Lifting week of 20 May

 Monday, 20 May, heavy

• SQ: 4x5 @245
• OHP: 4x3 @107.5
• CR: 4x12
• SS: barbell row 4x10 @115 and monkey row 4x10 w/25# db

Everything felt pretty good although the OHP is getting heavy. Calf raises as usual: 24kg kettle and 20# vest. Have no heavier. Either buy a 35# or 45# plate or do 4x15.

Wednesday, 22 May, light

• SQ: 2x5 @210
• OHP: 2x5 @97.5
• CR: 4x12 as usual
• SS: chin-ups (4x8 w/bands) and hammer curls (4x8 w/20# db)

All easy. Did first set of chin-ups with only one band assistance and felt great. Will try first two sets w/only one band. Burns the arms.

Saturday, 25 May, medium

• SQ: 3x5 @225
• OHP: 3x5 @102.5
• CR: 4x12 again
• SS: row and monkey rows, same as Monday

Decided I'd cycle through those two SS. Also going to pause between deadlifts equal to one week plus a workout. In other words, if I had done DL this week on Monday, 20 May, I wouldn't do it again till light day next week (29 May). I just can't do it every single week. Too heavy. (Spoiler alert: Just did DL. Supposed to be 270x5, but could only do 3.)

Also managed to swim this week, including a 2-mile race. Blog post here.

Great songs this week: "Wow," by Beck; "Violent Times," by St. Vincent; "Hurdy Gurdy Man," by Donovan; and "Dreams," by Sjowgren.

Books this week: Rosemary's Baby, by Ira Levin; and The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa.

First open water race of the season! (Edited to add Lessons Learned)

 Swam in the Jim McDonnell Lake Swims today. First open water race of the season. I did the 2-mile race. No idea why I didn't sign up for both the 1-mile and 2-mile. Oh well. 

I've done this swim a couple times before, first time being in 2010. I wore that shirt today and one of the volunteers at the check-in remarked on it. The shirt we got today is very nice, but if/when I do this swim again (it's terribly expensive), I'll still wear the 2010 shirt. Maybe the Swim should have a contest for the oldest shirt to show up!

Lake Audubon is the location for this swim. It is very well run, with lots of safety volunteers (I think maybe 15 kayaks & SUPs on the water). 14 buoys, one mile loop. Water was deliciously cool. I was way out of shape! (I only swam 8.5 miles this month prior to today; for that matter, counting today's 2 miles, I've only done 25.5 miles this year! But I'm back in the pool now so more miles are coming.) I grabbed my index card (this is how they track swimmers going in the water) and got in line. 

Back to the JMLS: We all had sensors, and were lined up based on our mile time. There were kids here with 18:00 seed times. I sent in 37:00 and sure enough, my first mile was 37 minutes. Second mile was not. Final time: 1:21. But not last in my age group!

The fun part was my friends who came. I got a pic with one of them (Jen); next swim we'll get a pic, Annie!

Late addendum: Lessons learned. 

Bring a hat. I walked the event shirt back to my car because I thought I had a hat in there. No joy. Lots of sun and look at my head. Shade was my friend. 

And park on the opposite side of Twin Branches. That's where the shade be! (Red arrow is my car.)

Lifting week of 13 May

 Great week again!

Monday, 13 May

• SQ: 4x5 @235
• OHP: 4x3 @105
• CR: 4x12

All felt good. Too tired after calf raises, couldn't do superset. CR was with 20# vest and using the 24kg kettlebell.

Wednesday, 15 May

• SQ: 2x5 @205
• OHP: 2x5 @95

All smooth. Went on a walk with the wife instead of lifting any more.

Friday, 17 May

• SQ: 3x5 @215
• OHP: 3x5 @100
• DL: 265x5

Totally f^cked up and loaded 235 instead of 215. Whoops! Will do 245 on H day next week. 265 deadlift was heavy!

Best songs this week: "Dancer," by IDLES; "Mickey Mouse," by Sparks; "Dancing Barefoot," by Patti Smith; and "Nice 'N" Sleazy," by The Stranglers.

Book read last week: Ill Met by Moonlight, by W. Stanley Moss, and The Boys from Brazil, by Ira Levin.

Lifting week of 6 May

 Another good week. And I swam! (Once...ugh.)

6 May, H

• SQ: 4x5 @230
• OHP: 3x5 @105, 1x5 @95
• DL: 260x5

Ended up doing 5,3,3 for the 105 in OHP. Next time I'll do 4x3. DL was hard, so going back to every 9-10 days.

8 May, L

• SQ: 2x5 @205
• OHP: 2x5 @90
• CR: 4x10
• SS (chin-ups and hammer curls)

Calf raises were with my 20# vest and the 24kg kettlebell. Superset was 4 sets of 8 chin-ups (with straps) and 8 reps of hammer curls, w/20lb db. 

10 May, M

• SQ: 3x5 @215
• OHP: 3x5 @95
• CR: 4x10
• SS (barbell row and monkey row)

CR as 8 May. Superset was 4 sets of 10 barbell rows (upright, 115#) and 10 monkey rows with 25# db. 

Great songs this week: "Mickey Mouse," by Sparks; and "Doused," by Diiv.

Great event this week: Our daughter's college graduation! In only three years. Congrats, girl!

Show watched while writing this: "Chopped"

Lifting last week

 Good week!

Monday, 29 Apr, Heavy:

• SQ: 4x5 @225
• OHP: 3x5 @105, 1x5 @95
• DL: 1x5 @255

OHP didn't go as planned. I did 5, 5, 3. Planned to redo 3x5 @105 today. Spoiler alert! 5,3,3. Going to do 3x3 with the drop set going forward. Probably go up by 2.5# instead of 5#. Other lifts went well.

Thursday, 2 May, Light:

• SQ: 2x5 @200
• OHP: 2x5 @90
• CR: 4x12 w/24kg kettle
• SS: Curls 50# and db tricep extension 40#: 4x10

Had to push Wednesday's L workout to Thursday as we had visitors that evening. Workout felt good. 

Saturday, 4 May, Medium:

• SQ: 3x5 @210
• OHP: 3x5 @95
• CR: ditto
• SS: push-ups (10) and bent-over row 135# (5): 4 sets

Book read last week: A Desolation Called Peace, by Arkady Martine. 

Songs I liked last week: "Bean Fields," by Shannon & The Clams; "Interlude," by Morrissey; and "Caution," by The Killers. 

Great recent news: My wife's book, Children of Cain: Love & Murder in the Age of Monsters, the #1 self-published e-book in 2023 according to Writer's Digest, is featured in the May/June issue of the magazine as well as online.

Spring Bloom

 Today, Sonja and I participated in Broad Run Off Road's Spring Bloom adventure race. We did the no-bike option as we have plenty of hobbies already. We don't need another one. We have thought how funny it would be to sign up but show up with our fixie bikes. But then we saw some of the bike trails today.

I'll tell you the end up front: we got 15 points (1 point per control) and placed 13th out of 29 two-person teams and 25th out of 49 total for the no-bike option. We're getting better!

The race was 5 hours long. All of us no-bikers had to start with the paddle. If you, dear reader(s), remember my report from BROR's Fall Foliage, Sonja and I suck at paddling. But not today. We actually did pretty well!

My iPhone stopped tracking us as soon as we got in the water, so I had to use Google Maps at home to see how far we paddled. We got controls P1-3 on the map (below). Ended up canoeing 5km! 

Once we got back to the paddle S/F, we dumped the canoe and ran to the picnic area where we changed into rain jackets (because yes, rain again) and began the trekking leg. We entered trekking 1:25 into the race. 

Everything to the east of the railroad tracks (going up the fold in the pic above) we got, in order, T1-5. We did all that in only 46 minutes, which is great for us. We got our first "bike" checkpoint (B1) at 2:23 race time. (Us no-bikers were allowed to get B controls; those doing the full adventure race could only get controls when they were on the proper leg.) T6 took a minute; the hint was firewood, but there was a Boy Scout troop in that area. I assumed they wouldn't want us to walk through their camp, but sure enough, the control was in it. We almost missed it but one young man said "Did you get that one?" and pointed to their camp. Thanks, Scout!

Then we were on the other side of the tracks at around 2:30. So half done. T7 was easy, but T12 was harder. We were on the road going for T11 when I told my wife about the marshy T12. That one, unfortunately, took us 22+ minutes. Not because we couldn't find it. We saw it clearly, but the whip vines and the fact that we were on the wrong side resulted in us taking more time than we hoped. We then hopped back on the road and headed to T10. After T10 we went back to the trail. Initial plan was to turn left, hit B5, then T9, B2, maybe T8, B3, T7 then back to Finish. 

But we decided to turn right. Sonja wanted to go for a "far one." And we did. But T10 to B6 took us 21 minutes, and we had to cross about 200m of muddy and slippery wooden 2x4's. I really thought it would have taken us longer. But from T10 to B6 to B5 was a total of 41 minutes. I wonder if we could have gotten T9 and B3 in that time (2 points rather than 1)? Oh well. It was still fun. 

We still got B5 and then headed to S/F. We clocked in at 4:42.35, so didn't lose any points for being late!

Lifting after not lifting

 Last Saturday I got back from two weeks in Florida (for work). No lifting then. Barely any swimming, even, as I had a nasty cold for three days. And was busy. 

Upon returning decided to go back to HLM. The 4-day thing was fun and all, but I need more swimming in my life. And I felt I was losing my 1RMs. So back to HLM it is.

Monday, 8 April:

• SQ: 1x5 @215#
• OHP: 2x5 @95#
• DL: 1x5 @225#

The squat was hard. Been too long. Next Monday 3x5 @215#. The DL also heavy. I'll get back soon, maybe add 10# next week. 

Wednesday, 10 April:

• SQ: 2x5 @195#
• OHP: 2x5 @85#
• Super-set:
• Curls: 3x10 @45#
• db triceps extension: 3x10 @30#

The super-set was so much fun. Arms hurt a lot after.

Saturday, 13 April:

• SQ: 2x5 @205#
• OHP: 3x3 @95#
• Super-set:
• Curls: 3x10 @45#
• Pull-ups w/bands: 3x8

Songs listened to this week: "Danzig with Myself," by The Dandy Warhols; "Promised Land," by Cold Cave; "Honey, You Know Where to Find Me," by Morrissey; and "Tears Run Rings," by Marc Almond.

Books this week: A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine and The Anglo-Saxons, A History of the Beginnings of England: 400-1066, by Marc Morris.

TV watched while writing this: From Russia with Love (Bond #2)