Half Marathon Training (Finally) Continues!

So it has been a while since I checked in about my half marathon training.

Last post I was up to week four, using Half Marathon Coach app as my program, and preparing for Run Melbourne in July.

Let me quickly detail what has happened since then.

First, I found out there was a better half marathon just a few weeks later in August, which instead of being with thousands of people in the middle of the city, was smaller and along a coastal road. Scenic is always good when you are going 21kms.

So I decided I would change my goal to that.

This might have resulted in me bludging for a week.

I then tried to get back into my training using the Half Marathon App. It was then I realised a few things I don't like about it:

1. It doesn't let you pause or restart. This means it keeps ticking over and whispering to you that you are getting even further and further behind, which is a guilt trip I don't need from my phone.

2. I wanted to change the date of my final race, but couldn't. So I ended up getting a whole new program, which was annoying because it started again at the low milage. Further, I then found out that it would give me only 2 weeks of the new program, and I would have to pay for the rest! Even though the original was free!

So, I got sick of it and did some research into other apps.

I have since downloaded the Runner's World app (which again is free).


Pros to the app:

- again it lets you put in your final race date and it works out a program towards that.

- it lets you choose 'maintenance', 'moderate', 'hard' and 'extra hard' levels of training which affects the number of sessions per week you have and how quickly the intensity and mileage increases.

- my biggest love comes from the fact that you put in your previous best race time for any standard distance (I put in my time for my most recent 10km) and in all of your training sessions it will give you an exact pace you should be aiming for. Looking at this, I've realised I was going a bit too hard for my 'easy' jogs previously.

- it also is more varied in its training, including tempo and speed work. This keeps the training a bit more interesting. I take whatever distractions I can get :D


Cons:

- can't decide if it is actually a con, but you don't actually record what you do anywhere, so it doesn't show you how much you have achieved. Might be easy to just forget it is there if you didn't have your own motivation to keep doing it.

- It would be better if you could change the 'pace' for workouts to 'speed'. While there are calculators that do this for you on the internet, it would make it easier to use if it did it itself. (I work in speed rather than pace, being a long time treadmill user.)

Overall, at the moment I really like it. Though last week I really was sick, and so am just getting back into it now. Today I did my 11km long run on the treadmill as it was raining outside (and yes, I'm that soft.) 


Weightloss wise:

Last time I checked in for training, I realised my parents' scales were lying to me though they gave me a reading of 75.7.

Over the next few weeks of not training but definitely eating, my weight crept up to 77kgs again until I jumped on the 5:2 Diet. In the first two weeks of doing that, my weight dropped right back down to 74kgs. However, last week and a bit the loss hasn't been as good (which I knew when I started the program, the first two weeks give you the biggest loss.) My weight has been bouncing around quite a bit in unpredictable ways. I had gone down to 73.9, but then back up to 75.6, and lots of things in between. However, today I clocked in at a reasonable 74.5kgs (had hoped to be firmly in the 73s, but it was not to be). 


Conclusion:

The Sandy Point Half Marathon is on the 18th August, just over two months away. Plenty of time to increase my mileage and reach my goal weight of sub 70 kgs... if I'm good. Wish me luck!

Apps I Actually Use: My Fitness Pal

What is it?
My Fitness Pal is a calorie counter, basically. It allows you to put in your details: how much you weigh, how active your lifestyle is, how much you want to lose over what period of time, etc. It then tells you how many calories you can eat in order achieve that goal, and allows you to log everything you consume and burn through a large online database of foods and exercises.

Pros:
The two features I love the most from this app are:
1. it can scan bar codes and then automatically adds all the data. Great if you end up eating a lot of Lean Cuisine frozen meals. (Okay, so I get lazy sometimes. It's better, I think, than eating take away. Well, cheaper at least.)
2. at the end of each day when you finish logging it gives you an estimate of how much you would weigh in 5 weeks if you ate like that everyday. Can be very motivating and exciting. (could also be a little sad, but I tend not to log on those days... bad Buffy, I know.)

Cons:
As with all these things, they can be a bit fiddly if you cook a lot of your own food. You can save recipes, but if you tend to just throw things together for dinner, can be annoying to track.
Having said that, it is also quite useful to be forced to weigh your portions so you can see exactly how much you are eating and the difference having a slightly larger portion can make calories-wise.

Overall Verdict:
I believe that everyone in the modern world that eats any premade food should at some stage count calories, just to make that connection between what you are putting in your mouth and exactly how many calories it is giving your body. If you are trying unsuccessfully to lose weight and aren't calorie counting, try it before giving up.

Of the calorie counting apps out there, I find this one comparatively easy to use. The bar code scanner helps a lot, even when putting together your own recipes. Also, it allows you to add in the exercise you have done and adjusts how many calories you can eat for the rest of the day accordingly, which is always quite motivating. The database has Australian brands and can differentiate between Coles tomatos and Wooworth's, which is nice.

Add-ons:
There is also a little gadget you can get, the 'fit bit' I think it's call, which sits next to your chest and works out how many calories you are burning throughout the day. It automatically syncs with the program to adjust how many calories you can eat for the rest of the day. 
I have heard of a few people online who have used it (Americans, not sure if it is available in Australia except through the internet) who seem to think it is great. It is around $100, so quite pricey, but if you were serious about tracking how much you are actually burning, it could be worth it.

If anyone has one, give us a shout about how you find it.

Apps I Actually Use: Nexercise

There are so many different apps out there for fitness and health, and so hard to discover them without someone recommending them to you. Also, if you are like me, you tend to download a lot and after trying them a few times, never use them again.

So I thought I would  start an intermitten series on apps that I'm using at the moment which are really working for me.

Today's app is Nexercise, which has got a lot of attention with high profile reviews and recommendations.

Purpose: Basically it gives you points for doing different types of exercises, which you collect and use to rank yourself against other people.

How I found it: Jenny (my little sister) found it and asked me to join it with her. We are now in competition to see who has the most points.

Good points: Other than being free, which is always a good point in my book, it is great for helping to motivate someone a little less fit than you to exercise.

It allocates points more on time spent exercising and consistency (eg. you get a daily log-in bonus, extra points if you exercise on a Monday, or on a few days in a row, etc.). You do not seem to get many extra points for running instead of walking, though there is a 'motion bonus' for how much you move your phone while doing it.

This means that my little sister is encouraged to go for walks while I might be pushing myself to do interval training. As Jenny said, if it were purely on calories burnt, she would have given up because I would have been so far ahead.

The competitive aspect also only looks at the last month, so if I have a great month and Jenny gets really far behind, she knows that she just needs to keep going and soon my points will start dropping off again.

Not so good points:
If you aren't competing against someone, I think it would be a bit boring. The major reason I log on is to keep my points up to encourage Jenny to keep exercising. As the points don't actually relate to anything such as distance run or calories burnt, I would use a different program if I were by myself.

Overall Review:
Make sure that you have at least one friend that wants to sign up with you, or find a group online, because then it can be a lot of fun and very motivating.

Tried and Tested Racing Tips

Wednesday I did my first 10km fun run for almost three (four?) years. 

Let me start by saying I'm very happy as I got a personal best and know that I went as hard as I could at the time.

For those who are wondering, my time was 1:00.53... yup, 53 seconds off breaking the hour, which was my goal. (I've mentioned before - I'm not really a runner.)

So, while I'm happy, it is always valuable to assess your preparation and race plan and see what can be improved in the future.

Based  on this race, let me give you some of my now tried and tested tips on doing 10km fun runs.

Do:
- a good warm up, especially if it is freezing cold.

- do it with a friend who is just slightly faster than you, but happy to be your pace man/woman (Bec, you are awesome and I wouldn't have done nearly so well with out you).

- I used the RunKeeper app and set it to tell me my average speed and current speed every five minutes: good as it told me when I was varying (felt like I was going the same speed the whole time, but in fact varied between 8km/h-12km/h.) though not sure it is completely accurate, so also use your watch and the km markers on the track.

- use the water stations, even if you don't think you feel thirsty. You have probably heard that even losing 2% of your body weight in fluid loss can result in up to a 25% decrease in performance,  so why put in all that effort and stuff yourself by not drinking?
Obviously how much to drink varies greatly between individuals so should be measured during training (easiest is weighing before and after exercise as 'weight' lost during the session is basically water) and you should get used to drinking during workouts as can hit the stomach hard if you aren't used to it.
However, the powers that be roughly suggest 1 cup every 15-20 minutes, which luckily is about how spaced out the drink stations are on most fun runs. Clever, no?
(If doing longer workouts, over 90mins, keep in mind your sodium intake as well.)


Don't:
- have a 7 course Greek feast for lunch before the race, even if work are paying for it.

- test out using energy gels for the first time in the actual race. Did not sit well in the stomach.

- If possible, try not to have a stressful day at work before hand, though imagining certain people just a head of you and you with a chainsaw can have positive outcomes for your time I suppose. 

- Ride to the race: seems like a good idea as you get a warm up, but riding home is a bit more of a problem. (Was so tired that I wasn't thinking straight and took a few wrong turns that added 6kms to my ride home and meant I got stuck riding on a busy high speed road at peak hour with no way to turn off.)

- try to keep riding when your feet are cramping. (not really a race tip, but I'm putting it out there).

- forget where you left your stuff, so you have to go to the good looking volunteer asking if there is a lost property and have him point out 'Is that your jumper over there?' because you had been looking under the wrong tree. Doesn't affect your race time, but has implications for your self esteem.

- also, if you can help it, try not being an extra 10+kgs heavier than the last time you did it. Really struck me that carrying around the extra weight is not helping me out.

So, those are the tips learnt from this race. If anyone else has any tested tips they want to add, I'm all ears.