Oh Mags you put me to shame!!
I’m supposed to be doing 10 minutes a day, advice from the Osteopath I saw at the start of the year when I had a bad back.
I went on it after my son had put it together at the weekend…he said the heart indicator should read well over 100…it was 80! 
It’s early days Ruthio, don’t give up 
I haven’t got all the extras on my bike, just timer, distance, speed (haha!) and calories burned 
Remind him it’s not to late to write him out of the will 
Ruthio, you and Mags are both doing better than I am; my stationary bike is 1,000 miles away :-(.
Anything is better than nothing!
Think we’ll be ready for the Tour de France next year?
Gosh, I forgot and am back editing to add that I ran a mere 4.5 today. I simply ran out of time (enter OGF to talk to me about priorities ).
Well done Ruthio and Mags, keep up the good work. Watch your heart rate though…A rough guide to find your max heart rate is 220 minus your age, in my case it would be 220 - 68 = 152 under no circumstances exceed your max heart rate…
Any running is good running Surfermom, and I don’t expect everyone to be as staunch as me…
Had an amazing run this morning, energy in abundance following Sunday’s hard ten. I believe that the bodies ability to store energy is similar to a rechargeable battery, to benefit from maximum storage capacity you must first discharge completely before recharging. I have proved this theory time and time again with the ultimate example being after carbo loading before my fastest ever marathon…
Nice run, OGF. Your theory is a most interesting one. It ties in well to some theories out there about the benefits of occasional fasting. Also worth considering is the ebb, flow, and storage (uptake) and release of neurotransmitters and hormones related to long-distance running. What are the patterns of exercise and recovery that most benefit brain function?
Food (carbs) for thought! 
I had a great time at the gym. 
I did a solid workout and the chest seems to be easing today. The last session was a dismal 44 out of 100, but this one was a 62 and I “trained like a sportsman” which is an improvement I am happy with.
I also met a woman in her early eighties who needed a hand using some of the machines and when we introduced ourselves she said I had the same name as her son, who had died of a brain haemorrhage 20 years ago. Coincidentally it was the anniversary of his passing and she’d come to the gym to take her mind off it. I expressed my sympathies and we had a nice time, with me volunteering to help out with the machines if she needed it. She enjoyed herself and when she left she sought me out and said she’d taken in as a sign from her son that she’d met a nice person with the same name as her son on the anniversary of his passing. I had a little lump in my throat, I admit.
What a remarkable coincidence, and very chivalrous of you, Tachyon! You were certainly (placed?) in the right place at the right time! I expect that you made each other’s day.
Do I ever have respect for someone in their eighties who is at the gym!
I’m delighted your workout was satisfying on top of it.
I’m not a fanciful man, but I did feel as if somehow we were fated to bump into each other. She indeed made my day, after what has been a depressing week or two, and I hope I made hers too.
She’s a tough lady, and she only recently joined the gym, and this was her first session ‘on her own’ after the induction session. I was incredibly impressed with her determination not to stay home on such a sad day. If I ever make excuses not to go to the gym I shall think of her and quit my whining!
You may think I’m daft but, after she left and as I was getting tired at the end of the workout I was finding myself thinking, “come on, five more reps for J_____”, just because she impressed me so much.
That’s a great little story there, Tachyon. I’ve done the same thing with people older than me when I was bit younger and heavily into the bodybuilding. Nowadays it’s just some students who tend to notice me, ask questions and I help them with technique and so on. Keep up the good work mate, it will maintain your motivation to train yourself too 
Suzie, Bob - Some good running again from you folks. 
I’ll be at the gym again in the morning for some upper body work.
Tachyon, I have a list of people who come to mind when I am running and feeling like I want to quit. I sure hope you have the opportunity to cross paths again.
Floydy, I’ll be waiting for the weekend report. I jumpstarted the weekend with a nice, but terribly chilly run as we had a hard freeze last night here in Kansas. Yesterday, I actually un-planted many of the begonias, tomatoes and an assortment of delicate flowers that my nieces had planted for mom, but I digress.
Just as I completed my first half mile, I could hear a dog panting and racing up behind me. Whipping around to startle the unlikely but possible aggressor, he zoomed playfully by me at nearly the speed of light. Milky and short-haired, clearly a beagle/lab mix, it took a split second to realize that it was my mom’s dog who had apparently escaped from the garden.
With no other choice, what was supposed to be a leisurely run became an all out sprint as I tried to catch him before he approached a heavily driven four lane road. Panting now as much as the dog, I turned calling his name hoping he would think me a willing playmate and it wasn’t until I was practically running in (insane) circles that he finally steered away from the highway and I could drag the happy little beast back home. .5 miles + 5 miles + a quart of ice cold water to share with my running buddy. http://www.sherv.net/cm/emo/dancing/crazy-happy-dog-smiley-emoticon.gif
Roxy? How’s the swimming?
How are the cyclists doing?
Sorry Surfermom but I didn’t understand the question…
Brains and neurotransmitters are outside my area of expertise…
Sometimes I don’t know why something happens, I just know it does…
‘Everything comes to him who waits’
And yesterday morning while out running my five, I caught up to an old friend.
We have run many long distance paths together and throughout our careers he has always been consistently faster than me.
We discussed old times, and old friends who have since fallen by the wayside or even passed on. We congratulated each other on the tenacity and of being unable to kick the habit of running, but as I led the way over that bumpy potholed lane I sensed him dropping back and faltering.
I eased off the pace while he caught up and noticed an urgency to his breathing, he was panting and gasping while still trying to speak between breaths. We arrived at the railway crossing gates and we shook hands as he explained that this was as far as he goes and must turn around for home…
I crossed the line and accelerated up the short bank, suddenly realising how slow our pace had become. A similar age to me and a past master of the fells, he was always on another level to me, but now I felt I could have left him in my wake at any time…Perhaps a rematch on those lonely windswept fells…
The competitive instinct is still deep inside…
Finally, after a really bad couple of weeks, I managed a decent gym session! I think it is due to the chest problem just about clearing up in the last few days, so my worries that the medication was affecting me were unwarranted.
Shoulder Press: 40 x 15Kg (Puny weight, I admit, but I started at 5Kg in Jan)
Tricep Extension: 115 x 30Kg
Back Extension: 120 x 45Kg
Stomach Crunch: 120 x 45Kg
Arm Curl: 30 x 20Kg
Pec Deck: 55 x 35kg, 50 x 40Kg
Chest Press: 80 x 35Kg,70 x 40Kg
Pull Down: 70 x 50kg, 10 x 60Kg
Hip Abduction: 60 x 30Kg
Leg Curl: 35 x 35Kg
Leg Extension: 25 x 25Kg (still weak on this, but regaining lost muscle OK)
Low Row: 35 x 35Kg
Total moves 1423 and burnt 573 calories (two personal bests) and also scored 84 out of 100, so I am very pleased with that.
Tachyon, I think you are doing fantastic to be honest. For someone who has been in the wars physically and only recently at that, those results are hugely encouraging. Well done bud 
And they are not light weights either. Tally up all those reps and you’re really pounding the volume. Great work and keep it going it will do you the world of good
Bob, it so good to hear all this. Just catching up in here in the middle of the night as usual (and I’m not even at work!) and reading your adventures.
Running along with a mate catching up on old times, with that little bit of competitiveness is surely good for the soul as well as the fitness aspect. Nice work
Oh Suzie, that poor dog just wanted some company I guess. You got some extra sprints in there though, more than you bargained for.
Good to hear you are fully back on the circuit though. When’s the surfing season start again btw?
Me? Well, I ended up going out yesterday afternoon but not with my usual mates, with my wife instead which is a revelation as she doesn’t normally want to go out for a drink. It was actually very nice to speak with my wife about general things for a change, having that time together we really do miss due to our passing lives!
We ended up at the Hull beer festival, had a few and just carried on around the town. I’ve just woken up after a four-hour slumber with a nagging headache 
Sad to say I missed my gym session of course but I have devised a lengthy workout for today which will include some strength-building tension exercises, full body. Watch this space, as they say! 
Hi
Now a laugh.
My brain is getting better quickly.
My body much less so.
A few days after hospital.
I can now lift 20 Kilos and carry it 30 metres
I do two of those, and then need to rest for ten minutes.
A complete wimp, but getting there.
I think I am still as fast as ever and know where to hit.
I will know the 23rd of this Month, my assessment again.
I have no pretensions at all, I am getting older.
However my Mantra is the same.
A Yorkshire man and his money are not easily parted.
I am not in the same league as you Floydy , far from it.
I look forward to you aging, you will still be you and nobody messing you or your family about.
They will have a lot to be grateful for.
Thanks Swimmy.
I keep myself fit for just that though - to be healthy and strong in old age, when that arrives 
I fear nobody, as you don’t either, but I don’t often come across people who want to mess either. I never look for trouble. I’m a nice enough bloke who just gets on with his life and being unintentionally but obviously imposing in stature, I tend to feel safer than most. Big arms are reassuring lol.
To yourself though, and you’re making a good recovery by the sounds of it. Physical strength isn’t everything and to be quick and agile often puts you in a better position to defend yourself against bigger blokes, should the need arise, if you tend to find yourself in those precarious situations. I do not.
Keep well mate
OGF, no need to worry about the question; just me blathering again . Let’s just say that after digging through the medical journals, I found plenty of evidence that moderate endurance exercise continues to facilitate brain cell protection and growth throughout life. Heaven knows I can use all the help I can get 
.
You are a lucky duck to come across your old friend with whom you could chat about all things running for a while. Those close to me tend to have their eyes glaze over at the mere mention of pace, sprints, and running shoes. No doubt you had to feel a little satisfaction in knowing that you could beat your old friend ;-), but we all know that the only competitor that really counts is the one in the mirror :-D. Still…!
Tachyon, my reaction was the same as Floydy’s in looking at your list; your reps and weights were most impressive! That you did a full body workout too must have left you feeling encouraged about your increased strength. You’ve come a remarkable way!
Floydy, a date with your wife is worth a dozen missed workouts. How nice that you all were able to have a little time to get reacquainted. In just a few more years your schedules will align and you can get to know each other better.
Surfing season is year round but my favorite time is in the next few months when the water is warm and I can shed the wetsuit. I am already working on triceps for paddling and pushups so I can press up quick enough to get on my feet. The problem with Kansas is that it is a thousand miles from decent surf. I’m hoping to be back in the water late next week. Send surf.
Swimfeeders, you can’t keep a good man down, and you must be an inspiration to your son and others around you that one can be at one’s best regardless of looming challenges. Your attitude to fight the good fight is important and I am sure your friends and family must respect you for it.
I ran a sad, huffing, puffing, 5 miles this morning in wind that was icy and knocking me around like a tumbleweed in the Arizona desert. It takes talent though to run with hair in your face no matter which direction you are running, trying to sweep it aside well enough not to run into trees and parked cars. If this keeps up, I might just have to shave my head. :twisted: