This week was a little odd (as if any week isn't, which I guess makes every week normal in its oddness, unless it's not odd, in which case it is oddly not odd...I think there's a Russell paradox in there). We were off to Baltimore for early Thanksgiving with Erica's father and then to
Dangerously Delicious Pies. The steak, mushroom, onion, and gruyere (SMOG) was amazing. As for the Baltimore Bomb (made with
berger cookies), I ate one bite and the insulin surge nearly caused me to code. Erica and her sister ate the rest of the mini pie. It was delicious...but dangerously so. Then at the end of this week we had full faculty crits for our seniors, so I was booked all day for a couple days. Schedule went a bit sideways, but recovered now. Now for the digest...a few days late.
We’re visiting Baltimore this weekend. It was cool and we ran along the water this afternoon. Lots of winding around buildings and people and such. Erica’s dad lives in a row house in Canton, close to the harbor, so we ran down to the waterfront. At every corner, it seemed as if the path would end, but on the edges of parking lots, around businesses, along waterfront apartments, the path continues as concrete and brick then wooden planks that give a little under your steps before connecting to occasional aluminum boat bridges. We had to dodge dogs and strollers and groups of families, but it was a really nice run with almost a half mile uphill to push through at the end. Since we were going for
around six miles today, I focused on working with Erica’s pace and running technique. She did a good job. We were able to get through the distance in only 30 seconds slower than Erica’s best 5k pace (8:30). I felt great. I felt like I could have easily run a couple more miles. ^%&^% I feel good.
I feel great these past couple weeks, but today at the gym, my right knee was really unstable. There is some soft tissue pain and there seems to be a small lump behind the right knee. Probably need to get that looked at. I took it easy, trying to feel it out tonight. On a couple of the squats, when I got low, I lost lateral stability and had to set the bar on safety racks as I fell sideways.
- Squats
- Bench
- 135×5
- 185×5
- 205×3
- 225×1
- 185×5
- Deadlifts
Grabbed some food after weights, came home and knocked out the bodyweight routine. This was last day of 50 seconds. Only dropping to 45 next week. 40 seconds would be too big a jump for pull-ups.
- Pull-Ups on Rings
- 10×5
- 5 every 50 seconds until complete
- On the 4-10th sets, I had to break them up into 4+1 or 3+2, but finished all in the 50 second windows.
- I think this was due to doing deadlifts earlier. Not certain, but was definitely struggling on these this session.
- 10×10
- 10 every 50 seconds until complete
- Prisoner Squats
- 10×10
- 10 every 50 seconds until complete
Back from Baltimore last night and today back to training with the teams. This morning Erica started me on some additions to my creatine and beta alanine stack. She added tryosine+yohimbine+caffeine before my fasted morning workouts.
In MMA striking we worked on flow drills and counters. We also worked on throwing more punches per unit (4+). I need to work on my lunge hook, but it felt better today than ever. We then did a couple flow rounds with kicks only. That felt surprisingly ok. I need to work on balance and technique so that each kick is meaningful, but I didn’t feel as clumsy as I expected. My knee was still weird today. Can’t quite put my finger on what’s going on in there, so just trying not to make it worse by moving funny nor pushing it too far. Probably make a doc appointment today.
I also seem to have picked up a minor staph infection. Not certain that that’s what it is, but doing the iodine clean and keeping an eye on it. It seems to be going away. In all the years that I’ve wrestled, done various martial arts, grappling, etc., I think this is my first encounter with the mat rat infection. I skipped BJJ and wrestling tonight. Hopefully, this clears up fast, and then I’ll get back to grappling. I have a private with Matt next Monday, so I need it gone by then. I’ve been wanting to do a private with him for a while wherein we spend an hour concentrating on chokes from various positions: gravadas, guillotines, d’arce/brabos, ninjas, etc.
Instead, I boxed tonight. Coach had us doing bag drills again. They were torture, no working the bell. Just keep going until he says “breath” (which means jab out to range and stay on toes and in stance for a few seconds). Then back at it. Once in a while he’d say “get a drink of water,” then right back at it. Flow drills on bag to long runs of straight 1-2 combos continuously and all-outs (working the bag intensely from all angles, looping and straight punches, to the head and to the body). From one to another for a straight 45 minutes with the occasional “breathe” and even less occasional “get a drink.” When we finally yelled “time” at the end, I felt like I was throwing rocks at the bag (meaning my hands felt like big, a$$ rocks that hurt to hold but that I could throw if I used my whole body). I focused on keeping my hands returning to stance and being continuous with good form and breathing. When we finished up, coach and I went for a nice, light
2.5 mile conversational pace run along Bayshore.
After showering and catching up on some work, I resumed my planche progression and L-sit practice. The
planch progression is from an article written by Chris Sommer for Dragon Door. I’m currently on the Tuck Planch stage. I got about 20 seconds for my first try, and then the durations dropped quickly. For the L-sit, I’m working toward a full minute in L-Seat position. I’m currently sitting in a tucked seat and extending my legs away from my body and pulling back as I get close to failure. I’m doing 3 20-second sits now. There’s an article at
beastskills about the L-Seat. The goal is to be able to hold the L-Position for other skills and to be able to do Planche Push-ups. These are the focii for now in this skill area. Handstand push-ups and muscle-ups are on the horizon as I make progress in other areas.
This morning coach had me do about half an hour of mitts in my private. He had me moving around a lot, working on my outside game. A VERY active jab and combos of 6-8 punches jabbing out at the end to range. Marcos was working bag while I did mitts and coach asked Marcos if he had his gear with him. He did, so coach had us both don headgear and mouthpieces and had us work scenarios for some rounds. I had to keep him out and he had to try to get in. I have a reach advantage on Marcos, so it was a realistic scenario for each of us. Each round we were given specific tools and techniques to focus on. I felt pretty good. I caught myself raising my elbow a bit when I was getting tired and raising my chin sometimes in longer exchanges (especially when moving backward). Worked on cleaning that up and staying light on my feet.
Tonight I got home from Sarasota too late to train with the team (and I’m still not grappling due to the possible staph), so I just did the first day of this week’s bodyweight routine. This week we only get 45 seconds per set.
- 10x (5 ring pull-ups
- On set 6 I had to begin splitting into 3 and 2
- 10x(10 push-ups every 45 seconds)
- 10x(10 prisoner squats every 45 seconds)
Still feeling strong and energized. Keeping an eye on the right knee and trying to keep torque low.
