I’ve been trying to take advantage of the “free” time I get at work to walk at least 3 days a week. If it’s too cold, I walk up and down many flights of stairs, sometime walking across the floor between set of stairs for a change.
I went to the gym today, did 13 miles on the bike and lots of machines/straps/etc. I feel like I got a good workout.
Tomorrow we may try riding our bikes outside. I’ve been a 60 or higher bike rider to date, but sounds like my husbands wants to go at 55, and I don’t want to discourage him (I much prefer riding with someone), so I’m going.
Holy cow that’s cold. Brrr.
@sushiritto we are in Ca, to use anything below 60 is freezing.
@MomofWildChild have you run your activity level by your orthopedist or PT. I’m asking since I have a friend who had a stress fracture in her tibia last June. She continued to run on it ( it hurt some of the time, some not). She went to the orthopedic dr in August He put her on a nothing but essential walking regimen for 6-8 weeks (I’m going from my memory could have been longer). She did continue upper body work with a trainer and since Late fall had been running again. Fast forward to this month and her knee is swollen and she can barely walk, she went to the PT this week and he suggested she go back to going back to the orthopedist which she is doing next week.
I’ve not been able to bike since I torn my meniscus even after the clean up surgery. At a certain point in the rotation something snags and I have pain and swelling.
Saturday for me is a Almost rest day. It’s a PT exercise day. I also have a set of 8 lb weights in my family room that I do some upper body exercises while I watch the news. I also do some squats and leg work while I watch. I might take a walk.
I was basically told I could only do light biking but then to judge by how it felt during and after. I’m doing more than I was told I should do, but I’m not feeling it at all. Im not doing much! I’m wearing a brace most of the day. I’m only 8 days in and still figuring out how I can survive mentally while still healing.
@MomofWildChild , I know how frustrated you are. The toughest thing is to restrain ourselves when it is medically required. Keep telling yourself “long view, big picture”. Temporary adaptations, find other ways to keep yourself challenged - metabolic strength workouts that also challenge your cardio system? I did an AMRAP kettlebell routine today that had me basically doing five 6 minute intervals that pushed me anaerobic for the last minute or two of each interval. Just a suggestion; but remember, this is temporary!
Did a really fun strength routine today. 6 minute AMRAPS of paired exercises/movements - Kettlebell Turkish Get Ups R/L, TRX Chest Presses with both hands and feet suspended/chin-ups, kettlebell swings/ half kneeling 1 arm KB presses R/L, Sand bag front squats/sandbag split stance oblique rows R/L, finishing with 6 minute EMOM of R/L Kb 1 arm snatches. Very time efficient workout that combined a strength and metabolic HIIT cardio challenge.
Tomorrow, I have to choose between two equally alluring workouts. Option 1, do a 40 miles ride outdoors in 50 degree weather with 2 competitive racers who can grind me into the dust, one of whom is a Masters National Champion or do the Sufferfest 1 hour 4DP power test, which will be torture. Either way, I’m gonna be hurting !
@mom60 is your pain in the same spot as the meniscus tear pain? And I assume you had the removal surgery, not the repair (with stitches where you’re on crutches for 3 months)?
Reason I ask is that I had some trouble with my knee about 6 months after. Biking did not help and also seemed worse. But, the pain was in a different spot. The issue is/was that my quad is overdeveloped and my IT band so incredibly tight, that it pulls my kneecap out of alignment and I get pain/irritation along the inside edge of the kneecap. I have to be very diligent to roll/stretch the IT band and quads and also hamstrings. My leg was so out of whack that I’d do a normal gentle quad stretch and feel fine - until I released it. Then, my calf would seize up like I’d been stabbed by knives and hurt for days. It’s taken a long while and a lot of patience, but I’m finally making some good progress.
But anyhow - biking in my case was not a good cross training exercise until I got my quad/IT band to learn to play nice.
@colorado_mom 30 minutes on our Airdyne leaves me in a pile of sweat - I think the upper body component helps for a full body workout.
For those engaging in cycling because of knee related issues, it is very important to make sure the fit of your bike has been properly adjusted: saddle height, saddle setback (for knee over pedal spindle relationship), handle bar height and reach. If your bike is not set up for your specific limb lengths, you could exacerbate your knee issues.
@mom60 Yep, 50 is like freezing me. For whatever reason, I’m fine working out in 90+ degree weather inside a gym with no A/C, but cold weather, not good for my old bones.
I had a solid workout today, but the body is trashed. Predominantly an upper body strength session with bar and barbell work. I finished with treadmill running (2 miles) interspersed with multiple sets of glute ham raises, sit-ups and carrying around KB’s one held in the overhead position and one by my side. Called cross body carries.
I feel like toast right now. If I recover enough, then I’ll run only tomorrow. At the moment it’s hard for me to believe that I’ll get out of bed, except to make coffee. 
OTOH, I have trouble tolerating the heat. But I grew up in northern Illinois so cold doesn’t faze me that much. Most people I run with prefer cold over heat, but some are the other way around. Everyone’s tolerance varies.
My exercise for this weekend (and probably next) is down on hands and knees scrubbing the grout in the kitchen tile to get the house ready to put on the market. It did leave me sore. I also took a break for three hours and walked around downtown playing pokemon. I did get over 15k steps yesterday, where my average (unless I go for a walk) is in the 3-4k range as a work at home at a desk person. I’m glad the weather was nice 37degrees that allowed me to walk for the whole time with only wearing my gloves for part of it.
I’m skipping a yoga class I had hoped to attend today because I need to put the time into the grout.
The weight gain blip has been erased, now to keep it that way and get back to the downward slope.
Gym day. Dumbbells, a few machines and a stint on the elliptical.
I’m down about five pounds since the beginning of the year. Which puts me on track for losing 30 pounds this year which is sort of a goal, but I know from in the past that weight loss tends to slow down unless you eat even less, and I like what I am eating now.
@mom60 An Echo bike was listed on the SF Bay Area Craigslist about 2 hours ago. I don’t know if I can post the ad here on CC, but the Item # is 7080919944. The location is listed as Pleasanton and price is $600.
And I have no affiliation whatsoever.
Good catch, Sushi! I’m forcing myself to take the day off, but I did walk the dogs. That is almost zero exercise. We stop every 10 yards. At least I got outside for a little bit!
55 degrees in February! Decided to do the outdoor ride with my racer friends instead of doing the Sufferfest 4DP power test indoors. 36 miles later and I am so trashed. The power test would have been a vacation in contrast, lol.
Did a 2-mile walk outside today (it was unseasonably warm for MA). I had cataract surgery on Thursday–not supposed to do yoga, pilates, or weights for a week, which is annoying. That being said–the actual surgery took about 10-15 minutes and then 20-30 minutes in recovery–they offered crackers and soda (not appetizing). I asked for water. Anyway–the whole process took about 3 hours and we were able to go home!!
Rode our bikes outside about 28 miles today. It was less than 60, and I wish I’d used my total finger gloves and the ear covering I had but left in the car.
It was the first “long” ride of the year.
A funny thing happened. I consider myself very polite when cycling, and often say “passing on the left,” but depending on the circumstances I’ll say “coming through” or something like that. Well, when we got to 1 end of our ride I was chastised by an older man - he said “coming through” was not in the bicycle etiquette rules. Well, neither is saying nothing, which he did when passing very close to people, but I let it go. When someone is clearly clueless, I try to quickly figure out what will work without getting obnoxious (“move the hell out of the way… and YES I do mean the dog too” come to mind, but I’m happy to see people outside and using trails, and I would never actually say that). I am actually thanked fairly often for telling people we’re passing, so I assume I’m doing OK. We slow way down for training wheels, and for when we are passing people and bikes are coming the other way.
Well “coming through” sounds reasonable to me.
@1214mom - I’m a runner and our group frequently shares a very busy trail with a lot of cyclists. “coming through” is perfectly fine. So is ringing a bell or any other signal. We also try to do our part by letting our other runners know there is a “bike back” or “bike ahead”.
That guy was out of line.