Greg on the Run

Warm up and then sprint-jogs on the track. Self divided into groups and then hit 10 stations with a sandbag. 60 seconds at each one. Maximum effort. Lunges, squats, flutter kicks, hello dolly’s, mountain climbers, burpees, wall sit, steam engines, etc.

Our workout this morning was a timed run. We ran for 24 minutes and worked to run a maximum amount of laps. It showed me just how much my training has deteriorated since the marathon. I only did 2 miles and was dry heaving when I was done. I was shooting for 14 laps and did only 12. The good news is that my foot didn’t hurt while doing the run and hasn’t become swollen since the run. I’ve also reached the point where I feel I can workout hard again.

Worked out with one of my athletes who is training for the Cooper River Bridge Run. She is much faster than I am so I struggled to do half of what she did. This was our workout.

• Quick Skips – Almost like a hurdle drill. Fast feet and then kick out the leg with a skipping motion.
• Butt Kicks – Bring the leg up into a 4 shape with the thigh parallel to the deck rather than perpendicular to the deck
• High Knees – forward, right, and left
• 2-stairs – take the stairs two at a time and don’t use the rail to pull yourself up. Fast, even rhythm on the way down
• Tuck Jumps – Started with six. We’ll move to 10.
• One-legged Hops – She did these much easier than I did.
• Bounding
• Step-ups
• Wall Ball – Bend into a squat position and toss a medicine ball up onto the wall with the explosive power from the legs.

2 circuits. We ran a 1/2 mile warm-up and 1/2 mile cool down and ran from exercise to exercise.

• 300 m warm up
• 25 m hard, 25 m medium x 6
• 300 m medium
• 25 m hard, 25 m easy x 6
• 300 m cool down

Total, 1500 m, 55 minutes

“Fight Gone Bad” was the name of our workout this morning. Some names that have been used for workouts make no sense to me. This one does. I remember wrestling practices in high school where I was paired with someone two weight classes above me. And for what seemed like forever, I got my butt kicked and was played with to the point that I was frustrated and angry. I wasn’t angry during this workout but I was frustrated as I became more and more exhausted.

Team Boot Camp started in the gym with everyone else and then moved to the weight room. We set up five stations. Bench Jump or Step-up/135# Deadlift/30# overhead press/30# rows/burpees. We did an exercise for 60 seconds and then rotated. We did 3 rounds with a 60 second rest in between. I just rolled over on the floor when it was time to rest, gulped air, and prayed that my heart wouldn’t beat out of my chest. 17 minutes of work and the special attention that comes with having one trainer for 12 people vs 3 or 4 instructors for 140 people.

Oh, joy.

Monday’s workout was led by Lt McKee. We divided into four groups by ability. Our group started with arm exercises led by Sgt Williams - overhead presses, pushups, arm circles. My deltoids and trapezius muscles still ached from Saturday’s workout. After 10 minutes we went to the next station, led by Mr. Bowen. Legs and explosive power from the legs and core – squats, lunges, and burpees. One day I’ll be able to do 10 of those without stopping and gasping for breath.

Then we headed to the stairs with the motivation provided by SSgt Cunningham and Lt Ulcak. My knee already was aching so I begged off on the stairs and ran on the track. The next station was plyometrics, led by Sgt Haumschild. He was still ticked off after receiving a traffic ticket over the weekend and wanted us to be miserable about it, too. Again – after hopping around a bit my legs and lungs start to burn. I think that’s a good thing.

On Tuesday we ran on the roof. One whistle = pushups, two = flutter kicks, three = burpees. My friend, Pat, said that whoever invented burpees should be shot. I think she’s wrong – they should be made to do burpees until the lose it, over and over again. I don’t care how fit you are, if you’re pushing yourself, then burpees will wipe you out.

And then we sprinted – again and again. I’m finding that these workouts are starting to cause me some issues later in the day and the next day with my foot and groin.

For this one, we started out with Tabata Squats. For 20 seconds, you do as many squats as you can. Then a 10 second rest. Eight times. Your score is the lowest the number of squats you did during any of those 8 sessions. I started out with 14, ended with 11, but dropped to 10 during one set.

Then we did deadlifts. 5 sets, 3 reps, increasing weight. Started at 145 and worked up to 225.

The team did a one mile timed run but I needed to get on with the rest of my day.