Week two: check!

Last week I did manage to do my "workouts". Both with Ruby watching; once in my PJ's.

Wednesday:
4 sets of 12 thrusters
3 (or 4?) sets of 8 inverted bodyweight rows (ie: pull-up progression)

Thursday:
4 sets of 15 cleans (needed to up the weight, but the small plates were in the garage and it was minus one billion degrees outside)
3 sets of 10 push-up progessions (knees on the balls. Apparently this is progress from bench push-ups. Straight up push-ups are next, but I'm not ready...)
3 sets of 15 hip raises (no weight) *

* I've already got the minivan; don't need a saggy butt to complete my "soccer mom" look. Incidentally, I read this later in the day: "Pelvic Floor Party: Kegels are NOT invited." (Via Elsbeth V.) Share the link with your midwife when she bugs you about doing your kegels!

Also, my New Year's diet is going well, and I'm back into two of my three pairs of skinny jeans. Diet is very basic: "Only one treat per day. More or less." (Oprah beer counts as a treat. Harsh, I know.)

Not. Giving. Up.

Restarting. Again. At some point, something's gonna stick.

I finally got the squat rack set up in the basement. Not that I need a rack, since I'm not going to be lifting heavy weights for awhile. But space and easy access to the bar helps. Here's my plan:

Twice a week (while Tim's at school and Ruby naps), do one of each of these:

cleans + push-up progressions
thrusters + pull-up progressions

Ideally, three sets of each, starting with just the bar. That's it. Barely twenty minutes, including rests. I'll add a bit if I have time. Maybe throw in a row on the weekend if the kids are being otherwise occupied.

This was Week One, and I did each of the exercises. Today, four sets of cleans, plus a sets of good mornings. And my quad DOMS are nasty.

1200 hurts the most

16-12-8-4 today. Can't figure out why I like this workout so much -- it hurts so freakin' bad. Like you get that completely done one more step and I'll faint/puke feeling FOUR SEPARATE TIMES in under 25 minutes. Awesome.

Run

1600 m = 6:56 (6:38, 6:57)
rest 3 min
1200 m = 5:23 (5:17, 5:34)
rest 2 min
800 m = 3:23 (3:59, 3:25)
rest 1 min
400 m = 1:35 (1:43, 1:36)

Total -- 23:17 (23:38, 23:32)

In parenthesis are the times from my last two attempts. The times for the individual runs vary from day to day, but my total time seems to be pretty consistent. Because I don't always do the same routes (but I always Googlemaps to plot a route in our grid-like neighbourhood), some of the variability could be chalked up to a few metres here and there.

At any rate, the 1200 metres is by far the biggest bitch of the bunch. Overunder will concur. The 800 feels like a total pussy after that. Relatively speaking.

I also did some back work at the park on the way home from nursery school: 2 x 5 inverted rows (straight legs this time); and 7 individual chin-ups. And a quote from Tim, to show off his sentence-making skills: "Do tin-up on munging bar like Mommy did."

(He was calling chin-ups "mommy up and down" until I taught him the word. He was all over it, but could only pull off a few L-seats.)

Wakey wakey, achy achy

Still smarting from last night's ironman frisbee game, and Sunday's accidental-splitz during the wet playoffs that made my bad hip worse, I went for a simple mile today.

6:58 minutes. A few seconds faster than the last time on the same route.

It actually felt faster than that, but oh well. This will be my definitive route. Do you think I can scrape it down to 6:30 by summer's end?

I finished with presses: 60 lbs x 5, 2+3 push presses, 3+2 pp. (I know I should be doing five sets, but there are so many other things to squeeze into my little freebie morning! See below.)



Then jogged 2 km to Zellers (in a failed attempt) to procure bedding for the gerbil cages, which apparently will live to stink another day.

And stretch.

Reminder: stretch now and then

Or maybe today's lesson should be: don't try to make up for lost time by cramming a bunch of workouts into a week. Without stretching after any of them (needless to say, warm-ups were also in short supply.)

As a result, I just about ended up prone on a neighbours lawn when my glute max began seizing on the last round of this:

As many round in 15 minutes of:

400 m run

6 deadlifts (95 lb)

= 5 rounds + 150 m

Plus presses: 50 x 6, 6, 6; 55 x 5, 4 (I guess I shouldn't have been so nervous about these. I may be ready to try 60.)

Previously this week:

- 50 minute solo run the morning after frisbee (8.3 km)

- To and from Lac Leamy beach with a fully-loaded stroller; raced a thunderstorm on the way home (I won by about 4 minutes); about 7 km with a two-hour beach break at the 3.5 km mark :-)

One of my faves

I think I will tag it the "16-12-8-4" (Overunder's idea; I believe he will follow with a post of his own on this.) This is an excellent one - painful but so satisfying.

Run
1600 m = 6:38 (6:57)
 rest 3 min
1200 m = 5:17 (5:34)
 rest 2 min
800 m = 3:59 (3:25)
 rest 1 min
400 m = 1:43 (1:36)

Total -- 23:38 (23:32)

In parenthesis are the times from my previous crack at it. I have mapped a new route for these distances, so I'm not sure a comparison is fair; it's hard to know how precise Googlemaps Pedometer is. I'll just have to do it again soon with the current mapping and compare that.

Specifically, the initial mile seems a bit fast (see below). However, it DID feel pretty good...

Last Friday, I ran a mile and then did some squats and presses:

Mile - 6:48 min
Squats - 105 x 6, 6, 6
Presses - 45 x 10, 10, 8

Almost a mile-stone

The Mile = 7:05 minutes.

I had 6 seconds left in the tank, for sure. Next time I'll use it! Last week's mile was probably faster than the 7:40 that I estimated; today's run felt quite a bit better though. No tropical disease, crashing rainstorm, or iPod timer meltdown this time.

Finished with three sets of 10 push-ups. That is all. Frisbee tonight.

Hilly 5K

I surprised myself today with a sub-25 minute 5K. Just barely sub -- it was 24:57, but I'll take it. It's been ages since I last timed a 5K. (Last October.)

Especially since I mapped a hilly route along the Gatineau and Lac-des-Fées parkways, rather than my usual tactic of trying to find the flattest 5K possible. (It's actually my usual stroller route, tweaked at both ends to meet distance requirements.)

Apparently running with 40 pounds of rolling stroller

Finished with Overunder's prescription of three rounds of dumbbell snatches -- 10/arm with 20 lbs. Next time I'll use 25 lbs.

A bad day for The Mile

I was still feeling a little queasy from the tropical disease that had me horizontal for most of the weekend, but decided to start my workout with The Mile anyway.

Then it started to rain. Really rain.

And I was using the iPod stopwatch, since I don't have a real watch. The iPod stopwatch which has a completely unpredictable algorithm for shutting off by itself. I think it's powered by my direct gaze.

So the official time for my first mile in many months is: 2:55.

I'm going to guess it was more like 7:40. (Hopefully that estimate will help to guarantee I post a better result next time.)

(For comparison's sake: 7:08 in Feb on the treadmill, and 6:57 in October on the road.)

After drying off and changing clothes, I finished with:

Squats - 95 lb x 7, 7, 7
Presses - 45 lb x 10, then with 20 lb dbs - 7, 7

And a few chin-ups. Not really in a row.

Heartbreaker

Here's what I did to try to quell the ache in my chest after dropping off an inconsolable Tim at nursery school (yes, I cried too, but not in front of him):

4 rounds for time:

15 sit-ups
15 push-ups (5 regular, 10 knees, because I'm a realist)
200 skips
20 overhead walking lunges (using a pole, not a barbell)

=20:20

Some may be interested to note that the skipping highlighted the fact that the pelvic muscles are still not quite 100%. Wow.

I'm back. Who's with me?

First in the "Nursery School Workout" summer series:

5 rounds for time:
50 squats
Run 400 m
= 16:50

This is a full 1:15 min slower than I did it last November. Someone's got work to do!

Finished up with 3 x 10 push-ups.

ps - Did the usual thrice-weekly 5K stroller run this morning, but got caught in a thunderstorm. Ran the last km or so at a 400 m pace, with a couple of 30 sec rest breaks under trees. Tim got soaked from the waist down but slept through it all.