All it takes is a crowd of guys... or just one girl

[Phaedrus49er]

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that with the sun and heat coming back, and me spending more and more time outside, I'll have my farmer's tan back in no time at all

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 16

Kind of a blah day. After my regular @$$-early morning shift, worked a five-hour reporting shift I hadn't planned on, during which NOTHING happened. It might be mean, but my work is much more fun when people are driving like idiots. Also rained off and on, so I stayed home and did a little bit of core work:

5 sets
--5 reps hanging knee-to-elbow raises
--5 reps each direction 6lb medicine ball wood choppers

30sec reverse wrist curl hold with 10lb DBs

Random hanging pikes and tucks the rest of the evening

Like I said, a blah day. At least if I cheat on the knees-to-elbows, though my abs lose out, my chinups benefit (doing partials to decrease the ROM to get my knees up)

Hopefully more running tomorrow, especially since my mp3 player came today. I swear I'm going to lose that thing. It's smaller than my thumbs put side-by-side.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 17

Supersets of handstands (toes against wall, hands two feet from wall) and top-position chin-up holds with a five-minute rest interval (and I needed every second of it):

1. 30sec/30sec
2. 30sec/30sec
3. 30sec/20sec
4. 20sec/20sec
5. 20sec/15sec

Duuuuuuuude. Blah day of cold rain, so didn't run or feel like schlepping over the gym. My arms are jelly. Time to go lie down until this headache from sloshing blood flow subsides [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 18

10k row including sprinting the last 2k after my mp3 player skipped to the 9/11 version of Linkin Park's "Crawling." I heard that, stopped, and put it on repeat. Crazy what kind of motivation that stirs:

Exercise time: 47:49 (started cold)
Time in zone (192/156): 12:43 (all in the last 2k)
Avg. HR: 148 (eh)
kcal/fat: 758, 45%

Finally broke down and took a two-hour nap after work. AMAZING what a difference getting enough sleep has on endurance work. I still refuse to go to bed at a reasonable hour, so I'll just have to make naps a regular part of the day. Aaaah, kindergarten all over again, though I never slept during those naps. Just something about a room full of sober people made sleep difficult, not to mention I always setup camp in a walkway so all the girls in dresses had to step over me to talk to the teacher

I haven't rowed in awhile, but it seemed like I couldn't get the machine to give enough resistance. Of course, toward the end, the resistance felt about right, but still. I had to stop every 1k or so to re-tighten the foot straps. I was afraid I was going to pop a wheelie on that thing I was pulling so hard there toward the end [img]smile.gif[/img] Anyway, good endurance workout today without trashing my legs so I'll be able to run on Saturday (hopefully).

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 19

REST DAY! I'm still beat from that 10k row yesterday. Off work in 90 minutes, then going home and vegging for the rest of the day.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 20 (yesterday)

Unplanned rest day. Woke up feeling like total crap, never really woke up all the way. Might have something to do with the massive plates of potstickers I ate.

As punishment, I'm giving you the opportunity to direct my training today. I am going to do some version of yesterday's routine on Crossfit.com in conjunction with today's Cubs game. Originally, I was going to do one chin-up for every pitch thrown, immediately when it is thrown (unless the Cubbies homer). Then I thought I'd cycle through the four exercises, one rep per pitch, one movement per inning or half-inning. I haven't decided yet, so determine a combination to punish me and let me have it. Otherwise, I'll make it up myself. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 21

Only made it through half the game, but then, I did a fair amount of work.

Top 1st: Cubs batting - 17 chinups
Bottom 1st: Pirates batting - 18 situps
T2 - 15 chinups (negatives toward the end)
B2 - 8 situps (GO MADDUX!)
T3 - 8 pushups
B3 - 25 situps
T4 - 17 negative chin-ups
B4 - 12 10lb-DB Cuban presses
T5 - 18 Cuban presses

My shoulders are done for today. On the run again tomorrow.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 22

Oooooooh, feeling the abs and lats today. Bleh. Felt too blah to do a long-distance (for me) run today. Happily, I have any day (or two) this week to get that in since it's supposed to be 80 and sunny all week [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] As for today:

Warm-up: 400m walk, 50 reps jump rope

5 rounds:
--400m run (actually sprinted the first two)
--50 reps jump rope

Added one last 400m since I took the last couple a little slow. Got a decent 100m sprint at the end

Cool-down 400m gasping walk

Stats (not including warm-up or cool-down):
--Exercise time: 25:46
--Time in zone (192/156): 21:41
--Avg. HR: 169
--kcal/fat: 503, 30%

I don't know if it was the heat or a lack of hydration, but toward the end, I was getting the dizzy starburts in my vision. I'll try some extra water intake before the next similar workout. Felt kinda blah doing such a short session today, but then, I'm thinking I want to do a couple longer runs this week, so hopefully I won't be fried for those.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that I took the written entrance exam for firefighting on Saturday. Except for forgetting some of my high school physics, it was a cakewalk (can't believe I botched the two pulley questions after all the time I've spent on cable machines ).

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 23

Forced rest day due to working late followed by meetings. Made up for it today.

Day 24

So, I haven't measured the distance on this particular route today, but it had to be at least four miles round-trip. I wanted to take a different road course for my long run, mainly because I always see hot women running in that area, and I never see anyone else on my normal route. Hey, works for me [img]smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, I failed to remember just how hilly this route is. Of course, I've driven it countless times, but you just don't think about how the slightest grade for a quarter-mile will kill you, or just exactly how steep some of those hills are. At any rate, I managed to run the first half (as if you knew or cared, from the intersection of Quail Hollow and Heathstead south to Gleneagles, then west to Park). I'm guessing that's about two very hilly miles. When I finally hit the crest at Park Road, I turned around and decided that I'd walk all the downhills and as-close-to-sprinting-as-possible all the uphills. That would conceivably keep my heart rate within my target zone and still allow me some recovery time. Mind you, some of these uphills are LONG.

I also wanted an extended session since my place was being shown by a realtor, and of course, they could only give me a two-hour window of when they might be there. Almost as bad as the $#!#@ cable company. Another reason for this particular session was that it's supposed to rain for the next three days, so I figure that can be gym time.

Anyway, five-minute warm-up and cool-down not included in stats:

Total time: 1:02:16 (a fair amount of recovery walking included)
Time in zone (192/156): 48:48 (spent some time OVER the top limit)
Avg. HR: 171
kcal/fat: 1248, 30%

I learned something VERY important today, though. Do NOT run on only one day's rest. I was sucking wind the whole way, and way earlier than I should've been. For now, I need at least two days between runs, regardless of the type of running I do. Now, as per usual, I'm going to go drip somewhere else.

[gobbla]

be careful with that philosophy...you might be pushing too hard\long too soon. only running every third day = 2-3 days a week...that's next to nothing. Scale back on the intensity deffinately...be reallllllly cautious about scaling back days.

http://www.halhigdon.com/5K%20Training/5-Knovice.htm

Something that helps me is if ever I get even the slightest bit tired on any time but a speed day...I slow down. Running *should* be a pleasurible experiance and very rarely should you have to push yourself into a pace or situation that makes you genuinely uncomfortible. Just my 2 cents.

[Phaedrus49er]

Thanks, G. I should've mentioned that I didn't get a great night of sleep, either. I never pushed myself to collapse, but I still went hard.

So, are you saying maintain--or even increase--running days but lighten it up? Thanks for the link, by the way [img]smile.gif[/img]

[gobbla]

Yeah...I'm not sure how many days you're running right now but it doesn't seem to be a freakish amount. Maintaining the days and cutting back on the speed\distance will IMO be much more benificial than cutting back on the days.

Running is hard work that unless you just have a god given knack for it. If you delve into that site I sent you, it'll give a good idea of how hard to push yourself for what you're trying to accomplish. A lot of the time it's a pace that you're relaxed and could easily carry on a conversation if you had someone to conversate with. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

(a) I'd have no desire to talk to anyone while running (same mentality at the gym)

(b) I wouldn't be working very much to stay at the conversational level at around, say, the 20-minute mark.

I have a long day at work tomorrow, so I'll probably delve into that site more then.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 25

Unplanned off day recovering from running. Kicked my butt.

Day 26

This was one of those days when you know you need/want to do something, but you're not quite sure what it is, so I just made it up as I went:

Warm-up: 1x20 each direction 5lb DB shoulder rotations (already had a fairly elevated body temperature from my hot office at work)

Hang cleans @ 95lbs (90RI): 10, 8, 6
Wide-grip seated cable row (30RI): 21 @ 45lbs, 15 @ 60lbs, 9 @ 75lbs
DB military press (30RI): 21 @ 20lbers, 15 @ 25lbers, 7 @ 30lbers
Jump rope: three light rounds

For one, I haven't done free weights in awhile, not to mention any ballistic weightlifting, so the hang cleans suffered. For two, I usually try to keep my elbows tight to the body when doing upper body work, so I decided to flare the elbows this time, and I really felt more emphasis on the upper back, shoulders, and arms as opposed to lats, traps, and pecs. I'm still battling a slight shoulder rotation imbalance, and with as many pull-ups and push-ups I've been doing, I figured it might not hurt to target the external rotators so more (can only do so many 10lb DB Cuban presses in a day).

Anyway, I'll likely do some *heh* DB Cuban presses and core work tomorrow at some point, then run on Sunday or Monday (depends on how Saturday night goes).

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 27

2 back-to-back rounds, 2 minutes rest, 2 back-to-back rounds:
--5 10-second negative sit-ups
--10 wood choppers to each side with a 6lb medicine ball
--10-second top-position chin-up hold

All followed by 10 bodyweight jump squats

Not much doing today. Running will happen tomorrow at the earliest, though if tonight goes well, it won't be until Monday [img]smile.gif[/img] Shoulders are trashed from yesterday, so I figured I'd get in some core work today. I also learned it's a bad idea to have a cup of coffee sooner than an hour before training (much like my 3-hour limit on Stacker3)

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 28 - Off, just lying around recovering from a rare night of drinking made even rarer because I was out at a bar with lots of people including only one other guy. Oh what a night

Day 29

Took the same route as on Day 24. Late last week, I measured this course to be just under 4.5 miles. No wonder I was sucking wind so much the first time. First stats, then commentary:

Total time: 54:31 (includes a 1min walking break at the midpoint--end of a long uphill--and about :20 of waiting for traffic and putzing w/ my mp3 player)
Time in zone (192/156): 46:54
Avg. HR: 168
kcal/fat: 1067, 30%

Two major changes from last time:
1. Shorter stride
2. Slower pace

Results:
1. Shorter time
2. Better overall workout, I think

I had the same problem running my other road route: I started out too fast and crashed toward the end. This time, I didn't even start breathing hard until about three-quarters into the run, and that was likely because of a MASSIVELY long uphill and end-of-the-run kicking. On uphills, I shorted stride and slowed pace even further, making my calves to do most of the climbing. All in all, a GREAT run today. Looking forward to doing it again on Thursday or Friday.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 30

I guess this would be a month since I officially started. Woo... I guess I thought I would be more excited, but anyway, did the Crossfit routine posted for today:

In 20 minutes, as many rounds as possible:
--35lb. DB snatches, 10 reps
--chin-ups, 7 reps

Right at the 20-minute mark, I hit the 7th chin-up in my fourth round. Ugh. That was a fast 20 minutes, or I'm just a slow mofo. Some type of recovery/auxiliary work coming tomorrow, then weather-permitting, another run on Thursday [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 31 - Off. It seems I've settled into a Mon/Tues, Thurs/Fri/Sat OR Sun pattern. No complaints. In fact...

Day 32

FIVE MILES MOTHERFUCKER!!!

Total time: 58:38 (includes 1:00 walking recovery at the midpoint)
Time in zone (192/156): 53:03
Avg. HR: 173
kcal/fat: 1191, 30%

Three words: WHO'S YOUR DADDY!!!

Not bad, I don't suppose. Four minutes more than Monday adding a half-mine. Yeah, I know it's about a 12:00 pace, but I'll work on speed later. Need to develop aerobic capacity still, though it still feels like it's coming along a lot faster than it should. Oh yeah, number don't include 5min walking warm-up or cool-down. Her-ka-leez, Her-ka-leez [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 33

Pretty rundown today, though I don't think it was yesterday's run so much as iffy sleep and five hours sitting on my ass at work today. Man, I'd HATE to have a steady desk job again. I'd go nuts. Anyway, light day today:

Superset with 60RI:
--bent-over BB row, 75lbs - 15, 15, 15 (form and shoulder endurance work, gonna nail that imbalance eventually)
--standing DB military press - 21 @ 20s, 15 @ 25s, 9 @ 30s

wide-grip cable row, 30RI - 21 @ 45, 15 @ 60, 9 @ 75

5 minutes elliptical to work out some kinks from running yesterday

blah...

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 34 - off

Day 35

In the EXACT words and tone of Shrek when Fiona pulls the thorn out of his ass: {whisper} oooooooowwww {/whisper} [img]smile.gif[/img]

Warm-up:
--400m walk

Time: 32:10
--four rounds of 400m run, 100ft walking lunge, pushups to failure (20, 20, 10, 10)
--400m run to cap it off

Cool-down:
--400m stumble and crawl

Okay, a couple notes here. First, it was SUPPOSED to be five rounds for time of 400m run, 100ft walking lunge, and 35 pushups. Yyyyyeaaaaaaahhh....... Second, I found my answer to not having a lot of steps around to climb: LUNGES! My hams and glutes hurt SO badly right now, but in that good, sadistic sort of way. Third: Sundays at the park rock if a view is needed. Lots of Little League going on, so plenty of sisters and MILFs walking around Finally, that 32:10 includes a four-minute rest during which I had to wait for my heart rate to drop from nearly 240(!) to a more managable 175ish. Gee, wonder why I was lightheaded... Now, I don't plan on moving for several hours.

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 36

Tri-set day. My hams and glutes are still really sore from yesterday, so I took a 10-minute spin on an elliptical to really warm up.

Warm-up:
--10min elliptical

Six tri-sets with 60RI:
--semi-wide pull-ups on squared, oversized bar (ouch) - 5, 5, 5, 3, 3, 3
--BB thrusters @ 75lbs - 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6
--bent BB row @ 75lbs - 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

That odd grip on the pull-ups KILLED me, not to mention it was painted metal, so any sweat on my hands made it slippery, and my gloves wouldn't've helped since they're leather and not rubber. Good times, man, good times. Looking forward to having tomorrow off so I can go play at the Harley dealership [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 37

An off day by all measures. Still fairly sore from the insane amount of lunges I did the other day. Of course, with less than three weeks left in my current residence, I find that the upstairs banister is just close enough to the edge of the stairs to offer a perfect hold for toes-to-sky leg lifts and also allow my legs to go below parallel. Did a few super-slow sets today just because my abs were the only things not hurting much today.

Tomorrow is iffy since I work until 3pm (remember, I'm in bed around 7:30). I really will need to do something, so I might do the Crossfit routine from today (7 rounds for time of 35 squats, 25 pushups, and 15 pullups), though I may go ahead and run and save the Crossfit for later.

RESOLVED: to dedicate one major workout in the next two weeks to one single thing:

1x400m walking lunges

Oh the insanity! It'll be days like that when I'll despise driving a stickshift [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 38

Bad. Evil. Naughty. Republican. Democrat. Okay, got a little carried away there...

First, the stats, then the story

5min walking warm-up

Total running time: 44:23 (includes about 1:00 total waiting for traffic)
Time in zone (192/156): 42:34
Avg. HR: 180
kcal/fat: 959, 20% (?)

5min stumbling cool-down

With the Wachovia Championship closing the road I usually run on (yes, Tiger et. al. are exactly one mile south of me for a week), I started out on my other, flatter course. Right around the one-quarter-done mark, I decided to turn left instead of right. In this case, the road MORE traveled (by vehicles). So I'm cruising along, a little fatigued still from those S&M lunges, but not bad. I'd forgotten how long a run can feel when you don't know how far you have to go at any given point. Adding to the angst was that after my left turn, I enjoyed a very slight decline for about a mile, and you know what that meant: all but the last 400m or so was the reciprocal slight incline, sometimes very slight, sometimes not so slight, but there nonetheless. Thankfully, the last ~100m was a slight decline and so the final sprint was somehow completed.

I had an inkling for some punishment today to try and wash my mind of the crappy day I'd had so far, and it worked. I haven't forgotten the bad day, but now, I just don't care [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 39

Unplanned off day. There was just no hope of doing anything today. Ended up sleeping two hours this afternoon. Just completely knocked out. Only woke up because I'd set an alarm on my phone. I think a rest week is in order soon, likely only during the week I move to my new place, so it really won't be that much of a rest. At any rate, busting out something tomorrow for sure.

[K-Court]

Never underestimate the power of a rest break. Sounds from your last couple of posts that it would do you good. Good luck on the move.

[Phaedrus49er]

KC, yeah, a rest week would be great. Two more weeks on, then an off week, though if this keeps up, I might take a true off week, then also my moving week. We shall see...

Day 40

Bastardized Crossfit routine:

7 rounds for time of:
--20 squats
--10 pushups
--5 chinups

Time: 32:30

I really didn't feel like dealing with the numbnuts at the gym today, even though Friday afternoons are generally way up there on the eye candy chart. Still got in a good one today, though, and tomorrow will be some isolated external shoulder rotation work and perhaps some core work. Mmmm... food... Xbox... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Days 41 and 42 - Took off in hopes of coming closer to a full recovery before hitting another hard day. I'm finding that it's taking longer to recover lately, another reason to look for a week I can take off.

Day 43

5 rounds for time of:
--400m run
--20 squats
--10 walking lunges (20 strides)

--plus 1x400m run to cap it off

Total time: 31:13
Time in zone (192/156): 18:38
Avg. HR: 158 (boooo!)
kcal/fat: 550, 40%

Not a killer day, but it certainly wasn't easy. Figure I'll grab an endurance run later this week, then look to next week to get in that 400m walking lunge workout. I probably won't be able to move for a few days after, so I might take the following week off [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 44

Another good use for a Smith machine

There's no way I can do handstand pushups with my full body weight right now, but when I saw this, I was all over it, so today:

5-minute elliptical warm-up (despite the thread trashing them) [img]smile.gif[/img]

assisted HSPU with 120RI: 3 (getting positioning and equipment right), 5, 10, 8, 5, 4

wood choppers @ 15lbs with 30RI: 10, 10, 10 each side

Swiss ball crunch with 30RI: 20, 10, 10

The HSPUs were quite awkward at first, especially with no partner to assist and no one in the gym that looked competent enough to ask. I set up in the Smith machine with two aerobic steps laid out side-by-side perpendicular to the bar so I could perform a larger ROM with my head going between the steps. I also setup an incline bench opposite the steps so as to have a sort of step midway between the floor and the bar. After the first three reps of getting adjusted and one set with my hands too far out (essentially a really steep incline press), I finally got my hand placement and body angle right. Good stuff.

As for the core work, I hadn't planned on it, but I was, um, persuaded by the, um, scenery (and oddly for my gym, the attention) Of course, like Nick (I think), I blew the chance to start up conversation, but then, she was in the middle of a core workout herself, and I know I'd be pissed to have someone come talk to me in the middle of a set. I'll just make it a point to hit the gym later in the afternoon rather than morning or midday now [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Nice video clip, Ben. My shoulders would be (more) destroyed if I tried that one. Ouch.

Sounds like you have found some nice motivation at the gym. Always good to make a change in your routine ...

[Phaedrus49er]

KC, I was a little worried about my shoulders as well (more so after today thanks to a brain fart), but I quickly learned how to use my legs to save myself from literally nosediving to the floor. As for the view, I may have reached "dirty old man" status, but I'm so happy that school is out

Day 45

Not nearly as fun yesterday (had to work later, plus the scenery seems to only be around on Tuesdays and Thursdays), but sort of productive nonetheless. Decided to do an escalating RI between each set, so 6 sets = 5 RIs @ 60, 70, 80, 90, 90:

overhead squat presses @ 65lbs: 10, 7, 6, 6, 5, 5

reverse push-ups (feet up on flat bench): 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 + static hold at top to failure

Long run tomorrow, then off the next two days (mom insists on supper tomorrow, and I have graduation and work on Saturday). C'MON SUNDAY, GET HERE QUICKLY!