The journey on this thread really is incredible. Close to 6 1/2 years of people sharing their fitness and health stories, their goals, their successes and receiving support and encouragement when things are tough. And along the way, forming a load of Internet and even face to face friendships. It’s all sabaray’s fault! 
When I was in 10th grade (47 years ago, yikes), I read Marshal McCluan’s “The Medium is the Message” which was all about how computers and electronic technology were going to create a global village connecting people who are thousands of miles apart into communities. Pretty radical stuff for its time!
Went to spinning today–first time in a very long time. I’m glad I went. I need to start doing more because I don’t run, so I need another way to get cardio exercise. I walk pretty fast but I don’t get my HR up as high as I do in spinning.
Half-marathon sounds like a great goal Plantmom. Good wishes to your BIL, Deb.
Zella and Athleta are my two favorite fitness brands.
Did a candlelight yoga class from 8:30-9:30 pm but the cooling system was broken, so major sweat and humidity. Ugh! Felt a little fuzzier than usual and had a little trouble balancing because it’s my first workout day after being sick for a week.
Good for you for getting back into working out, pg.
D and I love Athleta and will need to check out Zella. Funny with a Nordies and Rack both within 10 minutes of my house I hadn’t heard of it.
4.1 miles this morning followed by a Pilates workout. It felt easy after all the workouts I’ve been doing!
I’m still Lulu and Oiselle, with a few things from Athleta. The NuuMuu dresses, of course. I really love the Fellow Flowers t-shirts. They are so soft and perfect for short runs or post-run or just wearing around.
I mentioned in an earlier post that my first running shoes were Tigers in the early 70s. Before Tigers I ran in Converse. I remember kids in my town deriding me because I was wearing a specialty running shoe. Wasn’t a lot of choice back in the dark ages. Interesting history here: http://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/showthread.php?102620-Running-shoes-through-the-years
Did a great training ride today. Simulated catching a breakaway in a stage race. @ohiopublic, this one’s for you! 30 minute warmup consisting of alternating relaxed and fast spinning. Then 4x4 minute intervals at anaerobic threshold. Go as hard as you can to hold the pace for 4 minutes but for the last minute go even harder. Then 3 minutes completely off to recover between each interval. Average speed for each interval cannot drop more than 1/2 mph from the first interval to the last. If your average speed drops more than 1/2 mph for any interval, you’re done. Then 30 minute relaxed spin to warm down. If you don’t feel like you are going to die, you’re not working hard enough, lol ;). It’s a sick workout but it really increases your ability to go fast.
In the books - 1 hour weights, 1 hour fluid running.
That is a great link, Ohio. I’m a running shoe geek! I ran in some Pumas, too. I remember when the first really flared heel Nikes came out in about 1980- I think they were called Tailwinds. They had a huge flare in the heel and we promptly all got injured and had to shave the flare off. We tried every gimmick. In the 90s Nike had some really nice light racing shoes (road racing) that we all liked, but they had NO support at all. Everyone hurt again!
I think my favorite all-time shoes were Brooks Huggers. They had sort of a wrap around lacing system which, in retrospect, was probably useless but we thought it was really cool. That was before Brooks dominated the running shoe market.
Good workout, Michael! Son is supposed to do a bike time trial up in the Poconos on Sunday (an organized event) but it is supposed to be raining, so not sure what is going to happen. The next week he is going to St. George, Utah for the half ironman.
MOWC, what is with all this rain!! All my racer friends are going nuts over weekend races in the wet. Good luck to your son in both of his races.
With regard to today’s workout, my training partner said to me that if we could string 2 words together at any time during the intervals and were not gasping uncontrollably in the last minute, we weren’t pushing hard enough. Actually she was even more graphic than that, referencing the need to regurgitate during the last minute of each interval, but she’s an animal on the bike; training like this for the Masters in June with one hip replacement under her belt and needing another one which she hope to hold off until after the Masters. 
Wow Michael! Unfortunately a cycle doesn’t have room for a barf trash can that we used to put on the track for a workout like that.
I remember when my daughter used to be a 1/2 mile (cc) from the finish and I’d yell out that there was only 400 meters to go so she’d do an all out sprint for 800 meters. She’d be upset at the finish with me until she realized she was getting faster times. You can always push yourself more than you think.
You raise an interesting point, Ohio. I read an article recently that argued that the common reference to how champion athletes have great genetics that differentiates them from other competitors is a lot of bunk. The article posed that the real difference is just how willing a competitor is willing to push themselves in training and that the elite champions are those whose mental toughness exceeds that of other competitors and who as a result simply subject themselves to harder training.
I ran 10 miles this morning. Although last week the long run was a feel great 9 miles, I think this ten was probably too much, too soon. My legs felt so fatigued by the end. They still feel fatigued. It didn’t help that it was 80 degrees out by the time I was finished. I’m planning cut the long runs back for a few months, but I’m trying to cram in as much distance experience running outside as possible while it’s still not quite Florida summer hot. I’m glad I could do it, but running is hard and I need to use common sense. Consulting Jeff Galloway’s plans again.
80 degrees are brutal! great job, PlantMom. My guess is that your body is running out of easily accessible stored fuel and possibly gets low on electrolytes by mile 9, as mine usually does (when I have not trained for long distances in a while). So 9 and 10 miles might be completely different runs energy-wise! For a half, you might need to play with electrolyte and gel supplements. MOfWC recommends Huma gels, and I second that!
Did another strength/balance workout with my trainer today and then spent 45 minutes on the Cybex arc machine.
10 miles in 80 degrees is excellent, and it is sort of normal to feel pretty bad after a long, hot run. I think I would do Galloway through the summer.
High temps are really tough on your body and require time for your body to acclimate. As BB suggests, hydration, electrolytes and nutrition need to be planned out especially on long duration/distance runs. The Huma gels seem to be very popular. If you don’t like the consistency or potential mess with gels and their packets, Cliffshot Bloks are also excellent. They are like eating Gummy Bears and really work for me on long bike rides. Also make sure you are giving yourself enough recovery time.
Here’s a different study on exercise and Bone Mineral Density that finds a statistically significant increase over a 12 month period. It seems that one of the differences from other studies’ results is the modality of exercise. This study looked at high velocity progressive resistance training. Wonder what the results would be over a longer duration.
This might be true for some sports that don’t require any special abilities beyond physical conditioning. Even for something like sprinting, if your muscles aren’t mostly fast-twitch, you will not be the next Usain Bolt no matter how you train, because you have limited ability to change your muscle type.
And there are certain skills that cannot be pushed beyond a certain level by training, IMO, such as the hand-eye coordination and eyesight to hit a hundred-mile-an-hour fastball, or the insane body awareness and body control of an NFL receiver getting two toes down while catching a ball fully laid out at full speed with a defender draped over top of them.
One of my favorite NFL plays of all time is a Tom Brady to Randy Moss touchdown pass where Moss ran full speed through the end zone and reached up at the last instant to snag the ball with one hand. ESPN did an analysis of this play and showed that Moss had a window of one hundredth of a second in which to make that play. I don’t think us mere mortals can train up for that.
Yes, mental toughness can overcome a lot, but I don’t think that alone can push you into elite status.