I had a good lifting session on Wednesday night. I started with deadlifts, doing the wave loading sets. In my second set (single rep), I lifted 245 to tie my lifetime best. (Did I ever mention that I still kind of suck at lifting compared to real lifters?) In my fourth set, another single rep, I tried 275. I had tried this weight once before, back in the spring, right after the first time I lifted 245. I couldn't get the weight off the floor one tiny bit back in the spring. This time, I nailed it. So, even though I hadn't tried any maximal deadlifts in a long time, I have still been improving.
Yesterday morning, I was planning an easy run, but between the cold I have and the workout on Wednesday, I was beat. My wife wanted to go skiing and I was too beat for that as well. Plus, I had a lot of cooking to do.
We had a nice dinner with my wife's family and I sat up and watched a movie with my daughter after people left. I went to bed at 11:00, tired from a day of cooking and stuffed from too much food. A couple hours later, one of our dogs started freaking out. She gets frequent ear infections and has some allergies that we've been unable to pinpoint. While I was cleaning up after dinner, I let the dogs eat some of the food that people hadn't finished. Clearly, I triggered one of Nikki's allergies, and it took a long time to get her settled down. Benadryl finally did the trick.
So, I overslept by a bit this morning, but it was snowing hard when I woke up. Time to go skiing. But, both of my kids refused to get out of bed. I get very few days where I can simply go to the mountain and ski rather than working, but today was to be one of them. But, the kids simply made it more trouble than it was worth. The thing is, they allegedly love to ski, but getting them moving is a major pain in the ass. So, I decided to do some work from home instead of skiing.
Then, I got an e-mail about our training at the mountain this weekend. I'm disappointed with how some things are being done, and some of the decisions being made by management make no sense to me. Well, in reality, it seems like a slap in the face to me, based on the efforts I've made with regards to some things recently. It's one of those things that I need to ignore and just go with it, but it's somewhat disappointing. It also affects my income.
Combine that with my kids and their attitude this morning, and I'm just not in a good mood. Plus, I'm working on a really difficult engineering problem whose solution has been elusive so far.
So, I left home. I headed for a local WiFi spot, and I'm working by myself. I told the kids that if they needed anything, they should call their mom on the phone.
In a couple hours, I'll be in a better mood and I'll head home and cook dinner for everyone. Tomorrow, I'll go to the mountain for training and I'll just go with the flow. But for right now, I'm in a pretty pissy mood.
I'm reading a book right now called "Feeling Good" that talks about cognitive therapy and the thought patterns that depressed people go through to get themselves into a bad place. The book is scary in how well it describes how I think at times - all or nothing kind of thinking, perfectionism, ascribing motives to actions that simply aren't there, taking things personally, over-generalizing, "mind-reading", etc.
I'm trying to let go of those kinds of thoughts, but it takes a lot of work at times. Compared to many people who suffer from depression, I know that I'm not really all that depressed. With some medications and my exercise, I tend to do OK. But, unlearning certain patterns of thought is really difficult. And sometimes, I let them get the better of me, for a while at least.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Back to the treadmill
We got about 6" of dense, wet snow yesterday. Then, it started raining. Running outside just wasn't a reasonable thought at all after work yesterday. Instead, I ran on the treadmill - a warm-up mile, a 9:00 mile, an 8:00 mile, another 9:00 and then a cooldown mile. That was plenty of work considering that I'm fighting a cold.
So far, the cold doesn't seem to be too bad, so I'm going to try to lift this afternoon after work. Today includes wave loading sets of deadlifts, then a superset of Romanian deadlifts with static lunges, and then a superset of good mornings and incline reverse crunches. I've never done good mornings before, so I'll have to play around to get the weight right.
After that, perhaps I'll add some stair climber intervals.
Tomorrow, I think I'm going to run an easy 8 outside, probably wearing Yaktrax for safety, before I finish cooking dinner for my wife's family. After that, three days of skiing!
Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.
So far, the cold doesn't seem to be too bad, so I'm going to try to lift this afternoon after work. Today includes wave loading sets of deadlifts, then a superset of Romanian deadlifts with static lunges, and then a superset of good mornings and incline reverse crunches. I've never done good mornings before, so I'll have to play around to get the weight right.
After that, perhaps I'll add some stair climber intervals.
Tomorrow, I think I'm going to run an easy 8 outside, probably wearing Yaktrax for safety, before I finish cooking dinner for my wife's family. After that, three days of skiing!
Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Do I work hard in training?
In the Precision Nutrition program that started yesterday, today's "lesson" was about exercise, with a focus on not only volume, but intensity. I tend to train alone, even in the weight room. I know how hard I believe I work, but maybe that's an illusion. Here was part of our assignment today:
"Find someone locally who you know works hard and to ask them to evaluate you.
It might be a trainer. It might be a coach. It might be a really fit friend. Etc. But find someone.
Ask them to be honest. Ask them to tell you if you're really working at your limits or not. If so - kudos to you. If not - we need you to step it up and start working hard, really hard, in the gym."
I know that of the few people that come here, most aren't lifters, but all are athletes. Most are runners, since I'm primarily a runner as well. So, if you've been reading my blog at all in the last year, and you see this post, what do you think? Do I work hard in training? Or, am I fooling myself to some extent?
"Find someone locally who you know works hard and to ask them to evaluate you.
It might be a trainer. It might be a coach. It might be a really fit friend. Etc. But find someone.
Ask them to be honest. Ask them to tell you if you're really working at your limits or not. If so - kudos to you. If not - we need you to step it up and start working hard, really hard, in the gym."
I know that of the few people that come here, most aren't lifters, but all are athletes. Most are runners, since I'm primarily a runner as well. So, if you've been reading my blog at all in the last year, and you see this post, what do you think? Do I work hard in training? Or, am I fooling myself to some extent?
Back to the gym
Regretfully, I seem to be coming down with my typical post-marathon cold. Almost every big race I run, I end up getting sick within a couple weeks of the race. My wife has been fighting a cold and now it seems to be my turn. I'll see how the day goes before I decide if I'm up to running tonight. After 6" of snow last night, I might be able to snowshoe run after work, but the forecast is calling for extremely high winds later in the day.
Last night was a lifting workout. I'm still using workouts from the New Rules of Lifting book. I'm in a series now called Strength 1. There are three different workouts in Strength 1, and each starts with wave loading sets of one of the three powerlifts - squats, bench presses, or deadlifts. Last week, I nearly killed myself with squats. Last night was the bench press night.
In most of the workouts in this book, bench presses aren't used, so it's a lift that I rarely do. There are lots of incline presses, with either dumbbells or barbells, but not many flat bench presses. Prior to last night, my best BP ever was 135#. The sets last night were 6-1-6-1-12. After warming up, I did 115# for the six reps. Then, I tied my PR with a single rep at 135. Then, six reps at 125. Then, I asked a friend to spot me and I tried a single rep at 155. I made it pretty easily. I did the final set at 115.
After that, I moved on to the rest of the workout and then did some short running intervals on the treadmill to wrap up the workout.
In the past, we've had some Presidents and Vice-Presidents who've run marathons. None of them have ever run a faster marathon than my best marathon. None have really been close.
But, our current President-elect can allegedly bench press 200 pounds. He's less than a year older than I am, so I've decided that I need to work up to that weight as well. I'm not ready to have a President who's more fit than I am, even though I'm sure he could take me 1-on-1 in basketball.
Last night was a lifting workout. I'm still using workouts from the New Rules of Lifting book. I'm in a series now called Strength 1. There are three different workouts in Strength 1, and each starts with wave loading sets of one of the three powerlifts - squats, bench presses, or deadlifts. Last week, I nearly killed myself with squats. Last night was the bench press night.
In most of the workouts in this book, bench presses aren't used, so it's a lift that I rarely do. There are lots of incline presses, with either dumbbells or barbells, but not many flat bench presses. Prior to last night, my best BP ever was 135#. The sets last night were 6-1-6-1-12. After warming up, I did 115# for the six reps. Then, I tied my PR with a single rep at 135. Then, six reps at 125. Then, I asked a friend to spot me and I tried a single rep at 155. I made it pretty easily. I did the final set at 115.
After that, I moved on to the rest of the workout and then did some short running intervals on the treadmill to wrap up the workout.
In the past, we've had some Presidents and Vice-Presidents who've run marathons. None of them have ever run a faster marathon than my best marathon. None have really been close.
But, our current President-elect can allegedly bench press 200 pounds. He's less than a year older than I am, so I've decided that I need to work up to that weight as well. I'm not ready to have a President who's more fit than I am, even though I'm sure he could take me 1-on-1 in basketball.
Monday, November 24, 2008
It's ski season!
I went skiing yesterday. I only did 6 runs or so and the terrain was limited, but it was skiing. It was crowded and icy at spots, and it was cold. And windy. The temperature at the summit never left the single digits (F) yesterday. There was a wind hold on the chair to the summit for most of the day. It was skiing!
About 2:30, the wind hold was lifted. My wife and I took the kids to the top and we took the easy way down. The kids were tired and cold, so they headed inside for a break. My wife and I headed back to the summit. This time, we took the expert route down, skiing through snow-making guns the whole way down. With the cold temps, the guns were spitting out nice soft fluffy stuff. It was an amazing run.
We're going to get some snow and freezing rain tonight along with some high winds, and the rest of the week looks a bit warmer than we've seen for the past week. But, the mountain should survive and I'll be skiing again on Thursday or Friday, plus Saturday and Sunday. I often forget in the summertime just how much I love the feeling of sliding down a hill with two sticks attached to my legs.
The Precision Nutrition Lean Eating program that I mentioned last week started today. Today's assignment was simple - define 3 goals for the next 6 months - no matter how simple or how outrageous. My goals, not surprisingly, were all about getting myself ready for Western States.
About 2:30, the wind hold was lifted. My wife and I took the kids to the top and we took the easy way down. The kids were tired and cold, so they headed inside for a break. My wife and I headed back to the summit. This time, we took the expert route down, skiing through snow-making guns the whole way down. With the cold temps, the guns were spitting out nice soft fluffy stuff. It was an amazing run.
We're going to get some snow and freezing rain tonight along with some high winds, and the rest of the week looks a bit warmer than we've seen for the past week. But, the mountain should survive and I'll be skiing again on Thursday or Friday, plus Saturday and Sunday. I often forget in the summertime just how much I love the feeling of sliding down a hill with two sticks attached to my legs.
The Precision Nutrition Lean Eating program that I mentioned last week started today. Today's assignment was simple - define 3 goals for the next 6 months - no matter how simple or how outrageous. My goals, not surprisingly, were all about getting myself ready for Western States.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Owwwww!
I'm still in pain from Tuesday. It's a bit better today than yesterday, but I still hurt.
The ski mountain has decided that employees can ski this weekend, after 11:00 tomorrow morning. With limited terrain, the priority is paying guests rather than employees, but they've made a lot of snow this week, so there's space for everyone. The first few hours have been reserved for paying guests, and then the mountain will open for everyone by midday.
I think I'm going to wait until Sunday to ski though, just so I don't hurt so much. I still have to get my skis tuned up anyway, which I'll get done tomorrow. Next weekend, I'll be working at the mountain, training other instructors. I need to get on the snow and work on my own skiing before I'm in charge of getting other people ready to teach. I will probably ski on Thursday and Friday as well.
On Monday, I'm starting something that I'm hoping will be key to my success at Western States next year. In the past, I've mentioned that I use a dietary program called Precision Nutrition as the outline for how I try to eat. Regretfully, I'm not very consistent in my usage of the program, and when I'm not following the 10 basic rules of the program, it doesn't do me much good. In the past couple months, my compliance hasn't been so great and my motivation hasn't been what it should be. Consequently, I've been slowly gaining some weight since the beginning of July.
Earlier this year, PN offered a 16-week coaching plan, where they mentored people on a daily basis and helped them to get better focused on using the plan. Basically, it was a group coaching plan for PN customers, and it cost some extra money. The people who went through the program have been raving about it on the PN forums, so I took the plunge for the next version. This time, they've expanded it to 24 weeks, which means it goes through mid-May.
Coincidentally (hah!), they are starting it the Monday before Thanksgiving - just as holiday eating starts to get out of control for some people.
The ski mountain has decided that employees can ski this weekend, after 11:00 tomorrow morning. With limited terrain, the priority is paying guests rather than employees, but they've made a lot of snow this week, so there's space for everyone. The first few hours have been reserved for paying guests, and then the mountain will open for everyone by midday.
I think I'm going to wait until Sunday to ski though, just so I don't hurt so much. I still have to get my skis tuned up anyway, which I'll get done tomorrow. Next weekend, I'll be working at the mountain, training other instructors. I need to get on the snow and work on my own skiing before I'm in charge of getting other people ready to teach. I will probably ski on Thursday and Friday as well.
On Monday, I'm starting something that I'm hoping will be key to my success at Western States next year. In the past, I've mentioned that I use a dietary program called Precision Nutrition as the outline for how I try to eat. Regretfully, I'm not very consistent in my usage of the program, and when I'm not following the 10 basic rules of the program, it doesn't do me much good. In the past couple months, my compliance hasn't been so great and my motivation hasn't been what it should be. Consequently, I've been slowly gaining some weight since the beginning of July.
Earlier this year, PN offered a 16-week coaching plan, where they mentored people on a daily basis and helped them to get better focused on using the plan. Basically, it was a group coaching plan for PN customers, and it cost some extra money. The people who went through the program have been raving about it on the PN forums, so I took the plunge for the next version. This time, they've expanded it to 24 weeks, which means it goes through mid-May.
Coincidentally (hah!), they are starting it the Monday before Thanksgiving - just as holiday eating starts to get out of control for some people.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Running again
Last night, as planned, I ran after work. I ran easy for just under 5 miles at just under a 10 mpm pace. I wore a reflective vest, bright colored clothing, a flashing red light on my back, and I had a headlamp and a handheld flashlight. I wanted to be as visible as possible after dark.
The only incident I had was some stupid teenagers who decided to yell at me as they went past in their pick-up truck. I need to get back to working out in the mornings, when there is more light. I've been enjoying the extra sleep since my marathon, but I need to get back to my routine of getting to bed early and waking up early.
I was planning to run after work again today, but I'm so sore I can barely walk. The only time I get really sore from lifting is when I do a tough squat day. I hadn't done squats for 3 weeks before my workout on Tuesday, and then I did a really tough workout. I was sore yesterday, but today it's way worse. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. There really isn't anything that doesn't hurt. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow. I was planning to run today and lift (upper body) tomorrow. Maybe I'll run tomorrow and lift on Saturday instead.
I love squats.
I hate squats.
The only incident I had was some stupid teenagers who decided to yell at me as they went past in their pick-up truck. I need to get back to working out in the mornings, when there is more light. I've been enjoying the extra sleep since my marathon, but I need to get back to my routine of getting to bed early and waking up early.
I was planning to run after work again today, but I'm so sore I can barely walk. The only time I get really sore from lifting is when I do a tough squat day. I hadn't done squats for 3 weeks before my workout on Tuesday, and then I did a really tough workout. I was sore yesterday, but today it's way worse. It hurts to sit. It hurts to stand. There really isn't anything that doesn't hurt. Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow. I was planning to run today and lift (upper body) tomorrow. Maybe I'll run tomorrow and lift on Saturday instead.
I love squats.
I hate squats.
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