<p>Only did some weights at home today. I felt very tired and took a three-hour afternoon nap even though I didn’t intend to. May be a lack of sleep during the week or maybe I had a cold. It’s hard to tell because I was definitely affected by allergies. I was fine inside the office but they hit when I went outside.</p>
<p>I was very tempted to go the nap route, especially when I watched the kitty curl up on my bed as I was changing into workout gear to hop on the Airdyne. I really wanted to try these 1 mile intervals. I’ll be taking a day off from exercise tomorrow.</p>
<p>My running plans fell apart. Arrgh!!! Im hitting the trail first thing tomorrow morning. The Easter brunch can wait until I finish running my 10 miles.</p>
<p>I think that burpees are relatively easy because I do the individual components of the burpee regularly. I do the military press and squats with a 65 pound barbell and do pushups regularly. The military press and squats have me feeling drained for a short period of time so 65 pounds is a good level of weight for me. My feeling is that I’m better off doing these three exercises in isolation as it’s a lot easier on my knees.</p>
<p>I feel a lot better this morning - I’m thinking more that I had something for a few days as I was in a bit of a fog. The fog lifted this morning. I’m working at the office today and I brought my gear in so I’m going to do some kind of workout later on.</p>
<p>arabrab – thanks so much for the detailed info about achilles tendinitis! (And here I had always thought it was tendonitis…) It’s just a twinge, so I’m pretty sure I can keep it all under control. Maybe running just isn’t in the cards for me … But, the small amount I’ve been doing (along with all the other exercise) has certainly been good for my BP – I had a doc appointment the other day and my BP was 114/74.</p>
<p>Happy Easter to everyone celebrating. We’re off to MA for a family gathering with H’s side. D is with us; we’ll pick up S on the way.</p>
<p>Phew… 11 miles. Done. I took it extremely easy today, running 8:40. I did not want to look wiped out; after all, it is Easter. :)</p>
<p>Now off to shower and get ready to go out for breakfast. Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates, and a wonderful Sunday to everyone!</p>
<p>CBBBlinker: it is spelled both tendinitis and tendonitis. I don’t know why there are two variants – most of the docs I’ve had have use the “in” spelling; much of what I see on web pages for consumers uses the “on” spelling, which matches how we spell tendon.</p>
<p>I am finishing my first week of three times weekly high intensity intervals using short (forty second) intervals when walking, and it is going okay so far. The most I can go – up a small incline but not too steep – is a very fast walk that is almost but not quite breaking into a run, and forty seconds of that is exhausting. </p>
<p>I’m traveling this week, but when I get back I’m going to try them out in the pool (as a break for my feet/ankles) and on a rowing machine to see if either of those work as an alternative. My conditioning is clearly improving a lot from the weight training and functional fitness, but I know that running is a terrible idea for my feet and ankles, so I need an option for when the really fast walking isn’t enough – and serious hills aren’t an option with the history of achilles problems, particularly at high intensity. I hate exercise bikes with a passion, but maybe it would be different with these very short intervals? The other option I’m thinking about is doing stairs over at the stadium. I don’t think I’d have to go really fast to be at max intensity, and stairs are much easier on my ankle (at least going up) than hiking up an incline. </p>
<p>First Easter in …forever?.. without candy, and I’m not feeling any great loss. Getting together with some other couples for a nice Easter dinner tonight for which I’m making a flourless chocolate cake that’s fabulous to serve with whipped cream and fresh raspberries, and I’m going to enjoy it!</p>
<p>Made a Thai Flank Steak salad for dinner last night that was scrumptious, and I am trying to think of why in the world I’ve let it go several years without making it. It is definitely going on the rotation for summer. </p>
<p>Happy Easter to all!</p>
<p>I am so discouraged. My right side is now every bit as sore as the left was. It’s ridiculous. It took me a friggin’ year to get the left pain-free and 5 months of running to even get back to within a minute a mile of where I was. I limped through 4 miles yesterday on a pretty flat path yesterday to be with ( “with” meaning on the same trail) as my son and husband and it hurt a lot. I’m done. Not sure I have it in me to fight this again. Tried the stupid elliptical at the hotel gym this am and it was boring and not the kind I like. The Precor EFX or whatever it is is too “climby” as opposed to “runny” if you know what I mean. Not good for this injury. I’m sulking. I may gonto yoga tomorrow before we travel home, but I hate to pay $$$ to exercise. Did I mention sulking</p>
<p>That said, it was a joy to watch my son run again. His knee is still a problem and he keeps his runs pretty short, but I even saw him eyeing a race brochure and he admitted to checking race results from past Bolder Boulder (the huge race here). I sort of made a bargain with God awhile ago and that may be what is going on here. It was that I would sacrifice my running if my son could run again. Both my kids are running and I am so happy about that. Maybe I’m done. I cry thinking about it, though.
PT on Tuesday. Sitting on a tennis ball in the meantime.</p>
<p>Hugs all around for MOWC. I am so sorry to hear of your new pain. I’d make a joke about how at least you are balanced again on both sides, but somehow I don’t think that would cheer you up!</p>
<p>Just forget the running for now and enjoy Easter with Wild Child.</p>
<p>arabrab:</p>
<p>Woooo. Thai flank steak salad sounds good. The pork version is called larb. I can’t remember what the beef version is called, but it’s fantastic. Time to dig out the Thai cookbook. Thanks for the inspiration.</p>
<p>Your walking intervals sound fantastic. A rowing machine is supposed to be a killer whole body workout. The only downside is that there is a learning curve on the technique so you don’t row with your lower back. Once you’ve got the technique, there’s probably no better workout. The Concept 2 people have a series of instructional videos on their website on learning the technique, step by step.</p>
<p>I’m going to spend some more time on the Airdyne working on long half-mile and one-mile intervals 90 to 180 seconds. Not optimum for fat loss, but based on what I experienced yesterday, I need to work on endurance muscle and aerobic capacity.</p>
<p>Ran 4.25 miles and spent a bit of time doing the bench press which I have neglected for a few weeks. The run felt very good and relaxing - haven’t gone this far since last October. Losing a bit of weight means that I can slowly ramp up on distance. I hope to get back to six miles by the end of June.</p>
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<p>Since I’ve been trying to rest my foot, I’ve been using the rowing machine. Used it once for 10 minutes and was greatly fatigues for several days after that.</p>
<p>What’s wrong with rowing with the lower back, if that’s one of the things one wants to target??</p>
<p>Big hug to you, MoWC. I honestly think you will be back in form some day, but I have a hunch you may have to truly let go for a little while. I don’t think it is time to hang up your shoes permanently - not yet!</p>
<p>The biggest issue in fatigue when starting rowing is that the arm aerobic capacity isn’t there. Leg strength usually isn’t the issue. With rowing, you have to start slowly and build up - it can be frustrating because it seems fairly easy from the perspective of lung capacity - it’s just that your arms aren’t used to doing those motions at load over and over and over again - unless you do a similar exercise.</p>
<p>One other issue in starting rowing is if you don’t have a lot of flexibility. On the Concept IIs, the controls are mounted pretty close to the flywheel so you have to compress your legs and lean forward to do the settings and sometimes it’s tough to do. Take it from me, one who could always use more flexibility.</p>
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<p>The disciples of back guru Stuart McGill try to avoid anything that rounds the lower back. So a proper rowing techique (I think) would be hip hinge movement, similar to a dead lift. The lower back stays straight or “neutral”. The Concept 2 videos seem to do a great job of explaining the proper technique. If I had access to a rowing machine, that’s where I would start in learning the “do’s” and “don’ts”). The videos teach a specific sequence of legs, back, and arms.</p>
<p>I know exactly what you are asking. I’ve just gone thru learning how to strengthen my lower back muscles (spinal extensors) without rounding my spine and appying shear force or bending force on the spine. It’s a fine line to walk. Basically, the lower back muscles are used to prevent the spine from bending, much the same way that guy wires keep a tall TV antenna tower from falling over. So, in rowing (or lifing weights), the trick is to bend at the hip while the lower back muscles hold the spine in the neutral straight position (actually with a slight backwards curvature for most of us).</p>
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<p>That’s what I’m thinking, too. I wouldn’t hang up the shoes, but I would set an extended period of time, up front, with zero running or jogging, maybe even walking and then go from there. Maybe a month. Maybe three months. I know that it’s tough to contemplate, but I don’t think there are really any good alternatives at this point. Pick up a copy of New Rules of Lifting for Abs or Rachel Cosgrove’s book and just throw yourself into doing that for the next three months with the same determination you put into running. At the end of the program, you’ll either be stronger and more flexible and be able to run again or you’ll be stronger and more flexible and you still won’t be able to run again. Either way, you’ll at least have gotten something out of a forced layoff.</p>
<p>I think the root cause of your problems is probably the inevitable muscular imbalance that comes from years of high mileage running. After she did massive running mileage training for Ironman, Cosgrove talks about having to stop cold turkey and do other things to get her other muscles back in gear. The biggest issue is the lack of glute activation in running. It’s all calves and quads.</p>
<p>So I lied about taking a day off. It was 70 degrees outside and the lure of a walk in shorts and a t-shirt was more than an ol’ (formerly) fat guy could resist. So, off I went over hill and dale on my standard 5K+ route. Of course, it sprinkled on me all way home (not on the weather radar I checked, so no hat, arghh!)</p>
<p>I booked it the whole way. Walked the first mile 22 seconds faster than I’ve ever walked a mile. And then cheated a little on the homeward leg. I jogged across the main road and then kept jogging for a few hundred yards or so. Then, coming up over the hill on my street, I saw that my wife was in the yard, so I had to kick it up and jog the final few hundred yards into the barn just to see the look on her face. Jogging is completely different now than it was last summer.</p>
<p>So I knocked off 1.5 minutes off my previous best on his route, averaging 15:07 per mile.</p>
<p><a href=“http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/226811098[/url]”>http://slowgeek.com/ru/hwc1954/226811098</a></p>
<p>At the end, I found out that Tiger Woods lives in my iPod too, when he came on the headphones and said I had just recorded my fastest mile! I guess it was those new Nike shorts…</p>
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<p>Speaking of iPods, it gave me great music today, including an extended jam from Little Feat’s live album of their classic:</p>
<p>There’s a (Formerly) Fat Man in the Bathtub</p>
<p>It felt so nice to be out walking in shorts and a t-shirt with at least a few minutes of sun along the way.</p>
<p>I’ve been working on my glutes and core for a year. That’s what got the left side better. This is not an injury that gets better just from rest. I can’t run. That’s not an issue right now. It hurts too much. It hurts to sit in the car.
I don’t know what the situation will be with cycling. It isn’t a great option for me and it makes me nervous.
I dreamed all winter about running this summer. No heavy shirts or tights. No gloves. Sweat and hills. Early morning runs. Done before work. Pretty much eat whatever I want. Poof. Gone.</p>
<p>It just sucks, MOWC. We were **all **hoping you had put this behind you. All you can do is make lemonaid out of the lemons. You are so fit and strong. There are lots of options. Maybe a kayak is in your future. Swimming the English channel. Water skiing. I don’t know. Maybe bowling! :)</p>
<p>So sorry MOWC. Yoga may help with the pain…and once you go to a few classes, you can do it on your own…no cash outlay. My ortho doc does it so he can continue to run…he’s in his 60s and says he as hamstring injuries when he stops. He’s the one who turned me on to it…although I’ve never warmed to hot yoga :). Went to a class yesterday where everyone was doing full headstands…very intimidating.<br>
IDAD…love Little Feat! On my ipod too…
And to all…hey…I don’t get to check in much anymore but when I do - it inspires me to get off my butt! Plan to get up early and do some interval walking at Valley Forge Park…it’s getting light out early these days…yay.<br>
And we got new bikes. Treks. Very cool. Have done some training rides so far but looking forward to long rides soon!
And, finally, I haven’t gained any weight even though I have a crazy job with way too many hours. Getting those eating habits set really makes a difference…</p>