happy halloween, ghouls and boos

snatch: 112.5x3,3,3
clean: 152.5x3,3,3. broke a pr from 3 fucking years ago. biatch.
press: 120x5,5,6
deadlift: 275x8. i used, for the first time, the dry hands stuff we used in prague and it worked wonders. first time ever i didn't feel like the bar was going to drop to the floor for the last 4 reps.

there were no 400m sprints on friday. or saturday. or sunday. tomorrow!

Why? Why? Why?

I'm kind of starting to hate the fast 5K, but I keep doing it anyway. I figure at some point I will get better at it. Surely?

Also, it's a fair compromise between "run in the woods" and "hard workout". I'm doing myself no favours (pleasure-wise) by sticking to this godawful hilly route, but that's where the woods are.

So, 5K = 23:58 minutes.

A minutes and a quarter faster than last time. Interestingly, I did get seven hours of unbroken sleep last night.

Sprints and bodyweights

Only the second workout of the week (Tim was too snotty to send to school on Monday). So, I did my sprints and my "lifting heavy things" all in one go. The sprints were a little long, but not as long as a 400 m run. :-)  It looked like this:

Row 250 m in just < 1 min (1:55 min/500 m pace)
Rest 1 min
25/leg Bulgarian squats
Row 1/rest 1
5 pike position presses*
90 sec plank
Row 1/rest 1
25 push-ups (knees)
Row 1/rest 1
5 + 5 cheater pull-ups (two legs for support)

(In summary, that's 4 sprints and one round of five bodyweight exercise that theoretically hit the key functional areas.)

Cool down with 1000 m easy row.

* Start in a downward dog position and do a shoulder press til your head hits the floor (or thereabouts). This is about a half-dozen steps on the progression ladder from a handstand push-up.

Emma - if you guys are looking to increase your indoor workout possibilities, I recommend the Concept 2 rower (we are currently babysitting Daddy-o's). Once you get over your hatred of rowing, it's fabulous: versatile, compact, and easy on the joints.

Thems big...

...Those squats Daddy-o.

Yesterday (oh no, not today, today we have one of our thrice weekly not enforced but you have to be there lunch 'n learn fun fun fun project alignment meetings because everyone is too meeting-ed out to have a meaningful discussion any other time). Seriously, any attendee should be able to call into question the relevance, effectiveness or importance of a given meeting at any time and call "Shenanigans".

Aaaanyway, yesterday: barbell warm up then rower sprints. Thirty seconds on full sprint, 90 seconds off x 8. Relatively easy. During the sprints I was pulling~ 8.4 K / 30 min or so, at 39 SPM.

Followed up with deadlifts (135 x 5, 225 x 5, 245 x 5) and 10 knees to elbows.

gleek

does the top of your head burn when you do heavy squats? gah, i don't like that.

bench: 147.5x5,5,5
squat: 260x5,5,5. didn't think i'd be able to do this actually. it'd been a month and i upped it by 5lbs like it was on monday. it was touch and go.
tricep thingy: 62.5x4, 60x5,5. gotta reset down to 55.

i was going to do barbell rows but my rotator cuff is tight, it's late and i already said good bye to the other guy. i can rationalize quitting quite easily.

glad to emma back, was worried she didn't need us after her bikini trip was a success.

we are doing our 400m sprints tomorrow. gross. then we're going to see cuff the duke.

Thank God I worked out today

... Or I'd have been the only LA.

Wednesday = Zumba but to make it a workout I ran there and back :). It's only about 15 min each way but at least my heartrate was above resting for 90 mins :)

Yesterday was dinner at Taylor's. Monday was a run (in case I didn't mention that).

If I sit here long enough do you think PR will start cooking dinner?

Alone time

Wow, I'll just add to the flurry of posts today!

I did a long slow run. 7.4 km in 43 minutes.

And by slow, I mean I made an effort to "jog" and keep my heart rate relatively low. I even slowed down on hills. (Usually when I run a LSD, I go as hard as my lungs will let me, based on the distance.)

It was kinda weird to not push, but really... pleasant.

Your turn, Emma!

Nice use of the infinity symbol

'Cause it feels like that when you are running, doesn't it.

Me an GB hit the trails today near work. A 3 K run to a bench where id did 5 rounds of 10x 20 inch box jumps and 10x Not Quite Hand Stand Push Ups TM*. Then 50 fast BW squats and a 2 k run back to work.

* The NQHSPU is done with toes up on the back of a park bench, hands on the pine needles and ass in the pike position. I am sure it was...entertaining? for the old lady watching ducks from her car.

finishing up

i had to go back to the gym to finish yesterday's strength workout as i was in no mood to do so after the 400m x ∞.

press: 117.5 x5,5,5
curl: 85 x8,8,5

not entirely MIA

quietly trying to focus on my yoga practice. found it to be the best lunchtime activity for me. so while not running (IT band hurt on my first back in canada run. have had to endure daddy-o with the rolling pin to fix it, more painful than the sprints!) I am sneaking over to the new yoga studio a couple of blocks from the office. aiming for 3x/week and hopefully a yin class on the weekend.

I'll also be back in the gym once in a while to offset the sprints.

Oh and I am also taking a class on this

that sucked.

while i was gone i read Dan John's Never Let Go. One of the things he suggested was 400m repeats. and we know the other glee clubbers do them so how hard can they be? ouch. we did 3 reps of 400m, walking recovery.

we meticulously mapped it out and then we went.
josey: 2:22/1:53/2:04
daddy-o: 1:59.9/1:52/1:40

and of course, we were wrong. so the first run was 510m, the last two were 440m. so, adjusted times are (because i'm cool like that):
josey: 1:51/1:42/1:53
daddy-o: 1:34/1:42/1:31

presses delayed til tomorrow.

Monday = first run

Did an easy 35 min trot, which was 5 mins more than my ankle was happy about. I'm running thou' :)

#occupycabin

we brought a skipping rope, shorts, and running shoes. the wine was delicious. there was no running or anything. an easy 40 minute hike looking around for the trail (in so doing we pretty much saw what we were supposed to see - gigantic cedars). i don't know how they labelled the hike 1.5 to 2 hours.

snatch: 110x3x3
clean: 150x3,3,2 last rep failure was a function of overthinking the trap pull (already obsessing about the jump and the drop under the bar)
deadlift: 270x5. could have easily done more if i had some chalk. bring some dam chalk!

more later. presses.

This week

Zumba'ed Wednesday (as I get the moves I am starting to break a sweat during these classes and I think it must be good for the abs. Smetimes I feel as if I'm at a strip bar thou!)

Thurs was active lifestyle - nice autumn evening walk with dog and husband. The unusualness of Pete walking with us called for take out Thai and wine :)

Friday was a nice dinner, actually an amazing dinner, at Black Cat Bistro.

Today was KarateFit - tough class that made me feel very nauseous towards the end so took a bit of a breather. tonight T and K for dinner and all winter comfort food - wouldn't go down well with HK :). Still haven't listened to the podcast as trying to figure out how to get it off my email/computer and onto a mobile device so I can listen and multitask. I will though . . .

Maybe tomorrow will be some strength stuff .....

Happy weekend Glee Clubbers! I bought a wonderful selection of wine today (mostly Spanish) - will share the good stuff.

And you thought squat tabatas were hard

The sprint tabata I did today was officially the hardest exercise I have ever done. (Run all out for 20 seconds, rest for 10 seconds, repeat x8 in total.) Ten seconds have never passed so quickly and ineffectually.

The squat and push-up tabatas that I did before and after (respectively) the sprints felt like a walk in the park in comparison.


The numbers are my push-up reps. Squat reps were a fairly steady 19/set. The distance covered by "all out running" got shorter and shorter with every set.

Primal Run

Well, I wasn't wearing fur or anything, just long (for me) and slow and winding through woods: 8.4 k in 50minutes, with a hard 275 m sprint on the bridge at the end. Legs were sore after yesterday. Better than work!

Primal bodyweight

I've been reading Mark's Daily Apple lately. I'm not sure how gimmicky it is, but it sounds good to me so I've given way to my personal biases. So yesterday I did the "lift heavy things" portion of this approach. (My workout on Friday fell into the "sprint" category.

It means doing fairly high reps of the following five essential movements (x2): squats, push-ups, pull-ups, presses, and planks. (The type of each -- ie: wall squat vs. pistol squat; knee push-ups vs. one-handed push-ups; pike presses vs handstand push-ups, etc -- depends on what you can manage.)

Bookended with 1000 m easy-ish rows, I did two sets of:

25 proper push-ups (from the knees)
25/leg Bulgarian squat
10 two-leg assisted pull-ups (likely what Emma called "pseudo pull ups on low bar")
5 (barely) pike presses
90 sec hands/feet plank

Part of what makes me partial to this program is it's acknowledgement of the benefit of "move frequently at a slow pace", which to me is the same as "active lifestyle" (ie: walking 4 km a day just to get my kid to preschool and back, wearing 35 pounds on my back for two hours while walking around the market, etc.) which should be worth something when you can't pump iron all the time. Also, the approach to eating seems practical, rather than hardcore paleo.

Today my quads are pretty sore from those Bulgarian squats.

Me 'N GB

Pounded out a heart rate killer today.

Adapted from the cross fit WOD: three rounds for time of 50 double unders and 10 pistol squats (each leg). Time was 15:05. That's a bit high.

Tuesday = KFit with bands

Even thou John taught the class it was relatively tough. Good Ab exercises: sit ups the length of the room (sit up, scooch over a bit, sit up rpt), pseudo pull ups on low bar, walking blank down other length of room x2

I feel good to be back working out. Tomorrow is zumba and thurs will do more strength stuff

Scaled a crossfit to my demise

I am finally willing and able to work out again. Many reasons why its been such a long break.

Last night: a great game of Frisbee.
Today: Three rounds for time of run 200m + 5 pull ups, run 200m + 10 dips, run 200m + 15 push ups, run 200m + 20 back extensions on the GHD, run 200m + 25 sit ups. Time was 38 minutes and change.

Looking back, FUCK ME! that's 15 200 m runs. Not sprints, mind you, I was on the treadmill. I did each one at 1% grade and 10.5 MPH except that last 2, which I did at 10 MPH. Me and my new buddy had a blast!

Monday = KFit

Ok, I'm back on the program :)

Started the week with a KarateFit class and ankle held up-ish.

A natural

Yesterday we had an inside day, and I was doing some BW exercises while Tim watched TeeWee. He was inspired, and got in on the action.

Pretty good form for his first try, huh? Of course "up and down" consisted of nodding his head forward and back. But dude can count to 10, so there! He showed off this skill by counting my squats.

Anyway, shortly after this he decided that push-ups (and planks) were better "on Mommy bi-bi-bi-big back", which pretty much shut down the operation (I cannot do a single push-up with 30+ extra pounds). We played pillow dight [sic] instead.

Showing the kids how it's done

There was a window of lovely weather today, so I jogged over to the park and did some hill sprints.

Nine sprints, each about 12 seconds of full-out, with a 70 second rest in between (40 to walk back down the hill, 30 just letting my breath come back).

I ran the last two sprints to the cheers (jeers?) of a group high school boys who'd gathered at the top of the hill for their gym class. And yes, my ninth set was gratuitous. Punks.

♫ sunshine on my shoulder ♫

4 rounds of bike ridin' 10min, bookended by 70s of skipping and split & jerk practice. So 5 rounds of skipping.

Have a great weekend everybody - to the crickets that are still here ;-) We're off to New Denver in K-country tomorrow. Not really. We are going to the Kootenays. Not to be confused with the Kokanees or Kanannaskis (which is the actual K-country). We'll be shacked up for a week readin, sleepin, drinkin wine, mountain watchin, and doing BW exercises.

Here are pics from our last camping trip in August. It was stellar. When are you guys coming out again?




Look at this young buck!


For the rest, click something.

Spray Lakes #18, Aug 2011

vulture

bench: 145 x5,5,10
deadlift: 265 x7
barbell row: 147.5 x5,5,10. Should have done sets of 8 but I missed that part when I looked up my weight.

Yesterday, I practiced my snatch and jerk with the empty bar. And I jumped rope.

weekend in banffff

no hiking, no mountain biking, strolling at the most. it was glorious. there was brisk mountain air and snow. josey's sister and brother-in-law were here. they were very big fans of the mountains.

today, i did
snatch: 107.5x3x3
clean: 147.5x2,3,3
push press: 140x3,3,3,3,3
curls: 82.5x8,8,8

<some time later>

4 rounds of bike ridin' (10min) & dumb bell sit-ups (10# db's x13) & back extensions (13) & v sit rotations (12#x26)

In pursuit of a faster 5K

Twelve hours after chasing some U20-yr-old varsity soccer players around the frisbee field, I punished my legs and lungs with a short and anything-but-sweet set of "eights":

Four rounds:
Run 800 m
8/leg split squats (rear leg raised)
8 low bench push-ups (used the side of the kiddie pool at the park!)
= die.

Downhill runs (#1, #3) took 3:20 minutes. Uphill runs were 3:35 and 3:45 minutes respectively. Time between runs = 1:30 min (including squats, PUs and a short rest).

Wish I could say I did eight rounds. Maybe I'll put this one on repeat and add on sets each time. (Ugh, just the thought puts me in traction.) I'm such a wimp.

Caribbean

A week on the yacht and a few days by the beach = a bit of swimming, some kayaking, and nothing else!

Latté on a stick

We were completely behind schedule on everything this morning, starting with an 8:30(!) sleep-in. So that I would have time left in the morning for my pre-nursery-school-pick-up latté, I picked a short-as-possible workout, and did it as quickly as I could.

5 rounds for time:

50 squats
Run 400 m
= 14:42 minutes.

That's a PB on this workout. Previous times were 16:15 and 16:50, and the fastest I've ever done it was 15:35. I'm pretty sure I counted everything right (sidewalk chalk and all).

Yeah, the lure of the coffee is that powerful.

Later at the park, I did some chins, some bench dips, and some kid-assisted swing planks. And by kid-assisted, I mean I held a plank with my hands on the swing (already pretty hard), while Tim climbed the plank. Talk about taking it up a notch!

fall

snatch: 105x3,3,3
clean: 145x3,3,3

bench later with a reset to 142.5. and that try to improve my grip thing w/ 225 lbs.

skip

more biking and skipping (no chins).

5 mins biking, 1 minute jumping rope x5

flop and a failure

press: 115x5,5,6
snatch: 105xcomplete abject failure. not sure if this was from my chin up orgy yesterday or there is a more fundamental issue going on (like being old and not recovering from monday)
deadlift: 260x6
curls: 80x8,8,9

Might as well jump!

Did 5 easy-peasy rounds of 5 minutes on the bike. Then I did 3 chins and skipped rope for a minute. This was not meant to be exhausting, just to get me moving. Then I stretched while still doing chins. In total, 30 chins and 5 minutes of jumping rope. Getting better at the rope thing.

Not getting better at this

5K = 25:16 minutes. And I was trying. Ugh.

(Maybe I'll improve when I start getting more than six hours sleep each night? Say, in five years or so?)

Plus 60 lunges (3 x 20), even though we played a long game in the rain last night.

one year ago

I landed in TZ and ate more rice and beans (and fries and beer) and had no access to a squat rack. Plus, I was only three months into a ten month battle with a torn rotator cuff (I can still feel it back there, ready to pounce). I got fat in the wrong places.

cleans: 142.5 x3,3,3,3,3

<more later>

bench: 157.5x5,5,4. fuck. i had a lovely spotter, too.
squats: 255 x5,5,5
lying tri ext: 60 x8,8,8

Another rainy day row

Plus big presses!

Here's the rundown:

1000 m row - 4:32 min (fairly intense but not a race)
split squats - 45 lb x 8/leg (back leg on bench w two risers)
1000 m row - 4:30
presses + push presses - 65 lb x 4+1, 3+2, 3+2
1000 m row - 4:30

Stretch + latté.

I bailed on the split squats because I didn't want to suck at frisbee tonight. If the game is canceled, I'll punish myself tomorrow. Tuesdays: nursery school is half an hour longer!