Week 7 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

Week 7 is when it starts to get tough. No more alternating running and walking from here on out it's all running except for the warm-up and cool down walks.

Even though my goal is to be able to eventually be able to run 5K, I'm doing the program based on time and not distance. At the end of the 9 week program I should be able to run 30 minutes continually.

At my current running pace I would only cover about 2.4 miles in 30 minutes. It would take me close to 40 minutes to run 3.1 miles (5 kilometers).

On February 1st, 2014 there's a M-M-Manhattan Hot Chocolate Run in Riverside Park along the Hudson River that has a 10K and 5K race. That's a couple of weeks after I'm done with the C25K program which gives me some time to work on my pace and distance to hopefully get to 5K. Another Riverside Park race is in March which might be more realistic. I never planned to do any formal races like this. To be honest, I don't see the point in paying someone to run somewhere I can run for free. It's just something I'm keeping in mind.

Cold weather has always been the biggest obstacle to keeping my running and hiking routine going through winter. When it is 25°F outside, crawling out of a warm bed to go exercise feels… questionable at best.

So when Bosch released the Bosch PSJ120 heated jacket, originally designed for construction workers, I decided to try something a little unconventional and use it as a winter running jacket.

Turns out, heated jackets and early morning runs are a surprisingly good match.

In fact, this one simple piece of gear made getting out the door in the cold dramatically easier.

Week 6 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

Week 6 is similar to week 5 of C25K. One day with 3 running intervals, 1 day with 2 running intervals and one day with 1 running intervals but with more time running.

Below you'll find my daily training log with notes on how I'm doing on off days as well as info about trying to quit smoking.

I've been posting these updates at the end of the week. I'm going to start posting them on the first day and update them throughout the week now.

Week 5 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

In prior weeks you would repeat the same program for each of the 3 running days. Starting in week 5 each day is more intense.

On the last day of week 5 the program is all running, minus the warm up and cool down walks.

I took a sneak peek at Week 6 and it goes back to alternating running/walking again for the first 2 days and then all running on the 3rd day.

When I was looking for new trail running shoes, a lot of the reviews I found were written by people who only owned the shoes a short time. I wanted to wait until I had real experience before posting my thoughts. After putting over 360 miles of hiking, trail running, road running, and walking in my Merrell Moab Gore-Tex Hiking Shoes, I wanted to share my opinion. These shoes rock.

When I first purchased them, I could have sworn they were labeled as trail running shoes and not hiking shoes. Either my memory is off or they started calling them hiking shoes to make it clear they are not the thin, light minimalist type. For someone like me who likes more protection on rocky trails, I run just fine in them.

Not a day has gone by since the official launch of Obamacare that I haven't heard or read some news about issues with the healthcare.gov website. Usually multiple times a day. That's a lot considering I'm not a big news consumer. I might catch a bit of the evening news here and there, scan through the headlines on my phone's news app and a couple of times a week catch up with The Daily Show and Colbert Report online. Sometimes I have the TV on in the background while working or turn on 1010 WINS while having breakfast.

I have a lot of experience in web development and have been involved in product launches which causes me to find all the news very amusing.

Week 4 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

The program begins with a 5 minute brisk walk to warm up. Then it's 3 minutes running, 90 seconds walking, 5 minutes running, 2.5 minutes walking, 3 minutes jogging, 90 seconds walking finally 5 minutes of running before the 5 minute cool down walk.

Week 4 is getting tougher. 51% of the time on the treadmill consists of jogging including the warm-up cool down walks. Not including those 10 minutes it's 74% running. I have no problem breaking a sweat now.

Week 3 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

C25K Week 3 begins and ends with a 5 minute brisk walk. In between the schedule is 90 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking then 3 minutes of running and 3 minutes of walking. Then repeat before the cool down walk.

Again, the 3 minute walk before the 5 minute cool down walk seemed awkward to me but I didn't add an extra run segment this time. Instead I came up with a different solution.

Week 2 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

As always the C25K session starts and ends with a 5 minute brisk walk to warm up and cool down. For week 2 the middle part of the session consists of 90 seconds of running followed by 120 seconds of walking repeated for 20 minutes.

Week 2 had the same issue as week 1. It ends with a walk before the cool down walk so I added an extra run before the cool down walk.

Day 1

Week 2 wasn't much more difficult for me than week 1 but I'm sticking with the plan except I'm still doing the extra running segment at the end. I did 2.1 miles in 33 minutes for an average speed of 3.6 MPH.

Day 2

Since I'm still not breaking much of a sweat I increased both my walking and running times. 2.1 miles in 33 minutes averaging 3.8 MPH.

I didn't think to start logging my heart rate monitor data until today. When I'm done I'll include a chart of my heart rate stats over the course of the C25K program. My target heart rate zone is zone 3 and of the 33 minutes on the treadmill only 9 min 16 seconds were in that zone.

Day 3

Day 3 I ran and walked a little faster but not enough to notice with the precision I'm logging the data. 2.1 miles in 33 minutes averaging 3.8 MPH 11 min 28 secs in zone 3.

Week 1 update for my plan to run more and smoke less using the Couch to 5k running program.

The program for Week 1 is pretty light. It begins with a 5 minute warm up walk then 60 seconds of running followed by 90 seconds of walking repeated for 20 minutes. A 5 minute cool down walk ends the day's routine.

This is a lot less running than I was currently doing with my ad hoc program but I wanted to follow the plan as closely as possible.

C25K Week 1 Days 1, 2 and 3

The app is a little odd that it still has a walking part after the last run which is then followed by the 5 minute cool down walk.This was a bit confusing. When I hear the app beep I alternate between running and walking. Instead of starting the cool down walk I thought it was time to run again. When I noticed my mistake I decided to just do another 60 seconds of running then did the 5 minute cool down walk. I barely broke a sweat on the first day so this made me feel better.

The first day I took it a little easy to see how I would do. Not only is this program new to me but I just got a treadmill and still getting used to running on one. On days 2 and 3 I'll increased my walking and running speed. My plan is to do the same for each week. Do the first day a little easy to see how it goes then up the pace on the remaining two days of the week if I think I can.

Day 1 I did 1.9 miles in 36 minutes for an average of 3.2 MPH. On days 2 and 3 I cut my time down to 32 minutes for an average of 3.6 MPH.

I've started running a few years ago but haven't really been serious about it. Mainly it's been a mix of trail running here and there during my hikes at Palisades Interstate Park with the occasional road jog in the morning if I have the motivation but don't have the time to head to the park. I enjoy it but I have been having problems with consistency, especially during the winter months so I decided to get a treadmill off of Craigslist to eliminate excuses over the winter.

I want to focus on improving distance and duration. The longest continuous stretch I've run on the trail was about 1 mile. That's not a lot but compared to the 1/2 block I managed to run when I first started it made me feel good. I decided to do the Couch to 5k beginner running program. I'll be tracking my progress in a series of weekly posts.

One of the issues I have with running is that I smoke. During the C25K program I'm going to try to quit or at the very least reduce my smoking dramatically.

Back in 2007 I stopped buying bottled water and switched to filtered tap water using a pitcher and reusable insulated bottles.

At first I did it mostly for convenience. I hated running out of bottled water and constantly buying more.

But after 333 weeks without bottled water I got curious about something.

How much money does filtered water actually save compared to bottled water?

I've tried a lot of different methods for cleaning moisture wicking shirts such as Dri-Fit and UnderArmour technical shirts based on blog and forum recommendations but I found that ProWash Activewear 2X Liquid Detergent is the best choice for me. Here are some tips on how I use ProWash to wash my workout clothes in the washing machine and by hand.

I use pro wash to clean pretty much all my workout clothes. Most of which are made of moisture wicking fabric. I love these shirts, especially in black, because I do a lot of exercising outdoors and these shirts don't show sweat.

ProWash is good on a wide variety of fabrics including moisture wicking fabrics, microfiber, lycra, spandex, fleece, polyester and even natural fabrics such as cotton and wool. ProWash is specially formulated to preserve the moisture wicking qualities of tech shirts like Dri-Fit. It works very well. Some of my shirts are a couple of years old and still wick and look as good as new. ProWash is also great at getting rid of perspiration stains and odors.

Acrylic crystals are used for lower priced watches. They are cheaper than sapphire and mineral crystals and don't break as easily because they are softer. This softness also makes acrylic scratch easier. Over the years acrylic watch glass can develop scratches but it's cheap and easy to restore the acrylic to an almost new state with a little bit of work.

I stole a watch from my mom. Don't worry, it's not because I'm  a meth-head. Using my watch repair kit was fun so I was looking for other watches that I could fix. I knew she had some old watches that had issues.

I ran across this vintage Timex women's manual wind watch. It has a stainless steel back, chrome finished case and a nice silver dial with arabic numerals and a date window.

If you want to replace watch batteries, change straps, or resize a metal bracelet without paying a jeweler every time, an affordable watch repair tool kit can pay for itself quickly.

I purchased the SE JT6226 19-Piece Watch Repair Tool Kit when I needed to adjust the stainless steel bracelet on my diver watch and swap a few batteries. This review covers what you can realistically expect from a budget kit like this — and how to use the tools properly.

What You Get in a Budget Watch Repair Kit

Price Range	Usually under $20
Best For	Batteries, strap changes, bracelet resizing
Skill Level	Beginner DIY
Professional Use?	No

If you're shopping around, you can find similar kits here: Affordable Watch Repair Tool Kits.

A man should wear a watch. Over the past few years I forgot this… but once I started exercising more and occasionally wearing my heart rate monitor watch, I remembered how convenient it is to glance at your wrist instead of pulling out your phone.

So I started getting my watches back in working order (cleaning them, replacing batteries, etc.). While I was looking for a watch repair tool kit, I stumbled on a great deal for this: Stuhrling Original Men’s Aquadiver Regatta Champion Professional Diver Watch and decided to pick it up.

This is my review of the Stuhrling Original Aquadiver Regatta Champion with the black dial and bezel.

Shopping for a watch gift can feel weirdly high-stakes. You want it to look great, feel “him,” and not end up living in a drawer next to old chargers and mystery keys.

The good news is you don’t need to know watch jargon to nail this. If you focus on a few simple choices (band, case, dial, and how “busy” the face looks), you can confidently pick something he’ll actually wear.

This guide on how to buy a man's watch is written for anyone buying a gift for a guy: Valentine’s Day, Christmas, birthday, anniversary, or the classic “I saw this and thought of you.”

The trick is to shop his current habits, not your taste.