Topic: Muse_of_Fire's Training Log

[Muse_of_Fire]

Thursday 6/14:

Full barre in pool, plus 4 laps breast stroke
Tried for 15 muscle-ups in pool, got 13 and a half before my arms said, "Nope." Used my feet to push through a couple stuck spots on a few of them. Going to try to do muscle-ups in the pool every day, just to see how many I can get. Currently my body seems to only want to do them every other day, but I'll show it who's boss (eventually).

Yoga: 45-minute series with major focus on arms/upper body. Arm balances and inverted poses galore; mix of static asana practice and flow (about half and half each)

Pilates series:

The Hundred
Roll up (5)
Single leg circles (5x each direction, each leg)
Rolling like a ball
Single leg stretch (8x each leg)
Double leg stretch (
Single straight leg stretch (8x each leg)
Double straight leg stretch (6)
Criss-cross (4x each direction)
Spine stretch forward (4)
Teaser (3)... these are killer

Also did a coccyx balance series from Horton Technique:

8 counts up/hold 8/down 8
4/4/4 (2x)
2/2/2 (4x)
2 up/hold 2/extend arms 2/extend legs 2/hold 2/down 2 (2x)
8 count singles

My abs are pretty done.

Going to do the WOD this afternoon, I'll report on that when it happens.

Still finding that I have an immense talent for coming up with reasons not to run. :-/

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee (should have had more than that but honestly I wasn't hungry)

Lunch: 2 turkey and lettuce rollups, a mega crap-ton (that's an official measurement btw) of veggies with ranch dip, and two cheese sticks

Snacks & dinner: TBD as the day goes along.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Heh. The WOD didn't happen today. My husband talked me out of it. :-/

In any case... Diet:

Snack: more veggies & dip, slice of cheddar, two slices turkey

Dinner: 4oz broiled steak, "fauxtatoes" (steamed mashed cauliflower w/ 2 T cream cheese), fresh spinach leaves, sauteed mushrooms, green salad, 2 oz goat gouda (I have a weakness for fine cheeses).

Cheats: one glass syrah with dinner, one shot pastis with 5 parts water, while preparing dinner.

*sigh* Still trying to get Mr. Muse into PK so he can train with me (and stop being such a bad influence!)

[Muse_of_Fire]

Friday 6/15:

Aha! What a difference a day makes!

Firstly, I got the job I interviewed for the other day, so that's a huge stress off my mind, and now I feel like I can fully concentrate on my training.

To that end, I present the New and Improved Training Journal Format (pretty much ripped off from Demon's log. )...

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Organize a training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time):
- Extension to front, side, and back to 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
________________________________________________________________________

Today's Training:

Endurance Training:
- ran 8 minutes (moderate pace; just above a jog) without stopping (was going for 10)
-2 laps breast stroke in pool

Strength Training:
- pushups: 5 with full bodyweight, 10 more with knees down
- handstand: held (with spotter holding legs) 10 seconds… strength is there, just need to find the center!
- Pilates (light workout today): Hundred, Rollup, Single leg circles, Rolling like a ball, “Abdominal five” series, spine stretch forward; added Teasers at the end just to see how many I could do… I did 5.

Parkour Training:
At playground (this was after a full day of working out, plus the APK warmup… running out of steam here!):
-drop drills from 1 ft. (10)
-QM on a flat rail (Man, that’s hard! I still favor my legs quite a bit), 5ft.
-1 ft. drops into a roll (3… still need to work this out; did one awesome roll, two jankity ones. I should do more rolling drills at ground level before I do this again. )
-QM along the playground structure, up the slide, from level to level
-balance practice on chains

Ballet Training:
-full ballet barre in pool (also strength training)

Other Training:

-20-minute yoga flow, emphasis on stamina, balance; some inverted poses (upper body strengthening)

-APK Warmup at the playground:

*squats: 25 x 3

*pull-ups: 10 with assistance (Mr. Muse spotting/lifting me; he did most of the work!), 2 sets each of 5 + 5 negatives with assistance (on lower bar with legs assisting from ground)

*agility: no ladder; modified agility work on playground equipment (three parallel low chains about 5 ft long, 6” off ground, 8” apart)—sidestepping, high knees forward and back in a zigzag pattern, etc. Did them randomly until I started to lose agility/hit the chains with my feet, maybe 2 min.

*Shoulders hurting, Burpees seemed like too much for today.

Ended workout day with:

-20-minute yoga flow, emphasis on flexibility and breath

-seated meditation

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee, poached egg, 4oz low-fat, low-sugar yogurt with soy protein, 1 banana, ¼ liter water

Snack: ½ liter water, 1 fake crab stick

Lunch: “breadless sandwich” (4 slices turkey, fresh spinach leaves, between two slices cheddar cheese), raw broccoli w/ ranch dip, ½ liter water

Snack: 1 liter water, 4oz low-fat, low-sugar yogurt with soy protein, 1 oz. cashews, 6 oz V8 juice

Dinner: 2 broiled turkey burger patties with cheese, ½ cup green grapes, broccoli w/ ranch dip, green salad

Cheat: ½ glass shiraz with dinner

________________________________________________________________________

Accomplishments:

-Training group goal: www.madparkour.com site up, blog up, content added to both, one user registered for madparkour.com, posted madparkour url on meetup.com, madparkour url crosslisted on Facebook (thanks, aggreenvln!), tentative group training date set for Monday with 2-3 other traceurs

-Handstand goal: Held for 10 seconds with spotter holding legs. Now just need to find the center to balance it on my own

________________________________________________________________________

Other Notes:

-totally forgot to do muscle-ups in pool today! Oops.
-right shoulder hurting: rear delt or rotator cuff? Thank goodness tomorrow is a rest day. I’ll do no upper-body work tomorrow; maybe just a jog and some yoga (without inverted poses), and ice ice baby.

[Gregg]

You ran 8 minutes without stopping!  ! Sounds like you went at a good pace, too. Next time try a little slower, for a little longer. You're almost 1/2 way with your goal!

If you were dancing mostly forward in a straight line, could you do it for 20 minutes?

[chipset]

As btay says, I think you have the strength and endurance, it's just the mental problem. I saw ballet and dancing in general: you have very crazy endurance to do that kind of stuff without even breaking a sweat

[Muse_of_Fire]

Thanks, guys. That's encouraging. Being newish to this sort of training, I don't know what to expect of myself, which I suppose can be a good thing: everything is a surprise!

The longest I've ever danced, in performance or otherwise, is about 7 minutes. I mean, when I go out clubbing I'm pretty much on the dance floor for 3 hours, but that's not really "dancing," IMO and I suppose every 30 minutes or so I take a break to get a drink and socialize.

I'm quite proud of my 8 minutes, when I wanted to stop I just kept telling myself, "Muse, they told you not to stop, you can't stop!" I really really wanted to push out that last two minutes, felt I had it in me, but I hit that mental barrier, I guess. Gotta keep pushing. Your encouragement is helping me a lot. Thank you!

**I forgot to mention in yesterday's log: at the playground I also did about 7-8 precision jumps from the ground to a one-foot high railing. I just wanted to see if I could do it and what the "center" felt like. I landed about two of them and kept my balance. Ground to one-foot is tough! The rest I either undershot or overshot, landing my feet every time but not bringing my center far enough with me, or pushing my center too far. It was interesting to move in a new way though.

Today is a rest day. Going to go for a walk, do some yoga, meditate, take care of this shoulder.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time)
- Extension to front, side, and back at 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
_______________________________________________________________

Today’s Training (6/18):

Endurance Training:
- 4 laps breast stroke in pool
- run 8:40 (could have gone longer but my calves started cramping; waited too long between yoga stretches and the run, I think. Mental note for next time); gusty winds made it haaaard.
-20-minute walk with a backpack full of books (to and from library, to drop off old books and pick up new books for my meditation retreats!)

Strength Training:
-20 minute yoga flow, with arm balances, inverted poses (focus on upper-body strength)
-15 muscle-ups in pool
-Pilates: The Hundred, Roll-up, Single leg circles, Rolling like a ball, “Abdominal Five” (single leg stretch, double leg stretch, scissors, double leg lift, criss-cross), Teasers (5)
-Pushups: 3 sets: 6 full, 11 with knees/4 full, 8 with knees/2 full, 8 with knees (wider arms 3rd set)
-Squats: 3x 25
-Calf raises:3x25 (last set=one-legged raises 10x each leg, both legs last 5)

Parkour Training:
-One hour messing around at a building/courtyard downtown: precisions, vaults (sorta… I sense new goals coming!) rails, etc. The important thing was I did this with a new training partner! There were supposed to be 4 of us but 2 of them didn’t show. Maybe next time. My arms are sore!

Ballet Training:
-full ballet barre in pool (also strength training; focus on legs and core)

Other Training:
-front splits 30 seconds each leg

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee, poached egg, ½ liter water

Snack: 4 oz lowfat/low-sugar yogurt w/ soy protein

Lunch: broiled turkey burger patty, ½ liter water

Snack: 1 oz cashews, ½ liter water, 2 oz Colby cheese cubes, 1/2 cup cantaloupe

Dinner: 1 baked chicken breast in herbs and wine, steamed broccoli, carrots & ranch dip, spinach salad, 1 liter water

________________________________________________________________________
Accomplishments:

-PR: running 8:40 without stopping!
-15 muscle-ups in pool with very little help from my feet
-5 registered users on www.madparkour.com , first actual “real” parkour training session with another traceur (who is quite good, btw); and a new spot found! (thanks to this training buddy)

________________________________________________________________________
Other Notes:
So far, my shoulder is feeling good. It was hurting at the end of the day Friday; more than just the normal “burn,” but not quite enough to think it was actually injured. A weekend of rest did the trick; I think it was just the rear delt and top of the tricep going, “wtf?!”

[Gregg]

There's a running coach named Galloway who suggests running a certain number of minutes, then walking for a minute to let your muscles recover. You repeat that over and over until you reach your time goal. So for this week, maybe you would run 2 minutes, walk 1 minute... and so on.

When you felt good with that, maybe you'd bump up to 3 minutes run, 1 minute walk...

The guy has columns in Runner's World, and a couple books. http://www.jeffgalloway.com/ I used to find it hard to run again, once I started walking. I may give it a try, tho...

[Muse_of_Fire]

Thanks btay; I have a hard time getting started again once I stop to walk too (that was how I used to train, and part of what made me hate running). That's why now I'm doing the "don't stop to walk, ever" approach. It's starting to feel good to run now, though, so we'll see.

That said, thanks for the link: +1 for that (and also just for being so generally encouraging; you don't know how much I appreciate it). If nothing else, the article is food for thought for later training goals, and also a link to Galloway's other articles/resources. So this is a Good Thing.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time)
- Extension to front, side, and back at 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
_______________________________________________________________

Today’s Training:

Endurance Training:

-Running: sucked. Only got 4 minutes running today. Big constant gusts of wind, plus fatigue from yesterday; I dunno… just didn’t have it in me.

However… I checked the distance of the route I normally take on Mapquest, and it’s pretty much exactly a mile. So, wahoo! At least I know I can do about ¾ of a mile in about 8 minutes (I start to walk when I’m just shy of home, usually). So that’s a benchmark, and it makes the goal not seem so far away! I’ll keep pushing.

- 4 laps breast stroke in pool

Strength Training:

-Pilates basic series plus Teasers (5)
-Pushups: 10 normal + 10 w/ knees

Parkour Training:
-none

Ballet Training:
-none

Other Training:
-60 min yoga flow: asana practice with emphasis on flexibility, breath, flow. Needed to get loose after all the strength training yesterday; plus personal issues=need to totally chill out. Some upper body strength training also: dynamic flow with single-arm balances and inverted poses.

-dinked around in pool

-meditation

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee, smoothie (vegetable protein powder + ½ liter orange juice)

Snack: 1 liter water, ½ cup cantaloupe

Lunch: 1 oz Colby cheese cubes, 2 oz sliced turkey, ½ liter water

Snack: carrots & ranch dip

Dinner: haven’t eaten it yet, but it’s going to be a 6 oz. broiled steak, spinach salad (yay, iron), and steamed broccoli
________________________________________________________________________

Accomplishments:

-none, except for getting really frustrated with my total lack of progress. :-/ (was kinda proud to discover I've been running almost a mile all this time, though!)

________________________________________________________________________

Other Notes:

-Sooo cranky today! My body did not cooperate; everything felt like a huuuuge effort except the yoga. I did what I could, then lay by the pool soaking up rays and reading my meditation books. *sigh* That's why there's tomorrow, I guess.

[Steven Low]

Nike slogan really. Just do it. You'll get used to it and most of the time you'll learn to love it. Same thing happened with me and strength training/conditioning. Also, it helps IMMENSELY if you have a training partner especially for goals like pullups and such.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Thanks, Steve. I think the disappointment was greater because yesterday I had such a great day running; hit a PR and actually enjoyed the task, so today I started out all pumped and my body said "Meh," and it really bummed me out.

Chalk it up to an off day, nothing I can do about it now. Tomorrow I get another chance.

Re: training partners--I keep trying to get Mr. Muse to join me but he's not terribly interested. It'll all work out, though. I have a handful of new parkour buddies in the area; perhaps eventually we can work out a training/conditioning schedule too.

All in its time.

Thanks again for the encouragement; that's why I keep coming back to this place.

And now, steak!

[Muse_of_Fire]

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time)
- Extension to front, side, and back at 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
_______________________________________________________________

Today’s Training:

Endurance Training:
-Running: 4.5 min. Interrupted by coughing fit. :-/
-4 laps breast stroke in pool

Strength Training:
- 20-min. yoga flow w/ emphasis on arm balances
- pushups: 6 regular/21 with knees
- 1 handstand pushup (well, more like ¾) with spotter, just to see if I could do it
- Pilates basic series, plus 7 Teasers
-squats 3 x 25
-tricep dips with feet supported on step, 1 x 20, 1 x 15
- calf raises: 50

Parkour Training:
-none

Ballet Training:
-full ballet barre in pool


Other Training:
-none

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee, smoothie w/ veg. protein powder & 400 ml orange juice

Snack: ½ liter water

Lunch: 1 ½ turkey burger patties, broccoli & carrots w/ ranch dip

Snack: 1 oz cashews, carrots & ranch dip, 1 oz. cheese

Dinner: 6 oz broiled salmon, green salad
________________________________________________________________________

Accomplishments:
-none.

________________________________________________________________________

Other Notes:

-I feel like I’m losing steam. Things are getting increasingly frustrating. I know the only way out is to push through, but man, it’s discouraging; especially when I remember how strong I used to be. Well, those days are long gone, apparently.

[Muse_of_Fire]

6/21

Spent all morning moving boxes from one classroom to another. Today is Mr. Muse's birthday so I'll be spending the evening celebrating.

I hope to hit the workout hard tomorrow. My arms are sore from schlepping boxes!

[Muse_of_Fire]

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time)
- Extension to front, side, and back at 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
_______________________________________________________________

Today’s Training:

Endurance Training:
- 4 laps breast stroke in pool
-Running: 7:03!!! And no coughing, either. Hooray! ~3/4 mile

Strength Training:
-10 muscle-ups in pool
-Pilates basic series, including “abdominal five” and Teasers (3)
-squats 3 x 25
-calf raises 3 x 25
-2 handstand pushups with spotter holding feet
-10 pushups x 2
-10 pushups with knees x 2

Parkour Training:
-none

Ballet Training:
-full ballet barre in pool

Other Training:
-20 minute yoga flow, emphasis on stamina; some inverted poses/upper-body work

Diet:

Breakfast: coffee, smoothie w/ veg. protein powder, ¼ cup plain yogurt, 1 banana, & 400 ml orange juice

Snack:  ½ liter sparkling water

Lunch: none (wasn’t hungry… so weird)

Snack: ½ liter of water

Dinner: 1 qt. beef w/ broccoli (no rice), 4 grilled pot-stickers

________________________________________________________________________

Accomplishments:
Got over that weird hump in my running that was keeping me at 4:00. Weather was much cooler today; may have had something to do with it. Also, listened to slower music, might have kept my pace more comfortable. Still experimenting to see what works to get me to my goal (consistently).


________________________________________________________________________

Other Notes:

[Muse_of_Fire]

PS: Add to "Diet" section: 1 slice chocolate ice cream cake (leftover from Mr. Muse's bday).

God, I am so going to pay for this when next I have to put on pink tights.

*grumbles*

It was tasty though.

[Muse_of_Fire]

Monday 6/25:

Current Goals:

Endurance
- Run 20 minutes, or one mile, without stopping to walk

Strength
- One pullup
- 25 pushups
- Balanced, confident handstand for at least 10 seconds

Parkour
- Training group of at least 5 people, on a regular training/meetup schedule, and a well-used communication system (e.g. internet message board)
- Smooth/proficient rolls
-Proficient landings
-Lazy vault

Ballet (these are going to take a loooong time)
- Extension to front, side, and back at 160 degrees
- “Six o’ clock” penchée arabesque
- Triple pirouette en pointe from 5th and 4th
- Clean fouettés en tournant (at least 12 in flats, at least 4 en pointe… they are soooo sloppy right now!)
- Entrechat six (another bête noire)
_______________________________________________________________

Today’s Training:

Endurance Training:
-none

Strength Training:
-none

Parkour Training:
-1 hour at federal building downtown: QM on rails/cat balances, landings from drops ranging from 6” to 2’, vaults onto low pillars, precisions, rail vaults, follow-the-leader, wall hangs, (got half a pullup on a wall! Feet helped a bit)
-rolls on grass

Ballet Training:
-none

Other Training:
-full-day meditation retreat

Diet:

Breakfast: 6 oz V8 juice, coffee, 1 pc. Candied ginger

Snack:  ½ liter water

Lunch: 2 oz cheese cubes, ½ cup baby carrots, 4 oz yogurt

Snack: 6 oz V8 juice, 1 oz cashews, 4 slices turkey

Dinner: 2 chicken and bell pepper kebabs, 1 cup stir-fried cabbage
________________________________________________________________________

Accomplishments:
-1/2 pullup on wall (using feet to help a bit)
-Training group=2 people + me now

________________________________________________________________________

Other Notes:
Spent most of the day at a meditation retreat at a monastery/friary on the lake. Good stuff.

Found out a local cafe has French conversation and 1/2 price wine during happy hour on Mondays; one of my training group speaks French... so now we'll be able to practice our French after training (and hopefully get some more people to train with!)

[Travis Graves]

Spent most of the day at a meditation retreat at a monastery/friary on the lake. Good stuff.

What kind of meditation?

[chipset]

Have you tried taking a 5-10 minute break after first run and then trying once more? That should help, I think.

[chipset]

Another thing I forgot to mention is holding your breath before run a couple of times for as long as possible. This helps me

And make sure your breathing is in rhythm, really, breathing is like 99% of running. Try going from slow jog to fast run by increasing intensity of same rhythm.

For example, here's my breath: long inhale-two short exhales-long inhale-...

Good luck