stachedwalker’s BodyBlog

That’s going to be my motto for a bit.    Just did an hour on the treadmill … only walking 4.0mph.  No problems with the hip or knees.  So, I’ll be doing a bit more of these before upping the intensity again.

I’m thinking of doing the Helvetia Half Marathon this June.  It’s a great 1/2 marathon for walkers … horrible for runners   About 1/3 of the way into the course there’s a nice, STEEP hill to climb.  Most runners hit that and come to a screeching halt.  Walkers just seem to power our way through.  At the end, there’s a nice, big, juicy, 4000 calorie Helvatia Tavern Burger waiting for you … and this being Oregon, land of the Brewpubs, there’s an area for the runners and walkers to have a cold pint at the finish line, too.  Oh Yeah, now these guys know how to reward the finishers!!

I had to run back to work this evening, so I dropped in at the office gym for an arm workout.    Because of what they had, it really wasn’t too bad of one.  I started out with Smith machine shoulder presses (50×10, 50×10, 50×10) followed up by lateral raises (15×10, 15×9, 15×6).  Next I went on to dumbbell curls (25×10, 25×8, 20×8), cable curls (40×10, 40×10, 40x) and then hammer curls on the cables (40×10, 40×10, 40×100).  For triceps I did pulley pushdowns (40×10, 40×10, 40×10) and then 2-handed overhead dumbbell presses (45×10, 45×9, 45×6).  Saturday I was using my favorite ab machine.  It’s a clamshell type where you curl the upper body and raise the legs at the same time.  This doesn’t bother my back, but boy does it over hit the abs.  If I haven’t done them for a while (like recently) I get some sore abs the next couple of days.  Getting up out of bed isn’t comfortable , and the triceps pushdowns definitely were NOT comfortable, either.  It reminds me how much I use by abs in that execise.

Well, I took the whole week off from doing any form of aerobics this past week in the hopes that my left hip would heal up.  Better safe than sorry.  No walking, no treadmills, no elliptical trainers, not bikes … nada!  Today, being one week, I risked getting on the treadmill.  My plan was to start off at 4mph, then after 1 mile up it to 4.2mph, then after the 2nd, up to 4.4mph, etc.  After a minute or two at 4.0 I would feel a twinge now and then in my left hip.  Futz!  Nothing came of it, though.  that is, never had consecutive series of twinges.  Just one every now and then and never bad enough to cause me to limp.  After about 10 minutes, nothing more.  So, after the 1 mile mark, I upped the speed to 4.2.  Nothing happenned there.  At the 2 mile mark I upped the speed to 4.4 mph … and decided to hold it there with no more advanced.  I finished off the hour going 4.4mph.  Total speed averaged 4.3mph and I used up close to 500 calories (if you can believe that little calorie counter on a treadmill.  I know they’re not accurate but they give me an indication of ‘relative effort’).  It looks like I’m on my way to feeling better so I will continue this for the week before trying to go faster again.

While I didn’t do any racewalking type training, I did start out on my new weightlifting plan.  Tuesday I did biceps, triceps and shoulders.  Thursday I did legs.  Saturday I did chest, back and abs.    Right now I’m still experimenting with what exercises to do.  I’m going to be choosing about 3 exercises/bodypart.  Each exercise I’ll do 3 sets of 10 reps.  Joints like my shoulders tend to have probems (had a bad impingement issue a couple of years back) so I’d prefer to go lighter and try to be very strict on the form.   I say ‘about 3′ exercises because for arms I’ll choose 3 exercises forthe biceps, but only 2 for the forearms.  For legs, 2 for calves, 2 for hamstrings and 3/4 for quads.    I’m also doing some PT work on leg day to help with an issue that I’ve got with my left knee.  One of the exercises is to do a single legged squat, no weight, under a smith bar.  I can only go down about 6-7 inches (maybe a bit more).  This REALLY works the hip and glutes.  One discovers there really is a lot of muscle in the behind, and if it’s not used to be worked it gets sore too!    Anway, for the next month I’ll be experimenting with exactly which exercises I want to do based upon whether they bother anything or not.  When it’s settled down I’ll post what my routine is, then.

Yeah, I know, catchy title.  What do you expect from an engineer.  We’re not necessarily known for our originality. LOL

This was the last week of working out with my trainer.  I can’t commit to certain days right at 6pm anymore, so I’ll have to work on my own in the coming weeks and months.  Monday was back and arms with Bill (my trainer).  Thursday I did legs with him.  As a normal birthday present, Bill would give me the workout for free.  What I always asked for was forcing him to workout with me so I could be HIS ‘trainer’  There’s nothing like misery like company … and doing to your trainer what he/she does to you is the best revenge yet!  LOL  Anyway, for our last workout together it WAS a workout together.  We did squats, lunges, deadlifts, standing calf raises and wrist rolls.

A fair amount of cardio was done this week.  Tuesday night I was walking on the treadmill.  My goal was to stop at 4 miles.  That was done in 57 minutes.  A nice, slow, fat-burning workout (430 calories).  Wednesday night was 61 minutes, 30 sec on the elliptical trainer.  Now it said I used up some 750 calories, but they’re notorious for over estimating the amount of calories used.   Again, not pushing it too hard.  No workout on Friday.  Saturday was again low-speed on the treadmill … 60 minutes and 4.45 miles  (530 calories).  Today was NOT low speed.  I got on the treadmill and immediately pushed it to 5.0 mph.  At 24 minutes into it I upped the speed to 5.1 mph.  Originally my goal was to average at least 5.0 mph for the hour .. but as time went on it changed to never going below 5.0 mph.  Well, about 42 minutes into it something in my left hip went ‘pop’ and I started limping with each step.  Reducing the speed to 5.0 mph didn’t make it any better.  So, I was left with trying to push through the pain or give up.  As this is training and not a race, I chose give up.  Being within spitting distance of 50, one thing I’ve come to realize is that it takes me MUCH longer to recouperate now than it did when I was 25.  Something like this I would be fine in a couple days, decades ago.  Now if I’m not careful, it could put me back several months in my training.  No use trying to see how good my testosterone level is    I’m over that these days.   Discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to call it a day.  I was still happy with how my endurance was holding up until that moment.  There’s always next week!

This has ended up being more of an aerobics week than a weightlifting week.  I only got lifting in on Monday … chest and shoulders.  Wednesday night I was on the elliptical trainer for an hour.  Saturday was treadmill.  Again an hour.  I started off at 4.7mph and after every mile upped it 0.1mph.  That way you can ease your speed up something like 0.3mph w/o it really being noticeable.  However, at about 5.1 it was.  The last mile I pushed it to 5.3.  In the end I was able to get an average of 4.94 mph.  Not too  bad.  Today I risked the stationary back.   ‘Risk’ because I’ve got some knee problems with my left knee that causes fast movement with a fair amount of bending of the knee to give me extreme pain down the road.  This is how I got started with the whole walking thing.  Sometimes, if i make sure that my knees don’t bend much (using a recumbent (sp?) bike) I can do some biking.  Well, with a new brace on my knee a Physical therapist recommended, i did 40 minutes today with no problems.  Make no doubt about it, I was going reasonably slow, but this gives me another option for burning off calories.   Variety being the spice of life
Oh yeah, Thursday I was down two more lbs to 189 lbs.

Let’s focus on two things …. weight and speed.   At work we’re doing a 15week/15 lbs weight loss challenge.  This week (Thursday) is week #5.  I started at somewheres around 196 lbs.  The goal by the end of the 15 weeks is 180 lbs.  Let’s see if I can not only make that, but surpass it.  In the past I’ve made it to 179, but never managed to get down to 170.  I want to get there now, by summertime

The speed’s another item. It takes a lot longer to increase one’s speed.  This Sunday I managed to hit 4.9mph for 60 minutes.  I’d like to be at 5.3mph for an hour by June.  

Those are some of the short term goals.  Ones that are pretty easily tracked.

spiffy title, huh.  Well, it’s a beginning of a challenge that will go longer than 15 weeks.   the goal here, round one, is to 1) lose weight and 2) improve my times for racewalking.  We’ll see how that goes.

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