DoTheEvolution.Me

at some point I’ll write up a more extensive reflection of my last weeks of training, with an ‘after’ picture, and final stats.  But for now, Friday Sprints/Abs complete!  I’m taking the next week off training.  A few bullet points:

• I’ll forever have a strange, weird, and intimate connection with the gym at north boulder rec.  At 6am 2 days a week for the last 14 weeks it was a space I had all to my own.
• Part of me had secretly hoped my last training session would be off the hook and super amazing, etc, etc.  Turns out it was just as hard as usual, lungs hurt, felt tired, crossovers sucked for abs, etc, etc.  So goes training, and life.
• While there’s no doubt my training was *hard*, it in many ways wasn’t.  Setting up for success goes a long way.
• I ended up going the entire 16 weeks sober.
• Totally failed writing my screenplay, and my sitting practice dropped off as well.
• I’m really happy I started in late winter and was able to FINISH in early summer.  Feels good to be headed into this season healthy.
• Going to miss the lovely blonde that takes the step class on saturday mornings.  May go a few more saturdays just for you baby.
• I’ve now done two “12 week training programs” in the last 2 years.  One with a workout partner, one without.  Both have numerous benefits and strengths, as well as weaknesess.
• Big love to Rob McNamura, Shawn Phillips, and “Crazy” Casey Capshaw for their tips, support, and training philosophies.

I like living clean.  I like getting up early.  I like being strong, and  my training has in many ways just begun.

This morning I seriously considered skipping.  My first thought was “I’m in my last week, I’ve done well, no one would ever know”.

Then I though “I’m in my last week, I’ve done welll.  Why stop now”?

And off I was to the North Boulder Rec for some sprints and abs.  My first 2 sets were fully badass, I was fast, powerful, and sleek.  Things slowed down a bit after that, but I came back strong for the last few.

Abs were also pretty solid, swiss ball crunches felt good today.  I’m building some actual muscle down there, not much, but I can say its coming slowly but surely.

16 weeks after startinng basecamp I’m not exactly huge or cut, but there is a good deal muscle mass.  And making this routine into a sustainable lifestyle will is going to continue changing  my body for sure.

WED/THURS/FRI left!

Suckerrific.  This morning was aweful.    I was out of breathe and cramping up by sprint 5, felt very sluggish the whole time, and just felt tapped out.  Abs were no better, I felt just as weak and unpowerful.

So definitely one of those low days I’ve written about before.  Performance wise if you actually timed my sprint and witnessed by ab exercises my guess is they weren’t actually all that much more worse than some other days.  But they sure as hell felt like it!

7 days left!

While many things in my life may be either in, or headed towards, the shitter, I’ve at least got my training.  Part of me is really starting to love sprints.  There.  I said it.  Every moment of every sprint rep has been hard since I started, and 12 weeks later that’s still almost exactly the same case, except for 2 things: For one,  I’m running harder, faster, and more powerfully in each rep, and two, in-between reps I recover a LOT faster.  And in my mind, that’s how I want all growth in my life to be.  Enlightenment is an edge to be surfed, not a thing to be achieved. With practice it can be lived more fully, deeply, and powerfully in each moment, but its never suddenly going to be “easy”.  Like sets of sprinting, some moments will be great, others will feel like shit, but recovery from those moments gets quicker and easier…or something like that.

Abs were also pretty solid today, Swiss balls and reverse crunches were solid today, I was present, engaged, and pushed myself.  So much so I was actually a little worm out by the time I got to crossovers, but that’s ok.

For the second friday in a row, my damned alarm didn’t go off.  Not sure why, but luckily my internal alarm clock yet again went off and I woke up exactly at 6am.  So I was about a half hour late getting started, which kinda sucked.

I was achey this morning, which felt strange.  I wasn’t sore in the way I’m used to being: tons of lactic acid in the muscles for super intense workouts.  Instead it was a bit more gentle, and felt more like I had just used my body quite a bit this week, which I did.  The after effects of wednesday’s leg routine were definitely felt this am.

Sprints were madness today, on my 7th set I sprinted as hard as I think I have in 10 years and my  lungs just about exploded.  The good news is it felt awesome and powerful, the bad news is it made me realize that a 100% full out sprint for me is much more than I thought it was, and that I’m not going as hard as I need to be overall during my sprints.

Abs were good today as well, couldn’t find a free bench to do reverse crunches on, so I hit up the roman chair instead, and good god are leg lifts one hell of an exercise.  I was failing at about 11 reps, and failing gloriously.

And its officially 2 weeks from today that we’ll be having our Boulder Theater premiere of Sex, God, Rock ‘n Roll, which I’ve timed to not only be a celebration of the launch of a national TV production I helped create, but will also be the official end of my focused training (and with that sobriety).

Gotta say, I’m damn excited.  Though I’m pretty sure I’m going to continue with a similar routine and schedule in the weeks after, much more loosely.  Right now I’m about back to the my  normal “fit” state, which for me is pretty lean.  However, I’m also at th epoint where any additional losses in fat and gains in muscle will literally be taking me into the realm of experiencing my body in a way I never have before in life.  So I’m prety into shooting for that, end of routine or not.

Back in action, woke up on time, got to bed on time last night, and slaughtered my sprints.  Felt faster and stronger than usual, more powerful in each stride.  Abs also went pretty well, I sometimes have trouble keeping proper form on the swiss ab ball, but otherwise it was a tough, engagning, satisfying morning.

I’m in week 12 of my self-chosen 14 week cycle, and feeling strong.  I’m definitely going to be ready for a little break/recharge at the end, but am pretty sure I’ll be able to hang through the remainder.

One thing I have completely failed at is writing my screenplay, so far I’ve just been lazy and been avoiding it.

My alarm didn’t go off this morning.  Luckily, after a dozen or so weeks of waking up early 6 days of the week, my body had me covered.  I woke up at 6am, the time I’m usually arriving to the gym.  Scrambled, got my shit together, and headed over by 6:15.  Consequently, I felt “behind” my whole workout, even though I had no hard deadline…

Physically I was achey as hell this morning, which actually pleases me quite a bit after 10 weeks of training.  I was pretty sluggish in my sprints, though there were a few specific sets where I felt more powerful than I ever have before.

Abs were pretty good, not great.  Part of me really still feels like I don’t really know how to do a true crunch, I was so indoctrinated by situps in my youth that its really hard for me to limit my range of motion.  Definitely feels more intense when I do though.  One thing I have come to truly love about Strength Training, which is like any true artform, is that its not something than can ever really be ‘mastered’, but is instead a lifetime of exploration.

Sleepy waking up this morning.  Was pretty wiped out from an intense workshop this weekend, just took about 24 hours for me to actually feel it.  Sprints were good though, I’m really falling into a strong rhythm with them.  Trying to push myself a little harder each time, as my recovery time between sets is still going down.  Though I’m by no means a graceful sprinter yet, I often feel slugggish and wheezy!

Abs also felt good,  finally found the swiss ab ball that seems to be the right size/firmness for me, so swiss ball crunches were fantastic today.

Summer is definitely peeking its head out, melting away our latest snow.  Morning’s are shockingly lighter than they were just a week ago, and I’m feeling all the sensations that come with summer arising in my body.

At least I’m going to be in pretty decent shape for this next couple of months.

Sprints were fucking awesome this morning.  Best day yet.  It was extremely challenging, my lungs hurt, my legs hurt, my everything hurt.  But my body was right there with it, and I was able to push myself a bit harder than I have ever before.

This morning was how I strive for every workout to be, that perfect level of performance exactly on my edge, challenging, enganging, difficult, and ulitimately rewarding.  I’m definitely learning that to really makes any gains, I gotta risk.  That works all the way down to running extra hard on that one sprint I don’t want to.

Long weekend ahead.  Let’s hope it brings many gifts.

I went to bed pretty early last night.  It was s good sleep, quite deep and restless.   Despite this, or maybe because of this, I was reeeeaallly tired when I woke up.  I felt sluggish and had that achey cell feeling.  I just wanted to sleep in.
I didn’t, and hauled my ass off to the gym for morning sprints and abs instead.  It was tough today, I felt completely out of breath the entire time, and just felt like I was running on empty.  As soon as I started my first sprint all I could think about was how much I couldn’t wait for it to be over, to have a couple of seconds to catch my breath.  By sets 3 & 4 I suddenly found myself very much checking out of my body during the sprints, trying completely avoid the pain and discomfort.  And then I realized how fucked up that was and ran harder.