Jennifer's 365 Project

 I finished the C25K program earlier in the summer and I've been running several times a week since. Today was the first 5K I've signed up for.
 Quinn and Chris came out to watch and see the festivities 

While it's not quite the same as running, I just didnt have it in me to run in 80+ degree weather with such high humidity. If the humidity was just lower...sheesh.

Ok. Maybe it's not quite running when you're going as slow as I go. Still, I managed to do 20 minutes of straight jogging without having to stop, which is more than I've ever done in my life, even as a kid. My teenage years were spent reading, playing video games, and hanging out with friends, which is mostly what I still do as an adult.

Hooray for finishing the last day of week 5 on C25K. It wasn't as painful as the previous two sessions this week.

Now to go take a nap.

I'm still plodding along the C25K program. I've completed 2 of the 3 runs for week 4, which is further than I made it the last time I tried running. There are 9 weeks total, so I still have a bit to go.

I am slowly building up endurance. I don't move very fast, but I am able to at least jog for 5 minutes at a stretch. The end of next week is a whole full 20 minutes of jogging, so that's going to be interesting.

My knee does still bother me, but I do a lot more stretching and never, ever sit on it and rarely cross my legs anymore. Those are my preferred ways to sit around, but it's certainly seemed to help and the pain is minimal now. Progress!

Today isn't as warm or sunny as Monday was, but I still managed to get out after work run along the nearby trail.

The last few times I tried running I either held my phone in my hand or had a jacket pocket I could stuff it into. Neither solution was ideal, but there was no fancy armband lying around to use. And of those fancy arm bands that do exist, I don't think any would fit my phone - I don't have any of the popular Android phones and I don't have an iPhone.

I did a quick search and found a link that suggested just using the top of a tube sock as an armband. I didn't have any tube socks, but Chris had picked up some crew socks for me.
So I cut off the tops on a pair of crew socks and sewed them together...
...then went out for a run to try it out.
The sock-armband worked pretty well. Because it's two tops of the socks sewed together, the band is long enough that I can cover the top of my phone and secure it in place so it won't pop off my arm. And it's tight enough that the phone doesn't try to slide around at all. The armband even doubled as a spot to tuck my house key, since my pants don't have any pockets.

With the snow yesterday, there was no way I was going to try another day of running. So with the warmer weather today I headed out. Ugh, I felt kind of terrible after. But at least there was no snow!

Since the weather was warm and rain wasn't supposed to start until the afternoon, I decided to start week one of the Couch to 5K program. Since I don't actually like running around in public, we'll see how long I actually stick with running around outdoors in the neighborhood. I suppose if we had a treadmill I'd feel more comfortable, although I've heard that treadmills arent as much work as running outdoors.

But it was good weather and nice to get out, despite how dreary it looks in the photo.
Then we ran some errands around noon and took a stroll at Heritage Park where the ducks usually swarm people for food.

And all that running and walking so early in the day meant taking a nap for several hours on the couch while it rained outside during the afternoon. Which I suppose isn't a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon.

I've been pretty lazy the last several weeks, so I'm trying to get back in to doing exercise. Not for weight loss but to get my heart healthier. Plus I think some exercise will help with overall tension I carry in my shoulder, which just aggravates my muscles and gives me terrible headaches.

Anyway, Chris has a stationary bike, so I wandered into the cold basement and messed with that for a 40 minute episode on Netflix.

Pay no attention to the speed in the photo. I absolutely was not going that fast most of the time.

Good lord. No.

I still miss the Kinect though. Any day they'd like to send a replacement would be awesome.

Well, the Xbox One Kinect is still dead and I'm still waiting on a replacement to arrive. That means no Xbox Fitness still, and after doing full workout videos I haven't been as interested in the mix-and-match style of the 360 game I have. Admittedly I've had little motivation so I've barely been doing anything, aside from walking on my lunch break.

So this evening I tried to stream a video through YouTube. It's a workout video I've used before on Xbox Fitness, so I was pretty familiar with the routine.

Streaming went easily enough, once I paired the YouTube app on the tablet to the YouTube app on the Xbox One, so I could use the tablet to point the Xbox to a video via the Xbox Smart Glass app. Yes, you read that right. The processed seemed unnecessarily cumbersome (it's similar to what you have to do for certain streaming services on the ChromeCast). Smart Glass is supposed to let you control the Xbox One without the controller, so I'm not sure why there isn't a keyboard that I can pull up to use apps like YouTube on the Xbox One.

Maybe they're correct it in another dashboard update....

The Kinect requires a lot of room. It was an issue in our apartment and it's an issue in the house. It's great for basements that have been converted to entertainment rooms or large living rooms, but since we have neither a little improvising is required.

In order to use the Kinect for Xbox Fitness, I have to upend the couch and move the ottomans out of the room. Only then do I have enough room for the majority of things. This system works out alright so far, but I do wish there was a way to get the Kinect to register people much closer to the sensor.

But because it's been so cold, I haven't been able to get out and do my normal walking around exercise. So I've bee playing with the Xbox Fitness app instead (yes, they call it an app on the Xbox One). For a year several workouts are free with an Xbox Live gold membership (which Chris convinced me to try). Basically they've taken existing workouts and overlaid some Xbox-specific features.

In addition to the normal video, you now have sidebar with various pieces of information.

The upper right box tracks movement. It will tell you if you're in the right position, moving too fast/slow, and highlight muscle groups that are being used. It will also give you your heart rate. I have no idea how accurate that is since I don't wear anything when exercising to track it. As you can see above, I'm taking a photo instead of whirling my arms around like a crazy person.

in the middle is a circle that tells you how accurately you're matching the instructor on the video. The five bars around the circle light up so the more you have lit up, the more "correct" your moves are. It also gives you a handy countdown of how long until the next part of the exercise video.

And finally the bottom of the right sidebar gives you fitness points. It's a way of scoring how well you're doing on each exercise move. The program also uses past performance or performance of others in your age bracket to "challenge" you to work harder.

I've been slowly working through some videos and trying them out. There are several free ones to try and then, of course, if you want the whole workout you need to purchase the extra videos. We'll see how well I stick to these exercise routines. It's easy to carve out time when you're not working, but once I come back from vacation I'll probably be too exhausted to do much else in the evening.
Speaking of exhausted...Leki needed to curl up for a nice, deep nap to rest after his intense afternoon nap on the couch. He's a good cat, even if he does try to curl around my neck.

Kent Trails is literally outside of our apartment, so it's pretty easy to hop on it and take a stroll.  This Sunday was a day free of errands and commitments.  That meant finally busting out the bike and getting some riding in.

Last summer I tried to bike nearly every day after work - which was surprisingly easy in retrospect when you get off of work at 4pm.  Now I don't get home until 6pm on days I don't have class, 9pm on those that I do.

We took the path from 44th to 84th street, which is roughly the same as what I did last July, except in reverse.  This time I didn't have my SLR, just my cell phone for snapping a few pictures, like this one of distant horses.

It was a good ride, despite the heat, and we got some ice cream at the end from McDonald's since the frozen yogurt shop wasn't open until late afternoon.

The day was pretty sunny, which meant lots of sun exposure and that I'm not rocking a moderate sunburn.  It's not the worst I've had, but it's a minor annoyance all the same.

Still, I'm looking forward to biking the trail again soon.

Went over to Kent Trails to bike it only to discover the trail had been torn up sometime between Saturday and today....

Attempting to update this via email from my palm pre. Here's hoping this update takes...unlike the last few I attempted.

Today I finally got to investigate Kent Trails. With the limited amount of time I have in the evening I only rode about 5 miles (from 84th street to 44th street) but it was still decent exercise. The terrain is pretty flat, so its not real hard to bike.

Anyway, as I was first riding north I thought that the curve of the road and the field looked familiar. That happens to me a lot and usually I'm wrong because I have a horrible sense of direction. This time however, I was right.

When I looped back down I realized why it looked like I had driven the area before. I had. Somehow I didn't notice on the first pass that I was right next to Sleepy Hollow Pet Cemetery (http://www.sleepyhollowpc.com/). Like literally. I could have just turned into their driveway. Thats the place where I had most of the ferrets cremeated (sans Atrix who died in Detroit and Bell who died before I ever moved to GR). Kinda cool, kinda weird.

Today I was determined to ride Kent Trails. I checked out the map online - verified it was open. I got home and packed a dinner and drove out to John Ball Zoo for one of the access points. Thats when I stumbled across "closed" signs and an updated map (that had not made its way to the interwebs) indicating that the northern portion of the trail was closed.

So I revised and decided to hit up Millennium Park, ride around there and if I had time (and it didnt rain) I would ride Kent Trails as well.

Well I never did get on Kent Trails. I spent waaay too much time taking pictures and goofing around at the park. Still, here's a shot of me putting my headphones back in after taking pics of an odd structure off the path.

Well, this week has been very busy it seems. I've been running around from dealerships to look at cars to searching in vain for wild strawberries to photograph for my mom (so far no luck. Why are all the upicks over for these things?!) Combine that with school that I've been rather negligent about its hard to find time to go find replacement clothes.

Enough was enough today. I combined the daily exercise I force myself to take (and am slowly enjoying since I combine it with other things) to picking out some replacement clothes for items I've stained or no longer fit. Who knew loosing just a few lbs would drastically alter the way some of my clothes work. Thats what I get for buying baggy to begin with.

Anyway, I'll post a shot of the bike and bag chilling outside of goodwill. My phone is being angry at the moment so...yeah...

I've been riding my bike almost every day for awhile now, trying to get 5 miles in at least, sometimes getting only a few and others getting 7.5 miles. Yes, I know that's not really a lot for a biker, but I'm out of shape and ramping up.

I kept assuming that my butt would get used to the hard seat, so I ignored it. And finally I just decided it wasn't getting any better - not even close - so I invested in a gel seat. While there a picked up a bike lock which I didn't have. Of course, my intent today was to not ride to get some homework done. We'll see how i feel in a little bit though....

Today in my hands finally is the folding bike I ordered. I had previously ordered a different, cheaper model online only to have it ship missing parts and other things. So I set out again, this time with a brand I knew was good.

Its the Espresso, and last years model, so it was cheaper than the retail price you typically see. The bike went in for a tune up, which according to Dahon is required to activate the extended warranty. Probably just to ensure that everything is working right prior to your first ride so you dont do unnecessary damage.

Anyway, here are a couple of shots of it. I'd have liked to take them outside somewherenicer than my bathroom. But its rainy and kind of dark out there and I'm not riskin' the camera.

So as you can see from the shots, it folds up pretty nicely. Its a full size, which is why it may look larger than other folding bikes you've seen. The pedals fold up, and I'm pretty sure the wheels have quick release on them if need be.

Now I just have to time my commute to work.