Lifts!

Gosh, today has been utterly overwhelming - I was out of the house for too much of it, that was the main thing, but also wrangling bicycle and soft case on subway to the bike store so they could pack it for me (and then getting it home again - it was good that they got to it today, though) has done me in! It was a very good workout with Josh and Howard, though. Let me see if I can get this right:

5 x 10 x bar squats (concentrating on technique for now, and figuring that even this very low-level submaximal work can lead to strength gains - I'm now going to do everything slow on the way down for extra work without extra craziness!)

slow deadlifts: 4 x 4 x 131 (3 seconds down, 3 seconds up)

goblet squats: 5 x 6 x 37.5 (hold 3 seconds at bottom)

band gunshow x 100

And a bunch of rolling and stretching - my whole left leg is now completely messed up, if this knee business is still bothering me when I get back from Cayman I'd better get someone to take a look at it! I definitely need more warmup - it's worst after I've been sitting a while later in the day after a workout....

Spin!

Haven't been to a Monday class for a while. Joanna is missed but it was nice to see some of the other familiar faces

:45 spin

Endurance ride!

Very good final indoor ride with Joanna in her studio. Happy about how this turned out - locking it in as a regular Sunday commitment (this was #6 of 6, with a couple weeks off over Thanksgiving) has worked extremely well. Suddenly seized with huge excitement about the Mercuryman aquabike - it's not a performance race or anything, but it should be really fun....

2hr ride

Run!

Am now on virtually nocturnal schedule so ditched notion of trying to make it to 9am masters swim and slept late. Just had nice 1hr easy run - nothing dramatic...

1hr easy

Holiday run!

That was extremely nice. I took Advil beforehand as my back was rather sore last night and when I got up, it completely alleviated back and knee pain but my right glute-hamstring attachment was very tight and sore throughout - it's always like that the day after deadlifting.

Not quite as muggy as yesterday but still very balmy running weather! 60F, virtually no wind, still rather damp and overcast. Slightly modified Coach's workout as I am trying to minimize walk time while here (I will need it more in Cayman for heat management, both indoors and out).

1.5hr as 16:00 easy, then 15 x (2:30 easy, :30 hard, 1:00 walking recovery), cooldown

Day of bliss!

The only thing that could make it better would be a writing session, but I'm not at "production of quota" stage on anything currently so it wasn't an option. Very good day, though! It is ridiculously warm and mild (it did finally mostly stop raining, though it's still damp). Rode bike down to Chelsea Piers in short sleeves (into an awful headwind - when I passed the heliport at 30th St. the wind sock was pointing obnoxiously right at me). Did a slightly curtailed version of the lower-body workout Josh sent me, then met up with Lauren for spinning, stretching and a snack in the cafe. Ride home was blissfully easy with wind at my back!

10mi bike
:40 spin
:45 lower body

Had to make a couple compromises on the work set from Josh. First of all my hamstrings were ridiculously tight even after I'd warmed up (and I'd been toiling against wind on bike). Work set for deadlifts was assigned as 4 x 8 @ 185 which even at the best of times I think would require moral support/egging on from an onlooker, and I didn't think I had it in me to do it on my own. Based on Josh's comments on Tuesday I thought he'd prefer me to keep the weight same and lower reps, so that was what I did. Then my back was so tight that I didn't want to do anything extreme on the goblet squats. So:

deadlift: 4 x 5 x 185
goblet squat: 5 x 10 x 37.5
band hip thrust: 3 x 10 @ red band (4-second pause at top)
plank: 5 x :30 plank, :30 recovery

Skipped the lat pulldown as I couldn't get the machine set up properly and I was running out of time before spin class anyway. Good cumulative workout though!

Run!

A very good one, too. Not beautiful outside (very damp and overcast), but mild - near 60. Modified run to suit personal taste/mood of the day.

1:10 as

:20 easy
15 x (1:00 hard, 1:00 walking recovery)
:20 easy

Lovely!

Upper body!

It was a very good workout, though having also had three long grading sessions (everything is now read and marked and I just need to enter final grades into the computer) I now feel utterly knackered and forlorn. Hopefully things will seem a bit brighter in the morning!

Not sure I can remember everything now, but it was like this:

bench with football bar (it weighs a little less than a regular bar) + 25s: 10, 8, 8, 7.5 (spotter wanted to count it as 8 but it only went up with help)

standing shoulder press with football bar: was set as 3 x 10, I think I was only on eights by the last set

circuit x 3:

incline bench (set as 8, but we are short the appropriate weights, I was using 27.5 and did) 8, 6, 4
incline row (10 x 27.5)

One other thing, what was it? Oh, skull-crushers again with football bar: 4 x 15.

Alas, no Thursday morning workout after all, and I can't come to the makeup one tomorrow at 5 as I annoyingly have a haircut appointment I can't change (it is overdue, hair in my eyes is making me crazy). Will run instead but I think I just don't like it that we won't be lifting as a group again till Monday! The gym is only closed on the 25th, however, so really I am fine - will have a good run tomorrow morning and a short one Thursday plus midday spin at Chelsea Piers with Lauren, who is in town for the holidays!

OK, gotta get these grades in now....

Nice rainy run!

Hahahahaha, I like running in the rain (and it's very mild) but I would have donned somewhat different garb if I had realized quite how rainy it actually was: a visor to keep water out of my eyes (and no glasses!), a less absorbent jacket....

Anyway did :40 as 4:1 with first two for warmup and then 6 x (3:30 easy, :30 hard, 1:00 walking recovery). Wanted to go longer but at the :20 mark I was so drenched I thought I'd better start for home - didn't have any money in my pocket and suddenly started envisaging bad outcomes!

Lifts!

Ah, it was particularly nice today - it's quiet at the gym because of the approaching holiday, and I think we had good focus. That said, my mental block on squatting seems to me as active as ever, hahahaha, what a DISASTER! Went back to square one after a very poor first set and did this with a box under me (with just bar and box everything is perfect, it's uncanny - I think that feeling of weight on the back is just something that's hard to get used to?):

box squats: 6 x 10 x 45

deadlift (speed): 10 x 3 x 141 (on 1:00)

dumbbell hamstring curls: 5 x 10 x 38.5

Not sure quite how that added up to 1:20 but it did! H. was deadlifting heavy and doing deficits, C. and P. were both benching and doing some additional conditioning, we were lifting according to a rota?

Also: H. got us all CPNY Powerlifting trucker caps as a holiday present! Pictures to follow, we didn't take any this evening....

2hr ride...

(Which is not very long as cycling goes, but it was good to get up to that mark at least....)

Was having a hard time getting HR high enough in the first hour - a bit of fatigue (taxing week), a bit of lack of concentration - but I felt like things came right in the second hour.

2hr indoor ride

Glorious long run!

I was feeling very sheepish as I inadvertently slept all day. In retrospect, it's not surprising - I very regularly sleep for twelve hours on a Friday night at the end of a taxing week, and last night I was out in Brooklyn at dear old friends' holiday party until late, only got home around 2 and couldn't wind down to go to sleep till after 3. Woke up briefly at 10:15 to feed importunate cats, went back to sleep and only woke up again at 3:45!

Which meant it was getting dark as I got out for my long run, so I abandoned the more detailed plans that required checking a watch (it has an indiglo button but it's a pain needing to press it to see where I am on the clock) and just did 1:40 straight. It was lovely - chilly and rather windy, especially on the way out, but pleasantly deserted and genuinely enjoyable. Happy about this - I like this time of year....

1:40 easy run

Run!

I truly did not have it in me to get out this morning. But I had a window in the early evening that made sense, and am very happy that I did indeed get out for thirty minutes. Not especially cold (mid-40s?) but VERY windy! This day has had a lot of human contact and a short run will give me fortitude for further socializing (lobby Xmas party downstairs, then old friends' annual party in Brooklyn). Fortitude such that I am at least TOYING with the idea of wearing a dress, though I suspect I will enjoy myself more in jeans and a t-shirt....

:30 windy dark run!

D/S!

Pleasant surprise to get to lifting and find out we were doing deadlifts first and then squats. Work set was assigned as 4 x 3 but weight was too heavy for me to execute that fully! So:

DL 231lb (3, 1, 1, 1)

pause squats (4 seconds at the bottom) 4 x 3 x 65

(I'm still sticking with really light weights and working on technique - it feels a lot better....)

150 abs with band

100 "gunshow"

Spin!

Morning work stuff ran a bit late and I was ten minutes late for class, which I hate, but it's a great workout even curtailed like that. :35 with mostly short high-cadence intervals (seated and standing). This is hard which means it must be good for me.

Hanging around the gym cafe now and trying to motivate myself to write two letters of recommendation that have been eliciting strong procrastinatory impulses! Squats later and then the gym so-called "member appreciation" party which I think I will stay for (or at least do preliminary scoping out of free food and drink - you can take the professor out of graduate school, but you can't take the graduate student out of the professor)....

:35 intervals