The 2017 Exercise Motivation Thread

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Winchester

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jtbo jtbo , I do love your pictures! They are so pretty. I think part of the reason our weather is colder than yours is because we get those Canadian highs that foxxycat foxxycat was talking about. But another reason is because when we get weather, it's coming from the west. We're on the east coast so it's all land to the west of us and it's all really cold. Land is colder than water, so til we get all the crap that comes in from the midwest and combine that with those Canadian air masses that come down, well, we are so screwed. Sorry, but it's not pretty. Add the lake effect snow that comes in as well and, winters just suck....if you hate winters, that is.

I walked every day last week, but Wednesday and Saturday; I kept forgetting to record it here. And on Sunday, I got 4 miles in on the treadmill. There was something about Sunday that, I don't know, things just clicked for me and it was a great walk. I ended up at 4 mph for most of it and actually took it above 4 mph a couple times for certain songs. It was perfect. Some walks are like that.

Monday -
3.25 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
15,093 steps for the day - 7.15 miles

Today, I did 3.5 miles and they were good miles again. I was at 4 mph for most of it and over that at times. Sometimes I think I would sell my soul just to be able to get on the treadmill and run, run, run. Not walk. Run. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I can walk. But some days.....

I think I would really love running. (My knees wouldn't like it, but I think my heart would!)
 

jtbo

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It was not supposed to be snow, it was not supposed to be rain, but it was doing all of those, I had sand from top of my head to toes and I did ride on paved roads! It was good 2 hours 42 minutes, made new records too.
upload_2017-11-14_17-0-23.png


It is not fog, it is snowing, but I like this one, that tree is pretty!
upload_2017-11-14_17-11-33.png


This happens when you jump, you see this location has bump before that crossing path and it is very fast spot, so it is easy to jump there, you can see also bit of snow at air.
upload_2017-11-14_17-14-4.png


I should be riding between that truck and that stick next to it that is at side of the road, there were oncoming cars, if there would of not had bus stop it would of been bit difficult, lots of trucks on that road.
upload_2017-11-14_17-21-10.png


This is 2 seconds after previous one, you can see how much space I have between that stick and truck and sometimes timing just is such that truck has to slow down, but then ice and hills + truck is really a problem so can't really make truck stop in such places:
upload_2017-11-14_17-23-15.png


Also why you never should wear white at winter, there is a mother pushing baby in cart and she has a dog with her too, when car comes from other side of the hill you can imagine what happens if there is truck at same time, white and black is camouflage during winter.
upload_2017-11-14_17-29-0.png


Bigger road has bit of shoulder, but stuff flies and it is like being in wet sandblasting chamber:
upload_2017-11-14_17-35-3.png

upload_2017-11-14_17-40-4.png


So pretty much every day it is wet and cloudy here, when I go riding it is quite certain that there will be sand everywhere, I will be wet and often rather cold too, especially when riding on that wet slush, I don't see many others riding out there and I doubt many of you would put up with all these conditions, however to become faster I need to ride a lot more and of course you get to enjoy pics without need to go trough all the trouble :D

Oh yes, almost felled down twice as there was smooth ice under the snow and I had to brake, also rear brake did broke, always something...
 

jtbo

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I wish that this wattage would be real, 37 seconds maximum, :D
upload_2017-11-14_19-23-54.png


Below is another, for this I did calculate around 290W average being more realistic value, that was 50 seconds all out effort, of course I had quite long ride already done, but I'm quite far being fast cyclist, I would need to at least double my power to be fast and I doubt that will ever happen, but I wish to be able to ride longer rides with enough training.

upload_2017-11-14_19-38-37.png


Weird thing is that I'm at non trained level despite I'm at least three times faster than when I started years ago, but maybe when I'm well rested and do hill test I get a lot better performance, after fast long ride I did manage to get only 3.2W/kg which is sub par result for 1 minute, even untrained should be able to do 5W/kg.


This is handy page to calculate wattage for hill climbing, just needs some grade percent data calculated from map (GPS lies horribly) and average speed for that hill + some weights.
Bike Calculator
 

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Just got back=perfect weather. Its 39°F. wore a sweat wicking long sleeve thin shirt then the gore windstopper jacket-I wasn't even cold. I got merino wool socks off one of the bike sites-going to get some more. these are thick and toe box is not too tight..they were $23 and made in USA..about $5 more than what I usually pay=but going down the hills=my feet were nice and toasty. I am going to have Jon buy me a helmet goretex cover for rain-it was cold yesterday with the rain. I also found this ear muff headband at goodwill last month for a dollar. Tossed in wash and fits me perfectly. I take it off at the halfway point because I am dying. I think 30° will be perfect for me. Everyone asks me how can I stand the cold? I am a polar bear and with extra layer of chubs I keep warm!

I used to get cold really easily when I was skinny..so there are some advantages to being fat! LOL.

I still haven't had time to get a fitbit or camera. Maybe next week things will calm down enough to have time to research.

Today 5.6 miles-got to the first development on left side-turned around there because it's the top of the mini hill. The winds were blowing north/east and ride back was a tad faster than ride out since going back I am facing southeast.
 

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2 hours cycling today, there was bit of snow which caused rear tire to rub so it was not quite as easy or fun as it could of been.
 

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Tuesday -
3.5 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
15,455 steps for the day - 7.43 miles
 

Winchester

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Wednesday -
3.5 miles on the treadmill
About 3,000 steps or so walking over to farmers' market at back during lunch
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
18,648 steps for the day - 8.83 miles (Had I realized I was that close, I would have gone for 19,000)
 

foxxycat

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Yesterday rode to the first road after fire station..I am guessing 5.6miles. Sunny out. 46°F. was just right for riding. My thermostat has been running very hot lately-I don't know why I am not freezing but it feels normal to be out in the cold working up a sweat!

Today was downpours-I ride in light drizzle/rain but not downpours=don't want to get hit by a car! because morons still not putting their devices down when driving!
 

jtbo

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Yesterday rode to the first road after fire station..I am guessing 5.6miles. Sunny out. 46°F. was just right for riding. My thermostat has been running very hot lately-I don't know why I am not freezing but it feels normal to be out in the cold working up a sweat!

Today was downpours-I ride in light drizzle/rain but not downpours=don't want to get hit by a car! because morons still not putting their devices down when driving!
Cycling is clearly working, your body is running higher level of metabolism now, so there is more heat produced as there is more energy consumed, so your body is working much better already. That is how it was for me too, toes stop freezing too as fitness improves, blood circulation improves and as such more heat is transferred via blood.

I did only commuting type of riding today, but it was still riding, everyone else seemed so slow, pedestrians seemed like stationary cones to be go around, which I actually did, that might of course upset some, but if you walk like randomly tossed group of cones taking whole path, I will go around and I can go past anything pretty close without a risk.

Riding on single track helps with distance estimation too, I can easily tap object with handle bars without any issue with balance.

Also got rear brake fixed today, so let's see what fails tomorrow, had a little flu today, but compared to 2 weeks hardly being able to get off from bed, which was before I did exercising and proper dieting, this little thing is nothing, it is impossible to describe how much stronger one can be, it does not feel right away, but after some years there just is no struggle.

Yesterday I got 710 grams of carbs, spread trough the day, had 2 hour slow ride too, which helped to recover from previous fast ride, I'm starting to think that 500 grams for hard days is not enough, that over 700 grams really made difference for today, just got more oomph, hard to explain, but I had a LOT of grip issues when accelerating with bicycle today, middle chainring and 5th or bigger gear all the time, from core to legs just felt like loaded if that makes sense.
 

jtbo

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So as I had baked bread and pizza at the morning, then I ended up with few photos:
upload_2017-11-18_16-43-16.png

upload_2017-11-18_16-43-36.png


There is probably a story:
upload_2017-11-18_16-44-7.png

upload_2017-11-18_17-3-34.png


Birdie!
upload_2017-11-18_17-4-24.png


I need to bring bike next time, looks fun!
upload_2017-11-18_17-5-2.png

upload_2017-11-18_17-5-53.png


Hard to capture those golden rays from heavens:
upload_2017-11-18_17-6-37.png


That was nice 2 hours and 45 minutes of hiking, I did actually make up a story from photos with elves and everything, but then I thought that no one will want to read of weird fantasy stories and adventures that I always build when going for a walk, besides it takes hours to write those up.
 

foxxycat

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There's several of us who like sci fi and fantasy...Yes it takes time to type it out- I bet @Mamanyt1953 and @Margret would enjoy these... I love the photos by the way... I think you can start a new thread jtbo jtbo and post them there-that would be awesome. There's also @tallyollyopia who also loves this stuff...so yes many of us would like to see it...please???
 
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Norachan

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Awesome pictures jtbo jtbo . I could hardly see that woman in white walking in the snow. Yes, very dangerous to be out in those conditions. I can just imagine the little forest elves you must almost see while your out hiking.

This week has been a pretty good one. Yoga and either a walk or a run on Monday and Tuesday. 25 minutes bike ride on Wednesday. Yoga on Thursday. Horse riding on Friday. Yoga yesterday and today. Going to go out for a walk later too.

Some pictures from Friday's ride. We went to a stable in Nagano where they do Mongolian style riding.

Tateshina28.jpg

Horse all tacked up with a Mongolian wooden saddle.
Tateshina23.jpg

When we rode past the field of brood mares and yearlings they all broke into a canter and tried to race us to the fence.
Tateshina12.jpg
Tateshina15.jpg

Mount Tateshina in the background.
Tateshina10.jpg

Not sure about this, but we did see a fox.
Tateshina30.jpg
 

foxxycat

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Norachan Norachan Love the photos-hopefully next month I will have some kind of camera to take pictures-lots of beautiful water scenes and farm land on my ride.


very windy today. 25 min ride-only made it 3 miles-the wind was strong but it was 55°F which lately it's been 32ish so I figured-25 minutes of cycling is better than nothing. It was warm in the sun though.
 

jtbo

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Norachan Norachan , those trees are tall! I can see that is quite high, but still trees are tall. If I remember correctly, Mongol cuisine was something that would take little time to get used to, did you get to taste such? :D

I had pavement tires on my ride and at one point it was so slippery that I could not climb the hill, rear wheel was spinning on 3rd gear without much effort, but bike did not move forward. Also I did ride some new places.
upload_2017-11-19_22-9-28.png


As I'm trying to save money for new bike parts, I have been doing little more baking, but you should know me, I just have to play with data, so this is how I make recipe, calculate cost and also nutritional values for my bread, so you input data to green cells and formulas will output some numbers:
upload_2017-11-19_22-12-10.png

Then you use numbers to weight ingredients to stand mixer bowl and do little mixing and baking.

End result will then be something like this:
upload_2017-11-19_22-12-39.png


Easy spreadsheet loaf :D

All this exercising requires plenty of energy, so carbs and energy is easy to obtain from such, great for making toast or warm sandwiches etc.
 

jtbo

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I did exercise my brain today, this calculates at what time calories are burned by body and helps to determine if to eat or not to eat and what time, it is quite simple to calculate manually, but bit annoying, this makes it bit faster to check if should eat more before workout or if there is enough fuel for a night so body can recover from workout properly:
upload_2017-11-20_16-51-48.png

upload_2017-11-20_16-51-35.png


BMR / 24 gives calorie consumption per hour.

Calories eaten - Exercise calorie burn / what you got from upper calculation gives you how many hours food will fuel you.

So it is as simple as adding that to time you did eat those calories to get how long until need to eat next time, to avoid building extra fat on waist.

When lightweight, it becomes bit harder to extend intervals between eating as there is too little fat to get all needed energy from fat, so eating times become more important.

I will need to add energy from fat to that to get it where I want, but that should not be too difficult to do.
 

Winchester

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That bread looks so good!
Norachan Norachan , awesome pictures! Wolf Crossing? Seriously? Holy cow!

I didn't treadmill over the weekend as we were really busy with other things both days.

Monday -
3.5 miles on the treadmill
12/12 hours with 300+ steps per hour
15,833 steps for the day - 7.57 miles (dang, had I realized I was that close to 16,000, I would have done the extra steps)
 

jtbo

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Goggles and ear plugs were great for windy days, also this kind of thing for a bike makes miles of difference:
TAQ-33 Triathlon Aerobar HB 17 | Triathlon / Aerobar Shop

These days I can go to forest or hiking/jogging if it is too windy for road, so I took off aero bar. Without aero bar I'm 1-2 gears slower, top gear is almost useless except at steepest downhills and that had more use when I had aero bar on, so definitely it has an effect.
20mph headwind makes you ride 40mph to get just 20mph ground speed, wind is a huge factor!

If you ride 13mph normally and you have 10mph headwind, you can ride only 3mph to get same level of exercise as without wind, many don't realize how big factor wind is.

Snow is also adding resistance quite a bit, I did ride today in snow, there was clearly more resistance and also gravel they put on paths is adding a bit too, so had to push quite hard to get even some average speed.

2 hours and 44 minutes of walking and riding today, about 1700 calories burned, total calories for a day 3700, bit more than I thought I would do.

Hopefully tomorrow I can do longer ride again, but let's see how it goes.

Oh, I bought today red carpet for a hallway, 3ft wide and 10ft long heavy carpet to keep dirt etc. coming indoors, so I had that carpet on my shoulder as I walked 30 minutes uphill. Kinda happy that I have been exercising a lot, because without exercising I could of not done that.

Next I need to find out where one shop is that has small table on sale, only 10 euros and it would be perfect size for what I need, that might be even longer walk, while carrying a table.

Winchester Winchester , victory dance would of done that missing 167 steps, so we can conclude that every day we should end with a victory dance, it is one day of challenges won again :D

I bought new smaller bread pan too, so I can now make two breads at one go, then freeze part of it for later use. Kinda thinking about getting proper bread knife and toaster, my utility knife is not the perfect for bread cutting, it is too short, so soon I'm having energy production and consuming at higher level, I certainly hope my exercising and weight loss will gain and not the weight!
 

jtbo

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Ok, here is entertainment for you, video and graph below is same section, so you can see the speed and heart rate and also from video you can see how it did look like, might be interesting experience :) I could of gone faster, but I was not quite sure how my front tire will handle bumps and snow/ice/slush, I did not have winter tires on.

This is my rear tire, it is fastest MTB tire ever made, practically a slick and mine is quite worn so at middle there is not much of snake belly left. It does not slip on snow, mind does not understand how, but better than many knobbly tires.
continental bicycle Speed King
upload_2017-11-22_22-16-52.png



upload_2017-11-22_21-35-34.png


That was around 4 hour ride, Polar M400 did run out of battery before I was back home.

Around 50 miles / 80km, I got lost, there was no telling where north was because of cloud and snow, could not spot ant nests or other clues, so ended up riding lot more than intended. Of course I didn't have map, money, or anything else except single key to apartment with me, it is more interesting that way.

Really cold, I think it was around -6C but after 2 hours started to feel toes freezing despite thick merino wool socks, gloves got wet from sweat and then outside of gloves started to freeze solid, I should of put thick fleece jacket as I thought before I set off riding.

Eventually found a road back, but everything hurts, thankfully I have sauna so I could melt myself there.

So who wants to do the same? :D
 
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