Fall Update.

Back again after a long lapse in writing. No time off from the workouts though and here is the latest.

Saturday I met Jim at the club for a short one. I spent just under 25 minutes on the Concept 2, doing a bit over 5k (24 minutes) then a couple of sets of easy squats @225 just to wake up the legs. Sunday I hit Viv's Sunday morning kettlebell workout. I was anxious to test myself because I've only done 2 short kb workouts in the past 3 weeks with only a 16kg bell, because I relocated to San Juan, PR 3 weeks ago and my schedule is a bit chaotic.

Yup. Quit my job at PBS/PBBI/PB MapInfo/MapInfo to go work for Thaddeus.

[another lapse]

Back again. Having a quiet moment here in the office at the end of a day. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and Dennis closed the office at 1. It's now 5.

I've been here a month and I still have very mixed feelings. Professionally I am convinced this is a great move. Personally, it feels like a term of service. Like I volunteered for a deployment. I know I don't have to be here, part of me wants to and part of me does not. Perhaps more accurately, at times I really want to be here and other times I can't wait to leave.

So a synopsis of the past month.

1 week prior to departure, mounting anticipation, tension, anxiety.
Departure day; anticipation, separation anxiety
1st week. Wow. Work was good. Evenings got progressively worse, pretty depressed. Couldn't wait to book my flight home for the planned 3 week visit
Moved in with Thaddeus and Stephanie.
Week 2 was better. Felt a bit awkward about a bunch of things. Really feeling negative about the city.
Week 3 better yet, but reactions still cycling from "ok with this" to "this blows." Flew home at the end of week 3, back to work on Tuesday.
Week 4, work settling into a routine. Work is good, hours are too long but what else would I be doing? Sitting around the apartment on the computer wishing I was doing something I enjoyed?

The riding is ok, but I always feel stressed before and largely during, especially the first and last 9+ miles. Not really comfortable doing my kettlebell thing in the garage. I have a large internal debate raging over whether to get my own place or stay where I am, and whether to get a car or not.

More later...

Tuesday: Bike ride from home, out and back in 1:02 and change. Averaged 17.9 and good power 60m NP 202 watts.

Wednesday: BodyPump was good.
Squat track: 25kg, felt like a could have gone heavier.
Chest track: 25kg, felt good until the last set then battled.
Back/glutes/hams: 25 kg, tough track. CnP reps didn't have the row to break things up.
Tricep track:17kg, very, very hard.
Bicep track:15kg, hard.
Lunge track:Hard but improving
Shoulder track: Ouch. Push ups on the bar. Overheads were hard by now.(20kg)
Ab track: meh, tired by now
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday
Kettlebells then spin.

5 x 30 2H swings with a 24kg bell, 30 second rest interval.

Using 16kg doubles, 3 rounds of:
5 clean and press
25 2H swings
5 clean and press
5 front squats
25 2H swings
5 snatch
5 clean and press

again with doubles...
6/7/8/9/10 thrusters

2 rounds walk (20kg overhead)/kb burpees

Saturday: Car shopping, bought a new Mazda 3 5 door.

Sunday: Bike ride from home. 18.4 mile out and back. Averaged 18.3 out, 17.8 in. Good power.

Monday: Good kettlebell class.
30 minute spin warm up.
400m run
4 x 1 minute 2H swings (20kg)/1 minute rest.

15 sec 2H swings/15 sec recovery: 32kg
15 sec 2H swing-goblet squat: 20kg

4 sets:
3x 3 double swings, 3 cleans, 3 front squats [2 16kg]
15 2H swings [32kg]

Thursday: Dean's kettlebell class.
2H swings
TGUs
20 minute WOD.
12 deadlifts [40kg]
9 cleans [24kg]
6 push press [20kg]

Wednesday BodyPump. Good. No premature poopout.

Monday: ? Hard kettlebell class.

Friday: 34 miler with Jim. Weather turned perfect, almost no wind. Went south over Picard to 85 and went part way up the hill towards Thatcher. Had some nice power. 20 minute peak NP was around 250. Averaged 16+.

Saturday: Rained all day, slacked.

Sunday: Met Jim at the campus for a short ride. It looked like rain so we decided to skip a road trip. Jim popped another rear drive side spoke at ~6.5 miles which ended his day. I had been feeling like shit but kept going and eventually a bit better. Treated this like a recovery ride.

Watching game 6 of the NBA finals. Miami shooting like shit, especially from the foul line.

So far no riding this week. We've had some ferocious thunderstorms that got in the way Tuesday and Wednesday. Saw a pic Shye posted of the team just before the start of the ride Sunday and I'm not happy with way my middle is looking. I have to get my overeating under control.

Monday's kettlebell class was really good, but I cant remember what we did. I was running late so I missed my spin warm up.

Wednesday BodyPump was good as well, except I faded hard during the shoulder and ab tracks. This after going light for squats (22kg), chest (22kg) and triceps (16kg). I went up for the B/G/H track to 30kg and while it was really hard I got all the way through. What I found the most alarming was the ammonia stink I was rocking. Maybe I just didn't have a sufficient carbo-payload, which also explains crapping out. Next week I'll make sure I boost the carb intake Wednesday morning.

Tonight's kettlebell class was hard as hell. Viv was away and Dean ran class. We started with 5 minutes of alternating 25 swings with 5 windmills on each side. Used a 20kg bell for this. The windmill was new and I had had some range of motion issues initially but as I warmed up I also found some hip flexibility. I like this move a lot.

Next we did 20 reps of TGUs (16kg). Fantastic! I hope we do this more.

Then, 15 minutes of...
3 one hand swings,
3 high pulls,
3 snatches,
3 overhead squats (similar corkscrew/hip stretch as the windmill)
farmer's walk with hands turned out, ouch. As in this is farging hard. Used 16kg throughout

and finishing with 5 minutes of...
3 swings/6 thrusters. died here. Started with double 16kgs, went down to 1, just didn't have the ass to get in all the squats.

That was fun

2011 Tour de Cure done and dusted. Here are a few notes and highlights.

This is a first rate event, very well organized. The course was well marked and a lot of fun to ride. Lots of hills, but none too steep or too long. The organizers had 5 feedzones set out and they were well stocked with water and food. It was really nice to find fresh fruit and clif bars.

The 50 mile route is actually 48.9 miles and has roughly 1000 ft of climbing. The team got separated at the start (my fault) and I made it worse by pushing the tempo to about mile 4 thinking the others were in front of Jim and I. 3 team members, John B and 2 xfitters caught us on the 1st real climb where I slowed way down, and John decided to hang with us. The 3 of us drove a paceline for the balance of the ride. This worked fairly well except for climbs which broke my rhythm. I did experience some pain in the hamstrings at the base of the glute, made this a bit better by stretching when I got off the bike at the stops.

The numbers. Actual moving time was 3:01:31.44, minus the time I spent rolling from the finish line to check in area. This gave us an average speed of 16.4 mph. Average power was a meager sounding 156 watts, 197 normalized. The PT cpu was displaying 176 avg for the ride, which sounds a lot better. 20 minute peak was 189w, 215w normalized.

Good kettlebell workout tonight. Alternated 2 minutes swinging/2 minute jumping rope as warm ups.

5 to 1 ladder of cleans, presses, push-press, push-jerk, right and left.

Then doubles.

5 cleans, 4 each, press, push-press, push-jerk. Rest.
4 rounds.

Finished with 15 seconds snatching alt with 15 seconds rest.
Used the 20kg bell for this last one.

Tour de Cure weekend

I'm sitting here winding down after a de-load/recovery week feeling pretty good, ready to get back to work. Tomorrow, 5 (at least) of us from the Court Club are riding the Tour de Cure in Saratoga. It should be a relaxing 50 miles as I don't think there's any plan to try and hammer through it, although I'd be up for that. I've got nearly 500 miles in my legs this spring and I think my power number are promising. Jim and I did an easy 10 laps at the campus in stiff winds this afternoon and my 20 minute peak (NP) was a bit over 200 watts and I really only pushed for 3 miles and not all that hard.

We capped off our prep this past Monday, having ridden 4 straight days over the Memorial Day holiday, ending with a 42 miler that included some roads I'd never even driven on, and some real shitty blacktop too.

I included two strength workouts this week, BodyPump on Wednesday and Thursday night kettlebells. I throttled back in both workouts. Dropping weight during BP in the squat,chest,back and tricep tracks. During my kb workout I used the 20kg bell for 2 hand swings instead of the 24, and did most one-hand overhead work with the 16kg bell, jumping up to a 20 only for the last 2 ladders of C&Ps.

My biggest goal for tomorrow is to finish with gas left in the tank and hope my ass doesn't hurt too badly. Also, since I've been experiencing a lot of muscle tension and discomfort in my lower quads just above the knee, I want to try and get my feet out in front of my knees a bit more. I moved my saddle back about 1/4 inch and I may move my cleats forward a bit.

If the group decides to drill it for a while, I'll try and maintain close to 200 watts. I expect we're going to just cruise but who knows. Of the 5, I've only been out on the road with Jim and Shye, and the other two apparently do triathlons.

Am planning on shooting some gopro video so I should have pics to post.

Gritty kettlebell class tonight.

After a warm up lap, we did a ladder of 5/10/15/20/25/20/15/10/5
swings (16kg & 24kg) alternating w/ 5 burpees.

4x 1 min 5 1H swing/snatch, 1 min rest. 20kg.

Double 16kg: 5x;
5 swing,
5 high pull,
5 snatch,
5 seesaw press,
5 front squat.

Farmer's walk w/ 24kg & 20kg.

Goblet squat w/20kg.
15 seconds in ATG position 15 seconds off x8 rounds.

Friday's weather made the day a bust.

Saturday: 35 mile ride with Jim.

Sunday: 42 miles with Jim and Shye.

Monday: Legs hurting, 45 minute easy spin.
Hard kettlebell class.

200m run, 2 sets ball slams/burpees
2 hand swings. 10/10/15/20/25 with 24kg

Practice rack position with tension, L and R multiple sets.

3 rounds of
25x 2 H swings
clean and press 5L/5R
25x 2 H swings
clean and front squat 5L/5R
25x 2 H swings
snatch
25x 2 H swings

mostly w/ a 20kg bell. Did 1st round swings with 24kg bell.

Tuesday: 20 miler at the campus. Beautiful but windy. Lots of talkative new faces.

Wednesday: Great BodyPump class.
Squat: 25kg, felt ok,probably could've gone heavier.
Chest: 25kg, felt ok, had more left in the tank than the past 3 weeks.
Back/Glutes/Hams:30kg, struggled, hands could barely hold on.
Triceps:20kg, not as good as last 3 weeks, couldn't finish all reps.
Biceps:15kg, struggled, but finished.
Lunges:15kg, not bad
Shoulders:20kg, yikes
Abs:----

Wednesday's BodyPump session felt pretty good after taking Tuesday entirely off. I might have gone to yoga had I not been at work until 6.

I went back to 45kg for the squat track and although it was challenging, I got in all the reps and didn't suffer too badly.
Also used 45kg for the chest track and although I did get through it with all reps, the suffering was great.
Stuck with 45 kg for the back/glute/ham track and got through it ok. We were doing the version w/ 2 push presses after the clean and press and I don't think I could've handled more weight.
I used 20kg again for the tricep track and it isn't getting any easier. We did the ultra-challenging bicep track and I started with 15kg, I went down to 12kg at one of the breaks.
No options for the shoulder track, for lunges I used the same 12kg setup I finished biceps with. No options for the ab track.

Thursday kettlebells.
Started with a lap then a set of 300 swings. Got them all in 1 set with a 16kg bell. Used the same bell until we got into clean & press. Next we did a bunch of tabata rounds;
1 arm swings-10 rep goal for 20 seconds,
exchanges-10 rep goal for 20 seconds,
2H swings-12 rep goal for 20 seconds.

Clean and press 1- 5 - 1 R & L (20kg),
Clean and front squat 1 - 5 - 1 R&L (20kg).

Farmers walk - 2 bells (1 lap)
Waiters hold 1 bell (1 lap) (20kg)

Goblet squats, 15 seconds on/off.

40 minutes of spinning.

Freaking rain! It's been raining (mostly on) and off since Saturday night and it's supposed to keep right on until next Saturday. I managed to get in a short spin at the campus Saturday afternoon but it wasn't fun. The wind was strong and it rained on and off. I would rather ride in the rain than deal with high winds. After calling it quits I went over to the club and did some clean and presses. 5 ladders of 4 to 1 rungs R and L with my 20 kg bell.

I took yesterday entirely off to rest my legs.

Got a late start out of the office and so did not start spinning until almost 5:20. Maintained an easy spin until 6, then headed off to kettlebell class.

Warm up:
12 tabata rounds of 2H swings with a 53# bell.
4 tabata rounds of goblet squats. - 53#
8 tabata rounds of clean and front squat (4R/4L) -53#
6 tabata rounds of reverse lunges (3R/3L) 1st 4 w/53#, then 20kg.

finished with 2 rounds of farmers walks/2H swings with partners.

Feels like spring.

Beautiful day today, I wish I could have spent it outdoors. Got about 9 hours of sleep last night and that felt damn good. My legs still felt like lead all day. Started my spin around 5:15 and kept it very relaxed. Was a bit surprised that my ass didn't ache from the last few days of riding. Quit at 6 and headed to kettlebell class.

Warm up was 1 lap run, 1 backwards. 5 double clean and front squat, 5 double snatch, 5 double clean and press.

1st workout was 15/12/9/6/3 2 hand swings, R & L snatch, goblet squat.

missing something here...

Finished off with 2 rounds of farmer's walk and kb burpees. Used 16kgs and did the overhead carry. 2nd trip around was much harder and I only made it about 1/4 of the way around before dropping to a regular carry.

My chain has been looking pretty nasty and I picked up a new Park chain cleaner over the weekend. Spent some time tonight before bed cleaning up my gummy drivetrain, now the chain, cogs and rings are all shiny and smell like citrus.

5 weeks until the TdC

A couple of weeks ago I signed up to ride the Tour de Cure in Saratoga with a few members of The Court Club (my gym). My brother Jim is riding on the team, having just bought a new road bike. We've decided to do the 50 mile route which I find preferable to a century this early in the season.

I'm not doing much today as Iain's confirmation is scheduled for 1:30. I just made a pot of coffee and am getting caught up here, which is easier than doing any of the real chores I had thought I might get to this morning. Sandy and I are taking Bri, Iain, his sponsor George and George's wife to an early dinner after the Mass and if I'm home early enough and not too stuffed I may head over to the campus for a quick spin.

This week was pretty tough as far as training goes. I packed in 4 strength workouts but minimal cardio, not exactly optimal for my short and long term goals, besides, it kind of hurt. In retrospect I did not need the extra kettlebell workout last Saturday as we hit the upper body hard on Monday. I was still feeling it on Wednesday at BodyPump and during Thursday's kettlebell workout as well.

I had to skip yoga on Tuesday as I had to travel for work, probably just as well too. So that brings us to Friday, which is turning into ride day with Jim. Although the weather had been forecast to include some sun what I mostly experienced was wind and rain. Nice and sunny out right now, probably because I can't go out and ride...

Anyway we got in a nice enough, if not plodding 25 miles and some hilly terrain (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/82367472)

I still see encouraging power numbers but I'll wait until I get a ride with a low VI to make any more quotations.

Up until recently I've been fortunate not to have the calluses give way from cleans/snatches/etc. Saturday's workout with a competition-style bell ended that through a combination of moist skin, too little chalk and the very smooth finish on the painted horn.

Tonight's workout didn't help matters very much. I had a shorter warm up than is usual for a Monday as I got to the club late. I still managed about 45 minutes of spinning before heading into the kb workout.

Kb warm up was 40 2 handed swings, then 50 one handed swings, exchanging on every swing, then 50 one handed swings with 1 exchange swing in between.

Then on to the killer.

5 double cleans: 15 sec rest,
4 double overhead press: 15 second rest,
4 double push press: 15 second rest,
4 double jerk-push press: 15 second rest,
10 snatches.

repeat, add 2 snatches.
until we get to 20. (6 sets).

Learned a valuable tidbit when swinging 1 handed: if your low back starts to hurt (and mine was) you're dropping the bell too low. Concentrate on back instead of down. Thanks Viv!

Happy Easter

Thursday: Hell's Bells, no spin. 2 hand swings, 5/10/15/20/25/30/ and back down, on the minute. 1st 3 sets w/35#, balance w/ 53#. Alt 25 swings (53#) w/ cardio. 5 x 5 1 arm swing, snatch, front squat.

Friday: 25 mile ride w/ Jim (1:41). Up Lainhart in 7:14.

Yesterday: Extra kettlebell workout at the club. 5 x 1 minute swings w/ 35# & 53# bells for a warm up. 5 x 5 to 1 clean and press R & L using a 35# bell. 5 x 5 to 1 snatch and front squat, R & L.

30 minute spin on an indoor cycle.

Today (Easter). Not a durn thing...and on the seventh day I rested. And it was good. Attending the triduum and Easter Mass just wore me out. Thought about going for a ride, napped instead.

When I got up yesterday for Palm Sunday services I had already decided to skip yoga and so some extra kettlebell work with my new 20kg cannonball. I did not foresee having to put in 4 hours counting donations this weekend due to not seeing the new schedule. So no workout on Sunday.

While I'm trying to write this I'm watching UAlbany vs UMBC lacrosse. The Danes have not had a good season after a great start.

Spent an hour spinning for a warm up. Really felt tired this afternoon, but felt energized leaving the gym. I don't think I'll ever be able to stay for an entire class Jamie leads. She really has no clue what to do on a bike.

Kettlebell warm up was 3 rounds of 10 ball slams/air squats.

Long workout next was 5 rounds of:
5x 1 arm swing R,
5x clean & press R,
5x front squat R,
5x snatch R,
5 goblet squats,
5x 1 arm swing L,
5x clean & press L,
5x front squat L,
5x snatch L
5 goblet squats

Yeah.

A few rounds holding 2 bells racked tensing legs,glutes & back.
10 swings/10 breaths, 10 swings/9 breaths

Spring training is on

Felt fairly tired this morning and am still wheezing a little bit from sucking cold air on yesterday's ride. I was so damn happy to get a Starbuck's in my hand and sit down to breakfast in the local diner.

As promised, the weather absolutely sucks today so I went to the gym to get a recovery ride in. I barely managed to simply sit in the saddle on not fall over for a few minutes but eventually warmed up and did some real work without overdoing. Finished with about an hour of mostly easy spinning with a few easy out-of-the-saddle efforts. Jim showed up as I was finishing on the spin bike, and I followed that up with 25 minutes on the rower, 21 hard and 4 easy, 4k/4.5k.

Nothing left for the weight room.

short climbing route by fleshbroiler at Garmin Connect - Details

Sunny, windy and chilly day today but the next 6 are supposed to be gray, rainy and dismal so it had to suffice. I stopped by Jim's place to drag him along and we headed out to Guilderland to find a good staging point. We parked at the Capital Care offices on the corner of Carman Rd and Old State Rd and headed out.

In short, lots of wind. I forgot how much cold air tears my lungs up. I was slow as hell today (15.1 avg speed over 21.2 miles) and my power was on the low side (sort of) 161 watts avg, 200 NP. 817 kj expended. Shit I better lose weight...

Jim was great, really strong. He sprinted off for about a mile and if he hadn't backed off I wouldn't have seen him again. The hills were ass-kickers, I hope Jim enjoyed them.

I called Saris about the dead HR channel and its most likely the strap. Certainly was not working today which is too bad because I'm curious what the pump was turning to get up to the top of Old State.

Now its 10:30 pm and I can't stop thinking about breakfast tomorrow.

Untitled by fleshbroiler at Garmin Connect - Details

I have not been back out on the road since Saturday because I am a weenie. There, got that out of the way. Too windy, too cold, too dark. Uggh. Today the sun is shining and it may get to 60 so I better make it happen today. The next 6 days are supposed to be miserably cold and rainy.

And now, the week in review.

Tuesday yoga was hot as hell, really good workout.

Wednesday morning BodyPump was also really good, in fact, it was over before I was ready for it to be over. Found the ab track a little weak which is weird because it was primarily planks, and I like those. Did face down on the elbows, up to one side, back to center and the other side. Finished with crunches.

I only used 25kg for the squat track and this one had a ton of singles with very few bottom half reps. Barely finished and my back was hurting by the end. Used the same weight for the chest track and 30 kg for the back/glutes/ham track. Anyway, all around it was a good workout.

Thursday: Kettlebells followed by spinning.

Warm up was 4 rounds 25 swings (53#) then 200 yd run, then on the workout.

[1] Ladder from 5 to 10, clean and squat R/L (35#), 15 swings between rungs (53#).

[2] Ladder from 5 to 10, clean and press R/L (35#), 15 swings between rungs (53#).

Tried some bottoms up. 35# R, 25# L.

[3] 15 seconds work, 15 seconds rest of snatches (35#) for 8 minutes.

Then spin, felt ok, not super strong or super spent.

Felt pretty cooked on Sunday and I skipped yoga class in favor of an easy recovery ride in the afternoon. The only problem is, the weather turned sour and I didn't get out. I did spend several quality hours in front of the 58 inch plasma playing Gran Turismo 5 and watched the entire Paris-Roubaix coverage.

Today I spent about an hour on the spinner as a warm up with a couple intervals to wake me up, and I needed that bad. Started the kb workout with 300 swings with as many as possible in a row. Every time you put the bell down you needed to do 5 burpees. I really despise those so I wanted to do as many as possible straight through. Using a 35# for the whole thing, I did 240 straight in the 1st set and the remaining 60 in a 2nd set so I only had to do 5 burpees. Go me.

It started raining so we dragged the bells inside to continue.

2nd workout was a ladder from 5 to 10 of clean and presses, right and left.

3rd was 5 rounds of 5 reps R/L swing,snatch,press squat.

Good workout, hard.

I ordered a 20kg bell on Saturday from AgainFaster.com, it'll be here tomorrow. Looking forward to doing high pulls and snatches with that baby.

It finally got warm enough for me to haul my sissy ass out for a bike ride. My short out and back route is now permanently .2 miles shorter thanks to the local grocery kingpin. The town gratuitously kissed his ass and re-routed traffic to make life easier for the guys that drive the hordes of tyson chicken-hauling tractor trailers into his warehouse, but I digress.

I reckon all my landmarks are 40 seconds closer now. I hit the turnaround at about 30 minutes which is still pretty quick. I lost some time on the inbound leg and I'll blame it on some headwind. The whole ride was a hurtfest but worth it. Interesting note. The saddle and crankarms felt weird as hell after spinning a damn 70lb fixed flywheel for the last 5 months.

I dumped my ride data as soon as I got in the door and it made me pretty happy. 186 watts average for the ride, 207 watts NP. 20 minute average was 199w, 212 NP. For some reason I have no HR channel, I'll have to look over the setup instructions.

Went over to the gym afterward for a little recovery and weights. Did ~25 minutes on a rower and then some dips and squats with Jim.

Tuesday night's yoga class was a blast. We spent a lot of time with weight on the arms and getting up and down. Built up a lot of heat!

Typical to history, I got about 5.5 hours of sleep for Wednesday morning and it took a lot to get out of bed for BodyPump. I stuck with my usual warm up weight. For the squat track I went up to 30kg in plates and I would up cheating on some reps. I also went up for the chest track to 25kg which was very tough. The back/glute/ham track was a challenge at this weight as well. Overall the session was hard and it felt good to work hard and be sore all day.

Got 8 hrs of sleep last night and only felt a little tired by the end of the workday. Ran late and got only 5 minutes of warm up before kettlebell class.

Kb warm up was run a lap, side stepovers for lap, which I skipped, so I did jumping jacks. Finished with 2 laps of farmer's walk with a partner. Shared the carry with Art (2x53#)

1st set was 6 rounds of 50 swings/50 rope skips. Used a 53# bell but only got started on round 5 before we moved on.

2nd set was a partner workout, stayed paired with Art. Alternated between a double waiter's hold with 35s and 10 to 1 snatches, R&L. Felt strong throughout. Viv told me my snatches are looking good.

Last workout was 1 to 10 burpee-deadlifts. Ouch. The pushups beat me up. Last set was shitty.

Finished the night on the spin bike. Felt strong. Finished the work with 5 minutes out of the saddle at a good cadence.

The weather forecast is promising and I'm predicting some mileage in the next week.

and then there was rain...

Still no decent riding weather, dammit. The 7 day forecast calls for nothing but lousy weather too.

Last week summary: Hard workouts, lousy recovery, so-so diet.
Took Friday off, yoga only on Tuesday. Weights and 75 minute spin on Saturday, yoga only on Sunday.

Tonight, 75 minute spin for a warm up, 5 minute out of the saddle effort. Felt pretty good, never felt like I was pushing hard enough.

Kettlebell class was good, very hard, but very good. Warm up was 3 sets of 100 swings, 30 second rest, 10 snatches R & L, then a 60 second rest. Was able to do the first 2 sets of swings all the way through, but rested twice during the last set. The snatches were easy.

Snatch workout;
1 minute of: 1H swing, snatch, exchange, 1H swing, snatch, exchange.
1 minute of snatch, exchange, snatch, exchange.
1 minute of 10 snatches, exchange, 10 snatches, exchange.
1 minute of: 1H swing, snatch, exchange, 1H swing, snatch, exchange.

Viv introduced us to power swings. 1 rep with a heavy bell. Start with the bell on the floor, hike into position and snap the hips into place. Kill the downswing and place the bell back on the floor. Start again from here, or let go and stand up first. Powerswings for 1 minute then switch with your partner. Hold two bells overhead for 1 minute.

Finished with 8 tabata rounds of goblet squats.

Shye wants to put together a team to ride the Tour de Cure. I've kind of wanted to do that for a while, so I'm looking forward to that. Shye also asked about cyclocross. Doing some 'cross races this fall sounds cool. Better lose the rest of this ballast first.

Rant alert

A Rant from the perspective of a road cyclist trying to train in a fitness center spin class taught by non-cyclists...

I've been spinning in the gym since October and every night I spin (in class) I have to; grit my teeth, roll my eyes, shake my head, make bad faces and eventually curse into my sodden sweat towel, at the inane bullshit pushed by the "spin instructors." Ok, they are very pleasant women, but for flaming-fuck's-sake, they aint cyclists.

So, I will direct my comments to you the surrogate instructors.

First, start each class with a proper warm up and cool down. A warm up does not consist of 2 minutes of pedal-flailing followed by some upper body stretching. News Flash. It's a spin session. We're about to use our legs, back and cardio-pulmonary system. Upper bodies should be relaxed and quiet. Are you taking notes?

You might consider opening with a statement of the workout's structure, content and purpose. Think long and hard on this.

Let's talk about nomenclature for second. Use of an arbitrary 1 to 10 scale for perceived resistance is useless as is a notion of a "percentage of your max" to describe cadence. Cadence is a precise measurement of pedal revolutions. Learn to count and multiply. Teach this, it's important. Honest. While we're on the subject of cadence, we don't need to spend too much time below 60 rpms. Don't know why? Maybe you should do some reading. Before we move on, take a look around the room. Notice the guys whose knees are flaring out like he's riding a clown bike and the other guy whose upper body movements look like Stevie Wonder at the keyboard? Yeah, those are problems and you need to go help them out.

Now, I've noticed that every work set is based on the notion that we're going to climb a hill and we're going to recover "on the flats" and for some reason we're going to add a ton of resistance until cadence drops into the basement and get out of the saddle as often as possible.

So, if you would go out for a road ride on a two-wheeled bicycle you'd be pleased to find that some flat roads hurt like hell and some climbs are almost pleasant if you "spin" a comfortable gear. Bear in mind, you can climb like this and still get a dynamite workout and you'll find you have plenty more matches to burn later in the ride. Notice that "S" word I just used? Sounds amazingly like what these classes are supposed to include.

This last point may seem trivial or perhaps petty, but this is my blog so, too bad. You seem to like to give out long motivational whoops, like "Wow! We are having some bitchin' fun here now!" I've got news for you. If you have enough wind to whoop like that, you're not working hard enough.

In summation people, spin the cranks like you're a damn sewing machine. Learn what 90 rpms feels like. Add enough resistance so you suck wind. If you can speak more than your name, add more. Hold that effort until its time to cool down. Use out-of-the-saddle work to break the monotony, it doesn't help the workout.

Now maybe I can sleep.

You hear many fitness experts go on about the importance of rest and recovery. I know this well, but seldom apply this like I ought to. In my last post I mentioned how much I was looking forward to Sunday's yoga class...

Heh. As soon as my eyes opened yesterday I knew the likelihood of actually getting there was pretty low. Basically, I wanted to get the grocery shopping trip out of the way, get some breakfast and take a nap. Mission accomplished, yikes. And holy crap was my appetite fired up. Call me Galactus. Google it if you're not a Marvel fan.

I was a bit concerned about today's work out given the quantity of hummus I ate yesterday, but thankfully things quieted down before getting on the spin bike. For the second week in a row, some skinny wench beat me to my favorite bike. I'll have to try and get there by 4:45. Rode from around 5:10 until 6:00 and pushed pretty hard.

K'Bell class was a blast as usual. Warm up was alternating ball slams (15) and air squats. If you've never done ball slams, you're missing out on a real treat. As a cyclist, the term sounds like and unfriendly union of crotch and top tube, but in reality the pain is all (well, mostly) upper body.

Started off the real fun with 5 rounds of 2H swings alternating with kb burpees. Used 55# bells for this.

Then we did more snatching. 10R/10L, but alternating L/R every rep, which was nice. In between we did swings, 20 to 50 in jumps of 10. Used a 35# bell.

Finished up with tabata rounds (8) of goblet squats. Stuck with a 35# bell.

Found out another kettlebeller (Mark) is a new roadie. Between he and Josh, maybe I'll be able to recruit some new training partners.

Be gone Winter!

Dear Winter, It's been a lot of fun now enough is enough. You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

Call me a wuss but I just can't get excited about riding when it's below 50 degrees. So although the sun was out today I still am riding indoors.

I did a few sets of dips, push ups, standing military presses, curls and sit ups. I was a little bummed with my overhead lifts. I only got one rep @135 and the bar was slow going up.

Next I got on the spin bike for 70 minutes. I did 2 intervals of out-of-the saddle spinning @~70-75rpm, 1 for 3 minutes, 1 for 5 minutes and it felt pretty good. Jim joined me for the last 25 minutes but wanted to do a bit more, so while he used the elliptical I tried out the rower. That felt pretty damn good. Did 4km in 20 minutes.

Looking forward to yoga class tomorrow.

Holy Crap, that hurts.

Monday's kettlebell class was fairly taxing and I decided not to do any additional work after yoga class. Tuesday's class was really good, but not terribly taxing.

BodyPump went well on Wednesday and while certain things are always very challenging, at the end I didn't feel as wrung out as I was in the beginning. I have to remember to bring something to take notes on the weights I'm using. The new bicep track is really hard and I was really sweating through it. I seem to think I used 22kg on the bar (10kg+1kg plates), but I'm not sure and there's no way I could have handled more. The lunge track is always a disaster so I guess I should do more of those.

Hell's Bells.

Managed a good 15 minutes of spinning before kb class. We did warm ups outside. The program for the men was swing/run/squat. I only ran once (2 laps) and on the 2 repeats I stuck with jumping jacks. Swings were 25/25/10 with a 53# bell.

Another long snatch workout tonight and I made it harder than it had to be. Was supposed to do 10 to 1 ladders of L/R snatches with double overhead hold while the partner snatched. I didn't catch the ladder part, so I just did sets of 10 until discovered my ignorance, about 8 rungs later.

Finished up with alternating swings and front squats; 25 swings/set, 2 sets russian, 2 american (only). Then off to spin class.

This has been going something like this; I need maybe 10 minutes of easy spinning to recover from kb class then I can ratchet up the effort. By the time I'm working really hard I'm ready to punch the leader for whooping and not knowing how to structure intervals and doing other stupid shit.

Since I moved the saddle back a bit, my left knee has been feeling better. Can't wait for this cold weather to GTF out so I can ride outdoors.

I took last Friday off because I was dog tired.

Saturday I started off with some dips, push ups, curls and standing military presses. Did 60 minutes on the spin bike with a few intervals.

Sunday I just did the 1030 yoga class.

Today:
45 minutes on the bike and pushed pretty hard.
Kettlebell class warm up was 2 sets of 25 swings w/ 35/44/53 # bells. 15 second rest between sets.

The big workout was 5R/5L snatches w/ 2 arm swing, starting at 4. Ladder went up and down to 20 swings by 2.
5R/5L, 4 swings;
5R/5L, 6 swings;
etc.

Finished w/ 2 farmer's walks, alternating with (1) goblet squats w/ 35# and (2) high planks. Used 70# bells for the 1st one, 53# for the 2nd.

Tuesday: Good yoga class.

Wednesday: Good bodypump class.

Thursday: 15 minute spin before kb class.

Hell's Bells:
Went outside for a bit. Told Viv I was staying away from running for a while. Warm up was alternating jumping jacks and air squats instead of the run + farmer's walk around the parking lot w/ 53# bells. Oh yeah, I got to wear a 30lb weight vest for this.

Next we did 2 rounds of 2 arm swings and 2 rounds of goblet squats, 60 seconds on, 30 seconds off. Used a 53# for the swings and a 45# for the squats.

Next we did 10 to 1 ladders of R/L clean/squat/2 hand swing. I did this with a 45# bell.

Finally, we went back inside to do snatches. Worked with a partner on this one and used 35# bells for this. 1 half did 10 to 1 ladders of L/R snatches, the other half held 2 bells overhead for the duration. Lost traction on my bell twice, almost took out Ryan the second time. Way to be alert and keep happy feet Dude!

Finally

Last Friday: Lots of upper body work. Standing military press, dips, pushups, tricep extensions and curls, followed by 45 minutes on the spin bike.

Saturday: Some follow-up upper body work, pullups, more curls, pushups. Then squats. Brought in the cambered bar (thanks JR). Some warm up sets then 10 x 155, 2 x 8 x 245, ? x 315. Legs felt good, even the left side. The ligaments on the inside and outside have felt a bit sore now and then. Not sure what sets it off.

Sunday: Rest.

Monday: 40 minute spin as a warm up to kb class.

Hell's Bells.
Warm up: Was supposed to be a run/farmer's walk outside around the parking lot. I skipped the run and went right to the FW, 2 laps w/ 53#.

2 x 5 kb burpees.

Tabata rounds:

8 x 2 arm swings w/ 53#.
4 russian twisters/4 bell juggle w/ 35#
8 thrusters, 4L/4R w/ 35#
8 reverse lunge, 4L/4R w/ 35#

5.5 minutes (mostly) non-stop russian/american swings

I've been following the reports coming out of Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. Horrible. Threat of multiple core meltdown events at Fukushima Daiichi.

Pretty busy week so far. Tuesday's yoga class was really good and I worked up a great sweat. I didn't have any extra time so I went home right after class.

Wednesday I dragged myself out of bed early and made it to BodyPump. I'm really happy with how I'm progressing with the shoulder, tricep and ab tracks, but I'm still really weak on lunges.

Tonight I felt really tired before heading to the gym. Spent an easy 20 minutes on a bike before kettlebells. Viv took the night off and Jason ran the show.

Warm up was 30-20-10-20-30 swings and air squats with 1 minute rest.

Reviewed the press, worked 1 to 5 to 1 L/R clean and press.

Held double bells racked and worked double press.

Did 21 rounds (tabata) of 4 snatch, 3 rack, 2 thruster L/R IN 20 seconds 10 second rest.

4 rounds of 10 goblet squat, 10 burpee, 10 squat-jumps. This sucked. A lot.

Some stretching.

Last 45 minutes of spin class.

55 minute warm up on the spin bike. Had to wait a few minutes for the on ramp group to finish up.

4 sets of 1 minute swings, 2 with a 35# bell and 2 with a 53#.

10 - 1 ladder of swing movements against the wall, w/ no bell, w/ bell against the chest.

5 x 5 kb burpees and farmers walk. 1st 2 w/ 53# bells, last 3 with 35# bells.

Ouch.

Tuesday night I warmed up for yoga with a short spin. Had a very good session with a lot of heat. Finished that off with some assisted pullups and lat pulldowns.

I skipped Wednesday morning BodyPump to take Sanzo to the vet.

Only had time for about 5 minutes on the bike before the kb class.

Kb class was plenty challenging.

2 handed swings, 5 sets of 30 swings with a 30 sec rest.

2 x 5 kb burpees + farmer's walk/overhead hold.

8 sets x 20 sec goblet squats then 10 seconds of rest.

8 sets (4 R/4 L) 20 sec. thrusters then 10 sec rest.

5 x 1 min. american/russian swings, 1 min rest.

Tough workout but I didn't feel horrible. The last 2 sets of swings were rough on the forearms.

Finished the night off with the last 45 minutes of spin class.

Started off with upper body work in the weight room, assisted dips & curls. A few weeks ago I had to use a stack of 100 lbs or more, now I'm finishing with 40.

I have a better kettlebell workout when I go in really warm, so I spent close to an hour on the spin bike before heading in.

WO:
Started off kb class with swings, ball slams and jumping jacks each for a minute.

W/ a partner, alt 2 bell farmer's walk/overhead hold. 2 reps.

1 to 4 reps L/R clean & press with pullup. 2 ladders.
Used a 45lb for 2nd set. Felt really good except I cant do more than one damn pull up. Yet.

Finished up with 1 min sets of, 2 hand swings, 1 hand R/L, American, goblet squats, 2 hand swings.

Nommed a protein bar (1/2) during my warm up spin. I think it helps.

Short, easy workout day today. 25 minute run on the treadmill after church then the 10:30 yoga class. Did just over 2 miles (2.1 - 2.2?). Between yesterday and today the thighs are pretty sore. Yoga was pretty easy today, no real leg work and minimal shoulder work.

Last Thursday's edition of Hell's Bells went pretty well. Spent 20 minutes on the spin bike before class and got in a minute late. Warm up was a short run around the parking lot, then swings starting every minute. 5/10/15/20/25/30/35/40/35/30/25/20/15/10/5. Sets 6-10 were pretty tough. More swings, 5 sets of russian/american. Then thrusters from 1 to 10 on each side. Finally, 2 long farmer's walk w/ 2 bells, alternating with overhead hold.

Took yesterday off, in honor of a foot of fresh snow,but hit it good today.

Warmed up with a 45 minute run on the treadmill (3.25 mi.). Felt remarkably good although really slow. The left knee felt a little wonky for a while but not bad. Followed that with 5 sets of swings, 2 sets of TGUs, the 2 rungs of clean and presses.

Finished on the spin bike for 30. Started getting nasty cramps in the calves.

Tonight's kettlebell workout was challenging but not as hard as last Thursday.

Warm up, 3 sets of assisted dips, sit ups, presses, pushups
1 hour of easy spinning.

KB:
1 min swing, 1 min rest.

1 min russian/american swing, 1 min rest while everybody else did snatches;

30 sec waiter hold, alt left/right;

alt 1 min rope jump, 1 min swing;

3 x 5 k'bell burpees and farmer's walk;

Where'd my lung go?

Pleasant little change of pace tonight with the kettlebells. We didn't do any pressing, only swinging. I only had about 10 minutes to spin before class started, so I wasn't very well warmed up. Warm up alternating ball slams and air squats, that is to say, do air squats for as long as your partner is slamming his ball. I got paired up with a younger (and larger) dude, and a 30 lb medicine ball. The ball slam sets went 5/10/15/20. The last set sucked and I'm pretty sure I shredded a lung except there was no bloody froth.

The rest of the night was a wind-sucking blur, but I'm pretty sure we did:

a ladder of 2 arm swings (5/10/15/20/25/30) alternating with 6 goblet squats, performing a front kick after the squat, so 3 left/3 right;

a ladder of 1 to 10 reps, 2 arm, 1 arm swing, 1 arm high pull (each side);

6 x 1 minute sets of alternating russian and american swings.

This was easily the hardest workout I've had in this class yet. I even took an extra 5 minutes to chill out before hitting the spin class. I think I tanked out of energy so maybe its time to fuel up better before these tougher nights. At least I'm not hurting now, 3 hours later.

More kettlebell stuff

Good workout tonight.

Did some easy spinning for 45 minutes with a few out of the saddle medium-hard efforts.

Warm up was alternating swings and goblet squats.
swings: 30/25/20/10/5
squats: 6/7/8/9/10

Reviewed/practiced the TGU in much detail.
10 minutes of alternating russian/american swings and rest.
2 x 5 k'bell burpees w/ pushup with 53# bells.
strongman walk

Kettlebell == Pain

Kettlebell class #3.

A bit different approach to our warm up tonight. We paired off, one member of each pair taking a bell, the other a jump rope. We alternated jumping and swinging for 1 minute for at least 10 minutes, then substituted goblet squats for swings and planks for rope jumping. I suck at jumping rope, always have. The "warm up" lasted for half the class. For the last 30 minutes, I did ladders of 5/4/3/2/1 (clean and press), then clean/press/squat, then clean and lunge.

After the workout I hit the last 45 minutes of spin class, which was hard.

Early start

I make no secret that I have never made friends with my trainer. Although I managed a couple of months of good sessions in the early winter of 2009, I couldn't keep it up after roughing up my taint.

When I lost decent riding hours to daylight savings I had to something given my expanding girth.

Enter the Gym.

Spinning classes are offered at the Court Club and I figured, what the fuck, it cant be worse than any of the alternatives. Besides, it was a good opportunity to hang with my brother. Skip ahead to today, and, spinning classes suck quite a bit actually. I'll get back to that later, right now I want to talk about stuff I like.

I am becoming a big fan of strength training, but more than just trying to push big(ger) weights. One of the benefits of the gym membership is access to the many diverse fitness classes they offer. One of these is BodyPump. I can do without the canned techno crap, but non-stop large muscle activation with moderate weight is an ass-kicker.

I've also gotten quickly hooked on yoga. If you already practice yoga you're thinking, "yep, I'll bet." I scoffed for years at it thinking it was just a way to do stretching.

Although I've got a lot of new stuff going on, I'm going to mention kettlebell training last, and use this as log for what we go over in class. I can do two classes each week and the instructor runs everybody through basic stuff during the 1st half, then teaches more complicated technique in the 2nd.

Class 1:
warm up: J jacks, air squats,
2 arm swings, 1 min on/1 min recovery x 5 sets.
2 arm swings, alt russian/american 1 min on/1 min recovery x 5 sets
clean and press, 1 rung x 5 reps.

Class 2:
warm up: j jacks, air squats, knee ups, heel ups, planks
2 arm swings, 1 min on/1 min recovery x 5 sets.
1 arm swings, 1 min on/1 min recovery x 5 sets.
2 arm swings, alt russian/american 1 min on/1 min recovery x 5 sets
learned the TGU.
k'bell burpees.
Worked with a 35# bell tonight. Shattered.

Its been a few weeks since I put the bike on the Kurt so I have no idea what my wattage looks like. I do know that I want to get down to 180 by August 1st and I'm doing 6 and 7 days a week in the gym.