Monthly Archives: June 2011

Chest 20110629

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I had to meet an old friend and landscaper at lunch today, so I asked Sam, Tom, and Micah to go to the gym a little late. I barely made it back in time to jump in on the flat bench. Because we started late, we tried to hurry and didn´t end up doing as many different exercises as usual. At this point, I´m sort of glad that we didn´t, because, once again, I can barely lift my arms.

Flat Bench:
12 x 135
10 x 155
8 x 155

Bar Dips:
2, 3, 3

Incline Bench:
5 x 135
12 x 115
10 x 115

Skull Crushers:
6 x 65
6 x 65
5 x 65

Legs

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Today was legs day at the gym. I really overdid my first chest workout last week, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t overdo it on legs today. I started off doing it right, keeping the weight light, but at some point I still pushed beyond the capacity of my legs. I think it’s been about 5 years since the last time I did any of these exercises. I guess I’m lucky I can still walk.

Squat:
45 x 12
135 x 12
155 x 10
155 x 8

Leg Press:
12 x 380
10 x 400
10 x 420

Standing Calf Raises:
12 x 240
12 x 300
12 x 300

Hamstring Curl:
12 x 80
12 x 100
12 x 120

Seated Leg Extension:
12 x 120
12 x 120
12 x 120

West Mountain

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My troubles with RunKeeper continued today, but this time it was definitely my fault. I finally got upset enough with my iPhone to get rid of it and switched to a Motorola Atrix 4G. The trouble with the new phone is battery life. It doesn’t come close to matching the iPhone. To compensate, I set all applications to “auto kill” as soon as the screen times out. Unfortunately, that means my RunKeeper app was automatically killed just a minute after I started riding. I should have seen that one coming and removed RunKeeper from the “auto kill” list. I think it might actually work the next time I ride… we’ll see. In the mean-time, I used the Google Maps interface to create a RunKeeper map as well as I can remember the ride. The exact roads at the very edge of the ride may be a little off, but you get the gist of it.

69.69 miles

Despite the trouble I had with RunKeeper, we had a great ride. Charmaine rode with Kristen and Jess out to the windmills in Spanish Fork, while I rode with Mark and Brett out around West Mountain at the base of Utah Lake. We left Orem just after 7 and returned just before 11. We rode between 71 and 72 miles, depending on which bike computer you look at, making our average speed (including all stoplights and a stop at the gas station) right around 18 miles per hour. We were riding in a paceline, with each of us rotating to the front. It seemed like we got a little faster with each rotation until we were all tired and slowed way down… then the ramp up would start again.

We knew we would be coming back on the same road as the ladies, and we were hoping to catch them on their way home. We had no such luck. They got home about 10 minutes before us, but I think they were still impressed with our time.

Not strong

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I am not a strong man. I used to think I was a strong man, but I am not nearly as strong as I was when I used to think that. You don’t realize how quickly your strength fades away when you stop working out. That all became crystal clear today. It was chest day.

I started off feeling really good, but after just a couple reps at 185 on the flat bench, I was done. After I finished making a fool of myself on the flat bench, we moved to bar dips. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to do any at all, since I had always had a hard time with dips, and my arms were clearly out of juice. To my surprise I was able to do a few without cheating, but soon I could barely extend my arms on their own power. It was pretty sad.

Flat Bench:
135 x 12
185 x 5
205 x 3
205 x 1

Bar Dips:
3, 3, 2

Pec Fly (machine):
80 x 12
80 x 10
80 x 8

Standing Tri Extension (machine):
160 x 12
150 x 10
150 x 8

French Curl (skull crushers):
65 x 6
65 x 5
55 x 6

Incline Dumbbell Fly:
30 x 12
30 x 10
30 x 8

We went to Carl’s Jr on our way back to work. The only way I could drink was to balance it on my leg and bend down to the cup. There was no way I could hold it up. It will be interesting to see what happens next week.

Pushing the sled

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Today I wasn’t able to get away with just hitting the treadmill. No. Today Sam and Tom came to the gym and we met up with some of Sam’s friends from a previous job. One of them brought “the sled”. The sled is a 60-pound metal structure with three feet, each on a small skid pad. We added a 45 pound disc to each of the two back legs, bringing the total weight of the sled to 150 pounds. Then we pushed it back and forth in the parking lot. One direction we pushed from a high position behind the two legs on the back, and then we switched and pushed from a low position just above the single leg on the front. Each direction was about 35 yards. It was pretty tough. We did each direction 10 times. Most the time you got a break between pushing each direction, but sometimes nobody at that end of the parking lot was ready to go, so you just had to jump back on and push it back.

For those that really wanted to hurt themselves, there was also an army duffel bag filled with sand bags that you could lift to your chest and carry back and forth when it wasn’t your turn on the sled. I wanted to see what it was all about, so I ran the duffel a few times. I didn’t do more than about 3 rounds with the duffel. It was much harder than pushing the sled, because you have to carry all the weight of the bag. I don’t know how much the sand weighed, but it was plenty. With the sled you don’t have to carry any of the weight; you don’t even have to carry all of your own weight. There was nothing as brutal as finishing a round with the duffel and hearing that it was your turn with the sled without any rest. I think that’s what convinced me to stop carrying the duffel.

I said I wouldn’t do any rounds with the duffel next week, but I think we all I know I will.

Back at the gym?

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I started a new job recently. A few of the guys on the team have been going to the gym on a regular basis. I decided to start going with them and brought my gym clothes today. I was expecting a legs day, since that was what we discussed last week. But a problem came up with one of the components we build, causing several people to work on it through lunch. Since I’m new, I wasn’t involved with the project that needed a little extra help today, so I went to the gym on my own.

You can’t really do a whole lot by yourself, and I wasn’t sure if the leg workout would get delayed till tomorrow, or just skipped for this week. Not wanting to do 2 legs workouts in a row (or 2 of anything else I may have chosen instead), I opted for running on the treadmill. It’s sort of the wimp’s way out, but I figure I really do need the running if I’m serious about surviving the 10k run at the end of the Spudman this year. So I ran… for a ways… then walked, then ran a little more.

4.0 miles

All in all, I’m glad I at least went to the gym instead of sitting around or grabbing a big lunch. It was a much better choice.

Runkeeper screws me over again (Alpine Loop)

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UPDATE: I am considering the possibility that the bad data and problems I’ve had with RunKeeper are actually caused by my iPhone 4. I was reminded that when I click the built-in Maps application, it almost always shows my location incorrectly.

—– Original Post —–

After the swimming party earlier today, we decided to meet up with Mark and Kristen to ride the Alpine loop. It was the perfect day for it. The weather was nice and cool, slightly overcast with a gentle breeze. The top of the Alpine Loop is still closed to cars, so there was no traffic to deal with. It really was ideal.

Like usual, I decided to have Runkeeper track my ride. It has messed up many times in the past, but most of it’s problems haven’t been that bad. Only one or two have been really ugly. Today was the worst Runkeeper problem I’ve had. For some unknown reason, half way through my ride up American Fork Canyon, Runkeeper stopped recording data. I know there is no cellular coverage up there, but that really shouldn’t matter for collecting GPS data.

https://runkeeper.com/user/jtalbot/activity/39924225

Take a look at that map. Do you really think I magically bounced home from part way up the canyon? No. We rode all the way over the top, down through Sundance, down Provo Canyon, up through Orem, Lindon, and Pleasant Grove, and then back home. My bike computer said 41 miles, so I’m pretty upset that Runkeeper just stopped collecting data a third of the way through the ride. It may be time to find a new tool.

At least Charmaine’s Runkeeper didn’t mess up. Here’s her map. Compare and contrast it to mine. What a joke.

https://runkeeper.com/user/charmainetalbot/activity/39924164

Despite all that, it was a great ride. We took our time and really enjoyed the scenery. I think there’s a picture of us at the summit trailhead floating around on someone’s phone. If I find it, I’ll upload it.

Splish Splash

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It’s been a really long time since I’ve been in a pool to swim laps. That’s sort of funny and sort of sad, considering this is my “swim” blog. But the fact is that the last time I swam any distance was in the Spudman Triathlon last year.

Today we went to the Lindon Aquatic Center, which had been rented out by Charmaine’s work for a party. We took the opportunity to swim a few laps in the 25 yard lap lane pool. It was an eye opening experience. I couldn’t swim more than a 200 without stopping. That is just terrible. I didn’t let myself get out of the pool until I had gone a full mile. By the end I was stopping every 50 yards to catch my breath and let my arms recover.

If it wasn’t before, the message is certainly clear now: we can’t afford to stay away from the pool if we want to survive the Spudman this year.

Tour de Cure

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Yesterday was the Tour de Cure in Utah. This is a 100 mile bike ride where each rider helps raise money for the American Diabetes Association. You have to raise at least $150 to ride. Just a few weeks ago, my niece was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, so we decided to throw a family team together at the last minute. Raising money and awareness was fun, but I really wish we could have convinced more riders to join the team. As it turned out, only Charmaine joined the team to ride the 100 miles with me. My brother joined the team and raised money, but he stuck with the family fun ride (only 1 mile) so he could stay closer to his family. Mark, a friend that works with Charmaine, and his neighbor rode with us, even though they were representing a different team. It was a lot of fun.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written about riding or running. I haven’t been avoiding writing, I’ve been avoiding riding and running. It all broke down when I went to the Google I/O conference in San Francisco the first week on May. After that I was really busy getting my garden ready before I went out of town the next week. I was in Israel and Jordan for the next two weeks. All in all, it’s been about a month since I’ve done any working out, but that wasn’t going to stop me from riding the Tour de Cure.

The weather was just about perfect. It was nice and cool, slightly overcast most of the day, and not very windy. That’s somewhat unusual, as the area we were riding is known for extreme winds. I should mention, even though there wasn’t a lot of wind, we always seemed to be riding into it. I guess that’s just the way it goes.

I was surprised how well I did. My legs never really felt tired until the very end, when were really pushing towards the finish. Part of that was undoubtedly due to having Mark out front most of the race. He’s doing Lotoja this year, so I didn’t feel too badly about letting him work a little harder.

I did have some trouble with my right knee though. There was a big climb at about the 45 mile point. I stopped a few times on the way up (I think the grade was something close to 12% by the end), but was still feeling good. After coming down the other side, my right knee started to feel wrong. A few miles later it was really bothering me. I would pop my shoe off my pedal and shake my leg out every now and then, and that seemed to help, but it continued to hurt more and more until I was really having a hard time with the starting and stopping.

At lunch (somewhere around mile 80) I got some tylenol and took some time to really stretch it out. A few minutes later it was feeling great again and we rode the last 20 miles home at a good clip. It was really fun.

100.16 miles

Now I need to start running again, and it needs to be in the mornings, since I have a “real” job again.