Pierini's September 2005 Workouts

Thursday, September 1, 2005

5:30 p.m. - 5-mile run with the Fleet Feet Store running group. Pleasant temperature, guessing 88 to 91 degrees, but I felt sluggish and tired. I ran this one slower in 43:30, Heart rate average was 150 bpm for the first 3 miles, then slightly higher average of 160 bpm for the last 2 miles. I thought about walking at a point but muscled it out as that would have only taken longer to get back to the store.

I'm resting today. Hopefully Saturday will be an a.m. dojo workout. Sunday will be a day a rest. Monday should be hard as it normally is.

Enjoy your weekend. Count your blessings. And don't forget to include the people of New Orleans and other areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina in your prayers and thoughts.

[tim_mcf]

"Pleasant Temperature"...dang, that sounds hot to me. Of course, I'm in Alaska and the hottest it got all summer was maybe 80 & there's no way I'd be out in that running.

Friday, September 2, 2005

Active rest. Walked 51 city-blocks (approximately 4 miles) from home to downtown for banking, pay utility bill at City Hall, buy stamps at post office, etc. Fasted from driving today rather than use expensive gasoline.


Saturday, September 3, 2005

8:45 a.m. - Saturday morning dojo workout.

10:15 a.m. - High school track. 1 mile slow warm-up then a good stretch of my hams/quads/calves. 100 meter repeats (approximately 20 seconds each) with a 10-count recovery x 8 sets (a Tabata-protocol workout). Then 1/2 mile walk cool-down.

Monday, September 6, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 9:15 a.m.

1) Pull-up workout (all bodyweight): #1 = standard grip pull-up x 12 - #2 = standard grip chin-up x 12 - #3 = close grip pull-up x 6 - #4 = close grip chin-up x 6 - #5 = wide grip pull-up x 6 - #6 = wide grip chin-up x 8. Total reps = 50.

2) Dips - 15, 12, 12, 14, 12, 10. Total reps = 75.

3) Recumbant bicycle - level 4 - 10 minutes. Then stretching. Then recumbant bicyle - level 4 - 10 minutes.

4) Treadmill running - 1% grade. 1,600 meter warm-up. Then 1,600 meter repeats at 6:48/mile pace (8.8 mph) with 200 meter recovery x 3. Then 800 meters at 6:48/mile pace with 200 meter recovery. Total of 5 miles in 39:36. This is my third week of 1,600 meter repeats. I planned on completing 4 repeats but was pretty exhausted so the 4th repeat was only 800 meters. This was the first time my recovery was only 200 meters whereas in the past it was 400 meters. I'm sure that I could have completed the 4th 1,600 meters but I believe it was not necessary for the training benefit.

5) On the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/calves/etc.

Later on I went to the State Fair with my wife. Someone gave her tickets so we didn't have to pay the $10 each admission price. We parked about 1 mile away for free so we didn't have to pay the $7 parking. I brought my own bottled water, walked pass all the greasy fair food stands, but did buy a $4 bag of kettle popcorn which we ate together. Net cost of a day at the State Fair was $4 or $2 per person. Middle-age man wins again!

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 3:15 p.m. after work today.

Today was a simple "something is better than nothing" workout as I decided to skip my normal Tuesday p.m. dojo workout. I wanted to do some ab work and some simple cardio for heart rate maintenance as tomorrow I will do some speed work. So this is what I did today:

Ab workout - after a post on this forum about the 10-best ab exercises as posted on www.exercise.about.com, I decided to perform 1 set of each of these 10 exercises as follows:

1) Bicycle x 50
2) Captain's chair x 25
3) Exercise ball crunches x 25
4) Vertical leg crunches x 25
5) Torso track - I did not have this unit so I substituted with: high-incline military sit-ups with a 5 kg medicine ball in hand, arms extended x 10, then followed with an exercise ball forward roll-out with feet against the wall x 10
6) Long-arm crunch x 25
7) Reverse crunch x 25
8) Full vertical crunch x 25
9) Ab roller x 25
10) Plank - held for 2 minutes - probably could have gone 3 minutes but I had enough so quit at 2.

Treadmill - walking at 4 miles per hour for 15 minutes. Started at 1% grade then increased the grade by 1% every minute until at 15% grade. Total of 15 minutes and 1 mile.

That's all folks.

[CF-OC_gal]

Cool ab workout!

[maverick]

No room for boredom there.

[ajarvis]

Ouch!!

With 3 comments about my yesterday ab workout I decided to jump in and share the following:

(1) The workout was fun and the exercises were varied. I decided to go slow and concentrate on each rep to get the full benefit of the exercise.

(2) I'd do this workout again, as in every blue moon.

(3) I'm not sore today and don't expect to be, although I did experience some feelings that I had exhausted my muscles when performing these exercises.

(4) Excluded from the list are the following which I believe are much more challenging:

(a) high incline military sit-up with some weight on chest - I prefer to use a 5kg medicine ball and press overhead at the top of the sit-up.

(b) hanging (from the pull-up bar) straight-leg raises, or better yet, double knee raise to elbows.

(c) Roman chair sit-ups.

(d) Ab wheel rolls (those little wheel units with handles that you roll forward while on your knees - or from a standing position which I cannot do at the present.

(5) I think any plank held for more than 3 minutes would be an adequate ab/core workout for anyone who is time-challenged.

(6) Ditto for the bicycles.

(7) I think crunches are over-rated and good old-fashioned sit-ups (full-range ab stretch) are under-rated.

Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 3:10 p.m.

1) Pull-ups - all standard-grip - #1 = BW x 5 - #2 = BW + 45 lbs. x 5 - #3 = BW + 55 lbs. x 2 - #4 = BW + 65 lbs. x 1 - #5 = BW + 80 lbs. x 1. Then BW partial reverse ladder of: 10-9-8-7-6-5 (1 assisted rep for 7-rep set). Total pull-ups = 59.

2) Dips - #1 = BW x 5 - #2 = BW + 45 lbs. x 5 - #3 = BW + 55 lbs. x 3 - #4 = BW + 65 lbs. x 2 - #5 = BW + 80 lbs. x 1 (tried for 2, went down but couldn't drive up). Then Atlas II push-ups partial reverse ladder with a minus 2 decrease of: 20-18-16-14-12-10. Total dips = 16. Total Atlas II push-ups = 90.

3) Treadmill running workout at 1% grade - 3 miles in 25:44. Then 1,600 meter repeats at 6:00/mile pace (10.0 mph) with 200 meter recovery at 10:00/mile pace (6.0 mph) x 4. Completed 4.5 miles in 36:26, then walked for 1/2 mile cool-down. Total distance of 5 miles in 43:28. I planned on doing 1,600 meter repeats x 8 but the pull-up/dip workout along with the shortened recovery left me spent, and a dripping-wet sweat mess that made me want to quit.

4) Stretching - standing stretching of my hams/calves. Too darn sweaty to sit on anything.

I think I do better with a.m. workouts as far as running goes.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

[tim_mcf]

I like running in the morning better too.

You did your intervals AFTER running 3 miles?

Yea, it's part of my recent running workouts of doing speed workouts with a little more initial fatigue to mirror a fun run where I need to run hard for the entire duration (i.e. a 5k) and I'm darn tired. Anybody can run fast at the get-go, but it takes conditioning and a strong mind to run fast when you are tired.

So it looks like I need more training.

Thursday, September 8, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 3:10 p.m. after work.

Another quickie just like Tuesday as I needed to get home as was my wife's birthday, so here is what I did:

Abs - Military sit-ups (Army style) drop sets with no recovery between other than quickly dropping the incline: #1 = high-incline x 15 - #2 = middle-incline x 8 - #3 = low-incline x 8 - #4 = flat x 15. Total reps = 46.

Treadmill - Just like Tuesday's workout for heart rate maintenance - 4 miles per hour for 15 minutes, starting at 1% grade and increasing the grade by 1% every minute until at 15% grade. Total distance covered in 15 minutes was 1 mile.

My next 5k fun-run in Saturday, September 17th so the moment of truth is right around the corner.

Friday, September 9, 2005

Arrived at the gym at 3:30 p.m. Brought a guest, my son. He did the same workout as me. I did more pull-ups than him but he did more dips than me.

1) Pull-up Medley - all bodyweight: #1 = standard grip pull-up x 15 - #2 = standard grip chin-up x 12 - #3 = close grip pull-up x 6 - # 4 = close grip chin-up x 6 - #5 = wide grip pull-up x 6 - #6 = wide grip chin-up x 8. Total reps = 53.

2) Military sit-ups - drop incline & go - #1 = high-incline x 15 - #2 = middle incline x 8 - #3 = low incline x 8 - #4 = flat = 15. Total reps = 46.

3) Dips - all bodyweight: 18-14-12-10-12-14. Total reps = 80.

4) Straight-leg raises on sit-up board - drop incline & go - #1 = high incline x 15 - #2 = middle incline x 7 - #3 = low incline x 8 - #4 = flat = 15. Total reps = 45.

5) Bodyweight squats x 100. I am only able to go to parallel due to my left knee.

6) On the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/etc.


Saturday, September 10, 2005

8:45 a.m - Saturday morning dojo workout.

11:00 a.m. - Treadmill workout - 1% grade.

1/2 mile @ 6.5 mph
1/2 mile @ 7.0 mph
1/2 mile @ 7.5 mph
1/2 mile @ 8.0 mph

1/8 mile repeats @ 11.0 mph (5:27/mile pace) with 1/8 mile recovery @ 7.5 mph (8:00/mile pace) x 4.

Total of 3 miles in 22:42.

On the floor to stretch my hams/quads/glutes/etc.

It's total R&R until Monday. Enjoy your weekend.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

[.V.]

I just found you new journal. Looks like R&R till monday is well deserved. As usual, you are doing good work.