Running Equipment
Managed to get two runs in this week, so I’m slowly working back up to where I was before I got sick. Earlier this week, I hopped on the treadmill and ran a mile right away without stopping again. I couldn’t do it again after that, only a half or 3/4’s of a mile – but I was really happy that I hadn’t completely gotten out of shape in the week+ I took off for being sick. Yesterday I wanted to run again, but I really didn’t want to go back to the gym. I missed being able to run outside, and my silly issue of not being able to get a drink while running was seriously bugging me. So I ran out and made yet another exercise purchase. Here’s what I’ve gotten to date:
Polar F7 Heart Rate Monitor
This has been instrumental in my being able to understand exactly how many calories I’m burning when I’m working out and how my body is reacting to the exercise. I can see when my heart rate is going too high and I need to pull back a bit, and I can see when it’s gone too low and I need to step it up a bit. My major complaint with it is that I’ve not been able to get it to work in the water. No matter how tight I make the chest band, no matter what I do. It thinks I’m dead in the water and gives me a heart rate of 0. Heh. Otherwise, love it.
iPod/iPhone Armband Holder
Obviously this is very handy. I keep my iphone in it, even though it has the plastic shield, it still registers when I use the touch screen.
Chain Timer iPhone App
When I’m doing my “Run 3 mins / Walk 2 mins” rotations, this app is invaluable! You can set custom chained timers and then it buzzes or plays a sound to let you know when to switch. I play my music in the background and then run this app.
Altec Lansing Backbeat Bluetooth Headset
Originally, I had been using the wired headphones with my iPhone, but the wires bouncing around while I ran really annoyed me. If I had a call come in, I’d have to disconnect everything to take the call. And of course the volume controls were on the phone itself, so to raise or lower the volume meant again, fumbling with the phone. With this headset, all these controls are on the headset itself, and no annoying wire. Take a call, change the volume, pause music play even, all with an easy click on the headset. It also will filter the ambient sound when you have the music paused, so you don’t have to take the headphones out in order to hear when people are talking to you.
And now my most recent purchase:
a Water Bottle Belt
This has been a major issue for me running outside. I can’t run for more than 5 minutes before I need to rehydrate. Not wanting to carry a bottle around in my hand, I hadn’t been bringing any water with me, which would usually lead to me feeling sick at the end of the run. This belt is really comfortable, I actually push it around and wear it on my back. It has a little pouch too so I can put keys etc. in there. I bought this last night and then ran out of the house to try it out. Very happy with it.
I also bought a Camelbak Water Bottle Sara had recommended. Worked ok. I was going to use it with the straw – but it almost immediately fell off inside. Tried to get it to stay – wouldn’t. Not sure if that’s a problem with these bottles in general, or just mine. But I did like the bottle anyway. 😀
(Isn’t it ironic that with all my exercise/running purchases, I still haven’t gotten a fancy pair of running shoes? LOL! The ones I’m using I got from Costco – they were cheap but they seem pretty good.)
Calorie check in isle 5, please?
Before I started counting calories, I hadn’t paid much attention to nutrition labels. At least, not nearly as much as I do now. Sure, I would check fiber and protein counts occasionally. Sometimes I’d double check to make sure a product didn’t contain any trans fat. Beyond that I was in the land of ignorance-is-bliss. I figured that similar products would all be about the same calories, unless something was marked as “light” – and then I assumed the item was ok to have on a diet.
When I did start to track calories, obviously this required me to pay close attention to those labels. It was a huge eye-opener. Products that seem exactly the same – can vary in calories to a huge degree. Once I saw that, reading the labels of everything I buy has become both a necessity and an obsession. It certainly has made shopping trips take a lot longer, but the quality of food I’m buying is worth the extra time. Something that can look and taste almost the same, can differ in calories by a few hundred. And the big surprise, not all of those items labeled “light” are really lower calorie.
Just today, I was looking for some quick, easy lunches. I found some instant-noodle bowls that looked interesting. They all looked about the same, but read the label and one package was around 500 calories. Another was under 300.
Another thing to watch out with those nutrition labels, sometimes I feel like they design them to fool the consumer. Something that may look like it’s a low-calorie item, may not be at all – it all depends on the portion size too. I see this a lot in cereals. We found an awesome tasting cereal that was made to look healthy and low calorie, but the one serving the nutrition label was basing it’s numbers on was so small, there would be no way to feel satisfied with it.
Scanning the labels is pretty time consuming, and with a husband and two kids usually in tow – it’s not very practical. The first few weeks of calorie counting, I had to go shopping on my own so I could spend the time to look at all the labels on the shelf. Thankfully, now things have gotten a lot easier. I’m starting to be familiar with what to expect for calories for certain items. I’m getting to know the brands that have the lower calories so shopping trips aren’t as slow as they used to be.
It took time to make this part of our regular routine and way of eating. But it’s well worth the time we invested.
Accepting the inevitable
So… it’s August 21st. Summer is pretty much over at this point. I was on week 4 (of a 13 week training program) before I got sick last week and have not exercised so much as my little finger since then. I think it’s a safe bet the 5K will not happen this summer. And being that I am such a wimp with the cold, running a 5K in the fall or winter is not going to happen either. Spring 2010. That’s the new plan. There will be plenty of time to train. Sure I could probably half-walk/half-run one now – but since I’ve never run in a 5K – I would like to try to AIM for running more than walking.
I was so proud of being able to run that mile a little more than a week ago. But when I got sick, that was the end of that for the rest of the week. I haven’t felt “right” since then. I wasn’t able to stand for more than a minute or two before my legs started hurting and/or before I’d start to feel faint and light-headed. Today is the first day I didn’t have to sit down every 5 seconds while I got ready in the morning. So I am going to try to run again tonight. I have no idea what to expect. I was up to session 2 of week 4: (which was a recover week) – back to running two minutes walking two minutes. This is probably good that it was a “recovery week” – it will help me get back into the running grove.
Hip Hop Hustle!
My 24 Hour Fitness just started a new class for Tuesday nights: Hip Hop Hustle. I take the Zumba class on Thursday nights and have been loving it – so another dance-style aerobics class was definitely something I had to try. It was totally awesome. In fact, I may even like it better than Zumba, which is really saying something. I wear a Polar F7 Heart Rate monitor (HRM) when I exercise, and even when I run, I struggle to get it to read a 300 calorie burn. When I’ve gotten it to read 400 – I know I’ve really pushed it. Well, in Hip Hop Hustle, I didn’t even feel like I was working that hard. There’s definitely room to work harder, but with my workload recently, I just wasn’t up to more than coasting through the class. Even still, my HRM had me burning over 400 calories. That was with me not even feeling that tired after the class!! When I’m up to working harder, I wonder how high that calorie burn is going to be!
If you have access to a Hip Hop Hustle class, and you like dance-style aerobics, definitely check it out. I know that how much fun a class is can really be dependent on the instructor. So if you don’t like one class, try another one with a different instructor to see if you might like the class better. (That goes for Zumba classes too – which I still plan on going to on)