Training with Flies

Thanks, Nancy.  Now, don't think your comment about increasing distances/weights didn't go unheeded.

-30-

Monday was a lifting day and I did fine, it was even 42 degrees outside.  Bumped up the weight on 1 routine, but just one.  It was time.  I will usually the weight two weeks after I have mastered the weight, meaning when I finish 3 sets of 6 reps, I will do that for 2 more weeks, then increase the weight by the next increment.

Tuesday was a run day.  Temps increased to 59 degrees.  5 miles was the goal at 158 cadence.  Around mile 2.3, I started losing the 158 cadence and I turned around and completed 4 miles.  I think the amount of lifting that I did on Monday contributed to not being able to run the 5.  It sure wasn't the temperature.

Wednesday was a lift day where I concentrate on the deltoids, like last Wednesday.  Parts of the five routines were easier, but some of the five were (as intended) difficult to get to 20 reps.  But I completed what was prescribed.  It takes about 35 or 40 minutes to do the workout.  Last week, after I finished, I did some other lifting for 10-15 minutes, then left.  Yesterday, when I finished the deltoid workout, I went home.  I wanted to conserve where I could, so I could run 5, this morning.

This morning, it was 71 degrees with all of the humidity for which one could ask.  Last night, I was pondering whether I could run 6 miles or not.  Jumping from 4 to 6 was a bit of a gamble, after having done the deltoid workout on Wednesday.  Knowing it was going to be a hyper-sweat kind of morning, to put me in the best position to run 6 would involve driving to Memorial Park where there are no less than 6 water fountains on the 3 mile loop, if needed.

So, it was there I went.  At a cadence of 157, I finished the 6 miles and probably could've done 7, but the cadence would've slipped.  There was a south breeze that helped, when the woods didn't block the breeze.

I had an odd sighting on the last mile.  A guy passed me on the left, which isn't unusual.  But a few seconds later, an unleased Australian sheepdog passed me on the right.  Didn't cause any trouble and I was talking to him a bit, he turned his head to look back at me, while still following the owner.  The owner called for the dog to catch up to him.  It was a nice diversion.

6 miles, 1:28:47, 14:47 pace, 129 avg bpm, 143 max bpm, 157 avg cadence
1.  15:14, 117 bpm, 157 spm
2.  14:54, 126 bpm, 157 spm
3.  14:35, 131 bpm, 157 spm
4.  14:54, 131 bpm, 156 spm
5.  14:49, 134 bpm, 157 spm
6.  14:16, 138 bpm, 157 spm

The cadence was a straight pier, except when I stopped for water, twice.  After the run, I wasn't soppin' wet, but I wasn't dry.  1 complete squeeze of the sweatband.  In August and 79 degrees, it would be 2 or 3.  I'm tired.  The kind of tired where after a long run, you're walking and trying to stop, but you have no brakes.

I'll decide in the morning how much lifting I will do, but I don't think I'll lift a Monday...or at least ALL of a Monday.  But I'm glad I was able to accomplish what I have done, this week.

See Nancy?  Your suggestion didn't fall on deaf eyes.

This morning was a lifting morning.  Not surprisingly, I was tired this morning.  I did take a nap before Bible class, last night.  I was having a little bit of trouble trying to get to sleep after class.  I know it was every bit of 90 minutes.  I even watched a bit of last night's NCAA tourney.  I still got up for lifting on probably 4-5 hours sleep.

I was going to take it easy and treat today like it was a ~30 minute workout in November, where it's my only weights workout for the week, when I was training for the Half, back in January.  35 minutes later, I was done and gone.

Looking at next week's weather, here, and it's looking really nice with no low temps higher than 69 for the next 10 days.  I'll be heading to bed, now, but not before I say that I hope y'all have a good weekend.

be safe.

And this morning was a lifting morning.  I did close to an hour's worth of it.  Things went well.  I didn't overwork anything, so muscles weren't hurting nor overused.  

During the overnight period, it's supposed to rain and maybe even some thunderstorms.  It's supposed to be over when I want to finish running.  So, I may not be able to hit the pavement.  

If you've heard, Houston is hosting the Final Four NCAA basketball finals that begins on Saturday and ends on Monday night at NRG Stadium.  I went to the Final Four here in 2011.  I really didn't want to go because I had bought 2 tickets for the 3 games with the hopes of selling them to whomever.  That year, there weren't 4 or even 3 teams that have a basketball alumni base that loves to travel.  No Duke.  No Louisville.  No UCLA.  No Kansas.

Rather, UConn, Kentucky, Butler and VCU.  So, I went to the games.  It was nice to see the games...from 3/4ths of the way to the top of the stadium, but the money would've been nicer.

Enjoy your weather.

It's been an interesting, but injury-free, week.  I'm finding that I am straddling that line between too much and just right.  I think we all have learned to be on the just right side because it's safe, generally injury free, and we can hop over the line when we need to hop, e.g. a longer long run.

I learned last year that I can't lift as much as I want, while running.  Part of that getting old scenario.  So, I'm trying to nudge the line back to what it was 2 or more years ago.  Or away from where the line was last year.  I enjoy both activities and the heart has been part of the solution.

Tuesday and Thursday is usually the run days.  As noted on the last post, I lifted on Monday.  Tuesday's run was rained out, so I decided to do that shoulder's-only lifting on Tuesday during lunch because Wednesday was to be around 60 degrees, which makes for a better than 71 degree running weather.  But could I pull off consecutive 6 mile runs on Wednesday and Thursday?

Tuesday's lift went well, except for 1 of the 5 routines where I misjudged the weight of a bare bar to be lighter than I wanted.  So, I didn't get the full benefit of the workout.

Wednesday morning, it was 61 degrees with dry air.  Really nice.  I went up to Memorial Park.  Everything was going well, but then a 'no' bird started inching into my brain saying that 3 miles was going to be good enough, instead of 6.  The motivation was kicked to the curb, but I made sure to finish 3.

For the rest of the day, I pumped myself up to run 6 on Thursday (a regular running day).  It was going to be more humid on Thursday.  Humidity doesn't make for a nice run, so that's not a motivator.

Thursday came and it was 62 with 100% humidity.  Cool, but soupy, morning.  I finished the 6 miles at a pace that was a bit faster than Wednesday's 3 (14:33 vs 14:37).  That wasn't planned.  There was this walker that was ahead of me at 2.2 miles into the run.  He was walking in the 15 minute pace area because I was going in the 14:30's.  So, it was a creeping advance on my part.  I passed him and about a quarter mile later, I had to do a pee break.  When I got back to running, he was about two-tenths ahead of me.  Instantly, he became the Rabbit.  I never caught him, because he peeled off about 1.5 miles to go, but I DID cut the gap to a tenth.  

The result was a little faster splits for miles 3, 4, and 5.  The weather wasn't a factor, although I squeezed out my sweatband twice.

This morning, I went and lifted for almost an hour.  I wasn't really tired, this morning, but that little voice in my body was saying, "Thank God it's Friday!"

So, that's the week.  3 lifts and 2 runs, as usual, just arranged differently.  The weekend will be rest, generally, and watching some basketball.

Y'all don't dawdle, this weekend.  Thanks for your time.

This week will be just a 4 day week, in the light of Good Friday, which means one lifting day will not get done.  

I did lift again, this morning, and it went well.  

Tomorrow for the run, it'll be around 72 degrees.  The seasonal high is 75, but today we're looking to bust a high temp record of 86 by vaulting to 90 degrees.  

I'll drive up to Memorial Park and run 4 miles, which will involve the 1.15 mile trek over the land bridges.  Guess I need to acclimate to Summer's lows while traversing the hills (or rises for y'all) of the land bridges.

We're supposed to get rain from Wednesday to Saturday, so tomorrow night I'll see if I need to run again on Wednesday because of probable rain on Thursday morning.  

The thought has crossed my mind to make the Tuesday run a faster run of some sort for 2-4 miles.  Nothing like the timing of running faster in 75 degree weather.  C'est la vie.

Y'all have a good day.

That's great that Emma has reaped some benefit out of judging.  College Station is a little cooler in the Winter than Houston, as cold fronts tend to make it to College Station.  They get snow more often than Houston, but not the thickness y'all do.  They are a little less humid than Houston in the Summer.  College Station is not pancake flat.  It rolls.  She would learn to hate UT-Austin.  And with UT and Oklahoma about to join the SEC next year or in 2025 (where A&M is), the UT/A&M rivalry will begin anew.  The Bush 41 presidential library is at A&M.

On the flip side, College Station is more likely to get tornados than Houston and will happen in the Fall and Spring.  Hurricanes coming ashore will be tropical storms or depressions by the time they get to College Station, so just rain.

She'll have fun, down here.  Tradition is very important at A&M.

Tuesday was a breezy, yet humid, morning for a run.  It was 74 degrees, but I'm working on trying to make these 70s a minor player as to whether I run or not.  Last Summer, runs of less than 7 miles were at 16:00+ pace.  I want to avoid that, so badly, this year.

I ran 4 miles at Memorial Park, which included the 1.1 miles of traversing the two land bridges.  Doing that traversing occurs early in the run.  Like, just past a tenth of a mile.  The HR graph tells exactly when I hit the 'two peaks.'  But the heart was still in the hammock at 131 for the 2nd peak.  Sure felt more than that!  

I think it'll be a good thing, at some point, to run the land bridges at the end of the 4 miles.  Or maybe make it an 8 mile run by running the first 4 going one direction, then turnaround and run it the other direction.

-30-

This morning, I went to the park again to run 6 miles.  Why would I run 4 yesterday, then run 6 today?  Well, it's supposed to rain Thursday morning.  Possibly hard rain.  In hindsight, I think I should've ran the 6 on Tuesday, but that's okay.

Anyhoo, the legs didn't want to do 6, rather 3.  And there was a lot of back and forth between the brain and the legs.  Usually, what the legs says, goes.  But I really wanted to do 6 at the 157 cadence.  At 2.7 miles, I was losing cadence.  I fell off the pier.  What the legs want, the legs get.  

Just too much back to back running, I guess.  But the silver lining is that my average HR for the 3 miles was 119 bpm.  I think that's the first time that I've had a less than a 120 HR average for 3 miles.

Tomorrow will be the weekly shoulders lifting workout.  Bedtime.  Thanks for watching.

nkrichards wrote:

ounce wrote:That's great that Emma has reaped some benefit out of judging.  College Station is a little cooler in the Winter than Houston, as cold fronts tend to make it to College Station.  They get snow more often than Houston, but not the thickness y'all do.  They are a little less humid than Houston in the Summer.  College Station is not pancake flat.  It rolls.  She would learn to hate UT-Austin.  And with UT and Oklahoma about to join the SEC next year or in 2025 (where A&M is), the UT/A&M rivalry will begin anew.  The Bush 41 presidential library is at A&M.

On the flip side, College Station is more likely to get tornados than Houston and will happen in the Fall and Spring.  Hurricanes coming ashore will be tropical storms or depressions by the time they get to College Station, so just rain.

She'll have fun, down here.  Tradition is very important at A&M.

It will be interesting to see where she decides to go. She has several choices.  She was originally planning on a medical related career but is now considering something more related to animal science.  She's planning to choose a school that allows her to major in biology so both those options are still available to her.

I would be surprised if any school would require something other than a biology major.  She still has to get through Organic Chemistry, though.

Doing the shoulder workout was nice and sweaty.  Since I'm doing 5 routines at 20 reps per routine (with 12 more as a warmup), this would qualify as a 'for show' workout, rather than a power/strength workout.  It does work the three deltoid muscles, so they will get stronger, but after just 4 weeks of doing this workout once a week, shirts are tighter around the deltoid.  

One thing I found interesting to me is I am advancing the loads on different weeks.  One routine has me at the same beginning weight, yet it's getting easier.  Another routine has increased each week because I work the rear delt as part of my Monday and Friday lift schedule.  I need to increase the weight when my 12 rep warmup on one of the five routines doesn't have me wore out, which is before doing the 20 reps. That 20 can take 4 or 5 attempts to add up to the 20 reps.

I get done in about 35 minutes and I leave.

That's my story, today.  Y'all have a nice Easter weekend.

nkrichards wrote:

ounce wrote:Tuesday was a breezy, yet humid, morning for a run.  It was 74 degrees, but I'm working on trying to make these 70s a minor player as to whether I run or not.  Last Summer, runs of less than 7 miles were at 16:00+ pace.  I want to avoid that, so badly, this year.

I ran 4 miles at Memorial Park, which included the 1.1 miles of traversing the two land bridges.  Doing that traversing occurs early in the run.  Like, just past a tenth of a mile.  The HR graph tells exactly when I hit the 'two peaks.'  But the heart was still in the hammock at 131 for the 2nd peak.  Sure felt more than that!  

I think it'll be a good thing, at some point, to run the land bridges at the end of the 4 miles.  Or maybe make it an 8 mile run by running the first 4 going one direction, then turnaround and run it the other direction.

-30-

This morning, I went to the park again to run 6 miles.  Why would I run 4 yesterday, then run 6 today?  Well, it's supposed to rain Thursday morning.  Possibly hard rain.  In hindsight, I think I should've ran the 6 on Tuesday, but that's okay.

Anyhoo, the legs didn't want to do 6, rather 3.  And there was a lot of back and forth between the brain and the legs.  Usually, what the legs says, goes.  But I really wanted to do 6 at the 157 cadence.  At 2.7 miles, I was losing cadence.  I fell off the pier.  What the legs want, the legs get.  

Just too much back to back running, I guess.  But the silver lining is that my average HR for the 3 miles was 119 bpm.  I think that's the first time that I've had a less than a 120 HR average for 3 miles.

Tomorrow will be the weekly shoulders lifting workout.  Bedtime.  Thanks for watching.

I saw your run on Strava and was curious...but didn't have time to ask.  Some days it goes like that.  I think your analysis...is accurate.  But I also think that trying to run back to back and/or add in the hills at a more difficult time will help you improve...even if you aren't able to fully execute at planned.  Nice HR!

ounce wrote:Doing the shoulder workout was nice and sweaty.  Since I'm doing 5 routines at 20 reps per routine (with 12 more as a warmup), this would qualify as a 'for show' workout, rather than a power/strength workout.  It does work the three deltoid muscles, so they will get stronger, but after just 4 weeks of doing this workout once a week, shirts are tighter around the deltoid.  

One thing I found interesting to me is I am advancing the loads on different weeks.  One routine has me at the same beginning weight, yet it's getting easier.  Another routine has increased each week because I work the rear delt as part of my Monday and Friday lift schedule.  I need to increase the weight when my 12 rep warmup on one of the five routines doesn't have me wore out, which is before doing the 20 reps. That 20 can take 4 or 5 attempts to add up to the 20 reps.

I get done in about 35 minutes and I leave.

That's my story, today.  Y'all have a nice Easter weekend.

You're doing a great job managing your lifting.  It's obvious that it's your activity of choice at this point in time.  And that's good.  It's much easier to be find motivation and see improvement when you really enjoy it.

We changed churches just over a year ago....COVID and political issues.  We are very happy with our decision and I'm much more comfortable in this church.  We were attending the church Marty was raised in (he was not attending when we married but decided to start attending again probably 10 years ago).  It was much different than his childhood memories and I wasn't raised in a religious family.  I struggled to fit in.  That's a long introduction to my comment that we're planning to attend Sunrise Service on top of Round Butte on Sunday morning.  We missed it last year due to family obligations.  I'm looking forward to it and hoping for clear weather!  We'll return home for breakfast and then attend the regular Sunday service. 

Here's hoping we both enjoy our Easter weekend.

I've been a firm believer, with regard to church, that it's the message not the person delivering it, nor the 'trappings' of the church.  The bells and whistles, if you will.  But have a helluva day, tomorrow. 

My lifting.  Yes, I love the lifting.  Except for the occasional leg lifts, the 3 days I do lift is only upper body.  So, if I quit running (not likely at all), Tuesdays and Thursdays would be dead lifts and something else.  But upper body is what I need to do that 3+ year old goal of a single pull up.  Therefore, that's what I'll do.  Seeing improvement is the big carrot.

Next week's running should be awfully nice because that rain we got last week also shuffled in cooler temps.  Next week's low temps are not supposed to be much more than low 60's all week.  Looking forward to THAT, even at the risk of losing my heat acclimation.  Such is life, I guess.

Thanks, Nancy.

Oh, tonight I'm going to wear my watch and HR strap to bed to get a low HR reading.  A month ago, I did a manual HR before getting up and the HR was 47 bpm.  Looking forward to that.

Adios.

The experiment with the resting HR went fine, as far as the equipment working.  But the report side of it left something to be desired.  Like the HR minimum the Polar can show.

Too logically, I suppose, I selected the category "Other Indoor" since I was sleeping.  The Polar picked up that I was going to sleep and gave me a sleeping report.  It gave me sleeping time and average HR, which was 50 bpm.

The Strava report in the app didn't give me a Y axis figure of below 50, but they were in increments of 10, so the only thing you could discern was there were some HR below 50, but not an actual figure.

BUT, the Strava report from the website allowed me to run the mouse over the HR line and it was giving me figures.  The lowest HR I found was 43 bpm.  That was during the last 50 minutes of the sleep.  From start to 3 hours (when I got up to pee), the range appeared to be from 47-54.  From 3 hours to 6 hours, 30 minutes the range appeared to be from 43-49 bpm.  That was pretty interesting.

So, since I'm not running tomorrow morning, I'm going to do the experiment again.  But this time, it'll be under "Running" mode.

And I lift tomorrow, too.  Y'all have a good night.

Regarding the HR, there wasn't much difference between Saturday night and Sunday night.  The Polar, this time, reported no HR data at all, even after changing the activity to Running.  But the Strava on the web gave a little broader HR graph, from the Polar data.  It gave me an average HR of 49 vs Saturday's 50.  So consistent, essentially.  The lowest HR for Sunday night was 42 vs Saturday night's 43.  Again, consistent.

The depiction of where I 'ran,' last night, was much like a young child's first attempt with a crayon with the instruction "make as many lines as you can in 15 seconds.  GO!"

At least, I won't have to do that experiment again for a year or so.

-30-

Yup, I lifted this morning.  60 minutes.  Making progress.  Progress isn't just an increase in weight, but it can be the ability to do 3 sets of 4 reps, instead of 2 sets of 4 reps & 1 set of 3.

Tomorrow will be running.  Haven't decided on quantity and how.  But it will be cool!  Somewhere around 60 +/- 3 degrees.

Enjoy your cool, while you have it.  Thanks.

nkrichards wrote:Interesting resting HR info.  I have two watches.  One is my running(triathlon) watch...a Forerunner 920XT.  It doesn't give me resting HR data.  The other is a Venu 2S.  It's more of a fitness watch.  It does track activities but I don't use it for that other than walking and swimming sometimes.  But it's a great fitness watch for tracking sleep, resting HR, stress, body battery etc.  I'm not sure how helpful all that data actually is but it is fun.  I gives me easily accessible resting HR...which it calculates during wakeful resting periods...and max HR.  It does not give me data about my HR during sleep.

So have you done anything like this in the past to try to get resting HR data?  How does it compare.  I know you mentioned that you had checked your resting HR manually before getting out of bed...sounds like it was a bit higher which is to be expected.

Have fun with your data...and have a great run tomorrow.

I had some RHR data back on one of the Term Limits blogs, but I'd have to think when.  Looking at the data over the past 2 days, it made me think there must be a RHR floor based level of activity, weight, duration of activity and weight, and other factors.

When I did the resting HR before getting out of bed, I would turn myself to see the clock and get my hand and opposite wrist together, so I could see the clock add a minute and start the count.  That movement added some beats.

There's enough data to show my RHR is more around 46 or 47 because the spikes on the graph relate to bathroom breaks.  Still 49...47...tomayto...tomahto.

I was pondering after digesting the data, is it time for another stress test?  It'll be 2 years this July.  It wouldn't be really useful, since I am asymptomatic.  My METS would increase a bit from 10.5, which is the heart of a upper 30s male, but it would be a waste.

Tomorrow.  Many choices.  Sort of thought out an 8 mile run from here to the park, run the land bridges, then run back.  I'll have access to a water fountain right after I finish the bridges (approx 4.5 miles).  I can stash a bottle of water with 2 miles to go.  Weather will be cooperative around 59 degrees and I can test drive that route for when it's in the 70.  But the comfortable runner in me would be pleased to do 2 laps at Memorial Park.

What will I do.  What WILL I do???  Tune in tomorrow.  Maybe I'll even know.

Thanks, Nancy.  Bedtime w/no RHR test.  Not enough battery time on the Polar for that and a run.

nkrichards wrote:

ounce wrote:

nkrichards wrote:Interesting resting HR info.  I have two watches.  One is my running(triathlon) watch...a Forerunner 920XT.  It doesn't give me resting HR data.  The other is a Venu 2S.  It's more of a fitness watch.  It does track activities but I don't use it for that other than walking and swimming sometimes.  But it's a great fitness watch for tracking sleep, resting HR, stress, body battery etc.  I'm not sure how helpful all that data actually is but it is fun.  I gives me easily accessible resting HR...which it calculates during wakeful resting periods...and max HR.  It does not give me data about my HR during sleep.

So have you done anything like this in the past to try to get resting HR data?  How does it compare.  I know you mentioned that you had checked your resting HR manually before getting out of bed...sounds like it was a bit higher which is to be expected.

Have fun with your data...and have a great run tomorrow.

I had some RHR data back on one of the Term Limits blogs, but I'd have to think when.  Looking at the data over the past 2 days, it made me think there must be a RHR floor based level of activity, weight, duration of activity and weight, and other factors.

When I did the resting HR before getting out of bed, I would turn myself to see the clock and get my hand and opposite wrist together, so I could see the clock add a minute and start the count.  That movement added some beats.

There's enough data to show my RHR is more around 46 or 47 because the spikes on the graph relate to bathroom breaks.  Still 49...47...tomayto...tomahto.

I was pondering after digesting the data, is it time for another stress test?  It'll be 2 years this July.  It wouldn't be really useful, since I am asymptomatic.  My METS would increase a bit from 10.5, which is the heart of a upper 30s male, but it would be a waste.

Tomorrow.  Many choices.  Sort of thought out an 8 mile run from here to the park, run the land bridges, then run back.  I'll have access to a water fountain right after I finish the bridges (approx 4.5 miles).  I can stash a bottle of water with 2 miles to go.  Weather will be cooperative around 59 degrees and I can test drive that route for when it's in the 70.  But the comfortable runner in me would be pleased to do 2 laps at Memorial Park.

What will I do.  What WILL I do???  Tune in tomorrow.  Maybe I'll even know.

Thanks, Nancy.  Bedtime w/no RHR test.  Not enough battery time on the Polar for that and a run.

Nice run!  I know you faded for the last couple miles but I do think it's necessary to push yourself to...and past...that point to achieve the improvement you're chasing.

I wonder if they (medical community/insurance) would support having another stress test at this point.  I agree that it would be fun to see the improvement after 2 years...and to have a better baseline going forward.  But without symptoms I wonder if they would agree.  

Rest up today after your long run!

Yeah, I was surprised that I lasted as long as I did.  Miles 6, 7, and 8 were the fade, which was leaving the part of the park where the 3 mile loop is.  The weather was conducive to the later fade at 61 degrees.  Just glad that I didn't try this run in July with temps in the mid-70s.  I think I'd have to run a few more of these before trying it in July.

I agree that I have to push to get better.  Including the two land bridges in the mix will help in the push because it gives me inclines and declines close to the park.  If I was training for the marathon, there are ups and downs about 2 miles from the park that I can 'enjoy.'

Regarding the stress test, the doc could come up with a reason, but just to see if I have improved...maybe not.  After all, I was within 30 seconds of finishing the whole 9 minute test.  They said they got all the information they needed, so I said let's shut it down, then.  So, THERE'S a reason not to do another with no complaints between visits, with even discontinuing the aspirin.

I am tired.  I will be getting to bed earlier, tonight.  Have the shoulders workout to do in the morning.  Let's run this energy into the ground!

Thanks for your comments.

nkrichards wrote:

ounce wrote:Yeah, I was surprised that I lasted as long as I did.  Miles 6, 7, and 8 were the fade, which was leaving the part of the park where the 3 mile loop is.  The weather was conducive to the later fade at 61 degrees.  Just glad that I didn't try this run in July with temps in the mid-70s.  I think I'd have to run a few more of these before trying it in July.

I agree that I have to push to get better.  Including the two land bridges in the mix will help in the push because it gives me inclines and declines close to the park.  If I was training for the marathon, there are ups and downs about 2 miles from the park that I can 'enjoy.'

Regarding the stress test, the doc could come up with a reason, but just to see if I have improved...maybe not.  After all, I was within 30 seconds of finishing the whole 9 minute test.  They said they got all the information they needed, so I said let's shut it down, then.  So, THERE'S a reason not to do another with no complaints between visits, with even discontinuing the aspirin.

I am tired.  I will be getting to bed earlier, tonight.  Have the shoulders workout to do in the morning.  Let's run this energy into the ground!

Thanks for your comments.

Those land bridges will be a good extra push.  I hate the rolling hills on the extended loops near the house but I know they are good for me so I will occasionally tackle them.  I'm always pleased when I do...especially when I check out my grade adjusted pace.  My pace during my tempo run yesterday was 9:50 but my grade adjusted pace was 9:15...and I didn't even get to the bigger hills.  Woohoo!   Does your watch give you the grade adjusted pace info?  It's encouraging on those hilly run days.

Just made my appointment with Dr. Beckerman.  It's a zoom appointment.  I'd rather drive the 2 1/2 hours each way for an in-person visit but he's just to busy.  He'll see me if/when he thinks he needs to but for now I'll settle for a zoom appointment.

Birthday activities?

Thanks, Nancy.  Maybe those land bridges might become a measure of running 'fitness' in the summertime for me.  After the 8 miles, yesterday (keep in mind it was only 61 degrees and that, in and of itself, won't cause a lot of sweat on 6 flat miles), I wrung out 1 sweatfull from my headband.  That's usually a 70 degree, 6 mile running occurrence.

Regarding Dr. B, maybe zoom is a backhanded compliment that you're doing so well that he doesn't need to see you live, despite the warm and fuzzies you get out of it.  Just have your questions and rebuttal comments ready.  I see mine, next month.

Regarding age grading, my watch laughed.  

-30-

This morning was the shoulder workout.  Before heading off, I reviewed the 8 minute YouTube video again, just to see little nuances in the lift or push positioning that I may have missed.  It usually takes me about 10 minutes to set up three of the five routines because I'm fetching dumbbells and building a barbell because the weight I do the overhead press is between the factory-made barbells.

I regressed on one routine's weight for an unknown reason.  It's a routine for the front deltoid, exclusively.  

To do all five routines, today, it took about 40 minutes.  After that, I went ahead and hopped on the incline bench press to work on catching up to the weight on the flat bench press.  80 lbs on incline, 85 on the flat and 95 on the decline.  On the sitting bench press, I workout with 135 pounds.  Forearm strength not critical on the sitting.

Tomorrow morning, it's supposed to be in the mid 50's.  It's a running morning, but not sure if I'll do a out 'n back 4 or go up to Memorial Park for 3.  Either will try to be a faster run of some 'design.'

Morning will come soon, so I'm off to bed.  I really didn't do anything special for my birfday.  It's just another day the Lord gave me and I'm a day closer to eternity.

Nighty night.

This has been an interesting and productive week in the Exercise department.  Three lifting days and two running days of 11 miles (an 8 and a 3).  Tuesday and Wednesday, I took a 2 hour nap, each, in the late afternoon/early evening.  Thursday morning, I shut off the alarm and slept another 2 hours before the run.

So, the 3 mile run was interesting because there was a faction comprised of the heart and lungs that was ranting for me to stop.  Keep in mind it was 57 degrees, which is very much running weather in April in Houston.  I bumped the cadence +1 to 158 and was going to see if I could push up the speed.  That was a desire I posted earlier this week.  Though shortly after a mile, this ranting started.  I looked at my Garmin for the insta-pace and it was the low 14's.  I wasn't burning up the trail by any stretch.  HR was 134, so not a 145+ HR.  "What's the deal?"  I stopped at 1.46 for a drink of water and to see if the ranting would stop.  But noooooo.  As I ran, the ranting continued.

Finally, I assessed the legs.  While all the ranting was going on, the legs were just humming along at 158.  So, the brain decided that for as long as the legs are doing 158, we're running.  I finished with splits of 14:12, 14:25, and 13:54 at 128 avg bpm at 158 spm.  The legs have no problem with slowing down, when needed.  Evidently, I have compensated enough on sleeping on Tuesday and Wednesday for the shoulder's workout, then 2 more hours on Thursday morning for the 3 mile run.  So, that's 6 hours of additional sleep for this week.  I typically get 6-1/2 to 8 hours sleep a night.

This morning, I did a Monday workout.  it went well.  Again, like Wednesday, I specifically lifted on the incline bench press to catch up to the flat bench weight.  This seems to be working well on this 'remedial' lifting.  I figure it will take 2 months for the incline to match the flat, but a month to be on the same weight.  Imagine two runners on a 400 track doing a 5K.  The flat bench has lapped the incline bench and is 500 meters ahead.  It'll take a month for the incline to unlap the flat and another month to catch the flat.  The flat will still be advancing but has slowed to let the incline catch up.  So, mid-June.

Mid-May, I will do another 1 rep max on the sitting bench press.

I'm thinking that if I can keep running in the 10-15/week effort on 2 days and creep to 12-16 by August, then in September I can go to 3 running days and 2 lifting through to the Half in January.  

That's an off the cuff plan.  Maybe call it a framework.

Y'all have a good weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

I'm more likely to call Freddy "Felonious Freddy" because he's evil trying to get me to stop, just so he can stay in the hammock.   

I'm too speed challenged to have Fast Freddy waste any time on me.  Anywho, 158 cadence for three miles is encouraging, when 157 is so comfortable.  Yet, increased turnover and a long stride length is a recipe for speeding up.  So is losing weight.

This week will be better in the weather dept, than last week.  We had a front move through, last night.  Yesterday's high was 90, the first of the year.  Today, it'll be 76 (seasonal is 80) with low humidity.  That'll carry on for a couple of days, including Running Tuesday and maybe Thursday.  I plan on running 10-12 for the week and lifting the 3 days.

I'll monitor whether I need to nap or not, but it'll probably come to how much, rather than nap or not.

Thanks, Nancy.

Lifting went well, this morning, except for 1 thing.  Over the weekend, I noticed a little 'shaking of the globe' or Nancy's 'rocks in your head' occurring when I got out of bed.  Actually on Friday night, I noticed in bed the sensation of when my head dropped, without moving.  Even waking up, this morning, there was a bit of wobbly that settled down quickly.

So, I went on with the lifting to see how bad it would get.  Quite frankly, I forgot about the vertigo when I arrived.  I do four different routines other than at +90 degrees (noon on a clock).  The +45 degree angle (a non-bench press routine) routine did zero to initiate my vertigo (though it had in the past).  

Secondly, the decline bench press at -30 degrees.  I don't know if exertion does anything to start or intensify my vertigo.  Anyway, I finished my 3 sets and sat up.  BINGO!  Vertigo engaged with nystagmus (eye twitching).  So, I sat on the side of the bench with my arm braced onto the bar for 30 seconds until the vertigo abated.  The correction to regain normalness is to freeze when the vertigo engages until it abates.  That took 30 seconds.

Thirdly, the 0 degree flat bench press.  Did my 3 sets and the vertigo equivalent to getting out of bed engaged.  That was a 10-15 second freeze to correct.

Finally, the +30 degree incline bench press.  Did my 3 sets with no vertigo.

Other than the elapsed times mentioned above, I was vertigo-free.  Separately, I added a shoulder routine to the mix called 'face pull' and is part of the Wednesday shoulder workout.  It's also a routine good involved for doing the elusive Pull Up.  I was there about an hour.

Tomorrow will be a running day.  It'll either be 6 or 7 miles at Memorial Park, which is 2 laps, or 1.15 miles of land bridges with the balance of almost 2 laps to make 7 miles.  Probably around 60 degrees.

Enjoy your day.