So, perhaps no Insanity

Jeezy creezy.  I've mentioned before that we're going to be running Insanity out of the dojo (or more specifically, a Beachbody "coach" - BB-ish for "salesperson" - friend of Sensei's will be running the program); it's free to karate school members, costs $ for non-members.  I'm not really sure who's doing it, specifically - as far as I know, I'm the only person from the dojo, aside from sensei, who is interested - and I've had no input on when it's to start, when the classes would be held, etc.  Seriously, would YOU start this thing the day after you do a road race you've trained for for months?  I'd rather take an easy week, thank you, but whatever.  The time has fluctuated, but the latest I'd heard was it would be held M, W, F at 7:30, T and TH after karate - which is late for me, probably wouldn't start before 9, but I offered to come in and run the program at 4:30, before classes as an alternative, and Saturdays at around 10.

Got the final schedule yesterday and it's just a clusterfuck.  Whomever is setting the final schedule wants to do it at 8:30 on weeknights and not at all on the weekends (um, but it's a six day a week program, no?  How is that going to work out?).  To which I say, pffft.  I'm sure you night owls are saying, 8:30?  So what?  But I'm a morning person, always have been, and am usually shut down or well on my way there by 9, so this doesn't fly for me.

So much has fluctuated since this idea was originally presented that for all I know, it'll change again, but if not - maybe I'll catch it next time.  Plan B is to go back to lifting three days a week and running three days a week, with the focus on prepping for the trail run (for which my only goal is to finish).   Which is probably the better plan, anyway...  So, we'll see what happens.

Yesterday was pretty much a suck-ass sports day for me.  US Open Men's Final - rained out.  They play today, but I was looking forward to it and it would have been a nice diversion from the truly SUCKY Eagles game.  I was yelling at Andy Reid (the coach) before the first quarter was over, the new starting QB was out with a concussion before the first half was over, and our replacement was none other than the infamous Michael Vick, with whom I have a loathe/detest relationship, and also whom I can't forget is one talented bastard I would have gladly had on my team before - well, before.  Which in a way, ALSO bothers me because I wonder to what extent it's a double standard.  I know he's not the only person in football - in sports, for that matter - who has done despicable things, but I hate on him especially because I know about them?  And yet, how do you turn a blind eye to what he did?  So, yes, my feelings toward Vick are incredibly mixed, and I've been wishing he'd just go away because if he's not in Eagle's green, I'm under no obligation to deal with him.  Now, based on the play calling before Kolb (the new starting QB) went down and the fact that Kolb has a concussion, meaning who knows when he'll be back, I wonder if Vick will be the starting QB, and for how long?

And oh yeah, I watched a good chunk of the night game, and the Redskins have this new QB - #5? - who looked solid, if unspectacular.  Mc-something or other.

Study Break!

I have my very first test on Tuesday, in Psychology.  I've also been scrambling like a nut to get up to speed in A&P; we started with a HUGE reading load (because so much of the material in the first chapters was review of bio and chem - never mind that I last had bio and chem in the 80's and not last semester, as it's presumed one did, so I was really scraping rust of the brain).  I am basically up to date with that now, and hopefully things will be a bit more sane from here on out.  I'm still pretty excited about school and tend to babble at anyone who asks me about it, and since I just unloaded on my sister (who also went back to school, for a masters), you're spared any further talk for the day.

Training stuff has pretty much gone apace, although I missed karate this past Thursday because I was just mentally and physically dead by class time.   Generally I find I can get through a class if I'm either mentally present or physically present - one will carry the other along until it picks up - but if both are shot, I'm more likely to do something stupid like walk into a kick or a punch that isn't even aimed at me, so it's best not to go.  That was my last double workout (run + weights) day of half training, so I don't figure that will be a problem in future.  And, yes, all of the runs and lifts have gone down as prescribed, including today's long run.  Which was a damp one.  I have to say, as much as I really don't MIND running in the rain, I find it hard to get myself out the door when it's raining before I even start.  But I finished feeling really strong and good, and in the end it was the kind of run that just feels good to the core.  I really do love these moderate distances, stuff in the 8 - 15 mile range.  Also, my time for this run, which I was trying to do at an easy pace, was really pretty good, and suggests I might actually meet my time goal, although I have managed to divorce myself from it to some extent.

It's been interesting.  First, I've wondered why I've been so hung up on what amounts to a more or less arbitrarily picked number.  Which isn't really rocket science - I figure it's a combination of pride and a sense of personal expectation, which I don't actually consider bad things.  BUT, I'm not sure I picked a training program that was necessarily setting me up for success.  And I don't mean that as a cop-out; I don't expect to be far off goal unless the weather is utter crap - but I don't have any good training predictors of race performance, so I don't know if I've done all I should have to reach goal or not.  My timed training runs were done to the best of my ability and at what I thought was a good pace; but what the f do I know?  Anyway, done is done, I'm sure you're about as sick of reading about this as I am of writing about this, and as far as I'm concerned - I do my best next week and take the lesson learned.  Which is:  NEVER set a time goal for a race I haven't done before.

And starting immediately after that is Insanity.  I know almost nothing about this program other than it's some kind of twist on interval training plus bodyweight exercise (I think), plus people who have done it say it's the hardest thing they've ever done.  Which just sounds like a challenge to me, so I jumped on the chance to do it in a group.  Since I don't really know what it's about, I don't have any specific goals for it; I plan to keep lifting twice a week through it and if I can, to fit in some runs here and there, and I'd like to maintain my weight, which remains in a good place.  I may take some before/after photos for grins and giggles. 

Oh, and I finally saw The Expendables.  Had a bit more "plot" than it needed, but was otherwise the expected fights and explosions action guy romp.  I don't know why Wendy gave up Jason Stratham, though.  Damn! 

Ugh. Shopping.

I finally did it - I killed my blender.  Crapolita.   I am a fairly frequent protein shake flier, usually having one a day after my hardest workout of the day because I do believe in post workout refuelling and I really can't face solid food when I'm hot and sweaty.  Dunno why, but I've always been like that so I go with what works.  (I'm even more fussy about eating before a workout.  It's all about avoiding nausea, but it's a PITA.)  I like my shakes fairly thick - approaching Wendy's Frostee thick - so the milk/pp to frozen fruit ratio tends to favor that outcome, which can be hard on a table top blender's engine.  I used the Magic Bullet for a while, but the teeth in the base broke off.  Tried a fairly cheap smoothie maker, and that worked fairly well - until the jar cracked.  Finally invested in a "real" blender, a Cuisinart, and the thin lasted me - eh, I'm guessing three years?  Which probably isn't bad, all things considered, and given the price (I think I spent about $60). 

Poor thing had a really hard time of things this morning.  Even using the ice crush feature, it had a hard time breaking things down, and when I went into regular blend mode... the noise was not good.  After about a minute smoke started coming out of the base, which I also figured was Not Good, so I unplugged the thing and enjoyed a chunkier than usual shake.  The base "works," in that the motor turns, but it sounds ill, and I doubt it could crush an overripe tomato.  Soooo, I need a new blender.  I'd love to buy a fancy Vita-Mix or Blendtec, but for upwards of $400, that's not in the cards right now.  I'm probably going to wind up with a Kitchenaid model for less than a quarter of that, so here's hoping their blenders are even half as good as their stand mixers.

Also coming out of the budget, all of a sudden - for whatever reason, I decided to try on my jeans yesterday.  Holy flaming shit, they don't even nearly fit.  I don't think I weigh that much less than when I bought them, but I guess I've done some serious body restructuring because I SWIM in them - they would look stupid even with a belt, and that is by my decidedly questionable fashion standards.  So, shit.  Now I need jeans, and what's worse I need to refigure out my size.  Which means, I can't just order online, and let the jeans appear at my door, as is my preferred way to shop.

Crap.

Woo hoo!

Made it through my pet sitting gig with all four kittehs alive and well.  Yay!  I'm so relieved I didn't have to deal with the passing of the older two, who are both holding strong.  Whew.  

Had a very warm but good run this morning; I incorporated a bunch of hills into the run and was overall satisfied with the time.  Tomorrow should be another warm one, and then the weather is supposed to change for the much cooler ( :D ) after Friday.  I'm really interested in seeing how the weekend runs will feel, given how crappy the past two Sundays have been.

And tomorrow, dun dun DUN - I start school.  I have so much nervous energy, I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight.  I'm planning to haul all of my books over tomorrow, hopefully for the only time - although truthfully the heaviest book is my A&P text, so if I can leave that home hereafter, I'll be happy.   Wow, here we go, for real.  Hopefully, the first step toward a new career.

Summer Reading

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.

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.

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!