@FallGirl - What an inspirational post. Good Job!! I’m really glad you had reasonable weather. Sorry the sleeping was not so good.
In my world of “Light” fitness, I opted to not run a 3rd day in a row. (Maybe someday I will, but still concerned about some August minor knee pain that seems/me-hopes gone). But I still got on the bike, like I did for my “commute” to my local lake trail 5k loop run the prior 2 days. Once at the lake, I did 2 loops … one in each direction. I rode about 10 miles, but not all that much exercise due to flat terrain. Most of the time my 21 speed bike acts like a single-speed, with plenty of coasting.
Minimalist shoe or barefoot running basically depends on (or forces) a forefoot strike, since heel striking would be too painful barefoot or with a minimalist shoe.
Large heel-toe drops can interfere with forefoot strike (since the extra padding on the heel may strike first even if you do not intend to). If that is an issue, you may want to try finding low to no drop shoes. There are low to no drop shoes with some padding in the sole if you want low to no drop but do not want to go completely minimalist.
For the longest time I had a difficult time finding a running shoe that I really liked. After reading a couple books by the same author several years ago, I switched and have only been running in zero drop low platform shoes.
One of them being a minimalist shoe that works for me for runs from 400-800 meter sprints up to about 2-3 miles. Any longer runs I switch to another no drop low platform shoe that still remains very light, but a bit more cushion.
I need to feel connected to the road or trail. And thankfully I don’t have any joint or back issues. Knock on wood.
Today was a long session. I began with bench press and lifted several heavy working sets.
I had “chipper,” today which is a really long HIIT that you just keep chipping away at. The “chipper” consisted of the assault bike, pull-ups, toes to bar, DB hang clean & jerks and wall balls.
I finished with a lot of GHD sit-ups and rope climbs.
Belated happy birthday @ClassicMom98.
Welcome @HighTide2020.
We drove back from Asheville today. We’d planned to hike, bike and white water kayak, but since my son took quite a tumble on Sunday, our first day out, biking and kayaking weren’t going to happen. We hiked 6 days of the trip. Thursday was a complete rain-out, but we managed to get an activity in every other day Asheville has some great food options, so we ate quite a bit, mostly outside. Our favorite restaurant did a great job of spacing tables, so we ate there, indoors, twice.
Happy to be home, but it was so nice taking a vacation.
@Midwest67 - my friends are a bonus indeed. I really, really didn’t want to run another half. Running a half was my 2020 running goal and after I ran the first one , I thought - OK that’s off the list! I especially did not want to run that long at this time of year because that meant lots of longer training runs in the hot, humid summer weather. But my friends signed up, so I did too. Yesterday I thanked them again for “pushing” me into this, as I would not have done it alone and am so glad I did it.
Yay for FallGirl’s encouraging friends! Running a half is certainly not on my list. But someday if weather is ideal I may do a 2nd loop around the lake to make it a 10k day. I have done it 2 or 3 times in the past.
My cheerleader is my daughter, who encouraged the C-2-5k class in 2017 and ran the 5k race at end “with” me (she finished almost 20 minutes of me, but she did cheer me at the end… along with the class instructor who held our jackets and a few faster classmates who actually ran the last 100 yards with me and the other newbie runner buddy). I usually text my daughter with run time and details after a run. Most days she’ll text back “good job” and sometimes have a text conversation. My kids are usually NOT good about replying to text msgs, so it has been a nice perk.
Today’s report: I did another “bike commute” to lake trail for 5k run. I don’t save much gas (it is only 3 miles round trip) or burn many calories (it’s a flat easy ride), but it does feel nice to be outside more and avoid parking logistics.
Great outdoors weekend - and it’s not quite over yet! Got out each day on my own running or walking and then all 3 of my kids were home so each day we did a 3 mile hike locally. I may go out for a short run tonight - just because it’s beautiful and I can!
Never underestimate the power of this thread and its ability to motivate a reader.
@FallGirl running her half got me thinking somewhere on my Sunday Bay trail run to run a 3rd lap around the 2.5 mile perimeter. I haven’t run 7.5 miles in a very long while, but I think we all have another 50% +/- left over in the “well,” if called upon.
Tomorrow will be a day to “embrace the suck,” because tomorrow’s workout is likely going to hurt.
Saturday I finished up week three of my new 8-5-2 three week cycle. The change has been refreshing & I continue to enjoy the mental break.
Yesterday I hiked with the club. It was a good turnout (40 ppl) in beautiful sunny cool weather.
Lucky for me, the forest preserve was over-run with mountain bikers & the hike leader changed routes & took us on a 11 mile hike on mostly flat crushed limestone trails. I had expected a bunch of hills again!
About mile 9 I had to stop and tape a hot spot on the ball of my foot. Never got to blister stage.
I saw some of my favorite peeps & the chit chat was good.
Not sure I noticed before how so many in the club look like long distance runners.
One man said he hoped I didn’t take it the wrong way, but it looks like I have put on some weight, but I look good. That made me happy. That extra mass (10-12#) took time (!!!) , discipline, and consistency.
Another woman said she was glad to see me out with the club again, “getting back in shape”. She has no idea I could literally pick her up off the ground. Haha!
I’m all set to volunteer for sag wagon duty for the rescheduled 25 mile hike in October. No way I can train for that in time. Plus, it’s just under 8 hours of fast hiking with those crazy speed demons!
I treated myself to TWO six ounce filets last night with.a rum & soda. Slept like the dead.
@Midwest67 , LOL sometimes if people ONLY KNEW what they said was so off base!!!
Sounds like a lovely hike!
3.5 mile run this morning. Cool and pretty easy. Still working on figuring out how to keep a morning fitness activity in the rotation several days a week now that the light in the morning is changing and my job still beckons. This morning’s method was get up at 6ish, fire up the computer and do a few emails first then headed out while still dark but closer to light around 6:40am. More emails upon return while cooling down and then a shower and back to the grind. Three days a week I have this flexibility right now.
LOL @Midwest67 If that woman only knew… Yes, the darker mornings are a real issue. I rode my indoor bike for an hour this morning. Hopefully, I’ll get a walk/run in later.
It has been eye-opening for me, new to strength training, to see all kinds of bodies lifting all kinds of weight on IG.
If I were to see one of those big girls on the street, it would be so easy to dismiss her as unhealthy.
But I’ve come around to understand that a 225# woman who can barely manage a body weight air squat is not the same creature as a 225# woman who can squat 405#. From the outside? You cannot always tell!
“This morning’s method was get up at 6ish, fire up the computer and do a few emails first then headed out while still dark but closer to light around 6:40am.”
Been there / done that (before retired) … but some days I got up around 5am (which worked ok - lots of overseas coworkers). Unfortunately there were days I got sucked into work problems, could not run after all. Sometimes the weather and work stars aligned to allow a lunchtime run.
Weather is getting cooler here, not sure if I will have any more kayak days. I may take a half day vacation on a warm day this week as the farewell until next year. But when too cool to kayak, I can bike. I went on a ride on a scenic trail on Saturday, 30 miles total, and although I was a bit tired on the return it wasn’t that bad. I did notice however that I was not keeping pace with google’s bike directions pace, so I think that can be a goal that I can see if it would be reasonable to shoot for. My average over the whole route was 9mph. It was mostly flat.
Weight wise I am mostly holding steady, a bit of a dip but then back up a bit, but solidly within the goal weight to maintain my ww lifetime status. I’ll probably do my weigh in October as soon as I can.
I am still getting out to walk my extended 4mi morning route most days, will not let the cooler days deter me as they will be a lot colder in the future! I do need to keep sunlight in mind as it is not a route I will want to do in the dark.
I haven’t been biking in over a week. Longest I’ve gone since at least April.
First day back at work and I had to take off early So I could go pickup my son and take him to test drive bikes. He’s looking at a bike nicer than mine, and mine is pretty nice. Glad his fall didn’t dampen his enthusiasm.
I am hoping I get a walk or two in this week, but with driving him around 2 days after work i may not exercise much til the weekend.
I really need to get a routine going - like maybe indoor biking every other day. I think I will shoot for that next week.
Has anyone ventured back to the gym (I had lost track of this thread so sorry if this has been discussed already)? They just reopened in my state, which currently has a very low transmission rate. The gym is large and my friend that went said there was hardly anyone there and she did not feel unsafe. I may do an outside class, but not feeling too motivated to go back inside.
However, with days getting shorter and colder, I may need to figure something else out. At home videos help, but not my preference.
@mom2and I have been back, but not like I used to. I used to do my non-running aerobic (stairmonster/boke) work there and lift there 6 days/week for roughly 1:30-2:00 a day between 5-7am. When the virus shut everything down, we set up our gym in our shed/garage. It has everything I need weight wise, so I don’t feel pressured to go back for weights. However, I do need the non-running (low/non impact) aerobic stuff, as I have trouble running 50-60 mpw like I used to. It’s also a nice option when it’s raining, etc.
I go to Planet Fitness. The building is 30,000 SF with high ceilings, and there’s a sign saying they can have 228 people inside by law. The most I’ve seen there at 5-6am is 25. Usually it’s 15-20. On Saturday mornings it’s 3-5. They have 2/3 of the aerobic equipment blocked off, half of the machines, and big 6’x6’ taped boxes on the floor in the weight area. The have a lot more cleaning stations and hand sanitizer everywhere. We are supposed to wear masks except while actively working out. In reality, this means people wear them through the door and take them off until it’s time to leave. A few (myself and maybe 3-5 others) wear them more regularly. I wear mine all the time except while actively moving on the stairmonster. I can wear it biking, but not for the stairmonster.
With20- 25 non-mask wearing people, I feel a bit squirrely even though we are >6’ apart. At 15, I feel OK. 3-5 is definitely preferred. But, I still don’t see me lifting anything there until there’s better treatment and/or a vaccine. I also have to work in a building where very few people wear a mask anywhere, so I feel like I have a lot more risk coming to work for 8 hours every day, than the 30-45 min I’m in the gym a few times/week.
Three days a week I have this flexibility right now.