Well, there was supposed to be a weights session in there somewhere, but it's school holidays and, well, I've hardly had time to scratch myself. So today (rather late itself!) was tapering spin time.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1 (39x23 : 46")
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (107") SS (R,L):3
:18 12s PGRS (93") r/up 4:80, 4:120, 4:max
:25 9s PG+4 (99") RS r/up 3:70, 3:115, 3:max
:32 8s PGSS (93") (preferred leg)
:39 7s PG-4RS (87") (80)
Numbers probably aren't terribly relevant for this, but I'll bung 'em up for completeness anyway.
HCLRs up to 187, 107"SSes up to 73.6 again, 93"RS 63.1/140, 99"RS 63.9/135, 93"SS 68.8/154, 87"RS 62.9/152.
So in other words, all still groovy, the body's still working, legs ticking over, and I'm feeling good for Round 1!
30 September 2011
26 September 2011
DISC Session #23 with ABOC
Hmm... what to say? Half-lap seated powerjumps hit a maximum of 53.4 on 86" against Nic, not bad. Motorpaced entry + 150m was okay, hit a max of 61.2 on 99" despite a bad jump and entry line, lifting my front wheel off the ground by quite a bit. Was still just below 60 crossing the line, so pleased with that.
Partnered Flying 200s I was feeling a bit tired already, and only hit a max of 57.1 when I had the lead. I followed on the next and tried to pass Nic, but got just about all of it wrong - left too much of a gap on the entry, closed in on the back straight but not quickly enough, swung up once already on the bend, came back, then came back out of the draft way too late... my tactical prowess is not extreme!
We finished off the session with a 1.5 lap match sprint - did this three-up with Nic and Neil for the fun of it. Nic led it out, Neil behind me. I tried to keep height, Nic came up to about the blue, and both Neil and I went for the lane at the same time with a lap to go. I got there first with only a moderate jump, hoping to keep increasing my speed all the way to the line. Neil came past me in the end, but only by half a wheel (all you need, of course!) but I was happy enough with the effort.
Partnered Flying 200s I was feeling a bit tired already, and only hit a max of 57.1 when I had the lead. I followed on the next and tried to pass Nic, but got just about all of it wrong - left too much of a gap on the entry, closed in on the back straight but not quickly enough, swung up once already on the bend, came back, then came back out of the draft way too late... my tactical prowess is not extreme!
We finished off the session with a 1.5 lap match sprint - did this three-up with Nic and Neil for the fun of it. Nic led it out, Neil behind me. I tried to keep height, Nic came up to about the blue, and both Neil and I went for the lane at the same time with a lap to go. I got there first with only a moderate jump, hoping to keep increasing my speed all the way to the line. Neil came past me in the end, but only by half a wheel (all you need, of course!) but I was happy enough with the effort.
24 September 2011
Anthrax
Well, I feel as though I'm coming to the end of this series - which group will get top billing? With the start of the sprint series around the corner, there's probably only one more session of real strength-building in the gym before we move on to a more bike-centric training period until December or so. After all, the primary focus of strength training is to be able to ride faster. I'll miss it a bit, I must confess; hopefully the 'maintenance' focus will give me enough of a fix of being under the bar.
That said, there wasn't much strength-gaining going on this morning! After being fine all week, as soon as I got under the bar to do my squat warmup, my right knee/hamstring/buttock flared up again (last week I felt it more in the knee, this week more in the buttock) and restricted me to just 80kg before I pulled the pin. I'll be taking a good look at my form to see if I can pick any twisting or stance issues, and trying to ascertain if anything has changed significantly since the last time I videoed my squat.
So I moved on to the press, with a 2.5kg jump up to 57.5kg today. And perhaps I should have just gone with a 1kg jump instead, because I ended up doing 3 sets of 3, instead of 3 sets of 5! No drama, I'll keep it there for another two attempts; if I can't get 15 reps done, then I'll reset back to 50kg or so.
It was up to the deadlift, then, to restore my honour and a bit of a sense of accomplishment to the morning. I knew, going in, that I was doing 155 - still, I flirted with the idea of trying for 160 instead. I was never going to actually do it, I don't think, but it's hard not to entertain the thought of keeping on pushing as far as possible.
It turns out, though, that I almost certainly wouldn't have gotten 5 reps up at 160 anyway. One can't say for sure, of course, but the extent to which I had to strain to get 155kg up 5 times gives a pretty damn good indication! But up they did indeed go, so I left (after 5 (jumping) chinups with slow, controlled negatives) feeling fairly satisfied with the session. And a bit odd - knocked about by the deadlifts, but with a curious lack of leg-shnozzlement due to the lack of squat worksets, and with intact lungs. I'll have to try to fix that next time!
That said, there wasn't much strength-gaining going on this morning! After being fine all week, as soon as I got under the bar to do my squat warmup, my right knee/hamstring/buttock flared up again (last week I felt it more in the knee, this week more in the buttock) and restricted me to just 80kg before I pulled the pin. I'll be taking a good look at my form to see if I can pick any twisting or stance issues, and trying to ascertain if anything has changed significantly since the last time I videoed my squat.
So I moved on to the press, with a 2.5kg jump up to 57.5kg today. And perhaps I should have just gone with a 1kg jump instead, because I ended up doing 3 sets of 3, instead of 3 sets of 5! No drama, I'll keep it there for another two attempts; if I can't get 15 reps done, then I'll reset back to 50kg or so.
It was up to the deadlift, then, to restore my honour and a bit of a sense of accomplishment to the morning. I knew, going in, that I was doing 155 - still, I flirted with the idea of trying for 160 instead. I was never going to actually do it, I don't think, but it's hard not to entertain the thought of keeping on pushing as far as possible.
It turns out, though, that I almost certainly wouldn't have gotten 5 reps up at 160 anyway. One can't say for sure, of course, but the extent to which I had to strain to get 155kg up 5 times gives a pretty damn good indication! But up they did indeed go, so I left (after 5 (jumping) chinups with slow, controlled negatives) feeling fairly satisfied with the session. And a bit odd - knocked about by the deadlifts, but with a curious lack of leg-shnozzlement due to the lack of squat worksets, and with intact lungs. I'll have to try to fix that next time!
22 September 2011
Final 'winter' spin
Because tomorrow is the equinox, and hence the first day of Spring! Well, that and next week, the 'official' last winter spin, is a tapering spin. Anyway.
HCLRs. 180 and 191 on 39x23. Felt a little uncoordinated, since I haven't ridden for nearly a week, but otherwise okay.
Then.
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (107") SS (R,L):3
:18 18s PGRS (93") r/up 6:80, 6:120, 6:max
:25 21s PG+4 (99") RS r/up 7:70, 7:115, 7:max
:32 30s PGSS (93") (preferred leg)
:39 30s PG-4RS (87") (40) r/up (5:80, 10:100, 5:130, 10:max)
6 measly efforts over 29 minutes. Easy! The vomit at the end was purely decorative.
SSes - noice. 73 and then 74.4km/hr at 144RPM on 107" - over 1km/hr better than my previous best of 73.6/165 on 93". Improvement is edemifying.
Then some absolute endurance efforts that put PBP to shame. Well, you know.
First one, 18s on 93"... it's kinda tough to even hit the cadence in 6 seconds, let alone actually hit it instantly and sit there for 6 seconds, but that's just life as a human. Max of 63.4/142 and held it there no problems, no dropoff at all.
21s on 99", I did get a bit of dropoff in the last few seconds, down from a high of 65/136. There was no intention of holding a manageable pace on this one though, just hit it as hard as possible and hold on as long as I could. Which is not, apparently, 21 seconds!
30s on 93" with a standing start... kinda like a 500m TT really! And as is more or less traditional in a TT, I went out way too hard and steadily dropped off - I mean really, it's almost a straight line from 62.9km/hr at 141 back down to 52 km/hr at the end. And did I cover 500m, even on the trainer? Well no, closer to 450m. What's that, a lap and a half at Blackburn? Future SSS opponents, take note - how much more info could you possibly ask for??
Then 30s rampup on 87" - I have to say, putting such a complicated pattern of 5 and 10 seconds at the end of such a session is cruel. At least for me, with noone to yell at me but myself. Anyway, max of 59.7 at 142, which tells you precisely very little about it. Actually it wasn't bad - I didn't hold that speed for the final 10 seconds, but it only decayed back to about 55, and stayed above 135RPM to the end. Then went and decorated the bathroom.
Oh, and by the way, how's that for good program design, hmm? All of the efforts (bar the HCLR, obviously) smack in the 130-140RPM zone. Even works for me on my dodgy trainer.
Brief stats here.
HCLRs. 180 and 191 on 39x23. Felt a little uncoordinated, since I haven't ridden for nearly a week, but otherwise okay.
Then.
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (107") SS (R,L):3
:18 18s PGRS (93") r/up 6:80, 6:120, 6:max
:25 21s PG+4 (99") RS r/up 7:70, 7:115, 7:max
:32 30s PGSS (93") (preferred leg)
:39 30s PG-4RS (87") (40) r/up (5:80, 10:100, 5:130, 10:max)
6 measly efforts over 29 minutes. Easy! The vomit at the end was purely decorative.
SSes - noice. 73 and then 74.4km/hr at 144RPM on 107" - over 1km/hr better than my previous best of 73.6/165 on 93". Improvement is edemifying.
Then some absolute endurance efforts that put PBP to shame. Well, you know.
First one, 18s on 93"... it's kinda tough to even hit the cadence in 6 seconds, let alone actually hit it instantly and sit there for 6 seconds, but that's just life as a human. Max of 63.4/142 and held it there no problems, no dropoff at all.
21s on 99", I did get a bit of dropoff in the last few seconds, down from a high of 65/136. There was no intention of holding a manageable pace on this one though, just hit it as hard as possible and hold on as long as I could. Which is not, apparently, 21 seconds!
30s on 93" with a standing start... kinda like a 500m TT really! And as is more or less traditional in a TT, I went out way too hard and steadily dropped off - I mean really, it's almost a straight line from 62.9km/hr at 141 back down to 52 km/hr at the end. And did I cover 500m, even on the trainer? Well no, closer to 450m. What's that, a lap and a half at Blackburn? Future SSS opponents, take note - how much more info could you possibly ask for??
Then 30s rampup on 87" - I have to say, putting such a complicated pattern of 5 and 10 seconds at the end of such a session is cruel. At least for me, with noone to yell at me but myself. Anyway, max of 59.7 at 142, which tells you precisely very little about it. Actually it wasn't bad - I didn't hold that speed for the final 10 seconds, but it only decayed back to about 55, and stayed above 135RPM to the end. Then went and decorated the bathroom.
Oh, and by the way, how's that for good program design, hmm? All of the efforts (bar the HCLR, obviously) smack in the 130-140RPM zone. Even works for me on my dodgy trainer.
Brief stats here.
20 September 2011
Slayer
Ah, that's better! 130kg squat, up and down 15 times, all groovy. Well, not entirely certain about depth on a couple, but I think they were okay, and the groove was pretty good today. I think it might be prudent to switch to 2.5kg jumps now, but I'll speak to the coach about that one...
Bench, back up to 65kgs, and felt pretty good. It's getting hard after the squat to back straight up to bench or press, which means that the length of the workout is getting a bit extravagant!
Powercleans, up to 75kg but form broke down pretty badly and I only completed one set. After finding a great groove a couple of weeks ago, I've lost it again and it's just too damn heavy now to get up without doing it properly. So I suspect resetting might be an idea, get that groove back, and work it back up again. But again, something for the coach to advise on...
Bench, back up to 65kgs, and felt pretty good. It's getting hard after the squat to back straight up to bench or press, which means that the length of the workout is getting a bit extravagant!
Powercleans, up to 75kg but form broke down pretty badly and I only completed one set. After finding a great groove a couple of weeks ago, I've lost it again and it's just too damn heavy now to get up without doing it properly. So I suspect resetting might be an idea, get that groove back, and work it back up again. But again, something for the coach to advise on...
19 September 2011
Knee
It's disappointing to miss a DISC session, especially now with the first race of the season so close, and 4 Flying 200s to do. But I think it was the right decision. Now, Monday morning, my knee feels much better, I'm not limping, and I'm confident that I'll be back in the gym tomorrow, with spin on Thursday and then back to the powerhaus on Saturday.
17 September 2011
Megadeth
Bit of a mixed morning in the gym. I woke with a bit of soreness and stiffness, particularly behind my right knee, but nothing that seemed extravagant. Doing my warmup squats though, it was becoming more noticeable, but I hoped that it was just a minor problem. After 2 reps at 130kg though, it was too sore, so - after briefly considering going down to 125kg - I abandoned squats for the day.
Moved on to the bench, and did my first reset to 62.5kg, and got them up no problems.
I possibly should have left it there, but I was determined to deadlift - my last set at 140kg I felt my form was a little off, so I was looking to rectify that. Back locked, chest up, eyes forward. Possibly not the best with a sore hamstring/knee, but oh well. Did it at 150kg, and although it felt damnablier heavier, it also felt better, my form felt more solid and my back felt happier.
So pleased to come out of the session with a positive lift (finished with some chins, too - still jumping, but not as much. Have to be more consistent with them!) and will keep an eye on my knee. It's even sorer now as I've cooled down, and my maybe-missing-DISC-due-to-family-committment is heading in the direction of definitely missing it. But I'll see how I pull up tomorrow.
Moved on to the bench, and did my first reset to 62.5kg, and got them up no problems.
I possibly should have left it there, but I was determined to deadlift - my last set at 140kg I felt my form was a little off, so I was looking to rectify that. Back locked, chest up, eyes forward. Possibly not the best with a sore hamstring/knee, but oh well. Did it at 150kg, and although it felt damnablier heavier, it also felt better, my form felt more solid and my back felt happier.
So pleased to come out of the session with a positive lift (finished with some chins, too - still jumping, but not as much. Have to be more consistent with them!) and will keep an eye on my knee. It's even sorer now as I've cooled down, and my maybe-missing-DISC-due-to-family-committment is heading in the direction of definitely missing it. But I'll see how I pull up tomorrow.
15 September 2011
Spineroonie
Not sure what the official spelling of 'spineroonie' should be, but I'll go with that. This is Part One... because I've not done all of the spin session yet. Yes, that's right, I quit, and I didn't even vomit. What a sad, sad day for hard men everywhere.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1 (39x23 : 46")
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (99") SS L,R:3
:16 12s PG (87") RS (80)
:22 14s PG (87") RS (80)
:28 18s PG+4 (93") RS (60)
:35 24s PG+8 (99") SS seated
:42 30s PG+8 (99") RS (40, seated)
Well, that was the idea, anyway. And no, my PG+ inches aren't quite perfect, but I've only got PG+6 and PG+12. What're ya going to do? Oh, right, get a better trainer...
So HCLRs on a slightly bigger gear, 44" (according to Sheldon) rather than 41". Max RPM of 186, so quite similar to 'normal'. SSes were good, up to 149/72.6, can't complain about that. PGRSes, slightly shorter than last week, and from a higher initial cadence, gave slightly better and more consistent results - 143/60.5 and 140/59.5. The final 'preliminary' was 11s longer and 8" harder than last week, so was rather in the category of 'the tough part' than the preliminary! The result was good though, solid and consistent 125/56 for essentially the whole interval was pleasing.
And then... 24s 99" SS lasted all of about 12s before the legs just wouldn't go anymore, and I didn't have the will to push them any more. I don't know if that was the better thing or not - if I'd kept going, I would have been lucky to finish with a cadence above 60 or so, which is not good quality. On the other hand, pushing through is kinda the point. So. Part one because, once my daughter is in bed, I'm going to try again - do another warmup with HCLRs, then attempt the last two exercises again. Okay, won't be as good as doing them at the time. And maybe if I were with the rest of the squad I'd've made it. Who knows? We do what we can, we try what we can't, and we see what happens. And last week I did them on only 93". Stay tuned...
Edit 1: I've just realised that I'm a numby. No, really. PG is the gear that you can't quite get to 160RPM in 8 seconds from 80RPM, isn't it? Not, in fact, the gear that you can get to 160RPM on. So my PG is actually now 53x15, 93", not 53x16, 87". Whoops. So I in fact have 93" PG, 99" PG+6, 107" PG+14, and 116" PG+23. Erm. Well I'm not doing the whole friggen thing again. And I'm NOT doing the last two on 107".
Edit 2: For all you funky mothers who've been desperately (or coolly) tapping on that refresh key, here it is.
HCLR: Doesn't really matter. Warmup.
99" 24s SS(seated): Max of 132/64.2, held above 130 until ~20s, then decayed ~10RPM over the next 4 seconds. Not bad, but need to push harder at the end - that's when the race is won, after all!
99" 30s RS (40, seated): Max of 116/56.3 - Maintained >54 until ~24s where I dropped to 52.5, slammed it all the way back up to a monsterific 54.1 and held it there to the end.
Comparison? Tough, because last week I was on 93" and only had a 7-minute break rather than 5 hours. But you know what I can compare it to? This. Four months ago, in a 6-second all-out sprint, I got to a maximum of 115RPM on 99". Now I'm doing that for 30 seconds, and for 6 seconds I'm doing 150RPM. Suck on that, previous me.
Brief stats are here and here.
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1 (39x23 : 46")
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 (99") SS L,R:3
:16 12s PG (87") RS (80)
:22 14s PG (87") RS (80)
:28 18s PG+4 (93") RS (60)
:35 24s PG+8 (99") SS seated
:42 30s PG+8 (99") RS (40, seated)
Well, that was the idea, anyway. And no, my PG+ inches aren't quite perfect, but I've only got PG+6 and PG+12. What're ya going to do? Oh, right, get a better trainer...
So HCLRs on a slightly bigger gear, 44" (according to Sheldon) rather than 41". Max RPM of 186, so quite similar to 'normal'. SSes were good, up to 149/72.6, can't complain about that. PGRSes, slightly shorter than last week, and from a higher initial cadence, gave slightly better and more consistent results - 143/60.5 and 140/59.5. The final 'preliminary' was 11s longer and 8" harder than last week, so was rather in the category of 'the tough part' than the preliminary! The result was good though, solid and consistent 125/56 for essentially the whole interval was pleasing.
And then... 24s 99" SS lasted all of about 12s before the legs just wouldn't go anymore, and I didn't have the will to push them any more. I don't know if that was the better thing or not - if I'd kept going, I would have been lucky to finish with a cadence above 60 or so, which is not good quality. On the other hand, pushing through is kinda the point. So. Part one because, once my daughter is in bed, I'm going to try again - do another warmup with HCLRs, then attempt the last two exercises again. Okay, won't be as good as doing them at the time. And maybe if I were with the rest of the squad I'd've made it. Who knows? We do what we can, we try what we can't, and we see what happens. And last week I did them on only 93". Stay tuned...
Edit 1: I've just realised that I'm a numby. No, really. PG is the gear that you can't quite get to 160RPM in 8 seconds from 80RPM, isn't it? Not, in fact, the gear that you can get to 160RPM on. So my PG is actually now 53x15, 93", not 53x16, 87". Whoops. So I in fact have 93" PG, 99" PG+6, 107" PG+14, and 116" PG+23. Erm. Well I'm not doing the whole friggen thing again. And I'm NOT doing the last two on 107".
Edit 2: For all you funky mothers who've been desperately (or coolly) tapping on that refresh key, here it is.
HCLR: Doesn't really matter. Warmup.
99" 24s SS(seated): Max of 132/64.2, held above 130 until ~20s, then decayed ~10RPM over the next 4 seconds. Not bad, but need to push harder at the end - that's when the race is won, after all!
99" 30s RS (40, seated): Max of 116/56.3 - Maintained >54 until ~24s where I dropped to 52.5, slammed it all the way back up to a monsterific 54.1 and held it there to the end.
Comparison? Tough, because last week I was on 93" and only had a 7-minute break rather than 5 hours. But you know what I can compare it to? This. Four months ago, in a 6-second all-out sprint, I got to a maximum of 115RPM on 99". Now I'm doing that for 30 seconds, and for 6 seconds I'm doing 150RPM. Suck on that, previous me.
Brief stats are here and here.
14 September 2011
Low-carb cake
One thing you might imagine having to give up on a low-carb diet is cake, right? Well, not so fast there! You can indeed have your cake and eat it too. Just not at the same time, obviously.
Now, I'm going to break the rules of food blogging here by not including any photos. Why? Because I'm not making the cake today, and you know what? It looks like a fucking cake.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
~100g stevia (I used Natvia, which has 5% carb, 0 sugars)
400g dark choc (I used 85%, you could use higher or lower but the carb count will change)
250ml cream (or use 300ml, if not using a liqueur)
1/3 cup cointreau, rum, or nothing.
Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a cake tin of some description.
Melt choc atop a double boiler or in a microwave or whatever, let cool a bit.
Beat Eggs and stevia. After ~5min, pour in the melted choc while still beating. Continue until it's all well mixed.
Gently fold in the cream (or cream + liqueur) and then pour in to cake tin.
Place cake tin in a roasting pan or some such and pour boiling water in to the pan so that it comes halfway up the side of the cake tin.
Bake for about an hour. Check after half an hour and cover with foil if you think it might get dry or crispy. Unless you like it like that.
Take it out of the oven, but leave the cake in the tin. Let it cool down, cover it if you want, then chuck it in the fridge. DO NOT TOUCH FOR 2 DAYS. Then cut it in to 10-12 pieces, and eat. It'll last a couple of weeks, if you can manage to let it.
Stats? The whole cake contains ~100g carbs, 370g fat and 90g protein. Or about 10/37/9 per 1/10th slice, using 85% chocolate. You can even ice it with a white chocolate/butter icing (roughly equal parts choc and butter melted and cooled, 100g each will cover the cake nicely) and bung on some strawberries without going above ~15g carbs per slice.
Now, I'm going to break the rules of food blogging here by not including any photos. Why? Because I'm not making the cake today, and you know what? It looks like a fucking cake.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
~100g stevia (I used Natvia, which has 5% carb, 0 sugars)
400g dark choc (I used 85%, you could use higher or lower but the carb count will change)
250ml cream (or use 300ml, if not using a liqueur)
1/3 cup cointreau, rum, or nothing.
Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a cake tin of some description.
Melt choc atop a double boiler or in a microwave or whatever, let cool a bit.
Beat Eggs and stevia. After ~5min, pour in the melted choc while still beating. Continue until it's all well mixed.
Gently fold in the cream (or cream + liqueur) and then pour in to cake tin.
Place cake tin in a roasting pan or some such and pour boiling water in to the pan so that it comes halfway up the side of the cake tin.
Bake for about an hour. Check after half an hour and cover with foil if you think it might get dry or crispy. Unless you like it like that.
Take it out of the oven, but leave the cake in the tin. Let it cool down, cover it if you want, then chuck it in the fridge. DO NOT TOUCH FOR 2 DAYS. Then cut it in to 10-12 pieces, and eat. It'll last a couple of weeks, if you can manage to let it.
Stats? The whole cake contains ~100g carbs, 370g fat and 90g protein. Or about 10/37/9 per 1/10th slice, using 85% chocolate. You can even ice it with a white chocolate/butter icing (roughly equal parts choc and butter melted and cooled, 100g each will cover the cake nicely) and bung on some strawberries without going above ~15g carbs per slice.
13 September 2011
Metallica
That's right, it's all starting to get a bit heavy now!
125kg on the squat, and it felt... well, pretty good, really. I do need a form check, because it's a bit harder to be certain about the combination of depth and chest up/straight back now. It's rather obvious when the back rounds, but not so obvious when I don't get full depth - or, rather, I feel like the depth was fine on all of them, but that makes one nervous because one has no variation from which to make a relative judgement - maybe they were all bad?
Anyway. Squat. Is heavy. First rep (actually, since about 105kgs, not just now) I feel like I can barely unrack the bar and that I might fall over, and wonder how on Earth I can possibly get back up if I commit to that first squat! But I do it, and it is good, and then I try to do it 14 more times. Oi, vey.
Press. Is 55kg. Is success! Only just though. On each set after 2 or 3 reps I switched from starting from a dead stop at the bottom, to starting from the top and trying to use the 'bounce' at the bottom. I'm not sure how much it helped, really. But I got all 15 up, and that's the main thing. 57.5 is going to be a struggle though!
Deadlift. Oh boy. Damnably, damnably heavy. 140kgs. 5 times. It went up, but for the first time the bar felt like it didn't really want to leave the floor. I kept repeating to myself "If the bar leaves the floor, the legs and back (and everything else!) can take it the rest of the way." I'd like to thank my eyes for their contribution to the lift!
125kg on the squat, and it felt... well, pretty good, really. I do need a form check, because it's a bit harder to be certain about the combination of depth and chest up/straight back now. It's rather obvious when the back rounds, but not so obvious when I don't get full depth - or, rather, I feel like the depth was fine on all of them, but that makes one nervous because one has no variation from which to make a relative judgement - maybe they were all bad?
Anyway. Squat. Is heavy. First rep (actually, since about 105kgs, not just now) I feel like I can barely unrack the bar and that I might fall over, and wonder how on Earth I can possibly get back up if I commit to that first squat! But I do it, and it is good, and then I try to do it 14 more times. Oi, vey.
Press. Is 55kg. Is success! Only just though. On each set after 2 or 3 reps I switched from starting from a dead stop at the bottom, to starting from the top and trying to use the 'bounce' at the bottom. I'm not sure how much it helped, really. But I got all 15 up, and that's the main thing. 57.5 is going to be a struggle though!
Deadlift. Oh boy. Damnably, damnably heavy. 140kgs. 5 times. It went up, but for the first time the bar felt like it didn't really want to leave the floor. I kept repeating to myself "If the bar leaves the floor, the legs and back (and everything else!) can take it the rest of the way." I'd like to thank my eyes for their contribution to the lift!
11 September 2011
DISC Session #21 with ABOC
Whoops! Bit late for this one, and full of lunch still. Ah well, never mind. Powerjumps and flying 200s with an attempt to pass the leading rider. Powerjumps were fine, very jumpy, marginally powerful. Got up to 4km/hr on the second one on 92", good result.
Edit: 45km/hr! Not 4km/hr. That was not, in fact, an effort to disguise my abilities so as to lull my SSS opponents in to a false sense of security. I'm not that clever. Just typlexic.
Flying 200s the idea was that the following rider laid off, built speed and blasted past the lead rider to take the victory on the line. I was with Carl, and for the first effort the plan didn't quite work, as the trailing rider mistimed his effort and didn't quite get past the lead rider. In the second effort, the trailing rider rode perfectly, passing the lead rider about 10m before the line.
I'll leave it up to the imagination of the reader to determine who was which when!
End of the night, I was rooted. Still rooted from spin on Friday, actually. And, as predicted, this week's spin is even harder. Sigh. I'm sure it'll pay off...
Edit: 45km/hr! Not 4km/hr. That was not, in fact, an effort to disguise my abilities so as to lull my SSS opponents in to a false sense of security. I'm not that clever. Just typlexic.
Flying 200s the idea was that the following rider laid off, built speed and blasted past the lead rider to take the victory on the line. I was with Carl, and for the first effort the plan didn't quite work, as the trailing rider mistimed his effort and didn't quite get past the lead rider. In the second effort, the trailing rider rode perfectly, passing the lead rider about 10m before the line.
I'll leave it up to the imagination of the reader to determine who was which when!
End of the night, I was rooted. Still rooted from spin on Friday, actually. And, as predicted, this week's spin is even harder. Sigh. I'm sure it'll pay off...
09 September 2011
Is ABOC, is sickly.
There was a movie a while ago, called "John Tucker must Die" I'm pretty certain that Carl Brewer of ABOC was channelling that film...
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS:3 L,R
:16 14s PGRS (60 - seated)
:23 16s PGRS (60 - seated)
:30 7s PG-4 RS (100 seated)
:34 24s PG+8 SS (seated)
:41 30s PG+8 RS (40, seated)
I mean, really. That's just awful! Mind you, I suspect that next week will be even worse...
So anyway, 190RPM in the HCLRs, good effort. 146/70.3 for the 53x14 SS, which is not bad, if not my best. First 53x16 RS gave 143/60.5, while the second dropped back to just 136. 53x17 RS from 100 felt like a good effort, up to 152/60.7km/hr.
But all of that was just the preliminaries, really. The last two efforts were aimed to get as close to vomiting as possible without actually doing so. And, I'm excited to say, I managed to do just that! Well, so far anyway. Half an hour later and I'm still recovering!
My aim with these was to hit as hard as possible from the start to a cadence I thought I could manage and hold it there. And I did pretty well - max of 136/61.2 for the 24s effort, and held it around 60km/hr for about 21s before sliding down by 7 or 8 RPM over the last 3 seconds.
For the 30s effort I made an effort at a hard acceleration without going all-out. Only managed to get up to 121/54.5, and cadence was a little erratic, varying between 115-121, but I held it in that range for the whole 30 seconds, so I was happy with that. And hopefully by the time I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll have recovered!
:05 2 x 6s HCLR:1
:10 2 x 7s PG+12 SS:3 L,R
:16 14s PGRS (60 - seated)
:23 16s PGRS (60 - seated)
:30 7s PG-4 RS (100 seated)
:34 24s PG+8 SS (seated)
:41 30s PG+8 RS (40, seated)
I mean, really. That's just awful! Mind you, I suspect that next week will be even worse...
So anyway, 190RPM in the HCLRs, good effort. 146/70.3 for the 53x14 SS, which is not bad, if not my best. First 53x16 RS gave 143/60.5, while the second dropped back to just 136. 53x17 RS from 100 felt like a good effort, up to 152/60.7km/hr.
But all of that was just the preliminaries, really. The last two efforts were aimed to get as close to vomiting as possible without actually doing so. And, I'm excited to say, I managed to do just that! Well, so far anyway. Half an hour later and I'm still recovering!
My aim with these was to hit as hard as possible from the start to a cadence I thought I could manage and hold it there. And I did pretty well - max of 136/61.2 for the 24s effort, and held it around 60km/hr for about 21s before sliding down by 7 or 8 RPM over the last 3 seconds.
For the 30s effort I made an effort at a hard acceleration without going all-out. Only managed to get up to 121/54.5, and cadence was a little erratic, varying between 115-121, but I held it in that range for the whole 30 seconds, so I was happy with that. And hopefully by the time I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll have recovered!
08 September 2011
Aerosmith
120kg of squatting goodness. Which just sounds so wrong. Again, damnably heavy, but it went up okay - except for about 3 reps with not-so-good form. They still went up, just not as well! The bar is so heavy now that I can't correct form problems mid-lift like I used to, so it's vitally important to get in to the right groove during the warmup sets. That's getting better, but I need to be more careful with it - not pushing the hips back far enough is particularly problematic. And very very soon, I may not be able to recover a mistake like that.
Bench... meh. Reset time. I was a bit rushed, but even from my final warmup set at 55kg I was pretty sure it wasn't going to go. Only got through one set at 70kg, but no drama. Don't really need big chesticles for the bike!
Powercleans up to 70kg, and while they weren't very 'clean', they went up okay. Caught a few on my hands today, rather than my delts, which I haven't been doing so much lately. I was really running out of time by this point, and so that combined with losing a bit of focus probably contributed. That, and it's getting heavy!
Bench... meh. Reset time. I was a bit rushed, but even from my final warmup set at 55kg I was pretty sure it wasn't going to go. Only got through one set at 70kg, but no drama. Don't really need big chesticles for the bike!
Powercleans up to 70kg, and while they weren't very 'clean', they went up okay. Caught a few on my hands today, rather than my delts, which I haven't been doing so much lately. I was really running out of time by this point, and so that combined with losing a bit of focus probably contributed. That, and it's getting heavy!
04 September 2011
DISC Session #20 with ABOC
Gods. Tonight was meant to look like this. Instead, it was windout after MAC after MAC after MAC after powerjump after powerjump after powerjump with about 10 minutes between each. Madness! And I suspect it's only going to get worse over the next few weeks...
But it went okay. I started off feeling fairly tired and stiff after yesterday, but the numbers held up - 43.9 in the 1/4 lap powerjumps, 52 in the half lap on 99". The first couple of pedal strokes felt pretty glacial though.
2x250m MACs and 1x375m MAC... tough. Still feeling tired, and I got quite a bit of slipping on the first MAC, but recorded 62.7km/hr, which I was happy with. Well, until I discovered that Neil hit over 71km/hr. So I've... got a ways to go. But we knows this. I was still accelerating throughout and hitting top speed around about the line in the first two, and in the final MAC added another couple of km/hr after coming out from behind the bike for the last 100m, accelerating to the line, so there's definite improvement noticeable. I'm just not going to win A-Grade next month! But that's okay. No, really.
Finished off the evening with a nice lazy (!) windout back on 86", up to 57.8/143 for what was essentially a warmdown, drafting the whole way. I was even able to pedal back in - after the MACs, I coasted (not free-wheeling, obviously, but you get the idea...), taking two or three laps to slow down because I didn't have the energy required to put backward pressure on the pedals, and considered running in to a foam-covered pole so that I could just fall off rather than having to unclip and step over the bars!
But it went okay. I started off feeling fairly tired and stiff after yesterday, but the numbers held up - 43.9 in the 1/4 lap powerjumps, 52 in the half lap on 99". The first couple of pedal strokes felt pretty glacial though.
2x250m MACs and 1x375m MAC... tough. Still feeling tired, and I got quite a bit of slipping on the first MAC, but recorded 62.7km/hr, which I was happy with. Well, until I discovered that Neil hit over 71km/hr. So I've... got a ways to go. But we knows this. I was still accelerating throughout and hitting top speed around about the line in the first two, and in the final MAC added another couple of km/hr after coming out from behind the bike for the last 100m, accelerating to the line, so there's definite improvement noticeable. I'm just not going to win A-Grade next month! But that's okay. No, really.
Finished off the evening with a nice lazy (!) windout back on 86", up to 57.8/143 for what was essentially a warmdown, drafting the whole way. I was even able to pedal back in - after the MACs, I coasted (not free-wheeling, obviously, but you get the idea...), taking two or three laps to slow down because I didn't have the energy required to put backward pressure on the pedals, and considered running in to a foam-covered pole so that I could just fall off rather than having to unclip and step over the bars!
03 September 2011
Steve Vai
Because the Audience is Listening.
115kg squat. Can I do it? Yes I can! My second bodyweight lift after the deadlift - well, within a percent or so, anyway! My form wasn't quite as graceful - I was going down too straight, not pushing my hips back enough. As a result I was too far forward coming back up, which robbed a little power. But I got them all done, and it's a relatively simple thing to work on since the thing I need to pay attention to is the thing that starts the lift!
Then... shameful bench press. Actually, I was feeling quite good and strong, which is what undid me. I was planning on repeating 70kgs, which is what I should have done in the first place rather than going up to 75kg. But because I was feeling strong, and confident, I decided to give 72.5kg a try. And the first set felt fine. I gave myself 10 minutes rest. But I couldn't get the 4th rep up. So I deloaded back to 70, which is what I should have been doing, and did 2 reps to 'complete' the set. Rested 10 minutes. After 3 good reps, the fourth rep I lost my focus and tension - but still got it done. 5th rep, going fine, halfway back up, and I lose tension again. And the lift stops. And comes back down again. Bugger. 70kg all the way and I probably would have done 3x5. It's mostly mental rather than strength, but I'm tempted to reset back to 60kg and work my way back up anyway. I know I can do it though, so I'll give myself one more attempt at 70kg. If no beans, then reset!
Powercleans... up to 65kg, and I felt like I was still pulling some of them, the jump/shrug wasn't quite working. Third set, I changed my grip slightly to get it more in the fingers and really focussed on the jump - and bang! Up went the bar over my head again. What a difference! The third set went up very (relatively) easily and felt much more fluid. Excellent!
115kg squat. Can I do it? Yes I can! My second bodyweight lift after the deadlift - well, within a percent or so, anyway! My form wasn't quite as graceful - I was going down too straight, not pushing my hips back enough. As a result I was too far forward coming back up, which robbed a little power. But I got them all done, and it's a relatively simple thing to work on since the thing I need to pay attention to is the thing that starts the lift!
Then... shameful bench press. Actually, I was feeling quite good and strong, which is what undid me. I was planning on repeating 70kgs, which is what I should have done in the first place rather than going up to 75kg. But because I was feeling strong, and confident, I decided to give 72.5kg a try. And the first set felt fine. I gave myself 10 minutes rest. But I couldn't get the 4th rep up. So I deloaded back to 70, which is what I should have been doing, and did 2 reps to 'complete' the set. Rested 10 minutes. After 3 good reps, the fourth rep I lost my focus and tension - but still got it done. 5th rep, going fine, halfway back up, and I lose tension again. And the lift stops. And comes back down again. Bugger. 70kg all the way and I probably would have done 3x5. It's mostly mental rather than strength, but I'm tempted to reset back to 60kg and work my way back up anyway. I know I can do it though, so I'll give myself one more attempt at 70kg. If no beans, then reset!
Powercleans... up to 65kg, and I felt like I was still pulling some of them, the jump/shrug wasn't quite working. Third set, I changed my grip slightly to get it more in the fingers and really focussed on the jump - and bang! Up went the bar over my head again. What a difference! The third set went up very (relatively) easily and felt much more fluid. Excellent!
01 September 2011
Joe Satriani
Because there's nothing like a guitar master to signal where I'm at right now with my lifting. That's right, I'm pyrotechnic but I can't sing for shit. Erm. Wait.
Squat up to 110kg today, and it still feels solid. Getting harder and harder, and I had to really work to keep my back straight, chest forward - without succeeding on every rep. At the same time, I didn't fold, didn't fail, and wasn't doing good mornings. 115kg on Saturday? I can do it!
Press at 55kg... well, 14 out of 15 ain't bad! Just couldn't quite get the 15th up - got it above my head, but didn't maintain momentum through the moment of parallel, and couldn't get it restarted. The 5th rep of each set was tough, but the previous two I got up. Rest seemed okay, about 7 minutes, but maybe I should extend that to 10 minutes for the next attempt.
Deadlift... oooh boy! 130kgs is damnably heavy. Still went up using a double overhand grip, but it didn't really feel secure until I hooked the thumbs under on the third rep - it was still heavy, but didn't feel so much in danger of slipping. Only 5 reps, only 650kg total versus the 1650kgs of the squat, but I can tell you that the deadlift depletes the entire body like nothing else!
Squat up to 110kg today, and it still feels solid. Getting harder and harder, and I had to really work to keep my back straight, chest forward - without succeeding on every rep. At the same time, I didn't fold, didn't fail, and wasn't doing good mornings. 115kg on Saturday? I can do it!
Press at 55kg... well, 14 out of 15 ain't bad! Just couldn't quite get the 15th up - got it above my head, but didn't maintain momentum through the moment of parallel, and couldn't get it restarted. The 5th rep of each set was tough, but the previous two I got up. Rest seemed okay, about 7 minutes, but maybe I should extend that to 10 minutes for the next attempt.
Deadlift... oooh boy! 130kgs is damnably heavy. Still went up using a double overhand grip, but it didn't really feel secure until I hooked the thumbs under on the third rep - it was still heavy, but didn't feel so much in danger of slipping. Only 5 reps, only 650kg total versus the 1650kgs of the squat, but I can tell you that the deadlift depletes the entire body like nothing else!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)