Ron The Runner

As some of you may know I am an ex-smoker. I had not smoked since august, recently I had a little break with reality and smoked for a week. During that week I tried running but two miles was the most I could manage. On wednsday I decided to quit (again) I ran that day wearing my HR monitor as always. I ran very slow 5.2 mph, at mile one my HR was 170 bpm, by mile two it was near 180 bpm. That night I had my last smoke, Thursday I ran 3 miles. I ran at a faster pace 5.5 mph, at mile one my HR was only 150 bpm, by mile three it was at 158 bpm. In just one day of not smoking my pace was faster, my distance was further, and my HR had dropped nearly 20 bpm. If you ever wonder just how big of an imact smoking can have on running there it is...

Here I am half a week into my fitness/weight loss plan. I have dropped 3 pounds since monday, which I expected I have been doing two walks per day (it's the activity I enjoy most) I did a couple runs but I'm not really worried about the running, right now I am still smoking (that ends after tonight) That totally kills the runs 2 miles tops with the smoking and even that is a struggle. I got my stop smoking pills today and wont smoke as of tomorrow morning. I have done it before and for me the first day is the hard part, if I can make it through one day I am good to go!

I have avoided seeing "the woman" though I did drop something off for her tonight with a friend. I am doing much better without that distraction and the added stress it brings. Maybe I'm just not ready to go there yet, maybe we just need to go slower. I don't know, but for now I am right where I need to be re-focused on my fitness and health, setting goals and moving towards them again.

I would love to be able to write a entertaining blog post that everybody raves about, sadly thats just not me. I lead a fairly simply life lately, I work, I sleep, I eat, I run once in awhile, I sleep again...

Just how exciting a spin can I put on that ! I don't travel the world, I haven't climbed Mt Everest. I have just tried to get through the best I can.  After losing my wife I found my focus in fitness and becoming a running. I threw myself into it completely, I lost a ton of weight over 60 pounds. I went from smoking 4 packs a day and not being able to run 1/4 mile to not smoking and running up to 15 miles once a week, 40 miles overall per week. The changes in my health have been dramatic and in my mood as well. Not only was a healthier but was gaining my confidence back, women were suddenly flirting with me again ! How freaking cool is that !!

After having cut myself off from the world for a long time this is a scary step, getting back out there again. There was one woman who was more persistent then the others and eventually I started talking with her. Going from just a smiling face I saw everyday to someone I knew. Learning about her family etc..

It has been nice getting to know someone again, just hearing about her family and things she has been going through makes me feel less alone. Not that it has all been easy after the first time we spent anytime together having a nice talk that night I went home and had a dream she was in the hospital with cancer dying...

I pressed on and we kept talking learning more about each other, I told her about my wife and showed her pictures. Eventually she asked me out, I don't think that has ever happened to me before !

After so long alone, not talking to anyone in RL talking to her was addictive, I couldn't get enough. it was all I thought about. the next time talking to her, what would I say and so on...

My Fitness has suffered and stress has started to take over. Last week I was nearly at the breaking point, I had a stress headache so bad it wiped me out for the day. It's nothing she has done she has been fantastic, I think its just my fears of getting close to someone again.

I have taken a time out, haven't seen her in a few days, settled my nerves down and thought things through. I am going to re-focus my efforts on fitness and try and find a balance between the two. The running is a great stress reliever and I desperately need that back! I don't want to give up on this relationship, but I can't allow it to consume me the way it has been..

I ordered a pair of Zensah Compression leg sleeves, they have worked beyond my expectations.

I have had trouble with my lower legs since I started running, after a run it would take two or more days to recover. Sometimes in a good deal of discomfort, limping around in the morning etc...

I was very skeptical of these leg Sleeves, I expected them to be a waste of money before they ever arrived. I am so glad I was wrong, I have been able to run longer distances since I got them. I have been able to keep on my running schedule and do not limp around in the morning anymore. I wear them during my runs and for a couple hours after. I will wear them when I go on walks, they are just fantastic!

I have been trying out 2 iPhone apps to log my training.

Pace - Running and Walking Journal

and

iRun ORIGINAL: The Runner's Running Log

Pace is 1.99 and iRun is 2.99, they both offer similar features.

Pace

The Home screen for Pace is where you see a summary of your training, you can view weekly,

monthly or yearly, It is also where you log new workouts.

Tilting the screen to landscape mode and you see graphs of your training.

The settings for Pace are pretty straight forward, you can set goal, shoes, bodyweight, you can add your twitter login and tweet all your workouts. there is also an export option which will export you training to a server where you can download it as a .cvs file.

Pace is a straight forward no frills way to track your training on your iPhone.

iRun

The iRun homescreen is where you add your workouts it does not show a summary on the homescreen.

iRun's summary screen offers more options then pace.

The reports are not as nice as the ones you get from pace, not a graph just a somewhat confusing and hard to read list.

The settings options in iRun are similar to Pace, it offers twitter integration as well however it does not offer an export option.

The Poor navigation, summaries and lack of an export option on iRun make Pace the winner here. not to mention the price!