Training Week 226
Highlight of the Week: Making run dates with friends to ensure I still got a workout in on my crazy busy downtown work days! Also… working out 6 days a week and getting 5 runs in. I miss the way my old exercise schedule makes me feel.
Monday | February 10, 2014: 4 m run + teaching strength class
Loc: hood, Temp: 4°/6°, Time: 39:20, Pace: 9:50 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good in the beginning then meh at the end
Strength: Ankle Resistance Bands & Body Bars + Step, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good
Tuesday | February 11, 2014: 4.5 m run (w/xaarlin)
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 0°/0°, No time or pace stats – Garmin died, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | February 12, 2014: rest
Thursday | February 13, 2014: 4 m run (w/Anne)
Loc: Vernon Hills, Temp: 29°/30°, Time: 52:13, Pace: 13:03, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | February 14, 2014: teaching strength class + 4 m run (incl. 4×400 @ 7:45mm)
Strength: Ankle Resistance Bands & Body Bars + Step, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: okay… tired.. zzzz
Loc: hood, Temp: 22°/20°, Time: 38:46, Pace: 9:42, Difficulty: hard, Felt: happy to actually challenge myself
Saturday | February 15, 2014: 3.5 m run (w/Efit)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 18°/21°, Time: 38:45, Pace: 11:05 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: too warm/tired
Sunday | February 16, 2014: 30 mins cycling intervals
Time: 30:00, Set: 5×1:00 and 5×00:30, Difficulty: medium/hard, Felt: like I should get on the bike more!
Notes:
- I don’t post these things when I don’t do much – hence no posts the past two weeks (despite those weeks including a half marathon and a 10 miler, ha ha!). I think these recaps are boring enough, and not having much going on makes them even worse. Hopefully I won’t skip too many more this year.
- As you guys know, I went to Dallas two weekends ago to run with Gina and Steve for their first half, and the course was short. Well, Gina had her redemption race yesterday! She ran a 2:02:43 and got third in her age group, and on a hilly course! Woo hoo! That time aligns with what she would have run had the first half been the right distance. I am very proud of her, and happy she was able to do another half so soon! Steve will have his redemption race at the Dallas RnR at the end of March.
- You may notice something odd on my training plan… speedwork. I helped my friend Kelly put together a training plan for the Wisconsin Half Marathon, and will be pacing her, so I figured I should do the speedwork she is doing, too! If you are interested in the Wisconsin Half or Full, you can use my code KIMSCODE for $5 off registration! This is the first half marathon I’ve ever done and still my favorite one. This will be my sixth year running it!
- I think I will be upping my mileage more than half marathon level, though. I just signed up for Rachel‘s The Longest Day team to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. On The Longest Day (the day of the summer solstice, June 21) teams join together to do an activity from sunrise to sunset (from their site) “to honor the strength, passion and endurance of those facing Alzheimer’s.” Rachel’s team’s event is running, so I would like to participate as much as possible, along with fundraising (more on that to come)! This event is important to me as it recognizes all dementias, and my paternal grandfather had Lewy Body Dementia.
- One last thing. I thought this article (pdf here) in SELF Magazine encouraging you to be cold when exercising outside to burn more calories was odd. The “science” is saying your body uses more energy to keep you warm, which is true… but it calls it “brown fat,” which I have never heard of. And how about this tip from the article – “Think of a warm kiss to keep you warm”?! Ha ha ha! I do like the tip of using a neck gaiter, but how about this tip? Dress however makes you comfortable outside, and don’t worry about wearing less/covering less to burn a few more calories. So. Odd. Of course, I write all that and have another post drafted about a SELF article I actually like (just need to have my proof reader read it)… these magazines are so hit and miss for me!
Themocracy
Brown…fat? That just sounds…weird. I do prefer to be cold when running – if I overdress and am too warm running is fricking hard, I am slower, and just feel bleh.
(Yes, I read your whole post and training recap. I read them each time you post them, actually.)
I prefer to be cold, too. It’s funny, when my husband and I used to run outside together he would look at whatever I had on and wear that plus another layer. I think it would be dumb to purposefully make yourself uncomfortably cold to burn more calories, though. I know quite a few people who like to be warm when they run.
Ha ha. Thanks for reading!
Ooh, scientist here! I know what brown fat is! It’s a very metabolically active type of fat cell that a lot of cold weather mammals have, but babies also have it and some adults have it, too. It’s really good at generating body heat, which is why it gets a special designation, and it uses a lot of calories to generate that heat.
And congrats to Gina on her fantastic half marathon performance! I’m glad she got to redeem herself after the previous race.
So only some adults have it? Do you think that advice is wonky – kind of a “trick your body to burn more calories” thing, kind of like how people think that lower intensity burns more fat (even though higher intensity burns less percentage fat but higher calories of fat, so it’s better for calorie burn).
If I’m remembering correctly from my physiology class, it was originally thought that adult humans did not have brown fat, but then a somewhat recent study came out showing that many naturally thin people still do have a remaining patch of brown fat whereas many overweight have very little to no brown fat. The authors of that study believed that active brown fat could be helping the thinner subjects stay thin.
Brown fat? Is this real? I need to google… it feels like they’re making up just one more thing to scare me…
Beth (also commented) and said she has a scientific background, and it’s real! I still think you should wear whatever your comfort level is outside, whether you run cold or hot.
Yes, I have a PhD in biology! I don’t know that I buy in to working out at colder temps to burn more calories because your body is making metabolic heat anyway by being active, but you’ll certainly burn more calories if your house is colder, for example.
Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! I think it’s super interesting… and was surprised I had never heard of it!
Have you ever tried doing Tabata intervals on your trainer? MY FAVORITE! 🙂
I have done the 20 sec high intensity/10 second recovery when cycling at Efit! At home I usually do a longer timeframe. I should throw the shorter timeframe in too 🙂
Great training this week! I’ve never heard of brown fat!
Yay for the trainer! I rarely do intervals on it so good for you. I watch TV and zone out. I do try to keep cadence at 90 but that’s it.
And brown fat? Hmm.
I am hoping to get a bike computer this week so I can check my cadence. Any recs?
Fun! I have a Kinetic (not sure which one since I’m at work). I was told by the bike shop guys that there weren’t many options if you wanted to use it with a trainer. Maybe? We were trying to get Miles off the stationary bike, and I just went with the rec. I will advise to let someone put it on for you. The process is far more involved than I anticipated, and it took them – the experts – a half hour to put it on.
I will look in to that! That is also the name of my trainer! Steven put one on my mt bike and it was a pain for him because the mount for the back tire was not close enough and he had to jimmy (sp?) it.
Was so happy to run with you Tuesday… While we were running before I stopped and it all went south for me 🙂
Yay for speed work!!! It’s so fun to push hard sometimes 🙂 are you excited for your next speedwork session?? What will you be doing?
Congrats to Gina again! So wonderful she did so well and placed in her AG!!
Oh my. That shape article. I didn’t even click on it. I generally don’t buy into the hype of those magazines… And I was going to say I must not have any brown fat since I fair so poorly outside, but I saw Beth’s comment above, so I must have some… So strange the way these magazines fearmonger and strive for such sensational articles. Sigh
I am happy we got to run too. I still feel very badly that it made you feel so unwell 🙁
I generally don’t get excited for speedwork, but I am happy when it’s over. We designed the plan to ease it to it, let’s see what this week is… 6×400. 🙂 I am also running a 5K on Sunday, so that could involve speed. Could 😉
Beth’s input was so useful. But I don’t like the way the article shared the info. Basically “be cold to burn more calories.” Seems a bit disordered. Be comfortable. LOL, I keep saying that!
I’ve seen “brown fat” mentioned in other articles in other magazines but I don’t usually pay attention to that stuff. Although, I guess it is interesting that there might be some truth to the discussion about burning more calories when you’re cold. Not that I would purposely be cold but it’s still interesting. But you know if magazines said “Do what you want” they’d never sell any copies 🙂
In other news, congrats again to Gina! That’s a killer half marathon time. Gina, how did you feel at the end?
I hate working out when cold. My muscles tense up and I feel like every workout is harder.