Sunday, February 21, 2010

Half Marathon Training: Week 5

I've been more conscientious about food this week, and it's definitely paying off. My meal sizes are bigger and I'm no longer hungry after every meal. I think the biggest difference is that I've started cooking with oil again. I had gotten into the habit of only using cooking spray to temper the pan. It turns out a tablespoon or two of oil makes things taste a lot better and makes the meal feel more substantial.

Monday
Still not tired of climbing. Our little group added one -- Shamoni -- and merged with Mike and Arend, who were also at the climbing wall. It was fun climbing with people with more experience. They knew the wall a lot better than we do and convinced us to try the climbing routes instead of just scrambling to get to the top. We stayed for almost 3 hours.

Tuesday Michelle and I went for a run through the Plantations. She wasn't feeling well and turned around, so I did most of it on my own. It was peaceful running by myself for the first time in weeks, and I maintained a pace of 10'31" minutes per mile for the 4.5 mile run.

Wednesday I'm pressed for time this week (and every week lately) so I went to Teagle for a quick run. I did a 2.0 mile treadmill run at a pace of 10'54" minutes per mile and then did some "pull-ups" and crunches.

Thursday Hopped on the bike trainer for 40 minutes. My reward for squeezing in a ride was getting to watch an episode of "Bones" while biking.

Friday Rest.

Saturday I did 2.0 miles on the treadmill at 12'15" minutes per mile, took a break and did sit ups, then did 2.0 more miles at a pace of 12'02" minutes per mile. Running 4 miles through the Plantations is no problem, but running that amount on a treadmill is unbearably tedious.

Sunday Bummer. I dropped my iPod while running, so I turned around early to retrace my steps. Google maps combined with my watch tell me I did ~3 miles in ~36 minutes. I feel so lost without my Nike+...

Half Marathon Training: Week 5
Week of 2/15/10 red=incomplete; green=completed







stretch & strengthen4 m run2 m run or cross4 m run + strengthrest40 min cross6 m run

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Counting calories

It amazes me sometimes how much learning I have to do when it comes to staying fit and healthy. I have been ravenous lately which has led to constant snacking between meals. It finally occurred to me that I have been very active since the new year and haven't accounted for that with my meal sizes. Some rough estimates from the internet tell me that:
  • A lightly active person of my age, sex and stature (28 years, female, 5'2", 110 pounds) needs 1650 calories a day to maintain a constant weight.
  • A moderately active person of my stature needs 1900 calories a day to a maintain constant weight.
  • A very active person of my stature needs 2150 calories a day to maintain a constant weight.
That's roughly an increase of 200 calories in intake per 30 minutes of exercise. That coincides nicely with my Nike+ run history, which shows that I burn between 300 and 500 calories per run.

I was curious how this matched with my calorie intake so I decided to calculate how many calories I eat in a normal day. During the week, I eat:
  • 300-400 calories for breakfast (cereal)
  • 500-600 calories for lunch (pasta)
  • 600-800 calories for dinner (a burrito)
  • 75 calories for an occasional dessert (half an ice cream sandwich)
which gives me a total of 1475-1875 calories a day. Some very simple math explains why I'm suddenly hungry all the time. Let's see if increasing the size of my lunch and dinner fixes the snacking problem.

Half Marathon Training: Week 4

Apparently my frequent blog posts help motivate at least one person to go to the gym. I'm still going to have a single blog entry per week, but I'll try to update it throughout the week.

Monday I'm really starting to get into climbing. I think my upper body muscles are improving which makes the activity a lot more enjoyable. Lauren, Matt R, and I spent two hours at the climbing wall after work, and I hope to make it part of our Monday routines.

Tuesday Rest. I got 3 hours of sleep on Monday night and decided it would be dangerous to try running on that little sleep. Boo insomnia.

Wednesday Missed salsa class because I was catching up on labwork since Tuesday was a bust on all fronts. I did manage to do 25 minutes on my bike trainer, a little bit of weight lifting and abdominal exercises.

Thursday I went for an evening run with Michelle. We did a loop on the East Hill Rec Trail to Game Farm Rd for a total of 4.12 miles at a pace of 11'10" minutes per mile. My left ankle has been bothering me for the last few runs, so it's time to start stretching again. The highlight of this run was catching the sunset from Game Farm Rd. Between the clear blue sky and the fields of fresh snow, it was spectacular.

Friday Rest.

Saturday It's time for some creative bookkeeping. Michelle, Brian, Shamoni, a few of Michelle's friends, and I went skiing at Yellow Barn. We spent 2.5+ hours on the trails, which I'll consider equivalent to a 3.5 mile run. Our 'Dance Therapy' party was later that evening, and 3+ hours of dancing is going to count as my 40 minutes of cross training. It was a long, long day but I'm glad I squeezed everything in.


Michelle makes a snow angel.


Dancing in the DJ booth.

Sunday Rest. My legs were sore from the abuse they received the day before. I cleaned, cooked, spent the day with the people who keep me sane, and remembered that there is more to life than exercise.

Half Marathon Training: Week 4
Week of 2/8/10 red=incomplete; green=completed







stretch & strengthen3.5 m run2 m run or cross3.5 m run + strengthrest40 min cross5 m run

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Half Marathon Training: Week 3

I decided to reduce my spam onto the interwebs and switch to reporting weekly workouts. Here's the recap for the week:

Monday I did pull ups and weights with my legs, and then did a wimpy 0.89 mile at 10'37" minutes per mile on the treadmill. Treadmill=boring.

Tuesday Michelle and I ran through the Cornell Plantations at a brisk pace of 10'09" minutes per mile for a total of 4.30 miles. Could have gone faster but my stomach was full of undigested cookies.

Wednesday Salsa dancing! I couldn't convince anyone to take a salsa class with me, so I went by myself. That's something I never would have done a year ago, but I've had to become a lot more independent since I started training for triathlons. It was a lot of fun, and I'm counting it as cross training. It's a surprisingly good workout.

Thursday I no longer have to harass people to run; now they volunteer. Annie, Michelle, and I went for a run after work. We did our Game Farm Rd. loop that takes us on the East Hill Rec Trail at a slow speed of 11'45" minutes per mile for a total of 3.64 miles. Afterward, Michelle and I went to the gym to work on our arm and abdominal muscles.

Friday and Saturday rest! I spent all day Saturday working and was too tired to bike when I got home.

Sunday I used to think people who ran when it was 15F (3F with windchill), snowy, and windy outside were crazy; now I know they are. Michelle, Brian, Annie, and I ran 5.66 miles through the Cornell Plantations. My pace was 10'50" minutes per mile. I never want to spend an hour running at that temperature again.

Not quite a perfect week, but I achieved the balance of meeting most of my goals without being too exhausted to work and have a social life.

Lastly, my Nike+ challenge with my sister and brother has come to an end. Vikram was the first to reach 50 miles of running this month and I was second with 33 miles. For next month's competition, Poonam and I are teaming up against Vikram. If the two of us together can't beat him, then we might as well give up.

Half Marathon Training: Week 3
Week of 2/1/10 red=incomplete; green=completed







stretch & strengthen3.5 m run2 m run or cross3.5 m run + strengthrest40 min cross5 m run