Aug 18 to 23

 

This was about it for us this August.

This week was a semi-planned out vacation few days that was nice until people ruined it. We booked a few days away in the RV - I wanted to hang out out by the beach and just be chill. Hardly any people about on the Monday and Tuesday, but that got so bad on Wednesday we left half way through Thursday.

Love the place, not the people. Lesson learned and I expanded my knowledge of RV life. 

The four days we were away, not much happened - even the morning sessions were slept through and sometimes ignored. Some walks, some stretching, not very much of either.

Frankly, just yeah. 

I got back into it on Friday - morning session completed by 8 am - ish and a pool swim done to finish off my rings by 6pm. Lots of activity for the day, lots of work on the keyboard, just lots done. 

I have noticed a distinct difference swimming in a 25m pool to a 50m pool. I seem slower in a 50 m pool - like I know I'm moving, but it is like I am not moving. Sigh. I get the work done, the pretty comes later. 

In the Saturday evening pool session, got to Zone Two and Three for about 10 minutes - which is cool. Again, had to spend the first few laps getting all the private pool kids noodles and toys out of the lanes. Whatever, at least they let me swim in peace ofter they left.

Morning session these mornings were added to:

8- 10 minutes shoulders and hips - 90/90 stretches, push ups, downward dogs to frog pose, baby pose, etc, etc

8-10 minutes abs - dead bugs, doggie stretches, hip extensions, swimming legs, BJJ pummelling, etc etc

5-8 minutes - KB swings - one handed and two handed, standing hip opening stuff from physio and NFL kicker dude previously posted on this blog, banded arm curls, banded overhead presses. Forearm work.

Aug 12 to 17

 

Yeah, this week is about walking that tightrope between risk and reward. I finished my rings five times- which is great progress. The risk is injury and I'm just flirting with that at the moment. 

Hips, of course and shoulders. I got out on a walk this morning and did some sprints on a nicely damp grassy soccer field with bare feet and got my HR to hit 145 bpm for about 3 minutes. That's a nice comeback to reality for me. In the three minutes after the workout, my HR recovery was 27 BPM, which "isn't bad", at least according to ChatGPT. 

Not quite what I'm shooting for, but at least that is something nicer than "Get off the couch, you sausage". 

Morning sessions were done all days this week - Usually about 25-30 minutes of the usual:

10 or so minutes of Downward dog, push ups, WGS, baby pose, 90/90 stretches and the like. 

10 or so minutes of ab work - dead bugs, swimmers kicks, knee crossings, clam shells and that sort of thing. Started using the poles to do leg swings and shoulder stretches too.

5-10 minutes of shoulder and arms - curls, overhead presses. Standing delt raises, hammer curls and that sort of thing. 

All in all, not bad. On the swim on Sunday afternoon, felt the rotator cuff being cranky and popping in and out, which was both creepy and interesting. I ended the workout shortly after that. No reason to fall off the rope and end up as street pizza, thanks. I'd rather just take the "w" and get on with life. 

The nice thing about the walks is I get a chance to think about life after vacation and have a generally good idea about what an average day in November is going to look like. That is one of the very few benefits of a job like mine - I can predict with reliability what the next sixteen Tuesdays will be like in terms of where I will be and when. Makes planning fitness a lot easier. 

Aug 3 to Aug 11

 

So ... I guess we are doing these whenever I can recall to get them done now. To be fair, the days of the week kind of blend into one another this time of year, so this could be a Sunday evening and I wouldn't really have noticed. 

Investment tip: put your money in Advil. The demand is going up around here. Lots of three a day workouts - early morning stretching, mid-morning walks and a cardio workout in the evenings are helping me finish my rings quite nicely. I will hasten to add how much my rotator cuff and hip don't like having that amount of stress. Of course, this I was expecting.

I did get the long PVC pipe into the garage gym and have been exploring stretching with it - here is the resource if you are interested in following along. I'm also parking this here so that I can movie it from my office to my garage gym. 

So average day in the time of the year is like this:

Up early, stretching in garage gym, Coffee. Sometimes adventure/go for a drive

While on the drive, find a park get to the local Provincial Park or somewhere that has been watered and get out for a kilometre or longer walk. Why watered? I've been known to do these walks without footwear. Grass is awesome. 

Dry off, get home, shower. Humidity is real, my dawg.

Get some of the side hustle work done. 

Nap

Lunch - sometimes picnic in the same Provincial Park, sometimes I picnic in the nearest Kelsey's.

Nap

Executive time - setting goals, journalling, prep for stuff, StarCraft. 

Evening workout - sometimes a swim, sometimes a HIIT session, all depends what's up. 

Blue Jays game - they are on a bit of a tear this summer, so this is usually quite fun. 

Sleep by 11:00pm, because I am now old. 

I've done that routine for most of this week and it has been helpful and actually restful for me. Helping recharge batteries is what August is all about. I really am getting my mojo back these days. 

July 27 to Aug 2

 

Something I want to set up for myself next

Another "not a bad week" this week - just trying to keep things moving forward. I finished a side hustle this week and the first day after, went out to get some yardio done and heard and loud "click click" sound from my left knee. And then an explosion of pain. Not nearly as bad as another incident in the fall, but it was not a fun feeling. I got the gardening done, but then have had Advil to settle things down since. 

I did try to stretch out the legs the next few days, got back to a swim without pain a few days later. I did get a swim pass from the city and have a few ideas about how to get the swimming done along with BJJ training in the coming year. 

I did get a few HIIT sessions done this week, as well as a hike or two - trying to just keep this seemingly fragile body moving while not cracking anything else. 

HIIT session this week was sort of lame, thanks to the knee "injury", but what ever, man. Got this done for a few rounds until I got to 25 minutes this week.

5 min warm up on Air bike

2 min KB swings, cleans, clean and presses, just keep the bel moving

3 min air bike

Other thank that, was grateful that I could put weight on the knee and that walking, stairs and the like weren't affected too badly. Just sore. 

Scary clicking sound though. Should have recorded it for a home made horror movie.

July 20 to 26

 

A nice week overall. Some new experiences for me with the swimming to post about first.

Went to a public swim with people who obviously train. It was an outdoor pool, which was cool. It was a public pool run by the city, which made it flat and slope-y and all kinds of kids around, which was nice compared to my usual private club's pool. And the three levels of swimming - I went in for the slow, slow lane and was not overwhelmed. 

I even had kids try to walk through the lane I was in and the guard yelled at them for me, which is also a nice switch from the private pool I usually swim in. 

Anyway, swimming workouts got a little longer this week, the last workout was 30 minutes of constant movement and trying not to drown. Same workout as years ago, just with me trying to get back to it:

100 m breast stroke

250 m arms only freestyle

50 m breaststroke

350 m freestyle

125 m breast stroke

Not a bad workout- the second set of free got my heart rate up into Zone 2 for about five minutes, which is good. I'm happy that I can get and keep myself at that pace. Do the work first, the pretty comes later.

Earlier on in the week, I did an outdoor sprint session, just to see what would happen. Did a short 15 minute walk and like a set of 6 sprints of about 20 m, Nothing, really. Just wanted to see what would happen. Got my HR up to about 135, which is ok. Nothing special. Total time was 15 minutes.

Even earlier in the week I got out on a 5k bike ride around my neighbourhood. That was pretty cool. Nice and mellow, just to see about legs and rear end afterwards. My rear end was sore, but my legs were asking for more. 

Morning sessions continued every day. Mostly bright and early before coffee. Tried the BJJ long bands around my hips, but I don't have it quite right yet. Will keep trying. 

May 18 to July 19

Saw this stuff this morning, going to have to try it

 Whoa. I must apologize to my loyal reader(s) for the break in updates to this blog. It is going to be the recurring issue of freak out busy. Of course there is also a lot of "Oh yeah, I forgot" as well.

There is a lot of news to share. I did get out in the RV twice more since I last updated this blog. Each time the training conditions were a challenge but I overcame them and had good yoga, swim, bike and hike sessions during this time. Up until recently, my hip precluded kayak sessions, so none of those yet. 

I got tired of paying for a swim pass and not using, so I went back to using it. I got tired of having a garage gym and not using it, so I'm back using it. I got tired of having a park pass and not using, so I went back to using it. 

When I invest money in something I want to make sure I am using it. Not surprisingly, the more active I've become in this time the less chromic pain I've been feeling from various spots.

Almost as if "movement is medicine" is a thing.... 

Anyway ... starting back to closing my circles on my Apple Watch/iPhone, getting back to mobility in the morning and various fun workouts in the evenings. 

Did this HIIT the other day:

Not a bad workout, especially since I've been trying to not injure myself and just get back to limitless cardio. 

The hip, legs, shoulders, back ...neck...ears ...eyes... stopping hurting is just an added bonus. 

This workout was as many rounds needed until I got to 30+ minutes of:

Airbike 3 minutes

12 kilo Kettlebell movement - 2 minutes

Nothing to fancy: swings, snatches, cleans and presses. 

I had the new Superman movie playing while I got this done, and so I had some "inspiration" or something along those lines. All good, all good.

The morning sessions have been done everyday, just not always at the same time. Here is the morning session these days:

10 minutes hip opening 90/90s, baby pose, frog pose, downward dog to one legged downward dog to world's greatest stretch. Push ups.

10 minutes abs - bjj pummelling, hip raises, clamshells, dead bugs, push ups and swimming kicks. 

Because of the swimming, I've been avoiding shoulder and arms in the mornings, as that tends to be a bit much when I'm just getting back into swimming. I'll get back to that morning banded shoulder stuff everyday a little bit later in the summer. 

April 28 to May 17

 

This is me stretching in the RV

Sorry to my loyal readers - life has gotten in the way. Since the last entry on this blog ... hmmm let me check my notes ... 

Gotten out for a bike ride and got to the park to do walks a few times. Got to the beach this morning, but it is still too chilly for me, thanks. That, and quite frankly my hip is getting in the way of everything. 

Most everything.

Morning sessions are coming off on the daily - roughly a half hour of mobility and strength in my house. I did lose my gym for about a week and had to improvise a stretching spot. I also got an away weekend in Harvey the RV and also had to think my way through a mobility session inside the RV. That also required me to be a sort of contortionist. 

In any case, I am on a holiday weekend and things are going as well as they can when I am otherwise busy being a dad. I have made a few trips out to the RV to solve problems and clean up from the last trip. 

See previous post for the morning sessions.