The Official Gym & Fitness Thread

Muay Thai type conditioning doesn't work?

 

Didn’t say that!
Hitting yourself with sticks doesn’t do anything for strength or recovery.

 

Okay.

 

Congrats on finding a way to hide your kink in plain sight.

 

@St. Swervus

#Colorisbetter

 

Nice shot!!

 

Red Rocks Amphitheater.

I have enough social anxiety I’m not a concert person but this place is the shit if you are into music.

 

Ran in the local half marathon today. Placed 2nd (maybe) in my age group (60-64). Finished at 8:10/mile. Miles 8-11 was hilly and into a 15mph north wind with upper 40 degree temps, so I was okay with my time.

BUT,... sucks for two reasons: one, I am always the oldest in my age grp this go around because I turn 65 next month and move to the next older group; second, the cop leading the event missed a turn and those of us near the front ran an extra .5 mile. My Garmin clocked 13.67 miles. Half is 13.1.

Since I have no idea what the 1st place finishers total mileage was, I don't really know if I was first or second. I know if I subtract the time for an additional .5 miles from my overall, I beat him. But I have no idea how far he ran.

Overall though, I was pleased with my performance. Training plan was less distance and more speed work this year. I think if I combine that with maintaining my winter/spring weight training through summer, I'll be solid next year. Bad habit of dropping weights during distance training.

 

That's not messing around right there ^^^. Congrats on a well run race and overall fitness. Impressive. My first question for my friends is....did you have fun? Enjoy the experience? For me that outweighs the #s. Regardless, fantastic performance! Aren't the cops supposed to know their way around?

 

Yeah, I am guessing that guy is gonna take some ribbing Monday morning at roll call.

Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it.

I used to enter a Spring and Fall half in order to force myself to stay in that shape all year, but motivation gets more difficult with age. Now, maybe a few shorter races Spring/early Summer, then get ready for Fall. Next year motivation will be easy because I move up an age group: gonna kick some other old man ass.

Well, that kind of "fun" borders on S & M , but yeah, I had a good day overall. Lot of fun people along the route and the kids with signs and noisemakers, high school and church choirs signing, radio stations with mobile sound systems, are all good motivator. I saw several "Worst Parade Ever" signs that made me LOL. Little ones in their Superhero PJs waving.

I feel lucky to be physically able to do this kind of thing. Sometimes in late Summer when training involves the 4H's (hot, humid, hilly, and hungover) I think about people who are less physically fortunate, like in a wheelchair, and I push through.

Running a race more than 6-7 miles for me is about 50-50, physical-mental. It usually gets "real" around the 8-mile mark when my brain is saying, " really, 5 more miles like this? Let's just stop this nonsense and go be old". Especially this particular year when that North wind slapped me miles 8-11. Sheeiitt.

 

Any of you give this a try? https://www.artofmanliness.com/health-fitness/health/cold-shower-benefits/

I think it would be easier to do if I had to jump into some water and then swim out. Making a conscious decision to put the shower on cold? A true exercise in will power! I can stand it for about a minute so far... (I have gotten much better at step #4 though!)

 

I have in the past. Worked my way up to 4-5 minutes or so. Over time I adapted and it seemed to have lost it’s effect.
After a while a cold shower just doesn’t seem powerful enough compared to an ice bath

 

Wow! I'll be happy if I get to 2-3 minutes. Hoping it helps me acclimate better to the cold as I've noticed that as I've gotten older, I go weeks in winter where I don't ever feel warm enough...

 

Congrats! Not a bad time at all!
I’m half your age and ran that time in April.

When it comes to road racing unless its a qualifier course you can’t rely on them being exact. Courses if measured are done such that the shortest distance runable on the course (inside all turns) is the desired distance. So technically even a measured 13.1 may not be the exact 13.1 for your route.

My last trail half was 12.8 and I felt jipped lol.

My Coros if you stop it around the race distance will show your exact time which is nice so you can at least have your GPS HM time.

I’ve done ice baths in the past when my training was wrong and I over did things, not anymore.

I use heat for both recovery and heat acclimatization (I’m very cold tolerant, I cannot take the heat). Cold isn’t good for recovery and actually hinders recovery if done frequently so I shy away for that reason.

 

New research?

https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a20824689/the-benefits-of-ice-baths-for-runners/

https://www.byrdie.com/cold-shower-after-workout-5111921

I know if my muscles are tight (not sore), hot water does a great job of loosening them up...

 

Thanks.

Due to the route issue, they just posted the official times this evening. They cut about 2 mins off my time bringing me down to about 1:48, at 8:10 per mile. 1st place finisher im my age group was 45 seconds ahead of me.

I won't hassle with it, but my Garmin times show me running around 7:55/mile in the first 5K. I ran an extra .57 miles in that leg. So.... by public school math, regardless of my pace from that point on, I'd think I was entitled to at least 4 mins credit. I get it, overall time vs distance traveled, but they don't know how far I ran since they didn't see my watch data.

Oh well. Redemption next year!

 

This isn’t necessarily correct. Cold reduces inflammation, which aids in recovery. However, the inflammation response in muscles is what you’re needing in order to build the muscle. Therefore too much cold can inhibit muscle building, but is good if you’re needing to recover and get back to what you were doing faster.

 

If I remember correctly, there is a narrow application when cold immersion can give
A giant boost in recovery, but it depends on the context of your training. But I do agree that frequent exposure is counterproductive for most people.

This is closer to what I remember on the subject. My mental references are coming Dr. Andy Galpin who has done a ton of research in the area (Kinesiology prof from Cal State) is that where you were pulling your info from too?

 

Stumbled on this thread. Some good insight here. The older I get, the more creative I have to get with my workouts. Hope to take away some pointers.