You know how you sometimes just dive into a series and don't resurface until it's done (or, you've read the latest book)? Well, it's been quite a while since that has happened for me. I plowed through the Stephanie Plum/Janet Evanovich series a few years ago, then more recently did James Patterson's Women's Murder Club series and about half of the Alex Cross series. All of those books fall into the category of what I'd call popcorn or beach reading (or fireside reading, if done in winter). Page turners that you can polish off in a day if you're not careful. I've been really looking for another absorbing, can't wait until the next book comes out series, and boy, did I find a good one. It's on the short side, just four books to date, but what a great four books:
I'm currently on the fourth one, Revelation.
The series is set in 16th century England and features an unlikely protagonist, Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer and a hunchback who seems to generally find himself in the middle of some manner of politicial mess and mystery. Fascinating historical fiction (not an anglophile, I wasn't sure how spot on he was until I cross checked some aspects of the stories and came away impressed), I've seen the series referred to somewhere as CSI - Renaissance England and that's not a bad description, either. The books don't romanticize the time period, which is quite refreshing (or not, as the case may be). And the books, while highly readable, are also long and complex enough to be far more satisfying that popcorn.
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This morning was a five mile easy run, followed by training with sensei J. We did the usual kata run through and then worked a LOT on fighting technique. Basically, he has been completely tearing apart what I've learned and teaching me a far more effective style, particularly for someone my size. It is a crazy mix of fascinating and frustrating because I'm having to go against nearly six years worth of built in responses, things that, although not wrong or incorrect, really only work well in either point sparring (which I've always loathed) or a cooperative, structured sparring environment, but are not always best in a ring, or a real fight. I see progress every time we train, but damn, do these sessions scramble my brain. I have regular class tonight; hopefully we'll spar and I'll get to try some of these things after they've had time to marinate a bit.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Episode IV - A New Workout
As I think I mentioned, as of yesterday I had a total of five (now four) strength training workouts left on my half marathon training schedule, and I was due for a change in routine. Because I really haven't been in the mood for the usual exhaustive comb-through of programs, searching for something that looks appropriately challenging and different enough to be fresh, I went back to what I consider a golden oldie, a routine given to me by an old trainer. It's simple, hits all of the major muscle groups, and takes about 45 minutes in the gym (exclusive of warm-up/etc.) which is what I'd call about a perfect total body workout.
Or is it?
This is at least the fourth time I've used this basic workout with some tweak or other (hence, Episode IV), and the first time since I've done any Cosgrove-esque training. And I have to say, while this workout has historically challenged me, somehow today I don't feel worked out. I know I'll have some muscle soreness tomorrow by virtue of having done a few things I haven't in a while, but I came away feeling like something was completely missing from the workout. In retrospect, it should have been blatantly obvious to me (and actually was, but not to the extent that it raised warning flags) when I was drawing up the workout logs. Specifically:
1) There were no unilateral exercises. Everything was two hands on the wheel at all times.
2) There were no rotational exercises.
That may not sound like much, but damn! I worked each exercise to the logical max, used more weight overall than I have been using with either NROL/W or FBB, and yet came from the gym not in a huge sweat, but thinking, "That's it?" So I'm sort of left scratching my head. In a sense, I guess there's no real harm in doing a few easier workouts over the next two weeks: the running mileage will be peaking and a bit less effort spent in the gym may translate to a bit more juice for the road. I can rev back up, lesson learned, after the race. But it's also annoying to come away from the gym feeling less than worked out. Fudge. I had hoped this would be a plug-in, no brainer workout plan. Oh well. It'll be easy enough to make most of the exercises unilateral, so I guess that's what I'll try on Thursday.
Or is it?
This is at least the fourth time I've used this basic workout with some tweak or other (hence, Episode IV), and the first time since I've done any Cosgrove-esque training. And I have to say, while this workout has historically challenged me, somehow today I don't feel worked out. I know I'll have some muscle soreness tomorrow by virtue of having done a few things I haven't in a while, but I came away feeling like something was completely missing from the workout. In retrospect, it should have been blatantly obvious to me (and actually was, but not to the extent that it raised warning flags) when I was drawing up the workout logs. Specifically:
1) There were no unilateral exercises. Everything was two hands on the wheel at all times.
2) There were no rotational exercises.
That may not sound like much, but damn! I worked each exercise to the logical max, used more weight overall than I have been using with either NROL/W or FBB, and yet came from the gym not in a huge sweat, but thinking, "That's it?" So I'm sort of left scratching my head. In a sense, I guess there's no real harm in doing a few easier workouts over the next two weeks: the running mileage will be peaking and a bit less effort spent in the gym may translate to a bit more juice for the road. I can rev back up, lesson learned, after the race. But it's also annoying to come away from the gym feeling less than worked out. Fudge. I had hoped this would be a plug-in, no brainer workout plan. Oh well. It'll be easy enough to make most of the exercises unilateral, so I guess that's what I'll try on Thursday.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Rest, rest, crap!
Took two rest days in a row, first time I can recall doing that in quite a while, perhaps since my oral surgery days of this past winter. It wasn't planned, so technically, the second rest day was what some of us call a TURD (Totally Unplanned Rest Day), but also technically, my half marathon training schedule did in fact call for two rest days in a row. It does this a couple of times, but on the previous occasions I took karate classes on the second rest day so it really wasn't. Yesterday I had every intention of going to the dojo; had my bag packed and with me when I went to feed my pet sitees, but I had this really horrible feeling of dojo burnout, plus I was tired, so I just headed back home after doing pet duties (which, thankfully, have been routine so far).
I don't get dojo burnout often - in fact I can't recall the last time it happened. But Thursday was pretty much a zoo - I taught the newbie kids in what turned out to be a pretty good class, then was supposed to team teach the upper belt kids with two other people, one of whom had never taught there before (she's a teacher by profession). I really wanted to back down and just assist, but New Teacher seriously broke routine (which is fine, but it calls for a high degree of control and focus) and then kept deferring to me, and the kids sense lack of clear direction like a shark smells blood. So I wound up taking over the class and after a zillion push-ups, order was restored. (Second asst. teacher totally saw what was happening and just kept out of the way - good man.) Final class was adult class, and I really just wanted to DO, not direct, but the guy who was supposed to teach, a black belt who formerly ran his own school, ALSO kept deferring to me (WTFF??) so I finally broke the class in two and he took the white belt student and I took the upper belts. After a bit I just let them (and myself!) have an open dojo. Everyone there was testing this fall and has stuff to work on, so I figured we could all use the individual practise time.
I normally really enjoy teaching but that was more than I bargained for that night, and I just couldn't look at the place on Saturday. I did eventually pick up a kettlebell and toss it around for a bit, but not enough for what I'd call a workout.
So today was another one of those "race" days (Higdon has optional races building into the training schedule), supposedly a 15K. I just mapped my own course around town and did that instead of a race, planning to run and time myself as if it were a race. Well, I effed that up early on, forgetting an early turn and having to wend my way through some unfamiliar territory to try to get back on course. Oops. So much for knowing the distance... And also - you'd figure that after two rest days, I'd come out feeling pretty fresh and having a nice time. Wellllll, not so much. It seems that whatever pathetic little internal speedometer sense I do have goes away completely if I take even just two days away from running (I've noticed this before, so today wasn't special in that regard). I'm pretty sure I started way too fast and burned out early. The last third of the run absolutely sucked and I was not pleased with the time overall.
I know bad runs happen, and in the course of the training program so far that was probably really the only one that sucked grievously, but it still did suck grievously. It made me wish I'd never set anything other than a finishing goal for this half. And perhaps I should just make finishing the goal; complete the training as planned, go for best pace/time given the conditions of race day, and screw the rest. (Heh, I can't do much more than that, anyway.) And perhaps I'd just best not wallow in this, and instead figure out what I'm doing in the gym tomorrow!
I don't get dojo burnout often - in fact I can't recall the last time it happened. But Thursday was pretty much a zoo - I taught the newbie kids in what turned out to be a pretty good class, then was supposed to team teach the upper belt kids with two other people, one of whom had never taught there before (she's a teacher by profession). I really wanted to back down and just assist, but New Teacher seriously broke routine (which is fine, but it calls for a high degree of control and focus) and then kept deferring to me, and the kids sense lack of clear direction like a shark smells blood. So I wound up taking over the class and after a zillion push-ups, order was restored. (Second asst. teacher totally saw what was happening and just kept out of the way - good man.) Final class was adult class, and I really just wanted to DO, not direct, but the guy who was supposed to teach, a black belt who formerly ran his own school, ALSO kept deferring to me (WTFF??) so I finally broke the class in two and he took the white belt student and I took the upper belts. After a bit I just let them (and myself!) have an open dojo. Everyone there was testing this fall and has stuff to work on, so I figured we could all use the individual practise time.
I normally really enjoy teaching but that was more than I bargained for that night, and I just couldn't look at the place on Saturday. I did eventually pick up a kettlebell and toss it around for a bit, but not enough for what I'd call a workout.
So today was another one of those "race" days (Higdon has optional races building into the training schedule), supposedly a 15K. I just mapped my own course around town and did that instead of a race, planning to run and time myself as if it were a race. Well, I effed that up early on, forgetting an early turn and having to wend my way through some unfamiliar territory to try to get back on course. Oops. So much for knowing the distance... And also - you'd figure that after two rest days, I'd come out feeling pretty fresh and having a nice time. Wellllll, not so much. It seems that whatever pathetic little internal speedometer sense I do have goes away completely if I take even just two days away from running (I've noticed this before, so today wasn't special in that regard). I'm pretty sure I started way too fast and burned out early. The last third of the run absolutely sucked and I was not pleased with the time overall.
I know bad runs happen, and in the course of the training program so far that was probably really the only one that sucked grievously, but it still did suck grievously. It made me wish I'd never set anything other than a finishing goal for this half. And perhaps I should just make finishing the goal; complete the training as planned, go for best pace/time given the conditions of race day, and screw the rest. (Heh, I can't do much more than that, anyway.) And perhaps I'd just best not wallow in this, and instead figure out what I'm doing in the gym tomorrow!
Friday, August 27, 2010
Scouting mission
Headed over to the school today and purchased my books. To the tune of over $400.00 for TWO CLASSES. At least it looks as if the A&P text book, which alone cost $200, is good for both semesters of the class. Oh, and joy - for that class, we get to dissect cats. Somehow that seems nearly as off-putting as dissecting humans, which I will get to eventually - the humans, at least presumably, agreed to give their bodies to science, and I can pretty much figure out where the cats come from. But, it's not very helpful to get lost in that particular thought. So, on a brighter note - look what crawled into my bag o'books, just about as soon as I set it down?
The buildings where I have my classes are adjacent, and really are a short two blocks from the train station. The walk seems pretty safe, too (the city where the campus is located has twice been named most dangerous city in the US). Hopefully I won't have to drag my books to classes every time - when I got home I weighed my back pack, and it was a whopping 22 pounds. I don't recall dragging texts to class before, but maybe that's selective amnesia. So I guess I'm pretty much set.
The buildings where I have my classes are adjacent, and really are a short two blocks from the train station. The walk seems pretty safe, too (the city where the campus is located has twice been named most dangerous city in the US). Hopefully I won't have to drag my books to classes every time - when I got home I weighed my back pack, and it was a whopping 22 pounds. I don't recall dragging texts to class before, but maybe that's selective amnesia. So I guess I'm pretty much set.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
:o
School starts a week from today! Yowza. I’m heading over to the campus tomorrow to buy books (gulp) and scope out the building locations. I’ll be able to take the local commuter train there - it’s probably as easy for me to take the train as it is to drive, plus I don’t have to worry about parking (the lots aren’t free on this campus, and reportedly fill quickly - leaving meter parking in the city. No thanks.). I’m half really looking forward to it and half scared to death. I can’t even remember the simple stuff - do I usually take books to class? Is there homework BEFORE the first class (and how would I know)? I seem to remember coming into at least a few first classes where the prof expected we’ve have already read something. Do people still take notes the old fashioned way, or do they take laptops to class? (Not that I have a choice - I don’t have a working laptop and I’m not about to go out and buy one.) Anyway, it should be a big adventure - I figure if I make it to the right place for my first class on time, things will pretty much fall into place from there.
I hope.
My intermediate adventure - pet sitting. Not that the sitting itself is a particular adventure - I know the critters I have to manage and they’re a good lot - but two of them are cats pushing 20. In fact I’ve been left with a kitteh coffin and a burial cloth (per the respective burial wishes of their people) Just In Case. They’re both in apparent good health, but at that age, you just never know. I had stern talks with both kittehs in question this morning, giving them strict instructions not to kick off during the next week. Hopefully that did some good.
Workouts & runs are going according to schedule. I finished my last planned go of Female Body Breakthrough, Stage 2 Workout B, which is as far as I plan to go with those workouts for now. I liked Stage 2 much more than Stage 1, which (as written) was just too easy, coming right on the heels of NROL/W. I made it work but it took a ton of mods; in retrospect I probably should have started with Stage 2 and used that and Stage 3. Oh well, done is done.
I have five strength workouts left in my half marathon training plan, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. When I mapped out my plan I thought I might just continue with Stage 2, or perhaps play with Stage 3 at this point, but I’m mentally done with Stage 2 and don’t feel like fussing with Stage 3 for just 2 1/2 weeks of work. I might pull out an old workout I got from a trainer - it’s Something Completely Different, total body, 10 exercises, two sets each, mostly compound exercises with a couple of isolation exercises thrown in, or I might use Authentic Strength, an Art of Strength workout that I particularly enjoy. I’ll probably flip a coin on Sunday and roll with that.
Also, I’ve been thinking I might continue lifting through my Insanity rotation, assuming that happens. Nothing crazy, just two to three days per week to keep my hand in the weight room. Might use Authentic Strength then, if I don’t use it next, or something else entirely. I also expect to keep running to some extent during that rotation, because - woo! - the November trail run I’ve been eyeing is ON (link is to last year's website). It’s just a 15K (9.3 miles) but the terrain is supposedly pretty challenging. The race is Sunday after Thanksgiving, which (if all goes according to schedule) is a week after Insanity ends. I figure to take a full week off after that before I start rolling with Maximum Strength.
And somewhere in there, presumably, will be my belt exam.
I hope.
My intermediate adventure - pet sitting. Not that the sitting itself is a particular adventure - I know the critters I have to manage and they’re a good lot - but two of them are cats pushing 20. In fact I’ve been left with a kitteh coffin and a burial cloth (per the respective burial wishes of their people) Just In Case. They’re both in apparent good health, but at that age, you just never know. I had stern talks with both kittehs in question this morning, giving them strict instructions not to kick off during the next week. Hopefully that did some good.
Workouts & runs are going according to schedule. I finished my last planned go of Female Body Breakthrough, Stage 2 Workout B, which is as far as I plan to go with those workouts for now. I liked Stage 2 much more than Stage 1, which (as written) was just too easy, coming right on the heels of NROL/W. I made it work but it took a ton of mods; in retrospect I probably should have started with Stage 2 and used that and Stage 3. Oh well, done is done.
I have five strength workouts left in my half marathon training plan, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet. When I mapped out my plan I thought I might just continue with Stage 2, or perhaps play with Stage 3 at this point, but I’m mentally done with Stage 2 and don’t feel like fussing with Stage 3 for just 2 1/2 weeks of work. I might pull out an old workout I got from a trainer - it’s Something Completely Different, total body, 10 exercises, two sets each, mostly compound exercises with a couple of isolation exercises thrown in, or I might use Authentic Strength, an Art of Strength workout that I particularly enjoy. I’ll probably flip a coin on Sunday and roll with that.
Also, I’ve been thinking I might continue lifting through my Insanity rotation, assuming that happens. Nothing crazy, just two to three days per week to keep my hand in the weight room. Might use Authentic Strength then, if I don’t use it next, or something else entirely. I also expect to keep running to some extent during that rotation, because - woo! - the November trail run I’ve been eyeing is ON (link is to last year's website). It’s just a 15K (9.3 miles) but the terrain is supposedly pretty challenging. The race is Sunday after Thanksgiving, which (if all goes according to schedule) is a week after Insanity ends. I figure to take a full week off after that before I start rolling with Maximum Strength.
And somewhere in there, presumably, will be my belt exam.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Fun House Mirrors, Ghost Stories
Being as I’m about to be a student again (twice over! I’ve decided to take a psych course this fall, too. It’s just before and on the same campus as my A&P class. I pretty much have to take it because a) it’s required and b) while I did take psych years ago, I got a not to stellar grade in it – why is it that the lone TWO courses in which I received less than stellar grades over 20 years ago are now highly relevant pre-reqs for my continued education? – so I thought I’d best take it over. But I digress), I decided to do some shopping for school clothes the other day. I wasn’t really looking for anything specific, other than short or no sleeved shirts that seemed appropriate and maybe some non-jeans pants, since I have exactly two pairs of them, one of which is part of my official karate travel uniform. (Yes, we have a travel uniform; grey trousers, white shirt, blue blazer, and red men’s tie – even for the women. Must be worn to all special trainings, unless special dispensation is given.)
I came home with two bras, a pair of running shorts, and three very non-descript tee shirts. Woo! I also came home with a renewed sense of WTF? when it comes to dressing room mirrors. I don’t really have serious body image hang-ups. I’ve been with this bod for a long time and I do have an actual mirror installed in my apt., so I do have a clue as to what I look like, generally. There are things I’ve always liked and things I’d love to change, except they’ve never changed and I’m cool with that, too. So imagine my surprise when I looked into the dressing room mirror, and had to do a double take. My shoulders looked about as broad as I do high, and the overall effect was that I looked about two feet tall. WTFF? I don’t look two feet tall at home, and IRL most people think I’m taller than I am (not quite 5’3”) – I’ve always had people several inches taller than me tell me they think I’m taller than they are. So I kinda had to wonder about that mirror…. I know this isn’t an original thought, but wouldn’t you think WOMEN’S dressing rooms would have the most flattering light, and the best mirrors, if there are such things? The point is to sell clothes, not give women complexes, no?
I’m happy with what I got (love, love, love the shorts, especially) and I’m kind of glad that the majority of the remaining clothes in the store were fugly enough that I didn’t feel as if I were missing out by just grabbing a few t’s. Spared the wallet, for sure. The money I didn’t spend can go to textbooks. (Just priced those out – jeezy creezy!)
OK, ghost story time. I think I might have mentioned in my previous blog (and I know I’ve mentioned in one forum) that my folk’s house, the house I grew up in, has a ghost. We don’t know who it is or why he hangs there; we just all seem to know it’s a he, and we all “experience” him in the same way. He’s not mean or destructive; we usually hear him walking around the first floor during the day and on the stairs at night. (I know. Sounds creepy. But after 40+ years of peaceful co-existence, it’s not.)
My folks recently had some work done to the house, an energy up-grade. New furnace, new central AC, new weatherproofing, the whole lot. They got a fantastic deal on it, plus a tax rebate. They were subsequently contacted by the state (which subsidized part of the upgrade under a green program that is about to go by the wayside) to arrange an energy audit, mostly to check up on the contractor’s work. The guy came out and spent a couple of hours there, doing an energy and safety audit. For some reason, he decided to go into the back yard and take some photos. My folks have a gated fence toward the middle of the yard; it separates the yard into two sections. This is an artifact of days LONG gone by when we had an above-ground pool in the back half of the yard. Well, the guy was standing by the gate (which has a trick latch, due to a clever cat’s figuring out how to open the regular latch), when the gate swung open and slammed shut. The guy jumped about a foot into the air. He then tried to take a picture of the back part of the yard, but couldn’t; he aimed out, but the photo was of the ground.
Freaked him the hell out, and he made some comment about a ghost. My mother replied that the ghost had never done anything like that before (he hasn’t). I’m not sure if the guy was trying to pull someone’s leg, or if he was in retrospect glad he didn’t find out about the ghost until after he’d been in the attic & basement.
I came home with two bras, a pair of running shorts, and three very non-descript tee shirts. Woo! I also came home with a renewed sense of WTF? when it comes to dressing room mirrors. I don’t really have serious body image hang-ups. I’ve been with this bod for a long time and I do have an actual mirror installed in my apt., so I do have a clue as to what I look like, generally. There are things I’ve always liked and things I’d love to change, except they’ve never changed and I’m cool with that, too. So imagine my surprise when I looked into the dressing room mirror, and had to do a double take. My shoulders looked about as broad as I do high, and the overall effect was that I looked about two feet tall. WTFF? I don’t look two feet tall at home, and IRL most people think I’m taller than I am (not quite 5’3”) – I’ve always had people several inches taller than me tell me they think I’m taller than they are. So I kinda had to wonder about that mirror…. I know this isn’t an original thought, but wouldn’t you think WOMEN’S dressing rooms would have the most flattering light, and the best mirrors, if there are such things? The point is to sell clothes, not give women complexes, no?
I’m happy with what I got (love, love, love the shorts, especially) and I’m kind of glad that the majority of the remaining clothes in the store were fugly enough that I didn’t feel as if I were missing out by just grabbing a few t’s. Spared the wallet, for sure. The money I didn’t spend can go to textbooks. (Just priced those out – jeezy creezy!)
OK, ghost story time. I think I might have mentioned in my previous blog (and I know I’ve mentioned in one forum) that my folk’s house, the house I grew up in, has a ghost. We don’t know who it is or why he hangs there; we just all seem to know it’s a he, and we all “experience” him in the same way. He’s not mean or destructive; we usually hear him walking around the first floor during the day and on the stairs at night. (I know. Sounds creepy. But after 40+ years of peaceful co-existence, it’s not.)
My folks recently had some work done to the house, an energy up-grade. New furnace, new central AC, new weatherproofing, the whole lot. They got a fantastic deal on it, plus a tax rebate. They were subsequently contacted by the state (which subsidized part of the upgrade under a green program that is about to go by the wayside) to arrange an energy audit, mostly to check up on the contractor’s work. The guy came out and spent a couple of hours there, doing an energy and safety audit. For some reason, he decided to go into the back yard and take some photos. My folks have a gated fence toward the middle of the yard; it separates the yard into two sections. This is an artifact of days LONG gone by when we had an above-ground pool in the back half of the yard. Well, the guy was standing by the gate (which has a trick latch, due to a clever cat’s figuring out how to open the regular latch), when the gate swung open and slammed shut. The guy jumped about a foot into the air. He then tried to take a picture of the back part of the yard, but couldn’t; he aimed out, but the photo was of the ground.
Freaked him the hell out, and he made some comment about a ghost. My mother replied that the ghost had never done anything like that before (he hasn’t). I’m not sure if the guy was trying to pull someone’s leg, or if he was in retrospect glad he didn’t find out about the ghost until after he’d been in the attic & basement.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Dare I say - it's cooler?
I'm starting to appreciate how much the heat was really knocking the shit out of me and probably just about everyone else. It's been cooler this week, and I've found I have notably more energy all around, and probably the only thing that has changed is the temperatures. And it's not even THAT much cooler - but it's enough to make a difference. I'm sure it all starts with sleep, and I sure as hell do sleep better when it's cooler. But my runs have been a bit faster, and my recovery has been quicker and better from each one. I'd chalk that up to conditioning, except the runs keep getting longer, too, as well as being a bit faster, so the workload this past week was still on the upward curve. (This coming week is an easier week, with one fewer scheduled run and a shorter but faster long run.)
Today was a pace run, and because I have really been wanting to do the route for a while, I did a very slight variation on an old classic hill run. (The hard part remained the same; the gettin' there part was adjusted to make the run the appropriate length.) I've been doing this general route since about 1980, give or take a year. (No, that's not a typo.) It's lasted because it's a great run, obviously, and to me it's become a bit of a measuring stick. Being able to complete the run without feeling like I'm going to die means I have what I consider to be a good base of running fitness. Today I wanted to do it as a pace run (one of those things again), because what the hell? I've more or less given up trying to "regulate" pace, and it was a nice morning, so I figured I'd just go at what felt like a good pace and see if I came in around/below half pace. I figured if I came in around the magic 9 minute mark, and the run felt decent, that my training was pretty much going well, despite whatever wrenches the heat was throwing into the system.
To my pleasant surprise, I did much better than that, coming in with about an 8 1/2 MPM pace (AND not feeling wiped out). I know in the world of competitive running that's not much of a pace, but for me that's pretty darn good and I think bodes well for actually making my goal with the half, provided the weather cooperates. Tomorrow is a 10 miler, and I'm looking forward to doing the course I've mapped out, a mostly trail run through three adjacent parks. I've run them all separately but have never strung them together like this.
The weight work is going well. I've been enjoying this stage of FBB much more than the first stage; I suspect if I ever do this program, I won't bother with that first stage unless I'm coming off a very long layoff. But I'm not in danger of that any time soon. It very much looks as if Insanity is a go RIGHT after the half (slight bummer there - I sort of wanted a short break, but I'm not controlling the schedule for this one). I believe that's a two month program. Afterwards I want to get into Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength program, which runs four months. And yes, I do have some vague plans for After That...
Today was a pace run, and because I have really been wanting to do the route for a while, I did a very slight variation on an old classic hill run. (The hard part remained the same; the gettin' there part was adjusted to make the run the appropriate length.) I've been doing this general route since about 1980, give or take a year. (No, that's not a typo.) It's lasted because it's a great run, obviously, and to me it's become a bit of a measuring stick. Being able to complete the run without feeling like I'm going to die means I have what I consider to be a good base of running fitness. Today I wanted to do it as a pace run (one of those things again), because what the hell? I've more or less given up trying to "regulate" pace, and it was a nice morning, so I figured I'd just go at what felt like a good pace and see if I came in around/below half pace. I figured if I came in around the magic 9 minute mark, and the run felt decent, that my training was pretty much going well, despite whatever wrenches the heat was throwing into the system.
To my pleasant surprise, I did much better than that, coming in with about an 8 1/2 MPM pace (AND not feeling wiped out). I know in the world of competitive running that's not much of a pace, but for me that's pretty darn good and I think bodes well for actually making my goal with the half, provided the weather cooperates. Tomorrow is a 10 miler, and I'm looking forward to doing the course I've mapped out, a mostly trail run through three adjacent parks. I've run them all separately but have never strung them together like this.
The weight work is going well. I've been enjoying this stage of FBB much more than the first stage; I suspect if I ever do this program, I won't bother with that first stage unless I'm coming off a very long layoff. But I'm not in danger of that any time soon. It very much looks as if Insanity is a go RIGHT after the half (slight bummer there - I sort of wanted a short break, but I'm not controlling the schedule for this one). I believe that's a two month program. Afterwards I want to get into Eric Cressey's Maximum Strength program, which runs four months. And yes, I do have some vague plans for After That...
Monday, August 16, 2010
Voyage of the Damned
Yesterday was the dojo canoe trip. We do this trip annually (and in some years, a few of us have gone multiple times), and pretty much always have an awesome time, although the character of each trip seems to vary. Usually I kayak the thing, solo, but this year one of the gals wanted a shipmate, as her husband is abroad for work and she didn't want to go alone with her two girls (ages 10 and 12, or around that), so I teamed up with them. My goal for the day was to do as little work as possible, since I had to do a 9 mile long run prior to the event.
I didn't actually think that would be an issue. When my sister and I were young, we often spent the summer at my grandmother's house at the shore. There was a lake on the property, and she had a boat, and we were out on the water all. the. time., usually capsizing the boat, trying to sink it, towing it around, and sometimes actually sitting in it, fishing. Also, whenever we went canoeing as a family, sis and I ALWAYS paddled. Whether we were more a help than a hindrance, only my parents know for sure, but paddle, we did. So I figured I'd help with the steering but basically sit back and watch the trees go by.
Not.
Not only did I paddle, I had the back end of the canoe. The first half of the trip wasn't bad at all. We were on a windy little river; the water was low due to the relatively low rainfall we've had this year, and the hardest part was steering around trees that had fallen into the river over the winter. Then - heh - we merged with another, bigger river, the channel broadened considerably, and the work began. We were going against the tide, as it happened, and into the wind, not the best combination. A couple of times when I had to steer hard, the wind would catch us broadside and we'd actually go sideways. Actually it was pretty funny, but I think I was the only one who found it amusing. At one point I wanted to stop paddling for a moment to grab a drink, and as soon as I did, we started going backwards. I thought that was funny, too, but no one else did. So, long story short, the girls sang and had water gun fights with everyone who came near us, and the mom and I worked our asses off for a couple of hours. Afterwards a few of us expressed our appreciation for the wonderful shoulder and lat workout (ha!) and discussed perhaps tubing next year in lieu of canoeing.
Did my weight workout this morning, sans my glute add-ons (my nod to carry-over fatigue), and it went better than I expected, all things considered. I'm a little under five weeks from the half, and the schedule is roughly three hard weeks, one relatively easier week, and a taper week. Wow. That seems like practically no time at all!
I didn't actually think that would be an issue. When my sister and I were young, we often spent the summer at my grandmother's house at the shore. There was a lake on the property, and she had a boat, and we were out on the water all. the. time., usually capsizing the boat, trying to sink it, towing it around, and sometimes actually sitting in it, fishing. Also, whenever we went canoeing as a family, sis and I ALWAYS paddled. Whether we were more a help than a hindrance, only my parents know for sure, but paddle, we did. So I figured I'd help with the steering but basically sit back and watch the trees go by.
Not.
Not only did I paddle, I had the back end of the canoe. The first half of the trip wasn't bad at all. We were on a windy little river; the water was low due to the relatively low rainfall we've had this year, and the hardest part was steering around trees that had fallen into the river over the winter. Then - heh - we merged with another, bigger river, the channel broadened considerably, and the work began. We were going against the tide, as it happened, and into the wind, not the best combination. A couple of times when I had to steer hard, the wind would catch us broadside and we'd actually go sideways. Actually it was pretty funny, but I think I was the only one who found it amusing. At one point I wanted to stop paddling for a moment to grab a drink, and as soon as I did, we started going backwards. I thought that was funny, too, but no one else did. So, long story short, the girls sang and had water gun fights with everyone who came near us, and the mom and I worked our asses off for a couple of hours. Afterwards a few of us expressed our appreciation for the wonderful shoulder and lat workout (ha!) and discussed perhaps tubing next year in lieu of canoeing.
Did my weight workout this morning, sans my glute add-ons (my nod to carry-over fatigue), and it went better than I expected, all things considered. I'm a little under five weeks from the half, and the schedule is roughly three hard weeks, one relatively easier week, and a taper week. Wow. That seems like practically no time at all!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Because it's been a while
A couple of photos of the kittehs....
Actual news:
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| Forrest and Jack. Luckily for whatever they're staring at, the screens are intact. |
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| Junior and Jack. Because you didn't think that furniture was for me, did ya? |
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| Junior enjoying a paper bag. |
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| Forrest, in the bag. |
- Workouts continue, basically on schedule. Today is a rest day, and I'm very happy for it. I'm sore from yesterday, and I'm not totally sure why. I upped my weights all around yesterday in the gym, and I was at the dojo for quite a while - stayed late after class for some extra work and I guess that's it. I'm also freaking starving today, and while I've been trying to kind of carefully tame that beast, I'm getting on toward the f-it - look out! point. Which I'll have to address soon, because I have to bake a cake (for my mother's birthday) tonight and I don't really want to want to dive into the batter (any more than usual, that is).
- Have done some more PT school research, and it does seem as if the education stuff has all been pretty much standardized. There actually is no specialization at the grad school level; however, afterwards, what I would do is to aim myself towards the sports physical therapy section of the American Physical Therapy Association, which seems to set the standards for practise in that area. The grad schools themselves, I'm finding, vary little in the content; the main differences that I'm seeing is in the arrangement of the courses and clinical rotations, and in the number of total credits, and the difference really aren't that pronounced. There are also, of course, difference in price, and the biggest difference I'm seeing is in in-state vs. out of state tuition.
- It also seems the undergrad requirements have been pretty much standardized, which means the physics thing is going to be an issue at each school. Meaning, I guess, that I'll have to call those I want to apply to individually and see what they would require that I do. But first, to narrow down that particular list...
- And sorry for the bullets; blogger is pissing me off today, blending my paragraphs together.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Peace - through candy coated chocolate
Yesterday I was pressed into action as Aunt Redcat. As it happened, I wound up kidsitting my newphews along with my father while my sister and mother did Something Girly. (Yuck.) I do love my nephews, but they can be a real challenge - both are autistic. The older one (just turned 7) has Aspergers, the younger one(age 5) is PPD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified). They're both really good kids overall with above average to genius level IQ's (however well you can judge at this age), but they have lots of issues with social interaction and in dealing with frustration.
Things started out fine - in fact I thought for a while we'd get off easy, as they played separately but in the same room. Then the older one had a meltdown because something happened on the computer (for the life of me, I don't know what, but it had something to do with IndigoPokemon and something he apparently built that went away, or something like that). There was jack shit I could do about that so I somehow got him interested in doing something else, at least for a while. Then he decided he wanted to play with his brother on the DS (whatever DS stands for - it's a Nintendo thing), and his brother decided he wanted to play alone. Well, damn. World War 87 broke out. Older Boy had an utter fit and fell in it and Younger Boy, at an apparent loss for what to do, went into implosion mode. After what seemed like forever but was probably less than five minutes, I had a brainstorm and asked Younger Boy if he'd let Older Boy play with him if he brought him three (why three? I don't know) M&Ms.
He said yes, got his M&M friendship offering, and they played happily every after until Mom got home. I shit you not. If only the world's problems could be solved so easily.
This morning was a decent workout morning. The schedule called for a 4.5 mile easy run, and I did just a bit more than that; it was nice not to push pace at all given the continued lovely humidity. Then I went over to the dojo for some training. It was just sensei J and myself so we actually geared up (another lovely thing to do on a humid morning) and did some full contact work, then finished up with some ground work. Tonight I teach the kiddies solo and have my class. Funny, I seem to recall just last week thinking I was going to get a break from the kids for a few weeks - and now it happens that I'm teaching them three out of the next four weeks solo. Wha?
Things started out fine - in fact I thought for a while we'd get off easy, as they played separately but in the same room. Then the older one had a meltdown because something happened on the computer (for the life of me, I don't know what, but it had something to do with IndigoPokemon and something he apparently built that went away, or something like that). There was jack shit I could do about that so I somehow got him interested in doing something else, at least for a while. Then he decided he wanted to play with his brother on the DS (whatever DS stands for - it's a Nintendo thing), and his brother decided he wanted to play alone. Well, damn. World War 87 broke out. Older Boy had an utter fit and fell in it and Younger Boy, at an apparent loss for what to do, went into implosion mode. After what seemed like forever but was probably less than five minutes, I had a brainstorm and asked Younger Boy if he'd let Older Boy play with him if he brought him three (why three? I don't know) M&Ms.
He said yes, got his M&M friendship offering, and they played happily every after until Mom got home. I shit you not. If only the world's problems could be solved so easily.
This morning was a decent workout morning. The schedule called for a 4.5 mile easy run, and I did just a bit more than that; it was nice not to push pace at all given the continued lovely humidity. Then I went over to the dojo for some training. It was just sensei J and myself so we actually geared up (another lovely thing to do on a humid morning) and did some full contact work, then finished up with some ground work. Tonight I teach the kiddies solo and have my class. Funny, I seem to recall just last week thinking I was going to get a break from the kids for a few weeks - and now it happens that I'm teaching them three out of the next four weeks solo. Wha?
Sunday, August 8, 2010
In which I complain about the heat
Again, now that I think about it.
Today, per my training schedule, I was supposed to run a 10K race. I quite honestly don't feel any more compelled to run a 10K road race than I do 5K road race, so, needless to say, I just mapped out my own course, tacked some warm-up distance on to the beginning, and timed myself going at what I figured might be my 10K pace, which translated to what I though I could sustain on this disgustingly humid day. I liked my course quite a bit, actually; I made pretty good use of hills and had only one mile long stretch of fairly flat going. But it was really no fun; I probably started a bit fast and the heat sucked the life out of me. (And this was very early in the am.) I am starting to wonder if this weather is going to break before the race, and decided on the fly that if it doesn't, my goal will just be to finish the race, as I won't do anyone much good winding up a sodden heap on some street in Philadelphia, in the name of an arbitrarily set goal.
Which is really not what I want; I WANT six plus weeks of cooler weather and a race time start temperature of 60 at most. But I'm not exactly batting 1.000 in terms of things I want these days, weather-wise, so it'll be what it'll be.
Yesterday the dojo had its first ever black belt and instructor's retreat. We went to an off-site location, a hospital wellness center. (Incidentally, I had no idea hospitals now had boutique-y looking places that offered spa days that included botox and other a la cart cosmetic procedures, along with the garden variety massages and facials. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did.) Sensei brought in an outside instructor, a guy with some really impressive credentials - black belts in at least two forms of jiu jitsu, plus escrima, plus something else. He teaches weapons disarming tactics to police officers, so guess what we got to do? It was something completely different and had that definite cool factor, but it also brought in a lot of familiar moves and tactics, so it was stuff we could work with right away. Afterwards we hit the pool and spa pool. Nice day, overall.
I've taken a couple days' mental rest from the grad school thing, but I'm starting to ramp my brain back up again. One thing I did find out is that my alma mater has changed the cirriculum for my degree, and in fact no longer offers the physics course I took way back when - which means I have no course description with which to plead my case to prospective schools requiring a physics course with laboratory - which is to say, all of them. I'm stifling a reflexive urge to sign up for a physics course RIGHT NOW since I do have time before I get on with the application shit. In the mean time, it seems I have a lot more research to do on PT schools; the lack of early specialization has been bothering me a bit, I suppose because I've always known where I would want to go with this (the athletic training/rehab end of things). I need to do some researching and reading, and hunt down some more people to talk to in the near future. I've waited a very long time to finally do this; there's no point in hurrying things now and going off in the wrong direction.
Today, per my training schedule, I was supposed to run a 10K race. I quite honestly don't feel any more compelled to run a 10K road race than I do 5K road race, so, needless to say, I just mapped out my own course, tacked some warm-up distance on to the beginning, and timed myself going at what I figured might be my 10K pace, which translated to what I though I could sustain on this disgustingly humid day. I liked my course quite a bit, actually; I made pretty good use of hills and had only one mile long stretch of fairly flat going. But it was really no fun; I probably started a bit fast and the heat sucked the life out of me. (And this was very early in the am.) I am starting to wonder if this weather is going to break before the race, and decided on the fly that if it doesn't, my goal will just be to finish the race, as I won't do anyone much good winding up a sodden heap on some street in Philadelphia, in the name of an arbitrarily set goal.
Which is really not what I want; I WANT six plus weeks of cooler weather and a race time start temperature of 60 at most. But I'm not exactly batting 1.000 in terms of things I want these days, weather-wise, so it'll be what it'll be.
Yesterday the dojo had its first ever black belt and instructor's retreat. We went to an off-site location, a hospital wellness center. (Incidentally, I had no idea hospitals now had boutique-y looking places that offered spa days that included botox and other a la cart cosmetic procedures, along with the garden variety massages and facials. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did.) Sensei brought in an outside instructor, a guy with some really impressive credentials - black belts in at least two forms of jiu jitsu, plus escrima, plus something else. He teaches weapons disarming tactics to police officers, so guess what we got to do? It was something completely different and had that definite cool factor, but it also brought in a lot of familiar moves and tactics, so it was stuff we could work with right away. Afterwards we hit the pool and spa pool. Nice day, overall.
I've taken a couple days' mental rest from the grad school thing, but I'm starting to ramp my brain back up again. One thing I did find out is that my alma mater has changed the cirriculum for my degree, and in fact no longer offers the physics course I took way back when - which means I have no course description with which to plead my case to prospective schools requiring a physics course with laboratory - which is to say, all of them. I'm stifling a reflexive urge to sign up for a physics course RIGHT NOW since I do have time before I get on with the application shit. In the mean time, it seems I have a lot more research to do on PT schools; the lack of early specialization has been bothering me a bit, I suppose because I've always known where I would want to go with this (the athletic training/rehab end of things). I need to do some researching and reading, and hunt down some more people to talk to in the near future. I've waited a very long time to finally do this; there's no point in hurrying things now and going off in the wrong direction.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Open House, Boggled Mind
Let’s deal with the exercise stuff first, shall we? After that, I’m going to have to go to bullets because my brain is still pretty flooded with information from last night. So, to wit: Yesterday, I did a short, easy run followed by the B workout of the second phase of FBB. I did like it, overall; this one had more of a leg focus with some adjunct focus on core and shoulders. I can see it balancing pretty well with the A workout and it would make a nice M/W/F, A-B-A, B-A-B routine for a few weeks. I could see myself doing it again with a few mods. Or, not. I’m still a bit ambivalent about the program, overall; I guess the focus is eluding me, perhaps because I’m just using it out of convenience and not because I’m committed to it. I skipped karate last night, even though I probably could have made class after the open house, but my mind was going in a zillion different directions and I was happy to just chill for a bit. Besides, tomorrow will be a day of karate saturation: we’re having the first instructor and black belt retreat, beginning right after class. I am not entirely sure what it’s going to entail, although I do know it’s going to be off campus, and he’s bringing in at least one special guest. My curiosity is piqued.
OK, OK, so - the Open House. As it happened, it was a very small gathering, just myself and one other prospective student (and her mom), a current college senior. The people available were one of the professors as well as a first year student. The professor went over the nuts and bolts of admissions - a lot of stuff that is on the school’s website, plus admission rate (which is based on the number of applicants, because they only accept 30 students a year), matriculation rate, rate of passing state exams, getting a job right out of school, etc. The student gave us a campus tour and answered questions on the fly. Afterwards I got to sit down with the professor for a while to go over admissions stuff, specifically holes in my educational background. It was very, very helpful as it was and raised plenty more questions for me, going forward. Some highlights:
The program is what they call a lock step program, meaning you start with your graduating class and go through all of your classes together for the duration.
Going to school there is more or less a 9 - 5 job, five days a week. It’s not recommended that you work at all during the first year, and after that, only limited hours. So, no working your way through this particular program unless you have no need for sleep and an unlimited attention span.
This particular program prepares you to be a generalist. It includes subunits in all of the major areas of PT, which of course I can’t remember off hand, but range from kids to geriatrics and ortho patients to cardiac patients.
Because the class size is so small, the professors get to know the students very well; the woman who lead the discussion last night said that they will usually know a student is in trouble before the student knows s/he is in trouble. This (surprisingly) appeals to me, I suppose because I’ve been out of school for so damned long it’d be nice to know everyone has my back.
And that IS the general attytood there - once you’re in the program, the competition is over and focus is on EVERYONE successfully completing it.
The campus is very small, although I don’t know what one would expect considering the class size. It is shared with nursing and medical students of various stripes, but the PT program seems to only have three or four rooms to call its very own.
There is, as one would expect, a lot of hands on work, and a lot of clinical experience built into the program.
One of the first classes you take is human anatomy, which involves doing that thing which I presumed I’d have to do, but really hadn’t thought about in practical terms until last night, when our student guide took us to the anatomy lab. Everything was under wraps, but there really was no mistaking exactly what was on those dissection tables. And yes, the room smelled of preservative, and I STILL have that smell in my nose/head today, even though I think we were in that room for a grand total of about two minutes.
Turns out that, aside from my need to take undergrad anatomy and physiology (which, for all I know, will also involve cutting up a person), the biggest potential problem with my adacemic background is not a bad grade in one semester of chemistry (they will tend to overlook an outlier grade, provided it really is an outlier), but the fact that my physics class did not include a laboratory element.
Depending on the actual content of my physics classes, I may have to retake physics 1 and 2 entirely, something I do not really wish to do, not so much because I dislike physics, but because I haven’t had to use higher math in twenty plus years. So, yikes!
At this particular program, there is obviously no degree of specialization in any branch of PT, something that did surprise me a little bit. When I think of a graduate-level program, I do think specialty, and had figured that at some point beyond the gross anatomy/kinesiology/biomechanics/etc., one would have the opportunity to get a bit more into the area in which they wished to practise. I don’t know if this is the way all programs are run (obviously, something I have to look in to) or if that is just the way things are now; you come out of school a generalist and then look for a practise that is in your area of interest and then do the on the job training thing, along with continuing ed.
Although they have rolling admissions, they really want you to have your application package in by November 15 for spring admission (and there is only spring admission). Sooooo, it looks like I will not be applying to this particular school for spring. The wheels that are churning in my head have spit back the proclamation that that is probably a good thing, overall, as it gives me more time to get my shit together, mentally and academically.
That about covers it. I don’t know if it all made sense, but it was good for me, at least, to type that all out, helped to clarify and organize my thoughts a bit. And so, with a clearer head and the lingering smell of preservative in my nose, I bid you a happy Friday.
OK, OK, so - the Open House. As it happened, it was a very small gathering, just myself and one other prospective student (and her mom), a current college senior. The people available were one of the professors as well as a first year student. The professor went over the nuts and bolts of admissions - a lot of stuff that is on the school’s website, plus admission rate (which is based on the number of applicants, because they only accept 30 students a year), matriculation rate, rate of passing state exams, getting a job right out of school, etc. The student gave us a campus tour and answered questions on the fly. Afterwards I got to sit down with the professor for a while to go over admissions stuff, specifically holes in my educational background. It was very, very helpful as it was and raised plenty more questions for me, going forward. Some highlights:
The program is what they call a lock step program, meaning you start with your graduating class and go through all of your classes together for the duration.
Going to school there is more or less a 9 - 5 job, five days a week. It’s not recommended that you work at all during the first year, and after that, only limited hours. So, no working your way through this particular program unless you have no need for sleep and an unlimited attention span.
This particular program prepares you to be a generalist. It includes subunits in all of the major areas of PT, which of course I can’t remember off hand, but range from kids to geriatrics and ortho patients to cardiac patients.
Because the class size is so small, the professors get to know the students very well; the woman who lead the discussion last night said that they will usually know a student is in trouble before the student knows s/he is in trouble. This (surprisingly) appeals to me, I suppose because I’ve been out of school for so damned long it’d be nice to know everyone has my back.
And that IS the general attytood there - once you’re in the program, the competition is over and focus is on EVERYONE successfully completing it.
The campus is very small, although I don’t know what one would expect considering the class size. It is shared with nursing and medical students of various stripes, but the PT program seems to only have three or four rooms to call its very own.
There is, as one would expect, a lot of hands on work, and a lot of clinical experience built into the program.
One of the first classes you take is human anatomy, which involves doing that thing which I presumed I’d have to do, but really hadn’t thought about in practical terms until last night, when our student guide took us to the anatomy lab. Everything was under wraps, but there really was no mistaking exactly what was on those dissection tables. And yes, the room smelled of preservative, and I STILL have that smell in my nose/head today, even though I think we were in that room for a grand total of about two minutes.
Turns out that, aside from my need to take undergrad anatomy and physiology (which, for all I know, will also involve cutting up a person), the biggest potential problem with my adacemic background is not a bad grade in one semester of chemistry (they will tend to overlook an outlier grade, provided it really is an outlier), but the fact that my physics class did not include a laboratory element.
Depending on the actual content of my physics classes, I may have to retake physics 1 and 2 entirely, something I do not really wish to do, not so much because I dislike physics, but because I haven’t had to use higher math in twenty plus years. So, yikes!
At this particular program, there is obviously no degree of specialization in any branch of PT, something that did surprise me a little bit. When I think of a graduate-level program, I do think specialty, and had figured that at some point beyond the gross anatomy/kinesiology/biomechanics/etc., one would have the opportunity to get a bit more into the area in which they wished to practise. I don’t know if this is the way all programs are run (obviously, something I have to look in to) or if that is just the way things are now; you come out of school a generalist and then look for a practise that is in your area of interest and then do the on the job training thing, along with continuing ed.
Although they have rolling admissions, they really want you to have your application package in by November 15 for spring admission (and there is only spring admission). Sooooo, it looks like I will not be applying to this particular school for spring. The wheels that are churning in my head have spit back the proclamation that that is probably a good thing, overall, as it gives me more time to get my shit together, mentally and academically.
That about covers it. I don’t know if it all made sense, but it was good for me, at least, to type that all out, helped to clarify and organize my thoughts a bit. And so, with a clearer head and the lingering smell of preservative in my nose, I bid you a happy Friday.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Endless summer
Or, at least it seems that way.... After maybe a week's reprieve, it's friggin' hot and humid again. Did a tempo run this morning and I think I was sweating for at least an hour afterwards. Of course, I didn't turn the air on until after my run, so the apt. was warmer than it was outdoors, and it was plenty warm outdoors - blech. I'm trying to track down that part of my brain that convinced me that I didn't really mind training hard in the heat, so I can sit it down and have a really good chat with it.
Yesterday was the usual long day. There were just two of us (sensei J aside) at the morning training session, and the other was a gal about my size. I almost never get to spar with someone about my size (occasionally, in NY, where there are more women in the school, it happens) so that alone was interesting. We are working on some of the same things, although at different levels; she's learning new fighting habits, and I'm trying to unlearn some of my old ones (moving to somewhat more a Kyokoshin vs. a Shotokan style, at least as I've been taught) so we drilled some blocking/countering techniques for a good long while. Did the help-teaching thing in the evening and as it happens, I'll be off that duty for the next couple of weeks since those classes have gotten smaller (due to promotions to different classes, and people being on vacation). Things typically get a little crazy in mid September so I'll take the break.
Also coming in mid-September - it's looking more and more like a group of us will be doing the Insanity program at the dojo. I've been very curious about this program but reluctant to buy it myself since I haven't been having any problems keeping myself busy, otherwise. But doing it in a group setting sounds like a hoot, so IF it happens, I'll be doing that after the half, and I'll probably segue from there into the Maximum Strength program, which seems the perfect thing to do over the winter.
School shit: I've been getting together some volunteer applications. So far it looks as if most places (I've been looking primarily at hospitals) have summer interns and start new volunteers in the fall, so I'm looking to start that work in September. Tomorrow, one of the schools I'm considering applying to is having an open house/meet and greet; hopefully it''ll be educational and they won't tell me I'm a few cards shy of a full deck for even considering trying to get in to school considering my age/background/grades/hair color/love of ice cream. I'll probably be too mind boggled to post about it tomorrow, but I'll try to ramble on about it on Friday.
Yesterday was the usual long day. There were just two of us (sensei J aside) at the morning training session, and the other was a gal about my size. I almost never get to spar with someone about my size (occasionally, in NY, where there are more women in the school, it happens) so that alone was interesting. We are working on some of the same things, although at different levels; she's learning new fighting habits, and I'm trying to unlearn some of my old ones (moving to somewhat more a Kyokoshin vs. a Shotokan style, at least as I've been taught) so we drilled some blocking/countering techniques for a good long while. Did the help-teaching thing in the evening and as it happens, I'll be off that duty for the next couple of weeks since those classes have gotten smaller (due to promotions to different classes, and people being on vacation). Things typically get a little crazy in mid September so I'll take the break.
Also coming in mid-September - it's looking more and more like a group of us will be doing the Insanity program at the dojo. I've been very curious about this program but reluctant to buy it myself since I haven't been having any problems keeping myself busy, otherwise. But doing it in a group setting sounds like a hoot, so IF it happens, I'll be doing that after the half, and I'll probably segue from there into the Maximum Strength program, which seems the perfect thing to do over the winter.
School shit: I've been getting together some volunteer applications. So far it looks as if most places (I've been looking primarily at hospitals) have summer interns and start new volunteers in the fall, so I'm looking to start that work in September. Tomorrow, one of the schools I'm considering applying to is having an open house/meet and greet; hopefully it''ll be educational and they won't tell me I'm a few cards shy of a full deck for even considering trying to get in to school considering my age/background/grades/hair color/love of ice cream. I'll probably be too mind boggled to post about it tomorrow, but I'll try to ramble on about it on Friday.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The yoga experiment ends... and, Pace - THAT Pace!
Yesterday, I did the final written workout of my 8 week yoga program. Wendy asked in the comments why I decided to do the program in the first place, and actually I’ve been reflecting on that a lot over the past few days. That, and trying to assess what I’ve gotten out of the program and to decide where to take things from here (if anywhere).
The whys: Yoga has always been one of those things that has never been what I expected or wanted it to be. I was introduced to it when I was young; my folks took yoga classes at the local high school back in the 70’s in what I call their somewhat hippy-dippy era, and my mother did some yoga TV show (Lilias?). I had this impression that by doing the movements and - something, whatever - you reached some wonderful, relaxed, contemplative state in which you could - something, I don’t know. Cure cancer? Develop a nuclear fission reactor? Move paperweights using telekenesis? Eventually I just looked to it to be something that would help me relax and possibly get to sleep easier, as I’ve never been great at relaxing or getting to sleep.
Basically, it’s been fail on all of the above counts - for me, anyway, and I sort of doubt Fermi, et als used yoga in their work on nuclear fission, although you never know. But for some reason, that itch, that curiosity about the potential of yoga, has nagged at me for years. I’ve tried doing it and enjoying it for its own sake, and I do, to a point. It’s a little less boring than stretching, although it’s not enough about stretching to be a full-fledged substitute. I can end a practise feeling relaxed - and I can end a practise annoyed as hell. And that started happening fairly often toward the end of my little 8 week program.
Why? This one took me a while to figure out. It wasn’t so much the poses; he showed mods for headstand and handstand (basically, for me, that meant doing them against a wall), and everything else I could usually do right off the bat (the so-called flexible beginner thing). BUT everything was held for a timed duration, and seldom did he use number of breaths as the hold times. He did encourage you to determine number of breaths for the common hold times for yourself, and I did use this for holds of under a minute. For hold over a minute, I used a timer. Now, I have no problems holding poses long enough to get something out of them (usually, a feeling of extension or a bit of release somewhere), but if you’re counting breaths or waiting for a timer to go off, after a while... it gets old, and it interrupts any semblance of a flow you might establish (although Iyengar yoga is not about flow). I am also not that into props, and don’t like dragging out blocks, bolsters, blankets, straps, and chairs so I can basically flop around on the floor. Interesting to a point, but it also becomes distracting and, yes, annoying.
What I found was that I could come out of the shorter, less involved practises that did not include a lot of restorative poses feeling a bit more centered and open, and I like that feeling. I believe I have a better handle on my body alignment, am more aware of my asymmetries and imbalances, and have learned how to create a little bit of meditative space that I can use to help keep my crazy in check. And frankly, that’s probably enough to have endured the whole program (which, quite honestly, up until the end really was a pleasure to do for the most part). So, I’m glad I did do it, but I’m also happy it’s over.
I’m still not sure where I’m going to take things from here. My rough idea is to keep doing a practise - probably a media practise - on Monday, continue in my class on Wednesday, and if I feel like it, revisit something from the book on Friday.
Yesterday was noteworthy for another reason: I had a pace run. It was supposed to be 5 miles at race pace. Because I’ve been failing big time in doing pace runs at pace, I decided to approach the thing slightly differently, and set up an out and back course with just two check points: one at the halfway (turn-around) point, obviously, plus one at the quarter point. I added about a half-mile of warm-up space to the beginning of the run and just loosely tracked time from there. It was a somewhat hilly course with a couple of long grades so it was unrealistic to expect to be exactly on time at each marker, so I just kept a loose gauge on pace. And you know what? I did the whole thing, including the warm-up, at what turned out to average EXACTLY half marathon pace. To the second. Freaky, huh?
The whys: Yoga has always been one of those things that has never been what I expected or wanted it to be. I was introduced to it when I was young; my folks took yoga classes at the local high school back in the 70’s in what I call their somewhat hippy-dippy era, and my mother did some yoga TV show (Lilias?). I had this impression that by doing the movements and - something, whatever - you reached some wonderful, relaxed, contemplative state in which you could - something, I don’t know. Cure cancer? Develop a nuclear fission reactor? Move paperweights using telekenesis? Eventually I just looked to it to be something that would help me relax and possibly get to sleep easier, as I’ve never been great at relaxing or getting to sleep.
Basically, it’s been fail on all of the above counts - for me, anyway, and I sort of doubt Fermi, et als used yoga in their work on nuclear fission, although you never know. But for some reason, that itch, that curiosity about the potential of yoga, has nagged at me for years. I’ve tried doing it and enjoying it for its own sake, and I do, to a point. It’s a little less boring than stretching, although it’s not enough about stretching to be a full-fledged substitute. I can end a practise feeling relaxed - and I can end a practise annoyed as hell. And that started happening fairly often toward the end of my little 8 week program.
Why? This one took me a while to figure out. It wasn’t so much the poses; he showed mods for headstand and handstand (basically, for me, that meant doing them against a wall), and everything else I could usually do right off the bat (the so-called flexible beginner thing). BUT everything was held for a timed duration, and seldom did he use number of breaths as the hold times. He did encourage you to determine number of breaths for the common hold times for yourself, and I did use this for holds of under a minute. For hold over a minute, I used a timer. Now, I have no problems holding poses long enough to get something out of them (usually, a feeling of extension or a bit of release somewhere), but if you’re counting breaths or waiting for a timer to go off, after a while... it gets old, and it interrupts any semblance of a flow you might establish (although Iyengar yoga is not about flow). I am also not that into props, and don’t like dragging out blocks, bolsters, blankets, straps, and chairs so I can basically flop around on the floor. Interesting to a point, but it also becomes distracting and, yes, annoying.
What I found was that I could come out of the shorter, less involved practises that did not include a lot of restorative poses feeling a bit more centered and open, and I like that feeling. I believe I have a better handle on my body alignment, am more aware of my asymmetries and imbalances, and have learned how to create a little bit of meditative space that I can use to help keep my crazy in check. And frankly, that’s probably enough to have endured the whole program (which, quite honestly, up until the end really was a pleasure to do for the most part). So, I’m glad I did do it, but I’m also happy it’s over.
I’m still not sure where I’m going to take things from here. My rough idea is to keep doing a practise - probably a media practise - on Monday, continue in my class on Wednesday, and if I feel like it, revisit something from the book on Friday.
Yesterday was noteworthy for another reason: I had a pace run. It was supposed to be 5 miles at race pace. Because I’ve been failing big time in doing pace runs at pace, I decided to approach the thing slightly differently, and set up an out and back course with just two check points: one at the halfway (turn-around) point, obviously, plus one at the quarter point. I added about a half-mile of warm-up space to the beginning of the run and just loosely tracked time from there. It was a somewhat hilly course with a couple of long grades so it was unrealistic to expect to be exactly on time at each marker, so I just kept a loose gauge on pace. And you know what? I did the whole thing, including the warm-up, at what turned out to average EXACTLY half marathon pace. To the second. Freaky, huh?
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