velocitysports

Surprise! Velocity!

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I actually went to Velocity today. Having not gone in over a month, I wasn't foolish enough to go to Breanne's killer morning workout. I went at lunch and had the joy of a warmup and three rounds of

Inclined bench press
Weighted scales
Step ups
Underhand lat pull downs
One legged v-ups

The incline bench press was with more weight than I should have used.

The weighted scales I couldn't finish with any weight after burning out my hamstrings in the first set with weights too heavy.

The step ups were fine, though my knee was a little shaky with the 50 pounds of weight I was carrying at the time. The step ups were done without placing the moving foot on the platform, to make the top position even harder.

The lat pull downs were fine.

The one legged v-ups I did incorrectly, but didn't realize it until I was done with my third set.

Sigh.

I need to move. Stupid knee.

Can I count to 40?

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Velocity workout this morning was

40 thrusters
20 box jumps
10 50m runs
30 thrusters
30 box jumps
10 50m runs
20 thrusters
40 box jumps
10 50m runs

I ran out of time and didn't do the last 10 runs. I also miscounted on the last thrusters and box jumps, causing me to have to circle back to redo the last of thrusters, then cringe at the number of box jumps I needed to do.

Velocity by 75

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This morning's velocity workout was three rounds of

75 box jumps
75 burpees
75 squats

but not how you think.

In groups of three people (which worked out well, as there were only three of us at the 7am class this morning), one person would rest while another person did twenty lunges. While the lunging person was counting to 20 lunges, the third person would do as many of the current exercise (box jumps, burpees or squats) as possible. When the lunger was done with 20 lunges, we all switched to the next exercise and continued the counting. The 75 of each exercise was cumulative for the three of us.

I have to admit to going more quickly or more slowly so as to minimize the exercises I didn't want to do, which was pretty much the burpees.

The unexpected Velocity

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Yesterday's velocity was three rounds of:

Box jumps
Leg lift pushdowns
Med ball claps
V ups
Jump rope
Plyo pushups
Dead lifts to curl to press

The box jumps were normal. The leg lifts were done lying on a bench, with our legs extended straight out, our hands anchoring our upper bodies to the bench over our shoulders. We lifted our legs up to 90°, then lowered them back to parallel to the floor. When we lowered them, Damien pushed down and asked us to resist, very reminiscent of the ASA workouts.

The med ball claps were done with handled med balls. Standing in a wide stance, lowered position (but not a squat), we pulled the medballs from our sides into a clap in front of us.

The plyo pushups were done between the two lowest jump boxes set about a foot appart with a 12# medball on the floor between them. In a plank position, with our hands on the boxes, we pushed up into the air and landed with our hands on the med ball, then did a pushup. From the lowered pushup position, we pushed off hard, high enough that we could land with our hands back on the jump boxes. I was unable to do this pushup from my feet, and only barely managed from my knees.

The deadlift to curl to press was done with a barbell on the ground. We lifted it in a deadlift, then bent over and did a bent-over row with the bar. Straightening back up, we then curled the bar (using momentum, if needed) to get the bar to our shoulders. We then pressed the bar overhead. The return was shoulders, reverse curl, bend over, set the bar back down.

The 7 minutes of ultimate afterward was 3 on 2 and very short.

Velocity in circles

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I left a client's office early this afternoon to make sure I made it to Velocity on time. I wasn't sure how bad traffic would be, and was pleasantly surprised to arrive early enough to change clothes and stretch slowly. Not having to drive in the fastest lane, but being able to cruise in the flow of the slower traffice helped me arrive calm, too.

To my surprise, there were 10 people in the class. I'm used to 4 maybe 6 tops, so the 10 people seemed a lot. I recognized a large number of the people, one of them being the tall Asian guy who rolled his eyes as I did at Friday's workout a week ago. There were a couple new people, including two women, a tall blonde and a short redhead, the latter being so wonderfully graceful I'm sure she has a dance background.

The number 2

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This morning's velocity was brought to us sideways by the number 2.

We had two rounds of:

20 side wall ball slams, each side
2 50m sprints
20 side box jumps
2 50m sprints
20 side lunges
2 50m sprints
20 barbell side bends
2 50m sprints

The wall ball slams were pretty standard, done by standing perpendicular to the wall (left shoulder close to the wall, right shoulder farthest away from the wall) about a foot away, heaving the ball from the outside hip to the wall as hard as possible for 20 bounces, then turning around to heave the opposite direction.

The box jumps were also done sideways, jumping onto the box sideways.

The side lunges were a heck of a lot easier to the right than to the left. Yay ultimate. I did have to work on my form, not really keeping my butt out and my knee aligned correctly over my ankle. The second round I wasn't able to drop down low enough, having to focus on that, too.

The barbell sidebeds were done with an empty barbell across the shoulders, along the back of the neck, shifted over so that I was holding the edge of the bar, the bulk of the bar hanging out to one side. The bends were done so that the end of the bar hanging out to the side touched the ground. Oh, to be shorter and able to touch more easily! I found this exercise difficult.

When I ran my sprints, my first few were strong. During the second round, however, my first two sets of sprints were sprint down, hunch over so as not to puke, stand up, sprint back. I noticed, however, when stepping over on my side lunges, Kris was sprinting down, planting, turning, and sprinting back. He didn't stop after 50m, he ran the full 100m in one burst.

Aha. Yes, that was how I wanted to run these sprints, which is how I ran the last two sets of sprints. Unfortunately, this didn't cure my urge to puke.

I need to sprint more.

Clearly.

Friday night velocity

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I went to the Friday night Velocity session this evening, as I had spent most of the day sitting on my butt at a client's office. I needed to move, but debated going to the class or just going for a long walk with the dogs or maybe a short run by myself. In retrospect, I wish I hadn't spent the hour of travel time to get to class and return home, and went for a run instead.

When I arrived at Velocity, about a minute before class was scheduled to start, I dashed to the bathroom quickly, desperately needing to be there for a short bit. When I ran back out of class, I couldn't figure out which group of people was the adult fitness class. I recognized no one in what could have been the adult group, nor did I recognize the instructor as an instructor (I knew him as the program director, not a coach or instructor).

All operators are busy

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On the way home from Velocity today, I was cruising in the number one lane on 101 south, travelling a safe distance behind a truck. There were very few cars around us until we neared Palo Alto, which is where the traffic always seems to both thicken and slow down.

This slowing and thickening part is in no small part the result of the moron drivers entering the freeway on the northern Palo Alto onramps, including the numbnut in the champange metallic minivan with the license plate that starts with 4GOZ.

So, yeah, I was cruising on the freeway, right? Driving safely, right?

This van nearly sideswipes the car in front of the car in front of me as it swerved in the number two lane towards the number one lane (if you're not in California or California-trained in driving, the number one lane is always the lane farthest to the left, so every road has a number one lane - number two is the next one to the right, all the way to the number of lanes the road has).

I watched this, and, well, sped up in an attempt to prevent the moron minivan driver from pulling in behind the truck in front of me.

I failed.

After nearly sideswiping the truck in front of me, it slid into the not-really-enough-room space in front of my car. In less than 5 seconds, I realized why the van was swerving.

The driver was bent over towards the passenger seat, trying to get something next to him.

He wasn't on the phone. He wasn't texting, as I could see one hand on his steerring wheel. No, he was digging through something next to him, LOOKING AT THE SEATS, swerving in the lane.

When I saw what he was doing, I laid on my horn.

I wasn't particularly nice about my horn honking. I'm sure I surprised the driver of the cars to my right (the ones preventing me from pulling around the moron in the minivan, I might add). I kept my hand firmly planted on the horn until the driver sat up, put both hands on the steering wheel and was looking forward.

Which lasted about 5 seconds.

At which point, he TURNED TO THE RIGHT, swerved to the right, and started digging AGAIN.

I leaned on the horn again.

He stopped both swerving and digging, so I stopped honking.

Unfortunately, the moron driver was also a slow learning driver. He tried this again, so I leaned on the horn again.

I really really really really wanted to be nowhere near this car. He unsafely swerved into the fast lane, dropped the lane speed by over 10 miles an hour, wasn't watching the road in front of him, and was digging in something next to him. First chance I had, I moved over to the number two lane, as the guy continued to swerve and dig.

Normally, when I'm confronted with driving this bad, I move to be in front of the car - my logic being I'd rather be in front of the idiot and watch the carnage in my mirror than behind the idiot and in the middle of the carnage he creates. Traffic wasn't helping me, though, as, hey, I was driving through Palo Alto, whose traffic is as bad as the 405's Sepulveda Pass.

So, I did the next best thing when confronted with a driver that is going to take out someone in the next five miles.

I called 911.

As I was calling, I moved over to the right, watching the van pull ahead of me, swerving, swerving, swerving. The California Highway Patrol picked up, asked me to press any button to confirm this was an emergency, then not so pleasantly let me know that "All operators are currently busy."

Now that doesn't make me feel very good.

I think it's time to learn CPR, emergency medical training and, well, maybe my medical degree, too.

Push pull figure eight

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Kris and I missed this morning's Velocity workout: I on purpose, Kris because he wanted to sleep in.

Today's workout was continual rounds of:

2 sled push/pull
2 barbell walk in a large figure 8
12 box jumps
4 50m sprints
40m walking lunge twists

There were a couple guys I didn't know at the class, one of whom was at least a semi-regular. The other guy was at Velocity for the first time, and, yes, true to form, trying the whole macho thing out. His level of macho came in handy when I went to do the sled push/pulls.

The sled push/pulls were rather brutal, in that I wasn't really "allowed" to drop the weight down to a weight that I would normally use. With the new guy around of course watching what everyone else was doing, I decided that having a woman who was no doubt older than he was and probably only 2/3 his weight not only doing the same sled weight as he was doing, but also doing the exercise more quickly and with better form, would have a sobering effect on his machoism.

I was right.

The push/pulls involved pushing the sled down the 20m on the turf, an exercise we all know I'm built for, then stepping back with the strap, squatting until our upper legs were parallel to the ground, then pulling the sled back towards us. When the strap was used up, we were to step back the 4m of slack on the strap. Repeat for the 20m back, then repeat the whole push/pull for 2 sets.

The barbell walk wasn't much easier, and was actually way way way harder for me, since, once again, I used the boys' weight. I had to hustle once I had the bar hoisted over my head, arms straight. We walked the bar in a figure 8 around two cone circles with a 7m diameter. The walking wasn't so bad, it was the turning part that was difficult for me.

I received one of the biggest compliments after I finished my second set of sprints. The coach/trainer, a new guy, asked me if I was a sprinter in school. I had to tell him no (alas), but that I do still play ultimate, which requires a lot of sprinting. Indeed. He was impressed.

Velocity decrease by one

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As many rounds as you can do until time ran out of:

12 burpees
11 squat to overhead press
10 box jumps
9 squat jump single action
8 supine row
7 pullups
6 glute hammies
5 ab rollers
4 dips
3 farmers walks with 90#
2 suicides (liners)
1 minute rest

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