40 seconds on: 20 seconds off. 5 rounds, all out sprints.
Did this on the path behind our house with Nick calling "start" and "stop" to me. I have no idea how much distance I covered. On the first round I ran clear off the path and got most of the way up the hill of our street before I got to rest. Then I had to come down the hill, which was very fast. For rounds 3-5 I just ran back and forth over the flat part of the path and the road, which I think was a better way to go. Sticking to the path allowed my to try and beat the number of out and backs I did, too. I was averaging 4 out and backs, but got almost 5 on the last round! (No idea of actual distance, though!).
Sunday, May 17, 2009
AM: "Diane" | Walking Lunge + Box Jump + Pull-ups
"Diane"
21-15-9
Deadlift 135#
Handstand Push-ups
8:51
I can't really do a handstand push-up yet, but I'm getting close. I adjust the smith bar to the highest setting and kick my legs up so my lower shins are resting on the bar. Then I get as low as I can, which by the end was about 1" lower than lockout. Still, I think my first several were pretty good: within 5 or 6" of the floor, I'd say. There was a lot of frustration with this WOD, though: I kicked up several times on the second round and just fell back cause I was so fatigued. I can see how this workout would be smoking brutal once you have the skill set to get hard all the way through. One day....!
Recovered for while (maybe 20 minutes) while I rearranged the gym, then took on another WOD:
As Rx:
Four rounds for time of:
100 ft Walking lunge, carrying 30 pound dumbbells
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
30 pound Weighted pull-ups, 20 reps
As Performed:
Three rounds for time of:
30 Walking lunges, carrying 30 pound dumbbells (switched to 25# plates for round 2 & 3)
18 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
30 pull-ups
17:49
It was relatively clear to me by the end of round 1 that I wasn't going to do 4 rounds of this workout. Not after my Diane attempt. I did what I could but I felt pretty leaden. Arms were toast. I was doing single kip-ups but the last round.
21-15-9
Deadlift 135#
Handstand Push-ups
8:51
I can't really do a handstand push-up yet, but I'm getting close. I adjust the smith bar to the highest setting and kick my legs up so my lower shins are resting on the bar. Then I get as low as I can, which by the end was about 1" lower than lockout. Still, I think my first several were pretty good: within 5 or 6" of the floor, I'd say. There was a lot of frustration with this WOD, though: I kicked up several times on the second round and just fell back cause I was so fatigued. I can see how this workout would be smoking brutal once you have the skill set to get hard all the way through. One day....!
Recovered for while (maybe 20 minutes) while I rearranged the gym, then took on another WOD:
As Rx:
Four rounds for time of:
100 ft Walking lunge, carrying 30 pound dumbbells
24 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
30 pound Weighted pull-ups, 20 reps
As Performed:
Three rounds for time of:
30 Walking lunges, carrying 30 pound dumbbells (switched to 25# plates for round 2 & 3)
18 inch Box Jump, 30 reps
30 pull-ups
17:49
It was relatively clear to me by the end of round 1 that I wasn't going to do 4 rounds of this workout. Not after my Diane attempt. I did what I could but I felt pretty leaden. Arms were toast. I was doing single kip-ups but the last round.
Smoked Salmon Pasta with Red Peppers & Broccoli
Another Mise en Place meal: just threw the cooked whole wheat pasta and roasted broccoli in a skillet. Added in some of the store bought fire-roasted peppers I've been loving lately, and finished with a hunk of smoked salmon for some protein and salt and deliciousness. The whole thing reheated in maybe 5 minutes, and the addition of a little pepper brine and spicy red pepper flakes gave it an arrabiata feeling that totally worked for me.
Friday, May 15, 2009
PM: "A Greater Increase In Suffering"
Kevin devised a genius workout for our Friday night class. I might be wrong, but I do believe his programming is getting even better.
5 Rounds For Time:
20 Wall Ball
20 Sit-ups
20 KB/DB Swings
400 meter run
23:13
So I was kinda proud of myself. Of the 4 of us working out tonight, I was the first to finish this workout despite extending my first lap on the track by a good 100 meters. We ran behind the childcare center. Bella was out there and saw me running and started shouting "go, mommy, go!" and I was so tickled by the whole thing that I kept going, right past the cut-thru I was supposed to take to get back to the gym. Oh well!
I had enough of a lead on that first round that I still ran back first on round 1, and managed to keep my lead despite some really stiff competition from Matt, who was working pretty hard to catch me. By the last run my chest was burning, my heart felt like it was going to explode, and I had to pee so freakin' bad.
Still, I was proud that I held off Matt. Actually, I just realized I came in second to Harv, but he was subbing 400 meters of rowing for the running, so it wasn't a totally equivalent workout.
After we all collapsed and left our sweat angels on the floor Kevin started talking about the workout and running. He was saying that when you are just out for a moderate run, you don't really suffer. You jog along, moderating your pace to your ability, checking things out, la di da. But when you force yourself to run after a massive load of wall balls, sit ups and swings, you go into the run already suffering, and the run just adds a greater increase in suffering. And that's how this workout got it's name.
Right up there with Fight Gone Bad.
5 Rounds For Time:
20 Wall Ball
20 Sit-ups
20 KB/DB Swings
400 meter run
23:13
So I was kinda proud of myself. Of the 4 of us working out tonight, I was the first to finish this workout despite extending my first lap on the track by a good 100 meters. We ran behind the childcare center. Bella was out there and saw me running and started shouting "go, mommy, go!" and I was so tickled by the whole thing that I kept going, right past the cut-thru I was supposed to take to get back to the gym. Oh well!
I had enough of a lead on that first round that I still ran back first on round 1, and managed to keep my lead despite some really stiff competition from Matt, who was working pretty hard to catch me. By the last run my chest was burning, my heart felt like it was going to explode, and I had to pee so freakin' bad.
Still, I was proud that I held off Matt. Actually, I just realized I came in second to Harv, but he was subbing 400 meters of rowing for the running, so it wasn't a totally equivalent workout.
After we all collapsed and left our sweat angels on the floor Kevin started talking about the workout and running. He was saying that when you are just out for a moderate run, you don't really suffer. You jog along, moderating your pace to your ability, checking things out, la di da. But when you force yourself to run after a massive load of wall balls, sit ups and swings, you go into the run already suffering, and the run just adds a greater increase in suffering. And that's how this workout got it's name.
Right up there with Fight Gone Bad.
AM: GHD + Back Extensions
Five rounds for time of:
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
25 Back extensions
11:17
What can I say, this sucked. Everything hurt. I felt kinda weak, especially on the GHDs: I was doing them 5 or 4 or 2 at a time my the end. I didn't feel fast but I remember the last time I did this workout - it wasn't that long ago - and I'm pretty sure my time was closer to 15 minutes. I'm kinda pissed I can't find my previous time. It would be nice to know if I've improved.
30 Glute-ham sit-ups
25 Back extensions
11:17
What can I say, this sucked. Everything hurt. I felt kinda weak, especially on the GHDs: I was doing them 5 or 4 or 2 at a time my the end. I didn't feel fast but I remember the last time I did this workout - it wasn't that long ago - and I'm pretty sure my time was closer to 15 minutes. I'm kinda pissed I can't find my previous time. It would be nice to know if I've improved.
Grill-Smoked Steelhead with Pineapple Salsa
This is one of those Mise en Place meals: the brown rice was cooked, the green beans were cooked, the pineapple salsa was made....so all I had to do when a nice day presented itself was throw the steelhead on the outdoor bbq. Spiced the fish up a bit by throwing several handfuls of alder chips right on the briquettes and covering for a hybrid-grill smoke effect that I love. Didn't bother to soak the chips or anything (that would require planning), and since this was a high-heat cook where the smoke was just a flavoring agent, not the primary method of heat transfer to the food, that worked just fine.
Yum!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
What is Health? What Is Sickness?
Today was a day of recharging. I had an awesome meal with a great friend. Lunch stretched to 3.5 hours because we were having such a nice time, talking about everything. It was super pleasant.
My friend is a genius with data organization & categorization and gave me some interesting things to ponder regarding defining and qualifying health/fitness etc. One of the many things we discussed was how you take something as complex as the human body and quantify what it means to be healthy, fit, etc.
My friend's expertise is in taking complex variables - data - and turning them into something useful - information. Isn't that really what's needed when we discuss health in general? Taking the mass of data generated from nutrition and fitness lab studies, cohort studies, corelational studies, etc., and figuring out how any of that may or may not apply to a system as complex as the human body?
To get any value from the data, we need to know how it affects health. But first, we need to figure out what health is. So that's what it comes down to -- what is health? How do we define it? How do we measure it?
On the surface, there seem to be a whole lot of ways to measure health. There's quick-and-dirty methods like height-weight charts or BMI calculations, and slightly more involved measures like blood pressure and cholesterol readings or body composition analyzes. There's really expensive stuff like whole body CT scanning, which may be valid preventative medicine but is more likely just be a nifty, expensive toy.
All these things are valuable (except perhaps the height-weight charts) and are doubtless useful in demonstrating something but by themselves these measures cannot tells us whether or not a person is healthy.
Case in point: would you say this girl is healthy? Or would you say she's in need of a diet and should probably get to the gym a bit more? Let's say you saw her at the mall. What would you think? C'mon, be honest.
Ok, now would you think differently if you saw her up on an Olympic's platform, recieveing a bronze medal? This girl is Cheryl Haworth, bronze medalist and world class athlete in the 75+ kilo division of Olympic Weightlifting. At 5'9" and 315 pounds, Cheryl's height-weight and BMI measures would read: obese. In fact, with a BMI of 46, Cheryl is so far into the "morbidly obese" category that her doctor, if he didn't know better, would probably be freaking out about her compromised health.
But with her 75 bpm resting heart rate, 28-30% body fat composition (this is a healthy body fat percentage for woman, by the way), 30" vertical leap, 495 pound squat and ability to do the splits (both directions) I can tell you that Cheryl is way fitter than you or I: she is stronger, more coordinated and more flexible.
So with her BMI of 46, is Cheryl healthy? Well, she's sure as shit healthier than most of us. There are tremendous risks associated with generalizing from BMI statistics (or any other single-point measurement) because athletes like Cheryl will come along and make you look like an idiot.
Coach Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit (my training program of choice), looked at a closely related question, "What is fitness?" Glassman was unable to find any satisfactory and applicable answer to this question. Most of the glorified "fittest" athletes were long endurance specialists, ironman triathletes and marathoners and long distance cyclists.
These athletes are indeed fit--hey, if you can run Boston you're an athlete in my book--but societally, why do we define fitness based on one's ability to run or bike ungoddly distances in one go? Why is that a better benchmark than your ability to lift ungoddly amounts of weight in one go? If one measure isn't inherently better, then (culturally glorified phenotypes notwithstanding) there's really no reason to think Lance Armstrong is an inherently better athlete than Cheryl Haworth, is there?
Glassman, looking at this and many other related issues, came to this conclusion:
"There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills."
So these are the terms of a new fitness standard that does not glorify Cardio Uber Alles. These terms led Glassman to define fitness in a new way. Concise, scalable and all-inclusive...the Crossfit 30 Second Elevator Speech, if you will:
"Increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains."
So there is it. Crossfit has defined fitness - "work capacity across broad time and modal domains." To the degree that you can get more work done in less time across the ten recognized skills in any combination they might occur, you are getting fitter.
What can this definition of fitness tell us about a definition of health? The current de facto definition of health is, "not sick" but I think it is clear that an absence of sickness is not the same thing as a preponderance of health. Does the absence of Type II diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure mean someone is healthy, even if they are a stressed, sedentary, chronically sleep-deprived smoker who lives on twice-a-day McDonalds, rarely eats a vegetable and has painful battles with constipation?
Luckilly for me, Glassman has recently turned his attention to this topic. If you accept that increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains is a good way to measure general fitness, then you can define health as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains, sustained over a lifetime." In otherwords, you are healthy to the degree that you are broadly fit over a lifetime.
This definition is clearly a starting point, but it is a good starting point. It allows for sickness in as much as sickness will impact one's work capacity, but is not defined by sickness.
It says, if at 40 you can perform the same work, in the same time frame, at the same intensity that you performed when you were 30, then maybe a few point bump in your cholesterol isn't that critical when assessing your overall health.
It says, if you gave up marathoning but gained the ability to sprint, lift heavy, jump, swing, pull-up and walk on your hands then maybe gaining 15 pound in the process was good for your health.
It says, define your health based on what you can do now, what you could do then and what you will do later. Look at the delta and see where you are. Look at your work capacity across broad time and modal domains to assess your fitness; look at your fitness over time to assess your health.
It is my belief that actions based on improving work capacity across broad time and modal domains, over a lifetime, will lead to increased health measured via almost any other metric. When I went in for my physical, my doctor said my resting heart rate (46) was, "like a marathoners," I joked back, "yeah but without the joint problems and soft tissue damage." I'm not trying to slag on marathoners here, but my doctor's comment goes to the heart of the Cardio-centric view of fitness, and therefore health.
I propose we start talking about health within the context of this new, broad, inclusive definition, and see where it takes us.
My friend is a genius with data organization & categorization and gave me some interesting things to ponder regarding defining and qualifying health/fitness etc. One of the many things we discussed was how you take something as complex as the human body and quantify what it means to be healthy, fit, etc.
My friend's expertise is in taking complex variables - data - and turning them into something useful - information. Isn't that really what's needed when we discuss health in general? Taking the mass of data generated from nutrition and fitness lab studies, cohort studies, corelational studies, etc., and figuring out how any of that may or may not apply to a system as complex as the human body?
To get any value from the data, we need to know how it affects health. But first, we need to figure out what health is. So that's what it comes down to -- what is health? How do we define it? How do we measure it?
On the surface, there seem to be a whole lot of ways to measure health. There's quick-and-dirty methods like height-weight charts or BMI calculations, and slightly more involved measures like blood pressure and cholesterol readings or body composition analyzes. There's really expensive stuff like whole body CT scanning, which may be valid preventative medicine but is more likely just be a nifty, expensive toy.
All these things are valuable (except perhaps the height-weight charts) and are doubtless useful in demonstrating something but by themselves these measures cannot tells us whether or not a person is healthy.
Case in point: would you say this girl is healthy? Or would you say she's in need of a diet and should probably get to the gym a bit more? Let's say you saw her at the mall. What would you think? C'mon, be honest.
Ok, now would you think differently if you saw her up on an Olympic's platform, recieveing a bronze medal? This girl is Cheryl Haworth, bronze medalist and world class athlete in the 75+ kilo division of Olympic Weightlifting. At 5'9" and 315 pounds, Cheryl's height-weight and BMI measures would read: obese. In fact, with a BMI of 46, Cheryl is so far into the "morbidly obese" category that her doctor, if he didn't know better, would probably be freaking out about her compromised health.
But with her 75 bpm resting heart rate, 28-30% body fat composition (this is a healthy body fat percentage for woman, by the way), 30" vertical leap, 495 pound squat and ability to do the splits (both directions) I can tell you that Cheryl is way fitter than you or I: she is stronger, more coordinated and more flexible.
So with her BMI of 46, is Cheryl healthy? Well, she's sure as shit healthier than most of us. There are tremendous risks associated with generalizing from BMI statistics (or any other single-point measurement) because athletes like Cheryl will come along and make you look like an idiot.
Coach Greg Glassman, founder of Crossfit (my training program of choice), looked at a closely related question, "What is fitness?" Glassman was unable to find any satisfactory and applicable answer to this question. Most of the glorified "fittest" athletes were long endurance specialists, ironman triathletes and marathoners and long distance cyclists.
These athletes are indeed fit--hey, if you can run Boston you're an athlete in my book--but societally, why do we define fitness based on one's ability to run or bike ungoddly distances in one go? Why is that a better benchmark than your ability to lift ungoddly amounts of weight in one go? If one measure isn't inherently better, then (culturally glorified phenotypes notwithstanding) there's really no reason to think Lance Armstrong is an inherently better athlete than Cheryl Haworth, is there?
Glassman, looking at this and many other related issues, came to this conclusion:
"There are ten recognized general physical skills. They are cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy. You are as fit as you are competent in each of these ten skills. A regimen develops fitness to the extent that it improves each of these ten skills."
So these are the terms of a new fitness standard that does not glorify Cardio Uber Alles. These terms led Glassman to define fitness in a new way. Concise, scalable and all-inclusive...the Crossfit 30 Second Elevator Speech, if you will:
"Increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains."
So there is it. Crossfit has defined fitness - "work capacity across broad time and modal domains." To the degree that you can get more work done in less time across the ten recognized skills in any combination they might occur, you are getting fitter.
What can this definition of fitness tell us about a definition of health? The current de facto definition of health is, "not sick" but I think it is clear that an absence of sickness is not the same thing as a preponderance of health. Does the absence of Type II diabetes, cancer or high blood pressure mean someone is healthy, even if they are a stressed, sedentary, chronically sleep-deprived smoker who lives on twice-a-day McDonalds, rarely eats a vegetable and has painful battles with constipation?
Luckilly for me, Glassman has recently turned his attention to this topic. If you accept that increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains is a good way to measure general fitness, then you can define health as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains, sustained over a lifetime." In otherwords, you are healthy to the degree that you are broadly fit over a lifetime.
This definition is clearly a starting point, but it is a good starting point. It allows for sickness in as much as sickness will impact one's work capacity, but is not defined by sickness.
It says, if at 40 you can perform the same work, in the same time frame, at the same intensity that you performed when you were 30, then maybe a few point bump in your cholesterol isn't that critical when assessing your overall health.
It says, if you gave up marathoning but gained the ability to sprint, lift heavy, jump, swing, pull-up and walk on your hands then maybe gaining 15 pound in the process was good for your health.
It says, define your health based on what you can do now, what you could do then and what you will do later. Look at the delta and see where you are. Look at your work capacity across broad time and modal domains to assess your fitness; look at your fitness over time to assess your health.
It is my belief that actions based on improving work capacity across broad time and modal domains, over a lifetime, will lead to increased health measured via almost any other metric. When I went in for my physical, my doctor said my resting heart rate (46) was, "like a marathoners," I joked back, "yeah but without the joint problems and soft tissue damage." I'm not trying to slag on marathoners here, but my doctor's comment goes to the heart of the Cardio-centric view of fitness, and therefore health.
I propose we start talking about health within the context of this new, broad, inclusive definition, and see where it takes us.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
PM: "Cindy"
"Cindy"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
5 squats shy of 22 rounds. Because I got a bit too bouncy on my squats on Monday's Met-Con, I didn't use the Dynamax ball for a height check. Instead I used a 12" hard box. You just can't bounce on a hard box in quite the same way. Not if you want your "sit bones" to be useful for future sitting.
My weak link in Cindy is definitely the push-ups. The pull-ups were good, the squats were fine, but those push-ups hurt, and I doubt half of them would have counted as a legit depth pull-up.
Alison did this with me...I think she was 2 squats shy of 20 rounds with modified pull-ups.
According to Lysa, fellow Crossfitter, Professional Skydiver and all around Badass, it's time for me to move to Mary.
"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups
Hmm...if I want to tackle that I'll need to figure out how to do a handstand push-up.
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Squats
5 squats shy of 22 rounds. Because I got a bit too bouncy on my squats on Monday's Met-Con, I didn't use the Dynamax ball for a height check. Instead I used a 12" hard box. You just can't bounce on a hard box in quite the same way. Not if you want your "sit bones" to be useful for future sitting.
My weak link in Cindy is definitely the push-ups. The pull-ups were good, the squats were fine, but those push-ups hurt, and I doubt half of them would have counted as a legit depth pull-up.
Alison did this with me...I think she was 2 squats shy of 20 rounds with modified pull-ups.
According to Lysa, fellow Crossfitter, Professional Skydiver and all around Badass, it's time for me to move to Mary.
"Mary"
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups
Hmm...if I want to tackle that I'll need to figure out how to do a handstand push-up.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Squats, 5 x 5
Made up the Squat WOD from Sunday today. 5 x 5 and my thighs and ass are SORE!
3 x 5 @ 135 warm up
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5
180 x 5 (first 2 were short)
180 x 4 (and I failed on the last one)
Had grand plans to get a CFE workout in immediately following squats, but it just wasn't happening today. It sounds strange, but I still don't feel 100% recovered from my birthday on Saturday. And here's the thing...I really didn't drink that much. But between the 2 cocktails, the salt and sugar in the meal and the total lack of sleep, I was pretty wiped out. Didn't attempt anything Sunday, Monday felt really hard, and today felt harder than it should have.
What can I say? I'm just gonna go back to clean, simple food, hydration & lots of sleep. Hopefully I'll hit my next workout cycle feeling a bit better.
3 x 5 @ 135 warm up
155 x 5
165 x 5
175 x 5
180 x 5 (first 2 were short)
180 x 4 (and I failed on the last one)
Had grand plans to get a CFE workout in immediately following squats, but it just wasn't happening today. It sounds strange, but I still don't feel 100% recovered from my birthday on Saturday. And here's the thing...I really didn't drink that much. But between the 2 cocktails, the salt and sugar in the meal and the total lack of sleep, I was pretty wiped out. Didn't attempt anything Sunday, Monday felt really hard, and today felt harder than it should have.
What can I say? I'm just gonna go back to clean, simple food, hydration & lots of sleep. Hopefully I'll hit my next workout cycle feeling a bit better.
Monday, May 11, 2009
10-20-30-40-50
Didn't get to the gym until late, and met up with Alison. It was a mainsite rest day, so we did this:
10-20-30-40-50
3 Rounds for Time
10 pull-ups
20 push-ups
30 ab mat sit-ups
40 walking lunges with one-arm press hold
50 squats
Me: 17.03 - using 25# plate overhead on the lunges and dropping a bit too hard onto the dynamax ball n the last 20 or so squats
Alison: 18:00 - modified pull-ups, 10# overhead, also getting a little aggressive with the drop on the last squats, but at that point we had done 130 or so...
So that was pretty tough. A good, old fashioned ass burner. We were originally shooting for 5 rounds, then compromised with 4 rounds, and both agreed 3 rounds would be just fine after the first round took over 5 minutes. The lunges were the killer for me. It was just tough to maintain really good core control and arm lockout at that fatigue level.
After our legs stopped quivering we opted for the Crossfit Endurance 2 x 1000 meter interval runs. I was thinking 7.5 mph on the treadmill would be pretty doable for .6 miles, but after those squats I was just smoked, and had to drop my speed to 7.0 for the second half of the first 1K. After 2 minutes of rest, the second 1K was run at 7.0 and it was a struggle to keep up. In fact, attempts to lower the speed a bit ended up with me pausing the run so I had to notch the treadmill speed back up. This of course takes a bit, so I got a little break mid-run. I ran .6 miles on each interval, which I think is a touch shy of 1K, and my times were pretty weak: 5:10 ish and 5:20 ish (I have the exact times downstairs but it's kinda late to go find my notes.).
After leg-quiver got the better of her, Alison opted for the rower, and banged out 2x1200 meter rows on the c2. Nice.
I'm looking forward to getting back into my fitness rhythmn this week....it's been a few days of pretty well earned indugence, but I'm ready to get back to my healthy eating and good-feeling. :)
10-20-30-40-50
3 Rounds for Time
10 pull-ups
20 push-ups
30 ab mat sit-ups
40 walking lunges with one-arm press hold
50 squats
Me: 17.03 - using 25# plate overhead on the lunges and dropping a bit too hard onto the dynamax ball n the last 20 or so squats
Alison: 18:00 - modified pull-ups, 10# overhead, also getting a little aggressive with the drop on the last squats, but at that point we had done 130 or so...
So that was pretty tough. A good, old fashioned ass burner. We were originally shooting for 5 rounds, then compromised with 4 rounds, and both agreed 3 rounds would be just fine after the first round took over 5 minutes. The lunges were the killer for me. It was just tough to maintain really good core control and arm lockout at that fatigue level.
After our legs stopped quivering we opted for the Crossfit Endurance 2 x 1000 meter interval runs. I was thinking 7.5 mph on the treadmill would be pretty doable for .6 miles, but after those squats I was just smoked, and had to drop my speed to 7.0 for the second half of the first 1K. After 2 minutes of rest, the second 1K was run at 7.0 and it was a struggle to keep up. In fact, attempts to lower the speed a bit ended up with me pausing the run so I had to notch the treadmill speed back up. This of course takes a bit, so I got a little break mid-run. I ran .6 miles on each interval, which I think is a touch shy of 1K, and my times were pretty weak: 5:10 ish and 5:20 ish (I have the exact times downstairs but it's kinda late to go find my notes.).
After leg-quiver got the better of her, Alison opted for the rower, and banged out 2x1200 meter rows on the c2. Nice.
I'm looking forward to getting back into my fitness rhythmn this week....it's been a few days of pretty well earned indugence, but I'm ready to get back to my healthy eating and good-feeling. :)
Saturday, May 9, 2009
800 meter repeats
This morning I wanted to get a bit of a workout in before I started my party day, and luckilly crossfit came through for me with a simple and fast WOD:
Then I went rock climbing, but that's another post.
Four rounds, each for time of:
800 meter run
Rest as needed between efforts.
I was running at 8 mph, holding a 7:30 pace pretty much the whole time, so the first 3 rounds were right around 3:45, with a 2 minute rest between rounds. Had to take a slightly longer break after round 3 (potty break, what can I say?) so I kicked up the speed to 8.2 and shaved a few seconds off the last round, ending with a 3:39.Then I went rock climbing, but that's another post.
Wherein I stretch this birthday thing out for a week!
So today was my birthday party day. I broke my party into two parts, an indoor rock-climbing part and a dinner-and-drinks part. There were two reasons for this: first, a few key people were not going to be able to make the PM dinner/drinks plan but I still wanted to spend some time with them and second, I wanted to do something a bit more than...well...just dinner/drinks to celebrate 30.
The whole day was awesome. We went climbing at Stone Gardens in Ballard. It took a few minutes for everyone to filter in, but as I was getting my harness and shoes on, D walks in and says, "Hey Erica, I have something for you." Standing right next to her is Hesper, who flew up from TX to celebrate with me. Total surprise to me, I really had no clue that Nick, D and Hesper has apparently been planning this for 3 weeks.
Brief personal aside: D, I have to apologize for all those times I said you can't keep a secret. You got me. And Hesper, wow. Just wow. What a gift. Thank you.
Anyway, it was really cool having Hesper there, and in a way it really brought back that feeling of our old workout/hang out group. I think everyone had a really great time and enjoyed the rock climbing quite a bit. D's boyf wasn't too keen on heights, but apparently he was a total badass at bouldering. I was pretty decent at climbing...on my hardest route I managed to climb up and over an overhanging ledge but was so tired from climbing at that point that I couldn't seal the deal on the route and ended up falling like three times. Still it was really cool. Nick, Hesper, Jo & Colin all did an amazing job and by the end of the couple hour climbing session everyone was pushing themselves with harder routes.
Our belayers (our 7 person group got 2 of them) did an awesome job of making everyone confident and encouraging us, keeping us safe and walking us through the trickier parts of courses. They were so cool. Thanks guys!
After everyone's forearms were pretty much toast, we all finished up with fruit and cupcakes from cupcake royale. The Salt Caramel cupcake was incredible. :)
After climbing the boys went their respective ways. Colin had another party to go to, Mike had to get ready for work, and Nick graciously volunteered to drive home, drive the babysitter home, get Bella packed and take her up to my mom's house for an overnight. He did this all so I could have time to hang out with my girls, so that's exactly what us four girls did....we ended up on the beach in Golden Gardens, just catching up. It was gorgeous, and really nice time to just talk and hang out.
The Girls!
Then we all moseyed up north, got dressed up and went out to dinner. We had a reservation for 12 people at Loft Lounge and I had requested the upstairs room when I made the reservation. I like the Loft, but there were some serious hiccups with the reservation and food pacing. First, they set us up outside, which ended up being fine but was a customer service fail considering I had made my reservation 3 weeks earlier and had been assured of the upstairs room. Apparently they couldn't give me that space because another party of 10 had it reserved (uh, hello?).
After we got set up outside with heaters it turned out fine, though I think a few members of the party (sorry, Jo) ended up fairly chilly. Eventually, after drinks and appetizers (the calamari and wings were ok but both were pretty greasy) everyone ordered entrees. Here's where the real fail came into it: it took like 40 minutes for my entree and Nate's entree to arrive....after everyone else was served.
The owner bought a round shots to apologize, which was a nice gesture, but when the server brought them out no one was particularly impressed. They were kamikaze shots (what the hell is a kamikaze?) apparently, and they tasted for all the world like minute maid lemonaid. Super sweet, really gross. I had one because, well, I sorta felt like it was expected, but it was not my style at all. I am also about 80% confident that there was no booze in them at all, and 100% confident that if there was booze, it could be measured in fractions of a teaspoon. In other words, the attempt to make good just didn't work. So D (I learned later) basically went in and regulated on the owner. She was really bothered that I was eating everyone else's meal and had no birthday dinner of my own, so she went and yelled at the owner (I love it, D). He said, "well, I bought you a round of shots, to which D replys, "That's great, but we're not really a shot crowd, and she's turning 30 and has no damn dinner." So the owner also picked up the two unacceptably tardy entrees.
So here's my quick review of The Loft in Edmonds: I would 100% recommend going there with a group of 2-6 people. Well, definitely 4...and I think they could handle 6. The food (when it came) was really great. The drinks were ok if you stayed clear of gratis shots of sugar water. But I will not take a large party there again. They simply do not have the kitchen or the organizational ability to handle it, and it's a good thing I was in such an awesome mood or I would have been in there regulating on the owner just as hard as D.
As a group of 12 people, we spent around $700. Interestingly, for as much as we were comped, everyone came away feeling like they put in about $10 too much, which to me is a sign of iffy percieved value. The waitress was nice but was clearly pissed about the kitchen/expediter failing, and had her own hospitality failings (my second cocktail wasn't brought out until I re-ordered it; it was pretty hard to get water refills). She also made a few comments like: "If you ask my to itemize the bill I'll have to kill you," that, in combination with our huge tab, led to a good 30 minutes of rather awkward bill divying at the end (I hate that).
That said, please don't get the wrong idea, because I had a really wonderful time, and was just totally pleased with how everyone mingled, got along and enjoyed each other's company. That was a true gift to me, and despite the hiccups of The Loft I had a truly great birthday dinner.
From the restaurant, most of the group headed over to our house, and we all just chilled out until about 2, when I was about to pass out and I had to kick the last of the party out. But it was fantastic...I really couldn't have asked for a better birthday or a better group of friends.
The whole day was awesome. We went climbing at Stone Gardens in Ballard. It took a few minutes for everyone to filter in, but as I was getting my harness and shoes on, D walks in and says, "Hey Erica, I have something for you." Standing right next to her is Hesper, who flew up from TX to celebrate with me. Total surprise to me, I really had no clue that Nick, D and Hesper has apparently been planning this for 3 weeks.
Brief personal aside: D, I have to apologize for all those times I said you can't keep a secret. You got me. And Hesper, wow. Just wow. What a gift. Thank you.
Anyway, it was really cool having Hesper there, and in a way it really brought back that feeling of our old workout/hang out group. I think everyone had a really great time and enjoyed the rock climbing quite a bit. D's boyf wasn't too keen on heights, but apparently he was a total badass at bouldering. I was pretty decent at climbing...on my hardest route I managed to climb up and over an overhanging ledge but was so tired from climbing at that point that I couldn't seal the deal on the route and ended up falling like three times. Still it was really cool. Nick, Hesper, Jo & Colin all did an amazing job and by the end of the couple hour climbing session everyone was pushing themselves with harder routes.
Our belayers (our 7 person group got 2 of them) did an awesome job of making everyone confident and encouraging us, keeping us safe and walking us through the trickier parts of courses. They were so cool. Thanks guys!
After everyone's forearms were pretty much toast, we all finished up with fruit and cupcakes from cupcake royale. The Salt Caramel cupcake was incredible. :)
After climbing the boys went their respective ways. Colin had another party to go to, Mike had to get ready for work, and Nick graciously volunteered to drive home, drive the babysitter home, get Bella packed and take her up to my mom's house for an overnight. He did this all so I could have time to hang out with my girls, so that's exactly what us four girls did....we ended up on the beach in Golden Gardens, just catching up. It was gorgeous, and really nice time to just talk and hang out.
The Girls!
Then we all moseyed up north, got dressed up and went out to dinner. We had a reservation for 12 people at Loft Lounge and I had requested the upstairs room when I made the reservation. I like the Loft, but there were some serious hiccups with the reservation and food pacing. First, they set us up outside, which ended up being fine but was a customer service fail considering I had made my reservation 3 weeks earlier and had been assured of the upstairs room. Apparently they couldn't give me that space because another party of 10 had it reserved (uh, hello?).
After we got set up outside with heaters it turned out fine, though I think a few members of the party (sorry, Jo) ended up fairly chilly. Eventually, after drinks and appetizers (the calamari and wings were ok but both were pretty greasy) everyone ordered entrees. Here's where the real fail came into it: it took like 40 minutes for my entree and Nate's entree to arrive....after everyone else was served.
The owner bought a round shots to apologize, which was a nice gesture, but when the server brought them out no one was particularly impressed. They were kamikaze shots (what the hell is a kamikaze?) apparently, and they tasted for all the world like minute maid lemonaid. Super sweet, really gross. I had one because, well, I sorta felt like it was expected, but it was not my style at all. I am also about 80% confident that there was no booze in them at all, and 100% confident that if there was booze, it could be measured in fractions of a teaspoon. In other words, the attempt to make good just didn't work. So D (I learned later) basically went in and regulated on the owner. She was really bothered that I was eating everyone else's meal and had no birthday dinner of my own, so she went and yelled at the owner (I love it, D). He said, "well, I bought you a round of shots, to which D replys, "That's great, but we're not really a shot crowd, and she's turning 30 and has no damn dinner." So the owner also picked up the two unacceptably tardy entrees.
So here's my quick review of The Loft in Edmonds: I would 100% recommend going there with a group of 2-6 people. Well, definitely 4...and I think they could handle 6. The food (when it came) was really great. The drinks were ok if you stayed clear of gratis shots of sugar water. But I will not take a large party there again. They simply do not have the kitchen or the organizational ability to handle it, and it's a good thing I was in such an awesome mood or I would have been in there regulating on the owner just as hard as D.
As a group of 12 people, we spent around $700. Interestingly, for as much as we were comped, everyone came away feeling like they put in about $10 too much, which to me is a sign of iffy percieved value. The waitress was nice but was clearly pissed about the kitchen/expediter failing, and had her own hospitality failings (my second cocktail wasn't brought out until I re-ordered it; it was pretty hard to get water refills). She also made a few comments like: "If you ask my to itemize the bill I'll have to kill you," that, in combination with our huge tab, led to a good 30 minutes of rather awkward bill divying at the end (I hate that).
That said, please don't get the wrong idea, because I had a really wonderful time, and was just totally pleased with how everyone mingled, got along and enjoyed each other's company. That was a true gift to me, and despite the hiccups of The Loft I had a truly great birthday dinner.
From the restaurant, most of the group headed over to our house, and we all just chilled out until about 2, when I was about to pass out and I had to kick the last of the party out. But it was fantastic...I really couldn't have asked for a better birthday or a better group of friends.
Friday, May 8, 2009
3-in-1 day: Grace, Intervals & a Swing-Row Fran
Really antsy today....too much time off. So I managed to get in 3 micro workouts:
AM: Crossfit WOD - Grace
Grace
135 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
Use 95 pounds, 65 pounds or broomstick as needed and post time and load to comments.
So I did Half-ass Grace. Used 65# and did hang power cleans instead of power cleans or squat cleans. My time was...hm...a bit over 3 minutes as I recall...I'll see if I can find that paper and get a proper record. Next time I'd like to keep the weight the same but do the full squat clean to better develop my front squat strength.
Edit: found that paper. My time was 3:17
Afternoon: Crossfit Endurance 1:1 Intervals
Ran this on the treadmill.
Round 1: 45 sec on, 45 sec off - 7.7 mph
Round 2: 1:30 on, 1:30 off - 7.9
Round 3: 3 on, 3 off - 8.0
Round 4: 6 on, 6 off - 8.2
Round 6: 3 on, 3 off - 8.4
Round 7: 1:30, 1:30 - 8.6
Round 8: :45 on, :45 off - 9.0
PM: Crossfit with Kevin
21, 15 & 9 Rep Rounds (Fran Style) for Time:
1.5 pood Kettlebell Swing (53 pounds? 63?)
Calories on Rower
My time was 5:03 (I'm pretty sure about this, but might be a few seconds off.)
This was basically a Fran with Swings and Rowing. It was awesome. The KB was the heaviest weight I've done...used Kevin's KB and just got smoked. It was fantastic. Having Kevin there yelling at me (encouragingly) was great too...he knew when I was slacking even a bit on the row and forced me to focus and pull hard. I was pretty pleased with my 5:03...obviously if I were doing it again I'd like to see a sub-5.
AM: Crossfit WOD - Grace
Grace
135 pound Clean and Jerk, 30 reps
Use 95 pounds, 65 pounds or broomstick as needed and post time and load to comments.
So I did Half-ass Grace. Used 65# and did hang power cleans instead of power cleans or squat cleans. My time was...hm...a bit over 3 minutes as I recall...I'll see if I can find that paper and get a proper record. Next time I'd like to keep the weight the same but do the full squat clean to better develop my front squat strength.
Edit: found that paper. My time was 3:17
Afternoon: Crossfit Endurance 1:1 Intervals
Ran this on the treadmill.
Round 1: 45 sec on, 45 sec off - 7.7 mph
Round 2: 1:30 on, 1:30 off - 7.9
Round 3: 3 on, 3 off - 8.0
Round 4: 6 on, 6 off - 8.2
Round 6: 3 on, 3 off - 8.4
Round 7: 1:30, 1:30 - 8.6
Round 8: :45 on, :45 off - 9.0
PM: Crossfit with Kevin
21, 15 & 9 Rep Rounds (Fran Style) for Time:
1.5 pood Kettlebell Swing (53 pounds? 63?)
Calories on Rower
My time was 5:03 (I'm pretty sure about this, but might be a few seconds off.)
This was basically a Fran with Swings and Rowing. It was awesome. The KB was the heaviest weight I've done...used Kevin's KB and just got smoked. It was fantastic. Having Kevin there yelling at me (encouragingly) was great too...he knew when I was slacking even a bit on the row and forced me to focus and pull hard. I was pretty pleased with my 5:03...obviously if I were doing it again I'd like to see a sub-5.
Seared Halibut with Romesco Sauce
Yum! Yum! Yum! Dinner was so great tonight. Pan Seared Halibut with Romesco Sauce and Green Beans. Romesco is made with roasted peppers and tomatoes and almonds and olive oil and is simply divine. But all that roasting takes awhile, and I needed my sauce fast. Luckilly, I picked up an enormous jar of Greek fire roasted red peppers at Costco the other day, and I was able to whip up this sauce in less than 5 minutes. It turned out so great I could have eaten it up with a spoon. Okay, who am I kidding? I DID eat it up with a spoon.
Romesco Sauce in a Hurry:
This makes A LOT, like over 20 servings. Which is okay with me cause it'll last and I'm putting it on everything for the forseeable future. Feel free to halve or quarter the recipe.
Makes about 1100 grams. 1650 calories for the whole recipe. 75 calories per 50 gram serving.
3 cloves garlic
250 gm raw almonds
1/4 peeled red onion
800 gm roasted red pepper, drained
1-2 tablespoons smoked paprika, or to taste
1-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or to taste
salt, to taste
For peppers, I used one huge 36 oz jar I found at Costco...Tassos brand, roasted then lightly pickled. After draining, this jar yielded 800 grams of peppers, which is why this recipe is so huge. I was quite happy with the quality of this brand, which is more than I can say for most of the jarred or canned peppers I've tried. In fact, I liked this product and this recipe so much I went back and bought 2 more jars!
Combine garlic, almonds and onion in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse until everything is well chopped and the almonds are just starting to look slightly creamy. Add in the peppers and continue to pulse until the whole mixture is well combined and about the texture of hummus. Season to taste with smoked paprika (I used a lot), salt and vinegar, pulsing a few more times to combine. If your peppers were packed in vinegar, as mine were, you may not need any vinegar at all. If they were water packed, or you roasted them yourself (go, you!) then a few tablespoons ought to do ya'.
Here's your finished product:
Thursday, May 7, 2009
First Workout of my 30s!
Today was pretty busy, so my first chance to get to the gym was only 15 minutes before I needed to leave to pick up Bella. So I did a 1 mile time trial and rocked it out in 8 minutes. I'd like to get this to 7:30 by the time we leave for France, and I think it's doable. Nonetheless, an 8 minute mile is a great achievement for me, and I'll take it!
In the PM I came back but was a little unfocused. Luckily, Kevin's core class started just a bit after I arrived in the gym so I caught that and was able to get a decent workout in without a lot of thinking. It was a series of sit-ups and low back extensions, alternating in 30 second increments.
Relayed the results of my body comp to Kevin, and his reaction to my body fat was: "Don't go any lower." I agree. I think 13-14 percent is probably where I want to maintain, which translates to about pound and a half extra fat, or a total weight of 151-152. I'll get some hot pictures of my abs so I have proof they look like this, then go tuck into a plate of hot wings. :)
After core class I felt like I had a bit more to give, so I worked on lighter-weight Deadlifts for a few rounds. Started with sets of 5 at 135, went to sets of 3 at 185. Did maybe 8 sets total.
That was it. My first day back, and a moderate/ho hum workout.
In the PM I came back but was a little unfocused. Luckily, Kevin's core class started just a bit after I arrived in the gym so I caught that and was able to get a decent workout in without a lot of thinking. It was a series of sit-ups and low back extensions, alternating in 30 second increments.
Relayed the results of my body comp to Kevin, and his reaction to my body fat was: "Don't go any lower." I agree. I think 13-14 percent is probably where I want to maintain, which translates to about pound and a half extra fat, or a total weight of 151-152. I'll get some hot pictures of my abs so I have proof they look like this, then go tuck into a plate of hot wings. :)
After core class I felt like I had a bit more to give, so I worked on lighter-weight Deadlifts for a few rounds. Started with sets of 5 at 135, went to sets of 3 at 185. Did maybe 8 sets total.
That was it. My first day back, and a moderate/ho hum workout.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
I'm 30 Today!
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
5/04: 149.4
5/05: 150.0
5/06: 149.8
What a great day! I feel great to start my 30s in the best shape of my life! Yesterday was so affirming that the hard workouts and tight, clean workouts really got me where I wanted to go and then some.
Though yesterday was a rest day and I've joked about doing a Filthy 30 for my birthday, I took today off and just spent time with my favorite people. My mom took me out shopping during the day, and we had lunch (I had the roasted vegetable salad with seared salmon) and just enjoyed hanging out together. I also picked out a birthday top that I think will be pretty versatile when we travel next month and a few basic cami's.
After I picked Bella up from school, we headed south to pick up Nick and then all of us went out to dinner at Tamarind Tree, where Nick and I systematically ate as much as possible. It was so great...everything was delicious.
We had:
Tamarind Tree Rolls (2 orders)
Mango Salad with Prawn
Turmeric Rice Cakes (adored these!)
Crispy Catfish
Sauteed Chayote
Bella also had:
Chicken Satay
Coconut Ice Cream
Best. Dinner. Ever. We spent 2 hours enjoying languid course after languid course. Bella was a total trooper, and made it very easy for us to enjoy our meal. Everything was delish...totally worth every calorie, fat gram and carb. I could not have asked for a better birthday dinner!
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
5/04: 149.4
5/05: 150.0
5/06: 149.8
What a great day! I feel great to start my 30s in the best shape of my life! Yesterday was so affirming that the hard workouts and tight, clean workouts really got me where I wanted to go and then some.
Though yesterday was a rest day and I've joked about doing a Filthy 30 for my birthday, I took today off and just spent time with my favorite people. My mom took me out shopping during the day, and we had lunch (I had the roasted vegetable salad with seared salmon) and just enjoyed hanging out together. I also picked out a birthday top that I think will be pretty versatile when we travel next month and a few basic cami's.
After I picked Bella up from school, we headed south to pick up Nick and then all of us went out to dinner at Tamarind Tree, where Nick and I systematically ate as much as possible. It was so great...everything was delicious.
We had:
Tamarind Tree Rolls (2 orders)
Mango Salad with Prawn
Turmeric Rice Cakes (adored these!)
Crispy Catfish
Sauteed Chayote
Bella also had:
Chicken Satay
Coconut Ice Cream
Best. Dinner. Ever. We spent 2 hours enjoying languid course after languid course. Bella was a total trooper, and made it very easy for us to enjoy our meal. Everything was delish...totally worth every calorie, fat gram and carb. I could not have asked for a better birthday dinner!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Curried Ahi & Caramelized Pineapple Salad
There's not really a recipe for this meal...more like a concept.
Get a pan hot. Rub really good ahi with some curry spice mix. Sear ahi on all sides for about 2 minutes, until outside is crusty but inside is still raw and cool. Remove ahi and let rest. Add chunked fresh pineapple to hot pan...sear all over. While pineapple is in pan, slice ahi into 1/4" thick slices.
Toss salad greens with dressing of choice or olive oil and salt. Top greens with sliced ahi, caramelized pineapple and avocado.
Get a pan hot. Rub really good ahi with some curry spice mix. Sear ahi on all sides for about 2 minutes, until outside is crusty but inside is still raw and cool. Remove ahi and let rest. Add chunked fresh pineapple to hot pan...sear all over. While pineapple is in pan, slice ahi into 1/4" thick slices.
Toss salad greens with dressing of choice or olive oil and salt. Top greens with sliced ahi, caramelized pineapple and avocado.
Countdown to 30: Last Day!
It's been a full and fun day, but I can say with total certainty that I have achieved my goal of getting in the best shape of my life. The 5 pounds 5 weeks challenge was a total success and I am excited to greet my 30s super fit and raring to go.
Today I had a physical and a body comp test to see where I stand, and to see if the results were worth the training. Don't have the results from blood work yet, but every other stat came back great:
Weight at home (AM weight, nekkid): 150
Weight at Dr's Office (fully clothed, no shoes, hydrated): 154
Weight at Bod Pod Clinic (underwear and sports bra, after lunch, hydrated): 152
Blood Pressure: 108/56
Resting Heart Rate: 46 Beats per Minute
Body Fat: 12.1% (Last August, training for triathlons, it was tested at 14.9%)
More details on the Bod Pod Body Composition Testing tomorrow. Right now I have a great book to finish!
Edit:
Got results of bloodwork back. Everything looks great. Cholesterol is at 110, which is apparently quite low but in a good way, and my LDL-HDL levels are great. Urinalysis, CBC, Kidney functions, thyroid, etc. etc. are all described to me as excellent. I have asked my doc to send me a copy of the results. When I get them I'll have D (best friend/nurse) walk me through my labwork so I understand what everything is.
Today I had a physical and a body comp test to see where I stand, and to see if the results were worth the training. Don't have the results from blood work yet, but every other stat came back great:
Weight at home (AM weight, nekkid): 150
Weight at Dr's Office (fully clothed, no shoes, hydrated): 154
Weight at Bod Pod Clinic (underwear and sports bra, after lunch, hydrated): 152
Blood Pressure: 108/56
Resting Heart Rate: 46 Beats per Minute
Body Fat: 12.1% (Last August, training for triathlons, it was tested at 14.9%)
More details on the Bod Pod Body Composition Testing tomorrow. Right now I have a great book to finish!
Edit:
Got results of bloodwork back. Everything looks great. Cholesterol is at 110, which is apparently quite low but in a good way, and my LDL-HDL levels are great. Urinalysis, CBC, Kidney functions, thyroid, etc. etc. are all described to me as excellent. I have asked my doc to send me a copy of the results. When I get them I'll have D (best friend/nurse) walk me through my labwork so I understand what everything is.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Countdown to 30: 1 Day to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
5/04: 149.4
Well, tomorrow will be the last day of the 5 Pounds, 5 Weeks Challenge. I was back under 150 this AM and my moving average continues to creep lower. I'm feeling really confident and strong, and I can honestly say it's worked - I am without a doubt in the best shape of my life. But I am also feeling that I am on the last day of my three day on - 1 day rest workout cycle. All through my workout this morning I could feel that I was ready for a break.
Did spin class - regular instructor is back, yeah! - for 60 minutes, then hung out and read until D could join me. Neither of us were totally gung ho to go workout, but we dragged ourselves up to the weight room and committed to an arm/back ish type thing. Normally I don't go for the body-part specific body builder type workout but when you are tired and Crossfit-style intensity just isn't happening, it's a good way to do something. Besides, even if I mostly work out for function, sometimes you want to work on form (your own physique form, I mean) a bit too. And I don't think there's a thing wrong with that.
So D and I did this:
Wood Chop Down with Cable - 4 sets (2 per side), 10 reps, 85#
Wood Chop Up with Cable - 4 sets (2 per side), 10 reps, 65#
Lat Pull Down - 3 sets, 8 reps, 100#
Low Row with Cable - 3 sets, 8 reps, 100# first and second set, 85# on third set
Tricep Dips - on bench, feet elevated, 3 sets, 15 reps, bodyweight
Walking Lunge with Single Arm Press - 2 sets, 20 steps per set, 10# overhead, alternate press side between sets
And then we were done. It wasn't much, but it was what we had.
I have to take a moment and RAVE about a new book I picked up a few days ago. It's called Swimming to Antarctica and it's riveting. A truly amazing autobiography by Lynne Cox, who holds (held? I'm not sure) all the open water distance swimming records worth holding including a two-time world record in the English Channel swim. She also swam in places no one else would even dream: Straight of Magellan, Disko Bay Greenland, Bering Straight, the Straight of Gibraltar, etc. etc. I'm about half way through and every chapter gets more fascinating.
The stories Lynne Cox tells would be unbelievable, if they weren't completely true. I highly recommend this book...it competes with Lance Armstrong's Not About The Bike for best "athlete book" I've read, and in many ways is more compelling for being from an athlete who is, in this country at least, less well known. It's also a wonderful reminder that the best athletes in the entire world come in all shapes and sizes.
Lynne Cox, world record holder (men and women) in multiple endurance open water swimming events. By any reasonable measure, an elite athlete in an unthinkably challenging sport. Basically, she's the Lance Armstrong of swimming. The top picture was taken when she was 16 years old and had just become a 2 Time World Record Holder for the English Channel crossing. The second is more recent, taken I believe, during her Antarctic Swim.
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
5/04: 149.4
Well, tomorrow will be the last day of the 5 Pounds, 5 Weeks Challenge. I was back under 150 this AM and my moving average continues to creep lower. I'm feeling really confident and strong, and I can honestly say it's worked - I am without a doubt in the best shape of my life. But I am also feeling that I am on the last day of my three day on - 1 day rest workout cycle. All through my workout this morning I could feel that I was ready for a break.
Did spin class - regular instructor is back, yeah! - for 60 minutes, then hung out and read until D could join me. Neither of us were totally gung ho to go workout, but we dragged ourselves up to the weight room and committed to an arm/back ish type thing. Normally I don't go for the body-part specific body builder type workout but when you are tired and Crossfit-style intensity just isn't happening, it's a good way to do something. Besides, even if I mostly work out for function, sometimes you want to work on form (your own physique form, I mean) a bit too. And I don't think there's a thing wrong with that.
So D and I did this:
Wood Chop Down with Cable - 4 sets (2 per side), 10 reps, 85#
Wood Chop Up with Cable - 4 sets (2 per side), 10 reps, 65#
Lat Pull Down - 3 sets, 8 reps, 100#
Low Row with Cable - 3 sets, 8 reps, 100# first and second set, 85# on third set
Tricep Dips - on bench, feet elevated, 3 sets, 15 reps, bodyweight
Walking Lunge with Single Arm Press - 2 sets, 20 steps per set, 10# overhead, alternate press side between sets
And then we were done. It wasn't much, but it was what we had.
I have to take a moment and RAVE about a new book I picked up a few days ago. It's called Swimming to Antarctica and it's riveting. A truly amazing autobiography by Lynne Cox, who holds (held? I'm not sure) all the open water distance swimming records worth holding including a two-time world record in the English Channel swim. She also swam in places no one else would even dream: Straight of Magellan, Disko Bay Greenland, Bering Straight, the Straight of Gibraltar, etc. etc. I'm about half way through and every chapter gets more fascinating.
The stories Lynne Cox tells would be unbelievable, if they weren't completely true. I highly recommend this book...it competes with Lance Armstrong's Not About The Bike for best "athlete book" I've read, and in many ways is more compelling for being from an athlete who is, in this country at least, less well known. It's also a wonderful reminder that the best athletes in the entire world come in all shapes and sizes.
Lynne Cox, world record holder (men and women) in multiple endurance open water swimming events. By any reasonable measure, an elite athlete in an unthinkably challenging sport. Basically, she's the Lance Armstrong of swimming. The top picture was taken when she was 16 years old and had just become a 2 Time World Record Holder for the English Channel crossing. The second is more recent, taken I believe, during her Antarctic Swim.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Countdown to 30: 2 Days to Go
4/1: 157.0
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
Sunday has become family day at the gym. Nick comes with me and works on whatever form stuff he's mastering (past several weeks it's been deadlifts and bench presses) then does cardio (usually walk or jog outside) while I get my Crossfit on. I really like that he joins in, even though he's not into fitness in quite the same way I am. It's cool to share what I'm learning with him, and to hang out.
So I was expecting that we would do the same strength based thing today, but Nick was game to give a WOD a try. I was planning on Tabata Something Else, which was the WOD I missed when I took Friday off.
So, brief explanation: a "Tabata" is thusly named because it is a high intensity training method developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata, who discovered that a 4 minute workout, cycling between 20 second of work and 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds, could produce amazing strength and endurance gains in already trained athletes. A 4 minute workout sounds pretty weak....until you do your first Tabata. Then you get it.
So "Tabata Something Else" is 4 back-to-back, 4 minute Tabata's. The first cycle is pull-ups, second is push ups, third is sit-ups, forth is squats. There is no rest between cycles, so the whole workout is 16 minutes long. The first minute isn't so bad but the last 15 are a bitch. Your score is the total number of reps you get, total across all cycles.
Nick seriously maned up and joined me for Tabata Something Else. He timed me, then I timed him. Alas I have misplaced our score sheet, but I think I was around 370 and Nick was around 210. I do remember I held a remarkably constant rate on sit-ups (10 on almost all rounds) and squats (17 across all but a few where I slipped to 16 - but upped it to 19 on the last one despite the burning in my quads). Pull-ups and push-ups were, no surprise, the weak links. I was disappointed with how quickly fatigued I got on the upper body stuff, but then again 150, 45# dumbbell swings yesterday was bound to take something out of me. I was also having some grip issues. Here's why:
Yes, this is the sight that greeted me after my workout when I pulled the band-aids off my pinkies. Remember how I blistered, then tore, the skin on both pinkies doing the aforementioned dumbbell swings? Well, they had not responded particularly well to being "protected" under a bandage for 24 hours. Truly nasty. They look much better now that they've had a chance to breathe--less necrotic. I think I was attempting my pull-ups with 80% of my fingers and doing the classy British tea-drinker pinkie-in-the-air thing with my wounded digits. You wouldn't think two little pinkies would make that much of a difference in grip strength, but I believe they do.
Dinner last night was delish, and plated up nice enough for a pic:
Ponzu-Maple Glazed Coho with Brown Rice and Spring (ish) Veggies
4/2: 155.0
4/3: 155.2
4/4: 154.6
4/5: 154.8
4/6: 154.2
4/7: 153.2
4/8: 154.8
4/9: 152.6
4/10: 151.2
4/11: 153.2
4/12: 152.2
4/13: 152.2
4/14: 152.4
4/15: 153.2
4/16: 152.2
4/17: 152.0
4/18: 151.8
4/19: 152.0
4/20: 152.0
4/21: 152.0
4/22: 152.6
4/23: 151.4
4/24: 151.4
4/25: 151.6
4/26: 151.8
4/27: 151.6
4/28: 152.6
4/29: 153.6
4/30: 151.2
5/01: 149.6
5/02: 150.0
5/03: 151.4
Sunday has become family day at the gym. Nick comes with me and works on whatever form stuff he's mastering (past several weeks it's been deadlifts and bench presses) then does cardio (usually walk or jog outside) while I get my Crossfit on. I really like that he joins in, even though he's not into fitness in quite the same way I am. It's cool to share what I'm learning with him, and to hang out.
So I was expecting that we would do the same strength based thing today, but Nick was game to give a WOD a try. I was planning on Tabata Something Else, which was the WOD I missed when I took Friday off.
So, brief explanation: a "Tabata" is thusly named because it is a high intensity training method developed by Dr. Izumi Tabata, who discovered that a 4 minute workout, cycling between 20 second of work and 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds, could produce amazing strength and endurance gains in already trained athletes. A 4 minute workout sounds pretty weak....until you do your first Tabata. Then you get it.
So "Tabata Something Else" is 4 back-to-back, 4 minute Tabata's. The first cycle is pull-ups, second is push ups, third is sit-ups, forth is squats. There is no rest between cycles, so the whole workout is 16 minutes long. The first minute isn't so bad but the last 15 are a bitch. Your score is the total number of reps you get, total across all cycles.
Nick seriously maned up and joined me for Tabata Something Else. He timed me, then I timed him. Alas I have misplaced our score sheet, but I think I was around 370 and Nick was around 210. I do remember I held a remarkably constant rate on sit-ups (10 on almost all rounds) and squats (17 across all but a few where I slipped to 16 - but upped it to 19 on the last one despite the burning in my quads). Pull-ups and push-ups were, no surprise, the weak links. I was disappointed with how quickly fatigued I got on the upper body stuff, but then again 150, 45# dumbbell swings yesterday was bound to take something out of me. I was also having some grip issues. Here's why:
Yes, this is the sight that greeted me after my workout when I pulled the band-aids off my pinkies. Remember how I blistered, then tore, the skin on both pinkies doing the aforementioned dumbbell swings? Well, they had not responded particularly well to being "protected" under a bandage for 24 hours. Truly nasty. They look much better now that they've had a chance to breathe--less necrotic. I think I was attempting my pull-ups with 80% of my fingers and doing the classy British tea-drinker pinkie-in-the-air thing with my wounded digits. You wouldn't think two little pinkies would make that much of a difference in grip strength, but I believe they do.
Dinner last night was delish, and plated up nice enough for a pic:
Ponzu-Maple Glazed Coho with Brown Rice and Spring (ish) Veggies
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