Today, I ran my measly mile in 10:22. Not horrible, but not great. I used a 1% incline and ran at 5.5mph with some 6.2mph intervals. This weekend, we are supposed to get hit by a big snowstorm, so I likely won't be running outside, unfortunately. Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll find a break in the weather. Luckily, this weather has to be on the way out and spring will arrive. I hope to add two or three days of running a week to alternate with my lifting days.
During the run, my HRM freaked out and popped up to something like 213bpm. I know that wasn't right. It went back down to 163bpm, which was in line what I was feeling. Both the treadmill and my wristband registered the heart rate, so it must have been my transmitter that was having issues. If this equipment poops out, I might consider going overboard with one of the Garmins. I've proven that I'll actually consistently use the HRM over a long period of time, so it wouldn't be a huge leap to think I would actually use an even fancier toy. Although, I don't use my Polar F6 "Own Zone" calculated heart rate ranges. If I did, I would be over it all the time! I think it wants be to max out at something like 150bpm, which just isn't reasonable for me. Maybe I should set my own limits and have it try to keep me below something like 175bpm. Otherwise, I love my Polar F6.
Today was 1B7 of NRoLfW. I increased my weights on every set. That was a good feeling, but I was definitely pushing my limits on some of them. I tried to pay close attention to my form on the deadlifts. Looking straight ahead and squatting deeper than before seemed to help.
During the second set of lunges, I picked the wrong set of weights (20# dumbbells rather than 15# dumbbells) and my body told me. On a couple of the reps, I was at the point of muscle failure. (This isn't necessarily as bad as it sounds.) When I finished the set, I looked at my notes and realized my mistake. At least that tells me I'm picking the right weights! I normally don't want to train to failure, but rather somewhat close to it. For the 3rd set, I went back to 15# dumbbells and that set went as good or better than the first! For the previous workout I had used 12# dumbbells, although the rep count was 10 for that workout rather than 8 this time.
I'm still not feeling the burn for the Swiss ball crunches. This time I used a 25# or 30# dumbbell held over my head to increase the intensity. The reps increased from 12 to 15, but that still wasn't enough. I think I get more ab work out of the prone jackknives, which also use the Swiss ball.
My hips feel well worked today. It's a good feeling, not an alarming one. I wonder if the deeper squatting is helping that? I just hope it means my hips are getting stronger. That would be a good thing.
I've started looking at 5k races coming up. There is one in a couple weeks. I don't think I'm going to participate in that one. I'd have to drive about an hour to get to it. There is one on the 25th of April that I'm seriously considering. They even have a 200m fun run for kids. I think my son would enjoy that. So, the question becomes, will I be ready for a 5k in three weeks?? I'll have to look into that. The positive about that one is that I know the route and I know it's pretty flat. I ran a 4k race there last year before I finished C25K.
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