<p>Haha, no, I had to do penance for succumbing to the evil thin mints. Forgive me eating plan, for I have sinned :(( </p>
<p>IDad, do you do a double progression in your resistance training (reps and weight) or do you use static reps and just adjust weight as you progress?</p>
<p>I generally leave the reps fixed and increase weight if it gets too easy. Then, after a month (or when I get sick of a pair of workouts), I’ll put together two new workouts and change the rep scheme.</p>
<p>In the past, I would start out at six reps with a weight. Increase to eight, then to ten, and when I got to twelve, increase the weight and start over at six. But, the easy gains like that are long gone. I think the only lift that I’ve bumped up in this round has been the DB bench press. I started with ten reps with 2 x 35 and bumped it up to 2 x 40. I’m a little light on my 3-pt row, but focused more on doing good, slow reps, rather than cheating all over the place to jerk a bigger weight off the floor.</p>
<p>Thanks Michael. I was talking about indoor recumbent bikes at the gym. I do have a heart rate monitor,but need a new battery…so I will just use that.</p>
<p>Yup, IDad, form is everything, especially at our ages when the lack of elasticity of tendons and ligaments can lead to injuries. </p>
<p>Nice hike, idad!
NM, so I gather the shedding for the wedding plan is ON 
when’s the wedding again?</p>
<p>MomWC, you’re probably already off the starter block by now, but sending ya the lovin’ the race mojo!</p>
<p>kmc…the wedding is in July. The first shower is the beginning of April. I need to forgive myself for slacking off and just get get back in shape. sigh…</p>
<p>Just came across this:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>and there’s a bunch more scary stats in there as well.</p>
<p><a href=“Sugary Drinks | The Nutrition Source | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health”>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/soft-drinks-and-disease/</a></p>
<p>Thanks! 2:09 high, which isn’t great for me and felt really tough. Beautiful day- 40-52 and sunny. My daughter broke 2 hours for a 7 minute PR! </p>
<p>Nice 3.5 mile run</p>
<p>Yay MOWC! Sounds like a good run! Who cares about the time when you’ve got blue sky, sunshine, and a cute Lulu outfit!</p>
<p>MKat:</p>
<p>I’ve been doing a new version of a 3-pt DB row. Like this video, but the change is that I lower the DB to the floor after every rep and, therefore, start every rep from a dead stop at the floor.</p>
<p><a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>It really slows down the exercise and makes me do slow, controlled reps, both concentric and eccentric. There’s no “bounce” at the bottom I’m using 50 lb DBs for ten reps per arm. I could go up to 60s for six rep sets, but the 50s are good for ten reps without cheating with my torso or jerking the DB up.</p>
<p>I don’t think I wore Lulu anything, amazingly. I wore a Nuu-Muu dress over read capris to match my corporate team shirt. Yeah- about that corporate team… There was supposed to be one other runner in the half marathon, but I never saw her. Maybe she wasn’t wearing the shirt (it was out and back, so you saw everyone). So- we probably couldn’t have scored anyway since we didn’t have 3 (unless the teams in our division were also lacking a third scorer), but with just me, it sure wasn’t going to happen.<br>
I was 2% slower than last year (2:45 or so). I need to look up what the average yearly decline is at my age- I think it isn’t quite that much. It’s not the time that concerns me as much as how horrible it feels. It is really, really tough. </p>
<p>MOWC, don’t read too much into your time. We all have days when performance is off even if we think we felt just fine at the beginning. Just live in the “glow” of having done the race and gone the distance. </p>
<p>It’s not the time- it’s how bad it feels to run hard. I mean- REALLY bad. I really think most people would stop, but I managed to hold pretty steady (some fall off, but not like 30 seconds or anything). This wasn’t a day of off performance- it was 11 minutes faster than the straight up the hill half I did 2 weeks ago. </p>
<p>One interesting thing- I TIED for 4th in the age group! Amazing that can happen in a 13.1 mile race! I beat her gun time by 5 seconds, but we had the exact same chip time. I don’t remember seeing her. </p>
<p>Correction- the red capris were Lulu. I wasn’t sure. Should have known! (how do you do the smiley faces now?)</p>
<p>Went to a group fitness class with my daughter this morning. 45 minutes of spinning, 30 minutes of poly metrics, kettlebell swings, plank dumbbell rows, squats, runners hurdle lunges, abs. Took me way out of my comfort zone when doing lower body work that hit multiple muscle groups at same time and also required balance. Didn’t help that the next oldest person after me was only 30! Was good to do something so different from what I normally do. Once cycling season hits, I won’t have those opportunities very often.</p>
<p>MOWC:</p>
<p>Just purely from an “over-training” and “recovery” standpoint, I suspect that the streak may be hampering your performance at this point. Declining performance is the classic symptom of an athlete that needs to step away from it for a few days.</p>
<hr>
<p>Back to the basement for me. Single leg squats, hex bar deadlifts inverted rows, and standing alternating overhead presses. Punched the clock.</p>
<p>It hit 50 degrees here today, so to celebrate, I cleared the snow off the grill and have a rib eye steak from the local fancy butcher ready to grill (16 ounces!). I’ll grill a couple of yellow squash for my veggie… Yumm…</p>
<p>For tomorrow, I’m trying my hand at a non-breaded chicken parm. I’ve discovered that sauteeing chicken breasts in lard produces an exceptionally crispy brown crust with no breading or flour. So I’ll start with that and make a homemade tomato sauce, some fresh mozzarella, and some parmigiano reggiano. It’s be good to add to my arsenal of boneless chicken breast options… </p>
<p>MOWC, I missed the last sentence of your prior post. Finding that it is taking much more effort, to the point of feeling miserable, to maintain your level of performance could very well be a sign of over-training. It could also be a sign that you don’t have enough base miles in this early in the year to support the level of performance you are trying to maintain. When I was in Florida a couple of weeks ago and did a bunch of 35 mile rides at what for me is race pace, it not only really burned my legs during the rides but when I returned home last weekend, I was very burned out. Even with my indoor winter training, I just didn’t have the foundation I needed. The same could be going on with you.</p>
<p>MKat:</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a shortage of base mileage for MOWC. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but she’s somewhere around 800 consecutive days of running including over 2014 miles in 2014. </p>
<p>All I know for sure is that I’m not worthy! ^:)^ </p>
<p>Still have iffy internet; evidently our ‘fix’ was only a bandaid to a much larger problem in our neighborhood that could take days (or weeks) to resolve; so my time on CC has been limited.
Did most of my usual routine this week, except had to skip water class on Wednesday morning due to PT.
Wednesday - PT and trainer
Thursday - PT exercises and 35 minutes NuStep
Friday - water PT exercises, and water class
today - PT exercises and 35 minutes NuStep</p>
<p>It’s just reality that I’m going to have to forgive myself for whatever sins I commit over the next two weeks. Have a ton to get done before we leave Thursday morning - then we will spend two days in Houston prior to leaving on the cruise on Saturday. Am going to really try to be very active and eat clean on the cruise, but I can only do the best I can. I’ve seen pictures of the gym, and it looks pretty comprehensive, but of course, I can’t tell how busy it’s going to be and how easy it’s going to be to get on equipment until I get there. </p>
<p>Just gotta say… it’s refreshing to read everyone’s excitement about the incremental temperature increases they’ve been seeing in the last week or so!</p>