Back in The Saddle - Oly Style

Today I did a version of the Olympia Ave walk, starting from my new job location (not really an "office" :-( ), going up Oly to Global Animal Health, then turning off past the Vet School down to Stadium Way and back.

Times:
To Stadium and Nevada: 4:22
To the top of Oly: 5:59
Back home: 12:38

A total of 23:00.  This was a warm-up walk, cadence about 132/min.  The time on the upslope on Oly is about 1 minute (17%) slower than my best times from the spring and summer.

Satchmo's back!

So it had been a while! 😝 After catching up one grandpa's posts since I forgot (oops) about this blog I am inspired to catch up on writing about my recent return to my fitness journey, and hopefully post at least once a week from now on! I'm up to a lot of things so it shouldn't be hard to write about, setting a reminder in my phone...now. 😄

May: I began a begginer's calendar from Blogilates on May 1. Created by instructor Cassie Ho, it listed videos to do each day to get in shape from beginner level to doing her regular monthly calendars. The beginner calendars workouts varied from 20 min to 45 or so at the longest (not common tho) and included 6 days a week of workout and one day of rest. I kept up pretty well with it for most of the month, with some traveling near the end (saw the Eagles in Spokane, which was cool) causing me to miss some days, I rearranged and finished on the 31st instead of the 28th. Did every video though so not bad! 

About midway through the month I decided to have a go at jogging/running again. I found a 0-10k app that has programmed routines to slowly get your body used to jogging/running over 14 weeks. The first day was rough, well the day after the first day was rough! My hips were sore (I think the hip flexors in front?) And I could barely walk the next day! However, the next two days of the programs body recovered faster, and through the end of May I pretty much ran 3x a week and actually started to enjoy it!

June: I began the blogilates June calendar, stretch project, and arms challenge, as well as planning to run 3 or 4 times a week. Until leg pain and busy birthday traveling I pretty much kept to it! Even though I took one of my runs without the program to take it easy on my leg, the next time (most recent run) I jogged 20 minutes without walking breaks! I also have a good friend who knows physiology and gave my leg a good rub last weekend and wow did that help or what! Hoping he can help again Saturday, since the twingey pain in my left leg had come back, although not as bad as before. It feels better with a little ibuprofen, so I think another massage to help relieve tension/swelling will do the trick. 

It's such good fortune that I had been jogging and working out for the last month and a half, since my sister asked me if I wanted to go hiking on my birthday and I could actually say yes with only minimal amounts of nervousness! She does "hiking club" with some friends every Tuesday, and it just so happened that my birthday was on Tuesday this year, and I was getting to spend it in Bellingham!

So hike we did. It was the Heliotrope Ridge trail, which is 5.5 miles round trip, has 1,400 ft elevation gain and ends at 5,100 ft above sea level. It was really tough, but extremely rewarding. There's no way I could have done it without all the work I've done leading up to it! It ends near Coleman glacier so we got to see that as well as a spectacular view of that part of the cascades. It was also great to have sunbutter&honey sandwiches and fresh cherries on "snackle rock" with everyone. What an unforgettable way to kick off my 25th year! 

We got to go out for dinner & drinks & dancing (thanks to a funds donation from oldest sister!) which added to the amazing-ness of the birthday and the dancing added to my workouts for the day! 😀🎉

I walked about a mile yesterday, to meet my sister at the farmers market she was working, and to wander around downtown Bellingham later that evening. I was sore in places on my legs that don't get so sore from just jogging--the movements required for steep inclines and balancing and crossing rocky streams are so different from the ones needed for jogging on mostly flat ground! But I wasn't (and still am not) as sore as I thought I would be! Yay!

Today I am wandering in Seattle for a little while, then meeting up withy birth mom to continue the rest of this westside adventure! I expect to be back to running tomorrow night or Saturday morning. 

Oh! Also I am getting a Fitbit Charge HR for my birthday (purple, haha yessss) which will allowed to not only track my heart rate for better information regarding my fitness level, but will also help me track sleep and daily steps (it also tracks flights of stairs!). It's waiting in the mailbox at home so starting Saturday I will have it!

Here's a panorama from "snackle rock!" My sister on the left glacier on the right,  it's slightly more than a 180 degree view. I'm posting using mobile so not sure how it will turn out but hope it does!

Oly PB, Airport Meh

Wednesday I did the Olympia (steep) walk in 23:30 -- about :25 better than my previous best (though my records are far from complete).  The weather was very warm (85 degrees?), which may have helped me be limber.  I did have to slack my cadence toward the top of the steep upgrade, but I got the pace back up on the flat.

Today's (Friday) walk to Airport Rd and back was not remarkable -- I got into respiratory trouble early, and had to slack my cadence way back before reaching the top of the last uphill east of the seedhouse -- and then had trouble picking it up again on the downhill because I was tired (as in spitting and wobbly).  One factor may be that there was more diesel traffic on Grimes Way than usual -- diesel fumes are not my lungs' friends.

Workouts are Working (but Workouts are Work)

I climbed the CUE stairs from the third floor to the fifth today without really noticing it -- I was thinking about something else, and only realized when i reached the top that I had done the climb without significant discomfort -- a little deeper respiration, but no huffing and puffing and no discomfort in my legs.

Airport Rd. (now called Terre View) in 32:08 - an apparent PB, according to my admittedly sketchy records (though I'm sure I would have recorded a time that was lower!).  My time on 3/26 was a whole second slower.  While the time was good, and the distress symptoms were not so bad (only spit once), it was really hard emotionally to keep my cadence up as i tired.  I managed 26 (156/min) or so on the way out, but dropped to 24 (144min) on the way back.  I was just too tired.  It's hard to tell just how significant the difference is, but it has seemed to me in the past that a higher cadence brings times down more than any other modification.

Also Ordinary

Another Airport Rd walk. I realized today that these should properly be called "Terre View" walks, because they renamed that stretch of road after they hooked it up to the north and west part of TV.  16:38 out, 17:02 back, total 33:40.  Pushing a little, but not really hard. It makes me wonder about that 38 minute time recently. Was there some mistake?

Ordinary

Just a "purposeful" walk on a beautiful day -- cadence about 22 (132/min) out to Airport Rd and back.  Times were elongated also by taking a detour through the USDA alley behind the greenhouses to avoid a blockade near the new Clean Tech building.  Feeling a little tired at the end, but aerobic performance was good.

Baby Needs New Shoes

... seven come eleven.

Airport Rd with times 10:10, 5:38, 6:32, 10:33 for a total of 32:53, my fourth-best time.  I was trying pretty hard on the outbound leg, and had a time as good as the best, but my legs were tired coming back, and I couldn't keep the cadence up.

I'm feeling pretty dissatisfied with my street loafers for this walking.  Even though I lost my expensive minimalist running shoes (I think they were $70 on sale, which is not expensive in everyone's book), I have to overcome my emotional resistance and do what is best for my joints and muscles.