Week 4 and a tri

i managed to fail on Thursday's enduro work. Went in to do my 2 30min sets of ARCing and got sucked into a bouldering session with a friend. Would have rather done the ARCing, but it was a fun break. i'm not gunna beat me up too bad for the sidestep.

So then i get a call on friday to do a sprint triathlon with a friend. 500y swim, 13mi bike, and 5K run. Hadn't been on a bike with any seriousness since last summer (and that was mountain biking), hadn't run even once since last October, and hadn't swam for 2+ years, so my expectations were low. He roped me in cuz he was doing it on a mt bike with only platform pedals; so i figured i wouldn't be alone off the podium.

But i ended up doing very very respectably: Got a 1:23:30ish overall.

Hair over 8mins on the swim, and i was just hoping i could stay in the vicinity of 10mins. So i averaged just over 48 sec 50s.  Very respectable for an elderly fat guy.

The bike truly shocked me, and made me glow. 13 miles, and i got it in 29mins and change. And i got stopped at the beginning waiting on a train, which tacked at least a minute onto my time. So i averaged somewhere around 27mph on the bike, and my rear derailleur was jacked and stuck. i mean, to put it into perspective, i was hoping (without knowing the course) that i could average around 20mph. Thirteen miles is over 20K (i.e. 12.4mi) and a fast time--even for the hardcore--for a 40K is breaking an hour; so i was on pace for a career highlight ride on no training at all. I'm gonna conjecture that the Lord nudged me up some of the hills with a fairly stiff tailwind. And i'm thankful.

The run went pretty much according to expectation. I was figuring on 10min miles, and i got it in just under 30mins. So i did do better than 10min miles, but only just.

At any rate, i was so flippin' ecstatic with how that went that i want to actually maybe train for tri again, and do some more soon. I can't help but feel like i coulda actually grabbed some podium if i'd have trained even a li'l bit within the last two years. Vamos a ver.

Week 4 day 2

Made it through the second of the long back-to-back ARC seshes. And that went just swimmingly. Except that some kid was determined to make me fall off  the wall, and at one point actually put his hand in my chalk bag. i just looked over at his mom, who stared on in abject complacency, and i continued climbing after asking him to please not do that. Freak.

Then he came up later and let me know that it was probably about time to clip my toenails.

Nevertheless, i did 3 sets of 30 mins on the Olde Wall with 10 mins rest or less between. Tomorrow's just two sets. There's a light at the end of the tunnel.

Week 3 and 1/3 of week 4

Didn't get to post last week. Just no time, or motivation or such.

Got in 3 days (Tues, Wed, and Thurs) of ARCing last week (wk 3) with 3 sets of 25mins on Tues and Wed, and 2 sets of 25 mins on Thurs. Also got in a short mountain bike ride before climbing on Thurs.

Did end up somehow hurting my thumb, but i don't know how. Still kinda feeling that, but it seems to be healing.

Once again, i didn't manage to get in any outdoor routes over the weekend. But i can live with that-- my hands still feel like ground sausage.

Today i got in the first ARCing of week 4: three sets of 30 mins with about 10 mins rest between. And now i'm hurting. But i made it through, and i feel good about that.

Got the same coming up tomorrow, and 2 sets of 30 mins on Thurs. If i make it through this week, i shall feel i've built some real character. And i believe i have my first proper hangboard workout coming up at the end of the week. Kinda looking forward to that.

Aaaand week 2

Did get in 2 sets of 30 mins' ARCing yesterday, with about 10 mins rest between. That was encouraging. Actually felt good; and that was surprising after how dull and detached and wasted i felt on Tues. Gives me hope that this thang could look up. Actually felt way stronger than usual. Even got done and went and did some quick pullups, dips, and tire flippin'.

Haven't got in any outdoor mileage this week, and that's not looking to improve o'er the weekend. But these next two weeks are looking to be brutal, workout-wise. And my work schedule should reduce to normal again. So i'm not too bent outta shape. Making progress. Making progress. Making progress.

Into week 2

Yeah, this week is < fun. No time. Did manage to get in the ARC workout yesterday. 2 sets of 30mins with about 10mins o' rest between. Did not feel particularly strong. Didn't climb at all over the weekend, so i was hoping to at least be very well rested, but i really felt like dropping off the wall after about 5 mins of the first set. But i made it through. Got another of the same (2 x 30mins) tomorrow.

Tired of this week. But i do like the ARC seshes. Pretty relaxing, as far as sucking wind and sweating like a beaten race horse goes. And i am grabbing stuff and yarding on it--even tired--that i wouldn't have given any serious thought to a few weeks ago.

Week one

ARCin' today: Plan called for 2 sets of 25mins, and i did 2 sets of 30 mins with maybe 5 or so mins between. Went in a li'l early to get it all in, and was hoping for an iron workout, but i still was racing to work. No iron. Just climbing. But it sho did feel better than last week. i can believe i might just see some big gains from this enduro work.

Rest

Went in to the klettergym yesterday afternoon for some routes. Did a nice long traverse warmup, found a friend and threw down a 5.9ish warmup, then started workin' a proj. Got another friend in on the action, and we started working 'er properly. I finally got the send on about the fourth burn, which felt very very terribly awfully good.

I'm not good at rating that sort of climb. Short (25-30'), very thin balancy start to a very good shake out, to a v4/5 boulder crux. I'd guess it's conservatively 11c/d, but i ain't sure.

At any rate, i hauled a lofty percentage of my lard up on a slopey, half-pad right hand pinch more times than i can remember whilst unlocking the sequence, and that made for a pretty fine day o' climbing--2 routes in total notwithstanding.

Tomorrow it's s'posed to be another ARCing day. And maybe some weights.

Start Day

Friday got to go climbing with a friend in Durango. Did four routes, but they were ferlippin' pumpy suckas, and while i hung on every single route at least once, i still felt pretty good about the day. Veeeeery nice to get on some real rock again and take some decent falls. Can already tell it's been helping me in the gym--especially with my footwork.

Today i ARCd. Was gunna do 2 sets of 30 mins, but i was running late for work and did 1 x 30 and 1 x 20 with about 5mins rest between. And i was torched. And to be fair, the workout i'm doing only called for 2 sets of 20mins. But my fingers and forearms didn't feel damaged, and that's been a big fear. Right ring finger flexor's been feeling on the edge of rupture, and sat and sun i was feeling some righteous golfer's elbow on the left. Seems to have subsided with glucosamine, tons of fish oil, Tiger Balm and generous taping. On looking at the calendar, i guess i wasn't supposed to do this workout 'til tomorrow, but that wouldn't work terribly well. Should have a rest day tomorrow.

ketchup

Haven't posted in a bit, but i haven't done much. Haven't lifted in a coupla weeks, but i'm planning to--hopefully tomorrow. Did go climbing on real rock after church on sunday, and that was a good time. Gotta get my head back into clipping up the real stuff. i'm used to having my holds conveniently pointed out in high-contrast relief to the ambient wall. This feeling-around-for-a-hold stuff... i dunno. But i am gunna say i'm a li'l stronger than the last time i was on real rock. Got about three routes up.

Went in on monday to ARC, but got taken by a bunch of new routes at the gym, and ended up doing those instead. Still made for a good climbing day.

Pretty much haven't done anything else. Am making some good headway on the Moonboard.

Arcin'

Did 2 sets of 30mins ARCing with a ten minute rest in between. Felt pretty good. They're getting easier.

Destruyado

Coupla workouts to log:

Friday ( 2 days ago) did some ARCing. Two sessions of 30mins each. That was hard and i sweated a lot. But i made it through. Toward the end of the Base Fitness phase you end up doing three days in a row of it, and the last session (if i 'member c'rectly) is 3 sets of 30 mins. That sounds hard right now, but i made it through 2 30min seshes; so i have pretty good confidence i can make it through.

Saturday (yesterday) went in to the gym for some back work. Was (again) s'posed to do 5/5/5 day on deads, but i was tired and not really feeling it. So i did the full workup from a deficit, and then decided to try 495 from a deficit. I failed twice, but they were valiant efforts. Little disappointed 'cuz i've locked 495 from a deficit before; but i think i woulda had it yesterday if i'd had my belt on. Did get it to my shins before i stalled.

Then did Good Mornings, which i'd not done for about 3 weeks. 4 sets of 12 with 135, 155, and 175 x 2. Those destroyed me, and i'm still suffering. i really like those things.

Then P'lups: 20 x bw, 10 x +25, and 2 x 5 x +45. (Last set i eked out a sixth rep). Then as i was racking my plate this older feller came up and asked if i was a Marine-- said i worked out like a Marine. I took that as a compliment. :)

Then one arm DB rows: 2 x 8ish x 90#. These felt hard, and my elbow flexors still feel kin'a cooked. Today and yesterday i've struggled with picking my kids up to hug 'em.

And i've finally bought all the materials for a Moon wall. Pictures forthcoming on that other blog.

Revvin up

Did a second session of ARCing today. Two sets of 25mins of traversing with about 15mins between ('cuz i was talking). Felt pretty good, and i felt like i kept the intensity up fairly well. Highlights for me how outta shape i am, but also how easy it could be to see some really exponential gains.

If i could turn some v5 power into cruising speed, i could onsight 'bout any 5.11 out there. And that'd be just fine.

Back

S'posed to be 5/5/5 day on deads.

But i didn't do 'em.

Did do the warmup: 20 floor touches, 20 SLs with the bar, 12 SLs with 145, 8 SLs with 245, 5 deads with 345 and 1 with 445, all with 25# plates.

Then i did P'lups: 20 with BW (could've done more), 10 with +25#, 5 with +45. Can't honestly say i fully locked the last rep.

Then i did 1 arm pulldowns: 10 with 100, 8 with 130, 2 with 160 (cheated down the last rep on both arms). Little stale on these after the pullups. i'm ok with that.

Felt pretty durn good through this--no tendonitis-- only i wish i'd had a li'l more time.

Day 4

Climbed a 4th day in a row. S'posed to be 5/5/5 day on deads, but i wasn't feeling it. Instead i decided to do some "aerobic restoration & capillarity" (ARC) training. Basically amounts to climbing just below yer lactate threshold for a long time without stopping-- so moderate endurance climbing. I've been dreading these cuz i know i have not much endurance, but it went ok. Two sets of 20 minutes each to begin, with 5 or so mins' rest in between. I was sucking wind, and i fell a couple o times, but i made it. Definitely can see how this will make me a better climber. Haven't officially started a training cycle, but i gather the more (i.e. longer) i'm able to do these, the better it ends up in the performance phase. So if i can start out ahead of the curve, it won't hurt me down the road. Am planning to take the weekend off from climbing. Hopefully deads tomorrow.

midweek

I've clumb now 3 days in a row. 'Ve tried to keep her light--doing lots of routes and traversing, etc. But mostly i've been short on time, and've ended up bouldering. Notwithstanding, that ends up being a bunch of fairly light climbing cuz they tend not to put up any hard routes at the wall. Today was the most disciplined day this week. Actually did a warmup, and then threw on the harness and got 6 routes (all on toprope) in about 20 mins. Nice warm pump; no injuries. Am gunna hafta take a few days off though. Tendons are getting a smidge ragged. But i can feel my endurance improving.

shoveling me back on the wagon

Went in for de-load deads. Warmed up with deficits: 20 floor touches, 20x the bar, 12 x 145, 8 x 245, 5 x 345. Working sets were 6 sets of 3 for speed. Did a set with 350, but didn't like the speed. Dropped to 15 to 335 but didn't like the speed. Dropped to 315 for 4 more sets, and those were just about right. Didn't get enough sleep last night, and felt a li'l sluggish.

Then i engaged in an exercise called "dips" which conscript motor units from the "triceps" muscles (among some even more obscure bits of soft tissue). Now, these muscles apparently repose on the backs of the arms; and mine, when called upon, decided they disliked me, and made me nearly nauseous.

2 x 15 BW (all were BW btw), 1 x 12, 1 x 10, cooked. Made a conscientious point of really stabilizing my shoulders before i started, and i came out without a shoulder injury. Gunna hafta work back into these, though.

Called it without doing more back cuz my biceps are not healed, and we're not yet on speaking terms.

Planning on heading back for some climbling later today.

I may even do some "abs" work. I'm presently just over a week in without cheese of any sort. Man, i freakin' love cheese. Food is just nearly pointless without it. Might end up being the healthiest thing i've ever done. Bleh.

Year's worth

It has been over a year since i last posted. That's a li'l wild. I think i've posted most of my serious workouts up in texts, but it'd be nice to have a handier reference.

I'm gunna start this back up as a place to put my workouts--mostly the numbers--without the meandering and meta-story. Starting another locale for ranting and talking, etc. Gunna try to keep this fairly skeletal for the sake of Future Reference.

Just had a decent one. Went to the gym feeling like puking, so i decided to climb a bit instead of doing 5/3/1 on deads. Did some bouldering and 4 or 5 moderate routes, until i was falling off of jugs (i also climbed yesterday), and then decided i'd try some deads anyhow. Working off a 520 max from the floor.

 Truncated my normal warmup (which has been 20 toe touches, 20 SLDs with the bar, 12 SLDs with 145, 8 with 245, 5 with 345, and 1 or 2 with 445 all from a deficit with 25# plates) cuz i was having trouble holding the bar. Went to my working sets after the 245 mark, but screwed that up with too heavy a percent. Sorted that out anyhow and did 3 with 445 and then locked out a single with 495. Missed a new PR with 510. PR is still 505.

Did a couple sets of Good Mornings, then went to do pullups. (Been working those for the last couple of weeks). Some d00d was using my space, so i opted for one arm pulldowns instead. Very interesting. Think i did 10 (each arm) with 100ish, then 8 with 145, then 3 with 160, then i cheated a single with 175 with a nicely controlled negative. I think i could work more on those: kinda a fun motion.

Blawgin' on

Let's see here: i did do an hour run sometime this last week. i s'pose it went well. Very nice to head out in shorts and short sleeves without freezing my intestines. 1h 15m ish. Pretty nice.

Thursday (i believe) i went to the gym for some grippy work. Did 5/3/1 day on the RT. i'm starting to like that thing. i still can't wrap my Gehirn around a 200lb pull, but i am starting to like the workouts. Still working on a 130 max, so the weights were 100/ 115/ 125. Got a decent double with 125. Tried locking 140, and i can't really say i got it with my left. But i'm a use that for my next max and see if i can do the workouts. Seems to be working. Then i did the hub thang. Again, i'm just squeezing for time on that. Did 20 secs with 25#, 15 secs with 30#, think i got eight secs with 35#, and that pretty much sucked the life outta me. i got 40 off the ground on the right side, but not so much on the left. Then i clumb, and my hands were hard-boiled.

Guess it was last monday i did some chest. Got up to a max of 215, and gloriously didn't hurt my shoulder. Even if that ain't big weights, i at least have a solid something to go in and chip away at. Then i did 4 sets of 12 DB flyes with 35s and 40s. Ummm...and then 4x12 dips with bodyweight.

i thought i was gonna get to go to Purg on tuesday, so i didn't kill it on abs on monday. Just did a few sets of 30ish on decline bench. Didn't end up going boarding though. :-(

Got 5/3/1 day looming on deads this week. i will pull 500. Or i will be disappointed. Otherwise i'm on call for most of the remainder of the month, and i'm just hoping to catch glimpses of sunlight.

Summer's coming suckas. When yas gonna come up and see us eh?

High Functioning Cripple

i'll try to recap the last few workouts. Last monday (i think) i went in for a quick abs/ chest workout. I did some light bench--few sets of 10 with 135, then a set of 4 or 5 with 185. i'm still real anxious about jacking my shoulder up again. i really wanted to do db flyes, but there were swarms of folk on every flattish bench and i took a pass.  Abs was...painful. This time i did straight leg raises first: a set of 30, then a couple sets of maybe 20. Then i did decline crunches. Much harder after the straight legs.

For the remainder of the week i thought i might have hip arthritis. i just tore the poopey-doodey outta my left hip flexors. Only today do i feel like there might someday be hope that i might ever run again.

And on that note, if you have the opportunity to avoid putting Tiger Balm on yer yamsack, i would seize it. You'll sleep better.

Friday i went in for back and grippy. 3/3/3 day for both. Deads was 350, 400, and 450. i went in feeling a li'l anxious about how it was gonna go, seeing as i still couldn't actively flex my hip to 90 degrees. In the end i locked out 3 with 450 reasonably easily, although it took some teeth-grittin' and a growl on the last rep. But i think i could'a picked up a fourth; only i didn't try. And i regret that.

But dang! that's a weird sport, deadlifting. Not 4 weeks prior, i went in fairly rested and couldn't lock 4 reps with 50 lbs less. i've honestly come to believe that pre-workout Tums is the answer to pulling hard.

Finished back off with 4 sets of 12 on Good-mornings (1 x 95, then 3 x 105), and some bent o'er BB Rows (10 x 135, and 6 x 185). Only did a li'l of the rows, and skipped p'lups cuz i've been fighting biceps tendonitis for a very long time now.

On the Rolling Thunder, as mentioned above, it was 3/3/3 day. i'm working off of a 130 max, and rounded to the next highest nickle. Think it was 95, 105, and 120. That went well enough, so i tried a new ME and got 135 on each hand. That 5/3/1 thang applies pretty cleanly to the RT weights. i have a feeling that i'll keep bumping up on max weights for a while just cuz the movement/ muscle patterns are so different. But i gotta say that 200lbs on that thing seems like a boat-ride to Africa from here.

Also took the Hub with me. Still haven't quite figured out a proper workout on that thing. But i sorta like it. i've been doing a "workout" with timed hangs. So i'll put, say, 25 lbs on and hold for 20 secs on each hand. One or so reps of that, then add 5 lbs and hangs for maybe ten or 15 secs. (i try to keep 'em sorta symmetrical). Think i got somewhere in the vicinity of 8 secs on 35 lbs, so i tried 40. Definitely got 40# up on the right hand, and i got it off the ground on the left. Can't say i "locked it out" or had particularly good control of it, but she did relinquish hold of Terra Firma for a bit. So i'm gonna say the timed hangs are working for now.

So anyhow, i'm truly hoping to pull 5C on deads before i succumb to TB. i still have an indurated nodule on m' forearm from that ppd. i'd cherish your prayers that i don't actually have a disease. That'd be just fine.

Uphills

Think i'll just post up a quickie just to mark the last couple o weeks. This last week i did an hour run and a half-hour run. The week before i did two one-hour runs. This has worked out to be less than beneficial, because i've done all the runs on a very steep hill, and now i have something like a peroneal nerve palsy, and am having some trouble with dorsiflexion. Foot drop notwithstanding, i'm probably in mildly better shape than i was two weeks ago.

Climbing-wise, i've developed something like a biceps/brachioradialis tendonitis that i've yet to shake. i am not climbing well; but i've been on the wall several times, and'm trying to keep at it with what vigor i can muster.

Lifting-wise, there's a mixed bag. Three weeks ago (i believe) i got a double on deads with 470 on 5/3/1 day. About a week later i did a "deload" day, and cranked out 405 for 5 or 6 reps. About a week after that, i tried starting up with 5/5/5 day off of a 500# max, which calls for a final set with 425. i got maybe 2 or 3 reps into the second set with 400, and called it. Just nothin'. i think this owed partially at least to my having acquired the Rolling Thunder just some days before. i do believe the one-handed deads jack with my dorsum more than i wanted to think. i did finish out with 20 pullups, Good-mornings, and a 5/5/5 day on the RT. i forwent the rows in deference to my fiery biceps.

Last Saturday i went in for a first ab workout in many, many, many moons. Did a couple sets of 30 crunches on a decline bench. And they hurt. Then i did two sets of (i think) straight leg raises--the first with 20 reps and the second with 15ish bad, grimacing reps. i tried valiantly not to cry. To think a year or so ago i could rip out 90 of those with ankle weights on... Got a goal to work toward there. No ab muscle is screwing with my climbing and pulling. This i'm certain of. Yesterday we went to a fitness store thingy, and i got to try out some inversion boots. Gunna get me some of them ther'. That is a wicked ab workout, and it kinda feels lovely to just hang upside down.

Respecting the grippy trainy, i've (for whatever reason) decided to do a two-per-week version of the 5/3/1 thang. So last week i did the 5/5/5 day on RT on a 120# max twice, sundered by a few days (weights being 85/100/105, i think). This go round, i waited for the #2 gripper and the hub to come in for 3/3/3 day, and made a grip-only sesh of it. Surprisingly, i'm super close to closing the #2 straight outta the package. i wish i could find my #1 for comparison and to train. i made myself wait to try out the hub till i did 3/3/3 on RT. Weights there were 85/100/110. Then i've been trying for an ME at the end just for fun, and i locked 130 right pretty clean, and got real close to lock on the left. 200# on that thing seems a loooong ways away. But a brother'd have some fetching, waxable, stage-ready foreguns to show for it.

Then i thought i'd just go ahead and throw a plate on ol' hub for our maiden workout. And i might as well ha' clipped 'er to a tree for all the movement i got. So--humbled--i started with a dime, and worked my way back to a max with 35# which i got right and left. That's gonna take some work, but it's doable.

i think you people should get in the ring on this grip thang. It's kindof a nice mental change up, 'cuz the difference between a really respectable lift and an anemic li'l girl lift is really not all that much weight by any other standard.

i pray you all are well.