kentcowgill.org/blog

July 27th: Exhaustion Challenge, push ups. 31. Kind of disappointing. But that's OK, I'm only getting into week 3. And I'm still at the highest level, which I'm assuming means that (as long as I can continue to hit the goals) I'll be that much closer to getting to the 100. I may have tired out my triceps earlier on my bike ride when I was putting most of my weight on the front, riding standing up and leaning on my arms. Regardless, I'm looking ahead to day 1 of week 3, and I'm scared. On Tuesday I'll be going for 99 in the space of about 7 minutes. That's going to be rough. But I'll keep you posted.

July 28th: I'm feeling pretty beat up, and almost didn't do my chin ups. I spent a lot of energy changing the tube on my bike tire... twice. Thanks to the pinch flat I gave myself putting the first one on. Man those tires are tough to get on and off when you're not in practice. I say this because while I struggled mightily getting the tire back on the first time, the second time seemed much less difficult. All of that aside, no excuses for the push ups or chin ups until I'm done, so...

Chin ups: 4 then 4 then 3 then 3 then maxed out at 6. Resting about a minute between sets, for a total of 20 within about 6 minutes or so. Thought for sure I'd struggle at the end, but somehow I managed to pull out one more than the minimum on the max-out set. Week 2 is officially under way, and I'm so far at the mark. I just noticed I don't seem to be too enthusiastic about getting more than the minimum on the max out set. Meh.

No geek update.

So I ended up buying a kettlebell and getting back on my bike.

Saturday (July 26) I bought a 25 pound kettlebell, and could hardly wait to start swinging it around. I went through circuit 1 of the Kettlebells the Iron Core Way DVD, which was a basic warmup followed by two three (I found out later) circuits of some basic kettlebell exercises. Even the warmup had me sweating and huffing. And I was running short on time, so I just did 1 circuit. All I can say is this: it's very difficult. I'm glad I didn't buy the lighter 20 pound kettlebell, because I didn't want to sell myself short. Also glad (at least for now) I didn't buy a heavier one, either. I'd like to make sure I've got the techniques down pretty solid before going heavier. Oh, and maybe get the initial full body soreness out of the way, too :) Because I was fairly sore the following day. But it didn't stop me from doing it again.

Sunday I did the circuit twice. And then Lisa wanted me to do the first part with her. So I did. But the second circuit on the DVD was a little bait and switch - they added exercises to the second circuit! So the second "circuit" was longer than the first, and with more stuff! How dare they! Just kidding, of course, the added exercises just really sent my sweat glands into overdrive. I got a really good workout, and I don't think I'll be ready to do this again Monday. I noticed the backs of my forearms are a little sore from frequent hard contact with the kettlebell. Either my technique is off, or this is just one of those things I'm just going to have to get used to.

(I found out later that this is primarily technique - I need to learn to flip the kettlebell (and my wrist) around a vertical axis and bring my wrist to the kettlebell - not bring the kettlebell to my wrist. Which causes impact. Which causes soreness.)

I also rounded up my bike shoes and helmet, filled my bike tires with about 95 psi of air, and took off. Lisa had taken Matthew and Spike out for a walk, so first thing I wanted to do was to catch up to them. I made a loop around the park a block away, then swung back towards the house - but no sign of them. So I took off to this bike trail bridge (going over W Peterson Ave in the map) I finally figured out how to get to. I have no idea how many miles I ended up doing, but I was out about an hour. But then I remembered I could plot arbitrary routes with Google Maps, so here's the actual route:

View Larger Map

Turns out it was about 6.5 miles.

About a third of the way back, I noticed my rear tire getting lower, so I slowed down and kept most of my weight over the front tire. Two thirds of the way back, I was riding on the rim. So I had to walk it the rest of the way home from W Foster Ave. Bummer.