Exercise and Fitness: sticking to resolutions

[3CityApache]

16 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

@3CityApache It sounds like wrong time for you to start hill training, even if it is a great addition to your training going forward.

I've been doing hills for a long time now, just on my own so far, and that's what really makes a difference. 

I feel a bit better today, so I'll probably stick to my original plan tomorrow and see how it goes.

[baxus]

On 3/3/2017 at 5:39 PM, Greywolf2375 said:

need a strong front rack for this one. 

Yeah, there are quite a few areas I need improvement in. It's an ongoing work in progress, I guess.  

[Theda Baratheon]

On the days I'm not jogging or running I'm averaging well above 10k steps a day walking anyway - after a few weeks of maintaining this I'm going to try and do a month or so of at least 20k steps everyday 

[baxus]

Walking is great. It's not much of an exercise, but you're not sitting or lying down which is great.

[Iskaral Pust]

Not a great day today.  A busy day at the end of a busy week had me feeling sluggish, plus that deltoid strain is still bothering me.  I did bench press, pull downs, cable row, etc.  I had been killing it in bench press in recent weeks but today I dropped one of my heaviest sets.  But, to change things up, I added a set of push-ups immediately after each set of bench press. 

At least I got something done and I've dropped 2-3lbs this week, despite lots of desserts for various reasons. 

[3CityApache]

Ok, so my worries about my current form weren't baseless after all. Today everything was perfect to the certain point. Weather was great, the route was ideal and I was very careful not to start too strong. It all went according to the pla for the most of the race. Even quite a steep hill on the 13th km didn't bother me much. And then, out of the blue, on the 17th km, also on the hill, but much smaller than the previous one, I suddenly felt completely unplugged. My pace dropped from 5:20-5:30 to 6:15-6:20 in the matter of meters and I couldn't do nothing to improve it to the very finish. I forced myself to speed up a little on the last 300 meters, but that was all I was able to do. Final time: 1:57:55, two minutes behind my unofficial pb and almost three minutes behind the plan. I was completely exhausted and couldn't get a grip for quite some time afterwards. I don't know, maybe I'm just not made for such distances and should stick with 10k races after all.

On the brighter note: my wife broke her pb by 5 minutes with the 1:41:09 time. Can't wrap my head around it.

[baxus]

@3CityApache

Don't be so hard on yourself. From your posts in the past couple of weeks it seems to me you've been overtraining. Try adding recovery weeks to your training schedule for your next HM and see how that goes.

Another possible reason could be your tactic for gel (or whatever you may have taken) and water/isotonic consumption during the race. Pace dropping so hard in the last 4-5k (or less) could be explained by an emptied "tank".

[Theda Baratheon]

19 hours ago, baxus said:

Walking is great. It's not much of an exercise, but you're not sitting or lying down which is great.

Yeah I've always loves walking and luckily have always had a dog (sheep dog) that requires lots of walks 

[3CityApache]

20 hours ago, baxus said:

@3CityApache

Don't be so hard on yourself. From your posts in the past couple of weeks it seems to me you've been overtraining. Try adding recovery weeks to your training schedule for your next HM and see how that goes.

Another possible reason could be your tactic for gel (or whatever you may have taken) and water/isotonic consumption during the race. Pace dropping so hard in the last 4-5k (or less) could be explained by an emptied "tank".

I tend to agree it might be the matter of overtraining, but nevertheless I can't help but notice that my overall viability is just incomparable to my wife's for example. She has run a half marathon as her second official race. I've run about ten 10k races before I decided I was ready to try one. She can run three half marathons and a full marathon in just two months (which is exactly the case at the moment. After yesterday, she has another half marathon in three weeks, then a marathon at the beginning of April and another HM at the end of April). I will probably never run a marathon. Hell, at the moment I don't know if I want to run another half marathon at all. Being overtaken on the last few kms by practically everyone, including much older and less experienced runners (some of them I knew) was not a pleasant experience whatsoever.

As for gel tactics I had none, because I didn't take anything during the race except for the few sips of water couple of times. 

[baxus]

2 hours ago, 3CityApache said:

I tend to agree it might be the matter of overtraining, but nevertheless I can't help but notice that my overall viability is just incomparable to my wife's for example. She has run a half marathon as her second official race. I've run about ten 10k races before I decided I was ready to try one. She can run three half marathons and a full marathon in just two months (which is exactly the case at the moment. After yesterday, she has another half marathon in three weeks, then a marathon at the beginning of April and another HM at the end of April). I will probably never run a marathon. Hell, at the moment I don't know if I want to run another half marathon at all. Being overtaken on the last few kms by practically everyone, including much older and less experienced runners (some of them I knew) was not a pleasant experience whatsoever.

As for gel tactics I had none, because I didn't take anything during the race except for the few sips of water couple of times. 

If you didn't enjoy doing it and are thinking of quitting, there's nothing wrong with that. Just don't quit because you didn't achieve the result you wanted and/or are embarrassed by someone overtaking you.

Gels could have prevented your pace drop, had you taken any at the right time. If you do decide on running another HM, try out some gels during training. It's very important to try them out BEFORE the race, to see how your body reacts to them. I know some people who's stomach objected to gels when they first tried it during the race, and quite violently at that.  

[Iskaral Pust]

@3CityApache It is noticeable that your wife is having much greater success at these long distance runs, and it's true that not everyone will do well at any given distance.  Most people self select into the distance that suits them.  Long distance -- to an ignorant outsider -- looks mostly to involve teaching your body how to store and release energy efficiently for a very prolonged low-intensity exertion, and some bodies adapt better and/or faster to this.  Most marathon runners describe "hitting a wall" at the 80-90% point of some race, and many of them have had the dispiriting experience of struggling through that period and losing the flow of the race to the point they are just glad they can finish at all.  It's not an usual situation that you met, nor is the total time difference all that much, only ~3% of your target time.  But you should do some soul searching and decide whether you want to continue with this distance at the moment.  If you're feeling really down about it, you could consolidate at 10k for a while and then decide whether to return to half marathon.

 

Last night was another lower body session for me.  I was a bit reluctant after feeling downbeat from Saturday's workout, and still a bit tired, but it went really well.  Squats, leg curls, dead lifts, calf press and some cycling to finish.  This was the second consecutive session that I took my squats back to 250lbs after being stuck at 200lbs for a few months.  My heavy sets had been 200-200-200 for a while but I did 200-250-220-200 these past two sessions.  And I added another set of dead lifts at 250lbs. 

[baxus]

Distance running is a simple sport - if you keep at it, you'll get better. The harder and smarter you train, better your results will be. Sure, some people are physically better suited to it and achieve results easier than others, but that goes for every sport.

The only reason to think distance running is not for you is if you're not enjoying it or you stop enjoying it.

I mean, we are talking about recreational running here, not going to the Olympics.

[aceluby]

On 3/7/2017 at 2:18 AM, baxus said:

Distance running is a simple sport - if you keep at it, you'll get better. The harder and smarter you train, better your results will be. Sure, some people are physically better suited to it and achieve results easier than others, but that goes for every sport.

The only reason to think distance running is not for you is if you're not enjoying it or you stop enjoying it.

I mean, we are talking about recreational running here, not going to the Olympics.

It's more than just enjoyment.  Distance running is hard on the joints, and bad form can make this a serious problem for the knees, hips, and back.  And if you keep at it while those things are lingering?  They get worse, there's little you can do to self-correct, and it's hard finding experts that can help you correct what needs correcting.  Powering through these issues can cause serious health problems.

I used to LOVE running.  Would do it nearly every day.  Now I can barely make it a mile before both knees are screaming at me.

So while I get what you're saying, it's just not that simple for everyone.

[Greywolf2375]

On ‎03‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 4:36 PM, baxus said:

Yeah, there are quite a few areas I need improvement in. It's an ongoing work in progress, I guess.  

that's part of the fun - there is always something to be improved upon.

If I get to the third round of this one, it will be a 3lb PR for my squat snatch.

[baxus]

2 hours ago, Greywolf2375 said:

that's part of the fun - there is always something to be improved upon.

If I get to the third round of this one, it will be a 3lb PR for my squat snatch.

The thing I love most about crossfit is that it's the first time ever that I'm encouraged to play as many sports as possible. I mean, my whole life I'd run, cycle, swim, row, lift weights, play different kinds of hockey, basketball, football and try new sports whenever I could, but there was "don't do that other stuff, just do this one thing" attitude from most coaches and teammates. If you have so many sports to play, so many movements to master, you can never run out of things to improve.

If you're talking about Open there, I'm afraid I had to miss it this year. I went on vacation twice over the winter and was ill twice and had a minor injury, which all sidelined me for a while so I wasn't in shape to try it out. Plus, since I'm in the foundations group, we very rarely do overhead squats, snatches and stuff like that. I've never done a squat snatch or a bar muscle up so far. Hell, I'm still in process of mastering double unders.

[Iskaral Pust]

Another busy week in work and it looks like it will be like this for a while.  Monday through Wednesday were a bust but I got back to the gym on Thursday evening for shoulder press, pull downs, etc.  it went well and I'll get back over the weekend. 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

I've stuck to my resolution since July. I am 6 feet, was 210 pounds, had a bad rotator, neck, hip, knee, (and jaw but unrelated). Every day I woke up in excruciating pain, and I didn't know where to start. Started with walking 10,000 steps a day (a 3 mile walk in the mornings). Then went and started rehabbing shoulder and hip. Picked up weight lifting I could do. I couldn't do heavy weight like I used to, had to do low weight, and felt embarrassed, so I watched Youtube videos and worked on form.

Right now I'm at 185 pounds--my shoulder is much better (still tight though, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do benchpress again, we'll see); my hip hurts like hell, but I'm focusing my rehab and it's getting better--and with the lower weights, I have muscles I never had before. It's crazy. I just never knew how to work out before. I can do non-impact, high-intensity cardio for 30+ minutes. It's great. My diet's really contributed though too.

I've faltered a bit over the last month, so I need to refocus. But I've never had a turnaround like this. I can actually do pullups again. I can't wait until I get my hip under control and move to squats and deadlifts. 

[Iskaral Pust]

Great results, Simon.  Keep it going. 

What non-impact cardio do you do?  Cycling, rowing, elliptical, or something more unusual?

[Iskaral Pust]

Saturday was bench press, pull downs, etc and a run at the end.  Back to my best after a sluggish session last weekend. 

Today was squats, leg curl, dead lifts and calf press.  I forgot to cycle at the end.  Squats was even better than last week. 

I find that heavy weights leaves me with constant soft tissue strains, especially around elbows, shoulders and hips.  But I'm managing them.

Now I just need to get to sleep earlier each night. 

[Centrist Simon Steele]

11 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Great results, Simon.  Keep it going. 

What non-impact cardio do you do?  Cycling, rowing, elliptical, or something more unusual?

 

Nah, nothing unusual--I stick to elliptical--my hip can handle that the best. Sometimes that stair machine if I really want some pain, but I usually don't. 

You did squats today--I look forward to doing those again--and I loathe the day I can do those again, you know? You really can't get a good leg workout without them, I don't think, but man...a good leg day can really suck.