Some outdoor fun and another lift

Yesterday, the sun broke through for a while. Before lunch, we decided it would be a good time to get in a quick walk/bike ride.  The kids would rather ride their bikes, but I need to be on foot, ready to help my daughter.  So, we set off with my son noting how slow we were going and my daughter working on getting over that initial terror.  (She's very afraid at first, but wants to ride so bad, she does it anyway.  Plenty of screams and maybe even some tears.)  She's only four, but she's doing great riding a regular 16" bike with no training wheels.  About a block down the road, we stopped to talk to some neighbors, the family of a friend of my son.  During this time, my daughter got VERY impatient.  We said we were going to ride bikes, so LET'S RIDE BIKES!  We ended up leaving my son to play and my daughter and I continued on.  After a while, she mostly forgets she's afraid and I have a nice walk/jog while we talk.  Before too long, she's zooming along and I'm barely keeping up!  At this point, I no longer have to keep my finger on her back.  When she's scared, she likes the reassurance of my finger/hand lightly touching (i.e. not helping) on her back.  It's funny.  Anyway, I got in over a mile of jogging!

This morning, I got in my lift.  Felt good!  I was able to increase some loads.  Nice.  These workouts may not use the heaviest weights, but I can tell they are beneficial.

Define Yourself B2
Foam rolling and warm up
Reverse Wood Chop - 2x8ea/30# (rope attachment)
Prone Jackknife - 2x8
Stepup - 8ea/15#ea, 8ea/17.5#ea (7 risers)
T Pushup - 4ea/5#ea, 4ea/8#ea
Single-Leg Squat - 2x8ea (to bench)
Alternating Lateral Raise - 2x8ea/10#ea
Supinated Hip Extention with Leg Curl (SHELC) - 2x8
Inverted Row - 2x8

Sore lats

Saturday, I got to the basement to lift in the morning.  I did New Rules of Lifting for Women Stage 6, A2.  (Again, this is my second time doing this stage.)  As I was working out, the kids came downstairs and played.  They also watched me some.  I was grunting a bit on the lat pulls and my son, in his infinite wisdom asked me if he should remove some weight to make it easier.  It was funny at the time.  I forgot to alternate the split squats and the push-ups.


Stage 6A2-2

Warm up - FBB (10:00)

Negative Chin-up - 25s @BW, 20x @backpack with 10#, 13s @backpack with 15#

Underhand-grip Lat Pulldown - 10x2 @115#

Barbell Split Squat - 2x8 @60#

Push-up - 2x8 on floor (not the best form, i.e. not quite deep enough toward the end)

Afterward, I foam rolled.

After my son's soccer game and my daughter's gymnastics class, we went with friends on a nice bike ride.  It was from Slater to Ankeny on a bike trail for about 13 miles.  A nice ride on a very nice rail-to-trail path.

This morning, I got out for a run.  First off, I had forgotten to charge my phone, so no music for me.  Pooh.  So, I set out with nothing but the clothes on my back, so to say!  It took me a good two miles to get into the run.  Then my mind started coasting and my legs started going on autopilot. The start was a bit hard because of the soreness in my lats and arms from yesterday's lifting.  That got a little better after about a mile or so.  It was not an overall easy run, but I made 4 miles.  I plan on increasing my long run length over the next few weeks in preparation for my 10k on October 2 and my half marathon on October 17.  I hope to get two 2.5-3 mile runs during the week.

I just purchased a running belt from iFitness.  I got the dual pouch version.  It's not supposed to bounce or ride up and it is also water resistant.  That will be nice when I go to the coffee shop after a long run.  I hate giving them moist dollar bills!  It should also hold my phone and gels.  I'll report back on how it does for me.

Before lifting workout on Saturday, I replaced the battery in my Garmin heart rate monitor strap.  It had been getting some very poor readings lately.  The readings were less sporadic, but there were still some spots where it obviously wasn't reading well.  I probably need to shorten the strap some, since the elastic has stretched some and I'm at the limit of how much I can adjust it tighter.  I have cleaned the contact area, so I don't think that is the problem.  I know for sure my heart rate did not dip to below 110bpm on my run today!

Look at the graphs below for two of my runs.  The red track is my heart rate and the blue track is my pace.

Before the battery replacement (8/27/2010)

After the battery replacement (8/29/2010)

Long bike ride, sore foot, doctor visit, 1/2 a lifting session

After my run last Thursday, my foot soreness didn't go away as I had hoped.  So, I stopped running until I find out what's going on.  Sunday, I went for a 32 mile bike ride with the family.  I towed my son on the Trail-a-Bike.  When he really helped, I could tell it!  In fact, a couple times I had to tell him to hold back.  When he didn't help, well, I was towing 50 lbs of dead weight!  It was a nice ride.  When we got to our destination, 1-1/2 hours from home, we heard thunder, so we had to head right back rather than browse around the Iowa Arboretum, as we had hoped.

Yesterday, I got in to see a doctor.  He looked at my foot and didn't see anything obvious, which was not surprising to me.  So, he ordered an x-ray and referred me to a podiatrist.  I'll see that doc on Monday.  Until then, I'm going to take it easy.

I had been thinking about what I could do without aggravating the foot too much.  I realized most of my lifting is supposed to be done with most of my weight on the heels.  Since my foot issue is in my forefoot, I decided to lift today.  I started off with 5 minutes on the elliptical.  I realized that also doesn't stress my forefoot, at least as long as I don't reduce the incline too much.  I might try to do some of that until I know I can run again.

Today was half of Fat Loss III A5.  I did half of the sets, except both of the hanging leg raise sets.  No increase in weights, since it has been a couple weeks between workouts.

Warm up - 5 minutes elliptical, DLs 5@50#, 5@100#, 5@120#

Deadlift - 2x10@140#
Push-up - 2x10 regular on floor
Bulgarian split squat - 2x10@15# each hand
2-pt dumbbell row - 35# one hand at a time
Deadlift - 20@120# (it's amazing how much easier 120# is when you are coming off of 140# DLs)
Dumbbell bench press - 20@25# each hand
Walking lunge with side bend - 20@20# each hand
Cable seated row - 20@71#
Hanging leg raise - 2x10

Another run down, biked yesterday (!?!!)

This morning I got out and did my planned 30 minute run. Nothing spectacular. I ran 2.62 miles in 30 minutes. Not great. I was still feeling Saturday's long run. Next time I think I'm going to use the Virtual Partner on my Forerunner to help me pick up the pace. It was a nice 55F and calm. It didn't even seem all that humid. Towards the end, mother nature started calling, but I was able to eek out the rest of the 30 minutes. I hope I don't have that issue during the race.
Update: I forgot to mention I tried something new today. Instead of keeping track of the number of bunnies spotted by counting on my fingers, I hit the lap button instead. That way I also record where I saw them! Today, it was 8!

Yesterday evening, we went on a family bike ride. My 2.7yo daughter insisted on riding her balance trainer bike (I blogged about it here and here) so we let her. My husband still took the trailer in case she got tired. We fully expected her to bike for a while then ride in the trailer. The darn girl refused to give up and ride in the trailer. Although parts were slow, sometimes because she was tired, but more often because she found something interesting to look at, she ended up riding close to 4 miles!! I can't believe it. That is a long trek for such little legs. By the way, apparently dog poo on the path is extremely interesting.

When we got home, she ate and ate and ate. She hadn't had a lot for lunch and had a lot of catching up to do.

Darn sidewalk! And a beautiful bike ride...

To start the day, I got up for a "long" run of 4.5 miles. It was one of those days, when things just don't seem to be easy. The good thing was that nature didn't call this time. But, I was going down one sidewalk where there is a slight unevenness. I almost always trip here, but I've never fallen... until today. Luckily I caught myself without doing any real damage. I didn't fall on my legs and I didn't land wrong on my hands. Just a little scratched up skin on my palms, which, as I write this, is already unnoticeable. A couple years ago, I tripped on an uneven sidewalk. When I fell, I caught myself poorly on my wrist and hurt it pretty bad. It took several weeks to heal and if I remember correctly, it was the reason I quit C25K the first time.

A lot of people were out walking their dogs this morning. Maybe that's why it seemed like the bunny density was down a bit. I've started making it a point to greet every one I pass. That was fun today, since I passed so many people.

Since I wasn't "feeling it" and since we were planning on going for a bike ride, I kept it to the 4.5 miles that I had on the plan. My average pace was about 11:30, so I guess I sped up a tad. But, I didn't go as far, so maybe it doesn't count. My knee was feeling a bit funky, but not weird enough to stop. I stretched fairly well when I got home. My hear rate stayed between 170 and 180 bpm, so I'm happy with my exertion level.

It was a beautiful morning. 60-62F, with a light 5-6mph wind. Sunshine! Simply wonderful.

Bunny count - 12

The beautiful morning turned into a beautiful day. After a not-so-nice beginning with my daughter (not her fault) we got on the road and drove to Saylorville Lake. We parked and got out our bikes. We started up the fun, hilly, and twisty trail for a wonderful 10 mile ride. The trail is the Neal Smith Trail. It's a very nice, well-used trail. Highly recommended for a family outing.

The ride was a little warmer, with the record saying 73.5F to 78F. Really nice. A light 1-2 mph with (with some higher puffs) kept us cool, too. Most of the trail was mostly shady. There is a beautiful prairie area, which isn't shaded, but that was fine. Thanks to the flowers, birds, and butterflies, it was a nice nature ride.

While at a park during a break, I practiced a few chin-ups on the play equipment. I still can't get all the way up from a dead hang, but I did several jump-up chin-ups.

4B3 is done!

This morning, I did 4B3. This was after running 5.2 miles yesterday, then biking about 5.5 miles pulling a kid trailer, then playing kickball, then staying up late and getting up at 4:15am. Phew!

I reduced the weights on the Bulgarian Split Squats back to one dumbbell and was able to get fully down. I'm not sure when I stopped using one dumbbell and went to two. I wonder if the holding position effects the squat. No matter what, I feel much better about what I did on them today, even if the total weight was a lot less.

Otherwise, the day was rather uneventful. My legs are tired and sore today, but that might be from running yesterday.

Balance Trainer

Because I'm soooo enthusiastic about these bikes here is a picture I took of my daughter last night:


Notice the shoes on the wrong feet. ;) With as fast as she's able to ride now, we probably need to get her a helmet!

continued... almost chin-up and balance trainer bike

While we were on our walk last night, we stopped by the playground. While we were there, my husband grabbed a bar and did a chin-up. He challenged me to try, so I did. First, I tried a pull-up (hands facing out) but only got half-way up. Then, I tried a chin-up with a little bit of jump and did it! I'm sure with some work in stage 6 of New Rules, I will be able to do a straight-arm chin-up. I was worried I wouldn't be able to, but now I have hope. Maybe I should set my sights on pull-ups! Today, I actually feel it in my shoulders. I can't think of anything I did at PT to make my shoulders sore, so it must have been the chin-ups. I did a couple of them with the initial momentum addition. The jump wasn't a whole lot of help, it's not like I jumped to the top. The bar was well over my head. Standing flat footed, my arms were almost straight reaching it.

Since I mentioned my daughter riding her balance trainer bike (aka foot-to-floor or pedal free bike) I thought I would put a plug in for it. I strongly feel this is the best way for kids to learn how to ride a bike. Both of my kids have learned on this bike, starting at about 2 years 4 months. Basically, as soon as they were big enough to touch the ground with the seat all the way down they were on it. Both had a good grasp on balance after only about 3 walks. After a month or so, they are flying down the sidewalk, gliding with each step. It is really a sight to behold. It is actually a bit easier for them going up a slight hill than going down, since slowing down is harder. They have limited the turning range of the handlebars so that the child cannot turn too fast and jackknife. Sure, we have a few accidents, but the accidents with these things are MUCH milder than with bikes with training wheels. With my son, after a summer on this, the next summer, he was riding a bike with pedals. He was 3 1/2 years old.

Below is the type of bike we have for the kids, although we didn't have a piece of padding on the handle bar. We paid something like $70 for the thing, which I felt was a lot, but it has now taught three kids how to ride. I definitely think it is worth the money. Ours was imported from Germany, but slowly I'm starting to see similar bikes available locally. I have no idea why it took so long to catch on here. With my son, I don't know how many comments we got from people who saw him. Everyone was in awe.

12inch Kettler balance trainer bike

Biking, but not going anywhere

Not much to say about today's workout. Per the PT's suggestion, I rode the stationary bike today for 30 minutes. Not my favorite thing in the world, but I had too much pizza last night! And some of a berry milkshake. I told myself then that I would have to work out this morning, so I fought against talking myself out of it this morning and I actually won!

I would rather ride my own bike. But, I'm not sure about riding on the streets when it's still dark out and the people on the road are still half asleep and more concerned about downing their coffee. Also, the area around here isn't very challenging for bikes. Riding around the neighborhood sounds pretty boring. Maybe I'll try it some time for kicks. At least then I could use the GPS on my Garmin!

I set the bike to a "cross-country" course. There were some VERY steep hills. I definitely was sweating a lot. The nice thing is I could read a book. I actually was reading a book on speech writing. Not a bad book, but probably not what most people read while on the stationary bike! Ha!

I wore my padded bike shorts today. Probably a good choice. I don't like the seat on the bike, though. It's a big seat, like those you see on "comfort bikes." I'd prefer a normal narrower seat, not the super narrow kind some of the really serious bikers use, but a run-of-the-mill regular seat.

Got the bike out!

Since the physical therapist wanted me to ride bike, I got it out tonight. I had a meeting about 2.5 miles away, so I rode there. I was running late, so I kicked it pretty good. Not much of a leisurely ride. I even broke a sweat, which means something because it was a nice, cool night and the ride wasn't very long.

I rode relative fast back, too, because the sun was going down. I had my lights and even my reflective vest, but twilight is the worst time for visibility. I even am wheezing a tad now. It was a tad humid, so that probably contributed. I did get up to around 160bpm a couple times.

While riding I sometimes felt my knee cap tracking problem. Now that I know what to feel for, I can tell sometimes. It doesn't hurt as it's happening, but a dull ache appears over time. I noticed a little behind my knee for a while.

It was a nice ride. There are lots of hills, so it's not that bad sometimes that I have a mountain bike. I have lots of gears to shift into and never am tempted to walk. Down one hill, I hit 23mph. Of course, on my way back, I had to punch it out at 5mph.

G28K W1D2 complete

I got up this morning and ran day 2 of the first week of Gateway to 8k. Beautiful morning. It was pretty humid, as mornings often are. That caused some squeaking in my lungs, but not enough to cause any problems.

My 4-1/2 year old son got up just as my alarm was about to go off to get out of bed. So, I asked him if he wanted to ride his bike while I ran. He loved the idea, so off we went!

About 30 minutes into it, he was asking when we'd be done. I gave him the option of going home and I would continue, but I don't think he liked the idea of me continuing without him. So, we kept going and he did wonderfully. He's biked much longer distances and this was at a very slow pace for him.

During the run, I got to run down a path that follows a creek. There are parts where people have planted native prairie flowers. Very nice. There were purple coneflower, black-eyed susans, and some other yellow flower that I don't know the name of. We also saw rabbits and even a few goldfinches. One yard by the creek had more traditional flowers. Not that they were ugly, they just seemed out of place. Petunias, gladiolas, impatiens, etc.