What Was Your Work Out Today?

Bike ride on the trails, about 24.5 miles at the usual "li'l ol' lady on a hybrid bike" pace/intensity (moving average speed 11.2mph).

So many things on the route smelled really nice: Fruit trees, lilac bushes, even the (bleep) invasive exotic honeysuckle that's spread everywhere. Then I got home to a living room that smelled nice, too - the sort of sweet baby-powder scent from a Hoya (wax plant) that's blooming in my house.

Ultra relaxed Friday-easy pace (85W for 63 minutes) stationary bike ride that I talked myself into doing after a gloomy, rainy day limited the fun of my usual recent outdoor options. At least it was something!

Finger boarding 10 hours after a hard climbing session is um... interesting. I'm enjoying the two times a day approach, so I'll continue with it.

Friday
Climbing, 2 hours. Another good session.

Saturday
I dropped my drysuit off for repair. I used the train to get there, and shared a junction with Twickenham at Clapham Junction. There was a rugby tournament on, so it was quite busy.

So I decided to come back a different route. I walked along the Thames Path from Chiswick to Richmond, where I went through Richmond Park. I then got lost, and went to Putney Heath (I was aiming at Wimbledon Common).

I decided to climb some trees at this point. One tree had a hard dyno. I failed to make it about three times, and somehow covered my arm in blood on the final go. I seem to be very mature now I am in my 50s: I moved onto an easier tree at this point.

After this, I found Wimbledon Common and made it home for tea and medals.

Fitbit reckons it was 15 miles. It was a lovely Spring day

Here it is, @DJproulx!

Sager Creek Triathlon 2023:I thought about what you said while out on the course, about running my own race, not anyone else's. I had to stop once on a really steep hill during the bike section and catch my breath, and I walked for a few seconds here and there on the run part. I race intuitively but if I ever want to increase the distance, I'll need a heart rate monitor. I got the nutrition spot on this time (.5 banana and .25 Builders bar one hour before the swim started, with one GU and plenty of water and Body Armor fruit punch on the bike).

I finished FIRST in my age group because . . . I was the only one in my age group. Race stats: 300 m. (12 lengths) Swim in 9 min, 22 sec; T1 was 2 min, 45 sec. Twelve, er 13 mile Bike took 65 min (yes, I went off course and took in an extra mile); T2 was 2 min, 13 sec. The two mile Run took me 27 min, 11 sec and was actually my fastest of the three disciplines, compared to everyone else. I improved my overall time of 1 hr, 46 min, 54 seconds by 10 min. over last year's Ozark Valley Tri (also a 13 mile bike ride). Some of the guys doing the International distance passed me on the bike--their second lap--and were surprisingly chatty. That was nice, especially as four of us faced the most daunting hill at once, in what was otherwise a pretty spread out race.

"The Way" by Fastball was playing after I finished this race with these triathlon-appropriate lyrics: "Where were they going without ever knowing the way?" "Anyone can see the road that they walk on is paved in gold" (ha!); It's always summer, they'll never get cold . . . they'll never get hungry, they'll never get old and gray . . . they wanted the highway, they're happier there today." Love the post-race feeling and the new friends. I chatted up another mom and an older couple (he was racing, she wasn't) for about half an hour as we watched the swimmers in the pool for the International distance. I really enjoy getting to know other people who "TRI."

@DiscusTank5 Congratulations!

I went climbing yesterday. It was odd, I felt really sleepy and sluggish. (I napped on the train en-route to the gym, which is the fist midday nap I've had in over five years). However, once I got moving I was not too bad. I wasn't brilliant, but I wasn't terrible. I got a couple of v4s, flashed a few v3s and actually had decent power on overhangs.

3 hour session.

KB swings (100) and get-ups (10), yoga (15m) and walking (60m)...

Nothing much energetic over the weekend, beyond some yard/garden work. Today, my last physical therapy session (this round!), and a good row.

The row was in bow of the quad, for the usual just under 7k. The group wanted some power pieces, so we did multiple rounds of power 10s on the downriver side of the loop, at times when I had a clear sight-line for safety, adding up to a reasonable interval workout. (I've mentioned that bow steers. Bow also calls commands for other stuff, such as when to start and stop power intervals.) It's Spring, conditioning's uneven in the group after Winter, so we're doing 10 strokes power with a reasonable moderate steady state recovery between.

Indeed, @DiscusTank5. Heck, anybody simply finishing one of these types of races gets my nod of admiration. I would be worthless after the swim portion, but that's supposed to be the easy start of the race! lol

Got out for a nice midweek ride with 2 friends. Covered 29 miles in just under two hours. Nice easy 15mph pace through a largely wooded route. We saw several large club groups of cyclists out tonight. Mild temps and long hours of daylight made it a perfect night to ride.

I had a theory that I was going to fit in a bike ride around some other stuff today, but I didn't make that work. So, just a casual walk with a friend for a couple of miles . . . very pleasant, not really "a workout".

Cancelled rowing tomorrow due to wind speed, so maybe bike ride tomorrow, we'll see.

J72FIT wrote: »

Felt a twinge in my back during my first set of KB swings.

I am 51 so I dropped the bell and walked away.

Live to fight another day...

Funny about that. I have been dealing with back pain for maybe 35 years. Maybe more. I had a nice respite for the last five or ten years, and that's been really nice. Lately it's started to bug me again. I was scheduled to row a raft to help with a river clean-up last week. I was worried I'd be unable to row. Well, rowing made my back feel much better. It was the medicine I needed.

It's wise to know what things will help and what things might hurt more. Picking up things is probably good medicine for me, but I don't want to be flat out for over a week EVER AGAIN. Good decision you made there.

17 min. tempo (nice 'n easy) swim this morning. Still feeling the after-effects of my race Sunday. Otherwise, I've taken a few walks this week but nothing else.

Rowing cancellation this morning (because of wind forecast) turned out to be the right call.

Bunch of stuff to do today, but I got in a bike ride starting shortly before 5PM, just over 25 miles at average moving speed of 10.7 mph. The wind was strong enough at times to . . . have an effect, in various ways depending on the relative direction. Not too bad, just noticeable.

Pool swim today with a bit of endurance work. Usual 600yd warmup done as 2swim,2kick,2pull, then main set of 1x500, 2x100, 1x500 on 15sec rest. 1800 yds total.

Oh, and today was upper body hypertrophy day in the weight room.