The 2017 Exercise Motivation Thread

[jtbo]

ok I figured it out-I guess I have to loosen both nuts on each side in order to slide it back. It was originally in the middle. I pushed it all the way back-sat on it-don't really feel a difference. I will tell today.

Great! It might take few tries to find most pleasing spot, sometimes even 1mm can be totally different, it is kind of weird.

Too much boring reading at links
Understanding Bike Fit – KOPS (knee over pedal spindle)
The Myth of K.O.P.S.

I was supposed to take it light, so I thought I walk, that should be light, right? Ended up running some intervals, it was dark, it was raining and this was on muddy root and rock infested cliffs, too much fun and I was not even nearly exhausted after this, best things in life

For some reason I run a lot easier when it rains, difference is such that I can run 4 times longer at faster pace when it rains, there must be some scientific thing behind it, I just need to figure out what and maybe then I can unlock my running limits.

I really can't comprehend people who drink or use drugs, sit smoking indoors every evening and their week's highlight is getting unconscious by some substances, those probably never have experienced how it feels to be alive out there, but it seems most these days have their fun with a bottle

There are of course people out there in the woods, met again one nice guy cycling on those trails, I like to shock people by greeting them, it seems to work, I will start new thing and change this world a little again by greeting people I meet

 

[foxxycat]

The rain has increased moisture and it's cooler. Allows us to push ourselves without over heating. I always liked riding in the rain for that reason.

I am glad you are getting out and enjoying yourself. Found a small half mile trail by my fire station to walk and gonna drag Jon out there. He needs a tad bit of exercise but not overdue it due to dreaded rheumatoid arthritis.

Got out on the bike-everything going well..was cold at first. Got to the rest point and forgot my water. it was only 15 min later after guzzling water. So I only made it to the school and turned around. took my time..no pushing myself..buzzed up the big hill at 7 mph until the very top... then stopped at the first building to guzzle water-I was dying. I also keep putting off buying a camel pack for water...which I am doing right now..off to Amazon..got free points to use...

 

[foxxycat]

I think this will work good. It's a nice fitting vest/backpack easier on the shoulders..Hopefully it fits..haha.

 

[Winchester]

That's a nice pack foxxycat and should work well for you.

jtbo , when I walked outside, I always smiled and said Hello to people. Most of the time, they smiled back.

Tuesday -
3 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ stepss
15,143 steps for the day - 7.17 miles

 

[jtbo]

Wheeeeeeee!

Oh, there was no cliff to blast down after all, just a boring place

 

[foxxycat]

now that looks like fun!! Keep up the good work! Today is warmer-so I won't need to wear ton's of layers. And probably sweat too much...that's why I like going fast-it keeps me cool.

 

[jtbo]

1854 calories did say bye bye, that was indeed fun, need to climb more, but it was quite good day. This 2 hours or more a day is not so easy to keep up, have to balance a bit.

Sadly camera did freeze once again and I lost best descent I had done, so there is only this slow practice run of one quite steep descent with quite big rocks, had to go quite far behind the saddle and challenge is then to get enough fast to front of saddle if there is next rock, I need a lot more practice as I'm spending way too much energy currently.

Update: Temperature was around 6C and no rain, which was nice for a chance, also got a cut to finger by a tree, should start using full finger gloves soon I guess.

 

[foxxycat]

got Another 30 min ride done. 70° F out. hot. Sunny. breezy sometimes. went to the fire station-there's a small hill that I zoom down and it gives me momentum to get back to the main road I go down. Then take a left to go under highway and then rest is uphill at a very small gradual incline-it's annoying more than anything. I think that's 2.6 one way..so that's 5.2-5.3 miles.

 

[Winchester]

Wednesday -
3 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
15,278 steps for the day - 7.23 miles

 

[jtbo]

So today's exercise, burned 2048 calories this time, also slipped from wooden path into cold swamp water, you can see how HR stops and altitude disappears, air was only 6C, but I kept going despite wet, only left foot was bit cold.

Altitude is not showing much because that zero data at middle, but I got good amount of climbing.

I'm exercising close to same amount as best guys on this area, so I should get some improvements, which would be great as my hill climbing has not really got much of improvement for a long long time.

 

[foxxycat]

jtbo Good job!! That stinks that you fell in the water! Merino wool socks are best for wet environment. I only wear these socks. Even in the summer-they wick so much better than any other material. Yes they are expensive-I only have 5 pairs right now-Christmas is coming-so Jon will get me another 6 pairs. I highly recommend them instead of polyester or cotton socks.

30 min bike ride-same distance as other days-Pandora wasn't functioning so I had no tunes and I was 4 minutes late so I had to beat feet to catch up with my time. Hot again. Drank a ton of water. Sunny 74 today. I think I finally see a few pounds melt off. My jeans are starting to have a tiny bit of room in them...no more store bought tv dinners for lunch-just cookng a pound of pasta and cooking a meat-cheese/butter/pepper and broccoli/spinach. Same type at night and still a cookie here and there but trying to limit myself to only one stack of cookies.

oh and oatmeal/nuts in am helps..trying to stay far away from processed food-seems to help-hard to do when I don't have much time but a rotisserie chicken makes it so easy to do.

 

[jtbo]

jtbo Good job!! That stinks that you fell in the water! Merino wool socks are best for wet environment. I only wear these socks. Even in the summer-they wick so much better than any other material. Yes they are expensive-I only have 5 pairs right now-Christmas is coming-so Jon will get me another 6 pairs. I highly recommend them instead of polyester or cotton socks.

30 min bike ride-same distance as other days-Pandora wasn't functioning so I had no tunes and I was 4 minutes late so I had to beat feet to catch up with my time. Hot again. Drank a ton of water. Sunny 74 today. I think I finally see a few pounds melt off. My jeans are starting to have a tiny bit of room in them...no more store bought tv dinners for lunch-just cookng a pound of pasta and cooking a meat-cheese/butter/pepper and broccoli/spinach. Same type at night and still a cookie here and there but trying to limit myself to only one stack of cookies.

oh and oatmeal/nuts in am helps..trying to stay far away from processed food-seems to help-hard to do when I don't have much time but a rotisserie chicken makes it so easy to do.

Problem with Gore-tex shoes is that when you fill them with water, that water is not going to leave

Pound of pasta is 1626 calories, that is without anything added and dark variety, it has closely as much energy as sugar, like any wheat product.
Lean meat (10%) has only 700 calories for a pound, but people generally think bread is not adding much and meat is, while it is completely opposite in reality!

Butter has 3266 calories for a pound, of course nobody eats a pound, but to compare with wheat products and meat you can see how it adds up fast, 1/10th of pound is 326.6 calories already.

Staying below 2000 calories can be then tricky.

 

[foxxycat]

jtbo
I don't know why but my body metabolizes pasta better than other carbs. I can't live on protein only diet. I tried for 2 weeks when cycling and I just had NO energy. I eat a lot of high fat-good fat- foods like nuts and eat bananas etc and green veggies but the pasta once a day gives me the push to get through the day. No more crackers or chips for me either. So it's one or the other. Pasta is unprocessed and I cook it-add butter and cheese-it keeps me full all day long-and I do add chicken/beef to the pasta..so a combo of fat and carbs n protein works best for me. I am aware of calories of pasta...the scale says I am loosing..my jeans are looser finally..so for now-I prefer to eat the same thing every day-then I can't screw it up. If I add too many choices I loose track of carbs/fats/proteins-can you say I prefer structure?! I still eat what I want when go out once a week but the rest of the time-I have been really good about staying out of the snack machine..it's been a month since I spent a dime on chips.

It wasn't easy but I did it.

I just wanted to mention when I was weight lifting-I COULD function on higher proteins and less carbs..but now that it's cardio-I need the fuel..guess I tailor my diet to what it is I am trying to do...

 

[Winchester]

Good for you foxxycat ! It's really hard staying away from the chips! I'm trying, too.

Thursday -
3 miles on the treadmill
Walked outside during lunch, but didn't go far
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
18,271 steps for the day - 8.65 miles

 

[jtbo]

jtbo
I don't know why but my body metabolizes pasta better than other carbs. I can't live on protein only diet. I tried for 2 weeks when cycling and I just had NO energy. I eat a lot of high fat-good fat- foods like nuts and eat bananas etc and green veggies but the pasta once a day gives me the push to get through the day. No more crackers or chips for me either. So it's one or the other. Pasta is unprocessed and I cook it-add butter and cheese-it keeps me full all day long-and I do add chicken/beef to the pasta..so a combo of fat and carbs n protein works best for me. I am aware of calories of pasta...the scale says I am loosing..my jeans are looser finally..so for now-I prefer to eat the same thing every day-then I can't screw it up. If I add too many choices I loose track of carbs/fats/proteins-can you say I prefer structure?! I still eat what I want when go out once a week but the rest of the time-I have been really good about staying out of the snack machine..it's been a month since I spent a dime on chips.

It wasn't easy but I did it.

I just wanted to mention when I was weight lifting-I COULD function on higher proteins and less carbs..but now that it's cardio-I need the fuel..guess I tailor my diet to what it is I am trying to do...

Pasta is go fast food indeed, I eat it too, also orange juice, those combined with lean beef is rocket fuel, have to be really careful with it, but surely it makes you fly!

Just monitor amount of calories and you do fine, leftmost on white background is how much calories I wasted during the day:

Carbs are needed, I also try to keep good amount of protein as I exercise so much, have to cut from fat to meet my goals.

Sun is starting to go down in an hour or so, need to go out now or it is completely dark until I can come back.

 

[jtbo]

Well, it was dark until I came back, I had horrible day though, from some reason legs did not work at all, might be that I'm close to my limit already, but have to do two more days. Today was over 3 hours though.

 

[foxxycat]

Another bike ride done. Got to fire station but chain acting up-I need to tighten cable to back derailer-theres a turny knob thing on right side of handle bars-I played around with it because I realized I wasn't getting the entire gears. I only get 5 out of the 7 on that side. Which is funny!! The chain skipped less once I wiped it down-pine needles/dirt causes trouble..I was looking at the wrong row of gears on the rear cassette-now that 4th gear is really 6th gear...as soon as we get rain I will get it serviced..for now it works good enough to get me there and back.

jtbo you need to back off=too much too soon=injuries!! 2 hours max! It's great you are doing great!! but I worry you will injure yourself!!

 

[jtbo]

Wooden path over wet swamp has some LED lights, so you can see hard spot from soft spot, when deciding to go for a swim...

There is a path, kind of:

Camera is not doing so well when there is low light situation.

I have been increasing exercising slowly, however it looks like my last rest day was 18 days ago or so, there was two low intensity days last week though.

I guess I should have a rest day according to this:

However I would not get 1st place if I don't do long ride at Sunday, so it is bit of annoying as I'm very close at the moment.

 

[foxxycat]

well then press on!!

 

[jtbo]

well then press on!!

I think I take one rest day though, I'm getting bit of pain around knee, in end of muscles, which is probably begging me to have that rest day.

I had bit too large deficit yesterday, that had some effect too, today I balanced a bit and had zero deficit day.

187 grams of protein, bit much I think

Over 3500 meters of vertical climbing during last 7 days, I think that is not too bad, but real mountains are way out of my reach, would need to train a lot more for those.