My conditioning goes in cycles. I'll eventually get soft enough that I start working out again and I'll get into pretty solid shape--at which point other things I've been letting slide take precedence and I get too busy to work out...until I get too soft again. The knee injury has compounded that, as running plays an important part of my conditioning and it took awhile to get back into some shape so I could run with any degree of effectiveness. And now I've got knee strengthening exercises on top of my cardio and strength training. So anyway, I'm still in a level of fitness that I may not have a six pack or abs of steel, but I've got at least a four pack of jello shots. But I know I need to be working out again. I'm sore all the time. That is equal parts muscles atrophying, soreness from sitting at a desk too much, and soreness from the various building projects around the house. I know that if I start working out again I'll still be sore, but It'll be a good sore and I'll have more energy to boot. So I know rationally I should "just do it", but I'm human, and instead I'd rather whine about it and maybe take a short nap.
I think we're all guilty of that. Except those 20-year-old jocks at the fitness center but we can ignore them.
GEH! IN! MAH! BELLEH!!! Damn, I'm hungry. A few months back, I'd gotten into pretty good shape, and I was coasting. Got a little soft and doughy and got into a semiregular ice cream habit. I had my come-to-Jesus and dialed back the diet to more respectable levels, but the exercise regimen remains a challenge lately. If I'm lucky I manage one run and two strength conditionings in a week. I added Hydroxycut again and I gotta say the stuff works. Within weeks of starting it I was losing inches. Yes, part of that is the diet and more will come when I get back on more regular exercise, but part of it must've come from the pills. On top of that, I didn't take them yesterday morning and I was a fucking zombie that day, so I think they do an energy boost as well.
So anyway, I've also become a huge caffeine fiend lately, so I'm not drinking as much water as I should. The other recent development is that I'm eating buttloads and buttloads of plums. I have not one, but two trees on my land, so I've got around 15 pounds of plums in the fridge that I'm gobbling my way through. At first they didn't thrill me, but now I love them. And I can't believe how much they cost in the supermarket--but I get them fresh off the tree for FREE!
Have you tried swimming? It is an excellent exercise without severely stressing the joints of the lower body.
I considered it, but there's a lot of challenges to it: To run, I pull on shorts and shoes and step out the door. To swim I need to grab a towel and then drive somewhere. In the winter that somewhere will need to be an indoor pool. And I probably need to find one that is open when I want to use it and is set up for lap swimming without a bunch of children splashing all over in it. Then I've got to figure out a regimen. I know how long it takes me to run three miles and the fitness effects I get from it. I'd have to figure out a swim program and then it would wind up working different muscle groups so I'd have to completely retool my workout. Finally, I'm not certain there'd be huge benefits from it over running. The last time I swam I could feel the stress on the knee about as bad as when I run. And diving into water was a real eye-opener. You don't really realize how much stress you put on your knees by doing something explosive like diving off a platform until you do it.
Ugh. I was getting in shape again and wound up traveling on business. Then I had to play catch-up when I got back. And now it's been weeks and weeks since I worked out and my body is being all whiny about it. I know rationally I'll feel better and have more energy if I work out or go for a run, but my body is telling me "waaah, I'm too tired and sore to exercise. Just let me take a nap and have a glass of whisky."
No excuse not to go out for a run tonight. Well, apart from that it is 45 degrees F out, pitch black, and drizzling. But other than that, no siree, I have no reason not to run.
45 degrees is great running weather. Drizzling isn't so bad. 45 and drizzling I'll cut you some slack on, though. Running in the dark? Depends on the path, traffic, and just how dark it really is. During the week I usually run pretty early in the day. The traffic's not bad but there are streetlights for most of anything from 2-4 miles depending on how much I want to do. Longer runs on the weekends when I'm able to get up later and have more light. But as much as you work on your property, I'm surprised you still even have the motivation to think about running. What's her name?
It is a habit, formed in the military. I hate the pain of working out, but I hate the pain of being out of shape more. And on top of it, I look like shit when I'm out of shape. Look at the guys like General Peter Pace or Chuck Norris, who've stayed in shape all their life. They're like, over 70 and look like they're maybe 50. I wound up going out. It wasn't as miserable as my brain was set for it to be. It didn't rain and by the end of the run I had my jacket tied around my waist. And the good news was that my lungs gave up before my bad knee did--although that was less about my knee's recovery and more about my lack of recent cardio. Seriously, though, the knee held up very well. I'd need to see video to tell if I was limping at all, but I was putting a lot of weight on it. And after the first mile or so the lungs stopped bitching. I was still slow as shit--almost a half hour to go 3 miles--but that is life. Getting back in the swing of things. And yeah. Between Friday and Saturday I pulled about 1,500 pounds of old composite roofing off the garage--Saturday I took over half of it to the dump and unloaded it. Sunday morning was unexpectedly sunny and I could've gotten back up there to finish up. Instead I slept a whole lot and by Monday morning my body didn't hurt much any more.
Yeah, but at least at some point I'm still a US Marine. To be "perfect" I should clock an 18 minute 3 miles. A 30 minute run won't fail me, but it doesn't look good for a leader either. I'm not a runner, so I don't think I'll ever do an 18 minute run, but I'd like to get under 21. I was in that ballpark the last time I ran for score. My time has increased by almost 1/3. Was looking upthread at the swimming reference. What I may want to do is get out the bicycle to see how the knee is doing. When I run I can unconsciously compensate with my gait. With the bike (which is just a basic Schwinn cruiser) each leg must do the power drive for that downstroke. The couple times I've gotten on a bike I quickly was reminded that the one knee isn't 100%, so it may be good conditioning.
I didn't even start running until I was almost 35 and already way out of shape. As slow as I am now, it's still on the positive side of where I started. I have no illusions about cranking out the "perfect" score. "Good enough" is just fine with me.
Take Your Medicine... You know how sometimes you know you need to do something and ultimately it will be good for you, but you just don't want to do it? I'm getting fat and soft. My attitude is crappy and I have no energy. I know the way to fix that is to go out for a run. But I also know that it is cold and wet outside and I'll be cold and wet when I start running. And I'll be tired when I finish. And I'll eat up at least an hour with the getting ready, doing it, showering after, etc. Still, I think I need to get out there--even if the rest of the week looks wet and shitty and I'll be in Wisconsin for Christmas--which will definitely mean no running.
Yeah. I didn't make it out that day. I forget what happened that sidetracked me. But I made it out today. Almost didn't. Right now I'm the heaviest I've ever been--172--although the waist isn't near as bad as it had been. Still, it's 34" and I'd like to have it at 31". (I'd like to have it at 30", but I've pretty much given up on that--and getting down to 160.) I have a theory about, well, not evolution, but natural selection or adaptation or whatever. My initial theory was that it would be easier to get fat in a warmer climate. You don't have to burn as many calories to stay warm, so your metabolism would slow and, unless you reduced your caloric intake or increased your exercise, you'd pack on weight. This theory got blown out of the water when I lived in Hawaii and I got down around 155--the lightest I've been in years. And not only does the weight come off in the summer here, when the weather is warm, it goes back on in the winter. Yes, it isn't straightforward. In Hawaii I wasn't ever really sick with a cold and the weather never really prevented you from going for a run--there was always light after work to run in too. And I got to run during lunch pretty regularly. But anyway, I should get going. I've got a ton of crap I should get done before bed, it was a long weekend, but I was out of town so I didn't get anything done, and I'm wiped out after my run.
Roommates and I are making a "biggest loser" bet on the greatest weight loss percentage between 1/3 and 2/28. Giving up beer and fatty foods after this week, and I can almost feel the knee pain from all the cardio already.
The run wasn't completely ass. It took me a solid 4 minutes longer than what I would consider the slow end of normal, but I did run the whole way. And my bad knee hadn't lost significantly on capability. I should probably hop on a bicycle for that from time to time--I've found a bike really nicely isolates each leg and prevents you from compensating on the strong side--but I don't get the cardio from a bike. And if I'm on something with 2 wheels I'd rather it was a motorcycle.
WTF!? Does running really work your core that much? The plan for tonight was pullups & crunches. A belly full of pizza and beer, is trying to obstruct that, but on top of that, just sitting here, my abs are already twitching and trying to cramp--and I haven't even DONE anything yet! I really can't think of anything I like less than a full-on ab cramp either. I mean, shit, you can't even figure out how to stretch to get it to release even. So I'm not looking forward to doing crunches tonight.
I dunno... obviously running will work the cardio better than biking, but hard riding (especially when hills are involved) gets it going too. My perception that doing a 13-17 mph average will get the blood moving pretty quick.
Yes. Biking gives you an excellent leg workout and some cardio, as you probably know, Bick. I used to live in NW and work down by the Lotus room. I'd bike commute because door to door by car would probably take 15 minutes--and cost $10 a day or so for parking, while biking it took 5 and parking was free. Portland has their downtown lights timed so you hit them about perfect with a bicycle. Great for the downhill commute, but coming home was like spin class. As long as I kept hammering away I'd hit all the lights, but it was a continual uphill slug. Anyway, with running you work your back, your abs, and your--what are they?--those side muscles that control your hips--and a host of other muscles a bike doesn't work.
Ouch! Worked out last night for the first time in about 3 weeks. Did squats. Felt the tension in the hammies and glutes within 5 minutes of doing them. I'm hurtin' today. But it's progress, and just shows how out of shape I've gotten. I didn't really push myself on anything, knowing how how much I'd be hurting today if I did...just did a solid workout. Another one later in the week, and hopefully I can start making this a routine once again.
I WORKED OUT! Only managed to jog a mile before I felt like I was gonna die. Ugh, not doing well after nearly a month off. Still, it's a step in the right direction. If I can stick with this again, I'm signing up for a 5k in the spring
Walked four miles today, including a quarter mile sprint to catch a bus I ended up missing. The only nice thing about it being freezing is that the sprint kept me warm, although the concept of not sweating at all after sprinting is... disturbing.
Volp take care of your knees. I can't do hardly any of the exercises I used to do because of my knees. I had memebership at the Y and used to swim, but it go more expensive and harder to get in the pool due to too many people. I need to get into something and I am not sure what yet.
