A good workout out of nowhere

Yesterday, I whined about how poorly things have been going in the gym recently.  And then last night, I had a great workout.

The first half of the workout is a segment we do every Thursday called "work your weakness".  You pick two things you hate or that you suck at, and alternate them, every minute on the minute, for 20 minutes.

Because today is a planned rest day, my first "weakness" wasn't truly a weakness, but something I knew I'd be missing by skipping tonight's workout.  I chose to do 3 deadlifts at 225 pounds.  For the alternating minutes, I did 100 meter sprints.  I did all of this in my running shoes, which worked great for the sprints, but not so well for the deadlifts.  I don't use a "zero lift" shoe for running workouts, so I was a little bit out of balance for the deadlifts, due to my heels being higher than normal.  The sprints felt good, with a focus on stride.

I chose to do this completely outdoors, which was fun.  Next, we had 12 minutes to do as many reps as possible of rowing 250 meters followed by a 50 meter farmer's walk.  Everyone did this one outdoors; we had a parking lot full of rowing machines.

I chose 53 pound kettlebells to carry during the farmer's walk.  I was hoping to get through 6 rounds, knowing that I could do all the rowing sessions in less than a minute.  But, I spent too much time transitioning from one exercise to another, and I was 200 meters into my sixth rowing round when I ran out of time.  Feeling good, I rowed the last 50 meters and did the next farmer's walk on my own.

It was interesting to see how the workout turned out for everyone.  The best athlete there last night is an employee at C2, the company that makes the rowing machines.  He was easily the fastest rower.  But, about the third round, someone else took the lead from him.  The other guy was faster with the farmer's walk (he was using lighter kettlebells) and faster on the transitions, and he eventually "won" the workout.

The two women rowing right beside me had similar results.  One of them was my wife.  It takes her a minimum of 80 seconds to row 250 meters, and she had some rounds closer to 85 seconds last night.  But, she was fast in the transition and fast with the kettlebells.  In the end, I finished only 15 rowing meters ahead of her.  The other woman beside me had similar results - slow rowing but faster everything else.

All in all, it was a fun night, training outside and feeling reasonably good.

Today is a rest day - dinner with some other couples from the gym.  The weekend is packed.  I'm planning to fish with my wife in the morning, take my son to Brattleboro (southern VT) to some record stores for his birthday, and maybe dinner out.  Sunday, I hope to fish in the morning, I have to mow the lawn, and then I have a party to go to with friends.  Somehow, in all of that, I need to find time for at least one run or bike ride.  I should also tie some flies, given how my nymph supply has been decimated by eager fish recently.