bike circuit in ATL

 At Roya's house this week.   Yesterday did the usual ~ mile circuit with 3 hill climbs 4x.  Also, resistance work and a 2 mile hike after dinner.   Fat is coming off slowly. 

With so many short hills and ups and downs, HR graph looked pretty weird.  None of the hills were long enough to generate a high HR.   Just a dozen short sprints.

Bike ride

6.8 miles

Max HR - 170

Avg HR - 142

Roya has a pullup bar so I brought my hanging ab straps and ab wheel.  

Roya got bummed by her reading on my Hume scale showing her bodyfat at 26% and her 'metabolic age' at 61.  (I'm at 13% BF and m-age 48).  A lot of that is genetic I think, and the 'metabolic age' is basically a algorithm.  

Hume's "metabolic age" is based on basic metabolic rate (BMR) -  number of calories your body burns at rest—compared against the average BMR for others of your same chronological age, gender, and height.   Hume platform bases this metric on several specific physiological variables, particularly body composition.  Lean muscle mass, total body fat, and visceral fat. (Muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain than fat, which directly raises your BMR).   Of course this proprietary algorithm is probably not accurate, consistent, and is only as good as the measuring tool, which isn't very good.  It's just a general indication.   The scale weighs a bit more than the beam balance (physicians scale). 144.1 on the Hume, 143.5 on the beam scale.  

Going to hit the resistance today.  

A friend of mine who is a retired 2x World 400m Masters champion in my age group just completed this enormous bike climb in the UK.  95 miles including 6 climbs with a total ascent of 2332 meters.  He did it in about 6 hrs.  I can't imagine.  Just the first climb in the series of 6 is about what Raccoon mtn is.  He retired from track after a very serious knee injury and surgery, probably more serious than mine.  Amazing that knees can handle such severe biking but not sprint training.  Sprint training is very specialized.

bike climb, NCAAs

Roark's Cove Rd bike climb.   This one was a bitch.  Not bad conditions, about 80º and humid.  Having the previous climb season PR on my mind I probably went out too hard.  I climbed the big hill about 3 sec ahead of last climb but couldn't maintain the 21:38 pace from last time.  HR was way higher this time.  

Roark's Cove bike climb

Total time - 22:32

Avg speed - 6.1 mph

Max HR - 183

HR over 170 - 14:27

HR over 180 - 2:09

Compare with last time, HR over 170 was only 4:07.  Of the 14:27 over 170, several min of that was over 177.  So it was a really hard effort.  I didn't feel like it but was going into town for an errand and I thought I should burn some calories.  Besides having a fairly heavy training load the last few days, I'm 2 lbs heavier than last climb.  Getting sick of being over optimum weight. I need to face the fact that at 145.5 lbs, I'm 5 lbs overweight.  

So, need to self correct here.  I'm going to Roya's house where I'll eat better.  Not eating real bad, but the nuts, dried fruit, and Wasa crackers with nut butters and preserves need to go.  If I'm disciplined, I could be where I want to be in a week.  

I'm feeling some progress in my knee health and hope to take another crack at track training in the fall.  Having some success in short hill sprints,  maybe that's the ticket, short to long.  If i ever am able to train again, it will take 5 mo to get to elite level, but maybe this crosstraining will help.  I dream about track training sometimes. 

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UPDATE:

Best NCAAs ever

The NCAA DI track championships have been phenomenal.  World leading times in the sprints, college records broken, and a WR in the 110H.   MTSU's Mustapha B. took 6th in the 100m (9.99) and 4th in the 200m with a school record PB of 20.04, sadly missed the bronze by 0.02.  Women's finals tomorrow.  These times were CRAZY, certainly faster than the pro circuit.  All wind legal except the 100m was just over.  I've noted foreign athletes,  will represent their home countries in international competition:

Men:

100m - 9.72 (+2.2)  Kanyinsola Ajayi (Nigeria)

200m - 19.63  Jaiden Reid (Cayman Is) 

400m - 43.38 (4th fastest all time)  Samuel Ogazi (Nigeria)

110H - 12.75 World Record (semis)  Ja'Kobe Tharp

4x400m relay - GA 2:57.93 (42.99 anchor leg - Jonathan Simms) 

Women (semis):

100m - 10.63 (5th fastest all time) Adejah Hodge (BVI) 

200m - 21.68 Adejah Hodge 

400m - 48.79 Dejanea Oakley 

800m  - 1:56.85 Sanu Jallow

These were all college records except for the Mens's 100m because of wind.

water running, short hills, resistance

Gorgeous summer like day on the mountain.  I just love it.  I went to the lake today and had the place to myself for almost 2 hrs.  Did a set of water running and it was harder than expected.  Also today, did some upper body and some 40m hill sprints.  

I definitely felt the pump in my quads after a few reps of water running.  I dd 4 sets of 60 (L+R) strides.  Each set takes about 80 sec, and 60 sec rest in between.   Then I did some short hill sprints.  Like with any type of running, some minor pain on the first 2 reps that goes away.  I do notice that paying attention to my form and keeping it aligned helps alleviate knee pain.  

Water running

4 x 60 (L+R) strides w/ 1 min rest

Hill sprints 

3 x 20m

5 x 40m

Also have been trying to develop my core and doing various resistance exercises.   My most recent measurements on the Hume pod show a slight increase in muscle mass and decrease in body fat despite being heavier, about 145 lbs. 

Definitely living in paradise.  It reached 84º here in Sewanee.  By contrast it was 98º with a heat index of 108º down the mtn in Murfreesboro.  

My almost 40 yr old motorcycle gets me there.  

 

Bike sprint PR, swim and water running

Another PR for the 2.5 mile bike sprint on gravel with the mtn bike.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:38

Avg speed - 14.0 mph

Max HR - 175

HR over 160 - 7:32 

HR over 170 - 2:01

Avg HR - 161

Beat my previous PR by 6 sec.  It was hard.  

Going to go to the lake later and do some water running.   Forecast to be 86º today but the only rain storm in the state happened to be over my house this morning and has kept temps in the mid - upper 70ºs. 

Yesterday, did some pullups and some squats.  Back slid a little in weight.  144 lbs, still 13% bodyfat

Update:

Went to the lake today, did a little water running and a 370 yd swim.  Beautiful.  Water still cool, 81º at the surface.  

Small stadium stairs

Did stadium stairs at 7:30 this morning at the Vestal HS with my nephew Kris.   Kris is 39, wealthy investor and has 3 insurance offices.  Strong guy, fit.  

These stairs were about half the height or less than the MTSU stadium.  

We did 20x consecutively.  HR hit 178 on the last one.  

I wanted to do another set but Kris folded.

It's ok, I have to travel today.  But, with all the food I've been eating, this was much needed.  

Stretches, Drills 

20x Stadium Stairs - Vestal HS

This and the Friday bike climb have kept me from backsliding much. 

This is Kris and his family.  Very sports oriented.  His 12 yr old son Tiano is already my size and is a standout in football, baseball, and basketball.  His daughter will be the sprinter.  She is super fast for an 8 yr old.  Wife Sabrina is from Argentina.   He was telling me about his investment strategy and upcoming vacations.  He's going to Barcelona, cruise to Mallorca, a seaside villa in Portugal.  Always flies his family first class.   They've been around the world.  

Tom's daughter's wedding went well, and I played the ceremony and the cocktail hour prior to the dinner for about 100 people.  

Photos:  Kari and Billy.   Billy is an electrical engineer works for a rail company.  

 

Bride and groom.

Parents moving back to FL after making arrangements to move to Binghamton.  Total 'about face' after a week.   Crazy.   Mom and dad are 86 and 84, never know when or if it will be the last time we'll all be together.  

The hills of Conklin on the bike

After playing the wedding rehearsal, I had nothing to do and instead of spending my entire evening alone in my hotel, I got my brother's bike and did a 10 mile loop in Conklin Forks.  Of the 3 hill climbs I did last year, this was the hardest, so I chose this one.  

From my brother's house:  Conklin Rd to Fallbrook to Stetson to Finch to Ross Hill to State Line to Brady Hill to Conklin Forks to Conklin Rd.   About a 750' elevation gain, 1047' of total climbing.  

Conklin Forks is still beautiful and so quiet.   

I took a ride across the bridge to Kirkwood which is closed to cars, but not bikes.  

The Susquehanna River that I grew up on, still beautiful also.  

stadium stairs

Was in Murfreesboro yesterday, took advantage of the MTSU stadium stairs.   I probably over did it a bit.   Did 20x which was the most in a long time.  But it took me over an hour.   

20x stadium stairs - MTSU Floyd stadium

Did these in sets of 6, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2.    Knee was a little sore afterward as well and calves and quads.   After the workout, was down to 141.1, but morning weight was a 142.2.   

Today, did a leisurely bike ride and resistance work - pullups, pushups, ab wheel, hip thrusts, etc..

Leaving tomorrow early for NY to play my niece's wedding.  Probably 5 days of very little exercise coming up.   

This was my last one, #20.  Barely making it...