What Was Your Work Out Today?

BigMech wrote: »

Djproulx wrote: »

I must have tweaked my tight left shoulder while doing stretches on the TRX Thursday. It was inflamed yesterday, even after a massage. The pain actually woke me overnight and I needed to take ibuprofen and then ice it at 3am in order to get back to sleep.

When I woke up this morning, my wife had already texted an orthopedist in her office to add me to his patient schedule for Monday. This will probably lead to a cortisone injection and maybe some PT.

In the meantime, I won't do anything more intense than walking. Downtime this week is fine, but I really can't let this fester and drag out for weeks (like I usually do, lol!)

Sorry to hear about the shoulder, hope it heals quickly!

Thanks! It's much better.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Bike today, give the iffy shoulder another day (even though I don't think rowing is the direct cause, and even though it won't help to make the switch . . . .).

Shorter time/distance, too, today - just schedule logistics.

I realized I've reported recent stationary bike pieces here as 10k, when they've actually been 15k since Thanksgiving.

Today it actually was 10k + 3' CD.

106W average on the 10k, 86 on the CD, HR average 126bpm, peak 145bpm, mostly Z3.

@djproulx, I hope your shoulder's feeling better, or will soon if not yet.

@BigMech, congratulations on your new highs, and multiples of them at once: That's great progress!

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Did a lift this morning (my usual -- full body, compound movements -- tons of reps).

Had a hard interval row at lunch. I've learned my rowing after lifting is pretty bad. This was no different. On Thursday, I did a 3 X 2K w/ 3 minute recovery at 2:11 pace. Today was 2:16. Just died after the first one. The rest was just painful. All unstrapped work at around 22 SPM (strokes per minute).

@MikePfirrman - Oh, man: Yes. I need to start talking myself into resuming some lifting after Christmas, and will be doing it after rowing when they fall on the same day. (But I know my priorities are not everyone's! 😆)

How is unstrapped going? Are your unstrapped times converging on strapped-in ones (if that's not too personal a question)?

Hi Ann! Unstrapped is going fine. It took me like a month or two to get it back down again. I'm pretty happy to be able to pull 2:10 ish on unstapped rows right now. The first 2K I did was a 2:08 pace at 23 SPM. It has really helped get me back into more solid form. I'm still occasionally doing some funky stuff with my left shoulder (I broke my collar bone years ago) and I'm (at times) uneven a bit due to my right knee being so cruddy, but it's better form than I was doing a year or so ago.

I have to do a 500m TT this month. I wish I was in better shape right now, because that's one Personal Best I still think I have a shot of improving on. My best 500m ever was around 1:40. I pulled a 1:45 just last month right after the flu. My strength is there. I just need better cardio fitness now.

I used to lift 3X a week. I'm happy now just to do two. I always look at lifting like this -- the longer I wait to do it, the more DOMS I'm going to experience and I hate being sore.

Friday was full body strength training, Sat/Sun were heavy BJJ sessions, Yesterday another full body strength training. Today will just be an easy cardio treadmill day. Probably do intervals of 2 min run/2 min fast walk for about an hour. May mix in a few sets of light push ups/pull ups/core to keep things loose.

Rowing machine, the 1k + (3 x 2k) again, with 2' row in/out and drink break between, 3' CD. Slower, 2:28.9 pace/21spm average on the pieces, 8252m overall, mostly Z3 with about 1' slipped slightly into Z4, average HR 131bpm.

Shoulder joint is still quite zappy-ouchy on the turnaround into recovery, pain moderates if I force shoulders down quickly at that point. (If it hurt on the drive, I wouldn't row.)

I'd added insult to injury yesterday, wrenched upper back out of whack somehow on the same side, I think while flinging milk jugs into a tall, full giant recycling bin yesterday (improbably enough), but I messed around with the Theracane a little this morning and that helped that part. After the Holiday Challenge is over, thinking I'll back off shoulder stress, maybe until I see my osteopath in early January, see what he thinks is going on. Need only 6090m to hit the Challenge goal, and can easily get that on the bike (as 12,180m) between now and the 24th.

@MikePfirrman, I would think your strength training would be a good contributor to improving 500m TT, though I understand the results could be muted this round (post flu). Good show that your unstrapped times are coming down!

Avoiding DOMS isn't a great motivator for me, unfortunately, and I normally ramp up weight/reps/sets gradually each Winter anyway when I restart, as an injury avoidance strategy. My resilience at 67 isn't what it was at 20, and injury has a high cost (mostly via detraining) as a consequence. It doesn't help that I'm lazy, don't enjoy strength training. 🤷‍♀️ Hoping the current shoulder thing will be an easy fix, might try some super-light lifts soon just to see if the movement hurts.

@BigMech, absolutely a lower HR at the same pace biking is a sign of improving CV fitness. Nice work!

This morning's trainer session was based on 10 min blocks of 40 seconds of work, 20 second recovery, alternating between two movements AMRAP. We did four rounds, so eight movements total (resistance band curls, mountain climbers w/hands on a ball, dynamax crunches, TRX skull crushers, sandbag squats, hamstring curls on sliders, etc)

Partly due to reading the posts from regulars here detailing the ups and downs that come with our long term commitment to exercise, I'm starting to think more about my annual training plan and goals for 2023. After this morning's session, I had a chat with my trainer and we agreed to follow last winter's base building approach, since I made great strides in power (for cycling/swimming) from Jan-April.

She then made me promise not to ignore her advice and risk injuring myself doing stuff that I shouldn't do, such as explosive sled pushes.

Very easy pace stationary bike today, 15k+3'CD at 82W and 63W respectively, 16,050m overall in about 44' total, almost entirely Z2 with average HR 118bpm (about 65% HRmax).

Enough meters to finish the C2 Holiday Challenge a couple days early, and it seems to have played its usual helpful role in kicking me out of grieving the end of on-water season to get into some kind of indoor Winter workouts. That said, I'll probably slack off for a week or so over the holidays, probably not all the way to zero.

@MikePfirrman, thanks for the shoulder tips! I've been doing some full and partial hangs on my pull-up bar, with mixed results (sometimes it feels like it helps, sometimes not); some yoga-style chest opening stretches that stretch the shoulder; plus some PT exercises I remember from my last bout of PT for shoulder nerve impingement. I need to get serious, dig out my full file of those exercises.

Happy Holidays, all! (Saying that now just in case I slack off even more even earlier than I'd been thinking. )

Injury will have me sidelined for several weeks at least; time to go back on "inactive member" at my gym. So sad.

Good Christmas Eve workout this morning

Stretched

42 minutes on the spin bike, average heart rate: 142
27 minutes walking on the treadmill, average heart rate: 125

58 Minutes lifting weights:
Superset: Barbell bench press, Wide grip lat pull-downs, Seated dumbbell overhead press
Chest: 12@135, 10@165, 8@185, 5@205, Drop set: 4@205, 4@185, 6@165, 8@135
Back: 12@110, 10@140, 8@160, 6@180, Drop set: 6@180, 6@160, 6@140, 8@110
Shoulders: 12@25, 10@30, 8@35, 5@40, Drop set: 4@40, 5@35, 5@30, 7@25

Superset: Cable triceps press-downs, Crunches, Cable biceps curls, Landmine Twists
Triceps: 12@40, 10@50, Drop set: 10@60, 10@40
Crunches: 30, 30, 30, 30
Biceps: 9@40, 7@50, Drop set: 5@60, 8@40
Landmine Twists: 10@55, 10@65, Drop set: 8@75, 8@55

Calf Raises on leg press machine: 4*10@160

Stretched

Back on the bike after indulge-y holidays, 45' easy pace (90W, mostly Z2/some Z3, HR 122 avg/131 peak), 3' CD (54W).

Not sure I'll get in a workout next couple of days, going to a college ice hockey tournament a fair drive away, so tied up most of the 2 days. We'll see.

Got in some good cardio this morning before heading out for an early appointment

Stretched

44 minutes on the spin bike, average heart rate: 140
31 minutes walking on the treadmill, average heart rate: 130

Stretched

Great leg workout this morning, another butt kicking

Stretched

40 minutes on the spin bike, heart rate avg/max 145/164
28 minutes walking on the treadmill, heart rate avg/max 133/147

58 minutes lifting weights:
Goblet box squats: 12@bodyweight, 10@20, 10@40, Drop set: 8@50, 8@30, 10@bodyweight
Crunches: 30, 30, 30, 30, 30
Romanian deadlifts: 12@95, 10@145, 8@175, 6@205, Drop set: 4@225, 4@195, 6@165, 10@95
Kettlebell side bends, each side, 5*10@30
Leg Press: 12@160, 10@250, 10@340, 10@430, Drop set: 8@480, 8@390, 8@300, 10@160

Stretched

Made good use of the new plates on the leg press and hit 2 new highs

Used a box that 3 inches lower today for the squats. What a difference as that puts me below parallel.

I did end up fitting in some shorter stationary bike workouts on Tuesday & Wednesday, despite spending well on 12 hours away from home. Tuesday, I also ended up with about a 5-mile unplanned walk, as we tried to GPS our way back to our car after the hockey tournament in an unfamiliar city (on snowy/icy sidewalks, increasingly deserted streets 😆, nearing midnight in that good-sized city's downtown). The tall buildings kept interrupting the GPS and we went around in circles for a long, long time. It was pretty hilarious, and TBH a little anxiety provoking for me (context: 2 women, both late 60s y/o, neither of us big, despite both being moderately fit).

So, 30' plus 3' CD bike both days, Tuesday 104W/126bpm average on the 30' (148 peak), Wednesday (on way less sleep) 92W/124bpm average.

Today, decided to go for longer/easier after kind of poor sleep again, so 60' plus 3' CD, with 84W/117bpm average on the one hour part.

Thinking I'll stay away from rowing or other upper body until after my osteopath appointment on 1/4 - maybe, I think? - both to see whether the hiatus/rest helps, and to get his input on what the issue may be.

Still stationary biking. Moved the damper setting up one notch, went for easy-ish 10k + 3' CD. Expected cadence to go down (it went up, but only a couple rpm 🤷‍♀️). Otherwise, not much difference. Average 103W on the 10k, 83 on the CD, HR avg 125bpm (about 70% HRmax), peak 143 (about 80%).

Physio, to get my broken shoulder joint and associated muscles back to life. Mobility is pretty good. Strength is... well, what strength? Doing a combination of bodyweight exercises for lower body mixed with mobility and light strength movements for injured arm, like plie squats with holing onto something with injured arm at various heights, bodyweight one-legged romanian deadlifts, situps, etc.

Decided to keep the one-step bump up in damper setting again, go for an easy-pace longer(-ish) stationary bike ride, 60' + 3' CD. On the 60' piece, 101W average (at 73rpm); overall, HR avg 128bpm (78% max), peak 144bpm (80%), more Z3 than Z2. 24,876 pseudo-meters.

So stupid much sweat, even with the overhead fan on: Drops falling on the phone (because I was playing games), getting in my eyes (despite the sweatband) . . . all despite the relatively low energy input, and a house temp in mid-60s F. SMH.

ETA: Also experimentally did 25x light kettlebell swings to see how it hit my cranky shoulder. Didn't feel too bad in the execution, we'll see how it's settled in tomorrow. I need to add some strength, of some type. Osteopath appointment on Wednesday, hoping for insight to what the issue may be.