Rollers with No Hands! (Get Motivated!)

Have some fun with your cycling!  Give it a try! :)

How to Get Started with a Heart Rate Monitor

As always, follow the advice of your doctor. Blood pressure is a complicated issue and exercise is just ONE of the many ways that have to be considered and often used in combination with other methods to get you better!

Weekly Totals and Review, Dec. 20th Through 26th.

Oh man!  This week SUCKED!  Bad diet, bad timing, all that crap... But it's ok, there's always next week.  Let' dig up this bag of bones and see what we have:

Rarely seen workout move - "The Nutcracker"

Tuesday morning - Shovelglove for 15 minutes.

This is one of my favorite core workouts. Get as heavy a sledge hammer as you can handle and then do all kinds of full motion movements for about 15 minutes. I set a timer for 15 and then just go to town on it. This is the kind of stuff that puts on muscle and burns off fat. Love it. More info at www.shovelglove.com

Tuesday morning - 45 minute bike ride on rollers, 14 miles.

Was ramping up fine and then quickly noticed that my legs were still sore from the awesome workouts over the weekend. I hit LT much earlier than usual at around 140 bpm. I capped out at around 155, took a short break, and then hit it hard again to drive the pain home. Got off the bike and did shovelglove.com for the rest of the hour.

Tuesday Afternoon - Sledgehammer Workout, 15 minutes

Got home from work and set the timer for 15 minutes and cranked on the 16 lb. sledgehammer. Also did some pull ups and push ups. I'm going to try to make this a weekday ritual because it has such awesome effects on core strength and muscle tone. I've lost as much fat as I can with just aerobic training; it's hammer time.

Tuesday Evening - 1 hour run, 7.23 miles Had an allergy shot go funky earlier today and was on a medication, so that wasn't ideal. Legs were still a little blown from last weekend as well. This was an escalation until failure workout and I hit failure a little earlier than I wanted, but the mileage was awesome. I'll take 7.23 miles in an hour any day. Wednesday Morning - 30 minute bike ride on rollers, 7.62 miles. Was a little sleepy (possibly from yesterday's asthma meds), so I got started a little late on the bike. I didn't even want to get on, but I've learned that just getting on is the only real problem. Do that, and you're set. Started feeling good after a while and finished strong, but still need a little more recovery to get back to peak form. Thursday Morning - 15 minutes with sledgehammer I gotta make sure I keep doing this! My abs are super sore from the past few sledgehammer workouts and so are a lot of my other muscles. I'm trying to make this a habit by creating a ritual around it - Putting on some heavy metal music on the iPod, starting out with some simple curls to get going, and then I'm into it. I also do everything possible on one leg and it makes the core work at least twice as hard. Thursday Morning - Roller ride, 30 minutes, 6 miles. I'm fed up with trying to edit this entry and it not saving, so I'm at the point where I don't even want to describe it anymore.  It was a bike ride.  Yay.  Let's move on dot org. Thursday PM - Sledgehammer, 15 minutes. Not much time for anything else, so did the sledgehammer workout again. It's getting to be a little much, but it's good stuff. Christmas eve morning, 15 minutes hammertime. Tying this into a morning ritual habit. Had the genius idea of ritualizing new ideas to make them a true habit. Listen to music you dig, drink a tea, bust a hammer. Christmas eve noon - 1:30 run, 9.61 miles Nice run around the 'hood and out on a dirt road. Took Roxy with me the first half hour. Running after doing the sledgehammer makes you feel like a badass. Pretty funny. Ate a piece of Ezekiel bread during the run. Nice. Friday PM - 1.5 hours on rollers, 27 miles. Nice bike ride on rollers, just staying in zone 2. Noticed that I burned well over 2000 calories today working out. That's why I put on fat when I don't work out! Christmas morning - Hammertime for 15 minutes. Not much opportunity to workout with all the family here, so did this real quick. Relatives pretty impressed with how much you can do with a simple hammer and standing on one leg. Definitely got some converts today. Christmas Day - 1:15 run, 7.36 miles. Made the excuse that I needed to go run the dog and got the hell out of the house. It was stupid cold and windy, but still got it done. Family is fun, but not everything is great in concentration. Whew! Sunday Morning - 1:15 run, 8.55 miles. Another running escape. I love being a runner and having that excuse to exit the scene. Diet is slowly crumbling away with all this mayhem and needed some time alone to just... be alone! LOL. Another crazy windy/cold day. I'd rather be on the treadmill but I think people are playing Yahtzee on it. TOTALS:  Total hours - 9:55 Duration Running 5:00 hours Cycling 3:15 hours Circuit training 1:10 hours Overal thoughts: I thought I'd be able to do better this week since we're in town, but nope. Failed.  I'm going to have to go into "Monk Mode" next year to eat better and get more done.

ZenTri Base Camp Agenda!

We've got the final agenda for ZenTri Base and Nutrition Camp hammered out!  Take a gander at all the fun! 

Friday
Meet and Greet
Talk - What will we learn at camp? - Brett  
Yoga - Christine
Grocery store trip - How to shop for healthy food  - Christine
Lunch - Cooked by Christine.
Talk - Making changes and purpose - Rich
Bike - Fit session - Everybody
Bike - Workout with form review
Talk - Why form is king -  Brett and John.

Saturday
Yoga - Christine
Talk - The Pain Cave & getting into the hurt zone on purpose  - Rich and Brett
Bike - Long ride
Lunch - Cooked by Christine
Review of ride - What worked and what didn’t? Why?
Movement U - Jessi
Swim - Workout with form review
Form - Video reviews
Talk - How pros treat training - John and Jessi

Sunday
Yoga - Christine
Talk - Nutrition for endurance training - Brett, John, Rich, & Jessi
Run - Workout with form review
Lunch - Cooked with Christine
Movement U - Jessi
Talk - Distractions, what counts in training, listening to the body, and habit changing - Brett

Monday
Yoga - Christine
Talk - Gear - What matters and where do you get it? - Brett, John, Rich, & Jessi
Swim - with form review.
Lunch - Cooked with Christine
Movement U - Jessi
Final questions - (People start leaving by now)
Run - Easy run with everybody

 

Jessi Stensland let us know that she had something come up on Friday and will miss that day, but will more than make up for it the other three days. Also, the schedule is lighter the second two days in case we can't get to something on the first two and need to move it to later.

Lots of people have been asking about bike rental dates.  We made the schedule so that you only need to rent bikes for Friday and Saturday, which will save you money.

Give Yourself the Gift of Convenience