Where did that come from???

5/16 – I am officially sick. Congested, tired, weak. I somehow make it through the day in a haze of medication only to go home and crash. Much of the prior events are making sense now. I either overtrained myself, making by body weak, or I was battling something while working out, which has a severe effect on my ability to recover. This partially explains the ridiculous soreness as well as the dizzy feeling, both of which are very atypical for me. Can’t blame it all on being sick, but it was a huge contributor.

5/14 and 5/15 – Wow. So sore. What is going on? I feel completely wrecked. I am basically hobbling around the house trying to get chores done. I am very tired and generally lethargic. I did make it to Parkour with Kasi on Saturday, which was awesome, but disturbing. Disturbing for two reasons. 1 – We were the only grown ups there and the kids were doing crazy stuff we could only dream of doing. 2 – We practiced flipping to a crash mat, which was awesome, but left me feeling amazingly dizzy during the movements and even for the next 2 hours. By Sunday evening my throat is killing me and I am congested.

5/13 – Sore. Not terribly sore, but my hamstrings took more of a beating than I would have liked. I would think with all the squatting and running that they were being sufficiently worked. It seems that squatting really elongated and stresses the attachment point of the hamstring at the hip whereas swings get you right in the meat of the hamstring. This is where I am achy to say the least. Take a full day of rest including some time in the hot tub, which has become my new best friend.

5/12 – Decided to do what I thought would be a light workout with John. The program is below. By any standard, this should have been easy. I first considered doing CrossFit swings (overhead) but instead tried to just swing harder and faster. I quickly paid for this. Doing anything for a minute is hard, and I forgot this. John creeped ahead of me, possibly by a round or two. I did keep a standard of quality for each movement, which certainly changed what was going on. Afterwards we jogged across the river to an awesome Corefit park there and did random crawls, muscle ups, flipping things on the bar. Just fun. On the way there and back (which was less than a mile) my legs felt like lead. Trouble brewing.

AMRAP of 12 minutes

20 Swings @ 24k followed by 1 minute of:

Jumping Jacks

Burpees

Mountain Climbers

Jog in Place

Time for 1 minute does not start until you start moving, but can rest during set as needed. Swings are to eye level.

Because I Can

5/11/11 - DM: "Accept suffering in myself and others."

Gymnastics play! Basically spent a lot of time on my head and flipped over. More like playing around than a workout out.

5/10/11 - DM: "Relax"

So Sore. Big time rest.

5/09/11 - DM: "Find a way to drink more water" (thanks Kasi!)

So I ran a very fast 3.1 miles with Kevin and Brian. Few. Then decided I had the time, so why not do more? Ran the 7 mile loop to Elizabeth Park and back. On my way I passed a lot of people. Not unusual. What was unusual was the amount of people with canes, walking disabilities, or people otherwise varied from a fully functional healthy living. So I am struggling finding a way to keep going and wondering why the hell am I doing this ridiculous run. Then I see these people and think, because I can. I run because I can. People talk a lot about genetics and how this person just has good genes. But what good are they if they don't use them? Most athletes say that its 10% genetics and 90% effort. So, I am running because I still can. Who knows what will happen? What if I can't run someday? Do you use everything you have?

3.1 miles fast. 7 miles slow. Maybe 2 hours. Shockingly long. Tiring.

5/08/11 - DM: "Enjoy what you have"

Mowing, yard work, lots of time with the dogs.

5/07/11 - DM: "Find time for what you want"

No Idea?!?!

5/06/11 - DM: "Live a little"

Irony

5/5/11 - DM:"Stand tall and breathe" Another chance to work on my physical stress. I had the pleasure of going for a run with Tina (aka Krystina). 3.1 mile loop in about an hour. As she struggled along, i kept telling her to "Stand tall and Breathe" On a positive note, that run felt easy. A month ago it was a struggle to say the least.

3.1 miles - 1 hour

5/4/11 - DM: "Laugh and smile" This is mostly in response to the constant physical stress I am feeling. A start for me to let go of things and maybe relax my shoulders enough to help my posture. Funny enough I unknowingly smiled at someone at the gym as they passed by. He commented on how it was nice that someone around the TCC was smiling because everyone seemed to be so down.

Rest

5/03/11 - DM: Let perfection go.

Some wild hip activation stuff courtesy of Scott Sonnon. Wow. Sucking wind

Then

About 3 miles with Gregg then about the same on my own. Ran through the river, literally. Awesome. Took about two hours in all and I am sure a lot of that was due to mud. Feet were way to sensitive. Need more time on the roads.

5/02/11 - Still needed more sleep. Hangovers suck. Excellent workout.

Some 95# Hindu Squats

Some 95# Rotating Lunges

Some 95# Side Lunges (wholly glutes batman!)

Plank on Rings

Pushups

Jump Rope

DM: I Am.

Out of Body Experience

5/01/11 - DM: I am not my thoughts.

HUNGOVER! Greasy foods, water, and a nap. Also the return of anxiety and stress that were absent in my drunken blur last night. I spent a lot of today reflecting on the movie A Peaceful Warrior. One of the quotes I like is "The brain is a reaction organ, just like any other organ. People are not their thoughts."

4/30/11 - DM: Be Present.

Woke up after a terrible night of sleep to help out Brian at Rugged Fitness. Moved a whole bunch of weight and did a lot of manual labor. Not a workout really, but not a lazy day either. Had an amazing dinner prior to going out and getting absolutely rocked off of delicious Martinis and Rock Band. After dinner I had some sugar. I know, not in the deal, but I truly wanted chocolate. Not sweets, but specifically chocolate. The darker the better. Then I started thinking about why am I not doing sugar? I do eat more than I thought, but its far less than most. Easter brought me more chocolate than I can shake a stick at. So, from here on out, it moderation. If I crave chocolate, I have some. No other crap though. And not in massive quantities like any of us can and have done in the past.

The DM came from reflection to something said to me. They told me they had an out of body experience recently. As I thought about this, most of my meditation is about being in my body. Its about being aware of my tension and breathing and presence. I think most people live their life in an out of body experience. Most of the advances I have seen in clients are simply because they become aware of their body. And most successful and long standing practices of movement (yoga, tai chi, qiagong, most martial arts) create a huge space for self awareness and body control. I thought about this as I laid down for a nap and I could feel my tongue pushing the roof of my mouth and my right hip holding on tighter than it needs to. People would be healthier if they could spend only a few moments remember what it is like to be in their body. After all, you are your body. One in the same in reality, but often separated conceptually.

4/29/11 - DM: Perfection is not a goal.

I was able to work with my small group today. It was an interesting class and the room was hot. The major theme was just a lot of movement and a high heart rate. When class was done I continued with some jump rope, pullups, and then a lot of plank work on rings (which is stupid hard), pushups, and some good mornings. An excellent 1.5 hours of work. It was followed up by an awesome meditation in the hot tub. I realized that I am always trying to make things perfect, but perfect is just an idea, it can never be attained and is never achieved and can only be recognized and not created.

Small Group Class, 1.5 hours, end with push focus.

Loss on a Treadmill

4/28/11 - Almost every day I get an email from the only blog that I follow, Run Luau Run. Originally I was turned on to this by Lynn and I immediately liked the guy, mostly because he wore fingers sometimes. This morning I realized I am being lazy. This guy has a life much busier than mine and he wakes up at ungodly hours to run for nothing in particular (now that Boston is over at least). But, he always finds a time to make a quick spurt on his blog. Why can't I do this? Why can't I respond to emails quickly or make that call or do the dishes? I have yet to meditate today. On top of this, I had a great convo during my workout. I was actually using a treadmill today (first time in yeeaaaaars). It was gross outside. But, the universe provided some good chat time with Tony. It was hard to talk, but I enjoyed the challenge. A lot of the chat was, again, about loss. It has allowed reflection for the day and brings me to my DM, "Don't lose anything over the small things"

Treadmill. 15 degree incline. 1' walk (2.3), 1' run (4.5) for 28 minutes. Great for form and the only way a treadmill should ever be used in my opinion. Coming off to the track reaffirmed my belief when my form was great. Then, Straight Leg raises, 10 x 3. Biased pullups to left side x 10 or so. Scap retractions on Lat pulldown (just felt good).

4/27/11 - Daily Meditation - "I will take time to take care of myself." This was an interesting adventure. I had a lot of trouble with the third word. Sometimes it was take, sometimes it was find, and so on. Also interesting is that I often put an "and those around me" at the end of it. Recovery is my singular concern right now. It will make or break me. I find it no coincedence that I struggled with this throughout today. No working out, but a productive day. Had an excellent lunch with Tony to talk about his recent loss.

Meditation

4/26/11 - Had a great workout with my friend Peter. The TCC Underground Training Center was at least 80 degrees and wicked humid. Other people complain, I see opportunity. Did a whole bunch of random carries, some chinups, some throwing, pistol squats, partner pushups and a rocking push press/mountain climber or vsit for 5 rounds. On another note, if you see me, tell me to stop slacking and print out that damn poster!

Finally, I feel like this entire thing is supposed to hone my training and expose my weaknesses. I always thought this would be something like a weak quadricep or adductor or one of those other fancy muscle names. The reality is that my nutrition is sporadic at best and I spend zero time on recovery. I spend all my time destroying my body and no time repairing it. In line with recovery, I have started a daily meditation thought. I will spend 10 minutes every day meditating. Today's "meditation" was "I forgive myself and everyone around me." I noticed I was in a more positive mood with those around me.

4/22/11 - 4/25/11 - EASTER! Going home for me means one thing. Food. And lots of it. This is a good time to introduce my holiday policy. I think people freak out way too much about holiday eating. Lets assume 2 weeks of vacation a year and 14 days of holidays. Thats a total of 28 days a year. That leaves 337 days a year where you should be eating well. So to me, eating crazy for 8% of the year probably doesn't leave us with those unwanted pounds. Sometimes math helps. So for me, Easter was a vacation. I did, however, manage to get in a good 3 hour run/walk complete with some serious hill sprints.

4/21/11 - Eureka! I totally forgot I did a workout with the ladies in my group class. It was tough. Thanks Charlene and Tina for encouraging me.

Lots of hip opening for warm up

Then

Switch when box jumper is done. 3 rounds.

Dips

Side to Side Lunges (?)

Jump over and back 18" box x 10

4/20/11 - Can't remember for the life of me. I am sure I ran though.

4/19/11 - Another missed opportunity. Seem to be a lot of those.