Judebert

My abs are a bit sore from yesterday's 100 crunches, but I went running this morning anyway. It was cold -- for Florida. I know folks up North have it a lot harder, but they should be prepared for it.

Monday was cold, too. Then, I wore my sweatshirt and sweatpants to keep warm. By the time I had finished 2K, I was too hot for them. I dropped the sweatshirt off at the house and kept going.

So today I skipped the sweats. I was a little cold, but by the time I hit 1K it wasn't a problem. Then I rounded the corner onto the main road, and the wind hit me. It was like running uphill! And it made me wish I had worn the sweats.

By the time I got home, my shins and calves were really tight and sore. I had an ibuprofen, a banana, and a hot shower; they helped out a lot.

Tomorrow: another 100 crunches? More than 13 push-ups? We'll see!

Judebert

Today my Wii trainer pushed me through ONE HUNDRED CRUNCHES in a row! She does "Jackknives", which have her folding up really far; I don't fold that far, so I lift my feet about 12 inches while I crunch my torso up about the 18 inches. Then I hold it until she lets me release.

It wasn't as difficult as I expected it to be. I called Eri to come look for the last couple of repetitions, and she was suitably impressed. Luckily, I had already finished my 13 pathetic push-ups, and she left before I went back for my second try. I only made seven more, but my arms now feel like wet noodles afterwards. I don't know how I'm going to lift my arms to program today.

I wonder what the Wii trainer is going to try for the next Jackknife Challenge?

Judebert

Well, that wasn't so hard. I used GarageBand to increase the tempo of my running music to 150BPM. It still seems just a tiny little bit slow, but it's definitely runnable. In fact, it kept me going the whole way!

GarageBand also helped me to fade nicely between tracks. Now I know when to walk, when to run, and the music keeps me in stride. The only problem is that I jumped into the Couch to 5K program in week 3 (because the intervals matched mine pretty closely), but it isn't running the whole 5K yet. I had to start over at the beginning, and that's a 5-minute warmup. And of course, Nike + iPod doesn't have any way to fast forward in the current song (it can only skip to the next song).

Now I just need to find more useful music. Jamendo has a lot to look through. I'll also have to check out ccMixter.

Still running around 45 minutes for my 5K!

Judebert

Today I tried out an interval mix I made myself using GarageBand on my Mac Mini. I used freely re-distributable songs at 110 BPM and 145 BPM (because I couldn't find anything at 150 BPM). I figure that way I can podcast my mixes if anyone else is interested; I have a deep-seated belief that my apparently-weird pacing is because I'm over 6 feet tall.

Anyway, it turns out 145 BPM is bearable, but still a smidge too slow. My knees were taking a bit of a beating. But the music was fantastic! I'm going to speed it up rather than replacing it. I'll use Audacity if I have to, but I'd really like to do everything on one machine.

The Couch to 5K program is just a little too tame for me. I'm already doing the full 5K in intervals. Maybe I should turn my one big song into a bunch of little interval songs; that way I could mix up the playlist to include the Couch to 5K intervals, followed by my own.

And it would work beautifully on the Nike + iPod program!

Judebert

Yesterday I tested my cadence while walking and running. I walk at 110 BPM, and run at 150 BPM. The Podrunner Intervals are mixed around 130/140. Maybe that explains why my legs felt so leaden for the rest of the run.

But the scary thing happened after lunch. I always take the stairs to my cube. At the top, my knee hurt, I was breathing harder than usual, I was a little dizzy, and my left arm went a little numb.

Surely I wouldn't have a heart attack from climbing the stairs when I had just run 5K that very morning?!?

The numbness went away quickly. I refrained from exercise this morning, though, through equal parts fear, messy house, and stressful previous day.

I still intend to jog tomorrow, though!