Fitness/Health/Exercise Stuff with Evan

Deleted some spammers that bumped the thread. But I'll bump it myself since it's getting nice out and folks are thinking about getting active.
 
Evan B said:
Here's a bit of a "plug" for Zone 2 -

I am currently on a personal goal of doing at least one half marathon per month. Not like, signing up for one. Just getting out and doing one on my own. On saturday, I went out for a pretty high effort/fast-ish 6miler and felt great. I was still feeling it on Sunday, but decided I wanted to get out anyways. I figured since I didn't have any real plans, I'd get my half marathon for Feb out of the way, but do it at a zone 2 "recovery" pace. Two birds with one stone.

It absolutely kicked my ass. The one I had done just a week prior, at a much higher intensity, was SUBSTANTIALLY easier. Like, not even on the same planet.

When it comes to runs like this, low intensity/zone 2 runs = more time on feet, which equals more "reps." So trading it being difficult cardio-wise for being more difficult on the muscles and joints. My moderate to high intensity half marathon can be in the 1:50-1:40 range (I could definitely hit 1:30 on race day if I wanted, but don't while training on my own). The one I did yesterday while keeping my heart rate at around 140bpm was like 2:20. So waaaaay longer workout.

But what needs to be understood about the benefits of Zone 2 is you're building infrastructure, while high intensity is using that infrastructure. It's a very different feeling, and requires a different mindset. But your intense workouts will greatly benefit from it.


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I've been asked by a few who reached out - how do you keep up your motivation to keep things routine?

My response
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It's not about motivation at all. It's about discipline. Use the same mindset you use/used to get up and go to work every morning.

Another mindset is one where you change "I HAVE to go do this" to "I GET to go do this." Your ability to get off your ass and do hard things is a gift. Don't take it for granted.

That's all for today :D
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Can you talk about finding your true zone 2 heart rate. Do we need to know the exact number or does it matter if you are cresting over into zone 3 or just wacking around the range of zone 2? Is the only way to really know is with a portable lactate monitor or is just using karvonen method or FTP method good enough? Do we need to be accurate? I have only trained more HIT my entire life as a sport boxer. I stopped that and 3 years ago got into training (zwift ap/wahoo kicker core/chest strap HRM) on a steel bike I brazed back in the 80's with a vintage Campy gruppo. Of course I was just training wrong on it and as a old guy trying to optimize exercise for health benefit to keep active skiing and hiking high altitude rivers and lakes to fish.
 
Been hitting the pool harder, mile swim 4x a week, getting ready for the senior surf season late spring - fall.
Workout day off, so heading over to the river once the temp hits 40, just tied up some R2's.
Retirement is not over rated, so keep fit so you can enjoy yours.
 
fatbillybob said:
Can you talk about finding your true zone 2 heart rate. Do we need to know the exact number or does it matter if you are cresting over into zone 3 or just wacking around the range of zone 2? Is the only way to really know is with a portable lactate monitor or is just using karvonen method or FTP method good enough? Do we need to be accurate? I have only trained more HIT my entire life as a sport boxer. I stopped that and 3 years ago got into training (zwift ap/wahoo kicker core/chest strap HRM) on a steel bike I brazed back in the 80's with a vintage Campy gruppo. Of course I was just training wrong on it and as a old guy trying to optimize exercise for health benefit to keep active skiing and hiking high altitude rivers and lakes to fish.
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I'd say without a lab analysis, it's a bit of guess-work, but do-able. It's not like the zone 2 adaptations totally shut off if you drift up over a specific HR number. It's kind of a spectrum, so you can get the benefits without precision.

I definitely use my strap HRM to keep an eye on things, but I've had years to kind of know where my zones are approximately. But to make an educated guess, here's what I have people do:

1. Go to your comfortable or natural pace. The one you naturally fall into when told to just run or similar activity. There's a very high likelihood you'll be in the mid to upper end of your "Zone 3." Typically, you'll fall into "RPE 7-8," which is "Rate of perceived exertion."

2. Back off that effort a couple notches. You want to be in RPE 5-6.

3. You'll know you're "in it" if you can carry on a full conversation without much discomfort. Hitting "zone 3," you'll have a harder time not taking a big breath every few words.

4. It's an effort you could do again and again within a short time period with minimal recovery.
 
SurfnFish said:
Been hitting the pool harder, mile swim 4x a week, getting ready for the senior surf season late spring - fall.
Workout day off, so heading over to the river once the temp hits 40, just tied up some R2's.
Retirement is not over rated, so keep fit so you can enjoy yours.
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Between working out on my Concept 2 rower, a recumbent bike trainer, and regularly hiking very hilly 5 mile route, I've found that my fatbike (Salsa Heyday) gives me an intense high aerobic workout when ridden for an hour or two (and makes riding any of my other bikes feel like roadbikes). There's simply no 'loafing along' possible on a non-electric fatbike, and its stability (and massive traction) on all sorts of trails is an added bonus.

I've been using a Garmin Instinct 3 smartwatch and Garmin Connect app to keep track of exercise zone data as well as sleep metrics. Depending upon exercise type, smartwatch heart rate wrist monitoring is thought to be somewhat less accurate, but when I've compared it to heart rate measured by my Wahoo chest device it's remarkably accurate.

At 74 my resting heart rate averages 62 (which is pretty good) but considerably higher than it was when I was a pup. As one ages it's particularly important to keep track of training metrics because recovery simply takes longer....'more' is not always a path to fitness. My brain thinks I'm young, but my body clearly has a different opinion.
 
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krusty said:
Between working out on my Concept 2 rower, a recumbent bike trainer, and regularly hiking very hilly 5 mile route, I've found that my fatbike (Salsa Heyday) gives me an intense high aerobic workout when ridden for an hour or two (and makes riding any of my other bikes feel like roadbikes). There's simply no 'loafing along' possible on a non-electric fatbike, and it's stability (and massive traction) on all sorts of trails is an added bonus.

I've been using a Garmin Instinct 3 smartwatch and Garmin Connect app to keep track of exercise zone data as well as sleep metrics. Depending upon exercise type, smartwatch heart rate wrist monitoring is thought to be somewhat less accurate, but when I've compared it to heart rate measured by my Wahoo chest device it's remarkably accurate.

At 74 my resting heart rate averages 62 (which is pretty good) but considerably higher than it was when I was a pup. As one ages it's particularly important to keep track of training metrics because recovery simply takes longer....'more' is not always a path to fitness. My brain thinks I'm young, but my body clearly has a different opinion.
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my son uses his Concept 2 as part of his cardio, I've used it when visiting, it's a workout. Borrowed a fat bike from my son in law when visiting daughter in Spokane to go for a ride, friggin exhausted me...lol.
At 76 my resting pulse is around 45, BP around 110/70. If I have an operation/repair have to tell the anesthesiologist before going under that's my norm. In spite of that still have to take a statin, genetic tree in our family = low numbers on HDL. We can't change our genetics, but we can do the work to keep our wheels lubed and motor spinning.
 
Yeah we use the Concept 2 Rowers at the gym a lot. Once you learn how to really use them (it's more of a leg drive movement than an arm pull), it's a seriously good workout. If I had room at home, I'd have one of those, an Echo bike and an Assault Air Runner. But I get to use those at the gym for free 😂 great machines though.
 
Evan B said:
Yeah we use the Concept 2 Rowers at the gym a lot. Once you learn how to really use them (it's more of a leg drive movement than an arm pull), it's a seriously good workout. If I had room at home, I'd have one of those, an Echo bike and an Assault Air Runner. But I get to use those at the gym for free 😂 great machines though.
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I do 2000 meters 3x a week as part of my 90 minute workouts with one of those.
 
Working out is bad for your hair....
 
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