Summer Workouts! - Page 2

Ha,good luck with that!

CrossFit Games starts on Friday

I'm not feeling all that ready but nothing to do but grip it and rip it.

Currently #7 going in (55-59 masters)

http://games.crossfit.com/

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

How about an update?

9th place overall.

Made the cut for WOD 6 on Sunday.I got 6th in that but that did not get me enough points to be top 6 for the final WOD.

9th in the world ,I'll take it! 

Wow Steve, that is awesome!  Congratulations, what a performance!

Mike: how did the Double Triple go?  I did the (traditional) Saturday Triple and did well, if very wet.  130 miles for me since I left from my house and had to return once to get my sunglasses, which are easy to forget at 4:45 am.  My riding buddies all did the Double, and thought the Sunday route is easier even though they'd ridden 120+ miles the previous day.

Sorry, I missed this post.  The long and short of it is that I rode Day 1, but bailed on Day 2.  I didn't do a great job of preparing for day 2.  I had become concerned about getting breakfast for Day 1, so called the hotel and found that there was a Denny's across the street.  I got up at 4, hit the restaurant, and was able to start around 6.  However, I didn't recon breakfast for Day 2 until late Day 1 when I asked the hotel concierge about breakfast options and was told there was no place for breakfast in Avon that opened before 7 AM.  We then called room service and were told that they would deliver at 6, so I placed an order.  After arising and dressing, I was waiting for breakfast to be delivered when room service called and said that they had no one in the kitchen until 7.  Given that it took me 9 hours of riding to finish day 1, the weather, and the late start, I just couldn't reconcile myself with a finish after 7 PM, so I bagged it.

 

All in all, with the training set back I had from losing my main bike and the pain that my old bike forced me to ride through, I was happy with completing a single Triple.  I don't know if I'll try a double next year.  I've moved on to other training goals.

 

Mike

My summer training has been working on my Christmas tree farm.  I'm involved in such activities as shearing trees, mowing 12 acres (walking, no wimpy riding mower for me), falling, bucking, and hauling trees for firewood (we have an additional 58 acres of forest land), clearing ditches, more mowing, more shearing, clearing brush, walking over broken ground, climbing ladders over and over at least several thousand times (we have a total of 15,000 trees), weeding, and more.

I've got 10 acres of trees myself. All sheared by hand ,the mowing is with a riding mower though.

After my (failed) Double Triple Bypass attempt, I've started back up on training.  My goal is to improve my power production.  My coach has designed a new training program for me which requires much less training time (8.5 hours/week as opposed to 14) and I'm much more motivated to ride.  There's something stiffling about repeated 5.5-7 hour rides on both weekend days that dampens my desire to get out and ride.  So, now the regime is:

 

Monday -- Strength training

Tuesday -- race intervals, 4x5 minute all-out intervals separated by at least 5 minutes of recovery with the remainder of the ride in Zone 2 (1-1.5 hours total)

Wednesday -- Strength training, no legs

Thursday -- Off

Friday -- one minute intervals, 6-8 reps with 3 minutes of recovery.  Remainder of the ride in Zone 2 (1-1.5 hours total)

Saturday -- 2x20 minute intervals, 10 minutes recovery, with remainder of the ride in Zone 2 (1-1.5 hours total)

Sunday -- 3-4 hour mountain ride mostly in zone 2 with steeper sections in zone 3 and 4.  At least 4k of climbing.

 

I had a great week last week.  My coach thought it strange that I was looking forward to my interval training -- that may be more a sign that I'm a wussie than anything else.  But I loved my time on the bike, and crushed my one-minute interval ride, setting a new PB.  I felt so good that I rode the rest of the ride at a high power level and wound up with a near personal best on nominal power for the workout.

 

It's interesting how reducing the duration of work but amping up the intensity can sometimes increase your motivation.

 

Mike

Mike glad to hear you are getting back your motivation.  If you have completed the double triple you would have just about beat my mileage total for the whole year.  That's a bit of an exsageration but not by a lot.  I've probably averaged 3 hours a week on the bike since March with numerous weeks of no riding at all.  Been busy with a lot of other stuff this summer and struggling to find motivation.  Will definitely head into ski season in the worst shape in the last 10 years.

Dave, hopefully the "other stuff" is rewarding!  Even with failling day 2 of the double, I'll go over 3k miles this week on the bike.  Not bad for starting the middle of March, but probably off of my usual pace.

 

I'm going to ride the Buffalo Classic "Epic" course -- up Boulder Canyon (with a road closure!) to the Peak to Peak to Raymond and down St. Vrain Canyon -- some of the same course as the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is going to cover.  Perhaps you should think of joining me?  It's September 9, and benefits the Arts and Sciences college at CU...

 

Mike

After training hard all spring between 14 to 18 hours per week, I had some disappointment at the TransRockies.  The first day, which was 48 k and 1400 metres elevation gain, went OK, but I blew it with eating a bit too much too close to the start time and felt a bit bloated throughout the day.  I finished 17^th out of 37 men over 40, which is OK since I’m 54.  My finish time was a bit over 3:20, which is an hour slower than the fastest open category racer.

 

Felt great the second day, which was officially 58 k and 2200 metres elevation gain (my Garmin said it was 64 K and 2230 metres).  My time was a bit over 6:15 and I was 16^th for combined time for the two days.   I had a bit of hamstring cramping and realized that I left my saddle up too high after replacing a carbon seat-post that looked bad.  Once the seat height was adjusted, the hamstrings relaxed. I felt strong at the end of the day and was looking forward to day 3. 

 

The trails were in decent condition without too much mud, although I had a 1/4 inch layer on my bike down tube at days end.  Had one near crash when I hit some mud at speed and sunk to the axle - the mud was calf deep walking out of that.  The Elbow river was not too high (a bit over knee height) but some guy just ahead of me got swept down the river for a while until finally managed to get back on his feet. 

 

The disappointing part is that I missed days 3 and 4 because of a bout of gastro (my wife had it too).  Instead of sitting on a saddle, I sat on the porcelain throne.

 

After a couple of days off, I have done some hiking with my wife, as well as some moderate mtb and road rides.  I also got back into the gym today, which I haven’t done for about two months.  Hope to do some long rides this weekend and will be in the gym more often for the rest of the year. 

Edited by canadianskier - 8/8/12 at 5:29pm

Silver lining story after the disappointing bout of gastro.  Rode a typical "lunch ride" route today (road bike) - about 60 k (37.3 miles) and 500 metres (1640 feet) elevation gain - in under 1:45, which is a personal best, with an average of 33.33 kph (20.71 mph).  Happy to have evidence of improvement.

CS -- too bad about the gastro.  Now you know what those tour riders often confront!  It's great to have undertaken the training though and amazing how it pays off in your form after the event!

 

Mike

Summer is good!  2 hour 65 K road ride on Monday, 2 hr gym and 1 hr mtb on Tuesday, 1.75 hr mtb on challenging trail Wednesday,  2.5 hr gym and 1 hr mtb ride Thursday,  80 k road ride Friday,  4 hour river canoe trip with 1 hour road ride to get the vehicle on Saturday, 5 hour mtb on  Sunday.   Weather forecast looks good, so will continue with lots of biking and hiking next week, although plan to take Tuesday off.

I've moved my training to focus on improving my power. The big benefit of this is that. I spend a lot less time on the bike which allows me to spend more time with the spouse. The training block I just completed had five minute interals on Tuesday's, one minute intervals on Fridays, twenty minute rides on Saturdays, and a longish 3-4 hour ride on Sundays. This training block adds thirty second intervals to the mix.

I really like having more time off the bike. The downside is all those intervals really hurt!

Mike

I did  intervals 2 days per week from April through July in addition to long rides x2 and some recovery rides x2.  The intervals made a big difference for for my riding.  Now focusing more on fun, but will continue with interval training, although a bit less formal with more fartleks and less timed sessions.  Some of mtbing is inherently interval training - long steep badass trails that put you in the red zone until you can't keep upright and have to intermittently psuh for a while or rolling terrain that allows hard charges on the ups. 

Edited by canadianskier - 8/20/12 at 1:31pm

Approaching age 66 I don't push it too hard in the off season.  This is one activity I do pursue to keep my quads in shape for snowboard and ski racing.  I'll probably only do 5 miles on it tonight.

 

 

I'm 44 years old, 6'-1" tall  and weigh in at 280 lbs.  I can run 3 miles in about 30 minutes on a good day, but I usually don't run more than two or three days a week. When I do run, I try to get at least two miles in, though I only did 1.5 at lunch today...didn't sleep too well last night.  I also do two 45-minute cycling classes at the gym and do the cross-training, eliptical machines for 30-45 minutes three-four times a week as well.  I do a bit of swimming now and then, just swam a mile last Friday.  I've been incorporating some leg presses a couple of days a week: four sets of 25 reps at about 500 pounds, sometimes I bump it up to 1,000 pounds and reduce the reps to maybe eight per set.  Most recently, I've added some abdominal exercises. 

 

I want to drop some body weight; trying to get down to 260 pounds by December...so I'm trying to eat better and I am no longer powerlifting.

 

What are some good 45-60 minues routines that would help work the muscle groups in such a way that would help my skiing?  I can hit the gym five-six days a week for 60 - 90 minutes at a time.  I want balance, flexibility, and muscle stamina.  The last time I skied my quads burned sooooo badly for the first thrity minutes or so, this casued me to try to focus on quad strength a bit more this summer.

 

Any suggestion?

 

Thanks.

Lots of suggestions.

But lets start with diet.

What do you eat on an average day?

6'1"280 thats a lot of extra weight &what you eat is first and foremost before we talk conditioning

 

this is a very broad question and the answer should be based on a lot more info.  I suspect that an internet answer won't meet your needs.  I don't know much about you, where you live, your fitness level, etc.  However, I noticed that you don't have longer aerobic days - you might consider a day or two a week doing longer hikes or biking (e.g., build up to several hours sessions over the next couple months).  This does not answer your question specifically, but I'm looking at what might be missing   Also, I didn't see much core work.  I agree with Lobo about the weight, and more long slow aerobic workouts will help with that, and also improve your sustained capability.

 

There are several good books on ski conditioning that might provide you with more specific info.

 

Rocky Snyder's book Fit to ski and snowboard provides excellent suggestions for specific exercises and routines.  I find that he presents a balanced approach and good practical stuff.

 

Chris Fellow's book Total Skiing provides a more global approach to skiing fitness, along with some self-tests that would help with identifying your strengths and weaknesses.  Chris puts together a more holistic understanding of skiing and ski fitness.

 

Both books, together, have been great for me to better understand my needs and formulate a program, in addition to my years of doing this and  a lot of other reading and personal fitness instruction.

 

 

A better approach is to get a consult from a good  personal fitness instructor,  like a kinesiologist, who could see what you do and identify a good program.  This is probably a better approach than to take advice from  people who haven't met you, don't understand your needs based on a short blurb from you, or aren't qualified to give fitness advice. .A good PFI would look at your muscle recruitment patterns, flexibility, core strength, aerobic conditioning, etc and help you to be much more efficient in meeting your goals of better skiing (or skiing without super quad pain).

Edited by canadianskier - 8/20/12 at 3:57pm

Great feedback, thanks!  Diet?  Well, that's a big issue, not that I'm a fastfood kind of guy...that closest to fastfood for me is Chick-fil-A and maybe once a week with the wife.  I usually eat a cup of yogurt and a banana for breakfast and have a large salad of spring mix with about 2-oz of meat (either ham or turkey) and 1/4 cup of cheese on it for lunch; today is an exception, leftovers from two nights ago....

 

Things change when I get home after the gym...I'm usually famished and start picking while we're preparing dinner.  I am trying now to cut back on both the picking and portion size at night.  I was down to 269# last year, dropped about 20 # over 3 months, but I came down with pneumonia and it set me back.  Still, I'm not as heavy as I was this time last year :0), but I need to improve.

 

I concur on the duration of cardio.  Last year I would run or do another cardio machine for 30-40 minutes, then go directly to a cycling class for 45-50 minutes; did this three days a week and it seemed very effective; on days between I would run or do the elliptical for 45-60 minutes.  I think I'll start back on that routine and do some weight training and swimming on days between.  I've also just started to introduce some ab work to address teh core.

 

I may also consult a personal traininer as suggested; the company for which I work is big on health & wellness and has a contract with Health Fitness Corp. and they have some trainers available onsite.  Last year they did offer a bosu ball class designed for skiers, but I didn't join...I think I shall this fall if they offer it.

 

Thanks again for the input and encouragement...I know I can drop the weight, by God's grace, and improve my slopeside ability and comfort.

 

Think snow everyone!

Lemmi

 

I know from personal experience how hard it is to really change your lifestyle. Four and a half years ago, I weighed 250 lbs -- I'm 5'11".  I was relatively active, skiing 40+ days a year, hiking, and thinking that I rode my bike a lot; about 1500 miles a season.  In fact, I thought I rode enough the previous season that I'd be able to attempt Ride the Rockies, a 6 day stage ride in Colorado that's about 420 miles long.

 

For years, I'd been telling myself that my weight didn't really matter; that I was a "fit" fat.  No doubt my activity level was higher than most.  But I always deluded myself from making the lifestyle changes that were necessary to lose weight and gain real fitness.

 

Setting the goal of doing the Ride the Rockies was the first step.  I hired a cycling coach/trainer who told me that it would be a stretch to do it even though I was starting in January for a ride in June.  A month into training, the results of the lottery came back -- my buddy and I were unsuccessful in obtaining a spot.  But there was a ride the week after Ride the Rockies:  the Bicycle Tour of Colorado.  However, instead of 420 miles, it was 520, and instead of 25k of climbing, it was 35k.  A much tougher ride.  My cycling coach said it would be tough, but I could do it if I did the work.

 

And work it was.  My training schedule peaked at 16-18 hours of training a week for a total of more than 220 miles a week.  I also did 2 days of strength training to build my base metabolic rate and take off weight.  It was tough, but I did manage to lose 30 pounds that spring, which is pretty remarkable given the training load.  I completed the BTC, although I had to SAG my way up Independence Pass due to non-conditioning issues (I got hypothermia coming off of Cottonwood Pass in a downpour and it sapped my energy).

 

I'm telling you this story so you hopefully take this away. For me, it never was about losing weight as an objective.  That's just too abstract for me.  Instead, I had to commit to a lifestyle change, and in order for me personally to do that, I had to have a big audacious goal.  That goal was really audacious as I had risen a century only once before, and I never climbed;  my idea of a hard climb was a 4% grade that gained 100 feet.  But having that audacious goal gave me something to be accountable to.  It was a feasible goal because the training schedule to get myself into shape to undertake it consisted of tasks to be accomplished every day, week, and block, meaning that the big audacious goal was complimented by a bunch of little goals.  And that means I could hold myself accountable to my training schedule.

 

Now, 4 seasons later, I'm down to 180 lbs.  I'd still like to lose 10-15 lbs.  I'm taking it off slowly.  Season 1 ended with my weigh around 220, Season 2 at 210, Season 3 at 200, and now I'm down to 180.  If weight loss was an end to itself, I'd probably could have taken off the weight more quickly.  But I see it as a consequence of my goals rather than the objective.  And setting goals and objectives that interest me let's me achieve the weight reductions that have greatly improved my athleticism, health, and happiness.

 

Best of luck to you,

Mike