Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snowman Bugsy

Anna and me with Bugsy, our snowman
I went on a little run this morning. Will gave me a workout for yesterday that I didn't do and wanted to, so I braved the roads (the interstate was the WORST and the main city roads I drove on were fine) and went to MFY. The workout was this: 30-second lunge each side, 400, repeat for 4 total times; 30-second standing ham, 400, repeat for 4 total times. He didn't say anything about rest, so I took 20 seconds before starting the lunge/ham and 10 seconds before starting the run. Then I took 6 minutes (4 laps around the little track) between lunge and ham 400s. I was supposed to run the 400s in approximately 1:30 each. I definitely succeeded and felt great!
  • 1:27.74 #1
  • 1:25.38 #2
  • 1:23.98 #3
  • 1:26.40 #4
  • 6:00 recovery
  • 1:26.25 #5
  • 1:22.50 #6
  • 1:23.99 #7
  • 1:24.12 #8
  • 3:36 recovery
All told, it was exactly 30 minutes. A good 30 minutes. I felt great during and after and was very surprised that the 400s after standing ham were faster than the 400s after lunge. Not complaining. I had to push myself and enjoyed it.

Then it was off to Anna and Josh's house after the grocery store (where there was...shocker...no milk and little bread) for a 1 hour trainer session and some fun sledding and snowman-building with Meghan and Nathan also. What a fabulous afternoon with some amazing people!

The bikes

The hill

Anna coming down the hill

Josh and Anna

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Snow Day

I was here!
It snowed a lot yesterday. Well, a lot being relative to Tennessee. We have probably about 3 inches of snow/ice on the ground. Thankfully the majority of it is snow, but there is a layer of ice on the pavement and another layer on top of the snow. It's made for a few fun walks this morning! I went all around the grounds here just to see what the roads were like.

Adventures I had:
  1. Helping, with 3 other people, push a girl's car off the pile of plowed snow she'd gotten stuck on and then watching one of the guys get a long running start to get his little car up a little hill.
  2. Talking to the nice man out salting about the rest of the roads; he said the interstates were worse than our totally iced main road.
  3. Walking up the hill toward where Carissa said she lived; it wasn't that bad, and people were able to get up it, so that was good.
  4. Paying rent with the intent of using the wireless network; no such luck, since the office is closed due to "inclement weather."
  5. Exploring around the pond and taking pictures of the ice.
  6. Walking out on Moores Lane to see very few people in Cool Springs at noon on a Saturday; you would have thought it was around 5am!
  7. Offering to help some guy get his Explorer out of his parking spot; he declined my offer to push, saying that it was kind of fun trying to get out. I watched from my window and noticed that he eventually had to have someone help push his car.
  8. Currently watching someone try to park—their wheels are spinning and they're not going anywhere!
Adventures I did not have:
  1. Sledding
  2. Driving
  3. Running; MFY was open, but the woman I talked to said everyone and their brother was there.
Today I'm grateful I have some food in my pantry and freezer. I have no food in the fridge and had been hoping to get to the grocery store, but after watching everyone have such difficulty parking in our lots, I might not go out.

Blue Lightening covered in ice
The sheets of ice have been kind of amusing. The passenger side of my car was completely free of any ice, tho I did have to brush snow off. The driver side was completely covered in a fairly thick sheet of ice but nearly free of ice. It took me maybe 10 minutes to get most of it off with the scraper. Other people have been trying all methods, from a bottle opener (I lent the guy a scraper) to chunks of ice to water bottles. It's really been fun to watch other people!

Because I didn't run today (and really wanted to, especially after all the hard work we put in this week), I decided to do something other than just walk around outside (although that felt good and was relaxing): the TFL exercise we skipped Friday morning. Sit on the ground, lift one leg up and turn your hip/foot in, extend it as wide as you can, and do 5 minutes extreme slow to in across your other leg. As soon as those 5 minutes are done, complete it with another 5 minutes of in to out. By the end of the 20 minutes, I could hardly lift my leg but didn't have nearly as much difficulty moving it as I did earlier this week.

Then I was curious and asked what TFL stood for. We came up with some amusing options (Time For Lengthening, Torture For Legs, The Fast Legs, That's Freaking Long) before landing on the actual meaning (Tensor Fasciae Lata). Evidently it's part of the hip flexor? Maybe I'll go back to The Fast Legs and hope it will help me get fast!

Friday, January 29, 2010

Burning

My legs are still burning from the workout this morning. It wasn't so bad until the last one and that's saying a lot, because they all were extremely hard.
  • Lateral delt raise: 10 minutes extreme slow, seated, 1.5-lb dumbbells
  • Zurcher squat: 10 minutes extreme slow
  • Curl: 10 minutes extreme slow, seated, 1.5-lb dumbbells
  • Wall squat with towel curl to press: 5 minutes, curl to press was extreme slow bottom to top
I did the entire 5 minutes for wall squat. 1, it was half the time of the Z squat. 2, I had the towel to distract me. Did I ever feel accomplished after I finished! My legs are indeed burning now, but it felt good then! Off to lunch at Swanky's Tacos (thankfully I didn't have to work at work today because of the snow), back home to work, off to work out again...it's like a cycle. But, we discussed today it being slightly different once Will leaves. That will be really good for me. I definitely need to be getting outside more and will have a much more difficult time accomplishing these difficult workouts without someone pushing me.

More extreme slows for the afternoon, 5 minutes:
  • Lateral delt: seated, 1.5-lb dumbbells
  • Curl: seated, 5-lb dumbbells
  • Zurcher squat: 25-lb weight
  • Glute ham: from top
  • 1-leg squat

Yes, it snowed today!
They were calling for 3–6 inches, and we haven't been disappointed so far! Since I didn't have to go in to work, I didn't have to drive. When we drove to the cabana, Will said it was a little slippery. Bill said people were sliding all over the place, Carissa said they couldn't even drive up to their apartment because the hill was too icy, and the Tennessean had some great photos of the highway from earlier. We were supposed to have gone to watch Luke swim in his regional meet but decided not to, a decision that was definitely a good one in hind sight (although I would have gladly let Will drive; I can drive in the snow well enough, but I have little patience for others who can't).

Thursday, January 28, 2010

CompuTrainer Class: Torture Test

This morning was the 5-mile test. Well, "assessment" in Todd's words. Ride 5 miles as hard and fast as you can. I did it in 14:22, averaging around 185 watts. The watts really mean nothing to me, but evidently it's kind of a big deal. I should have looked at my speed after I finished, but I'm sure I averaged somewhere around 20 mph. About 2 minutes in, I started feeling the lunge presses from yesterday. But then I figured I only had a little over 10 minutes left, and if I can do a 10-minute extreme slow squat, I can surely ride hard for 10 minutes!

Lee, the first to finish, did it in 13:36. I'm not sure where I ended up in the pack (I think it went something like Lee, Parri, Cali, Lisa, Jennifer, me; and there were also Shelly, Jonell, Lisa C, Mary Fall, and Chatty), but I do know that I was 3 seconds behind Jennifer. Ouch. I tried so hard to catch her at the end and just couldn't do it!

We had to weigh in before we started, with our bikes. I found out my lovely Trek weighs just over 20 pounds. Sounds like it's time for the bike to go on a diet!

He's a heavy one!

Just for fun, I weighed myself before an after to see whether I'd lose any weight during the ride. I didn't drink much, maybe twice about 3 ounces each, and weighed 1 pound less after the ride. I'm not quite sure what I expected....

Today's amazing promises (originally given by God through Ezekiel to the people of Israel):
Ezekiel 36:23–32 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!”
The afternoon workout was another fun one. I was surprised that I wasn't completely burned out from the morning's test—the only lingering effect was the headache that was compounded by every one of the 100 altitude drops I did:
  • Altitude drop legs
  • Glute ham (I'm sure Will didn't say altitude drops, because I wasn't even thinking altitude drops. I did them all quick-style.)
  • Front delt (1.5-lb weights; I dropped one early on and then the last one. Ugh! I repeated that one.)
  • Push up (100 push ups is a lot!)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Make-Up

This morning we made up for the work I couldn't do yesterday, skipping only lunge press (which I definitely accomplished yesterday):
  • Altitude drop legs: 5×10 with 10 deep breaths' rest
  • Low-squat foot jumps: 10×10seconds with 10 seconds' rest
  • Curl: 2×75 seconds each arm with a 15-lb dumbbell
  • Bent-over rebound row: 10×10 seconds with 10 seconds' rest each arm
The afternoon workout was solo, thankfully, because I actually needed to stay at work late. Again thankfully, it was a short-ish workout:
  • Lunge press: 6×30 seconds work each leg, 24-lb bar. Having the weight made this about 1,000 times more difficult than normal. Whereas I can usually do 22–24 during the 30 seconds, I was happy to make it to 12 (but always did at least 10).
  • Standing ham: 3 minutes. Currently, anything feels short compared to the 10 minutes of work we did earlier.
  • Push up: 3 minutes, standing, wide.
  • Preacher curl: 2×75 seconds, 24-lb bar
Home to listen to the president's speech, full of rhetoric, which I expected, then off to sleep. Ready to race tomorrow morning!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

What is Normal?

This morning's workout was not the most normal workout, but that's to be expected these days, I guess. The first exercise was lunge press, 6×30 sec each leg, quick break between legs, 30 seconds rest between sets. I was feeling my hip flexors on all of them, and the last 2 sets were especially hard. Then I just felt weak. There was an interesting thought progression going on in my mind throughout the sets.
  1. Hello, hip flexors. Work with me, please.
  2. I don't think this should be as hard as it is.
  3. Are my legs ever weak today!
  4. Oh, I know what this means.
  5. Just keep making your legs work. Only one left.
  6. This is as hard as it's going to get. As soon as you're done, you can lay down and recover.
I can't say I'm too proud of that, but I am proud that I finished all 6 sets. Somewhere in there I was also thinking about what I'd have been doing had I been running. I've had days where I've gone out, made it about 400 yards, turned around, tried again, repeated, quit. That's what today felt like, only I actually had someone there watching and was thus determined to finish at least the set. As soon as I finished, my stomach felt like it does after we run hard. I know the feeling well and don't like it at all.

I was supposed to have done altitude drops, 5×10, but did 1 and decided that I wasn't going to be comfortable standing on the bench and jumping off. So we skipped that. I also could have done 10×10 seconds work with 10 seconds rest low squat foot jumps, but I nixed that pretty quickly and instead we moved to upper body stuff: push up, 3-minute iso, from the top; and rebound upright row, 10×10 seconds work with 10 seconds rest each arm. So I guess we only skipped two things, but given that I was feeling weak, I was definitely happy to have not done those two.

We worked out later with Zach; he definitely worked harder than I did!
  • 3-min extreme slow wall squat
  • 3-min extreme slow push up
  • 3-min standing ham
  • 3-min extreme slow seated curl, 1.5-lb dumbbells

Monday, January 25, 2010

10 Minutes of Work

Oh, wow. This morning's workout was epic. Which means the afternoon's workout is going to be even more so. In the past, we have done some 5-minute long isometric exercises, even some 7-minute ones. Not today—this was a whole other animal: 10 minutes of work. Oh, wow. First we all (Luke, me, Will, and Bill) did the little goals/affirmations mental exercise, and we continued that throughout the workout.

  • Zurcher squat: 20 lb
  • TFL: 5 minutes in, 5 minutes out; first I got to where I couldn't lift my leg; then I got to where I couldn't move my leg. Ouch.
  • Lateral delt raise: 1.5-lb dumbbells

The evening workout was slightly better. Five minutes doesn't seem so long when you've gone twice that long. Extreme slow, 5 minutes:

  • Push up
  • Lunge R (3:15, then stayed at the bottom and tried to pull deeper the rest of the time, L (2:30, then stayed at the bottom); definitely felt the hip flexors
  • Standing ham (the glute ham thing we use was being used by 3 of our many companions); it felt good to use the back of my legs after having done lunge
  • Curl (1.5-lb dumbbells)

That was it. Then I got to watch Zach work, thankful that I was not the one doing the 10-second manuals holds.

And because I desperately need to see this written out so that it motivates me:

  • April 25: St. Pete's/St. Anthony Tri (possibility)
  • May 9: Knoxville Rev3Tri
  • May 22–23: Memphis in May Sprint and Olympic triathlons
  • June 5: Quassy Rev3Tri
  • June 12: Hi-Vee
  • July 12-ish: Chattanooga Waterfront
  • August 20-ish: McMinnville
  • September 12: Cedar Point Rev3Tri

And a few running races somewhere in there, hopefully a trip out to Texas/Phoenix probably late June/early July, and maybe some local road bike races. Oh how I wish I were excited to race.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Who and What

It's been a while since I've posted this list, and given the theme of our studies in church, it seemed appropriate to repost it. At least, it was good for me to look at this list again to evaluate whether I'm on track to becoming the woman of God that I strive to me. Even though I originally wrote this more than 2 years ago, very few if any of the points have changed, but thankfully by God's grace and through His word I have grown in a few areas.

Who and What I Want to Be

  • Focused on God wholly: running toward Him and seeing who passes me (this is a life-long pursuit that, by His grace, I am still excited about)
  • Aware: not so smitten that I miss the truth (see Open below)
  • A safe haven (Prov. 31:11)
  • Supportive (Prov. 31:12)
  • Submissive but not stepped on (1 Pet. 3:1; 1 Tim. 2:11; Eph. 5:22)
  • Encouraging (this is one I'm good at and enjoy working on)
  • Supportive
  • Virtuous (Prov. 31:10–31)
  • Loving
  • A goal-setter (definitely still setting goals—usually always practical and attainable but hopefully ones that glorify God by putting to use the talents He's given me)
  • Respectful (Eph. 5:33; Col. 3:18)
  • Staying athletic and competitive, but not so much as to put up a wall between me an anyone else (Prov. 31:17,25)
  • Pure: living an uncompromising life (Eph. 5:27; Tit. 2:4–5)
  • Open to the truth/opinion of others (definitely working on listening to others—which means also being open to others by sharing things I might normally not say)
  • Truthful
  • Honest
  • Reverent: serious in mind and character; not silly (1 Tim. 3:11) (this one's not usually a problem—if I err anywhere here, it's on the serious side)
  • Temperate: wineless; alert; vigilant; clear-headed (1 Tim. 3:11)
  • Faithful and trustworthy (1 Tim. 3:11)
  • Adorned in humility (1 Tim. 2:9)
Who and What I Want to Find
  • A Christ-follower whose relationship with God is the top priority
  • A one-woman man who is sexually pure (1 Tim. 3:2)
  • One who is worthy of respect (remember: Don't expect perfection, because that's impossible.)
  • Someone kind and loving but not fake (Prov. 31:28; 1 Cor. 7:3; Eph. 5:25,28)
  • An athlete or a willing supporter of my athletics and dreams
  • One who's pure—living an uncompromising life (1 Tim. 3:7)
  • A leader in spiritual walk and life (1 Tim. 2:8, 3:4; 1 Cor. 11:3)
  • A man of valor (Ruth 2:1; Judg. 6:12)
  • A goal-setter
  • One who is courageous
  • A temperate man—wineless, alert, vigilant, clear-headed (1 Tim. 3:2)
  • Someone who is loving (Col. 3:19)
Exodus 40:1–16
Proverbs 31:10–31
1 Corinthians 7:3–4
1 Corinthians 11:3,7–12
Ephesians 5:22–33
Colossians 3:18–19
1 Timothy 3
2 Timothy 2
Titus 2:4–5
1 Peter 3:1–6

**Originally written 1-11-08; edited 3-15-08, 9-08-09, 1-24-10**

Resting

Today was a rest day. My fave. Lots of time in the Word, sitting in the hot tub, reading the paper, watching football, playing games, and sleeping. Fabulous.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

4 Miles

That was the run mileage for today. We've gone to Pinkerton a lot over the last couple months and Will wanted to go to Centennial, so I acquiesced. Plus I knew he wanted to run some too, and a track is much better for 200s than a mile-long path with only the quarter miles marked. Thankfully, we did a workout that was more a Kailin workout than a Will workout: Run 7-minute miles.

He didn't tell me how many I was doing when I started, he just said go run 7 minutes. So I did. Four times around the track, 6:48! Woohoo! He even showed me the watch to prove it. That was only 8 seconds off my fastest time (which was in a race when I'm always moving faster). The rest interval was probably close to 10 minutes; my stomach started hurting (cramps, I decided) at turn 2 of lap 4, and when I finished I just wanted to lay down and sleep the pain away. I think the following rest periods were closer to 5 minutes than 10 minutes as far as I could tell (he had the watch; I never knew any times of anything unless he told me). I definitely recovered a lot faster than I had after the first mile after the other 3.

The 4 miles were at these times:
  • 6:48
  • 6:58
  • 7:07
  • 7:02
On the last one, he told me before I started the last lap that I had to finish it in 1:41. And did I ever aim hard to reach that. But alas. Still, I am not at all complaining about the times, especially considering the awful headwind down one straight. Every time I got to that part, I just kept telling myself it would be over in about 100 meters, and I also aimed to not slow down my speed too much on that stretch. I know that my lap times slowed as I went, since he said my first laps were usually between 1:30 and 1:36. If I'd have kept up even the 1:36, I should have finished each mile in 6:24. I'll get there eventually (there and to negative splits). But at least he'd told me those times, so I knew what the 1:41 should have felt like for that last lap. Total run time: 27:53.

Sometimes I think I should stop reading the blogs of some of the pro triathletes. Bree, whose blog I frequently read, wrote about her Thursday track workout. This girl is an Ironman pro, distance athlete, and fast. I don't always realize how fast these pros are until they post some of her workouts. She had 12×400, each in 90 seconds, with a 30-second or 200-m jog rest between each one. Not including rest, that's 3 miles in 18 minutes or less. Wow!

Before we left, Will did a few 200s, fast (surprise, surprise), even after a crazy hard workout just an hour beforehand.

After running a few errands, I stopped at Farkas' to say a quick hello. It was perfect timing—UJohn was just finishing baking some very tasty cobbler! Church was fabulous. We have been studying Genesis and just finished chapter 2 this week. Usually messages on marriage are hard for me to listen to because they make me realize how much I would love to be married if God ever brings someone into my life and says it's time. Today was different somehow; I just listened to God and learned about Him. There were a few things that really stuck out, and they had to do with the dad giving his daughter away at the wedding and the woman taking her husband's name.

At typical wedding ceremonies, the pastor will ask, "Who gives this woman to be married to this man"? The dad usually answers, "Her mother and I do." Dr. Easley said that when he performs ceremonies, he requests that the dad say only, "I do." With is reasoning, he painted for us a picture of Jesus standing before Adam with the woman on his arm. When God put Adam to sleep, He took part of his side and created the woman. Then He brought her to the man. We know from the rest of Scripture that Jesus was very instrumental in creation, perhaps Himself forming Adam from dust and Eve from Adam. So it's not a stretch to think that He was there, that He was the one to "brought her to the man."

He brought her to the man, to see what the man would call her. This brings me to the second thing that struck me: Why the woman takes her husband's name. Adam had previously named all the animals. God had seen that it was not good for the man to be alone, so He brought all the animals to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever he named them, that was their name. But not one of them was like Him, so God fashioned the woman, woke Adam up, and "brought her to the man" to see what he would call her. He used a play on words (at least in Hebrew [ish and isha], and similar in English [man and woman]) to call her a name that was much like his own—in essence, he gave her his name.

Not only Adam's naming the woman isha after his name ish describes why women change their names, though. Just a sentence later, God calls the couple to leave their parents and to cleave (or be bonded) to one another. When a woman changes her name, she tells all those witnessing the ceremony and all those she knew and knows and will know that she has left her parents, she has given up her daddy's name, and she is not one with her husband. God instituted this all as a type of what we will eventually experience in eternity—The church is the bride of Christ, and as His bride we will eventually leave this earth and our attachment to it and be united with and one with Him. I can only imagine how awesome that unity will be.

The amazing thing is that both of these rituals are common in every marriage, be it "secular" or "religious." Yet seldom do we realize where these came from and Who instituted them.

That wasn't the end of the night, though I did appreciate having time to contemplate it all. There was still a few exercises to do 5 minute isos for the following:
  • Lunge L (1:32), R (1:28)
  • Standing ham
  • Push up (this one I did from the top; for some reason my arms seemed more tired than my legs!)

Friday, January 22, 2010

Trainer

AM workout: 5 minutes extreme slow.
  • Glute ham
  • Zurcher squat: 18-lb bar
  • Plate front delt: 10-lb plate. Definitely felt the lats from the bench press the last couple days.
  • Seated curl: 18-lb bar
I left work a little early and stopped at the ISC to say hello to ARenee. I was still home early, so I got in a good hour's ride on the trainer. We didn't have our class on Thursday and I hadn't ridden on Sunday, so it'd been a good week+ that I hadn't been on the bike. It felt good to get back on and ride! It was too cold to ride outside but too warm to ride inside, so I spent the afternoon on the porch.

The afternoon workout was more of the same from the morning, in no particular order and definitely most (but possibly not all):
  • Glute ham
  • 1-leg squat
  • Pushup
  • Plate front delt: 10 lb

Thursday, January 21, 2010

AM Workout:
  • Bench press: 1 arm, 15 lb (better than the 20 lb yesterday), 20 each arm, with 3 breaths at top and bottom
  • 1-leg dead lift: 30 lb (5 lb more than yesterday), 20 each leg, 2 sets
  • Standing ham: 5 minutes
Will told me today that he does the bench press one with about 45 lb and expected me to do almost half that much. Yeah, right. The boy can bench 200+, and I can bench at least 65 but probably not much more. Today was better than yesterday in that I didn't feel totally off balance every time I brought the weight down, but it was not fun. He said they're not all supposed to be fun or easy, and this was definitely neither.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sitting in the Stairwell

New shoes: Pink and gray Puma flats
This morning's workout was similar to what it has been most of the week; Will said there were a few things he wanted me to work on and then we'd move to something else.
  • Lunge press: 6x6 each leg. I think I was supposed to focus on having a violent stop at the bottom and then pushing hard off the bottom. And keeping the bar up a little higher, because if it were a heavy bar I wouldn't bring it down so low at the bottom of the press.
  • Low-squat foot jumps: 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 10 times. Work on jumping high, like a vertical jump. Better this morning than yesterday morning.
  • Push up: 3 minutes from the top. Keep chest up.
  • Upright rebound row: 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 10 times each arm. Keep elbow higher than wrist and be aggressive.
  • Lay on the ground, on my back, for about 5 minutes and visualize recovery and being healthy. I could have stayed there all morning.
It was rainy all day today, which meant that I was relegated to the stairwell instead of being able to take a walk outside during lunch. That meant that I could do some standing ham and wall squat (if for no other reason but that I don't like sitting all day and jeans aren't conducive to lunging).

Lunchtime activity: Reading the Bible in the stairwell while stretching

New camera: Portable and water-resistant
I'm pretty excited about this camera. It's a caribiner, which means that I can easily carry it with me while I run and take pictures of random cool things.

We did an afternoon workout, but I can't remember all that it was. They're all starting to run together, so I hope Will's keeping a record of them. I do remember that before the workout, he set up Nancy and me on his new grounding system. I'm not sure what it does, but it has something to do with getting all the bad electricity out—sort of like a drain. I think we might try it again, frequently. It might help me sleep better!

We did this and maybe more, in no particular order:
  • Bench press: 1 arm, 20 lb, 20 each arm, with 3 breaths at top and bottom; I did this in 2 sets of 10 because I forgot I was supposed to have done 20. Plus I don't think I cuold have done 20 all at once.
  • 1-leg dead lift: 25 lb, 20 each leg, 2 sets
  • Standing ham: 5 minutes
After the workout, it was dinner with the Roberts (late) and then off to sleep.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Feelings

The AM workout was short and sweet:
  • Push up: 3 minutes between two stationary bikes so I could be in the deepest position but still do the entire 3 minutes
  • Curl: 2×75 seconds each arm, 15-lb dumbbell
  • Lunge press: 3×3 each leg, 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest
  • Low-squat foot jumps: 10×10 seconds (I didn't get told as many times today to straighten my arms, so either I did better or he was being nicer)
  • Lay on the ground, on my back, for a few minutes and visualize being healthy.
Then it was back home for a quick nap before work. Thank you, Will!

Work was good, lunch at the park with the geese, then back home for another nap. I don't like having a cold! Met up with Zach and Will for the evening workout:
  • Altitude drop legs: 5×10
  • Push up: 3 minutes between two stationary bikes so I could be in the deepest position but still do the entire 3 minutes
  • Low-squat foot jumps: 10×10 seconds (Will said that the last set tonight was better than the first set this morning. Hooray!)
  • Could that really have been it?
  • Lay on the ground, on my back, for a few minutes and visualize recovery and being healthy.
We had some good conversation about how I am feeling—like ready to race or not, how it's all mental, how physically I should be prepared to race. I said I felt like I could adequately perform during a 5K or 10K run and during a 20K or a 40K bike, but I didn't know whether I could put them together during a race at the intensity they should be at. That mentality/attitude is a huge improvement than what I felt and said a couple weeks ago.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Sprints

I knew this morning's workout was going to be a good one when Will texted at 5:45 and said to make sure I had shoes to run in. Usually I wear flats, which are better for balance, that I don't wear to run in because they're pretty worn out (two times through the washer and the dryer will do that to any shoe). I thought I'd be on the treadmill, though, not outside. Instead, he had a nice surprise workout waiting for Luke and me when we got to the workout room.
  • Lunge: 30 seconds each leg
  • Run: 0.25 miles (we measured it later and it was exactly a quarter mile)
  • Repeat, switching legs for the lunge, for a total of 6 sets
The run was out and back in our parking lot outside. It was wet but not slippery until we got to the place where we were supposed to turn around, and there was a bit of sand that slowed us down every time. Fortunately neither of us slipped, and thankfully we didn't have any traffic to contend with. I definitely slowed down after the first 2 or 3, but I think I was around 1:30–1:40 (maybe 20 or so seconds behind Luke?). Will was timing, so I wasn't sure. My stomach was not feeling so hot for the last 4, but I still ran and just tried to forget the discomfort.

Then there was more:
  • Standing extreme ham: 5 minutes. I thought last week's was the hardest every; today's surpassed that. It felt like my legs were going to give out backward (like my knees were going to bend the opposite direction they were supposed to). Luke felt the same thing and almost did fall (except the wall was behind him and caught him).
  • Push up: 30 seconds
  • Seated arm swings: 20 seconds
  • Repeat the previous two 6 times
  • Curl: 5 minutes extreme slow (10-lb dumbbell)
Then I got to work and was starving.

I forget what the evening workout was, but I know it included the following:
  • Lunge press: 3×3 each leg, 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest
  • Low-squat foot jumps: 10×10 seconds (Will kept telling me to straighten my arms)
  • Push up: 3 minutes, at the top

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sabbath

Today was a day off. Much needed, as they always are. Back to the real world tomorrow. I am so grateful God implemented a Sabbath rest.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Peanut Butter and Pickles

Today I mostly failed during my run. But that means that I partly succeeded, so I'll dwell on that I think. Here's what I wanted to do:
  • Run 7 minutes at 7-min/mile pace
  • Walk 1 minute
  • Run 4 minutes at 6-6:30-min/mile pace
  • Walk 2 minutes
  • Run 4 minutes at 6-6:30-min/mile pace
  • Walk 2 minutes
  • Repeat at least once
Here's what I accomplished:
  • Run 7:14 at 7:14-min/mile pace (6:11 best)
  • Walk 1:46
  • Run 1:05 at 6:10-min/mile pace (5:07 best)
  • Walk 9:55
  • Run 0.1 miles, walk 0.1 miles, for the remaining 0.7 miles (8 minutes), 10:52 pace (4:56 best)
  • Totals: 28 minutes, 2.5 miles, 11:11 pace (4:56 best), 270 cal
Even though the 1-min walk didn't happen, I still felt good after the first mile. Then after the first of 4 minutes in the second run part, I started feeling like I had last time. It's definitely not indigestion or anything—it feels more like cramps. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and lay on the ground. But I kept moving, hoping that it would go away quicker if I moved around. Not so much. I don't know what to do to keep that from happening, but I definitely don't like the feeling. However, I now have something to build on. So if I can just decrease the time of the first mile and then increase the time in the next interval, I'll feel like I'm getting faster. Even if I have to stop and walk for 10 minutes. Maybe that time will decrease as well. Someday I'll get to where I want to be. I had with me the goals Will had me write earlier, so that's what I was thinking about. I can achieve them. I can do it. Eventually...

Will and I had talked a little while ago about how he thought that a peanut butter and pickle sandwich, as long as it was the good (healthy) peanut butter on wheat bread, tasted really good. Today I made some bread (the apt smells so good now), so I decided to try his suggestion. Surprisingly, it wasn't too bad.

Odd: Peanut butter and pickles

Not as good as the usual PB&J or PB & honey, but didn't taste awful and I didn't feel like gagging! I like peanut butter and I like pickles, so I thought it might taste OK. I'm not sure I need to make it a staple in my diet, but if I thought about making it again, I would and I'd eat it.

Normal: Peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter and honey
The PM workout was short, sweet, and HARD. My arms are still sore from yesterday morning's EDI/manual hold push up, but there was no push up today so I was happy.
  • 1-leg dead lift: 6x3 each side, 40-lb bar. Same weight, but I went down lower (although not all the way to the ground) than I had been and I focused on not letting my knee come forward. Hello, glutes.
  • Russian lunge: 6x3 each side, continuous. Yikes. That made my HR spike fast. But it felt good.
  • Bench press: 6x3. No weight requirement, so I did 65 lb. Probably could have done more had I had a spotter.
  • 1-arm curl: 6x3, 15-lb bar.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Another Outside Run (Warmer!)

AM workout (very similar to, if not the same as, Tuesday's workout):
  • 10-1-3 EDI (with 10-count, 15-count, and 10-count holds)
    • Glute ham
    • Push up
  • 5-min extreme slow
    • Zurcher squat (with no weight)
    • Front delt (1.5-lb dumbbells)
  • 10 sets of 3
    • Altitude drop legs
    • Rebound curls (10-lb dumbbell, one arm at a time)
Will has had Nancy doing the same O2 workouts that I was doing last month, and she is reacting nearly the same way I did (although she has a bit more control over her emotions than I do). It was good to see that I am not alone in my disdain for those workouts, and it was nice to be able to empathize with her!

Since I work slightly shorter days on Fridays, I was able to get home while it was still light and warm (mid 50s!) out, so I headed out to do the same loop that I'd done Wednesday (when it was about 40* by the time the sun had set and it took me 40 minutes, 4.5 miles, 8:53 pace, 8:02, 7:52, and 7:53 mile times). Today was better!
  • Totals: 40 minutes, 4.7 miles, 8:31 pace (6:24 best), 556 cal
  • Mile 1: 7:54 (6:27)
  • Mile 2: 7:40 (6:42)
  • Mile 3: 7:44 (6:49)
  • The rest: 40-second walk, then run the rest of the way in (except for across the 10-foot patch of ice across the sidewalk on Moores Lane)
  • Mile 4.5 was at 36:25, so today's run was 3:35 faster than Wednesday's! Hooray for being warmer!
The day wasn't over yet, though, as I headed to CSY for another workout. If I couldn't tell I was getting stronger and wasn't told (over and over, yet I'm still having trouble believing it) that I'm getting faster, I might get sick of all these workouts. A lot like Thursday's workout:
  • 1-leg dead lift: 10×6, 40-lb bar, going down just enough to touch a low bench
  • Glute ham: 50 reps, all quick off the bottom (all hard—my knees were feeling however many of these I've done this week)
  • 1-arm dead lift: 3×3 each arm, 45-lb bar, 4 deep breaths at the top of every rep (I could really feel this one on my opposite side's side/lower back)
  • Bent-over row: 6×3, 20-lb dumbbells
  • 1-arm curl: 6×3 each arm, 15-or-so-lb bar (it was one of the curly ones that doesn't have any weight markings on it)
I noticed that using a bar for the 1-arm curl made me focus on really keeping my arm and the bar still; if I didn't, it would move all over the place.
  • Plenty row: 10×3 each arm, 20-lb dumbbell

Thursday, January 14, 2010

CompuTrainer Class: Tempo Ride

Today's session was a good, hard workout—similar to last week's with slightly longer sections:
  • 10-min warmup
  • 5x10-min tempo rides with 4 min rest between each one
  • 4-min cooldown
During the tempo sections, we were supposed to keep our cadence between 95 and 100. The middle section was the hardest because the bar was raised slightly, but we all did it and did well. I think I rode somewhere around 30.5 miles with an average wattage of 155 or so for the 80 minutes. It was a much better ride for me than Sunday's ride was (during which, I found out today, my max wattage was 560 during the bursts we did; not bad considering my average wattage then was about 125 and I wasn't up for a hard ride).

After work I headed to the Donelson Y to do almost the same as what I had done the day before only with diferent equipment and thus different weights:
  • 1-leg dead lift: 10×3, 40-lb bar, going down just enough to touch a low bench
  • 1-arm dead lift: 3×3 each arm, 45-lb bar
  • Glute ham: 50 reps, all quick off the bottom
  • Russian lunge: 6×3 each leg (I felt so good on these!)
  • Plenty row: 10×3 each arm, 20-lb dumbbell
Then I had a little time to read before dinner at Mafiaozas with 100 of my closest friends. Or rather, 100 of my peers, 2 of whom happen to be great friends. Met one new person, Kate, enjoyed some pizza, and went home and read my book for an hour and a half. Not an early night, to say the least.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Freezing

AM workout (solo): 5 minute isos.
  • Lunge L (1:50), R (1:50?)
  • Glute ham (when I thought about running I felt like I was workign harder)
  • Push up (1:30, 1:30, then 4 sets of 30 seconds; rough!)
  • Scap pull up (1:30, 1:30, 1, and 1)
Afternoon: Run! I had an extra hour, it was daylight, and I went running. Just one time around my block (Moores Lane, Franklin Road, Mallory Station, General George Patton, Moores Lan), but it felt good. I froze, then warmed up, then froze again. Fun times. This was not a run for speed, which was good because my feet wouldn't have allowed it. Note to self: Dress warmer next time! Goal: Run 3 miles with the second faster than the first and the third faster than the second.
  • Totals: 40 minutes, 4.5 miles, 8:53 pace (6:40 best), 531 cal
  • Mile 1: 8:02 (6:40)
  • Mile 2: 7:52 (6:59)
  • Mile 3: 7:53 (6:47): I did not make it. The last 0.4 miles were the hardest heat-wise.
  • The rest: 1.5 miles walk, run, walk, run.
My fingers were so frozen they weren't even cold. It took at least 2 minutes for one to finally get cold and then start to warm up, and that was with my holding that hand in my other and putting them in and out of my pockets.

PM workout:
  • 1-leg dead lift: 6×3, 20-lb dumbbells, going down just enough to touch the bench
  • 1-arm dead lift: 6×3 each arm, 30-lb dumbbell
  • Russian lunge: 6×3 each leg
  • Glute ham: 50 reps, all quick off the bottom
  • Plenty row: 6×3 each arm (or was it 10?), 10-lb dumbbell

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

I'm Far From Close

It was a good morning workout, preceded by a read through a couple chapters of Genesis and Matthew and a listen to my church's new worship CD. This song was on my heart when I awoke:
I spend my life to know
And I'm far from close
To all You are
The greatness of our God
No sky contains
No doubt restrains
All You are
The greatness of our God
AM workout:
  • 10-1-3 EDI (with 10-count, 15-count, and 10-count holds)
    • Glute ham
    • Front delt (1.5-lb dumbbells)
  • 5-min extreme slow
    • Wall squat
    • Front delt (1.5-lb dumbbells)
  • 10 sets of 3
    • Altitude drop legs
    • Rebound curls (10-lb dumbbell, one arm at a time)
Lunch time swim: I did it! I made my first goal! I'm still far from close to where I need to be, but if I keep getting faster I'll eventually get there. So my first goal was under 8 minutes (I started at 8:10 on 12-17), and it's taken me less than a month to achieve it: Today I swam my 500 in 7:59! My times are all really similar to what they have been (Saturday 1-09-10: 1:27, 1:44, 1:35, 1:50, 1:37 for 8:14; and Tuesday 1-05-10: 1:27, 1:39, 1:41, 1:39, 1:37 for 8:04):
  • 1:24
  • 1:38
  • 1:40
  • 1:40
  • 1:36
I did stay at or under 1:40, which is better than going above, and it keeps my times closer together rather than being all spread out. Plus my first one was 3 seconds faster than the last two times. This definitely had something to do with having a partner in crime, Jonell, join me in the pool. I wasn't drafting off her (although I wanted to), but having someone else in the water along side me did make me work harder!

The PM workout was very similar to the morning one:
  • 10-1-3 EDI (with 10-count, 15-count, and 10-count holds)
    • Glute ham
    • Front delt (5-lb dumbbells)
  • 5-min extreme slow
    • Zurcher squat (20-lb bar)
    • Front delt (5-lb plate)
  • 10 sets of 3
    • Altitude drop legs
    • Rebound curls (20-lb bar)
For the altitude drops, I started out on the short box because one guy was using the tall (30") one to jump onto. The guys he was working out with didn't want to use that tall of one, so I traded with them. Then they watched me, then they asked me why I wasn't just jumping off the wall, then this woman (Harriet) asked what I was doing and what it was doing for me. I had just been thinking about that this morning and should have asked Will (along with other things) but didn't, so I just tried to explain that it was teaching me to turn my muscles on quickly, as soon as I hit the ground, so that I would stop as soon as I landed. She kept saying she couldn't do it because of her age (50+), but I encouraged her to just stand there and try it, and then to jump off a little platform (2"), and then to think about using her muscles. She was encouraged, and I left happy (with a brownie from Clint...yum!).

Monday, January 11, 2010

Monday, Monday!

The morning called for a little sleeping in and a gorgeous sunrise. The sunset was just as amazing. The evening called for my second-least-favorite workout methodics, but I am getting a better attitude about these:
  • 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, rep, repeat for 12 total times
  • Push up (quick-style reps)
  • Bent-over row (rebound reps with 1.5-lb dumbbells)
  • Lunge (Russian lunge reps, 6 each leg)
  • Glute ham
That was it, but it was long enough!

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Running Quarter Miles

Running:
  • 0.25-mile warm up (to try to get my feet un-numb, which didn't really work)
  • 200 lunge walks (100 each leg), 2 full times around the track at MFY
  • 10×3 bench press, 45-lb bar
  • 5-min standing extreme ham (the hardest EVER, but finally my feet got warm)
  • 5-min-or-so rest
  • Lunge: 20 seconds each leg
  • Immediately run 0.25 miles (3.5 times around the track)
  • Less than 30 seconds rest
  • Repeat for 5 total reps
Times:
  • 1:27.71
  • 1:26.25
  • 1:25.03
  • 1:23.12
  • 1:26.66
Including the first 2 laps for the lunge walks, I ended up with 2.25 miles. Then it was back home for a little lunch and then off to the Endeavor Performance cycling studio for 2.5 hours on the CompuTrainer. I was so happy to be riding inside. If I had been outside, it would have been one of those rides where I pray for a flat tire or a bike mishap that either makes me fall so far behind I'll never catch up or I can't ride any more. I rode easy, ended up 5 miles behind Lisa, and didn't care. Around 1:30 in, my legs started feeling OK. About 15 minutes later, I lost that good feeling. But I kept riding, and that was my goal.

My supper was hamburgers and pickles. I don't think I've ever actually read the pickle jar before, but I did today. Notice the size of the jar, in ounces, in the first picture.

32-ounce jar of the best pickles: Milwaukee Midget Dill
Then I saw the serving size and number of servings. Something didn't quite add up, and I'm not sure if it was a misprint or what.

Something's not right here: Maybe the 1 should be 2?

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Silver Chair

I've been reading (well, listening) through C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia lately, and today was book 6 of 7, The Silver Chair. Given all the ridiculous emotions I've been going through lately, this quote from the narrator about Jill stood out to me as not only amusing but also very true:
Crying is alright in its way while it lasts, but you have to stop sooner or later. And then you still have to decide what to do. [The Silver Chair, CD 1, Track 3, 00:51]
I did a little workout this morning: 500 + 100 swim. For variety's sake, I changed the 500 a little by swimming 100 hard, 100 easy, 100 hard, 100 easy, and 100 hard. Total time was 8:14—not much different than when I swim all 500 hard! Times: 1:27, 1:44, 1:35, 1:50, 1:37. (Very similar, in fact, to Tuesday where I tried to do all 5 hard: 1:27, 1:39, 1:41, 1:39, 1:37 for 8:04.) The final 100 was a little cool down: 1:41. My timing was just right and I finished when the 8am spin class was just finishing. That meant I got to see all my cycling friends. And, Jonell is going to join me for Tuesday's swim. Hooray for friends and feet to draft off of!

My morning/afternoon project was looking through and sorting some of the pictures I brought back at Thanksgiving. This was by far my best day: I made it through 1 entire box, put them all in order, and put them in a book. I was confident enough that I wouldn't find pictures from that era in other boxes. And I couldn't throw any of these particular pictures away. They were all from between 1954 and 1970—my mom's growing-up years. There are some real gems in there!

Lots of pictures
Will came over for a short but hard workout (I felt like I really needed to do something after having sat on the floor all morning): 30 seconds iso, 20 reps of some sort, repeat both for 6 total sets.
  • Wall squat (iso), low squat foot jumps
  • Standing extreme hamstring (iso), Russian lunge (10 each leg each time)
  • Push up (iso), front delt (rebounds, 1.5-lb dumbbells)
  • Scap pull up (iso), bent over row (rebounds, 1.5-lb dumbbells, one arm at a time)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Post #500!

I finally made up the altitude drop legs part of the workout I skipped on Tuesday, and it went much better today than it would have gone had I tried to do it then after workout/swim/run/workout. Cool Spring Y has been my friend this week!
  • Altitude drop legs
    • 20 at regular height (~30 inches)
    • 40 at half height
    • 20 at regular height
    • 20 at half height
  • Bench press: 3 minutes extreme slow
  • Wall squat: 5 minutes extreme slow
  • Phasic leg curl: 150 R, L
  • Phasic front delt: 150 R, L
Then we had a fun adventure at work. Matt wagered $5 for anyone who would try to run across the pond outside. It's been below freezing for at least a week, but the fountain had been on at least Monday and so we weren't sure whether the pond was solid.


Tim gave it a try

I walked around the perimeter, which felt solid. However, no one was willing to venture toward the center and the fountain area, especially after Brian said that after a few pilots, who had been in the North Atlantic for 5 minutes, were rescued, they spent the next month in the hospital. The pond isn't deep, but neither did any of us want to get hypothermia!

After work, I walked around the community a little and checked out some of the snow and ice around the area. Then I caught a few snowflakes. Beautiful!

God is amazing!

The pond in all its beauty
Will is home from his vacation, so I had my trainer/training partner back. Hooray! We did 30 seconds iso, 20 rebound reps, 6 times:
  • Wall squat
  • Lunge
  • Standing ham (iso), glute ham (reps)
  • Push up (iso), front delt (1.5-lb weights, reps)
  • Curl (15-lb dumbbells, iso), curl (super-light bar, reps)
I also had to write down 5 goals for this year and bring that with me. Between some of the exercises, I had to read through them and then say something positive about them, like I'm fast and can achieve 3, or I can focus and do 2. It was a great exercise, and one I'm sure I haven't seen the last of.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

CompuTrainer Class: Second Session

This morning's CompuTrainer class was a good but tough workout:
  • Warm up
  • Do seven 5-minute tempo intervals (cadence: 95–100 RPM)
  • (with 2 minutes rest between each tempo interval [cadence: 90–95 RPM])
  • Spin a few high-cadence intervals (2 minutes at 110, 1 minute at 95, 2 minutes at 115, 30 seconds at 100, 1:30 at 120, 1 minute at 100)
  • Finish!
The majority of the workout was done in the big chain ring, middle of the cassette block. Todd increased my wattage so I could do the tempo intervals around 2.0 watts per kilogram and I was thrilled! It made me work harder and made me feel like I was getting a good, hard workout.

Today is the first day it's snowed here, and because 2–4 inches, and then 2–3 inches, and then 1–3 inches, and then less than an inch of snow was predicted, nearly all of the state's schools were out of session. They call it a "fake snow day." By 9am, nothing had happened besides that all the salt trucks had already been out on the roads anticipating the snow. By 1pm, there was at least something white on the ground. There's still something white in the air, but it's definitely not accumulating and it's certainly not slippery out! The only result I can see is that my car is now dirty from all the preventive salting....

Can you call this snow?
I braved the roads (ha!) at lunch and did my AM workout that got moved due to Todd's class and was so grateful that it wasn't a long one:
  • Bench press: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), bar (45-lb bar)
  • Curl: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), bar (maybe a 25-lb bar?)
  • Plate front delt: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), 10-lb plate
  • Glute ham: 5 min iso, from the bottom
  • Crunch: 100 (quick style)
After work it was the PM workout:
  • Bench press: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), bar (45-lb bar)
  • Curl: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), bar (maybe a 35-lb bar?)
  • Plate front delt: 6-3-1 EDI, 6-3 EDI, 6 EDI, little to no rest (I took 10 seconds), 10-lb plate
  • Lunge: 5 min iso R (2:28), L (1:38)
During the lunge, I could hear people running on the treadmills and this helped me focus on running. Then I stood at the wall for 5 minutes listening to the treadmills and imagined I was running. That's hard to do but definitely easier when I can at least hear something!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

PitchCar

Today: 100 altitude drops. Do 1 rep, count to 3, do 2 reps, count to 3, all the way up to 10 and back down to 1.
  • Bench press: 25-lb bar. I think it was 25 lb. I'm never sure unless I used the bars that are labeled, but I tried the 30 and then this one and it felt lighter. I'm glad I didn't try for 30. By the time I got down to 6 I contemplated asking someone to spot me, but I continued and completed it all without resting and without a spot.
  • Curl: 25-lb bar, seated. No way could I have used a 25-lb bar. I used an 18-lb one and still had to take a few breaks. It probably didn't help that I was supposed to have switched this and the next one but I misread my note.
  • Plate front delt: 5-lb plate, seated. No weight notes. Had I had my 1.5-lb dumbbells, I would have preferred to use those, but I forgot them.
  • Glute ham
  • Zurcher squat: 25-lb bar. I used the same bar as I'd used for bench. Maybe 25?
Will informed me later that I was supposed to also have done the altitude drop legs that I'd neglected yesterday. This afternoon I'll have more time, so I'll get them in then.

Thomas from work bought a Christmas gift for his girls that he set up on the conference room table. It's PitchCar, a race track with little chips that you flick around the track. It took a little getting used to, but it sure seems like it could provide lots of fun for them!

Matt, Thomas, and Delana
It's been a while since we've seen a good sunset, but tonight's was beautiful. They make me want to reach out and touch them, to touch God.

The afternoon workout went well—better after I remembered that I had to do only 1-10, not 1-10-1!
  • Front delt: 3-lb dumbbells, one arm at a time. I did 1-10-1 because that's what I had on my mind. I wrote it down correctly.
  • Scap pull up: 1-10-1 again. Then when I finished I wondered what I'd been doing because it was more than I was supposed to be doing!
  • 1-leg squat: 1-10. That was enough!
  • Glute ham: 1-10.
  • Crunch: 1-10.
After I was done, some guy named Cody asked how many of those push ups I was doing. I don't like when people ask that, because that makes me think I'm not doing GHR right at all! I explained they weren't push ups, they were glute/hamstring exerciess, and that I was doing 1 rep, resting 3 count, 2 reps, etc. He said he was wondering becasue I could pause and he would think I was going to pass out but then I would keep going. Plus when I paused, it was at the top (they were altitude drops, after all), and he didn't know how you could be almost about to pass out but still be holding yourself up. I had a good chuckle after he walked away :-)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Crazy Day

This morning I headed to the CSY for my workout. Thankfully, I hadn't gone to BFY or MFY but rather stayed close, because I realized as I was leaving that I'd forgotten to grab warm clothes to run in if we go later this afternoon! I got there a little early knowing I would see Jonathan from church, and it was definitely nice to not be rushed. I got my little workout in and headed to work.
  • Iso lunge: 30-45 lb on chest. I used a 35-lb plate but had extreme difficulty holding it. It probably didn't help that I was wearing gloves, but it was cold! I switched to a dumbbell and that was slightly easier to handle. Will didn't say how much time, I'd already asked him two questions, so I did 30 seconds each leg.
  • Altitude drop legs: 5. I started at 30" but struggled doing this correctly. I went to about 18" so I could do it right.
  • Repeat both 6 times.
  • Glute ham: 30 sec on, 30 sec off from bottom, 6 times
  • Preacher curl: 30 sec on, 30 sec off, 3 times, 20-lb bar
  • Standing curl: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, 2 reps, 10 deep breaths, 3 reps, 10 deep breaths, 4 reps, 10 deep breaths, 5 reps, repeat all for 3 total sets, 20-lb bar
I headed to DHY for a lunchtime swim and felt great! The first hundred felt fast (and it kinda was, for me at least), and although I couldn't quite maintain, I still ended up 1 second faster than last week. Seeing slight improvements in encouraging, even if I'm not quite where I want to be yet. Total time: 8:04. Hundreds: 1:27, 1:39, 1:41, 1:39, 1:37. What a nice little pyramid. The sad thing is that some of the pros are doing hundreds (like 100 of them) on 1:20 and thinking that's slow. Maybe some day I'll get there. For now, I'm happy with my 1:27 first and that the last wasn't the slowest.

Right after work (a little early, in fact), I headed down to Belle Meade to run with Anna and Valerie. It was light when we started, but quickly darkened and none of us really had many reflective clothing articles and we didn't have any lights. Not the best idea, but we were on lightly traveled roads at the end. Last week I washed my HRM and it wasn't picking up my HR, but I did get the rest: 41:15; 4.12 miles, 10:00 pace (7:05 best).

Anna picked the workout, and it was a good one. One that I'll have to try on my own soon. It was run 7 minutes, walk 1, run 4 minutes, walk :30, run 4 minutes, walk :30, repeat all that. Our times were kinda slow, but if I did it on my own I'd probably do the 7 minutes at 7-min/mile pace and the 4 minutes at 6-min/mile pace (or maybe 6:30 or something to build toward 6). Laps from the run:
  • Lap 1: 7:10, 0.83 mi, 8:41 pace; walk 1 min (291 feet, 18:12 pace)
  • Lap 2: 4:06, 0.52 mi, 7:57 pace; walk :30 (144 feet, 18:50 pace)
  • Lap 3: 4:02, 0.48 mi, 8:27 pace; walk :33 (145 feet, 20:02 pace)
  • Lap 4: 7:03, 0.77 mi, 9:10 pace; walk 1:13 (367 feet, 17:31 pace)
  • Lap 5: 4:04, 0.49 mi, 8:22 pace; walk 1:01 (296 feet, 18:52 pace)
  • Lap 6: 4:02, 0.47 mi, 8:36 pace; walk 6:27 (0.34 mi, 18:57 pace)
Definitely going to try this workout. Then it was back to CSY for the rest of the workout:
  • Altitude drop legs: 20 at normal height, 40 at half height, 20 at normal, 20 at half (I skipped this one)
  • Bench press: 3 min extreme slow, 40 lb (this was about 3 times up/down)
  • Wall squat: 5 min extreme slow (did the whole thing!)
  • Phasic leg curl: 150 each leg
  • Phasic front delt raise: 150 each arm, standing
And now, finally, dinner, Bible, getting ready for tomorrow, and sleep! Oh, sweet Word, food, and sleep.

Monday, January 4, 2010

On My Own

This week I will be training mostly on my own, which right now will be very good for me. It will give me a chance to think while I'm training and figure out what I want to do come February 15. That Monday is when I might or might not transition to a true tri workout. The way I'm feeling right now, I'll want to go to a normal schedule. But maybe things will change over the next month. Time will tell. Fortunately I have 6 weeks to make a decision.

Will gave me only one workout for today, and I've already done it. Even though he's gone, I still wanted to keep a schedule, so I headed to BFY before 6am.
  • Wall squat: 30 seconds with a 10-lb plate on chest
  • Vertical jump to lunge: 5 times each leg
    • Repeat the previous two 6 times with little to no rest.
  • Standing ham: 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 6 total times
  • 1-arm elevated push up: 30 seconds each arm, 3 total times. The last one, I started on my feet and last about 15–20 seconds per arm.
  • Bench press: hold 45-lb bar at top, take 10 deep breaths, do 1 rep, take 10 deep breaths, do 2 reps, take 10 deep breaths, do 3 reps, take 10 deep breaths, do 4 rep, take 10 deep breaths, do 5 reps. Rest as if someone else were going. Repeat for 3 total sets. This took me between 6 and 7 minutes, and I did the sets of 10 minutes; that didn't quite leave enough time for someone else to have done it, but it was still plenty of rest.
I repeated this workout during the afternoon (after work and a lovely lunch with Anna) and, although it went well during the morning, I'll tried to do even better (like making each of the vertical jump to lunges the same—consistency seems to be one of my major issues).

After that it was off to open some of my Christmas presents from Mom and Dad—one Amazon box came in the mail today, and I got a lot of good reading material!

Merry Christmas!
The books are by John MacArthur, Ravi Zacharias, and Chuck Swindoll. The food processor was a fun buy, and I tried it out by making a protein smoothie for tomorrow. It wasn't as good as a blender for smoothies, but it will work well otherwise.

Then I turned the heater on, because this is how cold it was in my apt when I got home:

Inside temperatures—one in the kitchen, one in my bedroom

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Pantry Challenge

One hobby I picked up during the last year was couponing. It's fun to see how much I can save at the grocery store. Well, a few of the bloggers out there are calling for us to do a pantry challenge, which for me will mean eating the food I have in the pantry (and the freezer) rather than buying stuff to fill it. I will still buy food—veggies and fruit, and maybe other things that I can get for free—but I won't be trying to buy things to fill the pantry. I will still have to use food from the freezer or I would never get any protein, but I think it will be a fun challenge! Plus it's a good way to use the food that I already have.

Pantry
Cereals
Food in the freezer

For the AM workout, I did 50 pulses: Glutes (from bottom of wall squat) and lats (from bottom of wall push up). Now that I have a better idea of what this does (teaching your muscles to turn on and off really fast and basically priming your nervous system), I can do them better and have a better attitude. It went well and I felt fast. Plus I dreamed about running last night. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that I visualized running a mile yesterday?

Day 1 of the pantry challenge had me making a mixture of rice and corn from the pantry, meat from the freezer, and green and red peppers and lettuce from the fridge.

All mixed up

There was so much food that I had enough to eat lunch and have 9 more meals. That will basically feed me lunch for two weeks. Maybe I need to make the challenge a little longer than just January—like until May or something. Seriously. My freezer and fridge are both now more full than they were before I made the meal. How is that possible?

10 meals' worth

Because it was well below freezing today, Team Belladium et al headed to Westhaven in Franklin and the neighborhood's lovely clubhouse to do a short trainer session. Short as in 2 hours, but that feels like a lifetime when you're on the trainer!

Lisa riding fast!

We set up in their movement studio, turned on some tunes, and rode away. Every 15–20 minutes or so, Lee would shout out, "Power burst!" and we were supposed to change to the big ring if were weren't already there, up the cadence to about 120 RPM, and ride that way for 10 seconds. I did the first one and Valerie and I smelled something burning, which I figured out later, when I didn't do any of the other power bursts, that it was probably my tire on the trainer. I rode hard the entire time, pretending that I was in a race and wanting to feel like I was riding a 1:10 on a 26-mile course. It felt good. It required a lot of imagination, but that's something I need to practice and had time to do, so it was fun.

After we took down all our stuff, we headed over to Lee's house for some good supper.

Half of the caravan from the clubhouse to Lee and David's house

Lisa had a brilliant idea of making Jack's chili for us all to enjoy. Everyone brought something, and we had lots of good food to eat!

Part of the feast: chips and dip, sausage rolls, and salad. Not pictured: Chili, drinks, veggies, and dessert

I love trainer rides because everyone can do their own ride. No one gets dropped, you can ride fast or slow, you can work on cadence, you can work on technique, you can pretend you're racing. You really can get a great benefit from the trainer if you can stay on for a while. Even though it's your own bike, it definitely feels different than being out on the road and it's hard to stay on, especially when you aren't with a community of like-minded riders, for more than an hour or so.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Rest

We got some snow this morning in middle Tennessee. Well, it could barely be called snow. If it had continued (which it didn't but for about an hour) at that same rate for about a month, we might have accumulated an inch or so. But they were the first flurries of the season that I saw and was thrilled. Maybe we'll get enough eventually to make snow angels again, but my hopes aren't up too high.

Today was a (mentally) much-needed and (physically) much-appreciated day off. The only two things on my list were take 50 breaths (with hand on stomach) and do 6×10-seconds work arm swings. Check and check. Love it.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Resolution Run

I headed to downtown Nashville in a cold 25* this morning for the annual Resolution Run 5K. I hadn't done this before but was hoping it would be a similar course to the Predators' Fangtastic 5K next month. Although not disappointed, I was surprised at how different it was. There were three pretty good hills, one each mile, that made for a challenging course.

Run Route

My mile times were pretty consistent, and I am thrilled about that. My goal for this was not to run a fast first mile like I did last time but to not run a SUPER positive split like I did last time (6:40, 8:07, 9:07).

Here are the stats:
  • 23:56 total, 3.14 miles (long course), 7:38 pace (4:45 best), 178 HR (193 max). 23:54 last time
  • Mile 1: 7:39 (6:25 best), 1.01 mi, 169 HR
  • Mile 2: 7:44 (6:55 best), 1.01 mi, 180 HR
  • Mile 3: 7:59 (6:19 best), 1.00 mi, 186 HR
  • Mile 3.1: 00:34.50 (4:45 best), 0.11 mi, 183 HR
My HR was really high during the entire race. But I kept going, thinking it would settle down eventually. It didn't, but at least my stomach didn't act up and I was able to keep going! This morning, I didn't worry about what I ate for breakfast or when (I did have some eggs and banana bread at some point, not the usually oatmeal a couple hours before) because I figured that it wasn't the food that was making me feel ill. Plus I knew Will was praying. I had some PowerBar bites around half an hour before, bundled up (hat, base layer, thermal sweatshirt, gloves, hand warmer, fleece-lined tights, socks, toe warmers, socks, and shoes), and toed the line. I didn't look at my watch at all, just ran by feeling mostly and then by trying to catch up to the women ahead of me. I didn't pass enough, evidently, and ended up 4/40 AG and 21/374 (females). It was fun, though, and that was good. And I made my goal of consistency. Now if I could just cut one minute per mile off!

Will, Luke, Nancy, and I did a little workout during the early afternoon. Extreme slow 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 45 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 60 seconds on, 30 seconds off, 75 seconds on, 30 seconds off.
  • Squat—body weight
  • Phasic leg curl: 100 each leg
  • Glute ham—from the top
  • Phasic leg curl: 100 each leg
  • Lunge
  • Phasic leg curl: 100 each leg
  • Push up—on knees
  • Phasic bicep curl: 100 each arm
  • Curl—10-lb dumbbell
  • Phasic bicep curl: 100 each arm
Then it was off to Farkases' for some pizza, Bananagrams, and nail-painting. Lauren took a few pictures and video of our game.

Scrabble

Aunt Renee had a good run of "Peel!"s here

2009's Races Aggregated

These are all the races I recorded in 2009, including results, links, etc.


Crits: 10
TTs: 0
RRs: 0
Circuits: 0
(Total bike races: )
Triathlons: 5
5Ks: 7
10Ks: 2
Half marathons: 1
Marathons: 1
(Total running races:11)
Relay races: 0


Predators Fangtastic 5K
02-14-09; 23:51; 3 of 183 (AG); 161 of 1,504 (OA)

Tom King Classic Half Marathon
03-14-09; 1:49:19; 20 of 94 (AG); 385 of 1,074 (OA)

Harpeth Bikes Training Camp
04-03-09; 15,000 ft. (10 climbs); 150 mi.

Purity 10K
04-11-09; 47:12; 2 of 58 (AG); 74 of 439 (OA)

Country Music Marathon
04-25-09; 4:07:53; 59 of 469 (AG); 714 of 4,136 (OA)

Memorial Day Dash 5K at Greer Stadium
05-25-09; 22:58; 5 of 19 (AG); 72 of 328 (OA)

Madeira Beach (FL) Sprint Triathlon
05-31-09; 1:19:30; 3 of 45 (AG); 11 of 375 (females); 100 of 904 (OA)

Siesta Key (FL) Sprint Triathlon (Duathlon)
06-06-09; 1:18:40; 2 of 17 (AG); 8 of 87 (females); 35 of 217 (OA)

Cookeville Crit
06-21-09; 30 minutes; 3 of 5 (Cat IV); 7 of 11 (females)

Cadillac Firecracker 5K
07-04-09; 22:10; 3 of 61 (AG); 18/412 (females); 140 of 944 (OA)

Muncie (IN) Endurathon Half Ironman
07-11-09; 5:28:26; 6 of 22 (AG); 41 of 191 (females); 262 of 698 (OA)

Anthracite (PA) Olympic Triathlon
7-19-09; 2:43:26; 2 of 7 (AG); 9 of 40 (females); 61 of 154 (OA)

NashvilleCyclist.com Criterium Series
Wednesdays from July 1 through August 26
7-01: 2nd; 7-08: 4th; 7-15: 3rd; 7-22: 6th; 7-29: 4th; 8-05: 1st; 8-12: 2nd; 8-19: 1st; 8-26: 1st; 1st overall
8-09-09

Ironman Louisville (KY)
08-30-09; 12:21:22; 1171/764/910
30 of 91 (AG); 156 of 523 (females); 951 of 2447 (OA)

Franklin Classic 10K
9-07-09; 46:36; 5 of 59 (AG); 21 of 362 (females); 117 of 896 (OA)


Shelby Bottoms Boogie 5K
9-26-09; 22:48; 1 of 5 (AG); 2 of 49 (females); 16 of 98 (OA)

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure
10-10-09; 22:47; 2 of 55 (AG); 8 of 326 (females); 54 of 527 (OA)
(unofficial results because I didn't register)

Hoover Run for Hope
11-07-09; 23:30; 1 of 18 (AG); 6 of 164 (females); 55 of 344 (OA)

Frostbite 5K Hendersonville
12-12-09; 23:54; 2 of 18 (AG); 8 of 113 (females); 41 of 226 (OA)