Hopefully with the close of the financial year work will calm down a little. Fortunately, I've managed to fit quite a bit in this week from a training perspective. As usual, it's been about training smart and making the most efficient use of available time. As I sit here typing, I'm watching the end of a really inspirational lecture by Greg Glassman (founder of Crossfit). Very convincing guy, and I can really vouch for his methods.
Monday's session hurt me more than expected. Apparently doing 350 squats makes your quads hurt. Who knew??! I did Pain in the Domain on Tuesday. Got there a bit late, as group 2 and 3 were heading off so had to leg it to catch group 1. I managed to pick them up by the third sprint. Some smartass in the group told me to keep running (after I asked if they were the first group). So I made sure to beat him in every sprint. Bastard got me on the very last one! I either won or placed in every sprint, but unhappily didn't win the 720m. The group did just under 26mins for the course, so I estimate I did between 25:00 and 25:20 or so. Not lightning fast, but not slow by any means. Unfortunately Shauny is still out with a buggered ankle so no other EY folk in group 1 this week.
Wednesday we did the Filthy Fifty. The workout is for time:
- 50 Box jump, 24 inch box (we did full hip extension at the top)
- 50 Jumping pull-ups (I did kipping pullups, not jumping)
- 50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (we used a 17.5kg dumbell)
- Walking Lunge, 50 steps
- 50 Knees to elbows
- 50 Push press, 45 pounds (we used 2 x 10kg dumbells)
- 50 Back extensions (we did something similar to floor wipers on the bench)
- 50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball (we threw a 10kg bag to each other)
- 50 Burpees
- 50 Double unders (we did 150 skips)
For some reason, I really enjoy this WOD even though it is seriously tough. I did it in 26:16 and finished before the other boys (JT, Min and Lee). Some of the serious crossfitters do it in 16mins!!! What machines. I found the KTEs really hard, and strangely I couldnt link more than about 25 skips together before screwing up. Maybe doing 50 burpees before skipping isn't the world's best idea. I reckon the way to get fast in these workouts is to not break at all. I didn't stop at all in the back extensions and it was a lot quicker!!
Thursday morning I took Bo for a run with Quentin up to North Curly and back. Just a short one - 7.5km in 34mins. I've been worried about Bo's fitness recently as he tends to lag behind especially at the end of runs. Mom is convinced that it was due to a cut on his foot, rather than fitness. Turns ut she was right - Bo and Quentin have no problems with their fitness. Jamie, on the other hand, has some work to do!! I struggled to keep up even a 3:40 pace toward the last few kms. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful morning for running and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I boxed with Min at lunch as well. Good session with lots of solid combos. My hooks are improving and I got the chance to unleash a bit of frustration from the week! Did 4 sets of max bench after to finish off. I managed 7 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg, then finished with 2 x 85kg, 2 x 75kg, 10 x 45kg to failure to finish. Feeling good now!!!
Thursday, 30 June 2011
Monday, 27 June 2011
Monday
I'm terrible at this - anotherfew days of no blogging! 10km with Bo on Saturday, engagement partay Sat night and hungover Sunday!!
Felt bad about not training on Sunday so at lunch today I decided to smash myself to get the Peronis out of my system. Met up with Min & Shauny (Dave joined us later) for a tough one. On the minute, every minute for 25 minutes:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 deep squats
Finished off with 3 rounds of max ring dips. We finally worked out how to suspend the rings on the gym!! Some lady looked at us like we're mad but we got our ring dips out!
Felt bad about not training on Sunday so at lunch today I decided to smash myself to get the Peronis out of my system. Met up with Min & Shauny (Dave joined us later) for a tough one. On the minute, every minute for 25 minutes:
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 deep squats
Finished off with 3 rounds of max ring dips. We finally worked out how to suspend the rings on the gym!! Some lady looked at us like we're mad but we got our ring dips out!
Monday, 20 June 2011
Silly boys
Got down to the gym aiming to do a quick session. Ended up doing one of the hardest we've ever done. There were seven of us (me, Shauny, Min, Macca, Russ, JT and Lee) so we did a WOD with seven exercises, times 3 rounds. It took just under 45mins with no rest!!!! The session was three rounds for time of:
- 30 walking lunges carrying a 20kg plate overhead
- 500m row
- 10 handstand pushups
- 50m wall climb
- 10 renegade man makers with 12.5kg dumbells
- 15 squat cleans with ezy bar plus 35kg (i.e. about 52kg)
- 20 pullups
Seriously tough session. I thought I may spew but fortunately didn't. A group of new grads doing an office tour looked at us like we were mad. Now to keep awake for the rest of the afternoon ...
- 30 walking lunges carrying a 20kg plate overhead
- 500m row
- 10 handstand pushups
- 50m wall climb
- 10 renegade man makers with 12.5kg dumbells
- 15 squat cleans with ezy bar plus 35kg (i.e. about 52kg)
- 20 pullups
Seriously tough session. I thought I may spew but fortunately didn't. A group of new grads doing an office tour looked at us like we were mad. Now to keep awake for the rest of the afternoon ...
Sunday, 19 June 2011
Catchup and running
I've been getting a little slammed at work, so have been a) slack with training and b) slack with blogging! So, here's a bit of catchup:
Thursday - nothing but work and a very unhealthy (and not too tasty) tapas lunch. Did 100 strict pushups before bed.
Friday - Just under 10km in 40:27. Average heart rate of 161bpm. Started off easy with Matty and Dave, then picked it up a bit around Macquarie's Chair. FInished the loop around Darling Harbour with a bit of a slowdown to check out the City Dash. Shauny (the machine) won the mile dash with a 10kg sandbag!!
Saturday - was a bit hungover so took Bo for a cruisy 10km along the coast to Dee Why and back (46:07, average HR of 158bpm). A few hills, some rock running and generally a great run! Bo was a fantastic partner - off the leash most of the way and only started to slow down towards the last few km. He's getting fitter and his feet seem to be OK now.
Sunday - met up with Sam and Quentin for a great longish run. Beautiful day and did the coast track past Dee Why, with a bit of a loop around Manly at the start. About 21km in 1:33:36 (average pace of 4:30 and HR of 155bpm). Nice talking pace and the perfect way to break in my ridiculous-looking new Mizunos. They were really comfy and I'm very happy with them.
All up, about 42km in the last 3 days and I'm feeling fit for the Gold Coast half. I'll try to get some more speed work in this week then have a bit of a taper.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Regionals WOD
Snuck down at lunch today for what was meant to be a quick WOD. Min and Shauny were doing the deadlift/squat/pushpress one I did Sunday, so JT and I decided to do the Crossfit Games Regional Workout 4. The workout is, for time:
100 Pull-ups
100 Kettlebell swings, 24kg (we used 25kg dumbell)
100 Double-unders (we did 300 jumprope skips)
95 pound Overhead squat, 100 reps (we did ezy bar + 10kg = 27kg)
Min informed us that in the actual Crossfit games, they cut you off for not finishing the WOD after 20 minutes. It took us 31:38!!! Mind you, we waited for 2mins for the bar to get free, but still - that's a big time difference! Clearly I'm not as quick at pullups as I'd thought. I got 28 reps out on the first set, but it went downhill from there. The KB swings were tough but fair, the skipping hurt my calves like crazy but was OK. It was the OH squatting that killed. Firstly, I know my technique still isn't 100% and I'm not getting deep enough. Second, my shoulder flexibility has a LONG way to go. Still, I was hurting at the end and am glad I did it. Got to hand it to Crossfit - quick, tough workouts that smash you yet keep you coming back for more.
Crossfit quote "This sucks! What time tomorrow?"
100 Pull-ups
100 Kettlebell swings, 24kg (we used 25kg dumbell)
100 Double-unders (we did 300 jumprope skips)
95 pound Overhead squat, 100 reps (we did ezy bar + 10kg = 27kg)
Min informed us that in the actual Crossfit games, they cut you off for not finishing the WOD after 20 minutes. It took us 31:38!!! Mind you, we waited for 2mins for the bar to get free, but still - that's a big time difference! Clearly I'm not as quick at pullups as I'd thought. I got 28 reps out on the first set, but it went downhill from there. The KB swings were tough but fair, the skipping hurt my calves like crazy but was OK. It was the OH squatting that killed. Firstly, I know my technique still isn't 100% and I'm not getting deep enough. Second, my shoulder flexibility has a LONG way to go. Still, I was hurting at the end and am glad I did it. Got to hand it to Crossfit - quick, tough workouts that smash you yet keep you coming back for more.
Crossfit quote "This sucks! What time tomorrow?"
Monday, 13 June 2011
Crossfit Sunday and MLR Monday
Was pretty tired yesterday after Tom's monster session Saturday. Managed to sneak in a gym session in the evening. Did a Crossfit main site WOD:
90kg Deadlift 21 reps
50 deep air squats
50kg push press 21 reps
90kg Deadlift 21 reps
50 deep air squats
50kg push press 21 reps
90kg Deadlift 15 reps
50 deep air squats
50kg push press 15 reps
90kg Deadlift 9 reps
50 deep air squats
50kg push press 9 reps
Warmed up with some chins and pushups and cooled down with some toes to bar. Good, quick session followed by awesome pan fried flathead fillets.
This morning I met up with Tom and Quentin for a medium long run. The pace wasn't hard (talk pace), but not slow either. I only wanted to do about 75 mins, so we did a loop around Cromer and back along the coast. 17.5km in about 75-80mins (I forgot to stop my watch so not sure the exact time). The session was exactly what I wanted to do.
It now looks pretty certain that I'll be moving to Brisbane for work for a few months. The timing is unfortunate as I'm really enjoying my running at the moment. Good news though - Tom knows a guy who runs in Brissy and hopefully I can do some sessions with him. Apparently there are some great tracks to run on, and at least the weather should be a bit less bloody miserable than Sydney has been!
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Tom's fast session
After a morning of cleaning up the front yard and planting (which Annabel assures me I will never have a career in), I jogged down to Manly pool to meet Tom and Quentin for Tom's fast session. The session is as follows:
- 5km hard (2 laps around Kenneth Road/Manly Golf Club)
- 4 min rest
- 8 times Suwarro Street hill (the hill is about 250m - the aim is to run up in a minute, jog back down and start agin with no rest)
- 4 min rest
- 5km hard (trying to get as close to your first 5km time as possible)
Unfortunately Sam didn't make it so it was just me and the greyhounds for the first 5km and the hills. Richard joined us for the last 5km. I "carelessly" tried to keep up with Tom & Quentin for the first 5km. I lasted about 2km then slowly dropped away! The hills were tough but I wasn't behind until the last 2 reps. The last 5km hurt though. I missed my original time by just over 30 seconds. Not so bad really, considering I went out too hard in the first 5km. I had a big kick toward the end and pulled out 3:25s for the last few hundred metres!
First 5km was 17:44, second 5km 18:22. All up about 18km. Now off to Paddington to farewell Squashie!!!
- 5km hard (2 laps around Kenneth Road/Manly Golf Club)
- 4 min rest
- 8 times Suwarro Street hill (the hill is about 250m - the aim is to run up in a minute, jog back down and start agin with no rest)
- 4 min rest
- 5km hard (trying to get as close to your first 5km time as possible)
Unfortunately Sam didn't make it so it was just me and the greyhounds for the first 5km and the hills. Richard joined us for the last 5km. I "carelessly" tried to keep up with Tom & Quentin for the first 5km. I lasted about 2km then slowly dropped away! The hills were tough but I wasn't behind until the last 2 reps. The last 5km hurt though. I missed my original time by just over 30 seconds. Not so bad really, considering I went out too hard in the first 5km. I had a big kick toward the end and pulled out 3:25s for the last few hundred metres!
First 5km was 17:44, second 5km 18:22. All up about 18km. Now off to Paddington to farewell Squashie!!!
Friday, 10 June 2011
Quick tenner
Had to get a report to a client so missed the HuRTs guys (12.10 departure), Milan (12.15 departure) and Shauny & the boys (12.30 departure). I decided that since I hadn't done much running this week, and with the Coastal Classic next weekend, I should just do an easyish 10km. So, I plugged in the iPod and went for it. It's weird - with the iPod you don't really realise how hard you're going. I know I looked down a few times and saw 3:35s and 3:40s flashing up at me, so I was moving, but it didn't feel too hard. Ended up doing 10.3km in 40:12 for an average pace (according to the Suunto) of 3:53min/km. Not bad, and I feel pretty good now. Unfortunately my right ankle felt a few twinges of pain during the run when going around corners. I'll wrap it in cotton wool for the next week.
The Coastal Classic info has been updated. The big contentious point is that they may postpone it til September if the forecast is for rain. Fingers crossed that this weekend's forecast doesn't come true, because the wet weather date is the weekend before the Sydney marathon in September, and I really wanted to do both.
The Coastal Classic info has been updated. The big contentious point is that they may postpone it til September if the forecast is for rain. Fingers crossed that this weekend's forecast doesn't come true, because the wet weather date is the weekend before the Sydney marathon in September, and I really wanted to do both.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Boxing
Boxed today with Min. I felt strong and was hitting hard (well, it felt like it was hard - probably more like a little girl). I definitely released some tension from being forced to rest yesterday (by unexpected work commitments)! The session was good, despite the random elbow and knee hits that Roza keeps throwing in.
Followed boxing with 4 sets of bench press - 10 x 65kg (including 5kg for the Smith Press bar), 7 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg. Followed that with some dumbell snatches and Shaun's killer abs routine* with Matty and Dave. All in all, a good workout! I was hoping to run home, but client commitments got in the way again. Bummer.
* Shaun's killer ab routine - 30 seconds of each of the following:
- Alternating crunches with knees in the air
- Scissors (vertical)
- Toe touches with legs extended
- Scissors (horizontal)
- Penguin oblique crunches
- Floor wipers (5-10kg ball or bag)
- Russians (same ball or bag, feet off the floor)
- Jacknives
- Side plank, arm extended (LHS)
- Side plank, arm extended (RHS)
- Straight plank
- Ball kicks/crabs
- Straight plank
Then finish off with something like 20 alternating pushups
Followed boxing with 4 sets of bench press - 10 x 65kg (including 5kg for the Smith Press bar), 7 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg, 6 x 75kg. Followed that with some dumbell snatches and Shaun's killer abs routine* with Matty and Dave. All in all, a good workout! I was hoping to run home, but client commitments got in the way again. Bummer.
* Shaun's killer ab routine - 30 seconds of each of the following:
- Alternating crunches with knees in the air
- Scissors (vertical)
- Toe touches with legs extended
- Scissors (horizontal)
- Penguin oblique crunches
- Floor wipers (5-10kg ball or bag)
- Russians (same ball or bag, feet off the floor)
- Jacknives
- Side plank, arm extended (LHS)
- Side plank, arm extended (RHS)
- Straight plank
- Ball kicks/crabs
- Straight plank
Then finish off with something like 20 alternating pushups
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Pain
Didn't have time to do the HuRTs 14x3min session so just did Pain in the Domain instead. Ran down with Shauny, Min and JT. Shauny and I went in quite a big Group 1. The pace was OK but the rests were pretty slow. Ended up doing just over 25mins which is quite quick but didn't feel like the fastest one we've done. I won 3 of the sprints outright and was in the top 3 for all the rest. Shauny and some guy with a "Go Vegan!" singlet tied for the win in the 720m and Shauny took out the last sprint.
I was happy as I took out the third-last long one (my favourite) and was closer to winning the last sprint than I've ever been. Felt fresh at the end. I'm really not built for sprinting!
Total of 9.5km in 42mins. Sharp, quick session. I saw Quentin, Sam and the HuRTs crew out there. Kinda wished I could've taken the time to run with them. Oh well.
I was happy as I took out the third-last long one (my favourite) and was closer to winning the last sprint than I've ever been. Felt fresh at the end. I'm really not built for sprinting!
Total of 9.5km in 42mins. Sharp, quick session. I saw Quentin, Sam and the HuRTs crew out there. Kinda wished I could've taken the time to run with them. Oh well.
Monday, 6 June 2011
Jamie's 5-set rings
Didn't get the chance to work out at lunch so snuck one in between the ferry home and dinner. Did my quick 5-exercise ring set. It's 5 rounds of 10 reps of each of:
- Ring pullups (false grip if possible)
- Ring dips
- Ring pushups
- Pistol squats left leg (using ring for support)
- Pistol squats right leg
Quick but tough. Had to partition the last 2 sets of dips but kept good form. Followed the workout with BBQ peri-peri chicken breast and Annabel's massive salad. Delicious.
- Ring pullups (false grip if possible)
- Ring dips
- Ring pushups
- Pistol squats left leg (using ring for support)
- Pistol squats right leg
Quick but tough. Had to partition the last 2 sets of dips but kept good form. Followed the workout with BBQ peri-peri chicken breast and Annabel's massive salad. Delicious.
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Catchup
Wow, I've been a slacker with my posts this week. I could blame work, but need to be more diligent to the blog! Here's a quick summary:
Wednesday - Rest. I had a Tiger massage in the morning which was really good. Apparently after 2 years of treatment my calves are finally no longer tight. I quote: "your calves are like mush". Awesome!
Thursday - Boxing with Min. Tough session with a good mix of combos with big hits and fast, high reps. Finished off with 3 sets of 10 strict pullups (wide grip), 10 deep dips and 10 GHD situps.
Friday - Fight Gone Bad on my own with the weights as RX'd. It was very tough and I almost spewed at the end! The format is one minute on each exercise with one minute rest times 3 rounds. My results were pretty good though and I was happy with my consistency:
Wall ball (10kg bag, thrown up to the ceiling with a deep squat) - 32, 26, 26
Box jump (9step box, jump up and fully extend hips at the top) - 18, 20, 19
SDHP (34kg - 2 x 10kg plates on the ezy bar) - 18, 18, 19
Push press (same bar as above) - 30, 33, 34
Row (for calories) - 18, 17, 17
That's a total score of 345. The first time I did FGB I was happy with 305, and I was doing "fast" box jumps (i.e. without full extension), so I've made a marked improvement which is always good to see!
Saturday - 15.6km run (the first 12km with Bo) in 1:06 at a nice, relaxed pace (average of 4:14s). I'm now a total running w@nker - I have the sunnies, visor, 3 pairs of shoes in current rotation and now, thanks to Annabel's birthday prezzie, I also have an iPod shuffle! This was my first ever run with the iPod. I must admit I quite enjoyed it. I kept the volume just low enough that I could hear Bo running next to me. Along the Fairlight path, every chorus or two I'd hear the "dagadagadagadaga" of footsteps catching up with me, then fading away as he ran off. Bobo is still getting back to fitness and is sporting sore feet so he slowed down around 8km, but otherwise was the perfect running partner, as usual. We started off at about 3:45s and slowed to just under 4:30s for the last 4km. I have entered us in the Bay Run pet+owner in August (7km the week before the City2Surf). I reckon Bo will be no worries for the "fastest dog in the inner west" title. It's whether I can keep up that is the question!!
Sunday - my favourite run, home to the Spit and back via the Spit to Manly track. Total of 22.2km in 1:54 which is an average of 5:08s with about 14km of hilly trails. Felt really good the whole way. In Born to Run, the author talks about the Tarahumara gaining genuine pleasure out of running, and looking like they glide over trails rather than run. That's how I felt today on sections of the track. I would look down and be running 4:30s on technical trail, my feet just knew where to go. I couldn't believe how fresh the legs felt so I decided to add a few kms on the way back by turning around at Reef Beach and running back up to Dobroyd (up the nasty steps). Bad decision as I slipped and banged my knee on the way up and slipped and did a little strain on my ankle on the way down! Bugger. Both feel OK now - iced the knee and it seems to be just bruised.
Interesting observation - there were more people running the Spit to Manly track this morning than the total of all the runners I've ever seen on the track! Trail running must be getting more popular. I saw Timmy H and Jon Mc both running with buddies, as well as a few guys on their own. On another note, I got to Clontarf on the way back, fully intending to have a gel (as I hadn't had brekky before the run). Unfortunately the gel I brought had passed its use-by date so I had to survive with just water!
All in all, I'm really happy with today's run. Feeling good for the Coastal Classic. Unfortunately my partner in crime, Rochey, has pulled out due to injury so it's just me flying the Manly flag down South.
Wednesday - Rest. I had a Tiger massage in the morning which was really good. Apparently after 2 years of treatment my calves are finally no longer tight. I quote: "your calves are like mush". Awesome!
Thursday - Boxing with Min. Tough session with a good mix of combos with big hits and fast, high reps. Finished off with 3 sets of 10 strict pullups (wide grip), 10 deep dips and 10 GHD situps.
Friday - Fight Gone Bad on my own with the weights as RX'd. It was very tough and I almost spewed at the end! The format is one minute on each exercise with one minute rest times 3 rounds. My results were pretty good though and I was happy with my consistency:
Wall ball (10kg bag, thrown up to the ceiling with a deep squat) - 32, 26, 26
Box jump (9step box, jump up and fully extend hips at the top) - 18, 20, 19
SDHP (34kg - 2 x 10kg plates on the ezy bar) - 18, 18, 19
Push press (same bar as above) - 30, 33, 34
Row (for calories) - 18, 17, 17
That's a total score of 345. The first time I did FGB I was happy with 305, and I was doing "fast" box jumps (i.e. without full extension), so I've made a marked improvement which is always good to see!
Saturday - 15.6km run (the first 12km with Bo) in 1:06 at a nice, relaxed pace (average of 4:14s). I'm now a total running w@nker - I have the sunnies, visor, 3 pairs of shoes in current rotation and now, thanks to Annabel's birthday prezzie, I also have an iPod shuffle! This was my first ever run with the iPod. I must admit I quite enjoyed it. I kept the volume just low enough that I could hear Bo running next to me. Along the Fairlight path, every chorus or two I'd hear the "dagadagadagadaga" of footsteps catching up with me, then fading away as he ran off. Bobo is still getting back to fitness and is sporting sore feet so he slowed down around 8km, but otherwise was the perfect running partner, as usual. We started off at about 3:45s and slowed to just under 4:30s for the last 4km. I have entered us in the Bay Run pet+owner in August (7km the week before the City2Surf). I reckon Bo will be no worries for the "fastest dog in the inner west" title. It's whether I can keep up that is the question!!
Sunday - my favourite run, home to the Spit and back via the Spit to Manly track. Total of 22.2km in 1:54 which is an average of 5:08s with about 14km of hilly trails. Felt really good the whole way. In Born to Run, the author talks about the Tarahumara gaining genuine pleasure out of running, and looking like they glide over trails rather than run. That's how I felt today on sections of the track. I would look down and be running 4:30s on technical trail, my feet just knew where to go. I couldn't believe how fresh the legs felt so I decided to add a few kms on the way back by turning around at Reef Beach and running back up to Dobroyd (up the nasty steps). Bad decision as I slipped and banged my knee on the way up and slipped and did a little strain on my ankle on the way down! Bugger. Both feel OK now - iced the knee and it seems to be just bruised.
Interesting observation - there were more people running the Spit to Manly track this morning than the total of all the runners I've ever seen on the track! Trail running must be getting more popular. I saw Timmy H and Jon Mc both running with buddies, as well as a few guys on their own. On another note, I got to Clontarf on the way back, fully intending to have a gel (as I hadn't had brekky before the run). Unfortunately the gel I brought had passed its use-by date so I had to survive with just water!
All in all, I'm really happy with today's run. Feeling good for the Coastal Classic. Unfortunately my partner in crime, Rochey, has pulled out due to injury so it's just me flying the Manly flag down South.
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