Fitness Weekly Discussion

After a decade of not being able to run, due to severe acid reflux, I've been able to start on a treadmill again after some general health improvements and management technique changes.

And 4 (short) runs in I've torn something in my right calf.

Oh well, I guess I'll be taking it easy for a while and working my way back up to it.

Hello! Its been a while since i posted here as i was just coasting. Im back on the saddle with specific fitness goals in mind. Firstly, there's a 23km long continuous path from near my house to downtown that I want to run one day before work. To set a baseline: i ran 14.65km of it yesterday in 1.5 hours. My feet were exhausted and my joints hurt but honestly i had a lot of gas in the tank otherwise. So i think better shoes might go a long way. Thats the furthest ive ever run in one session, and it was outdoors! Im pretty excited.

My second goal is a particular boulder called Majestic in Squamish. Its a v6 and i climb about v4 right now in the gym so i dont have an unreasonable hill to climb there. My technique has really improved and with a ton of stretches i havent been hurting myself lately and having to take long breaks between sessions. Id like to do this boulder because deep water soloing sounds very exciting. And cool! Also falling into water sounds way better than a crashpad.

So for the running ive been looking into watches lately to help keep track of everything. I could buy a cheaper watch but i go hiking fairly often and its be really nice to be able to look at the watch to check next directions rather than having to pull out the phone and burn its battery. Does anyone know how effective the mapping is for trails on garmin, etc? The fenix 7 seems like best bang for buck if i can still find one and discounted but maybe someone else will know better? Everytime i look at them i go "well itd be really nice to have that fitness feature but its only available on this X$ more expensive one." I should start out small but watches are hella expensive even for the low end ones so an investment means i have to use this thing for years. Which justifies a larger investment. But thats so much money for a watch! Does anyone have positive stories about how a watch genuinely helped them reach their goals? Or is it just a tool to post stuff youre already capable of to social media?

I've been doing a lot of cycling lately and starting to hit the free weights. I've logged 2 hours on Zwift so far this week and a little lifting. I met with my Physical Therapist who also does personal training. He is putting together a lifting plan for me since I need more structure if I want to really see benefits.

I'm hoping to drop 14 lbs before end of November and increase my over fitness since I've become more involved with my local NICA MTB team and last season I really struggled to keep up with the faster kids (of which my oldest is one).

I'm starting to get frustrated by some of the people in the gym who hog equipment. I went to the gym early today figuring that I would try to use the smith machines for the first time, only to see that they were all taken. I got on an elliptical until there was an opening. But in the end, I actually did a full 20 minute round without anyone ever getting off. Of the people on the four smith machines in the gym, one was a lady who did a grand total of ONE set for the entire time, one was improvising different exercises in between their sets, and another had their junk set around it while they went around doing different exercise machines and talking to people.

In that whole time only one person actually got off one of them and someone got to it before me. Everyone who uses them monopolizes them for long periods of time so there's basically no chance for me to ever give it a chance. For a machine that I was already intimidated to try, I've basically given up on it now.