mwz: Day 34

Cycling today. I was going to work on a lying stationary bike to get some idea of how my spin class has been paying off. That plan didn't work out because the machine was horrible.

It was a Star Trak machine. It is one of those that you power by pedaling. It started off okay. It's not as nice feeling as a spin bike but I was adapting.

But then I tried to crank up the resistance and stand up. That was going okay but apparently I wasn't spining the thing enough to keep the thing powered. It would "pause" on me every thirty seconds or so and when it did, it would cut the resistance down to nothing so I would lunge forward. I gave up on standing up.

The plan then was to just keep my RPMs up and get a good cardio workout. That didn't work out either. Occationally, the resistance would just disappear without warning or any indication that it had happened.

After 8 minutes of this (and 2 "miles"), I decided that I didn't want to hurt myself on that inconsistant thing. So, I moved over to one of the spin bikes.

I spun for another 30 minutes and felt pretty good about the workout.

I also lifted. This YMCA has a really good weight room. They have all sorts of crazy machines and their dumbells are made of (or coated with) rubber so they don't clank. I still just did my regular exercizes.

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 10lbs each hand (EH). 10x4
Dumbbell Flyers: 10lbs EH 10x4

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 20lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 60lbs 20x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 15lbs EH 10x3
Side Lateral Raise (but sitting): 10lbs EH 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 33

Today, I swam. It was supposed to be a run day but I've been missing my swim days lately. I've been missing my run days too but swim is more fun and I like the pool here better than my home pool.

I swam 19 laps (~.5 miles) in 33 minutes. I found that it was a lot easier to swim when I didn't kick my legs as much. I felt like I had more endurance.

mwz

mwz: Day 32

Yesterday, I couldn't go to a spin class. The cardio room did have some spin bikes though. I tried to mimic the spin class but it's hard to bring yourself to exhaustion all by yourself. I only went for a half an hour.

mwz

mwz: Day 31

Today, I swam at a new YMCA. It was pretty nice.

The pool was 25 yards. I did the math and swam 19 laps (which I think is half a mile) in ~32 minutes.

They had a swim suit drier that was really cool. You put your suit into it and it spun the water out. When it was done, the suit was pretty much dry. I was amazed.

mwz

mwz: Day 30

(posted late)
"Rest day" because we drove for ~9 hours.

mwz

mwz: Day 29

(posted late)
On Christmas, I ran. I was going to drive 2.5 miles in the car to figure out a route but then Dad suggested that he drive me 2.5 miles away from home and I could drive back. I thought that was a great plan.

What I found out was that my home town is a lot smaller than I thought it was. The 2.5 miles took me deep into the downtown area (even kinda past it). I also found out that 2.5 miles doesn't feel like as much as when you are doing the running than when you are driving in the car thinking about the running.

Of course, there was a train in my path. I jogged beside it (in the opposite direction). Fortunately, it wasn't that long and it was moving pretty fast, so it only took me about 3 blocks out of my way (total).

I don't know how long it took.

mwz

mwz: Day 28

Today (Christmas Eve), I went to the local YMCA and did a spin class. It was strange going to a different Y.

It was the Y from that Mrk and I went to when I was in Jr. High/High School. It has changed a quite a bit. They have put up a wall that you have to get buzzed through to get in. The weight room which used to have just a couple tread mills and stair climbers, is now half cardio stuff. The weight machines are all crammed on one side and the free weights have been moved to a completely different room. I had to ask someone to find them. It's bizarre.

The spin class was pretty good. There were quite a few people (even though it was a holiday) but I was the only guy there. They were all very nice. They tried to motivate each other by yelling things like "If you work it off here, you can have a piece of pie". That was strange. I don't think of my exercising like that.

The instructor apparently isn't a part of the conspiracy to stop pre-spin leg stretching. I don't want to get here in trouble but we did stretch our legs a little bit before hand.

She did one thing that was kind of cool. She had one side sprint for 15 seconds with the other side cheering them on. Then, it switched. It went back and forth a few times like that. It's pretty motivational knowing that half the room was watching you sprint.

I also lifted.

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 10lbs each hand (EH). 10x4
Dumbbell Flyers: 10lbs EH 10x4

(The lat machine had different weight increments.)
Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 26lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 60lbs 20x3

Side Lateral Raise (but sitting): 10lbs EH 10x3
Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 15lbs EH 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 27

I'm posting this a day late. Yesteday, I didn't do anything except go to the zoo.

mwz

mwz: Day 26

Yeah, I'm not doing anything today. I'm slacking off.

Does 13 hours in the car count as an endurance workout?

mwz

mwz: Day 25

Spin class today. It was an hour. I felt slightly ill at the end.

I tried to run afterwards to see what that was like. I only managed to run a quarter mile. My legs didn't feel to bad but my stomach wasn't dealing with it well.

I've decided not to swim tomorrow. To much to do. I'll consider running on Friday.

Oh, I'm reading the book that J-Funk recommended, Slow Fat Triathlete (I should really work out how to get money for referral links). It is pretty good. The writing is moderately entertaining and it's written for people who are just picking up the sport. My only qualm with it is that the author started doing triathlons when she worked for a dot-com. So she spent some pretty serious money on it (money that I'm not going to spend). But she does a pretty good job explaining what you need versus what is nice.

mwz

mwz: Day 24

Swam today. I didn't make it a full mile. Around lap 29 I felt a little something funny in my leg while I was trying to do the breast stroke. With that in mind, I called it quits at lap 31.

I think I am going to just start swimming a half mile for my workouts. I theoretically could float my body across the pool for a whole mile but I don't think my tired floundering is doing myself any good.

Well, tomorrow I must get up at 5:30. That sucks.

Oh, and since there are Ys everywhere I'm going during the holidays, I don't plan to miss much (except I'm taking Friday off).

mwz

mwz: Day 23 Rest

So, I rested today and it was great. I still got up at 8 but I went to my computer to work instead of to the treadmill to run. My legs still feel a bit... something.

My plan is to take Friday off too. I'm thinking that the holidays are a good reason to give my body somewhat of a break.

Tomorrow I try (again) to swim a mile.

mwz

mwz: Day 22 Not a rest day

I was supposed to rest today. I really need it. My legs are aching and I'm feeling worn out.

Unfortunately, I locked the keys in the car when I went to put more air in the tires. I had to walk the 1.3 miles home to get the key from Arial
and then 1.3 miles back (I checked the distance on my way back home). The sidewalks were mostly unshoveled and icy. It wasn't a simple walk home. I was glad that the snow was packed pretty well on the side walks, so I didn't have to trudge through snow.

I am going to count that as my run day and take tomorrow off. Hopefully, on Tuesday, I can be rested and go for the elusive 44 laps in the pool (or at least 41 laps which is the race distance).

mwz

mwz: Day 21

Spin class was okay. I held back a bit because I wasn't' sure when the class was going to end. It ended at the earlier possible time, so I had a little left. It was still a good workout, just not very debilitating. I was able to go right to the weight room without stopping in the locker room to rest.

The weights went well. It seems to go by quicker now than when I lifted as a teenager. I think it might be because I am doing fewer exercises. I'm also doing less weight and going for fluidity instead of seeing how much I can do. This way, the whole thing is less like torture.

I added an extra exercise this time. I wanted to counterbalance the lat work I've been doing, so I added side lateral raises.

Here is what I did:

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 10lbs each hand (EH). 10x4
Dumbbell Flyers: 10lbs EH 10x4

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 25lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 55lbs 20x3

Side Lateral Raise (but sitting): 10lbs EH 10x3
Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20lbs EH 10x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 15lbs EH 10x3

Links from BodyBuilding.com.

mwz

mwz: Day 20

Ran for 3 miles on the tread mill. The first two at 5.5 mph and the last at 6 mph. You might think that's backwards but that's just how I operate.

I listened to Juliana Hatfield's Beautiful Creature. It made the time go a little faster.

mwz

mwz: Day 19

Wow, it's day 19 already. It doesn't feel like we've been doing this that long.

Today, I was going to try to swim a mile. I got to the pool a little early to give myself some extra time.

I did not actually swim a mile. I barely managed three quarters of a mile (33 laps). A good part of the last quarter mile was spent doing the "elementary" back stroke with a little bit of something that might be a breast stroke. I was dead at the end.

I know that swimming practice isn't all about the distance, it's about the technique but I think I need to get time in the water to build up my stamina and learn how to swim while tired.

I'm thinking about taking swimming lessons in January.

mwz

mwz: Day 18

Spin class today. It went better than it did on Saturday. I paced myself more evenly, so I still had something left at the end.

The class lasted for an hour and I did pretty well. Only during the last little bit did I feel like throwing up. That's an improvement.

One thing that I find odd about spin class is that at the beginning we stretch our upper body but we don't do our legs until the end. I wonder if we are supposed to stretch our legs before we get on?

One more thing, I was trying to describe the difference between a spin bike and a stationary bike to M&D and I said that it was like the wheel was a 45 lb plate. I didn't think it was that heavy but it turns out that it is 41 lbs (so I was pretty close).

mwz

mwz: Day 17

I swam 3/4 mile (33 laps) and boy are my arms tired. Really, they are tired. It took me right around 45 minutes.

I did three laps straight crawling. Then, I would swim on my back for one length and do three lengths crawl. At a quarter mile I switched to 1 back / 2 crawl and finished like that.

I would like to say that I stopped because I ran out of time or something else but that's not true. I stopped because I don't think I could reasonably do more. My last couple laps, I was just splashing around (to paraphrase Matt's locker room people). My form (whatever form I have) went away completely because my arms were so tired.

I've been trying to keep by chin down but for some reason, it feels like I'm going to drown when I do that. It's like my face is too far into the water. I had a little success breathing by looking back over my shoulder. That seemed to keep the splashing out of my mouth. I don' t know if that is correct though.

There was another lady swimming who seemed to be a decent swimmer. She swam faster than me doing the breast stroke (while I was crawling). I tried to crib off of her as much as I could when she was crawling but she was doing something subtle with her arms that I couldn't quite figure out (it was underwater and I was trying to swim too).

Well, tomorrow I get up at 5:30 for spin class. I'm not looking forward to any part of that.

mwz

mwz: Day 16

Ran 2 miles on the tread mill in about 22 minutes (5.5 mph). I could have gone more but I don't want to over exert in the beginning of the week. I think that I'm going to try to do less running on Mondays and more on Fridays in general.

If you haven't noticed yet, I've got myself a workout schedule.

Monday: Run 8 am
Tuesday: Swim 7 am
Wednesday: Cycle 5:30 am
Thursday: Swim 7 am
Friday: Run 8 am
Saturday: Cycle and lift weights 8 am

That's what I'm doing. I've also included my wake up times because I think it is interesting how it peaks in the middle due to scheduling.

mwz

mwz: Day 15 Rest

Today was a wonderful day of rest. I even took a nap.

My arms can feel the weight lifting I did yesterday. It's been so long since I've lifted, that at first I wasn't quite sure why my arms felt that way.

I've noticed that I'm getting flabby. I think that's a good thing, sorta. I used to have fat that pushed out my skin and made me not look flabby, fat but not flabby. Now I think the fat is going away and I'm left with flabbiness.

mwz

mwz: Day 14

I did my first real spin class (with an instructor). It was interesting. I think I will like it, although, today wasn't the greatest.

I had a pretty good case of nerves at the beginning. I tried to work it out and when she (the instructor) said to go all out (in the first five minutes), I did. It partially worked. Unfortunately, my nerves were soon replaced by the desire to throw up from exhaustion.

The last fifteen minutes, (of 45) I slowed down and stopped upping the resistance. This helped me from feeling worse but at the end I felt really weak and was shaking. I had a hard time making it through the stretches. Thankfully, I didn't throw up in my first class.

After the class, I couldn't find anywhere to sit and rest. So, I sat on a bench in the locker room and drank more water. That was boring (and kinda weird).

When I felt a little better I meandered over to the weight room. I had planned to do some arm work (to help with the swimming) but I wasn't sure about it since I just wanted to lay down and rest. I found the next best thing though. I found a bench and lifted weights behind my head (10 lbs each hand). That let me lay down and rest the parts of me that were tired. After doing some sets of those, I felt good enough to do other things.

I wanted to record what I did but I don't know how to describe any of the exercises. I just found a site that has a bunch of exercises. It's BodyBuilding.com. (I don't know their politics and I hope I don't find out. ;) )

So this is what I did (grouped by what they were paired with):

Lying Dumbbell Tricep Extension: 10lbs each hand (EH). 10x3
Dumbbell Flyers: 10lbs EH 10x3

Straight Arm Pulldown (lat machine): 25lbs 20x3
Wide-Grip Pulldowns Behind the Neck (lat machine): 55lbs 20x3

Dumbbell Bicept Curl (but sitting): 20lbs EH 20x3
Seated Dumbbell Palms-up Wrist curl: 20lbs EH 10x3

*I made up "Standing Pushdowns" and I can't find the real name for it. Basically, I stand with my arms straight out and push the bar down toward my legs. This is supposed to strengthen the second half of my swim stroke.

UPDATE: I found the "Standing Pushdowns". They are actually "Straight Arm Pulldowns". I modified the exercise name and provided the link in the list.

mwz

mwz: Day 13

I ran for 2.5 miles today on the treadmill. It wasn't so bad because I had things to think about (mostly work things). I did the first 2 miles going 5.5 mph and the last half mile going 6 mph.

My new shoes are working great.

I forgot to mention this but yesterday I put on my belt (which I do everyday) and I realized that best hole for walking around (as in it holds up my pants well) is one hole tighter than I had been wearing (and two holes tighter than my max). I must be losing fat even though I'm not losing weight.

mwz

mwz: Day 12

I tried out my new goggles this morning. They were great. You can see a lot more clearly when the water isn't right up on your eyes. Plus, your eyes don't burn from the chlorine.

I could really feel the cycling I did yesterday. My legs were dead. That made it very hard to kick and it felt like I was tiring much faster than I have on previous swims.

I swam 22 laps (a half mile) in 27ish minutes. I spent a lot of time on my back. I tried one length doing a side stroke but that was tiring AND slow. But the goggles worked great.

I'm also going to cut back on the sit-ups and push-ups. Since I've started the other training, these have gotten much harder to do. I don't want to over work myself. Plus, I can't seem to do 40 push-ups in a row anymore. I don't know what happened. I must be wearing myself out.

mwz

mwz: Day 11

Today, I managed to not debilitating myself after my workout.

I went to a spin class this morning. It was at 6:15 am. I had to get there early to make sure I got a spot in the class, which meant that I had to get up at 5:15am. I went to bed at midnight. It was great.

The people at the class were really helpful about teaching me how to set up my bike (do you call it that when it only has one wheel?). They were also informative. Apparently, I didn't need to worry about getting a spot in the class, as it never fills up. That is good because it means that I'll get about 15 more minutes of sleep on Wednesday if I don't have to get there super early to claim a bike.

The class wasn't all cheery though. The instructor didn't show up (she was sick and no sub came). So I just peddled on my own (there were others that stayed to do the same).

I went for 45 minutes, although I don't know how far that was because the bikes don't have odometers. But it felt like a good workout. I like the spin bikes much better than the stationary bikes because (as J-Funk says) they really do feel more like a real bike. The wheel gets momentum going and that feels more normal.

mwz

mwz: Day 10

Swam this morning.

Went 26 laps (20yd pool) in 28 minutes which is a little over half a mile (44 laps/mile).

I tried to work on my form, not that I really know what form I'm supposed to use. I'm still having problems with my breathing but it was a little better. I did around 3/4ths freestyle and the rest on my back.

When I stopped, I still had quite a bit left in my arms (I think) but my eyes were hurting. I haven't been using goggles. By the end of my drive home, I was fighting to keep my eyes open. I couldn't work because I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to read anything. After about an hour of laying around with my eyes closed, Arial went and got some eye drops. They helped a quite a bit. I also put my head over hot water and let steam flow into my eyes (since they were still really dry). Now, my eyes still hurt a little but I can keep them open and work.

In retrospect, I shouldn't have kept my eyes closed that long since it just trapped the chlorine in there. I was expecting my eyes to naturally clear the chemicals but that just didn't happen.

I'm getting goggles before my next swim.

mwz

mwz: day 9

Ran on the tread mill for 2 miles. It took me between 21 and 22 minutes (I forgot to look). It was boring but my new shoes were pretty nice.

I think according to Mtt's suggested schedule, I'm going to make myself run 3 miles per session in January.

I'm reading a triathlon book that Arial got from the library for me. In it it gives a suggested workout schedule. It has like 3 days off a week. I'm only scheduling one day off. Do you guys think that is bad of me?

Tomorrow, I am going to try to work on my swimming form. I've read some stuff online and I'm going to try it out. This stuff from the BBC is the best that I've found.

mwz

mwz: Day 8 Rest

You might not think that I would have anything to post about on my day of rest, but I do.

J-Funk mentioned that I should expect to be sore from cycling. I assumed as much but I figured that my legs would be sore. Instead, i feel like someone has been punching me in the kidneys (not that I really know what that feels like). I didn't even know that I had muscles there. Well, that's not true. Those are the same muscles that would hurt after a lot of practicing my serve (in tennis).

Also, I got a great deal on my running shoes. I've never had real running shoes before. I always figured that tennis shoes would be fine. But now with the whole triathlon thing, we went out to get me some shoes. I wound up getting 2 pairs of nike shoes on clearance for ~$30. That's $30 for both pairs which was less than I was expecting to pay for one pair. I was quite happy.

mwz

mwz: Day 7 Triathlon Training Begins

I'm officially training for a triathlon, now. I rode a stationary bike today at the Y.

I rode for 30 minutes and tried to keep my rpms between 90 and 100. I was on resistance to 15 for most of it (I know that doesn't mean anything to anyone but I'm just recording it).

The machine said that I went 7 miles. I don't know if I trust that. In college, I used to bike everywhere (on a low end bike too) and the effort that I was excerting today was more than what I remember for the distance. I wonder what gear they are trying to simulate. I can't wait till spring when I get a real bike. Until then, I'll just have to keep training without knowing how far I can really go.

BTW, today I began to realize the enormity of the triathlon. I had been thinking of the bike leg as a nice break between the death defying swim and the grueling run. But after the bike training today, I'm starting to see that that leg isn't going to be easy.

mwz

mwz: Day 6 Snow

This morning I only ran a mile. It snowed a lot. I need to figure out where I'm going to run during the winter. Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and run on the treadmill. It's so boring though.

mwz: Day 5 Swim day also

Today, I used my brand new Y membership. I got up at 7am and went for a swim.

The pool is only 20 yards so my laps were only 40 yards. I did 16 laps total. A little over half of the time I did free style (crawl)
and the rest of the time I swam on my back.

A good portion of it I would swim one length free style and then come back on my back to catch my breath. I'm having a hard time keeping myself oxygenated. The problem might be that I breathe out through my nose. I can't get all of the air out of my lungs by the time I need to breath in again. I guess some people swim with nose plugs, so maybe I'm supposed to breath out my mouth. I'll give that a try next time (which will be tuesday).

So today I did 40yds x 16 = 640 yards or about a third of a mile. I didn't time myself because I couldn't see the clock without my glasses.

mwz