Window of Opportunity

I started running semi-seriously when I was in my teens, in high school. I wasn't on the track or cross country teams; rather, it was something I did because I had given up "team" sports because I loathed the sports girls cliques at my HS. You could be a team MVP and if you weren't part of a clique, you might as well not exist in the eyes of your teammates. I learned this the hard way at a summer training camp and quit after that season. So, I had energy to burn. My father was running at the time, so I figured, why not? We would run together on Sundays, usually, but the rest of the week went our separate ways. One thing we noted, which seemed to hold true about 360 out of 365 days a year - it seemed to NEVER rain between 6 and 7 am, our usual run time. Rest of the day and/or night could be complete crap, but there always seemed to be a break around that time of day. If there wasn't - well, that was nature's way of telling you it was time for a day off.

It still seems to me that I can almost always catch a weather break if I need one, and I sure got one this morning, a nice big window of opportunity for my run. Before the run? Pouring rain and wind. After the run? Pouring rain and wind. During? Wind, but no rain. I can deal with that.

I like the way the runs are going. They've been stretching over the allotted half an hour, mainly because my routes tend to be random so I never quite know where I'll finish up. Rather than walking out the quarter, half mile (or whatever - I've stood by the no measuring rule), I just run until I'm almost home and then walk a block or so as a cooldown. I think I'm on my third week of running - for whatever reason I didn't mark a calendar so I'm not entirely sure - and the rough plan was to do the easy half hours for a solid month and then start looking at time, distance, and pace. That still seems like a good plan, although I'm really not to anxious to know my pace right now. (Although, hey, I guess the progression game plays as well on the road as it does in the gym, so wherever I am is a starting point.)

NROL/W Stage 4 did start on schedule on Friday. As much as I wasn't looking forward to going back to the "same" workouts as Stage 2, the addition of the third set makes them feel different; in fact I've gotten a bit of unexpected soreness from both the A and the B workouts. It's all good, though!

3 Down

Yay! Finished Stage 3 of NROL/W on Monday, as planned. The workout went well; I pushed it on everything and was happy with the final numbers, in terms of progress made during the stage. I even reached new levels on the stepmill, although I also almost had an accident on it. I was really churning out an interval and picked my foot up too high, completely off the foot platform, then had a " !!!!!!" moment when I couldn't immediately find the thing on the way down. That was almost not pretty. (And yet another reason to hate cardio machines. I won't miss them when I'm done this program.)

Stages 4 and 5, as those familiar with the program know, basically repeat the exercises in Stages 2 and 3, with a different rep/rest scheme and an optional additional set. Most likely I will usually do the additional set, unless it turns out that doing the additional set turns what now runs as about an hour, hour and fifteen minute workouts into an hour and a half plus workouts. I do believe there's a point of diminishing returns in the gym, and 90 minutes is well over that point for anything other than endurance training.

Had a good run today. I actually ran for the full 30 minutes; that really wasn't intentional, but I was going slowly and the weather was cool and beautiful. I don't plan to change my 30 minutes, walk breaks legal but optional, no measuring, no fast stuff plan just yet; I'd like this to be my schedule for a couple of weeks and most likely at that point I'll want to go further/faster/etc., and just let that happen.

Finally did remember to step on the scale yesterday. I've lost 6 - 7# since I started NROL; considering I've paid precious little attention to diet, I'll take that. I'm still out of my "happy" range but I can see some major differences (more than the scale suggests). One of these days I'll mentally snap into diet mode and get serious about this, but until I do, I'll be happy with slow but continuous progress.

And it IS over!

Been a few days since I updated, but it's been a few very good days, at that. Went in Thursday for the second half of my perio work (or Sandblasting, as Marie called it), and they offered to do the fillings at the time, as well, so I jumped all over that, figuring I was already numb. Except, I wasn't as numb as I could have been, so I had about another half a gallon of novocaine pumped into my jaw (always a pleasure), first. As it happened, I only had one new filling put in; the other two "cavaties" were actually crappy old fillings that they thought were decay. But they were ugly, and because they were also visible, I was happy to have them gone. So I am DONE until my next cleaning, which won't be until June.

I did skip karate that night - I was probably physically up to it, but mentally, I was checked out for the day and figured with my luck, we'd spend the night sparring and I'd walk into a punch or something. However, I did get in my first run of the year! Woo! I wasn't really sure how I wanted to approach this. I'm not much for timed programs (C25K, NY RR's club, etc.) because I like to run, not look at a stopwatch, so I looked over a few old running books and decided to just go out for 1/2 hour at a time, three days a week - NO measuring distance, no speed work, no trying to run fast, any number of walk breaks legal. When that feels solid, I'll decide what's next.

And lest anyone commend me on my restraint, I'm running on my karate days, as it turns out, and karate takes precedence over running. I don't want the subordinate to fuck up the main, I want it to improve the main. So I'll run further, faster, harder when I'm damned good and ready. I'm not sure if/how running at what I consider a fairly paltry level will affect the NR workouts, but I'll see it in my workout logs if it does, so I can make adjustments.

Speaking of which, I should finish Stage 3 tomorrow. I plan to take Wednesday off from lifting and start Stage 4 on Friday. Stage 4, as you know if you've done this plan, is the same as stage 2 with fewer reps per exercise and an optional 3rd set. One thing I know for sure I'm NOT doing this round is that B-workout ab complex. I threatened to get rid of it this past round but stuck it out, and I could not make it FEEL like work and not just a lot of unfocused scrambling around on the swiss ball.

I haven't weighted myself in a while, no particular reason other than I kind of just blunder through the early morning without thinking about getting naked and hopping on the scale. I can see and feel (and read in my logs) some changes, though, so I'm a happy camper.

It ain't over 'til it's over

Shit.

I'm not entirely sure what just happened, but I THINK I just had a major periodontal procedure. Blech. Went in for a crown, and they talked me into getting a dental cleaning whilst I was there. I figured, it's been 30 years since my last one, so why not? Well, the guy took one look at me, and about 7,000 x-rays, and said I needed deep scaling/root cleaning. So, I had half of my mouth done, figuring, why the hell not get it over with. I get the other half done Thursday, and THEN, oh joy, I have three small cavities to have filled. That will be next Tuesday.

Looking on the bright side, if the oral surgeon wants to do anything to me, my mouth is already half numb.

I'm not sure if I'm doing karate tonight; it'll depend on how I feel when the novocaine wears off. I took three Vitamin I's and two tylenol already - hopefully an overreaction on my part - and I'd like to go but right now I feel like someone just dinged me a good one. Oh well. Hopefully, the end really is in sight now!

1st Kyu

Also known as brown belt, three stripes - my official rank as of yesterday. Woo! It was a hell of an emotional day for me, more so than the usual gradings because it was 1) something I really wasn't sure I'd achieve, just a few months ago, and 2) because it actually did go really, really well. I could nitpick my few dissatisfactions, but considering I was lying in a hospital bed in November, couldn't walk without a walker, and still am missing feeling in part of one foot, I can't complain. There are a few action shots of me from the test, and I may publish them if I ever get copies of them; we'll see.

So the work is cut out for me for the next year; I know what I have to learn, and I think I'm on the right path insofar as "other" training goes: specifically, tailoring other activities to support karate and not taking it any further than that. Weights: total body workouts along the functional/sports line, or kettlebells. Cardio - mix of intervals and shortish - there's probably no reason for me to run any longer than six, eight miles (ha! when I get back to that level). That's usually a nice, hour-ish run with routes that will get me to/through most of the parks around here. In other words, I need to keep this really, really simple and doable and keep f.o.c.u.s.e.d.

The weather has really sucked over the past few days - rain, rain, rain. I've had a few very damp walks, but what the hell. I dry off. But it's supposed to be nicer later in the week, sunny and low 60's, which makes me happy, because I'm about ready to start the running thing again. I had planned to start tomorrow, actually, but completely forgot I have two dentist appointments (crown, plus follow up with the oral surgeon) so I don't think it's going to happen. The plan is to run - very short distances for now - on three non-lifting days, and to let things progress organically from there. A doable plan, methinks.

Signs of spring

Pre-testing went well on Saturday. It wound up being a long process; there were eight of us testing or pre-testing, including four little kids, ages around 6 - 8, going for their very first stripe. Yes, that was as adorable as it sounds. The first stripe test for all students includes a fairly long list of Japanese terms we use all the time in training; they have to count to five in Japanese, know the words for teacher, uniform, training hall, different punches, and different stances, plus the dojo heritage, the dojo kun, and a few other things. Well, when one of the kids was asked what the room we trained in was called (dojo), he replied in a dead serious tone, "The Hall of Fame."

I was happy with the way my stuff went. I know what I have to work on between now and Sunday, and it's really just some polishing up. Things are finally starting to feel right for me again. Woo!

Today was the B workout of NROL/W. I liked the workout, but again, hated the long rests between sets. I cut them short, and even with that, the workout took well over an hour. I don't mind spending time in the gym, but I do mind spending time in the gym, looking at my watch. I wish the book explained the logic behind the rest periods. I know you usually do longer rest periods as you get more into strength workouts due to the neuromuscular effects of training - but generally I thought that applied to when one was using very heavy weights and very, very low reps. How that even remotely correlates to some of these exercises, given the weight/rep scheme of this phase, is a mystery to me.

Oh well. I did the interval cardio on the step mill, and set a new PR for floors climbed in a NR interval workout. LOL. Hey, what can I say, I'm easily amused.

Almost ran this morning. It was just SOOOOO nice out, sunny, getting warmer... feeling like spring is actually threatening to come sometime soon. Decided to keep it to walking for this week - I don't want to add anything new the week before the exam - but after that, all bets are off!

Walking does not equal cardio

Although it is a pleasant activity.

I really haven't been giving cardio a lot of thought, thus far. My plan, especially since the winter turned out to be the way it did, was to wait until spring to get back into running. The walking, which I do enjoy, has been a good place holder for the time, and I figured the intervals and body weight matrix of NROL/W would be as good a start back as anything. But oh, did I pay for the waiting last night!

I went to both karate classes on the evening, the brown/black belt class followed by the all-adult class. Sensei has been on a bit of a tear lately (he started a triathlon club at his office, and they're already training), so it's been extra pushups, drills, etc. lately anyway, but last night was killer. We did drills and then six or eight long rounds of partner/shadow boxing (one person fights, the other just provides a target - obviously there's no intentional contact here, it's a pure cardio drill), followed by kata, kata, and kata. Then adult class, and we started with kata and more kata, and then went into another several rounds (5, I think) of light contact sparring. I. Was. Sucking. Wind. I know that's the point, but holy shit. And THEN, of course, when we were all pretty run down, we all got to do dry runs of the pre-test for our next belt exam. Needless to say, I slept well last night.

Today I did start Stage 3, and as predicted, the 105 second rest between sets drove me insane. I think I only made it the full 105 seconds once or twice; I was generally drumming my fingers after about a minute and stretched it to 75 - 90 seconds. I'm sure there's a Good Reason for the long rest somewhere in Alwyn's mind, but it's not like this is one of those strength workouts where you need minutes between sets, so I haven't quite figured out what that reason might be. I think from here on out, I'll go with up to 105 seconds, and just do what feels right in the gym.

On the whole, I do like the workout, and I'm looking forward to trying the B workout on Monday. Tomorrow is the actual pre-test and I'm feeling pretty ready, especially after last night, and Sunday will be a simple day, just a walk. I'm looking forward to that!

No pain!

Wooo! Two days in a row now, I've woken up in the morning with NO PAIN IN MY MOUTH, whatsoever. This is no thanks to drugs; rather, my cut up bits have mended, and I have a temporary cap on the root canal tooth. I was so astonished to wake up yesterday not having to think about out how I was going to eat around this or that, that I think I floated through the morning. This has been a long time (months) coming, and now the end is in sight. I get the permanent crown in a week and a half or so, and that will be that. (For now. I am sure I still need work; at the very least, a cleaning. But for the moment, I want to breathe.)

Finished NROL/W Stage 2 yesterday. Because I had that mini break in the middle of the stage, I'm going to plow right into Stage 3 without a break, so it'll be on to new stuff tomorrow. The one thing I already don't like about this stage (heh) is the 105 second breaks between sets. Are you kidding me? That equals about 36 minutes of standing around the gym per workout. More for the B workout if you actually take a break between ab exercises, which I don't. (Seriously? A 105 second rest after 6 swiss ball crunches? What is he thinking?) I may do strongman crunches instead of some or all of the ab work. These are unusual and I seem to feel them pretty quickly. I also sprung them on a karate class or two, and had people who are used to doing a LOT of ab work whining in no time.

A brief history and demo of the exercise, courtesy of Anthony DeLuglio:

Stongman Crunches from art of strength on Vimeo.

Give 'em a try!