grizzlyzone | Exercise FAQs

Why are you running?

It's how I'm dealing wih my middle age crisis. I couldn't afford the hair plugs and the sports car.

How much do you run a week?

I'd say about 2-1/2 to 3 hours a week - which should be about twelve to fifteen miles.

Don't you get tired?

Tired? No. It's more like bored. You learn to play little mental games with the counters - let's go another 50 calories, another 100 strides, another half mile. After an hour, I have to reset the machine and go for another session, and that tends to be a good limit. Although, I have gone as long as an hour-and-a-half.

Have you lost any weight?

No.

None at all?

Nope. And, that's a mystery to me. You'd think I'd lose SOMETHING. Especially, over time.

If last night was any indication, I seem to lose about 5 lbs. when I run for an hour, but I'm pretty sure that's just water weight. Other than that, I seem to be in the same weight range I was in at the beginning of all of this.

Well, this kind of stuff takes time. So, how long have you been doing this?

I started in January with short 10-minute "runs", and I've been ramping up the amount ever since. When I first got up to an hour's duration, I was making 6,000 strides. I've since worked up to 8,000 strides in an hour, meaning that I am "running" faster.

I've noticed you keep putting the word running in quotes. Is there a reason for that?

As I've said earlier, I "run" on an elliptical crosstrainer. Your feet never leave the pedals and you don't "go" anywhere, so that's not quite running, is it?

I suppose not. What about what you're eating? Are you eating more?

I try and stick with a qualitative diet, meaning I make an effort to eat more "good things" and fewer "bad things". If it's got "whole", "multi", "reduced", "lite", "light", "low", "no", "free", "Omega 3", "fiber" or "lycopene" somewhere on the label, it's probably in my pantry.

More seriously, my schedule changes all the time. Sometimes I'm up during the day, some days I sleep because I'm working nights. So, what I eat and when I eat it is always in a constant state of flux. I couldn't tell you if I'm eating more, although I do make an effort to avoid foods high in calories - fast foods, snack foods - things like that.

Well, maybe you've built up muscle and lost fat. Have you changed size at all?

I may have built muscle and lost fat. I have seen some physical changes. I'm more solid, but I'm still the same size. My shirts still fit. My pants still fit, and I can't get into the smaller pants. That should be a pretty good indication.

Maybe running alone isn't enough. I mean, it's aerobic exercise and good for the heart, but it won't necessarily re-shape your body.

When I run, I keep my heart rate at 130, which is right in the middle of the "fat burning zone". You'd think something would happen.

In addition to the running, I generally do two sets of fifteen repetitions on four different chest and arm exercise machines. In addition, about a month ago I added three different torso exercises. One deals with twisting the torso, the other two deal with bending the torso forwards and back. If anything, you'd think that sooner or later, they'd make my waist smaller.

Do you hope to become a musclebear?

Musclebears work at the gym for long periods of time. I'm not sure I could get that far at this stage of the game.

What are your goals?

I'm not sure I have any or want any. I'm just running.