1134 - End of February Fitness Updates

I've increased the distance of my morning jogs this February. My original goal was to do four laps, a little over 4 km, everyday. First week I did this something felt wrong on my Friday jog. I felt some pain on my (surprise, surprise?) right leg. So I cut my jog off at 3 laps.

After that week I just decided to do four laps for MWF and three laps for TTh. This will hopefully give me some time to "rest and recover" from my morning jogs. And it appears to be working.

The only time I didn't complete a morning jog was when I had to go out of the house for some work-related errands. And there was also yesterday, when I really wasn't feeling it so I just did two laps.

Speaking of feeling it, I've decided to try to do TTh as all jog instead of intervals. I had managed to do that this week, except for yesterday and only doing two laps.

So far I think my body is gradually adjusting to these changes I've been doing. I've noticed my average heart rate is getting lower during my jogs when my pace is around 8:30 min / km and above. Anything in the 8:20 min / km is where my previous average HR was. So I guess I'm starting to hopefully get better stamina.

Out.

[1133] New Restomod Idea

I keep thinking about the Suzuki Carry restomod that I didn't realize that there was another restomod opportunity staring me in the face. The Suzuki Samurai.

For context, my dad does have a Suzuki Samurai that is in dire need of restoration (or it needs to be sold from what he said). Anyway why focus on looking for a relatively really small car that will need surplus parts for the restomod when I can probably just dream about restoring and modifying my dad's Samurai?

To begin with, the base will be the Samurai. It's still a relatively small, narrow car. It's a long-wheelbase variant so it is around 4 meters long, but aside from that it's a pretty narrow vehicle. So what's my plan?

Well what I can say is that an engine swap is still my main idea. The current Suzuki Jimny, Suzuki Ertiga, and Suzuki Carry being sold here use the K15B engine and I guess that should be a good power plant for the Samurai. Then swap to an automatic transmission from the current Jimny. Maybe include the wiring harness, AC, as well as the brakes from the new Jimny.

So basically a Suzuki Samurai body with Suzuki Jimny internals. It's crazy and will most likely be expensive. But it would be so cool.

Then upgrade the sound system and lights, and a rear LED chase light bar, nicer rims but keep the tires as road tires and keep a set of all-terrain tires.

Out.

[1132] Car Ownership

I have no idea if the technology has just gotten so complicated or advanced, but it seems like it's probably safer to have your new cars serviced in authorized service centers.

My dad recently sent me a youtube video about some important things to consider when owning a Toyota Raize. I watched it and I realized it would be more practical to just continue maintenance in the service center even after the warranties and other stuff are done.

This is not a knock against service stations, or maybe I'm just being paranoid. I just think the more practical solution is to have experts maintain and repair the car than trying out independent service centers. This doesn't mean bad things may happen to the car in the authorized service center, but hopefully these bad things are less likely to occur. We shall see.

Another thing I thought about while watching the video is that it seems to me that these new cars are built to have an "expiration date" that basically means you should probably try to sell them after x number of years and buy a new car. I guess everything is disposable nowadays.

Out.

[1131] Travel

I've recently been watching a lot of local travel vlogs on Youtube. I guess it's one way I try to escape, by living life through someone else's point-of-view. The videos I've watched did get me thinking though.

Honestly I want to travel locally without flying. I want to try riding boats to Bacolod, busses to Ilocos, and maybe even busses to Iloilo. The only problem is no one wants to try it with me.

Sure I could do it solo, but being the introvert I am I honestly feel like that wouldn't be very healthy for me. I've travelled alone by plane, but that's different. That took at most, including waiting in the airport, around five-to-six hours, specifically when I went solo to Iloilo. And that trip was partly "business-related."

I want to try travelling to other places in the Philippines for a vacation, with the travel as part of the activity. Bus, boat, train, I'm game if you are. I'd even be willing to do a road trip if the person I'm travelling with can also drive and is willing to share expenses.

The biggest problem with a road trip is that we'd need a capable, practical vehicle. And that is something I don't have. Hopefully whoever will go with me has a capable, practical vehicle. Capable meaning ideally not a car so it can navigate bad and bumpy roads. Practical meaning fuel-efficient, reliable, and small enough to maneuver around tight provincial town roads.

Out.

[1130] Fitness Motivation and Pacing

I recently saw this IG reel from Hybrid Calisthenics and it talks a bit about two motivation types, intrinsic and extrinsic. He also mentions that intrinsic is the more effective way, adding that doing too much or too little may cause someone to feel frustrated or bored. This was about exercise.

This reel resonated with me because I realized how true it is when it came to me and jogging. I realized I would be more successful with achieving my targets in jogging when I did things "my way." My way meaning I would do my research, do my own program, and do my own pace. So yes while it took me a month of interval jogging 3 km x 5 days a week before increasing it to 4 km x 5 days a week, I never felt deflated or tired of doing that target.

Full disclosure though, I "failed" my first week of 4 km x 5 days. I was experiencing pain on my right leg on the fifth day and only did 3 km. So this February instead of doing 4 km x 5 days what I've decided to do is alternating 4 km and 3 km days. Hopefully this will give my body a little bit of rest and recovery so I can hopefully increase to 5 km and 3 km days by March.

Yes I just adjusted my targets. I thought I could do 4 km for February then 5 km by March before stopping intervals. For now I think I'll try 4 km and 3 km for this month and 5 km and 3 km next month. If I can do that regularly then by April hopefully I can try 5 km intervals and 3 km full jogs. We shall see.

Out.

[1129] Suzuki Carry Restomod Crazy Thoughts

I just realized that the Suzuki Carry being locally sold here uses the 1.5L engine being used in the Suzuki Ertiga. I'm guessing this means it'll be a tight squeeze to try to swap that engine to one of the old, locally sold Suzuki Carrys (Carries? What's the correct plural for this car?).

So we go back to my really crazy idea of just buying a Japan surplus DA-17V Suzuki Every Van's engine, brakes, and transmission to the older Suzuki Carry. I'm pretty sure it'll be easier to mount a 660cc RO6A kei car engine to the engine bay of the old Carry that most likely used a F10A 1.0L engine.

Then just swap the current transmission in so that we can have either a fully automatic transmission or the auto-gear shift transmission. As for the brakes, whatever calipers have more readily available pads and rotors in the local market will be the higher priority.

I guess one concern for the engine swap is that the Suzuki Every Van has space in the front for the radiator, brake fluid reserves, and coolant reserves. I'm not sure if the classic Carry has space for those. But then again, that's why this is a crazy restomod idea.

So to reiterate, find a locally sold Suzuki Carry/Super Carry and use it as the base. Engine, transmission, wiring harness, etc swap with a DA17V Japan surplus Suzuki Every. Modify to my tastes, and hopefully get to drive it around.

The only problem now is money.

Out.

[1128] Exercise Update

For most weekdays in January I did an interval jog for three laps a day. A lap is a little over 1 km where I do my jogs.

Wait, interval jog? Yes, a friend of mine told me some people do interval jogs to train. What I basically do is jog for 3 minutes, walk 1 minute, then repeat until I'm done with my morning exercise.

So again, most weekdays I would do this. It's been three weeks, actually. Starting this February I increased the distance to 4 laps, which is over 4 km.

I'm most likely sticking to interval jogging for now. I plan on increasing my distance to 5 laps come March, and hopefully by April I can drop the interval part of the jog. We shall see.

I've noticed some changes to my body since I started doing this. The biggest one is with my heart rate during exercising. My smart watch is a Tozo S3, a gift from my mom. Anyway, when I started doing this morning weekday system the duration of my aerobic and anaerobic heart zones was almost similar. I spent about equal parts in both heart rate zones. Note that these are the names of the zones when I check my information in the Tozo Health app.

Now I'm spending more time in my aerobic zone and less time in the anaerobic zone despite maintaining my pace of around 8:50 minutes per kilometer. I guess this means that my body is adjusting to the workload and it's less of an effort to power my jog.

Now I'm not sure if my understanding is correct but this aerobic zone could also be the "mythical zone 2" heart rate zone that I used to obsess over when I started getting interested in riding bikes again.

Who would have thought that I'd be able to train myself in this zone doing jogging of all things? I just hope I can maintain consistency with this and keep this up and eventually do 5 lap jogs every weekday mornings.

Out.

[1127] February 2025

And just like that, January is over. Sure some people have said it feels like a year has passed since the new year started, but for me it feels like a blur.

We're already in month two of 2025. Pacing is crucial, as well as a good perspective, to do well this year.

I hope this self-awareness and growth I am experiencing continues to trend in a positive direction.

Out.