Sometimes you can’t get a full workout in, here is a quick workout you can do at the sports field.
Bike Tour of San Francisco
Elizabeth and I had an amazing time doing a bike tour of San Francisco. We started at the Bay Bridge, worked our way along the bay, went under the Golden Gate Bridge, and stopped for lunch at Baker Beach.
Most of this can be accomplished on bike path and it all feels pretty safe. The Presidio Tunnel Top Park is a major highlight, it’s so well done.
Here is the link to my Strava map https://strava.app.link/hFi1GfOjULb
This is a great ride, give it a try.
Explore Nashville Run With Elizabeth
Nashville, what a great city. This morning’s run was about seeing various areas of the city and ending up at a local coffee place for beverages and a little food. Part two of the adventure was walking back to the hotel.
I researched a few coffee places and I saw Vanderbilt University was in the area so that gave me my two points of interest I was looking for.
Vanderbilt did not disappoint. The school is 150 years old and very pretty. We had a great time running through exploring and ended up using more milage than expected in the campus.
From there we set off to find Honest Coffee Roasters on Lea Ave. The City is fairly easy to navigate so it wasn’t hard to find. A coffee, a juice, and an avocado toast hit the spot. The people were great there.
We took a different street back on the walk back to the hotel and saw a whole bunch of other cool stuff.
I’m going to call this Nashville exploration mission a success.
Here are our Strava maps
#explore @nashville
The Key to Fitness Success – Consistency
There is only one way to stay fit for a long period of time, and that is you have to be day in and day out consistent. It gets even more important as you get older because any gap in workout time, the body is much less forgiving than when you were younger and it’s even harder to get back on track. One of the ways I have been able to maintain a level of consistency is to create what I think are fun challenges to shake things up.
Last Saturday it was on-and-off rainy and I was scheduled to ride 50 miles on my bike. The rain is not a problem because I have a very nice Stage studio cycle at home but the thought of riding 2 hours, 20 minutes on a stationary bike, in the garage was a bit daunting. So instead of compromising the time or distance down, I thought about how I could make it a fun new challenge. It had to be something I had not done before.
As I am brainstorming with myself on what what I could do, I remembered I am training for the Murph Challenge this Memorial Day weekend. Then boom, it all came together. Combine the long ride with Murph Challenge Training and now I have my workout. Hit the link and you can read all about the Murph Challenge, an awesome Memorial Day tradition.
For this workout I am going to do five sets of 10 Pull-ups, 20 Push-ups, and 30 Squats. I’ll do one set to start the workout and one to end, and three about every 40 minutes give or take depending on the bike interval pattern. I did a little video about halfway through the workout, you can see it here.
All total I did 50 Pull-ups, 100 Push-ups, 150 Squats and rode 51 miles and I had a blast doing it. I used those numbers for strength because that’s half of a Murph. Getting off the bike for those few minutes to do the strength set was a great break in the rhythm. It felt great balancing the bike with some super functional body weight strength training. The whole thing took 2 hours 55 minutes and MyZone says I burned 1,954 calories which is really close to what the bike said as well.
The point is, if you are going to have a fitness program that lasts a lifetime, you have to find the tricks that will help you stay consistent. It all starts with creating a weekly routine that is easily repeatable. For a lot of people it’s having a buddy or a group really helps, and for others it’s setting weekly and monthly goals. Find what works for you and stay with it. I am happy to help anyone who may want some help setting up a weekly routine that is easily repeatable. My email is Ralph@ralphrajs.com.
Plan an Event
Today I completed my second half marathon of the year and I had a great time. Last month I did the race with Elizabeth and our daughter Hannah and today with our son Davis.
What I find very interesting is all the positive things that happen just for signing up for an event. First, it keeps you accountable to a time based goal. More important, it gives you an opportunity to invite others to either do the event with you or come along for support. When we did the Huntington Beach Half I invited our family members to participate, and six people signed up for and did the 5K. For all six this was their very first event. We had such a great time and had I not invited them it would have never happened.
This week I did something fun and I signed upfor a 50 mile gravel race in Arkansas. I’ve never done one and I don’t even have a gravel bike but I have plenty of time and I ride about 450 miles per month.
There is something very energizing about trying something new. That is my thought for you, consider signing up for an event this year. There are so many great things to do, especially in the spring and fall. Invite a buddy to do it with you- the world is out there waiting.
Approach Your Fitness Like Beating a Video Game
I was talking to a friend the other day who is an avid gamer and also happens to work in the video game industry. When I talk to him about his gaming and leveling up, or acquiring new items in a game he just lights up. He was in San Francisco for a work trip and I was telling him all the cool places he should go while visiting. He said he would have to walk like five miles to see all the things I had on my list.
In my head I am thinking that’s a pretty cool 5 mile route. In his head he is not sure he could make it.
That got me thinking how being fit gives you access to places and experiences that others don’t have. The fitter you are the more ground you can cover in a given period of time and the more you get to see and do. Much like a video game, the better you are the more in the game you get to experience.
As people’s fitness improves as does their confidence to explore and try new things. This opens up all new worlds of life enriching experiences IRL- in real life.
Just start, you never know what you will discover even in your own neighborhood.
Crissy Field
Winter Cycle Workout
One of my favorite things to do is to create new workouts that are challenging (hard) but still fun. On a recent rainy Saturday morning, the day I usually do my long bike ride outside, I was relegated to the Stages stationary bike in the garage. It’s a great, I would just rather ride outside.
This cycle workout was inspired by two friends Jarod Cogswell and Yancy Culp, who together created the DEKA Competition under the house of Spartan Racing. I linked it so you can check out their format which is very creative and cool. I knew I wanted to ride at least 2.5 hours and I wanted to shake it up with some additional conditioning. So here is the imagery. I did a 30 minute warm up, get things flowing ride before I got into it. Then I used most of the DEKA stations and adapted the best I could. The idea is you do a DEKA station off the bike, then jump on the bike and ride 3 miles to the next station.
I like to do distance as an interval rather than time because it rewards hard work. Each of the 3 mile bike segments also became its own unique mini challenge. Below I outlined each of the strength stations and each of the bike sections.
End of the ride I had 41 miles, 2.5 hours, and a really good overall, whole body workout. Don’t be afraid to mix things up. It makes for fun workouts where the time flies by and you get a little butt kicking along the way.
#DEKA #MyZone #Cycle #Stages @MyZone
Workout Variety – Point to Point
I have no problem staying motivated to run and ride. But without being able to add in organized events I have found ways to create my own challenges.
One way I have found is to do point to point runs. You need a way to get back, hopefully a friend will cover you but this opens the door to all kinds of new adventures.
This last Sunday I did something I have been wanting to do a while and that is to get into the hills by my house and run a to the end of the trail. It’s only 8 miles but the elevation gain made it very challenging. Link to my Strava
If you are looking to create a challenge for yourself consider a point to point adventure.
