It's been a full day. Another busy day at work, but I did manage to get in my plank between meetings. It's the last day of the month and the last day of the Planks Alot Challenge. I held my plank for an excruciating 2 minutes and 20 seconds. But I held it!
My pal, Wendy, over at One Tough Mother Runner is starting a whole new challenge for February. There will still be a plank a day, but she's adding squats to the mix. I love a good squat as much as I despise planks, so I am in!
We also kept our date with the cardio machines at the gym today. My right knee hasn't been feeling very well. In fact, yesterday I went to see my doctor for a quick cortisone shot. It's an old injury and while I am by no means needing extreme intervention, I don't have much (well, any) cartilage in that knee anymore, so that does mean I need an occasional shot to bring down the inflammation. Anyway, got that done yesterday and still have about 24 more hours until I can fully feel the god effects of he shot. So I'll admit that I walked right past the old tread monster, I mean treadmill, and decided to sweat it out on the elliptical, instead. It was a good choice and I topped 2 miles in our 20 minutes.
I am not sure if it's related to the cortisone shot, but my face started to flush about midday today and it has not let up yet. Wonder Boy keeps pressing his palms to my face. It feels good - he has cold hands today. I cannot explain the flush though. I have seen people on niacin supplements flush like this, but it usually clears in a few hours. I haven't taken anything - no vitamins, no allergy meds, not even any Tylenol. It's confusing and I hope it passes soon. If not, I guess I'll be calling my doc tomorrow morning.
The end of this day has been very enjoyable, despite my burning cheeks. Wonder Boy is learning a new tune on his viola. Turned out to be "Banana Boat" as in Harry Belafonte fame. Once he was done with his practice, we fired up YouTube and danced to as many calypso tunes as we could find! Don't ya just love the Internet?! I figure I had to have burned a few more calories twirling around the living room with my boy. So I am counting that among my day's activities.
In spite of the face flush, it's been a good, productive day. I hope we can kick off February with the same energy we are ending January.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Jan 30 - WOD
Today has been, well ... a challenge. But it wasn't a physically challenging kind of day, so I am not going to prattle on about it.
Today's WOD was called "Gwen" and it is made up of 3 rounds of clean & jerks. In the first round, you are to do 15 repetitions without stopping to rest or even set down the bar (just "tap and go"). In the second round you do 12 reps. And in the third round, 9 reps.
There are rules, like you are supposed to use the same weight throughout. And, as I mentioned, you cannot set down the bar, even to re-grip. If you cannot do the full number of reps, or if you set down the bar, you have to start the set completely over. Though at least there is no time component to this workout.
I kept to a safe weight (65#). I think I could have done a bit more, but I wanted to make sure I didn't need to set down the bar a any point and have to add to the workload. That plan worked. I will definitely bump it up next time.
I actually got more comfortable with the exercise with every set. I am thinking in order to do a better/heavier weight next time, I will do a really light warm up set first to give my knees a chance to loosen up.
So all in all, I am fairly happy with this WOD. I expect it to be more intense with a heavier weight, but after the day I lived today, perhaps I didn't need any extra help to reach the point of exhaustion.
I didn't get to my plank today. :+( Maybe I will try to work n 2 of them tomorrow to "catch up."
Today's WOD was called "Gwen" and it is made up of 3 rounds of clean & jerks. In the first round, you are to do 15 repetitions without stopping to rest or even set down the bar (just "tap and go"). In the second round you do 12 reps. And in the third round, 9 reps.
There are rules, like you are supposed to use the same weight throughout. And, as I mentioned, you cannot set down the bar, even to re-grip. If you cannot do the full number of reps, or if you set down the bar, you have to start the set completely over. Though at least there is no time component to this workout.
I kept to a safe weight (65#). I think I could have done a bit more, but I wanted to make sure I didn't need to set down the bar a any point and have to add to the workload. That plan worked. I will definitely bump it up next time.
I actually got more comfortable with the exercise with every set. I am thinking in order to do a better/heavier weight next time, I will do a really light warm up set first to give my knees a chance to loosen up.
So all in all, I am fairly happy with this WOD. I expect it to be more intense with a heavier weight, but after the day I lived today, perhaps I didn't need any extra help to reach the point of exhaustion.
I didn't get to my plank today. :+( Maybe I will try to work n 2 of them tomorrow to "catch up."
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Jan 29 - OTM
Typically, Tuesdays are run days, but my knees are still pretty unhappy with me from last night's WOD. So tonight we changed it up a bit and stayed for the adult judo class after Wonder Boy was done with his class.
It was a really nice chane of pace and we got to use some muscle groups that have been a little neglected with our current crossfit routine.
The nicest part for me though was that I can feel the difference that the crossfit workouts have made in the last few months. Usually after a few months of being off the mat, the first class back will leave my shoulder aching for days. But tonight's class actually helped my shoulder loosen up after all those thrusters we did yesterday.
It felt good to be back "on the mat" as more than an assistant during the kids' class. And I am looking forward to our next opportunity to get some quality mat time.
And don't think I neglected today's plank! I managed to hold for 2 minutes and 10 seconds today. I listened to music while planking. I tried to sing along (in my head, as I was at work) in order to take my mind off the hold. If helped some. But it still felt like it lasted way too long. Not sure what I could do to distract me for much longer times.
It was a really nice chane of pace and we got to use some muscle groups that have been a little neglected with our current crossfit routine.
The nicest part for me though was that I can feel the difference that the crossfit workouts have made in the last few months. Usually after a few months of being off the mat, the first class back will leave my shoulder aching for days. But tonight's class actually helped my shoulder loosen up after all those thrusters we did yesterday.
It felt good to be back "on the mat" as more than an assistant during the kids' class. And I am looking forward to our next opportunity to get some quality mat time.
And don't think I neglected today's plank! I managed to hold for 2 minutes and 10 seconds today. I listened to music while planking. I tried to sing along (in my head, as I was at work) in order to take my mind off the hold. If helped some. But it still felt like it lasted way too long. Not sure what I could do to distract me for much longer times.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Jan 28 - WOD
I think I m going to christen this WOD "OMAK" (Oh, My Aching Knees).
But to be honest, this WOD had more than my knees crying for mercy. Let me explain why ...
The OMAK workout looks like this:
* 15 "heavy" thrusters (75#, for me)
* 200M run
* 20 "medium" thrusters (65#, for me)
* 400M run
* 30 "light" thrusters (55#, for me)
* 800M run
This took me 16 minutes and 15 seconds. And it was a hard fought 16+ minutes! It is so very hard to breathe during the thrusters that it makes even the short 200M run daunting.
I struggled throughout. And there was a point during the last run when I wanted nothing more than to sit down and gasp for air like a fish out of water. And though I fear I was super slow on that run, I did not stop, not even to walk.
So I am happy with today's results.
To top it off, I managed a new PR in my daily plank: 2 min 5 sec. I am not sure I will be able to continue adding 5 seconds per day, but I am very happy to have passed the 2 minute mark. I did not truly believe I would ever top that mark.
So while today was a tough start to the week, it was also a successful start.
Who could ask for more?
But to be honest, this WOD had more than my knees crying for mercy. Let me explain why ...
The OMAK workout looks like this:
* 15 "heavy" thrusters (75#, for me)
* 200M run
* 20 "medium" thrusters (65#, for me)
* 400M run
* 30 "light" thrusters (55#, for me)
* 800M run
This took me 16 minutes and 15 seconds. And it was a hard fought 16+ minutes! It is so very hard to breathe during the thrusters that it makes even the short 200M run daunting.
I struggled throughout. And there was a point during the last run when I wanted nothing more than to sit down and gasp for air like a fish out of water. And though I fear I was super slow on that run, I did not stop, not even to walk.
So I am happy with today's results.
To top it off, I managed a new PR in my daily plank: 2 min 5 sec. I am not sure I will be able to continue adding 5 seconds per day, but I am very happy to have passed the 2 minute mark. I did not truly believe I would ever top that mark.
So while today was a tough start to the week, it was also a successful start.
Who could ask for more?
Sunday, January 27, 2013
A Date Kept
You have probably guessed it by now, but I am not a big fan of running on the treadmill. If you haven't guessed that little fact, well, forget I said anything.
Seriously, there is just something about it. I don't seem to be able to find a comfortable gait.
But there are some days when the best option to meet my fitness goals is to keep my date with the treadmill. Today is one such day.
The new shoes (Brooks Pure Flow) are still keeping my feet happier than they have ever been on the treadmill. And maybe my problem today stems from the heavy deadlifts we did yesterday. I really don't know.
But whatever the case, I found it hard to get into a rhythm on the treadmill today. In order to break it up, I decided to run intervals. My overall distance worked out to be a touch shorter than usual (about 1.75 miles), but I was able to push some much higher tempos, even if for only a few minutes at a time. I am hoping it will help for my next road run.
Tomorrow we are back to our crossfit workouts and I will plunge back into the plank a day challenge.
Seriously, there is just something about it. I don't seem to be able to find a comfortable gait.
But there are some days when the best option to meet my fitness goals is to keep my date with the treadmill. Today is one such day.
The new shoes (Brooks Pure Flow) are still keeping my feet happier than they have ever been on the treadmill. And maybe my problem today stems from the heavy deadlifts we did yesterday. I really don't know.
But whatever the case, I found it hard to get into a rhythm on the treadmill today. In order to break it up, I decided to run intervals. My overall distance worked out to be a touch shorter than usual (about 1.75 miles), but I was able to push some much higher tempos, even if for only a few minutes at a time. I am hoping it will help for my next road run.
Tomorrow we are back to our crossfit workouts and I will plunge back into the plank a day challenge.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Jan 26 - WOD
Today's WOD was a bit different. We started with a pure strength component, 5 sets of deadlifts, 3 reps per set. Our goal was to hit a personal record on the 4th set.
Set 1: 205#
Set 2: 205#
Set 3: 215#
Set 4: 225#
Set 5: 205#
On my 4th set, I could only manage 2 reps. On the third rep, I just gave out. In fact, I got so light headed that I nearly fell over. I was pretty pleased to have hit that weight though. Always feels good to hit a new personal best!
Wonder Boy came out to watch and cheer us on. Once we were done, we took a little extra time to teach him the exercise. He did 3 reps of 65#. The kid only weighs 70#, so this was no small achievement.
To make sure we got our heart rate up, when we finished the Deadlifts, we went to the back porch to do some Muay Thai mitt drills. Wonder Boy started us off and did three 1 - minute rounds with 30 seconds rest in between. It was good to see that though he hasn't had a Muay Thai class in a couple of years now, he has retained most of his good technique.
When wonder Boy finished his work, he called out combinations for the two of us while we did our 3 rounds each.
. I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again, but I truly love it when we can all work out together. Makes the time and effort seem more like fun.
Set 1: 205#
Set 2: 205#
Set 3: 215#
Set 4: 225#
Set 5: 205#
On my 4th set, I could only manage 2 reps. On the third rep, I just gave out. In fact, I got so light headed that I nearly fell over. I was pretty pleased to have hit that weight though. Always feels good to hit a new personal best!
Wonder Boy came out to watch and cheer us on. Once we were done, we took a little extra time to teach him the exercise. He did 3 reps of 65#. The kid only weighs 70#, so this was no small achievement.
To make sure we got our heart rate up, when we finished the Deadlifts, we went to the back porch to do some Muay Thai mitt drills. Wonder Boy started us off and did three 1 - minute rounds with 30 seconds rest in between. It was good to see that though he hasn't had a Muay Thai class in a couple of years now, he has retained most of his good technique.
When wonder Boy finished his work, he called out combinations for the two of us while we did our 3 rounds each.
. I've said it before and I'm sure I will say it again, but I truly love it when we can all work out together. Makes the time and effort seem more like fun.
Friday, January 25, 2013
TWO MIINUTES!
Today I hit a nice big milestone in the "planksalot" challenge. I managed to hold for a full TWO MINUTES! I am really pleased with myself.
I am seriously sore from our last 4 days of killer workouts. So tonight we are going to run some errands and take it easy. I feel much more at peace with this plan now that I have made it to this goal in the plank challenge.
I am seriously sore from our last 4 days of killer workouts. So tonight we are going to run some errands and take it easy. I feel much more at peace with this plan now that I have made it to this goal in the plank challenge.
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