New Program

OK so last week was a bit chaotic since I decided to attempt to work in some strength based workouts.  It's been a while since I've tried to do that.  I think I got a good grasp on what I want to do now.  This week should be a lot better.  This Saturday I decided to try hard day out to end the week on a good hard metcon workout.  I have a workout that I do on what used to be "hard day" which consisted of 3 sets of 13 dive bombers, 20 burpees, and 50 air squats.  Funny how when you write stuff like that down on paper it really doesn't sound that hard.  Well trust me, it's freakin hard if you try to do it all out.  On Saturday I bested my previous best time by 1 minute 5 seconds.  That is a significant bump and I'm pretty proud of it.  So I think the way next week is going to go is as follows:

Monday: Strength workout
Tuesday: Leg/running workout
Wednesday: Strength workout
Thursday: metcon
Friday: Strength workout
Saturday: metcon

Sounds like a plan.  Now if I could only get my diet in order.


Effort:

Strength Week?

 5 sets of 10 reps on a weight I couldn't finish by set 5 on the lat pull down machine.

finished off with 20 burpees.

too easy, didn't feel like much of a workout.  Think I'll have to do something hard tomorrow.

I saw an interview on youtube yesterday with a competitor in the crossfit games.  In it he said you shouldn't do so many metcons if you want to be competitive in crossfit.  The first thing I had to do was find out what a metcon is.  Metcon is the short term for metabolic conditioning.  Ever since I discovered crossfit I assumed this was the primary type of workout crossfitters did.  Apparently I was mistaken.  After some more digging on some crossfit forums I found out that it is indeed more of a mix.  Crossfit really appears to be a mix of different kinds of exercises.  The current theory is that you simply can not get strong by doing metcon workouts only.  I think what they meant to say is that you can't maximize your strength gains by doing metcons.  I agree with that.  However, my goals in working out are mental just as much as they are physical.  When it comes to building mental toughness there isn't a better workout than a metcon for building that.  So this week I decided to switch things up and do more of a strength thing.  This was hard.  To be honest I don't think I was doing it right.  Strength focused workouts are pretty much the polar opposite of metcons.  I think what I was doing was half way between the two. 

I really need to get that pullup bar put up.

Happy Wednesday

Today's workout:

The 400's

4 rounds of

400 meter run
50 air squats

time:13:05

This workout was really hard the first time I did it.  This is the 3rd or 4th time I've done it and it is getting easier pretty fast.  This is one of those workouts that is as hard as you want to make it.  All I have to do is try to run it faster.  I could also throw in some walking lunges.  I really need to get that pull up bar made in the backyard.  I sure do hate pull ups.

Derek got lost on a practice run with his classmates today.  Didn't like hearing about that.  He'll be running with my running backpack and his phone from now on.  Going to have to change his nickname from waffles to the wanderer. 

Dylan Learns to Ride

Last weekend I was determined to teach Dylan how to ride a bike.  Michelle just got a new bike so I could foresee a summer filled with bike outings.  On Sunday I got his bike down off the wall and promptly removed the training wheels.  If you ever want to find out how out of shape you are just try following a 7 year old up and down the street while keeping your hands in position in case he falls.  I actually thought I was in pretty good shape but after going up and down the block twice I was gasping.  Luckily I had Derek there so we started alternating.  The entire time he only fell once.  He actually didn't fall he ran into a trashcan and stopped.  So after going up and down the street with him for maybe 15 minutes I decided to let him go on his first solo ride.  He started off slow but eventually got going.  Then about half way down the street he looked like he was losing control.  His legs went out and his feet dragged on the ground to help him stop.  He quickly stopped and put the bike down gently.  Then he walked back about 15 feet and picked something up.  I ran down the street to see what happened.  His pedal had come off of his bike.  Talk about bad timing.  I was very proud of him for how he reacted however.  He simply stopped and went back to get the pedal.  He did not fall.  Now Sydney and Dylan love riding their bikes.   I can't wait to take them to the beach.

Coffee Downer

I think I'm going to stop drinking coffee.  At the very least I'm going to only going to drink it in emergency situations.  What I have been finding is that I drink coffee every day at work, but when I don't drink it on the weekends I feel like crap.  I don't want to have to depend on drinking coffee every day just to be normal.  I am on day 4 of the coffee purge now.  Day 1 was rough, and unfortunately it happened to be mother's day.  It's getting easier but I do think about drinking coffee every day and every time I yawn and every time I walk through the front door of my office.  My goal is to actually have energy to do stuff on the weekends.

free at last?

Well it's been 4 long months of ups and downs.  Mostly downs.  I have finally delivered the last of 58 shots that I did in their entirety for a freelance project.  So how do I feel about it?  Relief, elation, mission accomplished, sad, happy?  No not really any of those things.  Maybe some of that will come later.  Right now I just feel nothing.  It is as if I came to the end of a 100 mile run and simply stopped running, got into my car, and drove to work.  When I look back over my career I can easily call out the worst places I've worked.  There are really only two that come to mind.  Curiously, they are on paper what you would expect to be the best places to work.  One was in Irvine, the other San Clemente.  Both beautiful places that I would have loved to move to.  This project just put my house as the single worst place I've ever worked.  This project was a soul crushing experience that tested me far beyond my limits.  I never want to do something like that again.  The next project will likely start in a month or so.

Got some exercise this morning.  It's been a long time since I've been able to do that.  Weeks.  Amazing how fast fitness gets lost at my advanced age.  It'll be fun getting it back.  I truly treasure the 30-60 minutes I have in the morning when I have the house all to myself before going to work.  It is the only time I can call my own.

Bad Vans

I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer wear Vans shoes.  At least not without some kind of arch support.  After working at a stand up desk for almost 2 months my back feels great but my left foot is killing me.  At first I thought it was because I was standing on a flat hard floor for 10 hours a day.  Then I got an anti-fatigue mat which helped a little but the pain in my foot was still there.  Eventually I figured out that it was the shoes.  Ideally I would wear running shoes every day.  There is nothing more comfortable than that.  Well wearing no shoes would be the best but I'm not going to be "that guy" in the office.  I also don't want to wear my running shoes because I know I'll reduce their life by about 75% if I do.  Time to go to the shoe store.