Still Alive And Kicking

Even though it has been mighty silent around here, I am still alive and kicking.

Work has taken over some this week which made for longer evenings and by the time I got my workout done and had something to eat, it was almost bedtime again. Something's gotta give and this week it was the blogging. Oh well! Right now, I am just having lunch at my desk (rice and beans leftovers, no picture because it really looked like... well... not good) and will keep it short anyways, I just wanted to type out what was going on this week.

Since my labor day 9-miler for the Blue Ridge, I did two more 6-milers, one on Wednesday and one yesterday. Same distance, very different runs.

Wednesday I didn't get back home until 6.30pm and by the time I finally started running it was after 7pm and we all know that it's getting dark so much sooner now. Anyways, Terry decided to tag along with me and since I didn't wanted to aggravate him with my heart rate zone training (Garmin beeps around a lot), I just went out and ran with him. That gave us one hour of uninterrupted couple time. We went out and back on the Swamp Rabbit Trail between Furman Lake and Sunrift Adventures in TR. By the time we got back to the car, it was pretty dark already.

For yesterday's run, I was a little more proactive and packed my running gear to go to the Caine Halter Y right after work instead of going home. Firstly, this way I really start running right away because there is nothing to distract me (dish washer, laundry etc) and secondly, in the case I got out of work really really late, I am not worried about running in the well lit roads around the Y... That's also my morning run territory when I am on my own. I actually got there and out running my 6.30PM! SCORE! I did the heart rate zone run that I skipped the day before and have to say that things went really well. Of course the lower temps do wonders for my running performance. But on top of that, slowly but surely I see my pace increase in the same heart rate zone. SWEET!

I hope to keep my "running momentum" going on the 2h 15m endurance run planned for tomorrow.

On Tuesday, I wasn't lazy either. I ended up doing a one hour trainer ride with some nice intervals. Here the same thing, I seemed to have to pedal more to get my heart rate were it's supposed to me. Well, for the first round of intervals... The second round, not so much a problem anymore.

I am so glad, I broke down last year and got myself a trainer... It was certainly a good investment in my training. When I first got the trainer, I thought I am just going to use it during the winter months, but it has been in use over the whole summer as well. Whenever the downpour started or when I lost daylight or when I had some time constraint that had me go for quality over quantity*.

*a trainer ride is more efficient than riding on the road, because you will have no rest, no cruising, no stop lights

Ooops... I guess, I had more to say than I thought... Anyways... Lunch break is over!

Happy weekend everyone! ;-)

Where Carbo Loading Is Yummie!

I haven't featured a restaurant review in a while, but I actually wanted to talk about this place and kept on postponing it.

Brioso Fresh Pasta is one of the new places in the Cherrydale area and I what I heard about it, said that they have really good food. Looking at "urbanspoon", the reviews have been very mixed. Not many people complained about the food, but several people about the service.

The first time I had something from there, we actually just ordered to go. If my memory serves me right, I had the portobello mushroom ravioli with the marinara sauce and I loved it! But of course, I couldn't quite get the full picture if I never actually ate there.

So last Sunday, we finally made it. The set-up of the place is a little funny, since you order your food and drinks on the register. If you have never eaten there before, things can get a little confusing, but the staff on the register was very helpful.

We placed our orders and then got a table in the outside patio area... Got our beverages, water refill bottle, olive oil and herb bread to start us up....

The food was there fast.

My choice was the spinach gemelli with the siciliana sauce (eggplant, mozzarella, and basil in tomato sauce topped with shredded ricotta cheese). I enjoyed every single bite of my bowl!

Terry was so hungry, I couldn't wait for me to take the picture! ;-) He had spaghetti with bolognese sauce (classic Italian meat sauce) and some meat balls (meat with a side of meat ;-). He said he really like the spaghetti and sauce, but didn't care so much about the meat balls (bland).

The great thing about this place is that you can combine any pasta they have with any sauce. They also offer gluten-free pasta options and with all the different sauces, there is plenty of choice for the vegetarians too.

The place is super cosy and the interior design is very Mediterranean without being kitschy. I think it's odd to order at the register in a place that looks like so inviting to just hang out. But the food is great and I will certainly go back.

Thumbs up!

Dress Rehearsal for the BRR

Happy Labor Day!

This blog post comes to you from my bed and was written while watching silly series on TV. Yes, I know the weather is beautiful and such, but you know what.... I have the house to myself today and I will just take it easy. Besides, the weather is beautiful for around five months now... At one point, one just needs to curl up in bed.

Oh and yes, I already ran 9 miles today, so I think I am alright.

I used the long weekend to do my usual relay dress rehearsal. The Blue Ridge Relay is in two weeks, so this was my last chance anyways! ;-) My sequence in legs is 5.2, 2.3 and 9 miles and that's also what I was planning on running for the rehearsal.

For the last couple of months, the only thing I did was long slow distances with a couple of intervals sprinkled in and a race here and there. So my goal for all of these rehearsal runs, was just to run them... Not paying attention to heart rate and just get them done.

The five miler was done Sunday morning around the neighborhood. It is going to be the hilliest out of my three legs and our neighborhood is hilly.... Perfect. Thanks to the cool temps, this run felt great and it was faster than anything I have done since... I don't know how long. Success.

After the run, I failed to hydrate properly which resulted in a nasty dehydration headache that I just wasn't able to shake for the rest of the day... No matter how much water I had after the headache already started.

Due to that headache, I bagged my second run for the day. Especially since it was just a two miler and I didn't think it was worth the hassle. But I took the dog for a longer walk, doing that two mile loop that I was planning on running. This way, I at least spend that distance on my feet and got a good upper body workout in, since Miss Karma is just incapable of walking civilized on the leash and kept dragging me along.

I spent a good chunk out of my Labor Day morning just being lazy and of course got a late start on my 9 miler. Actually, such a late start, that the swim after the run wasn't going to happen, because the Y closes at 1PM on holidays. I still drove to the Y and ran from there for a little change in scenery and it was totally worth it. Even though the trail sometimes was very crowded with all the people out... But this way, things never got boring, because there were always things to look at. 9 miler done and done and at a decent pace too, even with the day already warming up again.

Well, I guess I am ready for the relay now. ;-)

Export Routes From Bikely, Import Courses To Garmin Training Center

As mentioned in yesterday's post, I struggled to get the the bikely route into the my Garmin Forerunner 305 to try out the "course" function. Let's do a little tutorial here.

First of all, bikely is a GREAT resource for bike rides in and around Greenville, since the Greenville Spinners seemed to utilize this page a lot. But you can search for routes all over the world and the data base grows daily. I like it more than mapmyride, because there is no advertising floating through the maps and the site also seems to load faster. Another plus point for me on bikely is, that cue sheets can be attached to routes... ready to print.

But let's get going with the "tutorial".

Step 1: Pick a route or draw your own route on bikely.

So just assume for a minute that I am in France and happen to have my bike with me....

In the map view, you can see the elevation profile of the course. If there is a cue sheet maintained with the route, you can just click on "cue sheet". As mentioned yesterday, I recommend having a back-up to the Garmin along for the ride.

Step 2: Download route to your computer.

While in the map view, click on "Share" an select option "Download .GPX".

So far, this is pretty straight forward. The problem now is, that you can only download .GPX and .KML out of bikely, but Garmin only understands .TCX and .CRS files.

Step 3: Convert GPX download to TCX file

 Visit GPSies.com Convert site and upload your GPX from the route that you downloaded earlier. Then choose TCX format and click convert and save the new file on your computer again.

Step 4: Upload TCX file to Garmin Training Center.

File> Import> Courses and select your course file.

Step 5: Upload route from Garmin Training Center to your FR305

Of course you have to connect your Forerunner to your computer first and then send course to device in the training center software.

DONE! All that is left to do now:

Step 6: Get on your bike and ride the course!

Garmin FR305> Training> Courses> Select your course> Select "Do Course"
In order to switch between the data fields and the map press the "mode" button a couple of times.

Happy riding! ;-)

Riding Along a Breadcrumb Trail

Always riding the same route with the bike can get pretty boring... So every now and then, I will venture out.

My partner in crime for a new route adventure was Stacy (tri buddy). The route was picked out on bikely.com and I typed out a cue sheet. But then I remembered the "course" function for the Garmin Forerunner 305.

It took me about an hour to figure out how to get the route off bikely (that was the easy part) and then into a format that the Garmin can understand. I will write a quick "how to" so that you guys don't have to go through this yourself. With the route in the Garmin, we were ready to roll this morning at 7.30am.

The route was listed at 50 miles, but we ended up having to do a little detour due to road construction.... It was about half an hour drive for me to get to the meet up point, but having "only" 1,700 feet of climbing over this distance, really sounded like taking a nice break from the foothills around here.

Oh and can we just say what a sweet relief a high in the 80s is, especially since we haven't seen temps like this since.... ummmm... April. For a split second, I actually thought I should have packed some arm warmers, but really, that would have been complete overkill.

Once on the road, I picked out the course and clicked "do course" and thought I would be done then. Well, since I didn't read the manual, I kind of was in state of trial and error for the first two miles until I finally ended up with this screen.

Or something resembling this screen. As you, see the display is a far cry from a car GPS and there is definitely no voice telling you to "turn left" etc. It's more like following a breadcrumb trail and I was really glad that I had a paper cue sheet with me... just to be safe. Because it was my first time trying the course function, I referred to the cue sheet  fairly often, but really that wasn't necessary. Even with the detour due to the road construction, we would have been able to find back on the route just with the Garmin. I am a fan.... I don't think I will ever attempt a new route without this function, if I can help it.

Oh and we ended up with around 55 miles in 3.5 hours and certainly didn't kill ourselves out there. I am surprised that I was able to keep up at a 50 miler with only very little biking in August. My quads were screaming at me the last five miles or so, but other than that... Not a problem.

So long! ;-)

Unthinkable

Earlier this week, I finished up "UnThinkable" The Scott Rigsby Story on audio book. The book tells the story of the first double amputee on prosthesis to finish an Ironman. Not any Ironman, but the World Championship in Kona.

This is a story about faith and willpower and will leave you inspired. You don't have to be a triathlete or even an athlete to be uplifted and encouraged by this.

Two thumbs up!!!





Scott Rigsby has founded the Scott Rigsby Foundation with the objection to inform and enable physically challenged people to lead and active lifestyle.

If you don't feel inspired now to set out and do something you never thought you could... Well, I don't know.

So long! ;-)

My Theory About Scales

Last Friday, I noticed a scale in the Women's locker room at the Caine Halter YMCA. The scale is set up right in front of the mirrors with the hair dryers where everyone lines up to get ready.

I have seen scales in the weight/ cardio rooms before, but not in a locker room and especially not such a huge electronic one. To be honest, I am not happy about this. I think scales are helpful to keep track of your weight or your weight loss, but I don't like to be surrounded by them.

Coming from the background of having lost a lot of weight myself fairly recently (in 2008), I am throwing out my observations (this is not a study and I don't have any proof for that):

1. you are overweight and deny it, you don't even own a scale
2. you are overweight and know it, you might own a scale, but don't step on it (what's the point right?)
3. you are currently trying to loose weight, you own a scale and use it
4. you are at a healthy weight and never had any issues with your weight, you most likely don't own a scale
5. you are at a healthy weight or underweight, you own a scale and use it

People in the category 1/2/4 are not going to use the scale in the locker room.

People in the category 3/5 are already concerned/ obsessed with their weight and with the scale in the locker room, you give them just another opportunity to step on a scale and fret about their weight. Truth is, a person's weight varies throughout the day and can vary several pounds throughout the same day. It doesn't make sense to torture yourself.

I know what I am talking about! I used to be one of those people that stepped on a scale several times a day. I was never underweight and not overweight since I crossed the line between normal and overweight on the BMI sometime in 2008. Still, I tortured myself with every fluctuation in weight since then.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that weighing yourself is a necessary tool to keep the weight off and a lot of studies do support this statement. But we are talking about weighing once every couple of days or once a week. So there is a place for a scale in your home or even in your gym, especially, when you are trying to loose weight and to keep the weight off that you already lost, BUT you have to make sure that it doesn't become an obsession.

I thought about this a lot since I saw that scale in the locker room. I believe that scales are more "dangerous" for people that have a tendency of being unhealthy by being too skinny and not by being too big... that's why I left this note this morning, before I headed out for my run:

No picture of the scale, because cameras are not allowed in the locker room!

So long!