A very quiet advent week this week, in fact, you may even to go as far as call it lazy! Just 1 day of physical training done, and that was on Christmas morning itself, where, as is my tradition, I headed out for a nice quiet Road Run - Which today took the form of a 12km run, (something I dubbed as my "12K's of Christmas) which I chose to do at a very slow pace, as I wanted to squeeze in part 1 Iain Abernethy's new Q&A Podacast, which has a 76 minutes runtime - Duration: 01h 07m 58s Pace: 5m 40s per/km Travess
The remainder of December for me, just saw some late evening, Micro-workouts focusing on Upper-body Strength Training, with a single set of each exercise, with a rep count that matched the date. Day 1: (27/12/19) 27* reps each of Push Ups Bicep Curls Bicycle Crunches (*then 28 on the 28th, 29 on the 29th, and so on, until the end of the year.) Just because: (and a day later than listed on my calendar) I had to wait in for a delivery on the Sunday* (29th) so decided to jump on the Treadmill, for an impromptu 5km Run - I've been experiencing a little soreness in my RHS IT band area, which, whilst not an issue during the run itself, I was very mindful of - 25m 55s / 5m 11s per/km (Note: *delivery turned up in the 23rd minute of my run - I paused the timer during this short period) Travess P.s. HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL...!!!
Goooood morning 2020!!! (Said in my best Robin Williams / Good Morning Vietnam voice) Okay, let's see where things stand at the start of 2020, compared to how they did at the start of this log... Age: 1st post - 40 years old This post - 44 years old Weight: 1st post - 186 lbs / 84.4 kg This post - 184 lbs / 83.6 kg BMI: 1st post - 26.6 (high) This post - 26.4 (high) Body Fat: 1st post - 21% (from memory*) This post - 14.85% (measured**) (* could have been higher/lower, but was definitely in the 20's) (** measuring 7 datum points, using a pair of metal calipers) So, other than (obviously) getting older, and shredding a few percentage points of body fat, my stats have pretty much stayed the same, which I am not 100% sure how I feel about, if I am honest - Though I suppose I am happy that my weight hasn't massively increased! (I didn't measure my height, just incase I have shrunk!) Travess
4 years logging, great consistency! Which is in line with your consistent training I'd say those results are a win
Thank You for the support Alex, it is appreciated, as always. My wife and I made the decision to take (drag?) the girls out for a late morning Walk, which culminated in a quick visit to a local Green King establishment - 5.5km / 16m per/km. Feeling like the morning stroll wasn't gonna be enough to keep my demons at bay, I decided continue with the Upper-body Micro-workouts that I had been doing upto the New Year, with 2 slight changes 1) I will no longer be increasing the rep count daily, and 2) I have added an additional exercise to the rosta - 31 reps each of: Push Ups (20, 11) Bicep Curls (single set) Bicycle Crunches (single set) Lat Pull Downs (12, 10, 9) Still a pretty sedentary day, but I'm just planning on letting things 'tick over' until I ramp up my running, come mid-January. Travess
Thursday (02/01/20) I added a little to my recent Micro-workouts today, in terms of both Extra Reps and of Additional Content. I got myself warmed up with (3 x) 50% Kata, before getting to work on my Strength Training. Today that took the form of 50 reps (20, 15, 10, 5) of each exercise, sticking with the current Push Ups, Bicycle Crunches and Bicep Curls and then finishing up this portion of the workout with 30 x Lat Pull Downs (3 x 10) Finally, as my Cardio has been on the backburner now, since Christmas Day morning, I decided to jump on the Treadmill. (All be it for just a token effort) 10 mins / 1.95km / 5m 09s per/km. Travess
Friday: (03/01/20) As I was given a last minute, and unexpected few hours of freedom (I had been expecting to be heading over to the mother-in-laws today, so that my girls could spend some quality time with their aunty [who is up visiting from Devon] but it turned out that they had a lot of girly stuff planned, and my presence/participation was not a requirement) I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and took the opportunity to squeeze in a workout (**shocker!!!**) It is coming up in 10/11 weeks now, since I last did any serious Pad Drills or Bagwork, and I was keen not to let that time drag on any longer. I got underway with a relaxed 1km Road Run, just to get the blood pumping - 5m 37s per/km. Next up, as I wanted to include some Range of Motion work, I added some Shadow Boxing (3 x 1-min) my warm-up. Rather than giving myself free striking reign, on the Heavy-bag, I put together set combinations, which were to be repeated for the round - 10 x 1-min (with 30s rest between each) Turned out to be a harder session than I planned, so before moving on to my Stretching, I thought It'd be 'Fun' to add on a 2nd 1km Road Run, just to compare my times - 5m 34s per/km 1 more workout, then I'm done for the week, but on a plus note, Karate starts back up on Monday. Travess
Saturday: (04/01/20) REST DAY I somehow managed to 'tweak' my left wrist during my bagwork yesterday (throwing the very last punch, if you can believe it?!) so ended up switching my rest day / workout days around. Sunday: (05/01/20) Back to my Strength Training today, with 31 reps of each (10, 11, 10) of Press (45kg) Bicycle Crunches / Bicep Curls (20kg) Goblet Squats (10kg) and finally Lat Pull Downs (45kg) My wrist still felt a little off, and I still kept it wrapped, but it didn't hinder my workout at all. Travess
Monday: (06/01/20) 90 mins Karate (1st session back in the Dojo tonight) Sensei Abernethy ran a few private 2-on-1 Instructor Training sessions, for both my Sensei, over the Christmas / New Year period, covering a range of topics, which will be bled down thru the ranks, over the coming weeks, starting tonight. Tonight, specifically, we started off working on set Sparring Drills - maintaining, and adapting to range changes / offensive striking in and out of range / defensive striking in and out of range and defense against a sustained flurry of strikes - against a non-compliant (but not full power) partner. Taking things down a notch, physically, we moved on to Light Group Kata - operating at around 25% - then were given free run to do some Solo Kata Practice - working on any Kata, or any part of any Kata, that we wished. Finally, we looked at some Clinch/Grip work, getting ready to build on, for the set up, transition, and execution of O' Goshi (and other throws) which we will be spending some time on, over the next few sessions. Travess
Tuesday: (07/01/20) Rest Day - I had planned to spend more time in the Dojo tonight, but a few touch and go moments throughout the day, caused by a delicate stomach, forced me to reconsider (I did however make it there as a spectator) Wednesday: (08/01/20) Feeling a whole lot better today, I thought I'd squeeze in a few Strength Training Supersets, for a total of 5 Rounds. Supersets: 10 x Lat Pull Downs 10 x Dips 10 x Leg Raises 10 x Weighted Mason Twists 12 x Press 12 x Hammer Curls 12 x Goblet Squats 12 x Butt Bridges 12 x Weighted Calf Lifts 12 x Weighted Torso Twists I've had a bit of a love / hate relationship with strength training in the past, but I finally feel like that is changing, and that I am only now beginning to see the "joys" Travess
Thursday: (09/01/20) Karate - More of the same Sparring Drills and the Clinch/Transition/Throw work that we did on Monday evening, but with the intensity being increased on the former, and with me helping to teach during the latter. Travess
Friday: (10/01/20) I officially start my Half Marathon Training this coming Wednesday, so I headed out, and pounded the pavement, to give myself a bench mark of where I am. 10km @ 54m 58s (5m 30s per/km) - Which was an okay starting point, but I've got my work cut out for me, if I hope to maintain that pace (or there abouts) for the full 21.1km. Saturday: (11/01/20) REST DAY! (Back on it again tomorrow though!) Travess
Sunday: (12/01/20) I returned to some Strength Training today, with a couple of Push / Pull Supersets, making up a very short routine. Superset 1: 10 x Lat Pull Downs (45kg) 10 x Tricep Dips Superset 2: 12 x Press (45kg) 12 x Bicep Curls (8kg) Quality over quantity (or variety) today, as the whole thing only took about 20 minutes, but I still certainly felt it. Travess
Monday: (13/01/20) Rest Day - It felt like I had razor blades behind my eyes, for most of the late afternoon, so I decided to give Karate a miss, in favour of sitting quietly in a darkened room. Tuesday: (14/01/20) I had planned on running another full body Strength Training session today, but as I had to leave work early last night, due to an aggravation of last week's wrist injury, (meaning that I won't be pulling, pushing, or lifting anything) coupled with the fact that I'd be starting my HM Training tomorrow, (meaning that I'd be giving my legs the day off) left me with only one option - a Core/Ab Workout, which today, took the form of 2 x 4-min Tabata. Tabata 1: Alternating each 20s work period between Bicycle Crunches, Plank, Leg Raises and then Plank again (and, repeat) Tabata 2: Full Sit Ups (some slow, some fast, sometimes held at the mid-way point) Now, I'm not sure if anyone else would have struggled with this, or if my core strength has just deteriorated somewhat, but that was a bit of a killer - All for less than 9-minutes of my time... Travess
They weren't too bad in the end, in fact, I felt no DOMs at all, at least not until my eldest said that she wanted to play 'aeroplanes' in the livingroom that is! Wednesday: (15/01/20) Today marked the 1st day of my (4 x per week) 11 week Half Marathon Training schedule, which, easing me in gently, had me starting out with a (Light pace) 5km Treadmill* Run, with the goal of maintaining a pace that I felt that I could easily keep up for the entire 21.1km 'race' Expectation: 6m15s per/km Actual: 5m51s per/km This was only 21s per/km slower than last week's 10km, but I honestly felt like I could run forever at this pace... (Note: *Treadmill was due to my own restriction, not because of any specific requirement to do so.) Travess
Thursday: (16/01/20) Extra Credit: I smashed out a few post-brekkie Bicep Curls this morning, whilst watching the old idiot box - 3 x 20 (10 each arm) Dumbell Curls and 3 x 20 EZ Bar Curls - to temporarily keep my demons at bay. Evening: 60-minutes of teaching Kids Karate. 90-minutes of Karate - Tonight's focus was Knife (and edged weapons) Awareness Drills, which covered both physical and theoretical drills. Physical Drills: (amongst others) The Falicy of the Single Thrust Attack, the impracticalities of solely going for Limb Control, the reality of a Multiple/Continuous (Frenzied) Assault and the benefits of (effective) Pre-emptive Striking. Theory Drills: We discussed Threat Identification, the Types of Weapons Available/Accessible (of both the built for purpose variety, and the makeshift variety) the After Action Damage Assement (understanding how crucial it is to check yourself for any injuries sustained, that may have been masked by adrenaline, and that may have gone unnoticed) and finally, dealing with the knowledge that you are probably Going to Get Cut (the chances of walking away, 100% unscathed, from even a successful knife attack defense, is highly unlikely!) More of the same tomorrow, at one of my Sensei's sister schools Travess
Friday: (17/01/20) AM: Back on the Half Marathon Training again this morning, which today called for a 3-mile Negative Split Run, where the aim was for each mile to be faster than the last. Mile 1 - 9m 27s Mile 2 - 9m 08s Mile 3 - 8m 44s PM: 60-minutes of Karate, over at one Sensei's other schools (a couple of towns over) where we continued with last night's Knife Drills, firstly, we ran thru a recap of all of the semi-compliant drills that we'd already covered, as a reminder, before we moved onto to non-compliant stuff. We replaced the rubber knives with Marker Pens, slipped on some (cheap) White T's, and a Pair of Safety Glasses, then conducted several rounds of what Sensei calls his 60 second Murder Drills, where your partners has free reign to Hack/Slash/Stab at you at will, which you just had to Survive! - an attack only ended upon successfully knocking out* your partner, escaping to safety, and checking yourself for wounds. I "survived" more attacks than not, but still sustained enough damage during my more "successful" rounds, which would have definitely left me with life long issues. (Note: *"knockout" counter strikes were landed, but were not full contact) Travess
Saturday: (18/01/20) Rest Day - Planned, but only at the last minute. Sunday: (19/01/20) Today was scheduled for some Strength/Flexibility (Hip Flexors, Hamstrings, Calves, Ankle Flexors, IT Band and Quads) Drills, but I wasn't in the mood for it. Instead, I opted for another Negative Splits Run, this time increasing the distance a little, from 5km, up to 7.5km, which wasn't strictly part of the planned training. (Should have been a 10km, easy pace run today.) Duration: 40m 57s Mile 1 - 9m 15s Mile 2 - 8m 49s Mile 3 - 8m 50s Mile 4 - 8m 41s Mile 5* - 8m 15s** pro rata (*Actual distance - .66 of a mile) (**Actual time - 5m 22s) Travess
Monday: (20/01/20) Just a straight up Karate session for me today, which was broken down into 3 sections. Section 1 (which lasted about 20 minutes) was spent working on a some Sparring Drills, focusing primarily on Range, Footwork and Angles. Section 2 (lasting 30 minutes) was a revision of some of the Clinch/Grappling/Throw work that we have been covering in recent weeks. For the 3rd and final section (40 minutes) we broke the class down in to 3 groups (beginners, intermediates and seniors) for some Kata Practice - I was tasked with running the intermediates thru Saifa Kata, getting them to focus on Breathing, Tension / Relaxation, Mindset and Heavy Handed Striking Principles, the latter of which I planned a few Pad Drills for, designed to highlight the difference between being heavy handed, and a regular strike. Been a while since I've worked with any grade groups of my own, and it was nice to get back in to it. Travess
