personal fitness and stuff

[fatboy]

I haven't been on the forum for a while and even then not much on the fitness subforum.

Anyway, here i am. Over the years I have had periods where I've exercised and periods where I have not. Generally, I'm fairly skinny so weight has not been an issue but in 2018 I started to put on a few pounds. I also hit the big 60 that year.

In years past I did a lot of martial arts and have rank but that was a while ago and my bone joints are not what the once were. So I decided to start riding my bicycle.

I live in the hills, my street is 1 mile long and has a 350 foot elevation change. First time out in the fall of 2018 I rode a half mile then thought that I was going to literally die. I couldn't believe how out of shape I was in. I then started riding on a rail trail, flat so easier. I rode with a friend that I hadn't seen in a few years, during a 12 mile ride he blew my doors off. So I got busy. Next spring (2019) I set as a goal riding in a 65 mile charity bicycle ride. Also I bought a used craigs list dumb fluid trainer but it sat in the garage for almost a year unused.

I did my 65 miles charity ride (The Ben to the Shore Bike Tour) end of July 2019, my ride time was 4 hours 45 minutes with 4 breaks totaling 55 minutes, so, 5 hours 40 minutes start to finish. Not great but I did finish and a lot of the almost 3000 riders were slower.

I wanted to do better time wise in 2020 so I in late 2019 I got the trainer out and hooked it up to Zwift, an on-line virtual training service. Over the winter 2019-20 I rode and rode and rode. 2020 was a blow out due to the virus but between Zwift and outside riding I managed over 6000 miles, 450,000 feet of climbing. Last Christmas my wife gave me a wheel-on smart trainer to use with zwift and I kept at it.

After receiving the 2nd covid vac I really lost my MoJo but still I did the 65 mile ride (on August 29, 2021) in 3 hours 33 minutes including just  (1) two minute break to refill water bottles and raised $1700.00 to support the families of fallen first responders in eastern PA and southern NJ. My average speed was 18 MPH. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm proud of that.

My bicycle goals for 2022, I will be 64 in May, is to do the Ben to the Shore in 3 hours 15 minutes, to ride up Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia and to ride the 72 mile North Bend Rail Trail (Parkersburg to Clarksburg, WV) non-stop. Most bicycle riders are to the left but not all of us are.

Anyone else riding bicycles or getting back into shape out there?

[SVPete]

I'm a few years ahead of you, age-wise. I hadn't done much exercise-wise after high school, but in 2010 I started doing walking as a time-killer while waiting to pick up a family member after work. That kind of mushroomed into doing a 5K turkey trot the following year and an 8K in early 2012. By then I had expanded the walking to around 3 hours on Saturday mornings. I figured that doing a half marathon wasn't that much farther than I was already doing, so I tried a half in San Jose the following September, and finished well within the 4 hour time limit. In 2013 I did the 8K again, a half in SF, the half in San Jose again, and a 10K turkey trot. It took off from there, doing 10 halfs in 2014 and 13 halfs in 2015 (plus events of other distances.

I slacked off a little in 2016, a bit more in 2017 (fewer halfs, more 10Ks), and since NYE 2017 I haven't been able to complete a half, focusing instead on 10Ks. Sort of in the background, it was discovered that I had heart rhythm problems - very slow at rest, and sometimes skipping beats while sleeping. I didn't notice it particularly, and thought it didn't affect things I was doing. My cardiologist had me on a monitor and saw this it was slowly becoming more pronounced, so with 2020 and Covid also came a surgery to take care of it.

I was still being a bit lazy, and then I had Covid. As part of completing the recovery I picked up my activity level, and when in-person timed events resumed I was surprised by how well I was doing. A week and a half ago, doing my second 10K since Covid shutdowns, I had a finish time better than I had been able to do in 3 years. I've registered for two half marathons to see if I can again do that distance. My current guess is that my heart rhythm problem was affecting my endurance, by not responding properly to increased exertion.

Part of picking up my activity level, post-Covid, has also doing some work with weight machines (at the gym) and hand weights (at home). I'm trying to achieve balance in whatever degree of fitness I reach.

[fatboy]

I'm a few years ahead of you, age-wise. I hadn't done much exercise-wise after high school, but in 2010 I started doing walking as a time-killer while waiting to pick up a family member after work. That kind of mushroomed into doing a 5K turkey trot the following year and an 8K in early 2012. By then I had expanded the walking to around 3 hours on Saturday mornings. I figured that doing a half marathon wasn't that much farther than I was already doing, so I tried a half in San Jose the following September, and finished well within the 4 hour time limit. In 2013 I did the 8K again, a half in SF, the half in San Jose again, and a 10K turkey trot. It took off from there, doing 10 halfs in 2014 and 13 halfs in 2015 (plus events of other distances.

I slacked off a little in 2016, a bit more in 2017 (fewer halfs, more 10Ks), and since NYE 2017 I haven't been able to complete a half, focusing instead on 10Ks. Sort of in the background, it was discovered that I had heart rhythm problems - very slow at rest, and sometimes skipping beats while sleeping. I didn't notice it particularly, and thought it didn't affect things I was doing. My cardiologist had me on a monitor and saw this it was slowly becoming more pronounced, so with 2020 and Covid also came a surgery to take care of it.

I was still being a bit lazy, and then I had Covid. As part of completing the recovery I picked up my activity level, and when in-person timed events resumed I was surprised by how well I was doing. A week and a half ago, doing my second 10K since Covid shutdowns, I had a finish time better than I had been able to do in 3 years. I've registered for two half marathons to see if I can again do that distance. My current guess is that my heart rhythm problem was affecting my endurance, by not responding properly to increased exertion.

Part of picking up my activity level, post-Covid, has also doing some work with weight machines (at the gym) and hand weights (at home). I'm trying to achieve balance in whatever degree of fitness I reach.

I think the beauty of running is not a lot of expensive equipment and things that need fixing. Big problem for me is my feet are a train wreck.

I had mentioned above that my mojo disappeared after the vax. In spite of that I kind of powered through it this past summer but in the last few weeks I have been having heart palpatations and self checking my BP shows it is elevated. I'm going to see my PCP hopefully this week but I suspect hypertension.

Another thing that worries me is when I get up off a chair I get a quick sharp pain in my right thigh. Worried about my hip. All three of my sisters have had replacements.

[SVPete]

Saturday (2 days ago) was the first of the two half marathons for which I registered (mentioned above). I was able to complete it, not a spectacular finish time (~4 hours, 20 minutes), but it was my first completed half in nearly four years, and my "fastest" in nearly 4 1/2 years. The next one is in two weeks.

[Eupher]

Saturday (2 days ago) was the first of the two half marathons for which I registered (mentioned above). I was able to complete it, not a spectacular finish time (~4 hours, 20 minutes), but it was my first completed half in nearly four years, and my "fastest" in nearly 4 1/2 years. The next one is in two weeks.

Well done, Pete! My running days are over due to knee injuries, but I well remember those 20 km runs I did virtually every weekend in Germany.

My last marathon was in 1994 in Germany. Around 5 hours, IIRC.

[fatboy]

Saturday (2 days ago) was the first of the two half marathons for which I registered (mentioned above). I was able to complete it, not a spectacular finish time (~4 hours, 20 minutes), but it was my first completed half in nearly four years, and my "fastest" in nearly 4 1/2 years. The next one is in two weeks.

Very good!