Off Season Day 28

July 25 - Arms, Upper Core Lite, Wheelers game, lower core
July 26 - Interval sprints, Lower core Lite
July 27 - Arms, Lower core
July 28 - Run, Upper core

On Day 25 I did two circuits of 7 rep sets (6kg or 4kg loads), 20 overheads and 10 chair lifts.  I did this in the backyard seeing as it was a relatively rare sunny winter's afternoon.  Another of the benefits of working out at home.  I backed this up with a light session of upper core exercises, keeping in mind I had a game later.  I finished off with a reduced lower core circuit later in the evening after the game.  That's keen!

On Day 26 I went down to the local school oval for some anaerobic interval work.  This has to be the most grueling work I've done yet.  I started 'easy' with seven 'micro-sprints,' each of about two seconds duration, with ten seconds for recovery between each sprint.  This is supposed to strengthen the body's ATP-CP energy system.  I then had a three minute rest, followed by my first interval sprint.  I went as hard and fast as I could for what I hoped would be 30 seconds (the recommended 'break in period' interval length for this anaerobic conditioning exercise).  The idea was to do six of these with rest breaks 5 times as long between.  As if!

The first sprint reminded me of the agony that is the 200m race (which is about the distance I covered in almost thirty seconds).  I struggled to get things under control again within the allowable time limit, managed to succeed (just), and set off on my second sprint.  This one I felt most in my legs, closely followed by my lungs.  Again, at the three minute mark between sprints I was pretty ready to go, and set off for my third sprint.  This one, the legs hurt more than during any other sprint and I found myself traveling a pace or two under my top speed.

I needed four minutes before my final sprint, hadn't regained total equilibrium by that point (still minorly oxygen depleted).  During my last sprint I must have felt a bit guilty about having played the 'age card' to reduce my required reps from 6 to 4, because I pushed myself as hard as I could right across the finishing line.  It was five minutes before I could walk/run back towards home.  Strangely enough, I did a couple of core exercises (bridges and McGill Curls) a couple hours later to relieve some of the tightness in my muscles resulting from the sprints.

Killer drill.  It'll be interesting to see how these anaerobic torture sessions evolve!

Day 27 saw me revert to a more traditional routine.  Out of deference to the stiffness and soreness resulting from my sprint training, I concentrated on arms and lower core (plus a couple sumo squats).  I did only one circuit for the arms, 8 reps, 20 each of chairlifts and above head lifts.  The whole sesssion was pretty busy/'dense" (did core exercises during recovery periods for the arms, and vice versa).  I feel like I'm almost back on schedule!

On Day 28 I started with a run over my now usual circuit.  A major difference was that I went around in the opposite direction to the usual, resulting in the major hill climb occuring in the third quarter rather than the first.  I also performed my stretches before and after, rather than during.  End result, without exhaustion I managed to cut my time down to 20 minutes.  Over the coming week or two I will continue to up the pace and reduce the walking periods.  See where that gets me.

I followed up my run with about a half hour of core exercises, concentrating on upper body and using the Swedish ball.  As I get more comfortable with the individual drills I am concentrating more on which muscles are activating, how it all fits together.  At the end of the half hour I sang for about twenty minutes on the loungeroom karaoke we have, good for the breathing.

That's the end of Week 4.  Despite my earlier doubts I've accumulated enough sessions and exercises to qualify for a 'pass' and I've marked my sidebar chart accordingly.  In keeping with the plan, I step it up again over the coming week.  Looking forward to it.