On Wednesday I did a quick five at the hill. I've been feeling some inflammation and pain in my knee. Nothing serious and nothing a few grams of ibuprofen, some coffee, some heartfelt prayer, and a few doses of low-grade beaver tranquilizer can't take care of.
I ran five of these:
And walked five of these:
Here's a picture of me when I was done being awesome in a tank top:
I'm not sure why it looks like I'm listing to my starboard side. Hills will do that to a man.
Today (Thursday) I did some benching. Here's what went down.
Bench: 180x5; 205x5; 235x9
Floor Press: 4x10
Lat Pull Down: 3x15
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Chest Supported Row: 3x10
Got some good work in. Nothing too special or worth burning calories thinking about something to write.
Song of the Day:
"The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills.” -William Wordsworth
WABB was a total sweat box last night. No air movement whatsoever. Not complaining though. I wouldn't want it any other way. Lower body strength has taken the foreseen dip. This is due to the extra conditioning I've been doing. In the training world you can't be doing a lot of conditioning and expect to be your biggest or strongest. It's like trying to sit on two horses with one ass. Impossible. Except for maybe this guy or gal.
Anyways, once I begin my peaking program for my December meet I'll scale back the conditioning. Having that base of conditioning is going to really help my strength gains as I'll be able to train harder and longer if I need to. With that said tonight I'm going to feed some orchids that are probably kind of thirsty then run some hills.
Song of the Day:
“Like tourists huffing and puffing to reach the peak we forget the view on the way up” -Friedrich Nietzsche
Again, just trying to increase my conditioning. Strength is taking a navigator role for the time being. Not in the back seat, but not in the driving the car. I'm definitely doing a meet on December 3rd in Iowa. I'll be planning my peaking program in the next week or so. For the time being I'm just trying to be less fat.
The hill I run is only a half mile or so from where I used to live when I was in school at Carroll. I measured my steps and it was 92 on the way down. I would estimate that it's about 75-85 yards long. It takes me the better part of 25 seconds to do each one. It's hard. It makes me better. It is good.
Song of the Day:
"The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art." -Leonardo da Vinci
West Allis Barbell was rocking this morning. BFFs Joe Flick and Matt Cerra, and fellow trainer and friend Nic Hansen came and had an awesome session in the car hole (garage). When dudes that are dedicated to training get together and train it's almost too awesome for words. We talk about women, football, asshole dudes we know, and there are tons of dick and pussy jokes. A Sham-Wow couldn't soak up all the testosterone. I put Matt and Joe through a total body workout, Nic did some accessory stuff, and I trained the standing press.
After this Matt had Wisconsin State Fair on his mind. Joe had a tattoo appointment and I told Katie I'd wait for her to get back from Fargo and go with her. Let me just say that I frickin' love the State Fair. Eating food, drinking beer, and people watching are some of my favorite activities. This year's new big item at the fair is a cheeseburger with a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun. For a dollar extra you can get chocolate covered bacon on top. I am definitely getting one. I'm going to skip the bacon though. I tried it last year and was very underwhelmed. Another item that has been in the back of my mind for the past year is the deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Everyone I tell about this has the same reaction, "Really? Ew." But everyone that tries it says it is awesome. And I would agree with them. It's a PB&J dipped in what is essentially pancake batter and then fried in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (shitloads of trans-fat). How could it not be good.
I love State Fair food, but I'm glad it only comes once a year. There are, however, lots of people that seemingly celebrate the Fair year-round. These are my favorite people to people watch. It's the great state of Wisconsin at it's finest. Way too big women wearing way too small clothes and people that must have been cool a long time ago because they just keep hanging on to the fashion and hairstyles of years gone-by. Mullets, cut-off jean shorts, Looney Tunes t-shirts, tennis shoes with calf high tube socks pulled all the way up in the summer, "These colors don't run" shirts, huge Jesus chains, and motorized scooters for the huskies. Shit yes. I think I'm going to bring by camera.
Song of the Day:
“Look not mournfully into the past, it comes not back again. Wisely improve the present, it is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a manly heart.” -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Holy crapola. I haven't updated since Monday. What the H is wrong with me. I'll tell you what's wrong with me. Nothing. I'm just living life. I'm doing a whole lot of moving and shaking as they say. Instead of inundating you all with every last detail of my week here's the highlights.
Tuesday
Bench: worked up to 255x4
DB Bench: worked up to Big Face Hundy's x10
Wednesday
Mile Jog: 10 minute pace
Prowler: 90 lbs., 20 yards, 30 sec rest, x10
This had me down a lot more than I thought it would. I'm not sure if it was a case of the prowler flu or what but for the rest of the day it felt like someone had slapped the ol' potato sack about 30 minutes prior. Guys, you know what I'm talking about. It's that really dull yet very persistent ache in your lower abdomen just above your nether regions. It's gone now so I'm not too worried.
Thursday
Deadlift: worked up to 475x1
My calves have never been this sore. I could feel every rep right through my toes and gastroc and soleus. I'm about 100% sure it's from the jogging and conditioning. I had a conditioning/running base of about zero and I just jumped right in. It'll go away. Just gotta keep on...keep...keep truckin'.
So that's my week thus far. It's about 7:30 in the a.m. on Friday as I type this and I'm sure I'll be doing something today. I think I might go bust out some hills. We'll see.
Song of the Day:
“Restlessness is discontent and discontent is the first necessity of progress. Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.” -Thomas Alva Edison
Nothing special today. I need to start bringing up my conditioning. I'm going to try to work in at least 2 days of conditioning. I hit 230 pounds today which was my target after coming off the biggest loser challenge. I'm going to try to maintain it, but if a little comes off from the conditioning I'm not going to panic. As long as I'm making progress, getting stronger and more awesome I don't really care what I weigh.
Song of the Day:
“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of courage-to move in the opposite direction.” -Albert Einstein
I didn't post much this week because I was in Florida for the 2010 Circle of Friends Reunion Trip. It was a great time that I'll talk about in a minute. I trained today (Sunday).
Power Clean: worked to 264x1x3
Squat: 355x5; 405x3; 450x1
Lunge Walk: 3x 20 steps
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Ab Wheel Rollouts: 3x10
Squats felt really heavy. Probably due to a lack of sleep and I was probably still a bit dehydrated from the weekend. Anyways I made it through. I'm not going to deload this coming week. I don't feel I need it.
Every two year the Circle of Friends has a reunion trip. This is where they gather the kids from the two previous winter trips and bring them together in a warmer climate. This year the trip was in Tampa, FL. All of the kids had a great time. Some of the activities included a Tampa Bay Rays game, a beach day, and Busch Gardens on probably the hottest day of ever. It was extremely hot and very humid at times. I likened it to standing behind a Greyhound bus and getting the heat of the exhaust in your face. Many many bottles of water were consumed during the trip. However, the kids are definitely very resilient and didn't let the heat get in the way of their fun. In fact some of the nurses made the call to get the kids inside on the beach day since some of them had been outside for six hours and were starting to get a little pink.
The Circle of Friends trips are something that I love to do in my outside life that has nothing to do with training. Until this trip. Two things happened that highlighted a few of the reasons why I train the way I do.
I had a revelation of sorts. Some of the kids have obvious physical impairments. Most, however, refuse to let it get in the way of their daily lives. Some have limps, some have arms that have been affected, and some are in wheelchairs. I was reflecting on how lucky I am to be able to do the things that I can do. If I wanted to I could go run a 5k, or squat 400 pounds, or bust out 10 50-yard sprints. Some people can't (i.e. cancer patients), and some people don't (i.e. most of the U.S.). I took a silent vow to myself that as long as I am still able I will keep running, conditioning, and lifting. It reminds me of a quote whose author I can't remember. It goes, "Those that can't find time for exercise will soon have to make time for disease." I'll never cure cancer but I sure-as-shit won't waste any of my physical capabilities. That is a tragedy that is committed on a daily basis by millions of perpetrators.
The second example of why I train is a bit funnier, but no less important. On that last day I was helping Peter Bennet (the guy who helped organize the trip) carry some stuff to his car. When we got there we saw that he had a flat tire. We had two options: Call AAA or do it ourselves. The previous day Pete had been talking big about how the ocean is far superior to lakes. He said he feels more like a man after a day or being in the saltwater or fishing for the bigger fish in the ocean. Now it was gettin' down to brass tacks time. When there is doubt there is no doubt. We immediately set about finding his car jack and spare tire.
Being men we didn't really think about consulting the owners manual. How hard could it be? Well, after two attempts to do it wrong and about a half gallon of sweat we finally decided to look at the directions. Being a factory jack it was designed to work on one specific spot on the chassis of the car. So we got the car up, the flat tire off, the spare tire on, and set her back down. When we were done I looked down and was dripping sweat from every pore. My shirt, hat, and shorts were all sweaty. I haven't sweat like that in a long time. That Florida heat and being on the black asphalt really got me rolling. But the thing is, Pete and I both train. Granted our training may be different, but we were both able to change the tire without getting too tired ourselves. Yeah we sweat a few pounds of water right there, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle.
Usefulness is the key here. Being able to handle those types of situations is something that I like to do. I like being able to move heavy stuff by myself to the wonderment of others. For you young men out there let me tell you this: Women don't care about six-packs. If you have a six-pack but can't move a coffee table without assistance you are no good to anybody. If you have a six-pack and can be physically lifted by your girlfriend whether you let her or not, you, sir, are a disgrace. That's all I have to say about that.
Song of the Day:
Just substitute "California" with "Florida".
"Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life.” -Jackie Robinson
