Exercise and Fitness - Olympic spirit!

[3CityApache]

Ok, I have signed up for my first official half marathon, on 5th March 2017. Plenty of time to prepare. I decided to set my goal at 1:55:00, which means the average pace of a little less than 5:30. Anything beyond that would be a surprising bonus.

[3CityApache]

I have just finished Warsaw Freedom Race 2016. 13K around the Warsaw Detention Ward and Penitentiary, the prison in which 35 years ago, during martial law in Poland in 1981, many famous Solidarity activists were detained. Some of them were present today as honour guests. It would be a great race (three loops around the prison, about 4.3K each), if not for the weather. Constant rain and occasional wind wouldn't make it simpler. But I am satisfied anyway, I made it in 1:05:28, which means the average pace of around 5:06. 

And my wife has won the race in her age category (out of 40 or 50 women her age) with the time 1:00:28, exactly 5 minutes faster than me. I'm fuckin' proud of her.

[Iskaral Pust]

This is my tenth day with this cold and tenth day of no exercise.  Regardless, I had to do all of my travel for meetings and to chair a conference, which didn't make the experience any better.  It has abated since the sixth day but definitely not gone yet.  I'm pretty disappointed not to return to the gym today, which was my goal all week.  Hopefully not too much longer now. 

[baxus]

I've also had a cold for a few days now. Nothing major, just a bit of a sore throat, stuffed nose and I'm sneezing from time to time.

Did my workouts on both Wednesday and Friday, plan on doing the one on Monday, though I hope to be back to normal by then.

Booked a week long snowboarding trip for the end of January with two of my best friends. After missing out on snowboarding last winter, I'm looking forward to it so much I'm barely even thinking about visiting my sister in Dubai in two weeks.  

[Arch-MaesterPhilip]

I was able to run two full miles without stopping today. I'm really proud of myself, my workout was 3 21m at an average pace of 12'28" and I crossed the 3.1 mark in 38:38, I think I'm almost ready to run a slow 5k. 

[3CityApache]

I did 21,1K today, so I managed to run half marathon distance for the third time in my life. It was tough, as it was really cold, but I did manage to improve the result again. My new half marathon PB is 1:55:51, three and a half minutes better than previous one. Quite proud of it actually. But my goal for the official half marathon race I signed for in March next year stays the same for now: 1:55:00. It's just 2.5 seconds per km on average to cut off, but I did was quite exhausted today. I probably won't have many occasions to run such a disance before March anyway (yes, I know I don't have to to be well enough prepared).

[Iskaral Pust]

I. Am. Back.

2.5 weeks off exercise because just as I got over that cold I started a brutal week at work that left no chance to exercise.  But I finally got back to the gym today and started with bench press, pull downs, etc. I was slightly dreading the return, scared to see how much ground I lost, but I was shocked that I lifted the same as before. I think I lost one rep. That's a great outcome. I'l pay for it with some sore muscles, but great outcome. 

I have most of the next two weeks off work to rest, eat healthily and get back into a routine of exercise. 

[zelticgar]

Calling all cyclists. I'm mostly a runner but its getting cold outside. I'm thinking about getting an indoor trainer for my bike. I don't ride a lot, mostly to train for 3 or 4 triathlons in the summer and a few recreational centuries. I was checking out Zwift and it looks pretty cool. anyone have experience with Zwift or similar simulation platforms? Any advice on a trainer? I was thinking about getting rollers like the professionals and picking up a cadence and speed monitor but when pricing it out I'm starting to think an entry level smart trainer might be easier. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

 

 

[3CityApache]

After Saturday's 21k I only made 5k today, but managed to improve my PB on that distance again, so it's 23:22 now (just 9 seconds faster than the previous one). And it took me a while, like I thought, about 2.5 months. But I didn't expect it this year anyway, so I'm glad.

[Targarien21]

On 04.12.2016 at 0:05 AM, baxus said:

I've met some of my rowing friends last night and some of them go swimming before work and I've talked to them about joining them at least once a week.

Also, thinking of going running tomorrow morning after six months or so.

That sounds really cool! I adore to swimm too but I do this only during the warm seasons, during the colder ones going for me to the swimming pool isn't comfortable at all
Anyway I make my basic fitness complex everyday at home, also I practise in addition with such stuff http://stylemann.com/best-proform-elliptical-reviews/ several times a week And I can see the progress after two months, now I feel much healthier and active than usual!
I'm going to continue my progress

[Iskaral Pust]

Back to the gym today after a couple of days of stiff muscles and then my last business travel for the year.  Since I got my flu shot this morning, I did shoulder press, pull-ups, etc to work the soreness out of the deltoid. 

It was a good session but I lost a couple of reps on my heaviest sets.  Not a big surprise after my long lay-off (not losing ground on bench press, etc was the surprise).  The gym was nice and quiet at least. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Dec 23-25 was busy with Christmas celebrations and then I returned to the gym for three consecutive days Mon-Wed this week.  Very good workouts, but agony in my legs after my first squats in over a month.  Today and tomorrow will be rest days and then back to it probably on Saturday.

Within the past four weeks, I've had a cold that knocked me flat, a stye in my eyelid and now a cold sore.  My immune system must be really depleted; presumably just too much travel, work and stress and too long since I had a proper rest.  Hopefully I'll be rested and recharged after this week.  Ironically, my annual medical check-up was last week and my MIA immune system doesn't show up in the preventative care screening -- my blood pressure and blood tests were all excellent, I even lowered my blood sugar as my lower carb diet has dropped and then kept off ~13lbs. 

[3CityApache]

Ok, I have now oficially finished my running year 2016. I have more than trippled my overall distance to 1535 km, which makes about 128 km per month on average. I took part in ten official races, including eight 10K races, one 13K race and one 2.5K relay race. My 10K PB improved by about 5.5 minutes and I achieved my key goal of breaking 50 minutes on that distance. I also managed to run training distance of half marathon three times, every time improving the result. I suffered a few injuries, but overall it was a great year for me, running wise. I was greatly encouraged by my wife, who made six marathons this year, including mountain ultra marathon of 55K and two half marathons.

[satori26]

6 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

Ok, I have now oficially finished my running year 2016. I have more than trippled my overall distance to 1535 km, which makes about 128 km per month on average. I took part in ten official races, including eight 10K races, one 13K race and one 2.5K relay race. My 10K PB improved by about 5.5 minutes and I achieved my key goal of breaking 50 minutes on that distance. I also managed to run training distance of half marathon three times, every time improving the result. I suffered a few injuries, but overall it was a great year for me, running wise. I was greatly encouraged by my wife, who made six marathons this year, including mountain ultra marathon of 55K and two half marathons.

Rock on. Glad to see you got some PRs in there even with a few injuries, and that's awesome your wife and you are a running team!

I'm inspired. Haven't run much in over a year as I switched to Crossfit and powerlifting, but I went from hardly ever getting injured even though I was running as much as 40 or 50 miles a week (mk not that often, but 50 might have happened once or twice), to persistent niggling pain and issues with recovery. I'm starting to think it's because I'm not getting in enough cardio, so me and running are about to become pals again. Plus, for all the ripping weight-training types do on cardio and long slow endurance exercise, it's GREAT for just feeling awesome about life. There's not a lot of problems that can't be solved with a good long run.

2017, here I come, in shuffle shuffle walk jog style.

[baxus]

@3CityApache

Great job, man!

Here's to you enjoying 2017 runningwise as much as you did 2016 

I've been on vacation for 2 weeks which resulted in basically no workouts in that period. I did some hiking and walking during that period and that's it.

Back to crossfit tomorrow and my regular routine. I'll quite enjoy that.

[Iskaral Pust]

I had a lethargic few days, partly because I was enjoying my time off work too much and reading until ~2am each night, but I finally got back to the gym on Monday for bench press, etc.  It went well but my heaviest sets felt heavier than last time.

It took five days for my legs to stop hurting after the squats, so now I can return to squats in the next couple of days hopefully.

[Seaworth'sShipmate]

Who here runs?

Do you run often? If so how has running helped you or made you feel good? Has it done neither of those things?

[Iskaral Pust]

Look at the exercise & fitness thread.

[SerHaHa]

I've done the gambit of body building, then powerlifting, swimming, running, xfit, etc as well. Due to health issues that cropped up in 2010 (SLE/Lupus which really affects my joints-badly, among other things), lifting heavy weights has been out for a while, so I focused on flexibility and cardio the last number of years.  I think without it I'd be in much worse shape than I am in terms of how I feel on a day to day basis.  I try to run my 8km every 2nd day, do a lot of hiking in the summer months, and a lot of yoga, tai chi, and a couple of other things I've been trying out.  Yes, my power is obviously way down, the days of doing max/full plates on leg day on the 45 incline and pressing 3 or 4 plates flat are long gone, but I no longer care about that so much. 

Cycling is something I'm getting into this spring again.  Anyone here have any experience with the new e-bikes?  I've purchased 1 and got one for xmas, a Norco Ebike with an aftermarket throttle, and a RadWagon from RadPower bikes.  I have the largest/best batteries I can get, the former will do 28mph with the setup I'll be running.  I realize that using electricity isn't going to do much for your cardio, but due to the aforementioned health/joints issues, my wrists/fingers are the most effected, and lose all feeling/control, which = no more motorcycling for me for the last few years as well as regular cycling.  Now, with the ebike, if I feel that all tiring out, I can rely on the battery to motor me about and get me home if need be, same with the hydro brakes/etc being easier on the hands.  Plus these bikes are cool, and adding your max pedal power to the electric motor, sort of like a hybrid sports car, you can get some crazy speeds, they gent I got the Norco from whizzed by me at easily 35mph when he demo'd it, peddling hard with the e-throttle in the middle or so,  and that wasn't even full blast. 

Diet - diet is something I feel is the most important part of fitness for me.  In another thread I talked about this with a few other members, I switched to a mostly vegan diet a bit ago, and feel fantastic.  It's not political or other beliefs which made me decide to go vegan, it was based on us started to grow our own food in gardens for the first time, as well as making managing my health/etc so much easier with the vegan diet.  I'll still have some fish on the rare occasion, but that's it, and only once a quarter or so.  Upping my h2o intake a lot has helped too. 

[aceluby]

Trying to get back on the wagon after being out w/ a cold for a couple weeks.  Was still working out regularly, but my diet has slid and now I'm back over the 200 lbs mark.  I'm going on vacation at the end of the month, so until then it's no added sugar, limiting my carbs, no alcohol, and at least one yoga class a day with the goal being 10 classes per week.  With this diet I'm hoping to lose 10 lbs fast and then level off to about 190-195.