Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Back in the Mix

Hi Everyone. You're all probably saying "Who the heck is this?" Matt's brother-in-law is ready to throw my hat back in the ring. With just over 300 days left till Mooseman '08 I think it's time to get my act together. I'm feeling a little ashamed of my current weak conditioning. After a week in New Hampshire watching Matt tear up the road on his bike and drown small children with his wake in the lake I'm feeling a little flabby. Traditionally I've been the one to be able to hike Mt. Cardigan with minimal effort, but this year I didn't even attempt it. "Old Man Carlson" showed me up big time.

I renewed my gym membership here at the university yesterday, so I'm all set with every bit of equipment that I need. I just need the appropriate motivation ... Oh yea, the scale says 202.5 pounds. That should do, as if the burning legs and lungs when I run weren't enough. I think that a competitive race weight for me will be about 175-180. We'll see if I get there or hit a plateau like Matt has.

Work out timing is tricky for me since I have a 30-45 min commute and a 1.5 year old son to keep me busy (his name is Ian and I'll probably refer to him often). I'm planning on working out in the morning after I get to work. I'm a biologist and typically come in in the morning and start experiments, then wait for a bit while they finish (incubate, hatch, react, whatever). This should be a great time to workout. Traditionally I have been playing squash (sorta like racquetball) during this time, but my partner has moved to Hong Kong and won't be able to make our morning games any more. I should be able to fill this void with plenty of running, biking and swimming in preparation for the Mooseman. In addition, I'll be able to bike a bunch in the evenings with Ian on the back of the bike. That should be like swinging a bat with weights on it before being at bat!

I'm a little behind on all of the trends in heart rate training that you all have been posting about, but I'll see what I can glean from your posts and try to let you know what I'm thinking. My wife and I have a 2 profile Polar watch that needs a new battery, but I'm planning on fixing it up tonight and setting up my profile. Hopefully the battery in the strap is still functioning.

I went for a run on the treadmill this morning, but I messed up the computer in mid run so I don't know how far I went. I started out slow (5.5 MPH) but it was really awkward and I got tired fast. Interestingly when I kicked it up to 6.6MPH it was much more comfortable and I was able to maintain it for a while. No Heart Rate info this time. But that should follow soon.

Glad to be back in the mix. I'll try to post with at least some regularity.

3 comments:

catmarlson said...

Polar Watch:
Of course they say to mail in the watch for battery replacement. Well I did after having done it myself a couple times. I wanted it to be waterproof again.
Of course when I called them to find out why my watch isn't back yet, they tell me that I've damaged the watch by doing it myself. The repair cost is more than what a new one would cost. Or I could trade for a newer model.
I'll never take one of these things apart again.

SJV said...

Welcome. As we will demonstrate next weekend, we are now all experts at training our bodies into tip-top condition. Disregard any pudgy guts as we have conditioned ourselves to burn fat and those are only extra-large fuel tanks.

Happy to have you contributing.

Scott said...

In that case, my tank is full of fuel to burn! Let's fire up the engine.