Focused on Fitness: Daily Check-In Group

does anyone know how to load photos into here?

Hi ya'll

Karin, glad your schedule has calmed down. Sounds like you had some serious work ahead of you this afternoon.

Oh Nadine! Sorry you had such a rough start to your day! Hope things improved by the evening! As far as posting photos, here is what you do. First you must upload them to one of the free photo sites like Flickr or Photo Bucket. Copy the url for the photo you want to post. On the forum page when ready to post, type img inside brackets like this

Daily Check-in:

Completed my last run before Saturday's 5K, a 2 mile run in 19:15 (9:37 pace). Will rest tomorrow in accordance with my taper schedule. Lost another 2 pounds since last week and so I am now down 17 pounds since beginning MFP March 19. I'm now officially below 190 at 189.

Smiles,

I can tell you why your heart rate monitor was indicating that you were working too hard. Heart rate monitors use the commonly accepted formula of (220 minus age) to predict theoretical maximum heart rate. Thus yours would be (220 - 33 = 187). You indicated that at one point your max was 189 so you were according to the HRM red lining because your heart rate was above your theoretical maximum. True prediction of maximum heart rate can only be accomplished in a human performance sports laboratory and it is expensive to have it done.

If while you were running, at the time your HRM indicated you needed to slow down, you were gasping for breath and could not have carried on a conversation had you been running with a partner then you were likely working too hard. If on the other hand you were not gasping for breath and could have carried on a conversation, your true maximum heart rate may likely be considerably higher than the predicated value which is not uncommon among fit people. Unless you felt light headed and about to pass out when your HRM was reading 189, that again would indicate your true heart is significantly higher than the predicted value of 187 since it is not possible to exceed one’s maximum heart rate, even for an instant. If you are really interested in having a more accurate value for your max heart rate, I can give you the instructions for a test devised by a running coach that will give you a much closer approximation that can be derived from formulas.

Now with respect to the recommendation you are going by that you mentioned of running at a pace that elevates your heart rate to between 144 and 166. Again based on your predicated max of 187 that would mean your intensity would be between 77 and 89 percent of max. Dr. Kenneth Cooper , M.D., probably the foremost expert in aerobic fitness and founder of the Cooper Aerobics Institute says that to gain improvement in cardiovascular fitness, a person needs to exercise at least every other day at an intensity that elevates the heart rate to between 65 and 75 percent of maximum. Research shows that there is value to working occasionally at higher intensities but no more than a couple of times per week. Even though I suspect that your maximum heart rate is likely significantly higher than the predicted 187, you are working too hard if you run every run at 144 to 166. For you those would actually fall in the category of lactate threshold runs or aerobic threshold runs as some term them and you shouldn’t run at that pace more than twice per week. To do so leads to progressive fatigue and could result in overuse injuries.

Probably more information than you wanted but in summary, even though your predicated heart rate may actually be above 187, I think your were working too hard at the pace you were running based on the heart rates you supplied.

Karin - You and me both, evidenced by my lack of checking in for the past... not sure how long. I start doing the right things, the weight starts to come off and i feel great. And then i have a "I deserve to treat myself moment" which ends up being many moments of treating myself and before I know it a week of bad eating has gone by and the scale is right back where I started. Last weekend I went home for mothers day and ended up going out with my sister both nights and "cuttin loose" because I felt I deserved to have some fun. It took me until Wednesday, and the scale to hit 132lbs, before I got out running again. I think the problem is I see other people having drinks, eating junk food and I think "well why not me too? Do I really want to go through life on this rigorous program having no fun.?" I forget the longterm picture. Its a tough and vicious cycle!!

I am starting my 1/2 marathon training program tomorrow. 20 weeks of training before the Victoria 1/2 marathon! Hopefully this kind of committment will help put a stop to my frequent cave-ins. Up till now I haven't had anything to be committed to so breaking my regime didnt have any real consequence.

I've also finally been able to buy a new mtn bike. I've been xc trail riding the past two days and am about to go on another ride this morning. I've been doing my runs after biking and although it hurts like hell it seems to be working! Back down to 127.2lbs and according my fancy smancy scale its not just water loss Ps. Epsom salts in hot baths are a miracle worker...

I like the quote Karin. I often feel I haven't given it my all and then I go into a slump. However right now I am on a pretty big high.

Yesterday I came to realize just how much I have improved in the past two months since I began running again. I went running with my dad. My marathon training dad who i've always seen as the unstoppable force. My dad who started running again in february and completed a 1/2 marathon at the beginning of March. I took him on one my trail runs for just a 35min run. I never really thought about how hilly this run was until my dad huffed and puffed and complained the whole way about the steep grade. Somehow, he said, the route was uphill on the way there AND uphill on the way back. Afterwards, when he complained he had never felt so tired after such a short run in his life he admitted defeat, that finally his 23yr old daughter was in better shape than he was. I felt as though I had wings on my back and could have run the whole train again! I finally have confidence than come october I am going to kick butt in my half marathon. Maybe its training in the higher altitude thats making me get so much stronger, maybe its running the mtn bike trails that has caused me to see normal hills as being more like flat ground. I'm not sure and I don't care! I am doing something right and it feels good to finally know it!

The other part of my high is due to seeing photos of my improvement. I've been getting really frustrated because the weight doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I lose a lb then gain it back and this has been going on for 2 months. Since joining MFP two months ago I've lost less than 4lbs! Luckily I took before photos, and yesterday I took some more photos to compare. The weight may not be going anywhere by my waistline is most certainly shrinking! Seeing the difference in the photos has made me worry much less about the number on the scale. Of course I would still love to see the numbers on the scale go down, but now the number I want to see go down is the body fat % number, more so than the weight number.

Today my bus has planned for us to leave work a few hours early to go on a work mtn bike ride. Man my job is tough! haha. We are going to ride 1 1/2hr trail called half nelson. Its a trail the community has put $50,000 into building. The first 35 minutes is an uphill climbing followed by approx 55mins of downhill jumps + burns. 102 jumps in total! I will be very lucky not to come back broken, but I am looking forward to the calorie burn of the uphill climb. After I have a 45min easy run scheduled for my 1/2 marathon trianing program. I started following the victoria 1/2 marathon beginners program last sunday. Its 20wks of no excuses!