Bayerworld

FitBit Update

 

How does the sleep tracking work and what will I learn?

It's important that you get a good night's sleep. Recent studies have shown that sleep quality is linked to overall wellness. Have you ever wondered why you still feel tired even though you think you've gotten a full 8 hours of sleep? The Fitbit Tracker will allow to "see" what your body is actually doing at night.

When you get into bed, you slide the Fitbit Tracker onto a wristband that is provided with the Tracker. As you fall in and out of sleep, the Fitbit tracks the movements that your body makes and can tell you how long it took you to fall asleep, how many times you woke up throughout the night and the actual time you were asleep vs the time you were in bed.

Does the Fitbit accurately track calories from cycling/biking?

The Fitbit is optimized for walking, running and general household/lifestyle activities and gives you a good general 24 hour picture of your day. It's not going to be that accurate for things like biking, but the website will allow you to manually log activities, so that an estimated calorie burn for your biking can be included in your daily totals. If you are only doing the biking for an hour or so a day, the Fitbit will give you a good overview of your activities for the other 23 hours. The Fitbit is really for people to get a general sense of their day and get motivation from improvements in their general day to day trends.

http://www.fitbit.com/faq#sleep

FitBit, The Best Gadget of 2010

http://www.fitbit.com/

You keep this item clipped on you at all times.

It has an arm band you wear to bed.  You can see that I woke up at 6am and 7am and then went back to bed.

I enter how much water I drink during the day.  Pretty important since I have started running again. 

 

Ran 10:30 to 11:30.  It is reflected here. 

Born to Run

First heard about this book on the daily show and it was my first purchase with Barnes and Nobles E-Reader.  I read most of it on my iphone.  The book is about the Tarahumara, a group of Native Americans living in Northern Mexico.  The Tarahumara are the world’s ultimate long distance runners.  They also have virtually no trace of cancer or heart disease.

One of the interesting aspects of this book is the attack on running shoes and how the cushioning in them causes a lot of the foot injuries that runners get.  Did some browsing on this topic and found some pretty interesting reading.

 

 

 

The latest studies suggest that anything between 40% and 70% of runners are injured every year. And fascinatingly, in 1989, a study found that runners who ran in shoes costing more than $95 actually were twice as likely to get injured than runners who ran in shoes costing only $40!

http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/03/running-shoes-solution-or-problem.html

Doing some more research, I found this blog, Barefoot vs the Shoe: http://barefootrunningshoe.blogspot.com/

I am going to slowly put a couple of miles on treadmill barefoot each week.  Outdoors it is still Mizuno Wave Creations.

Red Dress Run

This weekend I took part in my first red dress run, which was a whole bunch of drunk people in red dresses running around the quarter causing utter chaos.  So, it was a typical Saturday in New Orleans.  According to the New Orleans Hash House Harriers, this years Red Dress Run had over 5000 runners, which means that New Orleans has the largest Red Dress Run in the world. 

 

 

I ended up making it to about 5 of the designated bars before becoming lost and just wondered around the quarter, with Mary, Jack, and Ben.  The “race” started and ended at the Ernst Cafe and there was a concert afterwards.  There was a truck that pulled a trailer full of beer, in case you did not want to go into the bar.  Besides the five thousand people that registered there was easily another one to two thousand more that put on a red dress and ran with the group.  My hat is off to the NOPD which blocked off streets for the race.  I cannot believe that any other city in the country would be able to have five thousand drunks run around through its heart on a Saturday  with no major injuries.

 

A man of my size has a hard time finding a dress and by Friday, there were no red dresses left in the city.  I will be on  the look out for a bad ass dress for next years run.  Maybe I will buy a size smaller to encourage me to lose weight.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is your history courtesy of wikipedia.

What are the Hash House Harriers?

The Hash House Harriers (abbreviated to HHH, H3, or referred to simply as Hashing) is an international group of non-competitive running, social, and drinking clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Hash Run, with participants calling themselves Hashers.

What is the Red Dress Run?

A common special event is the Red Dress Run, and is held annually by individual kennels. According to hasher lore, a newcomer in San Diego was invited to a hash; unbeknownst to her it was a running group, and she attended the run in a red dress instead of running clothes. After being mocked for wearing such an outfit, she ran the trail anyway. Other hashers began wearing red dresses as a joke, and the tradition soon became an annual event that spread across the world. The point of the run is that all participants (both sexes) don red dresses of various sorts. The Red Dress Run is typically the largest event organized by a kennel in a given year, with attendance topping 2,000 in San Diego, and 600 in Washington, D.C.. The largest Red Dress Run event is currently in New Orleans, with approximately 3000 participants.

Red Dress Runs are traditionally used as charity fundraisers, although the hash itself is not per se a charitable body.

Running Using the Nike Run

I use my IPOD Touch Generation 2.0 for a lot of things, included running.  I purchased the Nike Sensor to add Mizuno Wave Creations running shoes.  Every time I run, it records my distance and pace.  I have found it amazingly accurate. 

Since Nike records all of my runs and sends it to its website, it is very easy to track your distance and times to compete with other people.  This is great motivation to get in shape and keep in touch with friends that have moved far away.    

The Golden Age of Running is here

Every spring and fall the weather becomes perfect for running in Louisiana.  Unfortunately it only last for about 2 weeks.  It has finally hit us and this week look great.  Weather in the 60s all week and 10 percent chance of rain everyday until Friday.  Expect to see me out on the lakes every day this week.  I plan on rotating between 4 and 8 miles until Friday. 

For my friend's  that would be a cowards run and a Big Kahuna.

Also I didn't hear about any drive bys on third street this weekend so maybe the Boyz in the Hood fade has passed. 

Weight Wars Zippies Addendum.

If you eat at Zippies, the next day you must drink one large Black Tie Margarita and then order a Buffalo Chicken Burrito and eat that Burrito while running home.  If you spill any of that Burrito you must go back and order another one and make it home with out spilling.

Weight Wars Week 2

Last Week Clark 192 Craig 209

This Week Clark 187 Craig 209

Clark lost 5 Craig Lost 0

Weight Wars Armageddon 2007: Loser goes to Mother's Day

Clark starts out at 192 and Craig is 209.

New Rules:

1.  Month Challenge.  For this month, if either contestant does not lose at least 5 pounds, they cannot consume any alcoholic beverages in the month of October

2. If either contestant gains any weight each week, contestant must fast the next day.  Only water and vitamins.

3. No appetizers, fast food, or fried food.  If you break this rule you must eat TWO Famous Pounders from Cheeburger Cheeburger in two hours.    (20 Ounces Each)

4. If you miss a scheduled workout Clark has to listen to Benny in the Jets, Craig has to listen to Walking in Memphis Cover by LoneStar for entire 8 hours as they try to sleep.

5. Loser of the month has to buy dinner for himself and the winner at either Ruth Chris, Flemming's or a similar restaurant.  They must purchase 1 steak and 3 drinks for the winner.

Weight Wars Week 2 and 3

Last Week

First week Clark 189, Past Week 186, This Week 187

First week Craig 212, Past Week 214, This week 210