Training really on hold

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Well, had to have surgery. Will be off the running circuit until July 12th… Dr. told me 8 weeks.. and by GOD that is the day I will start running!  I have been keeping up with information and of course with the #RunChat weekly. It makes me feel like I am still out there to hear everyone’s stories and opinions. I have been doing my best to get out and walk at least, did over 3 miles yesterday. Have been on my bike also, so getting in some cross training, and helping my quads. I need to start stretching soon, as the pain subsides, I can do different stretches. I am not supposed to lift over 25lbs also, so I’m feeling a wee bit like weird having to rely on my Wife and Daughter to lift things that I normal would just throw over my shoulder and carry into or out of the house (like the 50lb bags of dog food). That curse is lifted after 6 weeks, which will put me at June 28th.  And yes, if you haven’t noticed, I am taking the Surgeon at his word to the tee. Kinda just the way I role. I figured if he gave me a time frame, there is a reason for it, and I’ll just add this up as recovery time. I know I will need to get back into the swing of things slowly, but I will get back with a vengeance also. With that said, I hope everyone out there is keeping themselves moving, in at least some little way.  As I finish typing this, I just got notification that my June Stridebox is on the way, Very excited to see what is in this one!

FootPrints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!

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Training on psuedo hold

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I’ve taken a step back from my training to help my wife get through her 5K training.  She has been struggling with her heart rate, often maxing it out. When I say maxing it out, I mean max HR or 180 and she’s doing 179… So I got her a Polar RCX3 trainer and some gadgets to attach to it, mainly the HR monitor, and I have her working her zones. Mainly looking to stay within zone 2 which is a recovery zone, but pushing as high as 4, but only in short bursts. Her resting HR has been fine in the mornings, so not sure what is going on with it spiking so much. We have noticed a definate link between her headache being worse when she maxes out too much.  Going to keep on trying, and hopefully get her built back up to the distance.

For me, I have been getting out at least once a week for a run, just did a 35:55 5K, not too bad for doing mainly walking for the last 2 weeks. Also started doing the #PlankADay, numbers are close to 1:30, and will hopefully be climbing.  Gotta get over to the gym more often, now that the weather is starting to warm up, and the sun is up in the morning… lol

FootPrints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!

Training

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Started a 5K to 10K training program through RunDouble on my Droid Bionic. It is a program that works with AchieveMint (Earn real life rewards for healthy activities you track
on the mobile apps you already know and use). I chose to run the “time” version of the training version, as I can monitor my heart rate a little easier if I time myself, then if I push for a “distance” run. Other than fighting the winter blues, greens and pinks. When I feel well enough to run, I’m doing pretty well. I ordered a Polar Trainer (RCX5), since the Timex Global Trainer was horrible at grabbing satellites. I’ll eventually take the time to review the issues with the Timex and Review the Polar also. I’ll leave off by saying I just ordered my first StrideBox, so looking forward to the goodies included in that each month. I will also review that when it comes in.

Footprints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!

Commitment Day – January 1, 2013

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My wife and I signed up for the Commitment Day movement, a 5K taking place in originally 30 cities. We signed up for Philadelphia,  but that one got cancelled, so we switched it to New York (closest of the remaining 25). We are not really big New York City fans, we go there for the NY Rangers games, and once in a blue moon a Photography event, or other event.  We headed in on Saturday, 12/29/2012 to pickup the packets, we got around 6″ of snow at home, but mainly rain & ice in the city. After fighting the train, subway, city streets to get the packets, and then fighting/getting lost on the way back, we made up our minds that we were not coming back into the city for the event, but that we would run our own in Freehold near my sister-in-laws.  After staying up just past midnight to ring in the new year with my wife, youngest daughter, sister-in-law, her husband, niece and nephew. We got up around 8ish, ate a small breakfast, and were out the door around 11.  This was my wife’s first official 5K sign up, but since it wasn’t timed, I figured I would time it using MapMyRun. She was hoping for an under 45 minute 5K, and we were on track for that, even though she had the flu for 2 weeks prior to the new year, and couldn’t exercise at all. Then with about 3 tenths of a mile to go, her knee gave out. We had to come to a very slow walk, and we finished in 48 minutes. I gotta say, I am really proud of her. Her knees are really bad, 13 years of playing catcher in softball will do that. Her doctor once told her that he usually didn’t see knees that bad on 68 year olds, and she was 31 at the time. Anyway, she did it, and not too much off her mark. We will be picking up our training again, and hoping to run an officially timed 5K sometime in late March or April.  Maybe we can get her in under 40 if we can get those knee muscles strengthened.  All in all, it was a very good run, and a great commitment to make. I for one will be signing up every year, hopefully get the courage to go into the city to do the run next year.

 

Footprints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!

12/31/2012 Hospital Visit

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9 year hospital visit scheduled,  here’s hoping for continued good news!

Update:  1/04/2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So everything went well. However, don’t know why other than I was jonesing for a cup.. I had a cup of coffee just before going in for the nurse eval.  Of course, pulse was at 80 instead of 65 like during the EKG and Echo. And, not that I believe him, but the nurse said my bp was 136/90… It has consistently been 112/72 for quite some time. Did the coffee play a factor.. Perhaps. The doctor told me that everything was working well with my heart valve, and when I told him I was running, he said to have at it. But to only push myself as far as I am comfortable. I told him that I was trying to keep my HR 150 or under, and he didn’t seem a bit concerned about that. Just stated again to make sure I feel OK with that. My blood work showed elevated cholesterol, and he wasn’t too happy about that. Funny thing is, I’ve been really good, but my gallbladder does have to come out, so he said it could be that. He said it could also be the fact that since I’ve been working out, I’ve been doing 2 eggs, 3x a week… Hmmmmmmm  We’ll make some changes and get rechecked in 3 months.  On the up side, my HDL’s have never been higher in my life, so I know all the running and exercise is finally paying off.

 

 

Footprints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!

1st 5K completed Thanksgiving Morning 11/22/2012

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OK, so I wanted to get this posted up. I just completed my first 5K event. The

Krogh’s Turkey Trot 5K, Sparta New Jersey: Results: 33:48 chip time

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/12/nj/Nov22_Kroghs_6_set1.shtml

First and foremost I want to thank my wife for supporting me in this, with out her love and support, I would not be able to accomplish most of my crazy endeavors.  We went to the pasta dinner/package pickup the night before.. Probably will not do that again, as a scoop of pasta and 2 small pieces of bread left me more famished than full. But the excitement of picking up my first race bib was incredible. Thankfully they had a display on how to attach the bib, as I really wasn’t sure what or how to attach. With the timing chip antennae in the back of it, they stressed not to bend it, or puncture it.  Needless to say it wasn’t rocket science, but was glad to have the information.

It was a very cold day, starting off at 26 degrees when my wife and I left the house. Being a member of the zipper club I have been on blood thinners since 2003. I have a mechanical valve which I can hear ticking, and have to be careful not to push it too much. Every winter it takes me awhile to get used to the cold again.  We parked about a 1/2 mile from the start of the race. Not knowing what to expect, we arrived about an hour early. Thankfully my wife had picked me up some running tights and a long sleeve dry-wick shirt w/Thumb holes.  It was quite cold.. Did I mention that? There was a lot of activity in the area, local businesses opened to provide food & hot drinks, other businesses setup booths and gave out items such as Hand Warmers (which I grabbed a pack of and opened them right away). After walking around a bit and taking it all in, we went into The Boardwalk at Lake Mohawk to warm up a bit, did I mention it was cold. I wanted to see the 1 mile fun run, so we headed out to watch the start of it. It really got me going, they even had a starter pistol. I don’t know if that is normal, but it was a first for me. It was cute seeing the younger kids running off, and coming back. There were quite a few adults running with them too.

Being this was my first 5K, I lined up about 3/4 of the way back, hoping for a 35 minute or better time, and researching times from last year, I figured that was a safe bet. They stated that the time was based off of when you past the start line, not based on the gun time. I found out later, that they placed people based on gun time, not chip time. It took me almost 3.5 minutes to get to the start. I run based on my heart rate, and it was quickly up to 180 bpm on my heart monitor. I didn’t quite believe it, since I couldn’t feel my heart beating at that pace, So I pushed on.  I tried some controlled breathing techniques which brought my heart rate back into the 160’s. That is when I slowed it down. After a minute of running slower, it still wasn’t below the 150 mark, which is what I shoot to keep it under. So I walked for a minute and 1/2 to bring it down to 130, and then started running again. I made it to the 1/2 way mark and got cut off right at the turn, just like someone making a left hand turn from the right hand lane.. lol

With about a 1/2 mile to go, I saw someone on the side cheering me on. It was my Vice President from work. He used to run until some knee issues, and he showed up to cheer me on. It was the boost that I needed to finish strong. When the finish line came into site with about 2/10 of a mile to go, I started to sprint the best I could.I crossed the finish line, found my wife, and got some water. We hung out for a little while hoping they would post the official times, my MapMyRun program on my Droid showed me at just over 34 minutes, so I was pretty sure I broke my 35 minute time I was hoping for.  Later on that night I saw it posted up on their website at 33:48 chip time. I am very very happy about that.

I am signed up with my wife for the Philadelphia Commitment Day 5K, and am really looking forward to that. I am hooked on running for as long as my body will allow me.  I would like to run a 10K in 2013, and possibly a  duathon that they hold that is 2 mile running, 16 mile bike, and 2 miles running. Then a Pikermi in 2014. Goals to get to are, under 30 5K, under 60 10K, and under 2 hour Pikermi!

 

Footprints in the Sands of Time are not Made by Sitting Down!

The Time Comes

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There is always something in your life that is the deciding moment of when you have had enough of not being able to do much.  Mine came when out Turkey hunting this past spring with my father.  The hunt itself is another story for another blog, but what happened on the way out was my wake-up call.  Now my father is not old by any means, at 67 years young he keeps plenty busy with all sorts of outdoor adventures.  On our way out to setup one morning, I had to ask him to stop, so I could catch my breath.  How crazy is that, I had to stop to catch my breath, as my dad sat there and laughed a little, jesting that it is not as easy as it looks. I realized right then and there that I had to do something.  When I got home, I told my wife about it, and we started researching gyms. We joined Planet Fitness shortly after, Price was right, and it was 2 miles from the house, open 24×7 M-F(10pm) S&S 7-7.. can’t beat that. We started working out together and our 14 year old was our motivation to get out the door, as she wanted to work out also. We met with the personal trainer about 2 weeks later, and learned that we were doing things the right way (love all the other blogs out there for their information on working out). So we started exercising and eating better (I’d say right, but it is a life style change, not a diet, and I do eat what I want, I just control portions better). I Started running around June 2012, and really fell back in love with it. Set my sights on a 5K Turkey trot, and was able to complete that in better time than I had anticipated. I even trained for it throughout the summer, while on was on vacation. Two weeks of either Running or Bike riding. Plus some paddling on the lake. Things are going much better, and I’m starting to train for a 10K this year.

Footprints in the Sands of Time are Not Made by Sitting Down!