I delayed my normal Thursday Evening run to Friday morning.  It was a decent run.  The Runkeeper app started working correctly, so I think I'll continue to use it for the meantime.  Here are some of my results with the app...

We were up in Winamac with relatives for the weekend, so I had a new view for running Sunday morning as I tackled the "killer" C25K Week 5 Day 3.  5 Minute warm up, 20 minute run, 5 minute cool down.  
Let's just say that running past the pig barn 4 times Sunday morning was NOT the highlight of the run!  I also found out that my Mom's cousins that we  stayed at is smack dab on top of a hill.  Now some people seem to think that Indiana is FLAT.  Let me tell you, these may not have been monster hills, but when you've been running either  on a Treadmill or our relatively flat neighborhood, these SEEMED to be huge hills.

Overall, it was a nice change of scenery running down a country road with corn as the main view.

Counter is down to 38 days till Disney World, and 165 days till the 1/2 Marathon!  Whew!  I'm behind where I thought I'd be in training.  I thought I'd be a couple of weeks into the B210K (Bridge to 10K) series by now.  I do have room for this though, as I'm not "due" to begin the training cycle for the 1/2 Marathon until the end of September.  So I should have plenty of time to finish out the C25K with my newly revised "outside" schedule and then lead right into the B210K.

I figure the things I'm learning now will be of most help when I'm down in Florida in September and then for the 1/2 in January.  I know how my legs feel running on asphalt and cement now, instead of the nice cushioned treadmill.


Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Week 17 Report! The scales are-a-lieing!

Dad got new scales this week, and comparatively it looks like when they are side by side the new scales are 5 lbs heavier.  So in keeping with what he is going to use from here on out, Dads gone with the heavier reporting weight this week.

Week Date Kipp   Weekly% Overall% Dad   Weekly% Overall%
10 5/31/2011 257 3 1.15% 6.55% 216 1 0.46% 4.85%
11 6/7/2011 256 1 0.39% 6.91% 219 -3 -1.39% 3.52%
12 6/14/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 218 1 0.46% 3.96%
13 6/21/2011 256 3 1.16% 6.91% 220 -2 -0.92% 3.08%
14 6/28/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 222 -2 -0.91% 2.20%
15 7/5/2011 252 7 2.70% 8.36% 222 0 0.00% 2.20%
16 7/12/2011 253 -1 -0.40% 8.00% 223 -1 -0.45% 1.76%
17 7/19/2011 251 2 0.79% 8.73% 225 -2 -0.90% 0.88%

I don't know that I had much choice in loosing weight this week with the weather that we've been having!  Today's run it was 92 out, "Feels Like" 95, very humid.  There was a couple of spots that I did manage to catch a little bit of breeze, but not much!  Running set I wore today was completely soaked by the time I made it back home.

Most impressive part is I managed to eek out Week 5 Day 1 of the C25K!!  Basicly 5 Min warm up, "run" 5 minues, walk 3, Run 5, Walk 3, Run 5, cool down 5.  Since the GPS wasn't working right with the app, I do not know what my pace was, but I KNOW I was going slow.  My heart rate never got above 160, which normally when I do a harder run pace I'm closer to 170-175ish.  I just didn't want to run the risk of giving myself heat stroke or anything!  I also drank my whole bottle of water tonight too!  Usually I have a little bit left.

Disappointing part is, that I tried out a new iPhone app called RunKeeper.  Well... something was funky with it, and the GPS part of it didn't work.  It zapped the power of the phone, but didn't show me as actually GOING anywhere.  It also showed that GPS was "good" or Green.  So I followed the help online tonight and I'll give it another chance Thursday for W5D2.

Now with RunKeeper, I have to manually enter in the C25K workouts.  I've already entered all of my remaining "Coaching" entries for the rest of my C25K program.  (Weeks 5-9)  

WHY am I trying this app out?  Well, it has voice prompts in RunKeeper  will let me know (if the GPS is working) my distance.  I really want to try and get my Heart Rate monitor watch tuned into my correct stride so my distances come out closer on the watch.  If the C25K app would do that, I'd not be looking for another app.  So right now, I have the app set to update my Distance and Pace every 5 minutes, and for each Mile.  So it did update me every 5 minutes... "Distance zero point zero zero miles, Pace zero point zero miles"  ARRGH!

If RunKeeper doesn't work again Thursday, I'll probably give it the heave-ho!  Apparently it has some bugs (duh!) and a new version is in the pipeline in the iTunes App Store, waiting for approval.  So if it does fail again Thursday, I'll give the app another try when the new version is out.  If it fails again in the new version, it'll be 3 strike... OUT!!!

Counters on the left are telling me only 45 days till Walt Disney World!!  Wow!  Time is going fast.  172 days till the 1/2 Marathon trip!

I didn't sign up for the 5K in Winamac for this Saturday.  There still may be a chance I'll do a day of entry into it... as Saturday will be my dreaded Week 5 Day 3 for my Outside Training!  We'll see how this heat treats me Thursday.

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012 

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Week 16 Report! We have an UGLY TIE!

Well, I knew last weeks results must have been partly due to medication that I was on for my back.  At least I didn't have a huge bounce-back! 


Week Date Kipp   Weekly% Overall% Dad   Weekly% Overall%
10 5/31/2011 257 3 1.15% 6.55% 216 1 0.46% 4.85%
11 6/7/2011 256 1 0.39% 6.91% 219 -3 -1.39% 3.52%
12 6/14/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 218 1 0.46% 3.96%
13 6/21/2011 256 3 1.16% 6.91% 220 -2 -0.92% 3.08%
14 6/28/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 222 -2 -0.91% 2.20%
15 7/5/2011 252 7 2.70% 8.36% 222 0 0.00% 2.20%
16 7/12/2011 253 -1 -0.40% 8.00% 223 -1 -0.45% 1.76%

Tonight I did Week 4 Day 1 of C25K outside... and let me tell you it was HOT & HUMID tonight.  Not nearly as bad as it was yesterday though.  I again had my water with me and just about drank the whole thing while I was out there. My running set was soaked by the time I got back home.  Even with the heat I still managed to complete all of the segments today!


The big news on the run today is that I clocked in 2 miles on the GPS in the C25K App!  I thought my pace was so slow tonight because I was taking it easier with the heat that I'd not make that much distance.  Maybe slow & steady DOES win the race!  :-)

Here is what the C25K App logged for me tonight:

DISTANCE: 2.0 mi
Walk Pace: 21:35 /mi
Run Pace: 15.08 /mi

Wowzers!  My walk pace sure was much slower than I normally do, by the unexpected part is the Run Pace was faster that I normally do!

Well, Dad said tonight that he's changed his diet.  We'll see if we can see some better numbers for him in the next few weeks!  We have only 8 more weeks to go till our trip to Disney World!  My counter over there on the right today says 52 Days!  And 179 Days till my Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon Trip!

Oh, I found out one of the other guys I work with will be down at Disney World that same weekend!  He said he come out and cheer me on, I've not yet told him that the race starts at 5:30AM!  :)  He's a very early riser anyways, so he may just do that!

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Week 3 Day 3 OUTSIDE!

Today was a decent run.  I was able to do each of the segments, I even picked up the pace a little bit on the 90 second runs. 

It was another blistering evening for weather, but no where near as humid as it was Thursday!  I'm looking forward to stepping up to week 4 of the C25K plan outside.

Went grocery shopping today (usual day to do that), and I picked up a new snack.  They're "fruit chips".  Little bags of freeze dried fruit slices.  They were quite tastey and like only 10 carbs and 45 calories.  I had the strawberry banana one today and really liked them.  I'm experimenting with snack stuffs, as I'll have a drive to Florida to do in September and I want to avoid my standard fattie snacking stuffs!  I think this snack item made the list.

Speaking of my September trip... 55 days to go as of today!!  Well, leaving in 54, will be at Disney World in 55 :)

I've also been looking for a new cooler for the trip.  We used to have a cooler that had a tray, so you could keep like luncheon meat and cheese slices out of the water/ice in the cooler.  I've not been able to find ANYTHING like that at all.  Even googling for something like that failed.  I'm looking for a cooler that's not going to be huge, I want it in the back seat so I can have access to grab a water or whatever from it while driving. 

Going to be taking meal items to speed the driving process along a little bit more and to also save some money.  Instead of eating out, we can just take some stuff with us and fix something quick at a rest area along the way.  The room I've booked has microwave and a fridge, so we should even be able to fix something quick and easy for breakfast.

Well I think I've rambled on enough for tonight.

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Week 3 Day 2 OUTSIDE!

Since my last run didn't cause any back pain flair ups, I went ahead with my outdoor schedule with Week 3 Day 2 today.

Right out of the door, my iPhone starts crashing.  So I mess around with it for a few minutes... and then just decide to reboot it one final time and just let it sit as I start my 5 minute warm up walk.

I get done with my 5 minute warm up... and iPhone is still sitting at the Apple boot screen.  *sigh*  Well, this is when I start getting creative.  I've got my HR watch (my Polar RS300X SD) on, so I just start picking numbers out of the air.. I'll run for 2 minutes... I'll walk for a minute... I'll run for 3 minutes.

Finally, my phone buzzes on my arm... it's finally booted!  I crank up C25k and load Week 3 Day 2 into it.  I skip over the 5 minute warm up (as I've already done that and more).  So on top of my made up portion, I did the rest of the C25K W3D2!

Let me tell you, today wasn't pretty out there either!  It's raining JUST north of us (I mean just like blocks away).  But I never felt so much as a drop.  But the HUMIDITY!!  It felt like I was running in water.  Once I got back home, my running outfit looked like I had been swimming!

There was one run section I kinda died on. I'm pretty sure I was running too fast (didn't help a song I really liked was playing and I was just moving right along: Bowling for Soup - Ssss Saturday) and I just got to the point I couldn't keep my breathing normal.  Checked my watch... Yep... pushing too hard... up to 185.  For a guy 43 years old, still out of shape and grossly overweight... that's a bit high.  So I finish out walking.  It turns out it was the last run segment, so it was time to bring it home.

Oh, and there's one other thing from the past couple of runs...  I FEEL GOOD!  I can honestly say that I've not felt this way in a VERY loooong time!

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Week 15 Report! Unexpected weight loss!

This week was definitely a shocker!  With having not run in a week and being down with back pain I figured I'd have another bad week.

Week Date Kipp   Weekly% Overall% Dad   Weekly% Overall%
10 5/31/2011 257 3 1.15% 6.55% 216 1 0.46% 4.85%
11 6/7/2011 256 1 0.39% 6.91% 219 -3 -1.39% 3.52%
12 6/14/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 218 1 0.46% 3.96%
13 6/21/2011 256 3 1.16% 6.91% 220 -2 -0.92% 3.08%
14 6/28/2011 259 -3 -1.17% 5.82% 222 -2 -0.91% 2.20%
15 7/5/2011 252 7 2.70% 8.36% 222 0 0.00% 2.20%

Today my back was doing much better, so I went ahead and did a run outside.  I picked Week 3 Day 1 to start off with.  It was 86 outside, but with very "low" humidity.  I only really had to skip about 45 seconds of the last run segment.  I figure with having been out a week and running outside while it's so toasty would have been worse.  I'll take it :)

As of right now, I'm thinking that I'll try the 5K in Winamac later this month.  It's past the "cheap" entry date, but it's only $5 more to enter into it right up until race morning.

Also, with the weight coming down below 255 means it's time to arrange for another donation to Give Kids the World!  Officially past the 20 pound mark!  Now, if I bounce around like I have done the past couple of weeks, I'm not going to repeat donations.  If I could afford to, I'd love to, but as it is once past each 10 pound mark will be the official donation activation time. 

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Update

Well, the back situation didn't improve so I got in to see the doc.


I wasn't able to get in Wednesday, but they got me in at 11:30 on Thursday.  By that time my back had settled down quite a bit, but I still had a few pounding pain issues.

She of course first scolded me for not having gotten my blood work done yet; I knew that was coming.  Then we started into my symptoms.  I explained in the most details that I could of what the pain felt like and where it was.  She checked my back over and found many very sore spots.

She confirmed that my spasms were definitely coming from the musculature on both sides of the spine in my lower back.  Doc says she still cannot believe that my muscles get so tight.

I also then let her know that I've taken up "running" and am working on the Couch to 5K program, with a goal of doing the Disney World 1/2 Marathon in January.  She encourages me that I CAN do it and gives me some specific stretches and a yoga pose(!) to add to my routines, so we can hopefully not run into another incident like I've been in this past week.  She tells me that when I was doing some work Monday, I probably lifted/twisted my back and combined with the fact that I'm running and not as flexible as I should be is what did me in.

So, by the end of the appointment, I'm now on some super anti-inflammatory with steroid (10 days) and muscle relaxants (as long as the other, and then as needed basis).  I need to hold off on trying to run again for another day or so, until I can get some of these back muscles to loosen up more.

I've been hearing my back do some snap-crackle-pop the past couple of days, so I know I'm starting to loosen back up down there.  Thankfully no more pounding pain I was in before!  Those muscle spasms suck!

Anyhow, I just wanted to let you all know (all 6 of you that read this I think :) what has been going on!

Thanks for Reading!  Regards,

~Kipp

Running to 2012... and BEYOND!
Walt Disney World 1/2 Marathon - January 7, 2012