8/30/2009 - Rainier #3

• 19 beautiful miles in the Cascades, a lot of up and down to finish the GPS work in the Crystal Mountain section of Rainier. Sunny but cool. Pace around 18:00, still a little slow for Cle Elum. About 7500 ft. of gain/loss for the day. Felt great at the end and not much residual soreness in the legs.
  

8/29/2009 - tai chi, KB goof-off

• AM: good tai chi session (raining, so in dojo), felt strong but took the opportunity to sit down whenever possible due to tired legs from hiking. Back a little stiff afterwards.
• PM: played with double 12kg cleans, swings, presses. All fine, but also tried one double snatch, not a good idea w/wrist still hurting. Plenty of time for snatches later.
  

8/28/2009 - cascades hike

• Approx. 10.5 mi. out/back from Snoqualmie Pass along the Pacific Crest Trail to Kendall Catwalk. Uphill section is about 3000 ft. of gain. Felt great, legs a little sore toward the end of the downhill, but nothing horrible. Beautiful weather.
  

8/27/2009 - training session, DL

• Training session: worked on good morning stretch, double KB DL, upright rows, double cleans, seesaw press, evil TGU variants, eye position
  
• DL: 5 x 175/165/165/155/155. The money set felt relatively easy (or at minimum, not impossibly hard), will need to push it up a bit next week
  

8/26/2009 - Press, SQ

Daytime:

• seesaw presses, 2 x 12kg, 5 x 5.

Evening:

• good mornings, 5 x 5, 24kg
• FSQ, 5 x 5, 24kg
• Various stretches between sets to gain/maintain flexibility
  

8/25/2009 - Run, DL

• Afternoon run on streets around house (route here). Did several pace pickups (strides) over the distance between 3 telephone poles. Felt great throughout and kept pace under 10:00/mi.
• Evening: DL, sets of 5 at 155/155/145/145/135. Tried the 5th set in sumo stance, very difficult. Tried a 6th set sumo style and failed on 2nd rep.
  

8/24/2009 - walking day in San Francisco

Walked to Coit Tower and then Presidido, bus back, then bussed to J-Town and bussed back. About 6 mi. of walking total.

8/23/2009 - Run

Run in San Fran, Bush down to Market to Embarcadero, around to Fisherman's Wharf, then up and over Powell and back down to Bush. Total time 40:37, distance about 3.5 mi.

8/22/2009 - down to San Francisco

Early start, but got down to San Fran early enough to walk a couple of miles.

8/21/2009 - Run, SQ/SW/etc.

• Afternoon: run, Greenlake/Woodland park (route here). Cloudy day, took some time for the garmin to find the satellites. Note to self, put it in training mode before starting a run.
• Evening KB workout--4 rounds of:
• Double SW, 12kg x 5;
• Double suitcase DL, 12 kg x 2;
• Double SQ, 12kg x 5;
• Ballet heel raise x5
• Did dead hangs, pole SQ, wall stretches between sets
  

8/20/2009 - back off day

Went to see the PT in the afternoon but otherwise took it easy.

8/19/200 - Run, DL

• Ran in the area east of Woodland Park and then around Greenlake. Got a couple of good uphills in, felt good. As of Sunday my whole perception of ascent and descent has changed. 5.6 mi., 59:19, 10:31/mi. average pace. Run was late morning and heading toward a hot day. The garmin connect output is here.
• DL, 5 x 175/165/165/155/155. Felt good, was able to maintain pressure in abdomen throughout. Definitely better to do deadlifting without the iPod on.
• Played with 2 x 12kg KB, 2 x 5 seesaw presses. Felt fine, but need to keep in mind the wrist fracture and the healing process.

8/18/2009 - Swings, FSQ

Got 2nd 12 and 16 kg KBs today. The new DD KBs are nearly identical to the old ones, with slightly duller black finish but handle finish etc. look the same.
Workout:

• Warmups: broomstick and wall squats
  
• 2H SW, 12 kg, 4 x 10
• 1H SW, 12 kg, 4 x 20 10L/10R
• FSQ, 5 x 5 with double 12 kg
  

Legs are still tired from weekend run/hiking, but overall good sensations. Will try a run tomorrow, see how it goes.

8/17/2009 - back off day

• Legs tired, need to either (a) go back to ken/barbie weights and the dishonor of aerobics for a while, or (b) eat anti-inflammatory foods and let the body heal naturally. I'll go with (b).
  

8/16/2009 - Rainier #2

• All day GPS session near Mt. Rainier, above and around the bowl that the Crystal Mtn. ski area sits in. 26.2 miles total, broken up into two sessions of about 16 and 10 miles. Total time 7:30, average 17:11/mi. which matches the minimum cutoff pace for the Cle Elum 50k (9 hrs to cutoff, so about 17:22/mi.). The last 5 uphill miles to Norse Peak really sucked, but still ran the 5 downhill miles (back down from the peak), not much fun.
• Data is here, and a sample picture (Rainier from the Crystal Mtn. trail) is below.

8/15/2009 - taiji, rest/relax

• AM - 2 hrs tai chi practice, had to leave early to cover a work problem
• PM - R&R preparing for GPS session tomorrow.
  

8/14/2009 - run

• PM - 6.5 mi. run around greenlake, up to fremont, then across wallingford and up the highway. Route is here. Felt good, walked 2 shortish uphill sections.
  

8/13/2009 - DL

• PM - 30 min bicycling on trainer, then DL 5 x 170/160/150/150/150. 1st set felt heavy, last 3 felt pretty easy. Good pressure, tightening lats helped a lot.
  

8/12/2009 - BB SQ

• PM - decided to try barbell squats after watching the Starting Strength DVD. Started w/2x5 with bar only, then 2x5 at 65, then 2x5 at 95. Videotaped each set and tried to correct form. Used overhead squats w/stick, hang on wall squats, dead hangs between sets to stretch out.
  

8/11/2009 - one more back off day

• Feeling better, but one more day of limited activity won't hurt. Did 1/2 hr of taiji practice in the morning (general loosening drills, no form) then saw the PT in the afternoon. When a PT says "let's get you stretched out first" as her lead-in, it's clear that strength has won out over flexibility in priority. Of all the stretching, she'd prefer I do the calf stretch above all, as it lengthens the posterior chain and helps neck position (shades of Z).
• PM: tried pressing the 8 kg to see how the R wrist felt, it was fine. I'm going to put 12 kg ladders back in and see how it goes.
  

8/10/2009 - DL

• After reading Rippletoe's general programming, I decided to try my DL sets going up in weight rather than down. Sets were 5 x 135/145/155/155/165, a little hard at the end but a workable approach. I may try them in the opposite order in my 2nd DL workout later in the week, just to see what happens.
• Many words could (and should) be written about the "tonic effect" of the deadlift. The physical, emotional, and even spiritual benefits of this work are hard to put in words but substantial (and widely noted) nonetheless.
• Got a filling replaced in the afternoon, my dentist has excellent dental kung fu. However, the neck position on those chairs is sure not conducive to a straight posture. I go back in two weeks for one more filling, supposedly to avoid a crown.
  

8/9/2009 - sick leave

• Sick, good opportunity for (short-lived) self pity. Having a cold/flu during Seattle's summer is just no fun at all.
• Started working on getting the Rainier GPS data to green trails for processing. The Garmin 405 is not obvious along many dimensions.
  

8/8/2008 - Run, SQ, taiji

• AM: early run around greenlake, 3.5 mi., 36:51, 10:38 miles. Legs felt very heavy but endurance was good. Nice morning.
• AM: KB SQ, 5 x 16/20/24/24/24. Attempted to record the workout with the flip but forgot to turn the record button on.
• AM: Taiji, Tom lead, good class, nothing out of the ordinary. Not enough layers on and cold starting to dig into my chest. Classic example of those who can't/don't learn the lessons of history being doomed to repeat them.
  

8/7/2009 - back off day

• A little worn out after the hike, so took a slow/easy day. Had an acupuncture treatment that left me feeling like I could levitate off the table. Still feeling the effects of a mild cold.
  

8/6/2009 - Rainier hike #1

• First in a series of hikes to capture GPS data for green trails maps. 16.1 mi., 4:50 hiking time, 6300 ft of climb. Hiked/ran with ~10 lb pack for an avg. pace of 18:11. Goal pace to finish cle elum 50k in 9hrs is 17:30. Click here for route and here for pictures.
  

8/5/2009 - run, gyro

• PM - run around outside of greenlake, 3.15 mi., 29:30 ~9.36/mi.
• PM - gyro, good session focusing on legs, a little core/back and length/flexibility.
  

8/4/2009 - back off day

• Ended up taking the day off other than getting a massage in the afternoon. Wasn't necessarily planned, but as the day proceeded it seemed like a better and better idea.
• Started a food log, with interesting results right away. I'm using Calorie King to capture approximate calories.
  

8/3/2009 - DL

PM - DL - 5x5, 155/145/135/135/135. Definitely heavier sensations but still felt reasonable. Put a yoga mat under the bar to give better grip for the feet.

8/2 - mullet day w/KB FSQ to even it out

• AM: walked home->good shepard->gym->home, 3.2 mi.
• AM: 1 hr. tai chi practice @ good shepard w/Bill, yang sect. 1, 7 stars/8 directions, chen 96.
• AM: gym #1. Found a good use for nautilus by doing all exercises that didn't require wrist movement (lat pulldown, chest flys, leg ext., hamstring, abductor, shoulder raise, stomach, side, back). Did each machine 5 x 5, increasing weight, keeping a rep in the tank where possible. Saw plenty of mullet action even with few people in the gym.
  
• AM: gym #2. Finished nautilus with KB FSQ 5 x 5, 16/20/20/24/24. Got funny looks as usual. Picked a place that didn't require me to look at myself in the mirror, which must have seemed strange too. I did take one side peek, SQ depth was good and back straight, even had room to go a couple of inches lower.
  

8/1/2009 - Run

• AM: run on greenlake track, 3 mi., 27:08. 4 x (400 jog, 200 sprint), jogging laps at 10:00-10:20/mi., sprint 200s at 8:20/7:40/7:20/7:20. Fastest split times in 20 yrs or more.
• AM: tai chi class, no partner work to avoid wrist problems