hitting the pool

The Talisman Centre has three pools (not counting the diving pool and the "learning" pool).

40 laps * 25m/lap = 1000m in 36 min. (54s/lap)

I think this is not good but man, I have not swum in a while. And laps in a much longer time. It's been longer since I swam laps than since I rode a bike (went mountain biking in the summer of '01 (ms. hedda was there!)

Went biking. Nothing hard core, just cruising about the city (getting to the disc golf course and to various patios). It was giddily fun.

first post-nationals workout

at the very swanky Talisman Centre.

squats: 195 x5, x5, x5.
bench: 135 x5, x5, x5.
chin ups (neutral grip): 6, 6, 6.

I am avoiding deads and cleans as I want to not hurt the SI joint. I will sort out my issues with these lifts in the off-season.

Sucked back in.

Mini McPie was sleeping in the backyard so...

Monday's crossfit looked easy: 2 minutes of double unders, 2 minutes of sit ups, 1:30 of the same, 1 min, 30 seconds. Count the totals of each time. (I can't do double unders all that well and my knee sucks, so I did regular skipping.)
200/48, 140/35, 125, 27, 80/17.

Worst workout ever,

Nats was. First game, early in the second half I went up for a D and landed all wrong. My knee sleeve, which was apparently ill adjusted, failed to hold my patella in place and I went down to the sweet sound of a giant knuckle cracking and popping. Awesome. I made the D and the continue pass though. Yay me. Carried off and out for the rest of the tourney, I was happy to cheer my teammates on, as long as they did not do anything stupid. Let me just say there was some stupidity and the bile is still high in my throat as a result.

So, overcoming the disappointment of so much preparation and tuning and envisioning has been a challenge, but I have found some solace in the details of the short game I did play. Here they are, with no apology for blowing my own horn:

I was fast and always open on O.
On D my mark got the frisbee only 3 times.
I made 3 D's (2 skies and a run through on which I scored afterward)
I caught the first point of the game (tourney), a jumpball for a hammer in a crowd.
I scored 3 other points (our total was 10 in that game). Only 2 were scored after I went out.

Based on this, I would like to think that I would have helped my very short benched team in some of the close games we did have.

So, this big disappointment just inspires me (I think drives might be a more appropriate word here) to prepare harder for next year. It won't prevent this type of injury from happening, but it will provide a nice sink for my anger.

OM, my goodness...

Five yoga classes in seven days, and both my body AND mind need the rest day. Mostly because a solid game of ultimate last night has left me pretty beaten up. Yogis aren't supposed to have bruises, cleat distance apart, up their legs, are they? Seems I still have some aggression to work out that yoga just can't seem to release - I will need to find the right balance with time. Expect my personal trainer will be able to help me out.

Good luck, and fun time to all in Winnipeg! Wish I was there, had my hopes up high for a glee club (+1) dinner.

Nats Prep

Well, its the best I can do after mending a pulled hammy.

Last week I built a deck. It wasn't exactly meta-con, but it was tiring enough.

Played Frisbee on Wednesday with little mention of any problems from said hammy. The lungs on the other hand...

Went to the park with lil' Tim yesterday and did a bunch of sprints, hills, throws, pistol squats and a 17 amongst all the baby management. Worked out pretty well in the end.

Just-a-jog

I finally got new running shoes on Saturday, so I took them for a spin. The weather was PERFECT for a run -- not to hot or cold, just a bit cloudy. It was lovely. The last time I went for a "just a jog" was back in November, in Florida,when I was 18 weeks pregnant.

Leisurely pace: pretty much exactly 5 km in 30 minutes.

It felt great. Without any real speed goals right now, I might make a habit of this just-running thing.

Five

Games of frisbee. Which isn't actually very many for a tournament, and we tend not to post about frisbee here since it is usually a given, but because it's been nearly a year since I've played so much all at once, I just wanted to mention it. Also, ouch. I can sure feel my cutting muscles (ie: inside of thighs, and core).

And, I could not have eaten more roasted almonds on the weekend. (In fact, I am STILL eating them.) One point two kilo jar, I love you!

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.

Manscaping

Hah.


Last week saw some vigorous workouts with the Ms. As well, there was a large amount of lifting and heaving as I replaced my front walkway. Many large 6x6's were dug out, broken up and hauled away and much gravel replaced it. That gravel needed to be tamped so what better way to apply a little training than to use the Lief Erickson era jackhammer, center, "designed" and operated by yours truly. The workout? Hoist by its large nails the 50lb leftover 6x6 using arms and calves for height. Let drop. X 1000.

On the weekend was a half assed frisbee tourney with lots of PT.

Tuesday was a gruelling home crossfit: 3 rounds of 20 45lb overhead squats, 400m run, 20 pushups and 10 sit ups. Time was 20:55. Ick.

Currently nursing a slightly pulled hammy after what was going to be a great game of frisbee on Tuesday night. Fug.

my turn

squats: 205 x5, x5, x5.
bench: 135 x5, x5, x5.
deadlift: 235 x5.

I had intended to do cleans but my low back started acting up after the deadlifts. I'm taking DL's out of the rotation for the foreseeable future.

Squats and presses, with a hint of Litvinov

Escaped to the gym for a 30 minute workout:

4 rounds:

95 lb squats (7, 6, 6, 5)
400 m run (8.5 mph*)
+ 12 finisher squats (45 lb)

*Last round was about 300 m @ 9 mph. (Previous circuit on a treadmill I was only able to go 7.5 mph. So yay! Joints and things are coming together, literally.)

Presses:
45 x 10; 60 x 3; 55 x 3; 50 x 3

Knee tucks on the ball: 12, 10

Also, thanks to (I think) sticking to my no bread campaign and more regular workouts, I'm within striking distance (ie 5 or 6 pounds) of my pre-pregnancy size.

hi!atus

hi!

Monday - half hour jog along the Elbow in Calgary. This was hard. I don't think it was the elevation either.

Tuesday - tried out skipping some rope. 60s work/60s rest x 3.

Wednesday - gym time.
squats: 195 x5, x5, x5. increase to 205.
press: 105 x5, x5, -. did something bad to my upper right back. didn't do the last set.
power cleans: 115 x3, x3, x3, x3, x3. increase to 125.

Double double

Two workouts in two days, together. This parental leave thing rocks.

Yesterday:

The mile ain't so fast anymore
Hedda - 7:55 (great triumph was to not walk)
Overunder - 6:20 (okay, his mile is still fast)

Sumo deadlift high-pulls (45 lb - 3 sets of 30 seconds)
Hedda - 14, 14, 15
Overunder - 21, 20, 20

Bench dips
Hedda - 12, 6, 7
Overunder - 25, 15, 20

Today:

That damn vigorous warm-up

17s

(Sprint the steep hill x 3 + 15 sit-ups) x 3 rounds

Hedda - 1:58, 1:32, 1:20 (He didn't tell me I was being timed on the first set)
Overunder - 1:08, 1:08, 1:05

Sprint length of soccer field (jog back) x 2

Then mmmmm.... frosty Coronas.

Back Track

A few post vacation workouts to post.

Last Tuesday, park work, which included:
Vigorous warm up,
3 x 5 sets of sprints up the hill with 5 pull ups in between sets.
20 yard 17's
4 sets of 50 yard accelerations (run 75% then burst to 100%, back to 75% as many times as possible in the 50 yards.)
5 Burpees + 20 yard sprint, x 4
3 x full filed sprint

Next day was 5 x 5 sprints up the hill and 10 sit ups and a hard frisbee game.

Thursday was a hard frisbee game (masters against a men's team, 17 to 5 victory for the old guys).

Yesterday was a home circuit: 5 rounds for time of 5 pistol squats each leg, 400m run, 20 push ups, 5 pull ups, (26:51).

My gym membership is still valid.

It turns out they don't take it away if you don't show up for a month or two. It was Saturday, usually very busy at the gym, but I bet on the place clearing out in the last half an hour or so

While Ken and Tim picked up some groceries, I did a workout:

Alternating sets:

1000 m row - 4:50; 4:55; 5:00min
Bench press - 45 x 10 + 65 x 10; 75 x 7*; 8 push-ups

Squats - 85 x 6, 5, 5 (How can I have sunk so low!?)
Calf press - 250 x 10, 10, 10

Deadlifts - 85 x 8; 85 x 10; 95 x 10 (experimenting with set-up since I'm not up to lifting with full plates. Yet.)

And then a quick stretch to be the last one out of the gym.

*I think I could go as heavy as 95 lb on the bench press if I had a spotter. My numbers here are about 2 reps shy of a max so as to not risk life and/or limb. (Well, I'm not sure I could actually hurt myself too much with 75 lbs, but it would be embarrassing.) I planned to up it to 85 in the last set, but the bench was taken so I moved on.

Sticking with it...

We took the boys to the park yesterday and Ken put me through my paces. If I'd been less whiny about my out-of-shapeness, he'd probably have worked me harder. We did this:

Vigorous warm-up.

3 rounds:
Sprint up very steep hill
3 push-ups

3 rounds:
Sprint up very steep hill
10 sit-ups

17s (Sprint forwards and backwards 20 yards to a count of 17)

Sprint the length of a soccer field x 2 (walk back in between)

One attempted chin-up.

Today -- very tired. Tonight -- sparing in a frisbee game. I may get it together yet.

Back on the program

I don't know how long it's been since I've been to the gym, or gotten any exercise other than weekly frisbee and a couple of half-tournaments. A long time. And two weeks of vacation, during which I ate, drank, and sat. (Except for the hike to the top of Blomidon wearing a 15 lb baby.) Learned that "baby weight" actually means the weight you gain after having a kid and not having the time or energy (at the same time) to get any exercise. Plus boredom snacking.

Anyway, I am back on the program as of yesterday. No more bread, cereal, dessert, etc etc. (but bring on the bacon and eggs! And avocado salads... )

Workout no. 1:

Warm-up - 10 minute jog (this was actually hard)

3 rounds of
15 squats with the bar
Max rep presses with the bar (15, 8, 7)
400 m run (1:48, 1;51, 1:51)

Barf.

13:30 minutes.

Today, frisbee with sore quads.

75 and sunny

That's the title of a song I listened to at BluesFest last year. "I wanna be 75 and sunny, not 29 with a chance of flurries all the time."

squats: 185 x5, x5, x5.
press: 85 x5, x5, x5.
deadlift: 185 x5.
power cleans: 95 x3, x3, x3, x3, x3.

oh yeah. 25 points of men's league frisbee last night (1 sub and a 15-13 win). That's gotta count for something. Cankels are a little sore but manageable and if you consider that 25 points is more than I am going to play at any tournament, I should be good wrt injuries (knocking on wood).

just before heading home for the day:
2min work/90s rest @ 8mph x5; 9mph x1.

On Leave

Started a 2 month parental leave this week. Hopefully these workouts will progress!

The beach tourney was pretty fun. Hard on the legs and feet, but I had lots of energy to spare. Ms. Hedda did awesome, and there is proof! ;-)

Yesterday I was awake at 5 and up at 6. Went for a 5 k at 6:30 and (24:05) and then did 10x 15 bw squats and 10 push ups in the backyard in 12 minutes. That was pretty hard, but won't be in two months!

Now, a 12 day vacation out East!