September Start up

It has been a while since I posted.  I did not take a break from working out but I did take a break from running.  It seems that my fast switch from the run to the bike for the tour challenge aggravated my runners knee. I have been doing heel dips like crazy to strengthen the stabilizing muscles and alleviate the pain.  It seems to be getting better so maybe it is working.

I found out that I have a hard time logging workouts and updating the blog when I am taking an ad hoc attitude towards workouts. This is not a good excuse, it just makes it clearer that I need to have a challenge, a race target, or an achievable goal to motivate myself.  I am still working on that.

I have signed up for sailing lessons for the month of September.  This will put me on the reservoir in one of those dinky little boats for one full day a week for 4 weeks. And I have been looking for a TRX class to figure out if that is a good way to workout, especially on the go.

Mean while I have been researching the 5:2 diet and have given Intermittent Fasting a serious attempt.  There is a significant body of research that indicates this is a great method for improving overall health and longevity as well as losing excess body fat.

For the first time ever I have attempted to embed a Vimeo video below. I HOPE IT Works! This is a BBC documentary that reviews some of the research on the 5:2 (five days normal eating, 2 severely calorie restricted days every week).

 

Eat, Fast and Live Longer - Horizon from Steve Hartman on Vimeo.

I also found this ebook by Dr.  John M. Berardi from Precision Nutrition. This has a really good overview of the concepts and then documents one persons trials with various formats of fasting.

In the end I have chosen to follow a one day ( 24 hours) a week fasting regime.  I stop eating at 10:00 on Saturday night and then consume only water or tea until 10:00 Sunday night.

I have completed 3 weeks of this regime so far.  I am finding it difficult to prepare meals for the family while not eating myself but overall it seems that the body adjusts to the hungry feeling and it goes in waves.  I find that drinking a hot beverage really helps with those hunger pangs.

I can not comment on the effectiveness in terms of health or longevity impacts. I have noticed a significant loosening in my trousers and figure I have lost in between 7 & 10 pounds in the three weeks.  Part of this is due to a change in what I have been eating on top of the fasting.

Not much else to report. I will return to more regular blogging.

Plod On.

Slow Sunday

What do you do on the Sunday of a long weekend? Sleep late, make breakfast and do laundry.  It was kind of a grey day so a nice day to stay at home and take care of inside chores.

I did manage to strap the runners on and take a 3 mile slow trek around the neighbourhood.  Not much to say about it. I was not fast, I was not slow, just a good paced fun little run.

In the evening we put a leash on the dog and did a couple of km with skateboarding and scootering kids.

Nice easy day.

Plod On.

Scenic Saturday

Another easy week is done, I had altogether too many rest days this week.  It is time to buckle down and get refocused and re-motivated.

Today I did a silly thing, I drove all the way across town to run in a place that I have never run before. I know it sounds ironic to drive somewhere to go for a run.

There is a big park on the Northwest side of town that has miles of bicycle and running paths through the native prairie.  This is an oasis of the past completely surrounded by the city.

Once you start running the paths seem to go on forever. (It feels like it too)

The funny thing is that it sits high on a hill that overlooks the city and from the escarpment there are great views of downtown to the south. You can just make out the top of the towers as seen above on the horizon.

But when you reach the cliff there are great vistas of the city core. If this were not a park people would pay millions  for this view.

It was a perfect day for a run, bright and sunny with temperatures in the low 20’s.  I made a small mistake and did not carry water on this 5 mile, 45 minute run and was parched when I got back to the car.

Great day, Great Run.

Plod On.

Two Wheel Tuesday

It was still a little chilly today (19 C, 65F) but a beautiful sunny day. A perfect day for a run or in my case a ride.

I started my ride as twilight was approaching and it was starting to cool off. I stopped about halfway through the ride to take some pictures. The light was golden and the shadows were long making for some stark pictures.

This is looking towards downtown over the Mount Royal University sports fields.

This is Glenmore trail looking east.

For my ride I started riding west with a plan and then switched to another plan and then switched to yet another plan.  Eventually I ended up riding almost straight south and back on a relatively flat route.

I don’t know if I am weak as a rider but I do not seem to get the same aerobic workout riding as I do running. When I run I feel it in my throat, lungs and legs at the same intensity, when I ride I feel it in my legs and do not seem to be able to stress my lungs as much. maybe this will change as I ride more.

It was a good ride 15 km in 40:30 on a great night.

Plod On.

Middling Monday

WTF happened to summer? Today was more like a fall day, cool and rainy! I believe it got up to a blistering 13 C (55 F).  It was definitely not a great day.

I also decided that today marked the end of my vacation and that it was time to jump back on the exercise bandwagon. The question is what to do?  I am still struggling with a plan for the next little while, I have decided on the activities just not on the goals.

I put off the decision on what to do until there were no options left!  It was either the treadmill or nothing, so I chose this!

My last run marked the end of the Runner’s World Summer Challenge on July 4.  I then switched entirely to cycling to complete the MapMyRide Le tour Challenge, then my little Hiatus for the last week. The bottom line is I forgot how hard running is.

I set the treadmill for 6.8 mph and 0.5% incline and started to run. Over the course of the next 26:30 minutes I increased the speed to 7.2 mph and racked up 3 miles.  At the end of the run I was feeling every step.

I stepped outside for the cool down and watched the steam rise of my arms and legs. Man that is a little chilly.

Nice run on the first day back!

Plod On.

On Vacation

Sunday marked the end of the tour de France, and the end of my current set of challenges. I had been physically active on a daily basis (either running or cycling) since April 1 so I decided it was time to take a

from running and let give my legs a chance to recover a bit.

It is not that I have been completely inactive, I have been walking and hiking and exercising in a less intensive way. I should have been thinking yoga and taking advantage of the break to address my lack of flexibility while trying to come up with the next gig.

I have been thinking of what to do next and I think it is gonna have to involve some swimming along with running and cycling to add a little balance to the mix.  I have not come up with the details but I do know that my vacation ends tomorrow.

Meanwhile I found this cool dude on Twitter that is attempting to run 5000 miles in 275 days unsupported across Canada. (Click Here).  Jamie McDonald is posting video and stories on his website http://www.jamiemcdonald.org  .  It is worth a read.

I’ll be back posting on a regular basis (maybe not daily) next week. Until then.

Plod On.

Stopping Sunday

This is the last day of all the challenges.  First there was the Streak to the Beach from April 1 – July 1, then the Runner’s World Summer Streak from Memorial Day to Independence Day, and finally the “Le Tour Challenge” From June 30 to July 21. I guess it is time to pause and reconsider the next challenge, maybe pick a race and start training for it. Any Suggestions?

Today was another perfect summers day. The temperatures were in the mid 20’s, sunny with a slight breeze.  Does it get any better.  I did start to cloud over at supper time, but that is OK. It waited until after our late afternoon stroll down the newly uncovered gravel bars beachcombing for lost treasure, and our trip to Peter’s Drive in for a very fattening dinner.

This is a view from the yacht club looking back towards the bluff that I took the pictures from on Wednesday.

And just a picture of the boats on the hard.

The route I chose for today’s long ride shared a lot of the route from Wednesday’s ride but when I hit the reservoir I turned right instead of left and rode the south side of the lake. At the end of the ride I instead of taking a direct route home I extended and headed towards downtown on the river pathways

.

It was quite the ride navigating around (sometimes through)  the closed pathways that were either totally or partially washed out from the flood.  There was a lot of devastation.

It was the longest ride I have done this year and it ended on a very steep uphill climb on fairly tired legs. Not the best planning on my part. (My legs are feeling it tonight.)

My Stage 21 ride was 38.5 km in 1:49:11 to end my “Le Tour Challenge”.

I have been doing a daily challenge since April. I’m done. Now what?

Plod On.