Saturday, January 31, 2015

Saturday Morning Boxing

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I did not do any activity since it was my rest day.  I got to bed early and got about 8.5 hours of sleep!  Despite that, I still was tired in the morning.  I really think this is where the anemia is affecting me.  I did get the results back from the biopsies taken during my endoscopy and colonoscopy, and they were all negative.  No H pylori in the stomach, and no celiac disease.  So that means there's still no apparent reason for my iron deficiency.

This morning I sent to a boxing class.  It was not taught by my favorite instructor, and I think I've finally put my finger on what I don't like: he hardly demonstrates any of the moves, and does not help out anyone with form.  A lot of the participants have horrible boxing form, and then for things like lunges, planks, and so on, they also have horrible form.  This could mean that they are more likely to get hurt, or it could mean they just aren't working their muscles in the right way.  I just feel like the instructor should be guiding people on that.  Instead, I feel like he's doing the minimum.  Ah, well.  As I said above, I was feeling tired than I really should have, so I dogged it a bit.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  We were back to the new "usual" instructor, so we did a lot of point games.  It was fun, and I definitely kept moving.

Today is my rest day, so this morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 75 calories.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Easy Run

Yesterday after work I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 45-min run.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph in order to average 6.0 mph.  I expected this run to be hard after the rnning I had done earlier in the week and getting such sore legs, but it actually wasn't too bad.  The distance came to 4.5 mi.

This morning I did P90X2 Plyocide, followed by Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Ab Shredder.  I skipped the neuro-integrated stretching at the end of Plyocide to shorten things, so it was only about an hour.  My abs are definitely sore from my new ab moves yesterday, so Ab Shredder was a bit of torture.  I burned about 225 calories total.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Chest & Abs Work

Yesterday after work, I went to cardio tennis at TCCP.  We had the "old" instructor, who definitely runs us around more.  She took it easy on the newbies, though, and the second half of the hour almost ended up being too easy.  My legs were still recovering from Sunday and Monday.

This morning I did Body Beast BULK Chest.  I think I used weights about as heavy as the last time I went through the program.  I have always found it hard to increase my weights for chest moves.  After I was done, I could hardly lift my arms, so something went right.

After I finished the workout, I added in some ab moves from Oxygen magazine.  First was the sliding abs (I can't remember its name).  You get on all fours, with paper plates under your hands.  Then you slide your hands forward until you're almost laying stomach-down on the floor.  Then you slide your hands back.  The sliding back move is really hard!

The second move was sort of a farmer's carry, but the weight was held in one hand up by the shoulder.  I used 25 lb, but this didn't seem to do much for me.  Maybe I need to use a heavier weight, but then I'm just going to have problems holding it up.

The last move was the "Alligator walk".  You get in a plank position, with a weight plate underneath your toes.  You walk your hands forward, dragging your feet on the plate.  I used a 5-lb plate under each foot, since they are small.  This was tough, but doable for me.

These three moves would have needed more time than I had to do all the reps and sets, so I'm going to have to cut it down for next week.  I think I'll cut out the second move, since I didn't feel that much,  and hopefully that will give me enough time for the other two.

Overall, with the Body Beast workout and the abs moves, I only burned about 95 calories.  That's depressing for how much I was feeling the weights in both the chest and abs.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Extra Exercise

Yesterday my evening MCTA tennis match was canceled because of the weather.  I checked to see if I was needed as a sub in my Monday doubles at TCCP, but I was not.  I decided to run 3 miles on the treadmill just to burn some calories.  My legs were still quite sore from my long run on Sunday, so I kept it at 5.8 mph for 31 min to get the 3 miles.  As soon as I stepped off the treadmill, I got a request to come to TCCP anyway to play.  I can't turn down tennis!

So I went to TCCP and played for two hours.  My first round, which was singles, did not go that well - I lost 6-2.  My play wasn't quite as bad as the score looks, but I was definitely feeling my sore legs.  But I played some very good doubles.  In the next round, my partner, Anda, and I won 6-2.  Then we rotated, and my partner, Mary Ann, and I ended up tying our opponents at 5-5.  I was doing a good job of coming in to the net and ending the points more quickly.  But I was TIRED by the end of the night!  I hadn't really gotten much to eat for dinner, either.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Speed & Agility.  I was still pretty tired, so I took it pretty easy on this. Afterward, I did 3 x 20 glute bridges with a 20-lb weight.  I had intended to do those yesterday, but with the weather yesterday, I needed the extra time to get to class.  For Speed & Agility, I burned about 225 calories.


Monday, January 26, 2015

Body Beast

This morning I started my new hybrid cycle.  Today I did Body Beast BULK Shoulders.  I think I did pretty well at using high weights.  I would really like to build up my shoulders a bit, but they don't seem to want to do that.  I burned about 105 calories.

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Combo Win & Long Run

Last night, I had a tennis match with my combo team.  My partner, Shelley, and I won 6-4, 6-4.  This match was a little hairier than I would've liked it to have been.  In the first set, we were pretty even the whole time, until we got to 4-4, and we got the set win.  One of our opponents had a strong forehand that was also very low and hard to hit, and it was just beating us up.  The other player made a lot of errors, but also managed to get a lot of balls back unexpectedly.  In the second set, we got down 4-1 pretty quickly - I'm not even sure how that happened.  But we decided to keep at it, and we started to win.  We came back and won the set!

The team won one of the other courts, also 6-4, 6-4, so we won the match overall.  We lost the third court.  We can't win everything!  So far it has been a good season for the team.

Today I didn't go to my usual boxing class because I had a long run on my training schedule.  I ran 11 mi on the treadmill at 5.8 mph.  I finished this in 1:53:47.  The run felt OK- not great, but I've definitely had worse.

I entered this run in the Virtual 5K by Runs for Cookies .  I figured if I was going to run 11 miles, why not have 3.1 miles count for something?  It made for a slow 5K, but what the heck.

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Short Run

Yesterday after dinner I did a short run, partly to get in some activity and partly to see how it felt.  The run actually felt pretty good!  I ran for 30 min at a speed increasing from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph in order to average 6 mph.  The distance was 3.0 miles.  I didn't push at all, but the run felt OK.

This morning I went to a boxing class.  Not my favorite instructor, but the class was OK.  Tomorrow I am going to skip boxing because I have an 11-mi run scheduled.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Back to Activity

Yesterday, I had an endoscopy and colonoscopy in order to search for internal bleeding or other problems that could explain my anemia.  The biopsy results from the procedure are not back yet.  However, the doctor saw that I have a small hiatal hernia at the top of my stomach, which is not unusual.  I also have a rather inflamed stomach, called gastritis.  This could be caused by H pylori bacteria, which could be the cause of the anemia.  The results of the biopsy to look for the bacterium are also not back yet.

  Since I could only drink liquids the day before the procedure (Wednesday), I have not done any activity since Wednesday morning.  Fortunately the sedation that I had during the procedure yesterday didn't seem to hit me as hard as it has in the past.

This morning I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+.  This felt pretty good - I was not as tired as I expected from the sedation.  I burned about 220 calories.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Short Run

Yesterday afternoon after work, I did the next run on my training schedule.  I ran 40 minutes on the treadmill.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, averaging 6 mph.  This gave 4.0 mi for the distance.  This run was much easier than the run on Saturday.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  This is the last time for this combination for awhile, which is too bad, because it's a good one.  Have to change things up, though!  I burned about 205 calories.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I did not play very well - just a little slow to react.  Fortunately, in the first round, my partner, Michelyn, redeemed me, and we only lost 6-5.  In the second round, my partner, Noa (Michelyn's daughter), and I won 6-2.  Again, she was definitely the strong player, which is sad, since she's about 10 years old.  In the last round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 2-1.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Core.  This is my last time doing this workout for awhile.  It went pretty well.  I increased my reps on a few moves.  I burned 100 calories.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Doubles Win!

Last night, I had another match with my 3.5 team.  My partner, Jill, and I won 1-6, 6-1, 1-0.  We really didn't play well the first set - we were reacting instead of acting.  One of our opponents was a soft hitter, and one was a hard hitter.  So the whole set we were running up to get the soft, short balls, and then trying to back up to be ready to get the hard groundstrokes.  This really just didn't work.  In the second set, we concentrated on playing two up at the net, so we held our ground for the soft and hard balls.  We also took a lot of would-be lobs out of the air.  This worked really well in the second set, and continued in the match tie-breaker.

Our team won four of the five courts, which was great!  We won three of the courts in match tie-breakers, and the fourth win timed out in the second set.  Talk about close!  The only court we lost, we lost 5-7, 5-7, so it was also very close.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I tweaked my left calf in boxing yesterday.  This is the one that I pulled a couple times last November.  I wore my calf compression sleeve for the match, and fortunately it didn't bother me.  I can still feel it, though.

This morning I did P90X Legs & Back.  This is the last week for this exercise block.  I did not increase any weights, but I did get a couple more pull-ups.  I wanted to go easy on my calf, and I just wasn't all that excited to do the workout.  I burned about 170 calories.

I've been working really hard at getting more sleep than I did last semester.  And I have been doing it!  I've typically been getting at least 7 hours a night (compared to 6 hr last semester) and several nights a week I'm getting even more than that.  I've been several weeks on this "sleep" campaign.  So I don't really understand why I'm still feeling tired, and more sore, even, than usual.  Blah.  On the plus side, I think I am starting to very slowly lose a little weight.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Run with Speed Intervals

Yesterday afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run with 6 hard intervals of 60-s.  For the easy part, I ran at 5.8 mph.  For the intervals, I ran at 7.5 mph.  This run felt a lot harder than I expected, since I've done this before.  The hard intervals weren't that bad, but when I finished them, I felt way too winded.  It was weird.  The run ended up being about 5.98 mi.

My treadmill has been fixed.  The belt was replaced.  The treadmill was really noisy at first, but fortunately the noises seemed to work themselves out.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  I'm actually sore in my back and shoulders and triceps from yesterday's boxing, which is surprising.  Today's class was pretty much like normal.

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Saturday Boxing

Yesterday was my rest day, so I didn't do any activity in the afternoon or evening.  I haven't had so few steps in a day in a long time!

This morning I went to the 11:30am boxing class.  I went to the one in late morning instead of earlier so that I could sleep in and continue my efforts at getting more sleep.  The class was not scheduled to be taught by my favorite instructor, but I figure that would be OK.  As it turns out, he had a sub - also not my favorite instructor, but better.  The class was OK, but I didn't find it to be very hard, despite the fact that my Basis Peak said I burned a pretty typical number of calories.

Friday, January 16, 2015

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work I did the cardio tennis class at TCCP.  It was a good one!  Even though we had nine people there, the pro kept us all moving really well.  We played a lot of point games, which was fun.

Today is my rest day.  This morning, I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 75 calories.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Second Combo Win!

Last night was the second match for my 6.5 combo team.  We won two of the three courts - not bad, considering all three of our 3.5 players are new 3.5s this year.  My partner, Libby, and I won on court 1: 6-4, 2-6, 1-0.  I'm not sure what happened to us in the second set.  Our opponents definitely played a little better, but I also think we made a lot of unforced errors.  Luckily we came on strong in the match tie-breaker and were always ahead.  Libby's service won us the match. 

We also won the third court, with Jessica and Martine winning 7-6, 6-2.  We lost the second court, but it wasn't a blow-out.  So far, so good for this team this season!

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I wasn't really in the mood for this workout this morning, but got through it OK.  I even increased reps on a few moves, keeping my focus on the straight torso.  I burned about 125 calories.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Easy Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a 50-min run on the treadmill.  I increased the speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph so the average was 6 mph and the distance was 5 mi.  The first half of the run felt pretty good, while the last half was harder.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  I do like this combination, although I will say that the pike-ups in Pure Contact really get me.  I burned 200 calories; more than the last couple times, but I had two interruptions.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played pretty well.  In the first round, my partner, Mariann, and I won 6-1.  We were a little surprised, because we were not playing particularly weak players.  In the second round, my partner, Michelyn, and I lost 6-4.  Despite the score, I think we played really well.  We made some unforced errors, and our opponents played quite well.  In this round, I really utilized my serve well, placing it to help Michelyn out.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Core.  This went OK.  My shoulders are actually sore from pull-ups yesterday morning, which is unusual.  And my chest is a bit sore from push-ups in boxing on Sunday, which is definitely unusual.  I burned about 120 calories in the workout; more than the last couple times, but I had to take a break in the middle to clean up some cat puke.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Short Run

Yesterday evening I did a short run, mostly to burn some calories.  I ran for 30 min at a speed increasing from 5.8 to 6.2 mph, with an average of 6 mph.  The distance totaled 3.0 mi.  This run was pretty tough, because I was still tired from 10 mi on Saturday, so I took a lot of breaks.

This morning I did P90X Legs & Back.  I increased my weights on a couple exercises, and I did more pull-ups.  I am hopeful that this week I won't be quite as sore as last week; so far, so good.  I burned about 185 calories.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sunday Boxing

Today I had my usual boxing class.  The unusual part was that I felt really good doing it - more energy than usual.  Usually I ease off in the rounds and especially in the ab section, but I blasted right through it all.  I have no idea why, since I ran 10 miles yesterday!  I have been trying to get more sleep, so maybe that's finally helping.

A few days ago I showed the graphs of my weight over time and food intake over time.  I've been using the data and also comparing them with my waist circumference (to track body fat) and my eating patterns.  I broke the data up into sections where I was losing weight and body fat, maintaining, and gaining.  The cause of each of those sections is not always obvious.  However, during the times when I was losing weight, I was usually following some kind of zig-zag diet, and my average calories per day was higher than what I've been doing.

So, I'm going to gradually work into a zig-zag again, and also gradually increase calories a bit.  This week I'm going to do three days at 1800 cal and three days at 1600 cal.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

First Combo Win!

Last night my 6.5 women's combo team won our first match of the winter season.  We swept all the courts - this is a weaker team.  Susie and I won 6-1, 6-3.  Both our opponents were 3.0s, and not strong ones at that.  They just didn't know where to be and didn't react well.

This morning before lunch, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 10-mi run.  I ran at a speed of 5.8 mph, so the run took 1:43:30.  It wasn't too tough - I think I was distracted by the Galaxy Quest movie I watched.  During the first 20 minutes, I only took one break, and then I did take breaks every 5 min.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Balance + Power

Yesterday was my rest day, so I didn't do any activity in the afternoon or evening.  My Basis Peak was not happy with me for missing so many habits yesterday.

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I improved my reps on a number of moves.  I'm still working especially hard on keeping my torso straight, which definitely slows me down on some of them.  I can feel it, too.  I burned about 120 calories.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

First 3.5 Win of the Season!

Last night my 3.5 team had our first match of the winter season.  We had a clean sweep win of the courts!  Jill and I won 6-0, 6-0 on #3 doubles.  It turns out that both of our opponents were 3.0 players, so no wonder we crushed them.  I had known ahead of time that the opposing team last night was the weakest in the league, but they really did not put forward their best line-up last night.

Today is going to be my rest day this week, since I have a match tomorrow.  This morning I did P90X2 Recovery + Mobility - my shortened version.  I burned about 75 calories.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Four Years+ of BodyMedia Data

Yesterday afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule.  Fortunately I found out that the manufacturer will replace my treadmill belt under warranty, so I could cut off the little ripped part and use my own treadmill.  I ran for 40 min and increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph to average 6mph.  The total distance was 4.0 mi.  This run didn't feel as bad as I expected, because I was still (and am still) quite sore from Legs & Back on Monday morning.  I walked an extra 10 min on the treadmill since we'd had a snow day, and I was home all day hardly moving.

This morning I did Insanity the Aslyum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  This worked up a good sweat.  My Basis Peak said I burned about 190 cal.

Today I took a look at all of the BodyMedia data I accumulated over more than four years: 1520 days of data.  I was interested to look at trends of weight gain/loss with my calorie burn and intake.  Well, unfortunately I did not find anything helpful.  Here's a screenshot of two key graphs:
The top graph shows the difference between the calories I burned (according to BodyMedia) and the calories I ate.  A positive number means that I burned more than I ate.  This is plotted over time.  The second graph shows my weight over time. 

As you can see, my weight has been gradually increasing.  Some of this increase is good: it's muscle.  I know this by correlating my waist circumference with it.  However, some of it is definitely fat gain.  Interestingly, over more than four years, I have not been in a weight maintenance mode for long at all - I'm either gaining or losing.  I was maintaining for awhile at about 1/4 of the way from the left of the graph, which is the fall of 2011, but that's about it. 

However, comparing the graphs doesn't give me much insight into why I'm gaining or losing.  I feel like a lot of the peaks and troughs in my weight graph are also mirrored in the calorie difference graph, which doesn't make much sense to me.

In this image, the top graph is the calories I ate per day graphed over time, and the bottom graph is again my weight over time.  Again, I am not seeing much pattern here.  After the maintenance weight part of the graph, I lost a little bit.  As you can see, my average calorie intake was not extraordinariily low.  Later, at about halfway through the graph, when I was also losing weight, I had some lower calorie days, but not exclusively - this was when I was zig-zagging my calories.  At about 3/4 through the graph, when I was also losing weight, my calorie intake was not the lowest.  The last part of the graph, from the highest weight to the end is my weight since my vacation this past August.  As you can see, I've hardly lost any of that weight, even though I'm eating some of the consistently lowest calories in the whole record.

Maybe that means that I should be eating a little more to try to lose that weight?  It's very frustrating.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Moday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played OK - better than the scores would indicate.  In the first round, my partner, Jill, and I lost 6-3.  One of our opponents was really great at the net.  In the second round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 6-2.  This really shouldn't have been so bad - we had two or three games we were up 40-30 and then lost.  In the last round, my partner, Anda, and I won 3-1.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Core.  I burned about 105 calories according to my Basis Peak.  I am quite sore from Legs & Back yesterday.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Last BodyMedia and Basis Peak Comparison

This morning I did P90X Legs & Back.  I know that I am going to feel this one later - actually, I'm feeling it already.  This workout always leaves me sore for a week after the first time I do it after a long break.  It's definitely a good workout, though.  My Basis Peak said I burned about 175 calories in the workout.  Definitely lower than the BodyMedia device would've said, but the highest calorie burn I've gotten from the Peak for weight-lifting-type workout so far.

The last comparison I'm going to do between my old BodyMedia device and my new Basis Peak is the total calories burned in a day.
  • Dec. 31: BodyMedia 2748, Basis Peak 2125
  • Jan. 1: BodyMedia 2821, Basis Peak 2002
  • Jan. 2: BodyMedia 2910, Basis Peak 2191
  • Jan. 3: BodyMedia 3061, Basis Peak 2128
  • Jan. 4: BodyMedia 3148, Basis Peak 2538
Clearly the BodyMedia device calculates a much larger daily calorie burn.  In fact the BodyMedia totals are about 1.35 times larger than the Basis Peak's.  Which is right?  It's not clear.  However, I have felt for quite awhile that the BodyMedia calorie totals were too large.  Partly because if they were right, then I should be a walking skeleton by now, given what I eat.  But I also think that because I'm not that massive, and so it really would be unlikely for me to be consistently burning upward of 2500 cal/day with the activity I'm doing.  So I think the Basis Peak is probably closer.

That said, it's definitely going to be an adjustment for me to see the lower calorie numbers on the Basis Peak and not panic.  Hopefully I will adjust in a positive way, like not sitting around too much in my office.  We'll see how it goes.

I stopped wearing the BodyMedia device after download its data last night, and it's nice to not have the armband on after over four years.  And since the Basis Peak also has a watch and HRM, it's combined a lot of my typical exercise equipment into one item, which is nice.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Last Day of BodyMedia

Yesterday afternoon I had a practice with my tennis team - all doubles.  I played much better than I did on Wednesday.  In the first round, my partner, Joan, and I came back from losing 4-1 to tying it up 4-4 at the end of the round.  In the second round, my partner, Jill, and I won the first "set" 7-6, but then were losing 3-1 when the round ended.  In the third round, my partner, Grace, and I won 6-3.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  Today is going to be the last day that I wear my BodyMedia device, so I did another comparison, which I'll put below.

In the afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was to run for 60 min at an easy pace (5.8 mph for me) and then put in six 60-s hard intervals (at 7.5 mph for me).  The distance for this came out to be 5.95 mi.  My treadmill hasn't been fixed yet, so I did this run at TCCP again.  I also did a comparison between my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.

Here's a list of all the comparisons.  The second boxing and second run comparisons are the ones I did today.
  • 500-step test: BodyMedia 469 steps and 21 calories; Basis Peak 516 steps and 34 calories.
  • Run 1: BodyMedia 7960 steps and 460 calories; Basis Peak 7700 steps and 470 calories.
  • Run 2: BodyMedia 9565 steps and 575 calories; Basis Peak 9545 steps and 584 calories.
  • Boxing 1: BodyMedia 3619 steps and 372 calories; Basis Peak 4064 steps and 311 calories.
  • Boxing 2: BodyMedia 2992 steps and 341 calories; Basis Peak 3156 steps and 295 calories.
The running is clearly the most similar between the two devices.  For boxing, the BodyMedia has a higher calorie burn by about 1.2 times for both comparisons; the Basis Peak has a larger number of steps.  I think both devices probably find activities like boxing and tennis to be confusing, because there are not clearly-defined steps and motions, so the algorithms sometimes pick up the activity well and sometimes not.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Boxing Comparison

This morning I did a boxing class.  It was another chance to compare my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.  During the class, my BodyMedia counted 3619 steps and calculate a burn of 372 calories.  In the same amount of time, my Basis Peak counted 4064 steps and calculated a burn of 311 calories.  Yet another confusing comparison.  I have no idea what pattern there is in them!

Here's a summary of the comparisons so far:
  • 500-step test: BodyMedia 469 steps and 21 calories; Basis Peak 516 steps and 34 calories.
  • Run: BodyMedia 7960 steps and 460 calories; Basis Peak 7700 steps and 470 calories.
  • Boxing: BodyMedia 3619 steps and 372 calories; Basis Peak 4064 steps and 311 calories.

Friday, January 2, 2015

Basis Peak and BodyMedia Comparison

Yesterday afternoon I played tennis doubles for a couple hours with my team.  I did not do my best - I just wasn't seeing opportunities to get the ball at the net.  But it was good to get back to some tennis.  I also did a comparison in the calorie burns calculated by my BodyMedia device and my Basis Peak.  They were quite different.  The BodyMedia calculated about 560 calories, while the Peak calculated between 350 - 400 cal.  The Peak also counted a lot fewer steps, although I don't have exact numbers.

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I concentrated on really keeping my torso straight, which made some of the moves much harder.  My BodyMedia said I burned about 195 calories, while the Peak said about 125 calories; again, a pretty big difference.

I decided to do a test this afternoon.  I walked 500 steps around the house to see what calorie burn and number of steps each device measured.  The BodyMedia counted 469 steps and calculated a burn of 21 calories.  The Basis Peak counted 516 steps and calculated a burn of 34 calories.  This is the opposite pattern compared to what they were doing yesterday in tennis!  So which is correct?  Who knows.  The Basis Peak has definitely been overall counting fewer steps throughout the day and also calculating a lower calorie burn.  I have suspect the BodyMedia calorie burns have been too high for quite awhile, but I thought measuring the steps would be more basic and repeatable.  I guess not.

This afternoon I did my scheduled training run on a treadmill at TCCP, because my treadmill belt is still damaged.  (The repair place is ordering a replacement belt.)  I very carefully noted the start and end on both the BodyMedia and Basis Peak in order to do another comparison.  I ran for 45 minutes, increasing my spead from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, averaging 6 mph.  That gave me a distance of 4.5 mi.  This run actually felt pretty good, which I was surprised about, but can't complain.  For the comparison:  the BodyMedia counted 7960 steps and a burn of 460 calories; the Basis Peak counted 7700 steps and a burn of 470 calories.  These measurements were both much more self-consistent that my step test.  Maybe because it was over a longer period of time, so variations average out?  Or maybe running is easier to measure for the devices so they are more reliable?  Who knows.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Treadmill Problems

Yesterday afternoon I planned to do the next run on my training schedule, which was 45 minutes.  However, about 40 minutes into the running section, my treadmill started making a bad noise.  It didn't seem like it was going to blow up immediately, but it seemed prudent to slow down to a walk.  So I did 40 minutes and 4 miles.  The speed averaged to 6 mph.

It turns out that there is a small rip in the belt of the treadmill.  A section about a half-inch wide has peeled up.  Every time it cycles around the belt, it hits parts of the treadmill, making noise.   Possibly I can cut off this little piece and keep using the treadmill until I can get a repair person to visit, but we'll see.

My Basis Peak did pick up on the running pretty quickly, as it should.  It was very interesting looking at all the data from the run later on.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Pure Contact.  This is a good combination to get a lot of sweat going, as well as getting good agility work and some plyo work.  My BodyMedia device said I burned 245 calories, while my Basis Peak said I burned 204 calories.  A bit of a difference, but not as different as the core workout yesterday morning.