hangover day

100 burpees for time: 16:06

45 in 5:23.
75 in 10:57.

<some time later>
3.75 miles.

Warm-up mile and then did the fast mile in 7:29 (8.0mph). The 3rd quarter of this was pretty slow. 2:24. Weird (hopefully it was a gps gack).

The rest of the run was at 6.2 mph and felt pretty good.

finished with 5 times up the Strathcona steps.

Tonight: circuits of steak, salad, wine.

A lovely day to kick some ass

McPie, you are so buying me dinner.

I attempted the May 27 WOD. I planned chin-ups for pullups, and intended to not time that part.

Mile: 6:54

2 min each:

Rowing: never done this before - set the erg to 10 and, uh, tried hard. Don't worry, I pulled right to my chest. Way harder on the shoulders than I expected. Couldn't find the calorie meter. Rowed @ 500 m. Assume that is lame.)

Thrusters: 10 lb dbs. I didn't count, but estimate 35 (15 to start, then mini-sets of 5)

Med ball cleans: 4 kg (That's the heaviest we have. Focused on form. My quads nearly died.)

Skipping: not double-unders. I skipped as fast as I could. Attempts at DU's resulted in getting my ass whipped by the rope.

Total time @ 30 min, including run. (Took 5 min to get back to the gym from the run, and I did rest a minute between exercises.) Slow, I know, but finishing is good.

Pullups: Assisted (feet up) - 7, full - 1+1+1+1 = 4

Yes, you are reading that right. PULLUPS. Kind of accidental, in fact.

Rather than chin-ups, I decided to try quasi-pullups: assisted with my feet up on the barbell, then a set of negatives. But when I lowered myself for the first negative... Allee-oop! Up I went. (Shocked, quite frankly.) I lowered and dropped, then had to try another to see if it was a fluke. Nope.

After a few fist-pumps, I had to try another, to really be sure. Yah pullup! Just when I thought I was done, I had to throw down one more, cherry-on-top style. Frankly, I didn't get my chest to the bar or anything, but my chin was over every time. In fact, as least once I believe I was hanging by my chin.

I'm not displeased that the ensuing 6 km run took 36 whole minutes. It was not part of the workout; it was the only way I could get home.

Then I mowed the lawn.

I won't lie to you, I'm writing this lying down. With a beer.

This week...

Sunday was a day of (wine club) recovery. At about 5pm guilt or something got the better of me. I threw down a Cindy (20 minutes of reps of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats).

I managed 11 rounds, one better than the last time. Whoop! I'll admit that I sipped a rum and coke while doing it...but that's not the best part! When I was finished Ms Hedda had prepared a delish steak dinner with steamed chard and grilled mushrooms. H-E-A-V-E-N.

Monday and Tuesday were Frisbee games. Wind sprints really. I like.

Today was the 5k with a fast mile at lunch-ish time. Best time ?ever? Well, 3:50 on the first km, 6:13 on the mile (yay!) and then - Geezus didn't I neglect to hit the lap time button on the watch. I have no clue how long it took -the watch still said 10:03 at the end. F! me! It felt good though, fast, and I didn't stop after the mile, just slowed down, a lot, for a bit, then kept on truckin'. I am going to guess I did it in 22:10. It felt faster than 22:30, but really, who am I kidding. I'll never know.

Before showering afterward, a little lifting: shoulder press: 80lbs x 8, 6, 5 and Pull ups 3x 10reps.

Because it hurt

I think we are probably not including frisbee in our work-out reports, because games are just part of regular life.

But I feel compelled today to report:

Second week of season, I played for a third night in a row -- with the Loons, therefore a game in which there was maybe one other person running, so every second cut was up to me. And no subs. And we played to time cap.

Then skipped the beer and jogged the half-mile to the car to speed off for hubby pick-up. Calf-cramp, anyone?

I feel this rest day has been earned.

Wine Club warm-up

Just to be sure we deserved to imbibe in the planned copious food and drink on Saturday night, we hit the Carleton gym in the afternoon. It had been ages since either of us had done heavy squats, so they were top of the list.

Warm-up:
incline sit-ups 20 + 20

Squats:
McP: 225 x 9, 7, 6
H: 105 x 6, 6, 4, 6 (found some inner strength or something, I guess)

Deadlifts:
McP: 225 x 7, 7, 7
H (RDLs): 100 x 12, 10, 10

Finisher squats:
McP: 155 x 18
H: 75 x 12 + 3 (had to take a little breather in there, without letting go the bar)

Chin-ups (H): 3, 4 (last two assisted), 1
Pull-ups (McP): 12

Calves:
McP: 320 x 10, 8, 7
H: 200 x 10, 9, 9

Dips (H): 1 + 1 (real ones! unassisted! they're really hard!)

Later, we enjoyed beers in the shower.

The Fickle 5

Damn. Damn, damn, damn.

After a brutally stupid week of not much else other than driving, fetching, getting here and getting there, with a just enough work in there to keep the stress level down at 9 ish, I decided to treat myself to a hearty Friday night 5k-with-a-fast-mile. With Ms Hedda was working out her mind(liver) at Book Club, where books are toasted, it seems, over and over. Sigh. I missed her.

So I went to the canal, where all the markers are known and mileage can be calculated on the fly. It was 7:50 pm. It was nice, a little windy. Anyway, here are the stats:
1st km in 3:50. Next mile-for-time in 6:20 (a PB in the 5k-with-a-fast-mile-how-many-dashes-can-i-string-together-until-it-gets-annoying).
5k overall time -23:30. Boooo. A minute off last week's time. WTF? I was pretty stoked to beat 6 minutes on the mile and come in under 22:30 on the 5. Next time.
Shaving that extra 10 seconds off the mile sure cost some. I did have to rest a little at the end of the mile, that cost 40-50 seconds, and it was a slow start to the last half of the 5k. Anyway, one thing I 'like' (like I like a good healthy fear puke) about this combo is that you really have to SUCK IT UP, and quickly, after the mile to finish the 5 in a decent time.

I can't believe people can run the 5 in 12:37!

Weekly crossfit

Five rounds of:
Deadlift, 4 reps -- 115 lb (previous heaviest was 105 )
Push-ups, max reps

4/21 (pb!)
4/12
4/10
4/9
4/8

I didn't really time it, but it took under 10 minutes.

I was chicken to put more weight on the deadlift, but found the 4th rep both possible and suspect (form wise. I'm never sure if my back is actually rounding out, or if my abs are supposed to work that hard. I didn't hurt anything anyway.)

"Cool down": 2 x 400m @ 9 mph (.15 mile rest @ 6 mph) on the usual grade.

Wow, what a great way to shake off the workday!

easing back in

press: 100x1, x1, x whoops
chins: 30x3, x2, x2, x1

What I did on my rest day

I jogged. Home from work. We have creative (but necessary) methods of managing a one-car household.

6 km; about 35 minutes. It didn't feel that slow... I'll blame it on the headwind, which is worse in Quebec, interestingly enough.

just gotta be free

Tried out the Nike Free's today (and I have them because of this article). Very light. Didn't kill me in the run. I think they will help me in the deadlift and the squat too as the heels in my other sneaks are too high (usually I go in sock feet -- shh). Today is supposed to be an easy day after a couple of nights of frisbee and week of inactivity with a frikkin sore frickin neck (so no strength training, just running).

dreadmill:
warm-up
1 mile @ 6.0mph (MHR 150)
active rest 90s
1 mile @ 7.1mph (MHR 165)
active rest 90s
1mile @5.4mph (MHR 157)

My zone 1 (recovery, really easy zone) is supposed to be 132-152bpm & 5.4-6.0mph.
My lactate threshold (zone 3 (or 5a, depending who you ask)) is supposed to be 167-171bpm & 7.1-7.5mph

Sprint Training Links

These have some pretty good points in them.

Turning It by Christopher Holder
"Any good track coach will tell you that top speed during a 100-meter sprint is reached at the 40-to-50 meter mark. But a receiver, running back, or kick returner can reach this speed only after he has broken through all defenders en route to a long touchdown. For most teams, this sort of big play happens maybe four or five times a year—eight if they’re really lucky. Most long runs are filled with cuts and moves that prevent the runner from ever reaching full sprinting speed."

First 10 of the 40 by Mike Boyle

Litvinov's by Dan John
"It's truly a simple workout. Litvinov, a 5' 10", 196 pound hammer thrower, did the following training session:
Eight reps of front squats with 405 pounds, immediately followed by a 75-second 400-meter run. Repeat this little combination for a total of three times and go home, thank you. Let's just stop here and marvel at what Powell observed. A 196-pound man front squatted 405... eight times!"

Makeshift

Maybe I should come up with a complete series of "Housewife" workouts. The possibilities are likely numerous, though I need to work on my creativity. And also work-life balance.

At any rate, working from home today, I squeezed this in between conference calls:

Alternating sets of:
Chin-ups: 3, 3, 3, 1, 1
One-arm thrusters: 20 x 4 (15 lb db, 10 each arm. We apparently only own one dumbell.)

Finished with pushups: 17 regular, 8 girlie... on the grass, beside my garden. :-)

The new chin-up bar is taking some adjustment. The bar is noticeably thicker for my wee lady-fingers. And it's very high, so I have to start from the bottom. Using the squat rack, I hop up to the top, and lower myself into the first chin-up (thereby performing 1.5 chin-ups on the first rep, right?!), and I think there's some advantageous momentum doing it that way.

Strangely, I'm STILL nervous/anxious doing the chins, even in the privacy of my own back porch. I have no real explanation for this, other than the possibility that I still can't believe I can do it, and I go into every set with this impending sense of potential crash and burn.

The obvious use for that spare steel pole

that was lying around in the basement.

I probably should post a picture that indicates the method of construction for our home pull-up/chin-up bar. Alas, I didn't get a picture of that sort, being distracted by the hot guy doing pull-ups on my back porch and all.

First date

Intrigued by Thursday's 'Cindy' on crossfit, and Ms Heddas report on it below, and peeved at missing a few days of workouts due to, well, work, oh and birthday obligations at the office, I thought I would try Cindy at home today.
I did have to install a chin up bar for this...I called in Macgyver.

Cindy is: 5pull-ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats (body weight) as many rounds in 20 minutes.

I did 10 in 20:07. I was happy about that. It was really hard. Really hard! Maybe harder than the fast mile. Anyway, I was proud. Until I looked on the crossfit site and saw reported rounds of 14, 17, 20, 25! I suck but at least I can spell.

Little Miss Loo Who

"Cindy"

My version:
1 chin-up
10 pushups
15 squats (with 12 lb body bar)
as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.

Result: 11 rounds plus one additional chin-up in the dying seconds of the circuit.

I did the whole thing with a pencil and paper, so I didn't miss anything (including noting the start time on the clock.) I am a nerd.

Breakdown:

Chins: 2 chin-ups on the first set, and one each subsequent round (plus that one extra at the end) for a total of 13. The last few of which I completed with much grunting and kicking.

Pushups: Full pushups* for the first 5 rounds, then split with girlies (5/5, sometimes 6/4), for a total of 82 full, 28 girlies.

Squats: 165. Easy, compared to the other stuff.

The gym is so small: I felt a bit conspicuous in front of the fella and lady on the bike/elliptical trainer, who had front row seats to my Gruntfest ...

* I probably don't go down far enough. 90 degree elbows is about it, but better than nothing, right?

Fast & loose

Nice day indeed! So nice that my friend of the fast 5K decided to join me to do it again, in the form of a fast mile on the canal.

Mile results:
McPie: 6:17 (very consistent! Especially after the "warm-up" run earlier in the day)
Hedda: 6:39 (best yet! It was encouraging to be able to stay so close to Monsieur Buttkicker for so long...)

These runs are so hard! But we both agreed that form-wise, this run felt the best yet.

Cool down: 100 walking lunges (30, 30, 40), on the way back to the car. Feel the burn.

(Our canal miles work out to about a 6 km run, out and back. The non-mile part is pretty slow, sometimes even walking a bit.)

Sam-o same-o

Outdoor 5k for time, with a fast mile in there too. Its a gorgeous day!

The all too familiar times: 6:30 on the mile, 22:30 on the whole 5k, including a short 30 sec rest after the mile part.

Back at the Goodlife...stretch and 20x10x6x4 dips. Mmmm, dips. Reminds me of Dairy Queen.

Wee payoff

At long last, some forward momentum on the press front! (Not so much for the chins, but I'll take what I can get.)

chin-ups: 2, 2, 2, 2, 1

presses: 45 x 9, 6, 5 (+ 2 push presses on the last set) And this after chin-ups! Previous PB was 7, 4, 3 and I had regressed since then...

face-pulls: 60 x 10, 10; 70 x 7

back extensions: 15

sit-ups (one-legged on the ball): 24 + 20

v-sit ball tossed (4 kg): 45

push-ups: 13 full, 10 girlie (consecutive)

beach blanket

All beach all the time:
100 sit ups (2 x 50)
30 extensions
press; 10,8,5 x 80lbs
with
weighted pull ups; 7,5,3,1 @25lbs
bar-b-q press; 7,5,5 x 135
with
flys; 8, 7,5 @20lbs a side.

Frisbee pain almost done. Need more!

perseverence

while my fellow bloggers are on vacation, I continue on.
press: 100x1, x1, x1
chins: 20x5, x5, x5. This makes me happy and makes up for my sense of worthlessness following the press.
barbell row (with actual good form): 115x5, x5, x5
cable chest press: 60x5, x5, x5
finishers: alternating face-pulls (60x40, x5!, x3) and barbell rows (45x30, x10, x10)

I think my press suffered because my arms are still sore from Wednesday's finishers. hmmph.