2015 Exercise Log/Challenge

[Catrin]

Nothing wrong with that Crankin! I hope both of you are feeling better!

Last night our coach really pulled back on us. As he said, we are already conditioned for the competition and the goal this week is to protect our hands and work on technique. We do NOT need to rip a callus this close to the competition

I taped my hand and thumb last night with KT tape before training and it really helped. I can't do that for competition but it certainly felt better!

[Catrin]

After looking at the calendar, and my average of 4 1-hour workouts each week, I cut my number down to 75. If we choose to continue through March I will add them back. I don't do multiple hour workouts like I once did

[Crankin]

This morning I did 35 minutes of yoga at home.
DH took the afternoon off and we just got back from a snowshoe in our local conservation land. OMG, it was hard, as the trail was sort of packed in the beginning, but not at all near the turn around point, after we cross into another town. Gaiters and poles were definitley needed today. The climb up the ridge was quite strenuous in deeper snow. This took about 15 minutes longer than usual, about an hour. But, it's nice out, around 32 degrees.
Off to REI to scout out a few things we think we need to change up for our trip, including new waist packs.
More snow tomorrow (just a little) and finally, my PT appointment.

[Crankin]

The trip to REI was worthless! They"re out of everything. This is prime winter sports season, through the middle of March or later up north. So, we were not close to home at rush hour and ended up going out to dinner to avoid traffic. A very delicious and healthy dinner of baked salmon, fresh veggies, and a sweet potato. Started researching on line and found most of what I want, but I cannot find a water bottle holder that is a lighter waist pack than what I have and can hold a change of gloves or head cover. This is impacting my back issues, so I may end up just dealing with being too hot and using jacket pockets, to get a lighter pack. Anyway, finally had my PT today. SI joint locked out on the left (not the source of my biggest issue) and he discovered mylegs are a bit weak for someone who does what I do. I have 2-3 more things to do at home. He did some manipulation and unlocked the joint and I go back Tuesday. He did say that he doesn't find any signs of hip issues or arthritis in my hips, but the stiffness I feel is just normal aging. I can take this from him, as he is my age!
Just did 40 minutes on the trainer, of hill intervals in short bursts for 20 of the 40 minutes. Then I did 5 more minutes of stretches.

[Crankin]

Boot camp this morning. Hard. We did stations with partners. Catrin, one of the exercises was a kettle ball swing. I am in awe of you!
I am gonna feel this later.

[Catrin]

Crankin Glad that you got to play with kettlebells!

I made the mistake of seeing my chiro before class last night for some Active Release work as part of my competition preparation. He found some scar tissue at the base of my skull and released it. I should have asked him to wait until next week as this caused residual pain and inflammation. So much that I had to quit in the middle of our workout last night. Ice and heat last night, and mobility work this morning does have it feeling much better. Still stiff, but all the pain is gone He DID warn me...after the fact. To be fair, neither of us was thinking about last night's class.

So today is a rest day, though I will do multiple sessions of flexibility and mobility work but nothing else. I will likely complete my overall goal of secondary mobility work today and will likely add a couple hours to that goal.

More tomorrow when I get home I will, literally, be the last person to compete tomorrow. I have no competitors, so my focus will be to prove my rank by performing a minimum of 100 properly executed 8kg Long Cycles in 10 minutes. I've done this plenty of times in class, but THAT isn't the same environment. My coach will be working to hold me back so adrenalin doesn't cause me to start too hot out of the gate and burn out before I've reached my goal.

[Crankin]

Good luck, Catrin! I will be thinking about you today.

[Catrin]

Good luck, Catrin! I will be thinking about you today.

Thanks Crankin! I posted about it on the original thread I started for it, but it went well! Sadly all of the better shots I have are too large to upload here, no matter how much I resize any of them So the one on the other thread will have to do. The link to the other thread is here.

I feel pretty good, I did note some breathing issues and a few other things that didn't turn up during our trial 10-minute sets. In the end, however, we can't fully duplicate competition conditions in training, and I/my coach learned things to go and work on for the next time!

[Crankin]

It sounds like you had a really good day! I am sure you can work on the things that came up. When is the next competition? Great picture, too.
Went on a local snow shoe that was quite a work out. I really wanted to go x country skiing today, as another 2 day storm is starting tonight, but we had theatre and dinner last night in town, and I needed to sleep in. The place we went to snow shoe has a hill that used to be a small local ski area with a rope tow. We climbed the hill for the first time and then continued with more climbing in rather deep snow. It was only about 3.5 miles, but it took an hour and 20 minutes. The plan for tomorrow is to either get up early and do a quick ski at our local touring center, in the snow, or be brave and drive out to western MA in a storm, and ski there.

[Catrin]

It was fun ! Today I will do some light cardio to keep me away from my personal KB gym at home. NO lifting today!

I WILL do this again, but I've some work to do before that happens. While I did make rank, which is certainly a challenge in itself, I don't want to go to one of the very large comps I've been wanting to attend until I've progressed more. Having a dysfunctional scapula does complicate things. I would LIKE to progress to the 12 KG before I hit a major comp but time will tell. I may return to Louisville this summer for another local comp though, get platform time under my belt.

[Crankin]

That sounds like a good plan. No sense in getting hurt doing something you want to continue doing.
We went with the local ski plan today and it was perfect. It's snowing very lightly on and off, so we got up, I ate a bowl of buckwheat oatmeal (my new thing) and we were skiing by 8:45. Got done around 10:00, after doing the usual 10K loop. Part of the trail wasn't re-groomed from what fell early in the AM, but it was fine. Conditions were perfect and we hardly saw anyone. When we got back to the car, the parking lot was filling up quickly. I was a little clammy from skiing in falling snow, but I didn't want to wear my soft shell, it's so warm. Headed off to a local café, close to home and had a second breakfast of a mocha latte and an upscale version of bagel, lox, and cream cheese. Plan to hole up and relax, get some work done for the rest of the day.

[Crankin]

This morning I did a 10 min warm up on the trainer and then 3 sets of 4-7 core/body weight exercises on my DVDs, each set interspersed with 10 minutes on the trainer (with a couple of hill intervals). Then did the flexibility portion of the DVD, followed by my PT stuff. Then this afternoon, I shoveled snow for an hour, sort of cleaning up around where DH snowblows. It was good to be outside.
Rest tomorrow.

[Crankin]

Went for a nice mid week ski at our local touring center. It's sunny out, so I ignored my sinuses and did the same 10K loop I did Sunday, with just a bit added on at the end. Once I got to the ridge/climbing part, I saw no one. Came home and did 15 minutes of my PT stuff.

[Catrin]

Last night I went back to my KB group after our competition Saturday. No competition work, right now our coach is turning up the conditioning level for all three of us. We will have to consider carefully what I will do next and the timing giving my thumb/wrist arthritis problem (and shoulder), have to be smart about this! Very proud of one of my training partners, she has real talent, and is 28 with NO broken bits (unlike me). She is unusually strong for a female her size, and she shows real promise of being able to do KB lifting professionally. Time will tell but it will be fun to watch/encourage her!

Rest day tonight after our session yesterday, and we have training again tomorrow night.

[Crankin]

I sure wish I had started all of this stuff in my 20s. I did start with group exercise at 28, thankfully, or I'd be in real trouble! You are so lucky your coach knows how to keep you healthy.
I am proud of myself. I've definitely been fighting a small version of my annual February illness, but I read my body right yesterday, and the skiing did not make me sicker. I feel better today, actually. I've been getting more sleep, drinking at least one cup of green tea a day, and doing yoga at least once a week.
Anyway, today I did half an hour of power yoga with my dvd and then about 15-20 minutes of my PT stuff. Boot camp tomorrow.