Running etc.

Sunshine

2010-04-06T21:11:00.003-04:00

I must admit, I haven't been doing too much exercise in past couple of weeks. I had a big workshop coming up and that took all my free time. In fact significant exercise minutes were made of running between gates at airports. I missed goals for two weeks consecutively. I still managed to do some kickboxing, aerobics, and abs, but not too much. It didn't help that it was continuously raining for a few days in New England.

Then last week, it was sunny! I managed to go running, which was a great feeling. Then last weekend, I invited a bunch of people and we made a community vegetable plot in my backyard. Digging, running, cleaning soil - I count all of them as good exercise. It's pretty awesome to spend an entire day outdoors in gorgeous sunshine. I now have planted fenugreek, mustard, and spinach.

Past two weeks

2010-03-17T21:40:00.002-04:00

Past two weeks weren't great. The first week I missed my goal of 225 minutes. I only completed 134. I also learnt that no matter how firm you think your mattress is, it's never a good idea to do abs workout in a bed.

First week minutes - Hill walking, Abs, Kickboxing and Biking. I finally brought out my bike for the season...and discovered there's a problem with the breaks. I essentially ended up riding like 4 miles with breaks touching the tires, which made it really heavy. May be I am just in a bad shape.

Second week I did finish my goal (Thank God!) of 225 minutes. It included Hill walking of course. But I get super bored with doing as the video instructor says, whether it's kickboxing or something else. So this week I basically memorized all the steps, put on the music of my choice and did kickboxing. It's a little weird. Oh well.

This week has started off nicely. I went for my first run of the season and it feels great! I am SO glad spring is finally here.

Hello exhaustion!

2010-02-28T22:05:00.002-05:00

This week I went back to bouldering. It's kind of addicting. I really want to complete the pre-marked routes. Right now I am on the 0+ level...just a little above the lowest level.

Target minutes: 210
Completed: 222
Kick-boxing: 12
Abs (high intensity): 20
Hill walking: 40
Bouldering: 60
5 mile Bike ride around the Charles: 90

The bike ride was made more fun by the fact that the zipride bike had broken gears and rusted chain. It was really fun though. Boston looks rather pretty after dark along the Charles.

GetFit again

2010-02-20T20:26:00.003-05:00

Alright, so it's been a while since I've updated this blog. I did finish the half-marathon that I was training for and it was a miserable experience - freezing rain, soaking wet shoes, running through giant puddles. All I really remember is how cold it was. All in all, the training was fun, the race wasn't, but that makes me optimistic about next half marathon I might do. After all, it can't get much worse than this one.

I did little in terms of actual exercise after the race. I blame it on winter, though snow shoveling in New England is quite a workout.

Recently I joined MIT's GetFit program with 5 other people. The idea is to meet minimum weekly exercise minutes target as an individual and help your team maintain the average throughout the 3 month program, where 15 minutes are added to the previous week's goal each week. We are in the week 4 right now. So far, I have only missed one weekly target due to intense work schedule.

It is still winter out and I have ruled out running or biking until the roadside snow piles melt. This leaves me to find alternate exercise routines to meet the target. So far, I've been doing aerobics, cardio kickboxing, and yoga off of the Tubes. But I have to find different stuff to keep myself interested enough. So I thought I would start blogging about all the different workouts. It might not be much, but good to keep a track of what I liked 3 weeks ago as opposed to now.

Today, for example, I went climbing with another teammate at MIT's climbing wall. Apparently it's called bouldering, since it was done without harnesses. A lot of fun, but I am definitely going to be sore tomorrow.

This week's target minutes: 195
So far: 195
Brisk hill walking: 40 Intensity: Low
Aerobics: 30 Intensity: Low
Cardio Kickboxing: 25 Intensity: Low
Abs: 10 Intensity: Medium
Climbing: 90 Intensity: High

Hmm, it seems I have already met this week's goal. Probably good since I won't be able to move anything tomorrow. (Okay so brisk walking isn't exactly considered exercise if you're from Ithaca, but it's hard to do anything else during the day).

Fall morning

2009-10-10T00:47:00.003-04:00

3 miles in 40 minutes. Not bad considering this is our hills workout. It was a cloudy morning and both Long Sought for Pond and the Keyes pond were reflecting pretty fall colors. Here's Keyes pond. I am glad we're running or we'd completely miss this.

View Larger Map

Short runs week

2009-10-09T00:05:00.002-04:00

This week has been short runs week - 10/6, Tuesday and 10/8, Thursday 3 miles each one side of Nabnasset lake.

Millstone Hill

2009-10-05T20:31:00.005-04:00

Ran down and up from Haystack to the road - 2.8 miles, 40 minutes.

View Larger Map

6 mile walk

2009-10-05T01:46:00.001-04:00

Due to unfavorable health outlook, we walked 6 miles around the Nabnasset lake in 2 hrs.

Brook-side trail biking

2009-09-30T17:26:00.007-04:00

This afternoon two other people from my lab and I went for trail biking by a brook near Haystack. Two of us from the group had done this before. The fall colors are now starting to show. Couldn't resist taking some pictures along the way.

Here's the map - notice Haystack (my lab) on the lower right corner (just above Terms of Use)

View Mountain biking trail in a larger map

13.6 miles on Rail Trail

2009-09-26T15:55:00.003-04:00

Well, we did it today, a little more than the half marathon distance. We did the entire Bruce Freeman trail end to end back and forth. We started at the Chelmsford center, went to the Lowell end that is 1.8 miles one way. I liked that those 3.6 miles felt like nothing more than a warm-up. Our pace still wasn't great - 15 minutes/mile, but that should improve. The last 2 miles were the hardest. I wasn't tired, but my legs were. I couldn't feel them by the end. But it feels good to have done the whole distance.

View Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in a larger map

The hills are...

2009-09-25T12:44:00.006-04:00

...alive with the colors of foliage! It was the hill workout day. I used my downhill running to chase the falling leafs. So fun :)

View Larger Map

10 mile Saturday

2009-09-20T20:23:00.002-04:00

Another 10 mile run today on the rail trail. This time at the end we didn't feel like we were dying, but I wouldn't mind a little more variety than the straight line trail for such a long run. It seems to never end psychologically. Next time we'll try some other paths in Westford I think.

Run in the morning, work in the afternoon, here's the result !

View Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in a larger map

Hills and fall colors

2009-09-19T23:19:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was our hill workout day. We went to a hilly road that we've never been to before. It has pretty steep hills and there is grassland north of Keyes road. I don't know the reason, but all the trees in grasslands all around Westford have already turned colors. It makes for a spectacular sight. Our pace was okay, but in the hill workout we don't look for the overall time.

View Larger Map

5 mile Nabnasset loop

2009-09-17T22:36:00.002-04:00

Not a major improvement over yesterday, but it's getting better. The mornings are chillier and the fall colors are starting to show. The grassland on our root looks so different now than in the summer. I should post some pictures.

Not sure whether it was the 3 phys therapy sessions and stretches I did, or the rest I've had, or my technique has improved, or the fact that I've found it to be a rather mental phenomenon than a physical one and have decided to ignore it, or the combination of all of the above, but my knee/shin issues have entirely disappeared. Let's see if it stays that way.

View Untitled in a larger map

On the road again

2009-09-16T09:16:00.004-04:00

After a hiatus last week due to a fall followed by a crazy work week followed by a sickness, we just started running again today. We did a short 3.7 mile run along the Nabnasset lake in brisk fall weather. I have to say I was quite impressed by our 13 minutes/mile pace today - an improvement from 15 minutes.

View Larger Map

10 miles on the rail trail

2009-09-05T13:23:00.004-04:00

Today we did our first 10 mile run on the Bruce Freeman rail trail. We went all the way to the Westford end of the trail. It was filled with bikers and runners of all kinds today and felt like some huge fun community exercise day. Two little kids even had a lemonade stand along the trail. I was a little annoyed though by bikers whizzing past me without announcing themselves.

The time on the first half of our run wasn't so good, but on the second half it was not worse than our regular weekday run, which I thought was reassuring in terms of being able to do that after already having run 5 miles. This time I took water and granola with me, which helped a lot, but I may have to find a better energy substitute. At the end of this I could barely feel that I was alive, but it was a good feeling overall.

View Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in a larger map

Hill workout

2009-09-04T08:44:00.003-04:00

Today we did a hill workout. The Tenney road on the map is on a hill; the slope changes from easy to moderate. We ran a mile to warm up going there then did fast running up and down the hill 7 times.

View Larger Map

6 miles around Nabnasset

2009-09-03T22:38:00.002-04:00

This morning it was remarkable that we actually ran 6 miles, since we had no idea how much it was going to be in those little lanes and trails around Nabnasset.

View Untitled in a larger map

Back to school day run

2009-09-02T11:48:00.002-04:00

Short 3 mile run in the morning. We were greeted by the kids going to school or waiting for their school bus. Getting pretty chilly out there. Our time still needs to improve.

View Larger Map

Evening run

2009-09-01T21:41:00.003-04:00

A short 3.8 mile run today near Haystack. It was a new neighborhood to run in. I believe we're going to see the entire Westford this way :).

View Larger Map

Bruce Freeman Rail Trail

2009-08-30T11:41:00.001-04:00

We decided to run today on this newly opened Bruce Freeman rail trail. Apparently it was in construction for about 25 years. It's a beautiful trail. It goes through woods and wetlands and pretty neighborhoods, is covered by trees and goes along water streams. We ran up to the Hart Pond and back to Chelmsford center making it about 6.16 miles. We were still running 15 minute miles though. Also I have decided that hydration pack is a bad idea.

View Bruce Freeman Rail Trail in a larger map

Week 2 Run 2

2009-08-27T15:41:00.000-04:00

This was a short 3 mile run. It was a little chilly this morning, but the day is gorgeous! If there was ever a day to be outside this summer, this is it. Clearly I am not outside. However, we still need to increase our pace.

View Larger Map

Trail biking

2009-08-26T13:55:00.000-04:00

I went biking today on an old railroad track path close to Haystack. Part of it goes through a pond/brook (Cow Pond Brook in the map) It's a beautiful path, some rocks, some dirt, some tree roots, and entirely covered by trees. My favorite part was many bumps on the trail; you feel about 5 going up and down on those. Wheeeee! There were sections where I had to get down and walk, but I only fell once because it was muddy. All in all it was a 6.8 mile ride and a lot of fun!

View Larger Map

Week 2 run 1

2009-08-25T11:28:00.000-04:00

We tried doing a little longer today than the usual 5 miles. This was a 6 mile loop. Time wasn't good, since we were still recovering from the weekend expeditions.

View Larger Map

Weekend run

2009-08-24T19:12:00.000-04:00

This past Sunday (Aug 23) I did a 6.5 mile loop. I had never been this far to the north before, and had no idea how hilly it was (I know, I did not look at the terrain view). Another big mistake was starting the run at 10 in the morning. It was about 90 degrees out and I got dehydrated pretty fast and ended up walking for almost a mile. Lessons learned - run early (as we have been doing during the weekdays - 6:30 AM) and find a way to keep self hydrated on long runs.

View Larger Map

Around the Nabnasset Lake

2009-08-24T19:03:00.001-04:00

We have been doing pretty much this 3 times a week for the past 2 weeks. It's a 5 mile loop around the lake. Right now our best time on this loop is 1 hr 5 minutes.

View Larger Map

One pretty run

2009-08-24T18:57:00.000-04:00

...along the Long Sought For Pond (I know, weird name!) and the Keyes Pond.

View Larger Map

First few runs

2009-08-24T18:47:00.000-04:00

We did this 3-ish mile run a couple of times along the pretty Nabnasset lake.

View Larger Map

Usual Bike paths

2009-08-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

I bike to work (not very often) along with trucks and 18 wheelers on Rt. 40 -

View Larger Map

And for fun -

View Larger Map

Westford 5k

2009-08-24T18:32:00.000-04:00

Then there was the Westford Road Race on May 3rd..

View Larger Map

First training run

2009-08-24T13:32:00.000-04:00

We started with running down and up the Millstone Hill.

View Larger Map