Duration = 23:52
Distance = 1.25
Calories = 136
I may need to change the template now that I have way too much data available.
Boring stuff first, I did a fitness test associated with the software that came with the new HRM. This took long enough that I decided to call it today's exercise.
The UKK Walk Test is, as you would expect, a walking fitness test. You walk at a brisk and steady rate for 2km. You record the ending heart rate and the time for the 2km. This generates a score that is an indication of fitness. The software barked at me for not walking fast enough and another site provided a form that generated a negative number (-3).
I've posted details about the new HRM on my LJ.
Using the Fitness Test option resulted in a value called OwnIndex, documented as similar to VO2 max. Currently, mine is 36. This is moderate for my age. The HRM also estimated a HRmax of 178 which matches one of the general ballpark estimates, 220 - age, so it may only have just used that. Time will tell. Now we have a measured starting point for aerobic fitness.
I plan to rerun this test in the morning every Monday until December, then the first Monday thereafter. There is a training effectiveness test that I will be running on Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings as long as it seems useful.
Immediate planning
My most immediate goal is passing the USAF Fitness Assessment (Fit-to-Fight). The part of this I am having issues with is the run. My current effort as described in this blog is targeted at this element. (The longer term goals build on this for improved fitness.) With no other improvement on the rest of the assessment, I need a time of 13:12 for the 1.5 miles (8:48/mile) to meet the minimum for my age. 12:00 will give a nice round 8:00/mile. 10:24 will max this section for my age at 6:56/mile (in line with another of my stated goals). Finally, 9:36 is max for any age group. This leaves the last goal at 6:24/mile. Definitely long term but worth monitoring.
The plan for now is three 30 minute sessions (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) with a one hour slow run on Saturday. This will be done until the peak pace is 8:00/mile. Then we will either go for speed or distance. I expect that by the time I get here, the full assessment will be passed quite comfortably.
14 November 2008
12 November 2008
That will teach me (yeah, right)
Duration = 40:00
Distance = 2.19
Calories = 269
I dropped the Monday session because I wanted to give myself a break after the FtF assessment. That was probably okay. But I should have done something on Tuesday.
Standard treadmill session. 5 minute warm-up, 30 minutes run/walk, and 5 minutes cool-down. Stretch before and after. I had more discomfort in my shins, knee, and ankles than normal. I did a short run, but decided to finish with a fast walk with another short run near the end.
Tomorrow, I get a Heart Rate Monitor with a foot pod. Then, I will have more data to dig through. It might even help with the training. It will definitely help with the timed runs as I will be able to run a set pace.
Distance = 2.19
Calories = 269
I dropped the Monday session because I wanted to give myself a break after the FtF assessment. That was probably okay. But I should have done something on Tuesday.
Standard treadmill session. 5 minute warm-up, 30 minutes run/walk, and 5 minutes cool-down. Stretch before and after. I had more discomfort in my shins, knee, and ankles than normal. I did a short run, but decided to finish with a fast walk with another short run near the end.
Tomorrow, I get a Heart Rate Monitor with a foot pod. Then, I will have more data to dig through. It might even help with the training. It will definitely help with the timed runs as I will be able to run a set pace.
09 November 2008
Fit-to-Fight, November 2008
The Fit-to-Fight assessment was Sunday afternoon. The conditions were bad, but at least the rain and snow held off. Temperature was around 36F, with a stiff breeze into your face on the outbound leg of the run.
There are four parts to the assessment: waist measurement, crunches, push-ups, and the run. The run is worth half of the points in the assessment. You need 75% to pass. The assessment is accomplished in the same order as the above list. I didn't do as well on the crunches (20) as I had planned, but I was able to make up for that by doing better than I had planned on the push-ups (26). Going into the run, I knew I needed a time of 13:12 to pass. While I didn't make that mark, the time of 16:27 for the 1.5-mile run was the best I have done since we started the new assessment process. I was able to run the whole distance at a steady pace for the first time.
Passing this assessment is an even shorter term goal than any of those mentioned at the beginning of this blog. To meet this immediate goal, I need to find another 11.5 points during the assessment. I hope the waist will respond to the other efforts I'm making, but I'm not going to plan on it in the short term. If I can get two more crunches, I get another point, leaving 10.5 to go. This would require a time of 13:36 or better.
Gap analysis time. I need two more crunches. The current assessment rate is ~11:00/miles. The target rate is ~9:00/mile. The gap here is 2:00/mile. I should be able to make most of this up by improving my stride as it was rather short for this run. I did open it out near the end and was able to maintain that and ultimately ended with a sprint to the finish (3 seconds would have garnered 3 more points).
Going forward, I plan to spend some time on push-up, crunches, and intervals to develop a good stride. I will have to see if I can find a sensor that will actually measure the stride along with the rate so I can measure my progress.
[posted 2015, 10 November 2008]
There are four parts to the assessment: waist measurement, crunches, push-ups, and the run. The run is worth half of the points in the assessment. You need 75% to pass. The assessment is accomplished in the same order as the above list. I didn't do as well on the crunches (20) as I had planned, but I was able to make up for that by doing better than I had planned on the push-ups (26). Going into the run, I knew I needed a time of 13:12 to pass. While I didn't make that mark, the time of 16:27 for the 1.5-mile run was the best I have done since we started the new assessment process. I was able to run the whole distance at a steady pace for the first time.
Passing this assessment is an even shorter term goal than any of those mentioned at the beginning of this blog. To meet this immediate goal, I need to find another 11.5 points during the assessment. I hope the waist will respond to the other efforts I'm making, but I'm not going to plan on it in the short term. If I can get two more crunches, I get another point, leaving 10.5 to go. This would require a time of 13:36 or better.
Gap analysis time. I need two more crunches. The current assessment rate is ~11:00/miles. The target rate is ~9:00/mile. The gap here is 2:00/mile. I should be able to make most of this up by improving my stride as it was rather short for this run. I did open it out near the end and was able to maintain that and ultimately ended with a sprint to the finish (3 seconds would have garnered 3 more points).
Going forward, I plan to spend some time on push-up, crunches, and intervals to develop a good stride. I will have to see if I can find a sensor that will actually measure the stride along with the rate so I can measure my progress.
[posted 2015, 10 November 2008]
06 November 2008
Light pre-assessment session
Duration = 40:00
Distance = 2.24
Calories = 264
This was the last session before my USAF assessment this weekend. I went fairly light with a 5-minute warm-up, single short interval at 5.0 mph followed with 3.5 mph walking, and a 5-minute cool-down.
[posted 2010, 10 November 2008]
Distance = 2.24
Calories = 264
This was the last session before my USAF assessment this weekend. I went fairly light with a 5-minute warm-up, single short interval at 5.0 mph followed with 3.5 mph walking, and a 5-minute cool-down.
[posted 2010, 10 November 2008]
05 November 2008
Interrupted (briefly) treadmill session
Duration = 40:00
Distance = >2.28
Calories = >343
I managed to reset the treadmill early in the session which explains the unusual values. I will have to review the safety strap arrangement to reduce the likelihood of another repeat of this event.
Otherwise, this was a good day. I had a good stretch before the run. Warm-up was the currently standard 5 minutes at 3.0 to 3.5 mph walk. 30-minute conditioning session was composed of a 12-minute interval at 5.0, a 5-minute rest at 3.0, and a final 13-minute interval at 5.0. The cool-down was 5 minutes at 2.5 reducing to 2.0 mph. This was followed with another good stretch.
I have one more training session (tomorrow) before my timed run this weekend.
Distance = >2.28
Calories = >343
I managed to reset the treadmill early in the session which explains the unusual values. I will have to review the safety strap arrangement to reduce the likelihood of another repeat of this event.
Otherwise, this was a good day. I had a good stretch before the run. Warm-up was the currently standard 5 minutes at 3.0 to 3.5 mph walk. 30-minute conditioning session was composed of a 12-minute interval at 5.0, a 5-minute rest at 3.0, and a final 13-minute interval at 5.0. The cool-down was 5 minutes at 2.5 reducing to 2.0 mph. This was followed with another good stretch.
I have one more training session (tomorrow) before my timed run this weekend.
03 November 2008
Rough Monday Run
Duration = 40:00
Distance = 2.60
Calories = 364
Schedule called for a run today, off tomorrow, run Wednesday and Thursday, off Friday. Timed run on the weekend. I really wanted to get three runs in and I knew I couldn't run on Friday (and I wanted Friday off as I may have to run for the assessment on Saturday).
I did finish the run, but I may have been too aggressive. I had planned a constant speed run at 5.0 mph (12:00/mile) which feels better over time than trying to actually use a running gait at a slower rate. I can't afford an injury, so I'm listening very hard to what my body is telling me.
I did a good series of stretches, but I could probably try a few different ones to see how they help and maybe do a second run through the stretches. I could also figure out how to get a bit of a warm-up before the stretching. Warm-up was 5:00 of walking at 2.5 pushing quickly to 3.5. Conditioning phase started at 5.0 for 10 minutes. Had a bit of an ache in my legs that wasn't improving, so I slowed to a 3.0 walk for 5 minutes, ran at 5.0 for 5 minutes, walked at 3.0 for 5 minutes, ran at 5.0 for the last 5 minutes. Cool-down was from 3.0 to 2.0 for 5 minutes. I did a series of stretches after the cool-down and currently (couple hours later) don't have any significant stiffness.
Tomorrow is off. I plan to do an interval approach until I can run the full session at 5.0. There are times when I'm paying particular attention to my stride and form that everything feels good without heavy pounding that I tend to get into. Overall, I think I'll try to ensure I have rest day after the long run.
Distance = 2.60
Calories = 364
Schedule called for a run today, off tomorrow, run Wednesday and Thursday, off Friday. Timed run on the weekend. I really wanted to get three runs in and I knew I couldn't run on Friday (and I wanted Friday off as I may have to run for the assessment on Saturday).
I did finish the run, but I may have been too aggressive. I had planned a constant speed run at 5.0 mph (12:00/mile) which feels better over time than trying to actually use a running gait at a slower rate. I can't afford an injury, so I'm listening very hard to what my body is telling me.
I did a good series of stretches, but I could probably try a few different ones to see how they help and maybe do a second run through the stretches. I could also figure out how to get a bit of a warm-up before the stretching. Warm-up was 5:00 of walking at 2.5 pushing quickly to 3.5. Conditioning phase started at 5.0 for 10 minutes. Had a bit of an ache in my legs that wasn't improving, so I slowed to a 3.0 walk for 5 minutes, ran at 5.0 for 5 minutes, walked at 3.0 for 5 minutes, ran at 5.0 for the last 5 minutes. Cool-down was from 3.0 to 2.0 for 5 minutes. I did a series of stretches after the cool-down and currently (couple hours later) don't have any significant stiffness.
Tomorrow is off. I plan to do an interval approach until I can run the full session at 5.0. There are times when I'm paying particular attention to my stride and form that everything feels good without heavy pounding that I tend to get into. Overall, I think I'll try to ensure I have rest day after the long run.
02 November 2008
First run outside since...
Duration = 50:00
Distance = 3.4 (estimate, haven't found GPS yet)
Calories = ?
...I have no idea. I did find a GPS log from 2006 for parts of this run.
I have found a series of stretches to use. I need to work on my form. I started with a 5 minute walk. I ran for 10 minutes. No sharp pain, but I decided to walk for a bit which turned out to be 5 minutes. I ran for another 10 minutes. I then walked for 5 minutes. I did a run at a significantly faster pace than the rest of the runs in this session for 1 minute which also took me to the edge of the park where I was running. I then walked for the remainder of the time (14 minutes).
Pace was quite slow, but I'm okay with that for a first run. I plan to find my GPS so I can track my outdoor sessions. The current plan is to build up to running the whole session without having to walk parts of it. Once I get to that point, I will work on my stride to improve my speed. Once my speed improves some, I will add distance.
Next week looks like three more treadmill sessions followed by a timed 1.5 mile run next on the weekend as part of my USAF Fit-to-Fight assessment.
Distance = 3.4 (estimate, haven't found GPS yet)
Calories = ?
...I have no idea. I did find a GPS log from 2006 for parts of this run.
I have found a series of stretches to use. I need to work on my form. I started with a 5 minute walk. I ran for 10 minutes. No sharp pain, but I decided to walk for a bit which turned out to be 5 minutes. I ran for another 10 minutes. I then walked for 5 minutes. I did a run at a significantly faster pace than the rest of the runs in this session for 1 minute which also took me to the edge of the park where I was running. I then walked for the remainder of the time (14 minutes).
Pace was quite slow, but I'm okay with that for a first run. I plan to find my GPS so I can track my outdoor sessions. The current plan is to build up to running the whole session without having to walk parts of it. Once I get to that point, I will work on my stride to improve my speed. Once my speed improves some, I will add distance.
Next week looks like three more treadmill sessions followed by a timed 1.5 mile run next on the weekend as part of my USAF Fit-to-Fight assessment.
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