Another Solo Run

11/30 run  40ish minutes total:

3 minute warmup, then ran all the way down and back to the start followed by a 90 second walk and a run to the other end, then I walked another minute and ran back to the start.  Total time was around 40 minutes and close to 4 miles, I think.  I really wanted to run all the way to the other end and walk back to the start, but I was hurting too much to keep it up.  I wore my Mizuno Ascends in the hope they would provide me with some extra arch support for my ailing left foot.  They did an ok job, but my knees started hurting and I was starting to get some blisters toward the end of the run.  I'm going to try taping it next time and sticking with my New Balance MT101's for now.  I think the lifting from last night didn't catch up with me until the end of the run and now it's all hitting me like a ton of bricks. 

Evening workout of 5 sets of 5 reps

11/29 lift box squat 5x315 towel bench 5x245 plus snatches 5x70, 4x100 and dips with +45lbs for 3 sets.

I'm still not doing any pull-ups in order to heal up my forearm and it seems to be helping.  The squats felt really strong, as I continue to do them barefoot.  The towel bench felt heavy, but I think my weekend cardio cuts into my bench a little.  The snatches were hard, but I managed to get 4 clean.  The right side went off without a miss, but when I did the left side, I had I think I had two misses but managed to make them up.  We worked out around 8pm this time, off from our normal time of 1:30pm.  I think this might have left us a little more fatigued on some exercises from the activity of the day.

Combo Class @ SYNC

11/28 spin 30 mins yoga 45 mins

This was the SYNC combo class again.  It's turning into a regular thing on Sundays.  After working all night, it really helps to get me up and going on a day I would otherwise just lay around.  I want to thank the +1 for being a good sport and going with me after her morning runs, although I think the yoga makes her angry.  I felt like all the heaving Thanksgiving food I have been eating came back to visit me during the spinning portion, but I struggled through more out than in sync.

2nd Run

11/27 run 25+7 mins  I'm not exactly sure about how long the timing was but I ran down to the turn around and back, which is about 1.25 miles with the +1 then we walked to the other end and ran back, which was another 7 minutes or so.  I struggled a few times to settle in, but not bad for only my 2nd time running again.  My foot isn't killing me yet, so that is a good thing.  I hope to get away with 1-2 runs a week and mix up the rest of my cardio with spinning and other things.

Cookies, Pies and Icecream

11/26 lift squat 3x270 bench press 3x240 plus overhead presses with 50lb kettlebell and 55lb dumbells along with some dips +45lbs

Sadly this will not make up for all the cookies and potpie I crammed in my food hole today.  I'm sure I will pay for my gluttony tomorrow when I try to run my fatass a few miles.

Pre-turkey lifting

11/24 lift power clean 3x210 deadlift 3x350 plus incline dumbell presses up to 80lbs

My forearm was the worst it has been so far.  The cleans were painful but otherwise not too hard.  I moved up another 15lbs on the deadlift, which is still kind of low, but a good improvement from 4 weeks ago. 

11/22 lift box squat 3x345 towel bench 1+2ax265 

I needed an assist on the last two, my bench is falling off and I think it is because I'm dropping weight.  I'm going to try and eat more this week.  Although, my snatches went great.  I did 3x100 on each side without any trouble or failed attempts.  I think I could have done 4 or 5, but I'll save that for next week.  Also did the pull-ups with my busted forearm.  I keep thinking it will get better...

Another Sync class

11/21 spin/yoga Did the SYNC Combo class on Sunday.  My legs were already sore from running on Thursday and squats on Friday.  It was nice to do a little spinning again and keep my cardio up.

Older and Stronger

11/19 lift squat 3x265+3x255 bench press 5+1x225 Pull-ups with +45lbs

So, for my birthday, I treated myself to 13 hours of work and some solo lifting.  Since I was by myself I didn't want to risk failure on the squats, so I ended up doing 3 and 3, instead of the full six.  I got stuck on the last rep of the bench...again.  I think my legs were still in shock from running again, so the squats weren't my best.  I felt strong on the bench and I moved up on the other sets as well.

Running Out of Excuses

11/18 run 10+10 with a 2 min walk in between

My plan was to run to the end and walk back, which is about 1.25 miles.  Instead I ran to the end walked for a minute or two and ran back to the start.  I wore the New Balance MT101's and they didn't give me any problems.  My left foot still feels like it has some issues, but I'm going to see how it goes the next day and try to run again on Saturday.  It feels good to be back at it!

4,4,2 in the books

11/17 lift power clean 2x225 deadlift 2x370 plus incline dumbell pressed up to 80lbs

I made some decent increases today, moving up one of my 4 rep clean sets to 185 and adding another 5lbs to my deadlift double.  I can go heavier, but I want to take it slow and make sure my back feels good every step of the way.  I'm still not back to where I was before the hot yoga class, but it's getting better.

I will start running again this week, but my plan is to listen to my body more this time.  If I start to feel that pain in my foot again, I will immediately dial it back and start mixing up the cardio.  My plan is to alternate my vibrams and my mt101's (which I have yet to actually run in).  I will remedy that later this week.

All working sets and no sleep makes jack a dull boy

11/16 lift box squat 6x315 towel bench 5x245

I decided to go shoeless today.  I used to lift without shoes more often or I wore wrestling shoes, which had no sole or heel lift.  I think the thick heels of my olympic lifting shoes were making it harder to drive off the box, as it's difficult to keep weight on your heels in a seated position with such a high lift.  Barefooting worked out great for the box squats, not only did I power through all the sets without any problems, but I was able to keep the box one notch lower, meaning I was having to go deeper on each rep too.

The towel bench was a repeat of 4 weeks ago, where I did 5 reps and got stuck on the 6th.  I went up 5lbs, so that makes sense.  The dumbell snatches turned out to be more of a problem than I realized.  I used to do all my barbell clean & jerk workouts barefoot, but now that I think about it, I never did any single arm snatches barefoot.  This turned out be a problem when I went to pop my feet out to lock the first snatch and my left ankle rolled inward, which caused a chain reaction torquing my knee, jamming my hip and back.  I think the knee got the worst of it based on how I feel right now.  I immediately went and put my shoes on but I had done enough damage that I struggled to hit a few clean ones on my right side and when I did my first one on the left side I wrenched my shoulder badly enough to call it a day on those.  The pull-ups went ok with the same +45lbs.  My right forearm is still giving me bad tendinitis problems, but I had bigger fish to fry at that point.  My goal for lifting tomorrow is to avoid any setbacks and take it a little easier.  I think I'm just so exhausted from the last few days.  Hopefully I can find some time to recharge my batteries this week before more company arrives and then Thanksgiving...

This should be two posts...

11/10 lift squat 1x285 bench press 2fx275  pull-ups +45lbs

I nearly got the 275 bench, so I figured I would write it down.  I should have just done 270, but I wanted a nice easy number.


11/10 hot core "yoga" 1hr

I have mixed feelings about calling this yoga, as it was more like an ab/core class in a sauna full of smelly people.  I'm not sure if it was dehydration or some of the questionable exercises that have resulted in current state of back pain.  All this is kind of ironic, as not even two hours before, I was in the garage working on the car thinking how great it was to be back pain free again, as I have some seriously painful memories of trying to work on the car when my back was at its worst.

Moving on up

11/9 lift power clean 1x235 deadlift 1x375

The clean was ugly and I definitely need to practice more cleans over 200lbs, but I got it without too much drama.  The sets leading up to deadlift max were more concerning than the actual max.  I did 245, 285, 345, 355 and 375.  The jump to 345 was a real shock to the system, but once I got my form in check the rest were easy.  I could have gone higher, but for the safety of my back, I plan to stick to no more than 10lbs a week.

Max Out of Time

11/8 lift box squat 2x335 towel bench 1x280 dumbell snatches 3x100

I missed an attempt at 345 on the box squat, which sucks, but I managed to get my 2 reps again with 335.  I kept the weight the same on the bench, but I should have moved up 5lbs.  My right forearm is a real mess and it's surprising how important grip is on a bench press.  I didn't do any pull-ups today in the hopes that will get better.  Even typing hurts at this point.  My plan is to do the pull-ups on Wednesday and see how it feels.  If I don't notice some improvement, I might take some NSAIDS for it.  I'm still undecided if down dogs in yoga help the forearm or hurt it.  Sometimes I think they make it worse and others I think the blood flow helps in the long run.  All I know is doing pull-ups almost every day in Mexico was not a good idea.

Sunday Cardio

11/7 spin/yoga 30 mins spinning and 45 mins yoga

I felt bad for skipping out on the +1's hot yoga class Saturday morning, but I was super tired.  So I made sure to sign up that night for a SYNCStudio combo class on Sunday.  Wow, I forgot how hard spinning can be...  Apparently I completely lost what rhythm I had picked up before our Mexico trip, so I just kept the tension up and the feet moving.  The yoga was ok, not my favorite poses or style, but it was nice to practice again.   Now I really have to up the cardio this week.  It's time to start running again.

5x5 week is on the books!

11/6 lift squat 5x265 bench press 5x225 and attempted seated overhead presses with 55lbs and pull-ups with +45lbs

I thought I was going to pop my breakfast out trying to do the squats, but I managed to pull them off.  This was definitely at my limit.  We kept the bench the same, as we went up 10lbs 4wks ago.  I think I could have gone up 5lbs, but we've had a tough week and next workout will be moved up to Sunday.  Since we leave for the beach on Thursday, I will be trying to cram in all of our 5,4,3,2,1 workouts into the next 5 days.  Looks like I'm supposed to be doing some kind of hot yoga tomorrow.  I'd rather do my regular yoga, but I'll do my best to humor the +1, plus I get to see her wear her new shorts!

Back on Track

No, really, my back is back on track!

11/3 lift power clean 5x190 deadlift 5x355 plus incline dumbell presses with 65, 80 and 70's

This is the toughest back workout I've done since before my first back injury.  5 sets of 225,275,315,335 and 355.  This was our first time doing 3 sets over 300lbs, which really put my back to the test.  My back doesn't feel great, but it's not horrible either.  Something kind of funny and disturbing we realized in the middle of our deadlift sets, is that the bar we use for power cleans and deadlifts is seriously bent!  You can see it very clearly when turning the bar with the plates resting on the ground.  This really freaks me out with my concerns about twisting when I pull and how it could contribute to back injury.  Looks like it's finally time to invest in a quality bar.  I'm glad we are finally "back on track" for our Mon/Wed/Fri workouts, at least until the end of next week, as we leave for the OBX Marathon on Thursday.  Tomorrow I need to do yoga and perhaps start running again...

Back to the weight pile

11/2 lift box squat 5x295 towel bench 5x245 plus snatches 2x100 and pull-ups with 5x +45lbs

The squat we moved up 10lbs for all 5 sets and the bench stayed the same from 4 weeks ago.  I could have probably hit 315 on the squat, but I think it's better to ease back into things.  The bench was near max effort though, but we did add 10lbs only 4 weeks ago.  I only did 2 snatches on each each side with the 100lb dumbell, as I didn't want to miss any reps, in order to build my confidence for hitting more reps next week.  I felt this was more important than the actual number after the fiasco that was Monday's snatches before the trip, where I was missing multiple attempts.  I'm a big believer in having to do something right twenty times to make up for doing it wrong one time.  We are going to lift again tomorrow, so I plan to take it easy the rest of the evening.  I will say today's 5 sets of 5 reps felt a hundred times better than last week's 3 sets of 3 reps.  I think Mexico and the layoff really helped to restore some of my energy.

In other news, I'll try and get all the photos from Mexico up on my me.com site for everyone to enjoy.  Maybe even a video or two...

Stay Busy

10/31 Mexico

Treadmill 20 mins
push-ups and various sit-ups
then I grabbed the 50lb dumbells for a few exercises of roughly 2 sets and 5-10 reps of each
2x incline curls
2x seated overhead presses
2x seated one-arm rows
2x bent-over rows
2x alternating dumbell bench press
Some rope cable press-downs and curls along with cable crossovers and reverse cable crossovers (delts)
various yoga poses including a bunch of inversions
another 20+ mins on the treadmill

The +1 had a 12 miler today, so I did my best to hang out while she busted out the treadmill time.  The hotel gym requires shoes for working out, so I had to do all my yoga and treadmill time in shoes, which really sucks.  Yoga pose alignment is crucial and it starts in the feet.  When your feet are sliding around in a pair of shoes, it's nearly impossible to line everything up correctly.   The treadmill was just as bad, as they would go numb in the first 10 minutes.  I didn't do any pull-ups and my forearms already feel a little better today.  I don't think we are going to workout again before heading to the airport, but you never know...

Finding Snorkland

10/30 snorkeling in mexico

The +1 is not for snorkel, so I went with eight other people in our wedding party.  This was my first time snorkeling ever.  My main concern was not getting sick on the boat ride to the reef.  Lucky me, the boat ride was less than 10 minutes.  I had a bit of anxiety when we got there, as I've never used a snorkel before, but it turned out to be a ton of fun.  Once I figured out how to defog my goggles by periodically taking them off and dunking them in the ocean; I had a great time.  We saw lots of fish schools, barracuda and conchs.  The reef was beautiful and I got a pretty good workout for about an hour.

Day Late and a Peso Short

10/29 mexico

10 mins on treadmill (I think)
push-ups and handstand push-ups
various sit-ups and v-ups and side-ups
yoga
pull-ups

I didn't get in much of a workout on the 29th, as I wanted to do the "rifle shooting" activity.  After I walked up and down the beach to find out where they were shooting rifles, This turned out to be more of a "two kids shooting a BB gun" activity.  I skipped it and headed back to the hotel gym.  I keep doing pull-ups, even though my forearms and hands are having serious issues from all the lifting I did before leaving town.