5k

The weather is getting better recently, and I love it. Perfect for a Friday. today I wanted to get another benchmark time in terms of my running. I decided to run a 5k route that I ran about 3 weeks ago. I wanted to see how I have progressed recently. I finished the route in 19:50, which is 17 seconds better than last time. My efforts are paying off.

I was really having trouble justifying this run before it started. I wasnt feeling strong and I felt my lunch still being digested. But I knew I would be able to push myself regardless, because the faster I finished, the sooner it would be over. I made it to the half way point at 9:50, which was right where I wanted to be, the hard part was the slight hill on the way back. I knew I had to keep up the pace in order to beat my last 5k time.

Before the run, I took about 15 minutes to warm-up. i was able to do some squat cleans with a medicine ball, so I wanna be able to use that in my next workout. This will start the process of me getting back into lifting techniques.

I really pushed myself today, and now I am headed out for a weekend at the Boy Scout Camporee here on school grounds. Should be fun, I hope the weather holds up.

Tire Dragging

Workout:
8 Rounds for Time:
100m Tire Drag
20 Lunges

The weather turned out to be great today. A little windy, but the sun was out and not a cloud around. I spent some of the morning getting some work done, and then decided to get my workout out of the way before lunch.

I was feeling a little sluggish from yesterdays workout, but eager to get outside again. I pulled the tire with a rope, allowing my forearms and arms to continue to get back into the weigh-bearing game. It felt a little awkward while pulling, but I was definitely feeling it in my forearms, the tendons arent used to holding on to things too tightly recently. It took me 14:48 to complete.

I stopped quite a few times in this workout while pulling the tire backwards. The friction of the grass definitely makes the tire seem heavier than it is. Overall, it was a great workout, I am still feeling a little tired.

Triplet

Workout:
6 Rounds for Time:
10 GHD Situps
15 Back Extensions
~300m gym loop

After classes, I spent the early afternoon in the gym. I first did about 40 minutes of physical therapy exercises for my shoulder. And then decided on what events to do for my metcon workout. It has been a while since I was inside, and the GHD is a good lower body exercise. I paired it with a run that first goes up two floors, goes the length of a hallway, down to floors and then another hallway. This adds up to be about 300m by my best estimate.

The gym was crowded because of a PE class going on at the time, so I was a little weary about losing posession of the GHD while I was running the gym loops, but luckily I had no problems. Physically however, I have a type of bruise on the bottom of my foot from when I stepped on a sharp rock during the run yesterday. It was pretty painfull walking around on it all day, but as the workout started, my adrenaline kind of cancelled out the pain. It took me 17:25 to complete the workout. I felt stronger than usual on the stair climbs for this workout, and by the end I was pretty gassed endurance-wise. However, I really miss the ability to lift some heavier weights. Lifting heaving during a metabolic conditioning workout really adds another factor of fatigue, and I feel like I need it to get past mental barriers in a workout. It will just take patience I guess.

Hopefully I can get in a workout outside, maybe some video too.

Running the Tracks

Yesterday I didn't get the time to get a workout in, plus the weather wasn't pretty. So after two rest days I wanted to get in a longer workout. I headed down to the train tracks that run along the Hudson river. In warming up I noticed that my forearms are still sore from Saturday's tire workout. This is proof that I am really weak in the upper body, it has been so long since I stressed my arms in that way. It will be a long time before I have my strength back, and even the little things such as my grip.

I ran along the tracks for 10 minutes, and at the ten minute mark, I turned around and gave myself a 10-minute time limit to get back to the start. I would estimate the course at about 1.5 miles. Half of the route was on and uneven dirt road with sharp rocks that slowed my progress, but no excuses right? I was able to keep under the 10-minute limit on the way back, sprinting out the last few hundred yards.

I dont feel like I challenged myself enough today. Perhaps it is for the better so that I have the energy to get my assignments done for tomorrow. I will probably do a triplet tomorrow to really get the blood flowing.

Rest Day

Tire Flips

Workout:
As many rounds as possible in 15 minutes:
10 tire flips
20 tire jumps

The goal of today was to lift some weight. The most weight I have lifted after surgery was maybe a 45lb bar for a few reps. I wanted to test my left arm to see where it is now at in terms of weight bearing. I was very pleased that throughout this workout my shoulder did not give me any problems. During the tire flips I put most of the weight on my stronger arm so that my left arm could get used to the movement again. I sacrificed my intensity for the functional movement. I was able to complete 8 rounds, plus 10 tire flips and 8 tire jumps. The hardest part of this workout was the tire jumps because I lack the ability to consitantly jump without taking a step toward the tire, it is something I need to work on so that I can increase my reps. Its always fun to play with tires. Rest day tomorrow...ahhhh.

Bag o Rocks

Workout:
5 Rounds for time:
25 jump lunges
20 situps with bag of rocks
200m run with bag of rocks

10 minute rest, then
6 300m sprints, with one minute for each sprint, including rest time.

I was thinking about resting today, but I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather. I headed down to the river courts and on the way I found a bag filled with small rocks that weighed about 25-30 lbs and figured it would make for an interesting workout. I didnt want to go too hard today because my legs are still recovering from the long run yesterday, my knees arent used to the pounding of a long run and I could feel the tendons in my knee acting a little inflamed.

I decided to wear my vibram 5-fingers for this workout to continue to build up to longer runs while wearing them, plus it was low impact on the feet and knees seeing as it was on the grass. After a short warmup I got into it. The first round felt good, and I was thinking maybe I should have included more reps, but I quickly dismissed that after the second round. It wasnt an extremely intense workout, but the extra weight added a stimulus that I havnt felt in a while. Most of my workouts after surgery have been just bodyweight, so the extra 25 pounds was a shock to my system.

I finished the workout in 12:12. After a 10-minute rest, I was feeling strong, so I did a few sprints on the road in my Vibrams. It felt amazing running in them, I feel like I have more control in each step and I feel like I am getting more power output as I am forced to land more so on the balls of my feet with each step. Each 300m sprint ended up being under 30 seconds each, allowing me 30 seconds to rest in between each of the 6. I am glad I was able to keep consistent while maintaining the intensity.

video Quality still isnt the best, bear with me

Run

Workout:
Run for 30 minutes

Today I wanted to do a longer distance workout in order to keep things varied, my goal was to go longer than 20 minutes. I have been dreading doing long runs with hills because I remember how much I hated doing them before my surgery, especially the hills around here. While it may not have been fun, it definately pays off.

After my daily ritual of shoulder therapy, I headed straight from campus up to the top of the local ski slope, which is an elevation change of about 700 feet and a distance of about 3.8 miles for the route I took. It is a combination of trail running and road running. I did this without any companions on the way up, presenting quite the mental battle. At certain points I succombed to the fatigue in my thighs, stopping to walk for certain parts. It takes quite an elite runner to make this elevation change without stopping, but it is something to strive for. On the way down I ran into a friend who joined me for the second half, making my cramps and leg fatigue seem less important.

My total run time was 30 minutes, so I met my goal and got some great intensity as well. It will probably be at least four or five days before I do any hills or stairs, I have had my fill for now.

Hill Run

Today I decided to do another workout with a good amount of elevation change. I only had about 40 minutes to squeeze in a workout in between classes, so I decided to do a few hill sprints. The hill is about 400m with a good incline, I broke it up with squats at the end of each sprint. This turned into an intense 9:32.

This also gave me a chance to use the video on my new camera, this is my first video with it, so its more an experiment. The quality isnt as good as it could be because I am still getting used to the settings on the camera.
Besides being a creative outlet, the video allows me to see how my form could improve, such as this video showing that I am not getting enough depth on my squats.

Stairway to Heaven

Workout:
7 Rounds for Time:
1 trip up the Stairway to Heaven
15 squats
20 hip raises

Today was a stair day. As painful as it was, it was worth it. In Arvin gym, there is a set of 118 stairs that covers five floors from the basement to the 4th floor. I was eager to get my sweat on. I was feeling strong after a day of rest and some active recovery. The only concern I had was the IT bands, which run along the outside of each knee. They were feeling a little tight. I have had an inflamed IT band before, it takes a long time to heal and is painful. The IT band is a tract of tissue that starts at the hip and is connected at the knee. Excess intensity and running can inflame this tissue around the knee, causing friction with the bone, thus the pain. A gradual buildup of intensity is the way to prevent this. It is a common problem here at school seeing as it is hard to keep consistant with intensity due to certain requirements, and then students are expected to give their all on short notice...but this is the unkown and unknowable, which is Crossfit's methodology in that it is important to be prepared for these things.

I stretched, warmed up and determined that IT band discomfort wasnt going to be a concern. The first three rounds went great, by the time I got to the top of the stairs in the fourth round, I was toasted. It takes only about 30 seconds to reach the top of the stairs, but it drains the tank fast. The squats and the hip raises at the top of the stairs were a rest period compared to the stairs. The first round took me 1:50 to complete, which certainly didnt hold up, but that was the point. I originally intended to go for 20 minutes, but I was going so slow by 18 minutes, that I stopped it at whole number on round 7. It took me a total of 18:48 to complete the workout.

Rest Day

Sprint

Today I got up a little early to take advantage of the nice weather and the lack of people. My goal was to get a short, but intense workout in, and I think i acheived just that. I did 3 sprints up a cliff ramp for time with a one minute rest in between. The ramp has sections of stairs and fairly steep ramps. The ramp doubles back on itself as it covers about 100 vertical feet. It is a quick ascent up a vertical cliff from river level up to the campus area.

I approached the workout knowing it would be short and intense, so I allowed myself one minute to get back down from the top of the ramp, and then rest at the bottom for the rest of the 1 minute period. During the sprints, I was really feeling the lunges that I did two days ago. My hamstrings and glutes are the worst of it. They were screaming during the three sprints. My times were 0:50 0:50 0:53. I am happy that I was able to keep the intensity for each of the three sprints. It was a severe mental battle to keep running half way up the ramp when I had just finished the second set of stairs. At the end of the third sprint my left hamstring felt like it was on the verge of being pulled, so I am glad I did not do 5 rounds like I was originally thinking.

I will probably be taking a rest day tomorrow, I will be in NYC for the day walking around, allowing for some active rest, my legs could use it.

Tire(d)

I feel like I am finally getting back into some sort of groove for fitness. It has been about 12 weeks since my shoulder surgery. My shoulder is healing at a steady rate, allowing me to become more and more active. I am still only doing lower body exercises, from the abs down. I am taking it very slow in doing anything associated with my shoulders other than some 1-arm squat cleans or kettlebell swings. But my patience is slowly paying off.

Yesterday I did a 2nd version of a tire-dragging workout since I discovered a tire with a rope and a harness attached to it. It is an average-sized car tire that does well in resistance running. The workout yesterday was as follows:

5 Rounds for time:
50m tire drag - forward
50m tire drag - backward
50m lunges
50m run

The distances are estimated, but a challenging workout none-the less. It took me 21 and change minutes to complete this. The most trouble I had on this one was in the reverse tire drags, my quads and calfs often caused me to stop whilst running backwards. It is something I need to work on. I really like the tire drags, they are a whole new stimulus, and from what I have recently read about the advantages of resistance running, I will keep this one in the toolbox.

Today, I decided to go on a 3 mile run in order to keep my legs from seizing up after the lunges yesterday. Lunges always cripple me for at least 3 days, which tells me I should do them a little more than I have been. The run was about 20 minutes, I kept up a good pace, but wasnt trying to beat any records. I finished it on the top of a decent hill that spiked my heartrate, it left me feeling dead but happy with the "recovery" run.
Later in the day I played some pick-up soccer with the kids in my company. We played for about an hour. Eager to find uses for my new Vibrams, I played in them. They are not really meant for soccer, they lack the necessary traction, but I had fun playing. This is one of those times where my patience is paying off. Today was another milestone in that I can be a little more active than just run.

I am not sure what I will be doing tomorrow, but I think it will have something to do with stairs and squats.

Testy Test

Today was the first day testing out my new Vibram 5-Finger shoes. They are basically a sock with a thin layer of rubber on the bottom, they allow you to utilize the stabilizers and develop the calf muscles for the runner to be more efficient in each step. "Good" running is a combination of body weight for forward propulsion and the having each step land directly underneath the body. When the heal strikes out in front of the body, a good amount of momentum is lost, and its not good on the knees. The Vibrams force you to reduce this loss in energy.

The workout was:
4 rounds for time:
400m run
15 bench box jumps

I spent some time warming up and getting used to the Vibrams, I only ran a few hundred meters before my calves and lower shins were feeling tight. These are some new muscles that will take some time to get used. I took off the Vibrams and put my running shoes back on for the workout. Before I even started I knew it was going to be trouble. I am still trying to get back my level of endurance from before my shoulder surgery.

Even during the first round I had to break up the bench jumps. It took me 11:46 to complete the 4 rounds, I could have pushed it harder, but I am taking a more gradual approach to building up my intensity.

I look forward to using the Vibrams more, they feel great, and I cant wait to see the benefits.