Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Some Stuff

Alright, Okay, yea I know! I have not been keeping up with this freakin blog. So there!

Not a whole lot going on here, I am up in Leadville getting ready for the 100 mile trail run. I hope I finish. Its going to push me pretty hard, but if I keep the calories going then I should be fine.

I did the Incline in Colo Springs twice this week and hiked up Pikes Peak. I didn't start getting a headache until about 13,500 feet so that was pretty nice. On Tuesday I went to Rocky Mountain National Park and ran about 2.5 hours at 12,000 feet. That went well with no headaches. I helps when you are well hydrated. I haven't seen any of the Leadville Trail but from what I hear it is not as aggressive as Hardrock. So maybe I will have something working for me.

I bought a sixer of PBR today. It's okay, but it says union made on the can, so this will be the last PBR sixer I will ever buy.

I don't have a whole lot of anxiety about this race, not like all of the other 100 milers. So I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

I got to spend some time with my friend Heidi over the weekend which was nice. Her and her husband John are great folks. She has a nice place east of Denver complete with chickens, guineas, goats, alpacas, horses and sheep. She has a regular farm going on there. Pretty cool I think.

I also hung out with Yvette another friend of mine from the Army who I haven't seen in 10 years. She was a little tired from working all night, but we had a fun time driving out to the national park.

I have been seeing signs around Colorado that the road construction projects are being funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. You know, the "shovel ready" projects that the 750B is being spent on. The only problem is all I see are cones and barrels and no workers. Humm. Another funny thing is that in places like Colorado all the road work is done in the summer from what I understand. So is this "investment" really just the Federal government spending money on projects that were going to be done by the states anyway?? And if so, what happened to the money that the state had already allocated for that project?? Interesting.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A Little Experimentation

Had a pretty good day today. Did a workout at lunch and then one after work.

Lunch workout was:
1 set 7 kettlebell swings each hand with the 32kg bell.
1 set 10 Kettlebell swings each hand with the 32kg bell.
2 sets 15 reps each hand with the 10lbs Indian club.
2 sets 10 reps on the ab wheel.
2 sets 5 reps of Janda situps.
2 sets 10 reps of Russian Twists.

After the lunch workout I went up to Chick-Filet and ran into one of the ladies from my running group. I havent ran with them for a while, so it was good to see her. I am committed to run with them next week now. Oh, dang it. I guess I gotta get up early.

After work I went to Gold's Gym. First time in a long time. Saw a really nice blonde, I gotta find an excuse to talk to her next time I go in. I was experimenting with some old school power lifting exercies. Power Cleans, Snatches, Clean and Jerks, and Clean and Press. Also the Sots press.
The Sots press is where you Clean the weight, then squat down till your ass touches the back of your calves, with your heels on the floor. Then you press the weight. WHolly shitbags, it is tough. You have to have some hella strength in your core to do this and hella flexibility in your hip flexors.
I also did deadlifts. These deadlifts are with the straight bar, not the Gerard Trap Bar. They are significantly harder. I used 25lbs plates because with these you get about 4 inches deeper than if you used the 45lbs plates.

1 set of 5 reps @ 295 (10 25lbs plates total)
1 try of 1 rep @ 345 (no dice)
1 set of 4 reps @ 295lbs
1 set of 3 reps @ 295lbs

Really tried to work on form and staying "tight" through the midsection and squeezing the glutes.

Also did 2 laps of Farmers Walks around the gym with a45lbs plate in each hand on my tippey-toes. OOOOOHh, and wearing the Vibrams.

Yea, sucka that shit hurt.

Saturday night was Humid as Hell.

Okay, all ya folks out there.

I did a recovery workout yesterday from the 60k that I did this weekend.
Foam roller, assisted stretches with the kettlebell, bag swings, and 32kg kettlebell swings.

Not much, but got out there in the heat, in the garage, sweated a little, just loosening up.

The 60K at Muleshoe went well on Saturday night. I got there about 30 minutes late and didn't really feel like running, but I got talked into it. Dammit. I was hoping to just sit around and B.S. I ran loop 3 - 6 with my friend Cheri. We had a good run, check out the splits. It was a 10K loop on trail.

Cheri Woldt
L1 1:46:46
L2 2:02:56
L3 2:12:24
L4 2:09:53
L5 2:02:11
L6 1:51:32
TOTAL 12:05:42

John Sharp
L1 2:03:36
L2 1:46:05
L3 2:12:20
L4 2:09:45
L5 2:02:26
L6 1:51:31
TOTAL12:05:43


Yea we were over the cut off of 12hrs, but not bad considering that I didn't even want to run I was just happy I didn't quit. If you will notice we got faster every loop after loop 3. With the 6th
loop almost as fast as the 1st loop. This race was just a 60k, but it had a only a 40% finish rate!
It was hot, humid, and it rained so we had a shitty muddy aspect to this race.

Hurray for pizza!

On another note, I just bought 200ft of water hose. I have to start watering some of my mountain laurels, trees, and grass. Its been super dry round these parts. I may even wash my truck today and my dishes. Hummm, we will see.