Yeah, yeah ... I know, darn it

It's been a while, I know. And it's kind of ironic that I haven't been posting, because I've actually been working out more often, more productively, and with more focus than I have in a decade. It's even more ironic that I am posting today, after I've been sick for a week with a cold and couldn't workout at all.

My friend and I joined the nearest LA Fitness as members (which basically just means we can use any LA Fitness in America, except certain higher-level clubs here and there), and with the exception of this week have been going three days a week to do strength and cardio. Started on 13 August, and since then I've made tremendous progress in my strength. The cardio has been relatively minimal, mostly just enough to get a lung-burn in weekly. I've been focusing on improving my leg strength, specifically to make the cycling pedal stroke more efficient and make the hill climbing not quite as much of a challenge to the cardio workout.

Speaking of cycling ... I bought a new bike too ! I will give a better review of it a little later in the week, after my third good long ride on it, but I will give you a hint: it's an awesome value and a really good starter bike.

So later this week, I will post a full on review of my new bike, and a post detailing the improvements from the gym workouts.

Here's the first pic of the new bike:

Quick weigh-in results

Current weight: 226.2 (+2.5#)

Weekly weigh-in

Well, it was supposed to be Friday, but ... um, I forgot. So I did it today instead. Next week I'll make sure it's done on-time.

Today: 224.7 pounds (-4.9 pounds).

Weekly weigh-in

Today's weigh-in: 229.3 pounds (-1.7 from last Tuesday).

With the new change in my work schedule, weigh-ins will be on Friday mornings, starting this Friday.

Yesterday's weight workout

Was on a 24 hour shift yesterday, and unable to blog but I was able to get over to the fire station and get in a weight workout with a short zone 2 spin after. Legs felt pretty rubbery after, which I expected. They're still a little shredded, but should be recovered fully in time for tomorrow morning's long Tour de France trainer effort.

Resistance workout

Brief, single set resistance workout from the Friel book for Base 1. Not having done any strength training in a few weeks, I chose to limit the reps, weight, and sets for now. Feel pretty good after though ! Rest day tomorrow, short Zone 2 spin Friday morning, and more weights on Sunday.

Sprint practice and weigh-in

Today's trainer workout was inspired by part of a workout that Chris Charmichael posted for Stage 3 of the Tour yesterday. His version is preceded by a 1 hour 30 minute Zone 2 ride, but I did it as a separate workout today. In short, the workout proper is an interval workout (after a fasion), with a 10-15 second maximum effort, couldn't-go-any-harder-if-you-were-at-gunpoint out-of-the-saddle sprint, followed by a 5- to 8-minute recovery. Beginners, he recommends, should do six of these intervals; intermediate riders ten, and experienced riders fifteen. The basic theory behind it is to drain the muscles of their ATP, then allow your body to fully replenish those stores with a recovery period, then drain them again. The muscles are being trained to superadapt by developing a higher density of mitochondria and glycogen stores, increasing the muscle's responsiveness to stimulus from the somatic nervous system, and improving the speed of the transmission along those nerves.

Anyway ... given that, I did a beginner-level Sprint workout (Coach C. calls them FlatSprints, IIRC) this morning while watching Stage 4 of the Tour. All told, I did forty minutes (including a few seconds' time before sprints to shift gears appropriately and then jam) plus the warmup, stretch, additional warmup, and warmdown. It was a pretty good workout, but I think the next time I do it I can move up to the intermediate level because I still had a LOT left in the tank after. Or, perhaps, Coach C. knows what he's doing more than I do, and I need to add that workout to the end of an Endurance Miles workout just like he said LOL.

Weigh-in this morning: 231.0 pounds (+2.9). I am sure that it's because I hadn't gotten on the trainer hardly at all the previous two weeks. That won't be a problem this week :D

Riding (okay, spinning) the Tour de France

Stage 3 of the 2011 Tour de France. Live on Versus starting at 05:00 local time here. Naturally, I have to get up and watch it.

But, I also want to get in a spin workout. What to do ... what to d.... HEY! I just had a GREAT idea! I'll spin, and WATCH at the same time!!

In fact, what I did today was to get up a little early, fuel, hydrate, change, and warmed up while watching the pre-race stuff, then when they went to the live action I was ready and in the saddle. Did a zone 2 (mostly with a few minutes of 3) spin ... originally, I was aiming to be in the saddle and spinning the whole time they were racing, but wasn't quite ready for that much spinning. Did make 2 hours and 26 minutes though, plus warm up, stretching, and warmdown, and frankly it was a great spin. Thinking back on it, I think I could have done the last forty-five minutes or so if I'd been a little more judicious with fueling during, but can't be sure until I have more data.

Tomorrow: sprint practice (on the trainer. During the tour).

Weigh-in

I almost forgot. Last week's Tuesday morning weigh-in was 230.8 pounds, and today's morning weigh-in was 229.1 (-1.7 pounds).

Zone 2 spin from today

Today's workout was a Zone 2 spin. As I noted in an earlier blog I planned the spin to be 90 minutes, with the intent of making it a full two hours to make up for the missing 25 minutes from Sunday's spin, and I did indeed make up that difference, and then a little bit more. Total workout was 2:05:00, not including an eight minute warm up, stretches, and a five minute warm down. This time, I was able to track my heart rate in real-time, and I'll tell you how.

First, remember that I have a Wii, and then I should tell you that I have the EA Sports Active 2 game for the Wii, including all the accoutrement that go with it. I had been looking at a way to use the game for the HRM, but hadn't really seen any easy way to do it; so I ... "hacked" it. Sort of kind of.

What I did was I created a custom workout of 38 consecutive sessions of "Mountain Bike" from the "Activities" selection, which is the maximum allowed (not sure if it's a time or a number limit, but I think it's a time limitation). Total, that amounts to about 59 minutes of workout time, give or take how long it actually takes to complete each "activity." I then did my warm up, stretches, put on the arm band (which is also the HRM) and the leg band, and started the workout. With this system, I was able to do about an hour and fifteen in actual time (I didn't stop pedaling just because the "activity" was finished and was loading the next), then when it finished I did a quick create on a new workout of 19 of the same activities (about 29 minutes of listed time), and finished off the workout (took about 45 minutes of actual time to do). I was able to keep pedaling in Zone 2 at the end of the workout when it shows the summary, and then did my warm down and finished.

All told, I was able to keep my HR in Zone 2 for about 2 hours and 3 minutes, with about 2 minutes spent in Zone 3. I never let it drop for more than a few seconds into Zone 1, and spent most of the time in the middle of Zone 2 (for me, Zone 2 is 130-143 BPM, and my average for this workout was 136). Felt good at the end, a little tired but not too bad. I was able to fuel with a couple of gels partway through and a bottle of HammerHEED, so I never bonked nor got hungry. Good times.