Just gets colder and colder

It just gets colder here in Chicago, and with it my enthusiam to train goes down. Saying that I am really enjoying my spinning classes, and core classes. After the first week I thought I would never be able to survive the classes, now I am actually starting to enjoy them... yeah thats a lie, I am know just about surviving them.

Coming from the UK where 32 deg F is cold, the temperatures capable here in Chicago amaze me, though they are still warm compared to my friends in Minnesota and further North. Over the weekend in Chicago it hit -1 deg F, and with wind chill -15 deg F. Needless to say we did very little over the weekend, stayed in and kept warm.

Christmas Birthday Toys Updates
Newtons
I have managed to get a few more miles on my newtons. I am still enjoying them, I find my stride turnover rate is alot higher and I am running faster than before. After some initial tired calves I am finding that they are not as tired after running. My speed is definitely increasing, not quite sure whether its the newtons or just the stride action of running on my toes.

Garmin
I love this toy, how I ever managed before is unknown. Afraid I am a stats person, I love to be able to look at the speeds/heart rates etc over my workout, and visualize the pain I was in at that moment. I do get the usual smirk comments in my spinning classes of "So how far have you cycled?"

Perfect Pushups
Another succesful toy from Gemma to me, other than a tiredness in my shoulder I am sticking with the routine. They are certainly building my upper body strength, and turning my moobs into pecs! I can also feel it really working the biceps and triceps. I find it feels less like a push up as I am able to grip the handles rather than pushing down on the palm of my hand causing less stress on my wrists.

Friday is the big day, with any luck we will find out the sexes of our babies.
Completed the boy or girl quiz and it reckons 55-60% its a girl. I am just hoping for healthy babies, beyond that a boy would be nice, two girls I think would be a nightmare for me! A house full of women.

Big three O

Yep it was my birthday, I would love to buy everyone donuts (as I did for work), but I guess everyone reading this is far too busy training and keeping healthy to eat them!

So Gemma spoiled me again. (this will have to stop when the babies come) For my birthday, she got me a new Ipod Classic. (I will continue to use my old mp3 player for training, and not worry when it gets beat up). I much prefer the Ipod and itunes for the Podcast interface, and am looking forward to catching up on the podcasts especially Biguns and Taconites new podcast.

I have started to use another one of my christmas presents.. perfect push up. I have never been great at pushups, more than 15 and I fall too pieces. I have found this really effective, I have been making some big improvements and can really feel my upper body strength improving. I'd like to say thats me in the picture... maybe in a few months!

I have also been continuing to go to the core workout classes and they are starting to get easier. I no longer feel in pain 5 days after the workout. Just a nice feeling of having a good workout the next day. I have also continued the extreme cycling, I am really hoping this is helping with my cycling endurance.

The countdown is on.. in 2 weeks we find out the sexes of our babies. The current guess is at least one is a girl. (high heart beat). Most people are guessing one of each.

Extreme Cycling and temperatures of 52 Deg F!

This week I started one of my new classes, extreme cycling, also the 305 got its first indoor usage (HRM only). Extreme cycling is sort of a cross between spin classes and floor exercises (star jumps etc), not at the same time though, actually there was pressups on the bike!

Takes 45 mins and I was knackered at the end. I aim to do this once a week along with a class on core training and a pilates class. I am lucky that these classes are paid for by work, and I can do them in the middle of the day. So when I have had a really bad day (most days it seems) I can disapear to the gym for an hour an exhaust myself before going back to work.


Downloaded my 305 data for the extreme cycling. This is using the Garmin software and nicely shows my HR.


52 Deg F!
Yep in cold old chicago it got up to 52 degF (thats 12 deg C for Iain my cross the pond reader!). All the snow we had had pretty much melted over night, leaving the roads clear and suitable for me to get out and about.


So I wrapped up and decided today was the day for the 305's first outdoor run out, as well as trying out the Newtons for the first time.


It was nice out if a little damp and I was able to maintain a fairly nice trot, the action of running on my toes more, certainly seems to have sped up my run speed. Completed a nice 3.2 mile loop around the nighbourhood. Shoes felt good, though my legs ached an hour later due to the new running action.


Downloaded into Garmin Training Centre (GTC), not impressed with the GTC the map function was totally wrong. So downloaded into Sportraks. This seemed far better and correctly mapped my route.

HRM Display still seems better in GTC.