The morning commute

Note to self:

An appropriate amount of clothing for morning commute at 40 degrees F:

2 short-sleeved t-shirts

1 long-sleeved t-shirt

1 light wind-breaker jacket

Long-john underwear

Cut-off Dickie's

Low-top Chuck Taylor tennis shoes

Stocking cap under the helmet

Biking gloves covered by brown cotton gloves

I was pretty comfortable and got a little warm toward the end of the ride. I think I prefer the headband-type ear warmer under my helmet over the stocking cap, too, since my head got very warm at times. But it was sure nice having the wind-breaker on those streets where the wind whipped through like a tunnel!

Not to mention when you are riding a fixed-gear bike you can actually hear birds singing in the morning.

2 Weeks of Working Out

After 2 weeks, I've missed about 2 workouts. Contrary to what everyone tells me, it is not becoming more fun, nor is it becoming more enjoyable. Still, I press on in hope that at some point I will stop feeling crappy and start enjoying this.

One difficult thing is that I have sustained a shoulder injury while doing some construction work. There is a pain deep inside my shoulder, and it doesn't hurt all the time. I layed off a little bit this week, and it was feeling pretty good so I worked it out again on Friday. Bad idea, as the pain returned.

Next week I'm going to continue to work out, but I'll be eliminating any exercises that would put strain on my right shoulder. I'll probably ride my stationary bike (yep, I have one of those collecting dust, too) and give this a few weeks before I hit it again. I would like to avoid any surgeries if possible.

Workout report - week 1

Well, I made it through my first week. I'm glad to have been able to stick with it for a week, which is longer than I normally continue working out. I started using a pretty simple plan that I found on this site.

The essence of the plan is that, if you stick to what you're doing and cut out the extra nonsense that often goes along with working out in a gym, you can get a decent full-body workout in 20 minutes. I'm starting out on the plan for beginners, so it's not that difficult to maintain. I'm doing 8 exercises, 1 set of 12 reps each. Each exercise focuses on a large muscle group, and the point of the beginning workout is to concentrate on form and build some conditioning into your schedule.

I'm also not going to a gym, but rather using an Impex Competitor home gym that I picked up in brand-new condition at a garage sale for $80. I'd say that one could find these just about anywhere for about the same amount of money. After all, it's sat in my basement for two years collecting boxes and clothes and I'm just now getting around to using it - so you know that's the most common fate for home gyms and other workout equipment. I like the home gym in that it's easy to use and I don't have to leave my house to work out. Once I add 15 minutes of drive time on either end of my workout, it's no longer a 20-minute workout but rather an hour.

I'm not sure I feel any different today than I did last week, other than satisfied that I've held the schedule and done what I decided to do. Now to continue to next week!

Day 2 working out

I have now successfully gotten my tired, achy backside out of bed early to workout twice this week. While overwhelmed with a deep sense of satisfaction that I've actually kept to my word for a change and am doing as I said I would be doing, I must admit that this is not fun yet. I am tired and working out always seems a little boring to me. But for the better good I plan to continue and see how this goes.

One thing I'm a little nervous about is that I have a bit of a shoulder injury that may require attention. There's a deep pain inside my right shoulder that has been nagging me for about a month now. I'm not pushing through major pain, and if it hurts I'm backing off. I'm afraid I may have a cartilage problem in there, and shoulder surgery does not sound like fun - perhaps even less fun than working out!

I'll keep moving forward.

All set

Well my workout room/office is not 100% straightened out, but it is good enough to begin working out. I'll be starting tomorrow.

That's all I can stands, I can't stands no more

I'm 40 years old.

I have 5 children, ranging in age from 23 to 2.

I have 2 grandchildren and one on the way.

My body hurts constantly. It takes me 30 minutes and two cups of coffee before I can even move in the morning without feeling achy.

I need to get in shape. I can't put this off any longer, my desperate hour has arrived. Over the long weekend I'll be cleaning out my exercise room, removing the clothes hangers that have grown over my home gym and stationary bike, and starting the process of getting my body back to good health. I'm fortunate in that I don't have extra weight to get rid of, but being thin and being in good health are two totally different things. I want first to *feel good* and lastly to look a little better. The difficulty is that there are no easy metrics to measure progress. How I feel is somewhat subjective, so I'll keep a running tally here with reports. The things I would like to see are:

1) Decrease aches and pains
2) Increase stamina
3) Physical strength (which will be easy to measure with weight-training)
4) Flexibility

I'll be combining weight training, bicycling (either stationary or fixed-gear), and yoga. I have no plan currently, but will come up with one by this weekend's end.

I wonder if eating me spinichk will make me strong to the finishk...