Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10) Front Squat: 50lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs
(10/side) DB Row: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10/side) DB Sword Draw: 7.5lbs / 7.5lbs / 7.5lbs

(10) Leg Press: 260lbs / 280lbs / 300lbs / 320lbs
(failure) Chin-ups: 1.75 / 1.75 / 1.5 / .75
(10) Ball Figure-8: BW / BW / BW / BW

(10) Cable DL: 15 plates (Did this one to see if I still "had it". I do.)

--Duration: 35mins

Pool Swimming

Warm-up:
50m easy / 100m zipper/catch-up / 50m kick / 50m pull

100m all out - 1:40
100m easy
I went out on this one like I was doing a 50, and at the wall I realized I had to do it all one more time, oofff! But I do believe this is a PB!

200m all out - 3:56
100m easy

400m all out - 8:30
100m easy
I was still gassed from that crazy 100, so I had nothing on this

Pacing:
4x 100m @ 400m pace (2:07), on 2:30 - held 2:08 the whole time
4x 50m @ 200m pace (0:59), on 2:20 - held 1:00 the whole time
4x 25m @ 100m pace (0:25), on 0:40 - held 25, except for the third one which was a touch slower

So overall, a great 100m sprint, and then fantastic pacing by feel.

--Distance: 1,950m
--Duration: 60mins?

Gym Workout

Overcome by EXTREME MENSTRUATION, I was in no shape to show up to swimming class. So steered the car over to the gym instead.

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10) DB High Incline Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(10/side) DB Row: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) BB Squat Press: 40lbs / 45lbs / 50lbs
(10/side) Calf Raises: BW / BW / BW

(failure) Chin-ups: 2 / 1.25 / 1 / 1.25
(10/side) Cable Full Swim Pull: 3 plates / 4 plates / 3 plates / 3 plates
(10) Leg Press: 240lbs / 260lbs / 280lbs / 300lbs
(10) Ball Roll-outs: BW / BW / BW / BW

--Duration: 35mins

O-Cup Kickoff

Formerly the THOMASS winter orienteering series and now dubbed the O-Cup with a "Thomass" format.

Terrain: forest, snowy ski hill, trail
Weather: overcast but probably >0
Hosts: Guelph Gators

It definitely snowed for us in the morning, a fitting opening to a great new season of winter ass-kicking. The only snow at the race was the first layer of fake stuff on the ski slopes, but if you have to trudge through it, it counts.

The format had two Thomass boxes, plus an extra start handicap. I should have started at control 2, but the start was off-set, so I got confused and ended up at control 1, which essentially took one handicap point away from me, oops. After that, nav was basically great, but I had a hard time running. Part of it was my hamstring as well as some pretty strong arch pain I'd developed during the Raid, but mostly I was just really out of running shape.

Route Link

After 7 controls along the flats, I went through the train tunnel and straight up to the top of the ski hill and the box controls on the plateau.

I did well here except for getting distracted by a chatty friend towards the first control, where I just followed the crowd, and the crowd was wrong. It's not that hill, it's that other hill.

The terrain up there was really pretty, especially when the course went south towards the characteristic rocky ridges of the area. At one point, I crossed a trail just as an older couple were taking a walk, and as I emerged from the shrubs, they mockingly mentioned that "there's a trail, you know." Haha. What can you say to normal people?

I only got off-course once, going towards what I now know should be called a "Bingo!" control, as in, it's in the middle of nothing, and when you find it you can yell Bingo! Some of my friends chose to skip it and take a longer way around the ridge for their controls because of that. Smart. Still, I think it's good practise for straight-up orienteering on a bearing, which I suck at.

The last part of the course was in a kind of escarpment canyon. I had never been there before, and it was beautiful how the ridge curved around the control in a big U. I even found a second wind and outran a guy who had caught up to me. Then down the snowy ski hill again, across the train bridge, and straight to the soup kitchen.

The Gators put together a fantastic and varied course, plus cooked up not one but two soups and hot apple cider and home-made cookies that apparently had a nav theme, but almost no one noticed because we just scarfed them down. Great to see everyone out for the season starter too. This isn't going to be my most successful season, but I'll make the best of it.

--Distance: 8.73
--Duration: 1:22:34
--Place: 25th / 89
--Points: 26

I also used new shoes! First time out for my spiky new Inov8 Oroc 280 - I definitely felt more secure on the slippery parts, but need to learn to trust them more. The downside is that, as everyone says, these shoes have zero stability, so my ankles were all over the place. Rolled one quite a bit once.

Gym Workout

Calves are killing me after Tuesday's sprints, so only did upper body and core today, and massaged my lower legs in between sets.

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10) DB High Incline Bench Press: 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2 / 20lbs x2
(10) DB Bent-Over Lateral Flys: 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2 / 8lbs x2
(10/side) Plank w/ Arm Reach: - / - / - / -
(10/side) Cable Straight-Arm Pull-Down: 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs

(10/side) DB Sword Draw: 8lbs / 8lbs / 8lbs
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 45lbs plate / 45lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 1.75 / 1.5 / 1.5
(10) Seated Cable Overhead Pull-down: 70lbs / 70lbs / 70lbs

--Duration: 40mins

Pool Swimming

On a lark, jumped back in with my old rope lane. Worked out okay!

Warm-up:
50m easy
2x 25m sprint
2x 25m head-up
150m zipper / catch-up
4x 25m DPS [23 / 23 / 23 / 22]

4x
200m fast, 30secs RI
100m easy, 30secs RI
We were trying for 4mins plus rest, which seemed impossible, and yet...
3:50 / 3:58 / 3:55 / 3:52

3x
2x 100m fast, 30secs RI
50m easy, 30secs RI
~2:00 (forgot these were 100s, so went slower) / 1:55
1:50 / -- (forgot to do this one!)
1:52 / 1:50

25m hypoxic / 5secs RI / 25m hypoxic (got as far as the drain, a few meters short of Monday's effort)
2x 25m hypoxic / 25m sprint

50m easy

--Distance: 2,750m
--Duration : 70mins

I'm kind of shocked with the volume here, because it doesn't seem that hard.

XSNRG Running

Since my physio said I could try running training again, I came out for a club run; I thought this night would be perfect because it was one of our slower, longer intervals. I passed the group just as they were running back to HQ, but I continued on to do the workout by myself, as usual!

Warm-up: 1.1km, slow with a bunch of breaks because my right hip got stuck and had to get worked out
- also did my full range of dynamic warm-ups before the intervals

I hadn't done the Belsize loop before; it's a trapezoid of about 600m, where the sides are uphills. I didn't think to ask our Coach which way the club was running tonight, so I decided to alternate, running the long leg, uphill, short leg, downhill, and then back the other way.

7x 3mins, 1.5mins RI

It turned out that 3mins was about the right amount of time for one loop for me, so I kept re-starting at the same corner. But I did get faster all the time!
CW: 560m / 590m / 600m / 620m
CCW: 600m / 640m / 670m

I couldn't believe I was getting more and more distance each time. I was striking mid-foot, bounding, perfect body position. I felt great! So disciplined.

Cool-down: 900m

--Distance: 7km
--Duration: 53mins

Unfortunately not long after I got home, my hip got inflamed. It was really throbbing, and it made it hard to sit. Same with the day after, although a bit better. Total bummer.

Pool Swimming

Warm-up:
50m easy / 100m pull / 100m kick

This class was about gauging how you feel - how much power you're putting out rather than what your pace time is. You do really need a bunch of repeats of the same thing to get to know your own body.

3x 100m @ 90%, 15secs RI
1x 100m easy, 1min RI
x3

The first 100 was a bit speedy at 1:55, and then I settled into 2:05. The third set had me get down to a more comfortable 2:00-2:02, which is awesome. I still made sure I was at 90%, but I was a lot smoother.

4x 50m @ 80%, 20secs RI
The first one was a bit fast again at 0:55, then did even 1:00 for the rest.

2x 50m hypoxic w/ 5secs RI at the far end
On the first lap, well-rested, I managed to swim back all the way to the last blue line a couple of meters from the end! I'd taken advantage of calm waters before anyone else had started. The second try was awful by comparison with only a few strokes at the far end, but that's still more than what we've been doing thus far. I'm gonna get this 50 sooner or later.

50m easy

--Distance: 1,900m
--Duration: 55mins [not bad volume for being stuck in traffic!]

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set

(10) DB Flat Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2
(10/side) DB Flat Bench Press: 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) BB Front Squat: 65lbs / 75lbs / 85lbs / 85lbs

(10) DB Chop: 15lbs / 20lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10) Deadlift: 95lbs / 95lbs / 95lbs / 95lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate

--Duration: 50mins

First time I did a deadlift since March. I went with about half of my normal weight to see what would happen. I had the form down well. But I definitely felt the pull in my hamstring. I don't care. I'll keep pushing where I can.

Also, I think I got a new PB in front squat! Maybe? How did that happen? 

Pool Swimming

4x 100m, getting faster, 30secs rest
easy / 2:05 / 2:03 / 1:59

150m zipper / catch-up
4x 50m kick
4x 50m pull

Time Trial: 750m, mass start, passing open-water style
15:30 (2:04)
This was awesome. We were expected to mass start, then get into lanes at the far end. We could draft, pass, kick, whatever we wanted. Our lane took that in stride. I drafted behind CL for a bit, but he had declared that he'd pace himself, and once M started aggressively passing me, I passed CL too, so that I was drafting behind M for a while. She got away pretty quick, so I had to do my own hard work. But I felt great with all the adrenaline of racing each other. Didn't feel out of breath at all. I eventually lapped the boys, putting on a harder sprint. There were a few collisions - once I nearly lost a goggle, then I actually got punched in the chest when passing CL at the wall. Awesome! This is why I love open water racing. And I posted a decent time too. Not great, but a 2:04 pace is what I usually hold for single 100s.

4x 25m hypoxic / 25m sprint
I definitely started gliding better in the last quarters of the hypoxic lengths. And the subsequent 100s were much smoother from the muscle memory.

2x 100m

--Distance: 2,000m
--Duration: 65mins

Pool Swimming

Warm-up:
100m easy
100m zipper / catch-up
200m fast / easy
100m kick
100m pull

Main Course:

4x 50m swim
0:50 / 0:50 / 0:50 / 0:50
4x 50m pull
0:55 / 1:00 / 1:05 / 1:00
4x 50m kick
1:20 / 1:23 / 1:22 / 1:21
Remarkably consistent on the straight swims, but definitely a deficit on the kicks. Some people in my lane were faster on pull than swim - not me! Need those legs.

Coach pointed out that I let my gliding arm drop down before the 80% catch-up, so I had to focus on stretching out and keeping it up just below the surface for best hydrodynamics.

2x (
2x 100m on 2:15
1x 100m on 2:00
)
1:50 / 2:00 / 2:05
2:00 / 2:05 / 2:02
I was totally gassed on this double set, could not breathe at all.

200m on 4:30
200m on 4:15
4:15 / 4:12
Suddenly found my breath and started swimming really smoothly. I think I just let myself slow down. But it felt great.

25m hypoxic / 25m sprint
50m easy

--Distance: 2,300m
--Duration: 70mins

Gym Workout

(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set

(10) DB Flat Bench Press: 25lbs x2 / 25lbs x2 / 30lbs x2
(10) BB Front Squat: 60lbs / 60lbs / 70lbs
(5/side) Push-up w/ DB Row: 12lbs / 12lbs / 15lbs
(10/side) Curtsy Lunges: BW / BW / BW

(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(failure) Chin-ups: 1.5 / 1.25
(10) Glute-Ham Raise: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate
(10) Cable Str. Arm Pull-down: 12.5lbs / 12.5lbs

--Duration: 35mins