JCC 2024 Fitness Goals

Update: back is feeling better and bike rack has been acquired.

I had another swim lesson on Wednesday and then a swim practice on Friday morning. My swim/triathlon coach went over the training plan afterward during some dead time she had between lessons. I started today with a 40-minute bike ride, except that because the weather here is questionable and I'm still rusty enough on basic bike skills that trying to go straight out on wet pavement would be a bad idea, I went to Planet Fitness and used an upright exercise bike. This was my first time messing with the workout feature and HR zone alarms on my Garmin watch and I liked how it works.

The plan is to run, bike, and swim twice each per week, except for taking breaks while traveling for kayaking. Sundays are a rest day, so nothing tomorrow, then I have a 30-minute run (which will probably be mostly speed-walking) Monday that I'll try to do before work depending on weather and light. After that, hopefully the weather cooperates for my first real bike ride Tuesday after work (with the help of an extra hour of daylight!) The first three weeks are all just "run X minutes" or "bike X minutes", with more specific workouts with intervals and such coming after that.

 

Sorry to triple-post, but I have a question.

Is it bad that my first "run" workout for my triathlon plan was entirely a walk not much faster than my everyday walking speed (which, tbh, is pretty fast to begin with)? I was told I need to stay in heart rate zone 2 for the early workouts, but I can't break into a running/jogging gait, no matter how slow, without immediately being in zone 3 as I found out today. I want to actually run, but the best I could manage and stay in zone 2 for the 30-minute workout was a 15:00/mile walk.

 

@jcgoble3 , no, that's not bad, a fast walk is a respectable pace. Stick to the plan and you'll get there.

 

I agree; as long as you finish, even in a fast walk, that is what's most important initially. Moving faster comes with time as you build up your cardio endurance even more. Take pride in the fact you were able to finish your first practice run training for the triathlon. Many people cannot even do that.

So I meant to post this a while back, but I thought it was really interesting:

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/fitness/zone-2-cardio-training-18820863

It's not the first time I've heard Zone 2 training is the best for various reasons, but I've never seen it this hype up before. It is music to my ears since, given my age and health goals, "Zone 2" is my jam. I am now at the point where I get on the elliptical for a while and go at a solid pace with good resistance (I got it up to 16 now regularly as it only goes to 20) while catching up on TV shows, going for a bike ride or a jog around the ponds/parks by us along with some light weight training and spending lots of time stretching is what I can and want to do for exercise. I am no longer worried about "beach muscles" or anything like that. I can read a clock. I will be the big 5-0 in not even four years, and guys around my age are already dropping dead of heart attacks.

My overall health is my worry now. I want to know my resting heart rate, how much energy I have, how flexible I am, my test scores, what my stress test shows, etc. Again, I am not concerned about my beach muscles as I am well past that point in my life (sorry, Ms. Luke02). I will have to wait awhile for my test scores as my annual physical is right after school gets out (though I pushed it back a week since I need to get my blood work done for it the Sunday before it happens and since it is Memorial Day weekend and I will be eating crappy that weekend, I pushed to have the blood work done the following Sunday to give myself a better fighting chance). My physical is always when I have my stress test. Still, the good news is my resting heart rate is now in the low 60's on a daily basis as I even improved it from the mid or even upper sixties over the past few months (I love to see it drop below 60 but I don't think I will ever get to that type of fitness level again). My VO2 score is 42-46, which is good for my age. After a two-week cleanse, I also changed my diet to be more green (salads, fruits, vegetables, etc) than brown (breads, pasta) and am eating more fish than before. It took a bit, but I feel much better overall (less sluggish) and only drink diet soda on the weekends.

And because of our daughter, as a family, we are all going to try and have Saturday be our "cheat day" after Easter and try as a family to eat healthy during the week (though the kids get a bit more leeway) with Sunday being a day in the "middle ground" as one of our sons like to say. So will see what my test scores say in early June but (fingers crossed) feels like I made some really good gains this year so far in terms of my overall health.

 

So after the above, I talked with my coach and she said that I do need to actually run to get to where I need to be. She told me to dispense with heart rate zones and instead do intervals of 2 minutes light jog/3 minutes fast walk.

Today, I did that interval run for the second time, being my longest one yet -- 3.2 miles in 42 minutes, including a 5-minute warmup and a 5-minute cooldown. I felt like it was a really good and strong workout when I hit "save" on my Garmin watch. My watch then proceeded to tell me that my workout was "unproductive" and reduced my estimated VO2 max from 46 to 45.

**** you too, Garmin.

 

That is a good pattern in my experience for building up stamina in running. And the heck with trackers that don’t accurately appreciate your work.

 

Set a personal best at swim practice this morning -- 4x25 freestyle on :30 rest to start, which is the least rest I've ever done for that many lengths. I feel like I'm getting close to my first continuous 50-yard set. Then I just got home from the personal trainer, and she worked my legs hard, and I was barely able to climb the stairs to my second-floor apartment.

Tomorrow I will try to do something toward the triathlon goal, but it will have to be indoors as they are forecasting severe weather tomorrow evening. Which probably means spin bike at Planet Fitness since I'm scared of running on a treadmill. There is an indoor track I have access to but I don't think it's a safe place to be during severe weather (second floor with the entire front straight and both side straights directly adjacent to giant two-story-tall windows).

 

I tried doing 100k steps but only got to 50k lol. I still have no clue how I did that twice. That’s like 17 hours of walking

 

I did 28000 recently and had to rest a bit the next day due to life being stupid.

 

In distance races, I always started slow. My warm-ups were minimal, save the energy for the race, start slow and pick up speed gradually as I warmed up, and pass people steadily for the rest of the race. Passing people gives me a boost, getting passed is a bit of a downer.

 

I’ve just passed 100 miles of “Fantasy Hike.” It’s fun and a bit of a ripoff of some story about the One Ring, but I like seeing my progress.

I just saw a fundraiser walk in October and decided I want to do it. You have the option to walk a marathon distance and I want that to be my goal.

 

Go at the pace of a giant rug that is being unrolled. Slow in the beginning, gradually picking up speed.

 

averaging 26k steps so far this year

 

This is why I like starting slow and picking up speed, also known as "negative splits".

I had a different kind of race on Saturday: my first downriver kayaking race. 7.5 miles down the Red Moshannon Creek in central Pennsylvania, mostly flatwater with a few Class II rapids. Completed it in 1:27:37 for 6th place out of 9 in my class (classes were based on gender, age, and boat type), about 20 minutes behind the winner of my class.

Couple of action shots of me (spoilered for vertical space):

Spoiler

Definitely a huge test of my endurance, but a lot of fun and good practice of my water reading skills (locating underwater rocks, identifying good channels, etc.) given that the river was quite low for this year's race.

 

Speaking of endurance while being in awe of @jcgoble3…

In six months and four days, there is a 26.2 mile fundraising walk. I’ve decided to train for that and make it my major goal for the year. I’d like to start making it a yearly thing, since it’s for cancer, but I’m going to start small.

 

Spent Sunday through Wednesday at a special kayaking clinic hosted by four-time world champion Eric Jackson. Boy, was I exhausted! Rested at home yesterday, then after dangerously high water scuttled this weekend's plans, I went for a swim tonight. I finally managed to complete my first continuous 50-yard swim! (or maybe 50 meters, I'm not sure about this pool) Unfortunately, the effort to complete it took so much out of me that I nearly didn't survive the next 25 after one minute rest, and then I took three minutes rest and barely completed another 25 gasping for air. So I decided to call it quits after just 100 yards/meters. Good to know I can do a 50 now, but I should stick to 25s for a while. At least I was happier with my kick and head position when breathing. Tomorrow morning, I will do a run.

 

I did it.


Third day of my life of getting over 100k steps. I think today I’ll beat my record of 111k

it takes a lot of ****ing follow through and insanity to do this.

 

Did you run a marathon or something? Or did you just never stop walking from the moment you woke up?

 

Just walking. Didn’t fall asleep today as I was binge watching the new fallout show. and just kept walking

100k is like 47 miles. The only way to do that at least for me is to never overextend yourself. So no running at all during the day. Slow will win the race in this case. The most I pushed myself was for like 5 hours on the treadmill I was doing 3.5 miles per hour.

it takes nearly 16 hours of constant walking. Do you need to go in the day assuming you won’t get

 

Bruh There ain't no way I could do that. I need my rest. I got 12,000 steps today and that's huge for me, but it's also largely because I ran a 5K this morning. Not all of my exercise shows up as steps -- neither weightlifting, cycling, nor swimming are steps, so I don't pay a lot of attention to step count anymore.

 

I don’t move tomorrow as a comprise.

like there is a nonzero chance that I straight up don’t leave my bedroom tomorrow not because my legs hurt that much but I do think if you do push yourself that much you need a day off at least

 

I've been feeling uncertain and lacking confidence in my bike skills during this triathlon training. Yesterday I went to the local bike shop that's helped me out so much to buy a proper bike jersey. Instead of $45 for a simple plain safety yellow jersey, I spent $75 on a cool looking design emblazoned with the shop's logo and slogan, thinking that if I looked like a "sponsored" rider, I might feel more confident and powerful.

It worked! Today I did a 25-minute ride around my apartment complex and felt so much better and more confident with my turns and maneuvering, and even managed to take one hand off the handlebars long enough to signal a turn when there was a car behind me. Oh, and then I took a 90-second transition into a 5-minute run, known as a "brick" workout. Running right after a bike ride is no joke! I was supposed to do that twice, but time constraints limited me to one round of it.

Don't underestimate the power a clothing upgrade can have to your confidence and self-esteem.

 

Speaking of resting I went to bed at like 9:50 and woke up at 1 PM Lol

 

@jcgoble3 , have you tried going straight from bike to running with no transition time at all? I did once, and my legs were still trying to pedal the bike even though I had my feet on the ground. I don't recommend it.