She's here!

Tatiana showed up this week. 16 kg, or 1 pood of beauty and brutality. I did a fun little workout today with my family of kettlbelles. I started with 15 minutes of half turkish getups with one 12kg...yes...me and my pathetic getups. I think I need at least a 10kg, because while I can sorta do the 12kg, on my left side my right leg I cannot keep down. I have trouble keeping my opposite leg down partly because I'm not rolling onto my arm correctly. I think this is a pretty good demo of the getup




And from there I progressed to double 12kg clean and presses. And in 15 mins achieved 12 sets of 3 reps. Things to work on: when i get tired I do let the 'bells slap my wrist harder than I should. I don't tame the arc very well.

And then 10 fun minutes of 20sec on/40sec off of swings and snatches. I pulled in my 20kg for the swings at the end and attempted one set of snatches with my 16kg and the rest with 12kg.

So about that 16kg...um...yea. Really what I did was high arm pulls with the 16kg on my left and and did manage 3 on my right side, but I'm going to be honest (like I was in my last post), 16kg still scares me a bit. I'm meeting with an RKC instructor on monday to have a movement screen and I will work with him towards my RKC this year...so I'm also feeling a little bit of a 'maybe I'll just work with him a bit more to get over this mildly irrational fear first'. I believe the way to move through this is found in the hip snap and the rest is mental.

What is interesting is lately I'm still reading (not commenting much) triathlon blogs and i love to hear what people are up to...what they are training for, what they want to do...but I don't have that 'pull' at the moment. But I do miss my bike (and bike fitness!!)and I do hope to visit the track this year.

The interesting thing I reflected on today is how 'easy' it is for people to come to triathlon or really anything with no background and no foundation for what they can do and what they are able to do. You sign up for your first race. You download a training plan (maybe). You follow it. You complete your race and you are all grins. Next step: new race, new training plan...and it keeps going. What you don't account for are the things that sideline you or taking a lot of time off.

I trained with my new kettlbell gym from July through the end of Sept when they closed. 3 months. Not a lot, but I had a good program that keep progressing every week. And I got stronger. And then the gym closed. And Oct when crazy, and November came around and I had my life back and I trained some...and sort of haphazard...and then there was December of more chaos in lack of focus for any kind of training and now I'm in January and I have lost that beautiful strength I had back in Sept. And what is hard for athletes is that constant thought of 'I used to not be here'. So I am letting it push me forward. I want my strength back from Sept but I also want something akin to 2009....I don't need to be in HIM shape...but this RKC certification process will put me in something equivalent. But this must happen without my body rebelling again like last year.

Forward!

Names

Some People name their kettlebells...other people don't. Some people name their cars, and other people don't. I'm someone who sometimes does these types of things when inspiration hits me. My car name in New Zealand was: Kermit. He named himself when I bought him. Little green Mazda 626, the minute I saw him I just thought: Kermit and it stuck. After I moved back to the states in 2002 I bought a Mazda Protege which I still have. Brown. Sorta boring, but a good little car. But not inspiring for a name. I've tried to name him...but it's too hard after the fact. Same with my bike. Gasp...i know...the closest I've come is 'George'...but it doesn't really stick. Poor guy...i do heart him so, and yet he is nameless. snif.

But my new family of 'bells? Yep. I bought them and their names pretty much surfaced right away: Borris for the 20kg...Tatiania is on her way (the 16kg), Vlad and Anastasia for the two 12kgs and time will tell if I get a smaller guy too. I talked through the good, the bad and the ugly with Katie B about RKC certification. I get the feeling there will be a few 'Come to Jesus' moments during the 3 day grueling process, but that is why I signed up. It will test my limits. In order to pass the physical I have to be able to do 100 kettlebell snatches with the 16kg in 5 minutes. That's no joke of a test considering (shh...don't tell my secret) I'm a little intimidated to snatch the 16kg bell at the moment. I know I have the strength to do it. I can one arm swing the bell and do high pulls all day long, but prior to my new kettlebell family (which is currently missing it's 16kg family member anyway) I trained at a standard gym at the moment where proper use of a kettlbell is looked at strangely. So if anything goes awry dumping the bell and getting out of the way would probably get me kicked out. I know it is purely mental and I am fine, strong and safe with it, but I think I would rather do it in the privacy of a park. You know...those private grassy parks with other random strangers. At least they won't kick me out of the park.

Although talking through the RKC certification process with Katie B., she also suggested if I could practice (once I had the strength) to train with a heavier bell then the 16kg so that effectively the test seems 'easier'...hmmm... RKC bells don't come in an 18kg variety, but it does seem that I can buy a 40 pound bell from some other random brand. His name would be John if I try this type of training. First I need to start with the 16kg 'bell and go from there.

One reason I like kettlebells is the simplicity of them and how brutal they can be. Yesterday...three bells, one evil ab wheel = BRUTAL workout. We were doing double kb work so 2 x 12kg on a variety of moves, snatches, presses, cleans and presses, swings...in an increasing type of ladder. Yea...no big deal...except for the part where our instructor said: for 15 minutes. After 5 my arms were on fire and my grip was dying. What is brutal about kettlbells is that the workouts look really simple and almost (gasp) easy. And then after 5 minutes you wish it were over. Effective. Truly.

Onward and forward...apparently i'm in a blogging mood. Maybe it will stick?

The Trigger is Pulled

Meet the new additions to the family. I also ordered a 16kg along with...SIGNING UP FOR RKC CERTIFICATION IN SEPTEMBER.

No...i'm not excited...not.at.all. eeeek...ok I lied...i'm really...really...excited.

3 very tough days to get certified to teach kettlbells and one challenging test to be considered to teach. The physical requirements are 15 second hang (for the ladies)...which I can already do since it can be either fist toward or away from you and I can at least do forward for 15 seconds (chin up style...maybe I should also make it my goal to be able to also be able to do pull up style...which is reasonable since one 2011 goal is to do ONE pull up). But the 100 kettlebell snatches with 16kg in 5 mins...oye...vey. Now THAT will be a challenge. I can probably do 100 already with a 12kg...but 16? 1 pood. Bring.it.on.



So...I bought 2 x 12kg and a 20kg today. They didn't have a 16kg on hand, so I ordered it when I signed up for the certification. Then my little kb happy family will almost be ready. Although i think i might need an 8 or a 10kg since my turkish getups are pretty pathetic at the moment....but where I can get them without shipping here in SD didn't have any 10kg on hand either.

I like goals. So this is a big one. I will probably also do a HKC certification in the spring as there is one here in SD and depending upon when the tactical strength challenge in the Fall is...I will probably sign up for that too. But I refuse to sign up for that until I can at least do 1 pullup. I doubt I will be ready this spring for that, but who knows. April is close...and far at the same time.

Piece by piece

This summer/fall I was back with some training, mainly doing weights and other things, but doing *something*. And then October hit...which came in to about 70 hours of work/week combined with two things I was working on...both my main job and other...and any type of training took a back seat. I've since been doing some kettlebell work and lifting, but not as organized as I have meant to be and it totally shows.

Of course I'm the silly one and decides to throw down 45 miles in the saddle after 4+ months of not riding. Smart one. I've actually been running this week..2x...i don't know what that is about...except molasses. I actually wore my Garmin both times, so i"m not lying on that. I'm actually kind of fascinated by how slow i'm running at the moment. Not thrilled, but sort of facinated.

So...the plan is to 'do something' 7 days a week. Yoga, kettlebells, trainer, running, swimming...are all legit. But right now I'm after 6 weeks of consistency. Consistency is what I need right now and it is usually the first 3 weeks that feel like hell in this training circuit after not doing stuff constantly. So...that's the plan.

Long term plan. Still working on the next 9 months. Until I pull the trigger on my thoughts I'm not ready to publish.

Paleo: this week 3 out of 7 days went ok. It's a bit of a change taking out ALL grains, dairy, legumes...so one that need fore thought and planning. I also need to understand my energy needs. I'm reading Rob Wolfe's book as well as Joe Friel's "Paleo for Althetes" book. I'm possibly looking into some Primal books as well. I figure at the very least I will have some good recipes. I tried a paleo pancake this morning...meeh. More tasted like fluffy eggs...but trying to work on this. Too bad I A)hate grocery shopping and B)hate cooking. And by hate i mean...HATE. It's a challenge. I've given up trying to like it...because it is such an effort and chore to me. I had a friend try to show me the 'joy' in learning to cook. He somehow thought that by teaching me to cook I'd learn to like it. Here's the thing: I know HOW to cook...i just abhor it. So that is an added challenge to the Paleo cooking, but only in a little way. Eating paleo is pretty easy for main meals...meat, lots of veggies, healthy fat and if I'm recovering from a workout...some sort of starchy veggie (potato, sweet potatoes, pumpkin) and some fruit (again a good recovery source for workouts when you need carbs).

That's my random ramblings for now.

Observations

It's been over 2 months since my last post: when writers block hits, it hits every area of my life.

Some days can be improved solely by going running with pigtails and a running skirt, fortunately today was one if them.

Pigtails might just be my 2011 "thing" although tough for under a helmet. I might be 33, in a career-y type of job, a professional degree of sorts, but pigtails during workouts might just be in order.

How do visors get stretched out? I don't let people with big noggins borrow them so why would they one day be too big? Oh the mysteries in life.

Thank goodness I still have a trunk like a chaotic athlete. I forgot my sports socks for my run but had a spare in my trunk. ( along with a myriad of random other things)

Want to strengthen those glutes? Pistol squats. Don't even weight them and don't worry if you can't squat all the way down (A2G) use a step bench (I've got 4 risers at the moment ~6inches off the ground) I promise stronger glutes. Or at least sore ones.

I need more Zen in my life. I wish I didn't hate yoga so much. I have to try not to hate it and practice being Zen.

I'm trying to go paleo: no grains, no dairy, minimal sugar. Today is day 4. Day 3 was a bit of a bust. Cake AND ice cream were involved.

I hope to be posting more in 2011, but I'm not holding my breath either. Happy New Year!