Cycle Training Wheels

I attended a spin class with my wife. I've been wondering if I would be able to ride a bicycle again. I got into the saddle and pedaled and did my best to follow along with the spin instructor. I definitely still have some aerobic issues, sometimes my lungs will start burning way earlier than I think they should. I had a little bit of back pain. The session lasted 45 minutes and I stayed to the end. My core is still a little weaker than I would like it to be. I tried the aero position and was able to maintain it for a few minutes with a little discomfort. Again, this inspires hope that I may indeed participate in an Ironman triathlon.

Strength Training with Parralletes and Gymnastic Progressions

Bradley, the sports massage therapist, challenged me to set some goals, paste up a vision board and send a text message with my commitments that I talked about during our session. I sent the text message with a commitment to work out with an exercise ball, write a journal, read scriptures, walk, make a vision board and swim.

I started a vision board, cutting out pictures that represent an activity or achievement from some magazines I had around the house. This has already brought up some strong emotions; fears, doubts, anger and tears. Some of the dreams seem unreachable and I feel like why bother?!

I have a set of parralletes that I built a few years ago out in my living room again. I am taking up a workout regimen promoted by Coach Sommers and his training for gymnasts. I liked the program because it enables me to strengthen without adding a lot of weight. The program has hold positions in what are called gymnastic progressions. You start out with a simple pose, say holding yourself in a tuck position for a minute. If you can't do a minute, then do it for 10 seconds and then rest and then do it again 3 times. The workouts are short, requiring less than 30 minutes.

I started out with a frog stand until I could hold it for a full minute and then started the tuck planche which is holding your kness on your elbows. It is a little more difficult because of leverage. More of the body weight is displaced and each progression requires a little more effort to complete.

My first round, I was able to hold for 10 seconds. The next day, I was able to hold for 20 seconds. The third day I plateaued being able to barely replicate what I could before. I can really feel the muscles in my abdomen and back being pulled and stressed. It is a good burn.

Interval training, running & the joy of swimming

Running today was easier. We did interval training; running within Zone 2 (146 -154 bpm) and running in Zone 3 for two minutes (154 - 162 bpm) and then dropping back down to Zone 2 for 4 minutes. We did this for about 50 minutes. Checking my watch I noticed that I kept moving into zone 4 and it didn't feel all that uncomfortable. I ignore how many miles I'm running and simply monitor how much work my heart is doing or how fast it is beathing. I set the treadmill incline to 6 and speed between 5-6.5 to get my heart rate between zone 2 and 3. As I get hotter later in the workout, I notice that it takes less incline and speed to get my heart rate higher.

As I swim, I've rediscovered an excitement to glide through the water gracefully with very little splashing and noise. I tried to avoid touching the walls as I completed laps. I swam continuously with a free style stroke and turned on my back with arms extended when I needed to catch my breath. I noticed my shoulders and arms getting fatigued much like my legs did several months ago. Ryan taught us to turn over on the back and swim instead of stoping at the edge of the pool. It is the equivalent of walking when I'm too winded to run.

I also noticed that I dropped another pound of weight.

Connecting with wife and kids during Long Training Sessions

We got Lego Rock Band for Christmas. It really brings everyone together and allows us all to connect. It is a challenge to keep up the training and have fun with the kids when I have a chance.

Kandace reached out to me last night. She had been busy all day with her activities. She had played dungeons and dragons role playing, went to the library and went to her youth meeting at church. I tucked her into bed fighting off my own fatigue and told a short story, rubbed her back and said a prayer before retiring for the night.

A Handycam video camera arrived in the mail last night. The kids were really excited to try it out. As usual there was someone squealing for their turn to try it out.

We ran intervals on the treadmill in our Triathlon class.  We ran in zone 2 most of the time with jumps to zone 3 and then 1 minute bursts into zone 4. I kept up! My Polar watch optimizer result yesterday returned a 1 (fully recovered). I feel a little pain in the lower back. I did several Sun salutations to stretch out my back to relieve the pressure. It started after strength training on Tuesday. We did some new leg exercises which pulled on the gluteal muscles.

I used the eliptical trainer during my lunch workout to work those muscles.