Rethinking the Gym

Today I thought I would share some thoughts on gym workouts. I’ve been going to the gym on and off for several years. I’ve been trying to pin point why I can’t keep going regularly and came up with the following excuses:

1. Not wanting to do cardio at the gym
2. Bored with the routine
3. Overcrowded gym

This year I’m finally overcoming the above excuses.

I find that doing cardio at the gym means I am mentally thinking about how long I’ve gotta be in the gym for before heading home. I think it was putting me off as I would think “If I got to the gym I won’t get home till late”. I was getting in the habit of skipping on it too often. I decided to stop doing cardio indoors. It’s extremely boring and no amount of music or book reading on the cardio machine will change that for me. If I must do cardio indoors then I make myself do intervals.

I now do all of my cardio work outdoors. I get out on my bike at least three times a week and go running twice a week.

Secondly I started researching more routines online. I’ve never been a fan of personal trainers. I don’t see much point in having someone right by me while I am working out.
I used to go to an excellent gym in the UK that assigned you a trainer as part of your membership. When you joined they met with you, set you up a routine and then you would track it on your own for six to eight weeks. You then met with your trainer who would then review what you’ve done and your results. They would then create a newly modified routine. Of course they had more traditional trainers if you needed it. I recalled how much I enjoyed that method and decided I could re-create it myself.

I started reading through the two men’s health sites that I like Men’s Health and Men’s Fitness. Both of these sites have a wealth of information in their archives. I eventually settled on the Men’s Fitness’ 30 Minute Chest workout. I liked this one as it focused on the upper body which for me has always been weak. I complimented it by adding some squats and lunges for my legs and following it up with a core routine.

To prevent boredom settling in I am keeping a track of my workouts. This way I can make sure I am progressing the weight up as needed. I am also sticking to one workout for eight weeks and then I will switch to a new one.

Dailyburn Home Screen

I track all my gym workouts with www.dailyburn.com and its companion iPhone app ‘Dailyburn’. You can create your routines online then access and record them via the app. They have an android app in the works but it’s only available to “Pro” account holders as of this writing.

Dailyburn Workout Tracking Page

Thirdly, I needed to think of some way to tackle the overcrowding that can happen at the gym, particularly on Mondays when all the people flock in feeling guilty after a weekend of over indulging! It’s really frustrating when you have a plan and can’t get to a bench, dumbbell or machine because they are all being used.

My tip for getting things done in an overcrowded gym:

Alternatives – For every exercise in your routine learn an alternative.

1. If a bench is taken, look up the free form version
2. If a barbell is taken, do the dumbbell version
3. If a machine is taken, do the free weight version

Knowing the alternative has really helped me get my workouts done with 100% completion at the gym. I don’t waste anytime waiting or thinking “It’s busy in there today, I’m gonna skip it”.

Hopefully you find some of this useful. Feel free to share your own tips and advice in the comments section. I’d love to hear some other points of view.

Essential Gear: Road ID - Awareness

A few weeks ago I posted an essential gear blog for Road ID. Today I got their e-mail newsletter and saw a request to help spread the word to first responders about looking for and using Road IDs.

The information contained on a Road ID can assist first responders greatly when needing to assist an someone in distress. We should all know where to look for a Road ID on a runner or cyclist.

The common locations to find a Road ID are:

- On the wrist
- On the ankle
- Around the neck
- On the shoe

At the very least first responders will have a number to contact someone in case of an emergency. If there is an interactive id then there is even more information available to first responders and medical teams. They can log into the road id site with your serial number and pin they will have access to:

- Your name
- Your home and work address
- Your medical information such as insurance, primary doctor and blood type
- 5 emergency contacts with both home and cell contact information

As you can imagine this information is vital in being able to get you the help you need as soon as possible!

We all should be encouraging our cyclist and runner friends to invest in a Road ID. This small investment could help save your life or that of someone you know. I often see and hear people ask what can I give as a gift to my runner & cyclist friends. The answer is a Road ID.

If you ever come across an accident involving a runner or cyclist be on the lookout for a Road ID and point it out to first responders. If you know anybody that is a first responder be it a Police Officer, EMT, Fireman, Forrest Ranger let them know about your Road ID, show them it and tell them about roadid.com. If could save someone’s life.

Road ID have even made these great flyers we can all share with family and friends who are first responders to spread the word.

You can download them here:

Debora’s Story

Gina’s Story

Lucas’ Story

AMGEN Tour of California Stage 7

I'm currently following the AMGEN Tour of California. I'm excited that it is coming to Claremont as that's not too far for me to go and check it out.

As it's my first time seeing it I am planning on heading to the start area to see all the festivities at the start and watch them loop around downtown Claremont to begin with. I will then head over to Glendora to watch them again as they pass through on the way up to Glendora Mountain Road.

Check out the Stage 7 website here

For a map of the planned route click here

For a log of the route with ETA at each point click here

Hope to see y'all out there!

Mileage Tracking - Good riddance mapmyride

After getting continually frustrated with the cluttered mess that is mapmyride.com I decided to try some other tracking websites.

The first one I tried was mapmytracks.com and their iPhone app ‘Outfront’. Their website is really nice and clean. The app was very easy to use and similar to many of the others out there. The cool thing about the website is it replays your ride for you so get a visual of how it went as you continued. You can also compare one ride to another. As for the app, you can use it for almost anything running, hiking, dog walking.

The second one I tried was strava.com. Their site is the most professional looking. You can use it for free but are limited to 5 uploads a month or if you get the iPhone app ‘Strava’ you get unlimited uploads. To remove all the restrictions it’s $6 a month or $59 for a year. I got a promo code for a free three month trial (let me know if you want one too).

I have to say that I really like the site. I was able to upload gpx files for the history from mapmytracks but not mapmyride (most likely mapmyride’s fault). One cool feature is Strava autocorrects the altitude readings on the gps trackers without altimeters in them with data from the USGS.

Another excellent feature is it gives you little awards and notifications when you set records or personal bests on popular routes.

You can also hide start/finish locations so your start and end points are hidden from people. This is really useful if you start your rides at home, work or the same point every time. There is also the option to restrict your profile to community members only which is always nice.

As with pretty much every site out there now you can choose publish your rides to Facebook/twitter. You can either auto publish or pick and choose which ones to share.

It also allows you to create these awesome posts of your rides like the one below!

I’m going to stick with Strava as it’s got everything I need

Essential Gear - Cycling Jersey

Sweet! My new cycling jersey arrived!

Front

 Back

It fits real good, not too tight across the stomach and it has three deep pockets on the back.

You can't see it in these pics but it has the Flower of Scotland Lyrics written on the inside of the collar. I'll try to get a pic of it to update later.

2011 OC Wahoo's 5k Run

This was my second race of 2011. After my disappointing race at Angels stadium I wanted to perform better this time around. I've done a better job of training since my last race so felt I was better prepared for this one.

I went down to the expo on Saturday afternoon to pick up my race packet. The set up was pretty good and I sped through the whole thing. The goodie bag was disappointing, not sure why they call it a goodie bag when all that was in it was flyers. Some of the sponsors really need to step it up for items they donate for goodie bags!

My bib for the race!

The nice t-shirt!

On Saturday evening I got all my stuff ready as I had to get up early. The good thing was I picked up pre-paid parking so I could avoid the wait in the morning. I got up at 5am and jumped in the shower and had a quick breakfast.

The freeways were quiet but I did hit an unexpected delay as part of the freeway was closed. After a wee detour I got down to the race venue about 6:45 am.

I walked around and did some warm ups to keep warm. It wasn't too cold so a slow walk around was able to keep me warm. My goal for this 5k was to run it all. My last one was horrible and I had to walk quite a bit of it.

There was a little bit of a wait in the coral to get started and I didn't even hear them start the race. I walked slowly toward the start line and then as soon as I crossed it I started running.

It was crowded at the start as the walkers had decided to bottleneck it by starting from the front so I spent the first quarter mile moving through the crowd. Once I got passed the first mile it opened up and I was able to enjoy the run.

The weather was perfect, nice and sunny and it wasn't too cold for that time in the morning. I kept a pretty steady pace up for the entire race. I really liked this course as it was nice and flat and only had a couple of bottle neck areas. The one downside to the route was a tight u-turn to head back towards the finish.

As I passed the third mile marker I picked up the pace. I like to finish strong so pushed myself all way the till i crossed the line. They gave me my medal and then a bottle of water and some much needed snacks!

The medal is really nice! I like the ribbon on them, it's a nice touch rather than the usual red or blue.

I checked out the finish line festival for a little while and checked out some potential future races.

I was pleased with my result. I ran the entire race and felt good the whole time. I didn't get a stich for a change as I have been focusing on my breathing while I run.

My official time was 28:05. I am happy with completing another 5k in under 30 minutes. Now I need to focus on getting a new PR. Next up will be the Downtown Anaheim 5k in June.

Training Summary Apr'11

This month the weather started getting more consistent and I had some great morning rides and sunset runs across the dam.

I even managed to get to the gym more. I switched up to a new routine that I found online. I was getting bored with my old gym routine. I didn't feel I was in the gym very long, especially as I know do the majority of my cardio outside.

I didn't get out and run as much as I'd planned so I gotta get cracking on that.

I also completed the three week intro program on EA Sports Active 2 on the PS3, I really am liking that. I will post a full review of the intro program soon. I have just started on Phase 1 on 9 week program.

Summary:
April Bike Miles: 103 Miles
April Running Miles: 9 Miles
April Fitness Workouts: 19 workouts

My plans for May are to run in the OC Wahoo's 5k to kick off the month. I am aiming to get more runs in, at least twice a week and to continue building up the miles on my bike.