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Exercise and Fitness: Keep the Car Running


OnionAhaiReborn

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I ran another marathon Sunday. More or less an unmitigated disaster. I signed up for it after the last one, out of disappointment. I wanted a shot at redemption. I ended up running 25 minutes slower, for a time of 3:52.



My goal/plan was to run a negative split (second half faster than the first), and the first half went off without a hitch! The second half, not so much. Instead of speeding up after mile 13, I threw up. I've never had an issue with gus before, but on Sunday it was a challenge to keep down the first one, and the second I couldn't keep down. And this was while running what should be, for me, a modest pace (~8:10) over the first half.



I'm disappointed, of course, but I have to chalk it up to simply asking too much of my body. I've been feeling the fatigue of these last several months lately, and clearly not only did I not have the energy I needed back, there was nothing I could have done in the interceding weeks or on the day of the race to change that.



The pros:


1) I didn't drop out. I was feeling like shit at the approach to the turn-off for the half marathon. I avoided that temptation and then promptly threw up a quarter mile on. Pretty tough not to stop at that point, but I told myself I'd never DNFed before and I wasn't about to lose that streak over a little vomit.


2) Probably because I ended up running a nauseated and reduced pace over the second half, I'm not nearly as sore as I've been after all of my other marathons.


3) I'm telling you all about it- that may seem like a small thing, but I struggle with the frustration and disappointment of all this, and I want to fight that. I need to remind myself that I do this for fun and the challenge, and I don't want to get into a place where I lose the joy of it and wallow in shame. So typing this out is helpful, thanks.





I couldn't think of anything better for the thread title, so I just went with a song I like to run to, the title phrase has always felt like an apropos exhortation while running, or for any other exercise, but that might just be my odd brain. I'm happy to switch it to something else if anyone has a suggestion.


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@OAR:


Sorry to hear you had such a bad time at your marathon.


Try to focus on positives if you are not satisfied with the overall experience.



For what it's worth, I'd like to give you a big :thumbsup: for your performance. 3:52 is not a bad time at all.



As far as thread title is concerned, I guess it's as good as any.


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Had a bit of a scare at the weekend playing rugby - got a swinging knee to the head (complete accident) and was completely unconscious for a sufficient period of time to be rushed to hospital. Doc was also worried about my neck, so had spinal x-rays on Monday. Most likely just a precaution, but it's pretty scary having your illusions of invincibility (I've been playing rugby for nearly 15 years with no major injuries, which is tremendously lucky) shattered quite so thoroughly.



No more rugby for me til after Christmas. Shit times.


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Scary moment HBH. I'm glad you're ok. You've had a pretty lucky run though.




I'm still on a voluntary break from soccer. I'm enjoying the gym and some swimming. Unfortunately my pool is closed for three weeks for some repairs/construction after a large boiler burst in the movie theater above the pool. And just when my technique was improving. I've increased my swim from 20 lengths once a week to 30 lengths twice a week. I still swim really fast and pause between lengths. I don't have that languid long-distance style (and I'm not sure I want it).



I'm approaching the upper limits available in the gym in my building. Bench 220lbs, leg-press 380lbs, leg lift 280lbs, shoulder press 140lbs, row 150lbs. I need to decide whether to walk the two blocks to the gym at my pool instead or just vary the workout and form enough to keep things challenging.



The big news is I just did my first squats in more than a decade. I had stopped because it hurts my neck/spine even with a foam wrap on the bar. But I bought a manta-ray squat yoke that distributes the pressure better. I was only able to squat 140lbs on my first day (compared to 380lb leg press) and even then I could barely walk for the next two days.



Also the switch from soccer to gym + swimming is adding a lot of bulk to my torso. A lot of my clothes are getting too tight.


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What Luke said. :)



Lately I've been lifting weights a bit more than usual.


Other than a lot of squats and bench pulls, which are standard for rowing, It included deadlifts and cleans. Since those are fairly new to me, I'm still focusing on form rather than lifting big.



In related news, I've dropped 2kg between my 5k erg test which was at the beginning of September and my 8k erg test which was this weekend.


I wouldn't even mention that, since 2kg in two and a half months is definitely not a big deal but I lost exactly what I wanted to lose.


Most of my stomach fat is gone and my chest, shoulders and legs got a bit more muscular which is what I was going for.


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If the bar is hurting your neck/spine you probably have it too far up. It should be sitting on your trap muscles not bone.

Even with good placement, I feel the after-effect of the pressure on the vertebrae, which in turn causes stiffness in my neck above that point. My traps may not be bulky enough for sufficient cushion. I trained with some serious lifters who tried to coach my form to remove the pain but nothing worked. It's possible too that my swayback limits how low on my back I can carry the bar without straining my lower back.

Baxus -- good results. I feel the same. I had some belly fat slowly accumulating these past two years as my MBA reduced my workout time. 3-4 months has already cut that appreciably and added some better muscle. I think I was so used to soccer that it wasn't requiring as much effort as I needed.

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Our training schedule for yesterday said a long run (1h-1h15min).


Most of the people didn't come to training (excuses ranged from college stuff, being out of town to watching important basketball matches :D) so we were down to 10 people.


We unanimously decided to skip the run and do an erging session - distance of 10km at 24-26 strokes per minute.


Since our resources are rather limited, I got stuck with an erg with a broken display so the only thing I could focus on was keeping the strokerate by syncing with others and did 25-26 strokes per minute for 45 minutes.


I have certainly done over 10km in that time (since 10km in 45 minutes would be 2:15/500m which is very slow even for me), but decided to do a bit longer.


The thing I liked from that session was that I could maintain that strokerate for that long and even managed to it without feeling completely drained afterwards.



My thighs felt on fire after that, and I was a bit sore last night but now I'm fine.


The next erg test is right before New Year, and I have already set my sights on the desired result so I'll have to do a bit more erging in the upcoming month. :)



Sadly, I did no yoga this week, and last week as well.


Will have to try and do a bit more of that, too.


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This thread is just what I need. Can I get some tips on the best way to shed some weight? I suffered a string of minor to major injuries and have not been able to lift or run much at all this past year. I'm finally healthy (well 80% or so), and I know a lot about lifting for strength gains, but I've never had the need before to lose 25-30 lbs. And since I'm rather out of shape, which is unusual for me, I think I'll have to focus on cardio rather than lifting for at least a little while (by that I mean two cardio sessions for every one lifting session). I'm 5'10, and currently weigh 193. Hoping to get to around 165 in a few months so that I can return to lifting for gains.



Any advice?



And sorry to hear about your injury HairBearHero. Heal up fast bro


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Had a bit of a scare at the weekend playing rugby - got a swinging knee to the head (complete accident) and was completely unconscious for a sufficient period of time to be rushed to hospital. Doc was also worried about my neck, so had spinal x-rays on Monday. Most likely just a precaution, but it's pretty scary having your illusions of invincibility (I've been playing rugby for nearly 15 years with no major injuries, which is tremendously lucky) shattered quite so thoroughly.

No more rugby for me til after Christmas. Shit times.

:grouphug:

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Work out your maintenance calories, reduce by 150-200 cals a day. When the weight gain stops repeat etc etc

Obviously clean up your diet if it sucks.

Thanks Luke.

Any advice on cardio vs lifting when the goal is mainly weight lose, not strength gains?

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Any advice on cardio vs lifting when the goal is mainly weight lose, not strength gains?

Don't think about it as cardio vs lifting.

It's cardio AND lifting.

For best results, add eating healthy.

To put it simply, cardio may burn more calories during training, but lifting increases muscle mass and such increased muscle mass burns more calories.

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Had a bit of a scare at the weekend playing rugby - got a swinging knee to the head (complete accident) and was completely unconscious for a sufficient period of time to be rushed to hospital. Doc was also worried about my neck, so had spinal x-rays on Monday. Most likely just a precaution, but it's pretty scary having your illusions of invincibility (I've been playing rugby for nearly 15 years with no major injuries, which is tremendously lucky) shattered quite so thoroughly.

No more rugby for me til after Christmas. Shit times.

Boom!

I had to get 8 staples in my head playing a match against Cambridge in '06. The one, and only, injury I ever sustained in rugby. Pretty much the same situation, except the bastard was kicking a loose ball that I was attempt to pick up.

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Yeah I hate not being able to play when I'm injured, concussion's especially bad because you feel like you could play. Probably best to follow the doctors advice though with all the stuff about how bad it can be that's come out in the last few years.

You've only been injured once playing rugby Peterbound? That's not a bad effort.

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