Bench - and a new bike!

I took the plunge. (And actually, strange to say, as well as it being the sedate calm upright bike I should have had to begin with, it is also a particular favorite color of mine, and has reminded me that it was one of my deepest childhood desires to have a BLUE bicycle like my friend Stephanie across the street - mine was a rust-red Schwinn "dirt bike" handed down from some other kid in the neighborhood!)

Rode it home from the gym just now - it is helped by the fact that it is a most gorgeous evening, low humidity and breezy, but the ride was relaxing in a way that I am totally unaccustomed to. It remains to be seen whether I will really make this a habit, but it will potentially save me money and time in terms of not needing the subway so much - going to give it a good go (and figuring that it can only help my bicycle phobia too to be on a very sedate bicycle regularly).

Good upper-body workout with Josh. Benched 4 x 3 at 105, then lifted to failure - Josh suggested goal of 6-10, but I hit thirteen very manageably and I think I probably could have eked out fifteen if I'd had it in mind to begin with. He is sure this means I can get 135, though I still worry a bit that the male-female ratios of multiples to one-rep max play out differently (however I will soon be able to get it if even if I'm not quite there yet). Then some "pin press" - put the pins slightly above chest level, let the bar come to a full stop and lift as deadweight. This is all good. Finally some single-arm rows, 4 x 10 @ 47.5.

1hr upper body
5mi bike

Megan's hills!

Feeling a lot better today - still vexed by nocturnal sleep schedule, but got one piece of work finished and sent off (that will make the next couple days less stressful) and have just had a very nice run workout. I requested this one from Coach Dave because it sounds like such a very good idea (as he says in that piece, Megan won the 50K trail national championships with this as her only structured workout!). I'm working up to it gradually, but I have a very suitable hill at the bottom of my bit of Riverside Park - my personal landmarks are currently a little longer than 1min, but that's OK.

Anyway, 11min gentle jog to warmup, then 6 x 1+min hill, walk back down, then 10 min as 2:1 jog-walk. :40 total. Will do 8 next Tuesday and 10 the following.

Deadlifts!

I felt pretty terrible all day - low spirits, low energy, more in huddle-in-bed mode than anything else! - but things seemed to pick up late afternoon. I settled down in the cafe at Chelsea Piers, ate 2 HB eggs and a toasted bialy with butter and some highly caffeinated iced tea, drafted the thing I'd been putting off writing all weekend and all day today and then had a great lifting session with Josh and the guys. Deadlifts are my favorite! Main work set as 3 x 3 x 211, that is good. Then just did :20 on exercise bike (8min in Friel zone 3, alternating 2min standing and 2min seated).

Note to self: get to the Rare Book Library tomorrow morning as soon as you can, being out of the house is better than being in it when spirits are low!

1hr lower body
:20 spin

Short run

That was pretty nice. I completely sproingled my sleep schedule by going to bed for 3.5 hours of deep sleep after yesterday's demoralizing run, didn't go to bed until 3am and then slept lightly and badly and couldn't make myself get up as early as I'd intended. But the weather is OK - 70F, 59% humidity, still a bit damp in other words but with a light breeze. Had the basic easy :20 on the schedule, but thought I would do some higher-intensity intervals to get the happy running chemicals flowing: so, :24 as :12 easy jog, 4 x (1min hard, 1min walking recovery), :4 cooldown.

Ugh......

Ah, workout FAIL - it is not surprising, as I have been feeling utterly tapped out and overwhelmed. Schedule said 4 x Harlem Hill loop - I jogged over and made my way up the first time and realized as I finished the first loop that I just didn't have it in me to keep running! Switched to a powerwalk for loop two, but was consumed with negative but apt thoughts and called it after loop 2, walked home. (About 25min jogging, 45min brisk walk. It's not at all hot, but it must be 100% humidity, really disgusting)

The unwelcome conclusion: I'm pulling the plug on the Survival of the Shawangunks race. I'm barely keeping my head above water, and it's stupid to do something that's supposed to be for fun if it's bringing me stress rather than joy. Need to refocus on essentials, this is not essential - not least will make it easier to focus on powerlifting, running and I HOPE weight loss (one month in to the summer, I have not lost a single pound - and doing half-assed endurance sport training does NOT help in the matter of weight loss!).

Anyway, I am feeling very glum and grumpy, this is the mature decision but that does not mean I have to like it!

Short run!

Dragged heels all day on getting out there - really I should do it first thing, but I made a blunder and was waiting for a FreshDirect delivery that I only belatedly realized was actually scheduled for tomorrow.

Forgot to turn on my watch; also, it is MUCH rainier than I had quite imagined; and legs, esp. calves, felt like blocks of wood. That said, I always feel better after I do it - call it :25 or so....

Very short run!

I am absolutely tapped out! Was a struggle to get out there (and to stay out there - very sore quads from yesterday's weighted walking lunges, plus uncomfortably tight calves - stopped to stretch 'em out, that helped a bit), but I do feel a bit more human now. Just did :20 easy in Riverside Park - nice day, but if you wait till late afternoon it WILL be eighty degrees....

Going to try to run every day up through Thursday - on a plane Friday morning to Toronto for a weekend in Cottage Country with B. and friends, whether or not I get in a short run will really depend on timing & subjective self-assessment on arrival at the hotel in Gravenhurst. Have promised myself some combination of running and lake swimming on Saturday and Sunday (there is a fitness center at the hotel in case the weather is intolerably hot and humid - not a certainty, but always a risk!).

Bench!

Had a good session with Josh. We did 5 x 5 (at 105 I think?) and then some heavy single reps - first time at 125 I didn't make it (lack of mental focus), but I got it the second time round. Hahahaha, I am just looking forward to the day when I can do work sets at 135 - PLATED!

Had more ambitious plans for further working out, but based on how I was feeling yesterday, I decided to cut it short there. Will have 30min easy run at some point soon. Also just had yen to be HOME - I have dinner out later downtown, I need some hours of quiet time in the apartment with cats!

1hr upper body

Workout fail!

Hahahaha, it was entirely my own fault! Ran off to a meeting post-run without having a moment to eat OR drink lots of water. Ate properly around 12:30 (cheese and tomato on whole wheat, Greek yogurt with berries and granola - should have been more than sufficient, about 800 calories total) but found myself late afternoon as I wandered to Chelsea Piers from the subway feeling quite odd, despite having had a bottle of water on the train. Drank some herbal tea and realized hands were slightly shaking/sweat POURING off my head although I did not feel subjectively hot (if anything, the contrary). Realized it was most probably a low-blood-sugar situation (eat something immediately post-workout, readers! fasting 1:20 run plus almost 2-hour delay before eating = minor disaster latr on!), ate an emergency fake-Larabar, but it was pretty clear when I started warming up for my squats workout that there was absolutely nothing left in the tank. Not muscular fatigue as such, though some of that too - just residual emotional fatigue from a challenging week and TOTAL fueling fail!

Anyway I did some lightweight sets (at least I am hitting depth!), called it when my IT band sproingled on a front squat (it had already cramped up while I was doing the abs portion of the warmup exercises), we switched to less onerous stuff - did some goblet squats and then some walking lunges with lightish weights. Did get in a full hour, anyway, but it was a lesson to me (a) to respect emotional stress (b) to fuel properly and (c) not to try and do a long run earlier on in a day when I want to do a decent job with squats!

1hr lower body, compromised though not wrecked by fatigue and underfueling!

Run!

Yesterday I basically just couldn't get myself to leave the house! This run was on the schedule, I didn't want to do it right when I got up as I was worried about a few life and work tasks that really needed to get done - but by the time evening rolled around, I just didn't have it in me to get out for it! (Also, tactical error - I did shower in the morning, but then got dressed in running clothes - that style of compression sports bra becomes INTOLERABLY hot and uncomfortable after some hours...)

But this morning my 10am meeting was moved to 11am which meant that without getting up TOO early (though it was a scramble to get there on time, and I was warm and sweaty with wet hair) I could do it now. Beautiful, beautiful weather - hot in the sun, but perfect in the shade, low humidity - if only there were more summer days like this in NYC....

Schedule said 80min stopping every 10 for a stretching break, but as I was pressed for time, I just did it straight. VERY NICE TOO. Slow but nice!

:80 easy shuffle-jog

Sat-Sun-Mon

were ZIP for exercise, I was so tired that any time I wasn't actually talking to people I was huddled in bed! I wonder why I ever bothered to bring exercise clothes - in retrospect it was quite unrealistic.

I got home today from Philadelphia feeling utterly knackered, but a good gym session reinvigorated me. An hour of upper body with Josh (he is very sure that given that I can do 3 x 8 x 115 "board press" - i.e. only the top part of the lift, which is where I run into trouble - that I should be able to do 1 rep at 135, we will see!). Then I did an excellent spin workout ON MY OWN - realized riding small hills with Joanna Thursday that I currently have virtually NO cycling fitness & that I will be better off doing it on my own with HR monitor than going to a spin class that's not really cycling-oriented! So - 40min as 5 x 3min Friel zone 3/low zone 4, 2min recovery. Woo-hoo!

Had time during that ride to ponder what I am doing with the next month exercise-wise. I think the mantra is frequency, frequency, frequency - running frequency plus HILLS, cycling frequency plus INTENSITY/INTERVALS, swimming frequency with emphasis on technique. Doing the bike on my own also lets me move more expeditiously from lifting to next stage of workout, with less time to think the better of it....

1hr upper body
:40 spin!

ANOTHER GOOD DAY

Though not particularly epic! Lifted with Josh, that's always super-fun. Ate something, switched out pants for tri shorts and went to spin. Should really have swum for a bit afterwards (and was well-enough fueled - I don't eat before the first workout, so I do eat proper breakfast after the upper-body session), but minor irritants were distracting me (sprung internal thigh seam on tri shorts = incipient chafing, blister under cycling shoes from walking around in them yesterday too much, WAY too many hours with sweaty clothes on!) so I called it a day.

1hr upper body
:50 spin

A GOOD DAY

Basically it was a mental health day: life and work stress running fairly high (the work stress primarily because I'm hardly making any time to do any work, not because of anything intrinsically challenging!), last night I was in total mental overload - but it turned out that taking today for exercise with friends was totally the way to go. Best of all, I feel like I renewed my triathlon commitment - one thing that's on my mind has been that while it's no tragedy if I don't do the SOS race, I really do want to do it, it's my favorite race ever and it makes a lot of sense to me to spend about 3 months every year training for something like that. (At least it makes sense for now - may reconsider this in future.)

So I had a date to ride with Joanna in Prospect Park, and I haven't been on a bicycle in NYC since September, and the DREAD had just built up - I tried to weasel my way out of it this morning on the basis of light rain, but fortunately Joanna didn't let me off the hook! And of course it was then REALLY nice - nice to see her and catch up a bit, but also riding midday PP is pretty relaxing (barring some wayward young people doing irresponsible things!). So that really took the edge off, I feel like I officially rechristened my bicycle and rendered it usable by me. My IT band was pronging on the hill (need to tweak cleat placement on the shoe, it's clearly much askew) so I called it after not too much more than an hour - it must have been four loops (five loops? maybe - anyway that is either about 13 miles or about 16?). I HAVE NO BIKE FITNESS, I note - huffing and puffing going up the very small hill! That's because I have hardly been to a spin class since Joanna left, and haven't even been running hills either. Good reminder of what I should be doing - if there's no spin instructor currently doing hill-based workouts, I should just do them on my own at the gym as it suits me, on top of whatever outdoor riding I can manage - that has served me well in the past.

Had brought one change of (exercise) clothes as it wasn't clear that it would make sense to go home before going to powerlifting at 5 (I live far uptown), and indeed I decided to just take the train from Grand Army Plaza to Chambers St. and ride up the greenway to Chelsea Piers.

Had a very short swim - needed to finish up so that I could eat proper food and digest in time for powerlifting: 600 as 200 swim, 200 kick, 2 x 100 drill-swim by 25 (front scull, finger drag) - was still feeling quite keen to swim up to 1000 at least, but as I said, the thought of digestive intervals made me get out.

Had DELICIOUS hot entree at the cafe (they have one or two every day, not always appealing, but this one was exactly what I like - roast chicken breast with roast potatoes and broccoli rabe with chickpeas!). Digested. Met my friend B. who has become interested in powerlifting recently as well and brought him to SQUATS day.

And it was super! B. got some good tips from Josh, but the more amazing thing is that my squat has just suddenly come together! Still MUCH to work on of course, but I feel far more optimistic - this thing is actually HAPPENING.....

1+hr riding
600 yards swim
1hr lower body

Brief streak hiatus!

(I just couldn't make myself do even twenty minutes, let along the forty on the schedule. Going to take a few days off and start up again on Saturday. Really the run needs to happen FIRST thing when I get up in order for it not to start being too much of an obligation - will think about how to maximize chance of keeping it up....)

Swim!

So nice!  Really I just love swimming. Hoping to get much more back into it this year. Just a small one on my own at Chelsea Piers:

200 free
200 kick
200 IM drill
100 IM drill
100 IM
4 x (2 x 50 stroke-free) IM order on mostly 1:15

Felt very strong though slow. 1200 yards total - wanted to give myself mental boost in hope that it will help me get to masters swim tomorrow pm after lifting!

Bench!

Ah, great workout! Curiously taxing day (working with personal assistant to move stuff from home office to work office, also catching up on various other bits of paperwork), SO humid - I really need to start doing a second workout in the evening post-lifting, but I could tell that it would be a bit counterproductive today and that I would be wise just to start winding down for the evening!

Can't remember exactly how many sets I did, but let's say main work sets as 3 x (3 x 105) and 3 x (3 x 110). Incline press and overhead press with dumbbells, triceps. Very nice little workout.

1hr upper body

Run! (VERY SHORT!)

It was a chapter of accidents! If I'd gotten out the door twenty minutes earlier, I could have had the full thirty that was on the schedule; if I'd gotten out ten earlier, I still could have had a proper twenty (which I consider official minimum, unless on sand). Personal assistant coming at 10 to help me sort out workspaces and move books from home office to work office where there is more shelving. I figured she wouldn't mind if I got in the shower while she was here - but then in the elevator on the way downstairs, I was reminded that the water is off in the building 10-1! So I just had a very hasty twelve-minuter and raced home so that I could rinse off before the water went out...

:12 - new streak #1! (Clearly it is a better commitment structure for me to count streak days than to yet trust to daily habit!)....

Deadlifts!

Belated post - after a friend's evening birthday gathering and more drinks than are really advisable! ARGHHHH, I wish I hadn't broken my run streak, makes it that much easier to break again - I had a demanding day, got up 6:30am (NOT easy for me!) to finish reading dissertation for 10-12 defense, had another chapter to read for a 1:15 meeting, sorta fell onto the subway to get downtown for lifting and barely made it to A.'s birthday in Tribeca, though then found a home at the bar with 2 very dear old friends and stayed longer than I expected. Could notionally have run either before or after strength workout for 20 mins but somehow it just isn't appealing....

Had revelatory thoughts this weekend about the fact that I actually have a lot of promise as a powerlifter! More thoughts anon, but J. rightly points out that I may be slightly underrating accomplishments based on the fact that I am lifting with men - nothing I'm doing seems very impressive, but really the bench and deadlift are very good, and squat should catch up in a while - am already pretty near to be in a position to make the lifts to qualify for Nationals. (Check out Raw Totals here! Need to drop pounds, but numbers are seriously attainable even in highest weight class -

ANYWAY....

was a bit tired going in (didn't sleep much last night), set out to do 5 x 5 x 205 but curtailed to 5, 4, 3, 3 - good set regardless. Then 10 x 3 for speed/form at 135. Then some very fun rows with the farmer's-walk handles and 20lb (4 x 5lb) on each side (I think it was 4 x 12 at the full weight). No run - that is a sorry thing - hopefully will get on in tomorrow, though I again have a morning work obligation and am not sure I will be able to run first...

1hr deadlifts/rows!

Run!

:30 as 4:1. Humidity still pretty low, though it's hot once you're out of the shade. Curtailed more ambitious exercise plans as I am in a mild panic about life and work obligations: seeing a friend's 2pm matinee in the East Village (and a drink with friends after), got a dissertation to read for a defense tomorrow and another dissertation chapter as well, realized I'd better not be out of the house all day blowing my energy on non-essentials!

Week in review: not bad. Hit the essentials: 6 runs (broken streak!), 4 very good lifting sessions. Only one spin class and no swimming - hoping to put in some good days Monday to Saturday this week and then take a few days off (short runs if possible) while I'm in Philadelphia for my mother's husband's memorial.

:30 as 4:1

Long run!

Not perfect (suggestion was for Central Park loop adventure which involves HILLS, but I couldn't quite face getting over there), but let the perfect not be the enemy of the good! 90min even as 4:1 with two 10minute steady running stretches. Went up to the Little Red Lighthouse - forgot what a hive of sociability it is up there on a summer weekend night (overwhelming smell of roast meat and pot!) - but very nice running along the water. I was rather dreading getting out as my apartment still felt very hot and stuffy today, but in fact though it's still in the 80s, the humidity is much lower and it was really pretty pleasant.

Got some good reading done today for the most pressing work thing on my agenda - I have been rather panicking about how the summer's slipping away without me making significant progress on anything important, I need to GET FOCUSED!....

90min as 4:1 with 2 x 10min steady

Bench!

Ah, that was super-fun - these sessions are an amazing luxury...

Can't remember now exactly what work sets we did - maybe 4 x 6 x 6-second eccentric (descending) x 95, then "board press" for 4 x 4 x 125. I am definitely getting stronger. Misc. other stuff including triceps, head pull, back stuff.

I forgot my triathlon shorts and also didn't have running shoes, the sand volleyball court was occupied with people actually playing volleyball, so I didn't do anything else - strong suspicion that later I am going to be regretting not having polished off my daily run EARLIER!

1hr upper body

Squats!

(I was very happy right after this workout, only then I had a HORRIBLE trip home - it's close to 90F, even at 9 at night, and train home was grotesquely delayed - seems like it stopped for several minutes at EVERY station, each time leaving doors open to hot hot hot platform - at least I had a seat, but it was FAIRLY dreadful!)

SQUATS! Could tell right away that I was tired, and Josh tried a different tack - we did work set with only very light weight and combining each set with air squats (where curiously I get low enough easily and stay much more upright rather than leaning forward/rocking - this is MENTAL rather than primarily a strength limitation, the mental things are hardest to fight!). Something like 6 x (5 x 65, 10 x air squat). THEN he had a very good idea and made me FRONT squat which as if magically solved all my difficulties!

This is very heartening as I have been frustrated at lack of progress - now we really have something we can work with.

Didn't have time for too much else after that but did I think 5 x 10 x 42.5 one-arm dumbbell rows.

Decided not to go to swim workout afterwards as I wanted to let squat workout sink in and could tell that really my day had been long enough already (with not enough air-conditioning - heat caught up to me, only realized as I was leaving my apartment that really I should have had AC on in my office!).

Bonanza workout day tomorrow, long run Saturday, whatever I can manage Sunday (hopefully a double spin) - this can work....

1+hr squats!

Steamy #18

87F and disgustingly muggy. :20 easy! Calves very tight, not sure what to do about this....

#17

Just a short one in Riverside Park: :24 as 3:1. Absolutely gorgeous weather today, after a few overly sultry days....

Bench/run #16/walk

(Arghhh, I was in a good mood getting home but found some very frustrating mail that has caused gnashing of teeth - express-mailed checks in payment of inheritance tax last week to the Register of Wills in Philadelphia, needed to be postmarked by June 6 to get discount - thought it was safely under the wire at June 3 - only UPS has now returned them to me with the message COMPANY OR PERSON UNKNOWN, NOT DELIVERED!)

Anyway, GREAT bench workout - I think the main work set was initially going to be 4 x 10 x 85, but that weight came easy enough that after the first two we went up to 95 and did 8, 8, 6 for 3 more sets. Misc. other stuff.

Then I did the :40 as 3:1 that I didn't have time for earlier, en route HOME - it was warm but beautiful along the river - only my legs were SO SORE (calves very tight, but glutes and hamstrings REALLY feeling at the end of their tether!)....

Only made it to about 70th St., had decided in advance to walk rest of the way home and was fantasizing about the Gatorade I would get from the machine at the 79th St. boat basin - BUT IT WAS BUSTED! Very calorically depleted and dehydrated by the time I got home - also, my brisk walking pace was about the same as my 3:1 hobble-walk!!! - but it was a good evening of workout.

1hr upper body
:40 as 3:1 hobbledy-jog/walk
:40 walk (it's a little more than five miles total)

Lifting/spinning!

Hoping to add on a second triathlon-related workout (spin or swim) after lifting sessions. It worked pretty well today. I was fatigued earlier on in the deadlifts than would usually be the case, I expect my legs and back are still tired from Saturday evening's long run (work set should have been 4 x 10 x 170, but after the first two Josh called the third set at 7 - form breaking down a bit - and I split the last set into 2 sets of 5). Squatting is coming along - I am still SO frustrated that it's so much worse than my other two lifts, but I know the only thing to be done is not get discouraged and continue chipping away at it (certainly there is progress, it's just that it's not as much as I'd hoped for!). Did something like 4 x 12 x 65 just focusing on form. It is improving.

Got a red Powerade and then went to Dolores' spin class. It is a lot of high-cadence work, which I am not particularly good at but which is good for me - I was working in very light gears only, which makes me feel a little bit ashamed, but to some extent the only thing I really need to shoot for just now is TIME ON BIKE, and that will do....

1hr deadlifts/squats
1hr spin!

Streak #15

Hahahaha, day was not off to a very promising start - I didn't get up as early as I should have, and then when I DID get out the door, as it closed behind me I looked at the set of keys in my hand and realized it was the keys for Brent's condo rather than my running set! (Was tidying up yesterday and put away a bunch of extraneous keys for precisely this reason, only clearly I was spacing out and mistook the one for the other - they are not dissimilar in heft and attachments.)

Anyway, it was all remedied - I found the super downstairs and he sent a building staff member up to unlock the door. TAKE TWO: short easy run for streak day #15. I think I really am going to be able to make myself into a person who runs every day....

:24 as 3:1

ALLERGIES!

Arghhhh, had an hour on the schedule and was good for it too only allergies made me prudentially cut it short - I started sneezing almost right away, and eyes pretty much always feel weird at this time of year, but the more alarming thing was lungs - felt like particles of pollen were gunking things up and couldn't stop coughing. ANYWAY :30 as 3:1, beautiful weather indeed (the low humidity makes it seem magically nice). This can be counted a very good week #1 - I really only have an eight-week block....

(Then a week in Cayman that will still include much exercise, a week in London and Oxford where I'll be lucky to get in a couple decent workouts though I hope I'll have some short runs too, a week in Iceland that should have a lot of hiking and where we are staying at a hotel that not only has a quite reasonable gym itself but is located right next to a park that has a world-class gym, outdoor 50m heated pools AND A PETTING ZOO. In other words, that's three weeks with only sporadic exercise and inevitably lots of sausages, alcohol and patisserie.... then home with three weeks before school starts and an additional week (four total) before the Survival of the Shawangunks race, but I need to have made really good use of my time before traveling so that I'm not horribly cramming for those final weeks of August and early September....)

:30 as 3:1

Long run!

Key workout of the week. I was a little worried about getting it done - very late getting out the door, like it was almost dark already - but it turned out to be gorgeous. Not least because it's PERFECT running weather: high 60s, low humidity. Running along the Hudson was just heavenly, particularly on the way home as it grew less populated!

:30 as 3:1, then 3 sets of 10min as 4:1 with last 30s hard, 10min as 2:1, 2:1, 3:1, then 3:1 for last :30 home.

WOO-HOO!

Glorious irresponsible day of working out!

Ah, there is a pile of work I should be doing and that I am in fact looking FORWARD to doing, but I can't get it into it properly until I clear more life tasks (and those of course keep piling up as fast as I can cross the other ones off the list, arghhhh), so I just took the day off for MEGA-WORKOUT! It was delightful - I am a bit hungry and sleepy now, but in a very good mood (and will have dinner out with my brother and our adopted grandfather, so that's nice too).

First, a super session with Josh (bench, back). Woo-hoo! Got a solid honest 120, and we also tried something fun and new that has about the best name EVER: FUTURISTIC LIFTING! This involves taking weight you WANT to lift in the future and using a resistance band (around the middle of the bar and tethered at the top of the frame) to give you a bit of help - we are trying various stuff to get me used to the feel of the heavier weights and the "grind" of how you have to get 'em up. The band helps you initiate the upward movement off the chest - we did 135 and it worked pretty well.

(Goals by end of calendar year: 300+ deadlift, 140 bench, squats with perfect technique.)

Then L. and I did some running in the sand - my calf was pronging me after a couple, I am sorry to say, it's definitely not quite right - 10min total (shorter than what usually counts for streak, but 'cause it's sand I think it's allowed....) with warmup, 6 x :30 hard, :30 recovery, cooldown.

Then I ate two hard-boiled eggs and a bagel and went to SPIN CLASS (1hr easy - because of calf, kept gears fairly low and didn't do any standing work - Friel zone 2, basically) and then had a short SWIM. Gosh, I love being in the water! Looking forward to swimming a lot this summer - have taken the plunge, as it were, and decided to sign up for the masters swim program at Chelsea Piers as I do not seem to have found a TNYA workout that works for me since they canceled Columbia and City College (my two most convenient locations). That was 600 as 100 free, 4 x 100 as drill-swim by 25 (front scull, fists, finger-drag, catch-up), 100 IM easy (fly as 3-3-3 drill). Fun!

Summary: 1hr upper body; :10 sand run intervals; 1hr zone 2 spin; 600 yards swim.

Squats/undue self-criticism!

I am aware as an educator that this is absolutely idiotic - we all make progress unevenly in different arenas, and I should really just feel lucky that the deadlift and bench are coming along so easily and well rather than having excessive self-reproach that the squat is in comparison very poor! I WILL JUST HAVE TO BE PATIENT. I was walking back to the locker room and thinking MY BIRTHDAY WISH (that's July 21) IS THAT MY SQUATS SHOULD COME UP TO THE LEVEL OF MY OTHER LIFTS....

Anyway, we fortunately followed the OK but rather demoralizing squats part of the workout with some deadlifts, where I do much much better and feel more cheery again.

In theory it was 5 x 5 x 100, but my form really starts to break down towards the second half of each set, so I instead did 1 x 5 x 95, 2 x 5 x 100 and 1 x 3 x 100.

(The preposterous fact is that I did better with slightly heavier weights than this 5 x 5 on Tuesday with my bench - weights ran from 95 to 105, and I easily could have done them all at the heaviest weight! It's not that I can't squat heavier, I've done 135 easily and I would guess that I could probably do 170 or 175 without busting anything, but my form breaks down so quickly, it just doesn't make sense to do heavier work sets. Anyway I think what I really should be grateful for is that I have a very smart patient coach who won't let me overreach myself!)

Then a lovely 3 x 10 x 165 deadlift - I was getting tired, but it's still very enjoyable!

1.25hr strength WITH A SIDE HELPING OF FRUSTRATION

Streak #11

Really I want to develop the habit of being a person who runs every day - I think this is the way to do it. Still enjoying unseasonably cool temperatures (high 50s).

:24 easy (3:1)

Streak #10

It is most beautiful weather - in retrospect I OBVIOUSLY should have gone out this morning, but a set of mental contortions and high stress made me think I should wait till later and hopefully do a longer one - by the time I finished my day of tasks, though, longer was no longer at all plausible! Anyway very nice short one: :30 easy (4:1).

(I was so tired and anxious last night, I realized I needed to scale back unrealistically grand exercise plans and instead just sit at my desk and get stuff done - that was what I did - but I still unrealistically wanted to scale up the run - I never learn my lesson!)

Bench/spin!

Ah, I was out of the house for too long today - tired, and having unduly high anxiety about the ever-growing to-do list! All I want to be doing is exercising and getting back into my "own" work, but instead there are lots of school things and a dreadful slew of matters related to my father's estate....

Anyway lifting session was GREAT! Work set as 5 x 5 (95, 100, 105 - 2 on last) - I think that's right anyway. Did some other back stuff, then regrouped with a Powerade and went upstairs to spin class. Too much of the dreaded "running on pedals" for my taste, but it's OK, it will suit my schedule well in coming weeks to do this...

1.25hr lifting
.75hr spin

Streak #9

Hoping I can keep it up until I leave town for a few days on June 20. Just 20 min - gotta rush to a dissertation defense now. Beautiful cool green rainy weather!

:20 easy

Deadlifts!

8 weeks before next major travels, and I am DETERMINED to make every day count.

I like what we're doing on this cycle - thus far it's been deadlifts on Mondays and squats on Thursdays, we'll keep that as main focus but add the other lift as a secondary focus - I will only get better at squatting if I do it at least twice a week, this is very good...

Main deadlift work set: 5 x 5 x 165

Squats for technique: 2 x 10 with bar, 3 x 10 x 65

Had to rush out, hoping I can do "extended" workouts for most of this month. Also wrote in tentative 10:30am Friday workout for second bench/back workout....

Run #8

The good: RUNNING AT SIXTY DEGREES IN LIGHT RAIN IS GLORIOUSLY ENJOYABLE!

The bad: some tenderness in left calf made me end workout a little early. Have been having grandiose thoughts re: mega-streak, but will have to use common sense on this!

The ugly: life re-entry is OVERWHELMING. This is purely a psychological phenomenon, nothing more "needs" to be done today than it did any day last week, but coming home and facing the logistical tangle that is life sends me into a tizzy - it took me a while to get my head together to get out for a run. This is really my great problem in life, I am determined to tackle it and summer months are a good time to start.

Anyway, :40 as 4:1 with first two for warmup, then last 30 seconds of each interval hard (should have done :50, but decided to walk the rest of the way home - tender rather than painful, but it was affecting gait)