2013 Bloomsday roundup

Hopefully all you other participants had a great run this weekend.  If not I hope you did something else fitness related and fun!  Enjoy!

Week of April 22 - Peak schedule week.  I will do my longest runs this week.  Except that I don't because I pick up a head cold + allergies.  Damn You Germs and pollen!

Friday April 26 - My mom offers to take my son for an overnight!  We pack his bag along with his soccer gear and schedule to meet up at his soccer game the next day which is the last time we think about it.  Date night with my lovely wife, had a great meal!

Saturday April 27 - Final long run day.  Did some chores around the house first, but it's getting late in the day so it's now or never.  Decide that the best thing to do is run around the streets for a while and end up at the soccer fields.  Ends up being a great run.  Do a couple of laps around the fields to finish and on the second pass notice that no one from his team is here.  Having spent the past 24 hours not thinking about my son's soccer game, my lovely wife and I realize that we never double-checked the schedule to see which field we were supposed to go to.  Parenting Fail!  Went to FroYo as consolation.

Thursday May 2 - Went to Value Village to purchase my pre-race sweatshirt.  Made a mental note to go back and buy baggies of golf balls for $2.00!  I don't want to be cold and the start line so I buy a cheap sweatshirt to wear down there and then toss to the side as the start time approaches.  Its not littering, it's tradition.  Comb through iTunes and create my new playlist for the big race.  Picked out 4 or 5 new songs to add, so that was fun.

Friday May 3 - Picked up registration packet, seamless.  Wandered around the convention center looking for a tee shirt but didn't want to spend $40.  Apparently my ambling style of wandering/rubbernecking around the booths cause one proprietor to ask, "Hey buddy! Is that knee pain bothering you?"
Me: "Huh?"
Salesguy: "The way you're walking...are you in pain?"
Me: "Uhhh...no just fine thanks.  I don't have bad knees."
Salesguy: (makes face) "Oh, ok then."
Noticed as I walk on that he was, of course, selling some type of super fantastic healing agent that I'm sure is all natural, herbal, non-GMO, hypoallergenic, odorless, greaseless, naturopathic, homeopathic, chemical free, additive free, and probably science free as well.
I did leave walking more upright and well balanced, maybe he did cure me!
Eventually find a great shirt to buy donating proceeds to a Boston Marathon charity organization.

Saturday May 4 - Told my lovely wife, "May the Fourth be with you!" she didn't get it.  She did inform me, however, that white socks will look ridiculous with my new black shoes.  So she very nicely went and bought me some. Worked on, in great detail, matching my playlist to my approximate race pace so that I would have the 'right' songs at the hardest hills.  It didn't work out so I don't know why I bother.  Besides, if they made the list they're all good right?  Went to the right soccer field today.  Parenting Win!

Sunday May 5 - Race day!  Had laid out all of my gear the night before and was up early enough to have a light breakfast.  Shoes and socks? Check.  Shirt and shorts?  Check.  Sunscreen?  Check.  Keys/wallet/phone?  Check.  I'm off!  Get down to the studio here to stretch out and my regular parking spot was open.  Yes!  Except for the fact that I have forgotten my race number.  I drive home, and drive back in about 4 minutes.

Security concerns were tight so I didn't expect to see any backpacks or such.  Apparently, however, a homeless person's shopping cart piled high with various objects does not constitute an, 'abandoned package', as it was parked right in front of my studio door.  I didn't hear any ticking so I moved it and went in.  Pinned on my number, peed.  Ate half a banana, peed.  Stretched out for 15 minutes or so, peed one more time. Walked down to my start area and wondered if I had to pee again.

It was a hot day already so I took off my sweatshirt and tied it up in a tight ball.  Many people attempt to toss theirs onto the trees lining the street.  I chose not to do that and aimed for it to cross over the fence.  I wind up and let my shirt ball fly which comes untied almost immediately and hits a woman square in the face.  I appologize profusely and recieve a courtesy smirk before slinking away.  
Happily meet up with one of my clients in the start area and we take pictures of eachother.

The race goes fantastically and I beat my best time by almost 4 minutes.  1:12:49, good enough for 6590th place!

Me and my Iphone
WTF podcast with Marc interviewing John Hodgeman of "The Daily Show" and the "I'm a mac, I'm a PC" commercials.  Interesting guy, funny.

Dr. Suess??

I'm about a week late for the good Doctor's birthday but I recently read one of my favorites, "Fox in Socks".   After I finished I couldn't get this thought out of my head.

Enjoy!

Let's have a little talk about body builders

What do you know about body builders?

When body builders build
It's called building a builder body

And when they body build with dumbbells
It's called a body building bell build

And when a body builder builds with dumbbells and a barbell
It's called a body building bell build bar builder build

AND..if the body builder bell building is balancing a bell while he barbuilds
It's called a body builder one bell builder balance building barbell builder bell building set

AND...

Now wait a minute, Mr. Socks Fox!

When a fox is holding dumbbells where the body builders barbuild with their body building barbells and dumbell building builder, this is what they call...

A body building build builder dumbbar bell balancing builder build filled gild pillded doddled waddled fox in socks SIR!

Your welcome!

Me and My Iphone

Marc Maron returns to the phone.  Listened to Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters/Nirvana fame.  Funny guy, interesting show about music history appreciation.

Foreign Language Instruction For Your Body

OK, I’ve looked but I just can’t find it.  I don’t know why they’re called kettlebells.   When talking about them most people think I’m saying KettleBall because they look like balls with a handle.  In fact online descriptions say, “basically a cannonball with a handle.”

So, I don’t know why it isn’t called cannonball training since that’s what they look like.  In Russian they are called ‘gyria’ but in old strongman photos they look nothing like a kettle.  In fact the russian spelling for gyria is Google translated as simply, ‘weight’.  One client sent me a link which posited that old timey scotsmen filled kettles with rocks and sand as a variable weight possibly simulating the gyria. That is probably more wordsmithing than you want to know but I get asked about it a lot so there you go.  

Most people agree though that the object itself originates from Russia a few hundred years ago as counterweights used to measure grain and other bulk farm goods using the ‘Pood’ measurement system.  If you didn’t know, 1 pood is equal to 40 funt.  Under the Soviet sys.......I’m sorry, what was that?  What are funt?  Well, naturally, it’s another unit of mass abolished under the Soviet government.  Personally, I think that we should use silly words for all of our measurement systems.  I hereby decree that length shall now be measured in plorg!

Why should you care about kettlebells?  Two reasons.  First, the kettlebell training methods effectively utilize dynamic movement and, secondly, combine them with essential stabilization techniques.  Explosive or dynamic type exercises are an effective way to increase the amount of work done and also can reduce the time needed.  Let’s say that you’re normal routine is 50-60 minutes of a steady pace on a treadmill.  By reducing the total time to 35 minutes and injecting 6 one minute high intensity intervals you can burn the same number of calories, and reap a longer post exercise burn rate afterwards.  

Similarly, a traditionally paced weight lifting routine of deadlifts, squats, a chest exercise, shoulder work, and abdominal training can also eat up close to an hour.  Yet, a simple routine of alternating 15 swings with 1 minute of cardio, 3 sets of the Goblet squat, and 5 minutes of turkish getups can work all of those same muscles in an integrated fashion, improve athletic and CV function in about 1/2 the time. 

Working dynamically in any fashion places stress on the support structures of the body. As such, training is required to teach the body to effectively create the most stable platform possible producing exercise gains safely.  By grounding the legs, activating the abdominals and the musculature surrounding the shoulder you can swing a great heavy weight one time or a smaller one twenty times.  Quality movement at the extremities is dependent upon quality stabilization through the core.  In essence, movements are generated from the inside out.  Kettlebell training begins with this principle in mind.  Those who have worked with me will remember me talking about start and finishing positions, activated glutes and abdominals and what that means exactly.  

That of course is testament to the certification body, in this case Dragon Door.  It’s completely self serving since they sell Kettlebells, books, dvds, and of course training programs, but I was impressed by their commitment to safe performance and not just information regurgitation.  One can’t very well have a successful business selling a training method if said method results in a lot of injuries.  

The philosophy boils down to a few simple rules.

1. Make certain you have enough space.  Safety First!
2. Only perform movements you can do with proper form learned from a certified instructor.
3. Never compete with the kettlebell, if you get off track guide it safely to the floor and start again, or use a lighter bell.  Safety Third!
4. Use the heaviest kettlebell dependent upon rule #2.

Finally, you’ll look awesome doing it.  Just kidding, you’ll feel awesome though.  I did while at Dragon Door’s Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification this summer.  I swung some heavy bells and sweated a lot and grunted and groaned and wished they would say, “Last one” more than once.  However, there is something playful about swinging the weight, pressing it over head and contorting my body through the Turkish Getup.  It was fun.  It’s not for everyone, and that’s ok.  There are plenty of other ways to get your sweat on.