Oranges 2 Oranges

Okay, so I finally got it together and got outside and ran. I’m not as excited about it as I thought I’d be when I got done. I had at least one problem with it. I felt great about 1/3 of the way down the street, and then the fact that I started too fast caught up with me. I think on the scale for VO2 Max values, I’m at the bottom. I have never been able to withstand too fast a speed without gasping for air (about 5mph on the treadmill – which I now know is not the true speed of my running on it – or it is with smaller strides). My legs can go on forever, but it’s the breathing that knocks me out.  Here’s a little chart I found at http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/VO2max.html.

Do you see where it shows that the non-athletic females aged 30-39 are in the range of 30-38 VO2 Max? I must be the 30 they’re talking about, and it appears to only get worse from there. I’m in no way an expert, or even really that knowledgeable about it, but if that’s a measure of “a person’s aerobic potential or upper limit,” as stated on the same web page, then it seems to me that it’s playing a part here. At least part of it might not be my fault. The site also says, “Genetics plays a major role in a person’s VO2 max, and heredity can account for up to 25-50% of the variance seen between individuals.” Sounds good to me.

I got going at a good pace, and did to the end of our street. I say street because it’s not a true block. It spans .27 of a mile. Then I walked to the next street and continued on for another .17 of a mile. Then a short walk, and then I continued on home, which was another .14 of a mile. The entire way around the “block” is .7 mile, and I ran .58 of it (about 4+ city blocks).

So about 1/3 way down the street, when I felt like I had started too fast, I started feeling like I do on the treadmill, when I tell myself to just stay at this pace and keep steady, and all I have to do is stick with it for the duration. My problem – not having done this outside, without a machine telling me how fast to go – was that I had no idea how to go SLOWER. I suppose the smart thing to have done would be to actually LOOK at the Garmin (GPS) and keep track of it that way, but it never dawned on me to do that. Do I take shorter strides? Do I take slower strides? Slower is harder on my legs, but easier on my breathing. I suppose it just takes practice and getting used to doing.

I loved the first minute of it, though. I didn’t care much that my ipod was about to pull my pants off from bouncing up and down, clipped to them. LOL Or that I felt totally vulnerable just running from my house out onto the sidewalk, down the street FOR NO APPARENT REASON. I never do that. I’m a pretty quiet neighbor, and this was a strange thing. (Quick, random thought about my speed: I think part of it is that I can take longer strides outside, and what was being measured was the distance over time. On the treadmill, my strides are shorter, and it measures as a slower speed. Judging from my breathing, what I was doing felt like a steady 5-5.5 mph on the treadmill, though my average was higher. See my stats below.) Oh, and it was about 51 degrees outside.

All in all, even though I told the hubby I’d never do it again – which is what I kept promising myself as long as I could just get home in an upright position – I’ll probably get back out there at some point again.

Here are my stats for today. I’m not that great with the Garmin yet, so I ended up just stopping it, resetting the lap and starting the next lap, instead of just hitting the lap button. I’ll also post the map. I did not record any of the walking, which is going to be what the blank spots on the map and times are. There are 2 of those.

Segment 1: Home to end of street

7:30:38am – .27 mile/2:25 min/Avg Pace 8:58/Avg Speed 6.7 mph/Max Speed 10.4 mph/34 cals

Segment 2: Next street to halfway down

7:33:58am – .17 mile/1:33 min/Avg Pace 9:22/Avg Speed 6.4 mph/Max Speed 7.4 mph/20 cals

Segment 3: Back to home

7:36:39am – .14 mile/1:26 min/Avg Pace 10:21/Avg Speed 5.8 mph/Max Speed 7.1 mph/17 cals

Around the "block"

I started at our house, which is at the bottom left-hand side of the blue line, where you can see where I ended up when I got back. I moved in a clockwise direction. The map really makes it look like I went far. I guess all-in-all, for the first time out, I should be happy with what I did. I only had two short walks, which I can see now. They seemed longer when I was doing them, when I felt like I had failed because I couldn’t keep up the whole time around. I really need to work on slowing down. I tried, I really did. I guess it just takes practice.

 

I think I’d make a good sprinter.  🙂

 

Shannan 

Today was a day to re-calibrate my Nike+ after I had a bit of a problem last time. It turns out that when I hit the mile this time, the Nike+ said I was at .97 mile. It’s not that much of a difference, but it also means that if I’m right, I did go past the 3.1-mile mark on Sunday. It sure felt like it.  lol

I still had a little bit of pre-breakfast, earliest-time-running-ever-for-me energy left after the calibration, so I set it for a basic workout and did .2 miles at a steady 10:10 or so pace, which is getting easier each time, and I was able to go longer that way. I still need to let my lungs catch up, though. My legs felt like they could go on forever.

The reason I ran so early today is that at 4:45am our neighbor’s plowing service came by and started up the ol’ snowblower and plow. This was only feet from our bedroom window. Needless to say, we weren’t happy about it. No matter whom our neighbor gets to plow each year, they insist on coming at 4:45am. There’s a noise ordinance in our city that prevents anyone but city plow truck drivers to make noise before 6am. Once hubby had to go out there and tell the guy that he was throwing snow on our bedroom window! He didn’t even realize that this might wake us up and furthermore “T” us off because heavy snow was hitting the house. DUH! There’s just no consideration anymore (or it’s plain stupidity). I can go on and on. The point is that hubby got out the door slightly earlier than usual, and I was wide awake and thought I’d take advantage of getting this done early.

It’s cold again today. We had rain in the morning yesterday, which then turned to sleet, then snow. I’m so happy that I have the treadmill in icy conditions like this, no matter what some say about it. Sure, I could get out there and experience what it’s like to run freely on the pavement, and I will some day, but I also enjoy the challenges I’ve been able to overcome in the 3 1/2 months I’ve been running inside. It’s also a great form of exercise, as walking on it was getting boring. To each his own, and right now, this is my own.

I’m going to go grab some breakfast. Have a good Wednesday!

Shannan

Okay, so I’m thinking I’m going to have to re-challenge myself next week. I had some family things come up yesterday during the time I was going to run, and since I had waited so long to run, the opportunity had passed. Today, I had to take my brother-in-law to the hospital (after going in to work early) for knee surgery that was supposed to get us out of there by 3pm (surgery scheduled for 1pm). I find out at 4pm (after 4.5 hours of waiting in the waiting room) that he had just gone into surgery. Hubby had to come take my place in order to let me go home, which was at 5pm. I think they must be on their way home as I’m writing this. I hope. The day is gone for me. I will try again on Sunday. I think I will start again next week, but maybe just make it a weekly mileage goal instead of every day, since it seems that is not realistic to life right now.

Sigh. Thanks, Thomas, for your comment. I will do well on Sunday. I really want to try to get more miles, so I’m going to plan on a longer running time and take whatever mileage I can get in that time. It’s been a rough eating week, too, and I need to recommit to doing both the running and the eating the right way. I guess it’ll happen when I make both of them a higher priority.

Have a good weekend, everyone!  🙂

Shannan

Okay, so today was going to be a run day. Guess not, now. Yesterday I was cleaning up the office in preparing the house for Thanksgiving next week, and I had put some of my exercise stuff, like my big ball and some dumbbells, on the floor in our bedroom. I forgot about them, and was carrying a laundry basket from the bed backwards when I stepped onto a dumbell in my socks. I bruised my right heel, which is also on the same foot that my neuroma has been acting up. This leaves the front and the back of my right foot in pain. The bruise hurts more than the neuroma, and I’ve been running with the neuroma pain for weeks now, but even walking is bad now. I’m going to lay off it and try to do some leg exercises that don’t require walking/running, and I’ll get in some weights today, too. Since I’ve started running it seems that I’ve been neglecting my upper body strength training a little, so I’ll take the opportunity today to do it in place of the running.

These past two or three weeks have felt like another dimension, but I’ll bounce back eventually with the running and writing and whatever has been pushed to the wayside. We’re hopefully going to hear back on results regarding a family member’s health problems, so at least we’ll have answers there. Certain daily, monotonous things just don’t seem important right now while other things are up in the air like this.

Sorry to be so blah today. I’m trying not to freak out about it being a week from Thanksgiving. Clutter just doesn’t seem to be much of a concern this year. Not that it’s not there, but I’m beginning to see that it’s just not as important as just being with family. (Sarah, don’t you start or I will!)  :^)

Everyone, have a good day! I’ll be watching the rest of season 2 of Arrested Development on hulu while I clean and lift weights. 

Shannan