What Was Your Work Out Today?

Did an easy hour of cardio inside in the A/C today. No garage workout today. 30 on the LateralX and 30 on the Assault Bike.

I have guys at my house taking out my old tile on the pool in 107 degree heat. I've been running out there all day making sure they aren't overheating and keeping a mister fan on them.

I also sell solar as a solar broker. My neighbor's solar (that I sold him) is going up today as well. Really feel for those guys up there on the roof, in the full sun, at 107. But I know a lot of roofers and what scares them more than sun is wind. Luckily, none of that today. Now, understand, this is AZ. People get really acclimated to the heat here and there's very little, if any, humidity until late July and early August. But 107 is still hot.

I'm also looking at getting a portable evaporator cooler (affectionately known as "Swamp Coolers") for my garage. Man they have come down in price. I can get one that would cool my entire garage for around $500 now and move it to the patio when needed too. I'm learning the hard way in AZ. Fans, even powerful ones, just move hot air around here. They don't actually do much to cool you.

Haven't reported lately. Sunday was my usual rest day. Monday we had weather (East wind, mostly) that led us to cancel rowing, then it was stormy so I didn't walk, put off strength (any excuse works for that; I don't like lifting).

Tuesday:
* Half hour yoga/stretch/foam roll
* Squeezed in 10.67mi easy pace bike ride in the afternoon
* Helped with learn-to-row class in evening again, so a small bit boat carrying & rowing, mostly boat-stabilizing for a couple of hours.
* 42' strength training.

Wednesday:
* Around 7k rowing bow in the quad
* 6.18 mi walk at 4.1mph average on a different (unfamiliar) trail segment while my car tire was getting repaired (🙄)

I got a tiny Garmin fitness age estimate improvement, from 30 to 28, because it cooled off to high 70s and slightly lower humidity, so I organically pepped up walking pace. I was hoping for a better black-box testing scenario, with the change in temp and pace, since HR was perking along nicely, mostly in low/mid 120s at 4+ mph. Unfortunately, near the end of the walk, the heart rate reading went to 160s-170s, suddenly, for no obvious reason. (My normal actual max is around 180, not the age-estimated 155.) I think it was the HRM, not the heart. I felt fine, wasn't breathing heavily. I didn't count out my heartbeat formally, but I put the back of my hand on my neck when the Garmin was saying 170+, and my heart was definitely *not* beating at nearly 3 beats per second. Curses, foiled again! 🤣

(If it's not clear: I think all of that is pretty amusing, not serious or important. My health is important. Weird technology estimates, not so much. As a former software professional pre-retirement, it's wired into my cognition to want to watch the tech and speculate about what its internals do. I do read a bit about it, but that kinda reduces the fun.)

@MikePfirrman, it's so nice of you to be looking out for your roofer guys, doing extra things to try to keep them more safe/comfortable. Good show, you!

I lived in Sparks, NV (Reno suburb, high desert) for one summer, and worked in a plastics extrusion-molding factory out in the desert, theoretically air-conditioned but many machines running in 400F range. I think it got to 110 at least once that year outside, and was generally hot, clear, dry. That was enough to convince me that I didn't want to live anywhere like that. It's not what my Northern European genes, Great Lakes upbringing, want. If anything, I'd move North, seek a less humid area - but plan to stick here.

Easy pace 6 mile run this morning. Lovely to be out in the fresh air running again, 4 months ago I was depressed and not able to run a mile.

Did 40 minutes (5.5kms @ 7.3 minutes/km) on the elliptical.
Can’t say I’ve ever loved the elliptical trainer, my toes go a bit numb after 20or so minutes.

Anyone else have that? Or, is it just me?

Easy shake out run today. Just 30 minutes to activate the run muscles and open up a few strides.

Race prep is underway this afternoon. I picked up my bike from the fitter at lunch. New chain, rear cassette, charged it and did a quick tune up so its ready for race day. My coach sent me suggested half iron power output numbers based on the "Best Bike Split" tool. Will spend tonight pouring over the athlete guide and gathering up the pile of stuff I need (fluid bottles, nutrition, body glide, sunglasses, race belt, wetsuit, swim googles, towel, etc, etc, etc.) Will leave tomorrow afternoon to pick up race packet early and join my tri club pals for dinner.

The key for me is to get a good night's sleep tonight, since I'm sure to toss and turn tomorrow night, while trying to fall asleep in the hotel room. Even though I'm an old fart who has done dozens of races, I still get butterflies before race day, lol.

Ran 6.13km, at the fastest pace since 2017. I find it interesting that I'm 4 years older, probably pre-menopausal by now and can still get back to the old level. Just slightly gutted that I didn't run 300m more for getting a new 4 mile best for this year. Oh well, I was wasted from the heat and humidity.

@Djproulx - good luck!

I went climbing.
It was a decent enough session. My endurance is coming back; this was 90 minutes and only ended due to the gym closing.

Very light or no weights:
Landmine workout
Bulgarian Split Squats
Walking kettlebell lunges
1hr on the treadmill at 2.5mph
10 minutes cool down swim

Today is absolutely rest dayy!!!

wunderkindking wrote: »

I rode (a horse, not a bike) for an hour.

I always enjoy people who say 'you just sit there'.

...No.

It's great exercise. I dated a girl in high school who didn't have a saddle that fit me, so I learned to ride bareback. Talk about a workout! And we'd go out for hours. I would barely be able to walk the next day!

My wife can't ride any longer but I miss riding horses. I'm not sure I'd hold up well any longer, though.

Thoroughly Cleaning the house only

Had a deep tissue massage last night with the main focus on my glute and upper back areas 😅

Massage DOMS are definitely a thing

Cycled 80km while geocaching. That's all, really.

The last time that I faced a prolonged period of real suffering during a race was in August, 2018. That changed today. The Patriot Half was held in Massachusetts in early morning winds that calmed down and turned into a hot, humid early summer day. This was my sixth race at the 70.3 mile distance (1.2m swim, 56m bike, 13.1m run).

Recap:

Swim: Windy conditions caused a very choppy swim, leading me to have trouble sighting the buoys and swimming a straight line. Contact with other swimmers and having trouble getting good breaths due to the chop made it seem harder than it was. My "normal" 42min swim turned into 48 minutes.
Transition #1 : no issues except getting the arm coolers on over my wet body, lol. (Should have rolled them inside out before hand!)

Bike: This was a new, slightly more hilly course than the one I rode in 2017, but it was not bad. Some issues with car traffic and rough pavement in patches, but I worked around them. We had set a power output/speed target of 165W/18.2mph for an expected 3:05:00 bike split, hoping this would leave me plenty of gas in the tank for the run. The conditions turned out to be hotter, and I went through all my fluids, but noticed a constant stream of water (sweat) running from my helmet and onto the bike. I clearly needed to take in more than the 3.5bottles I brought.
I also started to notice some gastric distress at about mile 40 of the bike. This would come back to haunt me later. I overcooked the bike slightly, finishing in 3:01:22, but my power was off the charts (240-260w for about 90 minutes of the ride, NO BUENO)

Transition #2: I knew that I was in trouble by this point. Upon dismounting, athletes usually run pushing their bikes to the racks. I walked. When I got to my rack spot, I sat down and did a leisurely change from cycling to running gear. That's not normal for me. I also drank some fluids and consumed a gel as I trotted out to the run course.

Run: Though its normal to feel "dead legs" when starting to run after spending 3 hours on the bike, my fatigue was immediate, widespread and overwhelming. I trotted out through the run exit chute and onto the run course, and just began walking. My legs were tired, certainly, but I'm used to that. This was a case of being very much energy depleted: fluids, calories, electrolytes, muscle fatigue, stomach distress, etc. Not a pretty picture. I forced myself to walk to the mile 3 aid station and stopped there to consider whether to take a DNF (Did Not Finish) or walk/jog for several more hours to complete the course. I decided to continue out of respect for the race, as well as to try to use the run as a way to take notes on how to deal with this in the longer race in Chattanooga in Sept. It took me 3 hours to half walk, half shuffle to the finish. (last time, my run split was 2:10:00) When I finished I took the iced towel from the volunteers and spent 40 minutes in the tent before I was able to stand again. I was truly gassed.

I finished the race in 7 hours, which is 40-60minutes slower than my previous efforts. I believe the combination of inadequate fitness, overbiking in the heat/humidity and the gastric distress were more than I could solve for today while running.

I'm hoping the lessons from this subpar outcome will be a blessing in disguise as I train over the summer.

TL, DR version: Finished the race, but blew up on the run. Better luck next race!

An almost 5 mile hike with a decent incline. It was a beautiful day 😌

KevHex wrote: »

Saturday I completed an 8 mile run and Sunday an easy pace 6 mile run. Legs are feeling really good after a 32 mile week, I am still about 30lbs overweight but running is much easier now that when I started at 280lbs.

Nice weekly run mileage!