To get some cycling time I have been commuting to work on my mountain bike. I chose the mountain bike because I don’t have to clip into my pedals. When driving in traffic, I just feel that I need to have my shoes free of the pedals in case of an emergency. I also have bags that attach to my rack becauseI need to carry my laptop and a change of clothes.
It is still dark when I leave the house, however, I get to see the sun rise just about the time I am traveling on a road that goes along the beach. It makes for a pleasant ride. There aren’t many cars on the road when I leave the house. I also try to select a route that takes me off the main arteries. I don’t take direct routes not only for safety, but also so I can log training miles.
The afternoon ride is very different from the morning commute. There are a lot more cars and folks drive with reckless abandon. I really have to be focused. I also have to climb up the backside of Diamond Head so I get some hill training done. Unlike my light road bike, the mountain bike with all my gear is a lot tougher to pedal up hill.
Another benefit to riding my bike is that I can listen to my audio books. Jeff turned me on to author Lee Child. I am currently listening to “Bad Luck and Trouble”.
Cleaning up at work after the morning commute is a bit tricky. I am able to freshen up in the restroom. I have soap at work so I basically wash my face, head and neck. I also have wet wipes to clean up. If, for some reason, I get sloppy sweaty I can head over to the gym a block away and take a shower. However, cleaning up in the restroom seems to do the trick. After freshening up I change clothes.
With our tropical weather, it gets quite hot after 10am so I sweat like you read about on the ride home, especially after climbing the road up Diamond Head crater. Its cool, though, because I can shower up when I get home.
Here are a couple of photos that I took this afternoon on my commute home.
Memorial Day has always been a very special day for me. As a former member of the military, I have many memories. A lot of them were good memories, but there were some that weren’t as happy. I lost some friends during my time in the service. Many times there is so much going on when one loses a buddy that there isn’t time to grieve the loss. The situation often dictates that we recover our fallen comrades and complete our mission. This is the time of year I reflect and say my good-byes with the respect that those who have given the ultimate gift to their country so deserves. Every Memorial Day, my wife makes it a special time for me. This Memorial Day weekend my wife sewed some leis and we took them to Punchbowl National Cemetery. Punchbowl is the Arlington of the Pacific. Every year the Boy Scouts put American Flags and leis on each of the grave markers. Leis are made and donated by those who care and appreciate the sacrifices of the men and women of our armed forces. Not all those buried in our national cemeteries lost their lives during their time in the service, but their service is remembered nonetheless. Ok, so if you are still reading, thanks for letting me share my thoughts.
I haven’t posted for a week. I usually post more often. However, I have been getting bored with posting my workouts. I mean, who the heck cares if I did Plyo X today or if I did a Tabata workout. Like so many others, I started this blog to keep track of my P90X workouts. After my first round of P90X, however, it became a place to log workouts, regardless of what sort of workouts I was doing. I have posted triathlon training, marathon training, i30x5, Tabata, Insanity and other acts of physical foolishness.
I know I have discussed this before, but I have decided to post infrequently because, quite frankly, it almost seems pointless to log the workouts. Before P90X, I worked out and never logged my training. I used to see folks logging workouts in the gym and never found the urge to do the same. I am not saying it is a good or bad idea. I am just saying that it wasn’t something I was interested in doing. Then years later I find myself blogging my training. Well, now I remember why I wasn’t interested in doing it in the first place. It bores me to tears!!! Anyway, I have decided to throttle back quite a bit. I will probably post at least once a week, maybe twice. I will, however, make my rounds to the other blogs that I frequently read because they are an inspiration for me. At 53 I could use all the motivation I can get!
Yesterday I did a few rounds of Tabata training at the gym and a P90X chest, shoulders and triceps. Today was Plyo X and a kettlebell workout.
Ok, so as planned, I went to the gym to not only workout, but to see if the angry woman would be there. If you don’t know about what makes this woman angry you may want to read about the incident I had with her at the gym last week… click here and here. Like clockwork she entered the fitness room an hour and a half before her scheduled fitness class. She went straight for me with her claws out and proceeded to rip me a new one. She must have spent 3 minutes chewing me out. It was an animated tirade too with the old neck and head motion accompanied with the finger to the face. Again, I gave her the passive-aggressive dumb look. You know, the look of someone who doesn’t speak English. Toward the last part of her one-sided “discussion” I cocked my head slightly to the right and grinned a bit. She really went through the roof through and ended her dialogue with the words, “you dumb ass”. I loved it, I didn’t say word. A couple of the guys who were there the last time she went off was there as well. They were doing everything they could do to keep from busting out in laughter. At that point she started taking the equipment out of the storage room and set the stuff up right next to me again. I guess she was going to show me who was the boss. So as she set the equipment down I picked it up and return it to storage so I could get a rise out of her. Man, she went absolutely ballistic. Her friends had their hands on their hips and telling her to get the manager. After a few choice words she said, “I am going to get the f#@%ing manager and get you kicked out of here”. Holy cow, since I spoke with the manager last week I was going to use that strategy. Now, I thought, she is actually going to do it for me. So off she goes. When she returns, she is having a heated argument with the manager. I heard him tell her to pick up the equipment and put it back in the storage room and that the fitness room is for the use of all the members and that she can’t set her stuff up an hour and a half before a class. She kept yelling at him. He finally told her that if she didn’t put the stuff away he would suspend her membership. At that point all the guys in the room began to applaud. She and her friends complained while putting their stuff back. She gave me a stare that could kill. As she left I said, “have a nice day” to which I received two middle fingers. It was a great. I only said 4 words throughout the whole ordeal.
As far as my workouts go there isn’t much to report. Yesterday I did my scheduled plyometrics workout and today I did the prescribed P90X back and biceps workout. Both workouts were done just as per the program outline. However, instead of ARX I substituted a few rounds of plyo tabata and abs/core tabata.
Ok, so I ran into one to the guys that was in the gym when I had that run-in with the woman who put her workout gear in my way. He told me that she belongs to a group of women that work in the office building where the gym is located. The gym is in a huge sub-level floor of a high rise. He said that they come down during a break and set up their stuff an hour and a half prior to the fitness class then go back to their offices. They return during their lunch break for the class. He told me that he was still in the gym when the woman came back and she was furious that I had chucked all her stuff in the storage room. She actually lost the space she was trying to reserve. He said he enjoyed listening to her gripe to her friends and said that she was going to read me the riot act if she ever sees me at the gym. Anyway, I discussed the situation with the manager of the gym and she said that if they pull that nonsense again, just let her know.
I can’t wait until the next Monday fitness class!
I had the opportunity to get a 20 mile bike ride done today. The weather was absolutely beautiful so it was great day to be out on a ride. During the ride I went around Diamond Head Crater twice so I got some good hill training. I tried to stay planted in the saddle and glued to the aerobars. After doing the hills around Diamond Head, I did some sprints intervals down Kahala Avenue. I used this workout to substitute for the P90x Cardio X workout. Quite frankly, Cardio X is a weak workout and I don’t really like doing it.
Late this evening, I did few rounds of Tabata. As usual, I used my kettlebells as well as my Tower 200 and good old fashion bodyweight exercises. A couple of rounds were dedicated to core training.
Btw, I am excited about the Survivor finale tomorrow (Sunday). I know, I know… a lot of folks think Survivor is dumb, but I am hooked so I watch it. I sure would like to see Russell get voted out. I want know why everyone is scared of him. It will be interesting to hear the jury if he makes it to the final three.
I haven’t posted for a couple days. I have been forced into recovery due to an accident. I don’t want to bore you folks with a lot of details so I will keep it short. I had a major fall where I went airborne and my truck broke my fall. I landed on my back in such a way that it bend me over backwards and snapped my head back. So, needless to say, my back was killing me and my trapezius is a bit sore. My back is feeling better so I hope to get back to my routine soon.
Anyway, I am not looking for sympathy so no need to feel sorry for me. The accident was due to my own stupidity. I simply slipped on something that triggered a chain of unfortunate events.
Ok, so I just wanted to make a post to “touch base” with everyone. Thanks for stopping by.
Aloha everyone…
This is supposed to be my P90X recovery week. Well, actually, last week was supposed to be recovery week, but I moved it up a week. Anyhow, I will lay off the strength training this week, but I will continue with cardio, HIIT via Tabata training, and core workouts. That is basically how it is done with P90X. I will modify the P90X recovery week with my own routines that basically covers the same ground as P90X.
Ok, so today I did a slow 5k run. I see these runs as a sort of rehab for my injured knee. While there was a bit of pain in the knee during the run, I, again, got through it without that sharp pain I sometimes get. Usually the pain subsides a bit by the end of the day, however, this evening my knee is feeling a bit more pain than normal. It will probably be ok by tomorrow morning. I know… I should ice it.
When I got home I did a few rounds of Tabata training. I did the obligatory kettlebell swings and mixed it up with plyo movements. I also dedicated a few rounds of Tabata using core movements. For core I used the Tower 200 for wood choppers and cable pull-downs. I also incorporated movements from the P90X+ Abs Core Plus workout as well as movements from ARX… can you say Mason Twists.
Annie, of “The Amazing Shrinking Girl” asked for where she could get some info about Tabata Training. There is a great site called “Interval Training” which outlines all sorts of HIIT (high intensity interval training) routines and the science of HIIT. They also have a section that covers Tataba Training that you can find if you click here. There is also a woman from Ireland who publishes YouTube videos quite often. She has a site called “MyOMyTV.com” where she journals her workouts. She has been using the Tabata Protocol for most of her exercises. Here is her latest video below…
