Jogging #21: From Complicated To Just Difficult

[serinde]

Today was the last iteration of varying combinations of running and walking; from this point on, it's all running, all the time, and it's just a question of increasing duration and speed. (Starting with 25 minutes, ZOMG.)

This leads to a bit of a quandary. The school gym only has four treadmills. And, for the last week, one of those has been out of commission; you would not think it would be that big a deal, but a 25% reduction in availability has definitely made an impact. I had to wait a good fifteen minutes to get one, and that only by utilizing my mad sharking-for-table-at-mall-food-court skills. Based on usual school procedures, the thing could be out for weeks. Now, there are signs all over the gym saying "Maximum 20 minutes on cardio equipment!" (with requisite deformed fonts and extra exclamation points) , which no one pays attention to--but that's probably because most of the time there's enough to go around. If there isn't going to be for who knows how long, then it would be wrong of me to bogart it for better than half an hour (once you count in warm-ups and cool-downs). So I guess I should go back to doing it in the morning? Meh meh mrfl meh. I like having the steady indication of how fast I'm moving, because my internal measure is crap.

Today was 10/3/10. Hardest at the start, this time. However, at the end, I was getting seriously overheated; I have achieved the point where that's the weakest link, not tiredness or breath. I don't know if that's supposed to get better or not.

I'm also a little unsure about heart rate stuff. According to the little chart...which, admittedly, is based solely on age and is thus probably mostly worthless...it says that for cardio work I should aim for about 148. When I'm running for more than 5 minutes, I'm in the 170-180 range. I don't feel like my heart is going to explode out of my chest, so I wasn't worrying about it, but should I?

Did 3 reps of 10 at 2# on the modified shoulder press, and 2 reps of 10 at 1# on the lateral shoulder thingie.

Down a pound, in spite of crappy eating habits yesterday.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I would ignore all the heart rate nonsense. Whenever I've been on those machines, even working at full potential, they tell me my heart rate is zero. And then it zooms up to 192, and then back to zero, where it stays. From this, we can conclude that I am a zombie having a heart attack. But we all knew that anyway. :)

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that anonymous comment was me. LJ craziness.

[spride.livejournal.com]

1. Don't trust the machine's HRM - get your own. There are now some that don't require a chest strap - I got this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G37H0M

You have to touch the two contacts for 2-3 seconds but that's no hassle.

2. Weeks? Months.

3. You can calculate your optimum heart rate using the Karvonen formula.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_rate#Karvonen_method

I've mailed you my spreadsheet for calculating your own.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

I do have an HRM (though with a chest strap), I just haven't used it because the directions are in Engrish and are entirely opaque where they aren't flat-out wrong, and it vexes me. I should dig it out and make it go, though, you're right.

I'd sort of like to get an actual maximum-heart-rate test, because I have a suspicion I might not fall in the ordinary groove on this, but I don't know whether it's something you can just say "hey gimme" to your doctor about.

[(Anonymous)]

I know a good cardio that takes GHI.

[spride.livejournal.com]

I know a good cardio that takes GHI.

[nancaurelia.livejournal.com]

Instead of thinking about down a pound or up a pound from yesterday, would it be more motivating to think about a bigger picture and being down___ lbs. since beginning the jogging program? It would for me. I know you may also be trying to compare the results of various jogging techniques, but I'm not sure that it works that way. Frequency of exercise certainly has impact.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm graphing weight in an application that averages out over time, takes means, and does other sensible statistical analysis. My trend is indeed down. I just make these little notes here as a check in.