Time To Get Fit - 2024

[two wheel tramp]

Just keep up the fitness efforts, TWT, you're doing great!

When I'm not coaching, I do 4 days riding the bike and 3 days in the gym including a Sci Fit hand crank machine for cardio (and toning of many muscles). It's me time now and I plan on getting to my lowest weight in years along with my lowest resting heart rate. I'm just one week past end of track season and I had a 16.7 mph average which included 5 traffic light stops which cost my MPH average for each stop.

I went on a hilly hike yesterday. It burned in all the right ways. I am looking forward to some gym time soon and lifting and working on my core.

 

[Holeshot]

You're a rare bird R...looking forward to core? Ugh...!

 

[scratchpad]

What sport?

I’ve done cycling and swimming tapers. They are both pretty short, ~1 week. Volume and intensity are both reduced. Then you do an opener the day before, a few short high intensity efforts, to remind your body what efforts feel like. Fitness lost in 1 week is minimal.

I’ve heard that ultra running tapers can be far longer to repair any accumulated damage, up to 3 weeks. Losing fitness over that time period is def a concern. But that’s better than a DNF.

running. Ive been doing a plan off ultrarunning magazine. 50 mile
Its a 3 week taper. Prior to taper at peak was 50+- mile weeks. Taper is about 20 mile weeks for 2 weeks and last week is probably about 10 mile or less.

 

[scratchpad]

Yes. I absolutely feel like I'm not doing enough and going backwards for a taper. My event is 10 days out. This week I have had NOTHING in the tank mentally or physically. I was having some persistent low grade pain I'm my knee and yesterday I decided to "listen to my body" and go extra easy this week. It's definitely fucking with me though. I'm trying to tell myself that its a good thing to see "Recovery" in my garmin but, it never really sits right and I struggle to be ok with it in my head. My 4 week HRV is the best its been all year. My sleep is better than my average over that time too. All signs should be pointing to getting a little rest, starting to pick it up just a little next week and then having all cylinders firing for race dy. That's what I tell myself anyway and yeah, its a hard sell

yes, i tend to listen to the body as well. Luckily i havnt had any nagging injuries or recent abnormal pain. Im skeptical of the watches. Mine always tells me im exhausted and need 67 hours of recovery or some shit. haha. Its probably right. There was a few times i knew the body was on the brink of immune system crash but thankfully never reached it once i got deep into training.

 

[scratchpad]

That are you doing for recovery?

Ice baths (or cryo does work. 2 15 minute sessions a day.
Epsom salt soaking does help with soft tissue recovery. Alternated with icing, as hot as you can stand it for magnesium absorption
Protein supplements does help with muscle tissue recovery.
Collagen for connective tissue recovery
You need sufficient sleep for recovery.

Stack the odds in your favor.

You know, i did 5 or so sessions of that cryo. I dont think it comes anything close to the stone cold ice bath. I find sleep to be the most noticeable factor.

 

[Mike95060]

Agreed we should take what our watch says with a grain of salt. Then this happens after a mild brick workout. Lol damn it. This was supposed to happen next week. This is only the second time my watch has ever said im peaking

 

[two wheel tramp]

You're a rare bird R...looking forward to core? Ugh...!

When I was younger I had a pretty epic hour glass. So, it's part vanity as I would like to get back to hour glass-ish. I will not lie about this.

From a functional perspective, a stronger core will help me in all ways. It will help when I am out riding, it will help when I am hiking, it will help with stress on my back.

Here are some pictures from yesterday's hike. I went out again today on a different trail and don't have pics on this device so no soup for you.

 

[scratchpad]

anecdotal stretching-
I used to always have tight QL on one side or another , psoas , hamstrings amongst other areas so i stretched quite a bit. After a run, during the day, in the evening. Seemed like i could never loosen up and i had nagging injuries or pain. At the time i wasnt getting great sleep so that could be a huge factor. Maybe stretching too much.

Ive tried something different this round of training. I rarely ever stretch. I stretched last night for the first time in a week or so other than a quick 20 second stretch here and there. My body isnt tight, no nagging injuries etc., however, i am getting pretty decent sleep.

I know sleep for me is a huge factor but what do yall think about stretching?

 

[BillSmith]

Thought to drop in on this conversation after belated reading. Impressive thread, lots of anecdotal information. G'luck to you all in your pursuits.

My contribution? At this age, a shift in focus. New mantra is...

Don't worry, eat happy.

YMMV

 

[Sharxfan]

anecdotal stretching-
I used to always have tight QL on one side or another , psoas , hamstrings amongst other areas so i stretched quite a bit. After a run, during the day, in the evening. Seemed like i could never loosen up and i had nagging injuries or pain. At the time i wasnt getting great sleep so that could be a huge factor. Maybe stretching too much.

Ive tried something different this round of training. I rarely ever stretch. I stretched last night for the first time in a week or so other than a quick 20 second stretch here and there. My body isnt tight, no nagging injuries etc., however, i am getting pretty decent sleep.

I know sleep for me is a huge factor but what do yall think about stretching?

I have had bad calf cramping issues when sleeping in the past. I usually stretch out bottom half before I run on the treadmill but usually do about 20 second stretches twice for each muscle group and haven't had any tightness afterwards other than my old ass getting used to running again. I also use a percussive massager on my calves the days I don't go to the gym and haven't had a calf cramp in forever unless seriously dehydrated from working out in the yard during 100 degree days and that is usually solved with lotsa liquids and a multivitamin in the evening to replenish what I lost during all the sweating during the day.

 

[stangmx13]

My watch almost never says Productive. It usually only does right after races or at the end of a training block. And I think that’s the point. Based on the TrainingLoad graph, Productive is an out of the ordinary increase in training load. You have to get the white line above the green bar - which takes a lot of acute load. Being there constantly is impossible as it’s too much fatigue. Build to it in a block, then take that rest week to lock in the gains. Then repeat. One of the first things my coach told me is that there is a time and a place to feel wrecked, to feel exhausted. You should not feel wrecked all or even a majority of the time. If you do, you are probably not making any gains and are only a few weeks away from burnout. But you also may only be one rest week away from feeling great.

On the other side of the same coin, recovery is how we maximize gains. The more we recover, the more we CAN train. A solid base, fueling, sleep, stretching, ice baths, less alcohol, taking a day off work, etc - it all adds up to better recovery which leads to more productive workouts. I don’t feel bad about my rest days anymore because I want to feel good for the workout that comes the day after the rest day. I want to do that workout well, not just struggle-bus through it. Quality over quantity. On top of that, my workouts seem to be just hard enough that I WANT to take rest days.

Here's a good coach interview vid that expresses a lot of the nuance of this, of quality over quantity.

Aside from all that...

I did another round of my MTB race series yesterday. Same course and conditions. I made a few equipment changes - better rear tire, fixed the rear brake, narrower bars that are more comfortable and more aero, ran diff suspension settings. My prev lap PR was 19:52, new PR is 18:34. And I cut 4:24 off of the whole race time, over 1min per lap and 5.4% faster. NP increased by 10w, 4w, 4w, and 9w. I think the time gained is mostly due to the tire, and some in the bars, some in the power, some in the brake, some in course familiarity, some in improved bike handling, some in drafting faster riders (cuz I actually kept up with them more ). Now i just need another minute per lap to be competitive.

 

[stangmx13]

anecdotal stretching-
I used to always have tight QL on one side or another , psoas , hamstrings amongst other areas so i stretched quite a bit. After a run, during the day, in the evening. Seemed like i could never loosen up and i had nagging injuries or pain. At the time i wasnt getting great sleep so that could be a huge factor. Maybe stretching too much.

Ive tried something different this round of training. I rarely ever stretch. I stretched last night for the first time in a week or so other than a quick 20 second stretch here and there. My body isnt tight, no nagging injuries etc., however, i am getting pretty decent sleep.

I know sleep for me is a huge factor but what do yall think about stretching?

There could be a million reasons why you found yourself in that situation. You could be stretching incorrectly - too static, too cold, not engaging the muscle while doing it, too much stretching before a workout, and more. You could be stretching too often and keeping the tissues in an irritated inflamed state - seems likely given how much better you felt when you stopped. You could be working the wrong thing - tight hamstrings can be a problem with glute activation; QL and psoas tightness can be caused by quad tightness. You may need to strengthen things instead of stretching them, especially if you have a desk job. And the list goes on.

I deal with similar tightness. My workflow is this:
1. Consistent stretching after rides, maybe 10min. Kneeling quad stretch with my back foot raised, kneeling hamstring stretch, and pigeon pose. This is just maintenance IMO.
2. This once a week for strengthening the core, glute activation, and plenty of hip and leg stretching.

3. Occasion leg lifts when the psoas gets bad. I'll lay with my legs off the edge of the bed and lift. Or I'll use some bands around my feet and pull one leg to my chest. These are so much better than stretching
4. When all of that fails because issues build up, I go see my massage therapist. I was seeing her once a month. But now that I'm doing that Youtube core workout, I'm going far less often.

 

[Climber]

I have had bad calf cramping issues when sleeping in the past. I usually stretch out bottom half before I run on the treadmill but usually do about 20 second stretches twice for each muscle group and haven't had any tightness afterwards other than my old ass getting used to running again. I also use a percussive massager on my calves the days I don't go to the gym and haven't had a calf cramp in forever unless seriously dehydrated from working out in the yard during 100 degree days and that is usually solved with lotsa liquids and a multivitamin in the evening to replenish what I lost during all the sweating during the day.

I always make sure I have electrolyte powder around, as a track coach and also riding my bike hard in 100+ days I sometimes get parts of my body cramping at night.
It's amazing how fast electrolyte powder in 1/2 cup of water clears up your cramping, it's usually 20 seconds or less. I've found it usually takes a triple dose.

 

[two wheel tramp]

monthly check in:
resting heart rate = 59 bpm
11,037 average steps per day
5.1 miles per day.
59 average exercise minutes per day

consistent but kinda meh.

 

[stangmx13]

monthly check in:
resting heart rate = 59 bpm
11,037 average steps per day
5.1 miles per day.
59 average exercise minutes per day

consistent but kinda meh.

It's awesome that you've made an hour a day a habit so that it's only "kinda meh".

 

[stangmx13]

I offered a new bike pic. I think I found the coolest pic ever of me cycling. Of course after years of gravel riding, I had to go race a MTB to get a good one.

 

[Holeshot]

R: Average days are the bulk of good health. Same as lap times: consistency wins races, not fast laps followed by mistakes. Your HR is good. Mine's the same and that's a good number for longevity. 5.1 miles is a lot, IMO...and the hour of fitness training is perfectly on par too. I see nothing wrong with your stats at all...and I'm sure you're pushing hard on some days and having a rest day at times too.

BTW, https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering...uncovers-how-much-exercise-needed-live-longer

 

[Mike95060]

monthly check in:
resting heart rate = 59 bpm
11,037 average steps per day
5.1 miles per day.
59 average exercise minutes per day

consistent but kinda meh.

I see no "meh."

Berto is spot on. Consistency wins. 1hr a day is well above average.

 

[two wheel tramp]

It's awesome that you've made an hour a day a habit so that it's only "kinda meh".

It's absolutely a habit. Some days less, some days more. Depends on how I feel. Yesterday I was exhausted (I was having a down emotional day) but got out and did a short walk and felt better.

I offered a new bike pic. I think I found the coolest pic ever of me cycling. Of course after years of gravel riding, I had to go race a MTB to get a good one.

View attachment 562031

That is bad ass and I bet your bicycle is worth more than both my DR650s put together.

R: Average days are the bulk of good health. Same as lap times: consistency wins races, not fast laps followed by mistakes. Your HR is good. Mine's the same and that's a good number for longevity. 5.1 miles is a lot, IMO...and the hour of fitness training is perfectly on par too. I see nothing wrong with your stats at all...and I'm sure you're pushing hard on some days and having a rest day at times too.

BTW, https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering...uncovers-how-much-exercise-needed-live-longer

I guess I am telling my family history of heart disease "F. U." I suppose part of my "meh" is just boredom but the gym, once I join, will get me excited about something different a few times a week.

I see no "meh."

Berto is spot on. Consistency wins. 1hr a day is well above average.

OK. I retract my meh!

Thank you guys.

 

[Mike95060]

I offered a new bike pic. I think I found the coolest pic ever of me cycling. Of course after years of gravel riding, I had to go race a MTB to get a good one.

View attachment 562031

Sweet pic Robert! Looking stylish with your matching bike jersey combo!