1/30/2015

I was curious to see how the FitBit pedometer handled time on the treadmill.  So, with a weighted vest, I ran .75 miles at 4mph. 

3 rounds

Squats, 135lbs, 10 reps
air squats on the inverted bosu ball, 8 reps

jogged .25 miles on the dreadmill

cable crunches and called it a week.

So the up shot is that there are two ways to handle the treadmill time.  On is to wear the Fitbit and let it do what it does.  The other is to not wear it but to itemize the treadmill in an activity log on the Fitbit dashboard.  The dashboard then does the math and adds the run to the days steps.  I think I'll wear the device during a workout group next and see how that factors.  

1-29-15

Summary of the last few days:
Sunday: 2 mile walk with the dog. Good hills. Reasonable aerobic effort. Not memorable.
Monday: 20 minute strength routine: heel raises, parallel squats with 40 lb dumbells, 30 chair step-ups, 20 abroller extensions, 2 sets 10 perfect pushups with upper ams tight to lats, 2 sets dumbell curls, 40 lbs each, 10  and 6 reps.
Tuesday and Thursday: 1 hour of  power yoga each lunch time.
Feeling pretty good. Bitter cold restricting outdoor activity. Using indoor intervals as a substitute, just have to make it more regular. Not easy.

1/29/2015

Joined the work out group for a lunch time romp.

Medi-ball medley.  It all went just fine.

The rest of this week has been a wash.  Though I am hopeful to get some X-country skiing in this weekend.

1/21/2015

13lb vest

5 Air squats on the tennis court lines

3 push ups on each line

Tire flipped length of court

Kettlee bell swing, suitcase carry switching on each line, kettlebell swings

Drag the tire first with both hands then alternating with single hand hold finished with both hands

4 rounds

1/4 mile dreadmill

Cable crunches/goodmornings

Mace bell 10&2

Bookends

Yesterday my day started with my usual 3+ mile walk and 7 minute workout. Ended with teaching a plant based cooking class. I was NOT in the mood after a busy kaizen event day 2, but got in the groove after stepping into the beautiful teaching kitchen. Class was full and people were jazzed.  Watching them enjoy what they prepared was all it took for me to remember why I was teaching. I just feel better when I eat plants and sleep 8 hours, so why not?

1/20/2015

Walked to the gym with AN nice chat.

13lb vest

1/4 mile dreadmill
pushup burpees/Goodmornings

1/4 mile dreadmill
 inverted bosu ball air squats
step ups, high box

1/4 mile dreadmill
Kettlebell swings

1/4 mile dreadmill

Tire flipped for maybe 75yards

Cable crunches/hyperextensions

1/19/2015

Noon work out.  Wore the 13lb weighted vest.  I met JW on the walk down to the gym.  He talked me into joining the old workout crew.  50 minutes of calisthenics, running and medi-ball on a whole I kept up and it was fun to be with the old crew.  We will see how sore I am tomorrow. 

7 minutes r better than no minutes

Finally met with my health coach after having to cancel our November meeting.  She is really interested in learning more about plant based eating and has an interest in joining a group of folks who meet weekly when possible and share our planty lunches with each other.  I have been sticking with my mostly early morning walks with neighbor friend  (and now occasionally the spousal unit which makes me so happy), more days than not each week...but not in sub zero weather. Coach introduced me to the 7 minute workout ap, (body weight exercises). So I started that this weekend, and as pathetic as it sounds, I feel the good kinda soreness after using muscles that have been on a siesta. Anyway, 7 minutes most days a week. That is my goal till my next visit with the coach next month.

1/18/2015

Walked 3 and change with 20lb vest.  Nice chat with the spouse.

Fitbit as a work wellness initiative

So I've gotten involved with the Colby wellnes working group again.  The new guy in HR moved us in the direction of fitbits and shapeup challanges.  Which is fine.  The fasicinating element to the pedometer is the online or moble app.  The data collection and the end of week reporting is interesting in terms of "if you measure it you can change it."  Some of the measures they use are potentially just noise, bmi for example.  However the point is still valid.  I wonder how long the data logging will be interesting? 

1/15/2015

Yoga.

Hated every minute of it.  Grudgingly have to admit that my lower back and hips are moving better, however.

Oh yeah? I can have goals too!

Duly inspired by this site's founder, I want to reflect on recent fitness history and commit to a goal for   2015. I started a regular fitness effort in the spring of 2013 after years of active living but no real fitness focus. Running, yoga and mainly body weight strength work has been the basis. I  also cleaned up my diet, reducing sugar, white carbs and processed foods, going heavy on  plant based nutrition. I went from 210 lbs to 180 in the first 6 months and felt pretty good except that a guy I've known for a long time told me he went from thinking of me as  an ass kicker to seeing me as a runner. What  a blow. So  what I want to do now is add to the strength piece while maintaining  the yoga and aerobic pieces to add some muscle mass to my strings and bones frame. To quantify it, my 2015 goal is to get up to 195 lbs while still able to comfortably wear 34 waist pants. If it sounds vain, I suppose it is, but then being more  truthful is my top non-fitness based resolution this year. And we're off...

Setting new years goals

So, I've been pretty off and on again with my fitness the last couple of years.  Last year I swam a fair bit.  In part because we were loosely talking about the Peaks to Portland swim.  This year the conversation has turned to the Colby Triathlon a sprint length event.  The distances: swim, 400 meters, bike, 14.3 miles, and 5k run.  We are 32 weeks from the event so it seems completely feasible.  I could with a "gun to my head" do all of the distances right now, it would be a struggle to do them back to back, but from a baseline perspective this seems doable.  A quick "Google" of "training for a sprint triathlon" offers a ton of resources.  Many websites offer 12-13 week pre-race training programs.  So, I think I'll back off from race date 13 weeks, which is mid-June.  So, leading up to that is 19 weeks.  I can break that into two 8 week cycles and still allow myself a couple of weeks off for travel and such.  I think the goal of the first 8 weeks is to simply get a habit of regular exercise.  The second 8 weeks is about a foundation of work capacity.  The last 13 weeks are about the specifics of training for a triathlon.

None of my training to this point has been so aerobically focused.  Where it is sprint distances I'm not particularly fussed by that.  If the distance was half-ironman or longer I would be much more concerned about it.

So there I wrote it down.  It has a date.  So, it is a goal.  Now we will see if I'm there to meet it at the end.
 

1/13/2015

Resistance training.

Tire flipping and fugly barbell movement medley.  Half and hour, and then went up to the weight room and did cable crunches and extensions, bosu ball squats and farmers walk. Total of 45 minutes.

1/12/2015

Yoga.

Went fine no audible farts.  Today was focused on hips which for me is a good thing.

1/11/2015

Walked 5 and change, 20lb vest.  It was just a couple degrees above zero so bracing.  Nice walk with the Spouse.  Found a couple places where the wild turkeys cross the road.  Saw a little mouse just sitting on the edge of the road.  Kinda, cute.