150 BPM

I have a new running program. Heart rate training! The theory is you’ve got five heart rate zones. Each zone is a range of beats per minute that target certain fitness goals. If you’d like to calculate your zones, go here. The zones are as follows:

1. Walking. For me that’s 133-146. I don’t have anything to say about this zone. It’s walking.

2. Fat burning aerobic. For me that’s 146-159 bpm. This zone is where your body burns fat and builds endurance. This is the zone in which I’m training. It’s a slow run early in training. I have to walk every so often to keep my heart rate down. But this zone also helps your heart become more efficient, so with time, you’ll be able to run faster with the same bpm. Right now, in order to stay under 150 bpm, my mile time averages 14:09 over 4 miles. SLOOOOOOOOOOWWWW, right? But like I said, with time, that will get faster.

3. Fitness aerobic. For me that’s 159-171 bpm. This is the range to improve aerobic endurance. Currently, this zone is most comfortable for me. It’s about an 11:30 mile. I want that to improve. Yesterday, after four miles of Zone 2, I switched to Zone 3 for about .75 miles. And it was comfortable.

4. Anaerobic. For me this is 171-184 bpm. This is for fitness, not weight loss. This pushes your heart to work harder. I have no idea where I am with this range. I haven’t hit it since I started heart rate training.

5. Max. For me this is 184-196 bpm. You can’t really maintain this speed long. It’s for interval training. If I haven’t hit anaerobic, I definitely haven’t hit this.

This is all theory. I don’t really know if it’s been studied or proven. Google didn’t tell me that, but here are links to the two articles I read in preparation for this post.

http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/Calculate_your_training_heart_rate_zones

http://www.marathonguide.com/training/articles/HeartMonitorTraining.cfm

Whether or not it’s legitimate, it’s given me a new drive with running. I’m actually excited about my runs. For starters, I'm slow, so to have a reason to be slow is great. It makes me more patient with myself. Which I need.

I went out yesterday. Mistake. I’ve never been so cold and wind blown. My whole arms were numb when I finished. I couldn’t feel my wrists. I had to let them come to before driving. The wind was so sharp sometimes that I shrieked. And I didn’t even think about gloves the night before when I was putting my bag together, so I ran with my hands tucked into my sleeves. And the snot! Prolific! I dreaded my watch beeping to tell me my heart rate was too high because that meant walking and walking meant being cold longer. I kept on, though. How satisfying.

Day of the [double green] Dot

I am a dot

I am a dot.

I am a dot.

 

I like mixing red and green in a non-Christmas capacity.

I guess I should talk about Pete and Pete, but I don’t really have anything to add to the discussion. It affected my adolescence the same way it affected anybody in my generation. Has anybody called it “campy?” I just googled it and of course a million people have called it campy. I love camp. The article on Wikipedia is an interesting read. Is irony the new camp?

If Tinker Bell Were Me

New challenge today: Write this as quickly as possible. No lingering, ya know?

Today's accessory is a plastic tortoise shell chain link necklace. It's a little earthy, a little preppy.

 Today also has a Fashion Point. "If Tinker Bell Were Me," she'd totally rock this dress.

It's green, it's viney. Look at how slimming it is. If you can't tell, those are purple tights. I love purple and green together.

Ta.

Cemetery Gates

There is an in house ad by our student radio station. It’s got this really cute acoustic guitar/bass riff. It’s adorable. Totally Pete & Pete. For two years, I’ve been dying to know what song it is, but I can never pull my phone and Sound Hound out fast enough. It’s maybe ten seconds of song.

Belle and Sebastian sometimes make great running music, so I was running through their songs alphabetically and came to a cover of “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side.” So I thought I’d see how the Smiths are for running. It turns out they’re terrible, except for “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side.” But I was going through alphabetically again and guess what song comes after “The Boy . . . .” “Cemetery Gates” Guess what song “Cemetery Gates” is. Yes, it’s the song from the radio station commercial.

It makes me realize how little I listen to my own music. I’ve been sitting on that song since I visited my cousin in Mississippi in 2004. So now I’m going through all The Smiths on Spotify. You’d think I’d be obsessed with the Smiths. What with how jangly they are.

I forgot an accessory again today. And my outfit is schlubbier than I anticipated. I don’t want to document how wrinkled the hem is. I mean it’s scrunched way up. Tomorrow, though, I will accessorize and I’ll wear something presentable. Promise!

Here's a picture, just for the sake of having a picture. It's Euler under a pile of jeans.

Peter Pan Went to Oxford

Ack! No accessories again today! So I will do a Fashion Point of the Day. And that is, "Peter Pan Went to Oxford."

About the shoes. They were expensive. And I don't usually like to spend a lot of money on something so on trend. But I've also discovered that the only way to get comfortable shoes is to spend some money on them. I tried on every pair of oxfords I came across and all of them were hideously uncomfortable. They were all high on the ankle, stiff, and tight. These are low, butter soft, and wide in just the right places. Oh and they breath because they're all leather, which also means they don't smell like petroleum. 

Speaking of smells, my grandmother's pearls and their storage bag still smell like her. It's been nine years since she died (which is impossible to comprehend) and they still smell like her. How is that possible? It makes me cry every time I pull them out. I took them to be appraised last week and I left the bag so it wouldn't lose its smell. I won't have the pearls cleaned, either. Not yet.

Meta Bow Peep

Look! It’s a shirt with a bow on it with bows on it.

 
I don’t have an accessory today because the bow was accessory enough. I went shopping this weekend. And then went shopping online some more. I spent a lot of money. Some of which is already kind of reserved for my trip to LA. But that’s what credit cards are for, right? I didn’t go over my debt comfort threshold. There is a certain amount I can comfortably pay off in a few weeks and that’s my comfort threshold. And I came close to crossing it, but didn’t. Anyway, that’s really none of your business, but I overshare.

I’ve felt the need to replace a few things from the “too small” side of my closet. Mainly pants, but I’ve felt a little under-wardrobed lately in general. Hopefully I’m buying stuff that will shrink with me, as I am working on losing the weight again. If it can’t shrink, I’ll take alterable.

So the pope. Why do I not feel this is a big deal? I get that it hasn’t happened in six centuries, but is it a big deal for a man to admit he’s done? Ha. Maybe it is that big a deal. Get it. Men are stupid and can’t admit defeat. Sometimes, I feel that every man except Oscar is stupid. Sometimes, I feel that every person but me is stupid. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m alone in that. I think everybody goes through that.

Manly FPotD

Oscar asked me to write about his look yesterday. It was a good look, so of course I am obliging. Oscar has a great sense of style. He doesn’t get to exercise it all that often because his job involves acid on a daily basis. He’s got one shirt with the bottom corner nearly eaten away. He wears it over a contrasting undershirt and voila, it looks intentional. Like a laser cut shirt. So even with what should be garbage, he’s got a good look going on.

I asked him what his fashion point of the day was. He said, “Texture.”

Cordovan shoes, chunky tweed pants and a chunky wool sweater with elbow patches. Plus, the waxed canvas Barbour jacket. So yeah, texture is a good word for it. The pants are especially brilliant. They’re full of colorful texture knots. This is one of his favorite looks because he wears some riff on it nearly every weekend. He likes the polished professor look. Tweedy, but not baggy or disheveled. I hope he can dress like this more someday. His ultimate goal is to be a professor, in fact. He’s working on it, but I’m not saying any more because so much is still up in the air.

I’m quite pleased he asked me to write about him. I like him participating in this part of my life. I know he reads this, but it’s nice to have him model. And isn’t he a sharp model?