Telemon's Battle Log

[telemon]

well done, plank time is inching up, eh? 40 pushups! upper body and core strength will be very nice on the bike. I was surprised when I found out how much you use your arms while cycling

Yep, I think inching is the right word for it. ;-)

You must be riding a road bike - like me? They rely heavily on arm support - being built more for speed than comfort. Unlike hybrids and recumbents that are progressively less taxing on the arms. I often think I would like to get one of those next. I have tried recumbent bikes (expensive) and they are a very relaxed way of traveling - like pedaling around in a recliner. I must be getting lazy in my old age....

[honeysuckle]

Pedaling a recliner..hmm.  You might not be surprised that when I chose my first expensive bike, I did some research.  My husband and I both bought Surly Long Haul Truckers.  This bike is heavy! but for the Finger Lakes Ride it was perfect.  That was an on road ride with a few gravelly stretches.  Most people rode pretty serious racing bikes.  Hence my snail like but steady pace.  Being a touring bike, the Surly has very low gearing, so you can do any hill if you go slowly enough.  Also, you can mount quite wide, low pressure tires, which is much easier on the arms (less vibration) than a high pressure tire road bike.  Although I envied the other bikes on the flats (40 lb tire pressure- glacial speed), I passed by many bikes with flat tires when we hit the slightest bit of rough terrain.  Also, the touring bikes have more hand positions available and you aren't riding in the hunchback of notre dame posture.

In the course of my cycling training, I have gone from zero arm strength to substantial arm strength and didn't realize until I got stronger how much the weak arms was a difficulty in the long rides.

[telemon]

Surly bikes are cool! Have you seen the ones with the 4" wide tires?

[honeysuckle]

LOL- no!  I know they know have ones with shock absorbers- maybe they are the same ones with the fat tires.  Despite their sort of functional appearance, bike shop people seem to admire the brand.  They are well designed and have the best components for the money you spend.

The color I got, "mochachino" (you can picture it, right?) is no longer available.  My husband's is "Surly Green".

[telemon]

Here's a classic example of a bike that won't go anywhere fast - but will go almost anywhere.

http://surlybikes.com/bikes/pugsleyu

[telemon]

4/24

Bike 10.25 miles / 45:39 / cal. 515 / HR avg. 145

72° and sunny - too nice not to ride.

[honeysuckle]

 never heard of that one; looks like they have taken this concept to the max-

[honeysuckle]

bike ride sounds lovely- what's the route like? I picture challenging hills/ rural

[telemon]

The route is quite hilly and completely rural - all farms and country folk. The Amish cart past our house almost every day.

The ride yesterday climbed almost 600 feet in elevation - most of it between miles 1 & 3. I use Runkeeper too track my cycling and running. If you friend me (Michael Easterly) there you can see the routes I take as well as other cool stuff.

[telemon]

40 push ups : 15/15 /10 **

3 Mins. Planks : skipped - moved tables and boxes for CT show

30 lat pull down : (2 orange bands 120#) 8 / (1 orange & 1 purple 106#) 12/ (2 purple & 1 green 102#) 15 **

30 Squats (1 orange & 1 blue 86#) : 12 (too short = added ankle strap for length) / 20 ***

Didn't want to work out tonight, but.....

[honeysuckle]

40 push ups : 15/15 /10 **

3 Mins. Planks : skipped - moved tables and boxes for CT show

30 lat pull down : (2 orange bands 120#) 8 / (1 orange & 1 purple 106#) 12/ (2 purple & 1 green 102#) 15 **

30 Squats (1 orange & 1 blue 86#) : 12 (too short = added ankle strap for length) / 20 ***

Didn't want to work out tonight, but.....

hey, well done.  I bought into the notion of the pushup as a good index of overall fitness- doing 40 in a workout session is great.

not sure moving tables counts as planks ;-), but I have helped set up our gem and mineral show and I know it's exhausting

yea! you got the bands.  I never figured out a way to configure the bands to do good lat pulldowns at home- did you sling them over something?

squats with bands...you were quite creative

Good job working out in the midst of the set up

 

I will check out your rides on Runkeeper, thanks for the info

[telemon]

To do the lat pull downs I used a door anchor at the top of the door from a kneeling position with one foot planted in front of me for stability-I then incline my head and body to point directly at the anchor point.

Yeah, moving and lifting heavy things isn't really the same as planks - just couldn't afford to weaken my back with all the tables and boxes I had to move alone on both Friday and Saturday. Those activities had to serve as my "back workout"....

Accordingly, today's workout had to employ yet other muscle groups...

30 Curls : (blue 13#) 12/ (blue +green 18#) 15/ 12 **

30 Presses : (blue 13#)16/ (blue + green 18#) 12/ ( blue + green 18#) 12 **

30 Rows: (bl/gr 18#) 20/ (2 bl/1gr 31#)20/ (2 bl/2 gr 36#) 17 **

[telemon]

Bike : 9.1 miles 40:30 cal. 434

[telemon]

5/30/2013

Bike 10.1 miles /42:48/ cal. 506/14.18 mph avg. /HR 147 avg.

[telemon]

40 push ups : 18/15/10 **

3 Mins. Planks : 64/54/52

30 pull downs : (2P/1G) 20 / (2P/2 G 112#) 17 ***

30 Squats : (1Or/1B 86#) 20 / (1Or/1B/10 92#) 17 ***

[telemon]

Bike 12.17 miles / 52:14/ cal. 595/ HR avg 148/ avg. 13.98 mph

[telemon]

Bike 20.21 miles / 1:40:00/ cal. 1030/ 12.13 mph avg. / HR avg. 146

Very windy today - pushing me all over the road.

[telemon]

30 Squats (#95) : 15/15 ***

40 push ups : 17/14/10 **

30 lat pull down (120#) :14/9/7 **

3 Mins planks : 63/49/41/34 *

I lost a little ground through inactivity, but at least I'm back at it...

[telemon]

Bike 10.19 miles / 45:29/ Cal. 717 / HR avg 152/ avg. 13.44 mph

[honeysuckle]

Looking over your biking- looks like you are getting to it regularly.  Good work.  I just came back from the fittest city in the United States (Boulder, CO), which, granted, is set in nature's playground.  The town sits at the foothills of the Rockies; if you look west, you are looking at the Flatirons, the plates of sandstone that were pushed up as the Rockies rose up out of the plains, to the east, you see the edge of the Great Plains.  The town is a college town, too, so about half of the residents are students.  I bet that half the people in town bike or walk as their only means of transportation.  The regular habit, even for only a short distance, seems to add up to a fit lifestyle.  Once you get into a fit mindset, your obvious choice of leisure activity is hiking in the mountains, or taking a bike ride directly up into the Rockies.  A popular goal is to "do the ride to Ward", a 19 mile ride with a 4000 foot gain in elevation. My son tried to get me to attempt the ride while I was out there, but I decided to do a hike into the Flatirons instead

 

Carry on, hope your challenge is going well and also your spring shows.

[telemon]

Ewww! 4000' climb just sounds like torture... 'though the scenery probably becomes spectacular. Sadly, because you've mentioned the climb, I'll have to look into doing it now.... ;-)

I've never been to Colorado but hope to get there in the next few years. As a young man I had hoped to live there (mostly because of the song Colorado by National Lampoon - see Colorado.wmv on YouTube - but life happens and priorities change.

Thanks for the encouragement and congrats on being mentioned as an awesome influence in Dominic's success story...

"... I owe a lot to my fellow Rebel 'Honeysuckle' who has been there throughout both my challenges, encouraging and supporting me. There have been many times when knowing someone is interested in your progress and is watching to see how you do has spurred me on when I didn't feel like working out. Honeysuckle you're awesome!"

The challenge was less than spectacular and we had to miss a show due to a tragic death in the family, but we just make adjustments and move on....

Regardless, I hope you had an awesome time in CO and that your family is doing great.

[honeysuckle]

Well, if we ever do a real life meet up, it has to be at Amante Coffee in Boulder for the climb to Ward- you start in town and end up at the Peak to Peak Highway.  Spectacular weather changes are possible because you are climbing up nearly a mile in elevation into the mountains- think bicycling up Mt. Washington.  You toil and sweat on your way up, then freeze on your ride down.  Rather than ending at Amante Coffee, you have to then head to one of the 8 or 9 brew pubs in town ;-)

 

So sorry about the death in the family.  My dad has been moved from hospital to step down care from hospital and now to "respite care".  We are all hoping that he can begin to recover some of his iron man strength now that his conditions seem to be getting under control. 

 

A less than stellar challenge for me, too, but I was super pumped that my toiling away in my basement workout area prepared me to really enjoy my time in Colorado with my young and athletic sons.  My oldest son kept looking back to keep track of mom while we were biking and I was right on his tail! 

 

Weight gain on the trip was annoying but very enjoyable!  Also, I have no more graduations to attend unless I go get myself some more education, which is unlikely-

[telemon]

Run/walk 2.5 miles /32:45

[telemon]

Run/walk : 2.61 miles/ 36:13 / cal. 369

[honeysuckle]

good pace