Tuesday, May 7, 2013

More of the same - fly fishing, no skiing, and CrossFit

Saturday, my son and I returned to the rivers we had fished on opening day and just last Wednesday.  This time though, I had a very clear spot on one of the rivers in mind.  The New Haven River was stocked last week.  They put a lot of fish in the river, and I'd heard from a friend of a particular spot where they'd put in a lot of fish.

Fishing for stocked fish is not my favorite thing to do.  I'd rather catch a couple wild fish than a dozen stocked fish.  But, my son hadn't caught any fish at all this year, and I wanted some easier fishing for him.  And, we found it.

One fly was the key to most of the fish - an olive woolly bugger.  But, we used a variety of attractor patterns to bring stocked brown trout to the surface, which was a lot of fun.  Rainbows liked the woolly buggers and browns liked the dry flies.  We caught fish on both.

I think the stocked fish are even competing with the wild fish for food, because I caught a few wild rainbows as well.  My son caught one wild rainbow.  By the time it started to get dark, I'd caught more than a dozen fish and my son had more than half a dozen.  I'd hooked and lost more than I caught.  And, I'd had at least 50 strikes while we were out there.

It wasn't challenging fishing, but it was a fun afternoon.  My son showed none of the signs of boredom and frustration that I see on days he isn't catching anything at all.

This coming weekend may be tough - lots of rain in the forecast for the next four or five days may mess with river conditions.  But, we might get out for a while anyway.

On Sunday, I had hoped to go skiing one last time, but Sugarbush closed for the season after Saturday.  Our recent warm weather had been too much for the snowpack.  Two other resorts were open, but I wasn't willing to drive the distance or pay the money for a handful of trails.  Killington, for example, was charging $49/person for two trails.  And even then, their web site warned that you might need to cross bare spots at places.

So, my wife and I used the nice Sunday weather to take the dogs for a run.  We watched some hockey.  Did some cooking and cleaning.  Relaxed.  It was a nice day.

Last night was a workout we do maybe twice a year - CrossFit total.  Essentially, you work at your own pace, establishing the highest weight possible for a single back squat rep, a single strict (or military) press, and the deadlift.

Last time we did this workout was in October, and my weights were 365-140-415, for a total of 920 pounds.

Recently, I have moved my deadlift best to 425 pounds.  I haven't been doing any overhead work, so it's been months since I tried a strict press.  And, my heaviest back squat since the 365 in October was a 335 a couple months ago.  I have been doing regular back squat work though, and I was pretty sure I could get to 355 or so.

Each lift is done in the order mentioned above.  You do all your reps for the back squat before you move on to the press, and you finish the press work before you move on on to the deadlifts.

For the back squat, I did multiple warm-up reps at 45, 135, 185, and 225.  I then did a single rep at 275 and one at 315.  My first working rep was 335 and it went pretty easily.  Next, I did 355 and was surprised at how easy that felt.  I jumped to 375 and nailed a new PR.  I thought I might have a little more in me, but opted to save my legs for the deadlifts.

For the strict press, I wanted to keep reps to a minimum to protect my shoulder.  I did a few warm-up reps at 45 and 95 and one rep at 115.  My first working rep was 125 and that was harder than I'd hoped it would be.  At 135, I failed the first time, but I made it on a second attempt and then stopped.  I felt like pushing any more was going to be bad for my shoulder.

On to the deadlifts.  Warm-ups were done at 135, 225, 275, 315, and 335.  Next, I did my first working rep at 365, and then moved on to 385 and 405.  I felt like I had one more good rep in me, and I was torn.  I only needed 415 to get a new lifetime best in the CF total, but 430 would give me a new deadlift best.  But, I don't like to do heavy deads too often due to the stress they place on your central nervous system.  And, I'd done heavy deads twice in the previous 8 weeks, along with some lighter dead-lifting sessions.  I decided that it would be better to focus on the CF total rather than the all out deadlift max.  This turned out to be a great idea, because I failed on my first attempt at 415, and I barely got it on my second attempt.  There was no way I could have done 430.

Because the volume is low, this workout doesn't always seem as tough as it is, at least not right away.  The fatigue tends to hit the next day.  But, our coach had a surprise for us last night to make sure the pain hit sooner.  Right after finishing the total, he wanted us to run a mile for time.  After heavy deadlifts, I knew this would be no fun.  I was slow but steady and ran 8:16.  My lifetime best for the mile is 5:18, so this is a pathetic time for me.  But, after the workout I'd just done and given my lack of running mileage, I guess it's OK.

After the workout, my chiropractor, who happened to be at the gym last night, suggested that today (Tuesday) would be a good rest day.  I somewhat agree with him.  Actually, I totally agree with him.  But, my daughter has a lacrosse game near my office tomorrow afternoon, and I'm going to her game rather than the gym.  I'm not a big fan of back to back rest days, so I'm not sure if I'll work out tonight or not.

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