Friday, October 29, 2010

Quick Recap

Been updating more frequently with scheduling updates, but havent really given recaps, so, here goes. Since the last real recap, its been going pretty well. Currently wrapping up Week 2. Some high- (or low) lights:

I'm struggling more with pull ups than I thought I would. Didnt see much improvement this past C/B session, which really is the third time, since I did a Week 0. Legs & Back went well, first time I've done it this round. But I was REALLY sore for about 3 days. Mostly in  the glutes and calves (since I did the calf raises on the stairs). Thighs were a bit sore, but nothing crazy, which was expected after months of running. Did plyo this past wed, and it seemed tougher than the previous time, probably because it was a humid day. Was still able to complete it without extra breaks, and keeping up pretty decently with "the kids". Nothing spectacular with Shoulders and Arms last night, only highlight is that the biceps are feeling stronger (and the reps/weight show it). Still need to expand my weights....

So I'm keeping up with my plan so far, will hopefully knock out Yoga tonight. I may do a run tomorrow instead of Legs & Back, but I really dont want to skip it. But I know if I do L&B on tomorrow, I would be able to run for a couple days after. Maybe I'll run on Sat. then L&B on Sun, but I want a rest day.....hmmmm....

'Till next time!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Week 2 Progress

Day 1: Volleyball, check.
Day 2: Chest/Back, check!
Day 3: Plyo X, check!
Day 4: Shoulders/Arms, check!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Rest Day

So I didnt do Plyo yesterday, mainly because my calves and glutes were still EXtremely sore from Legs & Back on friday. I didnt want to risk that, and then have volleyball tonight. I wanted to go for a bike ride, but didnt think my glutes would be up for that either. So I just made it a rest day. So this week's plan looks like:

Day 1 (Monday)Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day7
VolleyballChest & BackPlyo or RunShoulders & ArmsYoga Legs & BackPlyo or Run*
*(whichever wasn't done earlier in the week)

And just another note: Will be doing a 5-mile race on Friday, Nov. 7!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Progress

10/21 Legs & Back: DONE!
10/22 Shoulders& Arms: Complete!
10/23 Yoga X: COMPLETE!
10/24 Plyo? We'll see....

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Plan

This is more a reminder for myself of how I'm going to handle the coming days...as of the previous update, I had volleyball that night. Last night (thur) I did Legs & Back (a more thorough recap later). The plan, as of now is:

Tonight (Fri): Shoulders & arms
Saturday: Yoga
Sunday: Plyo
Monday: Volleyball
Tue: Chest & Back

This will put 2 days in between plyo days (instead of 1, which would be....dangerous, not that 2 is all tha much better....haha). At least if I go with whats scheduled. I may do another 5 mile run on Wed instead, weather permitting.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Obstacles...

So last Wed., I actually got up early in the morning again, to pound out Shoulders and Arms, only to feel, somewhat "not right". I felt it was probably better to not do the workout and crawled back into bed (contrary to popular belief, I actually REALLY wanted to do the workout and was kinda bummed!). So, turned out my hunch was correct, and I ended up having a stomach bug.  Fortunately for me, it was only about a 24 hour thing, but it did sideline me from working out for three days in total.

Therefore, on Saturday, to sort of make up for the missed days, I did the first half of Yoga X (which should have been done on Thur), and then jumped into Shoulders & Arms. All I had were my 30 lb dumbbells, which were ok for about the first few moves, and had to modify from there. Also had a pair of 10 pounders, which I used for lateral raise type moves. Took another rest day on Sunday (seriously, was going to go for a ride, but was darn tired,  dang it!). But since this supposed first week didnt go very well, I decided to call it 'Week 0', and dive in the next day as my REAL week 1.

I already have to modify my schedule a bit. But was able to get C&B in on Monday (some moves slightly better, others, no as much, I suspect Saturday's Shoulders and Arms having to do something with it). Yesterday, I did a 5 mile run in CP, averaging about a 10:15 min-mile, which to date, is my best pace for that distance, EVER. I'm still wondering how people do like, 7 min-min miles. Crazy.

So today should have been Shoulders & Arms again, but I have volleyball. So, in the next 4 days (Thur-Sun), I need to somehow squeeze in: S&A, Yoga, Legs & Back, and Plyo; keeping in mind it'll be C&B again on Monday. As you can see, its quite leg intensive- so this will be a bit of challenge in how to put it all together.

'Till next time.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Still On Track (Sort of...)

I'm not to sure how my recaps ended up on a Tues, but I guess I'll keep that going until it changes again. So I had volleyball last tuesday, worked up quite a sweat. Took Wed and Thur off (was significantly sore from Yoga!). On Friday, I went out to CP and ran 5 miles.  Being that its been about 2 weeks since I last ran (Cow Harbor 10k), it was a pretty good run. After using the first couple miles as a warm up, I actively tried to push the pace a little bit, to be just outside of my comfort zone, with my average pace being 10:30 for the entire run. Broken down into mile splits (which Nike+ now has), after my warm up mileage, I was actually closer to a 10 min-mile, which is much faster than I had been running.  So all in all, was very happy with that run.

Had every intention to bike at least one day over the 3 day weekend, but it was nixed by trips to Ikea! haha...so though I did not take the bike out on saturday, I did remain active. How you ask? By putting together Ikea furniture! Ok, a bit of a stretch, but it beats sitting around doing nothing.

"Day 1: Chest and Back (~50 min)
One word describes this work out, INTENSE. workout essentially alternates chest (push-ups) and back (pull-ups). and on top of that, after you're done with that, you tackle Ab Ripper X, which is 339 reps of various ab exercises. the key to chest and back? PACE YOURSELF. you think you're all manly and do as many reps as you can in the beginning, when you repeat the set, forget it, i was down to 3 reps because i ran out of gas."

As I'm trying to restart the X, I thought it'd be fun to revisit my first post, from 2 years ago, when I first started P90X.  I quoted it above. I thought I was more descriptive, but I was not. And that last part about being down to 3 reps, yea, that was ON MY KNEES. So Monday I did in fact jump into Chest & Back. and man, its every bit as tough as it was on that day over 2 years ago. I tried to take it easy, but even so, I was pretty spent, ALMOST thought about not doing Round 2, but was determined to. I did have to skip Dive Bombers cuz quite frankly, I couldnt even do 1 at that point. Hoping next week will be better.

and FINALLY, another pat on the back as I, WOKE UP EARLY TO DO PLYO THIS MORNING!! Go t up at 6am, washed up, changed, downed a protein drink, and got started around 6:20.  Overall, it went well, I was able to keep up and not add any extra breaks (thank you half marathon), and my legs did get a good workout. Jump knee tuck and Rock Star hops are still the 2 most exhausting moves, ever. But as of right now, as I write this post, my legs feel fine, and I'm not even really sore from the workout.  In fact, I'm tempted to even say it doesnt feel like I actually DID plyo this morning. Perhaps I dreamt that I did...haha. But no, I KNOW I did =).

Ok, hoping the rest of the week goes as smoothly as the last couple of days, and hoping that I continue to get up to workout in the morning. Thanks for reading, 'til next time!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A Quick Update

It has been about ten days since the Cow Harbor Run, and everything is still going as planned. Asides from volleyball the the tuesday after the race, I pretty much took the rest of the week off. As further proof of my lack of cross training when I was training for the Half, I was moderately sore after volleyball. And honestly, I dont find volleyball that demanding!

Saturday (one week removed from the race) I took the bike out and did 12 miles. I did take a mini break in the middle, so the first 6.3 miles took me about 29 min, then another 6.3 miles took me 27 minutes. This included some congestion due to walkers and/or cars, and not really busting it all out. So I'm thinking I should be able to do the bike portion (of the Sprint Triathlon) in around 40-45 min. Now that I'm thinking about it, if I can do each leg of the Tri in 40 min, and with a finishing time of about 2 hours, I'd be pretty darn happy with that!

Finally, I did Yoga X last night, and well, it left me pretty exhausted. I actually did the whole thing (sans the "ohmms" at the end). I was completely wiped out at one point, and actually had to pause for some hydration. I was able to do all the push-ups that are thrown in. Definitely lost a good amount of flexibility in my legs, especially the muscles which are in high demand when running (like the hip flexors).

Have volleyball again tonight, then hoping to hit up Yoga X again, maybe thur or friday. Take the bike out again during the weekend, then its X time.