Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Soon there will be so many runners that they won’t all fit on one screen. Let’s look at this week!

It’s totally uncool to join a race at a level that’s lower than your ability just to win it. The REAL winner of the Level 1 Challenge goes to Salli!

Newcomer, Ivano_M, took the lead on the Level 2 Challenge. Tight race, everyone! Good job!

It was a tight finish, but SpartanGirl took the lead on the Level 3 Challenge!

SLBplus is kickin’ butts and takin’ names on the Level 4 Challenge. Keep it up!

It was just me and ashjoy on Level 5 this week and she kicked my butt!

Rasmus said he was cutting his mileage this week because he is training for a marathon. At over 41 miles, he’s actually holding back!

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ (free) and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (10-08-07) – RUNNER+

Frazz shows what it’s like to go to a specialty running shoe store and have your gait analyzed. I don’t know why I’m scared to do this. I was much more comfortable trying on shoes at the Nike store and running on the treadmill unanalyzed, even though it was at the entrance to the store for all the strangers to see. Why am I scared to have a professional analyze my running?

I got good shoes at Nike and they have been great for me, but I’m scared to try this.

Last week’s runners were awesome and it looks like we have some stiff competition going.

Another tight race this week, this time between Mary and manical. Mary squeaked a win with less than a mile lead!

It was an even closer race this week between mistyp and AirGar. I’m sure AirGar is smacking his forehead for letting mistyp beat him by only 0.18 mile! Next week, it’ll be payback!

runsomemore got out there and ran some more to take the win for the Level 3 Challenge!

Once again, SLBplus has won the Level 4 Challenge. Excellent work!

No one competed on Level 5 this week, so I won it with my measly 4.74 miles. That doesn’t seem fair, does it?

You would have to run 14 miles a day seven days a week to beat Rasmus. Are you up for the challenge?

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ (free) and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (10-01-07) – RUNNER+

Last week’s runners were awesome and it looks like we have some stiff competition going.

It was a tight race betweenmephista and manical all week, but mephista won in the end.

At the last minute, mvb99 took the win for Level 2. He’s competing on Level 3 next week.

Sjanky won the Level 3 challenge and squeaked into next week’s Level 4 challenge with only one mile to spare.

After winning last week’s Level 3 Challenge, SLBplus has won the Level 4 Challenge. Looks like he’ll be running on Level 5 next week!

myztikjenz busted out of the Level 5 mileage and graduated to Level 6 with this week’s win.

Once again, Rasmus is the true running champion! He ran almost 90 miles this week! Props to Rasmus!

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ (free) and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (09-24-07) – RUNNER+

“We thought we’d take you to the driving range so you can practice before we try to play a game.”

My mom is so nice to me. She is obviously worried that I’ll be embarrassed by my horrible golf skills, so she wants to protect me. Little does she know that I have no embarrassment about anything athletic. I just assume I’ll be horrible and if I perform even halfway good, I’m ecstatic.

Mike and I meet Reed and my mom at the the driving range. I pull my new clubs out of the trunk and look for them. I spot Reed with two buckets of balls and we hurry to catch up to him. I show off my golf clubs to Reed. He helped me pick them out over the cellphone, so I’m excited to show them. Compared to my mom’s they look beat up, but I’m happy to have my own toys to play with. I don’t share very well.

“Do we have to pay?” I ask.

“You have to pay for the balls. They’re six dollars a bucket,” Reed replies.

Golfing is a lot less expensive than I expected it to be. I paid $35 for my clubs and now only $6 for a huge bucket of balls.

My mom starts instructing me while Reed pours some balls into the small bin, “When you’re driving, you use the 1 wood, but we’re going to start you out on the 7 iron. You want to hold your club like this.”

She holds her golf club and her thumbs and forefinger form a “V” on the club.

“You should lock your pinky fingers.”

Reed cuts in, “She doesn’t have to lock her fingers. I don’t, see?” Reed holds his club so we can see. He doesn’t lock his pinky fingers because he’s missing his pinky on his right hand. He laughs at his joke.

Reed takes over the instruction, “Now, you are going lift back, swing and hit the ball. Don’t forget to follow through.”

I aim for the 100 sign in the distance. I swing and hit the ball about 50 yards, halfway to the sign. Reed and Mom cheer. Mike takes his turn and hits the ball nearly to the 100 sign. We all cheer for him.

“Well, you’re better than I was the first time,” Mom says.

The four of us keep driving balls. My furthest almost reaches the 100 sign. Mike hit one past the 150 sign. Reed continually hits the 200 sign without a problem. Lots of times, I took a swing and hit nothing.

“You looked up. Your club will go where your eyes go, so you have to keep your eye on the ball,” Reed offers.

I had to keep my eye on the ball when I played tennis, but I didn’t expect it in golf. It’s not like the ball is going to bean me. It just stays on the ground. When I keep my eye on the ball, however, I hit the ball. When I don’t I don’t.

“Let’s move you to the 1 wood,” my mom suggested.

Now, I can’t hit the freakin’ ball. It’s like I had to learn all over again. After several practices with the ball on the tee, I was finally able to do it again.

We hit the yellow balls until they were all gone. That took about thirty minutes.

Then we practiced putting and pitching. We used our own balls for that, so it was absolutely free. I couldn’t believe our luck. All this golfing for only six bucks? I thought golf was for rich people.

After hitting the ball as hard as we could, it was a surprise to try to putt. Our balls went far further than we expected and even further than they would have at a miniature golf course. Somehow the green was smoother and cleaner than astroturf. I have never seen grass like the grass by the hole.

Reed let Mike use his fancy putter that cost more than my entire set of clubs, but it didn’t seem to stop Mike from slamming the ball across the green. Both of us kept overshooting the hole. Putting seems to be our weakest points right now.

We practiced pitching from the rough. That felt better because we needed to give it some power to get it close to the hole.

Mom and Reed made us stop practicing after an hour. “You’re going to be sore tomorrow if you do any more.” I could already feel the ache in my right forearm, so I didn’t argue.

“We’ll go golfing again next Sunday. This time we’ll get a tee time and play a game.”

I could hardly hold in my excitement.

Last week’s runners were awesome and it looks like we have some stiff competition going.

mplant is the clear Level 1 winner and she has enough mileage to graduate to Level 2! Good job, mplant!

On Level 2, stuckinord beat us all by almost four miles! Way to lead the pack, stuckinord!

SLBplus is a regular reader and commenter on Starling Fitness. He kicked everyone’s butt on Level 3 this week!

The Level 4 Challenge was a tight race and Sareybabes squeaked ahead of RicC with less than a half mile lead.

tamaswing busted out of the Level 5 mileage and graduated to Level 6 with this week’s win.

The true king of the heap is the winner of the Level 6 challenge, Rasmus! With an average of over 10 miles a day, he is the man!

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us at Runner+ and show off your mileage!

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (09-17-07) – RUNNER+

“Okay, I’m at the thrift store and there are a bunch of golf clubs here. What do I need?”

“You’re where?”

“I’m at The DI.”

“You’re going to get golf clubs at the DI? Why don’t you just use your mother’s?”

“I want to get into this golfing thing and I need clubs if I’m going to do this. What do I need?”

“Well, the big ones are called woods. You need a 1, 3 and 5 wood.”

“Okay, this set has that.”

“The little ones are called irons and you need a 3, 5, 7, and 9 iron.”

“Okay, this set has a 4, 6 and 8 also.”

“That’s good. Now, you’ll need something called a P or an S. They are wedges. You probably only need one of those. Best to go with a P.”

“Got it.”

“Then you need a putter. They’re like the clubs they hand you at minature golf.”

“They don’t have any of those here. I guess I’ve got to go to another thrift shop.”

“How much are you paying for those used golf clubs?”

“Thirty-five dollars for the whole set. It has everything but the putter, plus a lot of tees and golf balls in the bag. Oh, look! Gloves! The left one has a hole. She must have been left-handed.”

“Nope, if you’re right-handed, you wear the glove on your left hand… prevents blisters. Thirty-five bucks?”

“Yeah, is that too much?”

“New will cost you anywhere from $200 to $900. Sounds like you’ve got a good set there.”

“Yeah, the name on the bag is Evelyn Banks. Is it wrong to use a dead woman’s golf clubs?”

“She might not be dead. Maybe she just got a nice set of Pings and didn’t need those ones anymore.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m going to imagine. She’s playing with her Pings and gave away a full set of clubs just so I could find them.”

I liked this article from the Complete Running Network. Give it a look:

• Top 10 Questions Asked by Beginning Runners » Complete Running Network

I wish I had something witty to say, but I’m all empty right now. Sorry…

If you exercise by running or walking, you can compete in the Starling Fitness Challenges on Runner+. All you need is an account at Runner+ and you can log your miles there. If you have a Nike+iPod kit, then your runs will automatically be added, but the site will also allow you to add your runs manually. If you would like to compete against runners on your level, here are the links for this week’s challenges:

Level 1 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 0-10 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 1 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Level 2 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 10-20 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 2 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Level 3 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 20-30 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 3 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Level 4 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 30-40 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 4 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Level 5 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 40-50 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 5 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Level 6 weekly challenge from Starling Fitness. This level runs between 50-60 miles a week.

• Challenge: Starling Fitness Level 6 (09-10-07) – RUNNER+

Last week’s runners were awesome and it looks like we have some stiff competition going.

I didn’t give RicC much of a challenge here. If you run between 30 and 40 miles a week, join Level 4 and give RicC a run for his money!

Level 5 had no competitors, so you could ace that one if you joined.

Congratulations to all the competitors! Join us and show off your mileage!

They really should have stopped at the opening sentence:

“Sometimes in this job you come across something that sounds too good to be true.”

This article from Shiny Shiny is written by Alex Roumbas and her experience exercising with Power Plate.

• Shiny Shiny: Power Plate Diaries: How a giant vibrator is good for your health

She claims to have success with it, but I can’t find any scientific studies to show that working out with the Power Plate is any better than working out without it. Where’s the proof?

It reminds me of an old exercise machine. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s, the cool exercise machine was a vibrating belt. Remember it? It didn’t do much for weight loss back then. Why is this old school machine being brought back out and retooled? I have a hard time believing them the second time around.

I’m ready for the weight loss industry to stop with all the hype. How about you?