veginator

Lotsa racquetball the last couple of months, very little running. Finally went for a 3.1 mile run yesterday and about 4.5 today. Had to lay off of weight lifting for several weeks due to a rib injury, but am beginning to get back to that. Weight is doing much better than at this time last year; I was 156 this morning as opposed to about 162 at this time last year.

I like a specific exercise the most, flat bench presses, because they work many muscles at once (in chest, triceps, etc.), more so than any other upper body exercise. My lower body is pretty well developed from biking, running, racquet sports, etc., so I like to hit the upper body pretty hard on days when I do presses. Now that I'm being consistent with my workouts, it's finally starting to pay off, I set a PR today.

Did a full body workout today, just 1 rep each because I was pressed for time. Set another PR in the flat bench press! Did 5 x 135. It felt great to slap those 45 pound plates on there and get them up, for the first time ever! Will probably do shoulder shrugs and overhead presses later, as well as some time on the bike trainer (did 15 min. aerobic on some weird machine at the gym already).

Still doing at least a little bit on the bike trainer every day, but haven't uploaded the stats yet and had a low charge on the Garmin a couple of times so I don't have stats for all of them.

Doing a split upper body routine lately, chest and back one day and shoulders and biceps the next, then a day off. Was really sore from dancing, of all things, earlier in the week so I haven't done legs yet. Set a PR of 4 x 130 (then 5 x 125 and 8 x 115) on flat bench press.

Well, obviously a big fail on updating this blog daily, but I'm managing to work out regularly at least. Did shoulder shrugs, curls and other upper body stuff I didn't do Monday on Tuesday. Rest day Wednesday. Thursday I did mainly leg stuff. Friday I did pushups, shoulder press, a couple of other upper body things.

I know I've had at least two sessions on the bike trainer since Monday, but don't recall when so I'll have to retrieve the data later. Friday I played racquetball for about an hour and a half.

Today I did a pretty full upper body workout, and ground out 6 reps of 125 on the flat bench press, a PR. Did 8 x 115 on the second set.

Rode the bike on the trainer for half an hour last night.

Today, worked out at the Y. Managed 5 reps of 125 on flat bench press, couldn't manage a sixth and very slightly strained something in my shoulder trying to get it back on the rack, but I managed to do a set of 8 x 115. Did some other upper body stuff that didn't strain anything further. Didn't do any heavy aerobics, but walked around a lot in downtown Indy, and went to swing dance tonight.

May either ride the bike trainer here or head over to the Y for that and some more time in the whirlpool. I really wish my foot would heal up, but at least I'm not limping today, unlike yesterday.

Worked out for about an hour, all upper body work. Back machine, abs machine, flat bench press (125 x 4, 120 x 4, 115 x , shoulder raise, barbell curls (2 x 8 x 60).

Crap, where did my Thursday and Friday posts go?

Thursday Jan. 5 I went to the Y and sat in the whirlpool for a while, did shoulder shrugs (3 x 8 x 135), rows, and a few other things that I'm blanking on, then did about 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. While I was on it, I chatted up the woman next to me and then asked her out. Oops, she was married! Guess that's a hazard of hitting on girls at the gym, you never know 'cause they don't necessarily wear rings when working out.

Friday Jan. 6 I played racquetball for over 2 hours at the Y. Did some calf raises at home as well. I also started on a new diet regimen, trying to get a lot more protein and upping the calorie intake some. In a few minutes it's off to the gym for a planned intense full-body workout.

Did intervals on the bike for a few minutes this morning. Tonight I went to the Y and practiced racquetball for a few minutes, then sat in the whirlpool, which seems to be helping my foot some, then I did a short weight workout. Chest press figure was 6 x 120 and 6 x 115 tonight.

Tues. Jan. 3: Foot still a little sore, I probably won't play racquetball today. May go to the Y to get in the whirlpool and swim some.

Sun. Jan. 1: Ran 2 1/2 miles since the Y was closed, and regret it--foot hurts more than it has in a while, and I wasn't able to play racquetball today.

Mon. Jan. 2: upper body workout--pushups (20), abs, shoulder shrugs (15 x 120), row, flat bench (4 x 120, 8 x 115), lower back, lat pulldown. Got super-strict on diet (no sugar, very low calorie but high protein) today.

Saturday Dec. 31: elliptical for 45 minutes, did flat bench presses and a few other upper body exercises. Did 12 reps and 8 reps of 115 on bench. Would be really nice to get up to being able to press my own body weight some time this year!

Played lots of racquetball at the Y tonight, maybe 5 games of doubles and 1 of singles.

Well, so much for keeping a great record, I didn't realize it had been over 2 months since I posted an entry. But now that I have an incentive, I'll try to get back to it! Eventually I'll update the workout log, but for now the big news to report is that I've joined the Y so I have a regular place to work out indoors, and some racquetball partners! I've played racquetball a few times and lifted a few times as well as done the elliptical since I joined about 2 weeks ago. Another reason for joining is that, unfortunately, my plantar fasciitis is still bugging me (over a year now!), so I need alternatives to running.

9/29: 13.45 mi. ride, 1:01:13, 13.2 mph, HR data messed up, but around 115 avg & 149 max.

9/30: 5.31 mi. run, 47:53, pace 9:01, splits 9:45, 9:11, 9:17, 9:00, 8:14, and last .31 at 7:50 pace. Avg HR 138, max 160.

10/1: 5k race, 22:42, splits 7:15, 7:24, 7:25, last 1/10 at 7:16 pace. Avg HR 158, max 171.

10/2: 5k race, 22:40, splits 7:19, 7:59 (mostly uphill), 7:06; last 1/10 at 5:42 (but course seemed a little short). Avg HR 157, max 168.

10/3: 19.45 mi. ride, 1:26:43, 13.4 mph, max 47, avg HR 114, max 159.

In the afternoon, I played pickup soccer with my son (a high school soccer player) and some college kids. I'm actually not all that bad at soccer, surprisingly since I've never played organized soccer. Several people were better than me and presumably had played HS soccer, but I was in better shape than a lot of those youngsters!

9/26: 6 mi. run, 51:48, splits 9:47, 9:07, 8:17, 7:36, 8:10, 8:47, avg pace 8:37, avg HR 138, max HR 160.

9/27: approx. 10 mi. bike ride

9/28: 16.64 mi. ride, 1:15:15

9/12: 13.61 mile ride, 54:42, 14.9 mph, avg HR probably about 120, max HR prob. 149. Had some inflated heart rates the first few miles due to chest strap not being moist enough.

9/15: 3.09 miles, 27:58, pace 9:02, splits 9:25, 8:41, 8:56. Avg HR 136, max 154.

9/17: 5k race. Warmed up 0.7 miles. Time: 22:29, splits 6:46, 7:18, 7:45 (most of the uphill part), with last 1/10th at a 5:57 pace. Avg HR 162, max 173. Beat my time from last year by 9 seconds, but then I had run a race earlier in the morning, so I would say I'm definitely not in as good a shape as this time last year. Injuries and work have taken their toll on my training frequency lately.

9/20: 5 miles, 44:56, 8:59 pace, splits 9:27, 9:04, 8:52, 8:51, 8:39. Avg HR 142, max 166.

9/21: rode 12.48 miles, 56:54, 13.2 mph, avg HR 104, max 128.

9/22: rode 7.02 miles, 27:10, 15.5 mph, HR data screwed up but obviously this is a pretty good pace and I'm sure the average was over 120.

9/23: 5 miles, 49:14, 9:50 pace. Avg HR 132, max 164. Did sprints sandwiched between a long warm-up and cool-down. Did 8 intervals of between .1 and .15 miles, with max speed of 14.2 mph and overall paces ranging from 5:27 to 6:59.

9/24: 5k race, 22:24, splits of 7:11, 7:18 and 7:28, with last 1/10th at 6:31 pace. Avg HR 157, max 167. I set my PR of 21:40 on this course last year, so I'm definitely lagging behind last year's fitness levels at this time. However, barring injury, I have high hopes of getting a time under 22 next month.

9/25: 4 mile trail race, very hilly course and the weather was HORRIBLE--poured down rain the whole time, and as a result the course was extremely slick with several places where we had to cross a creek. My shoes also came untied twice. Not surprisingly, my time was 34:17, over 4 minutes more than my fastest time at this distance. I think a good time for me on this course would have been about 32, but that would have required better conditions and for me to be in the kind of shape I was in this time last year. On to better things next weekend!

9/7: 4 mile run, 38:22, 9:35 pace, avg HR 133, max 145.

9/9: 14.94 mile ride, 59:17, avg speed 15.1 mph, avg HR 122, max 141. Relatively flat course.

9/10: 5k race, 22:49.9, splits 7:08, 7:31, 7:18, and a 6:51 pace for the last tenth. Avg HR 160, max 171. Somewhat hilly course, pretty similar to the one I ran last race. Hip didn't bother me today; hopefully it will be fully recovered soon.

9/11: 31.35 mile ride, 2:18:33, 13.5 mph, avg HR 110, max 162. Average HR is an estimate because I accidentally had my watch turned off when I was going up the toughest hill. Did lots of hills today and rode them pretty hard, but took it easy at times elsewhere. Still a harder ride than the avg HR sounds like it was.

9/1: 19.82 mile ride, 1:31:17, 13 mph, avg HR 119, max 166. Did about a 300 ft. tall hill with a 22% grade twice, as well as a less steep but longer hill.

9/2: 2.6 mi. run, 10:50 pace, did 1 mile at 8:58. First run in 3 weeks. Very hot day. Avg. HR 137, max 156.

9/5: 28.1 mi. ride, 2:02, pace about 13.8 mph, avg HR 110, max 158. Got tired of having to ride so slowly to wait for the rest of the group, so rode ahead on my own the last 6 miles, averaging about 16 with average HR of about 123-124.

Ran about 3 miles later, not sure of exact distance or time due to watch running out of battery. Did a warmup and cooldown at a slow pace, and did 2.3 miles at 8:45, avg HR 133, max 147.

9/6: 20.25 mi. ride, 1:33, avg speed 13.0, avg HR 117, max 162. Did the aforementioned steep hill 3 times and the longer hill once.

8/29: biked about 2.25 miles to/from grocery store.

8/30: biked 9.25 miles, HR data screwed up.

8/31: biked 18.85 miles, 1:22. Didn't have HR data for the whole trip, but what I did have that was accurate was avg HR 109, max 149.

Trying to get in 2-3 upper body workouts per week, been pretty good about it lately. Just 4 exercises, 1-2 sets each, but making sure I go all the way to muscle exhaustion each time.

8/28: 37.13 mile ride, 2:29:25, avg speed 14.9 mph, avg HR 117, max 155. Rode with a group for the first 18.5 miles or so, and they were slow so avg HR was only 103. Avg HR going back was 134. Went about 2 mph faster on ride back, cutting about 10 minutes off my time.

8/22: rode to store and back, 2 miles.

8/23: 10.5 mile bike ride, decent pace, but no data because my watch battery was dead.

8/24: 21.53 mile ride, 1:28:46, 14.6 mph, avg HR 122, max 163. Managed to go up the toughest hill in the county riding out of the saddle the whole way up.

8/25: 2000 meter swim.

8/27: 23 mile ride, 1:38:19, 14.0 mph, avg HR 119, max 154.

I just saw this very old thread and had to comment because it's something I've often thought about. Before I became vegan, I regularly got colds at least once a year. It's been about 3 years now since I've had a cold.

I've also read that many bugs that people think are the "stomach flu" are actually food poisoning. I haven't had any flu-like illness since going vegan.

8/18: Swam 1500 meters.

8/19: Weight workout. I sometimes forget to record them, but I'm doing upper body workouts around 3 times a week.

8/20: 25 mile bike ride, 1:41:46, 14.7 mph, avg HR 118, max 166.

8/21: 47.16 mile bike ride, 3:07:37, 15.3 mph. Heart rate data were problematic. My best guess is that I averaged about the same heart rate as 8/20 and had about the same maximum HR.