The Hubner Family's Blog

Tri Blog, Sept 28, 2009

2009-09-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

This morning my goal was to start running at a cadence of 85 strides per minute. Initially it felt way to fast, because I move like a turtle, but it eventually felt more comfortable. My goal is to train with a cadence of 85 - 90 stride per minute and today I did a run/walk for about 30 min to get used to it. I think the recommendation given in "ChiRunning" makes sense. p81 "Most competitive cyclists try to maintain a pedaling cadence of about 85 to 90 rpm. This allows a steady perveived effort level [PEL], no matter which gear they are using. If they want to go faster, they simply keep the same cadence , shift to a higher gear, and speed happens"p.82 "... cadence and stride length [the gears for runners] work together to affect your perceived effort level. Whe these two team up, magic happens. Once you can run at a steady cadence and keep your hips and legs relaxed, your PEL will take on a new dimension, because you are increasing only your use of abdominal muscles, not leg muscles. As you improve your ChiRunning skills, you won't have to think about adjusting your stride length; it will happen naturally, as a function of having relaxed hips and legs. In essence, your legs aren't working harder as you run faster - they're relaxing more". Sweet. I am a firm advocate of ChiRunning and believe that practicing ChiRunning is key to may success with finishing Triathlons and Marathons.

Here are some quotes from the "Triathlete's Training Bible" by Joe Friel, that I read this week:
p.6 "An athlete should do the least amount of the most specific training that brings continual improvement. What does this mean?... Least amount implies that less is better. It may sound counter intuitive for endurance training, but most successful athletes support the notion that small fitness gains made over a long time are better than quick finess changes over a short time... Each and every workout should have a purpose, whether it is to improve fitness, maintain fitness , or recover. Getting the balance of these three factors right is the key to success... Making gradual workout changes from week to week produces fitness that stays with you longer and ultimately allows you to reach a higher level than mking big changes does. Your body is prepared to handle changes of a bit more than 10% at a time. Doing more than what your are physically capable of absorbing is worse than simply wasting effort...p. 7 Consistency must serve as the ultimate standard in all training decisions.. Aim to finish workouts feeling as though you could have done more."

So this week I will be starting a training log and journal. I'll continue to do Weight Watchers and I have lost 5.4 lbs in 2 weeks. Small incremental strides done consistently - that is the key.

Journey to a Tri (Triathlon) Sept 13, 2009

2009-09-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

This morning Eric and I took a morning walk and as we came to the top of our street, on Highland Blvd., the road was blocked off for the Rochester Marathon. The runners had started in downtown Rochester a few minutes before. It was a beautiful day - clear skies, temperate weather and the leaves had not begun to change their colors and fall. We continued our walk up to Cobb's Hill Revervoir and on our way down I could hear the cheers of people as the runners ran by. When we got closer and I could see the stream of runners, I began to choke up. It surprised me how emotional I became - tears came to my eyes and I began to cry. It caught me off guard and was total feeling without a lot of thoughts. Just like seeing someone you didn't expect to ever see again.

I have decided that my first Triathon (or Tri) will be in the Green Lakes Triathlon in Syracuse, NY in June 2010. Katherine and I will do this together and we have 9 months to prepare. Here's the link http://www.ymcaofgreatersyracuse.org/Downtown/ymca_triathlon.aspx

I joined Weight Watchers in order to make myself more aware and accountable for what I eat. So far it has prevented me from some mindless eating and I've thought twice about buying and eating something because I feel stressed out. I do a lot of stress eating and I can choose not to do that. I'd like to lose 10 lbs before I do some serious running. So I will walk every day and eat to nourish my body and once my heart monitor comes back with a new battery, I will do more walk/runs. I read that if you exercise outside of the areobic zone and go into oxygen deficit anaerobic process to burn carbs instead of fat, then it takes your body 6 - 8 hrs to start burning fat again. Don't know if it is true - but I will take it as fact for now. Mostly because starting slow and then conditioning my heart and body to still stay at a lower heart rate while doing more sounds like the right thing to do.

So tomorrow starts a new morning schedule for our family and me. Seminary for Daniel starts again and so after I drop him off at 6am at the Church, I will go to Buckland Park and walk/run around the park until 6:40 and return home to get ready for work. Morning exercise works best for me and so this will work out well.

Family Vacation

2009-09-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to some pictures from our family vacation in August.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2285073&id=17825495&l=49aff3d9fc

We went down to South Carolina to visit Jon and Allyson and spent a couple days in West Virginia and the Outerbanks along the way. Enjoy!

Katherine

Triathlon Blog

2009-09-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

OK - so I have no experience with blogs but I will try my hand with writing one about my Triathlon journey. There have been times in my life when I did things that others thought I could not do, such as graduating from college, completing a Marathon, hiking to the top of Mt Washington and Mt Marcy and taking on leadership positions at work. I can honestly say that I have no illusions that I did any of those things on my own.

I completed the NY Marathon over 11 years ago in honor of my then 10 year old daughter, Katherine. The thought of her kept me going and the faith of my sister Isaaca and the total faith and support of Eric was what gave me the confidence and desire to train and not let them down. It was also a dream of mine. I saw a TV movie when I was in college of a woman who wanted to complete a marathon and it showed her falling and practically crawling to the finish line and I thought that was one of the bravest things I had seen and I wanted to do that too. So over 27 years later, I completed that goal and I didn't crawl over the finish line but instead had one of the most incredible experiences of my life.

I don't have the body of a runner and I don't have a natural talent for running. But I do have the spirit of an athlete. I have to develop the discipline and perspective of an athlete -- only one thing comes "easy" for me and that is the desire to always keep going and to never give up.

So, since running is hard for me. I figured I would throw in swimming because swimming is an even bigger challenge for me. Unlike my mom and my children, I am not a water baby and I never really had a lot of fun being in the ocean or being in a pool. But it was probably because I felt self conscious and never really gained the confidence of being in the water. I read in "Deep Survival" about the energy that surfers feel as they flow through the wave and I believe it is true and I would like to feel that too.

My journey continues to become physically fit for the rest of my life because my life is to be given and shared with my family - with Eric, our children and their future children. Katherine wants to do a Triathlon with me and so I have put the following things into place:
1) I've been researching what it takes to prepare for, train and finish a triathlon
2) I've made goals to become more physically active each day and I have been walking, running and doing Yoga almost every day
3) I am making arrangements with a personal trainer who has triathlon experience
4) I'm writing blogs to let the world know - this will be my record to share with my family, especially with Ben, Katherine, Jon and Alyson who are far away.

So enough for now - tomorrow morning is Yoga (I love yoga - I like the breathing slowly and moving slowly - just like a reptile)

Love always, Mom

Trip to Germany (The Complete Collection)

2009-06-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Click to enlarge.

My Project

2009-06-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

This was my video project for Mr. Clements's Social Studies Class. Enjoy!

Indian Art in Rochester

Hey!

2009-06-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

This is a test. Hello everyone!