Official Workout/Fitness Thread (Re-born)

[pancakes3]

Dobro, is it you that's the crazy 100-mile runner?

My GF who runs pretty seriously just told me that in those super-endurance races you guys chug salad dressing because apparently we humans can metabolize it into energy faster than just about any other food. A cursury google search doesn't turn up much, and i figure asking on here would be easier. Not that i don't trust her, but let's just say she doesn't know that I'm on here now posting this question.

BTW i'm doing the 2 hundred situps/hundred pushups thing right now. i'm up to 36 pushups and 60 situps. I WANT to play basketball but all the rec center courts are used up by HS rec leagues and the outdoor courts are snow-laden.

[dobrojim]

That's me

feeling a little stiff today after a hard 5 Saturday and ~15 on Sunday.
National Marathon in 4 weeks (3/20).

during the hundred I ate watermelon, boiled potatoes rolled in salt
goo, soda, potato chips...all the healthy foods you can think of.
true story

re energy food, I want to look into the chia seeds that were discussed
in the book I recently read, Born To Run (great read).

At the moment my mouth hurts like **** since I had a tooth extracted today.
At least I got an rx for some decent painkiller (perc). 'bout time for one of those
now. That said, I gotta save a couple for post marathon (National and Boston).

planning to do intervals tomorrow, hill repeats THU and a very long training run
Sunday (28-30 mi).

[nate33]

planning to do intervals tomorrow, hill repeats THU and a very long training run
Sunday (28-30 mi).

[Wizards2Lottery]

I don't think I've run 28 miles total in my life.

[dobrojim]

I'm a firm believer (through experience) that occasional over-distance
training runs are one of the best ways to prepare for a marathon.

Think about it, if you were training to run 10Ks, you wouldn't
run 3-5 mile training runs to prepare. Now I'm not suggesting
that you need to do a lot of over-distance runs when you're
training for a marathon. But I'd strongly advise at least 1-2 of them.

The other thing is intervals to improve your VVO2 max. So you
can run harder and not feel like you're running harder.

Finally the single most important thing is self knowledge -
having a VERY good idea of what pace you should run and
then having the discipline not to run faster earlier in the
race when you still feel strong. You pay a severe performance
penalty for running too hard, too soon. Ideally, on a perfectly
even course, you should run ever so slightly faster in the second
half than you did in the first. That is EXTREMELY hard to do.

[dobrojim]

rode my bike to work for the first time this year on Wed

coming home I had a rather rude surprise when my front wheel
parted company with the rest of the bike. Not exactly sure how
that happened but I went ass over tea kettle and ended up chipping
a bone in my wrist. Lucky it wasn't worse (yes I was wearing a helmet- duh)

Still ran the National marathon Saturday. Had kind of a mediocre day.
When I could tell I wasn't going to do that well, I didn't try to kill
myself since I expect to be running Boston in 4 weeks. Still finished
at about the top 1/3 of my age-group.

[LyricalRico]

rode my bike to work for the first time this year on Wed

coming home I had a rather rude surprise when my front wheel
parted company with the rest of the bike. Not exactly sure how
that happened but I went ass over tea kettle and ended up chipping
a bone in my wrist. Lucky it wasn't worse (yes I was wearing a helmet- duh)

Ouch! I'm glad you weren't injured more seriously.

Question for all you cyclers: I've decided to buy a bicycle this week and use it to ride back and forth to a basketball court near my house every morning before work. I'll mostly be riding on sidewalks and paved trails to get there. I figure a 15 minute ride there, 30 minutes of drills, and 15 minutes back home gives me a solid hour of cardio every morning. And my budget is under $400. Thoughts on the bike and any equipment I should get?

[dobrojim]

don't be afraid to look at the used market

that said, be knowledgeable about proper fit
and make sure your bike is properly sized and
fitted for you.

[nate33]

For your purposes, you might want a "hybrid" bike. It's a road bike with a stronger frame and fatter tires. It can handle a little offroad use (riding over a grass field or something like that) but isn't designed for mountain biking. Basically, it's a heavy-duty road bike but it's heavy as hell so don't plan on ever racing with it.

[NbdyBeatsTheWiz]

my biggest advice would have somebody at a bike shop or who is fairly knowledgable make sure your seat height is right where it needs to be. too high or low and your knees will feel it, and not in a good way. i learned that the hard way when i went out on my parents road bike and not my own without putting forth the effort to switch the seat. an inch up or down makes a world of a difference, and it doesn't even touch the budget

[LyricalRico]

Just got back from Performance in Gaithersburg with my new hybrid Schwinn! I got the bike, helmet, pump, lock, and some reflective stuff for around $350. I was surprised that they actually let you test drive before you buy. I was a little wobbly at first but it was like...well...it was like riding a bike.

[montestewart]

Just got back from Performance in Gaithersburg with my new hybrid Schwinn! I got the bike, helmet, pump, lock, and some reflective stuff for around $350. I was surprised that they actually let you test drive before you buy. I was a little wobbly at first but it was like...well...it was like riding a bike.

Seems like you were just thinking about it this morning. You don't mess around. If it's the right size for you and you're just using it for roads and sidewalks, that seems like a great price. If it turns out to not be the right bike for you, check Craigslist. I see people swapping bikes. (Or show up to Dupont Circle and get a bike messenger to broker a trade).

I started a new job today with a two mile roundtrip walking commute. That's enough exercise for me for awhile.

[dobrojim]

Just got back from Performance in Gaithersburg with my new hybrid Schwinn! I got the bike, helmet, pump, lock, and some reflective stuff for around $350. I was surprised that they actually let you test drive before you buy. I was a little wobbly at first but it was like...well...it was like riding a bike.

That seems like a solid deal.

One thing re fitting the bike - there is more to it than simply
setting the seat at the right height. Lots more. But for your
purposes, quick ride to the courts/gym and back, exact fit
on a hybrid isn't as much a big deal as if you were planning to
ride serious miles.

betchu got more gears than a good Mormom family has kids.

Sometime when you are up for a challenge, ride across the
Potomac over chain bridge (accessible from the Towpath).
When you get to the over side, go through the light then
bear off (straight as the road bends left) and go straight up
that hill. Should get you huffing and puffing some.
Hills like that one are why bikes have what are called by
some, Granny gears.

[LyricalRico]

betchu got more gears than a good Mormom family has kids.

Actually the bike only has seven. I wanted it as simple as possible. That way I wouldn't be tempted to do anything crazy, like ride hills in VA.

[dobrojim]

aw come on, you wanna get in shape or not?

[dobrojim]

just signed up for Marine Corp marathon (35th anniv version)

this will be my 13th MCM

doing Boston a week from Monday

[nate33]

I'm rounding into mid-season shape. On my tempo runs, I'm holding 6:50-7:00 for 3.5 miles. On my long runs, I'm going 9-10 miles holding an 8:00 minute pace.

My goal is to do a local sprint triathlon in July and run the Columbus Marathon in October. I just borrowed a bike from a friend and will start incorporating cycling into my routine. I'll start swimming on Memorial Day when the pool opens. I'll only have 6 weeks to get into swimming shape but that shouldn't be too hard because I was a swimmer back in my high school days.

I was lifting pretty hard this winter and I'm now stronger than ever before. I now bench 200 pounds 6 or 7 times at the peak of my pyramid. I weigh 165. I expect that bench number to drop a bit as I focus more on cardio, but it's nice to know that I'm pretty much in the best shape of my life.

One thing that helped me improve my strength was protein shakes. I drink a protein shake after every weightlifting workout and after my long runs to provide the protein my body needs to rebuild damaged muscles.

[dobrojim]

@nate

if I have not already recommended this, it's worth checking out for
your marathon training

http://www.ridersite.org/SBTraining/index.php

[nate33]

@nate

if I have not already recommended this, it's worth checking out for
your marathon training

http://www.ridersite.org/SBTraining/index.php

Excellent link! Thanks, dobrojim.

[LyricalRico]

it's nice to know that I'm pretty much in the best shape of my life.

Good for you, nate. My gut has been saying the same thing. LOL