Wed 13/2 – Nightly Workout 12: #2

Chinnies time! I’m still amazed I haven’t rolled a 1 yet.

• 500 chinnies

I also decided to add some supermans to the end, just to do some back work as well. I added on:

• 5 supermans (hold at top for 3 seconds)
• 3 sets

My current record for 500 chinnies was 4 minutes 30 seconds. I wanted to do well, so off went the TV, I didn’t put on any music and I locked my door. But, it didn’t go well. Simply because I think I lost count!

I cracked out the first 200 without needing any rest, so I simply carried on. I’m pretty sure I got to 300, although it may have been 250. Damn it, the amazement at not needing rest surprised me enough I had lost count! After a very quick rest, I did another 200, meaning I’m pretty sure I’d finished the 500. I looked at the time, but it was 3 minutes 45 seconds! I took a quick breather, unsure whether I had finished or not, and decided to crack out another 100 just to make certain. I did the extra 100 in a time of 4 minutes 35 seconds. However, taking in mind I only have about 5 seconds of rest overall, my guess is that that was over 500, possibly 550 or 600. Taking in mind the last 100 took 45 seconds (done whilst not fresh), 500 in theory would take 3 minutes 45 seconds. Which was my original time.

So yeah, I think I did 120% of my best in 100% of the time. Or, 100% of the routine in under 85% of the time. Not bad eh? I’m happy! Surprisingly, although I was sweating just as much as normal (if not more), I wasn’t aching much during or after, which is great as it suggests my body is used to the increased workload, which is definitely good.

The supermans didn’t take long at all actually. I probably should’ve done more though. One thing I wasn’t sure about, though, was whether I should touch the floor between reps or not. I’m off the RossTraining forums to ask now!

EDIT: Just found supermans should be done for long holds and low reps. For example, five sets of supermans with 10 second static holds at as high as you can. That’s what I’ll do next time!

Wed 13/2 – School Cross Country!

Although not specifically a workout, or one I had planned to do, today was school cross country, and everyone had to do either the full one (effectively 9 people per year) or the “fun run” (or their normal games options).  I’ve never been a good runner at all, and haven’t started “training” for it yet, but I felt like a change from football so I did the fun run.  Quite a few other people decided to do the fun run instead of normal games too, I would guess 30-40 in total.

Last year, we all had to do a fairly long one – I’m not sure exactly how long, but my guess is about 2 miles, and everyone in the year of about 80-100 had to do it.  And, I came 3 from last, only ahead of an overweight kid (more than I was) and one who can’t run (he just can’t, no physical reason, he just… can’t).  This fun run was only about a mile I guess, bit still more than I was used to.

I started strong – I half sprinted, half ran, and after 1/2 hundred metres I managed to get in the lead.  By about a foot, after which time I slowed down and was slowly overtaken by the more fit people (such as those who actively did sport in school and played for sports teams).  I probably ran constantly for about 1/4 mile, before walking for a bit.  This pretty much went on for the whole thing, running as much as I could then walking to catch my breathe back, running again when I was about to be overtaken to avoid the inevitable. :p

I ended up finishing about 8-10 from last (didn’t count exactly).  Unlike I had thought, they all seemed to be trying, probably not as hard as they could (no-one was), but a fair bit.  I was actually pretty pleased with this result, as the last ones seemed to be a long way behind me (one of whom was the one I beat last year (the other I beat didn’t bother doing it)).

Next year I hope I can do a lot better.  Hopefully top half of the pack.  That would really make me feel pretty damn good!