Use it or lose it

I had a conversation with one of my students today. It started with him asking if I planned to go running today. He reasoned that the weather was nice, so given my triathlon training, I would probably be taking advantage of it. He's certainly got a point. However, I didn't run today. I didn't intend to. The last run I did was a 5K race on Saturday (4 days ago), and today is the first day I haven't felt really sore (delayed onset muscle soreness). But now I feel a bit guilty that I didn't run. If the soreness is gone, it's time to push forward!

I shifted the conversation with my student to what physical activity he did on a regular basis. He said "I really want to, but not much at all these days." He used to be a body builder in high school and that carried into his freshman year of college. I remember that. I had him as a freshmen in his first semester, and he was very well muscled. He told me today that since his freshman year, he has lost 25 pounds. Much of that was muscle loss because he stopped lifting weights. He said his arms are 8 inches smaller in circumference and his maximum bench press had decreased from more than 300 pounds to 225 pounds. Now what you need to know is that this student is short, so the fact that he can still bench 225 pounds is impressive to me. I'm more than 12 inches taller than he is, and my maximum bench press is around 145 pounds. At least it used to be, a couple years ago.

I've probably shrunken a bit as well. I stopped weightlifting because it was more work than fun, I never had a goal, and I often hurt myself to the point where I'd have to take 7-10 days off to heal. It was definitely a case of "two steps forward and one step back," and I'm not even sure if I netted one step forward. Regardless, anything I gained in strength or physique is gone. My upper body is really quite slim.

Maybe I'll work on it again next month when I'll have more time to lift weights. I'll have the whole summer to get stronger and maybe make weightlifting part of my habit again. I'd like that. But I'll still need a goal--something attainable, something safe yet challenging. For example, maybe I could work on my arms and increase my upper arm circumference by an inch (to 12 or 12.5 inches). Obviously I'd work other muscle groups, too.

Or maybe my goal shouldn't be in terms of size, but rather in terms of strength or accomplishment. For example, I'd like to be able to do a lot of pull-ups (10 in a row?). I think doing pull-ups would do a lot for my upper body strength, and it would help with my swimming strokes.

Speaking of swimming, I'd like to set some goals for that, too. My best friend trains in the pool by doing 400 IMs (individual medleys) over and over for a total of 2600+ yards. My workouts are shorter and are composed of mostly freestyle. There is no reason I can't match what he does in the pool.

Except, I lack the motivation at times. I find that a lot of my blog entries have this theme. When things are going well, I don't tend to post to my blog. So my readers are likely to have a much dimmer picture of my life of fitness. Sorry! The reality is that I usually have good motivation, so the goals I set forth above are realistic and I think I will in fact work toward them. Let me end with a list of all the great things I've done...rather than a list of things I wish I had done.

Accomplished so far in 2012:

1. I have run 37 miles. This is an increase of 264% compared to last year during the same time period.
2. I have swam 48 miles. This is an increase of 77% compared to last year...
3. I have bicycled 189 miles. This is an increase of 497% compared to last year...
4. I have set 10 personal bests in swim competitions including: 25 Free, 50 Free, 200 Free, 500 Free, 25 Fly, 50 Fly, 100 IM, 25 Back, and 50 Back. Even the number of personal bests is up this year compared to last year (10 versus 7).

5. 

   Competing in the 100-yard butterfly event at a Master's Swim Meet.

   I competed in one additional swimming competition and beat a college student half my age by a significant margin in the 400 Freestyle. I did it in 5:53.02, which was well below the 6:03 I was expecting.
6. I have done one 5K run so far this year and my 8:05 pace crushed my old personal best of 8:54 (set in November 2011). My average running pace today is an improvement of 19% over the average pace I had in April 2011.
7. I have done 13 weightlifting workouts (despite what I report above, I haven't actually given it up entirely). This is exactly half the number I did in 2011 during the same time span, but something is better than nothing.

Joy of a Longish Bike Ride

I rode 14.7 miles today at an average pace of 15.1 mph with a net climb of 1,650 feet. This is the longest bike ride I've done since at least October 2011. This is not to say that I haven't been on the bike recently. In fact, I've logged 189 miles in the last six months...but mostly this has all been in 5-mile increments. So I celebrate!

I'm also going to have to come up with a longer course for next time. Until now, I've had a few smaller loops that I take, and for today I combined them all into one big loop. It will be fun to add a little more distance the next time. And there will be a next time, because I've got some training to do:

1. The Bike MS ride is coming up in early June. I'll be riding 150 miles over two days.
2. The Pittsburgh Triathlon is July 27th, and I am planning for this to be my first international-distance race. The bike portion is 40 km.
3. I'm doing another couple sprint triathlons in August, including one with an 12-mile bike race August 12th...
4. ...and one with a 13-mile bike race on August 25th.

So those are my goals; I just have to keep going. I wanted to write this little post so that I remembered the good feelings I had to day after my ride. I felt energetic. I felt I had better concentration after the ride when I was at work. I felt endorphins. I was pain-free, which is significant given that my shoulder has been sore from swimming and both knees felt kind of achy--also from swimming (breaststroke). The next time I say to myself "Maybe I should go on a bike ride...no, I don't feel like it," I want to remember the good feeling I get after it's over. And of course, it's fun during the ride, too, or at least interesting--

• How fast can I go down the first big hill?
• Will I have to stop for the traffic light in the first little town I ride through? (I actually like to stop at the traffic light, as this gets the attention of people in the restaurant at the intersection. I'm glad to give them something to talk about)
• Can I manage the slight incline out of town without downshifting to my lower bracket?
• How winded and tired will I get climbing the beast of a hill that comes next? How slow can I go without having the bike fall over?!
• I always enjoy the horse pasture and broad view at the top of that hill.
• I enjoy that wide, smooth road near the airport that never has any traffic.
• I enjoy the extra risk I take past the airport where the country road becomes narrow, steep (up and down), and traction is reduced due to all the black sealant applied to the road surface. Some of those hills are so steep going down that I have to ride my brakes all the way, so as not to exceed 35mph and/or lose control.
• I like the forested patch of road I encounter after crossing the highway.
• I like the open view I find at the top of the next hill by the cemetery. In fact, by the time I get there, it seems like it's all downhill from there. I zoom more freely down the next road that goes past the lake.
• I zoom around the traffic circle and then relax as the paved shoulder expands and I can take my time going up the last climb.
• Lastly, I enjoy crossing from the right side of the airport road to the left in order to use the left turn lane onto the road that takes me home. I'm amazed that the road sensors there are sensitive enough for my bicycle to trigger the traffic light.

--That's a long list of interesting things along my 14.7-mile cycling route. Now think of how many more things I can add to this list as I lengthen the route and cycle for longer periods of time.

Competitive Swim Season Ends

My Master's Swim Team season is wrapping up for the year. We had our last regular meet yesterday, and only the championships remain on the schedule for the end of the month. Today as I write this I am feeling the "let down" that comes after a big undertaking. And my body is sore from my racing.

I did four events:

(1) 500-free in 7:27, which beat my old record set last October by 22 seconds. Ha! This was the most fun I've had in a while, as I was neck-to-neck with the guy in the adjacent lane for the whole race. And then I gave it everything I had and beat him in the last 25 yards. He finished in 7:29. This finish was almost as good as Ryan Lochte squeaking out a victory over Michael Phelps in July 2011 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2018900/Michael-Phelps-beaten-200m-freestyle-Ryan-Lochte.html). Of course, the key word here is 'almost.' I should note that I really like how professional swimmers greet one another at the end of the race before they get out of the water (see photo). We don't do that at the Master's meets because we have to clear the pool for the next heat to take place.

(2) 50-free in 30.47 seconds, which beat my old record of 30.60 seconds. I wanted to break the 30-second barrier but I'll take the incremental improvement and break it next time.

(3) 100-breast in 1:29. I failed to break my old record of 1:27.70.

(4) 25-back in 17.7 seconds. I had not done this event before so I have no old time to compare. This was another race where my lane neighbor and I were swimming at the same pace; in fact, we tied.

This last swim meet coincides with the end of the "marathon swim," which involves logging all the yards swum each day from the start of the season in early September to the end of the season, March 4, 2012. There are several levels of recognition: 176,000 yards (=100 miles), 120,000 yards, 75,000 yards, and 50,000 yards. Last year I was somewhere around 70,000 yards at the end of the season, so I missed out on the "silver" award that is passed out for 75k. This year I was headed for a similar nearly-there sum of 110k yards and then decided in the last week that I really wanted to reach 120k. So I swam everyday for 1500-2200 yards and finally reached the "gold" level of 120k exactly one day before the deadline. Whew! I was physically and emotionally tired and I remain so after this swim meet. I have a forced vacation from the pool now for a week, as my college's pool is closed for spring break. This break from swimming will be good for me, I'm sure.

Someone asked me what I'll do  with my time this week instead of swimming. Answer: cycling and running. In my effort to get ahead with the swimming, I let those two other activities slide. The weather is forecast to be fair and warm for the next 3-4 days, so I plan to enjoy them. Of course, I still have to go to work and earn my pay...

Snowy Saturday Sweatfest

I don't actually sweat that much when I do exercise, but today I feel like working out for a long time. I had a busy workweek and I didn't get to do much physical exercise--just two miles of swimming and that is it. So today is a day for catching up. This blog post will be written during my workout to keep things interesting and give me a bit of time between each set to rest. My starting time (right now!) is 3:10pm. I'll start with a warm-up bike ride on the stationary bike...

Time: 3:32

I've done 9.5/4= 2.4 miles on the bike. The bike speedometer is shot, so I take what it says and divide by 4 just to get a more realistic mileage.

Then 3 sets of 20 calf raises.

Then 3 sets of bench presses. I did 10 reps the first set and 5 reps for the second two.

I watched professional snowboarding on TV while I worked out. Those guys are awesome athletes but they need to cut their hair. Not every snowboarder should have the trademark hair style of Shaun White. Come on, guys. It's a little silly and transparent. I also noticed that if the snowboarder messed up, they quit. They didn't bother to finish their routine on the half pipe. I understand they may not want to injure themselves if they know they're going to lose, but it makes them seem lazy. Real athletes do their best...all the time. OK, gotta keep going. Time is 3:37pm.

Time: 3:58

I've done 3 sets of triceps extensions. Those are hard, as I am trying to keep the upper arm completely vertical and my shoulder just isn't that flexible. I suppose the triceps is worked in any case, but Salo and Riewald (2008) says to keep them as straight up as possible.

I also did incline chest flys. I did a set of 20 @19 pounds with no problem but my muscles were shaking rather violently so I reduced the weight in the successive two sets. This is not the first time I've gotten the shakes, but it's weird. I can only assume my muscles were already fatigued from the bench presses I did a few minutes ago.

Lastly, I did 3 sets of 20 standing rows using elastic bands. This works the back muscles.

Law & Order was on TV. I've seen the episode already, so I was not that invested. I like that series a lot! Time is now 4:03pm

Time 4:17pm

I've done 3 sets of dumbbell military presses (with decreasing weight each set). Now that I think about it, I should probably increase the weight with each set, but I haven't lifted weights in so long, I'm not sure what weights to start out with. It appears I'm overestimating my abilities rather consistently!

I also did 2 pull-ups using the bar in my doorway. I've written about this before. I'm afraid of it, because I seem to always hurt myself doing pull ups on that bar. So, as I indicated above, I'm starting slow (again). In fact, these were not full pull-ups because I started from a bent-knee-on-chair position.

Lastly, I did 3 sets of 30 abdominal crunches. I'm going to be sore tomorrow! A good sore.

More Law&Order on TV, this time the "Criminal Intent" version. It's not as good as the original, but I still like it well enough. Interestingly I'm not paying close attention to the plot. That's a good thing, as it means I'm really listening to my body and paying attention to my form. So the time is 4:22pm. What should I do now? Answer: more cycling.

Time 4:45pm

I did 17.5/4 = 4.4 miles on the stationary bike in 20 minutes. I'm sweaty now! Time to go check on my household laundry. Then I'll do some leg raises and go from there. Time 4:47pm.

Time 5:09pm

I did 15+10+10 leg raises to work the lower abdominals. I also ate a banana. I realize that I am feeling pretty tired at this point. It's been 2 hours now, and I think I'm done for now.

Overall, I cycled 6.8 miles, worked all my abs, worked my calf muscles, my back muscles, and used my arms, shoulders, and chest to lift a combined 3,925 pounds.

First racing suit bites the dust

I've stopped posting to my blog regularly. There are assorted reasons for this but the main reason is I found another website that enables me to post my workouts and have people comment on them. I can also use that site at work and post things right away instead of waiting until I get home. I also get more consistent feedback there (no offense to my 11 Blogger followers, but I have 37 on the other website).

Anyway, despite the fact that I don't post much to Blogger anymore, I still think of lots of things to talk about here. For example, I was cleaning up my room and found my first racing swimsuit. I bought it a couple years ago and I posted the announcement on this blog. But the thing wore out so quickly that I had to buy a second one only months later.

My old suit was a Speedo "Lunar Twist" jammer, purchased for $45. It consisted of 74% nylon and 26% spandex. Apparently the Lycra spandex component is sensitive to pool chemicals, and one day I noticed that the fabric that stretched across my rear end was getting thin. I replaced this suit with a new suit made of Speedo Endurance fabric, and that has lasted more than a year.

I am NOT a hoarder but I do keep things with sentimental value and I put this worn-out swimsuit back in its box because I didn't want to throw it away. Well, it's been a while and I think maybe I should discard it. So, like I've done before, I am proclaiming how great its been to learn how to swim, to work with a coach every week, and join a competitive swim team. I swim at least 4 times a week, and putting on a racing suit is no longer an unusual event. So, thank you to my friend Dan who got me into swimming, thank you to my coach J.G., and thank you old swimsuit for giving me confidence in the water.

Now, regrettably, the suit is in the trash, and I can continue to clean my room.

November Birthday

I celebrated my birthday recently. For several days leading up to the big day, I was not feeling healthy or strong. I did a treadmill run (my first run in 11 days) last Thursday and again on Monday. But I cut short the Monday run because my back hurt and I had an abdominal cramp. Last Saturday I hurt my shoulder simply by angling my arm awkwardly while taking off my shirt. It had not fully healed by Tuesday when I tried doing a swim. Freestyle was out, but I could do breaststroke and backstroke. But I cut short the swim because my feet were cramping up. I was really fatigued and felt like doing nothing. So on Wednesday I went into the office for a couple hours and then came home to rest. I figured I had a virus that was affecting my joints and muscles. As I lay on the couch watching a movie (Contact by Carl Sagan), I realized that maybe I wasn't sick. Instead, maybe I was worried about my birthday and turning a year older. Yep, that was it.

I am another year older. The aforementioned shoulder injury is chronic and while I can be pain-free for months at a time, it keeps coming back several times a year. The muscle cramps are sometimes harmless, but sometimes not. If my calf cramps up, it does so with such great force that the muscle is damaged and it takes a week for the leg to heal and for the pain and stiffness to go away. My mother has this problem, too, so there isn't much hope that I will avoid it as time goes on. My body is aging and I can't stop it.

I also feel left behind by my age. Given my love for and skill in swimming today, I wonder what I could have been had I started swimming at a much earlier age. I seriously feel that I could have been an All-American swimmer or maybe even an Olympic swimmer if I had gotten the training as a boy. My body is made for swimming. I've also started doing triathlons this year. I love them! My training partner and I have somewhat joked about doing the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii before we reach the age of 40. He and I can dream about it, but neither of us has the time to train for something like that. As hard as I work to keep to a workout schedule, my job requires me to work at odd times of day and on weekends, and so I can't make fitness part of a weekly routine. I just do it when I can fit it in. This is perhaps the most frustrating thing of all, because one big motivator for me with regards to being an athlete is that I am in complete control of this aspect of my life. I direct what activity I will do and how long I'll do it. If I want to get faster, stronger, thinner, or bigger, I know what I have to do to make the goal happen. But that darn job gets in the way. Or an injury. Or foul weather. Or the end of daylight saving time.

All of the above were the thoughts that crossed my mind as I lay on that couch earlier in the week. Woe was me! Of course, as soon as I realized that I was feeling this way, my mood improved. Obviously I was being silly. Age 37 is not the end of life or any limit to reaching fitness goals. Sure, my responsibilities at work will get in the way of training. Or an injury. Or foul weather. But all these are temporary set-backs. I have the love of fitness now. I love triathlons and swimming and riding my new road bike. A birthday will not take this love away. In fact, a steady progression of birthdays is what has allowed me these opportunities. At age 32 I had never commuted to work by bicycle. I do that now. At age 33 I had never lifted weights. I do that now. At age 34 I didn't know how to swim. I compete on a swim team now. At age 35 I had never ran a 5K race or competed in a triathlon. I run on a regular basis now, and I've done three sprint-length triathlons. The swim team and the 5Ks and the triathlons have helped me make new friends. If I had died at age 32 I never would have experienced these things. So now as I look forward to my upper 30s and 40s, I wonder what amazing things I'll get to do. It's a grand journey and a little shoulder injury, muscle cramp, backache, late night at work, or snowstorm will not get in my way for long.

My most recent 5K race took place in an October snowstorm. Clearly I'm now addicted to athletic competitions.

So what will age 37 (technically my 38th year) bring? I am a little wary to make predictions, but I know I'll be running longer distances, cycling over steeper hills, and swimming faster. I plan to do a 150-mile bike ride with my friend Dan. He and I will also sign up for at least three sprint triathlons, and I really want to do an Olympic-length triathlon, too. If I accomplish any one of those goals it will be enough to brag about a year from now when I celebrate my next birthday.

For the record, as a 36-year-old, I:

ran  98 miles,

biked 476 miles, and

swam 105 miles.

These totals include two competitive bike races, two sprint-length triathlons, two 5K races, and eight competitive swim meets. I plan to do more than this as a 37-year-old!

Introducing Trek 1.5 road bike

Introducing my 2011 Trek 1.5 road bike.

I haven't posted a blog entry in a while, so I guess I'll start with something that happened soon after my last post in July--I bought a new bike! It's a Trek 1.5 road bike with a 62cm aluminum frame with H2 geometry (for racing, but not elite racing) and a carbon fiber seat post and front fork to help with shock absorption. I've ridden the bike more than 100 miles since buying it, and I can say it is a lot of fun. It is zippy and smooth. It can take corners very tight, and I have reached a maximum speed of 42.0 mph going down one of the steeper hills near my home. It's my racehorse, both figuratively and literally. Well, not literally really, as it is still a bike. But I bought it for competition in the triathlons I have started to do. I continue to use my old Trek 700 hybrid from 1991 for running errands, commuting to work, and riding on gravel bike trails. This new road bike I only use in races and when training for races on paved surfaces. After riding the new road bike on a route that I often took with my old hybrid, I found that the new bike has resulted in around a 1.5 mph increase in my average speed. The hills on this route are short but steep. The new bike's gearing system (50/34 crank and 9-speed 11-26 cassette) really doesn't help me climb hills any better than I can do with my triple crank 21-speed hybrid, so the improvement comes more on the flat topography (not much of that around here!) and the downhill segments.

Note the new cycling shoes, too. I had to buy those since wearing regular athletic shoes do not clear the chainstays at the rear tire (see previous post). My cycling shoes are mid-priced Shimano mountain bike shoes suggested by the bike shop. Road bike shoes have no tread on the bottom, so they cannot be worn safely when dismounted from the bike. I got the shoes with tread so that I will feel free to dismount and go for a walk if I want. Of course, I haven't done that. But I could. For example, in June 2012 I am planning to do a 150-mile ride as part of a fund raiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. If my friends and I stop and get lunch at a restaurant in the middle of the ride, I won't have to worry about slipping on the floor. Have I convinced you yet? Doesn't matter. The shoes are great, even if "true" cyclists get the type of shoes without a tread. 

I have determined that I will never have the top racing equipment. Like all hobbies, there are many levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced, and steps in between. With each increase in skill level, there is a concurrent increase in the price of equipment used at that skill level. For instance, my new entry-level bike cost only a fraction of what I would need to spend for a high-end racing bike with state-of-the-art components. I'd love to have a $5,000 bike but my skill level does not warrant that. So it's an interesting situation for my personal finances: as I get better at cycling, I'll need to get richer, too. Both situations would be welcome!