So I have not been exercising much for the last week, and I have basically gained almost all my weight back... probably because I was eating unhealthy again. Work stress is just not healthy for me. Besides the stress part, it really throws me off-course with exercise and eating healthier.
Anyways, at least I got to running today. Surprisingly, I was able to easily jog for 30 minutes straight at 5 mph (~12 minute mile). I was a bit out of breath near the end, but I felt that I could probably do another 10 minutes.
My perception on how long I can keep a pace is rather poor. To test this, I walked 2.5 minutes then ran 2.5 minutes at 7 mph. When I switched to the running pace, I thought I could do 10 minutes, then quickly to 5 minutes in 30 seconds. By the 1.5 minute mark, I wanted to stop.
Some people say that they don't like to run because it is boring. I have never felt that way, but then I also do not really get bored easily. What keeps me focused is that I try to analyze how I am progressing. I am always checking how I feel I am doing to predict how much longer I can go. Sometimes, I feel a slight ache or soreness or I just feel something in certain parts of my body (like my foot or joint) then I try to change my movement to minimize the feeling. Other times, I experiment with my posture. Especially on the treadmills, I have a habit of looking down because I am so focused on the timer. I have noticed that I can run longer and faster if I simply look up.
Some day, I need to track my progress on my outdoor runs. I always find that I cannot run as long outdoors, but I also suspect that I run faster than I do on the treadmill even though I am trying to maintain the same speed by my sense alone. My other hypothesis is that it is easier to run on the treadmill because I do not actually have to move my body. Basically, I think I just have to move my feet fast enough to keep my body in a single place. The other factor to outdoors is that there are hills which I am terrible with.
I do not understand why hills impact me far greater than other people. My effectiveness at running up hills drops significantly. While most people slow down, I can never maintain the same reduced pace as others on outdoors (where I try to keep pace with someone). I wonder if this is due to me running with my feet close to the ground. I notice that I run very quietly. I also have walk rather quietly as many people have actually complained that I appear out of nowhere many times. Or that I run/jog more on the balls of my feet. I always found it odd how others make so much sound with they run. Or maybe I am just so out of shape.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Friday, October 3, 2014
Review: HP Pavilion 15z (First Impression)
My new laptop just arrived about 30 minutes before I started writing this post, and I already have it up and running. This laptop is much thinner than most laptops I have owned in the past, almost all HPs including work laptops. My last personal laptop was probably before 2010. Truthfully, I was reluctant in buying another HP because my recent experience with their laptops have been pretty bad. I still decided to go with HP because it was basically the only one that I could find that had SSD, 16G of memory, and Windows 7. I wanted an I7 but the A6 will do for the price.
I am currently waiting for Windows to update. I have verified that the specs are consistent with the website. By default, the base install takes about 46G of hard drive space. With a preliminary check, there appears to be no additional software which is a huge plus to me. I rarely ever use any of the bloatware that comes with systems today. Preinstalled virus scanners always seem to be the most bloated and a nuisance to uninstall.
I did not pay attention that this was a wide screen which is ok for me. I would have preferred the regular screen as I plan to use this laptop as my development box and the extra height would be useful. But that really is very low impact and I would have stuck with this one anyways.
The keyboard does not have a mechanical keyboard feel (with all the clicking) which I do prefer but I know quite a few people personally that do not. I cannot understand why feeling the click makes it easier to know that they pressed the button, especially now that most of us are used the touch screen keyboards on smart phones (perhaps another blog to further this discussion). Because this is a wide screen, the main keyboard is offset to the left to fit a keypad on the right side. This is rather standard for most widescreen laptops that I have used. This did take me a little bit of time to get used to as I kept missing the enter button (being used to the enter being at the end of the keyboard).
I do usually prefer the touchpad over the mouse, and especially over the joystick-nub of thinkpads. I am currently not a fan of the seamless pad where there is no distinguishable left and right buttons. This may just be a matter of time to get used to. It is nice that it provides more area for moving the pointer, but I never had a problem with that before. It also works fine with the protective plastic.
This does have a removable batter which I read somewhere is not as common as before. All the laptops I've owned always had one. The charger seems to be a bit smaller. The overall weight is not bad. Cosmetically, this laptop is ok. It is odd that the battery is black while the rest is silver, but is not noticeable since it is on the bottom and the interior is also black-ish. It is not glossy which I also prefer.
My biggest concern is whether this laptop will run hot, but this will take a while to find out. With SSD HD, I would at least expect this to run cooler than what I am used to.
Lastly a shutout to the awesome 2-day Amazon shipping. Although I was not in a rush to get the laptop, it is nice not to have to worry about delivery for the extra few days for regular shipping. I barely make any purchases, so it was nice to make use of my Amazon Prime.
I am currently waiting for Windows to update. I have verified that the specs are consistent with the website. By default, the base install takes about 46G of hard drive space. With a preliminary check, there appears to be no additional software which is a huge plus to me. I rarely ever use any of the bloatware that comes with systems today. Preinstalled virus scanners always seem to be the most bloated and a nuisance to uninstall.
I did not pay attention that this was a wide screen which is ok for me. I would have preferred the regular screen as I plan to use this laptop as my development box and the extra height would be useful. But that really is very low impact and I would have stuck with this one anyways.
The keyboard does not have a mechanical keyboard feel (with all the clicking) which I do prefer but I know quite a few people personally that do not. I cannot understand why feeling the click makes it easier to know that they pressed the button, especially now that most of us are used the touch screen keyboards on smart phones (perhaps another blog to further this discussion). Because this is a wide screen, the main keyboard is offset to the left to fit a keypad on the right side. This is rather standard for most widescreen laptops that I have used. This did take me a little bit of time to get used to as I kept missing the enter button (being used to the enter being at the end of the keyboard).
I do usually prefer the touchpad over the mouse, and especially over the joystick-nub of thinkpads. I am currently not a fan of the seamless pad where there is no distinguishable left and right buttons. This may just be a matter of time to get used to. It is nice that it provides more area for moving the pointer, but I never had a problem with that before. It also works fine with the protective plastic.
This does have a removable batter which I read somewhere is not as common as before. All the laptops I've owned always had one. The charger seems to be a bit smaller. The overall weight is not bad. Cosmetically, this laptop is ok. It is odd that the battery is black while the rest is silver, but is not noticeable since it is on the bottom and the interior is also black-ish. It is not glossy which I also prefer.
My biggest concern is whether this laptop will run hot, but this will take a while to find out. With SSD HD, I would at least expect this to run cooler than what I am used to.
Lastly a shutout to the awesome 2-day Amazon shipping. Although I was not in a rush to get the laptop, it is nice not to have to worry about delivery for the extra few days for regular shipping. I barely make any purchases, so it was nice to make use of my Amazon Prime.
Reference
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEXDP8U/Wednesday, October 1, 2014
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