186 days until the 2012 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run...
What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than getting up in the morning and pushing your heart to near exhaustion! Today was a really good day - Rick and I accomplished a lot; however, I also realize and am humbled by the fact that I am not 'there' yes and will need to keep working hard if I want to achieve my goal. Below are listed the last 4 week's power walking treadmill workouts.
Time February 14th February 7th January 31st January 24th
0-30 min Level 4.2 Incline 13.0 Level 4.2 Incline 12.0 Level 4.0 Incline 12.0 Level 3.7 Incline 12.0
30-35 min Level 4.3 Incline 13.0 Level 4.3 incline 12.0 Level 4.0 Incline 12.5 Level 3.8 Incline 12.0
35-40 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.3 Incline 12.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.0 Level 3.9 Incline 12.0
40-45 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.4 Incline 12.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 12.0
45-50 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.1 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 12.5
50-55 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.5 Incline 13.0 Level 4.2 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.0
55-60 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.5 Incline 13.5 Level 4.3 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.5
Wrapped up with 3 sets 10 on the benchpress at 165 lbs.
The first piece of good news is that we did our entire hour again with no rest! Now we did check our heart rates at each 5 minute increment starting at 30 minutes. While we kept walking, it was easier to hold onto the bar. It took 50 seconds for the machine to read my heart rate.
The second piece of good news is that we started this week at 1% higher on the incline. In retrospect, I wish we would have started at an incline of 12.5 instead of 13.0. So in a matter of 4 week's time, we did our first 30 minutes .5 mph faster and a 1% increase on the incline than 4 weeks ago - that's exciting!
The third piece of good news is that up to 45 minutes, it is the best we have ever performed on a treadmill. I am very proud of that - it was a lot of hard work!
The fourth piece of good news was Chad Uhde stopping by to see as after his '6 b4 6 run' (6 miles in before 6 am) with his Crazies group. We were struggling to continue going and he provided some much welcomed distraction.
The fifth piece of good news is that we hung in there and fought this to the end without dropping off. That may have been the most important part of the workout - continuing to battle when we were feeling fatigued. I know this 'mental toughness' will serve us well at Leadville this summer.
The bad news - not so bad really... I was disappointed at not feeling able to increase difficulty at 45, 50, and 55 minutes like we had been doing. Of course I wanted to crank it up some more at 45 minutes but I was feeling lucky to continue at the pace we were going. We finished the workout below last week for the final 10 minutes - bums me out on the one hand. On the other hand, we were kicking it in higher gear for the first 45 minutes and I need to appreciate that it was taking its toll on our bodies.
When I think about the treadmill (when I'm off it) it seems that a .5 incline increase or a .1 increase in speed is not that big of a deal but it's a different story when I'm on it. The 1.0 increase in incline today was much tougher than I anticipated and it zapped my energy more than I thought it would. We have come a long ways though and I am feeling VERY good about our progress. I know we have more hard work to do and we will meet the challenge - we just aren't there yet. I would like to report back sometime in the future that we did 60 consecutive minutes at an incline of 15.0 and a speed of 4.5 - THAT would be awesome!
Aaron Maurer posted a quote on his blog the other day that I absolutely love - maybe it's the farmer in me. I can certainly relate to the message and it has perfect relevance for commitment to working toward a fitness goal. "If the cows don't get fed, the cows don't get fed. Excuses don't help the matter."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeechug/6870364693/
The farm I worked on as a kid actually didn't have cows - we had pigs. I remember many times in the cold winter when we had to go repair frozen waterers for the pigs when the temperatures were below zero. We would be working in our bare hands (pointless to wear gloves that would only get wet) with ice and eventually really cold water to get them working again (I get the chills just thinking about it). The point is that the hogs needed to have water and we didn't have the luxury of waiting for warmer weather. It needed to be done and we did whatever it took to get it done - end of story.
Tell the people in your life who you care about most that you care about them today - Happy Valentine's Day!
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!
What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than getting up in the morning and pushing your heart to near exhaustion! Today was a really good day - Rick and I accomplished a lot; however, I also realize and am humbled by the fact that I am not 'there' yes and will need to keep working hard if I want to achieve my goal. Below are listed the last 4 week's power walking treadmill workouts.
Time February 14th February 7th January 31st January 24th
0-30 min Level 4.2 Incline 13.0 Level 4.2 Incline 12.0 Level 4.0 Incline 12.0 Level 3.7 Incline 12.0
30-35 min Level 4.3 Incline 13.0 Level 4.3 incline 12.0 Level 4.0 Incline 12.5 Level 3.8 Incline 12.0
35-40 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.3 Incline 12.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.0 Level 3.9 Incline 12.0
40-45 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.4 Incline 12.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 12.0
45-50 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.1 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 12.5
50-55 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.5 Incline 13.0 Level 4.2 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.0
55-60 min Level 4.4 Incline 13.0 Level 4.5 Incline 13.5 Level 4.3 Incline 13.5 Level 4.0 Incline 13.5
Wrapped up with 3 sets 10 on the benchpress at 165 lbs.
The first piece of good news is that we did our entire hour again with no rest! Now we did check our heart rates at each 5 minute increment starting at 30 minutes. While we kept walking, it was easier to hold onto the bar. It took 50 seconds for the machine to read my heart rate.
The second piece of good news is that we started this week at 1% higher on the incline. In retrospect, I wish we would have started at an incline of 12.5 instead of 13.0. So in a matter of 4 week's time, we did our first 30 minutes .5 mph faster and a 1% increase on the incline than 4 weeks ago - that's exciting!
The third piece of good news is that up to 45 minutes, it is the best we have ever performed on a treadmill. I am very proud of that - it was a lot of hard work!
The fourth piece of good news was Chad Uhde stopping by to see as after his '6 b4 6 run' (6 miles in before 6 am) with his Crazies group. We were struggling to continue going and he provided some much welcomed distraction.
The fifth piece of good news is that we hung in there and fought this to the end without dropping off. That may have been the most important part of the workout - continuing to battle when we were feeling fatigued. I know this 'mental toughness' will serve us well at Leadville this summer.
The bad news - not so bad really... I was disappointed at not feeling able to increase difficulty at 45, 50, and 55 minutes like we had been doing. Of course I wanted to crank it up some more at 45 minutes but I was feeling lucky to continue at the pace we were going. We finished the workout below last week for the final 10 minutes - bums me out on the one hand. On the other hand, we were kicking it in higher gear for the first 45 minutes and I need to appreciate that it was taking its toll on our bodies.
When I think about the treadmill (when I'm off it) it seems that a .5 incline increase or a .1 increase in speed is not that big of a deal but it's a different story when I'm on it. The 1.0 increase in incline today was much tougher than I anticipated and it zapped my energy more than I thought it would. We have come a long ways though and I am feeling VERY good about our progress. I know we have more hard work to do and we will meet the challenge - we just aren't there yet. I would like to report back sometime in the future that we did 60 consecutive minutes at an incline of 15.0 and a speed of 4.5 - THAT would be awesome!
Aaron Maurer posted a quote on his blog the other day that I absolutely love - maybe it's the farmer in me. I can certainly relate to the message and it has perfect relevance for commitment to working toward a fitness goal. "If the cows don't get fed, the cows don't get fed. Excuses don't help the matter."
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeechug/6870364693/
The farm I worked on as a kid actually didn't have cows - we had pigs. I remember many times in the cold winter when we had to go repair frozen waterers for the pigs when the temperatures were below zero. We would be working in our bare hands (pointless to wear gloves that would only get wet) with ice and eventually really cold water to get them working again (I get the chills just thinking about it). The point is that the hogs needed to have water and we didn't have the luxury of waiting for warmer weather. It needed to be done and we did whatever it took to get it done - end of story.
Tell the people in your life who you care about most that you care about them today - Happy Valentine's Day!
Until my next post, have a great day! DIG DEEP!
No comments:
Post a Comment