2017 Health & Fitness thread

When I was there I had the impression that it would be a great place for road bikes. Nice smooth asphalt some pretty neat climbs and dh sections. Of course I was loaded with 30kg of luggage and only took a small detour from the Rhine into the Black Forest but I definitely enjoyed it a lot and I plan to return at some point in the not so distant future (new bike is mandatory for anything longer than a few days worth of riding). I already have a few tours planned this year, nothing in southern Germany - but who knows.

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End of week 2, 300km cycled, 2.2kg lost. Tomorrow I go out with the club on our Sunday run. Last week it nearly killed me so hoping for some improvement this time.

Interesting listening to you guys talk about the hill situation in Germany, here in Bretagne (France) it’s almost impossible to cycle more than 500m on the flat. Nothing spectacular but leg sapping undulations. And almost constant wind. I found Germany to be a very cycle friendly country and always enjoy being on the road there.

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@Camembert Flat terrain is nice but it can get boring pretty quickly. As you can see in my pic there are basically no hills around here. The ones we have are old mine dumps and slag heaps. The highest one is 101 meters. That’s it. I guess the region is named Lower Rhine for a reason xD

That’s what I liked about Switzerland. Lot’s of mountains but also flat parts if you just want to cruise on a nice bike road (Aargau). Yes, that’s true, there are roads only for bikes in Switzerland. It’s pretty cool.

Edit:
My Strava training log this year so far

I actually gained 1kg since Christmas but I have always been a little underweight so that’s actually a good thing xD

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Some nice progress here!
I lost more than a kilo during the last few days, I have to keep that up once the family is home and maybe I can really go below 90kg before summer.

I want to do it slowly though, no big diet jumps because those make it too easy to get that old yo-yo effect again and bounce right back.

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Definitively take it slow. When I started in spring the 25km route via the ferry took me about 1:20h. That’s just moving time. It doesn’t include the ferry.

Now it has to be a really bad day to even approach 1:20h for my standard 28.5km ride. I had a sick day in December where it took me 1:30h for the 28.5km ride home. That was with a bad cold and a slight fever.
It was a stupid thing to do but luckily I was back on my feet after a days rest and I took it easy for the rest of the week.
Next time I’ll definitely take the train though. It was my worst ride yet and it’s not worth repeating.

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Actually, there is evidence that some form of exercise when sick with the cold and flu strengthens your immune system, so not stupid after all :wink:

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Hmm…sounds like some exercise-elitist anti-fatty propaganda right here, but, according to Men’s Fitness (dubious source, I know) it is apparently not lethal to still do some exercise while sick.

http://www.mensfitness.com/training/training-qa-should-you-exercise-when-you’re-sick

I figure why take the chance, which is why I don’t exercise while I’m healthy, either. :wink:

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If I have simple cold I excercise like I normally would, maybe just take it a little easier than usual, but that ride was horrible. In the end I couldn’t put enough force on the pedal to clip in and even clipping out on my other foot was hard. I barely had the power to get out of my cycling clothes and make myself a hot tea before I passed out on the couch. I simply won’t do that to myself again.

That sounds like me after every ride I do , fit or unhealthy :slight_smile:

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went for a quick run and a long walk. 5.5km, 42 minutes. Phone saying 500 cal burned. Followed by ab ripper x ~ 80-100 cals. So about 580 total.

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Dropped to 158. Progress.

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I’m down 6 lbs., but am visiting my dear Mom and Dad, so Mom’s cooking will put 3 back on this weekend. :plate_with_cutlery:

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Case in point…woke up to this…

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So decided to run off some of that breakfast. Caveat - I’m not a runner…and at 230 lbs…I’m definitely not a fast runner. My goal was to just keep up a jog but not hurt myself. So I did one section (4.11 km) at a light but constant jog, and another section (2.5 km) at just a cool down walk. I’m actually liking this running in mid 40’s temps…

Not as impressive as the numbers you guys are putting up…but it’s a start…! :+1:

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Good start Chris. Great day to get motivated! Is that an iOS app you are tracking with?

I’ll match your 230, well 229.9 yesterday on the Fitbit scale. Yes, a lard ass. Down 3 lbs from post holiday weight, but a long way to go to get out of the 200 club. That will be my goal for July 1. Would run today, but have a lacrosse game at 3:30. Still have the bronchitis crud in the longs and haven’t really run for 3 weeks. Great combo!

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Down another 4 lbs this past week. Now that my heels have healed up again, I’ll be back to running this coming week. I overslept this morning and missed a trail run with friends of mine, but instead of kicking myself about it too much, I’ll run downtown this evening and double up the workout tomorrow morning at the Y. Found yesterday evening that Saturday late afternoon is apparently also a great time to go and get pointers on my lifting form from the trainers working out there in their off time. I’ll have to do that again.

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The 4 and 1 Outlaws. Chipwich is second from left back row. Baby brother is to my right. Beautiful day to play lacrosse be we won 9-7 in a hard fought battle. Love these guys.

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And here I am, watching this thread, eating butter pop corn.

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I felt good this evening so I added 7km to my commute:

New PR for that little climb :relaxed:
4:32 for 1,2km at 5% average grade. I still think I can do better because the last bit had a lot of ice and I’m not quite sure where that bloody segment ends. I rode around the general area at the top for about 10s before I got the confirmation on my Garmin.

Edit12345:
Friggin’ German keyboard on my phone changing words and capitalizing at random

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Did a 7k run yesterday. Haven’t been able to get any good runs in this week. Went terrible and the inner muscle in my left knee hurt afterwards. Bugger…

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