<p>Fantastic, NMINN!</p>
<p>I’m so excited for you. Are you finding that you catch yourself wondering where your flab went? I sometimes just stop and think what it was like and what a difference. I was thinking about it warming up on the Airdyne yesterday – what a night and day difference in the whole sensation of pedalling now compared to the early days back when I really was ol’ fat guy pedalling away with a big ol’ belly and a big ol’ butt on that thing. It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?</p>
The Airdyne thanks you, too!
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<p>I don’t know. I’m floggin’ it pretty hard at 100 rpms. </p>
<p>The crazy thing is that I did the full five minute warmup yesterday at 55 rpms. That was my fast sprint interval pace when I first started back in March.</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota, that is fantastic! Is your challenge over now?</p>
<p>Thanks all! Yes, the challenge is over so I now have to motivate myself! H and I are going to Cabo at the end of January so that should help keep me on track!</p>
<p>Back on the bike today and then hit the weights and mats to work on my planks. The side plank is hard for me! Did some band work, too. Those tricep dips are killers!</p>
<p>Whoo hoo! 45 pounds is awesome!!! Congratulations, NorthMinn. And yes, those dips are tough.</p>
<p>iPod nazi supersets today, plus a little something extra:</p>
<p>Dumbbell rows, 25 pounds, 10 on each arm.
Bulgarian split squats, 8 on each leg, knee down to ground on all 16.
Stability ball dumbbell press: 10 reps, two 25 pound dumbbells
Box jump up 12 steps</p>
<p>Svetlana’s “coaching” helped me do better burpees today. I can’t do very many, but I was “snapping” to all the positions – being more athletic in the jump to legs outstretched, legs in, and so forth – and getting off the ground and stuff. I was also happy that I figured out a way to go the full 60 seconds of jumping jacks on the final set. That’s another exercise that will gas an ol’ fat guy very quickly.</p>
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<p>I’ve officially hit my first sustained plateau since I started this mess in February. My weight has been bouncing up and down, treading water, and is now exactly where it was 2 weeks ago. Halloween candy didn’t help, I’m sure. I’m just doing to keep at it. I’ve been working out very hard. It’s pretty much impossible that I can track 1800 calories a day, do these workouts, and not continue to get more fit. On the other hand, I’m now getting down into a range where the scale isn’t going to move as quickly as I’ve grown accustomed to.</p>
<p>Good attitude idad! You will bust through this plateau!
That is exactly what the trainer was telling me the other day. The closer I get to my goal weight the more I might need to add more weights to my routine. I really can’t cut any more calories as I am around 1200 per day. He was advocating building large muscles to keep metabolism up and burn more calories.</p>
<p>Hit the gym this morning with H. We drove separately so I could get my whole work out in without worrying about him. I did a 5K on the dreadmill and then biked for 50 minutes. Trying to burn calories since we will be going out tonight for dinner and drinks with friends.</p>
<p>Ran 2.6 miles today! Hmm, maybe I will be able to run a whole 5k by turkey trot day.</p>
<p>I think my scale is testing (or maybe just taunting) me. Like idad, for the past few weeks my weight has been about the same. For the last two days I have eaten okay (but not great) and because of assorted cr*p going on I have not exercised at all. Today, I weighed three pounds less than two days ago. Go figure.</p>
<p>Tyler Cup #12 (for me) completed. I raced. I can’t help it. 18:20, which felt pretty darn awful after not running in forever. The horrible cold I have didn’t help. There was a guy in my heat that I wanted to beat, and I did. 3rd in my heat. The first two belonged in a faster heat.(oh wait, with that time, so did I.) Don’t seem to have done any damage.
George W. Bush was humble and funny in his acceptance speech for the Cooper prize. Again-it’s not politics but his commitment to his personal fitness. I saw many old friends and had a great time. There were 4 people over 90 in the event. Talk about humbling.</p>
<p>Latest research from Dr. Cooper shows that if you are fit at 60% you hugely increase your odds of living to 85.</p>
<p>Good for you MOWC – well, except for the running with your injury part! I think the only way to keep you from running is to put you in one of those Hannibel Lechter carts so you can’t escape.</p>
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<p>Tested out the cold weather gear again today. 46 degrees, overcast, and raw here today. Did my little 5k walk wearing the Marmot long sleeve Polartec PowerDry base layer shirt under a Brooks mid-weigth half zip (with thumb holes, etc.). This combo was about right. Worked up a little sweat on the hills, but overall not too hot, not too cold. I did wear my little polyester beanie for the first time:</p>
<p>[Brooks</a> Men’s Infiniti Beanie Visibility](<a href=“http://www.runningwarehouse.com/viewlarge.html?pcode=BIBEANI&large=YE]Brooks”>http://www.runningwarehouse.com/viewlarge.html?pcode=BIBEANI&large=YE)</p>
<p>This was good. Kept my head warm, but not hot like a wool cap. Kind of like a tech t-shirt for your head, which the old fat guy needs!</p>
<p>BTW, for anyone who has the fortitude to track your weight, daily – I would recommend tracking your running 7-day average weight. It smooths out a lot of the ups and downs and gives a better read on up or down and how fast.</p>
<p>Good walking gear! I over-dressed a little for my run and instead of sporting my Brooks uniform I wore my company t-shirt, since this event is sort of about the workplace. I did wear my Brooks shirt under the company shirt for warmth. If I had been racing seriously (well- fast) I would have worn one shirt and shorts instead of capris. I did wear my Brooks long-distance racing shoes.</p>
<p>I have a heart rate question for the experts on this thread. My H, who is a 51-year old distance runner (consistently runs 50+ miles per week) recently started wearing a heart rate monitor. He has noticed a pattern where his heart rate starts very high and then comes down. For example, this morning he ran 24 miles. Mile one was 176 bpm, mile two was 190 bpm, mile three was 168 bpm, and mile four and the next twenty miles were about 128 bpm. Pace was about 8:40 and didn’t vary since this was a long, slow run so he wasn’t pushing the pace at any point. He felt great throughout the run. Is this pattern something to worry about?</p>
<p>He is checking his historical records and he has this pattern of hitting 180+ bpm during the first three miles pretty consistently and then drops below 130 bpm. It is at 60 bpm when he starts. He doesn’t feel like he is going out fast or pushing it at all for the long runs. He says he hasn’t been wearing the heart-rate monitor for his speed workouts, where he does push hard with sprints, so he will start doing that.</p>
<p>That does go against every pattern I’ve ever heard about. Mine starts low and steadily increases and same with H and my other running buddies. I don’t know whether it is anything to worry about or not. Try googling it- there may be some info from letsrun.com or runningahead.com That’s interesting.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about running, but my heart rate typically starts low and shows a slow increase over the course of the workout once I’ve pushed it hard enough to start getting my heart rate up. On the other hand, if your husband can run 20 miles with his heart rate consistently at 130 bpm, I’d say that he’s in pretty good shape!</p>
<p>Thanks. I will do some Googling and see what pops up. My heart rate also starts low, then builds and is higher during the last part of my runs. He is in excellent condition, but you sometimes hear about athletes suddenly having heart attacks so he may have some anomaly with his heart where it would be wise for him to do some sort of extra long warm-up routine. He has been a distance runner for decades and isn’t adding any mileage or doing anything different. He just enjoys long runs.</p>
<p>As an FYI, he started doing that Spartacus workout that Interesteddad introduced on this thread. Even though I don’t post much, I check in once in awhile so forwarded that to him. He loves it, as does my 23-year old son, so thanks for posting that. He does that one on his lunch hour a few days a week. A couple of guys at the gym asked him what program he was doing and now have nicknamed him Spartacus at the gym, which I think he secretly enjoys. I took a stab at it and realized it’s way beyond my abilities even with every possible modification. H plans to follow it through Christmas and then switch out to something else.</p>
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<p>Aside from being a great workout, the real beauty of the Spartacus workout is the concept. You can subsitute any combination of exercises and alter the timing for variety. For example, Spartacus doesn’t have any stability ball exercises, but there’s no reason that those can’t be incorporated in a similar exercise circuit.</p>
<p>I’ve still got a very long way to go with Spartacus. I’m still doing 45 seconds of exercise and 30 seconds of rest in between, instead of the full 60 seconds and 15 seconds (basically none) of rest. I haven’t even attempted a third set. I am seeing some gains in my ability to do the exercises more aggrressively. I’ll probably keep doing Spartacus at least one day a week for a while, mixing it in with the iPod nazi progression – which is now at a pretty comparable level.</p>
<p>If you can’t do the whole thing, I would recommend just taking a couple of the exercises and working them into your routine. I worked on all ten of them before I tried to put the whole thing together.</p>