<p>Ice on those dogs. Use ice.</p>
<p>I was thinking about ice. But, I hadn’t decided whether to put it on my feet or in a double-martini!</p>
<p>Actually, my legs are so stiff, I’m not sure I can make it down the stairs to the kitchen.</p>
<p>^^^^Idad, my legs are hurting too. When I get up after sitting, I feel like a 90 y/o woman. From running only 3 miles. Geez.</p>
<p>Stiff legs here too. 20 mile bike ride - with a hill that lasted FOUR miles…I thought it would never end. Fun going down but my thighs were NOT prepared for this. Yoga tomorrow.</p>
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<p>Wish I could do 20, on flat ground. H left yesterday morning on his bike to see how riding to work would be, which is 16 miles away. Once he got there, he found another trail and wanted to see where it went… it took him to the WI border… another 12 miles, then he turned around and came home. I also ran into a friend of mine yesterday at the gym that I hadn’t seen in a long time. I mentioned H’s new love of biking and she said that she rides with group of women cyclists several times in the summer who ride to downtown Chicago… 48 miles.</p>
<p>I hang my head in shame as my bike is currently hanging from hooks on the garage ceiling!</p>
<p>In Boy Scouts, we rode along the Great River Road down here along the Mississippi River from Alton to Grafton, IL. It was 23 miles each direction so 46 miles total that we rode that day. Was a lot of fun…</p>
<p>A four mile hill is a good sized hill. Congratulations, toneranger! </p>
<p>Friday I rode over to the beach to join some friends, then camped out. Yesterday I rode home again. 110 total miles, 6000 or so of climbing. But I was so glum today after the Sharks’ loss that I didn’t even wheel the bike out of the garage.</p>
<p>Went to the gym today and my exercise buddy sent me a text that she wouldn’t make it today. Oh well…I got on the bike and used an interval training guide that I found on-line. I got 20 miles in my hour on the bike! Yay! A new record for me! Thanks for pointing me in the interval training direction idad! Don’t think I could ride that far outside with hills but I am slowly improving! Maybe I will try the real bike sometime this week as a supplement in the evenings.</p>
<p>You may feel it looks silly but there was yet another small study that says compression socks that cover the calf improve performance.</p>
<p>Good job on the bike! An hour is pretty impressive…</p>
<p>I haven’t done a day of exercise bike in a while. There’s 20 minutes or so of bike (warm up, intervals, cool down) in each day of iPod nazi, so I’ve been getting on the bike. But, on my off days, I’ve been outdoors walking in the nice weather. I’ll save the bike for bad weather. I have no doubt I’ll have plenty of days on the bike. Just a good run of luck here lately.</p>
<p>iPod nazi blitzkreig.</p>
<p>OK after 12 weeks of Phase I, I moved on to Phase II today and it kicked my butt.</p>
<p>The exercises got harder. Instead of 45 seconds of work and 45 seconds of rest, it went to 45 work/30 rest. And, it went from 2 sets to 3. And the intervals increased to ten minutes.</p>
<p>I wimped out and skipped the third set of exercises before going onto the Airdyne intervals. Probably a smart move, because I’m pretty much spent.</p>
<p>The new exercises are brutal. One is a step/press. The rigtht foot stays up on the step. Left foot on the ground. Dumbbell in the left hand at the shoulder. Step up on the step using just the right leg while pressing the dumbell above the shoulder, working just one leg and the opposite arm. Then switch after 22 seconds.</p>
<p>Then, the good old plank becomes the plank on the stability ball – normal plank position, but with the elbows on the ball instead of the floor. Brutal.</p>
<p>Then, a stability ball squat/press. Lean back against the stability ball at the small of the back against the wall. Sit down into a squat position. Then, go back up while pressing dumbells from the shoulder to overhead. Good lord. That works every big muscle in the body.</p>
<p>Oh, the “easy” exercises are 45 seconds of push ups. 45 seconds of side plank on each side. And back extensions on the stability ball.</p>
<p>I made it through two circuits then did the hard intervals. Interesting that my heartrate stayed at 88% and above during the intervals, but I wasn’t really panting. Breathing hard, but not that hard. Aerobic capacilty must be coming around.</p>
<p>I feel bad that I wimped out on the third set, but it’ll just let me double up the weeks of Phase II. Run through them once with two sets (four weeks) and then come back and repeat with three sets.</p>
<p>^^^^^^Idad, I hate, and I mean I HATE planks-side planks, front planks, whatever, I absolutely despise them.</p>
<p>Did I mention I hate planks?</p>
<p>I have back problems, I know they are good for me, but God I hate planks.</p>
<p>Back to your post-sounds like you worked your butt off! You should feel proud.</p>
<p>I hear ya. Planks are like lie detector tests for your abs. There’s just no way to cheat 'em. The only thing that will keep you up is ab muscles.</p>
<p>iPod nazi was funny on the first day of plank on the stability ball. Said not to feel bad or defeated if you fell off the ball trying to do them. I was hanging on for dear life for the last 15 seconds. And I’ve got a lot to hang onto.</p>
<p>interesteddad, just remember that you felt the same way when you started out with iPod Nazi I. This iPod Nazi II will come round in another month or two. You’ll be kicking his butt after awhile.</p>
<p>I just started a new job today – after 15 months of unemployment, interrupted by a thank-God-for-this-gig seven-month contract assignment. Unfortunately, the job is an hour and a half drive. I’m seriously looking for a spare room to stay in during the week, because the drive is going to kill me.</p>
<p>What’s also going to kill me is sitting in the car for an hour and a half, then sitting at my desk for nine hours, then another hour and a half in the car. I was ready to scream by the time I got home tonight. </p>
<p>This situation means that I will gain weight. I’m afraid there’s no way around it.</p>
<p>But – thank God for employment. Employment means income and benefits, and both of those are good.</p>
<p>veryhappy - my personal trainer told me that you should change the position of your car seat every couple of weeks, especially when you spend that much time in the car. It can mean something as little as moving the seat forward a couple of inches, sitting more upright, etc. When I was working more, I was spending a LOT of time in the car.</p>
<p>OK… I might need some moral support here soon. I did a sort of (what I thought) out of the realm for me thing.</p>
<p>H (as I’ve mentioned) has been spending a lot of time on his bike. Since last fall, when one of our friends was hit on his bike by a car, not wearing a helmet, I’ve been trying to get him to buy one, but have had no luck. After I realized he’s in this biking thing for the long run, I began to pressure him again. No luck yet…</p>
<p>… So, I started a facebook group asking our friends to tell him he needs to wear a bike helmet. I did it with a bit of humor in mind, but I’m sitting here on the couch… him on the love seat, waiting for him to discover the group. There’s already three responses… one from one of our daughters who reluctantly joined, but joked, “Thanks for getting your kids involved in your marital discord even though they live out of state.”</p>
<p>I told a friend of mine that my last resort will be, if he doesn’t go out and pick one out for himself, I’m going to go find and purchase the most expensive one I can find! That just might do it!</p>
<p>After reading your post teriwtt, I browsed some statistics—scary.
Here is one that I will send on to my son, who also refuses to wear his helmet.
“Ninety-five percent of bicyclists killed in 2006 reportedly weren’t wearing helmets” from the website [Bicycle</a> Helmet Statistics](<a href=“http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm]Bicycle”>Bicycle Helmet Statistics)</p>
<p>I found it interesting a couple weeks ago my dad and I were driving around looking at some houses. We were driving through a neighborhood and there would a couple boys (probably 5-6) riding their bikes in front of their house with their dad out watching them. They both had no shoes on their feet, but they had helmets on their head…</p>
<p>^^^^good dad!</p>
<p>Update… he found it, and said, “That’s funny.”</p>
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<p>Oh, I remember. This was nothing like that. I was actually a little surprised that I was fairly strong on most of the new exercises. The only one I couldn’t get to 45 seconds on was the ball squats with the shoulder press. Brutal.</p>
<p>This was also my sixth day in a row of exercising. Probably need a recovery day.</p>
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<p>On this bike helmet thing. The saddest Swarthmore story in years was a freshman woman two years ago. Riding her bike back to her dorm in September. Quiet residential street. Didn’t stop for a stop sign and plowed into a truck. No helmet. In a coma for a couple months, a year of rehab learning to walk and talk again. She was going back this last September after missing a year of college, but her life irrevocably changed. Breaks my heart just thinking about it.</p>