9:10.3

Subjects are hard. After a while, when you don't really have any rhyme or reason to naming your blog posts, you sort of just have to wing it...like yesterday's post, which I brilliantly named "Monday Monday" despite it being written on a Tuesday.

 

I did the rower last night and had a new personal best, thus, the title of the post. I at least have found a way to give my brain a little bit of a rest...I just have to get a personal best every day I do the rower. Or not.

 

Moving on, obviously, I finished my 2000m in 9:10.3. My initial timed runs last week were 9:44.9 and 9:48.5. Somehow in a week, I've become 30 seconds better. The only difference I made this time was I warmed up for about 5 minutes, going at a 15 minute pace. I also wore weightlifting gloves which, per my calculations, made me look approximately 8.2% more badass. And finally, I didn't have music because I forgot the armband to my iPod. It wasn't easy...not at all. For one thing, there was a guy on the rower next to me and he managed to move his rower over closer to mine. While it never hit hard enough to do anything but be annoying, he was so close that about every ten strokes or so, the bar from his rower would brush across my elbow. I wasn't a fan of that, but it wasn't like I could just get up and move his. Other than that, it felt like a strong run, but it probably could have been stronger. At one point near halfway, the monitor said that I was making about an 8 minute pace. My theory is that when I try it tomorrow, I should aim for a negative split so I have energy left in the last half to try to get below 9 minutes.

 

After my row, I went to my old trusty recumbent bike and did the old trusty Alpine Hill at old trusty level 8. I got past 10 miles, which was my goal - I've been out for a week, give me a break! While I contemplated a cooldown row, I realized that with my legs exhausted and W1D2 of the C25K coming up today, it was time to call it a night. And that's what I did.

Monday Monday...

No, this time I haven't been slacking. I've just been sick.

 

The last time I worked out was last Wednesday (July 21). The following night, I put on my gym clothes and went to eat dinner at the Cheesecake Factory before heading over to the gym. However, I was full and figured missing one night wouldn't hurt me.

 

At 5 am, I woke up...and I was sick. No gym for me Friday through Sunday. I still felt a little iffy on Monday and Tuesday. When I finally hit normalcy on Wednesday, I decided just to take the whole week off so I would be fully recovered and ready to rock and roll on Monday. Also, I managed to probably lose about 10 pounds while I was sick (I don't recommend it...at one point I decided that losing a limb would have been more pleasant).

 

Last night, I headed back to the trusty YMCA with running in my head...so I decided to try C25K one more time with what I believe is a failsafe strategy. I started out on the treadmill walking at 3 miles an hour and only ran at 4 miles an hour. Yes the runs were extremely slow, but they caused no pain and there was no doubt that I would get through them. In all of the W1D1's I've had, last night was the easiest. There really isn't much more to tell.

 

Tonight, I continue my rowing quest after my brief hiatus.

Row, Noob! Row!

Rowing is exhausting. Let me start with that.

Tonight marked my realization 6th trip to the gym in 7 days...that in and of itself is a small accomplishment.

I walked in, popped on the rower and set forth on my 2000m course. The other day, I finished in about 12:30, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I had a little more knowledge today, but started out very, very fast...it was sort of like starting out a run at a sprint...I knew I couldn't keep the pace, but it was fun while I did...and I clocked a 9:44.9 while burning 111 calories. Not too bad. Plus, when I got off, I was absolutely drenched in sweat...it was definitely an awesome 10 minute workout.

For my next magic trick, I went to the old trusty recumbent bike. For some reason, tonight some guy decided to plop right in the middle one. Maybe it's me, but I like for there to be a buffer machine if at all possible. Of course, if three people are using the machines, then absolutely - all three will be used. But if you're the only one there and all three machines are the exact same...take the one on the end. Don't be all up in my hula hoop. And don't be looking at my time trying to race me...I'm not doing the same workout you are.

Anyway, I hopped on to the bike, set it at Alpine Pass level 8 and just booked it for 30 minutes while watching Wipeout (which I'm fairly certain is the only thing that comes on TV in the summer). I made excellent time and finished with 11.59 miles. I might have been able to have 12...but I probably would have thrown up or passed out if I went any harder. Now that I've significantly passed my goal for the week, I'm probably going to take it a little easier on the recumbent bike tomorrow...perhaps going down to a level 6 or perhaps doing a non-Alpine Pass route as sort of a rest day. Alpine Pass, however, is a quality program on the recumbent bike.

Finally, I made my second round on the rower. This one was going to be more of a cool down, just get reps in 2000m. I wasn't in any shape or form trying to race my previous time...until I realized that I was pulling at a slightly more consistent rate and could come close to hitting my previous time. As the clock wound down on what I intended to be an easy 12-15 minute row, I realized I had a shot to break 10 minutes again, so I pushed for it...and nailed it. Second row was 9:48.5 and I burned 110 calories. My new goal for the remainder of the week is to knock the time under 9:40.

Tomorrow, we're back to the "easy" day...recumbent bike and elliptical. I'm starting to dig this.

Day Five!

I have been to the gym on 5 of the last 6 days!

 

Last night didn't add anything too wonderful or exciting to the repertoire other than my realization that a C25K on an elliptical is next to impossible due to a) the fact that I'm already pretty exhausted just doing the elliptical normally and b) the fact that the elliptical is best suited for interval training. Thus, if I train to go for 30 minutes on all high intensity, I'm not exactly getting the benefit of the elliptical. So, instead, I did 20 minutes of the interval course.

 

First, however, I went to the reliable recumbent bike. Actually, I went to a different one since mine was in use. That's right - mine. There's a row of three and I had been using the far left one every day...last night, I had to use the far right. Again, I did the Alpine Pass route for 30 minutes at level 8 intensity. After a 10.55 mile and a 10.62 mile day, I really picked it up last night, clocking 10.90 miles in 30 minutes...my goal for this week is to pass 11 miles in thirty minutes.

 

As I mentioned already, I then headed over to the elliptical for 20 minutes of interval training...I'm very, very careful not to rest on the rails when I do it...I know that takes away some of the calorie burn.

 

I'm actually starting to look forward to going each day. Tonight, as I mentioned yesterday, I'll be doing the rower again. After doing a little research, I discovered that there are actually indoor rowing competitions (?!?!?!) and that they always row at 2000m. That's also the distance that they travel during the Olympics on the water. Thus, I'll stick to two 2000m routes - one before the recumbent bike and one after. I didn't pay all that much attention to my time the other day, it was around 12:30, but I will definitely start tracking my time. If I can get down to 6:15, I might actually enter one of those competitions...who knows?

Row Row Row Your Boat...

Made it to the gym for the fourth time in the last five days...that's definitely not bad at all...

The only downside to working out on Sunday is that the Y I have decided to frequent is only open from 1-6 on Sunday...the other one the same driving distance away isn't even open on Sunday and most of the others either have the same hours or open at 12. The only one that actually does open at 8 am is also the busiest YMCA in all of the Middle Tennessee area...compound the fact that for four hours on Sunday mornings, it's also the only Y open in the Middle Tennessee area...and it makes for something that I really really don't want to go through...at least not for now.

So I waited until the 1 o'clock opening bell and headed into the Y...the good thing I've found about this Y is that it's not really that crowded...at the Y that I used to frequent (the Green Hills Family YMCA), virtually the only time you could find parking was after 8 o'clock PM. Even then, getting an exercise machine was hit-or-miss.

With the Franklin Family Y, I have been 4 times this week at 3 different times of day - 10:30 am, 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm. Not once have I had an issue with parking or with finding an available machine.

But...as usual...I digress.

When I rolled into the Y, I had a plan for once...today, the plan was another 30 minutes on the Alpine Hill on the recumbent bike and to try out the rowing machine.

I hopped on the bike, turned on the IRL race and started rolling up the Alps on level 10 (yesterday I went at level 8)...however, about halfway through, I realized that this was actually too much...I was bordering on the edge of quitting...so I backed it down again to level 8. I figure that I will climb my ways through the levels, spending the rest of this week at level 8 before moving onto level 9 this week. Today, I completed 10.55 miles in 30 minutes and - according to the monitor - burned 254 calories.

After hopping off the bike, I found the rowing machine. I turned on an audiobook on my iPod (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson) and selected a program called "Fish Game". Unfortunately, I had no idea how to play the fish game and after rowing for 5 minutes, I had a score of 0 and I had paid absolutely no attention to my audiobook, so I started over.

This time, I turned on M. Ward's Hold Time and selected a 2000 meter course on the machine...it took me approximately 13 minutes to finish it, but every muscle in my body was sore due to the fact that I was essentially doing squats and resistance training for almost 20 minutes. On Tuesday (which will be the next rowing day), I think I will try the 5000 meter course and finish with the recumbent bike...this definitely seems to be the machine that will work me the hardest...at least right now.

Tomorrow, I will begin the C25K on the crossfit elliptical thingy...after looking at it again, I think "crossfit" might be a brand name, but I'm not positive, so we'll call it a C25K on the elliptical instead. I recognize it's no substitute for the real thing, but probably when I'm done, I'm guessing it will make the real thing that much easier. Basically, the plan is to up my intensity during the running intervals and kind of recover during the non-running intervals. I can actually see this working with the bike, too, but let's do one thing at a time.

Finally, the Y has this program where you get points with every swipe...it's called "My Y Rewards"...you get 20 points with every swipe and there is a website full of "rewards" that you can buy with your points. Most of the stuff isn't too bad...books that you would actually read, DVDs that you would actually watch, some exercise things...I even saw an iPod shuffle. However, every 12 times you swipe, you get to spin a little fake prize wheel that they have. When I started going on Wednesday, I had 32 visits, which meant that I had 2 spins (both just got me 15 more points)...I've been 4 times since, which means I've accumulated another spin on the prize wheel, which I'll be taking tonight. In case your curious, I'm saving up my points to get the new Hank Aaron biography...I have about 20 more visits to go!

Until tomorrow!