Tag: Cross Training

Saturday: 5 hours of yard work

3 Comments

I was wondering how to think about yard work as a form of exercise.  What I was doing this weekend was preparing our flower beds for summer.  This entails raking the bed, edging, weeding, and then spreading mulch.  It is pretty demanding work, it works the core mostly, but arms get it pretty good too.

I decided to wear a heart rate monitor to get an idea of how much aerobic benefit there is.  I did two “sessions”.  The first was an hour and forty three minutes.  The I needed to run an errand and grab a drink.  Then I did another 3 hours and 12 minutes.

My average HR for the first session was 104bpm, so well below the threshold for UT work, but a bit more than 2x my resting HR.  And my peak HR was only 125.  Over the first hour and 43 minutes, I burnt 957 calories.  More than I expected.

The second session wiped me out.  About the same average HR at 102bpm.  A slightly higher peak at 131.  Total calories burnt over the 3 hours and 12 minutes was 1905.  By the end, I was having trouble getting up from my knees if I crouched down.

By the evening, I was basically paralyzed with stiffness in my back.

A good days work.  And now I know that yard work is basically 600 calories an hour.

 

Tuesday: 10km run in Marina Del Rey

2 Comments

A beautiful morning.  Much too beautiful to be in the fitness center, especially when this is outside.

Screen Shot 2016-05-03 at 5.48.13 PM.png

I decided to go for a run.  I don’t run much and I am a very slow runner.  I wanted to try to keep this at a reasonable low intensity.  I did OK through the first 2/3 or so, but as I got closer to the end, I pushed harder, and when I saw that I could do a full 10K, I knew I had to.

The layout of Marina Del Rey is a series of fingerlike peninsulas, most of which have a foot path around the outside.  I basically ran from my hotel to the first one of these fingers and then traced the outsides of them all the way back looking at all the boats along the way.

Screen Shot 2016-05-03 at 5.53.33 PM.png

Here’s my pace and HR for the outing.  I ended up doing 10K in just about 58 minutes, or just slightly faster than 6′ per km.  I told you I was slow!

Screen Shot 2016-05-03 at 5.45.29 PM

Now I am flying back home and I get in around midnight.  I will try to grab a quick session on the erg sometime during the day tomorrow, and hopefully get back on the water Thursday morning.

 

50′ in the Fitness Center 

Leave a comment

I had planned to head out to a crossfit box, but I was up later (and drank more) than I had planned. 

I’m at a conference for users of our products, and part of being a good host is hanging in the bar and buying a few rounds of drinks. 

Anyway, I decided to sleep a bit longer and do a short maintenance session in the hotel fitness center. 

30 minutes inclined walk (15deg, 3.2mph)

20 minutes stationary bike with a rolling hills workout programmed. 


I fly home tonight. Back to the erg on slides tomorrow morning. Another easy endurance session. 

Tues: 60′ fitness center, Thurs: 3×20, Fri: 3×20

2 Comments

Monday morning:  My flight was cancelled, and I rebooked on a later flight to San Diego, arriving there right around dinner time.  No training.

Tuesday:  hit the tiny gym in the Courtyard Marriott.  30 minutes on the elliptical, and then 30 minutes on the treadmill set to max incline and a fast walk.

 

Wednesday:  I was originally going to fly straight from California to Germany, but I changed plans and took the red eye home, then a full day on the phone in meetings.  No Training

Thursday: Working from home and shuffling my wife to a doctor’s appt.  I finally found some time for a workout in the evening.

I was lacking in creativity, so I just stole Sander’s session from earlier in the week, an L4 with alternating r18 and r20 segments.

Screen Shot 2016-04-07 at 9.52.13 PM

Easy.

Friday:  Back to routine.  Up at 5:15, into the gym at 7.  Still getting used to rowing on slides.  Started with a alternating 18/20, then let that slide up to 19/21.  This was pushing my HR a bit too much, so I backed off in  the second 20 minutes to 180W at r20.  Even this was a bit to much for me.  So I backed off to r18 and about 170W for the last 30 minutes.  I guess you could say that this session was just “shoveling it”.

One interesting thing (at least to me) is to look at the drive length.  In my session last night on a static erg, my drive length was around 1.46m.  Today on slides, it settle in around 1.42m.  As far as I can tell, I am getting just about the same amount of compression at the catch, but I row with less layback on slides than I do on a static erg.  Not sure what to make of that, it’s just an interesting data point. Another interesting data point, peak force was higher on slides, even though the average was about the same.  Some of this might be due to the difference in drag factor (126 yesterday, 117  today).    I really like painsled.  Having this data to mull over is great.

Tomorrow:  On the water in the morning, and flying off to Germany in the evening.

Thursday: Cebu – Treadmill Intervals!

2 Comments

I was press for time and craving something with a bit more bite on Thursday morning.

So, I warmed up with 8 minutes of incline walking (15%, 5.5km/h).  Then I did alternating 2 minutes at 12km/h and 1 minute at 6kmph with the incline at 3%.  Sad to say that 12km/h on 3% grade is a pretty intense pace for a lumbering water buffalo like me.

My HR monitor began to misbehave in the middle of the session, but by all appearances, I was getting the right effect!

I did repeats until I had 5 minutes left and then I cooled down.  As near as I can figure it, that’s makes this a 9 x 2′ / 1′ rest session.

Screen Shot 2016-03-18 at 8.24.51 AM

This is my first time visiting the island of Cebu in the Philippines.  I stayed at beautiful resort very near our facility here.

Now I am on my way back to Boston, on a 5 hour layover in Narita.  I think I will go for a nice walk in a little while to pass the time.

Saturday morning will be a traditional post-travel L4 session on my erg at home.

Tuesday: 60′ Stationary Bike and Incline Treadmill

2 Comments

Still in Singapore.  I had a bit less time, so a 60 minute session.  Still trying to keep the intensity low.

30 minutes on the stationary bike.  This was too easy.

30 minutes on the treadmill with the incline set to max (15% grade).  Then I played around with the speed to keep me right in the middle of the UT1 HR zone.  It worked out to a fast walk around 3.5 mph.

Today the water was flavored with fresh strawberry slices.  Very classy.  I felt bad about the giant sweat puddles I left under the bike and treadmill.

Now, I have moved on to Bangkok.  This hotel has an admirably equipped gym, but still no rowing machine.  I think I might do 60 minutes of aerobic work and a short strength session, just to spice things up a bit.

Monday: Fitness center Triathlon

2 Comments

In Singapore at The Regent Hotel.  A reasonably equipped fitness center, but no rowing machines.  30 minutes on the treadmill, then 30 minutes on the stationary bike, then 30 minutes on the elliptical.  A long session, a bit of intesty in the first 30 minutes and then backed off and tried to keep things aerobic the rest of the session.

Remarkably dull and tremendously sweaty.  The highlight was the ice cold water flavored with fresh lemon slices.  A nice touch.

 

 

Catching up: February vacation week 2/14-2/21

2 Comments

One of the more pleasant ways to disrupt a training plan!  My wife and I have been fleeing to Aruba over the February school vacation week. We first came down, nearly 20 years ago to celebrate our 10th anniversary, we returned 10 years later with out kids to celebrate our 20th, then about 5 years ago, it became an annual respite from Boston in February. 

This year, we tried a different hotel, a place called Bacuti and Tara.  It’s a lovely place. Very different from the crowded bustle of the high rise hotels. It came equipped with a very nice and airy fitness center, and about 4km of soft sand beach.

Sunday 2/14: travel day, no training

Monday 2/15: Run on the beach. 6km, no HR data. Hot!  Threshold intensity. 

Tuesday 2/16: used the horrifyingly bad knock off version of a water rower that they had in the fitness center. I lasted twenty minutes on it and then I retreated to a cross trainer for another 40 minutes. Whole workout was <150 HR. 

Wednesday 2/17: short, hot, hard run on the beach. Around 4km, about 26 minutes. 

Thursday 2/18: 60 minutes in the fitness center, this time 40 minutes on the awful rower, and 20 minutes on a stationary bike. All <150bpm. 

Friday: 7km run on the beach, 44 minutes. Started easy-ish, BRuth then Higher intensity. Threshold intensity, 7 minutes above 170bpm. 

Saturday 2/20: 60 minutes in the fitness center. Light and easy. 

Sunday 2/21: flew home. No training. 

The objective was to try to avoid losing too much fitness and enjoy myself. It felt like a good balance. It would have been much better if the rowing machine was a proper concept2, but all in all, that’s a pretty minor quibble. 

Friday: Last day of sweltering in the world’s warmest fitness center

2 Comments

Shorter workout today.

30 minutes on the treadmill.  3 more 1′ sprints

  • 5′ 10% and 3mph
  • 5′ 15% and 3mph
  • 10′ 15% and 3.5 mph
  • 1′ 15% and 2mph
  • 1′ 15%, 6mph
  • 3′ 15%, 2mph
  • 1′ 15%, 6mph
  • 3′ 15%, 2mph
  • 1′ 15%, 6mph
  • 5′ cool down

Then off to the airport for the world’s longest trip back from Munich.  Delayed about 3 hours on the ground due to weather in Philadelphia for my connection.