Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Days, Cross Fit

We've sure had a rough start to the winter here, not a lot of snow, but enough to cause numerous school delays, early releases, and cancellations. We live down in a valley, with a shady "S" curve between us and town that is notorious for ice and car wrecks. And they don't make chains or YakTrax for crutch tips. So I consult multiple weather forecasting sites and make/adjust plans one day at a time to schedule trips to the pool and gym. Fortunately I can do quite a bit of my work from home as needed.

Speaking of work, in three weeks I am chairing the 3rd annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy and we have over 600 people registered, including quite a number from overseas. It's a bit of its own endurance event but I'm in my element organizing and herding!  Work itself remains a workout, with four heavy doors between my office suite and the copier/coffee maker/mailbox/bathroom. Ugh, I am so tired of that.

Training is going well.  I'm working my butt off in the gym and swims are solid. Monday night I did three sets of 500 with different accessories - the first with the pull buoy, second with nothing, and third with the single zoomer.  I wanted to compare times, perceived exertion, changes in body position. I noticed with the pull buoy set I thought more about high elbows, cocking the shoulder, hand position, and power.  It felt the toughest on my shoulders, and I still got some "fish tailing" which I don't like. The "no accessory" set is the toughest and I focus on staying relaxed and employing a good body roll.  The zoomer set gives me a sensation of elongation, and I find myself reaching further, and swimming more front-quadrant catch-up style. I feel like a leaf floating on top of the water and I try to carry that feeling with me. I've said before, this cast has given me a heightened sense of body awareness in the pool.

My son Spencer stared working out at Cross Fit Blacksburg. He's in a class for elementary school boys that meets three times a week. I've always been intrigued by the Cross Fit approach because they use traditional compound movements and circuit training in a coached group workout. It's similar to what he does in personal training sessions with Jake but allows for more frequent workouts.  It's nice that Jake gave him background with many of the basic Cross Fit exercises - box jumps, lunges, planks, pushups, etc. [While I'm thinking about it, here's a link to Jake's latest newsletter, it's a fun read with lots of good info!!]

One new thing was the jump rope!  He is having a lot of fun working on that, so much so, that we had to go buy a jump rope and he's been practicing at home.

It looks like the Cross Fit gym is deserted, but it's not.  There's about 15 in the group!!