will the groundhog see her shadow.....

I have long doubted that there would be any interest in my twice and thrice weekly yoga sessions - more specifically the fact that my heels now touch the ground in downward dog, I can touch the ground (hands almost flat) on my forward folds, the pigeon is my most effective release pose, and I generally feel a deeper connection between body and mind. However, now that I have decided to run the 1/2 in Ottawa in May - with the goal of annihilating my previous time of 1:56 (with a solid 1:45) - I figure it is time to start posting my training sessions. And, using all those pb's being set by Overunder as additional motivation, I hope to discover the pure joy in running fartleks again while unsure whether there is enough oxygen being produced in this forest depleted city to ever fill my lungs back up to the capacity they need.

Wednesday:
6km run - 42:51 (I think the fact that I was giggling the entire way while breaking tracks in the newly fallen snow may have slowed me down but man it was fun!).

Thursday:
20/20 - Spin & Bootcamp (Was actually a fun class put on at the wee gym here at work. Bootcamp consisted of series of suicides, lunges, and box jumps 1 minute intervals with various arm weights during rest periods. Definitely got the heart rate up and nearly induced vomiting.)

climbing

squats: 235 x5, 5, 5. increase to 240.
deadlift: 255 x5. increase to 260.
chins: 8, 8, 8. increase to 9 reps.

forearms -
bb wrist curls: 60 x10, 4, 4.
db wrist extension: 10 x12, 12, 12. increase weight.

farmer's walk -
circumnavigating the gym, starting on the minute.
3.7 times round.

interpretation - I had to put the things down 70% of the way through my 4th lap or I was going to take a piece out of the floor.

last night - yin yoga. I'm having a love/hate relationship with this.

Center Hice

I never played hockey as a youngster. I taught myself to skate on the canal in my late 20's. I have always wanted to put a stick on the ice and play shinny but just haven't brought myself to it. Until this past weekend when I got the invite.

It was awesome. It felt natural. I got an assist! I got taken out by a goon! Sure, he was 10 or so, but he was good! Anyway, my first game of neighbourhood shinny at my kids' school with my super awesome son, half in French, half in English on a bright but cold January day is a memory that I'll use to replace some other, lesser memory that I'll take to the grave.

Anyway, I was sore after that.

Today was a brutal workout; first in 4 days not counting my NHL debut.

Three rounds for time of: 800m run, 10 90lb thrusters, 15 pull ups, 20 front extensions. I had to swap a 1000 meter row for the first run as there were many 'walkers' on the treadmills today...

1000 row: 3:10
800m: 3:10, 4:00
completed all the rest in 'I don't know how much time' because my stopwatch crashed. Crashed. Go figure. Probably in 30 minutes. Or longer. There was much oxygen debt.

after

after my squats and dips, my shoulders are sore but i can eat all the walnuts and hazelnuts i want.

lifting over head

this morning.

bench @135.
incline db press @60.
pec deck.
cable press.

okay, this wasn't me. it was the other guy in the gym.

me:
squats: 230 x4, 4, 4.
push press: worked up to 115 x2.

evening time. lots of sets of dips between two kitchen chairs. not sure if my failure to do more than 4 reps on any set has to do with the fact that the chairs are wobbly or that I was in front of a mirror and actually bending my arms to 90 degrees or more.

forearms.
12 wrist rolls.
3 sets of 10 captains of crush grips.
2 sets of 15 lateral hammers.

Got the runs

That's almost everyone else in my house. I did mine at the gym yesterday:

5K : 21:24, no stopping, at 1% (mostly, there was a 1/2 mile at 0.5%, mostly used for gasping air). After a rest, 400m in 1:25. Four miles in 30:10 altogether.

Today: bearing the ponderous burden of causing $400,00,00.00 in lost revenue due to schedule delays. Or something like that.

overunder

it's not a competition except against our former selves. jeez. that's what i tell myself about these squats.

squats: 225 x5, 4, 1. had to bail out at the bottom with the 4. fun.

as stated, resting the arms this week.

And I've been thinking. Read this article which has a blurb about kitty cats. And another article which has a blurb about monkeys.

kitties:

Why does it work that way? It's perhaps related to a concept known as "cultural para-stimuli." Nobel laureate Victor Starling coined the term after conducting an infamous study on cats. First, he took half the cats in the study and performed a type of brain surgery on them that made them act in bizarre, often self-destructive manners. Then he put them in with the rest of the cats.

Did the crazy cats normalize their behavior to match that of the sane cats? Nope. The normal cats adopted the crazy behaviors of the surgically brain-damaged ones.

monkeys:

The study went something like this: Researchers put a bunch of monkeys into a room. In the middle of the room was a tall pole. On top of the pole was a bunch of bananas. When the monkeys got hungry they began to climb the pole.

That's when the fire hoses came out.

Yep, the experimenters would knock the monkeys off the pole with jets of water before they reached the bananas.

Soon, the monkeys became trained; they learned they could never reach their goal. The bananas were off-limits and the monkeys finally stopped trying to get them. In fact, they began to pull each other off the pole if another monkey decided to have a go at the bananas.

Now for the really interesting part. Researchers took one trained monkey out of the room and replaced him with a new monkey, one who'd never been hosed off the pole. When the newbie monkey would spot the bananas and start up the pole, the trained monkeys would inevitably yank him down and smack him around a little. Soon, the new monkey would also start pulling his hirsute brethren off the pole.

One by one, the experimenters would replace a hose-trained monkey with a new one. Finally, the room contained only newbie monkeys -- monkeys who'd never been sprayed with the fire hose, monkeys who didn't even know the hose punishment existed.

I'll give you one guess what they did.

You're right. These monkey-trained monkeys would keep pulling each other off the pole. They didn't know why they did it, they just did it. Every one of them wanted those bananas, but the hungry monkeys wouldn't allow each other to reach them.

Mostly I feel bad for the monkeys and the kitties.

Pep talk

Dudes better watch out, I'm going to catch you on the presses. Reps of 8, 6, 6, 6 at 55 lb today -- practically chuckin' it up there. Thinking I'll add 5 pounds for every month of pregnancy I have left. ;-)

Not that Yoga Master and Squat Guy need the motivation these days, but anyway.

Lame-athon

Fug its busy at the Goodlife!

Three rounds for time of 500 m row, 135 bench press (max reps), 15 pull ups. Total time 24:40, 70% of which was spent doing pull ups. These are not getting easier. On the rows though 1:55, 2:03 and 2:10 . This is new to me and frankly just a little taxing. Also, 10, 10 and 7 on the BBQ press.

Winter Squats

That's a play on "Winter Squash" and I will tell you why; going below parallel with 255 lbs on your shoulders causes just a little claustrophobia.

This was Monday. Warmed up the squats with 10 x 155. Then 5x5x5x5x5. I worked on form, going to or below parallel on all but 2 movements (or so it felt): 225, 245, 255, 255, 255. Threw in 30lb DB curls in between because, well, nothing better than doing curls in the squat rack: 7,6,6.

Followed up with a 7:38 mile, 2min walk, then 400m in 1:25.

catch up

Today:

squats: 215 x5, 5, 5. increase weight.

stopped there as when i was warming up on the presses my left delt tweaked again. I'm going to avoid upper body work for the week and see if that helps.

so . . . i went for a jog.
3 miles (that's 5.1 km to you ms. hedda) in 34:16. Heart rate: 146bpm. This was pretty slow but i sure wasn't pushing it at all. And the snow was nice.

last week:
Tuesday - hatha yoga at work. The instructor touched my hips. And laughed.
Wednesday - frozen car. Lunchtime yoga basics in the neighbourhood rather than work.
Thursday - yin yoga. I love this. It is stretching and no postures that you have to hold until the damn leader is done talking.
Friday - hatha yoga at work. I am the only person that drips sweat at yoga. More research needed.

I though my muscles were really loosening up and that my left delt ache was a distant memory (oh well). I'll keep going. Hip toucher is tomorrow.

pulling

had to scoot down quick for a workout because my other project is taking time away from this. But that's just a fluke on Fridays.

rotating between the three every 1:30.

cleans: 155 x2; 145 x1, x0. these were low. holdover from yesterdays squats?
seated row: 160 x5, 5, 3.
chins: BW x9, 6, 4. grr.

oldtime-y

this is what glee club over-achiever overunder heard some underling say to describe his lifts at the club. ha.

also, in the stair well are new signs. "Please....hold on to the hand rails". I think "...." is assumed to mean, "for the love of god".

squats: 205 x5, 5, 5. goal met, increase weight to 215.
presses: 110 x3, 3, 2, 1.
dips: 12, 12, 6.

Cleaning Power

Ever scrub a bathroom tub? Its hard work on the shoulders.

Today was Power Cleans. I don't do these much but plan to.

Warm up: 30 front extensions, 30 back extensions, 95 x 5 power cleans.

Then 5x5x5x5x5 power cleans: 115, 125, 135, 125, 125. Easy-ish. I thought my form was ok. After that, 245 x 5 deadlifts, then a mile run, 7:25 (attempted a fast 800M but ran out of gas at 600m- ran a 3:15 800, walked for a bit, then ran a 1:25 400m to finish.

Oh, NOW my shoulders feel like they are being pinched to death. Spock! Stop f*cking around I am working here!

I would not be able to scrub a tub tonight.

Quick Run

Treadmill, 1% grade, 1 mile run; 6:11. Three minute rest then 400m run; 1:26.

Weighted pull ups: 25lbs + chain. 7, 4, 2, 1.

yoga

heavy squats are easier than this.

Makin' Shit Up

Today's crossfit looked interesting, with virtual shovelling (shovel with a 45 lb plate on the end of a barbell) and a stupid amount of pull ups but there was no way the Goodlife would permit me the space to pretend to shovel a giant dung heap. Si I made one up, using the same reps.

For time perform 30, 25, 20, 15, 10 and 5 reps of 50lb overhead DB swings and push ups. A sweat-tee 18:49 my friends.

yesterday was phone curls

squats: 195 x5, 5, 5. increase to 205.
presses: 105 x5, 3, 3.

set starts every 3 minutes (well, except for the last two sets of the press which got sped up because someone was waiting and i am far too canadian).

some time later . . .

seated row: 145 x5, 5, 5, 5, 5. increase to 160.
db bench: 60 x5, 4, 3.

wanted to do more but it turned in to a hornet's nest down there.

Sunday 5k

Its sunny out, but cold (-10 C). While I enjoy a good winter run, there is no sense in trying for PB's; the cold, dry air makes it hard to breathe as deeply as you need to, and if you try you get an ice cream headache, and the sidewalk / roads are pretty lumpy with packed snow. This forces you to alter your gait.

Anyway, today's run was hard, really hard, to complete but completed it was in 25:55. The benefit of a slow time was a next to nothing recovery time.

Did I mention how snowy and sunny it was? If you look waaaay in the back ground you can see the penguins milling about...

Friday push fest

After work at the Squat Rack Grill:
5x5x5x5x5 back squats: Warmed up with 10 x 45, 5 x 155, 5 x 175 then 5 reps each of 225, 245, 255, 265, 275. The last two sets were troublesome and I did not go as low as I would have wanted (just parallel at best). Finishers were 15 x 155lbs all the way down as punishment. I'll work on form before adding anymore weight.

Also did 7 singles of push press: 95, 105, 105, 110, 105, 105, 105. Practiced my power clean movement as I did these. I want to do more PC's and want to nail the technique

I like coupling these two exercises like this.

Also, went for a great, cozy meal of BEEF TENDERLOIN, among other delectable, at l'Echelle de Jacob, a gem of an eatery Ms. Hedda found.

Lunch run

Running on the treadmill at 1% grade. A 0.4 mile warmup run then a 22:25 5k. Nothing earth shattering, but man that's hard. Oh, and its not without some pride that I note that my heart rate just after the run was 27 bpm higher than the treadmill decreed 'cardio zone' heart rate of 140 for my advanced age.

Goal: hit a 20 minute 5K by May. Maybe the NCR weekend, hmmm daddy-o? To do this I think working on 4 x 800 runs, fast mile runs and 5ks at higher % grades would be the thing to do.

the rundown

dips: 35 x2, x2, x2, x2, x1 (9)
press: 80 x7; 70 x8, x8, x6. (29)

later in the afternoon . . .

chins: 10 x8, x6, x4, x4, x3 (25)
seated row: 130 x10, x8, x7, x5 (30)

finisher type thing -

bench dips/alt db curls
20/10 @40lbs (5 a side)
10/2
6/6 @35lbs

forearms:
bb wrist curls: 45 x20, x10, x10
db wrist extension: 15 x10, x6, x5 (both sides)

db hold: 70lbs per hand, hold for max time.
33s/23s/20s.
Started at the tick of 2 minutes (like the sets do).

evening . . .
3 rounds of
-6 wrist rolls @ 20
-captain of crush trainer gripper 12 reps a side
-16 lateral hammers a side.

Feeling run down and not nailing things like I think I should. Maybe this should have been an off week. I have been going harder for a while now.

oh mickey, you're so fine

was it me? i thought i called the tao of stieb that today but i could be wrong.

90s sprint/3:30 rest x5.
10 mph, 10, 9, 9, 8. Dropping the speed helped a lot. I'm still in oxygen debt.

Mickey Fickey!

Someone just called me that.

Made up a circuit today. Don't why I thought it would be light after yesterdays neanderthal lifts. My hands feel like lobster claws. My shoulders ache.

3 rounds for time of 25 24" box jumps, 15 dips, 15 pull ups, 50 sit ups on a ball.

Time was 28:56, which I think is horrible, but I am not sure. I was gassed. Also, went for max dips on the first round and hit 21. Max reps for pull ups is , well, 15. But it drops of steeply from there.

Soul Sucking Deadlifts

Wow these can beat you down.

Strength day: 3x3x3x3x3 deadlifts.
Warmed up with 5 x 185, 5 x 205, 30 front extensions, 30 back extensions. Then:

3 x 225
3 x 245
3 x 255
3 x 265
3 x 275

I have never been over 245 before. It felt as though I had another 20 lbs in me. I should have tried for more.

Then a 1 mile run in 7:30.

m-w-f

chins: 35 x5, x2, x2, x2, x2.
press: 105 x4, x1, x0.

done at the two minute mark.

evening . . .
rowing intervals 5x500m w/ 90s rest.
1 148.0/171bpm
2 155.3/174
3 156.0/178
4 157.5/181
5 156.8/182
total 2500m/9:33.6/154.7 for 500m

did this previously on Sept 27, 2008 (and performed slightly better at that time - which makes sense I guess because I was still playing frisbee).

elevated pushups: 15/11/11. feet on the counter.

forearms:
3 rounds of
-5 wrist rolls @ 20
-captain of crush trainer gripper 10 reps a side
-15 lateral hammers a side.

After those three rounds I did plate pinches with two 10 lbs plates. Longest was 1:18 on the left side (1:02 on the right). So I gave the right a couple of extra reps. Did similar on Dec 22.

Fridiay, back to work.

Treadmill 5K after all that holiday gorging:

23~something...the stopwatch on my Ipod crashed fug. It was HARD! But I did it. There were a lot of douchebags at the goodlife on Friday. They all looked so...resolute;-)

Added 100 push ups (10 every 45 seconds except for the last two sets...1:15 for those) and 15 x3 deep front extensions.

happy new year

have tweaked my low back; I should be able to milk that for a month's worth of excuses on doing leg work.

dips: 25 x3, x3, x3, x3, x3. increase weight.
seated row: 115 x10, x10, x10, x10. increase weight.
db curls: 35 x5 (a side), x5, x5, x5, x5. increase weight.
facepulls: 100 x10, x10, x10, x10. increase weight.

finisher-inspired type activity:
bench dips 23, dips 4;
6, 1.

forearms:
bb wrist curls: 45 x12, x12, x12, x12. increase weight.
db wrist extension: 15 x10, x10, x6, x3. left side was weaker so always start with the left side.

farmer's walk inspired hold:
2 db @ 70, hold for 33s.