Tough Mudder Training Run

So the good folks at TM arranged a nice training run for us today! 6 miles through the park, but very little of it was on the park drives. Some good rock scrambles, a little creek-wading, lots of pushups, jumping jacks and mountain climbers. Feeling pretty confident for next weekend!! Now I just need the weather gods to clear the rain that is predicted to dump on VT for the next week...

Also, I TOTALLY earned my chocolate croissant this morning!!

Strength and Shadow

Chin-ups: 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6 again. This is becoming very ordinary for me, but I'm beginning to plateau. That just means I have to do less work, more often to power through. Maybe instead of doing lats 3x a week, I'll do less in each session and move up to 6x a week. That may help power through.

Shadow-boxing between sets as per the usual.

AM stretching

Far too sore this morning to consider going to two intense workouts today, so skipped Relentless in favor of half an hour of stretching. Ahhhhhhh.....

Tonight: Boot Camp!

Tomorrow: Tough Mudder training run in the park.

Friday running

2 miles to warm up.
7:12
2 miles to cool down.

April 28

5 miles in my New Balances. :-D

4/28/11

5.5 mile run. Vibrams. Felt good.

PM Surprise

Went to work with a friend of mine named Ron. Instead of doing itemized invoices or messing around with schedules, I hauled cable, lights, racks and boxes of LED lights around for a bit. I'm putting this down because, after my upper body work today, this shit was hard.

I realized how little strength I have working with people who lift all day. Much work to be done.

AM Double

So my running buddies CANNOT be persuaded to go before 7:45 these days, so I opted to get up at 6 to lift before running. Did NRLW 4B3 and then ran 4 miles. WOO!!!

Night training

Couldn't sleep, hit the gym:

Dumbell Inc bench press 4.10.50

Cable Seated Row 4.10.60/50

Dumbell Shoulder Press 4.10.40

Wide-Grip lat Pull-Down 4.10.50

Barbell close-grip bench 4.10.55

High Pull 4.10.50

Double Crunch 3.15

Tuesday Bruisedays

Morning: 10x5 super wide grip pull-ups. Punching a metal beam for 30 seconds during the rest periods.
Evening: Yoga at Golden Bridge. Teacher was talking to some new students and told them to watch me if they didn't understand a pose. Said I had a "strong practice." FIST PUMP. VANITY. HELL YEAH.

Behind, behind, behind.

Monday: ran 4 miles.

Monday 4/25/11

Morning: 5k run to stretch out the feet.
Evening: Acupuncture and stretching protocols. New target: the iliopsoas. IT band? Weak-ass, n00b fink. We deep now, homies.

Legs for once

120lb Squats 3/15

40lb Deadlift Shrugs 3/15

Leg Lifts 3/15

40lb Leg Lifts 3/15

Exercise cut short because I needed to go pick up some lighting equipment, which involved me carrying 50lb boxes of lights up 3 flights of stairs. That counts for something I figure. Oh yea, and about 2 miles of jogging.

Lats for Easter

Chin-ups: 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6 = 100 chin-ups again

A brand new workout

AM: Ran the NYRR 4M and was 2 seconds per mile off my PR. However, my last PR was set at a 5k and today's 4 miler showed that I can hold the pace for a little longer. I came away from today's race with lots of thoughts on how I can still improve.

PM: Parents bought a new massage table so I spent an hour massaging the both of them. All the pull-ups I've been doing have given me the grip strength I need to torment their muscles and ligaments. BOW BEFORE ME.

Race day!

Ran the NYRR 4 miler today with my friend Caroline and her niece Emily. Caroline's newer to running than I, and slower, so I was nowhere near my PR, but I'd committed to staying with her throughout, and I did.

It. Was. WET! Like squishy-in-the-shoes wet. I viewed it as practice for the Tough Mudder in 2 weeks, where I will be going for a swim around mile 4, and so wet, soggy shoes will just be the rest of the race.

To and from the race, plus the race itself = 7.5 miles. I'll have to do 20.7 in the next 7 days to hit my goal of 100 miles in April, but that's eminently doable!!

Evening: Diving practice! My forward dives are starting to feel like they used to, which is excellent!

Ab roller!

New Ab wheel just came in

15x3 - Ab roll outs on my knees

15 oblique extensions

AM Running

4 miles. Why'd it have to get cloudy!?!?

Biceps and Shoulders

shoulders press @20lbs x15
hammer curls @20lbs x15
rest and repeat 6 times

4/21/11

AM: Speedwork! 30 minutes of it! (Followed by 10 sets of 3 super wide-grip pull-ups)
PM: Yoga, 90 minutes of it!

Recap

Out of town lately, so:

Monday: 4 miles in Duke Forest on gravel trails. With hills. Hills that made me realize that Harlem Hill is puny.

Tuesday: 8 miles on the hilariously named "American Tobacco Trail". Running and cigarettes - I know I associate them!!!

Today: 5 miles back on my accustomed turf.

Liftery

Trying and failing to generate consistency. More upper body, this time 4 sets of 10 reps each.

Close Grip Bench, Cable Seated Row, Shoulder Press (dumbell), Inc lat pull down, inc dumbell bench press, and some leg extension double crunches.

Good day today.

Keep your chins up

with chin ups!

Stepping on the scale last night, I was down to 211.2 lbs. which is the lowest I've been since junior year of high school. Now it's only 3.8 lbs lighter than my regular weight but somehow I feel like my lattissimus is really taking well to the lighter frame.

This morning's work out: CHIN-UPS! 12,12,10,10,8,8,6,6,4,4,4,4,6,6 for a total of 100 chin-ups. Shadow-boxing between sets because Stanley rests his body through combat. Ball's in your court, weaklings!

2 days

Yesterday AM: 2 mile run followed by 45 minutes of meditation
Yesterday PM: 6 hour weddings are only slightly easier than 6 hour races.

Today AM: 10x3 ab-wheel rollouts, followed by 10 2 minute rounds of crunches, crunches, crunches, leg lifts, leg lifts, leg lifts, external rotator lifts, external rotator lifts, plank, shadow boxing
Today PM: 45 minutes swimming

Sparring and Basketball

Sparring and Basketball = Win

Tough Mudder Bootcamp

So the team captain (organizer?) of my Tough Mudder team has been running Saturday bootcamps all year, and I made it out for the first time today. WHEW!!! Opened with some running in the woods, with bigger hills than what we see in NY, then circuit of:

50 KB swings
12 "T" pushups
20 Med ball squat/throws
30 StepUps
20 Powerjumps

Then run the woods course again, and repeat. After the 3rd round through the woods, we did some team runs while carrying logs, a set of frog jumps, lunges, more log runs, then a lot of crawling work and various plank/pushups/mountainclimbers/etc. Followed that up with some suicide runs, and finally another round of log runs.

Ended with a nice easy run through the hilly woods.

It was FREEZING and wet, and windy. So basically the exact conditions we'll be running the event under, only today we didn't have to jump into any freezing bodies of water. I'm BEAT. Photos of my bruised-to-hell shoulders to come....

Lithe

AM: 30 minutes stretching out the IT band.

PM: Hour long yoga at Golden Bridge. Just saw that I had a groupon for 10 classes at Yoga Sutra also. I'm thinking about just going balls to the wall with two-a-day yoga. IT BANDS AND PSOAS, BE WARNED!

Mental Health Day

Took today off from work.

AM: Chin-ups, 8,8,6,6,4,4,2,2 with 30 seconds of shadow boxing between each set then Alternate-grip pull-ups 2,2,4,4,6,6 then pushups 25,30,35,40,45,50.

Diving!

So I trekked out to Flushing Gardens Aquatic Center last night for my first diving practice in 9 years. Whew! It doesn't come back quickly, I'll tell you that. But most of the other members of the team have never dived before, and the team is only 10 weeks old! So I'm still at or maybe a bit ahead of the curve. I hope I have legs after Saturday's Boot Camp so I'll be able to go to practice at Columbia!

p90x chest and back

Maximum Reps push ups wide pull ups military push ups rever grip pull ups rest wide arm push ups close grip pull ups inclined push ups heavy pants @20lbs rest diamond push ups lawn mowers at 20lbs dive bombers seated back flys rinse and repeat!

4/14/11

AM: Killing it with a 30 minute swim this morning, extra intensity.
PM: 2 hour walk tonight to settle some thoughts.

Sunny Run!

4 miles with everyone and their mother's dog. Seriously, the park was packed!

Drizzly Run

5 miles. Set out to do 4, but the weather was so lovely we decided to continue.

My buddy observed that on the days when the forecast says 95% chance of rain and I bail, it never rains. But when it says 10% chance and I show, it's always wet. I cannot win.

4/13/11

Morning: 10x3 ab-wheel rollouts, followed by 2 minute rounds, 30 seconds rest of plank, pushups, crunches, ankle inversions on each side x 2, external rotator leg lifts on each side and finally calf raises. What a way to start the day!

4/12/11

Morning: 1 hour yoga
Evening: Started doing muay thai again! This time I found a KGBdeals coupon for 50% off and sank my teeth into it. Got to train with a new friend Nick who has helped my kicking a lot. Looking forward to a lot more!

Relentless - Suck Version

Ohhhh I'm still feeling Sunday. A LOT!!! Relentless sucked. But I survived it!

Chest and Back

Maximum Reps -Push ups -Wide arm pull ups -military push ups -reverse grip pull ups rest -wide arm push ups -close grip pull ups -inclined push ups -heavy pants @20lbs rest -diamond push ups -lawnmowers at 20lbs -dive bombers -seated back lift @20lbs

Because yesterday wasn't enough..

4 foggy miles this morning. Had to get some healing blood into some very, very sore muscles. Kinda felt like ass, though :)

6 AM

...For exhaustion work. Boy 3 sets of 15 feel different than 5 sets of 5.

Inc Bench: 3/15/50

Cable Seated Row: 3/15/40

Lat Pull: 3/15/40

Shoulder Press: 3/15/30

Closed Grip Bench: 3/15/45-45-50

High Pull: 3/15/40

Recovering

Got sick after last week's beastly half-marathon so I've been doing what little I can (though I haven't logged most of it.)

Yesterday AM: 90 minutes hot yoga. First time with Bikram. Very awesome.
Yesterday PM: hour long walk to work off celebratory soul food with my best friend.

Today AM: 2 mile warm-up run, then 10k with my girlfriend who ran her first race ever.
Today PM: Cool-down yoga session.

10k PR

55:09. 2 mins 20 sec faster than my time in December for the Challenge's diagnostic test. WOOHOO!

Resting up for lifting at 5 - wish me luck! REPPIN' THE PHD!!!

ETA: I am now officially Sinai's Strongest Woman

Bench - 85#
Squat - 155#
Plank - 2m 27s (REALLY proud of this)
Pullups - Fail (Hey, had to leave SOME room for improvement!)
Lunges - 55 with a 45# plate. They offered to let me do it with 35#, but I would never have forgiven myself.

HUZZAH!!!!!

Morning Report

5 miles.

Tonight's workout will involve eating my weight in food. mmmmmm..... that's a tasty workout!

Abs and Boxing

Ab ripper x from the p90x workout regiment and a whole lotta shadow boxing. BAM

So no shit...

I joined a diving team. 5 hours from time of conception of the idea to completion of execution. First practice is April 16. I haven't been on the boards in 9 years, but the fact is I'm thinner and fitter now than I was 9 years ago, so what have I got to lose!

New Boot Camp

Thursday morning version of the Friday evening bootcamp. More retirees than highly driven med students, so a somewhat different workout. Still dripping with sweat, though, so it's not all bad.

Nothing but Blue Skies

5hrs of sleep. 1hr of lifting. Incline Benching 70 and lat'pulling 70 as well. I'd like to say that's progress but, I've got a long way to go. Gotta find a way to input food on the move.

Spring needs to get its shit together

On Sunday I ran in shorts. Today, back to thermal tights. Seriously, wtf?

Hypertrophy continues

Legwork today @ 6 AM.

Squats: 5/5/165

Deadlift Shrugs: 5/5/80

Bulgarian split-squat: 5/5/80

Step-Up: 5/5/80

Incline Double Crunch: 3/15 (I am barely making it through 3 sets of these interestingly)

Also, 2 mile jog. Did Upper on Monday too. Finally set up spreadsheet to track workouts, and am going to endeavor to track my foods as best I can.

NRLW 4A3

Complete!

Upped the stepups to 50#, and the DB 1-point row to 30# and the static lunge to 60#. Also made it 95sec of plank, which is a record, but not by much.

The Sinai Strongest Person contest is scheduled for next Sunday (after my 10k....)

5 Events:
Bench press
Squat
Plank for time
Pullups
Walking lunges with a 45# plate

I'm aiming to bench 100, squat 130, plank for 105sec, 1 pullup (?) and a million lunges.

Abs and Kickboxing

Abs class - check.

Kickboxing class with waaaaay too many motherfuckers - also check. I hate overcrowded classes. The "just wanna get fit for spring break" crowd needs to go away. Some of us want to be fit year-round

Stating it here to be counted

June 4th is the Starscape Music Festival. An outdoor all day music festival that I will be going to with my girlfriend. I have 2 months to lift as hard as I can to become as chiseled, stamina-infused and core-strong before walking around out there on the beach, at festivals and in the park.

Now that I have an indefinite position at Hadassah, I will be rejoining my Tae Kwon Do dojo in an effort to retrain myself and sit for my black belt certification test, which I left aside after I graduated from High School.

2 months. Lifting 4x a week, in the mornings before work if at all possible. Pushing hypertrophy hard and doing Tae Kwon Do at night. Working on forms, sparring and being mindful while in motion.

Let it be written, let it be done. I also have no idea what kind of weight gain goals I should set for 2 months, but I want to do something and this means documenting my food and really being regimented with Whey and possibly Creatine use. So be it. Any and all comments or tips/recommendations on doing this without having the munchies all the time would be helpful.

Only way to do it

is to overdo it.

The first race I ever ran was back in 2007. A half-marathon. The Brooklyn. I trained for it by running a grand total of 3 times. A 3-mile run, a 6-mile run, and an almost 9 mile run. I finished the race on sheer willpower, with both calves, both hamstrings and both quads having cramped up.

Yesterday, I ran the World Vision Half Marathon in Vibram Five Fingers. My first race ever in Vibram Five Fingers and my first distance over 10k in Vibram Five Fingers.

It hurt.

I also found out that Flushing has terrible roads outside the park as well as inside the park.

Mud.
Glass.
Gravel.
Debris.

I felt it all.

My calves felt it more.

My feet felt it most of all.

But I did it. And were it not for calf cramps at mile 9, I would've hit a PR by 20 minutes.

Season's only beginning.

Today? Yeah. Today was a recovery day.

Sunday

Hadn't planned to run today, but the weather is too beautiful to not get outside. 6 miles in the park. MMMMM SPRING!!!!!!!!!!111

Saturday

Ran from Georgetown across the Key bridge to Roosevelt island (There's one in DC, too!!!) then across another bridge to the Mall, all around the mall (Saw the Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson memorials, the WWII memorial and the Vietnam vets memorial) and saw... the cherry blossoms! They were lovely. Also, running while pushing a jogging stroller is a GREAT tricep and ab workout! Who knew?!

A medley of push ups and ab ripper x

do one push up stand up next do two then stand up then three, rinse and repeat till 10. Didn't make it to 10 on any of them but did regular, military, wide, and diamond. ab ripper x went on a small vacation but I am back. I refuse to give up! erhhhnn

Relentless - AM Version

So they made a Friday AM version of my Tuesday evening Relentless class. It's at 6:45, so only about 10 people show up. WOW was that fun!!! We did a much greater variety of moves, didn't use the steps at all, and just had a blast.

Good luck at your race, Stan!!

Yesterday, Today

Yesterday:
2 minute rounds, 30 second rests, 10 rounds
I gave myself 5 exercises I could do at anytime. Only goal was to continuously be doing SOMETHING during the 2 minute round. Exercises: Overhead squat, front squat, back squat, cleans, snatches, one-handed overhead squats. Rest period must be done in plank.

Today:
Hot shower followed by 30 min. stretching drills for the IT band.

SO pumped for the race tomorrow.

PM: 90 minutes at a CD recording. In sauna-like conditions. If that ain't a workout, I don't know what is.