Within You
Last night I heard one of the standard lines that you never want to hear from your trainer. Right out of the chute Coach B uttered the phrase “Have I got a workout for you! When I was suffering through it this week I thought ‘this is the perfect workout for Sarah.’” Yeah. Well, lucky me. Before I let you in on the secret WOD, I’ll tell you about all the other myriad things we accomplished last night.
We did some box jumps but not just any old box jumps. This old gal got herself up on the big boy box! For 5 sets of 10 reps I jumped on the big box. I have never done that before! I was scared to death I was going to fall because that box is pretty tall and intimidating but I did it! And he said I even had a few inches to spare! (Meaning I was clearing the top of the box easily enough.) One of the lessons intermingled in the box jumps was learning how to land softly and cushion the knees. Unthinking, I have a tendency to sound like a ton of bricks being dropped off a building when I jump on that hollow box. If I’ve heard Coach B say “Land Light” once I’ve heard it a thousand times. One day I will learn. It was a lot harder for me to land light on the big boy box because I was afraid of missing. I can only focus on one thing people. Maybe next time I’ll land a little lighter on the big box. Shoot, I might be able to leap over buildings by then. Who knows.
We also worked on overhead squats (“OHS”). My OHS form is getting much better since Coach B has been working with me. I still have a tendency to drop my chest and lean too much forward and also tuck my knees in, so we’re working on that. I did some OHS right smack in front of the wall. That keeps me from going forward because if I do I’ll face-plant the wall. Secondly, we went outside and did a new form of OHS work. We did OHS with 2 kettlebells dangling off each end with bungee bands. This is quite difficult because you have no stability.
Now, the WOD. Before I tell you what it was let me preface the story with the weather. Before I walked into the gym for training my phone said it was 95 degrees outside with the heat index. No clouds and not a lot of wind. It was stinking hot. Wouldn’t you know it; my WOD was outside, in the sun, on the black asphalt. Miserable. The workout was called “Death by Thrusters.” Two sets of dumb bells are placed 15m apart. At the start of the clock you sprint to the first set of dumb bells and do as many thrusters as you can until the top of the next minute. Then you do 2 sprints. Once the 2 sprints are completed you do as many thrusters as you can until the top of the minute. Then 3 sprints, then 4. You get the idea. You keep going until you’re still sprinting when the clock laps you and you hit the top of the next minute. I’m ashamed to say that I only got up to 10 rounds (55 sprints) and 52 thrusters (15lb kettlebells). I’m officially throwing down the gauntlet to say that I want to do this workout again when it is cooler. I know I can smoke what I did last night. The challenge has been issued. Done. Don’t get me wrong, it was tough, but I know I could have done better if I wasn’t so darned hot. I’m complaining, I know.
I’ll stop now with the workout nonsense.
To end today I think I’ll close with a few random observations that I’ve gathered the last couple of days:
- When I was a kid I liked to run around and catch lightening bugs. My cats like to do the same. I, however, collected them in a jar and they eat them.
- I’ve reached the point as an athlete that I’m much happier in my own skin in athletic clothes than evening wear. This is a big confession coming from a former beauty queen. I’ll take tennis shoes over heels, sweaty tanks over beaded ball gowns, and ratty ponytails in a hat over an intricate up-do any day.
- Either people’s hearing is getting worse or the decibel of my voice is getting softer because it seems that nobody can hear or understand me anymore.
- I’m looking so forward to my vacation at the end of July that I’m finding it hard to concentrate on other things.
- I have a lot of trouble choking down plain steamed vegetables. Blah.
So, full weekend ahead. Everyone give your fathers and grandfathers a hug.
TODAY I LOVE: sweet anticipation of the weekend and summer nights
SONG OF THE DAY: “Within You” by Ray LaMontagne
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MMMMM…..I love plain steamed vegetables. Reminds me of all the banquets I used to work.
I hear you on the OHS. I suck at them. Coach B’s “workout” sounds tough…tougher with the heat! Good job!