Training Log Archive: possum

Because of travel and a basketball tournament, I hadn't worked out with Jared for two weeks. Lots of balance and dexterity, and when we ended with pushing the sled up and back four times, I was spent.

After bragging yesterday about getting used to this, today was a Kick-My-Butt day. All of the stations were challenging, but in particular, on the second one I had to do step-ups holding dumbbells on a 24-inch step. Tough for old people with knee problems. At the speed bag, we did jabs for three minutes standing on one foot, and the last station really did me in--planks on dumbbells, teeing to the side and pushing the dumbbell up, 10 right, then 10 left, then 10 sit-ups with jabbing the dumbbells right and left. Repeat for three minutes. I'm still getting my breath back.

No burpees today. I didn't get as sore yesterday, so I must be getting used to this. Tried to focus on good timing on the speed bag--hand/eye coordination stuff.

Not to crowded today. Learned a lot about good form when hitting or punching the bags.

Club meet at Blue & Gray. I did registration for about an hour and a half, then turned it over, and went out on the green. The trails here are horse trails, and really muddy and messed up. Otherwise the navigation was pretty easy and I was in contact with the map all the way. The mistake I made was from 4 to 5, where I was taking advantage of a ride and went too far west. Usually I don't go far enough, but I should have been pace counting. So I turned back and went right down to it. Probably lost about 10 minutes which would have looked much better on the results. I also forgot to use my inhaler today, so I had to stop a few times on the hills. Beautiful weather today--lots of fun.

Today was Burpee Saturday. We did three burpees after each exercise in the three-minute stations. For example, five sets of shin kicks, three burpees, repeat for three minutes. I calculate that I did three to four sets per stations, which gives me about 100 burpees today. I hate burpees.

Back to my workout. I will probably be sore again since I haven't done this in a week, and it was intense, as usual. The toughest was the three minutes of Superman planks with a Burpee. I'm just glad it was the last station.

Hiked the trail from the Visitor Center to the top of Kennesaw Mountain, which was almost straight up, then hiked down carefully with the loose gravel.

Spent about three hours altogether hiking around the Discovery Museum and trails in Hilton Head, plus the Audubon/Newhall Reserve.

Went to the Congaree Swamp National Park, and walked all of the boardwalk, and several parts of various trails. Stopped now and then to admire the huge trees.

Went to the Riverside and Botanic Garden in Columbia, SC, in the afternoon. A nice mix of zoo and botanic garden, plus a great trail through the woods to some historical stuff with ties to the Civil War and ruins of an old cotton/woolen mill. A very satisfying day.

Day 2, this time on the east side, where it is steeper, and fewer trails. Today I made two mistakes, plus dropping my map inconveniently. On number 3, I made a parallel error, but when I couldn't find the control, I at least knew to go over the next ridge. I had some trouble reading the map going from 4 to 5, so I went back to 4 and started over. I have mentally resolved my map reading problem, so this should help in the future. Then I dropped the map going over a bunch of trash from 7 to 8, had to then make two more trips over the trash.

The last control to the finish was the same as yesterday, straight uphill, and I managed to improve my time by 11 seconds.

Brown Day 2 - Splits

Event: Georgia Navigator Cup and Extreme-O :: Sweetwater Creek State Park
 

Day one of the Navigator Cup at Sweetwater Creek State Park. Did really well navigating, except for a HUGE 45-min mistake on number 7. I relocated twice, still couldn't see it, so I went on to 8, and backtracked to 7. The clue was between two knolls, and the knolls were about a foot high and 30 feet apart. Of course, later on I realized how dumb my relocation was. I hate being stupid.

Brown Day 1 - Splits

Visited Russell Cave, a National Monument in NE Alabama, on our way to the Georgia Navigator Cup. Hiked about 2 miles uphill, and then 2 miles downhill, through beautiful woods and rock formations.

We then stopped at Cloudland Canyon, a state park in Georgia, but it was really cold and windy, so I'm not counting it.

Finally, we checked in at the model event at Sweetwater Creek, and I walked to the seven controls.

Very aerobic today, and one station that I did surprisingly ok.
Stand on a balance step and do a one-legged squat, then take the dumbells and curl and press. Ten times each side, with burpees in between sets. All that balance work with Jared has paid off.

Good workout, except the last round was 2-1/2 min of plank position with alternate leg lifts, and I couldn't do that long without a couple of breaks, which I spent in plank position.

Still very challenging, but I didn't completely run out of breath today, even with lots of burpees.

Weekly workout with Jared. Did some squats holding a 25 lb medicine ball and 5 sets of pushups.

At last some orienteering practice. Went to Weston Bend and flagged about 10 control locations for an event in March. Lots of snow in places. Beautiful day, but slower going on the trails than in the forest. The trails were mostly ice- and snow- covered, and where the snow had melted, very muddy and slick. Lots of elevation down and up.

Lots of burpees and rock climbers today, not my favorites. It does seem to be getting a little easier, tho', since I made it through and forgot to use my inhaler ahead of time.

Since I was going to 9Round, I had ElRay wait in the car, then took her to Jesse James Park for a walkabout. We saw two small, hairy dogs right away, then two Frisbee players who had just finished a round, one of whom turned out to be David Elliot, half of Wandering Aimlessly. He said that his partner had an injury, and that's why we hadn't seen them in awhile.

After these encounters in the first quarter-mile, we saw no one else, and we were the only car in any of the parking lots. What wimps! We did have a pretty bitter north wind, and the path was snow- and ice-covered, but compared with the last two weeks, it was almost balmy, and ElRay got some much needed exercise. I didn't run because of all the ice, but got in some good race-walking.

Today, two of the stations had burpees. I don't much like burpees.

The workout seemed just a little easier today, but my glutes and legs are really sore from yesterday.

Four of the 30-sec. "breaks" today were variations on planks. Anything is better than burpees.

Did my 30-minute 9Round workout today. Lots of burpees (I don't like burpees), planks, squats, etc. Figured out why some of the kicks are so hard--the equipment is one size fits all, and most of the all are taller than me. I have to really work for the kicks.

All ready to go and they canceled kickboxing. Since the high today will be 0 degrees, with a howling wind, all outdoor activity except dog-walking is canceled for me.

So I got on the bicycle for the first time in a while, and did the Stump Puller. The grade does go up past 25% in a couple of places, so I am sweating, but very pleased that I felt stronger than a few months ago. Also, I cranked up Classic Rock, tried to sing along, but couldn't. Oh well, I will see Jared tonight for another sweat session.

Weekly workout with Jared. Pushed the sled tonight. Going forward not so bad, but going backwards is a quad burner. Lots of balance, like doing the ropes on balance boards. Got me warm.

Back to 9Round today. Forgot to use my inhaler before starting. I won't make that mistake again. Today I learned how to wrap my hands. We did plank T's for a 30 second break near the end of the workout. The most difficult thing for me was the rock climbers, and trying to do the backward kicks.

Took ElRay to Watkins Mill ahead of the bitter cold. She is getting better at walking, and sprinting, with me. A lot of the trail had snow and ice cover, so we ran on the clear sections, including across the dam. Went clockwise, so we had the north wind going out in our faces, but much more pleasant coming back. She is now asleep in the middle of the kitchen floor.

First 30-minute training, mostly upper body bag and kickboxing. A type of circuit training. Nine stations, each exercise done for 3 minutes with 30 sec. between stations. These are not rest periods. Today they were plank position, or various types of jumping jacks, etc. I was really glad when the 30 minutes was finished, and felt good to have done it all. Every day the station exercises are different. I also got my own pair of boxing gloves--I chose red, not a pink type of girl. Looking forward to the next workout.

C • Different 2

The annual New Year's Day race hosted by Orienteer Kansas. Cold, and breezy across the open fields, but nice in the woods. Lots of fun. Going from one to two, I had some irritating areas in my right shoe, so I had to sit down, take off the thumb compass, e-stick, gloves and shoe. Stickery weeds, one in my sock and one stuck to the inside of the shoe. Just glad they were both on the same foot. This caused me to lose focus, and I got a little mixed up on which rock wall I was supposed to be on. Then going almost due west from four to five, I couldn't quite align the map with the terrain. Just kept going however, and punched it. The other legs were pretty easy. I did a fair amount of running, not so much on the trails, since they were pretty icy in places, but felt pretty good about my overall conditioning. On the way home, I found my first tick of the new year trying to bite the back of my neck. Amazed it was so early.

Looking back over the year, I know that I'm in better condition than this time last year, even with the horrible sick and steroids I had last fall. There are a number of things to improve on, however.

I need to quit being so wimpy, and get outside more during bad weather. I also need to get back in the groove of working out at least three times a week, and I need to do more orienteering practice. Thinking this over, it is time to make a plan.