2015 Exercise Log/Challenge

[Crankin]

I will bump my total to 125.
Had a pizza to celebrate being home, something I have maybe twice a year. Now back to reality. Everything unpacked, second load of laundry on. Hope to do some exercise tomorrow. I am afraid to get on the scale!

[Crankin]

Did a brisk 2-3 mile hike, followed by about 20 minutes of stretching at home. I was freezing during almost the whole hike, not sure why, as it's 30 degrees and I was dressed correctly. Felt good to get outside, after a day of flying yesterday.
Hopefully, I'll get to boot camp tomorrow. We are on the edge of the storm coming through, and it's supposed to end just about the time I get up.

[Catrin]

Had a nice home workout today. I had hoped to hit my gym for more traditional cardio, some hexbar deadlifting and some other things but a winter storm changed that idea. Thankful for my KB home herd so I made good use of it. I did moderate my pace since I had a hard KB workout yesterday and recovery is vital in keeping me healthy. I am still noticing that my usual weights feel light though, time to start creeping upwards :-)

[Crankin]

Yesterday I did a 3 mile hike, followed by stretching at home.
Today, well, I hardly slept, the roads were snow covered, so I went back to sleep instead of boot camp. I did do a treadmill warm up, an 8 minute power segment, followed by 15 minutes of strength stuff, and 15 minutes of stretching.

[Crankin]

Went to spin this morning and tried to ignore the "aerobics on a bike" instructor, who gets me riled up just by existing! I did my own thing and got a good workout. The other people around make it easier than the trainer.
Off to PT. I think I will be making this my last visit for awhile.

[Catrin]

I think that I will only have one more visit with my Chiro for hand therapy. It is about 80% better than it was 2 months ago, and am very thankful that all this applies to my deductible. I don't think my poor hand will ever be the same, but it is a LOT better. I am thankful.

We had a good group KB training class tonight. Right now our coach is focusing on strength and conditioning for us rather than competition training, and it feels good. We will return to comp training closer to time.

[Crankin]

X country skied for about 2.5 hours with my cycling group. A small group of 10. It's warm out (41), so even though I put the maxi glide on my skis, by the end, the snow was sticky and I was miserable. Most of it was fun, though. I did not go to the lunch at a crappy pizza place, and was surprised when I got home that DH was home, as he took some personal time.

[Crankin]

Rest day today, but I did give myself the 15 minutes I took to do my PT stretches. Trying to stay on track with that, so I don't have to go back every 6 months.

[Crankin]

Boot camp today. Eh, I've only been going once a week, for the past month, because of snow, and with last week's vacation, it was extremely hard today. We did stations, 3 rounds in a row. I felt like I had never done any of it. I did modify one station; I cannot jump rope at all, so I did it without the rope. I have, however, conquered the Bosu.

[Catrin]

We did a 5 minute Pentathlon practice class last night. This = 5 lifts. Each lift lasted for 5 minutes (multiple hand switches). 4 minute rest in between each set. There is a max rep number beyond which the reps aren't counted, and there is a coefficient applied to the rep count for each lift based on the KB weight selected by the lifter. We are practicing for a real, full Pentathlon competition (internal) in a couple of weeks - this means 6 minutes per lift with a 5 minute rest in between. My shoulders did fine last night, though my tricep on THAT arm complained a bit during the snatch. I may well do most of my snatches on the other arm when the time comes. Unlike formal GS sport, I don't HAVE to switch arms unless I want to - and I am accustomed to 5 minute sets (unbroken) on each side with no break in between.

[Crankin]

That sounds really hard, Catrin. We had a kettle ball station yesterday. By the third round, I wanted to switch to a lower weight, but since we were with partners, side by side, peer pressure was involved, since she was using a harder one!
Went skiing for a little over 2 hours today, at our favorite semi-local place. Perfect weather and snow conditions. We both tried a shortish black trail (the hardest) and we were fine. However, the other black trails at this place are actually as steep/long as a downhill ski trail would be. Saw a few out riding on our way home, but, despite better weather, the roads are just too awful and narrow, even for me. Will probably ski again tomorrow.

[Catrin]

Peer pressure will do that - even when we know better :-) Today we did a kettlebell conditioning workout - but we only went through it twice since we had our Pentathlon practice on Thursday. We are going to do a full Pentathlon soon and I am looking forward to it. I could tell this morning that my shoulders were still a little toasty from Thursday night, and I wasn't the only one. It DID give our training partners who aren't interested in competing what competition training feels like - a little. Not being able to switch arms for 5 full minutes is a very different thing from being able to switch whenever you want So for me it didn't seem that hard in comparison - just goes to show what kind of conditioning work I've been doing in recent months.

After our going through the PHA workout twice this morning, he had us working on mobility and technique for the rest of the time. It says how well he knows me that I got direct orders to NOT do anything tomorrow outside of 20-30 minutes of steady-state cardio. I will do that tomorrow, and probably more mobility/flexibility/light technique work.

PHA style workouts focus on conditioning with alternating upper/lower/pushing/pulling activities with as little rest as possible. For us it is a list of 8 different kettlebell unilateral lifts/exercises that should take about 30 seconds per side - 8 minutes total. A sign of our fatigue level is it took us 11:30 the first round, and over 14 minutes for the second. I LIKE this particular workout, but our coach knew better than to ask a third round from us.

[Catrin]

I was good today - 35 minutes steady-state cardio. Also some time with light technique/mobility work. Rest day tomorrow.

[Crankin]

And I was good, too. I actually did not get dressed until 3:30 PM. I have not been feeling that great and I think I willed myself to be good for my vacation. Woke up today with stomach issues as well as continuing sinus stuff. I felt fine while skiing yesterday, but afterwards, not so good, like in dizzy. Also not so great after boot camp Friday. I'm tired and my self care stuff is not working for my sinuses. While I feel a bit better now, after dinner with my son and DIL, I will keep close tabs on this and go to the doctor on Wednesday, if I need to. Plan to go to the gym tomorrow, so heading up to bed.

[Catrin]

Take care Crankin, I hope you feel better quickly!

Tuesday I get the final addition to my KB gym, am looking forward to finishing my collection.