15 AUG 2010 workout

Today, a zone 4/5a/5b jog/walk to improve CV fitness and train LT.

Warmup: 5 minutes on Wii Fit plus 3 minute walk
Workout: 30' 35" jog/walk (estimated 390 Cal.)
Cooldown: 7' 00" spin.
Estimated Total Calories: 421
Road run to improve both cardio fitness and train LT threshold. Sun shining, a bit humid (appeared to have rained some overnight), but still a great run overall. Very happy with today's exercise. Recovery HR: 177 @ t, 154 @ t-1' (-23), 143 @ t-2' (-11 [-34]), 138 @ t-3' (-5 [-39]).

Recovery workout tomorrow, likely a 30' Wii fit activity in MET 2.0-3.0 range.

Sleep: 9/10 (slept really well)
Fatigue: 0/10 (not fatigued)
Stress: 0/10 (not stressed)
Soreness: 1/10 (very mild knee soreness bilat.)

Resting HR: 68

08 Aug 2010 workout, review of new wardrobe items

Today's workout was a zone 4/5a/5b/5c walk/run.

Warmup: 10 minutes on Wii Fit.

Workout: 32'40" walk/run (estimated 408 Cal, Min HR 145, Max HR 179, Avg HR 157.)

Cooldown: 5 min walk.

Estimated Total Calories: 470

Busted out with a good hard walk/run, essentially interval training (see the run graph). Felt great starting, had a good run throughout, and finished with a pretty good nearly full-effort sprint toward the end (recovery HR: 175->1' 151-> 2' 143->3' 138 (-24, -32, -35)).

Got new workout clothes and running shoes! I went and spent some money to upgrade the wardrobe, and I'm ecstatic about the results.

The shirt is a loose-fit Under Armour Ringer Tech Tee, which was really comfortable. No places where it bunches up, squeezes, or felt too loose. In addition to the shirt, I got a pair of Under Armour Compression Heatgear Compression shorts (really, just tight boxers meant to keep everything secure), and a pair of Under Armour Men's Blitz Microshorts, the combination of which worked really well. The pockets in the shorts are very deep, which I like, but they're only attached at the opening, and so if you put anything heavy (like, keys), the pockets sway really badly. Outside of that, they're excellent.

The pinnacle, though, is the shoes: Under Armour Prophet II running shoes. I freaking LOVE these shoes. They don't roll, they compress properly, the shock absorption is excellent, and they have great rebound. These aren't the top end of running shoe, but they're quite excellent for a guy like me, just re-starting his exercise activity.

Sleep: 9/10 (Excellent sleep)

Fatigue: 2/10 (hardly any fatigue)

Stress: 1/10 (little work stress)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 67.

03 Aug 2010 workout

Today's workout was intended to be a zone 4/5a/5b threshold & aerobic capacity run, but after a couple of minutes of normal running pace my HR was into the 170-172 range, so I dialed it back to a mostly zone 2/3 aerobic/tempo walk/jog, with occasional jogs into the anaerobic capacity realm.

Warmup: 8 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 37'09" walk/jog (2.19 mi, avg 16'58" mile, 392 Cal, Min HR 135, Max HR 172, Avg HR 143. In-exercise recovery HRs, with start->1'->3': 1st 172->152->145; 2nd 167->146-136. Not bad for a 40 year-old fat guy who's only been back on the exercise wagon for just under a month.)

Cooldown: 5 min walk.

Estimated Total Calories: 441

For some reason, my sleep was broken up often, and I am fairly sure I spent the last two hours of it in an alpha state rather than a full sleeping state.

No workout tomorrow, on-shift.

Sleep: 5/10 (Woke up several times through the night)

Fatigue: 3/10 (somewhat fatigued)

Stress: 4/10 (work stress elevated)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 70.

01 Aug 2010 workout

Today's workout was a zone 4/5a/5b threshold & aerobic capacity run.

Warmup: 15 minutes on Wii Fit

Workout: 33'38" run (2.26 mi, avg 14'53" mile, 410 Cal, Min HR 130, Max HR 177, Avg HR 155)

Cooldown: 5 min walk (recovery HR roughly - 20–25 BPM)

Estimated Total Calories: 510

Good run. Felt better and was able to push the envelope a bit, did some interval-esque running (clearly visible on the run tracker on Nike + website).

My last two runs were both tracked with both the RunKeeper free app for iPhone as well as the Nike+ app. The Nike calibration hasn't been really good, mostly because it's a PITA to calibrate it unless you do it in EXACTLY the right order (it doesn't do a very good job when backgrounded). As for which I like better ... I like the Nike + app better for almost everything. I wish it would shuffle the playlist that I select, rather than only "all songs," and I wish it would handle calibration better (it should allow you to go back to historical workouts and calibrate those, as well has properly suspend and restore its state when put in the background on iOS 4). Outside of that, the Nike+ site is awesome, I LOVE the graphs they use. RunKeeper has great map and elevation graph, along with pacing/speed graphs that superimpose over the elevation graph, showing you how you fared against the climb. So, for the near future, I do believe that my runs will be done with both apps, since they both give different useful information.

Sleep: 10/10 (Awesome sleep)

Fatigue: 1/10 (slightly fatigued, mostly from the shift I believe)

Stress: 4/10 (work stress elevated)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 66.

27 Jul 2010 workout

Today's workout was a zone 4/5a threshold run with a warm up on the Wii Fit.

Wii Fit: 8 minutes of zone 1/2 warmup with stretching

Run: 35 minutes of zone 4/5a workout
Walk: 5 minutes of cooldown with stretching

Estimated Total Calories: 537

HR during  the workout wandered, mostly stayed between 155-163 but did creep to 172 a couple of times during the last quarter of the run; brought it down to a walk when that happened (not really trying to work anaerobic capacity at this time).

Sleep: 9/10 (Good sleep, did wake up twice but went right back to sleep)

Fatigue: 0/10 (no fatigue)

Stress: 0/10 (no stress)

Soreness: 1/10 (slight R hamstring soreness)

Resting HR (@wakeup): 71