My rowing journey is about to begin

 So I hit a milestone recently that I'm not happy about.

But the biggest problem here is that it's starting to really take a toll on my ankle.  I haven't been blogging much about my pickleball adventures the past couple of years.  But I've really enjoyed playing pickleball and competing in tournaments.  

Well, this last tournament from last weekend messed me up.  My shins ache like crazy and I'm hobbling around like an old man.  I'm at least 40-50 pounds overweight.  Pickleball isn't doing it.  And I'm only swimming a minimal amount.  Which never did if for me anyway.  What really got me was running.  But at this size my joints are not having it.  So what to do?

I did some homework, and I remember back to the Tomax gym in the basement there was a rowing machine.  That was tough.  It works most of your muscles compared to a recumbent bike or a treadmill.  So I found this:  

Aviron rowing machines!

There are a bunch of youtubes on the Impact rower.  And the way it uses gaming to make it more fun really appealled to me.  I remember back when I used it at Tomax how much of a workout it was.  

Rowing in general is beneficial for:

• Low impact on joints.  There isn't any gravity pounding at my joints like there is with running, or even fast walking.  
• It's more of a full body workout.  Unlike cycling or running, it's actually engaging so many muscles and isn't simply a "calorie burn".  It's going to strengthen muscles all over.
• It's going to be even more aerobic than running because of the increased use of muscles.  Which will mean I can workout for a shorter time period and burn calories faster. 
• I can do it inside year-round.  But unlike a treadmill this will actually take up less room.  

And further with an Impact rower from Aviron, it has so many features.  I'll be sure to add a follow up post once it arrives.

How long after ordering will the Aviron Impact rower ship?

I ordered mine on a Saturday and it shipped on Tuesday.  So about 3 days from ordering to shipping. 

Utah Fall Open 2016 hosted by Salt Lake Table Tennis events center (Adam Davis)

This morning Austin and I went to the events center for the Fall Open. I entered us both for three events: Open, under 1700 and Doubles.

First was the open. I was in a mini round robin with: Arun and Aaron with only one advancing. I beat Arun in two (best of three) and lost ton Aaron in two. So I waited around for about four hours for the next event. As only those who advance got progress and they had a double elimination to go through.

Eventually the under 1700 event started.  I was in a bracket with: Rohit, Morgan, Jan (Little girl who was amazing) and Braxton.  I started with playing Rohit. It was best of three again and I won the first game, he won he second and I came from behind to win the third. After that he took off. I was like what the crud? Nobody else in the bracket has to even play him now. If I lost to even one person I wouldn’t advance. Which is part of the reason I believe he took off. Anyway I beat everyone else in the bracket to advance.

It was especially worrisome for me to play Braxton as I haven’t beat him in a tournament in like 10 years. Once I progressed out of that bracket I played Lief, and too one game from him but he won the next three. Thank goodness it’s a double elimination.

Next up I played Eric whom I lost to at the Farmington Tournament in March. He had pips on one side. But I had to patient and not attack with unnecessary risk. And when I took that approach I had the upper hand. I forced him to do the same as when he took risks he often lost. So it came down to who had the most control.

I think it went to the fifth match but I got it. I then had to play Viorel. I had a similar approach about not taking extra risks and won in four ensuring a bronze medal.

For doubles it was a single elimination tournament and Austin and I had to play Leanne and David and won in three.  Then we played Bob and Walter and won in four.  We then played in the finals against Daniel and Malachi. Dan won the open against Joey in the finals so that was pretty intimidating but we actually won two matches against them which was really surprising!  We took the silver medal in doubles! Awesome day. I exceeded my own expectations as far as wins/losses. But the ultimate goal of every tournament is to simply play my best and to have fun which I definitely met.

Isaac's Cycling Merit Badge

Here are the requirements for the Cycling Merit Badge.

After giving Isaac instruction on how to switch the gears on Cathi's road bike and giving him a few practice tries in the culdesac, we went on our first 10 mile ride together.

Here's the log of his rides:

6/13/2015 - 10 miles - "This kinda hurts my back".  We already had the seat as low as we could.  The frame is a bit big for him, but he was able to stand up without the top tube hitting him in the groin.  But he does need to bend over a little more just to reach the handlebars.  Not overly so.  He also needs to get used to the saddle.  It already has a gel pad cover.

6/17/15 - 11 miles - Nice bike trail ride all the way up to West Point.  He needs eye protection from gnats!

First bike ride in a long time

Saturday, I dusted off the bike and filled air in the tires and did the following ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/715413142

10 miles in 36 minutes.  Flat and riding the back roads in Syracuse.  Had a fun time dodging the pot holes on 4000 W.

10.34 mi

Distance

17.1 mph

Avg Speed

727 C

Calories

36:15

Time

102 ft

Elev Gain

My famous athletic wife

I'm so proud of my wife!  She recently had an interview with a KSL reporter who wrote up this article on her.  Right now she is running her 100th marathon down in St. George.  I wasn't able to go cause of all the other activities the kids are involved in here at home.

On Monday morning she will be on KSL tv in the early morning(5am-6am), doing an interview there.
Running is her thing and it brings her great joy and stress relief.  Having 7 kids can get pretty stressful, and many people who are under stress find unhealthy ways to relieve it.  So glad she chose something that can make her life with me on earth last so much longer.

Love this woman!

Alex is kicking my butt, well actually my triceps

At lunch Alex had us do our normal M/W/F workout, but today was chest/tricep day:

Bench Press: 20 @ 135, 15 @ 185, 10 @ 225, 3 @ 275, 20 @ 135

Straight arm Dumbell Pullovers: 5 x 12 @ 55  (Strict form)

Straight arm pulley pulldowns: 5 x 15 @ 80 (Strict form)

One arm DB Preacher Curls: 15 @ 35, 4 x 15 @ 30

Perfect situp machine: 2 x 40 crunches (awesome burn!)

Found my old Bench Press max video and uploaded it on Youtube so it doesn't ever get misplaced again:

Sprints

This morning I got to sleep in a little.  Yoo hoo!  Got up at 4:45 and took my sweet time getting to the pool at Northwest.  Here's what I planned for and swam as successfully as I had hoped:

300 easy warmup
10 x 100's FAST

1st one a little easier than the others (1:07), 2-9 got 1:04 and on the last one 1:01

300 easy cooldown

1,600 yards total in 30 minutes

Because I pushed those 100's I don't feel guilty one bit for tapering.  If I can maintain a 1:04 average on my 100 splits in the 500 free,  I'll have a new PR (from high school) beat this Saturday.  I think this is doable.  It's gonna be tough, but definitely possible.  Looking forward to it!  No swim tomorrow, mental training tomorrow.  

 

Score!

There is a guy that started at my work named Alex who is an ex-bodybuilder.  He loves to lift and we got to talking and for the past two week's we've been lifting together.  I've loved it!  Having a partner, and to have him know what he's doing and taking the lead is an even bigger bonus!

I dropped my weight back down under 200 finally and went to see Cameron.  After all the caliper pinching the formula showed that I am now at 7.56% bodyfat.  I lost 4 pounds of bodyfat since my last weigh in, and surprised that I only gained 0.1 pounds of lean mass.

I'd like my body fat percentage down to about 4.5%, so I have a little more than 10 pounds of bodyfat to lose and then I'll be at my peak again.  I hope to stay there this time.  No need whatsoever to bulk up and "put on a few for the Channel", with MIMS.  Yeah the water won't be toasty, but it won't be exactly cold either.

Log of the last 16 months of measurements.

Drop Set Chest workout

Cameron has me doing some drop sets this next iteration and it's been fun!

Chest and Triceps:

I've been sore, but that's such a great feeling.  My swim times haven't been hurt by this lifting.  I just make sure to take it either really light and easy a few days leading into a meet, or skip lifting altogether so that I'm fully recovered come swim time.

Been sticking to my diet with minimal cheating here and there.  Still on the bandwagon.....

Lifted Legs with Cathi

It's been a very long time since I last posted.  It's not that I've been a slacker.  About 13 months back Cathi convinced me to go see a trainer, and within 4 months of that I was in the best physical shape of my life.  I tapered off just a bit with my swimming and the need to put on a little more body fat, but am back at it again and leaning up.  Here is a graph of my progress.  So right now I'm at just under 9% body fat.  Not too bad.  Hoping to get it down to 6 again within a couple months.

This morning I got up at 4:30am and Cathi got up with me, but soon reported that her running partner just texted to cancel she was disappointed.  I didn't want her to get up and get all dressed ready to workout for nothing, so I offered to go to the gym with her and lift.  She typically lifts during the day when the kids are in school and I typically lift at lunch time.   What a great opportunity to workout with my lover!

Today I lifted legs:

Drop sets (Lift reps of 10 (failure), then drop 20% or so of the weight and immediately do another 10 reps)

Squats: 3 x (185, 135)
Leg Press Machine: 3 x (300, 260)
Leg Curl Machine: 3 x (130,110)
Calf Machine: 3 x (310, 280)

Then went swimming....

Bike and TT

Second day now on the bike.  30 minutes bike, then played TT with a guy at Tomax named "Shaddddd'on"  Like Sharon, but you roll the "r" like something fierce!

I need to get the spelling.  Anyway.  Got some sweat going, and felt good to get my heart rate up.  Biking in to work tomorrow, and that'll definitely do it.

First day back to a more well-rounded fitness routine

Over the past two years, my training routine went from triathlon training, to exclusively swimming.  Thus the huge absence from this site.  Now that I've successfully swam the English Channel, I'm going back to a more well-rounded approach to fitness.  Swimming for me is very easy, and I'd say feels like a calorie burn of only about 200-300 calories per hour.  Running on the other hand feels like 800-1000.  It's tough for me.

Cathi is such a great coach!  So upbeat!

So today was my first time running in a very long time.  On the way down from the hotel (Cisswood House in West Sussex, UK) room, Cathi and I stopped at the fitness room for a "Biggest Loser weigh in".  When I left for England I weighed in at 220.  Today: 95 kg (209 pounds).  I actually have lost 11 pounds from the time I last weighed in before coming to England.  That's great!  Now that I'm pulling back on the swimming and reintroducing running (and when I get home, cycling), I expect the weight will just fall off me.  

Especially considering that I'm passing up sweets, and eating alot more veggies and fruits.  No more big pasta dishes, large servings of chicken.  I'm going for healthy now.  

This morning ran 20 minutes in the country with Cathi.  Got a good sweat going.  20 minutes isn't much, but its a decent start.  

Medicine Ball workout video

One set of medicine ball work = 15 minutes  Here's what I end up doing.  Rest about 30 seconds, get a drink and do it all over again, a few times:

Perfect Chest workout for just getting back into it

I haven't done any consistent weight training in a very long time.   After last week's race and not hitting my goal time I decided I needed to do some things outside the water to increase my strength.  So today's workout went like this:

Bench Press:

12 x 135, 8 x 155, 8 x 165, 8 x 155, 12 x 135

DB Flys:

5 x 12 x 35

Then I moved to the cardio room and got my 12 pound medicine ball and did 30 minutes of laying on my back and lifting the ball in certain directions that really worked my shoulder joints and my chest.  I'll have to video the sets I do.  To go through all the different movements takes about 6 minutes and I did 5 sets of those.  It was awesome!  My entire upper body was shaking and quivering, but the ball is so light it wasn't overly strenuous, but I was definitely getting all those muscle fibers to fire to hold the ball steady.  I had such a fun time with it.  I left the workout with that exercise high which I haven't felt in a very long time.  I'm excited to get back down there and do it again!

 

 

Albion To Mt. Harrison Cyclocross

The annual tradition of Cycling from Albion City Park to Mt. Harrison was again completed!  Got up at 5:30am and got everything ready to go up there.  I packed snowshoes this time because I knew that the snowpack up there was going to be insane!  I was right on, cause they were definitely needed.

I left at 6am exactly from the park and the sun was just coming up as I got to the turn off the highway up to Mt. Harrison.  Took several breaks for pictures.  When I got about 2 hours into the ride, the smell of the air was extremely refreshing!  That alone was worth the trip!  If I could can that air I'd be a millionaire.  Loved it!




Once I got past Pomerelle, I hit my first snowbank on the road that required carrying my bike.  Then I got past the gate on the road and crossed over a couple more snow bank patches on the road.  Then I got up to Lake Cleveland and from there I stashed my bike and hiked/snowshoed the rest of the way.  I did about 3 miles of hiking/snowshoeing.

I was nervous about seeing a bear up there.  Then when I get about 1/4 mile from the top.  I saw a big hole in the snow with tracks coming from it. Man was that thought enough to pump my blood even faster!  I got to the outlook and noticed that this time, they had locked the deck around the building.  I took pics, but no vid from that point since my camera battery was dying and wouldn't let me take vid from that point on.  It was a perfect day.  No clouds, not very windy, and I left early enough in the morning that it wasn't hot.  Plus it wasn't that cold despite the snow.

On the way back down I saw a hole in the snow that was filled with ants. It was amazing. Red/Black ants crawling all over the snow and inside this hole. Awesome!

Absolutely perfect ride!  The last time my butt sat on that saddle was last year when I did this ride. I've been focusing so much on my swimming that I really had to blow off the dust on my bike and get it oiled up for this ride.  I was sure I could make it, but I knew it would take time.  It sure did!  And most of it was because of the detour in my planned trip.  I back country'd a good portion of it.  What an adventure!
Here's all the pics/video in Picasa:

I have forgotten

How good it feels after a really good sweat!  This afternoon I watched this interview on KSL Sportsbeat where Rulon Gardner walked off the show:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

He said his problem came after the Olympics where he was successful and figured he'd take a week off to let his body heal.  That week turned to a month, and then into years.  Ouch!  I don't have a problem taking a week off, but that's it!  So that inspired me to get my running shoes on and head downstairs.

I did:
1 mile run/walk.  I noticed that when I got to the point where I was considering giving up, that my heart rate was at or above 145.  Then I'd slow down to 3.0 mph and walk and monitor my HR.  When I felt way comfortable and felt like starting to get back to running was when it dropped down to 120.  So my comfortable aerobic HR I figure is about 130-135.  It really doesn't take long for my HR to drop or rise from 120-145 at all.  So if I can find a pace that allows me to maintain that 130-135 HR range, that would be ideal.  Either that, or increase my HR comfort zone.  I did the mile in 11 minutes.

Then I did 15 minutes of elliptical.  That felt good and I really got up a good sweat.  I was maintaining a 130spm pace with my tunes.  Then I did:

2 sets of:
Set the stack at around 110 pounds
12 bench press reps
12 close grip pull downs
12 seated cable rows

About 35 minutes of good work.  Felt great, lots of sweat and I feel like a million bucks.  Even though this is probably one of the wimpiest workouts I've done in a long time!  Consistency is the key now.  Stay with it!

My wife, the biggest loser

Cathi called me at work one afternoon a few months ago and told me she spent $50 to join a weight loss competition among 107 other ladies!  I wasn't too thrilled with that information, but Cathi worked her butt off.... Literally!

She is a running machine.  Over the past several weeks, not only has she been eating like a monk, but she has been running over a hundred miles per week!  Last week she set a new personal record of running 120 miles in one week (She NEVER runs on Sunday either).

So on Tuesday this week the 8 week competition ended and this afternoon she was given the results.  She won!  She lost 21.66% of her body weight over that time.  Losing just over 38 pounds.  The second place finisher lost 19.38%.

I asked Cathi to bring home from the results meeting some stats if they would give them to her.  I'm a total nerd and wanted some data.  Much of it is very disturbing....

Out of 107 participants:

• 54 ladies over 200 pounds

• 37 out of the 54 dropped out (68% gave up)
•  Average lost among those who stuck with it in this group was 6.4% 

• 51 ladies over 100 pounds

• 25 out of this 51 dropped out (49% gave up)
• Average lost among this group was 6.8%.

• 2 ladies over 300 pounds

• 1 dropped out and the other lost 3.4% total (50% gave up)

I figured at the beginning that there would be some drop out rate, but not that much!  And I had no idea that given such a huge field that she would be victorious and win the title, and a $1000 check!  She won several things along the way for being the biggest loser for several weeks:  a hour long massage, a months pass to a tanning salon (Thanks for giving that to me Cathi!), and a $25 gift certificate to a metal craft shop.


Congratulations Cathi for not only doing so well and inspiring many people, but for ending up looking like a supermodel!  That was the best $50 she ever spent!

4.5 miles and feeling great

Tonight Cathi took me to the Syracuse Community Center where I ran for 45 minutes and felt great!  I was able to do a couple laps at a really fast pace, but my normal pace was pretty slow.  But I didn't care, I didn't walk and felt like I could keep going once I got to 25 minutes into it.  Before 25 minutes though I wasn't feeling so great.  It takes a while for my body to get past that rebellious stage I guess.


4.5 miles total

One small step

Today at noon I went down, stretched and had set a mental goal to go 4 miles.  That would be a new PR for this round of "runningness".  At mile 2 I couldn't believe I set that goal, I wanted to quit so bad!  But I kept plugging away, and taking sips from my water bottle but kept the same pace.

1.0 miles @ 6.0 mph
2.5 miles @ 6.2 mph
.25 miles @ 6.5 mph
.25 miles @ 7.0 mph

4.0 miles total

4 miles is wimpy, but it was a stepping stone to another day and a victory for today!

3 miles of torture

I promised my team I would run at least three times this week, so at 1pm I reluctantly went downstairs and ran:

1 mile at 6mph
0.125 miles at 4mph
1 miles at 6mph
0.5 miles at 6.5 mph
0.125 miles at 7 mph
0.125 miles at 3.5 mph (warm down)

3.125 miles total

Pure torture today.  Not a good attitude.  Need to work on that.