EF workout

I broke away from orthodox BBS and did a fusion BBS / Art Devany workout - Big 5, but 3 sets, aiming for 15 reps, 8 reps, to failure.  In each case the max weight was my last BBS weight and the other weights were minus 2 plates and minus 4 plates.  Speed is normal, some coasting on the third set, but not much.

 

Exercise   weight/reps   weight/reps   weight/reps

seated row 50/15 70/8 90/5

chest press 70/15 90/8 110/2

pulldown 80/15 100/8 120/5

overhead press 10/20 30/8 50/4

leg press 180/15 220/8 260/5

 

hot/cold shower

 

On a purely subjective level, I feel great, possibly better than after a BBS workout.  This way was not quite as intense as BBS.  Next time I'll go up one plate on SR, PD and LP.  Maybe OHP too.  My hope is that this method will be better for my weaker muscles, which really is everything except my legs, and I do feel like they did more work than usual today.

Weekend Report

Missed doing BBS on Friday.  On each of Friday night and Saturday morning I did one round only of this.  It's not easy.  I had a really, really hard time with the pushups, only did 15 each time and was totally out of gas.  I find that weird.  Anyway.  On Saturday night I got completely hosed and was super hung over on Sunday.  I probably had 4 or 5 cigarettes.  Sunday night was E&E's wedding and I had a great time but again didn't get much rest. 

Treadmill Tabata

 Or rather treadmill half-Tabata. 

 

5' at 7 minute mile

 

4 x 20" run, 10" rest at 8 minute mile, 15 incline

 

swim 5 laps

 

Running at a 7' pace is hard.  It feels really fast.  I had originally planned to just kick up the pace for the Tabata and keep the thing level, but I think I would have lost control of my limbs, so I inclined it.  As for bailing, I probably would have died of a heart attack if I had continued at that pace.  No thanks.  

 

It might make sense, if circumstances force me to run on a treadmill again, to do 4 x 5' run, 3' rest or something like that. 

 

Found this article by Danny Dreyer which sheds a lot of light on what I have been doing wrong on my longer runs and why my calves have been feeling so torched afterwards.  Today I think I did a good job of midfoot landing but of course the treadmill is a different game.

400m "Sprints"

(yesterday)

4 x trail 400m

 

Times:

1:34

1:25

1:54

1:44

 

I started at the parking lot end.  Clearly running the other way is faster for some reason, maybe because it starts with a nice gentle flat piece.  I didn't feel as puky as I do after a tabata, but it was a good workout nonetheless.  I guess the plan is to cycle through tabata / 30/60 / 400m, although I think I should probably throw in a mile or two of normal running with each sprint session for good measure. 

 

I've been talking to BK about his own marathon preparations.  He's running with Team in Training, and they are setting up courses so that pace can be measured.  I looked on the gmaps pedometer and amazingly it is exactly one mile from the 9th Street crosswalk to the last tree on the right at the Park Circle corner of the park.  So, I can pace a mile there, although I'll have to do it in both directions and average, as it's downhill.  Also, it's exactly half a mile from the middle of the 6th / 7th block to the curb at GAP. 

Punch Punch

deadlift bar x 25

squat bar x 25

 

box Welcome to the Jungle - WWIII - Stanley Kubrick

bare knuckle first half of Slip It In

 

steam - hot shower - cold shower

 

So, 11 minutes of boxing plus maybe 3 of bare knuckle.  Pretty weak.  Not totally sure why I took the gloves off so early.  Bare knuckle is pretty unpleasant - my range is thrown off, and every punch is like cold water in the face, surprisingly painful and disorienting.  I watched parts of two videos over lunch and so I was being a little more creative than usual. 

 

My calves and hamstrings are still pretty torched from yesterday's run, so I did some stretchweightlifting to loosen up my legs.  I think it worked.  I feel a lot more comfortable sitting at my desk than I did before I went down there. 

 

Had a weird dream last night about events in a winter hybrid of Nelson and Montpelier, a bear attack at the back door, reunion with a seven- or eight-year-old son ... it was very confusing and I had a really hard time getting out of bed. 

Sunday Run

Ran (according to my calculations) about 5.7 miles in the five fingers, running for 3 minutes at a time and walking until I felt like running again.  Total time 56 minutes.  I did the loop (3.28 miles) in 34 minutes, so with the stopping factored in that means that my pace was respectable.  Some people passed me, and I passed some people.  Biomechanically, I felt a little shaky (l shin splint, l calf pain) but not as bad as last time, and I was able to keep a relatively high cadence.  The wife saw me running through the window and said I looked "stiff" - not sure if that's bad, need to videotape. 

Right now my calves are fucking killing me and my left big toenail has blood under it - oh well.  Otherwise I feel pretty good about the whole exercise. 

HIIT sprints

ran 9 x (30" sprint, 60" rest)

I think I got this protocol from the Life Spotlight guys.  Not sure.  Anyway I ran down to 1st St, into the park there, and over to my sprinting trail.  Thirty seconds is just about one length of the part that is complete forested. 

I read something on Running Barefoot while I was procrastinating on running (after sleeping in) about cadence and so my warmup run was a little quicker and I think much less painful than my last experiences with non-sprint running.  160 steps per minute is pretty fast, but I found that if I deliberately sped up and did short kind of bouncy steps, other aspects of form such as pelvic tilt and bent knees fell into place a little more easily. 

The protocol actually calls for 10 sprints, but after 9 I had completely lost the ability to accelerate (actually I think that happened towards the end of 7) and I was right next to my house.  Note for the future, start from the house end to avoid moral hazard.  I didn't feel as barfy as I did after the Tabata on Tuesday, but I had to rest several times coming up the stairs and I looked like a dying tomato when I got back.  So far the only thing I've had the stomach to do is pour myself a glass of water and eat a handful of grapes.  My head actually kind of hurts.

One thing that I keep completely forgetting to do is tighten the inner corset while sprinting.  Oh well, next time. 

Tomorrow's run will again feature the three-minute run/walk cycles, but I'll try to keep pace up a bit higher. 

BBS and some thoughts

Eating: nothing but I'll get something upstairs when I'm done typing

Drinking: making some tea, a high mountain oolong from 2006

Listening: Anti-Matter

forgot my watch

 

seated row 90# 10

chest press 110# 11

pulldown 120# 10

overhead press 50# 70

leg press 240# 13

 

Slight progress for everything except the OHP, and I think that was because I moved very quickly between exercises.  Obviously I didn't time anything, but the reps, pulldowns aside for some reason, were slow and smooth.  The pulldowns were very tough and I lurched on the last two reps.  I feel a lot stronger than I did when I started this program, but I think right now it needs tweaking.  It's really becoming clear (to me, anyway) that my legs are up to this but my arms are not.  I just don't feel like these weights are getting any easier, and I leave my workout with my arms feeling like I haven't worked them enough.  On my scoresheet I wrote, in a fucked up scrawl because I had just finished the leg press, NEXT TIME TRIPLES!  So, next time I am going to do sets of 10, 8, fail at the following weights:

 

seated row 70# 80# 90#

chest press 90# 100# 110#

pulldown 100# 110# 120#

overhead press 30# 40# 50#

leg press 220# 240# 260#

 

I'll do this for at least a month and then return to the strict BBS protocol and see how I've fared.  I think this is from Art Devany.  Drew Baye does not advocate multiple sets, but he is a lot more flexible than BBS - for instance he says multiple sets per week at first. 

Boxing

Boxed Stop Biting - All Caps - Guerillas in the Mist - Master of Puppets - Bow Down (bare knuckle)

 

Had a great little boxing session just now.  All told probably 20 minutes.  I felt a bit shaky at first, but quickly warmed up and got into it.  I took my gloves off for Bow Down and the difference was very interesting - kind of like between running shoes and barefoot.  It was almost scary at first.  I felt kind of naked.  I can't hit nearly as hard, and the feedback is totally unfiltered.  Also my left thumb sticks out, I think because I dislocated it once in Montreal, and kind of scrapes on the bag.  Not a good feeling.  I can hold it in with effort.  Future sessions may include more than one song of bare knuckle.

Sprint Tabata

Well, I got 'er done.  Sprints back and forth on the little trail in front of my house, using that Tabata timer again.  Next time I think I'll try the plain beeps so I can get more out of the tree sounds.  Anyway.  I read this excellent article on the way home, and it put me in the mood to go all out.  I warmed up with a little jog, maybe three minutes.  Felt pretty good except my left big toe, which is kind of a bloody mess in general, didn't feel great before starting.  My first sprint was at mach 10, branches all flying past, stormtroopers right on my tail.  The second one was pretty good too, but they did not get faster after that.  By maybe the fifth I was in pure survival mode, trying to not take a digger or get a broken ankle.  I have been trying to not clockwatch lately, but eventually I folded and looked at the timer and was pleasantly surprised to find that I only had one left.  I really turned it on and burned everything I had left.  Getting back up the stairs was agony.  Scratchy throat puky wanting to die.  It took about ten minutes, plus some water and vinegar, olives, prosciutto, and cherry tomatoes before I felt like a person again. 

Last night I ended up totally failing on the fast.  I got home and the wife had made delicious salmon.  Oh well.

Yet Another Swim

I've worked my way up to a reasonably painless 25 minutes. Not at all boring and I felt great getting out. Did breaststroke the whole time except for one length of crawl, which felt fine in terms of technique but left me pretty winded. Also, I just had an apple from the gym, but I feel inspired - going to skip dinner tonight and see what happens. That will give me a good 16 hours with no food. If it's as I imagine, the barrier is more psychological than anything.

Tomorrow, Tabata sprints!

running (yesterday)

Ran 4.25 miles, hard surface, in the Five Fingers.  It took about 52 minutes.  Very slow and very much a slog.  I set a timer for 3 minutes and walked for a bit every time it went off.  I guess I would feel a little more optimistic about this experience if I had done five miles in 35 minutes, but the truth is I feel pretty good about it.  Runs like this are half of the equation, the other half being two sets of sprints per week (which for now will be Tabatas on grass or uneven surfaces). 

 

As for stride, I certainly had to keep focus on landing underneath my hips.  In general my stride seems short and limpy, possibly because I'm running at below the optimum pace (Metzgar: 7 minute miles).  My stride seems a lot better when I sprint.  Hoping the two poles will kind of converge into a fast, smooth distance pace.

 

Minor annoyances included a sore left shin and a hard cramp in my right calf, which I ran out.  It's still a little sore today. 

Tabata sprint

Last night I hit the park. Ran one mile at around a 9 minute pace then
did 6 / 8 tabata session. Sad to stop early but I was pretty winded
and nearing the puke zone. I feel great this morning. So far no
shinsplints.

--
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Soccer

Played soccer for about 45 minutes this morning.  Scored two goals.  I was kind of a dick to some of the players on the other team though.  Need to take it easier - JB is a good role model, he never says anything critical about anyone ever. 

 

I also mashed up my right big toe even worse.  My sock was all bloody when I took my shoe off. 

 

In terms of how this fits in with my exercise plans in general, I am treating it as a sprint workout, Tuesday on the Furman plan.  That means I have to run this Thursday (toe permitting).  Not sure what I'll do - a fast two miler might be fun, but I may not be there yet with my Five Fingers running technique.  Also, I'm moving weights to Fridays, maybe effective as of this Friday, if I make it to the gym. 

Wish List

Here are some things that I would like to work on:

• Drink less coffee and more tea.  I love tea, it's better for you, and it's cheaper. 
• Eat lean meat at every meal.  I am not ready for full paleo, especially as I like dairy too much, but this practice could offset quite a bit of grain.
• Only eat grain when someone else has prepared it for me.  I have been treating myself way too often.  There is no need to have a scone or croissants for breakfast.  Yes, standing in Zibetto and having breakfast there is pleasant, and yes, the corner restaurant has incredibly good scones and they are convenient, but I just don't feel as good later in the day when I eat these things. 
• Limit tobacco consumption to two products in two sessions every seven days.  Drinking and smoking cigarettes mutually encourage one another, and I've been doing too much of both lately.  An occasional cigarette is fine, and I think two per week is "occasional" enough. 
• Drink less.  I don't have a rule for this.  I was thinking of taking seven days off, but my inclination is just to be a little more mindful about it.
• Try skipping dinner.  Not going to do it tonight, because tomorrow is soccer, but I hope to actually do this once this week. 
• When I find myself spacing, get away from the desk for five minutes.  Get up and drink some water.  Go talk to someone.  I still spend far too much time ignoring what I have to do and looking at a computer screen. 
• Meditate.  It's OK to use caffeine as a crutch. 

BBS

Eating: just had a Chopt cobb, EVOO and pepper - had two croissants for breakfast though

Drinking: water, making some oolong

Listening: nothing because I left my iPod at home

 

no warmup

 

seated row 90* 9 1.24

chest press 110* 9 1.26

pulldown 120* 10 1.14

overhead press 50* 8 56

leg press 15 did not time, did not go to failure

 

5 minute steam, cold rinse, 3 minute hot shower, 3 minute cold shoer

 

So, slight improvement on the first three, sort of.  I did this in the morning instead of after lunch, which I prefer.  I can't decide if I should be worried about the lack of improvement or just be glad that I am going to failure ... in fact, I have gone from one position to the other at least three times since the actual workout.  The fact is that I feel pretty good, and pretty strong, and last week I was able to play an hour of soccer without dying.  I don't think my improvement is great, but I am chipping away, and I'm undeniably stronger than I was a month ago.  Maybe I should change my up rule to 15 reps and two minutes - I guess I can cross that bridge when I get over 12/90 on the current weights. 

 

 

BBS

Eating: had an apple

Drinking: making some dongding

Listening: Neu!

 

warmup easy 3 minute row

 

sitting row 90* 7 1.10

chest press 110* 8 1.30

pulldown 120* 8 1.30

overhead press 50* 8 1.10

leg press 200* 15 1.30

 

5 minute steam, 3 minute hot shower, 2 minute cold shower.

 

The times are kind of approximate.  I set my watch's timer for 1.35 and notice when I dropped. 

 

Not a great performance.  A couple factors may account for (but not excuse) this.  For one thing, an exhausting soccer game yesterday.  I dropped the leg press weight to account for that, which I think was a good idea, but it may be that I was just a little off metabolically.  Also, I drank a ton this weekend.  Getting kind of tired of that, actually.  Another is that I didn't do a true BBS workout last week, so those numbers (the reps) are kind of inflated.  I had momentum on my side, which is not at all how it's supposed to work.  Slowed down is much, much harder. 

 

Another kind of odd thing is that I feel like I can "max out" at any point by stopping, and straining against the stopped weight.  Momentum again.  That's why the times are all the same, I think.  I start clockwatching around a minute and fail soon after. 

 

Recovery did not include a cold rinse because I felt weak, and the shower times were shorter because I am a very impatient person. 

 

So now I kind of have a dilemma.  What should I do next week?  I'm inclined to not drop weight, but to give myself less time to recover.  I typically start feeling like it's time to get the muscles moving again after about five days.  I think I'll do another BBS Monday, again taking it easy on my legs if my new shoes are here and if it looks like my bruised nail is going to be in shape for soccer on Tuesday. 

Soccer

I got talked into playing soccer yesterday.  Some of the people I work with have a Tuesday morning thing going.  I couldn't find my old running shoes, so I played in aquasocks.  Not a good choice.  Still, I was much better than I remembered from high school, probably because I had my mind in the game (thank you zen) instead of on how much I suck.  I even scored a goal!  That combined with hearing from the FF that I passed their translation test made yesterday the best day I've had in a while.  I did totally crunch my feet though.  My left big toenail has one of those deep bruises.  Not to fear though, I have ordered some size 13 indoor soccer shoes. 

Sprint

On Monday I went down with N for some sprints and managed only about 4-5 minutes at a pretty fast pace. Practice practice practice.