Motivate Me: The HEXUS Excercise thread : post your pain ;-)

[Butcher]

That seems to be an inherent part of climbing for some people tbh - I have a mate who has always got bits of his fingers shredded and ends up wrapping most his hand in grip tape every time he climbs! I seem to be one of the lucky ones - I hardly ever shred my fingers, and I also don't get sweaty hands at all which makes life easy. I do have a nasty habit of bashing some part of my against the wall though - can't remember the last time I finished a climbing sessions without at least one new graze

For me it's not shredding the skin that's the problem (my skin has toughened up due to climbing frequently), it's ligament damage. Basically this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climber%27s_finger It has been doing a tour of my fingers recently, had it on most of them at this stage, luckily only in the milder annoying form, not the serious crippled finger form.

Like you, I've stuck with climbing because it's by far the most fun I've ever had doing that much exercise. I sometimes hit outdoor climbs with a group of mates: I'll be posting piccies next time I get out

Outdoors is excellent fun, much better than indoors, I try to get out when the weather is nice.

[Tumble]

I need some SERIOUS motivation here chaps. THe trouble a mouse click can get you into! On Strava they have monthly challenges, both for the cycling and the running. I thought I was joining the cycling one (which I have now) but actually I joined the running one. It wouldn't be that bad if someone hadn't seen it and joined too just to challenge me on it. I suppose the fact that he can't really run either is a little silver lining...

[b0redom]

Sign up for an event which will stretch you. There is nothing like the terror of an imminent event to get you exercising. Especially good if if you can compete against someone else for a bit of banter. If you get bored use audiobooks they're good for distracting from the pain.

[scaryjim]

... I thought I was joining the cycling one (which I have now) but actually I joined the running one. ...

What's the actual challenge? If I'd been unwittingly signed up to run I think I'd probably go for cross-country routes since they should offer lower impact than roads and are generally in more pleasant surroundings That does depend on you being somewhere that you can get to nice countryside though (one of the very few benefits of living in Manchester, that ).

[Tumble]

It's literally just 'how far can you run in August' which in itself isn't such a bad thing, except that there's a mad fella on the Isle of Man who's seen that I've signed up for it, so he has to and now I have to beat him at it. Should be fun trying,and I'll probably lose, but it is a good kick in the bum to get it done.

[[DW]Cougho]

I cycle regularly. I'm far from great at it but I absolutely love it.

I used to do a bit of running which I quite enjoyed once I was out, but the motivation to get out was poor. I ran a half marathon a few years ago after being roped in by a friend - this was meant to spur us on to train regularly which we didn't, we both rocked up at the start line having done no running in the preceding months. It was painful, but we did it.

My Dad (58) actually got into cycling first by buying some old mountain bikes for him and my mum off a family member, this spurred me on to buy my own used mountain bike and the love affair started there. Today I have a fairly nice road bike and try to get out about 3 - 4 times a week weather (and work) pending, I cycle either alone or with my Dad - naturally the rides with him are short, sedate affairs but if I am half as fit as him when I reach that age I will consider myself to have done well.

I completed a 45 mile ride for charity at the weekend which I loved, so looking to get into doing longer rides - my target being able to do first a metric century then an imperial one.

Regarding the knee problem, try cycling - my dad has problems with his if he doesn't go out on the bike for a couple of weeks, he finds it really helps.

[peterb]

20 minutes on the treadmill this morning at an average speed of 12.4 Km/h.

[scaryjim]

It's literally just 'how far can you run in August' ....

Lol, I reckon I might run as much as 200m in the whole of August. Yes, that's METRES, not MILES

I suppose my issue with the logging (and one of the reasons for this thread) is that I can't be bothered most of the time. It adds extra effort to my ride in that I need to remember to get much phone out, fire up the app, and start the log; then stop the tracking app when I get to my destination. If I had a bike computer that also did GPS, so when I started biking it started logging, and when I stopped biking it stopped logging, I'd probably log and upload every metre my bike travels. But I have a computer to monitor my speed while I'm biking, and I know how far my commute is, what the route is, and how fast I'm likely to do it. I just can't be bothered with the effort of tracking that as well (particularly given it's fairly short). So there's no point my signing up for those kind of challenges: I'll almost certainly log half or less of my mileage via strava.

As I said, if the challenge to me was to run as far as possible in a month, I'd be looking at proper cross-country running, getting on softer ground. Then again, I always preferred cross country when I was at school, so perhaps that's just a personal preference. I guess if you've got someone to compete with that gives it a nice edge and pumps the motivation up a bit

[peterb]

Suffering with the knees this morning, but managed 25 minutes at 11.4 Kph, and then 15 minutes on the cross trainer.

[Butcher]

Pulled another finger ligament tonight, annoying, but that's what hanging basically your whole bodyweight off two fingers does if you're not careful (which I wasn't clearly!)

[scaryjim]

Pulled another finger ligament tonight, annoying, but that's what hanging basically your whole bodyweight off two fingers does if you're not careful (which I wasn't clearly!)

What grades are you climbing? I've yet to find any route I'm happy with that would do that to me!

Been a while since I was on a wall mind; really need to get a regular session going again (my old Sunday evening climb seems to have gone by the wayside a bit recently)

[Butcher]

Usually 6b-7a indoors at the moment. I keep being a wuss and aiming for 6b climbs and finding them too easy though which isn't helping me improve.

Finger is much better today, don't think I properly sprained it luckily.

[Dooms]

I'm climbing indoors twice a week at the moment - About the 6a grade at the moment but I've only been climbing a couple months so I'm ok with that

[fuddam]

I'm doing a lot of little rides recently. Commuting 2.5 miles to the station, then another 2 miles by Boris bike, and same on return. That's not a great deal of mileage, but doing it daily is what has the real impact on fitness.

Now I've stepped up the pace on the return journey, esp from the station, trying to set a PB each time. Makes for interesting times in rush hour traffic, lol

On Wed had bit of an extra session: at 7:30pm, added in a ride to local park around 2 miles, then ran a mile or so, then did a mellow boot camp-type session with some friends, then finally biked another 3 miles home through some woods. Made for a long day of exercise, but want to add it to my weekly schedule.

kinda funny that the evening session had both me and my training bud hoping the other was going to call in sick, to leave us in the 'unfortunate' position of having to stay home with a glass of wine.

obviously, once we got going, felt much better for the exercise. So often a battle between the head and the body - have to decide which one is in control

[scaryjim]

... About the 6a grade at the moment but I've only been climbing a couple months so I'm ok with that

That's pretty good, took me quite a while to hit 6a's regularly (which I can do now ). Although having last > a stone in the last 6 months has made a huge difference to how easy I find the climbs: I just need to work on technical aspects now (and get some new shoes; my last pair are way too big now...!)

[peterb]

7.4Km in 40 mins on the treadmill yesterday.