Water running, swim, bike sprint trial w/ the offloader

 Two days ago, I hit the lake and did a set of water running, and a swim.  Pretty good workout.

Water running

60 (R/L) steps x 6 w/ 1 min rest

Max HR 158

Avg HR 129

Lake swim -  340 yds

I was happy to have the lake by myself. ... since a casual visitor to the lake who would see me water running might think I was struggling, maybe drowning. lol

This morning I tried 'strict' pullups - all from full extension, only 18.  Definitely different than the 'near full extension' pullups I normally do.

Today, I got the DonJoy OA Nano offloader brace today, free with my insurance.  I looked it up, it generally sells for over $600 new.  I tried it out on a bike sprint with some brief standing hills.  Yea, it works.  It seems to prevent 180º full extension - maybe allowing up to just few degrees short of full extension, and corrects the valgus/varus angle, shifting load off the vulnerable compartment.  It has to be worn tight or it doesn't work.  Unlike the Ossur offloader, this one seems pretty solid and doesn't slip.  I think it could even be affixed more securely with K-tape.  Not really super comfortable to be worn for hours.  

I did the usual bike sprint and even though I didn't time it or measure HR, that first hill where I'm standing for 30 - 35 R/L strokes is FAR more engaging to the cardio vascular system than anything I could do in a similar stretch sitting on the saddle.  (True, Joe).  Knee felt great afterward, but I'm not going to dive into standing bike sprints right away.  A little at a time.  

The pretty young nurse that fitted me with the brace just graduated from Auburn and is a friend of  Ja'Kobe Tharp, new world record holder in the 110H, and Adidas track pro.  It was fun talking track.  

I'm definitely eventually going to try running with this thing at some point.  

Still really light, mid 141s this morning.  Meeting postponed so my next blood work postponed til Mon.  

I joined this popular FB group called the "Great Cholesterol Conspiracy" and wow, the debate continues.   Seems to me when you have research tools like Claude AI,  people shouldn't have so much belief in unscientific notions.  More on that next post.  

Bike sprint, resistance, diet, life change

Doing bike sprints while seated is really a difficult thing, to not stand and engage the glutes, strongest muscles in the body.  Much more of a quad workout. However, that's what I'm doing during this healing phase of my workouts.  Still doing daily resistance, 24 pullups this morning.  Becoming routine.  Situps, ab wheel, pushups, dumbells, hanging abs are my routine.  Stopped doing the slant board squats for a while.  The 2.5 mile bike sprint was a 'seated' PR.  Almost a minute slower than my regular PR. 

2.5 mile seated mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 10:09

Avg speed - 12.8 mph

Max HR - 165

HR over 156 - 4:07

Avg HR - 150 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

Decent workout but not the real max HR sweat dripper that I'm used to.  Really helps to have the glutes to get to that intensity.

Had a swim yesterday at Scott's party.  Also ate some party food like chips and brownies, ice cream, but not a lot.  Still 142.7 for today's weigh in.  

I feel like my life has entered a major transition as I've now committed to playing full solo concerts starting in Oct.  The lifestyle of a musician that I led for so many yrs is quite different than the lifestyle I led after the pandemic pushing toward athletic championships.  It actually got a bit unhealthy during the peak as a performer in my early 40s.  Was probably 10-12+ lbs heavier, didn't watch my diet as much, exercise wasn't a priority, occasionally ate poorly, spent a lot of time sitting and practicing, up late at night and drinking too much tea and coffee, even beer, occasional light use of cannabis - (which actually is proven helpful in the interpretive and creative process).  Also, performing itself is quite stressful.  When you say you're a guitarist, usually the next question is, 'are you in a band?'   There is no more difficult, challenging, and stressful situation for a guitarist than doing hour long SOLO classical concerts in an academic or concert series situation.  Period.  

I did find a shirtless photo of myself from that era before athletics when my life was only guitar.  I looked somewhat lean, but weak.   

This is about 24-25 yrs ago, (about age 41-42ish).   I was doing some very serious hiking then, so I wasn't by any means significantly overweight.  This photo was during a boat trip with Lisa at Fontana.  At one point, we did a 25 mile day hike with a nearly 5000' vertical climb, as well as a 16 miler with a 3300' climb in the same few day trip.   I couldn't come close to doing that today.  Only maybe if my life depended on it.  

The parallels between training as a sprinter and as a concert musician are really remarkable … “trust the process” as they say.  I haven’t played a full hour solo program in almost 8 yrs I think. (Shorter programs yes).  Now concerned with hand health, but that is generally ok.   Where athletics and music training differ is in time spent. Physical adaptations for the hands seem to take more daily time than relatively brief intense track workouts, because a lot of the practice is slow and methodical, and it’s every day.  Both are long term commitments taking months, not only in learning to execute, but doing it on the spot in a performance, which is more the mental aspect.    Not that it's impossible to do both as I did in 2015, but my 2015 tour was in the fall - off season for track.

Anyway, since I started this blog 15 yrs ago, it's going to remain about training, fitness, wellness, etc... and I'm going to begin at some point, moving my discussions on music to my somewhat neglected other blog which I started nearly 20 yrs as mostly an adventure, outdoors, travel, music, and photography blog.  https://tnparadise.blogspot.com/

I'm really liking my life right now.  Have settled into a pleasant routine where I stay up late and practice, sometimes go to the cathedral, wake up early and go back to sleep, usually getting out of bed by 9 or 10am, do a few scales on the guitar, do my pullups, pushups, a brief walk, weigh in on my scale, drink a liter of water, sit in the hot tub, get out and start my daily practicing ... which will go for hours.  I have my first coffee about noon and a light snack, usually Wasa crackers with fig jam mixed with psyllium husk.  I eat my main meal which is a large salad sometimes with fish, or chick peas.  Sometimes a vegetable stew with zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil from my small basil tree, and whatever other vegetables I have available.   Really low carb.    These types of main meals don't have enough calories to make it and I've been snacking on walnuts and blueberries, occasionally Wasa crackers of Royo bread with sunflower butter, and dried cranberries.   When I do eat meat, it's usually flounder, salmon, organic chicken breast.  I will also occasionally eat other types of fish like cod, shrimp.  So with a relatively narrow diet, it's not out of the possibility that I may have a folate or Vit B deficiency so I'm testing for that on Friday.  Easy to remedy.  Due to my CKD, I was told to be cautious with Vit C, and I did see my collagen supplement had 100mg of Vit C.  Should be ok.  

Living in nature and getting most of my vegetables from the local organic market, the low stress job, the commitment to health and fitness I have now should help make a healthier transition back into concert performance.  Older and wiser.  

Bike sprint, pullups, fast

 I've been taking time off the bike until today, I couldn't stand it anymore I did a bike sprint but not full, effort.  I also have been doing the usual few exercises and I'm regularly able to do 21-23 pullups every morning.  Been walking a mile+ every morning including walking backward up hills.  

I'll see what the new ortho Dr. says about recovery next Tuesday.  

I'm fasting and purging for tomorrow's colonoscopy.  Yesterday ate a 'low residual' diet which was new to me.  Stuff I never eat, like simple carbs... specifically white rice and bananas.  That's the stuff I probably should have been eating before races instead of high fiber bread and cereals.  I should be able to drop close to 140 lbs by the time this is over.  I had to drink a 2 L of polyethylene glycol solution around 6 pm, then another 2 L at 1:00 am.   I'll be up most of the night.  Fun.

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 10:16

Avg speed - 13.3 mph

Max HR - 165

HR over 156 - 4:10

Avg HR - 150 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

I stayed seated most of the ride back, HR certainly wasn't up to what it normally is during this workout.  

Hard to tell if these types of rides are degrading to my knee.  The feels good afterward.  Sometime I get a slight soreness later in the night or next day but usually not.  Probably shouldn't do anything for a month with my legs, but I definitely would feel vulnerable to CV disease without pushing my HR, hard to do without legs.  Maybe be forced to swim only.  Water run at the most.  I'll see what the Dr. says but I'm sure less is more at this point.

Judging by the comments, some people don't apparently understand that 'jogging' - running with heel or midfoot strike is more damaging to my knee than high knee running, stairs, hills, or running with forefoot strike on the ball of the foot in sprint form.  FWIW, even when I raced 800s, my heel never touched the ground and I wore the same spikes as I would for a 100m race.  Anything faster than a 72 sec 400m is a sprint for someone over 60, and that would be about my slowest 400m split in any of the 800m races I ever ran, my slowest being 2:22.  Transitioning from high knee running gradually to full stride is the way I've been getting prepped for sprinting post injury.  

Anyway, hopefully my colon is ok.  Find out tomorrow.  

bike sprint, MRI

Did my first training involving legs since last Saturday's running.  Just a neighborhood bike sprint.   Got the knee MRI.  Definitely a mess.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 10:01

Avg speed - 13.6 mph

Max HR - 173

HR over 156 - 5:05

HR over 170 - 5:18 

Avg HR - 166 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

Slower and higher avg HR but lower Max HR from last time.

Knee continues to feel better and will allow recovery til I do make any running attempts.  

As expected, MRI showed a lot of problems.  It seems that the game should be to expect trauma and to allow recovery.  

On the plus side:

"Intact root attachment.... prior repair of vertical tear in the posterior horn which remains intact. Intact anterior root"

On the minus side:

"recurrent macerated tearing along the free edge of the posterior horn/root junction creating a small free edge flap with intact posterior root. Degenerative undersurface tearing of the meniscus at the posterior junction and partially extruded body segment without flap displacement ...  Prior repair of vertical tear in the posterior horn which remains intact. Intact anterior root with reactive edema or root sprain. Diffuse chondral loss throughout the central and posterior weightbearing femoral condyle at least 75% chondral thickness with stress related marrow changes diffusely throughout the femoral condyle associated within

evolving subchondral fracture in the posterior weightbearing aspect measuring 0.7 cm transversely with evidence of remotely healed subchondral fracture in the more anterior weightbearing femoral condyle. Partial chondral loss in the tibial plateau centrally at least 50% chondral thickness with mild stress response peripherally and posteriorly... Full thickness chondral loss in the central, with highgrade partial chondral loss in the inferior medial trochlea with chronic stress response and preserved cartilage in the lateral trochlear facet."

Summary impression:

1. Prior medial meniscal repair posteriorly with recurrent free edge tearing of the posterior horn/root junction, undersurface tearing of the peripheral posterior horn extending to the body segment with intact root attachments demonstrating degeneration/sprain and progressive arthrosis in the compartment at least moderate severity with increased stress response throughout the femoral condyle associated with a evolving subchondral stress or insufficiency fracture of the posterior weightbearing aspect, likely a pain generator.

2. Intact lateral meniscus with degenerative fraying along the free edge and relatively superficial focal chondral loss without significant compartment arthrosis.

3. Intact cruciate, collateral ligaments without acute injury or tear, early mucinous degeneration of the ACL.

4. Patellofemoral arthrosis, moderate severity with chronic stress response related to highgrade chondral loss in the trochlea.

5. Moderate size joint effusion with chronic synovitis more pronounced suprapatellar fossa, medial compartment. Small loose osseous bodies in the posterior superior medial femoral recess measuring up to 0.5 cm.

Seems that the worst cartilage loss is not on the tibial or condyle surfaces, but behind the kneecap on the medial trochlea.   Anyway, it sucks.   

hot bike climb

Went out in the heat today for a bike climb, 92º and exceptionally humid, dewpoint 78º, heat index 107º.  Hottest part of the day.   I got Dr. Scott an endurance runner a few yrs younger than me to motivate me.  We finished together.  

This was the hardest I've ever pushed my HR.  The overall time was not exceptional, but the effort was due to the conditions.   Faster than last time.  I did very little sprinting off the seat.  Scott did more than I did.  

Roark's Cove bike climb

Total time - 23:11

Avg speed - 6.1 mph

Max HR - 190

HR over 170 - 14:59

HR over 180 - 4:15

Avg HR - 166

Had a nice swim afterward.  Scott lives right at the top of the hill and on a lake.  Got to hang with friends for a few hrs.  Roya joined us.

It was supposed to rain today, even possible severe storms, but nothing came.  Nice lightning and thunder in the distance. 

Roya's day off tomorrow so we'll go swimming.  I want to hit the track during the heat and do some weight pulls.  Could be hotter tomorrow, and certainly will on the reflective turf field in full sun.  

bike sprint - PR

This was a hard effort.   Massive PR by 17 sec.   This one will be hard to top.

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:21

Avg speed - 14.3 mph

Max HR - 177

HR over 156 - 9:51 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

HR over 170 - 3:53

Avg HR - 166 

I hit the turnaround at 9:56 about 4 sec faster than last PR.

Have been eating more meat (chicken breast) lately.  Weight holding steady in the 142s.  Doing daily strength so seeing a little difference.  

For whatever reason, my MRCP / MRI read may take another week.  I've never known a report to take this long.  I really think this Vanderbilt medical center isn't what it used to be.  When it was a single centralized teaching hospital back in the day, it was top notch.  Now it has taken over numerous other smaller hospitals and facilities, it's losing quality for quantity.  I may look elsewhere in the future.  The Vanderbilt medical name was always very well respected.  Notsomuch now, judging by online reviews.  

The weather has been awesome so far, cool for this time of year but a heat wave hits on Sunday and continues without rain for about 4 days, temperatures in the lower 90ºs... which means near 100º in the cities.  

I expect I'll be swimming and water running everyday beginning Monday.  

Yesterday before my bike climb, I did an 80yd sprint on the track.  It felt ok. Kind of chompin to get back to some limited running.  Maybe do some drills and high knee runs in the heat next week 

Bike climb

Early morning bike climb on Roark's Cove Rd.  I had to take my mtn bike in so while I was out, I did the climb.   Today, didn't put out real hard, tried to keep HR low and no stand up sprints.  Still, not a bad time.  

Roark's Cove bike climb

Total time - 23:51

Avg speed - 5.8 mph

Max HR - 175

HR over 170 - 4:42

By contrast, my previous climb was just 1:21 faster but HR over 170 was 14:27, compared with only 4:42 this time.  

My mtn bike repair was only $19.  Happy with that.  

I think I'm going to rearrange my HR zones on my watch to make it more specific to my HR and  training.  

6: >179 

5: 170-179

4: 156-169 

3: 140-155

2: 120-139 

1: <119

 

Back home - bike sprint, weights

 Back home in Sewanee.  Tied my PR today on this course.  Riding in between waves of severe thunderstorms.  About 2 hrs ago I was falling into my PM nap and a tornado warning siren went off, woke me up.  As usual, 'a hoax.'   Another wave expected around sunset.  

I hit it pretty hard and got to the turnaround by 5:00 flat.  So I pushed it hard.  Was unwilling to take the final downhill corner at breakneck speed so missed a PR.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:38

Avg speed - 14.2 mph

Max HR - 176

HR over 160 - 9:01 

HR over 170 - 3:50

Avg HR - 164 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

Higher HR than my previous PR run.  

Doing the resistance work - upper body and core in the morning.  This evening at the gym, leg curls, extensions, calves, leg press, chest, arms.  

Hell day tomorrow - 5 appts.  3 medical (MRCP scan, consult, cardio), 1 builder, 1 lesson.  I'll leave tomorrow at 7:20 and not return til the evening.  

Dinner:  Diced chicken breast, zucchini, celery, onion, garlic, stewed tomatoes, fresh basil.  No oil, cooked in tomato juice.  Less than 400 cal in 2 bowls, very low carb and very low fat.          

                                       

bike, resistance

Past two days I've been biking after dinner.  This is something I never could do in a serious track workout, yet nothing is as hard as a serious track workout.   

Yesterday did two circuits after a day at the museums.  Today Sunday, did 4 circuits, 2 each way.  The original way is harder because the hill climb isn't preceded by a downhill.  Now, if I really wanted to suffer, I would come to a dead stop at the base of the second hill and not use downhill momentum to climb, but it a good workout nevertheless.

7.4 mile bike circuit - Sandy Springs

elevation gain - 870'

Max HR - 179

Avg HR - 147

About 42 min including some brief rest stops.  These hills are short but peak at between 12-14% grade.  The last one I did once peaks at 16.5%.  

Lot of ups and downs in this one.  It says I burned over 400 cals so that's good.

Also been doing core and pushups every day.  Hanging ab straps.  Roya bought a Roman chair so doing that with 25lbs for glute and hams. 

Definitely dropped some weight, now hanging about 141.5, daily range about 140 -143.  

Diet good:

Lemon water in the morning, then cappuccino with collagen in the late morning.  One piece of Royo bread with preserves+psyllium husk early afternoon.  Dinner today was flounder and salad.  Night snack -  tea with Wasa cracker w/ preserves+psyllium husk, and a piece of sugar free chocolate.  I'm thinking it's about 1200 cal max.  

I'm close to optimum weight and when I get there and just below, I'll up the calories and protein, then really get after the strength regime.  I'll be home Monday.  Tues is my scan, followup, first appt with cardiologist, and 2 other appts non health related... super busy day.  

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. 

---

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.

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.  

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.  

Bike spring, resistance

Another PR in the 2.5 mile bike sprint on gravel with the heavy mtn bike.  Again, wasn't 'trying' for a PR, just working hard  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:44

Max HR - 177

HR hit 160 one minute into the sprint and stayed there for about the next 5:17, then above 170 the rest of the way.  

Also did some resistance last night.  I think the hip thrust deck that I have is the single hardest piece of equipment.  I've been doing 20x with 3 bands, holding the last 5.   2 or 3 sets.  Best glute exercise.

Was going to go to Murfreesboro today but it stormed.  Was going to run stadium stairs, maybe tomorrow.  

Weight is about the same despite really light eating.   Yesterday, I ate a lb of grilled tuna, 2 apples,  an orange and some Wasa crackers.   Probably about 1400 cal.   Getting to that 'jelly belly' stage where the last of the fat softens up before it goes away.   A hard process but it's going.    Still at ~143 lbs and 13% body fat according to the Hume pod.    

Bike climb

 Did a bike climb today, didn't intend to really bust it but I did.  Fastest post op and fastest in about 2 yrs.   I thought I'd just keep my HR low today and just burn some calories but, after making good time on the first half, I started cranking toward the end.  The kicker is that I kept my HR relatively low until the final sprint.  I was only over 170 for 4 min total.

Roark's Cove bike climb

Total time - 21:38

Avg speed - 6.5 mph

Max HR - 188

HR over 170 - 4:02

HR over 180 - 0:52

Encouraging as I ever so slowly drop my body fat and increase fitness.  This may be in the top several all time on this course.   Still need to do more consistent strength work which I find difficult.  But it snowballs as I make progress.  Woke up this morning at 143.7 so a ways to go.  

Bike sprint PR

 Pushing the envelope on the bike sprint course, a PR by just one second.

Maybe getting in better shape, HR only peaked at 171 and no spike at the end.  HR also went briefly down to 142 almost halfway, which it hasn't done before.  I spent more time off the seat pumping on this one.  Avg 14 mph which is pretty good on gravel and hills with a 33 lb bike.   

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:47

Max HR - 171

I will also do some strength work later.

Weather is great, cloudy, thunder rumbling, occasional showers, not hot.  75º but a tad humid, dewpoint 69º.

Weight holding at 143-144.   I do my Hume measurement after peeing in the morning so it's not my lowest weight of the day.  That occurs usually after toilet and workout.   To lose that last 5 is going to take a little hunger.

One good thing about the weather, my plant collection loves it.  

 

 

Bike sprint, new scale

Did a hard bike sprint today, 2nd fastest of my season.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:54

Max HR - 177

Max HR during the ride was 177, but 26 sec after finishing, it spiked to 182.  Rather typical, then fell 22 points in the next 18 sec.  

Also, got the Hume pod scale (... because Joe feels I should measure myself constantly).  Very interesting piece.  When setting up my profile, one honest realization, I am not 5'7".   I've actually never been 5'7".  In HS if I stretched my neck I could get 5'6 3/4".   Now maybe I've shrunk a bit but I'm definitely not 5'7" and for purposes of calculating BMI, and other health parameters,  I am definitely 5'6", which doesn't play in my favor for anything.  In shoes I might be 5'7 1/2".  

The Hume scale give body fat % and has interesting features based on algorithms, like "health score, metabolic age, visceral fat index"... etc...   I unfortunately got a less than optimum reading my first time since I drank a liter of water just before.  Still good, 797 (out of 900) health score, metabolic age 48, visceral fat index 4 (low).  Body fat 13.2%.   Playing with the parameters I put in a goal of 138 lbs and that caused my health score to go down.  I asked a fellow user about it, he said, "they don't account for elite masters athletes, and since dying people tend to wither away, this seems to confound the causality, so very low BMIs appear dangerous in the data. Of course, 13% is probably good for longevity."  

We'll see how this goes.  I definitely need to focus more on strength training and core.  

Another bike sprint PR

After spending most of yesterday at the US Space and Rocket museum, I did some resistance work last night and this morning.  Today in between bouts of rain, I went for it hard on the bike.  Another PR in my local hilly mtn bike sprint on gravel of 2.5 mi.   Seemed harder than last time.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:48

Max HR - 174

This time, HR stayed remarkable stable, after 2 min it was 168 and it stayed there for the duration, never wavering more than 6 points.   No weird spike after completion, just a nominal raise to 174 after 20 sec the followed by 15 pt drop in the next 20 sec.   Quite a pump.  

I'm thinking I should avoid all attempts to sprint on the flat for quite some time, as I'm now feeling a bit of progress.   Need to wait until I feel really significant healing.  No schedule.  I'm staying in decent shape as it is.   I do think some of my medial knee issues are exacerbated by my running form, supination, bowleggedness.  When running stairs, I feel less strain on that area when I concentrate on keeping aligned.  

143.2 lbs after workout.  Pretty much the same for the past 2-3 days.  

Pic from yesterday...

Morning bike sprint, resistance, food

 With waves of rain in and out, during a break in the rain I went for a bike sprint.  Hard effort.  Everytime I start one of these things I tell myself, no need for a PR, but I still blast away anyway.  

No PR today but my second fastest.  7 sec short of PR 

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 10:03

Max HR - 178

Also doing resistance work, pullups, bands, etc...  

HR in the 160s for the first 6 min, 170s for the last 4 min.  No big HR spike this time, just a small one.  Hit max HR at the end and it dropped to 173 then after 30 sec, briefly went back up to 178 before falling 20 points in a less than a minute.  This might be a perfect daily or every other day workout.  Short, hard, doable.  

One of the inherent risks in this course is how fast do I take the gravel turn coming down the hill to my driveway.  Going down would not be worth it.  

Enjoying having Roya here and eating really well.  Huge salad last night, and during the day yesterday, half a chicken breast and an apple.  Tonight I'm going to make a small paella with low carb rice, seafood, and vegetables.  

143.1 lbs after workout.  

Good new for my brother, his latest CT scan of his abdominal aorta and mesenteric arteries show no blockages.  

As with most women I've dated, I do all the cooking.  I've rarely met a woman who can out do me in the kitchen.

Tonight's meal:  Seafood paella - with cod, scallops, salmon, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, fresh basil, onions, peppers, garlic, lemon, paprika, turmeric, garlic salt, and pepper.  Yea, missing the saffron.   The kicker: Lavivia instant shiritaki rice, low carb, less than 1/2 the calories of regular rice.  I calculated less than 800 calories in this entire large bowl.  5 good sized plates of food.

Bike sprint, another PR

 Didn't sleep well last night, probably because of that tea I had before bed to ward off munchie cravings.  Probably the caffeine and low blood sugar.  It was 78 when I got up and it's usually higher in the morning.  

Getting lighter.  In the 143s.  I pushed this bike sprint and narrowly set a PR.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:56

Max HR - 175

HR pretty much stayed around mid-upper 160s to lower 170s the whole time.  I had a similar post sprint HR spike as last time, but a bit different... it occurred 60 sec after the sprint, had just walked upstairs, HR had dropped to 154, in 19 sec it spike to 175 then dropped gradually to 164 over the next 30 sec and continued down.  Nothing like that 190 spike I had last time.  

I know I'm lighter because I got 22 pullups today, I was only getting 18 when I was 4-5 lbs heavier.  

143.2 after workout.  Feel better already.  Still a ways to go. 

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CHART

I found this chart published by a runners magazine compiled with data from Masters rankings and the IAAF.  It confirms that the 62sec 400m I ran in a time trial last Nov. was at elite level, but just barely.  And nearly all my 400m races in my masters career were as well.   The chart doesn't list John Wright's incredible new M65 WR of 54.92 set indoors this yr.