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!

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.

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

Christmas Eve

My favorite of the Farkas' ornaments

Thursday we worked out--lot's of breathing again. Might have been front dent, push up, lunge R, L, and glute ham. Not positive.

Then it was off to Farkas', where we mostly hung out for the day, church, then back to Farkas' for dinner, opening a few presents, and playing the Wii.

Merry Christmas!

Almost Christmas!

This morning Nancy gave me a sweet Christmas present: An issue of inside Triathlon! That will definitely be a fun read. Amusingly, it was to Kealen from Exercise Buddies :-) The picture on the front is of Chrissie Wellington, arguably the best female Ironman triathlete. Interestingly, she is not wearing an aero helmet but rather a regular Bell or Giro helmet that the rest of us AGers wear. Maybe the article about her will discuss why; I sure thought it strange, and it was the first thing I noticed regarding bike fit/setup/gear.

Here's what we did this morning:

• Bent-over lateral row with rebound reps: 1.5-lb dumbbell in each hand; 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 10 total reps
• Front delt raise: 1.5-lb dumbbell in each hand; 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 10 total reps
• Glute ham from top: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 10 total reps
• Wall squat from top: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 10 total reps

Tonight will likely be swim only (or not—we ended up spending a couple hours at Opryland and Opry Mills and I opted for dinner over swimming) so I can have some time to spend at the Opryland Hotel admiring the nativity scene in the front and the myriad lights throughout the common area.

Rockabilly Christmas Concert

Nativity Scene on the front lawn, complete with the reading of the Bible

This light tree was huge!

Today's morning workout was a good one. I'd woken up frequently during the night feeling sore, but I wasn't sore at all when I got up for real. I was happily surprised, because I knew today would be more of the same as yesterday and I wasn't disappointed:

• Wall squat: from the top; breathe 10 times, 1 rep, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps
• Glute ham: from the top (get close to 60* if possible); breathe 10 times, 1 rep, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps
• Lunge: from the top, L, R; breathe 10 times, 1 rep, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps (I did all 10 in a row on my right leg!)
• Push up: breathe 10 times, 1 rep, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps

Tonight's workout:

• Zurker squat: holding a 45-lb bar cradled in arms; breathe 10 times, 1 reps, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps
• Glute ham: from the top (60* or as close as you can get, which looked like about 85*); breathe 10 times, 1 reps, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps
• Bench press: 30-lb bar; breathe 10 times, 1 reps, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps
• Front delt raise: 2-lb dumbbell in each hand; breathe 10 times, 1 reps, breathe 10 times, repeat for 10 total reps; do rebounds for the reps)

Breathing!

Today I actually got to breathe during my workout! I was thrilled!

• Lunge: from the lunge position, take 10 deep breaths, do 1 quick-style rep, take 10 deep breaths, repeat for 10 total quick-style reps, THEN switch legs
• Push up: same methodics
• Glute ham from the top: same methodics

That was all we had time for, but I'm sure there will be more of the same tonight. Interestingly enough, this workout, although the extreme opposite of last week's workout, still made me want to cry. I decided I couldn't, though, because I could have my one thing that I couldn't do but then I'd have to be able to to successfully complete everything else. So I stayed composed the whole time. It must be all the focus on oxygen that makes me go emotionally crazy.

After work, I hit the pool for another 500 (8:13). I think I'm going to stick with that distance until I can get down to 7 or so. Getting under 8 is the first goal, and it's definitely attainable. Considering I swim in a 25-y pool and it takes me about 500 seconds for 20 lengths, that's only 1 second per length. Doable, I'd say! So that's goal #1. Then I'll go down from there.

One more thing before the night was over:

• Wall squat: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 20 total reps. Try to do this from the bottom of the wall squat (hah! I lasted 3 and would try on various other ones, but mainly I just made sure my shins were always perpendicular to the ground). Total time: 20 minutes.
• Push up: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, 10 deep breaths, repeat for 20 total reps. My wrists are still sore even though I did at least half on my fists. Total time: 20 minutes. And yes, despite the fact that it is 60* in my apt, I was sweating after doing these.
  

Moses and the Amalekites

AM:

• Glute ham: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, repeat for 12 total reps
• Push up: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, repeat for 10 total reps
• Lunge R: 10 deep breaths, 1 Russian Lunge rep, repeat for 6 total reps
• Lunge L: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, repeat for 6 total reps
• Wall squat: 100 rebounds
• Bentover row: 100 rebounds, 10-lb dumbbell
• Lunge L: 100 rebounds
• Lunge R: 100 rebounds

PM:

• Squat: holding 25-lb dumbbell in arms, 10 deep breaths at the top, 1 fast rep, repeat for 10 total reps
• Glute ham: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, repeat for 12 total reps
• Push up: 10 deep breaths, 1 rep, repeat for 10 total reps
• Bentover lateral delt: bend over so back is parallel to ground; hold arms out to sides so they also are parallel to ground; holding 1-lb dumbbells (or water bottles, since we were improvising), take 10 deep breaths at the top, do 1 rebound rep, repeat for 10 total reps

The last one took about 12 minutes, and I think I knew partly how Moses felt when he had to hold up his arms while the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8–14); when he held up his arms, God gave them victory, and when he lowered his arms, they began losing. So they entire day they were fighting, Moses held up his arms. Thankfully God gave him Aaron and Hur (Caleb’s son) to hold up his arms; he didn’t have to do it all on his own! If he’d had to, though, I’m sure God would have given him strength. “And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” (vv. 12–13)

Cycling Camp

Today was the first day of Coach Todd's cycling camp. Well, he's been teaching them for a while; it was the first day I attended. This cycle is 5 weeks of base preparation, and the crew includes some of the Nashville area's finest female cyclists: Lisa S, Lisa C, Lee, Parri, and Cali. There are others, but we managed to coordinate us being in one class together. Plus they are all on Team Belladium and we ride together every week, and I am excited that we can all get stronger and faster together. I am looking forward to a day when we do a race or time trial! (We had two others, Jennifer and Lane, in the class to fill up the 8 spots.)

According to the CompuTrainer, we rode somewhere around 25 miles during the 1:12 or so class. It was a pretty steady ride with a few high-cadence intervals thrown in. I love all the real-time stats: Threshold (mine was set at 160, which was way too low), Speed, Distance, Watts (115-130), W/kg (around 1.2-1.6), HR (around 150; will verify), and cadence (between 90 and 115). Not only can you see your own, though, you can see all that of everyone in the class. Hooray for competition!

The afternoon workout was a short one (definitely not complaining):

• Glute ham: At the top, 10 deep breaths, do one rep fast, repeat for 10 total reps
• Bentover dumbbell row: 10-lb weight, 100 rebounds. Will had to remind me to make sure that my back was parallel to the ground and that one hip wasn't higher than the other. And to go fast and through the dumbbell.
  

More Lunges...

I'm anxious to see whether we will be doing even more tomorrow after what all we did today and yesterday. Today was significantly more difficult physically than yesterday, possibly because my legs were tired? They didn't really feel tired, I just really struggled.

• Push up: hold at the top, breathe 10 deep breaths, do one rep fast, repeat for 15 total reps. This was about 25 minutes.
• Lunge: L, R. We attempted to do the reps as Russian lunges like I did yesterday. The first felt OK but it was not fast. The second I must not have turned on for and I fell. Then we went to holding the lunge at the very top (as high as you can be so that your front shin is still perpendicular to the ground) and doing the reps to the bottom and then back up fast. Left leg out--my left glute seemed to be doing the majority of the work. Right leg out--my left hip flexor seemed to be doing the majority of the work. I kept trying to re-create the same feeling as from the first leg but couldn't.

I think that's all we did in the morning, but it still took over an hour. I decided not to swim because I didn't want to be rushed out of the house, so I didn't. Then I finished the workout after work at MFY:

• Squat: Stand up straight for 10 deep breaths, do 1 rep with 55 lb, then repeat for 15 total reps. I started out holding the bar the entire time (maybe the first 4 reps) but was not happy. I could not stand up straight and hold the weight, so I breathed with no weight then grabbed the bar, did the rep, and replaced it on the rack. I kept forgetting that I was supposed to have been working while standing, though. It was like I could remember either to breathe (and count breaths) or to work. Total time: 25 minutes.
• Glute ham: Hold at about 80-85*, take 10 deep breaths, do one rep fast, repeat for 15 total reps. This one I worked very hard on. It felt much better than the squat. 20+ minutes
  
• Curl: Hold a bar at the top of the curl, take 10 deep breaths, do one rebound rep fast, repeat for 15 total reps. I couldn't remember whether Will had said anything about weight, so I used a 12-lb bar. This one felt so good. Doing rebounds in between were a good break, and since it was only one I could really focus on doing it fast. ~18 minutes
• Seated lateral delt raise: 3 minutes extreme slow with one 2.5-lb plate in each hand (both arms at the same time). Three minutes felt like nothing compared to the times of the previous exercises!
  

Lunge, Lunge, then Lunge Some More!

We did a lot of lunging today. And a lot of everything else we did. Everyone was there (Bill, Nancy, Zach, and Natalie) and was happy to be working out, and that made the time fly by. Good thing, too, because each leg's lunging was about 13 minutes (and only because Will cut it down from 20 reps to 15 reps).

• Lunge R: lunge, take 10 deep breaths while in the lunge position, Russian lunge, hold the lunge, repeat for 15 total reps. I did stand up a few times between some reps (it was probably about every 2 or 3), but it was still about 13 minutes of lunging.
• Lunge L: lunge, take 10 deep breaths while in the lunge position, Russian lunge, hold the lunge, repeat for 15 total reps. I did stand up a few times between some reps (it was probably about every 2 or 3), but it was still about 13 minutes of lunging.
• Glute ham: hold at the top (about 80–85*) while taking 10 deep breaths, 1 rep (kind of a rebound rep but definitely supposed to be a fast rep), hold at the top, repeat for 15 total reps. I did 5 at a time, then stood up and gave my knees a break, then repeated.
• Push up: hands on the ground, hold up at the top while taking 10 deep breaths, 1 rep (fast down and up), hold at the top, repeat for 15 total reps. I did 9 then had to break, then 2, then the final 4.

Will mentioned that the lunge was the most important exercise. It really was good, lengthening my muscles for a little while but then breaking things up a little with the RL. The hardest part, I think, was breathing deeply each set of 10 breaths. About 2 reps into the first leg, I started to get a headache that never really went away. It would hurt less when I stood up and hurt more as soon as I was in the lunge position. I think it's from not being used to focusing on breathing deeply (Will said sometimes you could get tingly or start yawning, too, because your body's just not used to getting that much oxygen); something else to work on while at work now. But since lately I haven't been breathing well while running, this should help fix that.

The only thing is, I wasn't really thinking about running at all while doing these. I was at first thinking about the headache (only on the right side of my head) but then decided that was ridiculous because I should have been thinking about lunging. So I changed my focus to my legs but wasn't really thinking about running. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow.

Backwards

Somehow I left my helmet at home, so instead of riding from the Y and then doing my ISO exercises, I did the ISOs and then drove home and rode from here. The ISOs made me wonder...

• Bench press: 10 deep breaths, then 1 at 65 lb, then rest as if someone else were going. Repeat 10 times. This was not a challenge. I wasn't sure how to make it so. I really focused on driving my chest up and moving the weight as fast as possible and engaging my legs, but it just wasn't hard.
• Rebound curl: 10×10 with 24 lb. Will said a light bar, like 25 lb. That was not light! The hardness of this one definitely made up for the easiness of the previous one. Arms moving fast, and driving back up to the top before starting the next one. My forearms were tight after each set, but I took 5 deep breaths between each set and really focused on recovering—I was thinking about the oxygen and blood flowing through my body, getting to the muscles that needed it and then the muscles recovering. Incredibly, I felt stronger as I went on.
  
• Squat: with bar only, 10×5 at 10 seconds rest. I did not succeed at doing these super fast, but I was trying to. I at least tried to make each one the same or better than the previous one.
• Glute ham: 10×10, reps to arm's length. For this one, I was definitely thinking about not sticking my but out. That meant that I really had to use my glutes and hamstrings and by the final 3 or so sets, it was harder than I'd expected.

Heading out for a good, hot, windy ride...

• Totals: 58:19; 16.67 miles; 17.1 average; 1,028 calories; 144 HR (178 max)
• Lap 1: 45 minutes Z2; 42 min; 12.88 miles; 18.4 average; 142 HR
• Lap 2: 10 minutes Z4; 10 min; 2.40 miles; 14.4 average; 167 HR (short and slow, but this was the climb up the back of Lynwood and then the descent)
• Cool down: 6:19; 1.39 miles; 13.2 average; 122 HR
  

Asleep at 9; awake at 3:42 (alarm) and 4:30 (reset alarm). I might have slept through the night? I didn’t have any dreams that woke me up.