Athlete Vaporists?

[VapeEscapist]

I also notice that vaping makes me feel more active than smoking the same variety. Not sure why that is?

My theory is that smoking is injurious and therefore taxes the body more because it's recovering from the damage.

Vaping isn't a drag on the system in the same way so you tend to feel cleaner, clearer, and more energetic.

 

[vapirtoo]

Hey, Your Highness
Thanks for the shout out bigging up the group.
Motivation comes from those you respect!
Before this Omnicrom super transmissible shit,
your outdoor 15k would have been reasonable as
being in the wind is super safe. (Check out last years
Tour de France with thousands screaming into the racers
faces with few positive results)
Now all bets are off as we wait to see just how bad this
new shit is.
Right now consistency is my main problem. I walk, ride
and hike most days, but with varying degrees of effort.
I'm trying to ride in the cold like VapeEscapist, but it is
hard getting off the porch. Zwift to the rescue....... maybe.

 

[Siebter]

My theory is that smoking is injurious and therefore taxes the body more because it's recovering from the damage.

I can totally confirm that. I started running about 15 years ago, switched to vaping in 2018 and stopped smoking entirely half a year later, since then I see a constant improvement of my fitness which then increased my motivation to run more (and more) – by how much will probably depend on how much one used to smoke; I used to smoke quite a lot (cigs & flower) and now think that I actually became a „serious“ runner last year when I saw my fitness being unlocked and saw myself being able to run consistently (and much longer too). As a smoker I used to cancel runs all the time, just because I needed a strong motivation to even stand the exhaustion that a 10k run gave me (and it was fun when I had the motivation), now even a ten miler or a half marathon makes me feel happy and fresh. Huge difference.

 

[VapeEscapist]

I actually became a „serious“ runner last year when I saw my fitness being unlocked

I've heard it takes 3 years for a tobacco smokers lungs to recover fully and that seems to line up with what you've experienced.

Cannabis likely saved my life, and a bike has helped me self actualize into the stud I always was. I literally traded cigarettes for cycling to work everyday 12 years ago and then completely fucked combustion 6+ years ago. It's not easy to gauge my fitness progress for multiple reasons but when you ride for transportation you never really stop getting a certain level of base strength added on. I'm also pretty proud to have a resting heart rate of 50.

Cycling is relatively low impact compared to running so I started out doing century rides within my first year. I had great results training this past Spring and Summer and I'm really psyched to resume that amount of training when the weather improves again. I was doing a solid 50 mile loop once a week in some 90+degree days and by the time I rode 100 miles in much cooler temps I was feeling very very strong.

October 2010 I decided that there was an invisible umbilicus connecting me to a bike and that was how I would live out the rest of my days. It's a lifestyle for me and I've learned how much a person can adapt their life around cycling in an urban environment to make it "safe" and sustainable. One of the worst things is just keeping my gear clean. I make so much laundry, especially in the winter, it's a real challenge with no machine in my building.

I thought I knew the city streets well, but now I know the micro-topography of many streets. Their smells, the style of the drivers in each neighborhood, which bodegas will let you bring the bike in on a cold day for a hot cocoa. I've seen many a beautiful and horrifying thing from my saddle around NYC, sometimes there's too many to remember in just an hours ride but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I only wish to ride safely into old age, and am pleased so many people are taking to bikes, especially since it will grow the infrastructure.

 

[kel]

Another plus one here!! Smoking is shit if you do it a lot or daily and especially bad if the first thing you do in the morning is smoke,, odd one here and there doesn't make much difference, if any, especially if you are young, but the older you get the more the die are weighted against you, best to just stop.

I am not quite 2 years having stopped smoking, so still got a ways to go it would seem... but if I ever did something just in time, that was it... I had long-* from having had a super mild case of * right before lockdown which has destroyed me and especially my lungs - feels like so much capacity lost. I am okay, running, feel better, but whether I will ever be the same again... who knows? Most of the bad symptoms have subsided, (the terrible wheezing and rapid onset muscle fatigue) but still have occasional tinnitus which I never had before, but the headaches, inexplicable aches and pains, random eruptions on my skin etc. have all gone thankfully! Counting blessings. Hope to be 100% okay again one day and if not, well that's okay too. If you get to this age then you have done better than a lot of the rest of the worlds population. Every day very young people die, more and more it seems at the moment. Count blessings. They are taken away so easily.

Last run, which felt good, was 5.62 miles, 1:16:35, avg pace 13:35 min/mi, 728ft elevation climb - this is over the moors so contending with boggy ground, loose stone, patches of ice, etc. so not great, but not entirely terrible either!

 

[Nina]

self actualize into the stud I always was

Me too I have always been a stud and I always will be

this is over the moors so contending with boggy ground, loose stone, patches of ice, etc

That's a very different kettle of fish to just normal running, much more challenging, in many ways I think it must be better for your brain because it's challenging your neuromuscular coordination more?
Then again greater risk of falls and injuries, I had to stop running with earphones in because I was much more likely to trip over like that, my knees and ankles have taken a battering the last fall I had I landed flat out and I think I cracked a rib.
And then there's the times I nearly got into fights with people whose dogs are out of control or who deliberately got in my way, intimidating small women seems to be a kind of sport for some people, I prefer running with my husband because no one tries to intimidate him.

 

[VisiblyVaped]

It’s one of those days where my last vape session makes me anxious to work out, but in a good way. I won’t start for another hour but I look forward to it.
Train back and biceps in the gym, with some light leg rehab work.
I herniated a disc about 6-7 weeks ago and it’s still causing a bit of nerve impingement which causes weakness in one quad muscle on the left leg, like the signals aren’t quite getting through properly.
It’s weird but apparently fairly normal. I only notice it when walking up stairs, doing my unilateral leg training ( think one leg extensions or TRX pistols) or a bit when I’m out of the saddle in a sprint during a Zwift race. Just not QUITE as strong as I was, but I’m ok with working to get back there.

I’m doing another race for cardio after my training today, caffeine/EAA’s with L-Citrulline is great for getting me through sessions like this……….

happy training and happy vaping folks!

 

[His_Highness]

And then there's the times I nearly got into fights with people whose dogs are out of control or who deliberately got in my way, intimidating small women seems to be a kind of sport for some people, I prefer running with my husband because no one tries to intimidate him.

The "dog thing". I marvel at the number of dogs illegally walked off leash, let out to do their business with the owner standing in the doorway instead of being next to their dog as I run by..... Some dogs see someone running and think the chase is on OR see someone running towards them and get scared. Nothing worse than a sizeable, scared dog even if leashed.

I've had dogs my entire life and I love them to pieces but c'mon .... if you're the owner you need to follow the laws.

I don't say anything to the owner unless the dog isn't under their control and aggressively approaches OR CHASES ME. The dog issue doesn't happen often but its happened enough to become something I keep on the outlook for especially when running at night.

EDIT: I don't engage with the owner. On a body language basis I ignore them. I never meet eyes with the dog/owner because dogs view that as an aggressive act. I look away enough to be able to see what's coming, I keep the same stride and remain calm. If I'm coming from behind I'll say something like "Passing on the right" and swing very wide. I do all this with the thought that if I'm bitten I need to be able to say I did everything to avoid antagonizing the owner or dog because I've seen owners lie about who was the cause of the attack.

 

[VapeEscapist]

The "dog thing".

Cyclists encounter this quite a bit as well.

For us there's a few options depending on the situation.

Some cyclists carry mace.

Some try to outrun the animal (it's possible but not easy).

Others ditch the bike asap and try to make themselves resemble a benevolent human as much as possible, talking sweetly, acting friendly.

I have only been chased once, and it was while I was riding in upstate NY. I didn't know what the dog was going to do if it caught me so I outran it.

 

[Nina]

I was chased on a bike by a dog, I was effing terrified, the owners were oblivious, I just pedaled madly until the dog gave up and ran back to the still oblivious owners, I stood there for a while watching breathing hard feeling like I wanted to throw a hand grenade. (fortunately I dont carry them in my saddle bag )
another time 2 dogs being aggressive and I had to use my bike as a shield while the owner tried to control them whilst she also pretended there was nothing untoward happening. The time I was bitten by a dog when out running, the owner just acted like nothing had happened, well he knew there was nothing I could do I didnt even have a phone on me, small traumatised bleeding woman vs man + dog, he knew he wasnt going to face any consequences. I remember his face tho and I still look for him.

 

[Siebter]

Hm, I never had any trouble with dogs while running. Here in Berlin we have about 100,000 dogs and even when I exercise at a later hour, I will encounter at least three or four dogs (and their owners), some of them on a leash, some not – might be a different thing when running in a city environment, but anyway, I never saw them as a thread or issue at all. When I was younger I had a girlfriend whose parents had quite an aggressive (and big!) dog and I learned that the more confident you are (to the point of simply ignoring the dog), the less likely it will see you as someone who he can potentially chase.

To be perfectly honest, I have much more issues with cyclist who are biking on the sidewalk or in parks, which is not allowed here in Germany. They are usually much more aggressive too. :-)

 

[His_Highness]

I've been chased and growled at by tiny dogs and found it funny. I've also been "stopped" during a run by two white Samoyed's that had escaped their back yard and decided to circle us while barking and growling. I normally try to avoid this type of thing by keeping my pace, remaining calm and just going about my business but they weren't having it and their human wasn't around. My wife was with me so I stood between her and the Samoyeds, stared them down, yelled "NO"! repeatedly and raised and waved my arms to look as big as I could. They turned away after a few seconds.

The worst was the Shepard mix that was a rescue that a petite young lady was responsible for and was walked at night along my 5K route. That dog was terrified and ready to bite every time I saw it and the girl was having a hard time holding it. If I saw them up ahead I'd just turn around. Pretty sure if I got within 10 feet that dog would break free. I inquired on Facebook if anyone knew who the girl was because someone needed to talk to her and the parents about a muzzle. The response on Facebook was that the dog had attacked someone and had been put down.

Don't get me wrong...the "dog thing" doesn't happen often at all. I've been running for decades (Sometimes with my own dog) and its maybe been 5 times...... but when it does happen you don't forget it...it's jarring and terrifying depending on the dog.

 

[Nina]

My wife was with me so I stood between her and the Samoyeds, stared them down, yelled "NO"! repeatedly and raised and waved my arms to look as big as I could. They turned away after a few seconds.

If I'm with my husband I have no fear of dogs whatsoever, he has that confidence that Siebter mentions, good with dogs and I'm very aware that they 'respect' him, when we had dogs they would ignore me and 'flirt' with him, to them he is the high status important person, I'm just dinner. Well not really they were small dogs, I wont share my home with any powerful carnivore when I'm made of meat.
When I'm running and there's a dog with it's owner who's going slowly and the dog looks longingly and I know it would love to just run free with me, well then I feel sorry for the doggie, maybe I should offer a dog running service (only to the small polite ones tho )
Dogs imo are the quintessential human companion animal, but we need better ways of dealing with owners whose dogs end up causing problems for others.

 

[VapeEscapist]

This reminded me of something from last summer.

I was riding in Manhattan uphill on a no-car multi-use street uptown and a guy had an enormous pit bull mindlessly next to the only path for a bike to come through and the dog sort of barked and nipped at my heels as I passed, so close I felt the dogs breath on my ankle.

I was pretty upset as I continued up the hill. The guy was oblivious, looking at his phone, apparently completely alone among the other 7,999,999 people on Manhattan island. I'm pretty sure I did yell at the guy (something about, control your animal maybe) and he didn't even flinch.

 

[His_Highness]

Running last night and came in contact with a guy walking a beautiful shepherd pup. Guessing the pup was around 6 months old. I'm lit up like a Christmas tree when I run and the pup's master saw me coming long before I saw him/them. As I got within about 30 feet I could clearly see that the owner gave the pup the command to heal and when I got closer he gave the pup the down command. The pup followed the commands crisply but was acting nervous, tail wagging, never took its eyes off me and was "chuffling" as I went by them. I appreciated the training the pup was being put through when I came by. Good owner and soon...good, well trained dog.

The county I live in requires cats and dogs to be leashed when off their owner's property. I have cat owning neighbor's who know the leash law but don't follow that law with their "outside" cats. There is a cat that keeps showing up in someone else's backyard and it is making their dog crazy to the extent the dog owners were scared to let the dog out alone in their own fenced in yard. The dog's owner posted a pic of the cat and asked if anyone owned it without going into why they were asking. The cat owner posted that they were the owner but when the dog's owner subsequently explained what was happening and that they would have to have the cat picked up by animal control if it keeps coming into their yard .... the cat owner replied that there was nothing they could do since the cat was used to going outside every couple days and that the cat "came with the house when they bought it". The dog's owner mentioned that the cat's owner had already admitted, in writing, the cat was theirs and that this was going to end badly as the dog was going to get into a fight with the cat and both animals would get hurt but...... in any case the dog's owner knew where to send the bill. Waiting to see how this work's out.

 

[VapeEscapist]

I had 2 hours on the bike today. I really like the 2nd avenue bike lane, it's a game changer for East side riders.

It was warm enough that I even had moments that I enjoyed the ride and I felt pretty strong even though my mileage was a bit low lately. Another cold snap is coming in about a week but the snow was taken off the forecast, so I'm thankful for that.

Never stop, never stopping, folks!

 

[MinnBobber]

OK, I am going crazy, reading about cycling when it was -20 F and 8 inches of snow here in
Minnesota.
I need a good road trip to get my cycling fix.

?? Where is there warm enough weather and decent/safe roads and maybe some interesting scenery in …. central US??
Like going south from St Paul,MN on I-35 past Kansas City…

But not all the long distance to Texas Hill Country which is great but too far.

Ozarks or Bentonville or Eureka Springs??

Thanks for any suggestions !

Ideal would be a central spot for lodging and a good 70 mile ride each day….. a long day drive to get there, 3 days of riding, and head back home.

 

[shopdognyc]

I am someone who has run marathons, ultramarathons, triathlons and up to an Ironman while a smoker. I think I quit 10 years later vaping more. Everytime I wanted to smoke, I went to cannabis.

I don't do anything endurance related but just strength with kettlebells and barbells. I do miss being out on the road.

 

[vapirtoo]

Just came back from a 3 mile walk in 19 degree weather.
Had my hands out using the phone, and I couldn't get
them warm with the gloves back on.
I started breathing really deeply for about 10 min.
and, presto, my hands warmed up lovely, so much so
that I touched my wife as soon as I walked in, and she
was amazed at their warmth.
I'm an old boney fucker who always has hands of a corpse.
Maybe I should be breathing deeper all the time; not just
when taking a toke!

 

[Ganjora]

recently got myself a garmin forerunner 745 heart rate monitor watch.
am very glad santa splashed out.
the tech has come a long away from the polar one i had about 30 years ago.
wrist based monitoring is the way to go, much more convenient, and if you wear it the whole time, the amount of data harvested is something else.
been following the daily suggested workouts for a couple of weeks, and enjoying it immensely so far.
the training, while challenging, has definitely been slightly easier but far more varied than i'd usually do.
did some interval training yesterday, which was like the hard part of the week, and have today (sunday) off.
anyone followed the suggested workouts for a month or 2 and have an opinion?

 

[Berzzerkker]

recently got myself a garmin forerunner 745 heart rate monitor watch.
am very glad santa splashed out.
the tech has come a long away from the polar one i had about 30 years ago.
wrist based monitoring is the way to go, much more convenient, and if you wear it the whole time, the amount of data harvested is something else.
been following the daily suggested workouts for a couple of weeks, and enjoying it immensely so far.
the training, while challenging, has definitely been slightly easier but far more varied than i'd usually do.
did some interval training yesterday, which was like the hard part of the week, and have today (sunday) off.
anyone followed the suggested workouts for a month or 2 and have an opinion?

I remember purchasing the first Polar HR monitor back in 1983-84 when I was an Exercise Physiology grad student, cutting edge tech at the time.

 

[His_Highness]

recently got myself a garmin forerunner 745 heart rate monitor watch.
am very glad santa splashed out.
the tech has come a long away from the polar one i had about 30 years ago.
wrist based monitoring is the way to go, much more convenient, and if you wear it the whole time, the amount of data harvested is something else.
been following the daily suggested workouts for a couple of weeks, and enjoying it immensely so far.
the training, while challenging, has definitely been slightly easier but far more varied than i'd usually do.
did some interval training yesterday, which was like the hard part of the week, and have today (sunday) off.
anyone followed the suggested workouts for a month or 2 and have an opinion?

I've had multiple smart watches for running beginning with a Nike simple step tracker that used an algorithm instead of GPS to track steps, time and distance.... to my latest which is a Fitbit Sense that replaced my Fitbit Surge. My wife has a Fitbit Charge 5 that is also a killer smart watch. So much data being turned into information and functionality producing insights. Love being able to go back in history to see trends like running/training progress, resting heart rate, sleep quality, temperature, etc.

I have my own cardio (running and biking) and strength routines (mostly things like pushups, the ab-lounge, curls, planks, etc.) so I don't use workouts provided by other sources. Its hard enough to find the time to complete the running based training programs already on my plate.

Great idea @Ganjora !! Once I complete the current 15K training program (Here's the link to the running training programs I've been using for decades https://www.halhigdon.com/ ) I think I'll look into some other programs to reduce the boredom.

 

[VapeEscapist]

(mostly things like pushups, the ab-lounge, curls, planks, etc.)

I applaud your dedication. I have so much trouble motivating for these things. I had a sit up and push up routine for a while and then I had an injury which made me need to take a break from them and never got back into it. Cycling is fun for me, push-ups etc, not so much....

Rode about 1.5 hours in today's sub freezing chill. Raced an electric scooter over the Triboro bridge, and won, but it was a super intense effort, tasting blood at the end. He tried to block me on the downhill and I squeezed by between the concrete wall. Fucker had the gall to try to ram me into the wall but I am much much more stable than him and he just glanced off me. I laughed at him and pulled away effortlessly. At the bottom of the bridge he was still at least a whole city block behind me as I raised my finger to symbolize first place.

I sometimes race people, especially e-vehicles, to test myself. Am I stronger than their electric motor? It also shows them how much they are wasting an opportunity to gain fitness, and how a self propelled vehicle can make similar time/speeds. Some people don't take kindly to be raced, some people think it's fun. I don't do anything reckless so it's no harm, no foul. Many times I let others pull the reckless moves and use pure power to still pass them.

 

[Nina]

recently got myself a garmin forerunner 745 heart rate monitor watch.

Yay Garmin, I'm a garmin girl (Garmin granny more like )

He tried to block me on the downhill and I squeezed by between the concrete wall. Fucker had the gall to try to ram me into the wall but I am much much more stable than him and he just glanced off me.

OMG, how dare he!! A while ago I chased after and overtook a man on an electric bike who had the cheek to overtake me, the fucker overtook me back, I told him he was a cheat (luckily for me he laughed it off)

 

[VapeEscapist]

I chased after and overtook a man on an electric bike

It can irk me when I think that many of the e-bike riders don't appreciate the effort it takes to average the speeds e-bikes afford them. These same people ride a real bike like the Wicked Witch of the West.

It's such a tantalizing challenge, trying to catch them. A lot of them are capped at 25mph, that's a good clip on a bike so it's not always easy to pace them. On flats, with neutral conditions, I can out ride most e-bikes. Uphill is much much harder; any headwind or adverse conditions and I have trouble matching them. That's why today was a blood and guts effort. The dinky cheapo scooters don't fare well on the uphills, so I knew I had a chance. Downhill, a real bike almost always has the advantage when their governor kicks in.