It's been a long while since I've posted. Mostly because I've been busy, and too lazy to jot down my mileage or workout stuff. My right knee is still bugging me, so I haven't ran for two weeks. It has shifted from my ITB to the proximal attachment of my right gastroc.
I just finished a week of leave before our deployment in a month. It was awesome! Charles and I went to the Big Island of Hawaii for a few days. Did some volcano stuff, black sand beaches, refuge camp, the southern most point in the US, horseback ride through a spectacular valley, snorkeled off the Kona coast, watched dolphins and sea turtles from a boat, and drove up to the best observatory location in the world, Muana Kea.
Today, a large group of people from the Navy Band and a couple civilians went skydiving. It was incredible! The most intense rush of my life! I'm addicted.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
All Mixed Up
Yesterday, Taylor and I exercised earlier than normal due to a noon-o-clock rehearsal. At 10 am, I took him through 800m intervals at his goal pace for the PRT next week. 10:08 for 1.5 miles, so roughly 3:23.3 per half mile.
After almost a mile warm up, we ran 3 800's with 1:30 jog in between. He did great! The first interval was a bit fast, 3:13. The next, and bit slow: 3:25. The last, solid: 3:22. He was getting tired, but felt like he could do one more. Perfect! Another almost mile cool down, then PT. I felt good in the run...nice cool down from the race on Saturday. Thanks for the encouragement and positive comments regarding my previous post. I sometimes forget why I run.
For PT, we were going to start the push up overload workout but decided to wait until after Taylor takes the test. So we did the 11 mixed up push ups with an equal number of Atomic Sit ups.
Felt pretty good. The one arms are actually beginning to look like real push ups!
After a moment of rest, we did a descending pyramid of pull ups, 15, 10, 5. Felt okay.
Totals:
Run ~3 miles
Push ups: 110
Sit ups: 110
Pull ups: 30
******
In response to an inquiry about modified pull ups, I'll explain:
Usually, beginners/females initially lack the upper body strength to do a proper pull up. To encourage improvement and similar workload, the modified pull up makes it possible to work the same muscles in a slightly different fashion.
The Modified Pull Up:
Using a short pull up bar, or a single dip bar, place hands in a regular grip position (palms away), and walk you feet forward until your body is at an angle, resting on your heels, but letting your arms support most of your weight. Straighten arms to lower body, then pull up until chin touches or passes slightly above bar. Lower. Repeat.
After almost a mile warm up, we ran 3 800's with 1:30 jog in between. He did great! The first interval was a bit fast, 3:13. The next, and bit slow: 3:25. The last, solid: 3:22. He was getting tired, but felt like he could do one more. Perfect! Another almost mile cool down, then PT. I felt good in the run...nice cool down from the race on Saturday. Thanks for the encouragement and positive comments regarding my previous post. I sometimes forget why I run.
For PT, we were going to start the push up overload workout but decided to wait until after Taylor takes the test. So we did the 11 mixed up push ups with an equal number of Atomic Sit ups.
Felt pretty good. The one arms are actually beginning to look like real push ups!
After a moment of rest, we did a descending pyramid of pull ups, 15, 10, 5. Felt okay.
Totals:
Run ~3 miles
Push ups: 110
Sit ups: 110
Pull ups: 30
******
In response to an inquiry about modified pull ups, I'll explain:
Usually, beginners/females initially lack the upper body strength to do a proper pull up. To encourage improvement and similar workload, the modified pull up makes it possible to work the same muscles in a slightly different fashion.
The Modified Pull Up:
Using a short pull up bar, or a single dip bar, place hands in a regular grip position (palms away), and walk you feet forward until your body is at an angle, resting on your heels, but letting your arms support most of your weight. Straighten arms to lower body, then pull up until chin touches or passes slightly above bar. Lower. Repeat.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Ford Island
10K race today. We started on the Ford Island bridge, ran around the island, crossed the bridge again, then finished on a soccer field just outside the gate. It was a cool course because the bridge is hilly, the island is flat, and I got to see more of it that I do on gigs.
That said, it sucked. I felt horrible! The lack of running has finally caught up. I'm not even close to the racing shape I'd like to be in, and I'm making novice mistakes. For example, the first mile, I was running with a group of Navy guys, until I realized they were the ones who dominated the Aloha Run. 43:00 and change compared to my 52:00. With that realization, I knew I couldn't keep up, so I slowed down. But it was too late, I'd already ran the first mile WAY too fast. The rest of the race, I was just trying to maintain an even stride so I wouldn't die.
I sound like little kid, but there was a strong headwind, which helped cool me off (it was hot), and slowed me down at the same time. You win some, you lose some. Enough complaining.
The last mile, I finally started feeling smooth. I love rolling hills because it gives me a reason to focus and push rather than just cruising on flats. Remember the country hills in Lincoln just past 84th and Leighton? I'd always do tempos and LT's faster there than on Murdock. Hills man. Good stuff. Plus, I had to be strong for this other Navy guy who was fading. As I passed him, I told him to keep up and finish with me, so he jumped right on my heels and stayed there. People helping people.
So, although I may be a whiny bitch today, I'll train harder and rock the next one.
5:47, 5:58, 6:33, 6:41, 6:45, 6:50, :55
39:27
******
We went hiking this afternoon. Dragon's Nostril. We all got wet. It was awesome.
That said, it sucked. I felt horrible! The lack of running has finally caught up. I'm not even close to the racing shape I'd like to be in, and I'm making novice mistakes. For example, the first mile, I was running with a group of Navy guys, until I realized they were the ones who dominated the Aloha Run. 43:00 and change compared to my 52:00. With that realization, I knew I couldn't keep up, so I slowed down. But it was too late, I'd already ran the first mile WAY too fast. The rest of the race, I was just trying to maintain an even stride so I wouldn't die.
I sound like little kid, but there was a strong headwind, which helped cool me off (it was hot), and slowed me down at the same time. You win some, you lose some. Enough complaining.
The last mile, I finally started feeling smooth. I love rolling hills because it gives me a reason to focus and push rather than just cruising on flats. Remember the country hills in Lincoln just past 84th and Leighton? I'd always do tempos and LT's faster there than on Murdock. Hills man. Good stuff. Plus, I had to be strong for this other Navy guy who was fading. As I passed him, I told him to keep up and finish with me, so he jumped right on my heels and stayed there. People helping people.
So, although I may be a whiny bitch today, I'll train harder and rock the next one.
5:47, 5:58, 6:33, 6:41, 6:45, 6:50, :55
39:27
******
We went hiking this afternoon. Dragon's Nostril. We all got wet. It was awesome.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Breakfast
I ended a fast of running today. Hadn't really run since Sunday. Biked to work and stuff, but didn't run. Today was the mock PFA for the running group. Since I'm a Command Fitness Leader, I administered the test. Thus, didn't get to do the "workout."
At lunch, I ran 6 miles alone. It was nice and hot, and with the 10K coming up Saturday, figured I should do some quick running. After a mile warm up, I ran the next 4 miles alternating between 3:00 on, 2:00 off. The on pace was at or a bit faster than a 6:00 mile each time. Was able to fit 6 intervals within the four miles. The last recovery tied into the last mile of the run. Overall, felt pretty good. The legs were sluggish at first, but quickly remembered how to go fast. The last three quick intervals were kind of painful due to a massive side stitch. I'd forgotten how bad those hurt. Damn them. Damn the stitch.
7:52, 6x3:00 on, 2:00 off, last 2:00 was really 0:22, then 8:04
Total: 44:23
Faster on Saturday. Must go faster.
******
On a side note, or actually, a front and center note, I had my first real interview today and kicked ass! The Captain was most impressed with my intellect and appearance. It pays to run!
At lunch, I ran 6 miles alone. It was nice and hot, and with the 10K coming up Saturday, figured I should do some quick running. After a mile warm up, I ran the next 4 miles alternating between 3:00 on, 2:00 off. The on pace was at or a bit faster than a 6:00 mile each time. Was able to fit 6 intervals within the four miles. The last recovery tied into the last mile of the run. Overall, felt pretty good. The legs were sluggish at first, but quickly remembered how to go fast. The last three quick intervals were kind of painful due to a massive side stitch. I'd forgotten how bad those hurt. Damn them. Damn the stitch.
7:52, 6x3:00 on, 2:00 off, last 2:00 was really 0:22, then 8:04
Total: 44:23
Faster on Saturday. Must go faster.
******
On a side note, or actually, a front and center note, I had my first real interview today and kicked ass! The Captain was most impressed with my intellect and appearance. It pays to run!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Dizzy
Today Taylor and Karl joined me at lunch, and Meredith tagged along again. Bryan, in addition to recovering from ITBS is undergoing physical therapy for his right shoulder. A few months ago he re-injured an old injury, and like any regular guy, kept exercising and surfing with it. He has taken the last two weeks off and should be able to join again next week.
Today's beat down added dips to the pyramid. Thus, each set consists of a certain number of pull ups, double push ups, triple sit ups, and the dips equaled push ups.
This sucked. I'm still working at getting comfortable again with the regular pyramid, even without the extra set of 10 at the top. Adding dips made this even more hurtful. But we pushed through.
Karl is getting better at pull ups! He started doing regular ones, which used to be impossible a month ago, and switched to modified on about set 6 going up. Meredith did modified pull ups (I explained to her that it's a better workout than just bouncing off the ground for each rep), as well as modified dips. I was proud of her effort again, but this second expedition proved too overwhelming again as she started cutting back reps at my advice, and tapped out at the top. Good showing though! As I mentioned before, she used to fake illness to get out of PT, and is now willing to at least try my workouts.
Taylor is a beast at dips. He pushed through more than I, until he got nauseous and almost puked. I suppose it might be a mental competition. Since I've done this longer, I suppose I can tell when my body is simply complaining, or if it's on the verge of breakdown. When my triceps and the attachment point of my traps at the base of the skull were REALLY screaming on the top set, I dropped off, shook them out, then did the last two. Taylor kicked ass and pushed all the way through. On rung 9 coming down, he took a time out. No worries. Better to take a break than kill yourself. He jumped back in at 6 and was careful coming back down.
Similar story for Karl. He got dizzy, took a break, got some water, and jumped in at 5.
Similar story for me. I could feel a headache/dizziness coming on after the top. So I just took longer breaks and payed closer attention to how each rep felt.
MVPs for all!
Totals:
100 Pull ups
200 Push ups
300 Sit ups
200 Dips
******
Everyone was too tired to run, so I trust them to do it on their own tonight.
Bryan came over after work and did some pool running with me again. We did a 10 minute warm up, then 3 on, 2 off, twice. Then a cool down and some underwater stuff.
Today's beat down added dips to the pyramid. Thus, each set consists of a certain number of pull ups, double push ups, triple sit ups, and the dips equaled push ups.
This sucked. I'm still working at getting comfortable again with the regular pyramid, even without the extra set of 10 at the top. Adding dips made this even more hurtful. But we pushed through.
Karl is getting better at pull ups! He started doing regular ones, which used to be impossible a month ago, and switched to modified on about set 6 going up. Meredith did modified pull ups (I explained to her that it's a better workout than just bouncing off the ground for each rep), as well as modified dips. I was proud of her effort again, but this second expedition proved too overwhelming again as she started cutting back reps at my advice, and tapped out at the top. Good showing though! As I mentioned before, she used to fake illness to get out of PT, and is now willing to at least try my workouts.
Taylor is a beast at dips. He pushed through more than I, until he got nauseous and almost puked. I suppose it might be a mental competition. Since I've done this longer, I suppose I can tell when my body is simply complaining, or if it's on the verge of breakdown. When my triceps and the attachment point of my traps at the base of the skull were REALLY screaming on the top set, I dropped off, shook them out, then did the last two. Taylor kicked ass and pushed all the way through. On rung 9 coming down, he took a time out. No worries. Better to take a break than kill yourself. He jumped back in at 6 and was careful coming back down.
Similar story for Karl. He got dizzy, took a break, got some water, and jumped in at 5.
Similar story for me. I could feel a headache/dizziness coming on after the top. So I just took longer breaks and payed closer attention to how each rep felt.
MVPs for all!
Totals:
100 Pull ups
200 Push ups
300 Sit ups
200 Dips
******
Everyone was too tired to run, so I trust them to do it on their own tonight.
Bryan came over after work and did some pool running with me again. We did a 10 minute warm up, then 3 on, 2 off, twice. Then a cool down and some underwater stuff.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Lazy Sunday
Slept in 'til 10:00. Awesome!
Got up, ate some of the quiche I made yesterday morning. It is kick-ass.
Had a banana and some juice. Played some Mafia Wars on Facebook. Read some "Timeline," by Michael Crichton.
Was planning on going for an 8 miler, but two miles in, my knee pained. Took a moment to stretch, and had no further problems. However, decided to only go 6. Same route as yesterday.
7:43, 7:40, 7:41, 7:41, 7:38, 7:37
46:02
Nice even splits!
Got up, ate some of the quiche I made yesterday morning. It is kick-ass.
Had a banana and some juice. Played some Mafia Wars on Facebook. Read some "Timeline," by Michael Crichton.
Was planning on going for an 8 miler, but two miles in, my knee pained. Took a moment to stretch, and had no further problems. However, decided to only go 6. Same route as yesterday.
7:43, 7:40, 7:41, 7:41, 7:38, 7:37
46:02
Nice even splits!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Nice and Steady
Good weather today. No surprise there, though. Same weather as any other day.
Ran a steady 6 on the trail about 3/4 mile from my place.
Felt pretty good. Passed some natives fishing of the bridge, some homeless in the park, some factory workers at the plant, and some other runners/bikers/walkers on the trail. It's always fun passing bikers when I'm only running 7:40s.
In the fourth mile, out of nowhere, my right knee had some sharp pains. This time it felt more like the hamstring attachments than the IT band. Not sure what's up there. Might go to physical therapy after the race next Saturday.
8:13, 7:37, 7:38, 7:29, 7:01, 7:48
45:39
Happy weekend to all.
Ran a steady 6 on the trail about 3/4 mile from my place.
Felt pretty good. Passed some natives fishing of the bridge, some homeless in the park, some factory workers at the plant, and some other runners/bikers/walkers on the trail. It's always fun passing bikers when I'm only running 7:40s.
In the fourth mile, out of nowhere, my right knee had some sharp pains. This time it felt more like the hamstring attachments than the IT band. Not sure what's up there. Might go to physical therapy after the race next Saturday.
8:13, 7:37, 7:38, 7:29, 7:01, 7:48
45:39
Happy weekend to all.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Pool
Spent a lot of time in the pool this week. Decided to take the week off since I was being lazy, and my right knee still feels like it wants to develop ITBS.
Pool running, treading water, and doing hypoxic stuff. Fun!
Pool running, treading water, and doing hypoxic stuff. Fun!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
So it's okay
I haven't run since Sunday. The legs hurt, and I'm lazy.
Bike a lot today.
I feel lazy.
But I met a girl on Sunday, so it's okay. ;-)
Christy.
Bike a lot today.
I feel lazy.
But I met a girl on Sunday, so it's okay. ;-)
Christy.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Trails and Hills
Today after church I decided to run on location. It's a beautiful part of the island with lots of trails, hills, mountains, etc.
Only went 6.5 miles...I got tired very quickly!
First mile: all trail, mostly uphill, 11:57
2nd mile: some trail, downhill road, 8:02
3rd mile: uphill road, back on trail: 11:58
4th mile: left the trails, downhill road: 7:32
5th mile: hills in cemetery, 7:38
6th mile: exit cemetery, uphill road to church, 7:24
last half mile: uphill road to church: 4:22
Total time: 59:03
I had planned on a long run, but those first three miles killed me!
Only went 6.5 miles...I got tired very quickly!
First mile: all trail, mostly uphill, 11:57
2nd mile: some trail, downhill road, 8:02
3rd mile: uphill road, back on trail: 11:58
4th mile: left the trails, downhill road: 7:32
5th mile: hills in cemetery, 7:38
6th mile: exit cemetery, uphill road to church, 7:24
last half mile: uphill road to church: 4:22
Total time: 59:03
I had planned on a long run, but those first three miles killed me!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Friday Magic
Today, Taylor was the only regular. Meredith, another girl in the rock band, came out today. Good for her! I remember at A-school in Virginia, she'd bum out of PT days by faking sickness, and now she's willing to try the A-Team. (I decided to steal that name for our group).
We did pyramids. It seems as though all the new people start on pyramid or super set days. I guess it weeds out those that don't really want to push that hard. She did okay...has an interesting pullup technique: using a shorter bar, jump up and briefly hold the up position, drop all the way down, push off with the feet to jump up again. She kind of did half of the workout...skimped on pushups and situps, but I was proud of her first effort.
Taylor is really improving, as am I. He's faster at pullups since our techniques differ as well. Actually, he does them like I used to: controlling the fall so as to not lock out, but sacrificing full range of motion. For some reason, when I started doing these again, I made a point to do a full rep each time, so when I lock out, I take a second to pull back up again. But the marked improvement in both of us over the past month is incredible! (Arbitrary, but cool, he's comfortable taking his shirt off in public now. ;-) )
Pushups and situps easy as always.
Taylor really enjoyed feeling like crap after the run on Wednesday, knowing that he'd put forth that kind of effort. Today, we did a negative-split 4 miler. Two miles out in 17:32, back in 15:45. He's getting there.
Hey Abby! I think I saw your brother today! We passed on the trail, had a kind of "I recognize you" moment, as I guess he's seen my picture, and his face resembled yours. But alas, I couldn't remember his name, so I'll yell at him another day. ;-)
We did pyramids. It seems as though all the new people start on pyramid or super set days. I guess it weeds out those that don't really want to push that hard. She did okay...has an interesting pullup technique: using a shorter bar, jump up and briefly hold the up position, drop all the way down, push off with the feet to jump up again. She kind of did half of the workout...skimped on pushups and situps, but I was proud of her first effort.
Taylor is really improving, as am I. He's faster at pullups since our techniques differ as well. Actually, he does them like I used to: controlling the fall so as to not lock out, but sacrificing full range of motion. For some reason, when I started doing these again, I made a point to do a full rep each time, so when I lock out, I take a second to pull back up again. But the marked improvement in both of us over the past month is incredible! (Arbitrary, but cool, he's comfortable taking his shirt off in public now. ;-) )
Pushups and situps easy as always.
Taylor really enjoyed feeling like crap after the run on Wednesday, knowing that he'd put forth that kind of effort. Today, we did a negative-split 4 miler. Two miles out in 17:32, back in 15:45. He's getting there.
Hey Abby! I think I saw your brother today! We passed on the trail, had a kind of "I recognize you" moment, as I guess he's seen my picture, and his face resembled yours. But alas, I couldn't remember his name, so I'll yell at him another day. ;-)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Various
Taylor and I were the only ones to PT today. We did the various pushups thing Charles showed me online.
11 various (explosive, explosive staggered, one-armed, dive-bombers, hand-tap, side-tap, rotational, alligator, elevated, shuffle, spidermans)
During breaks, I was telling Taylor about a couple other variations I used to do. So we tossed in two more sets. Tigers, and core. For Tigers, try and get your hands as close to your hips as possible in doing pushups. Core, raise alternate legs on each pushup.
Finished with 10, 5 Pullups, and 20, 10 Dips
Totals: 130 Pushups
15 Pullups
30 Dips
Karl came out for the running workout. I just kind of made it up since our track is weird (about 740m)
half mile warmup
then four laps of sprinting straights and jogging curves.
Taylor has the heart of a Lion! He's mentally tougher than many runners I've trained with through high school and college. He's not naturally talented, and isn't in competitive shape, but he never gives up. I actually had to slow down and hold back so that he'd stop giving effort trying to catch me. What a guy!
Karl is trying. I can tell he hates running fast. He's in it more for the base level of fitness than competitive improvement. Outstanding musician, but bull-headed. Doesn't listen to my advice. ;-) Adjusting his stride would help him with efficiency, as would giving the workout a chance. Oh well.
11 various (explosive, explosive staggered, one-armed, dive-bombers, hand-tap, side-tap, rotational, alligator, elevated, shuffle, spidermans)
During breaks, I was telling Taylor about a couple other variations I used to do. So we tossed in two more sets. Tigers, and core. For Tigers, try and get your hands as close to your hips as possible in doing pushups. Core, raise alternate legs on each pushup.
Finished with 10, 5 Pullups, and 20, 10 Dips
Totals: 130 Pushups
15 Pullups
30 Dips
Karl came out for the running workout. I just kind of made it up since our track is weird (about 740m)
half mile warmup
then four laps of sprinting straights and jogging curves.
Taylor has the heart of a Lion! He's mentally tougher than many runners I've trained with through high school and college. He's not naturally talented, and isn't in competitive shape, but he never gives up. I actually had to slow down and hold back so that he'd stop giving effort trying to catch me. What a guy!
Karl is trying. I can tell he hates running fast. He's in it more for the base level of fitness than competitive improvement. Outstanding musician, but bull-headed. Doesn't listen to my advice. ;-) Adjusting his stride would help him with efficiency, as would giving the workout a chance. Oh well.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Waiting
Still waiting for interviews to be scheduled. That's all I have left of the application process.
Today, it was just Taylor, Karl, and I. We hadn't done a running workout for a while, so I pulled out a relic. Back in the day when I used to read Runner's World, I found a fun workout that would be awesome in theory, but never works.
The run is for a group of different paces, thus everyone can run at their own tempo. We're supposed to run out for a set period of time, then once that time is up, everyone turns around and heads back. In theory, everyone should arrive back at the same time. The workout: whoever is the farthest out when time is up tries to catch the others. The slowest runner (closest home) tries to beat them back. Fun!
So Taylor and Karl didn't have watches, but based on their normal paces I gave them turn around points. I was fairly close, but forgot to account for my own fatigue (haven't run since Thursday. I was just over two miles at 15 minutes, and had planned on 4.5. Thus, when I turned around, Taylor came at me for another 20 seconds. I couldn't see Karl, but he probably ran an extra 30-40 seconds out. Thus, I caught them after about half a mile. They were kind of puttering along (Taylor slowed down to talk to Karl who is a dedicated trainee, but won't pick his knees up). So to inspire them, I slowed briefly to encourage/command, then picked it back up. That did the trick because even though I came in 2 minutes ahead of Taylor, he raced in panting and sweating up a storm. Karl came in 2 minutes later, breathing hard and saying it sucked.
Good! The only way to get better is to find your comfort zone, then destroy it.
For PT, we did supersets. 10 sets each, Taylor and I did 10s, Karl did 7s. They both did very well, and, should I say it?, are actually starting to enjoy pushing themselves!
Followed with some pullups. Max out, then 2/3, then 1/3.
Totals:
Run: 4.2? miles 6:46, 7:14, 1:56, 6:49, 7:13 (29:59.99)
Pushups: 300
Situps: 300
Pullups: 15, 10, 5 (30)
Today, it was just Taylor, Karl, and I. We hadn't done a running workout for a while, so I pulled out a relic. Back in the day when I used to read Runner's World, I found a fun workout that would be awesome in theory, but never works.
The run is for a group of different paces, thus everyone can run at their own tempo. We're supposed to run out for a set period of time, then once that time is up, everyone turns around and heads back. In theory, everyone should arrive back at the same time. The workout: whoever is the farthest out when time is up tries to catch the others. The slowest runner (closest home) tries to beat them back. Fun!
So Taylor and Karl didn't have watches, but based on their normal paces I gave them turn around points. I was fairly close, but forgot to account for my own fatigue (haven't run since Thursday. I was just over two miles at 15 minutes, and had planned on 4.5. Thus, when I turned around, Taylor came at me for another 20 seconds. I couldn't see Karl, but he probably ran an extra 30-40 seconds out. Thus, I caught them after about half a mile. They were kind of puttering along (Taylor slowed down to talk to Karl who is a dedicated trainee, but won't pick his knees up). So to inspire them, I slowed briefly to encourage/command, then picked it back up. That did the trick because even though I came in 2 minutes ahead of Taylor, he raced in panting and sweating up a storm. Karl came in 2 minutes later, breathing hard and saying it sucked.
Good! The only way to get better is to find your comfort zone, then destroy it.
For PT, we did supersets. 10 sets each, Taylor and I did 10s, Karl did 7s. They both did very well, and, should I say it?, are actually starting to enjoy pushing themselves!
Followed with some pullups. Max out, then 2/3, then 1/3.
Totals:
Run: 4.2? miles 6:46, 7:14, 1:56, 6:49, 7:13 (29:59.99)
Pushups: 300
Situps: 300
Pullups: 15, 10, 5 (30)
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The Ocho
Ran a nice steady 8 miles today. Felt pretty good. I needed to clear my mind, so I just kept running until time was up.
My right knee has been bugging me a bit. Time to rehab.
7:56, 7:29, 7:27, 7:29, 7:17, 7:18, 7:20, 7:09 (59:30)
It was awesome...I ended up over by the F-15 hangars. Can't wait!
My right knee has been bugging me a bit. Time to rehab.
7:56, 7:29, 7:27, 7:29, 7:17, 7:18, 7:20, 7:09 (59:30)
It was awesome...I ended up over by the F-15 hangars. Can't wait!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Pyramid, blisters
Today we did a pyramid again. Another new member! Kristen, used to play trumpet in the rock band, now in the brass quintet. Taylor, Bryan, Karl joined us, as well as Ed and Colleen for the 2nd time.
The workout:
1-10-1 Pullups
x2 Pushups
x3 Situps
Totals: 100 Pullups, 200 Pullups, 300 Situps
Everyone did awesome! I got blood blisters under my palm calluses. Fun stuff!
I had planned a running workout, but everyone was too tired. So Taylor and Karl ran a warmup mile, then Taylor felt dizzy, so I made him quit. Karl and I did two 400m dashes x 400m jog.
The workout:
1-10-1 Pullups
x2 Pushups
x3 Situps
Totals: 100 Pullups, 200 Pullups, 300 Situps
Everyone did awesome! I got blood blisters under my palm calluses. Fun stuff!
I had planned a running workout, but everyone was too tired. So Taylor and Karl ran a warmup mile, then Taylor felt dizzy, so I made him quit. Karl and I did two 400m dashes x 400m jog.
Monday, March 9, 2009
2nd time is easier
Have you noticed the 2nd time is always easier? The learned response of tissues I suppose, whether it be physical, mental, etc.
Today, we did a bit more than last Thursday's workout, and although it was tough, it wasn't as bad.
Taylor, Bryan, and Neff joined me for the PT, then Taylor and I went on an easy 3 mile run to the Missing Man Memorial and back. We had a lively discussion about martial arts and hard body training. The funniest part of the run was when Taylor's midsection got in a stitch from working the abs so hard, then running and trying to talk.
Bryan finally listened to me and started ice massaging.
PT:
2x7 all Pullups (regular, wide, close, reverse, mountain) 70 total
2x15 Pushups (diamond, regular, wide, dive bombers) 120 total
2x15 Dips
3x30 Arm Haulers
2x25 each neck 100 total
Monster Situp Workout 660 total
The only thing that really sucked was the diver bombers. Not cool. My deltoids and triceps were so traumatized that the dips were tough.
Today, we did a bit more than last Thursday's workout, and although it was tough, it wasn't as bad.
Taylor, Bryan, and Neff joined me for the PT, then Taylor and I went on an easy 3 mile run to the Missing Man Memorial and back. We had a lively discussion about martial arts and hard body training. The funniest part of the run was when Taylor's midsection got in a stitch from working the abs so hard, then running and trying to talk.
Bryan finally listened to me and started ice massaging.
PT:
2x7 all Pullups (regular, wide, close, reverse, mountain) 70 total
2x15 Pushups (diamond, regular, wide, dive bombers) 120 total
2x15 Dips
3x30 Arm Haulers
2x25 each neck 100 total
Monster Situp Workout 660 total
The only thing that really sucked was the diver bombers. Not cool. My deltoids and triceps were so traumatized that the dips were tough.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
15
Yesterday I went for a nice tempo run on Hickam. Didn't plan on it, but I started out kind of fast, so just decided to keep it up. Felt great! Nice, overcast, and a bit breezy. Perfect.
7:00, 6:53, 6:50, 6:25, 6:36, 6:45 (40:31)
Only saw three other runners, none of whom were Abby's brother.
I had a massage last night for the first time in a year. It was awesome!!!!! I waited WAY too long.
Today, I kind of felt like I was undoing the relaxation during my workout this morning, but I'll just go back in a week or two. I went over to Taylor's...he's the most dedicated, so we decided to do stuff on the weekends too.
Supersets. He increased his reps to 10. Did fantastic. After 10 sets, I was feeling good, and he was feeling good enough, so we did 5 more. Felt great! I'm finally getting back into shape!
Finished with 5 8-count bodybuilders.
30 minutes: 450 Pushups and Situps
Then we ran an easy 3.2 miles on some rolling hills. Nice day, rainy and cool.
7:00, 6:53, 6:50, 6:25, 6:36, 6:45 (40:31)
Only saw three other runners, none of whom were Abby's brother.
I had a massage last night for the first time in a year. It was awesome!!!!! I waited WAY too long.
Today, I kind of felt like I was undoing the relaxation during my workout this morning, but I'll just go back in a week or two. I went over to Taylor's...he's the most dedicated, so we decided to do stuff on the weekends too.
Supersets. He increased his reps to 10. Did fantastic. After 10 sets, I was feeling good, and he was feeling good enough, so we did 5 more. Felt great! I'm finally getting back into shape!
Finished with 5 8-count bodybuilders.
30 minutes: 450 Pushups and Situps
Then we ran an easy 3.2 miles on some rolling hills. Nice day, rainy and cool.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Neff
Neff joined us for PT today! He's the guitar player in rock band, one of my best buds here.
We had command PT in the morning, where I had them do 8x15 pushups and crunches.
Then, Taylor, Karl, Neff and I continued outside. We did 3x10 dips, 2x7 of all 5 pullups, 3x30 arm haulers, 2x25 each neck, and one set of the monster situps.
Then, 1.5 miles fast, and 1.5 cooldown.
Totals:
120 Pushups
450 Situps
70 Pullups
90 Dips
90 Haulers
100 Neck
3 miles
We had command PT in the morning, where I had them do 8x15 pushups and crunches.
Then, Taylor, Karl, Neff and I continued outside. We did 3x10 dips, 2x7 of all 5 pullups, 3x30 arm haulers, 2x25 each neck, and one set of the monster situps.
Then, 1.5 miles fast, and 1.5 cooldown.
Totals:
120 Pushups
450 Situps
70 Pullups
90 Dips
90 Haulers
100 Neck
3 miles
Call Sign
Just a thought. Everyone in the band keeps asking me what I'll have for my call sign at flight school. I'm under the impression that it's just kind of given to me.
Your thoughts and input?
Here's what has come up at the band hall: "Prince Charming, Wolf, Badass, Twinkle Toes, Airwolf, AntonAnton, Frenchie, Ensign"
I don't get Twinkle Toes. You shouldn't either. ;-)
Your thoughts and input?
Here's what has come up at the band hall: "Prince Charming, Wolf, Badass, Twinkle Toes, Airwolf, AntonAnton, Frenchie, Ensign"
I don't get Twinkle Toes. You shouldn't either. ;-)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday Pyramid
Yesterday I did a full pyramid for the first time in a year or so. It sucked! I was dizzy and dehydrated, saw stars, almost blacked out, and almost threw up.
We spent the morning in wind ensemble rehearsal, and I didn't have my water since I wasn't singing. Thus, I didn't hydrate much before the run and workout.
Taylor and Karl ran with me, and Colleen (Karl's wife) was dubbed the first female to tackle the lunchtime BAMFs. She's MVP of the month just for that!
I GPSed the route we usually run through Hickam officer housing, and it was just over three miles.
Nice easy run.
Then, we stretched a bit, and jumped right in. Karl and Colleen did modified pullups. Taylor is greatly improving on real ones. Awesome! Me too. They're feeling better.
The workout:
1-10-1 Pullups, x2 Pushups, x3 Situps.
Total: 100 Pullups, 200 Pushups, 300 Situps.
Some of the pullups were pretty weak, but I attempted 100 of them.
(I just realized how lame my wording is for my posts. I usually write them when I'm tired of studying, so they're quite simple and drab. *Please note, most of my literature creations utilize language far beyond my typical slang in vocalized conversation, making people wonder if I honestly composed it in the first place...)
We spent the morning in wind ensemble rehearsal, and I didn't have my water since I wasn't singing. Thus, I didn't hydrate much before the run and workout.
Taylor and Karl ran with me, and Colleen (Karl's wife) was dubbed the first female to tackle the lunchtime BAMFs. She's MVP of the month just for that!
I GPSed the route we usually run through Hickam officer housing, and it was just over three miles.
Nice easy run.
Then, we stretched a bit, and jumped right in. Karl and Colleen did modified pullups. Taylor is greatly improving on real ones. Awesome! Me too. They're feeling better.
The workout:
1-10-1 Pullups, x2 Pushups, x3 Situps.
Total: 100 Pullups, 200 Pushups, 300 Situps.
Some of the pullups were pretty weak, but I attempted 100 of them.
(I just realized how lame my wording is for my posts. I usually write them when I'm tired of studying, so they're quite simple and drab. *Please note, most of my literature creations utilize language far beyond my typical slang in vocalized conversation, making people wonder if I honestly composed it in the first place...)
Sunday, March 1, 2009
HILL!
Today was fun. I decided to tackle one of the HILLs again today. My apartment faces one of the mountain ranges, and some of the roads wind up the faces. It sucked running there when I was out of shape, but I figured I try again today. It was hard, but I felt good.
Without eating too much this morning, all I had in me was two miles up, then back down.
Four miles total. Nice. Two productive days.
7:51, 8:09, 6:02, 7:00
29:02
Without eating too much this morning, all I had in me was two miles up, then back down.
Four miles total. Nice. Two productive days.
7:51, 8:09, 6:02, 7:00
29:02
Ate
Nice medium long run today: 8 miles.
Awesome weather today. A cool wind from the north east, light showers all day, low 70s, high 60s. Felt nice! I actually got a bit chilled. ;-)
I found a run/bike trail about a half mile from my place. Just followed it out for four miles, and it kept going. I'm wondering if it wraps all the way around the harbor...
Total: 8 miles
59:15
7:37, 7:43, 7:27, 7:34, 7:15, 6:59, 7:01, 7:36
Good news! The admiral told me yesterday that he's going to do all that he can to make sure I go to flight school!
Awesome weather today. A cool wind from the north east, light showers all day, low 70s, high 60s. Felt nice! I actually got a bit chilled. ;-)
I found a run/bike trail about a half mile from my place. Just followed it out for four miles, and it kept going. I'm wondering if it wraps all the way around the harbor...
Total: 8 miles
59:15
7:37, 7:43, 7:27, 7:34, 7:15, 6:59, 7:01, 7:36
Good news! The admiral told me yesterday that he's going to do all that he can to make sure I go to flight school!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Catch up
Hey there!
Been crazy busy with work, so haven't had time to post. Here's a quick catch up. After treading water on Saturday, my legs were still tight, so I did it again on Sunday. Still didn't loosen up. I figured the best thing to shake them out was good old fashioned running.
On Monday, I was up at Kaneohe Bay (the Marine Base on the other side of the Island) to gather medical records and decided to run at the beach there. Nice area! Felt horrible, but at least the cobwebs were out by the time I finished. 3 miles in 26:34. Nice and slow.
Tuesday, felt better, so I ran 5 at lunch. 35:50. Ran the middle three at a nice tempo. 7:38, 7:04, 7:00, 6:29, 7:27. It's always nice when even splits are somewhat successful. The last up tempo mile, there were other runners on the trail, and some cute girls watching, so I had to be "that guy" and burn everyone. As I was nearing the band room, my plan was to do some pullups, but all of a sudden, "Number 2" became number one on my list of priorities. I think I forgot to go before the run, so that made it worse.
Wednesday, the annoying kid decided to grow up and seriously wanted to work out with us. It just so happened that all the other guys had duties to take care of, so that gave me some 1-on-1 time with Steve to coach him on running. We stayed on the track and did 3X800m near 8:00min/mi pace. I was extremely proud of him! Here's a guy who complains about running nearly as much as I grin, and he's trying his darndest to keep up with the pace I set for him. (That puts him at a 12:00 1.5mi run for the PFA, well above his current score).
After the run, Karl and Bryan showed up, so we did super sets. Karl and Steve did 10 sets of 7s, and Bryan and I did 10s. They were all kind of nervous when I was briefing them on the workout to come as Karl hadn't done it before, Steve was pushing his body beyond limit for the first time, and Bryan had a bad experience the first time we did it. (Remember the story? Sometime in late January we did the same workout and were failing on set 5.) Bryan kicked ass this time, and Karl and Steve did very well. Although there were many strange grunts and groans, and sometimes primal yells, they both pushed through the pain with a bit of encouragement from yours truly. Since Karl has done a few of the workouts with me, he faired a bit better than Steve-o, but Steve gave it his all.
Next, to pullups. If we're not doing a specific pullup workout or pyramids, the trend has been to swaggar over to the pullup bars after our workout and max out, then do 2/3 of the max, then 1/3. Improvement is slow, but noticeable. I did 13, then 8 and 4. Bryan, never wanting to be outdone by much (if at all), shined himself with 12, then 8 and 4. Karl is still new to the pullup realm, so 2.5 is about his max. But that's awesome! The effort he puts into it doubles the amount I exhibit. After failing on the second try, I introduced him to negatives: starting in the up position, and working against gravity to lower oneself as slow as possible. He did phenomenally!
I don't believe Steve-o has ever done pullups, so after much struggling, he wasn't able to do one. But no worries, negatives for him too. Those were still a bit difficult for him, partly due to his massive frame, and partly due to the lack of strength in this area. But, he tried his best and mustered all the power he could to resist gravity.
Karl and Steve and Bryan all tie for MVP of the day with marked improvements and tremendous effort from all relative parties.
Today, I sadly didn't have enough time to workout, but will make it up tomorrow.
I'm thinking it'd be cool to get t-shirts for those that join in the lunch hour beat down. A blank shirt with 5 letters. BAMFs.
Been crazy busy with work, so haven't had time to post. Here's a quick catch up. After treading water on Saturday, my legs were still tight, so I did it again on Sunday. Still didn't loosen up. I figured the best thing to shake them out was good old fashioned running.
On Monday, I was up at Kaneohe Bay (the Marine Base on the other side of the Island) to gather medical records and decided to run at the beach there. Nice area! Felt horrible, but at least the cobwebs were out by the time I finished. 3 miles in 26:34. Nice and slow.
Tuesday, felt better, so I ran 5 at lunch. 35:50. Ran the middle three at a nice tempo. 7:38, 7:04, 7:00, 6:29, 7:27. It's always nice when even splits are somewhat successful. The last up tempo mile, there were other runners on the trail, and some cute girls watching, so I had to be "that guy" and burn everyone. As I was nearing the band room, my plan was to do some pullups, but all of a sudden, "Number 2" became number one on my list of priorities. I think I forgot to go before the run, so that made it worse.
Wednesday, the annoying kid decided to grow up and seriously wanted to work out with us. It just so happened that all the other guys had duties to take care of, so that gave me some 1-on-1 time with Steve to coach him on running. We stayed on the track and did 3X800m near 8:00min/mi pace. I was extremely proud of him! Here's a guy who complains about running nearly as much as I grin, and he's trying his darndest to keep up with the pace I set for him. (That puts him at a 12:00 1.5mi run for the PFA, well above his current score).
After the run, Karl and Bryan showed up, so we did super sets. Karl and Steve did 10 sets of 7s, and Bryan and I did 10s. They were all kind of nervous when I was briefing them on the workout to come as Karl hadn't done it before, Steve was pushing his body beyond limit for the first time, and Bryan had a bad experience the first time we did it. (Remember the story? Sometime in late January we did the same workout and were failing on set 5.) Bryan kicked ass this time, and Karl and Steve did very well. Although there were many strange grunts and groans, and sometimes primal yells, they both pushed through the pain with a bit of encouragement from yours truly. Since Karl has done a few of the workouts with me, he faired a bit better than Steve-o, but Steve gave it his all.
Next, to pullups. If we're not doing a specific pullup workout or pyramids, the trend has been to swaggar over to the pullup bars after our workout and max out, then do 2/3 of the max, then 1/3. Improvement is slow, but noticeable. I did 13, then 8 and 4. Bryan, never wanting to be outdone by much (if at all), shined himself with 12, then 8 and 4. Karl is still new to the pullup realm, so 2.5 is about his max. But that's awesome! The effort he puts into it doubles the amount I exhibit. After failing on the second try, I introduced him to negatives: starting in the up position, and working against gravity to lower oneself as slow as possible. He did phenomenally!
I don't believe Steve-o has ever done pullups, so after much struggling, he wasn't able to do one. But no worries, negatives for him too. Those were still a bit difficult for him, partly due to his massive frame, and partly due to the lack of strength in this area. But, he tried his best and mustered all the power he could to resist gravity.
Karl and Steve and Bryan all tie for MVP of the day with marked improvements and tremendous effort from all relative parties.
Today, I sadly didn't have enough time to workout, but will make it up tomorrow.
I'm thinking it'd be cool to get t-shirts for those that join in the lunch hour beat down. A blank shirt with 5 letters. BAMFs.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wind and Pool
Wind is bipolar. When running, it's nice. When biking, it's evil. I don't like biking to and from work because no matter which way I turn, I'm always headed into the wind. Yesterday, for example, I rode the same route as usual. My average speed on base is usually 19.5 mph, 25 mph by the stadium, 17.5 up the hill, and 30 down the hill. This time, though, it was 12 on base, and 15 by the stadium. I was pedaling harder than normal, yet cars were flying by. Speed limit on base is 30, and is supposed to be 35 on the hwy, but everyone goes 45-50. Scary in the wind.
I jumped in the pool rather than running today. 30 minutes of treading water. Felt awesome!
Then I did some drown-proofing. That's where you hold your hands behind your back, exhale until you hit the bottom of the pool, push off, take a breath, repeat. (Actually, you're supposed to have your hands and feet tied).
I jumped in the pool rather than running today. 30 minutes of treading water. Felt awesome!
Then I did some drown-proofing. That's where you hold your hands behind your back, exhale until you hit the bottom of the pool, push off, take a breath, repeat. (Actually, you're supposed to have your hands and feet tied).
Not a Sprinter
I'm not a sprinter. Many people hate running. I hate sprinting. I know sometimes it happens at the end of races when I'm trying to beat the funny goggles kid out of his 5th place medal, but it's different in a race. It doesn't count as a sprint. I believe the term agreed upon by scholars everywhere is "the kick." Not a sprint.
Anyway, yesterday I had the bad idea to run the guys through lower body PT and sprints since they were still sore from Wednesday. Taking the workout from the pre-plan working up to the 12 week SEALs thing, we did the following:
2x10 Squats, Lunges, Heel raises
1x5 Frog hops
5x20 meter sprints
5x40 meter sprints
3x60 meter sprints
1 mile cool down and stretch
50 arm haulers
The PT was easy, but sadly enough, our legs were all feeling it after the hops. I guess we're not used to doing lunges.
The sprints were short, but fast. I was tired by the 2nd 40 meter. How unfortunate! I ran the GAR without so much as getting winded, and was tired after only 180 meters of sprint. Not cool. Uses too much energy.
So the cool down only lasted about 800 meters because one of the guys was hurting.
Today, I woke up and began my morning yoga routine as usual. My legs literally screamed at me! The hip extensors and hamstrings were about 3 feet shorter than normal, and my right toe flexors are tight. Huh?
Moral of the story is, unless you're a sprinter, save it for the kick. Or strides. Those are okay.
Anyway, yesterday I had the bad idea to run the guys through lower body PT and sprints since they were still sore from Wednesday. Taking the workout from the pre-plan working up to the 12 week SEALs thing, we did the following:
2x10 Squats, Lunges, Heel raises
1x5 Frog hops
5x20 meter sprints
5x40 meter sprints
3x60 meter sprints
1 mile cool down and stretch
50 arm haulers
The PT was easy, but sadly enough, our legs were all feeling it after the hops. I guess we're not used to doing lunges.
The sprints were short, but fast. I was tired by the 2nd 40 meter. How unfortunate! I ran the GAR without so much as getting winded, and was tired after only 180 meters of sprint. Not cool. Uses too much energy.
So the cool down only lasted about 800 meters because one of the guys was hurting.
Today, I woke up and began my morning yoga routine as usual. My legs literally screamed at me! The hip extensors and hamstrings were about 3 feet shorter than normal, and my right toe flexors are tight. Huh?
Moral of the story is, unless you're a sprinter, save it for the kick. Or strides. Those are okay.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
ITBS, Fatigue, Puke
Today was fun. On and off rain all day.
At lunch, Taylor and Bryan joined me for PT, as well as a new guy, Phil. He's a cross-rate from the Army. Good guy. Same story: wants to get in extreme shape, so he jumped in. Not a good day to start. You'll see why.
Started with the regular 3.5 mile route through Hickam officer's housing. Taylor wanted to pick it up a bit today since the slower guys didn't come with us. 25:26, or roughly 7 minute miles. Didn't work out so well for Bryan. His ITBS apparently wasn't completely recovered, and it flared again. Taylor was pleasantly surprised, although being fatigued from the effort, because that was right on pace for him to meet his goal: 4 miles in 28 minutes. Phil did well for his first outing with the BAMF team at lunch. Kept on our heels the entire distance.
Now for the PT. I decided to toss in one of the workouts from the SEAL book, just to give them a taste, and to show that I REALLY had been going easy on them.
The evolution:
Pushups: 6 max outs. 2 x regular, 2 x diamond, 2 x wide
Pretty much, go until failure, rest a minute, repeat.
Pullups: Starting with 1, increasing consecutively until failure. At max reps, switch to reverse grip and go back down the pyramid.
Situps: 2x25 Crunches and reverse crunches. 1x50 side crunches
Recover, then 2 minute max for pushups and situps, and max pullups.
I was pleasantly surprised that I made it through without much pain, just a bit of discomfort easily overcome by a change in mental state. Bryan is showing the emergence of a beast! He almost kept up with me for number of reps, and we failed at the same time in most sets. Awesome!
Taylor is doing fantastic for an older guy. I hope I can still do this stuff in 15 years.
Phil dug in deep and did awesome for his first "beat down."
I'm not sure what we all did for totals, but I can say with confidence that it was well over 5 or 600 pushups, including the final max out. Bryan and I failed at 7 pullups in the ascending pyramid, then went down. We both maxed out at 10 at the end. See the beast yet?
Taylor made it to 5, and Phil got to 4. Pullups always seem to be the hardest for everyone joining me. I still suck at them.
Charles, remember when I'd go the the Weary Center to do the 150 pull up workout? Geez! I'm way off...
Crunches were a breeze. And the max outs at the end weren't too bad. I spent a good 3 minutes trying to convince the guys that it wouldn't be that bad since their muscles were used to working when they were on the brink of failure. The didn't believe me, complained that the arms wouldn't work, etc. But then when we maxed out, all of them did close to the same amount they get when they're fresh. I told them so! ;-) After about a minute, none of us could do anymore without falling, so we just held the plank. That sucked sicne our arms were shaking and our abs were going into spasms.
The next logical step was to max out on situps as our abs tried to recover. Quite fun! I was surprised to find that even though I struggled at the end in having to rest a second or two after each situp, I could always do one more. Same with the others. Cool!
Pullups are weird. My arms don't hurt when they fail, they just don't work. When the fail doing pushups, they hurt on the failed one, and hurt as I'm recovering. Not so for pullups. I'm on rep 9, and suddenly, rep 10 feels impossible. I feel my grip sliding, struggle to get my chin over the bar, then try one more. Doesn't happen. Can't...pull...up! Dropping to the ground, the arms feel fresh. WTF?
I kind of felt bad afterwards because Bryan's knee hurt from the ITBS, Taylor said he liked it, but I could tell he was hurting when his arms were shaking trying to eat a sandwich, and Phil puked alot in the locker room. Tremendous effort from all parties!
At lunch, Taylor and Bryan joined me for PT, as well as a new guy, Phil. He's a cross-rate from the Army. Good guy. Same story: wants to get in extreme shape, so he jumped in. Not a good day to start. You'll see why.
Started with the regular 3.5 mile route through Hickam officer's housing. Taylor wanted to pick it up a bit today since the slower guys didn't come with us. 25:26, or roughly 7 minute miles. Didn't work out so well for Bryan. His ITBS apparently wasn't completely recovered, and it flared again. Taylor was pleasantly surprised, although being fatigued from the effort, because that was right on pace for him to meet his goal: 4 miles in 28 minutes. Phil did well for his first outing with the BAMF team at lunch. Kept on our heels the entire distance.
Now for the PT. I decided to toss in one of the workouts from the SEAL book, just to give them a taste, and to show that I REALLY had been going easy on them.
The evolution:
Pushups: 6 max outs. 2 x regular, 2 x diamond, 2 x wide
Pretty much, go until failure, rest a minute, repeat.
Pullups: Starting with 1, increasing consecutively until failure. At max reps, switch to reverse grip and go back down the pyramid.
Situps: 2x25 Crunches and reverse crunches. 1x50 side crunches
Recover, then 2 minute max for pushups and situps, and max pullups.
I was pleasantly surprised that I made it through without much pain, just a bit of discomfort easily overcome by a change in mental state. Bryan is showing the emergence of a beast! He almost kept up with me for number of reps, and we failed at the same time in most sets. Awesome!
Taylor is doing fantastic for an older guy. I hope I can still do this stuff in 15 years.
Phil dug in deep and did awesome for his first "beat down."
I'm not sure what we all did for totals, but I can say with confidence that it was well over 5 or 600 pushups, including the final max out. Bryan and I failed at 7 pullups in the ascending pyramid, then went down. We both maxed out at 10 at the end. See the beast yet?
Taylor made it to 5, and Phil got to 4. Pullups always seem to be the hardest for everyone joining me. I still suck at them.
Charles, remember when I'd go the the Weary Center to do the 150 pull up workout? Geez! I'm way off...
Crunches were a breeze. And the max outs at the end weren't too bad. I spent a good 3 minutes trying to convince the guys that it wouldn't be that bad since their muscles were used to working when they were on the brink of failure. The didn't believe me, complained that the arms wouldn't work, etc. But then when we maxed out, all of them did close to the same amount they get when they're fresh. I told them so! ;-) After about a minute, none of us could do anymore without falling, so we just held the plank. That sucked sicne our arms were shaking and our abs were going into spasms.
The next logical step was to max out on situps as our abs tried to recover. Quite fun! I was surprised to find that even though I struggled at the end in having to rest a second or two after each situp, I could always do one more. Same with the others. Cool!
Pullups are weird. My arms don't hurt when they fail, they just don't work. When the fail doing pushups, they hurt on the failed one, and hurt as I'm recovering. Not so for pullups. I'm on rep 9, and suddenly, rep 10 feels impossible. I feel my grip sliding, struggle to get my chin over the bar, then try one more. Doesn't happen. Can't...pull...up! Dropping to the ground, the arms feel fresh. WTF?
I kind of felt bad afterwards because Bryan's knee hurt from the ITBS, Taylor said he liked it, but I could tell he was hurting when his arms were shaking trying to eat a sandwich, and Phil puked alot in the locker room. Tremendous effort from all parties!
Consolidated
Sorry I haven't posted for a while. Busy.
But I've been running still. After the 10k, I ran in the pool the next day.
We had Monday off due to a rock band gig on Saturday night. Fun!
Did some PT here and there.
Tuesday, ran 6 miles over lunch. Felt kind of stiff at the start, but got better towards the end. Finished with some pullups.
Wednesday, led command PT. After stretching, I decided to have them do a running workout since 10 of us were competing in the Great Aloha Run on Sunday. I forget what it's called, but I'll call it a Snake workout. Running in a column of 5 people or so, the back guy accelerates up to the front, etc. I had them run at least 1.5 miles (since that's our PFA distance). I did about 2.5.
Then, those that wanted to join me did the MONSTER situp workout. Felt good!
Wednesday afternoon, got a newer Jeep! Thursday and Friday, don't remember. Busy with the band.
Saturday, spent all day doing homework and studying for the test. Got some plants at Home Depot. Nice.
Sunday, ran about 3 miles. Pre-meet. Took the test. I suck. Don't know why.
Monday: Great Aloha Run! Fun, HUGE event. Didn't realize until I got there. More than 15,000 runners. I finished 75th, with a time of 52:31. 8.15 miles. Not bad! I hadn't run that far since last year, so I was satisfied. Those guys were fast! The winner was about 10 minutes ahead.
My splits: 6:40, 12:18, 6:30, 6:25, 6:40, 6:25. (no 2 mile mark).
Warmed up a mile, cooled down 2. About 11 miles today!
Tuesday: Nice recovery run yesterday. 3 miles. Really stiff. My body's not used to the race effort yet. It will be.
Did descending pullups: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. Felt great!
But I've been running still. After the 10k, I ran in the pool the next day.
We had Monday off due to a rock band gig on Saturday night. Fun!
Did some PT here and there.
Tuesday, ran 6 miles over lunch. Felt kind of stiff at the start, but got better towards the end. Finished with some pullups.
Wednesday, led command PT. After stretching, I decided to have them do a running workout since 10 of us were competing in the Great Aloha Run on Sunday. I forget what it's called, but I'll call it a Snake workout. Running in a column of 5 people or so, the back guy accelerates up to the front, etc. I had them run at least 1.5 miles (since that's our PFA distance). I did about 2.5.
Then, those that wanted to join me did the MONSTER situp workout. Felt good!
Wednesday afternoon, got a newer Jeep! Thursday and Friday, don't remember. Busy with the band.
Saturday, spent all day doing homework and studying for the test. Got some plants at Home Depot. Nice.
Sunday, ran about 3 miles. Pre-meet. Took the test. I suck. Don't know why.
Monday: Great Aloha Run! Fun, HUGE event. Didn't realize until I got there. More than 15,000 runners. I finished 75th, with a time of 52:31. 8.15 miles. Not bad! I hadn't run that far since last year, so I was satisfied. Those guys were fast! The winner was about 10 minutes ahead.
My splits: 6:40, 12:18, 6:30, 6:25, 6:40, 6:25. (no 2 mile mark).
Warmed up a mile, cooled down 2. About 11 miles today!
Tuesday: Nice recovery run yesterday. 3 miles. Really stiff. My body's not used to the race effort yet. It will be.
Did descending pullups: 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. Felt great!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
10k
Yesterday after the rock band gig, I ran three slow miles. Good pre-meet run. Felt great, didn't push anything. 24:00
Last night, I did homework for 4 hours, got pissed at the news, and went to bed with lots of crap running through my head. I was quite nervous about the race too. First one for almost two years.
Woke up this morning, excited, but still tired. Rode my bike to the bus stop, took the bus to base, and rode from the gate to the check-in. I had about an hour before the race began, so I got in a good shake out run (1 mile), stretched, and did all those silly loosening drills from high school.
The race developed smoothly. The runners with strollers started 5 minutes before the rest of us to reduce clutter. When the runners took off, some of the 5k people took off like a bat out of hell. That's always funny, because we, the 10k contenders, always end up passing them a mile in. When the 5k'ers split off to go back, we continued on the Hickam path.
It was weird racing on a route that I run regularly. I had decided not to mark splits, as I was more concerned about finishing than lap times. I only touched the watch three times: once at the start, once at the turn around, and at the finish line. Nobody was yelling splits either, which made my plan go smoothly. Just ran on placing.
Anyway, on the Hickam path, I saw several of the strollers in front of me. I just assumed that there were some other "free" runners ahead of me, so I kept reeling in runner after runner. Soon, I discovered some of them were just out for their daily run, not racing. Cool! At the turn around, I'd made up the 5 minute head start and passed the lead stroller. There was no one in front of me but the lead golf cart. Wait a minute. What? My first 10k in almost 2 years, and I'm leading?
A bit of panic hit me, then I stayed it with this thought, "Just have fun."
So I did. Whenever I felt like slowing down, I just remembered my previous post and kept digging for the right stuff to keep a steady cadence. With just over 2k left, some squirrely Asian kid flew by me. Wow! he was flying. Bless his heart, he did the same thing I used to do when overtaking someone. He looked over at me and said, "Good job, Man! C'mon, let's do this." I only smiled because it was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. (Explanation below).
No one else was close to us though, so I just kept my pace and watched him disappear down the road. He ended up finishing just over a minute ahead of me. Good kid.
The result? I ran 38:30, 2nd overall, 1st in my age group! Not bad for my first race in a long time, and with the goal of just finishing without throwing up. ;-)
You know that bubble/pressure feeling you get by the cardiac sphincter of the stomach when you are about to spill your guts? I had that feeling the last two miles. Good thing I didn't look at my watch, since I was running faster than I had for about 3 months. Ever since my ankle sprain, I'm been slowly working to get back. The run on Monday sucked, but was just enough to help me endure today's effort I suppose.
Total:
8 miles
50 push ups?
10 pull ups
*Footnote:
Taylor and Karl came up shortly after the race to max out. I didn't work out. I did about 50 pushups while they were testing, and 10 pull ups. We're doing the push up overloading next week to boost their performance. Should be fun. I didn't want to wait for the award...it was just tickets to a ball.
Last night, I did homework for 4 hours, got pissed at the news, and went to bed with lots of crap running through my head. I was quite nervous about the race too. First one for almost two years.
Woke up this morning, excited, but still tired. Rode my bike to the bus stop, took the bus to base, and rode from the gate to the check-in. I had about an hour before the race began, so I got in a good shake out run (1 mile), stretched, and did all those silly loosening drills from high school.
The race developed smoothly. The runners with strollers started 5 minutes before the rest of us to reduce clutter. When the runners took off, some of the 5k people took off like a bat out of hell. That's always funny, because we, the 10k contenders, always end up passing them a mile in. When the 5k'ers split off to go back, we continued on the Hickam path.
It was weird racing on a route that I run regularly. I had decided not to mark splits, as I was more concerned about finishing than lap times. I only touched the watch three times: once at the start, once at the turn around, and at the finish line. Nobody was yelling splits either, which made my plan go smoothly. Just ran on placing.
Anyway, on the Hickam path, I saw several of the strollers in front of me. I just assumed that there were some other "free" runners ahead of me, so I kept reeling in runner after runner. Soon, I discovered some of them were just out for their daily run, not racing. Cool! At the turn around, I'd made up the 5 minute head start and passed the lead stroller. There was no one in front of me but the lead golf cart. Wait a minute. What? My first 10k in almost 2 years, and I'm leading?
A bit of panic hit me, then I stayed it with this thought, "Just have fun."
So I did. Whenever I felt like slowing down, I just remembered my previous post and kept digging for the right stuff to keep a steady cadence. With just over 2k left, some squirrely Asian kid flew by me. Wow! he was flying. Bless his heart, he did the same thing I used to do when overtaking someone. He looked over at me and said, "Good job, Man! C'mon, let's do this." I only smiled because it was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. (Explanation below).
No one else was close to us though, so I just kept my pace and watched him disappear down the road. He ended up finishing just over a minute ahead of me. Good kid.
The result? I ran 38:30, 2nd overall, 1st in my age group! Not bad for my first race in a long time, and with the goal of just finishing without throwing up. ;-)
You know that bubble/pressure feeling you get by the cardiac sphincter of the stomach when you are about to spill your guts? I had that feeling the last two miles. Good thing I didn't look at my watch, since I was running faster than I had for about 3 months. Ever since my ankle sprain, I'm been slowly working to get back. The run on Monday sucked, but was just enough to help me endure today's effort I suppose.
Total:
8 miles
50 push ups?
10 pull ups
*Footnote:
Taylor and Karl came up shortly after the race to max out. I didn't work out. I did about 50 pushups while they were testing, and 10 pull ups. We're doing the push up overloading next week to boost their performance. Should be fun. I didn't want to wait for the award...it was just tickets to a ball.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Right Stuff
After many inspirational insights and a bit of an awakening, I realized I have failed in my own blog. "Impossible Run" was meant to denote the idea of pushing oneself way beyond his or her preconceived limits and reaching levels of academic/physical/professional/etc. prowess one never thought possible.
Although I kept posting, I realized that in the midst of a perfect climate and cushy (yet demanding) job, I've become a bit of a dullard in the respect of chasing stars. I've been keeping a steady workout routine, working on getting back my running, but I haven't been pushing myself to the limit. A few times, but that's not enough.
As I am preparing a career change to become a Naval Aviator, Chuck Yeager comes to mind. He was the first man to break the sound barrier, and one of the most ballsy pilots ever to serve our country. In the community of pilots, "The Right Stuff" refers to a man's inner workings, his skill, his demeanor; in short, to everything that makes a man a GREAT man. (I refer to man, thinking human. Females included.) If one had "The Right Stuff," he was set.
By the way, the name of this post is a fantastic book and a great movie. Check it out.
I am expanding this idea to include everyone else. All those triathletes, ultramarathoners, world-class athletes, and average Joe's pushing each day to find what they're made of have the right stuff. And I want to find that again.
My goal in Hawaii was to qualify for the Ironman. My training has seriously lacked. Time is the biggest issue. So, I'll still try to make it work, but ultras seem like the next logical step since I'm primarily a running above all other physical feats. In my transition from enlisted to officer, from musician to aviator, I want to re-discover my right stuff.
I will find it. Mark my words. You can count on it.
Do you have
The Right Stuff?
Although I kept posting, I realized that in the midst of a perfect climate and cushy (yet demanding) job, I've become a bit of a dullard in the respect of chasing stars. I've been keeping a steady workout routine, working on getting back my running, but I haven't been pushing myself to the limit. A few times, but that's not enough.
As I am preparing a career change to become a Naval Aviator, Chuck Yeager comes to mind. He was the first man to break the sound barrier, and one of the most ballsy pilots ever to serve our country. In the community of pilots, "The Right Stuff" refers to a man's inner workings, his skill, his demeanor; in short, to everything that makes a man a GREAT man. (I refer to man, thinking human. Females included.) If one had "The Right Stuff," he was set.
By the way, the name of this post is a fantastic book and a great movie. Check it out.
I am expanding this idea to include everyone else. All those triathletes, ultramarathoners, world-class athletes, and average Joe's pushing each day to find what they're made of have the right stuff. And I want to find that again.
My goal in Hawaii was to qualify for the Ironman. My training has seriously lacked. Time is the biggest issue. So, I'll still try to make it work, but ultras seem like the next logical step since I'm primarily a running above all other physical feats. In my transition from enlisted to officer, from musician to aviator, I want to re-discover my right stuff.
I will find it. Mark my words. You can count on it.
Do you have
The Right Stuff?
Quick
Today we had weigh ins. I've gained some weight. I'll run it off.
Bryan and I did a quick workout. 100 pushups. 1-10-1, same time, alternating efforts. Remember that one? Sucks, right? We made it worse by laughing, so we had to rest at the top, then a couple times on the way down. We actually ended up doing 1-10-10-1. 110 total.
Then, we did half of the Monster Ab Routine. So, 330 total.
Then, some pullups. I did 10 and 5. Bryan did 8 and 4. Then we were done.
I ran to the gym to get a shake, then walked home.
When I woke up this morning, I felt quite exhausted. Not good. I kind of dragged all day, pumped myself enough to do a rock band gig, but crashed again afterward. I think I need more sleep. I had to work 30 minutes to make myself ride my bike home. Then I tried to force myself to run a few miles. Ended up pool running instead for 30 minutes. At least I did something. And I discovered that I can't hold my breath as long as I used to. I'll work on that too.
Totals:
Push ups: 110
Sit ups: 330
Pull ups: 15
Aquajog: 30 minutes
Bryan and I did a quick workout. 100 pushups. 1-10-1, same time, alternating efforts. Remember that one? Sucks, right? We made it worse by laughing, so we had to rest at the top, then a couple times on the way down. We actually ended up doing 1-10-10-1. 110 total.
Then, we did half of the Monster Ab Routine. So, 330 total.
Then, some pullups. I did 10 and 5. Bryan did 8 and 4. Then we were done.
I ran to the gym to get a shake, then walked home.
When I woke up this morning, I felt quite exhausted. Not good. I kind of dragged all day, pumped myself enough to do a rock band gig, but crashed again afterward. I think I need more sleep. I had to work 30 minutes to make myself ride my bike home. Then I tried to force myself to run a few miles. Ended up pool running instead for 30 minutes. At least I did something. And I discovered that I can't hold my breath as long as I used to. I'll work on that too.
Totals:
Push ups: 110
Sit ups: 330
Pull ups: 15
Aquajog: 30 minutes
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Super
Didn't run today. Biked to work, had rehearsal, then a meeting for my OCS application. The other guys were impatient to go, so I told them to run while I was in the meeting. Karl went to eat Mexican instead, so it was just Taylor, Ed, and Bryan. Bryan's ITB is still giving him trouble, so he stopped after a half mile.
I met up with them for PT. We did super sets. It was awesome!
I don't know if you remember my report about last time I did it with Bryan (a couple weeks ago), but we both did 10s for 10 sets, and it sucked! Today, it was a piece of cake! All the otehr stuff I've been doing really helped. Next week, I want to bump it up to 15 or 20 sets.
Taylor and Ed did 7s, and bumped it up to 10 for a couple sets when they felt like it. They both went at it like champs. Ed is incredible at PT. His physique isn't what you'd expect of a sprinter, but he's wicked fast, and is a beast at strength training. The endurance running is coming along well, and he zipped through the super sets with ease.
Taylor is still a champ too. 40 years old and still going strong.
High fives to both of them!
After the super sets, I went to do pull ups. Taylor followed like a good trainee. ;-) He was about to go in, then turned around with a sigh and pumped them out too. I think we did the same amount. The plan was to max out, rest, max again, rest, max again. Our maxes weren't too high, so we did four sets.
10 regular, 6 wide, 6 mountain, 6 mountain.
The same story with dips. He was about to go in, then turned and followed. ;-) Funny guy, tough.
He did 10. I did 20, then 10. Hurt, but getting better.
Good PT day.
Totals:
Pushups: 300
Situps: 300
Pullups: 28
Dips: 30
I met up with them for PT. We did super sets. It was awesome!
I don't know if you remember my report about last time I did it with Bryan (a couple weeks ago), but we both did 10s for 10 sets, and it sucked! Today, it was a piece of cake! All the otehr stuff I've been doing really helped. Next week, I want to bump it up to 15 or 20 sets.
Taylor and Ed did 7s, and bumped it up to 10 for a couple sets when they felt like it. They both went at it like champs. Ed is incredible at PT. His physique isn't what you'd expect of a sprinter, but he's wicked fast, and is a beast at strength training. The endurance running is coming along well, and he zipped through the super sets with ease.
Taylor is still a champ too. 40 years old and still going strong.
High fives to both of them!
After the super sets, I went to do pull ups. Taylor followed like a good trainee. ;-) He was about to go in, then turned around with a sigh and pumped them out too. I think we did the same amount. The plan was to max out, rest, max again, rest, max again. Our maxes weren't too high, so we did four sets.
10 regular, 6 wide, 6 mountain, 6 mountain.
The same story with dips. He was about to go in, then turned and followed. ;-) Funny guy, tough.
He did 10. I did 20, then 10. Hurt, but getting better.
Good PT day.
Totals:
Pushups: 300
Situps: 300
Pullups: 28
Dips: 30
Monday, February 2, 2009
6
I ran six miles at lunch today. This time by myself. I wanted to push it more than I can with the other guys, so we're doing stuff tomorrow.
I'm running a 10k on Saturday, so I figured I should at least run the race distance before I go race it. I probably haven't done six miles for about two months. Lame.
I started out a bit faster than I wanted. The plan was to warm up a mile, run four at tempo, then cool down a mile. I felt a need for speed, so I took off a bit too quickly. After 1.5, I decided to break it up. So I ran two at tempo, one recovery, then two more at tempo, and another one to cool down.
Felt decent. The shins and calves were screaming the first two, but after the initial punishment, they recovered nicely and the second tempo felt awesome.
Beautiful day with a strong wind. Nice to run, sucked biking to and from work. Headwind every direction I turned. WTF?
43:19 total
7:13, 6:52, 8:30, 6:05, 6:26, 8:11
I'm running a 10k on Saturday, so I figured I should at least run the race distance before I go race it. I probably haven't done six miles for about two months. Lame.
I started out a bit faster than I wanted. The plan was to warm up a mile, run four at tempo, then cool down a mile. I felt a need for speed, so I took off a bit too quickly. After 1.5, I decided to break it up. So I ran two at tempo, one recovery, then two more at tempo, and another one to cool down.
Felt decent. The shins and calves were screaming the first two, but after the initial punishment, they recovered nicely and the second tempo felt awesome.
Beautiful day with a strong wind. Nice to run, sucked biking to and from work. Headwind every direction I turned. WTF?
43:19 total
7:13, 6:52, 8:30, 6:05, 6:26, 8:11
Friday, January 30, 2009
Another one!
Today at lunch, another guy joined us. That makes 5!
Bryan hurt his shoulder surfing yesterday, so he didn't work out with us today.
Ed Williams, my drummer in the rock band is the new addition. Strong as an ox with weights, he wants to get better at all the other stuff too. He squated like 380lbs yesterday, then ran and did PT today. Good guy.
For the run, we only went three miles. The middle mile, we ran 2:00 on, 2:00 off. Twice.
Felt good to pick it up. (On a tangent, I'll be racing again for the first time since college next week! There's a 10k on base, and then The Great Aloha run, an 8-miler a few weeks later.)
PT: Pyramids again. I kept Karl and Taylor on the same one as last week. Ed started on this one too. They all did very well. Taylor's abs are recovering well, Karl is showing great improvement in pushups, and the pullups are coming along nicely, Ed dominates arms and is pretty solid for abs too.
They did 1-5-1 pullups, x3 pushups, x6 situps.
I doubled that. It sucked. I haven't done that many pullups in a long time. I went 2,4,5,8,10, and back down. Going up was fine. But at 10, I had to drop at 8, jump up and do two more. Then coming down, I could only do four at a time. Damn. I need to do that more.
Pushups and situps were fine. 6,12,18,24,30 and 12,24,36,48,60 and back down respectively.
We all were seeing stars from the effort, I got a bit of a headache, and Taylor felt a little dizzy.
Good times!
Then, even though my arms were dead, Taylor convinced me to do dips. So I did. Those were fun. I felt my triceps straining on the first set of 15, then my chest on the 2nd set of 10, and finally my back on the 3rd set of 5. Good pain! Lots of weakness leaving. The other three did 10, 7, 5 or something.
All in all, a good day again.
My Totals:
Run: 3
Pullups: 50
Pushups: 150
Situps: 300
Dips: 30
Bryan hurt his shoulder surfing yesterday, so he didn't work out with us today.
Ed Williams, my drummer in the rock band is the new addition. Strong as an ox with weights, he wants to get better at all the other stuff too. He squated like 380lbs yesterday, then ran and did PT today. Good guy.
For the run, we only went three miles. The middle mile, we ran 2:00 on, 2:00 off. Twice.
Felt good to pick it up. (On a tangent, I'll be racing again for the first time since college next week! There's a 10k on base, and then The Great Aloha run, an 8-miler a few weeks later.)
PT: Pyramids again. I kept Karl and Taylor on the same one as last week. Ed started on this one too. They all did very well. Taylor's abs are recovering well, Karl is showing great improvement in pushups, and the pullups are coming along nicely, Ed dominates arms and is pretty solid for abs too.
They did 1-5-1 pullups, x3 pushups, x6 situps.
I doubled that. It sucked. I haven't done that many pullups in a long time. I went 2,4,5,8,10, and back down. Going up was fine. But at 10, I had to drop at 8, jump up and do two more. Then coming down, I could only do four at a time. Damn. I need to do that more.
Pushups and situps were fine. 6,12,18,24,30 and 12,24,36,48,60 and back down respectively.
We all were seeing stars from the effort, I got a bit of a headache, and Taylor felt a little dizzy.
Good times!
Then, even though my arms were dead, Taylor convinced me to do dips. So I did. Those were fun. I felt my triceps straining on the first set of 15, then my chest on the 2nd set of 10, and finally my back on the 3rd set of 5. Good pain! Lots of weakness leaving. The other three did 10, 7, 5 or something.
All in all, a good day again.
My Totals:
Run: 3
Pullups: 50
Pushups: 150
Situps: 300
Dips: 30
Take It Easy/Pilot!
Do you know the Eagle's tune entitled "Take it Easy?"
Good song.
That was the motto of today's command PT. The last two weeks I've pushed most of them past their limits, so today I only did 10x10 Pushups and Situps in quick succession. They all did pretty well. Finished with 1 minute plank.
Totals:
100 Pushups
100 Situps
1 minute plank
*****
Yesterday I had my eyes checked again. And guess what?
I QUALIFY FOR NAVAL AVIATOR! I can be a pilot! I was disqualified 18 months ago because my left eye was above the requirement for 20/40 or better vision. 20/45. Quite a let down.
But my sight has improved! Thus, I can put in another application packet and hope to be accepted again. I'll then go to OCS for 3 months, all the flight training, then go play in the Heavens!
Good song.
That was the motto of today's command PT. The last two weeks I've pushed most of them past their limits, so today I only did 10x10 Pushups and Situps in quick succession. They all did pretty well. Finished with 1 minute plank.
Totals:
100 Pushups
100 Situps
1 minute plank
*****
Yesterday I had my eyes checked again. And guess what?
I QUALIFY FOR NAVAL AVIATOR! I can be a pilot! I was disqualified 18 months ago because my left eye was above the requirement for 20/40 or better vision. 20/45. Quite a let down.
But my sight has improved! Thus, I can put in another application packet and hope to be accepted again. I'll then go to OCS for 3 months, all the flight training, then go play in the Heavens!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
ITBS
Ran 3 miles at lunch today. Taylor and Karl were on a gig, so it was just Bryan and I. His left knee was been hurting at the attachment point for the ITB. Probably Iliotibial Band Syndrome from running more than he's used to. For a few days, I'm his therapist instead of trainer. Ice, stretch, friction massage, foam roller...the works. He'll be okay next week.
Still did PT though.
We both didn't feel like doing much, and we have command PT tomorrow, so we just did 50 pushups, then 10, 6.5, 5.5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 pullups. Felt good!
Still did PT though.
We both didn't feel like doing much, and we have command PT tomorrow, so we just did 50 pushups, then 10, 6.5, 5.5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 pullups. Felt good!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Keating
Hiked yesterday with Karl. Okay trail, nothing too special. Nice to be out in the woods though.
Today over lunch, Karl, Taylor, Bryan and I ran the 3+ mile loop. I'll GPS it on Wednesday to find the actual distance. The first mile, we warmed up by running Karl's easy pace. Then, we picked it up for a mile. A short tempo. They all want to improve their running performance, so I'm training them. Bryan did awesome! He stuck with me the whole time, running about 7:30s. Taylor did his best to keep up, and turned around once and awhile to encourage Karl. Great attitude! He's a phenomenol asset to have in the workout crew, and a good human being too.
After the tempo, we cooled down for a little over a mile, then did PT.
The 11 various push up workout. 1x10 of 11 different kinds. Explosive, explosive stagger, divebombers, hand tap, side tap, rotational, alligator, elevated, shuffle. Actually, we only did 9. Shoot. I forgot about the spidermans. And the one-arms.
They all did pretty well, and gave it their all. That's the most important part. My triceps and anterior deltoids burned a bit, but not too bad. Inbetween the pushups, I did 20 atomic situps. except the last two. So, that's...um...6 sets of 20?
My arms were burning, but weren't tired, so I decided to do some pullups. Bryan jumped in too. Our goal was 10. It was easier than I thought. Bryan did 9.5. Still, he kicked ass.
Tonight, we played at the admiral's again. It's always fun to sing for him because he gets such joy out of it. Plus, he's kind of like my adopted grandpa. Cool cat.
The best quote I heard today, exhibiting Taylor's attitude. I congratulated him on keeping up. He said, "No, I didn't. I won't be keeping up, until I actually keep up." Meaning his goal is to match me rep for rep, stride for stride. I jokingly said, "Well, tell me when to slow down." Here comes his quote:
"NO! I'LL KEEP TAKING IT UNTIL I CAN DISH IT BACK!"
Taylor is MVP for the week.
Today over lunch, Karl, Taylor, Bryan and I ran the 3+ mile loop. I'll GPS it on Wednesday to find the actual distance. The first mile, we warmed up by running Karl's easy pace. Then, we picked it up for a mile. A short tempo. They all want to improve their running performance, so I'm training them. Bryan did awesome! He stuck with me the whole time, running about 7:30s. Taylor did his best to keep up, and turned around once and awhile to encourage Karl. Great attitude! He's a phenomenol asset to have in the workout crew, and a good human being too.
After the tempo, we cooled down for a little over a mile, then did PT.
The 11 various push up workout. 1x10 of 11 different kinds. Explosive, explosive stagger, divebombers, hand tap, side tap, rotational, alligator, elevated, shuffle. Actually, we only did 9. Shoot. I forgot about the spidermans. And the one-arms.
They all did pretty well, and gave it their all. That's the most important part. My triceps and anterior deltoids burned a bit, but not too bad. Inbetween the pushups, I did 20 atomic situps. except the last two. So, that's...um...6 sets of 20?
My arms were burning, but weren't tired, so I decided to do some pullups. Bryan jumped in too. Our goal was 10. It was easier than I thought. Bryan did 9.5. Still, he kicked ass.
Tonight, we played at the admiral's again. It's always fun to sing for him because he gets such joy out of it. Plus, he's kind of like my adopted grandpa. Cool cat.
The best quote I heard today, exhibiting Taylor's attitude. I congratulated him on keeping up. He said, "No, I didn't. I won't be keeping up, until I actually keep up." Meaning his goal is to match me rep for rep, stride for stride. I jokingly said, "Well, tell me when to slow down." Here comes his quote:
"NO! I'LL KEEP TAKING IT UNTIL I CAN DISH IT BACK!"
Taylor is MVP for the week.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Growing
The lunchtime workout group is growing! One member joined Wednesday, another today, and another is interested for Monday! That makes five of us! Cool!
Today, we ran the same 3+ mile route on Hickam. I need to GPS it so I can give accurate results.
The shins starting hurting a bit, verifying my theory that running slow makes them hurt since the body tends to bounce up and down more so than striding out. So I picked up the pace of the group.
Afterward, we did another pyramid. Just a small one since it was Karl's first time working out with me and I didn't want to kill him.
1-5-1 Pullups
3-15-3 Pushups (by 3s)
6-30-6 situps (by 6s)
Totals:
25 Pullups
75 Pushups
150 Situps
I didn't really feel much, so I did 15, 10, 5 dips. Those still suck.
I think I'll PT again tomorrow, something crazy.
I'm proud of these guys wanting to go the extra step for no other reason than to better themselves. Rock.
Today, we ran the same 3+ mile route on Hickam. I need to GPS it so I can give accurate results.
The shins starting hurting a bit, verifying my theory that running slow makes them hurt since the body tends to bounce up and down more so than striding out. So I picked up the pace of the group.
Afterward, we did another pyramid. Just a small one since it was Karl's first time working out with me and I didn't want to kill him.
1-5-1 Pullups
3-15-3 Pushups (by 3s)
6-30-6 situps (by 6s)
Totals:
25 Pullups
75 Pushups
150 Situps
I didn't really feel much, so I did 15, 10, 5 dips. Those still suck.
I think I'll PT again tomorrow, something crazy.
I'm proud of these guys wanting to go the extra step for no other reason than to better themselves. Rock.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Blisters, Pride
Monday night, a few of the guys went out to a cabin at Bellow's Beach (military only, run by the Air Force) and spent the night. Fun times, and the beach is gorgeous. In the morning, I ran about 2 miles on the beach, barefoot. It was magical.
Except for the blisters. Due to the repetitive friction with the sand, my two big toes both got blisters. No worries. They'll go away.
Then we played mini-golf. I won. ;-)
Today, we had command PT. As one of the CFL's (command fitness leaders), Chief Strickler and I share the responsibilities of the running/PT group. (There are 3 groups: swimmers, gym/elliptical/treadmill/bike machine, and us).
Since it's a new year, I'm trying to get everyone in our group to reach the best shape of their lives. It's kind of hard since we only meet once a week, but hopefully some inspiration occurs and they do similar stuff on their own. Since they're musicians, a lot of them complain and bitch about it being too hard. Pussies. There are a few, though, who really enjoy the workouts/pain and want more! That's encouraging.
Here's what we did last week: 3 sets of 15 flutters/good mornings/scissors
Not that hard. That's only 45 of each, or 135 ab/hip flexor reps. A few loved it. Most put on a dress and had a tea party to complain.
This week, I asked how the recovery was going (*smirk), and then explained the day's plan. Alternating pushups with arm circles.
The first set, I did 10 4-count (or 20) pushups, alternating with 15 4-count (or 60) arm circles of various positions (arms out to the sides, out front, and over head).
Most of them were dead after that, so I cut back to 10 pushups, but kept the arm circles.
I may sound skeptical and arrogant, but only because I enjoy "beating" the band physically. As some of you may know, many musicians think the world revolves around them and that they are Gods at their instrument. This spills into other facets of their life as well. I just like to keep them in check. ;-)
Just kidding; I'm really proud of everyone (even the complainers) for not giving up. Even though the arms would fail, they'd break for a bit, and get back into it. That's the whole idea. I learned that in SEALs conditioning. They said, "You're going to be bad at it. We expect you to be bad at it. We know your bodies can't handle it. The main thing is to keep going."
When you fail, or when your body fails, take a short break to recover, then keep going. That's an awesome principle for life!
Now if only the band will take the words of Dick Marcinko, creator of SEAL Team 6 and Red Cell, "You don't have to like it. You just have to do it."
Anyway, they did well.
Totals: 90 pushups, 360 arms circles
*****
At noon, Bryan and I ran and did PT again. He's the one I mentioned before as a workout partner. The heart of a Lion. He's teaching me to surf. Good guy. That's besides the point. Every MWF we're going to run, then workout. Today, Taylor, bad ass french horn player and connoisseur of wine/scotch/rum/beer, wanted to tag along to get in better shape. He's already decent for 40, but I guess since his dad used to be a sweet marathoner (2:30s and below), he wants to improve.
We ran somewhere between 3 and 4 miles on Hickam. Nice route. Palm trees. Nice.
Then, I told them I had THE BEAR planned for us. I decided to give a name to the crazy ab workout that Charles and I love so much. Their eyes kind of faltered, but they nutted up and dove right in. They both struggled quite a bit, but never quit for more than a few seconds. Bryan's been doing some of the crazy stuff with me, so he's used to just gritting his teeth and pushing through. Taylor was new to it, but hung in with all his might. Quite the Tiger! It hurt for me as usual, but it's getting easier to accept the pain, rather than ignore it, and just go with it. I felt bad later because Taylor's mid-section was cramping and he had difficulty playing his horn, but he still gave it his all. Good guy. I was super proud of these two! They haven't read or heard of Marcinko, but they already live by his principles.
THE BEAR:
40 situps
40 reg crunches
40 reverse crunches
40 right crunches
40 left crunches
40 leg levers
50 4-count flutter kicks
40 half situps
stretch 1 minute
do it again
Totals: 660 abs
"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it!"
Except for the blisters. Due to the repetitive friction with the sand, my two big toes both got blisters. No worries. They'll go away.
Then we played mini-golf. I won. ;-)
Today, we had command PT. As one of the CFL's (command fitness leaders), Chief Strickler and I share the responsibilities of the running/PT group. (There are 3 groups: swimmers, gym/elliptical/treadmill/bike machine, and us).
Since it's a new year, I'm trying to get everyone in our group to reach the best shape of their lives. It's kind of hard since we only meet once a week, but hopefully some inspiration occurs and they do similar stuff on their own. Since they're musicians, a lot of them complain and bitch about it being too hard. Pussies. There are a few, though, who really enjoy the workouts/pain and want more! That's encouraging.
Here's what we did last week: 3 sets of 15 flutters/good mornings/scissors
Not that hard. That's only 45 of each, or 135 ab/hip flexor reps. A few loved it. Most put on a dress and had a tea party to complain.
This week, I asked how the recovery was going (*smirk), and then explained the day's plan. Alternating pushups with arm circles.
The first set, I did 10 4-count (or 20) pushups, alternating with 15 4-count (or 60) arm circles of various positions (arms out to the sides, out front, and over head).
Most of them were dead after that, so I cut back to 10 pushups, but kept the arm circles.
I may sound skeptical and arrogant, but only because I enjoy "beating" the band physically. As some of you may know, many musicians think the world revolves around them and that they are Gods at their instrument. This spills into other facets of their life as well. I just like to keep them in check. ;-)
Just kidding; I'm really proud of everyone (even the complainers) for not giving up. Even though the arms would fail, they'd break for a bit, and get back into it. That's the whole idea. I learned that in SEALs conditioning. They said, "You're going to be bad at it. We expect you to be bad at it. We know your bodies can't handle it. The main thing is to keep going."
When you fail, or when your body fails, take a short break to recover, then keep going. That's an awesome principle for life!
Now if only the band will take the words of Dick Marcinko, creator of SEAL Team 6 and Red Cell, "You don't have to like it. You just have to do it."
Anyway, they did well.
Totals: 90 pushups, 360 arms circles
*****
At noon, Bryan and I ran and did PT again. He's the one I mentioned before as a workout partner. The heart of a Lion. He's teaching me to surf. Good guy. That's besides the point. Every MWF we're going to run, then workout. Today, Taylor, bad ass french horn player and connoisseur of wine/scotch/rum/beer, wanted to tag along to get in better shape. He's already decent for 40, but I guess since his dad used to be a sweet marathoner (2:30s and below), he wants to improve.
We ran somewhere between 3 and 4 miles on Hickam. Nice route. Palm trees. Nice.
Then, I told them I had THE BEAR planned for us. I decided to give a name to the crazy ab workout that Charles and I love so much. Their eyes kind of faltered, but they nutted up and dove right in. They both struggled quite a bit, but never quit for more than a few seconds. Bryan's been doing some of the crazy stuff with me, so he's used to just gritting his teeth and pushing through. Taylor was new to it, but hung in with all his might. Quite the Tiger! It hurt for me as usual, but it's getting easier to accept the pain, rather than ignore it, and just go with it. I felt bad later because Taylor's mid-section was cramping and he had difficulty playing his horn, but he still gave it his all. Good guy. I was super proud of these two! They haven't read or heard of Marcinko, but they already live by his principles.
THE BEAR:
40 situps
40 reg crunches
40 reverse crunches
40 right crunches
40 left crunches
40 leg levers
50 4-count flutter kicks
40 half situps
stretch 1 minute
do it again
Totals: 660 abs
"You don't have to like it. You just have to do it!"
Monday, January 19, 2009
MLK
It's Martin Luther King Day! For Hawaii, that means another parade. Only this time, it was weird. Usually the parades feature the Hawaiian Royalty, high schools, the armed forces, etc. This time, it was more like a liberal march. One of my Chiefs was telling me that last year it was almost inappropriate for the Navy Band to be involved. They marched because they were ordered to, but there were floats calling for the impeachment of Bush, wagons supporting GLBT groups, and just a whole bunch of other things that aren't affiliated with the military. Accordingly, they usually hate us.
Anyway, this year wasn't too bad, but it still had a weird feel to it, like no one belonged there. They still had GBLT stuff, but there were some inspirational floats that out numbered them. The best part: representatives of the Hawaiian Republican Party marched behind the band, cheering and hollering the whole time. They were awesome! It was heart warming to see them amongst all the other crap. And their composure was something to behold: at the start, there was a pitiful obese woman with a rainbow group who was screaming O-BA-MA in their faces. They didn't even dignify her with a response! And throughout the parade there were some chastising locals here and there, and again, the Republicans held to their standard of only responding to those with an IQ above 14.
Ran 5 miles yesterday. Felt pretty good. The shins didn't hurt as bad as they have been, so that made it much more enjoyable. Last week I could understand why people hate running. I was miserable. The Hawaii winter is awesome...60s and 70s. Very nice! Pretty even splits: 7:24, 7:40, 7:46, 7:36, 8:14. Finished up with 100 super situps.
Hope ya'll have a good week!
Anyway, this year wasn't too bad, but it still had a weird feel to it, like no one belonged there. They still had GBLT stuff, but there were some inspirational floats that out numbered them. The best part: representatives of the Hawaiian Republican Party marched behind the band, cheering and hollering the whole time. They were awesome! It was heart warming to see them amongst all the other crap. And their composure was something to behold: at the start, there was a pitiful obese woman with a rainbow group who was screaming O-BA-MA in their faces. They didn't even dignify her with a response! And throughout the parade there were some chastising locals here and there, and again, the Republicans held to their standard of only responding to those with an IQ above 14.
Ran 5 miles yesterday. Felt pretty good. The shins didn't hurt as bad as they have been, so that made it much more enjoyable. Last week I could understand why people hate running. I was miserable. The Hawaii winter is awesome...60s and 70s. Very nice! Pretty even splits: 7:24, 7:40, 7:46, 7:36, 8:14. Finished up with 100 super situps.
Hope ya'll have a good week!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Wednesday
Rode bike to work...rained this morning, so I got a bit of sprinkle from the sky, but a shower from the road. All my stuff was wet when I arrived. Oh well.
Worked out with Bryan again today. Ran 3 miles. The shins have been killing me! I've never had much shin pain before, so it's a new obstacle. I'm not sure if it's because I'm out of shape, or maybe they're adjusting to the holiday pounds I've added. Hopefully they'll get over it.
Afterward, we did 10 super sets of 10s. Holy shit that was hard! I did the exact same thing last week and was fine, but today my arms failed many times. We both kept going though, and I was proud of Bryan for pushing through and not giving up. He's a bit less fitness-wise, but has the heart of a lion! Awesome partner as the inspiration works both ways.
Maybe by the time Charles comes in March, we'll both be able to go rep for rep with you!
Worked out with Bryan again today. Ran 3 miles. The shins have been killing me! I've never had much shin pain before, so it's a new obstacle. I'm not sure if it's because I'm out of shape, or maybe they're adjusting to the holiday pounds I've added. Hopefully they'll get over it.
Afterward, we did 10 super sets of 10s. Holy shit that was hard! I did the exact same thing last week and was fine, but today my arms failed many times. We both kept going though, and I was proud of Bryan for pushing through and not giving up. He's a bit less fitness-wise, but has the heart of a lion! Awesome partner as the inspiration works both ways.
Maybe by the time Charles comes in March, we'll both be able to go rep for rep with you!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Long Absence
Hey ya'll
Sorry for the long absence from posting. I was pretty much a lazy potato over the holidays, so I didn't have much to write and didn't feel like posting the little things.
I did PT and ran off and on, and am starting to get back into a regular routine. For example, after hiking last Wed, I ran 4 miles on Thursday. Uphill the entire 1st two miles. Sucked. Good though. Went surfing Saturday, then ran a mile in the sand. Yesterday, ran 4 miles with Bryan (surfing buddy), and did some PT. We're gonna keep working out together to make sure we're motivated.
We did an easy pyramid to start with: 1-5-1 pullups, x3 Pushups, x6 situps. Felt really good. Then did 15, 10, 5 dips. Those hurt. Last week I did some PT too. Supersets, flutters, haulers, etc.
Biking a lot to work and around. At least 10 miles a day.
Other things: had my 2nd screening for the eye surgery and was disqualified because my vision is too good. So, hopefully I'm not in a weird pocket between having too good of eyes for surgery, but too bad for pilot. Maybe my sight has improved or something. I'm trying to get a hold of the flight surgeon to ask what my options are at this juncture. Let's hope I can still apply!
Sorry for the long absence from posting. I was pretty much a lazy potato over the holidays, so I didn't have much to write and didn't feel like posting the little things.
I did PT and ran off and on, and am starting to get back into a regular routine. For example, after hiking last Wed, I ran 4 miles on Thursday. Uphill the entire 1st two miles. Sucked. Good though. Went surfing Saturday, then ran a mile in the sand. Yesterday, ran 4 miles with Bryan (surfing buddy), and did some PT. We're gonna keep working out together to make sure we're motivated.
We did an easy pyramid to start with: 1-5-1 pullups, x3 Pushups, x6 situps. Felt really good. Then did 15, 10, 5 dips. Those hurt. Last week I did some PT too. Supersets, flutters, haulers, etc.
Biking a lot to work and around. At least 10 miles a day.
Other things: had my 2nd screening for the eye surgery and was disqualified because my vision is too good. So, hopefully I'm not in a weird pocket between having too good of eyes for surgery, but too bad for pilot. Maybe my sight has improved or something. I'm trying to get a hold of the flight surgeon to ask what my options are at this juncture. Let's hope I can still apply!
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