Wednesday, March 10, 2010
I picked Jack up from school after track practice. He looked exhausted and complained about how difficult the workout had been and how happy he was that I was there to pick him up – he could never had made it all the way home walking, which is a little over a mile. I was thinking this all had something to do with his off-season conditioning program, which was pretty much exclusively sitting on the couch and playing Xbox 360. “What was the workout?” I asked.
“We had to run 35 minutes and then did some core work.”
I thought, but didn’t say “are you kiddin’ me?” I suppose he hasn’t been reading my blog, but hey, that’s little more than a warm-up…
Now…when I was in high school and running track, I used to run to school in the morning, about four miles, and have my brother bring my change of clothes. I did this because I had a job after school and couldn’t always make practice. I rode my bike to work - about 15 miles - all summer, just because I like to work out. I wasn’t too sympathetic about him having to walk sometimes or how hard he was working. He’s skinny at least and should get into shape in a couple of weeks and I’m not too worried about him. I drove him home, carried him inside, propped him up in front of the Xbox and taped his fingers to the controller. He’d be good for awhile.
Now my workout began. It was another reasonably sunny day. Rain had been threatening for most of the afternoon, but I figured I should be able to get in a pretty dry ride with a little luck. I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and riding gloves, but made no other concession to the weather – about 50 degrees.
I was taking on a lot of snow melt in the roads, which I detest for what it does to my bike, but other than that, I was flying along. I headed into the valley and up the east side of Old Mill Road. It’s not as steep as ‘the Lung’ but it’s longer. I was up in 8 minutes – not a bad time. I was coming towards the end of the ride, close to two hours, when the rains first started to fall. No big deal though, and I was happy to have logged another 34 miles.
I walked back in the house and called to Jack. I wanted to brag on my workout, but he wasn’t answering. I saw the TV was on and the Xbox loaded, but nothing was happening. He had slumped over and rolled onto the floor, controller still taped to his hands and ready to play, should he ever come to. I don’t think the old man should be in better shape than his 16-year old son. I’ve fomenting an idea to bring more attention to the obesity epidemic being reported in the papers and present in alarmingly high numbers among the youth of our country. It will be an event - some version of a triathlon, which I’ll be doing and others can join. It’ll be a little crazy. More later…
Bike duration: 2 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm for bike.
Calories burned during workout: 1,800.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Check your progress
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
It was a run day and I knew that the snow melting on the trails would make it a sloppy nightmare so I resigned myself to the roads again and chose the same course I’d done for my last run.
I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself and figured running the same course faster would be no problem and then I could write about that and be proud and stuff. That’s what I was thinking while lacing up the running shoes and getting ready for the run. It was a warm winter day – somewhere around 50 degrees and so, what the hell, I should be faster.
I kept thinking that way as I began the run. I’d parked about twenty feet from the road and by the time I’d reached it, that thought was fading. I should have been running on hard pavement, but the way my legs were moving, it could only be sand. I looked down to check. Nope. Pavement. What the hell?
As the reality of ‘tired legs’ set in and I’d covered my first mile, I started to do a little rational thinking. I typically avoid this because it can keep me from doing things I’ve decided to do, but the fact was that I’d ridden hard the last two days and that on top of my longest run in nine years should have alerted me that running faster probably wasn't a good plan.
I had been running about 20 minutes when I began to think about a place to stop for a breather. The bridge over the river? With all the snow melt, the Chagrin River was running high and fast and was worth a study, I told myself. I wouldn’t be stopping because I was a lazy slug – no – it would be more like studying nature, serenity…that kind of shit. When I hit the bridge, I slowed, which was hard to do at the pace I was moving, but then sped up again (only I would have noticed) and decided to stop on the way back.
When I hit the turnaround, I glanced at my watch. I’d gotten here in 25:30 three days ago and was expecting to see 27 minutes or more. I was amazed then when I saw 24:30 instead! All of the sudden I figured I could turn total misery into success if I could only hold what seemed like a survivor’s shuffle (something that vaguely resembles running and often done towards the end of a long road run or race. It’s not really running, but you feel like you have to do it to say you ran the whole thing or whatever) for the return trip. No thoughts of stopping on the bridge now as I crossed that swollen river. No way. I was heading for a p.r. (personal record – it’s the fastest you ever ran/shuffled a particular distance)!
Now I was glancing at my watch even though I had no clue how the times I was observing related to how I’d run the same course earlier. I was sure I would be able to make it faster when I began to feel that old familiar cramp coming on in my calf. Now, I know from experience that this means slow down or walk, but how could I? Less than an mile from the car and I hadn’t stopped doing any exercise in going on three weeks. No. No way. Forget about good sense…I’ve always thought that was overrated!
As I made the last turn for the short run to the parking lot and the car, I glanced again at my watch. It was under 49 minutes. When I finally pushed the ‘stop’ button, the time registered ’49:45’ which meant that I’d shaved 1:15 off the course from three days earlier. Not that it was any big deal – I was still as slow as hell, but I did run faster when I was feeling tired and sluggish.
There is a moral here and it’s about checking progress. Once again, there are much better ways than using a scale, which tells you nothing about fitness or body composition. I’m obviously getting more fit. I may not be happy with the rate or the times I’m running as compared to years ago, but I am making progress since I began and that is important to note. You don’t have to do it by covering a course faster, though that is a good indicator - you can measure progress by checking your training heart rate (THR) over the same distance if, let’s say, you’re walking. Where your THR might have gotten to 100 beats per minute when you began training, if it drops to 90 for the same walking time, you’re in better shape. Pretty simple, but it can be an important motivator. Just knowing it’s working can make a huge difference in your continued commitment to the program.
Oh yeah, I walked another 20 minutes later in the evening with Holly and Dakota. It was no big deal, but I burned another 100 calories, which was really like 600 since I didn’t stay home and eat more ice cream - the only alternative to a walk.
Run duration: 49:45. Walk duration: 20 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm for run. 70 bpm for walk.
Calories burned during workout: 875 for run. 100 for walk.
It was a run day and I knew that the snow melting on the trails would make it a sloppy nightmare so I resigned myself to the roads again and chose the same course I’d done for my last run.
I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself and figured running the same course faster would be no problem and then I could write about that and be proud and stuff. That’s what I was thinking while lacing up the running shoes and getting ready for the run. It was a warm winter day – somewhere around 50 degrees and so, what the hell, I should be faster.
I kept thinking that way as I began the run. I’d parked about twenty feet from the road and by the time I’d reached it, that thought was fading. I should have been running on hard pavement, but the way my legs were moving, it could only be sand. I looked down to check. Nope. Pavement. What the hell?
As the reality of ‘tired legs’ set in and I’d covered my first mile, I started to do a little rational thinking. I typically avoid this because it can keep me from doing things I’ve decided to do, but the fact was that I’d ridden hard the last two days and that on top of my longest run in nine years should have alerted me that running faster probably wasn't a good plan.
I had been running about 20 minutes when I began to think about a place to stop for a breather. The bridge over the river? With all the snow melt, the Chagrin River was running high and fast and was worth a study, I told myself. I wouldn’t be stopping because I was a lazy slug – no – it would be more like studying nature, serenity…that kind of shit. When I hit the bridge, I slowed, which was hard to do at the pace I was moving, but then sped up again (only I would have noticed) and decided to stop on the way back.
When I hit the turnaround, I glanced at my watch. I’d gotten here in 25:30 three days ago and was expecting to see 27 minutes or more. I was amazed then when I saw 24:30 instead! All of the sudden I figured I could turn total misery into success if I could only hold what seemed like a survivor’s shuffle (something that vaguely resembles running and often done towards the end of a long road run or race. It’s not really running, but you feel like you have to do it to say you ran the whole thing or whatever) for the return trip. No thoughts of stopping on the bridge now as I crossed that swollen river. No way. I was heading for a p.r. (personal record – it’s the fastest you ever ran/shuffled a particular distance)!
Now I was glancing at my watch even though I had no clue how the times I was observing related to how I’d run the same course earlier. I was sure I would be able to make it faster when I began to feel that old familiar cramp coming on in my calf. Now, I know from experience that this means slow down or walk, but how could I? Less than an mile from the car and I hadn’t stopped doing any exercise in going on three weeks. No. No way. Forget about good sense…I’ve always thought that was overrated!
As I made the last turn for the short run to the parking lot and the car, I glanced again at my watch. It was under 49 minutes. When I finally pushed the ‘stop’ button, the time registered ’49:45’ which meant that I’d shaved 1:15 off the course from three days earlier. Not that it was any big deal – I was still as slow as hell, but I did run faster when I was feeling tired and sluggish.
There is a moral here and it’s about checking progress. Once again, there are much better ways than using a scale, which tells you nothing about fitness or body composition. I’m obviously getting more fit. I may not be happy with the rate or the times I’m running as compared to years ago, but I am making progress since I began and that is important to note. You don’t have to do it by covering a course faster, though that is a good indicator - you can measure progress by checking your training heart rate (THR) over the same distance if, let’s say, you’re walking. Where your THR might have gotten to 100 beats per minute when you began training, if it drops to 90 for the same walking time, you’re in better shape. Pretty simple, but it can be an important motivator. Just knowing it’s working can make a huge difference in your continued commitment to the program.
Oh yeah, I walked another 20 minutes later in the evening with Holly and Dakota. It was no big deal, but I burned another 100 calories, which was really like 600 since I didn’t stay home and eat more ice cream - the only alternative to a walk.
Run duration: 49:45. Walk duration: 20 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm for run. 70 bpm for walk.
Calories burned during workout: 875 for run. 100 for walk.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Dealing with disappointment? Ride hard.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Working out fulfills different purposes for me, depending on the day. Yesterday, I received some extremely disappointing professional news and went into an immediate funk. It was one of those blows to the solar plexus that buckles you over and causes you to take about five minutes to catch your breath. I was still trying to catch mine two hours later when I climbed on the bike for a ride.
I immediately attacked. I pushed the pace over the first ten miles of the ride and quickly took my mind off of my problems and put it squarely on the workout and how I was feeling, which was crappy. Since I had ridden hard the day before and hadn’t done long back-to-back rides since last fall, my legs were burning. I climbed the Iron Lung more slowly than the day before, but it took more effort. Still, I was totally enjoying the experience.
Exercise clears my mind. So many things came to me as I pedaled and pushed to keep the effort high. I managed a solid ninety minute ride and made some good decisions about what I needed to do to deal with the professional disappointment, something I would attack like I had the ride. I’d get the result I wanted or at least, make my position known. I’d do what I could.
I wasn’t done working out, though. I decided Dakota could benefit from a hike and so we went to the park and walked through what could be the last of the snow with camera in hand. I was hoping for another shot of the eagle that was cruising the marsh in search of a meal. I must admit that although the snow was not nearly as difficult to traverse, I was breathing heavily from the last three days of hard workouts. Exercise clears my mind, but beats up my body, too. It was an exhausting walk, but it felt good to know that I’d burned another bunch of calories.
I had to account for the two straight nights of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanuts somehow.
Bike duration: 90 minutes. Hike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm for bike. 80 bpm for hike.
Calories burned during workout: 1,350 for bike. 450 for hike.
Working out fulfills different purposes for me, depending on the day. Yesterday, I received some extremely disappointing professional news and went into an immediate funk. It was one of those blows to the solar plexus that buckles you over and causes you to take about five minutes to catch your breath. I was still trying to catch mine two hours later when I climbed on the bike for a ride.
I immediately attacked. I pushed the pace over the first ten miles of the ride and quickly took my mind off of my problems and put it squarely on the workout and how I was feeling, which was crappy. Since I had ridden hard the day before and hadn’t done long back-to-back rides since last fall, my legs were burning. I climbed the Iron Lung more slowly than the day before, but it took more effort. Still, I was totally enjoying the experience.
Exercise clears my mind. So many things came to me as I pedaled and pushed to keep the effort high. I managed a solid ninety minute ride and made some good decisions about what I needed to do to deal with the professional disappointment, something I would attack like I had the ride. I’d get the result I wanted or at least, make my position known. I’d do what I could.
I wasn’t done working out, though. I decided Dakota could benefit from a hike and so we went to the park and walked through what could be the last of the snow with camera in hand. I was hoping for another shot of the eagle that was cruising the marsh in search of a meal. I must admit that although the snow was not nearly as difficult to traverse, I was breathing heavily from the last three days of hard workouts. Exercise clears my mind, but beats up my body, too. It was an exhausting walk, but it felt good to know that I’d burned another bunch of calories.
I had to account for the two straight nights of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and peanuts somehow.
Bike duration: 90 minutes. Hike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm for bike. 80 bpm for hike.
Calories burned during workout: 1,350 for bike. 450 for hike.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Ditch the Scale
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Note: There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of body fat. I’m going to log my calories burned per workout with a goal of burning at least 3,500 per week so I know that I’m doing enough exercise to lose a pound of fat. Actually, any combination of calorie reduction and calorie burning totaling 3,500 will do the trick, so if you watch the caloric intake while doing the workout program – you lose faster.
Remember when I wrote that bullshit? I sure do.
Last week, I burned 8,700 calories during my workouts. Yeah. And I didn’t lose a friggin’ pound.
So – just what the hell is going on? To be honest, I did have a huge dinner last night. Chicken, noodles, dressing, mashed potatoes, jello, corn, and lots of gravy. Then a piece of cake for dessert and a huge bowl of ice cream with peanuts and caramel syrup around 10 p.m. Oh – and I had some cheese while I was waiting for dinner.
I tend to eat this way a couple of times per week. I’ve been better over the last three weeks, but I love to eat and I figured after a 2-hour bike ride earlier in the day, I owed it to myself.
Is the scale the be-all, end-all in this story? It shouldn’t be and I know better. I was coming home from church getting excited about all the sunshine and thinking about the ride I was about to do. I quickly changed into my riding outfit, which consisted of biking shorts, two pairs of socks, a long and short-sleeved t-shirt, leather gardening gloves, and a head band for the ears. It was 42 degrees.
There was a little snow melt drifting onto the road, but they were mostly dry. The sun was so bright that my eyes hurt. Perfect, blue skies and only a little wind. I headed east for the country roads. I rode medium hard, not pushing down hills (it was too cold for that), but attacking the uphills. To me, that means getting out of the saddle and trying to climb them as fast as I can. I wouldn’t normally be doing this so early in the season, but the time spent on the trainer had me feeling confident and fit.
I tend to ride one course in particular because it extremely quiet – that is, no cars. I also tend to know how hard I’m riding based on where I am on the course after thirty, then sixty minutes of riding. I was running about two minutes behind my late season rides of a year ago after thirty minutes, which held to the turn around after one hour of riding. I was feeling quite strong and very comfortable.
There was a head wind to deal with on the ride back and my toes were very cold as I pulled in the driveway exactly two hours after I’d begun. I felt great. Not a bit tired and wondering if I would have time for a hike with Dakota before dinner. I didn’t, but the fact that my brain was working that way was quite positive.
So, back to the weight thing. Here’s the real deal. I’ve been working hard for almost three weeks. I’ve gone from running a little over thirty minutes to just over fifty. I’ve taken the belt in a notch and a half. I feel looser and stronger and I’m riding like it’s early summer already. Normally, I don’t get on the scale. If I hadn’t, I’d have been so pumped about the way things are going. I should be. I’m staying off that thing for awhile.
Bike duration: Two hours.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,800.
Note: There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of body fat. I’m going to log my calories burned per workout with a goal of burning at least 3,500 per week so I know that I’m doing enough exercise to lose a pound of fat. Actually, any combination of calorie reduction and calorie burning totaling 3,500 will do the trick, so if you watch the caloric intake while doing the workout program – you lose faster.
Remember when I wrote that bullshit? I sure do.
Last week, I burned 8,700 calories during my workouts. Yeah. And I didn’t lose a friggin’ pound.
So – just what the hell is going on? To be honest, I did have a huge dinner last night. Chicken, noodles, dressing, mashed potatoes, jello, corn, and lots of gravy. Then a piece of cake for dessert and a huge bowl of ice cream with peanuts and caramel syrup around 10 p.m. Oh – and I had some cheese while I was waiting for dinner.
I tend to eat this way a couple of times per week. I’ve been better over the last three weeks, but I love to eat and I figured after a 2-hour bike ride earlier in the day, I owed it to myself.
Is the scale the be-all, end-all in this story? It shouldn’t be and I know better. I was coming home from church getting excited about all the sunshine and thinking about the ride I was about to do. I quickly changed into my riding outfit, which consisted of biking shorts, two pairs of socks, a long and short-sleeved t-shirt, leather gardening gloves, and a head band for the ears. It was 42 degrees.
There was a little snow melt drifting onto the road, but they were mostly dry. The sun was so bright that my eyes hurt. Perfect, blue skies and only a little wind. I headed east for the country roads. I rode medium hard, not pushing down hills (it was too cold for that), but attacking the uphills. To me, that means getting out of the saddle and trying to climb them as fast as I can. I wouldn’t normally be doing this so early in the season, but the time spent on the trainer had me feeling confident and fit.
I tend to ride one course in particular because it extremely quiet – that is, no cars. I also tend to know how hard I’m riding based on where I am on the course after thirty, then sixty minutes of riding. I was running about two minutes behind my late season rides of a year ago after thirty minutes, which held to the turn around after one hour of riding. I was feeling quite strong and very comfortable.
There was a head wind to deal with on the ride back and my toes were very cold as I pulled in the driveway exactly two hours after I’d begun. I felt great. Not a bit tired and wondering if I would have time for a hike with Dakota before dinner. I didn’t, but the fact that my brain was working that way was quite positive.
So, back to the weight thing. Here’s the real deal. I’ve been working hard for almost three weeks. I’ve gone from running a little over thirty minutes to just over fifty. I’ve taken the belt in a notch and a half. I feel looser and stronger and I’m riding like it’s early summer already. Normally, I don’t get on the scale. If I hadn’t, I’d have been so pumped about the way things are going. I should be. I’m staying off that thing for awhile.
Bike duration: Two hours.
Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,800.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Lance wants to know "who says?"
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Lance Armstrong may be the greatest cardiovascular athlete to ever compete. The seven-time winner of what many experts in the field of sports consider the toughest competition in the world – the Tour de France, seems to know no physical limits. On a training ride in preparation to defend his first Tour win, he was climbing a particularly steep and difficult mountain somewhere in France when his coach called to him from the car “Lance – you cannot go on. We are told there has been an avalanche ahead and the road is impassable. You must turn around.”
Lance continued to climb. He was out of his saddle, pumping hard and in that training zone that had made him the best at what he did. His coach called to him again “you must turn around, Lance. We cannot go on.”
The camera filming this training ride was in the car with the coach and the lens focused on Lance’s face as he turned to the car and his coach and said, simply “who says?” He continued to climb.
I’m 54 now and I just completed my run for the day. I’m up to 51 minutes of running, but the last 20 were anything but comfortable. I’m feeling pains I never felt ten years ago when running was almost a daily occurrence for me. Is it the age or the lack of conditioning? Maybe the extra pounds I’m carrying now. I don’t know for sure but I do know that my hips and knees are sore while running, my stride isn’t as long as it was and I’m just suffering more.
I read a great deal of material dealing with exercise and its affects on the body. I have read the research about aging and the impact it will have on our ability to perform. It doesn’t take an exercise physiologist to figure out that we get slower and less powerful as we age. If we didn’t, no professional athlete would ever retire. Things change and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Or is there?
Lance retired from competitive racing for three years. At the ripe old age of 37, he returned to the Tour de France for another try. He had lost some training time a month earlier when he had been in a crash and broken his collar bone. No one tells Lance what he can’t do anymore, but I’m sure many were thinking ‘he’s too old’. He did not win, but did place third, an incredible feat and is training now for a run at this year’s Tour. He’s looking to become the oldest man ever to win the world’s toughest race. And he will likely do it.
He doesn’t and we shouldn’t accept ‘you can’t’. I understand ‘I won’t’ but ‘I can’t’ has little meaning. Many things get in the way of trying to achieve fitness goals. I know – I’ve been a walking, talking excuse for some time now. That time has come to an end for me. You just need to start with the premise ‘I can’ and you will. You show me what you think you can’t do, and I’ll show you a goal and a way to achieve it.
Take a look in the mirror. The person staring back should be saying “who says I can’t?”
Run duration: 51 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 875
Lance Armstrong may be the greatest cardiovascular athlete to ever compete. The seven-time winner of what many experts in the field of sports consider the toughest competition in the world – the Tour de France, seems to know no physical limits. On a training ride in preparation to defend his first Tour win, he was climbing a particularly steep and difficult mountain somewhere in France when his coach called to him from the car “Lance – you cannot go on. We are told there has been an avalanche ahead and the road is impassable. You must turn around.”
Lance continued to climb. He was out of his saddle, pumping hard and in that training zone that had made him the best at what he did. His coach called to him again “you must turn around, Lance. We cannot go on.”
The camera filming this training ride was in the car with the coach and the lens focused on Lance’s face as he turned to the car and his coach and said, simply “who says?” He continued to climb.
I’m 54 now and I just completed my run for the day. I’m up to 51 minutes of running, but the last 20 were anything but comfortable. I’m feeling pains I never felt ten years ago when running was almost a daily occurrence for me. Is it the age or the lack of conditioning? Maybe the extra pounds I’m carrying now. I don’t know for sure but I do know that my hips and knees are sore while running, my stride isn’t as long as it was and I’m just suffering more.
I read a great deal of material dealing with exercise and its affects on the body. I have read the research about aging and the impact it will have on our ability to perform. It doesn’t take an exercise physiologist to figure out that we get slower and less powerful as we age. If we didn’t, no professional athlete would ever retire. Things change and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Or is there?
Lance retired from competitive racing for three years. At the ripe old age of 37, he returned to the Tour de France for another try. He had lost some training time a month earlier when he had been in a crash and broken his collar bone. No one tells Lance what he can’t do anymore, but I’m sure many were thinking ‘he’s too old’. He did not win, but did place third, an incredible feat and is training now for a run at this year’s Tour. He’s looking to become the oldest man ever to win the world’s toughest race. And he will likely do it.
He doesn’t and we shouldn’t accept ‘you can’t’. I understand ‘I won’t’ but ‘I can’t’ has little meaning. Many things get in the way of trying to achieve fitness goals. I know – I’ve been a walking, talking excuse for some time now. That time has come to an end for me. You just need to start with the premise ‘I can’ and you will. You show me what you think you can’t do, and I’ll show you a goal and a way to achieve it.
Take a look in the mirror. The person staring back should be saying “who says I can’t?”
Run duration: 51 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 145 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 875
Checking out your 'Health Age'
Friday, March 5, 2010
For the last fifteen years or so, I’ve felt myself getting older. I suppose that makes sense since that’s what I’m doing, but do I have to feel it too? A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was going to do something about it and I’m already feeling better, but there are some things happening with age that I don’t think I will be able to change.
I was on the www.exrx.net site recently and completed the ‘health age questionnaire’. There are many versions of this and their intents are the same. Answer questions about your lifestyle and family history and receive an age comparison to your real age. Since I’m doing wonderful things for myself right now, my age came back as ‘35’ or 19 years younger than my actual age.
Don’t smoke. Keep your blood pressure in the normal ranges. Watch your cholesterol. Exercise regularly. Don’t get fat. And the most important one – pick your parents carefully. Do all these things and you’ll live longer, for sure.
I do all of these things and that’s how I got the thirty-five years for my ‘health age’, but I don’t do any of it because I think I’m going to live longer. I mean with all of the cycling I do, some idiot driver will get a little too close and that will be that. Or maybe it will happen when I’m climbing some peak in the Adirondacks and I just get unlucky and a rock from above falls and squashes my head like a melon.
Whatever.
The point is…I’m 54 and I can and do still ride the bike. I can and do climb peaks and hike all day carrying a heavy pack. I can grab my mitt and ball and throw with some heat and accuracy and not have to ice my arm for the next two days. I can do the ‘Survivor’ workout as well as some kids in their twenties (at least I will this summer). I’m in the game when I want to be instead of a spectator because I have to be. I assure you – neither my dad or grandpa did these things when they were 54 (okay, sure my dad didn’t like sports and never did any of them anyway– but his lack of activity would have prevented him from doing things had he wanted to). Well…you’re not stupid. You get it.
So – go ahead and check your ‘health age’. It’s good to know the kinds of things, statistically speaking, that could make a difference in the years you’ll live. But when you get down to it, it’s all about the quality – not the quantity.
Oh…and by the way…I did climb on the trainer again for a sixty-minute ride. I really looking forward to riding outside this weekend.
Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 900
For the last fifteen years or so, I’ve felt myself getting older. I suppose that makes sense since that’s what I’m doing, but do I have to feel it too? A couple of weeks ago, I decided I was going to do something about it and I’m already feeling better, but there are some things happening with age that I don’t think I will be able to change.
I was on the www.exrx.net site recently and completed the ‘health age questionnaire’. There are many versions of this and their intents are the same. Answer questions about your lifestyle and family history and receive an age comparison to your real age. Since I’m doing wonderful things for myself right now, my age came back as ‘35’ or 19 years younger than my actual age.
Don’t smoke. Keep your blood pressure in the normal ranges. Watch your cholesterol. Exercise regularly. Don’t get fat. And the most important one – pick your parents carefully. Do all these things and you’ll live longer, for sure.
I do all of these things and that’s how I got the thirty-five years for my ‘health age’, but I don’t do any of it because I think I’m going to live longer. I mean with all of the cycling I do, some idiot driver will get a little too close and that will be that. Or maybe it will happen when I’m climbing some peak in the Adirondacks and I just get unlucky and a rock from above falls and squashes my head like a melon.
Whatever.
The point is…I’m 54 and I can and do still ride the bike. I can and do climb peaks and hike all day carrying a heavy pack. I can grab my mitt and ball and throw with some heat and accuracy and not have to ice my arm for the next two days. I can do the ‘Survivor’ workout as well as some kids in their twenties (at least I will this summer). I’m in the game when I want to be instead of a spectator because I have to be. I assure you – neither my dad or grandpa did these things when they were 54 (okay, sure my dad didn’t like sports and never did any of them anyway– but his lack of activity would have prevented him from doing things had he wanted to). Well…you’re not stupid. You get it.
So – go ahead and check your ‘health age’. It’s good to know the kinds of things, statistically speaking, that could make a difference in the years you’ll live. But when you get down to it, it’s all about the quality – not the quantity.
Oh…and by the way…I did climb on the trainer again for a sixty-minute ride. I really looking forward to riding outside this weekend.
Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 900
Friday, March 5, 2010
Know your Training Heart Rate (THR)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
It was an inside day again, though the forecast is good and I hope to have the bike on the road over the weekend. Amazingly, I’m having very little soreness from my 46-minute run yesterday. There are two reasons for this, I’m thinking. One is I’m doing so much of the run on a soft surface – snow – and not getting the normal impact soreness that I would get from running the roads. The other is, hey, I’m getting in better shape!
Anyway, I hit the trainer for another tedious 60-minute ride. I distracted myself with the movie ‘Milk’ which I will finish on tomorrow’s ride. I pushed segments of the ride again because I know it’s getting a little to easy for me and I want my THR up around 140 for parts of the ride. I’m always listing my training heart rate and for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, I’ve included my calculation. If you don’t want to do the math, follow the link in the upper right hand corner of this page: www.exrx.net. When you get to their home page, look along the left side for ‘fitness calculator’ and click on that. From there, click on ‘target heart rate’ and plug in your age and the percentage ranges within which you want to work. I use 70 to 85% for mine.
Training Heart Rate (THR)
There are a number of ways to get your training heart rate and it’s a very important number with which to become familiar if you are looking to get the most from your exercise routine. Personally, I go with the easy method which calculates this way:
Starting number: 220
Subtract age: -54
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) : 166
In theory, this would be the number over which I could not get my heart while exercising and that, when doing my aerobic workout – biking, running, swimming, rowing and so on – I should keep my heart at between 60-85% of this number. Here’s that calculation:
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR): 166 x 60% = 96. 166 x 85% = 144
So – my training zone is 96 to 144 beats per minute, which is quite a range. I tend to keep it a lot closer to 144 than 96 and that’s because I want to burn as many calories as I can during the workout and get as much improvement in performance, too. Both of these things happen at the higher level.
To know how you’re doing without wearing a heart monitor requires that you check your heart rate during exercise periodically. I take it on the carotid artery on the right side of my neck and just under the jaw. I do it there so I can count the beats and easily read my workout watch while counting. I take a 10-second count, which even if you stop is almost exactly what it was while you were exercising if you get it as soon as you stop. I determine the range I want to be in by dividing my 1-minute goal heart rate numbers by 6 to account for the fact that I’m taking a 10-second count. For me, that means keeping my 10-second count between 16 and 24. Those are the only numbers I need to remember.
Now – the whole estimation can be off because it’s, well, an estimation. I know I can get my heart rate higher than 166. I’ve measured it higher when climbing peaks or running all-out efforts. Still, it’s close and it works for me. Normally, I’m not checking constantly because experience has taught me to know my THR by how I’m breathing and feeling. With runners I coach, I offer the following advice for determining effort in a workout:
Easy workout conversation: “Hey John, this is a wuss workout. What’s the big deal? I could run and talk all day long.”
Medium workout conversation: “Hey John, this workout is …(pause for breath)…a little tougher than the one…(pause for breath) …we did the other day.”
Hard workout conversation: “Hey ^%^$* (panting for 10 seconds), this %$%# workout (panting another 10 seconds) really *&^%%* sucks (bending over and puking).
When doing an aerobic workout, most of your training should be in the easy to medium range. The hard workout is for interval training and can’t be done for long periods of time. Get to know your effort by checking your pulse and then make the conscious decision to work out at the level the makes the most sense to achieving your fitness related goals.
Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 900
It was an inside day again, though the forecast is good and I hope to have the bike on the road over the weekend. Amazingly, I’m having very little soreness from my 46-minute run yesterday. There are two reasons for this, I’m thinking. One is I’m doing so much of the run on a soft surface – snow – and not getting the normal impact soreness that I would get from running the roads. The other is, hey, I’m getting in better shape!
Anyway, I hit the trainer for another tedious 60-minute ride. I distracted myself with the movie ‘Milk’ which I will finish on tomorrow’s ride. I pushed segments of the ride again because I know it’s getting a little to easy for me and I want my THR up around 140 for parts of the ride. I’m always listing my training heart rate and for those of you unfamiliar with the concept, I’ve included my calculation. If you don’t want to do the math, follow the link in the upper right hand corner of this page: www.exrx.net. When you get to their home page, look along the left side for ‘fitness calculator’ and click on that. From there, click on ‘target heart rate’ and plug in your age and the percentage ranges within which you want to work. I use 70 to 85% for mine.
Training Heart Rate (THR)
There are a number of ways to get your training heart rate and it’s a very important number with which to become familiar if you are looking to get the most from your exercise routine. Personally, I go with the easy method which calculates this way:
Starting number: 220
Subtract age: -54
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) : 166
In theory, this would be the number over which I could not get my heart while exercising and that, when doing my aerobic workout – biking, running, swimming, rowing and so on – I should keep my heart at between 60-85% of this number. Here’s that calculation:
Maximum Heart Rate (MHR): 166 x 60% = 96. 166 x 85% = 144
So – my training zone is 96 to 144 beats per minute, which is quite a range. I tend to keep it a lot closer to 144 than 96 and that’s because I want to burn as many calories as I can during the workout and get as much improvement in performance, too. Both of these things happen at the higher level.
To know how you’re doing without wearing a heart monitor requires that you check your heart rate during exercise periodically. I take it on the carotid artery on the right side of my neck and just under the jaw. I do it there so I can count the beats and easily read my workout watch while counting. I take a 10-second count, which even if you stop is almost exactly what it was while you were exercising if you get it as soon as you stop. I determine the range I want to be in by dividing my 1-minute goal heart rate numbers by 6 to account for the fact that I’m taking a 10-second count. For me, that means keeping my 10-second count between 16 and 24. Those are the only numbers I need to remember.
Now – the whole estimation can be off because it’s, well, an estimation. I know I can get my heart rate higher than 166. I’ve measured it higher when climbing peaks or running all-out efforts. Still, it’s close and it works for me. Normally, I’m not checking constantly because experience has taught me to know my THR by how I’m breathing and feeling. With runners I coach, I offer the following advice for determining effort in a workout:
Easy workout conversation: “Hey John, this is a wuss workout. What’s the big deal? I could run and talk all day long.”
Medium workout conversation: “Hey John, this workout is …(pause for breath)…a little tougher than the one…(pause for breath) …we did the other day.”
Hard workout conversation: “Hey ^%^$* (panting for 10 seconds), this %$%# workout (panting another 10 seconds) really *&^%%* sucks (bending over and puking).
When doing an aerobic workout, most of your training should be in the easy to medium range. The hard workout is for interval training and can’t be done for long periods of time. Get to know your effort by checking your pulse and then make the conscious decision to work out at the level the makes the most sense to achieving your fitness related goals.
Bike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 125 bpm
Calories burned during workout: 900
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