Topic: Carolyn's Training Log (TraceuseDS)

[TraceuseDS]

February 9, 2010:
Rest day. No orchestra b/c the school that hosts our rehearsals was closed. Snow day.


February 10, 2010:
Z-fit:

• Warmup: Ran around the gym a bazillion times. QM forwards, backwards, and to each side (at which point I messed up my toe - again). 3x(10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 jumping jacks, 10 air squats). Joint rotations.
• Worked a bunch on rolls.
• Box jumps and precisions: Box jump up onto the foam block (hip height), hold for 2 seconds (to make sure the landing was under control), precision down onto the floor several feet away, hold for 2 seconds. Eventually added height to the block so that it was waist height, at which point the box jumps turned into cranes.
• Underbars: Same setup as last time. Better results, though! Managed to clear everything a few times w/o even brushing the block or the bar. That was nice! Results weren't consistent; need to remember to jump *really high* when I do these.
• Tic tac + precision: We ticced off of a massive foam wedge propped against the wall (since the wall is made of corrugated metal with sharp edges and lots of pointy screws sticking out of it), then tried to land on the waist-high foam block after the bounce off the wall. Realized after the first iteration of this exercise that I *really* needed to tape my toe, since that was the foot I was landing on. That helped (and how ridiculous is it, btw, to have this much trouble b/c of a TOE?!). The simulation wasn't exactly realistic compared to outside conditions (the wedge shape and the squishiness made things a lot easier), but it was nice to at least practice the movement.
• Metcon: 21-15-9 of burpee precisions (do a burpee and instead of leaping UP, do a precision), situps, pushups (mostly knees for me); when done with all those for whatever set, QM across the gym and back. Time: 10:06. Yikes! Not sure whether it was the precisions or the QM that killed my time - the stuff wasn't all that different from Monday, but my time was 4 minutes longer!

[TraceuseDS]

February 11, 2010:
Drove ~2.5 hours to see my sisters, then went to the gym with them to help them figure out some things to do. Demonstrated a bunch of things with lightish weights, then coached them a bit. I think it's super cool that they reached out to me and actually *asked* me to come and help them do this! More women weightlifting, ftw! Here's some of the stuff we worked on:

• Press
• Push press
• Assisted pullups
• Assisted dips
• Deadlifts

Then I did:

• Squats
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 95#
  • 1x5, 160#

February 12, 2010:
Drove 2.5 hours home again. Was thinking about doing some stuff when I got back, but I was pretty tired and my bad shoulder was acting up from all that driving (gripping the steering wheel for that amount of time tends to pull the joint out of alignment).


February 13, 2010:
Spent another day with the crowbar. Finished relocating furniture and ripping up the carpet in my friend's house. Continued fun times, but we managed to finish in <4 hours. Now all we have to do is wait for the professionals to get the hardwood flooring installed, and then we can move everything back. Maybe that's what I should do while I'm unemployed: start a business as a handywoman.


February 14, 2010:
Rest day! My body was reeeaaalllly asking for one!

[TraceuseDS]

February 15, 2010:
Smashed my knee (same one as last time!) against the edge of the car door really hard. It bruised and swelled. A lot. I iced it and did not work out.


February 16, 2010:
My birthday! Orchestra rehearsal: 2.5 hours.


February 17, 2010:
Z-Fit:

• Warmup: Ran around the gym 3 times. 3x(10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 squats, 10 jumping jacks).
• Navigated an obstacle course...once, maybe twice. Jumping on blocks, balance, and precisions just at the edge of my range. Need to commit when I jump from high to low, use momentum rather than just falling.
• Spent most of the rest of the time working on a tic to crane (the crane was on top of the "wall" the tic was on). Taped my toe. Started off using my hands for an assist, moved to just tapping out of habit and not really using them. Managed a couple w/o using my hands at all. The trick seems to be to think of stepping up, not just getting my foot on top.
• Metcon: 21-15-9. Burpees, squats, (jumping) pullups. Vault after each thing (21 burpees, vault, 21 squats, vault...). Time: 12:16.

[TraceuseDS]

February 18, 2010:
Rest day.


February 19, 2010:
Lifting day:

• Warmup: Decided to do this metcon style today. Did everything as fast as I could with no pauses in between (well, except for when I dropped my earring on the floor ). 3x(10 squats, 10 situps, 10 pushups [some from the knees for the sake of speed], 10 pullups [120# assist, again for the sake of continuous sets + speed; paused for 1 breath in the last set]).
• Push Press:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 3x5, 60#
• Squats:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 65#
  • 1x5, 105#
  • 3x5, 160# Focused on form and depth, b/c I've been noticing some stiffness in my lower back the day after I do these; I suspect this indicates a breach of good form.

[Spencer B]

• 3x5, 160# Focused on form and depth, b/c I've been noticing some stiffness in my lower back the day after I do these; I suspect this indicates a breach of good form.

Don't you love squatting more than your bodyweight?

[TraceuseDS]

YEESSSSS!!! I do.

February 20, 2010:
Rest day.


February 21, 2010:
Was going to go climbing on the rock wall at my gym, but there was a whole passel of kids over there climbing, and for reasons unknown my gym only has one harness. Decided to lift today instead.

• Warmup: 2x(10 air squats, 10 situps, 10 pushups, 10 pullups (120# assist). Not quite as fast as possible, but almost. Should've done another round. Didn't.
• Push press:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 3x5, 60#
• Impromptu farmer's walk across half the gym b/c somebody left a massive (90#) dumbbell in the middle of my squat rack.
• Squat:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 65#
  • 1x5, 95#
  • 3x5, 165# Um...I may possibly have done 4 sets of these by mistake...
• Metconish thing followed by cooldown: 9 minutes, stationary bike.

[TraceuseDS]

February 22, 2010:
Z-fit:

• Warmup: Run around the perimeter of the gym 3 times. 3x(10 air squats, 10 situps, 10 pushups, 10 jumping jacks). QM: forward, backward, right, and left. Joint rotations.
• Spent pretty much the entire time working on vaults, focusing on split-foot takeoff technique. It's definitely more powerful when it's done right; the trouble is doing it right! Threw a few dash vaults in there for variety (not really split-foot), but most of the time was spent on kongs. After a while, Jesse put a low board on the floor about 2 feet in front of the foam block and we practiced taking off at or before the board. This produced some interesting results...may have to try it again.
• Metcon: Every minute, on the minute complete a set (failure to do so = 2 burpees).
  • First 5 minutes: 5 pushups, 5 situps, 5 air squats.
  • Second 5 minutes: 10 pushups, 5 situps, 5 air squats.
  • Next 5 minutes: 10 pushups, 5 situps, 10 air squats.
  • Last 5 minutes: 10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 air squats.
  Wait...I thought we only did 15 minutes!!! Hey!! And I did all of them within the time limit, too!

February 23, 2010:
Orchestra rehearsal: 2.5 hours.


Note that pertains to the last few days: I've been *trying* to go back to my old pseudo-paleo-style eating habits. Having trouble, but I think I'm improving. Sleep, on the other hand, has been bad. I've been called in to work on a project rather than working from home, so I've been getting up earlier but not really making the same size adjustment at bedtime. Lack of sleep is getting to me.

[TraceuseDS]

February 24, 2010:
Feeling generally icky with a persistent sense of vertigo on and off throughout the day. Not entirely sure why...I'm on antibiotics at the moment, so that's one potential cause. Started feeling better after supper, so I decided to at least attempt training:

• Warmup: Run around the gym 3 times. Crawl through awesome tunnel. 3x(10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 air squats, 10 jumping jacks). QM: forwards, backwards, right, alternating QM with tuck jumps on the left. Joint rotations.
• Vaults: Lazy, speed, and dash drills. Then we switched the focus to split-foot kongs again. Ended up training that forEVER, b/c I keep leaning to the right (doing travelling kongs) and not keeping my left hand in contact with the block long enough.
• Metcon: On the minute, do 5 burpees, 5 pushups, 5 situps, and 5 air squats. I made it through 2-3 rounds, but while I was OK while I was doing each motion, switching between the different things brought the vertigo back with a vengeance and set the whole gym spinning. Had to give up or pass out, which felt terrible; I've never had to quit in the middle of a group training session before, but it really was THAT bad. Drank a lot of water before I went home, but it didn't really do much, indicating that the problem was probably NOT due to dehydration.

[TraceuseDS]

February 25 and 26, 2010:
Rest.


February 27, 2010:
Started to do GTG jumping pullups again. Volume wasn't great, but it's a start.


February 28, 2010:
Orchestra concert. Didn't get to set up nearly as much of the stage equipment as usual because I got sidetracked to play electrician (had to make sure everybody had functioning stand lights, b/c the lighting was not great at this venue).


March 1, 2010:
More low-volume GTG pullups. Got to increase my numbers here...

Z-fit: pretty chill day - not many people came today, so we had a lot of space to spread out and all do our own things.

• Fear-conquering precisions. Worked on jumping from one of the high balance beams down to a low one. Someone pointed out that it's sometimes easier (psycologically) to crouch really low on the high one before springing down to the low one (then you work up to using proper form). Tried that for a while, and was able to land with one foot on the balance beam and one foot off. Tried jumping down to a line on the floor at the same distance as the balance beam and stuck it pretty consistantly. So basically it just comes down to a whole lot of practice.
• Kipping practice. Still need a bit of a push from my toes to do these. So basically I just need to keep getting stronger. I'll get there.
• Wallrun + climbup, just so I don't forget how to do it. Took a few attempts for the muscle memory to come back, but it did. Climbed on top of a stack of blocks higher than my head.
• Handstand practice. Haven't entirely forgotten these, although the time is still not great.
• Playing on the uneven bars.
• Balance practice walking forwards and backwards on the high balance beam.
• QM forwards and backwards across the high balance beam. When I got tired I started playing, hanging upside-down beneath it.
• Metcon: Mega-ultra-partner-metcon-of-death. Each of us got paired up with another person. One person must be in motion at all times, while the other person rests. The idea was that each group must complete all reps of each exercise, divided however it works out. Complete all reps of each exercise before moving on to the next. We did 100 (jumping) pullups, 200 situps, 300 (mostly knee) pushups, and 400 squats. In 38:13.

[TraceuseDS]

March 2, 2010:
Orchestra performance: 1 hour. Played some songs with middle school kids to encourage them to stay with music as they get older. Then we all performed for the parents. Orchestra rehearsal: 2 hours. Not such a good plan 2 days after a major concert (and the partner metcon of death - my shoulder felt like it was about to fall off), but such are the necessities of scheduling. On the bright side, we're playing two of my all-time favorite pieces at the next concert, Danse Bacchanale and Scheherazade. Bowings are still a mess on the Bacchanale, but we'll get there.


March 3, 2010:
Started getting a bit sore sometime after orchestra...by this morning, everything from Monday's metcon was hurting. Ugh. Felt good to get to the gym and move around a bit (although those of us who were there on Monday kinda wanted to do something dire to Rich for coming up with that partner thing).
Z-fit:

• Warmup: Run around the perimeter of the gym 3 times. 3x(10 air squats, 10 situps, 10 pushups, 10 jumping jacks). QM: forward, backward, right, and left. Joint rotations.
• Spent pretty much the whole time working on gap fear. After doing a few precisions on the balance beams that are set directly on the floor, I decided that it's high time I start working on the high balance beams. So I stacked up a whole bunch of mats princess-and-the-pea style underneath one of the high beams and scooted the end of another towards it so that they were almost touching (~3 ft apart) at one end and angled away at the other. Started jumping across at the close end, and worked farther and farther down, so that I was jumping just a bit farther each time I stuck a landing. Not perfect, by any means, but progress was made: I've only been able to jump across the high beams twice before - ever. The fact that I was able to work on this with relative ease for the entire evening was a good thing.
• After making loads of progress over on the beams I gave myself permission to mess around a bit. Went over to one of the foam pits and did a few (rather horrible, but fun) front-flip attempts for the first time in ages.
• Metcon: Apparently Zombiefit posted its 100th WOD today. To "celebrate" we did the following: 25 burpees, 25 pushups, 25 burpees, 25 situps, 25 burpees, 25 air squats, 25 burpees, 25 (~5") precisions. My time: 14:something-ish. That's 200 reps, not 100, but who's counting?

March 4, 2010:
Rest day. Slept too much...

[TraceuseDS]

March 5, 2010:
Gym:

• Warmup: 10 air squats, 10 situps, 10 pushups, 10 pullups (110# assist)
• Kipping/jumping pullups: Not quite one or the other. Still need to use my step, but the one I found was too short. Messed around a bit getting back into the routine, not counting yet.
• Push press:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 65#
• Squats:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 95#
  • 3x5, 170# Think I scared some bodybuilders on rep 3 of the last set...was trying to go deep, but bent my back instead of my hips and swore really loudly. Heh. Was undamaged and completed the set.

Went outside to train a bit, b/c it was sunny and the snow looked like it wanted to melt. Lots of fail...apparently 40 is still too cold for me w/o a jacket.

[TraceuseDS]

March 6, 2010:
Went and explored a new park/playground that was built late last fall. I spent most of my time walking on some of the new/improved trails there, finding balance work and little precisions. There were lots of rocks sticking up out of little melting snowbanks, and several low retaining walls that were fun to jump/balance on. I also worked on some rail balance, and did my first outdoor lazy vaults in a couple of months.


March 7, 2010:
Rest day.

[TraceuseDS]

March 8, 2010:
First "real" jam of the season! Yessss!! Most of the snow is gone, so at least the surfaces were mostly dry.

• Lots of rail balance. Tried a little QM on the rail, but wasn't feeling it. Went back to walking on the rail.
• Lazies over the rail, both going up the incline and coming down. Still much more comfortable going to my right than to my left. These felt GOOD, though! Very little hesitation.
• Did a couple of gate vaults - I forgot how awesome these are.
• Broad jumps. Forgot to measure...eh. Oh well.
• Went to a spot we've trained in a bunch of times, and I started to practice precision jumps across the rough-cut concrete dividers on a long concrete bench. I've done this about a zillion times, but this time for whatever reason - maybe fatigue, maybe poor lighting, maybe just plain carelessness - I slipped off and rolled my left ankle on the second or third divider. Really did a number on it - feels like a sprain. Looks like it too. "Iced" as much as possible with cold concrete for ~10-15 minutes, then rested for the rest of the jam and wrapped it when we got back to the car.

Headed over to Z-fit to train:

• Warmup: Run around the gym 3 times. 3x(10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 air squats).
• Precisions. Precisions, precisions, and more precisions. I started off with really short ones, probably ~3 feet, on the soft folding "beams" on the floor. Practiced til I stuck the landing on 10 in a row. Moved to the real beams that rest directly on the floor about 4 feet apart. same deal. Moved to the short balance beam (about shin height), and practiced jumping from that to a padded 2x4 on the floor. Probably shouldn't have done quite as much as I did - lots and lots of (gentle) repetition, because I know that if I let it go and don't feel *SUPER* comfortable with these after an injury I'll be scared to do them again. Felt a lot more confident by the end of the night, even though it probably wasn't the smartest course of action.
• Tried a few underbars, but my ankle did NOT like the impact, nor did it like the pressure at takeoff. Cut it out before I made things worse.
• Handstand practice, b/c I wanted to do something that wouldn't irritate my ankle.
• Demonstrated a speed vault for a new girl (there are 2 women besides me now!), but decided that was also a bad plan.
• Metcon: 5x(5 burpees, 10 pushups, 25 air squats). I subbed in assisted pullups (almost like a body row) for the burpees b/c the jumping was SO not happening. Time: 6:57.

Iced the ankle again when I got back home.


March 9, 2010:
Little bit of walking around from building to building at work, but I tried to minimize that as much as possible. RICE for the ankle, which is now awesomely swollen and bruisy. It doesn't really hurt all that much, but I'm taking some ibuprofen to keep the swelling down. Orchestra: 2.5 hours. I also helped set up and tear down for rehearsal.

[TraceuseDS]

March 10-11, 2010:
RICE.


March 12, 2010:
Went in to see my chiropractor for my back/shoulder issues and he adjusted my ankle too. It had never occurred to me before, but it makes sense that in order to tear a ligament the bones around the joint actually move into positions they aren't supposed to. Ankle felt a lot better immediately (although the ligaments are obviously still not fully healed) and I could see a difference in how the bones in the joint were aligned. Huh. Weird, but cool.

Continued to feel a lot better all day, so I ended up taking a walk for about an hour. Felt good! More RICE.


March 13, 2010:
Drove 2.5 hours down to visit my sisters, then drove back. Ate crap. Felt like crap.

[TraceuseDS]

March 14, 2010: Pi Day! (3-14) But I had no pie...hey...
Got out and trained for a bit, because the day was lovely. Kept it short so I didn't overdo. I ended up working on precisions (same place where I hurt myself last week). Also did a vault or two, and some balance work, but my ankle didn't like the side-to-side compensating motion of the balance work as much as the forward-backward motion of the precisions, so I mostly stuck with what felt OK.

Went to the gym after that to work on some stuff.

• Warmup: 3x(10 air squats, 10 pushups, 10 situps). Haul down the blasted rope for the auto-belay system (for some reason the gym decided to allow the rope to retract whenever it's not in use; to use it you have to pull it all the way down using another [slippery nylon] rope that is attached to it).
• I spent about a half an hour on the rock-climbing wall because my arms were feeling neglected after all the lower body work I was doing outside. The wall is either wonderful or terrible for a beginner - I can't decide which - because it's so tricky to master the convex bulge at the beginning. Made some progress, but I haven't won yet.
• I was supposed to do this 30-minute fitness test on an elliptical, but either the machine was malfunctioning or I wasn't using it right; 12 minutes in my heart rate had yet to go above 100 BPM, so I called it.

More ice. Taped my ankle before doing this stuff.

[TraceuseDS]

March 15, 2010:
Rested.


March 16, 2010:
Went back to a park that was one of my first training grounds. It's encouraging how so many of the things that were too hard/scary to do the last time I was there are now possible. There were a lot of kids and parents around using the equipment, so I focused on just a few things:

• Lazies across a fence. This is one of the things that were scary before. Going over right-handed was a breeze, so I did that about a bajillion times just because it felt so nice to do something I couldn't before. Left-handed is still somewhat tricky, and requires me to take off using my bad ankle (which irritated the sprain), so I let that wait for another day (although I did try a couple times).
• Rail balance on the fence. It's a wooden split-rail fence, so the boards are decently wide and easy to walk on. Walked back and forth a number of times, focusing on the turn at the end. Got to the point where I had approximately a 50% success rate of staying on the rail when I turned around to go the other way.
• Box jumps. Lots of them! There's a wall that gets progressively higher as it goes along a path, and I used to train box jumps here ALL the time. My goal was to stick landings all the way along the wall - starting at the low end and moving to the high end. I never did make it all the way there, b/c I'd generally do reps of 3-5 at each height. STILL couldn't get that *very last* box jump at the highest point, but I made it from the short end to the next-to-the-highest spot.
• Goofed around playing in various spots there, but nothing focused.

Orchestra: slightly less than 2.5 hours. The director let us go early. Iced my ankle when I got home b/c there was some extra inflammation.


March 17, 2010: Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Z-fit. Got there late and missed part of the warmup.

• Warmup: Tuck jumps. Sideways QM.
• Landings. From a block to a low beam or a mark on the floor. Good practice. Focused on quiet (ideally silent) landings.
• Tics. (1) Started off ticking off a low barrier and trying to propel ourselves over the top. I kept doing tics to cranes or tapping the top on the way over, mostly b/c it felt "safer" to me to do it that way. It wasn't...it was just my body telling me silly things. (2) Tics off a wall, propelling us over a low barrier placed next to the wall. I only did a couple of those b/c the barrier got too high for me too fast. There was another girl there who had never done tics before at all, so we went and had our own mini-clinic on a different part of the wall with a lower barrier - our goal wasn't just to get over the barrier, but to land a precision on the other side. Liked that a lot better.
• Metcon: 21-15-9: Jumping/kipping pullups (I'm doing something that's somewhere in between, partly b/c I'm not QUITE strong enough to kip, and partly to learn the motion so I know it when I AM strong enough), situps, and squats. After each set of pullups we did a 30 second planche; after situps a 30 second V-hold; and after squats held the bottom of the squat position for 30 seconds. My time: 10:37.

I'm about to go ice my ankle some more.

[TraceuseDS]

March 18, 2010:
Went and jammed with a friend in a nearby suburb; got to explore some new places and try some new things! Started the night off well by nearly falling into a garbage dumpster.

• Wall runs: In many different places at many different times throughout the night. It's been a while since I did these, so I bashed my foot into the wall a bunch of times before I started remembering the movement. Need to remember to compress my body, then explode with my hips as I hit the wall.
• Conditioning: Walking on my hands with my feet on walls of various heights. Only did one circuit of this little area (stopping a few times to go around trash cans) before becoming distracted by precisions (also, my arms were to tired to go around again).
• Broad jumps: Only did maybe half a dozen of these, but I discovered that the hip thing applies here too. If I concentrate on using the hip extension for power, I can go about a foot farther than if I don't!
• Kipping: Worked on this for a bit. I still can't coordinate well enough to pull at the right time...or at least I think that's what it is. I suspect that the hip thing may be a contributing factor here as well...hmm.

My callouses need to get tougher again; the hanging was starting to hurt my hands. Ankle was taped and doing OK through most of this, as long as I didn't try to generate a lot of force using that leg. Fell asleep in the process of trying to ice it when I got home. I feel like there was something else we did, though; did I miss something here...?



March 19, 2010:
Mostly rest. Took a walk for about an hour; legs are still tired from something.

Soo...I may be insane for agreeing to this, but I'm planning on training for a triathlon with a friend of mine. It includes a 3.1 mile run, a 17 mile bike ride, and a 400 meter swim (I'm not sure what the order of those is). It's WAY out of my normal realm of experience (I only swim well enough to not drown for a few minutes if I fall out of a boat or something), but I'm thinking that's a good thing. My training has hit an awkward stage, and a new goal may be just what I need to start the momentum back up again.

[TraceuseDS]

March 20-21, 2010:
Umm...I think I rested? Waited to long to post, and now I can't remember what I did, other than a few random pullups and pistol attempts.


March 22, 2010:
Open gym-ish (ankle taped - it's still slightly odd-looking, but fairly functional):

• Warmup: Run around the gym 3 times and QM through tunnel under the foam pits, then run around again. 3x(10 pushups, 10 air squats, 10 situps). Front, back and side QM.
• Started off working on my kong. Tried to use split-foot technique on the takeoffs as much as possible, but the focus was more on facing forwards as I traveled over the block, rather than tilting to one side. I've been able to make it over for a while now, but the movement will be more efficient (and therefore I'll be able to get over higher/wider obstacles) if I can manage to stay upright and use my momentum properly.
• Front flip attempts into the foam pit. These are still pretty low, so I'm trying to focus on travelling in the proper direction (up, not out) when I jump. Pretty basic, but I think I made some progress.
• Metcon: As many rounds as possible (AMRAP) in 10 minutes: 5 pushups, 10 situps, 15 air squats (I think?), and 1 vault. I was just in the process of doing my 9th vault as time was called; I think I'll count it, b/c I was waiting in line to do the vault and if I hadn't been, I definitely would've made it. 1 burpee for each round completed.

Iced knees and ankles.


March 23, 2010:
Outdoor jam (tried somewhat gingerly w/o my ankle taped):

• Warmup (You guessed it!): 3x(10 pushups, 10 situps, 10 air squats). Lots of joint rotations and nice dynamic stretching.
• Almost-pistol things: we did them with our suspended feet bent up behind us rather than extended out in front. Didn't think we did a whole heck of a lot of these but my legs were talking to me the next day, so apparently we did more than I thought.
• Assorted balancing and climbing on a playground. Little flow work, little kipping. Playing on the equipment.
• Started working on my turn vault again. Taking off of a ledge that was a bit higher than the one I was landing on gave me a bit of extra time to focus on having a solid cat position at the end.

Ankle tended to twinge a bit, but I was very careful of it and it didn't get too bad. I think it's mostly healed - the swelling has gone down, and the bruising has almost entirely disappeared. It's time to start (carefully!) strengthening the surrounding muscles again.

Orchestra rehearsal: 2.5 hours...well, maybe slightly less, since I accidentally drove a bit out of my way on the way from the jam to the practice. Gah. Interesting observation: after coming straight from a jam to rehearsal, I discovered that my focus was much improved during the rehearsal, which in turn improved my playing. That's something I'll have to remember.


March 24, 2010:
Z-fit (no tape!):

• Warmup: Run around the gym 3 times. 3x(10 air squats, 10 pushups [1 set standard, 1 set diamond, 1 set hands turned out], 10 situps). Joint rotations/dynamic stretching. QM forwards, backwards, and to each side. Tuck jumps and silent landings.
• Obstacle course day! We worked a lot on flow, going over, under, around and through...everything. I tried to change it up and do a bunch of different things, including a palm spin (haven't pulled that out in a while!) an army crawl, and underbars. Kept going in a circuit one after the other for pretty much the entire duration of class, and there wasn't time to catch my breath waiting in line to take my turn again, so this kinda turned into an aerobic exercise in addition to training skills. Yay for multitasking while training!
• Metcon: 3 rounds: 15 burpees, 25 pushups, 25 situps, 25 air squats, 25 jumping jacks. Finished, then let a buddy "talk me into" doing a 4th round with him (didn't take a lot of convincing). Time for all four rounds: 18:18. This was way more brutal than any of us expected, perhaps b/c of the continuous circuits earlier in class.

Learned to do V-ups at the end of class. Think I may start replacing my situps with these.

[TraceuseDS]

March 25, 2009:
Went back to start lifting again.*

• Warmup: 10 pullups (110# assist), 10 dips (same).
• Push press:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 3x5, 55#
• Squat:
  • 1x5, 45#
  • 1x5, 75#
  • 3x5, 135# About 80% of my max. In deference to my lack of lifting the last week or two, and my ankle.
• Yoga: About an hour. This felt good on sore and tired muscles, especially cobra pose on my back. So nice...

*My long-range plan (which I don't think I've mentioned here) is to focus more on skills and endurance stuff in the spring and summer. In fall and winter I'll switch the focus to strength training again. This doesn't mean that I plan on losing what I've gained, though. I intend to keep lifting once or twice a week just to maintain what I've got.

[TraceuseDS]

March 26, 2010:
Active rest day. I've started opting for the stairs instead of the elevator at work on a regular basis; probably won't have a huge effect on my training, but 4 flights several times a day has to add up to *something.* Also took a 1 hour walk...and did some jumping pullups...and some pushup fine-tuning work...um, I was kind of having trouble sitting still today, even though I was supposed to be resting.


March 27, 2010:
Beginner's jam downtown at UIC. Probably the most conditioning-intensive jam I've ever been a part of! It's what we all need, ESPECIALLY the beginners, but wow!!!

• Warmup: Run around the quad 2 times. Joint rotations. Dynamic stretching. Jumping exercises.
• Follow the leader, repeated a couple times: mostly walking on curbs/walls, running on curbs/walls, grapevines on curbs, and QM on concrete walls. Static squat hold. Roll practice.
• Squat jumps up and down stairs, 2x10.
• Landing drills.
• Topouts from a cat: Lots. Didn't count.
• Plyometric jumps from a bench to a wall (with a couple static holds in there): 2x15.
• QM pushups: Lots. I was slower than a lot of people...but I got it done (with some moral support ).
• Roll clinic.
• Vault clinic: Didn't accomplish as much here as I would've liked - the wall we were using was maybe 2-3 feet wide, so I ended up doing a safety on just about every kind of vault we did. Except kongs, which  just about everybody was having trouble with. We ended up drilling monkeys on those, and just getting our feet up to stand on top of the wall.
• Wallruns. This was my big focus for the day. Started off with a group, then worked on these for a long time on my own at a spot I've used for that purpose before. I'm getting better at consistently getting the topout on the wall after the wallrun, but I still have a bad habit of allowing my forearm to absorb some of the shock on top of the wall rather than placing both hands on top like I ought to.
• Stretched a bunch at the end of the day, but had to jet before the stretching session was completely finished.