Author Topic: Lockdown fitness (Read 11146 times)

Chris S · « **Reply #25 on:** 22 April, 2020, 08:34:05 pm »

Quote from: Hot Flatus on 22 April, 2020, 08:31:38 pm

Resting pulse rate has gone from about 46 bpm to 60.

Background Covid-related anxiety?

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #26 on:** 22 April, 2020, 08:36:31 pm »

Well, in all seriousness, my sleep has been heavily disturbed since about 2 weeks before lockdown. Often waking up at 2am, wide awake for a few hours. Could be a factor.

simonp · « **Reply #27 on:** 22 April, 2020, 10:20:50 pm »

I suspect the sleep thing.

I’m doing 5 days a week; have done one outdoor ride this week and last. Around an hour. The rest has been indoors. I’m also walking the dog.

Doosh · « **Reply #28 on:** 23 April, 2020, 11:52:14 am »

I'm struggling a bit, I rely on work to get my exercise so finding the motivation to do exercise for the sake of it rather than just sitting around the house is really difficult!

I've dug out an old bike and do half hour most days but I could/should be doing a lot more, as ever motivation is zero.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete · « **Reply #29 on:** 23 April, 2020, 03:30:38 pm »

Lucky enough to have invested a long time ago in a Concept II Rowing Machine that sits in the garage. So am training for a marathon (42195m) on that in 10 days time - that gives me 3 - 4 days a week. Then 2 runs (45 - 50min) per week. Plus gardening without powertools. Although that did give me tennis elbow from scarifying the lawn manually.

I might reintroduce some cycling after the rowing marathon as I suspect that after a 3 hour session on the ergo I will need a break from it.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #30 on:** 23 April, 2020, 03:55:38 pm »

Quote from: Hot Flatus on 22 April, 2020, 08:31:38 pm

Here's a weird one...

Normal working day: 12 mile commute at brisk pace, twice a day, 3 days a week. During day I rarely sit, or stand still. Maybe 3 runs a week.

Lockdown: No commute. 3 runs a week. 30 mile ride most days.

Resting pulse rate has gone from about 46 bpm to 60.

Vo2 max, however, has increased by 3 (garmin)

So one marker suggests that I am fitter, the other that I am less fit

I think the fitness effect of being on your feet all day and constantly moving a bit, even just between desk and board, is vastly underrated. I felt the effect instantly when I went from teaching (TEFL, not proper teaching but equivalent for this) to a desk job. (Not that I would claim to have been "fit" to begin with but the decline was instant).

Greenbank · « **Reply #31 on:** 24 April, 2020, 01:24:11 pm »

Failed on W3D2C2 of 100 pushup challenge. Needed to do at least 19 in the last set but only managed 15. Week 3 again next week, not looking forward to W3D3C2 tomorrow but will try and do as much as I can which should make repeating the week easier.

I'm also 36m away from completing Strava's "April Walk Challenge" which was 15h of walking (moving time, not elapsed time, and it doesn't count Run activities) and that should be ticked off when we go out for a family walk this afternoon.

I was 96.4kg on the weigh day before lockdown began, and was 93.75kg this morning, weight is tracking nicely down.

Polar Bear · « **Reply #32 on:** 24 April, 2020, 03:27:06 pm »

100 pushup challenge ....

Hmmm, might give that a go.

De Sisti · « **Reply #33 on:** 24 April, 2020, 05:03:32 pm »

Quote from: Polar Bear on 24 April, 2020, 03:27:06 pm

100 pushup challenge ....

Over how many days?

Greenbank · « **Reply #34 on:** 24 April, 2020, 05:07:46 pm »

All depends on your current strength:

https://hundredpushups.com/index.html

It's about building up to be able to do 100 in one go.

That's a lot different from being able to do 100 in sets of 10 with a 60s gap between each set. I could do that now, but the most I've done in one go without a break is 22.

I'm on week 3 but I've already failed one day this week so I'll need to repeat the week. I expect it to take 10 weeks for me as I'm sure I'll have to repeat more weeks in the future.

nicknack · « **Reply #35 on:** 24 April, 2020, 05:12:20 pm »

Since this wouldn't have happened without lockdown I'll put this here.

I've been dieting (11kg gone) and exercising a bit during this weird time. Couch to 2k is going slowly but today I got the bike out. I haven't ridden it in about 2 years. So I pumped up the tyres and off I went. It's a very heavy bike and I was never a fast rider so this wasn't going to win any medals. 22km mostly flat. It seemed fine but my legs are feeling it now.

I've been using a wrist heart monitor on my walk/runs which seemed, in comparison to a chest monitor, to be recording stuff accurately. So I used it today. This is the first 25 mins of it:

Is this credible? I've never tried heart monitoring on a bike ride before so I've no idea what to expect.

Greenbank · « **Reply #36 on:** 24 April, 2020, 05:19:09 pm »

Sadly that seems common for wrist based HR monitoring. Seems OK then decides that your heart can't be that high and drops right down, then slowly builds up again.

Here's an example from two days ago. It was a 50 odd minute walk at a steady pace, no real elevation changes, no stairs:-

I would have expected it to be somewhere around the 110bpm mark the entire route but it obviously struggled.

The optical Polar OH1+ I have is much better, I wear that just below the bicep and it works well for running, the wrist based optical HR is nowhere near reliable enough for running.

nicknack · « **Reply #37 on:** 24 April, 2020, 05:23:58 pm »

It's a bit odd isn't it? The highest figure on my log is 175. I would have thought I might have noticed it at the time but I never seemed to work particularly hard. I'll drag out the old chest monitor (non recording) and see if they agree next time.

nicknack · « **Reply #38 on:** 27 April, 2020, 01:05:13 pm »

Quote from: nicknack on 24 April, 2020, 05:23:58 pm

It's a bit odd isn't it? The highest figure on my log is 175. I would have thought I might have noticed it at the time but I never seemed to work particularly hard. I'll drag out the old chest monitor (non recording) and see if they agree next time.

Useless, it is.
I went for a very similar ride this morning with the chest monitor as well as the wrist one. Agree? Ha! Sometimes 50+ difference. The wrist one appears to not like any sort of vibration so if I take my hand off the handlebars then it agrees with the chest one. So not a lot of use for cycling. Max on wrist was 154 on some random flat bit, max on chest one was 137 whilst pushing 25.5kg of bike up the cliff steps.

Asterix, the former Gaul. · « **Reply #39 on:** 10 May, 2020, 10:10:18 am »

Have been going out for walks with Mrs A, also stripped the wallpaper on hall stairs and landing, smoothed the walls and painted over, also do turbo sessions with Zwift.

Zwift is tough; they started me with a 230 FTP and a 73 minute FTP test pushed it to 255; I am 3kg lighter. My last ride I did half an hour and got 9km up the Alpe d'Zwift, just over half way, averaging 246. I need a better fan. Tomorrow I will have another go on the Alpe now it is cooler.

drossall · « **Reply #40 on:** 29 July, 2020, 09:54:40 pm »

Until about a year ago I was on about ten miles a day, but not much else, and more commuting miles than anything. A double bypass interrupted that

The exercise programme afterwards got me onto one gym session and one long, brisk walk a week, plus commuting mileage again. Lockdown mucked that up, so I have finally started to experiment with Zwift, partly because the club was doing Zwift rides. Am beginning to get into it a bit, but no plans to do the serious FTP stuff. I got up the Alpe once on a club ride, but struggled when I tried it on my own (very unimpressive W/kg). Also lots of long walks once we were allowed out.

I also got into the heart monitoring thing, for fairly obvious reasons and because we were using them in the physio sessions. Quickly gave up on wrist monitors, as they don't seem reliable at all.

In short I may become a Zwift convert just as everyone is giving it up to go back outside

Working nothing like as hard as some people above, in other words.

chrisbainbridge · « **Reply #41 on:** 30 July, 2020, 01:00:14 pm »

I have now lost 2 stone in weight in lockdown, got back to structured training on the turbo and started running again. I have 13lbs to get to my aim. New friend is a very keen runner and has offered to take me out in a couple of weeks.

Lightweight climbing bike ordered and aim is 3w/kg before end of September for cycling up Teide. Then continue over the winter and go climbing iconic hills /alps next year.
Currently wondering if I can swing a T6 conversion as an investment?

Greenbank · « **Reply #42 on:** 30 July, 2020, 05:23:38 pm »

308,738 steps so far in July, so only 1,262 short of 10k per day and with a whole day to spare.

But what's bad about that is this includes 110km of running in July and given my stride length is about 1m that means 110,000 of those steps were running. That means I only walk about 6,500 steps a day on average. I need to work on upping this.

mrcharly-YHT · « **Reply #43 on:** 31 July, 2020, 06:59:06 am »

I'm gradually slipping backwards

Loss of volume is the main problem;prior to lockdown I was commuting 10miles each way. Then 2-3 paddles a week and occasional gym workouts.

Now it is down to 3-4 sessions a week (either run, paddle) plus a bit of bodyweight workout.

Increasing weight isn't helping, although some of that is muscle. Put on at least 6kg overall.

simonp · « **Reply #44 on:** 16 August, 2020, 01:47:40 pm »

I've been able to get down to the rowing club for a while, as they are allowing singles and bubbled pairs and doubles. I don't want to bubble with anyone in a boat, so I've been going out in a single. Started with the stable single as I was rusty but a few weeks ago I got some coaching from the bank and first thing I was told was "Why are you in the stable single, you're actually quite good". So next session was in the fine single, tentative at first but got more confidence and covered about 4km during the outing. Had a two break due to a sore wrist (long standing issue) and was back yesterday. The same coach was now out in the launch, as a winch has been installed so it can be launched and landed without breaking social distancing, and I was asked to make sure I made use of this. Good feedback and I covered 50% more distance in the same time, feels like progress is rapid, though I'm still rubbish.

During lockdown itself - I've done mostly indoor cycling; I started with 219W from 31 Mar FTP test, and tested this week at 243W. So steady progress back to the sort of fitness I find is required to have a decent experience on a long Audax and actually get some sleep. I hope to be at 250W by mid September and then try to build on this over winter so ready for a return to normality that I hope could happen next year. Next FTP test is scheduled for 22nd Sept.

CrazyEnglishTriathlete · « **Reply #45 on:** 16 August, 2020, 09:41:14 pm »

Spending most of my time on the bike now. Using RidewithGPS to plot anti-social / social-distancing routes, so I virtually never enter centres of population. July was my third best month for mileage on record and am aiming for a PB in August.

Greenbank · « **Reply #46 on:** 17 August, 2020, 02:53:57 pm »

Local (council run) leisure centre opens Wednesday.

For Wednesday I have booked a swim (45 mins) and then a gym session (1h) to do a ramp test (I've done 8km of cycling since mid-March so it should be beyond poor!)

Then Thursday I've booked a spinning class.

I'll be looking to do 3 swims a week (building for Swim Serpentine 2 mile swim in late September), 4 runs a week, one or two spinning classes and a couple of longer rides round Richmond Park maybe.

Long slog back to all round fitness begins...

Greenbank · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 August, 2020, 11:45:40 am »

1600m swim today done in alternating 100m/200m sets with 60s rest between each. Fitted perfectly into the 45 min swim session with most of it around 2:00/100m. First 20 strokes felt great but then reality of no swimming for 5 months hit and arms/shoulders let me know I had no stamina.

Never seen the pool so clean. Staff were great. One way system worked well. 3 big wide lanes, about 20 people in total and only 4 of us in the fast lane and overtaking was easy when necessary.

Did a ramp test afterwards in the gym (easy to book more than one session in advance). Only 3 people in there when I got in, Covid capacity is around 50. Didn't even bother with the 300W minute but the 275W minute means I'm roughly where I was before, although I guess this is due to just having fresher legs as my old routine was pretty full on.

Will look at my plan/calendar and book a load more swim and spinning sessions.

Spinning class tomorrow. Not sure which of the two instructors it is, hoping for my preferred one obviously.

simonp · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 August, 2020, 12:37:08 pm »

Good effort. Swim then ramp test then spinning class the day after? Rather you than me.

Greenbank · « **Reply #49 on:** 19 August, 2020, 02:18:33 pm »

And at least a 5k run on every other day. Need to remember to plan a proper rest day...

5-a-side starting up again next week. Due to my ankle fracture and Covid-19 I've played 4 times in the last 12 months.

Author Topic: Lockdown fitness (Read 11146 times)

Chris S

simonp

simonp

simonp