Y Workout? Nottingham, Pennsylvania

It was sad to say the month long road trip was drawing to a close and I wanted to get another workout in before sitting on a plane and eating that oh so delicious food.  So, I made my way to the local YMCA in Nottingham to take on a workout amongst the local country folk.  I managed to draw a few strange looks from people in the gym with my workout but not to worry, I was hoping I may have inspired a few people to actually ‘work out’ in the gym, rather than download new apps on their I-phones or check out themselves every second in the mirrors.

Here is the workout I set out with...

For time:

·         50 double unders

Using a 65lb bar complete the following movements in a flowing sequence, 10 times through

·         power clean into a

·         thruster into a

·         back squat into a

·         push press, then

·         lower the bar to the ground and repeat

·         Finish off with 50 double unders

Time = 7:10

·         21 X thrusters at 65 lbs

I then headed over to the treadmill to finish off with some interval training:

·         1 min running with the machine on 10 miles

·         1 min rest

·         1 min running with the machine on  10.5 miles

·         1 min rest

·         1 min running with the machine on 11 miles

·         1 min rest

·         1 min running with the machine on 11.5 miles

·         1 min rest

·         30 secs running with the machine on 12 miles

·         30 secs running with the machine on 12.5 miles

I think with my interval training on the treadmill I received a few strange looks from fellow gym goers as they probably thought I was going to pass out mid way through the run and then fly off the back of the treadmill...funny in hindsight but not so great in real life I’m sure.

16km Hike, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

When I hear the words “16km strenuous hike up an 806m steep rock gully” it makes me feel incapacitated already.  The mere thought of it makes my knee throb with what little cartilage I have left after two arthroscopic surgeries over the years.  But, true to form I pack my day pack and set off on the 6-8 hour hike up Gros Morne Mountain in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland. 

For geologists this park is known as the “Galapagos of Geology” as it has evidence of plate tectonics.  Tablelands that are made of rock that come from deep within the earth’s crust.  Usually these materials are only found at unfathomable ocean depths, thus making Gros Morne a world recognized “supernatural playground”.   

Playtime.....the girl at the hostel certainly wasn’t lying when she said it wasn’t easy.  I did however encounter my first Moose though!  Now that is a cool animal!  She was just chilling out grazing peacefully, probably watching and laughing at me attempt the climb up the unstable rocky hillside, knowing full well she could bound up there with ease on her long lanky legs. 

The weather certainly added for some discussion too.  It was threatening us with rain the entire time but managed to hold off at least until we had reached the peak.  Unfortunately though, I missed out on the best view as the fog rolled on in followed by spats of rain, just to make the path more slippery and muddy.  We also had some sun lend a hand and wind to keep us cool.

All in all, a truly fantastic hike and we managed to complete it in 5hrs 10 mins including breaks for pictures and moose viewing along the way.  There is always something peaceful about hiking in nature.

Aerobics, St. Johns, Newfoundland

As I enjoyed my workout so much yesterday I thought I would make use of my free pass at the gym and do another workout before hitting the road for another 4 hour journey to Trinity.  Rather than sharing my blood sweat and tears with the rest of the patrons in the gym I used a vacant aerobics room with floorboards which had some handy weights and mats in it.  I created this workout with the expectation of finishing it in about half an hour...golly gosh, how I underestimated the pain of this workout and how many breaks I would need to take!!

Warmup = max double unders in 5 mins

WOD = 4 rounds

·         250 double unders

·         50 walking lunges with a 25lb weight overhead

·         20 burpees

·         20 v-sits

I was hoping on doing 4 rounds but unfortunately a salsa class was about to start, so I cut it short and did 3 rounds and finished with 250 double unders instead.  I can safely say I was almost grateful for the salsa class as I was hurting and panting like a Husky on a 35 degree day.

Time = 37:30

Looking forward to more random workouts!!

Soccer time in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Food food food.  It is greatly underestimated and overlooked by how much we get from food.  We get our energy, recovery, happiness and so much more from food, but yet we all neglect to eat properly all the time.  Today, I probably didn’t start the day off very well with nutrition.  At the B&B I managed a coffee and a small sweet cake, probably the size of an egg. Unfortunately no other breakfast was up for offer.  After not finding any cafes or diners to drop in on the way from Lunenburg to Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) I decided I may as well get my workout out the way before checking into the hostel.  You know, didn’t want to look like a weirdo in my gym gear and all, oh and more importantly, I knew that once I got some food and drinks into me there wasn’t a hope in hell I was working out!

·         Tabata situps (20 secs on, 10 secs rest – 8 times through)

·         5 x 6 handstand pushups freestanding (person holding legs).  I struggled to hit 6 after the second set, but continued the full range of movement assisted with my partner helping.  It seems I need to practice these as I can do these unassisted against a wall no problem!

·         5 x running suicides (or doggies if you know them by that) of half a soccer pitch (touching each line on the pitch) with 10 pushups and 10 air squats in between each complete suicide

Finish up with a suicide of the entire soccer pitch touching each and every line.  Ouch!

Due to the nature of this workout it wasn’t a time based workout so I can’t report a time I’m afraid. 

Now it is time to hit the town and see what Halifax has to offer!

So, what better way than to get the heart going by starting with a Tabata workout.  Bless the person who invented these puppies!!!  I found a soccer pitch amidst the gardens in the centre of Halifax.  The ground was very well looked after I must say.  One thing I have noticed in my travels is that there don’t appear to be any pullup bars or general outdoor workout areas which can get annoying if you fancy some pullups.  Anyway, unfortunately, I couldn’t even use the soccer goals to do some pull-ups on as they were made out of PVC piping?!? What the?  What happened to metal goal posts like I used to play with? Anyway, back to the workout... 

Home run at the baseball in Brewer, Maine

Wow, today was hard to motivate myself to workout.  I had been in the car driving from Connecticut to the middle of Maine for between 9 – 10 hours.  I was tired, sore from sitting still all day, completely unmotivated and let’s not forget hungry!  Nevertheless, I knew a workout would make me feel better and loosen up the body a bit before digging in to some tucker and heading off to bed for another long day of driving tomorrow over to Nova Scotia, Canada.

As we pulled into a tiny little town called Brewer, I noted a baseball field with beautiful lush grass and a short hill which would make for a good workout.  Still not having any weights I filled the 3.8 litre (1 gallon) water container I had in the car and created a workout with my makeshift weight.

3 x the following:

·         10 turkish getups (each arm)

·         15 kettlebell swings (each arm)

·         20 v-sits

·         25 air squats

I finished off with 10 x 20m hill sprints to really blow the cobwebs out of the lungs. 

Time = 24 ish minutes

Now, I am no expert when it comes to conversion rates, but my understanding is that 1litre = 1 kilogram or there abouts.  If that is said to be accurate, I only used a sub 4 kilo weight for my turkish getups and kettlebell swings.  Unfortunately that wasn’t a hell of a lot of weight to work with, but not to worry, good old turkish getups were sure to get the heart rate up and given how awkward the water container was to hold it certainly worked me hard.  My arm and shoulder were screaming at me to stop.  Mission accomplished!

The Farm, Pennsylvania

As I sit here on an old wooden bench on a farm in Nottingham (just outside of Philadelphia) looking out over the corn fields as the haze sets in, I think to myself as I start typing, will anyone follow my blog?  What does a blog even entail?   Why would people be interested in what I have to blog about in comparison to the thousands of others out there?  Well I guess I will never know, but either way, it is a good way to track my training whilst travelling around parts of the USA and Canada over the next month. 

So it begins...

Like most athletes, I start by making an excuse for feeling incredibly lazy and feral this morning during my workout.  Ha!  It all started with a meatball 6” Hoagie for lunch.  Boy was it tasty, but all those heavy carbs did make me have a McHoagies comedown afterwards.  For dinner at the baseball I also managed to smash a hotdog, bowl of fries and let’s not forget half a 2 foot long bag of caramelised popcorn and beers to wash it all down!!  Now...I don’t know about you but I’m not so sure there was a lot of nutrition in what I had to eat all day?  One might say I ate a lot of carbs, which we all know turns into sugar, elevating my blood sugar levels, thus, my body goes into overdrive and throws insulin at me like a dart to a dart board, and as we expect I go crashing down and end up in bed on a full stomach by 10pm!  Wow, look at me go!

Now that my excuse is out there I can explain my workout ;)  The farm (like most farms) doesn’t have a gym, or in fact, any traditional gym equipment like weights, barbells, dumbbells, rowers etc.  So, I start my first workout as a metcon workout (ie: metabolic conditioning – also known as cardio to the norm) to try and burn some calories from my fun filled eating day yesterday.  It’s about 10am and the temperature is around high 20’s with humidity of 80% already.  Now, the driveway is a wicked 650m incline sure to burn the hell out of your legs, there is plenty of grass around the house for sit-ups, pushups, burpees and a concrete slab in the undercover garage for skipping....thus my workout is created. 

WOD

3 x the following

·           650m run as fast as possible up the driveway

·           50 double unders

·           20 sit-ups on an incline (legs bent and splayed out on a yoga meditating position)

·           20 pushups (chest to ground, straight legs)

·           20 burpees (thighs and chest hit ground at the same time, jump and clap in the air)

I finished up with another 650m run up the driveway as that is where the house is.  Not great planning by me I must say.

Time = 25.20 

Now if I had to guess how long I thought this workout would take I would have said 15 mins, how I was wrong!  I felt like I was going to die, my heart rate was through the roof, I sounded like a 70 year old who had been smoking her whole life, my legs were killing me and I was dripping with sweat!  Now that my friends, was a killer workout!

Due to the workout, I was back on track with my eating for the day and I sure do I feel better for it. Time now for a glass of vino!