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The weather was fabulous here in Minnesota today. In fact, we broke a record with the balmy 81 degree day. Giving in to cabin fever, we decided to walk/run today instead of going to the gym. Be inside on a day like this? Not on your life!
We headed over to one of the local county parks. The paved bike trail was 4.14 miles, a bit longer than we usually go, but we figured why not. Why not indeed! I had no idea how different the impact of walking/running was on a treadmill versus on pavement. Of course, the impact is greater on asphalt, but the entire experience was different. My knees objected to running. My legs felt tired. I did a bit of running, but found my knees hurting. I’ve never experienced knee pain on the treadmill. It was obvious a treadmill workout is not the same as running outside.
So, what I’ve gained from this is knowledge. I’m going to have to mix up my walk/runs and make sure I’m getting out.
I’ve been continuing with my running plan. I felt better with my workout today, having taken two days rest. Well, rest is not the most accurate. Work was absolute hell those two “rest days”. The run felt good though. I challenged myself. Though it was hours ago, I feel a pleasant sensation in my fatigued legs. I know that I had a good workout
I did an upper body workout too. I upped my weight on a few exercises, always a nice sense of accomplishment there. One of the tools I found extremely useful is Not only is it a food journal, but it will also create a diet plan. The food journal is one of the easiest I’ve used. You can save favorites, access history to make entry quick and easy. I think this is its strongest feature. Because I’m also tracking my nutrition, the ability to see what I’m eating is especially important. I can easily see if I’m meeting the RDA requirements for vitamins and minerals. It also includes a feature that can help one identify “bad” situations. You can record where you’re eating and who you’re eating with. Useful for identifying situations where you’re likely to overeat.
The software also includes a module to record your mood, useful again if you’re prone to overeating in response to things going on in your life. Finally, an outstanding feature is the reports section. Follow your food intake, nutrient intake. Learn where you’re consuming the most calories and who you’re with. See how your time is increasing for your runs, your biking. There’s so much you can learn from this software. I can’t recommend it more highly. Back to the 5k. I’m signed up to do a virtual 5k run with at SparkPeople.com. This is one extremely active website. People in every stage of weight loss and fitness post to the boards, use the site. The amount of information is incredible. What’s more the site is FREE. For the virtual 5k, posters are doing a run where ever–inside, outside–and posting their time on April 2nd, to the virtual 5k board. That’s what I’ll be doing. It’s such a nice way to do the run in a non-competitive atmosphere. I can’t wait!
With winter still raging, I’ve been doing my running at the gym on the treadmill. I walked all last winter dealing with the ice, the cold, the snowmobiliers. The snowmobilers were the worst, buzzing by without warning, passing way too close to say nothing of the stench and noise. I didn’t mind the cold so much, but the ice was bad. Hard to get a good head of steam going when you’re trying to keep your balance. This year, I took to the gym.
Armed with my MP3 player, the walking is easy. I wouldn’t use one outside. I’m outside to hear the birds and other sounds of Nature. Inside, I want to drown out the grunting woman on the treadmill next to me. Respecting another’s personal space is second nature to me. I’ll use the next treadmill over or move to the next machine to give the person working out with me some space. I wish more people thought the same. I was at the gym the other day. Having finished my run, I was stretching. A guy coming in shoved his bag in the cubicle next to me, practically knocking me over. An “excuse me” from the clod? Not a chance. I moved to finish my stretches and he tosses his shoes in front of me. How rude!
I’m sure many have their gripes about gym etiquette. Here are a few of mine in addition to the actions of the clod I just mentioned. Ever hear of a towel or at least cleaning up your sweat after you leave a machine? How gross is that to get to the machine the sweaty, grunting guy was using just before to find it damp with the “fruit” of his labor? Or the jerk that fills up the Smith machine or chest press with weights and leaves them there when he’s done? I’ve made it a point to clean machines before I use them. What really gripes me about that is seeing the personal trainers with their clients. The trainers aren’t even cleaning the machines, nor are they encouraging their clients to do the same. Oh, well, once the weather breaks, I’ll be back on the trails at least for my runs. Until then, I’ll enjoy the health club benefit my insurance provides and keep my membership at .
