Two workouts to report

Most of my plans to workout over the Thanksgiving break fell through. The temptation of staying up late and sleeping in was too strong. I did force myself to get to bed on time Saturday night and get out early enough for a run Sunday morning. I also managed to guilt my husband into coming withe me. The run was very nice. I don't get to run often with hubby. Unfortunately, nature called in the middle, so we had to head home. The field just wasn't looking very welcoming. But, it probably had the effect of extending the run. The final stats were 3.64 miles at a 11:22 pace plus a small walking warm up.

This morning I got out to do A2 of the Break-In stage of New Rules. I worked on warming up a bit more for the squats. Over all a good workout, but not as intense as the B workout, since I can't push the squats as much as the deadlifts. I did end with the Metabolic Overdrive. Since I was using the upright bike, I tried to judge my effort with METS. I think that helped me keep up the intensity even when I wanted to quit.

I had a banana and a cup of milk with a packet of protein powder before the workout. I think that was too much. My stomach didn't feel the best and I don't know why I tried chocolate again. That wasn't very good. Also, I really don't like protein powder in milk. Yogurt is much better. I had yogurt with my regular powder after the workout.

Warm-up - 8xbw squats, 4x 45# squats

Barbell squats - 1x15@55#, 2x15@60#

Static lunge - 2x15@20#

Two-point db row, elbow out - 2x15@25#

Push-up - 2x15 (elbows out, last couple arms not totally parallel)

Swiss-ball crunch - 2x15@25# (behinds head, nice difficulty)

Metabolic overdrive - warm-up and cool-down 3 minutes at resistance 2 (3.5 METS), hard 3x1 minute at 10 (at least 11 METS), easy 3x2 minutes at 3 (4.5 METS)

I didn't know I had so many sweat glands

I fought the little red devil on my shoulder and won.  I got up at 4:15 this morning to work out, doing Break-In B1 today.  Wow.

Today was a perfect example of two things the weightlifting advocates claim:

1. Your workout is as hard as YOU make it be
2. You can get cardio benefits from working out (i.e. elevated heart rate over an extended time, see bottom of this entry)

I did a few warm-up exercises.  I did a few bodyweight squats and some forward bends then 5 reps of 95# deadlifts.  I was so exhausted, I didn't proceed to the "Metabolic Overdrive" that I had planned.  In all, it still took 42 minutes.

When I got there, someone was already using the power cage, so I used the extra oly bar outside of the cage.  I actually like that one better for deadlifts anyway because it has a deeper knurl.  It worked out just fine.

Deadlift -  1x15@135#, 1x10@135# (120s between sets, lots of sweat, could have done more on second set but could tell form would have deteriorated)

Step-up - 2x15@15# each hand (some extra pauses to catch breath, dragged non-working leg along bench to keep from helping, had to fight urge to pump with arms to help)

Dumbbell 1-arm shoulder press - 1x15@20#, 1x15@25# (25# was very hard!  barely pushed out reps 14 and 15, not sure if I positioned my arm right, I held DB like in normal shoulder press not with "palms facing each other"  ooops)

Close-grip lat pulldown - 2x15@87# (more like 5+5+5 taking short breaks in between, used two single cable handles because a triangle attachment wasn't available, see below)

Incline reverse crunch - 2x15@30deg (last few reps of both sets not the best)

cable attachments I used for the lat pulldowns

The dips in the heart rate are when I sat down!

Now for the original!

Having not come up with anything else, I started my default plan this morning, which is the New Rule of Lifting Break-In phase.  (This is the original New Rules book from Lou Schuler.)  I have 4 workouts each A and B laid out.  We'll see if I want to continue with Break-In after that or move on with another phase.  Having just done high-rep exercises in Stage 7 of New Rules of Lifting for women, I'm looking forward to a phase with lower reps.

Today went well.  I did Break-In A1. Since I'm coming off of a long streak of lifting, I included the "Metabolic Overdrive" from the book, which is just intervals.  Most rest periods were pretty close to the 60s allotted.  Afterward, legs are of a Jello-like consistency.

Warm up - BB squat 1x4@45#
BB squat - 2x15@55# (1st set slower, 2nd set faster, still getting a bit light headed)
DB static lunge - 2x15ea@20#ea hand
2-pt DB row with elbow out - 2x15@25#
Push-up - 2x15 with elbows out (eventually, I'll try to move arms in to triceps push-ups)
Swiss ball crunch - 2x15@25# (1st - plate overhead, realized arms were moving some, which gave me momentum and made the crunch easier, 2nd - plate touching back of head, arms didn't help and crunches were MUCH more effective, I wonder if I was doing this before??!?)
Metabolic overdrive - 2min WU (easy - 1 on upright bike), 3x(1min hard - 10 on upright bike and faster, 2min medium - 5 on upright bike and slower), 2min cool down (easy - 1 on upright bike)   - actually I accidentally did an extra 30 secs on the first hard section

Week off is going ok

... except that a nasty muscle spasm returned in my back Monday night.  I went to the massage therapist Tuesday.  Wednesday, things seemed to be better.  Then, this morning I thought I felt it again.  Hopefully it's just healing and that is what I feel.  I think I'll use the hot pack again today.

Sunday evening, I went to a yoga class at church and then on Tuesday morning, when I got up with the pain, I did another yoga video from YogaToday.com.  I did this week's free one, which is "Cultivating Friendliness with Twisting Postures."  I really like their videos, but I wouldn't purchase a membership because our internet connection clogs so much in the evening that streaming is out of the question.  Mornings seem to be ok.  So, I purchased a couple to have around.  I did "Happy Hips and Hamstrings" last night.  I think one of my issues with squats is tight hamstrings, so I thought it would be good.  I also purchased "Prevent Sciatica with Yoga" which should also have some hamstring work in it.

This morning I did Rachel Cosgrove's metabolic workout.  Some of the exercises were awkward, some were very challenging.  I think I'll get more out of it as I become more familiar with the exercises.  I did one set of each.  I think I'll have to work up to 2 sets.  For now, it's too much!.  It was nice to have the interval timer on my Garmin to time the exercises.

Enjoyable long run

Today's run started at 31F and only got up to 35F by the time I was done, so the warm weather gear worked better this time.  One thing I noticed on my jacket today is that the inside of my elbows sweat!  Weird.  Also, I realized that as the weather gets colder, I might want to drink my coffee at the cafe and then jog back.  Walking really requires an extra layer, particularly after a sweaty run.  My body temp just gets too low when walking and I get cold.

It was a beautiful day.  I got a late start because my daughter woke up early and I didn't want her being the only one awake, letting her roam around the house getting into stuff isn't a good idea.  Since it was light out when I got out, I got to run on the paths.  I enjoy that.

There were a few times when I wanted to stop, but I didn't.  For the steep hills, I put myself in efficient mode, kind of like what I do when I do a kick at the end of a run.  I think that leaves me with a lot more breath at the top of the hill and a lower heart rate.

I ran for 5.56miles at an average of 11:13 pace.  Then, I walked 0.84 miles.

Not so New Rule of Lifting for Women

The "new" rules aren't so new anymore because I've finished the program!!  Yay for me!  It took me 10-1/2 months.  I had to mod a bit due to a knee issue, but overall, I stuck pretty well to the program.  It has been an excellent experience and I would recommend it to anyone!  Now to figure out what to do next.  I'll probably take a week off and then start on whatever I come up with.

Today I went to the gym and punched out 7-6, the last workout of Stage 7!
I worked hard today.  I felt better than the last couple times I was in the gym.  So, I decided I would try to increase weights as much as possible without keeling over and dying.  I did manage to increase some. I even got to the BIG GIRL PLATES on my deadlifts!!  Woo hooooooo!!!

It's Saturday morning, so the gym was almost empty.  Only one other guy there and he did cardio until he came over to use some machines.  Luckily he managed his entire use of the pulldown cable station between my 3rd and 4th sets.


Deadlift - 1x6@125#, 1x7@135#  (big girl plates!  I did the 7th rep because I had to rack the bar, LOL)

DB squat, heals raised - 3x15@15#ea, 1x(10@20#ea,5@15#ea) (did these in groups of 5 with resting breaths between... squats are still a big weakness of mine)

DB shoulder press - 2x15@20#ea, 1x(5@25#ea,10@20#ea), 1x(8@25#ea,7@20#ea)

Step-up - 1x15@12#ea, 2x15@15#ea (last set had extended break between sides, did much better with not pushing off, placed non-working leg so it rubbed on bench)

Underhand lat pull-down -  4x15@87# (yikes, that's a lot of reps!)

2-loops

I didn't want to get up today.  I pressed snooze a few times.  But, I told myself I didn't have to run long.  So, I did two loops of my block for a total of 1.92 miles running in 21:27.  Better than nothing!

I didn't go very fast, but I guess there was a rather hard hill.  Sounds like a good excuse to me!  Even at that slower pace (average 11:11min/mile) my heart rate was up and I really felt my asthma, especially when I got inside.

It was 46F out with a 8mph wind.  Not a bad day, but the wind at times was brisker than I had expected.

I've been eating like crap lately.  I need to get that under control.

Almost done!

Today was 7-5 of New Rules of Lifting for Women.  That means one last workout and I've completed the book!  Woo hoo!

Today when I got to the gym, I was excited because there wasn't anyone there yet.  So, I had the cage for my incline bench presses!  What's cooler is they have a second Olympic bar now.  The old one is just on the floor.  So, I used that one for my Romanian deadlifts.  I would still need the cage for bench presses and squats, though.

Today went well.  I increased some weights.  Afterwards, I'm wobbly!  That's nice.

Time: 45 minutes

Warm-up: incline bench press -  4@45#

Incline bench press - 1x6@60#, 1x6@65#
Seated row - 1x8@83#, 1x7@89#
Static lunge, rear foot on step - 4x15@15#each hand
Push-up - 1x15 on floor (bad! incomplete ROM), 3x15 hands on step (better, arms not in, some pauses)
Romanian deadlift - 4x15@105#
DB bent over row - 4x15@30# (last rep of 3rd set was incomplete)

The weather is too darn nice

The only problem with good weather is that I overdressed for it!  I wore my new jacket and long pants.  As the sun rose, the temperature when from 50F to 58.5F.  I should have worn shorts.

At least I got out.  I ran 4.74 miles including two short walking breaks and a stop at a traffic light.  That's not bad, though, I wasn't feeling it this morning.  I'm just getting back into things after not running for weeks, so that's fine.  I got my coffee and walked the 0.63 miles home.

I fine run.  I'm glad I got out despite not getting up early enough.

Not my best day ever

I could tell as soon as I got to the gym that this wasn't going to be the best day ever.  My squats were not feeling good.  I struggled to find a position where my knee wouldn't click and my legs were wobbly.  Everything seemed harder than it should.  I did manage to stick with the higher weights from my last workouts and not drop back at all, but I didn't increase.  I guess I should remember that getting out on a Saturday morning is itself an achievement.

In total, I took 56 minutes.  Several times I had to stop to pause.  I kept getting a bit light headed on the squats, so the pauses were necessary.  For some of the sets, I had to break up my counting to thee mini-sets of 5 to get through it.  Sometimes I would pause between mini-sets, sometimes I wouldn't.  I think part of the difficulty with this stage is mental.  It's hard to imagine 15 reps and on top of that, it's hard to imagine holding out for 4 rounds of those 15 rep sets.

Today's workout was Stage 7 Workout 4 of New Rules of Lifting for Women.

Squat - 2x6@55# (didn't go deep enough on some reps)
DB Squat, heals raised - 4x15@15#ea (heals on 2# DBs)
DB Shoulder press - 4x15@20#ea
Step-up - 4x15@12#ea (on padded bench, better with not pushing off)
Underhand lat pulldown - 4x15@87# (hard, hard, very hard, extremely hard!)

My turn to hog the power cage

Today was a quick lifting session, but VERY hard!  I sped out of bed and to the gym so I could be the first one there.  I wanted the power cage for my deadlifts.  I guess I could do them with dumbbells, but I have been waiting to do regular deadlifts again for so long, I would have been disappointed.  Since I also used the barbell for Romanian deadlifts, I used the cage for the entire half hour.  The guy I knew would come in and probably want the cage, came right after I started my lifts.

This was stage 7 workout 3 from New Rules of Lifting for Women.  It was a killer!  It only lasted 32 minutes after a quick warm-up, but that was plenty!  I'm getting really close to the big girl plates on my deadlifts!!  (Those are the full-sized 45# plates. I used 35# plates plus 5# plates today.)

Warm-up - 1x2@45# deadlift, 1x4@95# deadlift

Deadlift - 1x8@115#, 1x8@125#
Static lunge, rear foot on step - 4x15@20#each hand
Push-up - 4x15 in power cage, 4th hook from bottom (arms mostly in, did better this time, helps to go fast)
Romanian deadlift - 4x15@105# (wow!  huffing and puffing!)
Dumbbell bent-over row - 1x15@30#ea, 1x9+@30#ea, 2x15@25#ea

My new running gear went running!

Yahoo, after a few intended running days that fell through, I finally got out to run.  Last night, I went to the store and bought some nice cold weather running gear.  Of course, I HAD to try it out this morning.  (Well, that was part of the point of buying new running gear, anyway.)

I got out of bed at 4:30am and hit the road at a little after 5am.  I had on my new Saucony DryLete XPT tights, an older thin running shirt, SmartWool running socks, my new Moving Comfort No Chill Hoodie jacket, and my new original Buff.  (See below for pictures.)  I wore the Buff around my neck for a while.  Very nice to keep out the wind.  I also tried it in a few other positions.  It's amazingly convertible.  It wouldn't stay around my mouth without also going over my head, kind of like a balaclava.  So, maybe I'll wear it that way.  Or, I have some fleece, maybe I'll make something similar to go along with it.  After the run, I wore it as a headband to keep my sweaty hear out of my face.  Nice!

At first I was a little worried that the jacket wouldn't be warm enough. But, after a bit it was fine.  In fact towards the end, my forearms were too warm.  Strange.  Also, the hood was too loose and kept falling down.  The tights were perfect.  These are the lighter of the two I bought.  My booty got a bit chilly, but nothing too bad.  They move nicely.  They aren't tight enough to be compression tights, but they don't flop around like pants would.  They are a great length.  I was worried about that, because although I'm an average height, I sometimes struggle with pants being too short.

The run went well.  It would have been even better if DJ Steve Boyett had been spinning the tunes for me, but my phone was about out of juice, so I had to plug it in during my run.  It was 38F with a chilly 7-8mph NW wind.  3.13 miles running for 3.22 miles total in a little over 37 minutes.  My heart rate graph was crazy high.  I was up around 190bpm for a good deal of the run.  It really didn't seem that hard, but I was huffing and puffing, I guess.  It was a definitely not a flat route, so maybe that contributed.  I'll try to remember to add the graph later.

I saw only four bunnies, but I also saw a dog with his walker and 2 (count them) TWO runners!

Saucony DryLete XPT Tight

  Moving Comfort No Chill Hoodie

Update: added my heart rate graph below... wow, that's high!  Is it because I hadn't run in more than 3 weeks?

Barbell bench press!

Well, I managed to do the incline barbell bench press without killing myself! There were a crazy number of people there this morning, so someone would have been able to call 911 for me if I had crushed my windpipe with the bar. I didn't get to do it right away as it is written in the plan, so I was pre-fatigued and maybe would have attempted a bit more.

I was pretty disheartened when I arrived at the gym. I had gotten out to my car, which was not in the garage for various reasons, and the windshield was covered with frost. I'm so spoiled with my garage! So, I dug around in my car in a useless attempt to find a scraper. Then, I remembered I had taken them out in the garage when the possibility for frost seemed a lot way off. Anyway, when I made it to the gym, there was a guy there I knew would be using my power cage a lot, and he was. (I should write my name on it. Maybe that would help.) So, I started with the second group of exercises first. About half way through those, I saw an opening and jumped in to do the bench press and seated row group before continuing with the second group. I didn't want to wait until after the second set, because it is so high rep, I'd be exhausted. I didn't want to make my first attempt at a barbell incline bench press while exhausted!

All in all, things turned out fine. I was at it for about 47 minutes. Not bad. I got there around 4:50 (having wasted a lot of time finding a scraper!) and by the time I left, I counted 8 or 9 people at the gym. That's a lot for so early in the morning. I wonder why? I understand Friday, when people are trying to get in the workout early so they can have fun in the evening, but Tuesday? It's not January 2, either. hmmm...

By the way, my glutes are speaking to me... I think tomorrow is going to be interesting...

There is pretty much no way I can only rest 30secs, so I stopped trying and just went to the next exercise without pausing. Usually, that ended up at 45-60 seconds.

Incline bb bench press - 1x6x45#, 1x6x60# (30deg incline on bench, started after second? set of squats)
Seated row - 1x8@71#, 1x8@77#
DB squat, heals raised - 2x15@20#each (second set last few reps weak), 1x15@15#ea, 1x15@12#ea (heels on 2# dbs, a good use for Barbie-bells!)
DB shoulder press - 1x15@20#ea, 1x15@20#ea, 1x13@20#ea, 1x15@20#ea (had to use some pauses during sets)
Step-up - 4x15@12#ea (this time, stepping forward rather than sideward, much easier! I might still be pushing off a tad, though)
Underhand lat pulldown - 3x15@87#, 1x13@87#