The Exercise Motivation Thread - 2014

[jtbo]

Yesterday I did again some firewood for elderly lady.

Took 4 hours and burned around 1800 calories in process, day after tomorrow we go there again.

Today I have been making firewood for myself, 4 hours and again around 1800 calories burned, but I need to continue by moving firewood that is dry to end storage and that is probably few hours with bit less intensive work, but still I think that it will burn yet 1000 more calories so today's total with base consumption will be around 5000ish.

As I did calculate my food vitamin etc input, I found out that for example I did eat only half of calories that I burned for last few days, today will be the same, so I should not gain weight at least...

 

[peaches08]

@Tammat Good job on adjusting your program to work best for you!  Sometimes adjustments are needed.

I originally planned on taking today off, but instead I went out for a bike ride on wet roads.  I worked pretty hard, 7.6 mi in 39 min.  Probably a little less than 39 min since I stopped at Gould's Inlet for a moment to watch the waves and people standup paddleboarding.  That's a long-term goal for me, to one day do standup paddleboarding. 

 

[jtbo]

I ended up building cat feeding station platform so that feeding station I build last winter is bit higher from ground, then I finally attached roof to it, covered roof with bitumen sheet and added sheet of weather proofed wood to act as ladder base to roof, with two small pieces of wood I made steps that cats can climb to top.

To get inside of feeder they need to jump on kind of porch and enter from small hole so it is only them that have access to food. Support platform legs I re-used from old small table, those are from metal and placed inwards so that it is impossible to climb them to get food.

Also their food is now safe from rain.

This all took some time and weather turned quite hot, first we had ok weather, +21C and no wind, but all of sudden wind started blowing and temperature did rise in minutes to +25C, there is also high humidity too, building that platform took most of steam out of me because of heat.

Even cats seem to feel the heat, they are on their side on forest floor and slowly blinking when I go past them, no any kind of movement is visible except the eyes, as them are more advanced creatures in understand when to stop exercising I did follow their example even there would of been some more wood to chop

Anyway it was good workout Sunday, managed to do really a lot and burned quite bit of calories in the process, lost half a pound from today's work.

 

[tammat]

Good work you bikers!!

Rohan is sick so I did my legs by myself. It wasn't too bad so I think the weights were too light?? I also did abs. Keep going everyone.

 

[Winchester]

Started the treadmill this morning: 1.5 miles at 3 mph with an incline at 3.5%. Took me 30 minutes....trying to take it slowly. I was only going to do one mile, but I had a very hard time getting off that thing. 

 Gosh, it felt good! 

1.5 miles on the elliptical tonight.

 

[jtbo]

It was take it slow day for me too, early in the morning temperature was already at insane levels and I did move some firewood to storage, took it very slowly because of heat, still managed to do that only for 2 hours, then I did warm up sauna, after sweating even more there I visited shop, took shortest route and fairly slow pace so it was only 7.4km (4.6 miles) and average speed of 16km/h (10 mph), that took bit over 28 minutes.

Average heart rate was 101 and maximum 121, despite taking slowly I did manage to do 39.9km/h (24.8 mph) so if I pedal as much as I can, it gives me only 20km/h more speed if even that, how lame is that?

Also I did found out my MTB being a lot faster than my Hybrid bike when riding with around 100bpm heart rate, with MTB I can keep around 16km/h speed on same section of road where Hybrid gets only 13km/h with same effort.

 

[Winchester]

I wish I could do even half of what you're doing, JTbo. Great job!

1.5 miles on the treadmill this morning.

1.5 miles on the elliptical this evening.

 

[tammat]

You're back Pam!! WooHoo!! Well done.
Good work JTbo

I did my chest and biceps today. It was mean but mean is good.

 

[Winchester]

You're back Pam!! WooHoo!! Well done.
Good work JTbo

I did my chest and biceps today. It was mean but mean is good.

Yup! For now, anyway.

I'm shooting for 3 miles a day for this first week, half treadmill, half elliptical. (There was discomfort this morning on the treadmill, but I wouldn't really say pain.)

Good work, Tammat!

 

[jtbo]

Last night I did go for longer bike ride as after thunderstorm temperature was more bearable.

Distance 20.7km (12.9 miles)
Max speed 55.7km/h (34.6mph)
Average speed 17.6km/h (10.9mph)
Max heart rate 138bpm
Average heart rate 107bpm

Then today morning I did same route with Hybrid bicycle while last night I did use Mountain bike.

Max speed 63.3km/h (39.3mph)
Average speed 16.1km/h (10mph)
Max heart rate 151bpm
Average heart rate 115bpm

So despite being slower average speed, downhill speed was lot more, but climbing uphill was slower and much more taxing.

Hybrid is about 5kg (11 pounds) lighter than MTB and has skinny tires vs knobby tires in MTB so this does not make much sense, however that is how it is.

With MTB I can ride much harder for longer time and still I don't get as tired as I did now with Hybrid.

I did ride then with MTB today for 12km just to get groceries and I did about 1 hour of firewood processing in that same project where I have been doing it before.

Only 1550 calories burned today, with base consumption that is around 3680 calories, I'm not sure if I'm getting better or worse, might be that I need to go and burn tad more calories as I did eat chocolate AGAIN!

According to my spreadsheet I should still be on safe side though, but just barely. Loosing 20 pounds is not happening if I keep falling, so need to move more to make it up

 

[tammat]

Great exercising people!! Keep going

I did my 1/4 oval sprints and half oval jogs. I forgot asthma meds and it was a very cold wind. After 10 mins I had to walk home and get my meds then I drove back and finished with another 10 mins. It wasn't ideal but it was something. I then went to the pharmacy to get extra meds so I would have spares. My prescription has expired and I didn't realise. The most frustrating thing is that I saw the dr on Friday.:doh3:

 

[Winchester]

Keep it up, guys!

Tammat, how is your winter? Everything OK with exercising outdoors? Can you just call your doctor for more meds since you were just in?

1.75 miles on the treamill this morning.

1.5 miles on the elliptical this evening. (Hot and sweaty)

 

[AbbysMom]

Nice job everyone! No walking since Sunday for me, I've been a bit under the weather. I think I may be back at it tomorrow though.

 

[jtbo]

I did bike 2x 12 minutes with two different bikes as I tested different saddle positions, then I biked 18 minutes as I visited a shop and did some gps logging while attempting to ride at constant heart rate. It started to rain so I did not do another 18 minute ride with other bike, but maybe tomorrow or then I need to do some firewood work, not sure about that yet.

Bit less of things done today than usual, was somehow very tired feeling whole day and didn't manage to start anything really.

 

[tammat]

Keep it up, guys!

Tammat, how is your winter? Everything OK with exercising outdoors? Can you just call your doctor for more meds since you were just in?

1.75 miles on the treamill this morning.

That is so funny you should ask about winter. I have 5 layers of clothing on today. It was raining with hail this morning but I thought of you guys in the snow and how awful that would be and I tried to be positive about it!!!! It's not appealing to get out in the cold to run but after 5 mins I'm hot and sweating I tend to stay warmer for the rest of the day too which is another positive. And yes Im pretty sure my Dr will write me a script and I can pick it up.

 

[tammat]

I did bike 2x 12 minutes with two different bikes as I tested different saddle positions, then I biked 18 minutes as I visited a shop and did some gps logging while attempting to ride at constant heart rate. It started to rain so I did not do another 18 minute ride with other bike, but maybe tomorrow or then I need to do some firewood work, not sure about that yet.

Bit less of things done today than usual, was somehow very tired feeling whole day and didn't manage to start anything really.

Probably a silly question but why are you cutting firewood if it's summer? Is it for your sauna or are you preparing for winter? Good work with your biking

 

[Winchester]

That is so funny you should ask about winter. I have 5 layers of clothing on today. It was raining with hail this morning but I thought of you guys in the snow and how awful that would be and I tried to be positive about it!!!! It's not appealing to get out in the cold to run but after 5 mins I'm hot and sweating

I tend to stay warmer for the rest of the day too which is another positive. And yes Im pretty sure my Dr will write me a script and I can pick it up.

I think that in the winter, the worst part is telling yourself to get out there. Once you're out, though, it's not too bad. (Most of the time.) Good going, Tammat!

FWIW, Rick says he can tell a big difference in my attitude since the boot came off and, esp, since I'm doing something again, even if that something is inside.

 

[Winchester]

1.75 miles on the treadmill this morning

1.75 miles on the elliptical this evening

 

[tammat]

Back and triceps for me today.

 

[jtbo]

Probably a silly question but why are you cutting firewood if it's summer? Is it for your sauna or are you preparing for winter? Good work with your biking

Well, during winter it is quite difficult as there is several feet of snow and temperatures go below -20F, also there is only dim light for few hours during winter days, it is very dark most of the time.

I have a photo somewhere, ah here it is, you see here how we get snow sometimes, our weather varies quite a bit, sometimes not much snow, sometimes more than one can manage:

Then we get these cold spells (temps are in Celsius):

Coldest temperatures have been bit colder side of -40F, not too great weather for bicycling or any outdoor activity!

I have uninsulated staircase, one year I found out there is bit of leak in door's sealing, it did turned such that one morning door did not opened and I had to ram against door several times to break the ice that had formed, but it is impossible to replace seals during winter, glue is not working, so had to wait until weather warmed to replace seals:

Also firewood dries best at the spring, right when snow is starting to melt. What firewood we are now making for that elderly lady, are going to be used after 2-3 years of drying up.

I don't know how to convert metric to US firewood units, but our current project is about 150 cubic meters of firewood. There are hopes that tomorrow it is ready if we pull a long day.



Today I was again there doing firewood and this time I had heart rate monitor with me, average was 109bpm and peak was 140bpm, about 4 hours of that, then I did do some bicycling at 140bpm to 160bpm as I wanted to travel fast, but there was too much of wind, I got annoyed and attempted to push harder, well it was not very successful, only 23 to 32km/h speeds.

Meter shows that I burned over 2100 calories and with base consumption that will be bit over 4200 calories for today.

I had issues with my pants that tended not to stay up at later part of the day, I like to think that is because belly fat melting as it was +25C and scorching sun warming whole day, but maybe that was just wishful thinking.