Training Check-in/Encouragement Thread

[Melanie]

I've been manually entering my calories, because I've already noticed exactly what you're pointing out, Nat. But, so far I really love MyFitnessPal, mainly for the nutrition tracking.

[GMRO]

I think you're supposed to energy (healthy carb) before a run, then lean up (protein rebuilding) after a run?

You got it Christine! BUT you've logged longer runs so you knew this...RIGHT?

I always try and eat a bagel or some form of complex carbs, not a ton, about an hour or so before a run. Then after I try and get some of the good stuff...protein!

I've also found a cup of coffee before a run helps me get into a rhythm sooner in my run.

I'm not the source behind this...JG is...

I just try stuff and give it a shot and see if it works. I weed out what don't work for me.

I'm pretty regimented so I have no problem being a test dummy! LOL

[JMTStone]

MyFitnessPal is great. I've been using it for awhile now.

My one caution about it, and it's kind of a big deal, is that the "calories burned" doing the various exercises you can enter are really, really inaccurate, at least for me. It underestimates by a huge margin.

I've had the same type of results. It says my 45 minutes of kickboxing is 635 calories. Other websites say 700-800. I like that its lower... just because it keeps me in check! (No, I don't want to have a 250 calorie cookie to waste 1/2 hour of kickboxing time).

[GMRO]

MyFitnessPal is great. I've been using it for awhile now.

My one caution about it, and it's kind of a big deal, is that the "calories burned" doing the various exercises you can enter are really, really inaccurate, at least for me. It underestimates by a huge margin. I know this because I wear a heart rate monitor while I work out, and there are calculators you can use (if you don't have a fancy gadget that does it for you) where you input the duration of exercise, the average HR during that time, your age, height, weight, gender, and it will tell you EXACTLY how many calories you burned. When I run, for example, my HR stays around 165 average. If I run at 5 mph average pace for an hour, MyFitnessPal says I burned 500 cal, while the true number is closer to 650-675. My heart rate tends to be on the high side, which is what the "calories burned" is based on. MyFitnessPal uses very random averages to calculate, so be aware of that.

YUP, agreed with that.

What really drives me buggy is that using some of the fancy gadgets...still shows some inconsistencies. Like my Nike Sportswatch...no matter if I power walk and do a 12min/mile for a 5K duration or run/walk/run it at 9 1/2 min/mile it still shows the SAME calories burnt after the 5K. No way is that right.

You'd think with the data you enter into a gadget with your profile, age, weight, height and it knowing your speed/pace and duration that it would better see a difference between a harder run vs. a walk and show that under the calorie count. I can say on the Nike+ GPS Sportswatch…it don’t. But I do like the features of it for sure.

Course we all burn more during the after burn too - after a run. So we know we are torching thru more any way vs. what our apps or devices display. I do like that heart monitor thing you mention. GEEZE I hope I don’t feel the need for one of those too! ROFL

IMO the key is, don't get obsessed with any of it. It will remove the fun of the run! And drive you crazy as you try and make "perfect" sense of everything you eat/enter into an app as well as every activity you perform. Any movement is good! And eating the good stuff is always better vs. the processed stuff and snacks.

YES - I've been there - obsessed. Now I try to relax a bit and enjoy it! The weight will come off if you stick to it and don't get put down by what the scale may show you at times. You see toning, weight loss and YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY NEW DISNEY CLOTHES or wear the old stuff that NOW hangs off you do to your new fitness level!

GOOD LUCK TO ALL and stick to it.

WOW the encouragement here is KEWL!

[GMRO]

I've had the same type of results. It says my 45 minutes of kickboxing is 635 calories. Other websites say 700-800. I like that its lower... just because it keeps me in check! (No, I don't want to have a 250 calorie cookie to waste 1/2 hour of kickboxing time).

OMG, now that is too funny - in a nice nice way. 250 calorie cookie!!!

BEEN THERE!

We use the 80/20. And sometimes you do need a little bit of the bad stuff so your body processes it. Once in shape your body will RIP thru the bad stuff.

You are obviously on the right track!!!

[Melanie]

YES - I've been there - obsessed. Now I try to relax a bit and enjoy it! The weight will come off if you stick to it and don't get put down by what the scale may show you at times.

At this point though, I need to be obsessed. I need to give it my full attention in my life right now. Otherwise, it won't work for me in the long run. Hopefully I'll get to where you are in the future.

[GMRO]

At this point though, I need to be obsessed. I need to give it my full attention in my life right now. Otherwise, it won't work for me in the long run. Hopefully I'll get to where you are in the future.

I hear ya. SORRY didn’t mean to put it down and sure hope you didn't take it that way.
YES the apps got me off my butt and moving. It was slow at first and I tracked each thing I put onto my mouth. YES it does help to be motivated and in my case it was the apps that did it. SURE I wanted to do it to get healthier and the app(s) I used helped me change my life-style of eating etc.

I feel, really do, that if you stick with your plan no matter how you do it...you did say you are starting off which is great...you WILL be able to change your life-style too and get to where you want to be. One day it will just CLICK and it will happen naturally.

I only meant to offer caution as to say in my case it was an obsession at times. DW and I started using apps at the same time and changing our life-style. And she hated it. I had no issues, don't mind routines etc, but I will say it did drive me crazy for a while trying to find everything in the app to enter it. Sure it was a few years ago and we didn’t have an app that did the bar scanner feature. Very similar into what it did but it was pretty manual.

When you are making a CHANGE, for the better, most of us need that BUMP to keep us on point. And the apps and gadgets are great for that.

Looking forward to following your successes!!!

Hope you got my meaning...

[cer]

I think you're supposed to energy (healthy carb) before a run, then lean up (protein rebuilding) after a run?

Ordinarily, yes, but I am working on conditioning at a deficit so that when I put it back in, I will be 'super charged'.

It is just where I am at right now in my personal training (emphasis on personal).

Kind of like people who work out in the gym with a weight vest. Condition/train their body harder, so that when the vest is removed they will be that much quicker or baseball players who work with a weighted bat.

When I do longer runs (over an hour) I take in calories every 45 min. and I absolutely recommend it. Also on those longer run days I begin my day with a bagel and peanut butter.

Right now leaning up is priority. I have to remove the weight so that I can have the energy to sustain and reduce the risk of injury. I am in an adjustment/growing period.

Please know that I am not out here being wreckless or putting myself at any risk. Also, my training is supervised - so what I am working on is not meant everyone, just me at this moment. It is no secret, though, that the less weight you carry the better your experience will be.

So yeah, this is where I am now.

Happy training, everybody!

[GMRO]

Cer,

I get it and can admire what you are doing. And glad it's supervised.

I use a weight vest when doing TUL exercises. And it WORKS you hard!!!

GOOD LUCK with the transformation/conditioning!

[Melanie]

Hope you got my meaning...

Absolutely, and I totally get where you are coming from. I love to hear everyone's story and get encouragement from those who have been there, done that.

[Yungbuck73]

Thanks to all for the advice on the stretching. I googled some stretches for before and after, and I have done the stretching the last 2 days and have gone further and felt soo much better after. I have had no more pain just aches, but thats to be expected. I am only in the walking stage building up to running, but I feel really good. Now to work on the diet. I heard some people mention about not eating after a certain time, my work schedule rotates around the clock so its very difficult to set my body clock to not eat after a certain time. I guess the best thing I can do is to atleast eat something healty such as fruits or some veggies. It's difficult, but its time for a change. Thank you to ALL the ICOT peeps who spoke about the RunDisney and got me motivated to attempt to do a 5K and try to build up to maybe more.
I also told my Wife, that since we are going on a Disney Cruise right after the marathon weekend, I am gonna do the 5K on Castaway Cay. I have heard it is fun.
Once again, I love hearing all the training stories and tips and advice. Keep en coming. It is a great motivator.

[Christine]

Yay Justin!!!!!

[mickeyd]

Training – Weeks 19 – 20
Week 19 of my training was a slow one. I took a week off running to rest my sore right knee. I skipped my two midweek runs, and did a 6 km walk with my Dad on the Saturday. The rest did me good, and my knee felt back to normal this week. I did two weekday runs of 5km each. They were a bit of a hard slog after a week off, but I took it easy and got through them without any discomfort or injury. Yesterday I did a 10km long run, which is my last long run before the Run Melbourne half marathon next week.

I’m glad I rested my knee and I’m feeling good physically for the half marathon, but I am also bit worried about how I will go – it has been far from the perfect preparation. But I’m looking on the bright side. I could have been worse. My knee could have kept me from even attempting the half next week.

So wish me luck for my first ever official race and first half marathon run next Sunday!

Trip Planning
Lots of exciting trip planning stuff this week. First we finally booked our flights from LAX to Orlando. I was hoping to go with Virgin America, but we bit the bullet and booked with American Airlines for $183 pp (Virgin was still showing $811!!). It’s a non stop flight that will get us into MCO around 4pm.
Second the 2014 Disney rates were released this week, so we were able to book the package for the second part of our stay – 9 nights at Port Orleans Riverside!! We paid it all upfront to guard against the pesky dropping Australian dollar.

Third, we made (most of) our ADRs!! Managed to get pretty early dinner reservations for the race days, as we will be having early nights to get up at 3am! Also I imagine I’ll be zonked after the marathon. Our list looks like this.

• Raglan Road
• House of Blues
• POR Foodcourt (for the nights before the half and full marathons)
• Ohana (post marathon dinner)
• Liberty Tree Tavern
• Via Napoli
• Sanaa
• Citricos (will probably replace with California Grill when it opens up for bookings again)
• Yak and Yeti (Lunch)
• Rose and Crown
• Ohana (yes, again)
• Chefs de France

Lots going on this week!

Hopefully when I post next week I will have finished my first half marathon!!

[snowflakegirl]

I haven't been running recently, but was from summer 2011 until the end of October 2012. I started in an effort to get fit and then realized I actually really liked running. I started out barely able to jog the thirty second stretches on the C25K and by October I'd managed to get up to running/jogging my short runs of 3 miles at 9 minute miles and my long runs of 8 miles with an average of 11-12 minute miles. I only stopped because I got pregnant in September and despite my intention of at least maintainimg what I was already doing, I found rather quickly that it suddenly felt like I was using all new muscles to run and I could barely maintain 1 mile without walking portions, so I had to stop. Now my little Peanut is here (he'll be a month old this week) and I'm looking forward to getting back to training as soon as I get the go ahead from my doctor. I'll basically be starting over from scratch, and finding time to train with an infant, my husband's crazy work schedule, and my return to work will be difficult, but I'm hopeful. And my husband and I talked about it and agreed that running in the 2014 F&W half is the perfect motivator/reward for my work ;-) . As long as all goes according to plan, I should start training again the first week of August.

[GMRO]

Ever feel let down by NOT being able to get a run in?

I actually look FORWARD each day to running. Almost like the time before and after a run is just standing still until I get to run.

M-F mornings go ok...breakfast before work at 6:30AM then to work for 8AM. First break at 10AM for a snack at work...then at 11:30AM - RUN TIME!!! It’s like I work all AM to just get to mid day for my 5k or longer. Then I have lunch. Break at 2:30PM with snack and now I can't wait to get home to run with the DW on our run days in the evenings. She is following JG's 5K app...I do to, but I tend to overdo it since I run at work daily with the app pending weather.

During the weekend, at least one of the 2 days, we get a longer AM run in from JG's program/coaching app.

ANYWAY, I feel robbed - cheated if I can't get my runs in. Just wondering if ya'll do to?

[JMTStone]

Ever feel let down by NOT being able to get a run in?

Today I donated blood and may not be able to do kickboxing tonight (I'm a bit woozy) and I'm real mad about it. I'm asking myself why I scheduled this on a day I have training? I'm glad I got my short run in this morning. So I know EXACTLY what you're going through.

I find the stress levels are much lower now that I'm on regular schedule. Especially after punching and kicking (insert name of person annoying me here) the bag.

[GMRO]

I find the stress levels are much lower now that I'm on regular schedule. Especially after punching and kicking (insert name of person annoying me here) the bag.

YUP!

Nice thing donating too. In that situation I'd be fine knowing it was for a positive thing. You may want to rest today.

KEWL!

[PirateLover]

Does anyone have any experience with Plantar Fasciitis? I think this might be what I am experiencing. I have a pain in the arch of one foot and it's been there for a week and a half now. It isn't constant. I feel it the most when I stretch out my foot. When I push on it, it seems to emanate from the tendon close to the inside of the arch. I know you guys aren't doctors, but I really don't feel like driving out and paying a copay for something I may be able to deal with on my own. I have not tried to run on it. I have done the exercise bike and the elliptical. The elliptical bothered it slightly.

I am another one looking to reduce a bit weight wise. I rejoined Weight Watchers. I lost with them before, but I got lazy about it and gained it back. I have tried calorie-counting apps for half a year now and still can't seem to lose. WW's points plus system really seems to work better for me, and now that I am serious about working out I feel more confident that I can keep the weight off this time.

[dnickels]

Training's going good for me, riding everyday and did ~18 miles Saturday at almost 15 mph pace so I'm not too far away from where I'll be racing at. Hoping to get a better racing wheelchair when I get back to Florida too so that'll give me more incentive to up the training.

Unfortunately I've gotta travel for the next two and a half weeks for friends getting married and can't bring the racing chair with me so I'll be unable to ride at all until I get back. That'll be a rough week getting the lungs in shape when I start again!

[Christine]

Great job everybody!!!!