A Struggling Week

Whew! These two weeks have been a struggle.
I have had a "cold" (I guess that is what one would call it) with severe sinus drip. While I went to the gym every morning the first week, I thought seriously about not going a couple mornings. While I hardly know anyone there, I am quite certain no one at the gym wanted to see a runny nose before 7 a.m., especially if the nasal drip reached the equipment.
The first week I focused less on weight-lifting and more on the aerobic exercises. I am determined to participate in the Toad Suck 5K this year, which will be May 5 in Conway, Arkansas. To do so, I must practice increasing my walking speed (I think running is totally uncalled for!) and losing a few more pounds. Aerobic exercise will accomplish both, so I am told.
With that goal in mind, I walked "intervals" on the treadmill for about 30 minutes. By "intervals" I mean that I walked slow (about 2½ mph) for three minutes, then faster (about 4¼ mph) for two minutes and repeated the "interval" 5 or 6 times before I switched to the bicycle.
I keep the bicycle training going because I like it and I may want to participate in some future bicycle event. Who knows it might be fun to ride 160 miles (the equivalent to the distance to Fort Smith, Arkansas, which is where the Arkansas United Methodist Annual Conference is this year) while raising money for African United Methodist pastors who use bicycles as their primary mode of transportation. What if we worked together to buy 7 bicycles for those pastors?
The second week (since I last posted) I did not go to the gym at all because my "cold" became worse. I was nauseous and achy all week. I did what I had to do to satisfy my obligations, then slept the rest of the time. The upside to that is: today I feel great. I will start exercising again this afternoon!

Walking through winter?

This month has started beautifully! Cool mornings and warm afternoons are my idea of spring. Yet it is still winter - even the groundhog declares that we shall have six more weeks of winter. I wonder why we put so much celebration around an animal that predicts what will be whether the animal sees its shadow or not. Think about it; spring solstice will occur six weeks after February 2 regardless of what the groundhog sees early in the morning. And, I will keep walking.
I may not walk every morning like I did again this week, but I will keep walking because it keeps me healthier and seems to give me more energy than if I do not walk. While it is still dark early in the morning, I go to the gym to walk and do other exercise. Usually I go with my daughter-in-law because we both realize that aerobic exercise (like walking) will help us lose weight faster. My wife has been good to wake us at 5 each morning, otherwise I doubt that I would be motivated enough to get around early enough to get my walking completed every day. This week I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the stationary recumbent bicycle. Then, I add some weight lifting to help build a few muscles. On Thursday and Friday I started doing "intervals" on the treadmill. That means that I walk "normal" (about 2.2 mph) for about three minutes and then faster for a couple of minutes. I alternate that routine for 20 minutes. The plan is to increase the duration to 40 minutes daily and increase the faster time to four or six minutes with only a minute of the "normal" speed. This is a plan I used several years ago to get ready for the Toad Suck 5K. It worked well then, so it should work well now. We will put it into better practice next week. Please keep encouraging me and pray that I stay healthy.
What about you - would you be interested in walking the Toad Suck 5K in Conway this year? We could be a team, or something!

At the gym

So far, this week I have gone to the gym every morning. AND, I exercised while I was there  ;-).
I have walked on a treadmill alternating the speed so that I could increase my heart rate enough to call it an aerobic exercise. I usually will go for 10-15 minutes to get warmed up.
Then, this week, I have gotten on an elliptical machine for as long as I could stand it, which was about 6 minutes. That thing makes my legs hurt and my lungs wheeze! My heart rate will always go over 135 during that 6 minutes.
Next, I ride the stationary bicycle - my favorite. I will ride that for about 25 minutes. It, too, strains my legs some. Not in a injurious way, but in a muscle exercised kind of pain. It is good. It is getting me ready for when I take my bicycle on the River Trail. I would like to be able to go 15 miles in an hour along the Arkansas River.
While at the gym I also get in some resistance training (aka weight lifting). I usually will work on biceps, triceps and chest because the other machines have worked my legs so much. Forty-five minutes after starting, I am tired enough to call it quits. It is fun though.
Tuesday I overheard one guy telling another, "I have worked off enough calories that I can have a big cheeseburger for lunch today." Now, he said that like he knew exactly how many calories he had burned that morning. Interesting how we can keep up with that number and not keep up with the fact that a "big cheeseburger" will have more calories than one can use in a day's time (unless one is walking/running everywhere - all the time). I just thought it a bit odd.
I am feeling better about getting up early (5:01 a.m.) and getting exercise every day. What about you? What have you done to get moving this week?