<p>I am trying to stick to a plan for rehabbing my ankle. I am taking ibuprofen about every 5 or six hours and I am not walking at all this weekend. The pain reminds me of when I had that high hamstring pull. I am also icing it when the spirit moves me. I think it is slightly swollen, but I have the skinniest ankles so it is really hard to tell. And the other ankle is the one with the plate and pins. </p>
<p>I am just so frustrated. I know I did this by doing speedwork on the inside lane. </p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words MoWC. My best 1500 time is 9 minutes flat so I don’t think that is faster than your running. I was doing 500 repeats at sub 3:00 and I think that was just stupid, stupid, stupid for just getting back into speedwork. </p>
<p>Yeah I know how I sound (my kids are sick of it)…but its true - so many kids nowadays can’t wait to come home and turn on the various video games. We couldn’t wait to finish dinner and run outside again. </p>
<p>And MoWC, don’t get me started on those horseless carriages…</p>
<p>.worknprogress - amazing running times. Could never do that even in my younger days. Good luck on the rehab. Can you swim or row or something else until the ankle is better?</p>
<p>wow. race walking. runners/race walkers are something else. </p>
<p>Question: anyone ever try those walking poles that are supposed to help give you an upper body workout when walking? I saw someone using them in the park the other day…looked kind of goofy to me, but maybe worth a try?</p>
<p>12 miles, nice and easy pace, finished in about 1:39. Mid-seventies and sunny. The trail was jam-packed with runners, bicyclists, dogs, walkers with baby carriages, walkers without baby carriages, rollerbladers and every possible combination of them. Yay, I can run without hitting the proverbial wall when it is hot! DH took off on his bike in the opposite direction and came back with… a CD. The Verve Pipe was performing a free concert near MSFT! Dang. I missed it. </p>
<p>Racewalking is hard, and racewalkers are amazing. When DH could not run because of his knee problems, he tried racewalking, but his knee still could not handle it, so he reluctantly switched to biking. I think he is enjoying it.</p>
<p>Well, at the risk of the entire group telling me to be quiet because I am always trying to convince someone to join me - racewalking provides more of an upper body workout because, unlike running, you are really using your arms. You keep them at a 90 degree angle, and push them back and forth (at your sides) without crossing the midline. As I walk, my upper arm is pushed to almost parallel to the ground, and as my arm comes forward, I brush my hipbone with my thumb. I lift weights, but my upper body and shoulders get a real workout just from walking. </p>
<p>BTW - I am a very good, but not a spectacular racewalker. My times are nothing compared to the very best people. I love going to the Millrose Games in NYC to watch the best people compete. I have said this many times, but what I love about it is the fact that you can keeping improving your technique, even as age starts to take its toll.</p>
<p>Yes, Nordic walking. Hugely popular in Europe. Started among competitive cross country skiers to maintain fitness in the off season. I really enjoy it and use my poles quite frequently.</p>
<p>So, I went for my usual 5K walk/jog on a beautiful 80 degree summer afternoon. Wore another Marshall’s find - a bright red Under Armor HeatGear shirt. This high tech stuff is amazing. Not even a drop of sweat. Cool as a daisy.</p>
<p>Not really. I’m lying. I was sweating like a pig. Like Rachel Cosgrove says to her girls: “If you want to look lke a fox, first you have to sweat like a pig!”.</p>
<p>Felt great today. Really pushed the pace on my jogging intervals, for an ol’ (formerly) fat guy. Just spectacular day with blue sunny skies and a pretty steady breeze.</p>
<p>^^ Good job. I usually buy pretty expensive workout stuff. I like some of the premium brands. (Well, I get a lot of stuff from Brooks cheap or free, too.) HOWEVER, my daughter and I follow a blog that mentioned Lululemon knock-off workout tank tops at COSTCO. They are $12.99 and come in great colors. They are a light-weight tech fabric with no built-in bra and a racer back. I got a couple for the gym. At this time of year I can barely stand even a singlet outside- just the sports bra and skirt/shorts. Lululemon stuff normally is about $48. H was impressed at my rare display of cheapness! The brand is Kirkland, which is the COSTCO brand, but they are totally a Lululemon imitation. Good seams and everything.</p>
<p>Horrible eating day. Those happen. Those who are my facebook friends probably saw the picture of the TWO French pastries I had at the French bakery for breakfast after my run! It went downhill from there.</p>
<p>Nordic walking is done on all kinds of terrain. The poles have rubber tips for walking on pavement, which remove to expose a sharper tip for softer terrain like trails or gravel.</p>
<p>Marshalls and TJ Maxx have had an endless supply of men’s tech shirts recently. All brands: adidas, Nike, Reebok, Fila, New Balance, Champion. Short sleeve, sleeveless. Lots of colors. $5.99 to $14.99. They only get the occasional Under Armor. This was a plain red tech t with some white accents. Relaxed fit. Nice workout shirt. $14.99.</p>
<p>My find of the week was at the grand opening of an Olympia Sports next to my grocery store. I found a pair of the Nike Velocity Volley volleyball shorts that I love – MEDIUM in black. Heavier tech fabric than running shorts, with pockets. Above the knee. Ideal all-purpose kick-around shorts. Mowing the lawn. Running to Home Depot. Washing the car. Whatever. Double as a bathing suit. $38 at Zappos. </p>
<p>New glute exercise! I am having to unload books from big bookcases and put them in boxes. I drag the full boxes across the rug while in the semi-squat and walk backwards- sort of like that goalie walk with the bands. It works!</p>
<p>idad: “Yes. The ABS version is really the only one to even consider buying at this point. The original New Rules of Lifting and New Rules of Lifting for Women are fairly old books at now and Cosgrove considers parts of the workouts obsolete. The authors basically suggest that, if you are doing one of the older programs, you should substitute the new core stuff. It is also the most general fitness oriented. The older books are a bit more weight lifting oriented without the very strong dynamic warmup and core workouts – the stuff that most of us need desperately.”</p>
<p>I checked on Amazon, and the two “old” books are from 2008! This field is changing fast. Should I wait for the upcoming book directed toward old, unfit people, or get the ABS book now? I watched the video on Amazon:</p>
<p>I can do planks, and have done them before. But after 30 seconds, it’s pretty hard to hold them. Lifting a leg, let alone an arm - I can’t even imagine doing that. It’s as though I am missing the muscles capable of those movements. </p>
<p>I did try pushups on the stairs, and that works pretty well. </p>
<p>I looked at all the Hip Airplane videos, and that one is very easy for me. I have no trouble balancing on one leg, as long as strength is not required. </p>
<p>Will the book I linked above be too advanced?</p>
<p>Yes, changes rapidly. Sports Medicine changes constantly. For example, EVERYTHING I learned about concussions in the fall of 2009 I have given up. In fact, by the time I learned that information, it was old and out of date…</p>
<p>Hmm. I think I am just tooo set in my ways. I am pretty content to do variations of the same routine I have done since 1980. Oh, sometimes I switch around what I do and occasionally I will drop one exercise and revisit something I haven’t done for awhile, or vary the intensity and change number of reps, but I am just not interested in the newer trends. I have my four posters from York barbell, a lifting book from 1982 and I am good to go. I have all of my charts (old graph sheets) from 1985 when we purchased our free weights and started doing our workouts here at the house. I look at the new books and youtube things and just think, well that’s nice, and then go back to my comfortable routine. </p>
<p>I have to admit, when I started this I really never thought I would still be doing it at almost 60. Maybe when I am 80 I will look into some of this newfangled stuff.</p>
<p>The first New Rules of Lifting book was actually written in 2003, even though it wasn’t published until 2006.</p>
<p>There has been a fairly dramatic change in the approach to fitness over the last ten years. There’s a new generation of conditioning coaches and physical therapists who are much more science-driven. Personally, I think the professionalization of the conditioning programs in the NFL and the NBA has been a driving force. The old-school was entirely driven by bodybuilding and power weight lifting traditions. The new school is more driven by athletic performance and, above all else, keeping players injury free.</p>
<p>Will New Rules of Lifting for Abs be too advanced? Hopefully some of it will be. I’ve yet to do any program that wasn’t too advanced in some way. But, I’ve learned that you do what you can do at whatever level you can do it and, maybe if you go back and do the program again a year later, you’ll do it in a completely different way.</p>
<p>I figured this out with a workout called Spartacus that Rachel Cosgrove published. This was just kicking my butt, no way I could do half of these exercises. Then, I watched a video of a women’s fitness class doing the workout at the Cosgrove’s gym and realized that I was killing myself striving for a level of perfection on these exercises far beyond what I saw in the video. As long as I’m not doing stuff that will injure me, just doing it is better than not doing it because it’s too hard to do perfectly. I did side planks from my knees for the first month. I did pushups from my knees for six months (I wish I had known about the stair option because it’s a better way to go). I think one of the strengths of the book is that they provide a number of alternatives that are both easier and harder.</p>
<p>It was an important lesson. I try very hard to do stuff with proper form, but if I’ve got to scale it back or do an easier version, so be it. I’m not too proud. I’m patient enough to let it come to me. I did not do every exercise exactly as written in NROL4ABS. I still do slightly easier versions of a couple of the warmup exercises.</p>
<p>Speaking of workouts being too hard, I watched the video of iPod nazi doing next week’s core workout. He couldn’t do one of the exercises without stopping to rest a couple of times in the 45 seconds. Now I don’t feel so bad. It’s the hardest core exercise I’ve ever done: mountain climbers with the hands on stabilty ball. I know there is no way no how I can do that for 45 seconds. I’ll do what I can do. It’ll probably be a little more than the last time I did that exercise.</p>
<p>Idad, Chintzy, mowc, very impressive pictures, and follow thru on new exercise routines. MoWC - so what you had those pastries? I don’t like labeling any food as forbidden forever or “bad” sets up a mental state of craving. Eat it, then forget about it.</p>
<p>Idad, how is it going with your family’s reaction to your continuing weight loss/fitness? My family is just kind of used to me being the fitness person; husband spends a lot of time regretting he can’t eat/play basketball like he used to. Frankly, he needs a little discipline, but I can’t give it to him. He has lost the same 20 lbs about 5 times.</p>
<p>One son is a fitness person (weights and cardio, varying routines) another likes tennis but plays sporadically now; one likes shopping as an activity, but is excellent at portion control! </p>
<p>I try to lead by example, but ultimately even those closest to us are responsible for their own health.</p>
Yay, I can run without hitting the proverbial wall when it is hot! DH took off on his bike in the opposite direction and came back with… a CD. The Verve Pipe was performing a free concert near MSFT! Dang. I missed it. </p>