Careful What You Wish For and Running?!

Well now it sounds like instead of admitting that no voter fraud actually occurred, the White House wants an investigation into the 3-5 millions people that DID NOT vote illegally.... wow. I am hoping that there can be some common sense used by Republicans and Democrats in Congress to keep this from being a huge waste of time and money.... LOLOLOLOLOL!! That was a good one....

Marathon Training:
Run, one and a half hours
Mobility:
Quadriceps Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Frozen Tundra of Chattanooga and Marathon Training

I woke up this morning and headed out for my run with the temperatures in the teens. By the time I was done I had a decent set of beardcicles to show for my efforts!!

Marathon Training:
Run, Two hours and 45 minutes
Mobility:
Foam Roller Work
Hamstring Stretch
Quadriceps Stretch

Have a Great Day!!

Family Schedule Change and the Workout

Tomorrow as a family we are getting up at 3:25am. That is pretty normal for me working my morning shift at UPS. Tomorrow however, Rebecca starts her trauma shift in the ER. We will get through this as we always do but the life shift will be interesting. This is where I think we have an advantage being middle aged and going through residency versus being in our twenties. We have experienced some life, some hardship and we have come out the other side. That experience will get us through this rotation.

Warm-Up:
Row, 500m
Foam Roller Work
Weight Training:
Hang Clean from the Knee plus a Clean from the Floor, 80% of 1-RM 4 sets of 1 repetition of each,
Super Set: Perform each exercise in order to complete a set. 4 sets total. No rest between exercises.
Back Squat, 93% of 1-RM 2 repetitions
Weighted Pull-Up +15 kgs., 5 repetitions
No Feet Snatch, 80% of 1-RM 4 sets of 1 repetitions
Super Set: Perform each exercise in order to complete a set. 4 sets total. No rest between exercises.
Snatch Pull with a Stall at the Knee, 100% of 1-RM 2 repetitions
Weighted Push-Up +50 kgs, 6 repetitions
Mobility:
Banded Shoulder Stretches

Have a Great Day!!

Marathon Training and The 'Skins Beat Themselves

Hard to win in the NFL when you leave ten points on the field. Matt Jones turned over the ball while going into the Lions' end zone and normally reliable kicker Dustin Hopkins doinked a kick off the upright that made an audible "BONG" that I could hear while listening to the game on the radio. They did not deserve to win today.

Today the marathon training was pretty good. I was able to run 11.28 miles in one hour and 45 minutes. Admittedly that is not a blistering pace but it is an improvement and the marathon is not until March! Next Sunday the run will get bumped up 15 minutes to two hours.

Workout:
Run, one hour and 45 minutes
Mobility:
Quadriceps Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Redskins vs. Cowboys and Marathon Training

The Redskins better win today. It is a divisional game at home versus the Cowboys. The 'Skins cannot go 0-2 with a loss to their most hated NFC East rival. "Must win"? Well, no. I guess it matters what your expectations are for your team. If the Redskins have a winning season.... 9-7... I will actually be pretty pleased.

Workout:
Run, 1 hour
Mobility:
Quadriceps Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

9/11 and Marathon Training.... Can You Say, "Duh?!"

Fifteen years.... it is so strange to think it has been that long since the 9/11 attacks on the United States. So much has happened. The part that I struggle with the most is just wrapping my head around all of the lost lives since then. The people in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon. The people on all the planes that hit both of those targets and the plane that went down in Pennsylvania. The first responders that died in the rescue process and those that became sick and died after the clean up. Then there are the other thousands that have died in the "War on Terror" that came after 9/11. Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria.... and with the formation of the so called "Islamic State" the people here in Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Orlando, Brussels, France, Benghazi, London...etc., etc. It never really seems to end. It will be nice when this cycle of violence comes to an end. Someday.

On a much, MUCH lighter note, the second day of running in preparation for the Chattanooga Marathon went much better than the first day.... and I wonder what the hell I was thinking. Lets see, why was today so much better than last Thursday? Hmmmm.... could have been that it was 67 degrees instead of 90 some odd degrees? Could have been that I didn't spend 4 hours prior to that chucking boxes at UPS? Duh. So I have made what I think is the very wise decision to switch my eventual long runs to Sunday and my hour and a half training runs for Thursdays. We will see how it all works out.

Workout:
Run, 40 minutes
Mobility:
Relaxing Stretches for the Back
Hamstring Stretch
Quadriceps Stretch
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!! 

Heavy Day at the Gym

I have been spending at least three sessions a week learning the technical aspects of the snatch, the clean and the jerk. Each day I have gone into the gym my coach has been giving me drills and exercises to help me get down the finer points of each of the Olympic lifts. Today after warming up he just said to me, "I want you to do what you need to do to post a one repetition maximum in each lift. Start with the snatch." Heavy day at the gym.

Warm-Up:
Row, 500m
Foam Roller Work
PVC Passthrough, 10 repetitions
PVC Wraparound, 10 repetitions
Weight Training:
Snatch Building Up to 1-RM, 6 repetitions
Clean and Split Jerk Building Up to 1-RM, 6 repetitions
Clean Building Up to 1-RM, 6 repetitions
Mobility:
Banded Shoulder Stretches
Quadriceps Stretch
Hamstring Stretch
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Rest Day from the Weights

Today is the first rest day after returning from the field... everything is a bit sore and a well needed rest from load bearing exercises comes today!

Rest Day:
Rowing Machine Steady Pace Cardio, 25 minutes
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

What Global Warming?! The Workout of the Day!!

I just went for a walk with the dog around the neighborhood here in Bethesda, Maryland. It was raining so I wore my raincoat... but if it wasn't raining I would have just been in a t-shirt, shorts, a baseball cap and FLIP-FLOPS?! ON DECEMBER 23rd?! But don't worry. It is only supposed to be in the high 60s today. Should warm up to 75 degrees tomorrow?!

With the weather being as rainy as it is, I am forced to move into the very small basement here to exercise today. I normally like to workout outside, but sometimes when you are on vacation and the weather is crappy you have to make due with what you have got!!

Workout:

AMRAP 15 minutes:
Jumping Jack, 20 repetitions
AbMat Sit-Up, 15 repetitions
Hand Release Push-Up, 10 repetitions

Mobility:
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Cold and Rainy is Tough on a Desert Dog and the Daily Workout

The poor Och. When you are accustomed to 300+ days of sunshine a year, cold and rainy is pretty rough. I have never owned a dog that is so effected by bad weather. While we own this dog we will never, EVER be able to move to the Pacific Northwest?!

Warm-Up:
Jumping Jack, 30 repetitions
PVC Passthrough, 15 repetitions
PVC Wraparound, 15 repetitions

Workout:
5 rounds for time:
Dumbbell Deadlift, 20 repetitions
Hanging Knees to Chest, 15 repetitions

Mobility:
Hamstring Stretches
Foam Roller for the Back

Have a Great Day!!

NFL Hall of Fame, Junior Seau, CTE and a Cardio Workout

Last night I watched linebacker Junior Seau's family reveal his bust as he was inducted into NFL's Hall of Fame. Seau was an amazing football player that played with a style that was ferocious and physical and he played that way professionally for 20 years. Many of those years were played long before anyone was concerned openly about repeated head injuries. After his retirement, Seau killed himself by shooting himself in the chest in 2012 after suffering from debilitating cognitive symptoms. Junior shot himself in the chest so that people could study the impact of the game he loved on his brain. Later, after studying his brain it was determined that Seau suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, a type of chronic brain damage that used to be called "Punch Drunk". It has now been determined that many NFL players have suffered from CTE and the NFL has since taken steps to help limit the head injuries to players. But, these blows are impossible to remove from the game all together based on the way it is now played.

For me, the big story last night was that the NFL was not going to let any of Seau's family speak at the induction ceremony. Seau had told his now 21 year old daughter Sydney that she should speak for him if he ever made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But, the Hall of Fame had a policy of not letting others give speeches for deceased inductees and would not allow Sydney to give a speech. On top of that policy, I am sure the NFL was worried because the Seau family has filed a wrongful death suit against the league for failing to warn players about the dangers of repeated blows to the head. In the end, the NFL made a compromise and Sydney was interviewed after the induction ceremony with a poise and confidence beyond her years. She bravely worked her way through the interview wrapping up by saying “I hope this induction can exemplify the fact that you are more than Junior Seau, number fifty-five and a buddy. You are a light, and I want nothing more than to see you come on stage, give the speech you were meant to give, give me a hug and tell me you love me one last time. But that isn’t our reality.”

Cardiorespiratory Training:
HIIT Spin Bike, 20 minutes
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Cardiorespiratory Output Day and the final review of Crossfit

Today will be a mellow cardio output day. Just a day to move, stretch, do some abdominal work and not touch a weight!!

I would absolutely recommend that if you are interested in trying Crossfit, you should check out your local affiliate and see if they offer a free week trial. I have not mentioned the name of my local Crossfit affiliate because I was not sure exactly what this review would look like. I will say now though that I highly recommend Crossfit Fixx in Tucson, Arizona for the following reasons: 1) Excellent instruction on proper form. 2) Scalability and adaptation to varying levels of fitness and experience that helps to promote self-confidence. 3) And maybe the most important... a fun and supportive community of people that encourage and challenge each other. If during your free week trial you do not experience these aspects at your local affiliate, you may want to look elsewhere.

Today's quote is from Joe Namath:

"When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things."

Cardiorespiratory Output Day:
Spin Bike Interval Training, 45 seconds high intensity, 2 minutes low intensity, totals of 43 minutes
AbMat Sit-Up, 100 repetitions
Foam Roller Work

Have a Great Day!!

Monkey Off the Back and an Active Rest Day

Today is the opportunity for Abby Wambach to go out on top. Few athletes get the chance to end their career on the pinnacle, on their own terms. I was in Pittsburgh when the Steelers won the Superbowl in February 2006. Steelers' running back Jerome Bettis, at 33-years old finished his 13th NFL season as the league's fifth all-time leading rusher and finally won a Superbowl in the town he grew up in, Detroit Michigan. Retirement cannot come better than that. 

Wambach has won an NCAA National Championship, she is a two time Olympic gold medalist, she has been voted the FIFA Player of the year, and has scored 183 goals?! There are only two monkeys on Wambach's back: One is never winning a high school championship. That ship has sailed unless Abby does something like coach a high school team after she retires. The one that she can do something about comes today: Winning a World Cup. And it cannot be any better than playing the Japanese again, the team that beat the U.S. in 2011. I believe that she will win.

Today's quote is from Megan Rapinoe:

"I would get a turf burn on every inch of my body to win Abby a World Cup."

Active Rest Day:
Relaxing Stretches for the Back
Foam Roller Work
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 75 repetitions

Have a Great Day!!

Weird: A Class Act in the Nation's Capital and an Active Rest Day

Max Scherzer almost pitched his second perfect game in a row yesterday. Hell, in the last two games he actually has more hits than he has allowed! With two outs in the ninth inning, Scherzer's slider got a bit away from him and the Pirates' Jose Tabata clearly leaned his armored elbow into the strike zone and got clipped by the pitch. That was the end of the perfect game. Scherzer then retired the next batter on a pop fly, preserving the no-hitter. After the game, analysts around the sports world all agreed that Tabata's action was lame and unsportsmanlike at best. Scherzer's response at the post-game press conference? "Yeah, the pitch got away from me. I don't blame Jose at all." National's Manager Matt Williams' post-game response? "It's irrelevant now." How refreshing is that?!

Today's quote is from Satchel Paige:

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

Active Rest Day:
Foam Roller Work
Bicycle Abdominal Crunch, 60 repetitions

Have a Great Day!! And to all the dads out there... Happy Father's Day!