Day 109 - Kickin butt

Graduated to a high green belt tonight. This is really the first "serious" belt, where the expectations get harder, the workouts get harder, etc. Apparently I nailed by spinning back kick!

Also, in that last two days, I've had two more comments that it looks like I've lost weight. The scale still says the same thing but I know I'm much stronger. I guess the fat->muscle conversion is going well.

Day 106 - More on running

I went for a run on Friday and it was a pretty good one. This time, I ran errands on either side of the run but basically ran some of the trails in Stanley Park. I included 2 laps around Beaver Lake (1km per lap). Probably about 1km to the lake, gradual uphill, then 1km in reverse for a total of ~4km. I stopped after about 3km but I could have pushed it. All said, it was a decent run but with the usual "cycle of throbbing" in the feet. The weird thing about that throbbing is that immediately after the peak of throbbing pain, there is a moment of near-zero pain where I feel like my feet just want to take off like rockets. I remember that feeling slightly when I once (and only once) experienced runners euphoria. It's the same feeling of lightness, absolute understanding of my body's capabilities and focus. But with this throbbing cycle, it only lasts about 10 seconds and is not total-body.

Anyhoo, I'm glad to know that the 8km wasn't a fluke.

Tonight, I just did a 20 minute "intermediate" cycle on the treadmill, mostly to work out some aches in the shins and get some cardio for the day. I followed it up with 50 squats using a medicine ball a la "truck driver squats", then a superset of leg extensions and leg curls, 70 lbs each, 4 sets of 10. The weight was light so I'll up it next time and bring down the sets.

Tomorrow is my day with the personal trainer since Wednesday I have my kickboxing grad.

Day 100 - 100 Freakin days!

Didn't actually work out today. Had a few appointments that sucked up my day but I wanted to jot down some notes from the last couple of days or so.

First up, I haven't written about diet for a long time. I gave up trying to adhere to the kind of diet needed for proper weight loss. I'm even running a bit shy on protein these days. All in all, I'm just avoiding crap and making sure I eat enough to not feel pukey all the time. As far as that goes, my energy and abilities for exercise are a lot better now that I'm back to "normal" eating. So I'm making better progress on the exercise, "proper" diet is still shelved for the time being.

Kickboxing has been going well. I got my fourth stripe on my green belt yesterday, which means I'm set to graduate this month to the high green belt. In our club, high green is more or less the first serious belt. It's also the target point for a 2-year stint. At class yesterday, I was pre-tested for the new belt and I gave it my all the whole time. I was able to keep up a good show of strength for the whole time, which is a testament to what my personal trainer has been able to do to me. The testing is a brief, but very intense fit of activity. My core strength is pretty decent and it shows.

After kickboxing, I tried to get in a quick run to keep up the orthotics acclimatization but I think my feet were already beat from kickboxing. I got in about 4k with a couple of stops for throbbing feet. No arch pain though, so I'm hoping this is just part of the adjustment period.

Day 93 - Upper Body Day

I'm down to 1 workout per week with my trainer, so I need to do some sessions on my own. I'm aiming for one upper and one lower per week. The PT session will be a mix of things, with heavy focus on core.

Today I started with upper body at the gym in my building. There are a few things I can't do there (like standing one-leg cable rows), but I can get a decent mix of exercises in. Here's how today went:

*Seated Cable Row - 100x15, 100x15, 100x15
Dumbbell Curls - 25x8, 25x8, 20x8
Dumbbell Kickbacks - 15x15, 15x15, 15x14
Dumbbell Chest Press - 30x15, 35x15, 30x10 (overdid it on the second set)
One-Arm Bent-Over Row - 25x15, then abandoned due to back pain
*Cable Bicep Curl - 60x15, (60x10, 50x5), 50x14
Pushups - 20, 6, 10 (not sure what the hell happened there...)
*Cable Tricep Pushdowns - 50x15, 50x15, 50x15

* weight in pounds I think - all others kgs

Overall, my tris and bis were well cooked, chest was not. Didn't touch shoulders and my back wasn't up for the challenge today. Next time I might focus on back and shoulders since I need those for kickboxing more than big arms.

Day 92 -Welcome Back Seawall

8km!!! After 4 years, I finally ran the seawall nonstop around Stanley Park! The part that I run is a bit over 8km but considering I haven't been able to run more than about 2km straight, this is just amazing! My arches were sore almost the whole time but my toes weren't numb at all. I knew my legs were done at the 8k mark but I managed to run through a wall at ~5k so it was a good day. In three short runs I went through this:

1. total of ~2km, mostly walking
2. total of ~4km, 50-50 mix run/walk with a solid 2k stretch
3. total of ~10km, with the first 8km straight, then ~2km to walk/jog home

That is a pretty significant escalation of capability which I have to attribute to the orthotics. Finally, I might be able to lose some weight now!!! I also just thoroughly love running on the seawall...

Day 90 - Orthotics Trial part II

Got in my second run today with the orthotics and what a difference! My feet hurt, my toes hurt, my shins hurt and even my knee made the sore roll call. But, after about 15 minutes of that, everything settled into a weird long-paced throbbing groove. About every 2 minutes or so, everything would suddenly start to increase in pain, reach a peak, they fade away leaving me with about 2 minute spurts of running bliss. I was able to run for a stretch of about 20 minutes straight which I haven't been able to do for a long time. I hope it's a sign of things to come...