Exercise Goals for 2008

OK so!

I am now running wit da gals (plural because Newbie's back) MWF and working out at the gym TR. At the gym I do 20-30 mins aerobic exercise (have been doing elliptical to minimize stress to legs), keeping heart rate between 150 and 165, then a round of weights (free weights and machines).

Just started this week, feeling pretty good for having gone MTWR. Will RWDG (run wit da gals) tomorrow.

Extra hour of walking per week seems to be paying dividends.

Interval training -- I'm not even trying to do it but I kind of am, when I go to work I walk and I seem to speed up and slow down during the trip, both directions. This is apparently rather good for fat burning.

That's interesting, Jespah. I'm kind of stumbling into interval training myself these days. The stumble began two weeks ago, when I realized I was getting close to the point where I could sustain a 5 mph pace. I decided to try sustaining it for an hour, but it didn't quite work. One day I could do 20 minutes, one day 43 , one day 35 -- but never a full hour. That was frustrating.

Then I decided to break the workout into 12 intervals of 5 minutes. I would run four minutes at 5mph pace, which got me acquainted to the rhythm. then one minute at 2.5 mph to recover. Then back to 5 mph. It's much more motivating this way: I'm getting the feel for the 5mph pace, I'm getting to run 48 out of 60 minutes at it, and I see a clear path to my goal: Gradually extend the intervals by taking out the low-speed stretches, until I sustain the speed for the whole hour.

I used to be an LSD man (as in "long, slow distance" of course), but now that I try interval training, it's working very well for me. Highly recommended!

I'm doing the TR stuff now because a guy who knows this stuff told me that what I'm doing now (interval training) is HALF of a great workout. Doing it by itself is OK; doing sustained aerobic exercise is OK; but doing BOTH is what will really get you places.

The sustained aerobic part is really important though evidently. My max heartrate is 185 or so, and I'm supposed to keep it in the 150-165 range for 20-30 minutes. Just continuous. When I do interval training, it gets much higher -- 170's, even into 180's when I really go for it. That's fine, but much better to have both (slower sustained stuff + interval) going on.

Walking isn't good enough (for me anyway), doesn't get the heart rate high enough.

I always tend to want to max out, but the keeping my heartrate at about 155 for 20 minutes on the elliptical today felt good.

Hey! That's pretty much what I'm currently doing! One day I'm running intervals for an hour, the next day I'm doing an hour on the elliptical, the next day I'm pumping iron, and then I go back to square one. (I usually miss about a day a week -- nothing planned, it just happens when there's a panic at work.)

Well good for you!

(6 days a week, wow.)

Are you seeing results yet?

One thing is that the guy recommended doing the weights and the aerobic exercise on the same day -- first aerobic, then weights. Not sure how important that is, whether aerobics one day and weights the next day also serves the purpose.

Just wrapped up my first 5-day week!

Feel pretty good.

Didn't have a whole lot of oomph for running today, but got in a solid (fast) 4 laps.

They do, and they look a little weird at the moment. As I'm burning fat in the cardio workouts, fat appears to receed at about the same rate wherever it sits;. At the same time, muscles grow everywhere at an equal rate, as judged by the increasing control they give me over my body. But you only see them where there's sufficiently little fat on top. Combine the two factors, and you get a very uneven picture: forearms and calves that show some real definition already, even though I haven't worked them out in any dedicated exercise yet; upper legs and upper arms that are beginning to come together, albeit slowly; and a midsection that looks as round, soft, and wobbly as ever. I look as if a mad biologist had taken apart three bodies and mischievously mixed them up when he put them back together.

The increase in self-control is an unqualified plus though. Two months ago, I would just let myself fall into a chair. Now I can seat myself into them in a slow, controlled motion. That's a big advantage. And it's very motivating that this advantage a difference in the real world outside the gym.


Well, good for you right backatcha!

I like to do intervals by giving myself about a ten-minute easy start,
then the intervals, and then finishing up with an easy cool-down.

Today was a four miles at a 10 minute mile pace.
Two-Mile Mike wasn't feeling well.

Yesterday I did nearly six. I alternated ten minutes of easy pace with ten
minutes of a faster pace. I was pretty cooked at the end.

Sorry, I screwed up the quote. What I was meaning to answer to was:


Just in case that wasn't clear....

Don't worry, you'll feel great tomorrow!

I figured it out, yep!

That's awesome about increased control.

Good going to you too, George. I forget, do you run outside all year? If not, when do you stop the outdoor running?

Speaking of great motivators, here's another one.

My gym sits in a strip mall. Three units to the right in the same strip mall is a dialysis center. Consequently, every time I drive into the parking lot, I see ambulances parked on the curbside, out of which paramedics carry stretchers with patients into the dialysis center. The patients all look grey, apathetic, and limp. Worse, they don't look that much better after their dialysis session, when the paramedics carry their stretchers back out of the center and into the ambulances .

I have diabetes. Unless I keep it up with those workouts and that diet, this is a look at my future.

That's a great motivator. You should all try it some time!

I run outside all year round, but not when it's below 20 (F).
A hard, cold rain or treacherous footing (ice and snow) will keep me in as well.
Since I work in one of those dreary business parks, when it's too dangerous to
run on the roads, I can actually do a two-mile route along the perimeters of the
adjoining parking lots. These are always plowed.

I once noticed that just about every route I ran went by a cemetery or a hospital.
Memento mori.

Week 33
30.2 miles
Scheduled cumulative mileage: 660
Actual cumulative mileage: 692.2

Hello?
Where is everybody?

Here!

Ran today.

Some sort of allergy thing going on. I've noticed for the past several years (since I moved here?) that I get a persistent cough around this time of year. After trial and error (too much error, my fault) we figured out that I have some sort of seasonal asthma. E.G. has asthma so I go ahead and use his meds. (My doc gave me an explicit go-ahead last time this was an issue). They have helped a lot, I'm finding it much easier to breathe in general. But I did notice that it took me a long time to catch my breath after a lap.

Trackmom also was feeling allergic (stuffy, bleh) and said the air felt "heavy." I know what she means. (Sozlet's stuffy and allergic too.)

Yeah, check out this map:



Also "worst cities," on the bottom. (We're in Columbus, not Cleveland, but still.)

Anyway, 4 laps, but they were good strong ones. I'd guess a bit over 7 MPH.

Not bad at all!

I did 16 miles yesterday, but then started to get really tight so I had to walk the last 6 miles home. Did 22 miles in 4:27.

Wow. Impressive.

When's the marathon, maporsche?

Are you feeling on track for it?