Non-Workout Post - 2021 Breakdown

I attempted the Bodyweight workout, but upon attempting the first set of Incline Push-ups, which I did do, it was clear my Shoulder capsules were not going to be cooperating today. In light of waking to bad allergies, sleeping heavily and longer than usual, and still waking up kind of exhausted (I did some light shoveling after the workout, but trying to push for anything past 5 or 6 Load on the Air Dyne necessarily involves Arms), as well as mentally exhausted, which also threw off the diet yesterday and killed my appetite, it is clear that I'm badly in need of an OFF week to recharge, and that the Bodyweight exercises are more primers, I scrapped the entire thing for today to be recovery (so I will be staying hard on the diet) and I will start my OFF week tomorrow and run it through the following Wednesday. It is supposed to snow again more, though, so I probably won't be entirely clear of activity...

I'm not doing another weigh-in, so I started this at 262 in March and the last weigh-in here was 237, which is -25 lbs (my written goal was -30). I can't quite tell if I'm still building muscle (probably, though at a much slower pace), but am pretty sure I'm in a metabolic stall. Winters seem to put me into a sort of S.A.D. state, so as long as it can continue to go downward, I'll take it. The hard plan is to get into the gym in 2022. The current state of COVID-19 suggests I should hold off on that until at least February, so I can miss the resolutionists, but it will also depend on the numbers. If they seem to be moving in the right direction, I'll probably run until through the third week of January and then start at the beginning of February there. If I elect to pursue the biking path I was strongly considering attempting, that will also throw in a pretty significant change, but as of now, I still need to drop at least another 30 pounds to realistically consider that. As adding either pursuit will obviously significantly impact my workout schedule, I'm going to wait until later to come up with a Goal Post, which I'm not sure I've actually done on this blog as of yet. I did manage to find my old numbers, though, for once I do head back in the gym, but I still need to hunt down some of my actual workouts so I can get them up here. 

I started in late March here, struggling to consistently hit 30 minutes and 4 miles. I haven't quite doubled the time, but generally, workouts are regularly running between 40 - 50 minutes and it's been at 10 miles as the minimum for a while now. Air is dramatically improved, as is the Left Achilles I rehabbed throughout this. I have hit 60 minutes and 800+ miles for the year, so the next move is to try to move much harder towards a HIIT-type training for the cadence. Legs are looking way, way better and clothes are fitting better. I still have a gut, because that's just how this body rolls, but I'm finally starting to look more like a bodybuilder in off season than just an old, fat dude. Part of the struggle is me trying really hard not to rely so much on protein shakes as I did before, but I may need to move back to what I was doing before as it seemed to work better (though I also note I was a decade younger then). I might do that on the workout days, but Cardio workouts tend to fry whatever's there, so that might also not be an entirely sensical thing to do. Still pondering...

When I was in the gym rat phase, I tended to go at night. That was not possible prior to this year, but now that it is, I may return to that, at least for the Lifting part. Cardio is actually kind of like in mid morning, as I think it sets a nice tone for the day after, but that will be schedule permitting, I suspect. Anyway, progress has been solid and I have no real reason to complain. It could have been better, sure, but also could have been much worse and I definitely have some notes for next year, namely the two goals I have as of now, which are:

Weight - down another 30
Air Dyne - Sprint at Max

I was considering driving the workouts past 60 minutes, but I strongly feel they can start to get catabolic at extended periods, as it is really hard to load enough calories to get through the workout, yet burn through the carbs at the right pace to encourage and stimulate conversion of body fat for energy, particularly at the higher cadences. I do not really want to lose mass or muscle so much as the excessive body fat. Once I'm able to get into the gym, that will also help that, though I'm nervous about how much has slid away in the intervening years...well, if nothing else, we're back on the right trail once again now...back in 2022.

D139: 12.26.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~41min
Driver: In Flames - Used & Abused
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Without taking those days off, Legs would not have been ready for the attempt. I socked in as much protein as I could manage, within the framework of trying to keep clean still (which will be relaxed somewhat once the OFF week starts), but still considered putting this off until tomorrow, but Legs were definitely good enough to go and I'd already passed one day where they were in position to be worked, so, we went and I went in with wanting to leave everything out there, since this was my last Air Dyne workout of 2021.

Good news first is that I finished at 803 miles for the year. As to the sprints...I did discover that the speed needle only goes halfway between Load 10 and the 0 mark and will go no further. So, it will not spin around. I went with a couple of mini-sprints at Load 3 and Load 5, which were not really challenging and felt pretty smooth. I did another at one of the harder Loads, 8, which was fine with Legs, but Air was more tested than expected. This proved to be my sort of undoing at the max level, which Legs handled fine. At the .2 mark, Air really got slugged and I finished that sprint somewhere between .23 and .25, but I can not conclusively say I hit the full 1/4 mile, so I am not counting it. I took another attempt at it again after getting Air back under control more, but only managed a tenth of a mile that time. 

So, I failed to reach the desired goal of a max sprint for 1/4 of a mile and that will be added to the list for 2022. I may not have missed by much, but still do not feel I can count it. I do have a much better idea of what it takes, though, and I'm not overly disappointed, given the point where I started in March, and particularly given the calamitous events that happened after my 50th birthday in June. Had I not lost both September and October, I likely would have passed both that goal and 1K for the year, but we play the hand we're dealt, I guess.

What remains now is the last bodyweight workout, which will be tomorrow, the last weigh-in, which may be tomorrow, the breakdown of the year, which will be the post following, probably on the recovery day, then the start of the OFF week. I'm going to try to tour the gym this coming up week in order to do the final thing, which is to come up with a Goal Post for 2022, beyond just the max sprint on the Air Dyne.

D138: 12.23.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Hammerfall - Dominion
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs did not feel at all ready for sprints, predictably, but were ok for duration. Speed and  how long it took to hit 10 didn't matter today, just so long as I hit 10 and could keep on plan, which I was able to do. I kept a higher cadence than expected, but definitely felt wear-down towards the end. This now puts me at 794 for the year, with the sprint workout to go. Given that 1/3 of that total is absorbed in warm-up and cool-down, it will be pretty hard to do sprints at all without hitting the 6 that are left, if not more. Probably more. 

The plan from this point is to hit 800(+) on the sprint workout and hopefully hit the sprint goal as well. Tomorrow is OFF, of course, but Saturday may be also, if I don't feel I can run sprints. Whatever weekend day I feel Legs are ready for sprints will be it. Regardless of which day, the following day will be the last Bodyweight workout, followed by numbers breakdown (and a day for recovery the next day) followed by the day after that starting the OFF week. During that week, I hope to be able to tour the gym closest to me and then in early January, I will either resume the Air Dyne (more likely) or start the gym (much less likely). Prior to doing that, though, I will come back with a Goal Post for the year, once I know what is left from this year unfinished and which path the pursuit of fitness will take next year.

D137: 12.22.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~25 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I debated this one, but reasoned that since tomorrow is another 10, with no pressure other than to hit that number, and Legs were surprisingly much less sore than I anticipated after the increase yesterday, since Arms felt up to it, might as well throw in another of these. Numbers were...not great, as my Shoulders were quite protesty. Crunches took a bit of an increase, and though I won't be doing it for the next workout, I will be moving that to 4 sets in 2022, but even tamping down the Inclines wasn't as helpful for Push-Ups as I was hoping. Also having a bad allergy day, which seems to always add in a challenge, particularly for exercises I hate, such as anything involving bodyweight. I think it's more what I said last time, limping to the finish line and generally just kind of exhausted.

Incline push-ups: BWX15, BWX15, BWX15
Flat push-ups: BWX15, BWX8, BWX10
Decline push-ups: BWX10, BWX8, BWX10

Flat crunches: BWX50, BWX40, BWX40

Also got in a weigh-in and I'm now 237, which is -1 from last time. I am getting the impression that I'm running the caloric deficit too low, which tends to be a part of that negative exhaustion feedback loop in that appetite tends to get knocked about. I'm going to make a conscious effort to try to bump it higher, but if I still feel it's held too low, then I might start manually tracking intake, which I've refrained from up to this point.

D136: 12.21.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~14mi/~60min
Driver: Paul Stanley - One Live KISS
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: I took off yesterday entirely to try to get my Forearms back into things...also had some minor stomach issues, which took a while to settle. Also, Legs were pretty cranked Sunday, but felt better yesterday and were go today. So, not to lose the opportunity, I went for the 60 minute goal and since air was also ok, pushed things a bit the entire time. By the time I got to the cool-down, I was definitely feeling it, but at least that goal is done. Also, it has the subsidiary effect of putting me now at 784 miles, so that I can hit another 10 Thursday and won't feel too pressured for whichever of the weekend days I do sprints. Saturday is Christmas, which is going to be strange this year, like all holidays going forward, I guess, at least for a time, but if I can hit the sprints one of those two days, assuming Thursday goes to plan, I will conclude both remaining goals on that day. That's what we're shooting at, anyway. At that point, I will possibly do one more strength workout and then start the OFF week the following day.

D135: 12.19.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~45min
Driver: Paul Stanley - One Live KISS
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: Legs were no go for yesterday. Being off this week, waves of depression, stress of my main laptop taking a gigantic shit out of nowhere and still not working after fucking with it for 3 days at this point, all leading to some major exhaustion. Diet has been not great this week, which is not helping with recovery. Legs were still not great today, along with Forearms, which I'm finding kind of confusing (and definitely snowfall is going to be a challenge on those days I need to do it, particularly at the heavier levels). I probably should have skipped last Thursday in hindsight, but I was considering going for sprints and/or or 60 minutes, but it was pretty clear, after some mini sprints that I had a lot of trouble holding, both were going to be out. I decided to just try to get out of the 10 as quickly as I could manage, so I set my sights on cool down for this workout. 

This brings mileage to 770, with 4 potential Air Dyne workouts to go (and some snow on the way next week). Not sure how push-ups are going to go, but I definitely am feeling a need for that week off, sort of limping to the finish line now. I think the mileage and duration goals are definitely within reach, but sprints are kind of iffy. I don't have any particular goals for the push-ups, but am looking forward to scouting gyms during my off week. I was thinking of doing it next week, which may still also happen.

D134: 12.16.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~50min
Driver: Kiss - Kiss My Ass
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: Shoveling twice yesterday after the workout was...interesting. Oddly, it was my Quads that were the most sore when I went to bed last night and I thought today's workout was off. I woke up with Legs feeling like they could go, but once I got up and about, had really bad allergies, slightly cranky stomach (still) and Legs felt more touch and go. I calorically loaded for a workout anyway, just in cease. They still felt like I could probably squeeze in a light workout once I got around to feeling ready and since weekdays is more duration anyway, I decided to just go on and then bail if I needed to. 

Performance-wise, this was not great (and also reminds me that I meant to pull the Quality rating, which I formerly did for my workouts, out of this, as I'm not going to track that rather subjective rating and just leave numbers up), but weekdays are not really performance-oriented. If I can swing 50 minutes in that shape (Arms were mostly useless for the handles, predictably), I can definitely hit 60 somewhere in here before the end of the year. Hitting that and then the high mark on the speedo are the two goals I have mainly left this year for that...well, that and hitting 800. Today makes 760, though, so I feel I'm in pretty good shape there, with at least 6 potential workout days to go, actually pretty good shape on all of them.

I did a weigh-in today, which was holding steady at 238. 

D133: 12.15.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~25 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Finally, workout 100 for 2021. Both yesterday and Monday I was feeling well off, with some headache issues, which in turn caused some appetite issues and overall funk, but today was better, though appetite and stomach are still a bit screwy. I can always tell when it's a good idea for an OFF day when whatever I have in mind seems like an impossibly high hurdle, as it did the last couple of days. Fitness is a marathon, not sprint...

Here's how things shook out today:

Incline push-ups: BWX20, BWX20, BWX20
Flat push-ups: BWX15, BWX, BWX12
Decline push-ups: BWX10, BWX10, BWX10

Flat crunches: BWX40, BWX30, BWX40

Ok, so, again some improvement, even for being off. The Inclines today reminded me of how much I hate higher rep count exercising for strength, so I think I'm going to back everything off to sets of 15. As soon as I can get 3 full sets of 15 per set for all 3 of the push-up variations, then I will add a 4th (and possibly 5th) set into things. For crunches, those I will leave with the goal being 4 sets of 50 reps each. I will add the 4th set there as soon as I hit the 4th set for push-ups, I think...I considered taking a stab at a 4th set, to see how it would look, but it snowed last night, so I will be off to shovel in a couple hours and decided to not run myself that hard at muscle failure. 

Speaking of that, I did measure the actual blocks and came up with the following: 13 blocks X ~4' and 29 blocks at ~5' (I live in a very old neighborhood). This is 197 linear feet. This is give or take and there is a curved part around the corner, so I'm rounding to 200' for ease of calculation. The width is around 2', for the most part, so I'm just going to call it that part for ease of calculation. So, given 4" - 5" the other day, I moved somewhere between 133 and 167 cubic feet of snow. My neighbor has kindly blown around half of the walk out today and snowfall by the time I get to it this afternoon will be somewhere between 2" - 3". So, either way, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the previous time, though the plows might have gotten out by then, which means I will have to clear the end of the driveway, which is always wet, slushy, sometimes icy, and usually compacted. I am anticipating resuming the Air Dyne tomorrow anyway, however.

Revisiting this a few hours later, I misjudged the depth from behind the blinds...more like 6" - 15", which puts this probably more than last time and considering that a bunch of dipshits walked on part and compacted it, probably a lot more weight. It is a really good thing my neighbor did the other half or it would be way, way more than last time. Definitely a mess (and my garage door is frozen shut, so that's nice)...as it is, the plows drove over the corner curb (and buried it in icebergs), which took a while to clean, but have not done the residential streets as of yet, so I'm waiting for it to go by to attempt to unbury my driveway...this is probably going to ace out the Air Dyne tomorrow, though...my Legs are already pinging pretty good.

I'm debating doing the plank test next Wednesday, as that is the last day I really have in mind prior to my proposed OFF week, but may hold off until the 27th and instead start the OFF week on Wednesday the 29th or Tuesday the 28th, depending on how the mileage goal goes. I still need to at least attempt to hit the max-out speed on sprints as well prior to then...definitely looking at lot harder to at least take a stab at some of the goals I had in mind for this year now that we're this close to the end of it.

D132: 12.12.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Kiss - Kiss My Ass
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Storm blew in Thursday, so Friday saw me shoveling the walk. I'm guessing it's a good 150' - 200' (I'm going to do a harder count of the distance later today, so I know for next time), ~24" square blocks, with a depth of somewhere between 4" - 5". This would put volume somewhere between 100 and 167 cubic feet. I can't really measure the weight, since what I moved varied so widely. Some of the snow was pretty light, but some of it was also a lot denser, with wet leaves, etc. mixed in. The good thing is that I was able to whip right through it, which has not been the case. Indeed, one of the things that really prompted me to resume training was that winter prior have been agony for me to do this, more on a breathing, but also somewhat on a strength front. As it was, my Back did get a bit sore and Legs took more of a pounding than I anticipated (I usually have to go back and forth over the blocks 3 - 4 times, as I prefer the shovel plow method to bending over and scooping for that distance), so given that I didn't get an actual OFF day during the week, I decided, since Legs were no-go anyway, to just take Saturday.

Legs are still not entirely back today, though quite a lot better, so I kept it casual. Air wasn't particularly tested today. I wasn't thinking so much of snow removal, as it has been relatively minor the last few years, but definitely that skews the Cardio workouts, though I don't mind treating it as a sort of a different lifting workout, which I suppose it mainly is.

Weigh-in yesterday was 238, which is -1 from last time. Ideally, I had hoped to be on track to be sub-230 by the end of the year, but that seems unlikely at best. Still happy it continues to fall...also, this is 1 workout left to hit 100 and mileage at 750.

D131: 12.09.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~47min
Driver: Kiss - Konfidential/X-treme Close-Up
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sleep was pretty funky last night and woke up with a headache, but managed to get it gone in time to hit it again. Legs were a touch iffy going in, but once I got going, I harbored strong thoughts about pushing for an hour. Had I a better driver, I definitely would have. Air was fine.

This leaves now 2 workouts to go to hit 100 for 2021 and puts mileage now at 740. Given that I have ~10 possible days of Air Dyne workouts remaining prior to the last week of the year, I should realistically be able to go past 800.

D130: 12.08.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~20 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Here's how things shook out today:

Incline push-ups: BWX10, BWX20, BWX15
Flat push-ups: BWX8, BWX10, BWX8
Decline push-ups: BWX6, BWX6, BWX8

Flat crunches: BWX30, BWX30, BWX20

For the push-ups, I went down in order of the positions as listed, so a full " push-up set" would be 1 set ea of those positions, in that order. For the Inclines, the first set at 10 was because my socks were sliding on the carpet and I stopped to put on shoes. For the last set at 15, I had a bit of a coughing fit (allergies decided to raise their ugly head). If not for those elements, count would have been higher. I suspect that the count is higher on those not so much because my upper Chest is that much stronger than the rest, but because my Arms have less bend travel and stay more within the power curve. 

Overall, it's a marked improvement from last time. I'm rethinking my idea on totals of the push-ups, though, as that winds up being 300 push-ups total, which is quite a lot...I'm not close to 25 reps per set, other than on the Inclines, but now that I've seemingly worked out all the extraneous kinks and can focus on the actual exercise, that may change more rapidly than expected. Crunches seems about right in terms of numbers, however, so no change necessary there. 

Weigh-in today was 239. Winter makes my typically sluggish body metabolism even more so, definitely need to take pains to keep things as clean as possible, at least until I'm able to resume the gym. 3 workouts to go to hit 100...

D129: 12.07.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Kiss - Konfidential
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Had a burning headache yesterday I could not shake and also some Arm pinging, so that was a no go. Today, Legs were a touch tight and I couldn't quite get them to loosen up, but these are more duration during the week anyway. I've decided on a minimum of 10 miles for those workouts. I've changed up the diet a bit for this week and burned through my usual front-loading well before the 30 minute workout, which was kind of interesting. 

I have 4 workouts left after this to hit 100 for 2021 and this puts me at 730 miles. 800 miles is probably within reach, given that I have most of this month left. If I do hit both goals, definitely will be looking forward to a well-earned OFF week...

D128: 12.05.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7mi/~36min
Driver: Hammerfall - Dominion
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs felt surprisingly good this morning, so I planned for a light workout before they changed their minds. I decided that today was a really good day to get some metrics that I'd been planning on chasing for a while and that took me long enough to call it a workout. Air did get somewhat tested at the higher RPMs, but not greatly. 

What I did was time how long it took to complete one mile. I have a dial odometer/speed indicator, so it is "soft," as in not super-precise, but it does appear to be consistent, so I just need to understand how it registers. All of this, again, is based on how long to move the odometer a full mile:

Load 1 - 35 RPM - 5:00 ~12MPH
Load 2 - 44 RPM - 4:00 ~15MPH
Load 3 - 50 RPM - 3:40 ~16.667MPH
Load 4 - 55 RPM - 3:20 ~18MPH

Clearly, there is some sort of algebraic formula at work here (which I may attempt to discover, but also, more likely, will not) in terms of higher load inducing more work to gain a correspondingly lower RPM rate. The drop in time from Load 1 to Load 2 is kind of interesting and if the ratio after 2 holds, then it will continue to drop 20 seconds with each consecutive load increase. Now, I'm not sure I can sustain a full mile at anything past 5, but will probably try to take a run at a full mile at Load 5 at some point to see if the expected time frame holds.  

Did a weigh-in today, which was 239, -1 from last weigh-in. I don't really have any set number to try to hit before the end of the year, just want to see it continue to fall. I think I will continue to keep a running log of mileage for this year, so now at 720.

D127: 12.04.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~12mi/~51min
Driver: Brainstorm - Ghosts & Skulls
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I seriously hope I'm done with the fucking about for this year, as trying to get into any sort of regular routine continues to elude me, particularly with sleep. I'm also still somehow continuing to overrun my body's ability to recover, so diet tweaking still continues. I fortunately remembered yesterday was supposed to be OFF and did not attempt any kind of workout, but might need to print off that schedule I made a couple weeks ago. Legs were kind of in limbo, but unless they are definitely not go, I'm going, and so I pushed harder today to try to finally work Air more. Air was worked more, but not really pushed to the extent I want, so I'm going to try to finally get back to sprints next weekend. I also need to do some stopwatch stuff to try and figure out how long a mile takes at given cadences, maybe tomorrow.

I have 6 more workouts to go to hit 100 for (the tumultuous) calendar year 2021. Once I hit that, I am going to schedule an off week, probably the last week of the year, so starting Dec 26, though I may actually move that to Dec 29, to accommodate NYE. I really need to remember to do a weigh-in again, at some point, as well...I'm at 713 miles for this year, since resuming, so 800 is not outside of the realm of possibility, though anything much beyond probably is. Still, this is across slightly over 7 months, so I'm not too troubled by it. I'm going to try to scout out the nearest gym to me sometime the week of Dec 21, as that itch is pretty severe lately.

D126: 12.02.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7mi/~34min
Driver: Brainstorm - Ghosts & Skulls
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sunday saw me working mostly on projects and also attending to fall leaves, the raking of which sort of bore down on my Shoulders a bit. I was curious to see if they would be back in order Monday, but got a set each of two positions and it was clear the answer was no, so I stopped. Tuesday I wound up jumping in on my son's second vaccine shot for my own booster, so hitting the bike again didn't seem too prudent. Arm was too sore to attempt the stuff on Wednesday, as well as some vaccine sides which made that prospect not possible. 

Today, I wound up having to be at work less time than expected and Legs felt good enough to go, so I went, though I don't think I'm quite back from those sides. Air wasn't really tested, but Legs weren't great, just good enough to go, so I went for much more of a casual vibe on this one. Will also be finishing leaf duty after this and have more work stuff tomorrow, so may not wind up with enough time to attempt the routine, though if I can fit it in, I definitely will.