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My friend Wyatt is starting to hike the Appalachian Trail, and just started a few days ago. Should be an interesting read. Go check him out: Wyatt On The AT

Went to the Y after church with Meg. We swam and walked in the water for about 40 minutes, then I did 20 minutes on the treadmill and some weights. I'm working up to more and more of my treadmill time is running instead of just fast walking, but it's slow going. After we left the Y, we picked up our repaired vacuum cleaner at Sears and then took the dog for a half mile walk around the nieghborhood. I am definitely ready for some veg out time after all that.

More exercising at the Y last night. I did some treadmill to warm up, then did a lot of weights, then about 25 minutes on the treadmill. I was on a treadmill that measures your heartrate at the same time. I was going at a pretty good pace, but my heartrate was reading as 85 or so. That wasn't good enough. so I started jogging faster, trying to get my heartrate up. Still no increase in heartrate. By this point, I knew my heart rate was more than 80, no matter what the stupid monitor said, I could feel my heartbeat all over. I changed my grip on the heartrate monitor contacts and the reading shot up to 199. No wonder I felt like I was about to die! I backed down my pace and did the rest of my treadmill time at a steady 165 heartrate. I was very tired by the time I got home. (more…)

Put in a another good hour long workout at the Y. 10 minutes treadmill warm up, various 2 sets of 20 reps on weights for 30 minutes and then 20 minutes on the treadmill to finish the day.
I think Steven Wright works out at the Y:

Really. He spent 20 minutes walking back and forth in a weight belt, bent over, dragging his arms back and forth over the ground. It was very Steven Wrightish

I haven't written anything in a while but don't have anything worthy of a blog entry of it's own. Here comes a brain dump: (more…)

I have learned the following:

1. Going out to eat before going to the Y when you get out of work late makes for a shortened workout.
2. Quickly putting together a bag and changing at the Y results in forgetting to pack sneakers
3. Treadmills and loafer type slip-on shoes aren't exactly compatible, but it is doable.
4. Said shoes sure look funny with sweatpants.
5. When they turn off the lights, they want you to leave.

I'm going to need to do a better job of getting to the Y sooner, because yesterday was a bit frustrating.

Went to the Y with Meg, did my regular treadmill-weights-treadmill routine for about 45 minutes. I got up to 6.5 mph on the treadmill, but that didn't last too long. highest I saw my heart rate was 185, but usually it was right at 165. Later in the evening while Meg was doing lesson plans, I took the dog for a walk, doing about 3/4 of a mile. Feeling pretty good, not a beat as the rowing machine or swimming made me. I'll be tackling one or both of those later in the week.

We made our second venture to the Y today. I wanted to try and go about 3 times a week, but our plans for last week were waylaid by me getting sick. When we went today, instead of doing the treadmill-and-weights type of workout, we went swimming. They have open lap swimming from 7:30 to 9 every evening. Wow. This was so much harder than my previous workout. I could only do about 4 full laps, free style. My upper body was not prepared. I did a few more laps just kicking, floating on my back, because my legs were not tired yet. This took about 40 minutes. For the remaining 20 minutes, Meg and I did walking laps. I don't think I could handle swimming as my main exercise 3 times a week until I'm in better shape. It will probably be a good indicator of how my other cardio training is going. I wonder if I'll be able add a lap each week? I have no idea if that is an unrealistic goal or not, but I'll try it for a few weeks. I think we're going back for more on Friday, and then again on the weekend.

Saturday Meg and I opened a membership at the YMCA. Today was the first time we went to workout. We did some treadmill, then some weights and then some more tread mill. About an hour total. I feel good, but I'm afraid I'm going to be a little sore tomorrow. Meg is going out tomorrow night, so I plan on going to swim a few laps. After the $200 fitness reimbursement from work, the membership cost isn't too bad either.