Stepping it up for race day

On August 17, 2013 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

Getting there

Flower power

If you use a Fitbit, then you know that the currency is steps. It also measures distance traveled, staircases climbed, calories burned and “energy” (expressed in the form of a flower). But between me and my wife, steps are a shorthand for daily activity. My daily goal is 10M steps, with typical variance of 2,500 steps. On days when I do a long run, that number can go in the 20M range.

Without a run on the schedule, I was facing a big challenge towards reaching my daily goal. By noon, my total was still under 2,000 and I wasn’t happy with that. I decided to pick up some steps by walking around the pool area and the yard. It took little time to reach the 5M mark. At that point, I decided to do a series of short strides. Although I ran these briskly, they were not intervals. But it was enough to work up a sweat, so my next stop was to join my kids in the pool.

Through all that, I passed 7,000 steps and I’m almost to eight by now. I think I achieved a good balance between motion and rest today. It’s about twelve hours to the start of the Dirty Sock. I hope today’s activities will help, and not hurt, my performance tomorrow.

Shouldering pain from a long day on the streets

On May 2, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

Relief is imminent

Today’s workout (treadmill): 30 minutes + 8 miles walking

I had planned to be in the city today and tomorrow, but some meetings have shifted to next week. I consolidated the remaining business into today’s schedule, making it a very long day. NYC is a big place and my meetings are often located many blocks apart. I try not to use the subway unless it’s raining, or I don’t have enough time to walk.

My workout was really tiring this morning and I was concerned that I’d pushed too hard. I knew I would be covering a lot of ground on foot and I’d also be carrying my laptop. Today I went from 33rd to Union Square, up to 54th, down to E. 34th and then back to Penn. I wasn’t feeling great when I arrived at my first appointment, so I went down to the subway and put $5 on my MetroCard. I wanted to be prepared in case I wasn’t up for walking forty-five blocks uptown to my next meeting.

After lunch with some friends, I was feeling much better and did my walk as planned. My Fitbit is now showing 11 miles and 21,900 steps for the day, including this morning’s treadmill run. I’m really feeling it in my shoulder, probably because the weight of the laptop caused some additional strain. I really could use some rest and naproxen sodium. I’ll decide tomorrow whether to take an unscheduled break.

City trek dwarfs morning workout

On April 18, 2013 By Emerging RunnerLeave a comment

And the day ain’t over…

Today’s workout (elliptical): 25 minutes + 7 miles city walk

I figured I’d be covering some ground today, but I had no idea that I’d travel over seven miles in the city on foot. My meeting locations varied between east 53rd Street and Spring Street, with a couple of other spots in between. I could have used the subway, but I didn’t see the point of that when I could just as easily walk.

Before I left for the city, I did an elliptical session. I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I’d be getting a second workout later. The Fitbit recorded a couple of miles from the elliptical and, fortunately, I remembered to bring it with me when I left the house. I’d forgotten to take the Fitbit on Monday when I covered significant territory around Manhattan. The Fitbit recorded none of that, causing me to look like a slacker on the Fitbit dashboard. But today was a different story.

Should have that distance number over 10 miles tonight

Falling short of daily goals

On March 1, 2013 By Emerging Runner2 Comments

I’d been thinking about taking another rest day this week because I ran Monday through Thursday. This morning I needed to get into the city for some meetings and I figured today would be as good a day to skip a run. I’m tempted to get on the treadmill and do a quick three miles this afternoon, but I’m sticking to my plan.

I only covered 10,000 steps yesterday and fell short of both my daily distance and flight (staircase) goals. I’d hoped that walking in the city would get me close to today’s step goal, but I’ve still got a ways to go. Even though I rested both Sunday and today, I’m still slightly ahead on weekly mileage. I’ll target a couple of longer distance runs this weekend and get my Fitbit stats back in line.