Thursday, March 5

Fact or Myth, Brains or Brawn

Thursday, March 5
Training for: Springtime Tallahassee 5K
 
Cardio: 0
Weights: Hoping to do upper body (2 chest, 2 back, 2 shoulder, 2 biceps, 2 triceps)
Calories Burned: depends on how long I lift
 
Food: Breakfast - Quaker Take Heart Blueberry Oatmeal - 160
         Lunch - Leftover Black bean soup & salad - ??
         Snack - maybe popcorn?? - 100
         Dinner - going to throw together some chicken/quinoa/veggie dish.
Total Food: not sure - but, everything has healthy ingredients so I'm not too worried
 
Self-Confidence: 7-8
 
I managed to keep up with my run yesterday pretty well.  It ended up being 4 miles, with a total of a half mine warm up/cool down.  I had to walk part of one of my recovery 400s because my knee started acting up, but, it went away thankfully.  I ended up burning closer to 500 calories than the original 400 I estimated. At least according to my HR monitor.  Probably because my HR averaged in the 160s and maxed out around 180. 
 
A friend of mine told me "You burn the same number of calories walking a mile as you do running a mile"
 
I am skeptical about this, despite the fact she explained that you're exerting more energy running, but for a shorter amount of time.  While the logic seems sound, I find it impossible to believe.  Mainly because I've been tracking my own calories during walking/running for some time now, and notice, that even if I do the *same* workout in the *same* amount of time, my calories are never the same workout to workout.  I believe this has to do with your heart rate.  My theory is that the calories you burn is directly related to what your heart rate is during exercise.  I found some information backing this up - though, they don't really mention heart rate. They do, however, mention energy exertion, which, in turn, raises your heart rate:
 
 
 
Either way, walking or running, any form of exercise is good for you.  So, don't take this as me saying "walking is worthless" - but, I feel it is somewhat worthless for me, but only because I set high standards for myself and don't gravitate towards the "less is more" approach to things.  This is probably also why I end up with sore knees and shoulders.  But, I'm stubborn, so this will probably never change.
 
You know what - that workout at the bottom of the second link looks like fun - maybe I'll try it out soon.
 
I'm hoping today I can make it to the gym and do some lifting.  I've been pretty inconsistent with lifting lately.  Mostly because, I want to keep training/running for this 5K coming up, and, if I miss a day or two, I usually jump straight on the treadmill (or run Tom Brown Park) so that I don't get too unconditioned.  But, I know that lifting is essential to a healthy, well-balanced workout.  The only problem today is, since I was out of town and missed class on Tuesday, I need to hit the computer lab after class today to complete my lab that was due (which, I received an extension on).  Then, ideally, I'd also like to complete the lab assignment that is due *next* Tuesday as well, so I don't have to go to campus this weekend.  So, its going to be a battle of brains vs. brawn today after class.  We'll see which wins out.

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