Getting Back On The Fitness Train

My fitness train derailed and I desperately need to get it back on track. Aside from the runs that I've registered for, I haven't done any running at all. Or much else in the way of being active. I've really caught up on some reading, but that doesn't keep me in shape so I guess it's nothing to brag about.

Brady and I have the Run or Dye this weekend, and it's the last run I've registered for this year. There are a few I'm thinking about doing yet (the Fall Frolic in October, for example) but I think there's a chance I may be done with 5K's for 2013.

Don't panic! Just because I'm done with registering for 5K's this year does NOT mean I am done with running or staying active. We have our awesome treadmill in the house and the fall TV season is starting so I will be logging a lot of miles on that bad boy while watching my shows. I may not always run those miles, but even a brisk walking pace will make me sweat when I keep it up for an hour-long show. I want to start utilizing my Fitbit again and work harder on hitting those 10,000 steps/day. I want to work on my cardiovascular fitness so I can get my dang breathing under control when I run - because I'm going to OWN some 5K's next year.

I also found my next GPS watch and I need to work hard on my fitness before I can allow myself to buy it... but check out this video:
                     


The Forerunner 620 is too much watch for me... but that 220? It WILL be mine. I'm so excited about it I can hardly contain it. It has everything I want in a watch, and more that I hadn't thought of. This is the techie-nerd side of me coming out but I can't help it. Who knows? Janae, also known as The Hungry Runner Girl recently mentioned that she'll be doing a review and giveaway soon so maybe I'll be lucky enough to win one! ;) Either way, that watch is totally in my future.

I'm confident that I can get back into fitness because I have an excellent challenge coming up next month to help me stay on track. Jess from the awesome blog Run With Jess came up with a Virtual Ride to fight breast cancer! As readers probably know, my mom is a 2X breast cancer survivor so when Jess posted about this back in August I immediately knew I was going to do it. I ordered a medal and just received it in the mail - and it would be pretty awful to have this beautiful medal without EARNING it, so I have many things holding me accountable here which is exactly what I need to keep me on course. The challenge is to bike 50K in the month of October. That's 31 miles. You can do a mile a day, or you can do all 31 in a single day, or any other variation that suits you - as long as you finish it in the month of October. Here's a link to learn more about it - doesn't it sound fun? When you finish you can be entered into a drawing for prizes - bonus! I'm excited to do this to honor my mom. If any of you readers are interested in doing this with me, please leave a comment - I would love to hear from you!

What I keep telling myself lately is that it is okay to get off track... as long as you don't let it derail you completely. I'm not going to let myself get depressed about the fact that I haven't been running. If I haven't felt like running lately, maybe it just means I need to do a different activity for a while. Bike rides or long walks with Brady are things I can do that will keep me active and healthy. I will get back in the running groove when I'm ready - I know this because even though running is never "easy" for me, I love how it makes me feel. In the mean time I will just focus on activities I feel excited about, like this upcoming virtual ride and taking walks with Brady so we can check out the leaves changing colors. What do you guys do to get motivated after a slump?

Still Torn About The TomTom Runner

I got a chance to take the TomTom out on another run yesterday... the best part? PETE actually came on the run with me! I'm not making this up! He wanted to get more sleep so we started about 1 1/2 hours after I wanted to - but he learned pretty quick that he shouldn't have done that because it was hot and we ran in full sun which sucks. I much prefer the cooler early morning runs. Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence that Pete ran with me because I think he would have been angry if I had taken a picture of him breathing heavy and sweating profusely... so yeah, just avoided it.

Now I'm not the most coordinated person so I didn't spend my entire (short) run looking at the watch, but I'm happy to report that it didn't drop signal this time - at least, not for any significant length of time. Here is the watch results vs. Endomondo:

 So there you have it - still a distance difference but not as huge as the first time I used the watch. I know that watches are supposed to be more accurate because they use GPS satellites vs. cell towers - but I've used Endomondo in multiple 5Ks and it has always been accurate? For the Wolverine 5K it was a perfect 3.1... at the Electric Run last week Endomondo said it was 3.09. It measured the Ella run as longer but everyone stated it was longer than a 5K and someone had a map on MapMyRun that stated it was longer as well. I know I'm not fast so the watch is probably more accurate but I don't want to give up Endomondo. I like the lady telling me "one mile in 9 minutes blah blah seconds" and I like how the app shows my pace for each mile. The TomTom doesn't let you set up intervals (although it's rumored that we will be able to in a future update).

I've been leaning towards returning it but I'm still on the fence. Honestly, I'm going to carry my phone on my runs no matter what. I'm klutzy and I don't want to end up in a ditch with a broken ankle and no phone. So why do I need the expensive watch?  I decided I needed to try it out with my treadmill to see the accelerometer feature.

I haven't been on my treadmill in ages - what for, when it's so nice outside? But I live in Wisconsin so I NEED that treadmill, because this girl won't run in the snow. I always feel like I'm running faster than what the treadmill says I am so that bugs me, lol. I set the treadmill on an incline of 2 and set the speed at 5mph. Which is a 12 minute mile... yet feels at least as fast as I run outside and I run around a 10 minute mile on average outside so UGH I just don't understaaaand lol.

Why such a short run? Well, I have a clear holder on my treadmill to hold my iPad and I kinda banged into it while adjusting the volume, which made it hit a button and stop my workout. That totally pissed me off and I decided I was over it for today. Since it shut off my workout I don't have a screen shot of the treadmill screen - but if I had the treadmill set at 5mph that's a 12 minute/mile pace, correct? So why is my TomTom Runner saying I was running an almost 9 minute/mile pace? Is it just THAT inaccurate? Does my treadmill need to be calibrated? Is it a combination of both? I wouldn't know the first thing about calibrating a treadmill so if you do, please share. The watch has a feature at the end of the treadmill workout to calibrate it to the "known" distance, but I'm not sure where the treadmill was at so I left it as is. I know the last time I checked the distance on the treadmill, it was less than the watch. Looks like this first attempt was a bust and I should probably attempt it again.

So where am I at right now? Well, I'm going to Green Bay today and I had wanted to make my decision on the watch by now so I could return it if necessary (I live about an hour away so I don't go there that often). However, I might have to hang onto it for a while... I still don't know. Should I try running with a different app and the watch? I've always been meaning to try Runkeeper. Does someone want to come over and calibrate our treadmill? LOL I just want to know what the most accurate numbers are! I have a feeling I will never know and I'll just give up in frustration because I'm too dumb to figure all of this out.

Any suggestions, thoughts, opinions?? PLEASE share! Help, lol!

Birthday Gift

After lusting after GPS watches for months, I think I have finally made a decision as to which watch I'm going to get. Since I'm turning 31 in a week, Pete will probably get it for me for my birthday as he has no idea what else to get me (after 13 years how can he NOT know??? lol) so that makes it even better.

If you're one of the lurkers readers of my blog, you know that I've been wanting a Garmin Forerunner 10 - and when they released it in purple I had my heart set on that color. As we all know I'm not a very advanced runner at all so I just need something basic. One of the main reasons why I didn't take the plunge and purchase the watch was because I live in Wisconsin. Some people run with snow on the ground - I'm not one of them. We got a treadmill so we can stay active when it's snowy and icy outside. A GPS watch isn't going to be very useful when you're on a treadmill.

That's where the TomTom Runner comes in. It is more expensive than the Forerunner 10 ($169.99 vs. $129.99) but there are some important factors that make the price difference okay for me. The first thing is that it has Bluetooth - I can pair my Polar H7 heart rate monitor with it. VERY cool, I wouldn't be able to do that with the Forerunner 10... I would have to buy a more expensive Garmin with a different HRM included, or wear my Polar FT7 watch to get my heart rate. Two watches at once? No thanks. Another big plus for me is the fact that the TomTom has an accelerometer, so it will still give me distance and average pace even if I'm on a treadmill. The awesome DC Rainmaker did an in-depth review on the TomTom (if you are a runner into tech stuff and are NOT reading his blog, you need to start - it's the best, period) and he found that the TomTom was pretty accurate on the treadmill as long as you maintained a consistent pace. I'm cool with that as I'm pretty much incapable of sprinting at this point, haha.

I'm not going to lie - another factor is the fact that the TomTom is just prettier than the Forerunner 10. It is. Check this out:

TomTom has also announced that they will be coming out with different bands that you can purchase for the watch. Wide/slim options and different colors. So I can color coordinate it with my outfits? Whaaa? That's music to a girl's ears, people.

There are negatives to the watch. According to reviews, the website sucks. It doesn't give nearly enough data and it's just clunky and basically beta, which is pretty lame because they should have had that figured out *before* the release date. But TomTom has great customer service, they are listening (and responding) to the needs of the customers and have already been making improvements to the firmware and are in the process of making website improvements as well. This isn't a huge issue for me because you can export your files and load them almost anywhere - even the Garmin Connect website, if you want. The big negative for me is that it doesn't give lap pace right now - just an average. I want to see if I ran 8:30 the first mile, 8:15 the second... yes, I'm dreaming LOL. From what I hear/read this will be coming down the pike, so I'm cool with waiting a bit.

More positives for the watch - the GPS locator is crazyfast. You don't have to wait minutes for it to locate you before you can start your run... I should be able to walk to the end of my driveway and just start running. The fact that the watch is Bluetooth compatible has me hoping that eventually it could be paired with phones - how cool would that be? They haven't announced if this will be happening but a lot of people are talking about it so hopefully TomTom is listening. The watch has a 10 hour battery with GPS on, which is TWICE as much as the Forerunner 10. With the GPS off the watch will last 60 days between charges, if you're inclined to wear the watch as an everyday watch.

They have a Multisport version of the watch for those of you that want something for swimming and cycling as well - that one is priced at $199.99. They also have ones for sale with heart rate monitors included, for a higher cost. For a beginner runner like me, the positives outweigh the negatives and I'm willing to take a chance on this new watch. Once I get it and have a chance to test it out a bit I'll let you know what I think!

It's All Mental (and my new Fitbit Flex)

I know that many people say that with running it's all mental. I agree with this, to a point - for people that are convinced it's ENTIRELY mental they should see my out of shape ass with my heart rate so high that I feel like the dang organ is going to jump out of my chest... they'd probably change their mind. But I definitely think that the mental aspect has a lot to do with it, and I really struggle with that.

Every once in a while I will get lost in thought while running, and just get into a groove and suddenly I will notice that five minutes have passed and I break out in a huge grin. I end up in that zone on accident, by chance, and it doesn't happen often. I wish there was a way to get into that mode more easily. Sometimes a really good song will do it for me (I like the new Fall Out Boy song - go ahead and judge), sometimes I start thinking about actually running in a 5K and what it will feel like, and sometimes I just get lost in thought thinking about the things I have to do that day.

Most of the time though I am very present in the moment. Thinking about my running form (is it bad? How should I adjust? I wish I had a trainer) or my breathing (will I ever find a breathing rhythm that I can stick to? Why is it so hard to breathe in through my nose?) or the time ticking on the treadmill (Can I make it another 30 seconds?). Will I ever get better at this? I know that consistency is key and I just need to stick with it. It would just be super awesome if I saw more progress.

My brother-in-law is on some hardcore new diet and is doing P90X and lost 6 pounds in a week already. I should feel happy for him (I do) but I'm also jealous. Not gonna lie. Check out my green eyes (okay, they're really blue-gray). I want results like that.... but I'm still trying to figure out what's right for me.

Check out my spaced out look.... LOL. I do not sweat pretty. I get red faced and gross. My headband is super cute but I've decided I'm not a huge fan of sweat dripping all over my face and prefer the awesomeness of the Bondi Band. Every time I get on the treadmill I say I'm going to go longer than 30 minutes with a 5 minute cooldown but I never do. I think it's because I keep trying to push myself harder during those 30 minutes so by the end of it I'm always totally worn out. I'm just winging this here, input is appreciated.

I picked up the new Fitbit Flex at Best Buy the other day and was crazy excited about it. Could I afford it? Of course not, but I'm considering it my Mother's Day gift to myself since I know Pete won't get me anything. I gave Pete my Fitbit One so he can see how many steps he takes at work - so yay, I actually have someone on my Fitbit friends list, finally! So far I really like the Flex - I constantly left the One clipped to clothes and then had to dig through my dirty clothes basket for it, and I hated wearing the big velcro wrist band at night. I thought the altimeter (that logged stairs) was really inaccurate so I don't miss the fact that the Flex doesn't have it. The Flex is much easier to use for logging sleep, and I never looked at the One screen so I don't miss having a screen at all - I always use the app on my phone.

This is a screen shot from Saturday. Brady and I walked to my mom's house and back and I was pretty psyched to get over 10,000 steps - it is more of a challenge than you think, at least for me. Even when I was working, my job was rather sedentary and unless I exercised I would only hit 5000-6000 steps in an entire day. If I'm at home being a lazy bum I'm lucky to hit 2,000. The Fitbit motivates me to get off my ass.

There are a LOT of complaints about the Flex right now. Fitbit never gave a solid release date and Best Buy jumped the gun and released it early. People that have pre-ordered it are livid. I canceled my BB pre-order and picked it up at the store (no I could not wait, I'm not big on self-control). People say that it's logging steps when you wave your hand around and that it's NOT logging steps when you're pushing a stroller or grocery cart. I am wearing mine on my non-dominant hand (you can set that in the settings) and it seems to be pretty accurate for me. For example, aside from a tiny bit of walking around the house I did 2.65 miles on the treadmill today (see above) and right now my Flex is saying I've gone 2.67 miles today, or 5,006 steps. Sounds accurate enough to me! You can further calibrate it by inputting your stride length and all that on the Fitbit website, but I haven't found that necessary. Plus, I'm keeping in mind that this product was just released and technically wasn't even *supposed* to be released yet - I'm sure with all the feedback pouring in that a device update will be coming soon. For what I use it for it is (knock on wood) working great. They say you can even wear it in the shower, but I haven't been that brave. This little piece of tech wasn't cheap, yo.

I had a great weekend with Brady. Aside from the nice walk on Saturday (we stopped for ice cream, I had a few bites of his but did NOT get my own - hooray for tiny victories!) we worked on a school project together. I had to help him make a turtle out of clay. I think we did a decent job! He has to write his turtle report tonight but I'm not allowed to help him with that. Yesterday we saw Iron Man 3 in the theater (I admit it, I totally had movie theater popcorn and only felt semi-guilty) and we both liked it - Robert Downey Jr. is my dream lover. Seriously. My friend even made a photo years ago of people having a double wedding and she stuck our faces on the brides and the grooms were RDJ and Jude Law. No joke. If I could find the picture I would show you. I am trying the new Vine app and posted a few cute vid clips of Brady because he's my favorite person in the world. If you follow me on Twitter I posted a few links to some of the videos.

This is getting entirely too long and now I'm just rambling. To sum it up: Good weekend, liking the Fitbit Flex so far, need to work on my mentalness. Hahaha.

Opinions and Zombies, Run

Just got done burning 445 calories - so proud of myself for sticking with it! I was on the treadmill Thursday and Friday... Friday I noticed my legs felt a bit sore so I skipped yesterday and just did 35 minutes today (counting cooldown). Pete didn't even make fun of me too much. I've been making fun of him like crazy though. He's only used the treadmill once so far and says that he "hasn't had time" - but he's had time to watch about two seasons of The Shield. Hmph.

Some guys from Best Buy showed up on Friday to pick up the broken treadmill - they were to come between 12:30 and 2:00 and showed up right at 12:30. Since when do delivery guys come on time?! I had just gotten done on our put-together treadmill and was all sweaty and gross. My hair was in pigtail braids (yes, I'm 30 and still rock the braids on occasion) and my exercise clothes currently show every lump and bump. I thought for sure I'd have time to take a quick shower before they got here but nooo.... and to top off my embarrassment they weren't bad looking either. Oh well, at least they know I'm working on my fitness so I should be proud, right? It sure is nice to have that big box out of our hallway now, too.

Someone needs to help me stop spending money. I caved and picked up some Yurbuds to try out. At first I couldn't really get them in my ear right and they felt huge and I was thinking about taking them back right away. I kept fiddling with them a bit and then set them aside. Today I decided to actually try using them for my workout. Got them in my ears no problem and they were FANTASTIC when I was on the treadmill. Good sound quality and best of all they stayed put. When I use my regular iPod ear buds I'm constantly adjusting them and it gets really annoying so this was a win. It'd be a heck of a lot cheaper if they just sold the plastic piece that fits in your ear though - they are essentially normal ear buds with a plastic casing over them that helps them stay in the ear better. If you're in the market for new ear buds though I'd definitely recommend Yurbuds over Skull Candy ones that are in the same price range.

My FlipBelt came in the mail the other day and I've used it once so far. I haven't been using my phone while on the treadmill so this will be more for my outdoor runs.I went with the medium because it has a good stretch capacity and I didn't want to get the large only to lose weight and have it feel loose. It feels weird to put it on because you have to step into it seeing as it has no clips. I wear it more on my waist because it'd be pretty stretched out near my hips and I'm not sure if it'd stay in place or just creep back up to my waist anyway. Best part though is that even with my iPhone in the belt it didn't jiggle - it stayed right in place. So this product is a win too.

Here is the section of the post where I ask for opinions. This might sound stupid or ignorant but I'm new to exercising. My legs tingle after my runs - is this normal? I thought it was fine, just an increase in blood flow from actually exerting myself for a change, but then I decided to google it and a few things I read scared me. Stupid google. I read about meralgia paresthetica, chronic exertional compartment syndrome, and circulation issues... I'm not panicked or anything, I'm not in pain so I'm still convinced I'm fine - but sheesh. I need to stop googling everything I come across. Other input would be nice though, so please share!

Has anyone used the Zombies Run app? Camilla Luddington, who I'm currently in awe of (she's beautiful, she did the voice of Lara on the new Tomb Raider game and she's on some of my favorite shows - Californication and Grey's Anatomy) gave it props on Conan and it's currently on sale, so I'm thinking of trying it. They have their regular app and a 5K training app - the 5K training is only $1.99 right now for iPhone and the regular is $3.99. If anyone has used one of these apps, please tell me which one you used and your thoughts! Also, watch this video and see the awesomeness that is Camilla:

So many cool gadgets! Natasha = Nerd

So lately I have been doing far too much online shopping and browsing and dreaming and it really needs to stop. This is still a new hobby for me and I shouldn't be buying everything under the sun for runners. Just because I've been working more hours does not mean I should blow the extra cash on fun stuff for myself, lol.

There are so many cool things out there though! If I ever get to the point where I can run a consistent 5K I think it would be cool to get a GPS watch like the Garmin Forerunner 10. I read lots of good things about it on other blogs. But I just got my Polar FT7... I can't really wear two watches. I could invest in a higher end watch that has both GPS and HRM, but I don't like the look of a lot of them. Not to mention holy expensive, Batman. :) Do any of you have a GPS watch? Do you like it, what are your thoughts?

Speaking of my Polar FT7, I am really loving it. I went on the treadmill this morning before work, and I love knowing that I'm getting an accurate read on my heart rate and calories burned. I just wish it had bluetooth so I could sync it with apps. I'd love to get the Polar H7 - it has bluetooth capability so it would sync with apps like Polar Beat, but it would also work with my FT7 watch.

Another fitness item that is on my wishlist is the upcoming Fitbit Flex, which is coming out this fall. I currently have the Fitbit One and it's really nice - I like that I can open the Fitbit app on my phone and my information for the day automatically syncs. We recently switched to electronic medical record at the healthcare clinic where I work and it is APPALLING how much less I walk each day since we switched. Gone are the days where I'm constantly on the run trying to track down a patient's chart. To be honest it really sucks, and having the Fitbit makes me more aware of it and encourages me to make more of an effort to hit my goal for # of steps per day. Problem is, I'm so afraid I'm going to lose the darn thing. I always clip it to my bra and there are times I will forget it on there when I take my bra off in the evening. I have nightmares of it going through the washing machine. I think I would enjoy the bracelet/wristband version more - plus I love that you can buy different color bands for the device so you aren't stuck with one color! Do I need it? Nope, but it doesn't stop me from wanting it anyway. They don't have a release date for it yet though, just "spring" - so maybe I'll lose interest by the time it comes out?

I'm also loving my new Brooks Ravenna 4 shoes so much that I'm craving another pair in a different color! I guess I'm just hoping that Pete will come across my blog and remember all this stuff so he has plenty of gift ideas for my birthday in August. Hopefully by the time that day comes around I can officially call myself a runner. ;)

This is one purchase I'm REALLY tempted to make - Yurbuds Inspire for Women. I have so many issues with my earbuds coming out of my ears or just jiggling around and not staying in place when I'm on the treadmill... it's a pain in the rear. Does anyone out there have that problem or do I have weird ears? Does anyone own these? Are they worth it? They appeal to me because they are reasonably priced - I wouldn't say cheap but a lot more reasonable than other earbuds out there. Plus they are made for women who work out - they have a twist lock technology that is supposed to keep them in your ears.

Luckily I've been staying away from taking the plunge on the big ticket items and have been consoling myself with sweet affordable items like new Bondi Bands and a BAMR Band (when I saw she had Chevron patterned bands I couldn't resist - she also should have shirts made up that say BadA$$ Mother Runner, because her business name rocks).

Okay, I confess - I also ordered myself one of these:

For those of you that have no idea what the heck that is, it's a FlipBelt. I got a SpiBelt last year because I absolutely hate armbands for my phone, but it was just okay for me. My phone still made the little pouch bounce so I'm hoping I'll have better luck with the FlipBelt. Once I receive it and try it out I'll definitely let you guys know what I think!

Look - I say "you guys" like I actually have multiple readers haha. Anyone out there? This is Tasha, fishing for comments!