If it’s a fight you want…

…it is a fight you will get.

I have been on diet all week. Watching the daily oscillations of my weight tells me that we are in a dog fight here. I lose a pound, I gain .8 back, even though I’m eating the same stuff and the “right” stuff day in and day out.

Anyway, today

Concept II, Vent closed
1,000 meters warmup
10,000 meters fastish
1,000 meters cooldown

For the 10,000
Time 41:23
Avg HR 167
Max HR 179
I need to prepare myself for a sub 40:00 10,000 meters

Circuit X 5
Dumbell Press 65 lbs X 8
Rengade rows 35lbs 5/5,5/5
Standing press 35lbs X 6
Bicep Curl 35lbs 5/5

What’s my modivation for this scene?

I did my two hours yesterday. Despite feeling more energized than worn down by my workout the day before, I was feeling it yesterday. I wasn’t sore but I was exhausted. I felt I had no drive what so ever, to lift.

Clean -> Front Squat – > Jerk X 5
40K, 50K, 60K, 70K, 80K

Squat
60K X 3
100K X 3
120K X 3
130K X 1
130K 3 X 3

Jerk
100K X 0
60K X 5
80K 3 X 3

At this point I had spent nearly and hour and a half in the gym and I was tired. I was thinking, “Maybe I’ll just hit some curls and go home.” Then Big Rick, a long time powerlifter, asked me if I wanted to do some circuits with him. Me being me, why not?

Leg Press (in pounds)
Deadlift (in pounds)
Strict Press (in kilograms)

600
275
60

600
365
70

600
305
70

600
305
75

650
335
75

650
335
70

As you can see, I was kind playing with the weights the whole time. I underestimated what I was capable of while Rick overestimated. I think that if I hadn’t been so worn down, I would have stayed right in with Rick, who was going heavier than me but dropped out at the end.

This fine morning, we played an hour of tennis. Laura likes tennis and I need to get out and move around on Saturdays or I start to get real tight for Sunday.

hmph

Today was my day for a heart rate row. However, on leaving work, my mood could really only be described as foul. I decided I didn’t have the patience for that kind of thing. Instead, it was time to go hard, real hard. If I couldn’t train tomorrow, screw it.

Concept II Vent closed
1,000 meters warmup
5,000 meters details below
1,000 meters cooldown

5,000 meters detail
Time 19:59
Avg HR 172
Max HR 184
I wa focusing on on keeping a 2:00/500 meter time. I got there but it was difficult. In that last 2,000 meters, I knew I was pushing 180 and then into it.  I’m not sure how I managed to finish it. I tried to see how long it would take for my pulse to drop to 100, like Chris has suggested. At 5:00 it 115. I gave up and went on.

Double Kettlebell Snatches 16K X 10
Medium Box Jump (18″?) X 10
Kettlebell Bear Crawl 16K Down and Back (let’s say 20-25 feet each way, a racquetball court, however big that is)
Pushups X 10 (originally burpees but I decided I may not make the box jumps with those, I tried for hindu pushups but failed after a few reps)
Five circuits

Time:15:57
Avg HR 163
Max HR 177
I found that the box jumps did the most to spike my HR. In hind sight, I should ahve pushed on through the burpees and I should have moved up to 24K for the crawls. Ah well, it gives me somewhere to progress to.

The oddest thing about my workout was that I was interested in just getting stupid with it and if I felt beat up tomorrow, so be it. By the time I drove home I felt great, like I ahd hardly worked out but much more loose and free than if I hadn’t worked out at all. It sucked during though. Odd that it takes so much effort just to get my body moving right.

narrative

So I have to tell this one as a story.

I went in to work my Tuesday sprints, as I have been. I went upstairs and got the pair of 16K kettlebells and brought them down to just outside the cardio room. I did a few windmills and squats just to lube the joints, then I tucked them away so no one would fall over them. I headed over to the rower, closed the vent, turned on my heart rate monitor and stop watch and got down to business.

First, 1,000 meters at a casual pace, about a 2:30 lap time. As I neared the end of the warmup, I slowed down. Then when I hit the end, I stepped on the gas. I rowed 500 meters in the the 1:40s. Then I headed out to begin my double kettlebell snatches. But, where had they gone? I asked around, had anyone seen those blck things I carried through, nope. I looked upstairs, I looked in the weightroom, I could not find them. Then I stuck my head in the office to see if someone there had them. Sure enough, they saw them in a dark corner and thought some lazy butt had just left them out there.

I got them out and set up again. I figured that since I hadn’t gotten to do my whole thing that set didn’t count. I got on the rower and did sprint one again. I got off the rower and found my bells to be right where I had left them. Ten snatches. I went back and forth doing sub 1:50 rows and ladder snatches for a while. A lot of times, I would spend the walk from the rower to the kettlebells trying to remember which set I was on. I would oftern cheat and think about how many meters I had just finished and count from there.

As I hit 3,000 meters I suddenly found my math not adding up. I knew I had done 1,000 meters warmup so that means I should have bet on snatch set four. That should be seven reps this time, but I swear I did that already. It was also getting hard, fast. At 3,000 meters I found myself unable to hold the sub 1:50 pace for 500 meters so I dropped the 1:55 for 250 meters. I stayed there for a total of four, then back to 500 meters at a 1:55 pace. Things still weren’t adding up. I had begun counting down to my last set at 5,000 meters when figuring out how many snatches to do. I was a little frustrated. I had intended on doing 10 sets of 500s to get a full 5,000 out of them. Since I had done 1,000 meter warmup, I had really only sprinted 4,000 meters. Ah well.

Then I hit the cooldown. That’s when it occured to me. I had done 1,000 meters warmup. I had also done 500 meters I decided that didn’t count. However, in my rushing around to find the bells, the monitor had reset. All 5,00 meters were sprinted meters. I wasn’t sucking nearly as much as I thought.

1,000 meters warmup
500 meters sprint 1:50
break
Restart HR monitor
500 meters sprint 1:50
Ladder down from 10 Double kettlebell snatches
X 6 sets
250 meter sprint 1:55
Ladder down from 6 Double kettlebell snatches
X 4
500 meter sprint 1:55
2X Double kettlebell snatches
500 meter sprint 1:55
2X Double kettlebell snatches
Stop HR monitor
1,000 meters cooldown

Monitor
Time 31:56
Avg HR 167
Max HR 179

High box jumps (2 ft?) X 10
Renagade row wuss outs X 5/5
2 sets

The renegade row wuss outs were just me setting up like I was going to do renegade rows but just holding the position as flat and tight as I could

Chin ups 3X3

I think next week I’m gonna stick to 250 meter sprints but try to go sub 1:40.

The biggest loser

I’ve been thinking about the weightloss thing a lot lately, I mean a lot lot. I’ve been stuck at 240 for nearly two months now. For a bit I managed to keep it southbound but slow, now I’ve stopped and probably even tacked a pound on. I’ve got 15 lbs to lose and time is a wasting. So I’m trying to think about what has changed so that I can go back to losing.

My analysis revealed a couple things that I think occurred about that time that I totally stopped losing. The two things that come to mind or changing my rowing strategy and changing my nutrition strategy. I don’t think the rowing change is to blame. I went from rowing alternating 5,000 and 10,000 meter distances to Sprints, heartrate and long rows. In the end, I’m doing at least as much if not more distance. I don’t think this is responsible.  The nutrition, on the other hand, could be more at fault.

I found that I was getting hungry a lot and was starting to forage which is never good in an office full of women, cause there is always chocolate and candy around. So I thought I would start bringing some carbs for the afternoon to hold me over.  I believe there are two problems with this strategy. First, I seems to eat more calories in carbs than in protein and with less satiety. Second, it seems when I eat carbs, it leads to a cycle of wanting more, which returns me to foraging, but now with an additional meal under my belt (literally).

So I’m eliminating the carb meal from my day. I’m not going no carb or anything. I still eat carbs at breakfast and supper most days. I’m just not eating them in the middle of the day because of the cascade it seems to set off. In general, I’m just going to try and be more diligent about snacking, I have let myself get away with more than I should.

I think if I implement these strategies, I’ll be back on the losing track in not time.

In good news, two nights ago, I bought my first pair of 38″ waist jeans in a very long time. We’ll see how much they shrink in the wash, then we’ll see how much I shrink before the end of the year.

little bit more, little bit more

Little run with the dog
20:55
Avg HR 142
Max HR 167
Run with the dog
Find more Runs in Lutherville, Maryland
I also looked intot the kettlbells I saw at target some more, just cause Scott B was asking. Below are links to more info. The kettlebells in the image are the exact weights I saw there.
full line of KB
http://www.gofit.net/site/gofit/section/52
image
http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2007/03/09/510753/GoFitKettlebell.jpg

Monday Morning Weigh in: 238.8

This one should even count, I got up late. I didn’t do my morning routine, I just hopped in the shower and took the dog for a walk. I should probably count this as heavier. It’s also right where my week long low was. These last couple weeks of weightloss have been real frustrating. I haven’t lost, in fact, I seem to have gained a tad. I’ve been training more.

I’m pretty sure it comes down to diet. I think I have been allowing more calories through the gates. I also played around with my salads a bit. I tried different leaves and stuff. I think that was mistake I think trying some of the more traditional leaves (romane, iceberg) left me less satisfied and more prone to foraging. So this week, it’s back to spinach. I’m also trying to double check my portion size cause I think I’m slipping up there.

Yesterday I started drinking some Crystal Light. I have no idea if that is a good thing. Typically I try to stay away from that kind of stuff, anything that is mostly sugar or fake sugar seems like a bad idea to me. We had some in the cupboard and I made it up it was pretty good. So I drank about a liter of it.

I called it

I said about six months ago that kettlebells were coming to target. Well, I laid my hand on some tonight. 5 lb incraments, wide handles, colored and plasticed bell.

Information Overload

Concept II, vent Closed – mission: 1hour of rowing
1,000 meters warmup (not part of 1 hour)
14,000 meters
Time 1:00:00
Avg HR 161
Max HR 169

I had too much going on. I was watching all four readings on my display, my HR monitor, my watch timer, listening to music and the TVs were on for the second half. Too, too much. Anyway, I was trying to keep my strokes per minute below 25. I was also trying to keep my 500 meter time below 2:10. By about 2,500 meters it became more of a “near 2:10”. Even with those two measures, I spent almost all my time at or very near 161 for a HR. The other challenge is that my cardiovascular system seems to have surpassed my muscular endurance in this little game.

So I need to work on my musclar enduarnce as well as pushing myself to row a little faster.

Papa needs a new pair of shoes

I took the dog out for the same short run as a few days ago, this time I wore my HR monitor. I’ll have to map it out for an exact distance, let’s go mile to mile and a half for now.
Time 15:49
Avg HR 139
Max HR 159

Then I went to the gym. I decided I had been working the clean quite a bit and the snatch deserved some love.
Snatch to and Overhead Squat X 5 each
40K, 50K, 60K, 70K
On the 70s it wasn’t a real snatch, there was a touch of press at the end. I was surprised how much I had forgotten how to snatch properly, well proper for me.

One Hand Snatch to and Overhead Squat X 5 each
20K, 30K, 40K, 50K
I didn’t hit all the OHS on the 50K, I lost a couple of the left handed ones

Jerk X 5 eash
70K, 90K
I tried for 110K, not a chance in the world. I’m gonna have to do something there. I have no idea what.

This weekend I need to buy some shoe goo, my Oly shoes are coming apart at the sole. I can’t afford new
Oly shoes but I’m gonna need to start looking.

Standing Press 3 X 5 70K

Circuit X 5
Pullup Ladder 5 ->1
Dip X 6
Hanging Leg Raise X 8

Circuit X 3, with a 25lb plate for all
Hyperextensions X 12
Roman Chair Situp X 6

Ciruit X 3, 75lb barbell for all
Curl X 6
Overhand Curl X 6
Skull Crusher X 12