Conditioning – 3 Month Check-in

It’s been about a month since my last conditioning post. It’s time to take a 90-day assessment of where I was since my original post on this topic.

The month of May was a good one for conditioning. Near the end of the month I felt like I was getting back to my “old self”, ironic since I’m really my “older self”. Running felt better, and I was able to do my longest bike ride ever of 55 miles. The data showed that my running distance was about the same as March. The difference was I had added over 160 miles of biking.

Going back to the original goals

I think it’s important for all of us to go back and periodically read through our goals, life goals as well as fitness goals. With both, I find myself doubting my progress and my abilities all the time. 🙂 Reading through the conditioning goals helps me figure out what my mindset was when I original wrote them down and get a realistic sense of whether they are achievable or not.

My original fitness goals were to be able to do the following in the next 5 to 10 years.

• Hike the Colorado Trail
• Run at least one more half-marathon and beat my last time
• Run a marathon and be competitive with my time
• Complete a Half Ironman
• Hike 10 or more additional 14ers

After 90 days, I feel like my conditioning regimen is keeping me on track to enable these big goals if I want to do them. Certainly in April, I didn’t feel that way. The first 60 days were tough mentally and physically. The last 30 turned the corner as my body began to adapt to the running and biking. History suggests things should hit a steady state for a while with a potential tapering off issue this fall. It is, after all, a multi-year plan so 90 days isn’t really that great of a measure.

The initial lesson for those of us in our 50’s, I believe, is to give yourself time to adapt to the change in routine. At this age, it seems like it’s at least a two month window. So stick with it, even if the first few months feel like there is no progress. It might take 4 or 6 months, but the consistency will eventually pay off. This is especially true if you hadn’t been engaged in any regimen. Yes, it’s tough to keep focused physically and mentally. Track your progress and give your body time to adapt.

Workout Summary Data

I used the Apple Activity app to pull the actual data for 2020 workouts. It was helpful to look at the raw data to see what has been changing. I strongly recommend we all look at the numbers. The perceptions are usually far from reality.

Month	Activity	Number Times	Total Distance	Avg Pace or MPH
January	Running	8	48.63	9' 08"
January	Biking	0
February	Running	7	41.10	9' 38"
February	Biking	0
March	Running	16	78.07	8' 53"
March	Biking	1	37.57	13.5
April	Running	7	41.54	8' 46"
April	Biking	2	58.64	13.8
May	Running	11	73.36	8' 45"
May	Biking	5	198.35	13.5

May running had about the same distance as March. The difference was a big jump in biking miles. The May data doesn’t include a backpacking trip 5/5 – 5/7. Overall, it looks pretty good.

Strength Training – Missing the gym

COVID-19 shut down all the gym options. Soon they will be reopening in my area although I’m not overly enthusiastic about going back right away. I do miss the strength training. True to form, I’ve been really bad about doing core and strength training outside the gym.

In June, I’m going to focus (well, try to focus) on more consistent core workouts of 2-3 times per week (starting next week). Lots of procrastination in that last sentence. The core workouts are short and simple consisting of sit ups, planks, push ups, and bicep curls. You’d think putting in that 20-25 minutes for core work wouldn’t be that hard…we’ll see how June goes.

Running assessment

May felt like a good month for running. The actual data showed it wasn’t much different than March. My body didn’t complain nearly as much on longer runs. Spending the time getting out and mixing up running with biking was a good improvement. The running totals may be the same as March but I’m able to extend runs consistently to about 8 miles. A big difference is I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out from lack of oxygen all the time. Not that those feelings don’t still happen. 🙂

Despite the improvement, it still felt like my pace was never going to hit my best half-marathon time. So, feeding my inner math geek, I decided to look at the data to see if this intuitive feeling was really true. My best half-marathon time of 1:44:03 (7:56/mile) was in 2017 at the Colorado Marathon, well off the division winner’s pace of 1:30:30 by my friend Don Sims. In 2016, my pace in the Rock N Roll was 8:46/mile. This morning, my 8 mile pace was 8:36/mile after doing 54 miles on the bike yesterday. So my times are slow (as usual) but nothing like my distorted mental view. Reviewing the data made me feel better about my paces. Sort fact from fiction with the data and turn off that little voice in the back of your head!

Biking – a great addition

The most fun I had in May was adding bike rides to my workouts. Late last year I upgraded my bike to a Cannondale Topstone. It’s made a big difference in tackling longer rides. On my old Giant mountain bike, I was lucky to get 40 miles in before my legs, neck, back and butt completely broke down. Completing a 50-miler had been a long term goal but out of reach.

This year I’ve already completed two rides over that distance. It makes me feel like a century ride is possible. My friend Chuck gave me some good advice on how to approach training for a century ride, and another friend, James, has challenged me to do a century ride this year (thanks guys!). We’ll see about whether it happens this year, there’s a lot to do in 2020! The lesson it took me decades to learn is that the better bike is worth the investment. My friend Dan Dwyer was right.

Diversifying my cardio by adding biking has had a big impact on my overall mindset. Blending both running and biking keeps either from getting monotonous. I believe the key to fitness at this age is variety. Biking has definitely helped.

Lessons learned?

The first big lesson I learned is to use the apps and data to push back on that mental picture we get in our head. It’s easy to get frustrated and want to give up, at least for me. After looking at the real numbers, it feels like the October Rock N Roll is possible if they have it. I’m not sure I have it in me to join Ellen in the Devil on the Divide race this year though, that’s a really tough one.

The other key take away is keeping variety in the workouts. If you’re like me and not working, use that time to engage in a variety of activities that you enjoy. It’ll hold off that burnout and provide a more enjoyable fitness regimen. Now that COVID-19 travel restrictions are gone in Colorado, it’s time to add more backpacking, day hikes and 14ers.

Next time we’ll see where conditioning is near the end of summer in September.

Quote for Life and Fitness

Some days I’m headed in the right direction, And some days I ain’t even close –Dierks Bentley, Burning Man

Longest bike ride to date

Most recent 8 miler