The Exercise Motivation Thread - 2014

[peaches08]

Yeah, cholesterol is only one part of a lipid profile.  I feel you on the spare tire issue, working on that one myself!

Ran 25 min this morning.

 

[pat]

I've just not been posting, but have used my exercise bike twice this past week, and had a couple of long sessions of weeding (I count that as exercise..my gardens are numerous and all in trouble..lol).

 

[jtbo]

Let's see, I did some bicycling, it should of been around 15km, but my cheap Karhu brand (karhu translates as bear) bicycling computer did record only 12.7km, this is wireless and does not always pick up signal.

But this has some nice logging features, computer lies as:
Calories burned 806.3
Time used 1 hour 5 minutes
Maximum speed 55.7km/h
Average speed 12.3km/h
Maximum heart rate 155bpm (I doubt that I can even get much higher as I managed to get now 10 more than previously)
Average heart rate 112bpm

I did ride with mountain bike and there was bit of hills, also half of trip was quite soft, tires sank 1 to 2 inches into ground.

After that I did fell a tree and chopped it with axe, also I did cut some previously felled trunks and chopped those too with axe.

I think that took about 3 hours, despite it was +10C I had only t-shirt and jogging trousers and it was quite perfect, bit of sweating too.

Even that cycling computer does not pick up signal perfectly, it does pick up heart rate just fine, there is belt that I need to wrap around my chest. That feature was why I bought it as it was only 30 euro and any HRM would of been more than that so everything else is bit of bonus.

I usually ride way too fast with bicycle, it is much easier to keep heart rate at proper range when I have this computer showing rate next to speed. Especially at higher speeds I get some kind of desire to go faster and accidentally can pedal even at 140bpm without realizing it, only after a while as legs tire and I run out of breath I realize that mistake. 120bpm is also bit too high, but even more difficult to know without computer, I should try to stay around 100 for my endurance training, at the beginning that does not even feel as hard as walking and it is difficult to stay at that limit, but after 30 minutes I start to be warmed up and it starts to feel bit more of work, still very difficult to stay around there.

Of course at uphills it is quite impossible, I try to go as slow as possible at those.

Quite long time since last cycling but it was quite good, still not quite how it used to be before getting sick, but much better already, I could push quite a bit more than at previous time without legs starting to tire.


Gardening is hard work, I'm trying to get rid of this kind of plant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorbaria_sorbifolia

It had taken big part of my yard and is trying to go into forest too, I have tried to get rid of it for several years now, but it refuses to die even from poison.

So, currently I'm pulling it's roots out from ground and that is not very light job at all, it's roots cover area over 100 by 100 feet, such densely that there is no palm size spot on that area where would be no roots of that plant.

It is also first one to grow leaves, so as it did grow leaves I took it down and now I'm digging it's roots out, but I can't really use any tools as those roots are so dense and I need to get every bit out, that means I need to pull them by hand, trying to loosen a bit by shovel, but mostly it is work done by hand and I need to pull with all my might to get them out, so I do that every now and then, it is so big area that I need to keep doing it all the time I think, maybe they grow as fast as I manage to pull them...

Then there are potatoes and all the rest that needs to be put into ground, busy time and asks lot of endurance which I have only a little, but at least now I manage to do something, unlike previous years when I had not much strength or endurance to do anything.

 

[Winchester]

You are very busy, JTbo.

The false spirea, if I'm not mistaken, is the shrub that everybody around here seems to have in their yards. It has clusters of white flowers and is very pretty. Probably because of our climate, it doesn't grow out of bounds here like it does in your area. I could be wrong; maybe I'm thinking of something else. But it sure looks familiar.

I did get the orthodics for my walking shoes and I used them this morning. They seem to fit my shoes OK and it seems like they're giving me some support.

3 miles (43 minutes) on the elliptical this morning.

 

[jtbo]

You are very busy, JTbo.

The false spirea, if I'm not mistaken, is the shrub that everybody around here seems to have in their yards. It has clusters of white flowers and is very pretty. Probably because of our climate, it doesn't grow out of bounds here like it does in your area. I could be wrong; maybe I'm thinking of something else. But it sure looks familiar.

I did get the orthodics for my walking shoes and I used them this morning. They seem to fit my shoes OK and it seems like they're giving me some support.

3 miles (43 minutes) on the elliptical this morning.

I wish you good luck so that orthodics help

That false spirea grows roots and pops new bushes by those, they can grow over 12 feet long, but if lawn is cut everywhere around, then it stays in where it is put. I found now more of that plant, well over 100 feet away from original location, so if it is radius of over 100 feet, then there must be some problems in getting rid of that plant...

I have been eating now Corn flakes as breakfast and I think that is quite good, somehow I feel 'sturdier', but I'm still having pins and needles in all big muscles, constantly. There seems not to be any difference if I exercise or not, but during exercise that is not so bothering, but also I feel like there would still be not quite as much power in muscles, uphills are somehow harder and that feel of power from legs is away, it is like if legs would be already tired before exercise.

But also my blood pressure is acting weirdly, was 106/78 once, but can be over 150/97 too, once it was 123/70 and pulse was then 91 even I was resting then, normally pulse is 50-60. Maybe I'm having some kind of stress disorder as everytime I meet some person and chat, after that my blood pressure is way too high.

Anyway I suspect that has something to with migraines and this tired legs sensation.

 

[peaches08]

I hope the orthotics help!

My first thought JTbo is electrolyte imbalance.  I suffered cramps, but some people suffer the pins and needles (kind of depends on which electrolyte is off).  It took some time to find the right cocktail for me.

Ran my same route in 20:30 min today (I've been running it in 25 min).  I have no idea of the distance since it's a shorter route.  I think tomorrow will be a yoga day.

 

[tammat]

You are all very busy. Yay good exercising.

Yesterday I did chest, biceps and abs. I did 4 sets of 40 secs each and then a burn out exercise of 40 sec at the end of 4th set. So with chest at the end of 4th set I did push ups until I could no longer do them to completely burn out the muscle. I'm doing this all week and then next week I'm having a whole weeks rest!!

Here's something interesting. I went off the rails with my clean eating. By Saturday I was gorging myself on anything sugary. Rohan says this is a sign of fatigue. That's nice to know. I thought it was a sign of underlying gluttony!!!!! Lol!. The weeks rest was already planned so I will sit back and enjoy. It's to give my whole body a break not just my muscles. I'm allowed to do 20 mins cardio each day only. My garden also needs attending so I'm hoping to do that. Gardening wears me out.

Keep going everybody.

 

[Winchester]

Good work, everybody!

2 miles (40 minutes) walking during lunch today.

 

[pat]

Half an hour of weeding and yes, I am counting that as exercise!

 

[peaches08]

 
Half an hour of weeding and yes, I am counting that as exercise!

As you should!

I walked 43:43 this morning. 

 

[tammat]

Good work, everybody!

2 miles (40 minutes) walking during lunch today.

Yay! Does this mean the orthotics are helping?

I did legs yesterday. Squats, Bulgarian squats and dead lifts. That just totally wears me out. Bulgarian squats are just cruel. I want good legs though so that's what I have to do.

 

[Winchester]

I don't know if the orthotics are helping....foot still hurts. It's starting to hurt now at night, too, if I'm bed and stretch the foot out, it will twinge. But we'll see. Thanks, Tammat.

You are all doing well. And yes, Pat, weeding definitely counts as exercise!

3 miles (43 minutes) on the elliptical this morning.

2 miles (40 minutes) walking during lunch (I've slowed down quite a bit)

 

[peaches08]

Soft tissue injuries take forever to heal.  Seriously, I'd just about rather break a bone.  Years ago when my 1400+ lb horse centered my right ankle with one of his hooves, the doctor told me that I'll wish I'd broken it instead of damaging soft tissue.  He was right.  A year later, the ankle was the same size.  Healing and I could ride on it, but still the same size.  It took years for it to go down.

Ran 31:06 this morning, about 2.6 mi.  I ran a little further and a little longer than I have been of late, but I still had to stop and walk for about 30-45 sec after about 22 min due to dizziness.  I had about 4 oz of OJ with my coffee, hoping that would eliminate any blood sugar concerns, but I guess it wasn't enough?  Honestly, I think this whole mess is due to 75+ degree weather and my lack of fitness.  I think it's just going to take time.  Hey, at least I can run!

I hope to get a bike soon, I've gone by the shop once to get a feel for what I want and next time I'm going in to get fitted and get a final price.  Then, biking!

 

[jtbo]

Soft tissue injuries take forever to heal.  Seriously, I'd just about rather break a bone.  Years ago when my 1400+ lb horse centered my right ankle with one of his hooves, the doctor told me that I'll wish I'd broken it instead of damaging soft tissue.  He was right.  A year later, the ankle was the same size.  Healing and I could ride on it, but still the same size.  It took years for it to go down.

Ran 31:06 this morning, about 2.6 mi.  I ran a little further and a little longer than I have been of late, but I still had to stop and walk for about 30-45 sec after about 22 min due to dizziness.  I had about 4 oz of OJ with my coffee, hoping that would eliminate any blood sugar concerns, but I guess it wasn't enough?  Honestly, I think this whole mess is due to 75+ degree weather and my lack of fitness.  I think it's just going to take time.  Hey, at least I can run!

I hope to get a bike soon, I've gone by the shop once to get a feel for what I want and next time I'm going in to get fitted and get a final price.  Then, biking!

This sounds interesting, are you going for road bike or mountain bike?

I once bought a hybrid that I still have, it works somewhat ok on tarmac, but no matter which tires I put it is too unstable on softer ground, as I bought Mountain bike, I found out that it is a lot better in terms of stable ride, it is almost impossible to fell over with it, also as I put slick tires on it, it does work really well on tarmac too, but hybrid is lighter and faster on tarmac.

Triathlon bar is something I can't live without, I have such add on bar on both of bikes, even strongest headwind does not feel so horrible with that.

I guess that road bike + mountain bike would be ideal combination for me, because riding on gravel, mud, tarmac, but then again as here are some annoying hills hybrid gearing is much better, actually I did swap mountain bike gears into hybrid, I can still go faster than it is healthy but there also is no any hill that will be a problem, if rear tire just manages to grip enough.

Still I can't imagine how people living on mountains can bicycle, we have only few hundred meters long 20% gradients at maximum, but mostly few kilometers of 4% gradients and often I have to use lowest gear and still manage barely to climb those hills, with 4% gradients it is of course easier as one can go slower, but with 20% gradients if I go slower I'm not moving


I did not do much today, one tree did fell over because of wind, I guess it was because of wind and not because of bear mother and young one that visited on my door steps, but there is not knowing, so I did saw it to logs so I can chop it later on. Also I did try to break a law with bicycle by doing 60kph while police car drive opposite direction (they visit this area perhaps once in a month), but speed limit did change and I did not manage to reach 80kph, neighbor drove behind of me and he was checking speed I was doing as he was surprised how fast I was going.

It was about 3km from there to neighbor's cabin and I rode there to chat about these bit worrying bear sightings (they start to be too close to buildings), they did not manage to get indoors when I got there, that fast was my average speed, bike did run quite well, perhaps later this week I will do some longer exercising too as temperatures are rising so there won't be issues with too cold at beginning and too hot from mid point onwards.

 

[peaches08]

@JTbo So far I'm torn between a Trek comfort bike and a hybrid.  I need to go into the bike shop here and have them help me decide what's best for my needs.  I have the option of renting a bike too, to see what I want.

I live on a very flat island with tons of paved bike paths, and I'd like to have the option of hitting the beach occasionally although that's really not that important.  I'm not looking at top-end road bikes for speed at this time, I just want to hit the paths and get some exercise with a little breeze in my face.  The bike store here is awesome, they maintain your bike for free if you buy it there. 

 

[jtbo]

@JTbo
So far I'm torn between a Trek comfort bike and a hybrid.  I need to go into the bike shop here and have them help me decide what's best for my needs.  I have the option of renting a bike too, to see what I want.

I live on a very flat island with tons of paved bike paths, and I'd like to have the option of hitting the beach occasionally although that's really not that important.  I'm not looking at top-end road bikes for speed at this time, I just want to hit the paths and get some exercise with a little breeze in my face.  The bike store here is awesome, they maintain your bike for free if you buy it there. 

I would guess that comfort bike might be best one to start if you have had no bike for a some time, also I think those are more versatile than Hybrid bikes in terms of where they are enjoyable to ride, but hybrid bikes offer then more speed and are perhaps lighter.

Good test ride tells of course much better which fits like a glove as anything else is not worth to pay much at all

Free service is great offer, as well maintained bike will last nearly a life time, of course chains and gear sprockets needs to be replace every now and then, but compared to a car, bike lasts really long time with a little costs.

As you don't need to worry about hills, then bicycle weight is not much of issue, also almost any brakes are enough, 8 speed rear sprocket is perhaps most durable while still having great range of gears, I have 9 speed with quality parts in other bike and it is not as good as lower end 8 speed, 10 speed and more tend to have so narrow chains and gears that they start to be quite sensitive and short life of parts. Internal gears are heavy and they loose some pedaling power, but those don't need much servicing or replacing.

I use 2" wide slicks even in my MTB and I just recently rode on gravel that later become mud and had no issues with grip, I think most bikes have way too aggressive thread pattern tires and thus are not so fun to ride, maybe some more aggressive riding requires more of thread pattern, but for tarmac, I recommend wide slick tire, it is so nice when sand or small stones are not causing any trouble, also bumps and cracks on tarmac are not harsh with such tires as with narrow tires tire can get stuck on some crack on tarmac surface, that is quite annoying as bicycle stops but person continues to travel for a moment that is.

I did have bad experience with several Schwalbe made tires, too much plastic, slippery, so I'm running my early to mid 1990's Nokia tires, I can ride on snow with those slicks, too bad there is no one currently making any of those tires that I'm using, but I guess some other brand might be less plastic ones and thus usable, I still have about a year to find out such tires.

As I use bike instead of car, my bikes see quite lot of miles, just remembered that before I started cycling a lot, I had 3x7 gear setup in hybrid and that did last some 7 years, now I will wear out chain and rear sprockets roughly once in a year.

 

[peaches08]

I haven't been on a bicycle in 20 years.  I'm obviously not including stationary bikes at the gym, lol!  So the Trek Shift has me intrigued.  And someone else cleaning and oiling the bike is a huge plus for me.  The bikes I had as a kid?  Man, we trashed those things.  We never cleaned or oiled a bicycle.  Once a year you rinsed it with a hose and called it a day.  So I have LOTS of learning to do!  Including what bike to get! 

ETA:  I'm torn between the Trek Shift and the Trek Neko, just reading about them...

 

[tammat]

Soft tissue injuries take forever to heal.  Seriously, I'd just about rather break a bone.  Years ago when my 1400+ lb horse centered my right ankle with one of his hooves, the doctor told me that I'll wish I'd broken it instead of damaging soft tissue.  He was right.  A year later, the ankle was the same size.  Healing and I could ride on it, but still the same size.  It took years for it to go down.

Ran 31:06 this morning, about 2.6 mi.  I ran a little further and a little longer than I have been of late, but I still had to stop and walk for about 30-45 sec after about 22 min due to dizziness.  I had about 4 oz of OJ with my coffee, hoping that would eliminate any blood sugar concerns, but I guess it wasn't enough?  Honestly, I think this whole mess is due to 75+ degree weather and my lack of fitness.  I think it's just going to take time.  Hey, at least I can run!

I hope to get a bike soon, I've gone by the shop once to get a feel for what I want and next time I'm going in to get fitted and get a final price.  Then, biking!

Yes you can run and you're doing a fabulous job at it. Have you tried some carbs before a run? Preferably an hour before. I can absolutely tell the difference. I run so much better. All it takes for me is a sandwhich or toast. Just a thought.

Yesterday I did bent rows, pull down bar thingy???, pull ups ( um attempts anyway!), two types of triceps pull downs and dips. And two calf exercises. I also learnt that the tricep Is a horse shoe shape. My arms have a layer of fat over the top so no horse shoe here YET!! I am starting to get a little bit of definition but mostly less wobbly. At this stage less wobbly is fantastic. Rome wasn't built in a day but they kept building it.

Keep up the great work everybody

 

[peaches08]

Yes you can run and you're doing a fabulous job at it. Have you tried some carbs before a run? Preferably an hour before. I can absolutely tell the difference. I run so much better. All it takes for me is a sandwhich or toast. Just a thought.

Yesterday I did bent rows, pull down bar thingy???, pull ups ( um attempts anyway!), two types of triceps pull downs and dips. And two calf exercises. I also learnt that the tricep Is a horse shoe shape. My arms have a layer of fat over the top so no horse shoe here YET!! I am starting to get a little bit of definition but mostly less wobbly. At this stage less wobbly is fantastic. Rome wasn't built in a day but they kept building it.

Keep up the great work everybody

I hoped the 4 oz of OJ would help, but maybe it wasn't enough?  It's certainly worth a try!  I'll have to find something that will stay "down"...I tell ya, GERD sucks.

Awesome on the workouts!! 

 

[tammat]

I hoped the 4 oz of OJ would help, but maybe it wasn't enough?  It's certainly worth a try!  I'll have to find something that will stay "down"...I tell ya, GERD sucks.

Awesome on the workouts!! 

Oh yes. I forgot about the GERD. That would suck for sure. At least you don't give up.