<p>My PT was pretty impressed with the scrapes/bruises on my elbow, but I didn’t know anything out of alignment. My hamstrings are still REALLY sore and tight. He did a lot of work with me last night to unload some of that tension. He thinks I still have something coming from my back. I ran 3.3 fairly easy miles on the dreadmill after PT, which meant I didn’t take a total rest day but mentally I felt better having done the short run and it felt pretty decent.
Today is gloomy with a little spitting snow, and I am going to try a lunchtime run. I don’t have a shower (just a large private handicap bathroom) and the routes are not nice. I think I will loop the Titans stadium a few times. It’s better than the treadmill and pretty flat once I cross the river.</p>
<p>Schedule (work and family) are kind of rough right now with the semester starting next week. I need to pick up textbooks, pay bills and get them to campus this weekend.</p>
<p>Yesterday I just shoveled snow and cleared the roof again. Much less snow than last week but it was soaked with rain so it was heavier. I’m hearing another potential 6-12 inches on Friday. I like snowstorms spaced apart so that ice dams can’t build up. I’m hoping that the small ice dam (2-3 inches) melts today before we go into the deep freeze tonight.</p>
<p>Whew! Woke up early again this morning so I went to the gym! Did 10 HIIT intervals on the bike…20 seconds hard… minimum 112 rpm, 30 seconds recovery and had jello for legs. Stayed on bike and did level 8 for more time. Total 70 minutes. Then did 60 smith bar assisted pushups. HR was racing! Had to shower at the club…ish…I don’t like that! Anyone see Biggest Loser last night? The roastd butternut squash that Curtis Stone cooked looked wonderful! But Holy Cow! That lunch was almost 600 calories! :eek:</p>
<p>My inner thighs are sore again tody from the core ball swings. Amazing how that affects me even with all of the biking. Great exercise and boy does it get my HR up!</p>
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<p>Dang, NMinn. You are an animal! I can’t do those short recovery intervals. I need at least 2:1 recovery time to sprint time. Maybe 20 seconds hard, 40 easy, but I would be dying by the 10th one.</p>
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<p>Those swings are a fantastic exercise. They work the “glutes” (butt muscles) like crazy. Fantastic core strength exercise. They give the shouders a workout. And, they make you sweat buckets and pant like a dog. I first saw them in Spartacus and thought, “Woah, I don’t know about these. I’m not sure I can do them…”</p>
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<p>Arghhh. I know those well from my first faceplant in the state park. Hurt like hell, for a couple of weeks. But, no broken bones is good news. That’s what worries me about my proclivity for falling. It’s so easy to wipe out a wrist.</p>
<p>^^ One of my old running friends who now lives in AZ just broke his wrist when he was hiking with his dog and the dog saw a rabbit. 15 foot leash and a fast dog= broken wrist!</p>
<p>I managed 6.3 miles at lunch today. Gloomy, ugly day, but it’s DONE!!! Pushed the pace and felt pretty OK for about 4 miles, but, unfortunately, had to finish up. Long uphill over the river in the last mile was not pleasant. </p>
<p>iDad- Maybe we could invent something for older runners/walkers sort of like those “walkers” you put babies in where they roll around the floor. I could quit the day job!</p>
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<p>Baaa waaa haaaa… Perfect! My daughter’s was red tubular, no table or anything, just round base and top, three wheels. That’s exactly what I need! </p>
<p>We could do a Nightlife version in neon yellow and reflective trim for all the ol’ guys who want to run or walk after dark.</p>
<p>Better yet, we just need an informercial showing how just a few easy dance steps in this contraption (“so easy you can do it while watching TV”) will give you ripped abs! Get a slot on QVC and sell a million of 'em…</p>
<p>Getting a little tired of shoveling snow/slush as my “weights” workout. Plus, when we have lousy driving conditions and H needs to go somewhere, he takes my car, leaving me his semi-useless-in-snow sedan. No car = no gym. Could be in for another round (of snow) on Friday. Is it summer yet?</p>
<p>Great article in today’s WSJ about snow shoveling and how to best accomplish it. It talks about how dangerous it can be for our age group.(Does anyone actually read WSJ for financial info? I don’t.) I found the perfect snow shovel which was reviewed in the article and I went online to try to order one. Found it at Home Depot online (not in stores in our area) and filled out all the stuff to order it. Got to the shipping charge- $45!!! For my $35 shovel! Nope- not in this lifetime. I called Customer Service and got nowhere. They send it by freight (and won’t send to a store for free…). The guy admitted it was a little over the top. I then found it on Amazon for $46 and free shipping. I will soon by the proud owner of an Ames SnoBoss. Yes, I live in the South.</p>
<p>The solution is to get someone younger to shovel.</p>
<p>There’s an inch on the roof right now. We may get another inch. I think that I’ll leave it up there as the sun will be out tomorrow.</p>
<p>New Rules of Lifting for Abs workout today. I’m getting the hang of these things, but that means that I’m cranking up the intensity.</p>
<p>Core was brutal. Two sets of 90 seconds on plank, with 10 seconds at a time of birdog (one arm and opposite leg in the air). One set of 90 seconds on each side of side plank, with 10 second holds of “x” (top arm and leg in the air).</p>
<p>First strength set was alternating between split squats with the front foot on a step (12 on each leg) and inverted rows from the supsension straps. I did the split squats with a 35 pound dumbbell held like a goblet. I’m starting to get the hang of these and I was able to do all three sets with full depth and some ol’ fat guy explosiveness pushing back up. Totally gassed doing it though.</p>
<p>Second set was Romanian deadlifts (a dead lift, but only lowering the weight to mid shin instead of the floor (easier on the back). I got the hang of proper deadlift for the first time – it’s a hip exercise. Those alternated with pushups. Silly me, I did those in the suspension straps. Wow. Those are hard. At the end, I did my daily pull up session. Nine good pullups, only six chin ups. Nothing left in the tank.</p>
<p>65 minutes. Average heart rate 76%. Peak heart rate, 100%. Like I say, I was gassed.</p>
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<p>Hmmm. Now, you’ve got me thinking. Maybe we could all find somebody younger to do these workouts!</p>
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Love it! The “younger ones” in our family are both at school. D is a personal trainer on the side, and S is in Air Force ROTC – surely their combined workouts should take care of mine, right? Still leaves the shoveling, though …</p>
<p>Snow–Yeah, my last slave went off to college last fall, so I’m out there shoveling. I try to use good form and not overdo it (tough this particular winter when it’s been snowing big time every week). DH does some when he’s in town.</p>
<p>I don’t have a weight problem, but that doesn’t mean I’m in good shape. My knees were starting to go, so I did PT and got a series of exercises for quads & muscles around the knees. Exercise bike is recommended. Hips are important, too, I found out. So I have been improving strength, flexibility, & endurance. Yay me! :)</p>
<p>Never thought of myself as a morning person, but it does seem better to exercise first thing in the morning. Later I’m “too tired!”</p>
<p>Sitting and cruising the internet is very bad for muscles controlling the knees, it turns out. :(</p>
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<p>It has actually been known for years that the first snow day tends to result in greater emergency room visits due to heart attacks in people with existing atherosclerosis and poor physical fitness. The snow shoveling is, for people of poor physical fitness, extremely high intensity exercise which increases the risk of atherosclerotic plaques breaking and causing blockages in coronary arteries.</p>
<p>I think that snow shoveling is a pretty high-intensity exercise for people that are fairly fit too. You’re using muscles that don’t usually get a lot of overall use and you’re using small muscles to manipulate large weights. It’s also easy to do because your body’s heat regulation is masked due to cold temperatures outside.</p>
<p>I was able to pick up my laptop (8 pounds) off of my desk for the first time without any pain in a long time. The laptop is mounted on four spools (as in thread spools) and I reach over and grab it with one hand as it is flat so I have weighted leverage working against me. In the past, I would pick it up with two hands. Even when something is healed, you think twice about picking something up that would previously cause pain.</p>
<p>BC:</p>
<p>Glad to hear that your elbow is finally coming around. That’s been a long battle.</p>
<p>NMINN:</p>
<p>You are an animal with those 20:30 intervals. You inspired me to do 20:40s on the Airdyne tonight. I cheated though. After every four intervals, I threw in an extra 60 seconds of rest. That gave me a total of 100 seconds, which was enough to fully recover my heart rate. Then, went hard for the next set of four. I did four sets or 16 intervals and it was grueling. I think I’m out of shape on the Airdyne.</p>
<p>32 minutes including warm up and cool down. Average heart rate 80%. Peak heart rate of 100% (for the second day in a row). I don’t know what’s up with that.</p>
<p>Then, I did my daily quick set of pull ups and chin ups. I think I did seven of one and six of the other. The numbers aren’t going up, but my technique is getting stronger and I’m starting to get the hang of it.</p>
<p>Glad I could help idad! 
Now I need to get someone to inspire me! I am having trouble reaching my next “goal”. Have tried changing things up in the gym and have been wearing my HRM and documenting that I am burning more calories than I thought when I kept track on the machines. Really having trouble getting the scale to swing in a negative direction! Leave for Mexico in a week and did not reach my goal for that! This has thrown for a loop!</p>
<p>NorthMinnesota–what I have been reading lately (not that the latest is always accurate) is that carbs do count. Better to eat fewer carbs and more protein/fat. Same number of calories, but less stored as fat! And less insulin required, which is good for your body overall.</p>
<p>Or so they are saying now.</p>
<p>Thanks mmomusic. I am not a carb eater. Have lost 45 pounds in the last 9 months and have really cut back on the carbs and am heavy on protein. I am usually a 40/30/30 when I track on Daily plate. I am hoping to bust through this plateau soon!</p>