Cross Training Season!!!

@Dirt 9618 wrote:

In my view an indoor trainer is the work of Satan. I can imagine nothing less fun than riding a bike indoors.

I used to agree with this. Recently, a friend of mine said he passed the time on a trainer watching subtitled, foreign films. (Subtitles because he did not have to worry about hearing the dialog.) Sitting at home, watching something subtitled, I find it hard to do anything else. I gave it a try a few weeks ago and it wasn’t too bad. I’d rather ride outside, but it beats sitting still.

I was using a trainer when recovering from my broken arm in August and I might break it out again, but I doubt it. Excruciatingly boring. I think I’d rather ride around the block ten times on studded tires.

I had a Concept II rower for a while when I lived in Australia. Great workouts, but I got bored after a while – similar to being on a trainer. I’ll probably try to go to the local pool (I also had a pool growing up), although the actual amount of swimming is greatly reduced when you go with 2 young kids. I have a couple of hand weights and a chin-up bar at home, and that’s about it for winter. The only other possibly exercise-worthy thing is my electronic drum kit, which I love having around through the winter.

@Dirt 9618 wrote:

Growing facial hair: Okay, this doesn’t really have any workout value, but it is certainly something I seem to enjoy occupying my winter months doing. My buddy Aaron already has a 2 week head start on me. Not sure that I’ll be able to catch up. It is important to have goals.

Haha. I’m normally clean shaven but have taken on an experiment of indeterminate duration in the last month or so.

We got a recumbent exercise bike a while back. I find it nice for staying loose on weekends when I don’t feel like going out in the cold or wet for a ride. The commuter rides take a lot out of me when it’s cold, so I don’t relish going out on the weekends on the bike so much if it’s nasty in winter. I do like jogging in bad weather, but I’m only good for a half-hour or less — that’s not long enough for the weather to really sink in. It feels kind of naughty fun to jog on bad weather days. Long rides, not so much.

I’ll probably cut back on my riding until mid-December. In the meantime, I’m committing myself to a 21-day swim program. I normally train for triathlons throughout the year, but I ease up in the late fall/early winter. I’ve long been aware that swimming is my weakest discipline. So I’m going to do something about it this year. I will swim for 21 days straight. I’ll keep the workouts relatively short, in the range of 30-60 minutes. I will focus on drill work and technique. I don’t have to focus on aerobic endurance or top-end speed that much until later in the winter. I’ll get endurance benefits from the swim workouts, whether I try to focus on endurance or not.

While I’m concentrating on swimming, I’ll limit my running to 2 or 3 times a week, with no real long runs. I’ll keep the runs in the 35-70 min. range until mid-December.

For cycling, I’ll ride the mountain bike when I feel like it. No set schedule or program for now. I’ll also take out CaBi bikes for a spin. I also use CaBi to run some errands.

I have to step up my strength workouts. I haven’t done much strength training since last winter. That’s partly because I tweaked my shoulder (deltoid tendon, actually) last year. It’s not a serious injury but it can be annoying. It felt pretty good over the summer. But a few weeks ago, it started to become tight again. (I should disclose that I first injured the shoulder while doing staggered push-ups. Those are push-ups done with one hand placed about 12 inches ahead of the other. The unbalanced position puts more of the stress on one arm. After doing the set(s) for one arm, you switch to the other arm. The problem is that staggered push-ups are tougher than standard push-ups, so you have to work your way up to them. When I jumped back into strength training last fall/winter, I went right into the staggered push-ups. Not a good idea.)

After my 21-day swim program, I’ll switch back to a more balanced routine of swim/bike/run/strength. I still won’t ramp up the training that much, until January. If we get a lot of snow this winter, then maybe I’ll try some cross-country skiing. That’s an excellent aerobic activity. Maybe a few ice skating sessions too, just for a change of pace. It’s easier to cross-country ski and skate than to ride in slushy conditions.

If CaBi has another Winter Weather Warrior contest, I might sign up again. I probably won’t win but I can go for a “perfect attendance” award. I rode CaBi every day back in January and almost every day in February, but I missed a few days toward the end. I was also in the top 20 in the overall standings. For those who aren’t familiar with the contest, people compete by racking up bike trips of at least 5 minutes each. The speed doesn’t matter. Neither does the distance, but you can’t start and stop at the same station. If they allowed that, people could merely undock the bike, sit inside for 5 minutes, and then redock the bike without doing any riding.