What Was Your Work Out Today?

After I walked downtown to get mail, I went down to the disc golf course to play a round. I did it "speed golf" style. I don't really have a baseline for Speed Golf yet, but maybe today is my "par." The idea is to time your round. Then next time you play, you have to add a stroke for every minute slower or take a stroke off for every minute faster. I'm setting myself up for failure because two groups let me play through which means I was faster than if I had to wait. Getting behind other groups will slow me down in the future. This time of year, there's fewer people, especially mid-day on a weekday. It used to be Tuesdays weren't good to go for my local course because they had a weekly tournament. The moved that to Saturday. My time for the round was right at 60 minutes.

It was warm enough I <gasp> wore shorts. It wasn't as warm as a couple days ago, but I just wanted to wear them. I was quite the fashion statement with my shorts, knee-high neoprene muck boots (there's water on the course, and I want my discs back if I throw one in), and a warm hat & raincoat.

I was 13 over par. Clearly I'm not that good of a player, but I still enjoy myself. There are still some trees standing after the ice storm. While I didn't hit every single one.... I did hit quite a few.

I want to go play some other courses, but this one is just so close it's super easy. There's another course not too far away, but it's currently underwater as the river is up. Another one that's a really challenging and diverse course should not be played alone unless you like losing discs. Spotters required. There's another one not far away that I should head out and play soon. I could even bike if I really want. It's about ten miles, but there's an off-street path most of the way and bike lanes where there's not a path.

mtaratoot wrote: »

I got four trees complete - the Bartlett pear, the Chojuro Asian pear, the Stella dark red cherry, and the Italian Prune plum. . . to go ahead and do annual maintenance on the raspberries. Last years primacanes and the excess of last year's floracanes (this year's primacanes) are in a pile at the end of the row. I still have to get to the grapes and the blueberries as well as a few shrubs and, if I want, the flowering cherry. The flowering cherry can wait until after the bloom is done, and now that I think about it, I will start bringing branches inside to force in about a week or so.
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I would so enjoy seeing a picture of your orchard!

Today featured 62 degree F weather and sunny skies, so hubs and I walked our dog for 45 min. outside on the trail near our house that leads to a recently-opened kayak park.

Rowing machine, 3 x 2k with 2' easy row/drink in between, 3' CD. Negligible Z4, mostly Z3, 2:30.1 pace and 20 spm average on the pieces. 7050m overall.

After that, another dumbbell mostly-push circuit, very slow and still light, but slightly heavier light.

City men's league basketball game yesterday so took a day off lifting.

Today was a push day.

3x10 DB bench
3x10 DB Incline Bench
3x15 machine flys
3x12 tricep pushdowns
3x12 DB lateral raise

DiscusTank5 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

DiscusTank5 wrote: »

mtaratoot wrote: »

I got four trees complete - the Bartlett pear, the Chojuro Asian pear, the Stella dark red cherry, and the Italian Prune plum. . . to go ahead and do annual maintenance on the raspberries. Last years primacanes and the excess of last year's floracanes (this year's primacanes) are in a pile at the end of the row. I still have to get to the grapes and the blueberries as well as a few shrubs and, if I want, the flowering cherry. The flowering cherry can wait until after the bloom is done, and now that I think about it, I will start bringing branches inside to force in about a week or so.
.

I would so enjoy seeing a picture of your orchard!

There's only three trees in what I'd call an "orchard."

Looking through some old posts here, I found a few fruity pictures:

In this one, the blooms are past their prime, and it's overcast.

Thank you for sharing those! Cherries from your own garden = swoon.

If I get them. That year was an anomaly. Some years the wet spring means none fruit - the bees just aren't out when the flowers are open. Other years the birds get more than their share. I told the birds once that they could have the ones up high and I would take the ones down low. They didn't honor their part, so I made the tree shorter and try to shoo 'em off.

Then lately we have an invasive insect called the Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii). Unlike most fruit flies who go for rotting or overripe fruit, this evil little *kitten* goes after unripe fruit. When I pick cherries, they usually have a little hole in them. I have to eat them or process them in the food deyhdrator or something within a day or two or they are nasty mush.

One fun thing is to stuff jars full of cherries. All that will fit. Seeds and stems and everything. Then pour in some brandy. Not the good stuff, but not super-cheap. Then put it in a cool dark place for six months. In winter, you can take out a jar, drain the brandy (now cherry brandy), get the fruit as dry as possible, and dip in melted chocolate. The chocolate gives just enough sweetness. Some people use sugar in the brandy - not me. They will last for a few years in the jars. Last year I pitted some. I never got around to dipping them yet. I probably should do that. Everybody loves them. They make great gifts.

Back to the gym today.

I took the suggestions I got from @nossmf to heart. I'm sure it's beneficial.

First I walked downtown, stopped at the post office, then met a friend at a coffee shop that doesn't actually serve coffee. I won't go in to that. Walked home, did a few things, and went to the gym instead of the disc golf course.

I added a third set to all my movements. At first I thought I might just add it to some, but I just went ahead and took the time to do 'em all. My goal was 15 reps per set. I added some weight on the second and/or third if those 15 were pretty easy. Some movements just kept the same weight the whole time, and even then I couldn't get 15 reps on the second and/or third set. The day consisted of:

• Ten minute warmup on treadmill at fast walk pace.
• Deadlift on Freemotion machine - Started at the middle weight from last visit, then increased on second set and again on third set. Completed all reps.
• Goblet squats - Started with the same weight from my last visit, and increased weight on third set and completed all reps.
• Dumbbell lunges - Increased weight on third set and completed all reps.
• Chest press machine - Dialed the weight down just a bit from last visit. Could not quite complete all reps on third set.
• Seated row - Started where I left off last visit, increased weight on second set and again on third set. Did not complete reps on third set.
• Pec fly machine - Same weight as last visit, only was able to complete 11 reps on the second set and 7 on the third.
• Lat pull machine - Started where I left off last visit, increased weight on second set. Did not complete reps second or third set.
• Dumbbell curl to overhead press - Started where I left off last visit, increased weight on the third set. I was able (barely) to complete all reps.
• Triceps press on cable machine - Started where I left off last visit, increased weight on the third set. Completed all reps.
• Lat raise machine. Same weight as last visit. Unable to complete reps on second or third set.
• Cool down 15 minutes on treadmill.
• Two sets in the sauna - 18 minutes and 9 minutes with a shave and shower in between.

Adding the third set extended my time on the floor by only 15 minutes. I'm usually resting only 60 seconds between sets. I'm skipping the rest between curls and triceps pull-down because the area I do them is so close together, and they are complimentary.

I felt good after I was done. I am curious how I'll feel tomorrow. I think that even though I pushed myself some, I didn't push so hard I'll be uncomfortable. I'll find out in the morning.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet a friend to celebrate his first day of retirement, and I hope he'll want to go for a six mile loop hike up to a peak that's near his house. It's all on forest ROADS, not trails, so it should be clear. It will be weeks or more likely months before all the trails are cleaned up from the ice storm from a couple weeks ago.

Comments/feedback/ideas welcome.

Climbing, 3 hours.

Good fun. I was stronger than normal. I was good at thuggy, strength based climbs; normally I find them hard, but they've been easier the last few sessions.

@mtaratoot I enjoyed reading your account, think everything looks good. Two minor suggestions:

First, instead of having a hard-rep goal, set a rep-range. For example, instead of "15 reps or bust" where you feel bad if you don't reach target, use "12-15". If you can get 12 reps, keep the weight the same for your next set. If you fail to get 12 reps, drop weight slightly (5-10%) for the next set. If you get 15 for every set, mark your log with a star or plus sign. If you again get 15 the next time you do the same workout, then you are ready to increase the weight for the third workout. Keep changes small...5 lbs for upper body, 10 lbs for lower body. (If you have fractional plates of the 2.5 lb variety, they can be used instead, especially when you start to get heavy.)

Second, some days you will feel like an animal, and the weights feel easy. Other days the exact same weight you know you did last time will feel like a ton of lead. For this reason, any given workout I allow myself to drop the weight used 10-25%, no questions asked, no feeling bad...it was just a day I didn't have "it" in me; next time I may be back to normal again. I will, however, add a small minus sign next to my log notes. If I have to drop the weight in consecutive workouts, I may not have been ready to go to that weight, and will permanently lower my goal weight until I can again earn it back up (see above paragraph how to do that). (Note: by "consecutive workouts" I mean having to lower the weight on the same movement...lowering bench press today and squat tomorrow doesn't trigger, but lowering squats this week and next does.)

👍

When someone first starts or resumes lifting, water weight will increase as part of the healing process, and last for the first few days/weeks of the lifting program. But if you've been faithful to lifting, a single session will rarely cause any appreciable change.

A hike and a swim.

I planned to go hike with a friend for his first day of retirement. He has to be near home to take care of an elderly dog that needs meds every four hours. I thought we'd do a little six mile loop that goes up a gravel road through the school forest to a local peak. I figured since it's a road, it would be clear from all the storm damage. He decided that he just wanted a day to settle for his first retirement day. Sounded good to me. It was a gorgeous day, and I still wanted to hike, so I was just going to go anyway.

On the way out of my neighborhood, I ran across two friends. She said trails in the local forests weren't bad. I stopped to get mail, dropped a book at the library, and decided that since I'll go out with my friend next week, I'd go to another local trail that has great views but I had left a few weeks ago because even the trailhead was already in a cloud. That day I hiked another area nearby.

That trail is very short. Just a couple miles. I can add more miles in either direction if I want. But I did something different. On the way up, I saw parking at the trailhead down near the bottom. I stopped there to save the gasoline from driving way up to the upper trailhead. It's a nice trail to the top - a little more than eight miles round trip.

I stopped just before the last little loop to the top to eat an orange in case it was too windy up top to stop. It was. I took in some views and kept walking. I saw rain moving in, so instead of stopping in a sheltered area to enjoy a delicious beverage I brought with me to celebrate the first day after January, I just hiked out. It only rained a little bit. Not enough to even pull out my rain gear. But the sun was still shining from an angle, so I got rainbows.

The gym isn't too far out of the way from the trail, so I figured I'd go get a steam. I went in, put on some "swim trunks" and walked out by the pool to the steam. There was only one lane occupied. I wasn't planning to swim, but there was ONLY ONE LANE OCCUPIED. I went back to the locker room, put on my swimming pants and grabbed my gear and got in a half hour swim. I mixed up my strokes, and even realized I'm able to swim a bit better than I used to be able to.

Then it was time for the steam I came for. I waited until my stopwatch said 22:22 and left. I got a quick shower and went the sauna because - why not? I turned the stopwatch back on until it said 31:31, rinsed off, got dressed, and that was it.

I for sure wasn't sore from the weights yesterday, so that's good too.

I'm planning to meet some folks tomorrow morning to do a little mild whitewater. I'll take a canoe. I know the trip organizer paddles an inflatable kayak. I'm not sure who else will be there. It's a very short drive, and even though it's very mild whitewater, the river is beautiful.

Yep. Another good day.

Hiking mid-week is awesome, especially in the winter. It was surprisingly crowded down near the parking area and lower trails. Once I got past the first mile and up into the forest, I saw almost nobody else. I love that. It's what keeps me away on weekends. Unfortunately, there are some people who feel exempt from the rules or entitled in some way and just ignore the signs that tell people that they can't ride their bikes on the unpaved portion of the trails from October until May. Another group felt exempt from the signs up near the top that ask people (and their furry friends) to stay on the trail and explain why. A group of adult women with a bunch of very young girls couldn't be bothered and were not only off trail climbing one of the native oaks but also just running wild across the meadow that is actually a rare and surprisingly fragile habitat. I really dislike people sometimes. There's an easy access from up top, and that's where those folks came from.

shoulders and legs

Canoeing.

I had my first paddle of 2024. It was good to be back on the water!

I got out my whitewater canoe and joined a friend for a nine-mile paddle on a local river. It's no more than Class 2 whitewater. The water was up, but not dangerously so. We had a nice time. We saw the sun. We got some rain. We saw Acorn woodpeckers, squirrels, hooded mergansers, wood ducks, hawks, jays, and lots of trees.

I got a few pictures where we were floating through areas between rapids.







This river doesn't get paddled much. It's been years since I've been. I used to lead a trip there every year on December 25. We would do a longer section starting upstream from where we started today and ending at the same location.

I think there's several reasons it doesn't get much use. First, access is awful. The put-in wasn't bad. There's another access that isn't bad that's about a mile downstream. Then the next place to get out is very difficult. My partner was in an inflatable kayak, and he could get close enough to shore to step out. My canoe wouldn't fit in that eddy. The water was more than waist deep. I was wearing a drysuit, but to try to hop out of the canoe would have capsized it. It took me between five and ten minutes to get to a place I could actually get out.

Another reason, I think, is that the whitewater is pretty mild. For people seeking big rapids, this isn't the place. That said, the whitewater is enough that people without skills to navigate it would have trouble - to say the least. There's also always the possibility of a log jam to portage around. Most of the time, the river is far away from any road. I think that's nice. It's in an interesting geologic setting. Much of it is twists and turns with a steep rocky slope on the outside of the bends, almost like a canyon wall. On the opposite side is a riparian gallery forest that floods annually. There are native oak trees all the way to the shore.

We paddled under two large trees spanning the river that eventually will be issues. One sooner than the other. There were other places where there was some wood in the river, but there was always a clean line through. We had no portages.

We stopped for lunch along the shore where there's a land trust property I sometimes hike on. Super bonus - there was a picnic table! How fun. I'll post another club trip for a weekend so people who still work can go. We had sun and rain. We had cool but not cold temperatures. I only had one layer of thermal underwear under my drysuit. I stayed warm enough. I hate to be too hot, but one more layer might have been fine. I had finger-less neoprene gloves that I swapped out for full gloves at lunch. After that I couldn't use the camera on my phone. I also put on a helmet liner. Then I stayed nice and comfy.

It really is a nice river. I bet the fish would bite if I had a rod and reel.

Heavy snow storm overnight lasting until about 3pm today, finally stopped long enough for me to go outside and shovel the drive so I can get to church tomorrow. Thick, heavy, solid, wet snow about 8-9 inches deep, got both cardio and a strength workout in at once. Took well over an hour to clear, and while normally I only report half my time on MFP, this time I think the calorie burn was accurate!

Stuck to stationary bike again so I could work on catching up on watching my visual journaling tutorial videos. (I'm behind already in a year-long series, and it's only February!)

Same ol' 15k + 3' CD, around 40 minutes, 110W average including the CD, 74% Z3 (right up to the border of Z4, but not over) so moderate intensity steady state.

Thinking I'll call that enough for today, watch some more videos.