Hope I get another run in

I did not blog about my Saturday morning run. I accidentally deleted it from my stopwatch, but I ran for 40 minutes. That I know. I also know that it is not 40 consecutive minutes because I had to stop for a poop break for Bailey, as per usual. And I when I completed the first trip, I dropped her off, wiped off my sweat, gulped some water, put on a little more sunblock, before heading back out. So my first about 13 minutes had two interruptions. But the next 27 minutes, I just went.

I seem recall not feeling too much pain until I had done the first trip, and then not feeling one of my pains until I finished my second trip. Regardless, it went well, and I could have kept going.

I am hoping to get a run in tomorrow night. Friday night I will be packing. And Saturday we head to the beach, where I hope to get two runs in over the next week.

I have also been pretty good about lifting weights again. I started about 3.5 weeks ago, and have done it 3 times per week pretty consistently. I flaked out last night, but because I woke up early today, I got in two sets. Sure, not my usual three sets, but I was mixing it up.

Oh, and I talked to my cardiologist friend who said that it is okay that my heart rate gets up so high when I run up hills. As long as I am not sustaining the 100 percent (which I am not; I think I keep it around 85 percent during most of my run), then I am fine. So, good.

Later.

My longest run yet

I took a few days off from running. At least I think. Maybe I ran Monday or Tuesday; maybe I did not. But I am leaning towards no. I did, however, run last evening. Sans dog!

This time, I started off running/jogging, right out of the gate. I ran about .6 miles (my usual route with Bailey before we turn around); however, just before I got to the top of that very steep hill at the almost .6 mark, I walked for about 20 to 30 seconds. My heart rate was around 180, which is about 100 percent of my maximum heart rate. As I have said here before, even when I was in the best shape of my life, I still would hit that high (although 10 to 20 years ago that would have been okay). Regardless, once I got to the top, I turned around, and I ran back down the hill, backwards because it is too tough on my knees. When I got back home, I had run about 1.2 miles for about 13:30. So more than a 10-minute mile, but not much.

I continued to run for another approximately 12 minutes, which also included walking for about 20 to 30 seconds up another crazy-steep hill. I ended my bit with about 5 minutes of walking. I am guessing I ran a little over 2 miles total; I am not sure how it breaks down after the 1.2 miles because I ran up and down my street a few times before getting bored and running elsewhere. Once I decided I should finish my run, I really could have kept going, but I decided that was good. I am glad I picked last evening, when the temps were around 70; when Bailey and I walked tonight, it was around 80 and humid. No thanks!

My right knee hurt during most of the run, but not horribly. But the rest of me felt pretty good. I have not decided if I will go with running 1, 2, or 3 times a week, but my goal is to hit one of those!I still worry about ruining my knees. But I do think I am in good shape, so no worries there, particularly since I have no plan to ever run more than 3 or 4 miles again.

I am also continuing to walk most days at work, for anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.

Now if only I could curtail the eating...

Did I say the Flash? I meant Superman(girl)

It turns out that Target sells Superman shirts with a small cape attached to the back. I found this in the men's department yesterday, so of course, I had to buy one. Just in case.

Here is this little gem.

When I ran this afternoon, which will be my final run before the race, I started off, as I typically do, feeling good. And, just as typical, within a couple of minutes, I wondered how I will ever run 30 minutes. During the first 10 minutes, I often wonder how I will hit 15 or 20 minutes.

Eventually, I got through it, and inevitably, I felt decent enough to make the 30 minutes (I am often propelled by a good song on the iPhone). I am guessing I ran about 2.8 miles. But I know I did run about 1.4 miles in just under 14 minutes, so I am satisfied with that. I am still somewhat disturbed by the fact that every time I run up this crazy steep hill in my neighborhood, that my heart rate hits 180 bpm. My heart rate has always gone high when I ran up hills. But 180 bpm in your 20s seems less scary than in your 40s.

In any event, I am still torn about what will happen next week at the race. Most of me just wants to wear that caped beauty and have fun. But a tiny part of me wants to see how I can really do.

I have six days to figure it out.

A walk, some steps, and a swim

When I last blogged, I lamented how I was not doing as much physical activity as I wanted. I swam on Friday, which included about an hour of treading water, but then did nothing on Saturday or Sunday. So today I was determined to make up for my inactivity.

Late this morning, I met some friends downtown for lunch. I parked at the Second Avenue Garage and made the trek to Market Square. I am not sure how far I walked, but I kept a pretty brisk pace there and back, despite my impractical sandals. It ended up taking me about 25 minutes round trip, plus the steps up and down to my car. Not bad (but let's not talk about the Chipotle lunch I had while in Market Square).

Then I headed to school and for the 63 or 64 steps. For some reason, I made better time the first 10 trips, and I was delighted I did not fall ill, as I was only about 1.25 hours removed from eating. I took a two-minute break to catch my breath and gulp some water, and then I ran up and down another 10 times.

First 10 steps: 8:15
Second 10 steps: 8:35

Once again my heart rate was up around 180 bpm when I was done, but I walked around a bit after and felt fine within a few minutes.

Within an hour, I was in the pool, and I ended up swimming 15 laps, plus general moving and splashing around. It was definitely slow going, but I was glad I did it as well as a few arms exercises.

All in all, a great day exercising. But let's also not talk about my dinner either...

Continuing to blame it on the heat

This afternoon, I finally tackled my "usual" two-mile round trip school run. I had well over an hour to get it in, so I figured even if I had to crawl the last mile, I should be able to make it back in time for pickup.

Most of the run was without pain, so there is that. I do recall feeling some ankle pain (I forget which foot) early on, but it subsided quickly. Or, the constant panting took over, "drowning" out any other suffering.

The temps were around 80-couple degrees, but, once again, the humidity was pretty high, or so it felt to me. But I was determined not to let the heat, my age, and my inconsistent/rare running keep me from doing what I set out to do. Part of me really wanted to get a longer run in since I had the time, but wanting to know where I stood time-wise for my usual run won out.

Here are the stats:

Mile 1: 10:43
Mile 2: 9:00

Looking back at previous posts, this is definitely one of my worst runs, and I fought to get the first mile under 11 minutes! But between the heat and my running so little this year (probably six to eight times the first eight months of the year), I won't beat myself up about it too much. Besides, once I got my almost 20 minutes in, I jogged around the outside of the gym and up the outside steps over a half dozen times, for about eight or nine minutes. On top of that, my heart rate gets up pretty high when I am running uphill or up steps (between 160 and 180 bpm), which I know is not good, so I feel a little limited.

I also swam about 25 laps on Sunday and 30 laps yesterday, with some pool jogging and leg and arm work thrown in for good measure. If I can round the week out with Zumba and another swim, then yee-haw for me!

Nothing like running steps in 90-degree weather

In addition to running about 1.5 miles this week (along with a Zumba class and two days of swimming), I also ran up the 65-ish fun-filled steps 10 times. Several people told me I was nuts as it was 90 degrees. And I did not disagree with them. But I guess I felt as if I had something to prove to myself.

I kept the pace rather slow as I was sweating (so much for clothes that wick away perspiration) and struggling. In the end, I finished in 8:55, which I was happy with considering the temps. When I was finished and had a few minutes to catch my breath, I decided to run around the gym and up those steps four times. To me, exercising for only nine minutes hardly "counts." That too was no easy task considering the heat, but I was happy to get another five minutes of movement.

I wish I could be happy with walking as it is probably not a good idea to get my 40-year-old heart up to 180 bpm, but it seems so inefficient and boring. However, if the heat continues (and I don't think it will), then I may have to slow down the pace.

Stay tuned.

No, weather people, it does NOT feel like 73 degrees!

My second run in as many weeks. Look at me go!

When I went to bed last night, amidst the windy, stormy weather, I was convinced my morning run would be in 70-degree and low humidity weather. I figured I would take the same route as last week, and see if my time had improved. But when I started my run around 9:50 a.m., the temps felt about 80 degrees and the sun was blazing, I was pretty sure that was not happening.

When I was halfway through my water bottle and only 1/3 of the way through my run, I, once again, considered cutting in short. But I decided even if I could not beat last week's time, I could at least come close to it. So I soldiered on.

Because of the sun, heat and humidity (I cannot believe it was only 73 degrees, but I can believe the humidity was 100 percent), I hardly noticed any pains. I was, however, cursing the sweat that kept running down my face. The ponytail holder kept my hair off my face and neck, but what I was really missing was a hairband to  keep the sweat on my brow. Oh, well.

When it was all said and done and my lukewarm water was down to its last few rationed drops, I ended up coming in at 29:16. I have no idea how I bested my time from last week by almost two minutes. And I really felt it at the end (as did my rapidly beating heart which took quite a few minutes to slow down). But I did it.

Not sure when I will get my next run in (just last week I said it would probably take me a month or two), but if I can keep up with swimming and/or Zumba a couple times a week, hopefully I can stay in decent shape.

A step and a run

I have not been exercising as much as I should be. Since I last wrote, I swam two times, did Zumba twice, and took a short (45 minutes?) hike at Frick Park. I did some running around with the kid at the park, but that is nothing to brag about. Today I was a little more productive.

I walked up and down the 65ish steps three or four times while talking on the phone. Once I ended that call, I ran up and jogged down the steps 10 times. It took me 8:19 to do that, which is respectable. Once I finished that journey, I jogged for about eight minutes on the mostly flat upper lot at school. Then, for the final three or four minutes, I sprinted for about 20 seconds at a time and then jogged slowly in between, for probably 30 or 40 seconds.

I felt okay for most of the running, though I was wishing I had on short sleeves and shorts. At first, as usual, I was thinking it was going to be too much, but since I decided from the get-go I was going to make only 10 trips, it made it easier mentally. As for the sprinting at the end, even that was not so bad. The downside is my heart rate did get up (around 180 bpm) every time I finished a sprint. But I like to think the old ticker is going strong.

Another beautiful day in Pittsburgh

We have had some beautiful March days lately. I probably should have used yesterday's just about 70-degree sunny day to get in a run, but I decided to run the steps instead. This time I smartly went sleeveless, though I probably could have also done without the 3/4-length leggings.

As usual, I felt great going up the first time, but, man, it does not take long for me to wonder how I am going to get through 20 trips. Pretty much by the second trip down, I was feeling tired and warm. I decided not to worry too much about my timing since it was the warmer than when I last did steps, but I definitely did not want to increase my workout by more than a minute.

Luckily, somehow, I bested my time from two weeks ago. I completed 20 trips in 16:07, shaving just over 20 seconds off that workout. I am not going to boldly claim that I want to get my time below 16 minutes, because, quite frankly, I would be happy with 17 minutes, maybe even 18. I cannot figure out why my timing has gotten better this year/month as compared to previous years, when I felt as if I were in better shape. Perhaps I stopped more during those workouts and then did not stop my stopwatch while doing so.

And the downside of getting through steps in a short(er) amount of time is that if I do nothing else, that means I get just over 15 minutes of exercise in, which is pretty much nothing (well, don't tell that to my thighs and heart!).

So I when I finished my 20 trips up and down the steps, I proceeded to run around the outside of the gym, which includes about 20 steps, for seven minutes. So I probably ran about 3/4 of a mile, maybe more. I am definitely satisfied with 23 minutes of working out.

If I did not work my legs so hard, I would do something today, but probably I will just walk around for a bit and enjoy the weather. Too nice to go to the pool (which, by the way, we did on Monday, and I got in about 20 laps).

Sometimes I forget I am not in my 20s anymore

Considering I have not managed a single run in the Burgh since May, my blog title clearly is not applicable this summer. But the good news is I did run this morning, once again in Indiana County.

Because it is hot and humid, I decided before even I began my run that I was going to keep my run at 20 minutes. When I first started out, it was a little over 70 degrees, but I could feel the humidity, not to mention there was a lot of haze in the sky. I kept a reasonable pace for most of the run, and it went okay. Very little pain, which was surprising considering my right calf has been hurting since yesterday morning (and still hurts now, hours later). Of course, the hills were not easy, but when are they ever. Near the end, when I had been running about 25 minutes, I checked my heart rate.

I have not thought about what my heart rate should be for years, although I do try to check it after most runs. For some reason, I thought that if it was around 180 bpm when I was finishing the strongest/fastest part of my run, then I was doing something right.

Recently, however, I came across an article that talked about heart rate. According to this source, you should ideally work at no more than 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. To determine this:

220 - Age (39) = 181 (maximum heart rate)

85 percent of 181 = 153.85 bpm

I did a quick search on the internet and found a handful of articles with heart rate calculation tools. According to those tools, when working out, my heart rate should be anywhere from 91 to 163 bpm, which is quite the range (the higher your fitness level, the higher your heart rate can go). Unfortunately, nowhere did I read that I should be working out at my maximum heart rate, which I come close to sometimes. In fact, today, when I had just finished the end of my run, my heart rate was around 175. Oops.

I need to do some more research to figure out if I am putting myself at risk for a heart attack or something. When I run slowly, I feel pretty good and have the energy to keep going, so it makes me think that I should run harder and faster, to tax myself. The same is true when I swim. And, as I have stated here many times, I have been swimming on average three days per week for the past few months. This past week, I managed four days of swimming, and one of those days I swam 30 laps. I feel good when I exercise and I think I am in pretty good shape. Let's hope that is true.

C'mon heart!