Bench!

Came  in for a midday session as I have a work conflict later (that time of year). Work set as 8, 6, 6 x 85. Lots of other good stuff too - could hardly lift my arms to wash hair in the shower after! Feel like I am really making progress. Satisfying...

1hr upper body

Deadlifts!

I love this so much! We got to lift HEAVY today too - my main work set was 5 x 2 x 181, I am hungry for the 200s....

1hr lower body

Run!

Hahaha, success out of failure - Liz had a good plan, we drove up to Bear Mountain for a hike that was described as something you could do if you could run five miles - but that didn't allow for HEAD obstacles! As we clambered early on up an icy PRECIPICE (not really, but it was a steep mountainside with patches of ice that didn't help matters, I verged on panic and realized I'd better descend immediately (I'm wheezy still now from the after-effects of adrenaline and anxiety). Then proceeded to have an absolutely LOVELY hour of run-walk around the small lake there - it was a glorious day, though cold still. About to get in the shower now and then go back to bed - I hardly slept, it's a function of early alarm and an activity that's not something I always do....

20min walk/jog/clamber
1hr run-walk

Spin!

Bittersweet final Saturday spin with Joanna. Great session. Not happy she won't be on the roster going forward!

1hr spin

Belated squats...

I overdid today, not on exercise but on life - in the end everything went well, and I just got home at 11pm feeling pretty happy about things, but I shouldn't schedule a day like that more than once or twice a year! Lifting was good - I feel like as of last week something clicked on squat form, it was definitely better and easier today than it has been. Rather tight back and sore-ish knees (I rolled a kettlebell over them ticklishly)...

1hr squats etc.

Bench!

Among the many things in my life that have been making me feel extremely lucky, one of them is this powerlifting thing! I really love it.

1hr bench/upper body

Deadlifts!

That is a great workout. Then some farmer's walk with kettlebells to strengthen grip and some cable rows. It is good! I am a little guilty at having rather dodged life reentry, I was working here this afternoon but it sort of turned into settle-in day rather than MANIACAL CLEARANCE OF WORK TASK day...

1hr lower body

Spin!

Alas, it is Joanna's last Monday class, elegiac feel! I won't be able to come on Friday, but we'll have a big blowout workout on Saturday morning and lunch to follow. I am grumpy that Chelsea Piers management has not done everything to keep her!

Coming into the last 6 weeks of my teaching semester. Am going to make exercise a priority on mental-health grounds - there is a ton of work to be done, and more than usually extensive other commitments, but I am going to explode with stress if I don't work it off in the gym/in the run!

Hugely looking forward to working out with the regular powerlifting crew this evening!

:45 spin

Spa week in review

Traveling home today, and feeling slightly daunted at the extent of life re-entry challenges (on the other hand, it will be good to be back with cats and proper powerlifting, and my students and friends in NYC are also always good for morale). Happy with SPA WEEK tho - I see I skimped on running compared to what I intended, but that's OK, it's warm here....

(Did all three lifting sessions, though squats workout was somewhat curtailed; three spin classes; three runs; four hot yoga.)

SPA WEEK

Sunday

1hr run (4:1)
1.25hr hot yoga

Monday

:40 run
:40 lower body/deadlifts!

Tuesday

6am spin (1hr)
1hr hot yoga
:50 upper body/bench!

Wednesday

1.25hr hot yoga
WNRC

Thursday

6am spin (1hr)
1hr hot yoga

Friday

1hr run

Saturday

:20 lower body/squats!
10am spin (1hr)
:32 run

WARM run

:32 as 3:1 jog-walk. Hot!

Spin/squats

Arghhhh, made bad choices that led to skimping on squats workout: didn't really feel like it yesterday afternoon, and didn't get to the gym early enough this morning to get the whole workout done before 10am spin class. Then afterwards I was dripping with sweat, unfed and also very well stretched, and it just seemed counterintuitive to delve back in to the strength work. So call it :20 lower body and 1+hr spin. I was also discombobulated by equipment differences: I used the squat rack outside, but I think it must have a 35lb bar (or even lighter?) rather than the 45lb one I am used to - so I did the first 3 of 8 x 3 with empty bar as prescribed, but it felt so light I switched to 5 x 10 for the remaining sets. Certainly easier to keep form better with the lighter bar.

1hr spin, :20 squats

Run!

A few minutes short, but it was good for morale that I basically got the assigned workout done (70min as 3:1 jog-walk, to start to approximate Time On Feet for the trail 10K in May). I snoozed the alarm horribly and dragged my heels at getting out the door, was much later than I meant to be setting out (sun already coming up at 6:15), but it wasn't grotesquely hot, just warm. I feel surprisingly strong and biomechanically sound - Josh's regimen is extremely good for me, I remember that when I was first running I was lifting weights regularly as well and I suspect it is really the way to move forward.

1:06 as 3:1 jog-walk

SW 5/2

Hot yoga!

1hr

Spin!

Ah, that is an extremely good class: Marlene is a great athlete and runs a true cyclist's workout, I am lucky to have that so conveniently nearby. Had a green machine smoothie afterwards (with mysterious "green pack" - but it is a delicious thing, with a plastic bag of callaloo, cucumber, cabbage, apple, ginger and lime going into the juicer and then getting blended with banana and ice and whey protein), then a happy encounter with a funny little cat I hadn't seen before. (B. has stocked a supply of cat treats for lovely neighbor cat Roxy.)

I flaked out on the rest of spa day yesterday - I just felt headachey and out of sorts and emotionally low. Took some ibuprofen and a caffeine tablet around 4 which helped with the headache but not with the lowness, and decided not to join B. for Wednesday Night Run Club - it's hot and trafficky and though I think it's a good idea to make yourself do one workout if you're feeling low, the fact is I had already sweated buckets for 1.25hr at hot yoga that morning and I figured a quiet evening would be better. Feeling more myself this morning, will head to 8:45 hot yoga in a bit and then we are taking Coach Jerry Harper out to lunch, so that should be nice.

1hr spin

Hot yoga! (4/1)

That was good - much less horrible than the seventy-five-minute class on Sunday....

1.25hr hot yoga

SPA WEEK day 3 workout 3

That was very good - main work set on bench press as 5 x 2 x 85, plus misc. other upper-body stuff (triceps, lat pulldowns etc.).

:50 upper body

SPA WEEK day 3 workout 2

Hot yoga express a.k.a. mini-Bikram. Much nicer than Sunday's - the 1hr version is easier than the 1.25hr when you're not back into it really, and I think it's a lot less humid out today. (Plus of course several more nights of adequate sleep under my belt - having a lot of bad dreams and feeling restless in bed, but not terrible.)

(My friend and sometime personal trainer M. once said to me, admiringly I think, "You don't get tired. You tire yourself out!" And it is both a strength and a weakness.)

Bench press workout next up - this is the only day I'll do three workouts, I think, as it would be silly at current fitness to do lower-body strength work and yoga on the same day, and I will prefer to prioritize running and spinning over yoga (the prioritization of powerlifting goes without saying!).

1hr hot yoga

SPA WEEK day 3 workout 1

Spin! This is a very good class, and the new World Gym location is only a few minutes' walk from B.'s condo. Good start to the day.

1hr spin

Deadlift!

It is more fun doing it with others (also I am itching to be lifting HEAVIER weights, but must listen to coach's advice and proceed cautiously!), but this was still very nice. Spa week is well underway. I am looking to have frequent shorter workouts rather than marathon sessions as such - I think 40 minutes is about as long as I can keep myself focused/motivated for this kind of a gym workout.

deadlifts: 2 x empty bar, work set as 8 x 3 @ 135
4 x walking lunges (12 steps each foot), 10lb weights
hip thrusts (100)
short farmer's walk on treadmill with 10lb weights until I decided it was a slightly dangerous idea!

:40 total

Yelp!

Not the online review site - the sound you make when soap and hot water hit delicate spots of chafing. So long since I last ran that I forgot the need for Trislide!

That was a nice one - not glorious, it's a bit too warm (79F and 83% relative humidity even at 6:45am), but very happy to be out there again. Coach Dave gave me a very humane assignment (it is just as well, I am not sure I would have made myself get out of bed otherwise - as it was, I reminded myself several times that I could go back to bed afterwards if I wanted to!) and really my base fitness is decent just now, lack of running notwithstanding.

:40 as 3:1 jog-walk

Hot yoga!

That was good, though GRUESOMELY hot (I have no heat acclimation currently). Didn't get up early enough to run in the morning first, will see if I can do a short one later or else just make SURE to get out first thing tomorrow. Am hoping to do just a ton of exercise this week, built around core of my assigned workouts from Josh..)

(Often I am grumpy about the fact that people refer to my time in Cayman as "vacation," as very commonly I am bringing huge piles of work with me - it's like any other "other place" in a long-distance relationship in that sense, it might as well be Cleveland or what have you, it is beside the point that it is TIP (Tropical Island Paradise!)! But this week I really am determined to have vacation - the provost even told us, at our TRAC meeting last week, to make sure to have actual vacation over the break because there is a lot of business to do in the remaining weeks of the semester.)

LET SPA WEEK COMMENCE!

1.25hr hot yoga

Upper!

Good workout with Josh. Mostly upper body and some conditioning. Got my assignments for next week while I am in Cayman!

Squats!

Too tired by this point to feel very exuberant, but it was a good workout. I am still working just with the bar - it's not that it feels heavy, but my form isn't quite right and I need to get a bit stronger before Josh will want me to risk adding more weight. It is coming - it's just a little harder for me than the other two lifts (I think you need more underlying strength).

1+hr squats etc.

Bench

Ah, I really need to eat right after that workout - it takes me an hour to get home, and by that time I am no good for anything at all! Decent workout though, although I think deadlift day is still my favorite of the three. I continue to enjoy the feeling that I am getting stronger.

1hr upper body

Deadlifts!

After my calamitous weekend, it was clear to me that though it might sound ill-proportioned/selfish/inappropriate, the ONLY thing I wanted was to get home in time today to go to my early evening deadlifting session at Chelsea Piers. AND IT WAS GOOD. I have hardly slept the last few nights, and was feeling a bit queasy as I headed over there, but as soon as I started exercising, I felt great. We are taking this lifting business very cautiously to prevent injury, but I easily did 4 x 2 x 145 after some extended warming up at lighter weights and I feel pretty sure that I could get a one-rep max in the 200lb range. Then some walking lunges and "hip thrusts" (like a bridge only raising up and down), and then 7 x prowler sled push! (Something like 27sec work, 3 sec turning the sled round, 1:30 recovery. This is the most amazing aerobic exercise.)

Devoutly hoping I might get some SLEEP tonight as it will certainly smooth the passage of my day tomorrow...

1hr deadlifts/lower body

Spin!

That was very good - I picked the interval, and we did 6 x 5min climbs (some seated, some standing, various progressions), with six delicious bursts of lactate-related queasiness as I hit the red zone! Extremely enjoyable. It is hard to explain why this kind of queasy is good (you are glad when it recedes), but I seem to have had a lot of queasy over the last few months either from actual stomach bug or more often from stress and fatigue - the contrast is striking....

I am somewhat under-exercised, and I am devoutly intending to have a better plan to get myself through the tough late winter months next year (the problem is that they coincide so thoroughly with a demanding work schedule - the one or the other, I can cope with, but the combination of the two is lethal). That said, the powerlifting has gotten me through this stretch as well as could be expected - we do enough conditioning in our workouts that I am hoping it will not be horrendous as I pick back up running again. Ready for snow to melt and temperatures to rise above freezing!

1hr spin!

Bench!

Make-up session with Josh. That was great! One satisfying thing about this activity is that you really get noticeable quantifiable improvement - I know when we tested some weeks ago, my max bench was 85, and today I lifted a bunch of sets of 95...

1hr upper body

Squats!

Good but tough week, with a work trip to Arkansas, too much time in airports and really no vim to exercise (I had a lot of work I was fitting in around the edges already). Very, very happy to be back at Chelsea Piers this evening! Have a make-up session tomorrow with Josh too, so that's good - I haven't done super-well with Fridays this semester, I am so tired by the afternoon that I find it hard to get going when I don't have a definite commitment, so this is very useful. Looking forward to a "regular" week of exercise next week, and after that SPRING BREAK - I am going to Brent's where I fully intend to have SPA WEEK! (This means lots of yoga and exercise and green smoothies.)

1hr squats etc.