Thursday, January 27, 2011

5K Training Continued

Wow, haven't posted in a while. So one might wonder if the training regiment continues. Sadly it does. Had a ham string problem that sort of killed the cardio portion of the training but light weights and abs have continued. As we age, apparently some parts of our bodies become less flexible and more prone to injury. Back on track as of last night.

January 26, 30 minutes of cross training, 20 minutes of abs and upper body light weights 20 minutes.

More tomorrow!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

5K Training Continued

January 19, 30 minutes cross training
20 minutes abs
25 minutes weights, shoulders and arms

Taking The 20th off. Body beat severally over the last 2 weeks. Need a rest day.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

5K Training Continued

Another day consciously being healthy. This is starting to be a drag in a lot of ways and kind of exhilarating in others.   The drag part is that you actually have to give a bit of thought to what you do with and too your body all day, everyday. Chicken or beef, fruits and vegetables or potato chips and cookies.  Take a nap or go for a walk. You see, not just business as usual. You actually have to think about yourself as you go through the day, that's the drag part.  The exhilarating part is buying the first pair of jeans since High School with a 32 inch waist, realizing all the sizes of clothing have gone smaller except your hat size and shoe size, being full of calm energy at the end of the day, etc. That's all pretty cool. Especially for an old guy like me!!!

January 18, Walked 1 mile at lunch. Later at the gym, 18 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes of Abs and 30 minutes of light weights working on the shoulders and back.

More to follow.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

5K Training Continued

January 17, for what I thought was a ho hum training session, I sure woke up stiff this morning. Nothing really new, just mixed it up a bit on the weight training. A friend of mine gave me a set of work out videos with this guy on the front of the package that looked like something from a steroid commercial on the front. So I watched the first one, about 12 minutes and thought well, why not follow part of his advice and mix up the exercises that I have been doing. You know Mondays cardio, with part of Mondays weight program and part of Tuesdays program finishing off with rousing round of Abs exercises. Nothing new, just a different order. Wow, the old saying that getting out of your rut can be painful is absolutely true!!

30 minutes of cross training
30 minutes of mixed weights
15 minutes abs

No beer when I got home. Maybe that is the problem with the stiffness, nothing to lubricate the muscles????

Monday, January 17, 2011

5K Training Continued

So the adventure continues. With the end to day 16 of the adventure to get in good enough shape to run in and finish a 5K race, my resolve is beginning to wane. I can't even imagine how crazy it would be to train for a marathon or the Hood to Coast run. This is starting to give some support to the theory that mental illness is more widespread than Doctors have lead us to believe.

January 15, no training. Could have been considered a rest day except for the fact that it really turned into a house cleaning day which is just one step away from forced labor on a road crew in rural Alabama. Birthday Party later in the day, which explains the house cleaning thing. Good times had by all.

January 16, Birthday Party a success as judged by the magnitude of my hang over. Nothing a half gallon of orange juice and chicken fried steak with country gravy poured over the top of the eggs and potatoes won't cure. Short nap and ready for the days work out. 30 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes light weight training. Should have probably opted for a Bloody Mary instead of the Orange Juice!!!! We'll see if I have the fortitude to train today:>:>

Friday, January 14, 2011

5Ktraining

January 13, well I did in fact pay for the eating and drinking binge of Wednesday. Interesting that one day of minor back sliding can have such a profound effect on how the aging male body reacts to training. Massive amounts of sweat, screaming muscles during the work out etc. If I remember my High School Physics lessons correctly, there was something about a body at rest will remain so unless a massive amount of energy is expended to get the tub of lard moving again. Pretty close I think.

So I pounded the cross training elliptical machine for 25 minutes. Up hills, down hills, all around the hills. My thought here was to blow the grease from Wednesday's hamburger out of my system. I'm pretty sure that worked, I had plenty of liquid coming out by the time I was done and I'm pretty sure some of it was hamburger grease. Knowing full well that the second place a hamburger goes in someone of my advanced years is the belly, I decided that the balance of my work out should focus on my Abs. So crunches it was. 500 crunches of different form and a hundred different types of push ups later I lay exhausted (still lots of liquid pouring out, this is good?) in a corner of the gym where the older ladies do stretches, 70+ types. Thank God one of the more buff ladies realized that I might be close to death and helped me hobble to the locker room.  No beer last night Gateraid and water. Feel GREAT this morning, can't wait to get back to the gym today!!!!!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

50Training Continued

Training January 12, 2011. Well complete lack of training would actually be the truth. No walk, no cross training, no weights, nothing. As a matter of fact it gets worse, out for lunch with business associates, ate the biggest fattest hamburger known to man. Juice dripping down my arms, onions, pickles, the works!!! And oh yes, the FRIES, salty deep fried fries with fry sauce!!!! All of that followed by a couple of micro brews at the Pub with a friend, yeah you know the really tasty, high calorie, high alcohol, $3.50 beer that you probably should limit in order to keep your pant size in the normal range. Oh yeas it gets worse... but that's enough wallowing in yesterday. Today double workout planned. I'll see how that works out :):) 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

5K Training Continued

Got a little behind posting my training so time to catch up.

January 7, non training day. Went to a memorial service for a former business associate in Eastern Oregon. No he did not die at the end of a 5K run.

 January 8, non training day unless you want to consider driving 6 hours in snow, sleet and rain training for something.


January 9, payback day for not training the two previous days. 1/2 hour on the elliptical and 1/2 hour of heavy lifting. not the brightest thing in the world since I was still pretty stiff from driving the two preceding days. Noticeable pain in all muscles, I mean ALL MUSCLES.

January 10, still being paid back for doing nothing those two days. Well I didn't do nothing I guess. I was able to consume a fair bit of good beer on Friday. Perhaps there is some minor correlation between the beer, inactivity and muscle pain??? I will give that some thought. 25 minutes of cross training and 30 minutes of ab work with another 25 minutes of light weights. Almost to tired to have a few beers and watch the National Championship football game on TV. Almost is the operative word.

There caught up, more to follow tomorrow.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Over 50 and Training for a 5K Race Continued

So yesterday was day 5 of 72. After a 1 mile jog/walk, had to do some walking because of the appearant thin air here at 300 feet above sea level, I went to the gym for some cross training and weights. Upon seeing the always pleasant Michelle, the gym manager, I explained that I would be needing to buy one of the gym tee shirts to wear in the upcomming race. She obviously mis understood my comment because she began to laugh out loud. She obviously thought I was telling a joke and being the customer service person that she is, she laughed along with the joke even though she did not hear the punch line. After repeating myself, she regained her composure and explained they were out of shirts because the guy that made them for them had died recently. She had that look on her face like he might have died doing a 5K race. I let it drop and moved on with my workout.

So, 1 mile jog/walk followed by 25 minutes interval training and light weights for about 30 minutes. A bit sore in the evening but gaining on it. I had some issues sleeping, am having a dream over and over of the tee shirt guy clutching his heart 10 meters before the finish line.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Over 50 & Training for a 5K Race??

So, I'm over 50 and was sucked into a challenge by my 23 year old daughter over the holidays to run a 5K race in the Spring of 2011. Now remember it was the Holiday season and I do have a propensity to drink a little more beer than I should at this time of year, so it seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. I'm not in real bad shape, I go to the gym 6 days a week, have lost over 40 pounds over the last 2 years, walk regularly and watch my diet (except the beer thing, referred to above).

 So New Years Day, we put the above mentioned daughter on a plane at 0530 in the morning for her return to Germany where she works as a teacher. Returned home and promptly went back to sleep for 5 or 6 hours. Getting up refreshed and rested, it occurred to me that the race I had picked was only 72 days away and I had probably at least go for a mile walk to start my training. Better than nothing, right.

Day 2, off to the gym for an hour and a half of crazed cross training and weights.
Day 3, more of the same.

Day 4, Crash, I was sore in places I didn't know had muscles, dizzy from depleted electrolytes,  Generally dazed and confused. Well after a short trip to the Doctor, nice fellow only laughed at me for a minute or so, I had replenished the electrolytes and was ready for day 4 training. 5 minutes on the cross trainer and gave up on the weights after about 20 minutes or so. Sort of ran out of gas!!! Home for a beer and dinner and off to bed before 9:30.

Today is day 5 of what appears to be a hellish 72 day adventure to run a 5K race. Muscles seem to have recovered somewhat this morning, not dazed or confused and believe I can actually continue my training this afternoon. I've decided the race may be the easy part of this adventure, the training could be fatal however. 

Will advise tomorrow of the progress in training and give some additional thoughts on why men over 50 do stupid stuff. Not all the stupid stuff, just this kind of stupid stuff. I'm thinking it may have something to do with reduced testosterone levels???