Thursday, June 24, 2010

Lifting metal and lumber!

There has been so much going on lately that I haven't had as much regular exercise.  That's ok because I've been doing useful work with my fitness.  Last night we put the first 5 trusses on the roof of our shed.  The end one was pretty heavy.  I'm just glad it didn't fall on my head!

This morning I got up to lift.  I felt good, but the workout didn't go all that well.  I was so sweaty and hot and I kept feeling light-headed.  I even told myself to "suck it up" a couple times.  So, after a while I went to body weight rather than stopping all together.  I still burned over 630 calories, though.  I REALLY need to get a fan.

Hypertrophy 1B2

Warm-up - FBB (13:17)

Squat - 2x15 @55#, 1x15 @60#

Deadlift shrug - 3x15@135#

Bulgarian split squat - 1x15 @20#each hand, 2x15 @BW

Step-up  - 3x15@BW

Plank - 3x90sec (subbed for reverse crunch, my legs were shaking on these!)

Monday, June 21, 2010

Back to the "gym"!

My basement gym, that is!
After a week of working on the shed and busy weekends, I finally got in a lifting session this morning.  It felt great.  It was a higher rep session.  It never ceases to amaze me how different a low rep session differs from a high-rep session.  I definitely felt "the burn" today.  It's not just changing the weights, it's also a mental difference.  I came close to hitting a lot of the 30 seconds rests.  I see "30 seconds" as a goal, but not a very attainable one.  It simply takes longer than that to get from exercise to exercise and record my progress in my log.  My heartrate didn't get really high, but I still burned in the neighborhood of 550 calories in around an hour.

Hypertrophy 1A2 (3 sets of 15, 30 secs rests)

Warm up - from FBB (15 minutes)

Dumbbell incline bench press - 1x(12 @30#ea, 3 @25#ea), 2x15 @25#ea

Cable seated row - 1x(10 @75#,  5 @70#), 2x15 @70#

Dumbbell shoulder press - 3x15 @15#ea

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 3x15 @75#

Barbell close-grip bench press - 3x15 @50#

High pull - 3x15 @50#

Swiss ball rollout - 3x15 (subbed for Swiss-ball crunch)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A change-up is needed

Not much time to post because my workout took too long this morning!
I got downstairs for Hypertrophy I B1, but the squats alternating with deadlift shrugs aren't going to happen.  I'm going to have to do straight sets from here on out.  It was taking me 2-3 minutes to do the set-up between the two.  I might be able to get that down to 1:30 at the very least.  The next workouts have rests of 30s and 60s.  Since I was runing out of time, I cut the sets on the BSS and step-up.  I did hit highs for squats and deads, which was nice.  I subbed planks (done upstairs while getting breakfast ready) for the reverse crunches.  The lifting dook about 1:08, having cut out two rounds of the second alternating sets.

H1B1

Warm-ups - FBB warm up (17:43), squats - 3x45#, 3x55#, 3x65#, DLs - 3x115#

Squat - 3x5 @75#, 2x5 @80#

Deadlift shrug - 1x5 @155#, 2x5 @145#, 2x5 @150# (could not use Lynx grips)

Bulgarian split squat - 3x5 @30# each hand

Step-up - 3x5 @25# each hand

Plank - 1x60s, 2x90s

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Starting Hypertrophy I

Today was the beginning of my next lifting phase.  I'm doing Hypertrophy I from New Rules of Lifting.  It was strange doing only 5 reps.  Also, I didn't care much for the alternating set of bench press and high pull both needing the barbell.  Otherwise, it was a great workout.  I started with the warm up from Female Body Breadthrough, which took 20 minutes.  I hope with practice the time for that will come down.  The lifting part took me 1:12.  I used the 90 second breaks to foam roll.  That worked out really well.  I subbed the Swiss ball rollout from FBB for the Swiss crunches.

H1A1

Dumbbell incline bench press - 5x5 @25# each hand

Cable seated row - 5x5 @90#

Dumbbell shoulder press - 5x5 @25# each hand

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 5x5 @ 90#

Barbell close-grip bench press - 1x5 @ 45#, 1x5 @50#, 3x5 @60#

High pull - 1x5 @45#, 4x5 @60#

Swiss ball rollout (from FBB) - 3x15

Saturday, June 5, 2010

20k! The Dam to Dam is done!

It wasn't looking pretty this morning.  My brother and I left home at about 4:45am and it was looking ominous.  There was lightning in the distance and as we neared Des Moines, it started raining.

We waited in the throngs of runners (nearly 8000) for a spot on one of the dozens of school busses they had carrying us to the start line.  Eventually we got one and the ride took around 15-20 minutes to the side of the first dam.  Then we had a "1 mile scenic" walk to the starting line... and past the various pace signs that were all faster than we were planning to run.  We continued walking back to the Porta Potties.  What looked like a very long line only took 6 minutes.  My digestive system thanked me tremendously for helping it out at that point.

Then we dropped off our clothing bag with our jackets and made our way, still in the rain and wind, to the masses waaaay behind the start line.  After several minutes, we finally crossed the start line.  We were on our way!  (...at about 7:15am!  I think the actual start for the fast people was around 7:05am.)

Overall, the rain and wind wasn't too bad.  It was actually better than a hot, humid, and sunny day.  It didn't hail and there was no lightning once we got to the course.  We kept a rather steady pace, averaging 11:35min/mile over the course.  We finished in about 2:25 hours.  I'll take it!

We got a nice medal.  I'm going to display it proudly for a while, I think.  After finishing, it seems like not a big deal.  But, you know what... it is!  12.4 miles is nothing to sneeze at!  I could definitely do another half-marathon (which this basically was) but right now, a full doesn't look too attractive.  I'm starting to get sore in places and I'm rather tired, but over all, I feel surprisingly well.  I felt really good the whole race, too.

Before we left home, I had a small bowl of oatmeal, a cup of coffee, and a banana.  I had two "Just Plain" Gu gels on the course, which have some caffeine in them.  I had never tried that flavor, but it actually wasn't bad at all.  Along the way, I drank plenty of water and one cup of Powerade.  Afterwards, I skipped the beer. (Coors Light is rarely attractive to me, but at 9:30am after running that far, the thought of it made me feel like retching.)  I did grab a pork sandwich, a banana, and an apple.  That hit the spot. 

I wore my compression shorts and my shirt with the zippy pocket.  I wore my regular Saucony shoes and didn't have any blisters.  I also didn't have any of the issue with my foot that made me pause my training.  I couldn't be happier with the way my body handled it, really.  I noticed that my upper body didn't show any signs of tiredness until around mile ten or eleven.  I find it is really important for my upper body to hold good form, otherwise I get lots of aches and pains in my shoulders and back.  I think lifting has really helped strengthen my core and the rest of my body.

I'm really pleased that my brother came out to run with me.  We joked around, which made the miles past much quicker.  Wonderful time!  I think I'm already looking forward to next year!