Rest assured...

... I'm still doing it.  I was up in Seattle for a bit where I got in some hiking around UW where I went to school.  Everything there is uphill.  I also did a couple of hours of kayaking on Puget Sound out of Alki Beach.  Really fun, I may have to get a kayak soon.  Daph, this was different from the one we used, it was a true sea kayak with a rudder that you controlled with your feet and sprayskirts.  I had planned a hike up Mt. Si, but chose instead to sleep in instead before heading home for a concert.  I worked a couple days in a row, the second day of which I played some HORSE (shooting baskets) with a co-worker followed by some core work.  I didn't workout the first day because I forgot any remotely athletic shoes and so played basketball and did this core workout with boots on.  I don't recommend it.  So my co-worker told me he did a big leg workout the day before and that he wanted to target his abs today.  I came up with this and we both did it.

Main: 3 sets of 20 each

-V-ups

-Standing Russian Twists

-Sky-Rockets

-Weighted Twists

-Ball Slam/Jump

It hurt.  I still feel it two days later.  But it's a good hurt, like I feel stronger.  I'd been having some pain in my lower right back, not a spine kind of pain, but muscle pain.  I finished the workout with some relaxed positions that I got from Pete Egoscue's book "Pain Free".  After doing what he told me to for lower back pain, I was pain free for the next 2 days. 

Yesterday I slept a ton (up at work for two nights in a row) and got in some outdoor dodgeball that evening which can be a decent little workout, definitely fun and dynamic.  And today I got back into a more traditional workout.

Warm-up:

-Plate warm-up

-WGS

-Sumo Squat-Stand

-Lunge w/ twist

-Shoulder DB Circuit

Main: Straight through

-Deadlift x40

-Pull-ups x30

-Strides x5

-Overhead Squat x30

-Cartwheels x5 each direction

-DB Overhead Press x40

Cooldown:

-Lower Back positions from Egoscue's "Pain Free" book

Good warm-up.  I did the main workout straight through, as it's written.  However, I did rest in between go's.  For instance, I'd do 10 deadlifts and rest.  10 more and rest, etc.  Same with the pull-ups.  I'd do 5 and rest, etc.  For the deadlifts I used 155#.  The overhead squats were just with a 45# bar.  DB presses were done with 25# DB's.  The strides and the cartwheels were thrown in to give me a bit of a break and to sort of re-align my body and it's functions.  If I were to just do a bunch of lifts without working out those muscles, I think I'd get all crampy and tight.  It helped to sprint a bit, and the cartwheels were good to use my shoulders and body awareness.  And they're fun.  Finished it up with the lower back positions and hoping to keep the lower right pain from coming back.  We'll see.

Back at it again...

After the death march described below, I took a day off and did nothing but eat, sleep, and work.  I felt pretty good after the hike, not too sore, just a bit tired.  I followed that day up with more resting and some softball for two days.  Nice and easy.  And then I decided to jump back in.

Warm Up:

-Plate circuit

-World's Greatest Stretch

-Sumo-Squat-Stand

-Cat-Dog

-Bird Dog

-Archer

Main: x3 sets

-One legged get-ups x10 each

-Push ups x10

-Weighted wipers x20

-Standing Russian Twists x20

-Knee lifts x20

-Ham curls on swiss ball x20

Also: DB shoulder circuit

Cardio: 20 minutes on elliptical

Cooldown/Stretch

I felt this the next day.  After the hike, I noticed how much I'd used my hamstrings.  Then doing this workout really hit them again.  Now they kinda feel like they did when I was training for the pole-vault, only they're not tight... yet.

The standing russian twists are my favorite new movement for training the core.  You take a long barbell and put one end in a corner.  Then put some weight on the other end, closest to you.  I used 50#.  At that point, you pick up the weighted end with both hands, and starting with the weight at arms length on the right side, move it in an arcing motion to the other side, as if you were to paint the biggest semi-circle you could on a wall while standing in one spot.  Back and forth, 20 times. 

Ok, I'm tired, I'm in Seattle and I may or may not get in some activity today.  But tomorrow I believe we're going to hike Mt. Si, which is an 8 mile hike gaining something like 3000' elevation.  I think that'll suffice.

Snow in June...

This was our first look at the mountain.  We'd spent a great night outside on the asphalt parking lot near Mt. Bachelor, covered with tarps in blowing snow.  Robin opened the door to his warm car at about 3am and told Stephen and I that it was time.  We were up, packed and moving by 3:30, using headlamps in the snow to find our way down the road.  Right away we were putting on snowshoes, which stayed with us for the rest of the trip except for a few brief moments.

Here we are during happier times.  We'd just hiked about 7 miles down hill to the point where we would leave the road and bushwack up towards the

 base of our goal: the South Sister.  At over 

10,300' elevation, it's the third tallest peak in Oregon.  It's also at this point that Stephen shared with us the greatest gift of the trip.  His girlfriend, Autumn, had packed along some homemade Orange Sweet Rolls.  Note:  Ladies, if you want to gain favor with your boyfriend/husband's friends, pack along sweet baked goods.

Shortly after the food break, we started up.  And by "up", I mean we somehow forced ourselves to climb a snow 

covered pitch that bur

ned our calves, thighs, hamstrings and lungs like nothing else this trip.  The nice part was that at some points, if you were tired, you could just put your arm out in front of you and rest against the ground in a standing position.

After the steep ascent, this was our reward:

It's hard to describe just how serene it was up there.

  I've never seen the sky such a deep dark blue.  The snow was untouched.  And we were running out of time.  The goal was to climb to the top of the mountain, ski/snowboard down, and hike back to the car where we'd drive home and I'd go to work the next day.  With the distance we ha

d cov

ered and had to cover bac

k home, we just didn't have the time or the energy to make it to the top AND back.  We decided that it would be a two day trip to do it right and that this year we'd have to

 just be content with a great hi

ke and a few turns taken from the base of that mountain.

After dropping in to the bowl and pretending we knew what we were doing, we had a few miles to go down hill.  Unfortunately, my map reading skills didn't account for all the trees, the running creek, nor the quickly melting snow that didn't want our boards to slide.  So it was back into the snowshoes and falling over logs and our feet in delirium back towards the road.  Once safely on the road, we set a good pace, took a few deserved breaks, and slogged back uphill to the car.  For our own curiosity and safety, I packed a GPS unit with us and left it running the whole time.

20.08 miles.  If we'd done the summit, a marathon.  This was the longest day-hike most of us had ever done, and we did it with snowshoes and packs loaded with boards, boots, and assorted gear.  Truly and ass-kicker.

My butt hurts...

Yesterday, I couldn't get into the little workout room at work until sometime after dinner.  I waited until my burned bacon and green beans had stopped giving my stomach a hard time (I can't cook bacon) and went down to watch a movie and get some activity going.  Luckily, Transformers was playing, so I got a little amped up and used it to challenge my legs, which are today screaming at me.

Warm-Up:

-Plate Warm-up x20 reps each

-World's Greatest Stretch x10

-Curtsy Squat x10

-Cat-Dog Stretch x10

-Hip Circles x10

-Arm Circles x30 each way

-Bird Dogs x10

Main: Three Sets

-Single Leg Bench Getups x20

-Single Arm DB Row x10 each

-Bench Dips x20

-Superman on Swiss Ball x20

-Single Leg Romanian Deadlift x10

-Sit-Ups with Plate Overhead x20

More:

-DB Shoulder circuit x10 each

Cardio:

-Spin-Bike, x5 30 second intervals with 1:30 easy pace in between, followed

by continuous pedaling for total of 30 minutes on bike

Cool Down/Stretch

I went pretty light on the weights because I'm still a little worried about my shoulder,

still getting it tightened back up. Hopefully I've got a softball game tonight for my

workout; it's been raining all day but it's sunny now. If not, I may just take it easy the

next few days to save up for this weekends death march up the South Sister with the

boys. Hours of hiking in snowshoes ought to be enough of a workout for the rest of the

week, but I'll continue to do small active things and post them. Can't stop completely,

I still have to make a conscious effort to improve even when I'm resting.

Parade work...

Saturday night was my first experience with being a fireman at the Portland Starlight Parade.  Since it was my first time, I was stuck on the tarp crew.  I should back up and describe what it was that we were doing here.  

Every year, Portland Fire runs in the Starlight Parade.  We get a group of firefighters with helmets on, an old hose wagon that used to be pulled by horses (now firefighters) equipped with christmas lights and rock music.  And we have the tarp.  You know in old movies and cartoons when a building is on fire and they tell the person to jump into the little circular tarp?  Well, it's real and it's not light.  We had probably 12 guys or so all holding onto this thing running pretty quickly from Station 1 down by the water to somewhere up near Powell's Books.  And THEN the parade could start.  So we'd chase after the wagon, stopping here and there to put kids in the tarp and toss them in the air a few times.  This gets tiring, because every kid wants to do it.  Meanwhile the wagon is still running along and we have to catch up.  And being a bunch of new guys with quite a bit of pride about being a part of Portland Fire & Rescue, we ran hard.  At most intersections along the parade route, the wagon would stop and out would slide an antique wood ladder, about 14' long with 4 ropes coming off the top.  The ladder would go up, straight into the air and we with the tarp would position below it.  Up would climb a firefighter to the very top, stand on the top rung and take a head-first dive towards the tarp.  At the last second, the jumper would tuck and land on his or her back in the center of the tarp.  We the tarp holders would hold the tarp up at shoulder level and try to decelerate the jumpers fall by letting the tarp down to near mid-thigh level.  The ladder would slide back in the wagon and we would be off, only to throw more kids and newscasters before running after the wagon.  At the end, we were a sweaty and tired mess, looking forward to nothing more than a beer, which we stopped by the local bars on the way back to Station 1.  It was really fun being a part of this and getting to see the people I work with have so much pride and tradition.  And to drink beer with them.  I'd thought about doing a workout before the parade, but afterwards, I was really glad I hadn't.  Sunday was completely recovery, both from the parade and the bars, and mysteriously, my shoulder is feeling pretty damn good.  Yay Beer!