Monday, May 10, 2010

Good start to the week

After last weeks mental tantrum this week started off good. I ran a total of a half mile again today (no...still not all at once) and still had enough zing left to lift some weights. I will also only allow myself one scale induced tantrum and will not be taking another week off from working out due to said tantrum.

I do however have a question about running. I find that I feel I have enough stamina to run a full half mile without stopping, but my legs are the ones to get real tired and give up on me. I realize I am hauling a lot of weight around but I'm not feeling I am making a whole lot of progress. I am still stuck on walking for 2 or 3 minutes and then running at 4.0mph for 1 min. Is there something I am doing wrong, or is this normal? Don't get me wrong, I am really happy I am even running at all but I feel that after a few weeks of this I should be running more. Any info you super bloggers can share would be great.

Polar Heart Rate Monitors

If you have been reading this blog you know that a couple weeks ago I won a Polar heart rate monitor from Tony over at antijared.com. I have had a chance to use it a few times (Polar FT7) and as a result I feel I should give Polar a shout out. This is a great little device and I highly recommend it instead of relying on the machine alone to track your calories and heart rate.  The first day I used it I wore it all day. The chest strap is really comfortable and I totally forgot I had it on. I would not call the watch portion extremely stylish but it is not totally ugly either. I found out that machines up your calories burnt count  by about 10% to 15 % and with the monitor on I found this to be true. The treadmill I was on also picked up the signal from my monitor and displayed it on he treadmills screen. That was a big plus seeing I no longer need to have my hands on the bar to track my hear rate. The downside to this was the machine next to me also picked up my heart rate and displayed it as well LOL. Without going into a long drawn out review, I really like this Polar FT7. I think it will come in handy for my calorie counting and keeping me at my target heart rate while working out. If you want any further info just ask.

Protein Shakes

The past week I have been experimenting with a protein shake recipe my friend gave me. I was going to try Matrix 5.0 but that stuff is real expensive so I decided to make my own for a bit and see how that went. Well, not only is it good but it is good for you. I make it as follows:

4oz of low fat or fat free vanilla yogurt (I use Dannon's Activia but am changing after seeing they use aspertame)
1/2 cup of oats ( not steel oats, they are expensive)
5 or 6 starwberries ( leaves cut off)
1/2 cup of banana slices (or a bit more to taste)
3/4 cup 2% milk or skim if you like that. 
Put in a blender for a min or more and you have a great tasting shake that is also good for you. The calories on this are about 450 and the protein is about 21gms. It makes about a 20oz shake that fills you up and the calories are all good calories.

Well that is all for today. Take care and all that good stuff.


2 comments:

  1. If you really want to take your running to a new level start with the c25k program (www.coolrunning.com). It's a 10 week program that guides you as you increase your stamina. It starts out walking more than running but after a few weeks that shifts to running more than walking.

    I think your progress is fine. Dude check it out, you're running! And you're continuing to run. Take it slow don't push and definitely check out coolrunning.

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  2. Hey Tara,

    I have checked out the C25k program and I like how it's done. In fact that is why I am doing the walking then running for a min. Problem is I have not graduated from the first week of the program yet and it's been 3 weeks LOL. I'm not upset about it, just wanted to know if I was doing something wrong or if things were fine and I am just progressing slow.

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