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

[Phaedrus49er]

Okay, that makes sense, unlike my thinking process at the time [img]smile.gif[/img] I'm actually trying to get better sleep, and after sprinting yesterday, I had my best quality sleep in a couple weeks despite less than ideal quantity. I also had better sleep when I was being more diligent about including CrossFit-based running schemes, so I'll be better about that, though a 105 heat index isn't helping matters [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[JavaJunkie]

so annie, tea parties -- are you sure that the heat isn't affecting you more than you realize?

[K-Court]

Originally posted by gobbla:

Try a .... cold shower ....

I thought these were generally recommended for guys in their 20's in any event ...

[K-Court]

Originally posted by JavaJunkie:
so annie, tea parties -- are you sure that the heat isn't affecting you more than you realize?

Next thing will be needlepoint, mark my words!

[gobbla]

Originally posted by K-Court:

quote:

---

Originally posted by gobbla:

Try a .... cold shower ....

I thought these were generally recommended for guys in their 20's in any event ... [/quote]when in doubt, take a cold shower...if you're at the gym be sure to wrap a towl around the goods before you exit the stall. no one claims looking...but everyone will snicker at the guy with an adolesant manhood.

[Phaedrus49er]

You people are truly frightening sometimes, but I mean that in the nicest way possible [img]tongue.gif[/img]

At any rate, the next fitness-related investment will be (very soon) Gourmet Nutrition and Turbulence Training. However, I'm one of those tactile learners {insert snide remark here}, so I'll probably take the PDF to Kinko's to print and spiral-bind a copy of each. I'll see how the training goes for the next couple weeks and decide on that expenditure then.

Quick update on the firefighting stuff: after passing the written test, CFD naturally wanted me to register for the physical assessment course. However, I did not sign up because I have no intention of becoming a firefighter anytime soon, and I didn't want to waste their time on me nor risk making the cut (which I likely would have) without being totally committed to it and pushing someone else out who might've worked his or her whole life for that chance. I do still have a good rapport with the CFD's public information officer (the captain who let me make the trial run), so perhaps I can sneak in on a course that's not full later on (this one was going to be packed).

While August was the goal for getting to a point where I could complete the CFD course and be eligible to join a recruit class, I feel I have reached that point except for stairclimbing (none readily available to use for training). I will continue this hodgepodge regimen for another month or so, likely through July, then either tighten up on CrossFit or join the MILLIONS of satisfied Turbulence Training customers [img]smile.gif[/img] Or I might just go to parkour...... riiiiiiiiiiiight......

I really need to get into some construction projects on equipment--namely an HSPU aide--to supplement my training purposes now that I have room in a big back yard for such things. I also need to figure out how to sling a heavy rope around a branch about thirty feet up so that I might actually get to some climbing (since no one around here seems to know what rope climbing is). If anyone has built such things or knows of sites with plans, I'd greatly appreciate them (of course, I'll do my own digging as well).

[K-Court]

He's a lumberjack, and he's OK ...

[Phaedrus49er]

Days 79-81 - lazy ass, though some of you who I've talked to via PM know that in lieu of a full week off, I'm spacing sessions out more (3-4 days between).

Day 82

Running partner flaked today. Actually, she's had a killer work schedule, so she wanted SOME time to rest. I can relate.

10min walking warm-up

Total time: 49:15
Time in zone (192/156): 43:22
Avg HR: 175
kcal/fat: 1024, 25%

10min walking cool-down

I split the difference on the pre- and post-run times since I seemed to do so well last time with 15-minute sessions (like that was the ONLY reason I made such good times)

For anyone familiar with Charlotte, I ran the length of that godforesaken money pit of a trolley line, which actually turned out to be the best uptown route I've taken so far.

I ran 66-75% to the 18:30 mark, walked 5 minutes, then did intervals for the rest of the time. I split the intervals into roughly three parts: 1) 75% run to the 192/156 limits, 2) 90% to 190/160 limits, and 3) 100% @ 50-75yds do a 160 bottom limit (sprinted until exhaustion rather than try to watch the top limit).

I wasn't quite so worried about the shorter time today since 1) it's on-par with my previous long runs, 2) my sleep has been erratic, 3) my intensity level was up today (felt like I was pushing it more, though that might've been because of the stiff headwind EVERYwhere, even on 180-degree turns), and 4) no, um, motivation other than my music

Oh yeah, I bought a Harley... WOO! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[gobbla]

Originally posted by Phaedrus49er:
Oh yeah, I bought a Harley... WOO! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Be sure to park it over some cardboard to catch the oil

Great job on the run. If I didn't know better I'd think you're starting to enjoy it.

[Phaedrus49er]

Be sure to park it over some cardboard to catch the oil

Who the hell do you think you're talking to, son?!

Great job on the run. If I didn't know better I'd think you're starting to enjoy it.

SSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! !!!!!! Shuddup, man! And thanks [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Day 83 - off

Day 84

5min walking warm-up

Total time: 36:36
Time in zone (192/156): 32:40
Avg HR: 171
kcal/fat: 732, 30%

5min walking cool-down

Total time includes ~4-5 minutes walking for recover and waiting on traffic as well as two block sprint intervals at the end. Also did mini-intervals throughout with near-sprints, high knees, bounding, and high kicks.

I got a sudden, uncontrollable urge to run this afternoon, late for me (around 5pm), but what the hell? As lethargic as I've been lately, I'll chance getting to bed later if it means I can get a decent workout in. I actually managed the targeted shorter run today at a higher intensity with shorter breaks spread throughout, plus my route took me through some obstacles (trash day in the neighborhood), so I was dodging trash cans and clearing recycling bins. It was a good workout for not getting into and staying in a groove.

Note that I decided to do this at rush hour, and while I could've stayed back in my little neighborhood, I ended up on the major east-west avenue a couple blocks away, so sprinting got interesting. I'm sure I scared the piss out of the guy who turned the corner to head in my direction and saw some random person running for his life straight toward his car [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Ahem, it seems to me Days 85, 86 and 87 are missing ...

[Phaedrus49er]

Patience, grasshopper. I noted earlier that I'm putting an extra day or two between workouts so I can fully recover given a lack of sleep. Geez

Days 85 & 86 - off

Day 87

Total time: 50:21
Time in zone (192/156): 42:47
Avg HR: 174
kcal/fat: 1040, 25%

I'm not really sure why I went running this evening. Probably because the A/C went out in my house last night, so while it's not TERRIBLY hot in here, it's still a bit uncomfortable. Therefore, I go on a MASSIVE run (5.5ish miles), get REALLY hot, then come in to *gasp* a nice cool house with open windows and ceiling fans going [img]smile.gif[/img]

I ran the trolley line again today (Charlotte Trolley (a.k.a. Taxpayer Money Well Wasted)), this time staying with it as much as possible instead of running on a parallel street. Ran from the Tremont stop (2) to Ninth Street (23:00), walked around for four minutes, then ran back (23:21). My goal is to have a better "in" time than an "out" time, but a lot of that depends on traffic, and running through uptown on a Friday afternoon leaves a lot of timing up in the air.

So, this makes my THIRD run within a week. Granted, I'm not going to be able to run in the morning since I have to work (another reason for going tonight), but it seems that I'm completely blowing off regular resistance training for running. I don't know why this bothers me now--I blew off running to do only resistance training for years. I do get in a few sets of chin-ups each week (up to 5-6 reps in a row), but that's about it. I'm really only pushing my endurance now (granted, it's been a weak point for a LONG time) with spurts of sprints and light plyometrics thrown in. I swear I'm going to blow off the distance thing one day and start jumping off of and climbing over stuff [img]smile.gif[/img]

Happy, Rob? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Phaedrus49er]

Oh yes, I must thank Mr. Hans Zimmer for pushing me through my run today. His soundtracks for Backdraft, King Arthur, Black Hawk Down, Crimson Tide, The Rock, and The Last Samurai really added an element to the session. It was almost as if the mix I had was written for that particular run.

[K-Court]

Originally posted by Phaedrus49er:
Happy, Rob? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Ecstatic.

[Phaedrus49er]

Lovely. Day 88-90 - off

Day 91

Rain, rain, go away. Come again some other day. Hell, once this week would be nice, but anyway, bored in the house, so a straight-shot-no-rest round of:

3 rounds:
--3 chin-ups
--10 push-ups
--15 squats

+ 3 chins (after last squats) + 3 chins (2min later)

Dunno why. Just did it. Ta-friggin-daah. As it becomes more and more evident how much a lack of sleep is affecting my motivation, let alone my training (and yes, I knew this beforehand but hadn't actually experienced it), I am looking to next week's vacation as a time to spend relatively little time awake. Yes, a lot of it will be passed out rather than asleep, but I'll still be out.

Also, I was looking back at some pics I took of myself during the summer of 2002 after a several-month-long keto swing (and appropriate training programs to match), and though I didn't have nearly as much mass then, I certainly had more definition, such that it was. With that, I will spend the next two weeks or so debating which option to pursue:

1) keto + typical keto-type training program
2) continue caloric deficit (under stricter scrutiny) + Turbulence Training
3) as a tribute to the Most Sadistic Workout Ever, a proposed Keto-on-TT combination

I feel pretty good about my endurance gains. Now I want to add back the strength and power components and hit all three areas. I'm not looking for hypertrophy right now, so this should be doable if I can figure out a way to do it that won't kill me and that I can stick to given my sometimes ridiculous schedule. I suppose the end result of the firefighting influence was an increase in endurance. Now it's time for strength endurance with some power thrown in (parkour anyone?) [img]smile.gif[/img]

[gobbla]

What's a keto?

Great job on the getting some excersise in even when you don't feel like it. That's awesome.

[Phaedrus49er]

Originally posted by gobbla:
What's a keto?

Great job on the getting some excersise in even when you don't feel like it. That's awesome.

Oh my, I'm not sure you want me to get into the whole keto thing. All the Men's Health vets might remember the insanely long thread I and another guy had going where we tracked our respective progresses. Here's a quick and dirty description: Read the "description" paragraph . Basically, it's ZERO-carb, not low-carb. Worked wonders for my body composition, but effective training options are slightly limited.

Thanks, I felt like dookie, else I would've done more. It looks like the rain will hold off at some point today, so I'll be able to get out today and tomorrow since Friday night is shot with a dinner party, and Saturday is gone from working all day and driving to DC that night. My friend who I'm crashing with lives in a highrise apartment building, so I FINALLY get some long stairs to run next week [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

I'd try option 2 first, Ben, before taking the more drastic steps .... the keto thing sounds seriously nasty and option 3 is downright lunacy.

Stair-running. Yes! One day you have to come to Vancouver and I'll take you up the Grouse Grind - essentially a straight-up-the-side-of-a-mountain "hike" on one of our local moutains. There are no flat bits, no down bits ... I mean seriously straight up. It takes most people in decent shape between 45 mins and an hour to do (my best time is 43 mins ... it almost killed me, lol), though the record I believe is about 23 minutes. Put it on your future list of things to do. It's pretty cool.

[Phaedrus49er]

Keto isn't really that drastic of a mental step for me since I've already done it twice with great success. Yeah, #3 is just stupid [img]smile.gif[/img]

Would've been a great opportunity to get to Vancouver had I landed that job in Seattle, but I'll settle for saving up to fly out sometime after I've conquered the North Carolina "mountains"

[gobbla]

I'm still not a big fan of making any changes that you aren't willing to maintain for the rest of your life...mainly because if\when you do quit what will happen to the fat\muscle\whatever? You're just older fatter and that much behind on a plan to stay healthy for life. But that's my little soap box. I hurt myself at least once a month jerking around in the gym too...so you know... [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Originally posted by Phaedrus49er:
Keto isn't really that drastic of a mental step for me since I've already done it twice with great success. Yeah, #3 is just stupid [img]smile.gif[/img]

Would've been a great opportunity to get to Vancouver had I landed that job in Seattle, but I'll settle for saving up to fly out sometime after I've conquered the North Carolina "mountains"

Here you go, Ben. Here's a link to the page on the Grouse Mountain website about the Grind. Check it out, and book your flight.
Grouse Grind

[Phaedrus49er]

Originally posted by K-Court:
Here you go, Ben. Here's a link to the page on the Grouse Mountain website about the Grind. Check it out, and book your flight.
Grouse Grind

Dude, that's awesome. I should move to Vancouver for a summer just to see how many climbs I can get in, say, three months. 90 days = 90 climbs? 120 climbs? Insane, but then, I've never been accused of sanity [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

There are indeed people who do it every day. One time I went up on my day off just after getting the kids off to school so it was about 9:30 or so, and I was surrounded by the Mom Squad. These women do the Grind every day and are in awesome shape. It was all I could do to keep up .... amazing what fear of embarrassment in front of women can do to a guy! (But then again, that's more or less the genesis of this log, isn't it?? )

[Phaedrus49er]

Originally posted by K-Court:
amazing what fear of embarrassment in front of women can do to a guy! (But then again, that's more or less the genesis of this log, isn't it??

Touche [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Ben, have shitload of fun in DC. Sounds like a good place for that parkour experiment.

[Phaedrus49er]

Originally posted by K-Court:
Ben, have shitload of fun in DC. Sounds like a good place for that parkour experiment.

Thanks, I'm sure it'll be fun. However, with something like thirteen different law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction there, I'll just stick to the little stuff like petty theft and public intoxication rather than shimmy up the Washington Monument [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Originally posted by Phaedrus49er:

quote:

---

Originally posted by K-Court:
Ben, have shitload of fun in DC. Sounds like a good place for that parkour experiment.

Thanks, I'm sure it'll be fun. However, with something like thirteen different law enforcement agencies having jurisdiction there, I'll just stick to the little stuff like petty theft and public intoxication rather than shimmy up the Washington Monument [img]smile.gif[/img] [/quote]LOL. Well public intoxication goes without saying. Just don't let public exposure be a corollary. Have a blast, man. Look forwrd to hearing about your adventures next week. (And as my son has been saying .... only 15 more days!! [img]tongue.gif[/img] )

[Phaedrus49er]

Days 92-96 - quasi-off. Random sets of pullups, pushups, squats, walking around, some catching up on sleep.

Day 97

I decided to take advantage of my friend living in a highrise apartment building:

Warm-up: walk down 11 flights of stairs

5 x 15 flights (up times)
1. 3:00
2. 2:53
3. 2:50
4. 2:50
5. 2:51

How convenient that the firefighter climbing test was three minutes. I suppose I should've gone that long each climb and measured the height of the climb, but some of the flights were irregular, so the 15-flight benchmark worked. At the top of each climb, I u-turned immediately and walked back down, then rested for two minutes before the next climb. I LOVE stale stairwell air Now, time to properly celebrate our nation's birthday [img]smile.gif[/img]

[K-Court]

Nice one, Ben. Looks like you have a runner up for the MSWE!

Been to the ballgame yet?