Weekend Workout

I finished my rest week with a busy weekend. Friday I took the dogs for a longer walk. Saturday Sue and I took the dogs for a one-hour hike through Scotia Range (aka the Barrens). When we got back we did HP Prop Yoga. Man, my hips (especially the right one) were sooo tight! And you should have heard the popping from my left acetabulum.

I had wanted to try kayaking on Sunday morning, but that was canceled because of low water levels at Spring Creek. Sunday night was the first round of volleyball play-offs. I did not have my best game, especially serving, but my energy level was really high and my passing was better than it had been all season. We had to play short-handed (again) but we came from behind twice to win our match, and move on.

I also read something in Sunday's paper about people who bicycle cross-country. Someday, I may have to try it...

Sorry it's been so long

Sometimes life just accelerates a little. One has to prioritize, and that means some things just have to wait. I have been continuing my practice, I just haven't made the time to write about it.

I spent a lot of last week feeling fatigued. It had been about five weeks since my last rest period, so maybe that's to be expected. I really had to struggle through a lower-body workout last week, and my mindfulness during yoga was just not good. I kept falling out of tree pose, and having to put my foot down during eagle. This is a case where I let the concerns from work interfere with my practice. It is a habit I fall into at times, and once again I must correct it. As Baron says, "as often as you forget, remember." Or Coach Ilg: "begin again, and again, and ever again."

This week I am resting, although I am sure I will still do some yoga and some running. Done right, those things are relaxing.

I have also been thinking a lot about my own exercise philosophy. If I was an instructor, or coach, or tutor, what would I be teaching my student? As I turn things over in my mind, incorporating what I've learned, and what I've experienced, a sketchy frame of a plan is fleetingly there, and gone again. In future posts I will elaborate, as my individual path makes itself known to me.

Changing Things Up

Yesterday I did upper-body strength training at the gym. But I wanted to change things up a little, because your muscles get used to doing the same exercises, and the training effect becomes lessened over time.
So on many of the exercises, I used a "pyramid" technique. This is where you do three sets, increasing the weight but decreasing reps with each. For example, I might do 12 reps of curls at 40 lbs., then 10 reps at 50 lbs., and finally 8 reps at 60 lbs. This is more of a muscle building (particularly "white" or "fast-twitch" muscle) practice than a toning/endurance practice, and I did my best to maintain the mindfulness, breathe, and elegance.
At the end, my muscles weren't singing they way they do after TBT, but it was a nice change of pace.

A Hard Run

Yesterday I did the Laurel Switchbacker 10K, also known as Tussey Teaser #1. This is a very tough run for me: you run 3.1 miles up to the top of a ridge, and then turn around and run back down. I struggle with long climbs like this, but that's why I wanted to run it. And I did struggle, many times I wanted to stop and walk, but I resolved to just keep running. And after I made it to the top and turned around, I felt strong the whole way down.
A lot of runners hate doing long downhills, but somewhere along the line that has become my biggest stength: I just let gravity and my long legs do all the work. You can read the minute details of my run here.

On an unrelated topic, I need to replace my aging bicycle, and I want to go with a road bike this time, since it seems that I am doing most of my riding on the road. So after my run I stopped at a bike shop for a test ride. The bike I have now is an ancient, hybrid/"comfort" bike with a steel frame. The thing must weigh 40 pounds. Trying out this Giant road bike with an aluminum frame and composite forks was just an unbelievable chi hit. Even with my tired legs from the run and keeping it in middle gears, I felt like I was flying. It was amazing.
When I got home I did some sun salutations and thorough strething. Then in the late afternoon Sue and I took the dogs for a 30-minute romp in the woods. That's when I realy felt the training effects. Today I am going to do some strength training, and then I have a volleyball double-header this evening. That should be a well-rounded weekend.

BTW, if any of my readers has a recommendation on a bike, I'd love to hear it. I'm looking to spend @$800. Just post your comments below.

A Tale of Two Workouts

Yesterday I did the lower body workout. And while I felt well-trained at the end of it, there were only a few instances where I felt overly trained. I left the gym feeling more refreshed than tired.
Today I did the upper body workout. Usually I find this to be the easiest of the three strength-training days. However, today I felt weak the whole time. It could be because I haven't had a rest day this week, or because I was working out on an empty stomach; either way I didn't have the same energy level as usual. I did my exercises with the same amount of weight as usual. I figured if I became too fatigued, I could take the weight down.
To my surprise, I never did. While I felt I was struggling more than usual, I was still keeping the good form and rhythm, and managed to get through everything.

This time I left the gym tired, but good tired.

Dropping Some Science on your Ass...

Medical News today has an interesting, albeit somewhat technical article, Ironman Study Redefines Fine-tuned: Balance Training Time With Blood Pressure Variability
The gist of it is that Ironman competitors with the most training time per week have the fastest times, and the have the fastest recovery times. From the article:
For the largest part, namely for the 5 million years of the hunter-gatherer age, mankind had to perform daily a regimen of 10-30 km of walking and running for survival. This would correspond to up to 4 hours daily exercise time and a WNET of 28 hours. Our ‘well-trained' athletes achieved only between 20%-60% of this duration of training, which demonstrates the change of perspective that occurred with the beginning of the industrial age.

Leg work

On Sunday, I did a six-mile run. It was the first longish run I'd done in over a month, I felt really good until the last quarter-mile or so, when I was running up a small hill with the wind hitting me right in the kisser.
Later that day, Sue and I had to stack firewood. This is not as easy as it sounds: I take the wheelbarrow, load it up, and then push it halfway around the house. Then I dump it out, and Sue takes loads it into our storage area. We repeat that about 25-30 times.
Then yesterday I did the full-body workout, and I had a much easier time than I expected. I think I might do yoga tonight, then lift Wednesday and Thursday, more yoga Friday, and then a very challenging run on Saturday morning.

Optimizing Body Composition for Peak Performance - Nubella

An interesting piece by Eric J. Hörst about training for peak climbing efficacy. I cringe at the mention of "undesirable leg muscle," but it's good stuff nonetheless:
Optimizing Body Composition for Peak Performance - Nubella

Week in review

In case you were wondering, I have been exercising this week. Monday I did the EEE-GAD workout. I had to rush through it, so I didn't feel like I got the full chi from it. Tuesday I spent 30 minutes in the morning clearling snow from my driveway, and then in the evening I took the dogs on a very chilly 1-mile walk.
Yesterday, I was a little surprised to see that my weight is up around 158. It feels like a soft 158. I did the upper body strength training, and I really tried to focus on doing the exercises slowly and with perfect form, and trying to keep the rest and transitions as short as possible (no more than 45 seconds). The result was that even though I wasn't rushing at all, I got the workout done in under 25 minutes.