A painful return

You know when you're playing defense in the cup for a really long time and it's awesome and you finally force a turnover, then the handler fucks it up right away so you're back to the cup again and it hurts so much and you want to curse and kick someone in the nuts but you can't because you're exhausted and still playing D?

That's sort of what it's like running a fast mile after three weeks of black lung and a set of tabata squats.

Tabata squats: ouch.*
Mile: 7:34.

Plus two sets of knees-elevated push-ups: 10 and 8. (First try at this progression - a little harder than bench push-ups, as it should be.)

* I had no mechanism for actually timing the tabata, so I just relied on experience: did sets of 20, 19 and 18 reps as fast as I could, with just enough time off in between to mark the set number. It was accurate enough - my quads told me so. They actually yelled at me on those first few steps of the mile.

ulti in TZ!

just three on three but it was nice to get out, run around and throw the disc. plus, less people on the field means more space in which to run :)

afterwards, ran just shy of 1.5 miles in 10 mins (no stopwatch, no nothing on my person as recommended). straight for the pool. makes me think there is something to this fast mile the spouses attack on a regular basis. there is something to knowing you don't have far to go which really allows you to push yourself. that and night was falling fast ;)

throughout the day, did sets of knees on the bench push ups (and some planks, both high and push up for good measure - thanks for the great article HK!). 4 sets of 10 - my triceps were quite noisy afterwards.

oh and some yin yoga on the weekend. how i love thee. "strength through surrender" - nice.

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.

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.

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.

Rabbits!

My husband is a rock star. At least a couple of mornings a week, he takes on all the kid duties in addition to trying to get himself ready for work (breakfasts, lunches, showers, diaper changes, general entertainment), so I can get to the gym. It gives me the motivation to try to overcome the pre-caffeine fatigue and work hard to make it worth everyone's effort.

Today, I went for the higher reps and lighter weight.

Split squats - 32 lb x 10/leg x 4 sets
KB swings - 25 lb x 20 x 4 sets

Hammie curls on the ball - 15 + 5 hip raises x 3 sets
Vertical ball tosses* - 8 kg ball x 15 x 3 sets

The Mile - 7:08 min (13.5 mph steady)

* Like wall balls, but only with a half-squat, and throwing the ball straight up rather than against a wall.

Yoga tonight! I am now addicted to yoga. Yay!

Yin and Yang

Well, actually, I yanged yesterday; today was the yin: 90 minutes of hot Yin yoga. Awesome. Going again on Tuesday.

Yesterday, I hit the gym while Overunder did swimming lessons with the Little Guy.

1000 m row (my new warm-up regime)

Squats - 125 x 5 sets of 5
(superset with single-leg BW calf raises - 10/leg x 4 sets)

Deadlifts - 95 x 8; 115 x 5 sets of 5
(superset with) Dips - 3, 2, 2, 2, 1

One-legged balancing on bosu ball - transferring an 8 lb db from hand to hand, and bouncing! (2 x each leg)

The Mile - 7:30 min. Had a fair amount of gas left in the tank.

Third time around

I love this running workout. It's so hard, but I can't help coming back to it. I haven't done it since May, so let's have a look and see if I've improved at all:

Run

1600 m = 6:57 (6:56)
rest 3 min
1200 m = 5:34 (5:52)
rest 2 min
800 m = 3:25 (3:25)
rest 1 min
400 m = 1:36 (1:43)

Total -- 23:32 (23:56)

I don't trust my math, nor should you, but it looks like an improvement. Might be the result of going through a frisbee season, or the fact that the previous run was in a heatwave while yesterday's was completed under PERFECT conditions: bright sunny, about 10 degrees, with the headwind on the short side of the loop.

Also, I felt like barfing after each round this time, too.

Instead of coffee

It was hard to go to the gym this morning: Tim SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT, and there was a celebratory latté waiting for me when I came downstairs in the morning after getting him up... But I took a few slurps, sucked it up, and headed out.

Superset:
Squats - 135 x 5, 5, 5
Bench press - 75 x 8, 7, 6; 45 x 15

Chin-ups - 2, 2, 1, 1
Cleans - 65 x 7; 75 x 5, 5, 5
Mile run - 7:25

I'm also on Day 3 of No Sugar. I mean, no obvious refined sugar: no honey in my latté, no chocolate after lunch, no dessert after dinner. No sneaking chocolate chips. I had to do a little something to initiate the attack on those last 5 lbs, and giving up sweets is way easier than giving up booze.

Ugh, barf.

With this heatwave, I think we are getting a sense of how Josey feels during her workouts.

As I did my workout, I toyed with possible titles for my post. At first, the title said something about "run", then I changed it to something highlighting "heat"... but finally settled on a more visceral description. The workout was extremely, er, taxing.

I did this before, at Easter. I think my total time is comparable, a few runs faster (the mile), one was slower (1200m), though I have a nagging feeling I misremembered the route on that one. Anyway (previous results in parentheses):

Run
1600 m = 6:56 (6:59)
rest 3 min
1200 m = 5:52 (5:46)
rest 2 min
800 m = 3:25 (3:29)
rest 1 min
400 m = 1:43 (1:47)

Total = 23:56 (24:01)

I'm not sure if 5 seconds total faster than last time is actually true... That tiny margin can certainly be attributed to human error. Nonetheless, given that the temperature was in the neighbourhood of 15 degrees hotter today than last time (plus beating sun and humidity), shall we give me the benefit of the doubt and call it an improvement?

Oh yeah, and I finished with 56 push-ups (in leisurely sets of 8) while Tim played naked in the backyard.

Easter crossfit run

We do like the run-based crossfit workouts because we can not only run them as prescribed, but also because our results are not far off what real crossfitters are posting (in fact we often find ourselves mid-pack0. Makes us feel like we're not as wimpy as our press numbers show. :-)

So, on Easter Sunday, Overunder and I took turns running this:

1600 m, rest 3 min
1200 m, rest 2 min
800 m, rest 1 min
400 m

We mapped the routes and came up with the following results:

Overunder:
6:26
5:19
3:17
1:37
Total = 22:37 (including rests)

Hedda
6:59 (I did NOT fudge that to come in under the wire!)
5:46
3:29
1:47
Total = 24:01

Then we had cocktails.

Better than

I thought it would be. With my back still twinging and breathing around last week's phlegm, I embarked on a possible run. My warm-up jog indicated that A Fast Mile might be possible, so I embarked.

Mile = 7:15

Without stopping the clock (and after a few moments of hands-on-knees stagger-panting), I continued my run at a saner pace for a total of:

4.4 km in 24:00.

I stopped at 5 benches along the path and did 12 dips on each of them. (I stopped the clock for these.)

Mini Murph

I'm adding a new tag: "SOC". Stands for "Spirit of Crossfit". As in, inspired by a crossfit workout, is relatively short and potentially puke-inducing, but scaled down and altered to the degree that a mere mortal (such as myself) could actually complete it.

I did an SOC workout today. Based on Murph (and the "Smurph" title was already taken; I guess someone did one a few years ago), but I not only halved the number of reps, but also cheated on a few other levels.

Mile run (7:25, flat treadmill)
50 pull-ups (75 lb on the pull-up machine, and I even kipped a little)
100 push-ups (from the knees)
150 BW squats
Mile run (8 min and change)

(The middle part partitioned as 10 sets of 5, 10, 15.)

Total time, over 30 min (I forgot to stop the clock at the end!)

Question: On the pull-up machine, I assume the weight you set it at is the amount you offset from your bodyweight? If that's the case, I was doing 60 lb pull-ups. That's pathetic.

Fast Mile Tip #7

Do not attempt a Fast Mile with a bellyful of scrambled eggs and lattés.

Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid.

7:05.

A few seconds slower than last time, but way more painful. Counted as a succcess because I did not puke. I really thought I might.

Starting out, I was determined to take on Overunder's challenge of back-to-back miles... (Stoopid, stoopid, etc.) Instead, after barely finishing the first one, I did a recovery mile (9:20) and even that felt hard. So I wobbled through 60 (30+30) walking lunges and called it a day.

Later on I was envious of Overunder's workout: sets of thrusters and 400m. I'm totally doing that tomorrow.

Sub-7 mile, finally

6:55.

That's like 25 seconds faster than the past few miles. Finishing hurts like a SOB whether you start easy or with vigor, so the trick was, it turns out, to just start faster.

I followed it up with 3 super-slow "let-downs" (the eccentric portion of a pull-up), and no stretching whatsoever.

And then headed back in, where Constance was looking after the baby. Three more weeks until she's legally old enough to babysit. :-)

Last day at the gym

My gym membership expires tomorrow. So I went in for one last hurrah. It was not the workout I planned; I got cock-blocked at every turn by skinny frat boys in gangsta hats. I made do.

Warm-up: easy 1000m row (5 min)

Squats: 105 x 7; 115 x 5, 6, 5
Chin-up grip pull-downs: 120 x 3, 2, 2 (plus super-slow final eccentric on each set)
Bench dips: 12, 12, 12
Back extensions: 12, 10, 10

Mile run: 7:22 min on a .5% grade. HR 187 after hitting the STOP! button. God I almost died. After 3 min jogging, HR was 133. After 3 more mins of walking, HR was 120. I have no idea if this is a good or bad recovery, but I was happy to not be dead.

Knee-tucks on the ball: 3 sets of 10
V-sit ball tosses (4 kg? the balls are unmarked): 40, 30, 30

Weighed in at 132. This continues the downward trajectory of post-partum weight-loss, and I can now safely say that I'm within the range of the not-so-mythical "pre-pregnancy weight".

The summer is over, and I've re-achieved the squat weight and surpassed the press weight I had a year ago. My abdominal strength and metabolic conditioning still needs work. And of course, going forward we'll see a new focus on ass workouts, thanks to Daddy'o's research on glutes.

Miles and centuries

Once again tag-teaming the baby (who is getting into the swing of the parental workouts), we both attacked the mile again, and tacked on a century each of walking lunges and push-ups.

Results of the mile:

Overunder - 6:24 (Awesome after more than a month of hamstring and knee problems. Reportedly the knee is feeling better.)
Hedda - 7:26 (Six seconds slower than the last time. Yikes. I mustn't have pushed it as hard as last time, because I didn't feel like I was going to completely die. Just sort of.)

Then the walking lunges and push-ups. The latter were completed in sets of 10, in under 10 minutes. (I did 28 full push-ups, and knees-down for the rest.)

The Mile, Revisited

7:20 mile today. That is 35 seconds faster than last time. It is so very, very hard.

Followed by:

3 x 30 seconds of thrusters (13, 17, 16)
3 x 30 seconds of sit-ups (17, 16, 13)

No, I didn't mix up the numbers on the thrusters. I stopped whining and started trying.

Still got it, for now

Fear of failure can sometimes help. I'm struggling to come to terms with a decreasing, um, work capacity. That is, my perceived exertion is the same, but performance - time, reps, weight, distance, etc - is reduced. I assume that if I keep up my PE, I'll continue to have the same physical benefit from a workout, but I'm a competitor and I like to see my numbers improve. My first response -- at least mentally -- is avoidance of things I might not be so good at any more, because I hate to fail. (Have you seen reports of chin-ups lately? Nope...)

So, I planned my workout today through a haze of mental negotiations. Eventually, and luckily, I ended up taking the bull by the horns. I mapped a mile within a 5K loop, and decided to run it for time. Full disclosure: I made sure the route for the mile was primarily (er, totally) downhill. In all fairness, this did bite me in the ass when I had to eventually ascend the fairly substantial hill for the last 500m of the run. (And the whole 2nd half was slightly uphill.)

Because of/thanks to my hill-cheating, I was premature in my conclusion that my sub-7 days were behind me, for the time being:

Mile: 6:45
5K total: 24:45

Perspective: If I'd run that in the National Capital 5K race, I'd have come in about 7th of 390 in my category (women 30-34), 123/3819 women, and 515/6367 total. Not SO bad.