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December 11:
6.2 mile run 60 minutes |
Sunday December 12:
Woke up at 5:30 AM after going to bed at midnight, and my feet were still sore from walking around Midtown and the West Side yesterday from 2 PM - 10:30 PM (with some breaks to see the movie "Company Men" and the musical play "Brief Encounter"). So I was tired. And it was so gray outside & raining very hard. So it was difficult to make myself walk to the gym, but I did it. For the first time, I brought a Poland Spring bottle three-quarters filled with cold coffee, along with my water bottle. And some Stride Sweet Peppermint gum to chew while lifting. 15:07 rowing on the Concept II, 2:28 for 500 meter, 2,832 meters, 43 s/m, for projected total of 5,842 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class Some motivation for me: Yesterday the Pilates instructor said that my body shape has really been tightening up & pointed out that my bike shorts (for spin class) have diaper butt in the back. Well, those shorts are relatively expensive, so I'm gonna keep wearing them anyway. |
Saef, that's a new one -- "diaper-butt NSV!"
December 12: 6.6 mile run 1:04 |
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Friday - hour-long walk around a reservoir and through a woodland. Almost benighted but got out in time. Saturday - hour-long walk through an arboretum of Australian trees (lovely, huge eucalyptus), a scruffy bit of British wood and along a beautiful shore. Sunday - working today but I feel better for the walks. The plan for the Christmas holidays is that I need a good walk and a bit of stretching every day. This is better than nothing and I recognise that I'm not going to get to the gymn, the amount of work and 'stuff' that's going on. No point in really doing my head in, friends, for the sake of my body. Mens sana in corpore sano and all that stuff. Thanks, Juvenal. |
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December 11: 60 minutes elliptical December 12: 60 minutes elliptical Totals: 12 days 653 minutes |
"Benighted" is a lovely word, Silver, though at first I took the meaning to be "beknighted," and thought you'd been honored as a Dame of the British Empire, perhaps for the woodpile you've so assiduously accumulated.
Monday, Dec. 13: 60 minutes arc trainer, resistance at 9, intervals 60 minutes circuit training class We did this move in circuit training that I found difficult. Balancing on your butt, with knees bent & feet off the floor, you twist at the waist, holding a weighted ball in your hands. I don't balance very well & kept tipping further back. |
:) I do a double-take when you write 'weeknights', saef. I think you must know both wee knights and large knights, and how interesting that must be. Then I translate to my own lingo, 'in the week'.
I'm going to collect 1/2 a salt marsh lamb today from an estate 40 miles away. I will fit in a walk. No idea about Christmas dinner yet but there will be something worth eating at least. |
Ah Birchie, my acquaintanceship is very wide indeed: I know both week knights and strong knights.
Tuesday, Dec. 14: 15:05 rowing on the Concept II, 2,867 meters, 2:18 500 meter (a new personal best), 46 s/m, projected 6,101 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class tonight, with me singing happily off-key to Usher (the song "OMG": I'm strangely in love with the line: "Honey got a booty go pow-pow-pow") |
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Can you explain the rowing numbers? I want to start using the rowing machine at the gym and I do not know what your numbers mean and am afraind when I start using the machine I will be at a loss. |
Hey, Slim CB, I'm relatively new at this, but here's what I'm learning:
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Okay, first thing: I set the resistance level at 5. That's a given. I make myself do 15 minutes. The momentum usually carries me over a few seconds further. I set the machine on "just row" and I change the display units so that I can see the figures that I always write here. (Rather than the graphic with the little boats moving forward across the screen.) It means I did a total of 15 minutes and five seconds of rowing. During that time, I rowed a total of 2,867 meters. I rowed one 500-meter interval at 2 minutes and 18 seconds. That was my best time during the workout. My highest rate of speed during the workout was 46 strokes per minute If I kept up that pace for an hour -- which will not happen during this lifetime -- the machine projects that I would row 6,101 meters. I really commend the Concept II website, which has a wealth of information on how to use the machine. http://www.concept2.com/us/default.asp Click on the "training" and "motivation" headings for some interesting stuff. |
Please delete. Repeated post. Too many windows open at once, I think.
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Totals: 13 days 728 minutes |
Slim CB - I love the Concept 2 as well. (Mine is 2, saef's is II - probably the same). I row distance intervals. Click on 'select workout', I think, and follow. I do 10 of 200 metres, with 30 seconds rest. You might like 45 seconds to start with.
I do this on my other planet where I am not impeded by lots of work, school holidays, an ill SO, Christmas stuff and winter stuff like wood. NB I'd like to be a Dame for my services to the woodpile, saef. Thanks for considering me to be worthy. |
December 14
5.6 mile treadmill run 60 minutes and a little futzing about with some weights |
Wednesday, December 15:
45 minute spin class, at 6 AM, and it was so hard to leave my kitchen table & a cup of coffee, bundle up, and trudge out into the cold to get to class. 45 minute Pilates routine, on my own |
Longer than usual workout today, trying to counter some overindulging...
December 15: 45 minute treadmill run 4 miles 30 minutes stairmaster 15 minutes rowing machine -- my rowing debut! Saef, I am amazed by how fast you row. I was hanging around 28 s/m. |
That was a personal best, Amy, achieved under highly caffeinated conditions, and certainly not my very first time doing it.
You can & will do better, if you try it again & then again after that. Your height is gonna help you with that, too. I've gotten faster with practice, and also from concentrating on my form. I am an amateur. I have seen the times posted by devotees of CrossFit, and I know my place in their world, which is lowly. Things I have learned from these sessions: - If my head bobs all over the place, or if I look right or left, because of the monotony, it will slow my time & throw off my strokes. I try to look straight ahead, with a level head, or tuck in my chin slightly. You can give yourself whiplash on this thing if you don't take care. - Turning my thighs inward slightly, so my kneecaps aren't quite parallel, definitely helps. - I've gotten better at really using my legs, particularly as spinning has firmed up my quads. I can snap them up & back much more forcefully than I probably would have a year ago. Kicking outward really hard is critical to my getting any kind of speed. - All that upper body work I've been doing with free weights has definitely helped. I am still trying to figure out whether elbows held straight & parallel to the sides or elbows turned out is the better position. (I need to look at another video. Or watch the Winckelvoss twins racing scenes in "Social Network.") Turned out seems to mimic a benchpress movement. - When I row, I am shamelessly into it. It's not pretty. I am really out to "win," basically. My nose runs, saliva has been known to fly out of my mouth & the front of my shirt gets soaking wet with sweat. I really "want it." It's an attitude thing. Other people at my gym whom I've seen rowing have a less intense attitude. That's okay. We have different goals. I am numbers-minded on this one. I want to see a measured improvement. It's why I post the figures here. I don't tend to watch or record my elliptical or arc trainer miles, but for some reason, I do care about these 15-minute rowing sessions. (I think it's due to lingering crew-team envy from my undergrad years.) (ETA: In fact, I know it is. But of the male crew team. They used to eat in my dining hall, in my freshman year. They were nearly all tall, tanned, golden gods, like another species entirely. They looked like they ought to be bare-chested on the side of an Abercrombie shopping bag. Oh, Lordy, I sound like an Aryan worshipper here, and am not, actually, but that long-ago crew team has a special place in my pantheon of desirable men who were way, way out of my league.) |
Amy - take your time to get your form right. There's a lot of terrible form around on rowing machines. Injuries waiting to happen. Keep the chain level. Don't let it flip up and down. And don't loll your head around. saef is right about whiplash.
And enjoy your time on the water! Nil exercise yesterday and today. I'm sub-clinical with something or another. Slightly swollen glands in my neck which I think means I'm producing antibodies. Overall assessment: pathetic. Please get out there for me, everyone! |
Amy, listen to Birchie on this. She knows her s&%$#t, as we say here in NY. I'm glad she posted.
Like every other exercise in the world, it's all about the correct form. It's a shame there is no metric for form, the way there is for speed & distance & time. That would be the most helpful metric of all. (Well, maybe a Wii has that metric ...) |
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Dec. 15: 60 min. elliptical Totals: 14 days 788 minutes |
JayEll's rowing tip (or how I do it): Your hands should not be going up and down to get over your knees. During the recovery part, your arms should straighten out before you slide forward, so that you don't have to lift the handle up to clear your knees.
Think about what would happen in a boat where you had actual oars in the water. If you lifted your hands every time you slid forward, your oars would hit the water. I am not a trainer or expert. This is just how I learned to do it. I'm not a "racer" like saef and silverbirch. Jay |
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Did I really not post since Dec. 9? I injured my foot after my long run on Friday so I'm taking an unintentional week off from running. :mad: It's getting much better though (I think it is plantar fasciitis). Sunday I could barely walk, but today I can walk with just a little pain.
Dec 10: 4 mile treadmill run, 48 mins, plus wu/cd/stretching Dec 11: an hour of walking around the mall Dec 12: short dog walk Dec 13: rest Dec 14: UBWO + core strength Dec 15: 25 mins stationary bike |
Dec 16: 45 min yoga class
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Oh, Jessica, do take care of that foot. In my experience, that is a very stubborn injury, which goes away for a time but then flares up again at the next instance of overuse. (I've had problems with plantar fasciitis in the left foot since 2007. It's the Thing That Won't Go Away.)
Thursday, December 16: 60 minutes arc trainer, hill intervals, resistance at 9 60 minutes Pilates class |
Jessica, I hope your foot feels better soon!
December 16: 15 minutes rowing 30 minutes treadmill 20 minutes stepper (some kind of cybex stepping machine with a really smooth, quiet mechanism. Almost restful) And Saef, I wish I'd have gone to college where you went. :dizzy: I don't recall that we even had a men's crew team, much less one so memorable. Of course, I didn't know we had men's volleyball -- and now I'm married to the former captain... :o |
Saef, oh no, I hope mine doesn't stick around! I'm starting to think I will never be able to run more than 4 miles since I keep getting injured when I run 4. So much for doing an Olympic triathlon (which requires me to run 6.2 miles). I'll baby my feet for another week I guess and see how they do. They're hurting a little more today than yesterday and I think it's because I was feeling better yesterday so I went to yoga class and did more stuff in the evening that involved standing up.
Or maybe my body is just telling me, "It's winter, why are you still running? Don't you know winter is for strength training?" :lol: |
Friday, December 17:
15:06 rowing on the Concept II, 2:20 for 500 meter, 2,965 meters, 43 s/m, 6166 projected 60 minutes weights 45 minutes on the elliptical (with 30 minutes going backward) at resistance 8 & random intervals Jessica, there's a theory that one of the reasons my foot problem stays around is that I don't stay off my feet enough. But I took an enforced break from doing any cardio earlier this year, when that viral infection in my ear took me out, and it did not help. Nor did my earlier exercise schedule, which focused more on swimming & spinning. Nor do my custom orthotic shoe inserts. I cannot run much, really, or that really aggravates it. Wearing heels aggravates it, too. (Any heel height over about 2.5 inches does me in.) The manager at my gym wants to train a team for a marathon this coming summer, and specifically asked me if I wanted to join the team, which was an honor, and I said "no." I'm sad about that. But for me, personally it's the best decision. My foot cannot handle that training. I've gotta stay on machines. Whatever I did to myself, I really, really did it. But who's to say your issue is that bad & that your foot injury exactly mirrors mine? Yours might resolve itself much sooner. All I'm saying is, be careful, because from what I've learned from various sources (podiatrist, my GP, online, books) as I cope with my limitations, plantar fasciitis is the gift that keeps on giving. |
Having had trouble with plantar fasciitis, I can say that for me, it's the SHOES that make the biggest difference. I have to have new shoes every 6 months, or I don't get enough support and my feet start to hurt. Once they are hurting, then the best thing is to treat it as an injury and stop trying to train through it.
I was told that during a flare up, I should put on supportive shoes the moment I get out of bed--as in, have them beside the bed and don't even stand up without shoes on. No barefoot-in-the-park during that time! Massage also helps, as does anything that helps with circulation. But be sure you rest. Otherwise it can just keep on coming around... Jay |
Thanks for the advice Jay! I was running on a pretty new pair of shoes a couple days before my foot started hurting, but the day before it started hurting I walked around a mall in my winter boots which aren't too supportive (although I put inserts in them). I don't know whether it was the running or the boots that caused the problem, but I haven't worn the boots again since then, just sneakers. I also haven't run since then. I did the stationary bike one day which didn't seem to hurt my feet at all so I guess I will stick to that until it feels better.
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Saturday, December 18:
45 minute spin class 60 minute Pilates class And there will be some incidental walking around in the city today, as I am insane enough to go to midtown to try to find attractive 8W clogs for my mother, for Christmas, and also to see "Next to Normal," which is closing very soon. I expect to come home equally elated and irritated. |
Sunday, December 19:
15:06 rowing on Concept 2, for 2,909 meters, 2:24 500/m, 43 s/sm, for a total of 2,909 meters 60 minutes weights 45 minute spin class More people in the gym this morning than on other Sundays, and spin class was full. I saw more new people signing up at the front desk. Maybe January will be unusually crowded. |
Chopping logs. Bringing in wood. And ...
... ... a little cross-country skiing with the DB. We have enough snow (unusual) and there's been time for me to remember my skiis are in the loft. The DB asked one of our neighbours if we could use the fields and off we went. We have to share the skis (no, we take turns, silly!) but we had fun and I can feel it now. An exciting day. |
Jessica: Hope you don't mind but I saw your post about Plantar Fasciitis and would like to share my experience with it.
Mine developed in October of 09. I learned that the thick fascia under the foot shortens as we sleep. When we wake in the morning and take our first step out of bed the fascia stretches when we plant our weight down onto our foot. This causes micro tears in the fascia all over again. Most of the harm is done with that first step in the morning. One of the forum members suggested doing a massage of the fascia area and flexing the foot (toes) toward you) for a few times before getting out of bed. I would also suggests massaging the calf muscles as well. As Jayell suggested make sure you have a supported shoe to put on the foot before you ever plant your foot down out of bed. I slept with my shoes by my bed all that winter. Uhm, it still didn't heal. I didn't get relief until I went to a podiatrist. They wrapped my foot with tape which kept the foot in the same position 24 hours. I also wore a brace on my foot at night to keep it flexed while I slept. (I know, real attactive, fortunately, DH was working out of state at the time so he couldn't laugh at me) The tape was held in place for a week. The second week I went in and it was retaped for another week. During the second followup visit I did feel significant relief. Since the taping helped the podiatrist suggested custom orthotics for my shoes. It was after about a month with the orthotics that my foot finally felt normal again. However, I was using those orthotics in all my shoes from this past May (yes I waited THAT long to get help) through September. I now am pretty much able to wear all my shoes without the orthotics. My workout shoes still have them in it. I'm about to purchase a new pair and would really like to NOT have to wear the orthotics if possible. We'll see. :dunno: I may be asking for a flare up. But right now, I'm gratefully able to walk barefoot all day around the house without any trouble. And, I'm doing yoga without any trouble. The doc was very encouraging about the class, stated the balance poses were great for the muscles of the foot. Seriously, if this doesn't get better go see a podiatrist. Also, it's helpful to stretch that fascia with frozen tennis balls to start with and graduate to golf balls under the foot. I also have one of these which is a lot easier to use than a tennis ball. (they keep rolling away) OH! and another option is to freeze water bottles (heavy plastic) and use those to roll under your foot. http://www.internatural.com/item.php...98&ref=froogle Good luck with this. It's your base and your root! If something is wrong with that link in the chain, it can also work havoc on the knees and hips...just sayin'. |
Monday, December 20:
45 minute spin class at 6 AM, all bikes full 30 minutes Pilates mat routine on my own |
Thanks for all the foot info guys! It's much better than it was now but still not back to normal. My mom said she's had it before and knocked it out with anti-inflammatories, so I might add that to all the other stuff I'm already doing (supportive shoes, stretching, rest, ice). Lydia, do you know where I can find a brace to keep my foot flexed at night?
Dec 17: rest Dec 18: rest Dec 19: scrubbed the tub |
Lydia! :wave:
Thank you for all the info, everyone. I woke up this morning with an ache in just this part of my foot. I remembered that I'd stopped rubbing it (and stretching out my toes with my fingers) in the morning. I'll get back to that. I always remember to do it at night. |
Okay, apparently my memory is crappy, because I posted my exercise for yesterday and forgot to include the entire hour I spent swimming. :lol:
Dec 19 for reals: - swam for nearly an hour, 42 laps total (40 freestyle nonstop, 2 cooldown of other stuff). That's 1.19 miles. Plus I'm getting faster at the short distance as a side effect of swimming for longer! Now I just need to keep doing it so that next year I can swim a mile and still have enough energy left to bike 25 and run 6.2. |
Hi Birch :wave: See, I do come out to play every once in a while.
Jessica: I had one structured just like this. May have been made by a different company though, I purchased mine through the doc. http://www.dme-direct.com/healwell-c...tar-fasciitis/ Seriously, I hated the boot. Really hard to sleep with at night. See if taping it brings relief first. The doc taped it the first two weeks but I continued to tape it myself preworkout and before bed for about a month. The assistant kind of frowned upon my self taping. In the past patients had given themselves blisters. Fortunately it didn't happen to me and the relief from taping was wonderful. The trick is to keep that tape flat. There are various links for taping.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy1ZEJ-kKTg Just make sure that the skin is also flat and not bunched under the tape. Good luck with this! |
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