not a slippery slope. I skipped a workout for perhaps the first time in my life yesterday. For sure the first time in recent memory and it taught me a lesson, fast. Just as the Hungarian RKC's say " eating just makes you hungry", not training just makes you weak.
For bunches of reasons,none that really matter, this last 6 weeks has been a rollercoaster of travel and stress and after baking in the sun for three days in SD, having my first grandchild born on Wednesday, then too much wine and too little sleep on Friday. I flat out skipped my snatch workout Saturday. The fact that my last remaining training partner was in Mexico didn't help; if Nick had been there he's have forced me to train.But he wasn't and that matters not a whit.
I have always said the true test of an athlete, or someone who wants to be one, is the ability to train, and to train appropriately hard by themselves.
In fact, it's almost a prerequisite to the getting through the gateway to full 'athlete' status, at least in my book.A Rite of Passage if you will.
Good training partners are harder to find than hen's teeth and more valuable.But counting on them is always folly and if you need one to get in your workout then you are doomed. Having good ones makes things SO much easier but I never relied on one. Until I did.Then if they don't show up it makes life SO much harder to get in there and push it when no is watching, or caring or pushing. You don't realize how much energy a training partner can provide until they are not there.
And I could have trained with Tracy and Meg at Girya( check out her site for her snatch test results( http://tracysfoodandthought.blogspot.com/) but I chickened out and just drove down,counted their reps and cheered them on. But I didnt train.
I hadnt trained Bikrams in a week either, and I could so feel the weakness pouring over me, telling me it really didn't matter, that I needed more recovery, that things have been tough and I needed rest. Which I did. But I also needed to snatch.
I barely got any work in in SD cert despite teaching the snatch and I had just skipped my workout. Not good.I had done max this tuesday but I need more work with the 24kg and it didnt look good.
Especially when I woke up this AM and realized I had to do it today. Damn.I was not feeling great and I havent trained on Sunday in a long time and I am SUCH a creature of habit. Not bad for a competitive athlete, but very bad for the life athlete.And seeing the look in Tracy's eye didn't help either.She said she knew I would show up to help them but she thought I would do something. But I didn't.
And it made me feel worse, not better.
SO ,in the words of Steve Maxwell, " I have failed you so I will punish myself". And I did.
And I feel SO much better now,lol.
And stronger,too, btw.
And I knew that the weakness is back in it's place, just a faint call to me that I can barely hear. And that it doesn't feel good at all down that road. Not at all.I am only doing two kb workouts per week when factoring in at least 2 Bikrams classes at well. In survival mode just two kb workouts will keep me strong enough to deal with life and stress but less than that and you are skaking downhill.
There is NO CHOICE. Do the damn workout.
Because it's Saturday and it's snatch day.Or Max Vo2day,or deadlifts or whatever you scheduled because it would get you that much closer to your (current) goal.
Because to not do it is just helping you skate down that inevitable icy hill just that much faster.
Scale it, yes.Modify it, of course. Just don't not show up. Unless blood is involved.
lol.
I think.
Snatch
16kgx5/5x2
20 kgx5/5
24kgx5/5x14 sets
x10/10
150 snatches
7950 pounds
Negative split pace as usual. Rest periods started out slow( real slow,lol) and got much faster as I warmed up. entire snatch workout took about 25 minutes but each set was hard as I could go.The fact I could do 10/10 so strongly at the end was very encouraging. Watching Tracy kill her RKC snatch requirement yesterday really inspired me. 10 rep sets per hand with perfect overhead positions and holds with no putting the bell down and no break in pace was awesome.
16kg for women is no joke just as 24 kg for most men is no joke.I still need to do the 10 minute SSST someday soon and I better get my work capacity up.
I took for granted my work capacity two years ago. Not again.
One Clubbell Arm Casts
10/10x5 15 # CB sets no stopping.
there's my hundred rep set,lol. I swtiched hands every 10 reps and it was easy. Didn't time it but probably around 3.5 - 4 minute sets
One arm sheild casts
15# CB x 10/10 x 2 sets
Two Handed Barbarian Press
25 # x 8/8 x 3 sets
now I am feeling like myself. Damn, it takes me forever to warmup these days.
total workout time about 50 minutes, including RIFGA stretching at start
datsit.
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11 comments:
WTF?
lol, Dan, wtf to what part?
The beating yourself up part.
ah, my inner masochist came out,lol.
It's actually a bit of a relief to see that even a stubborn SOB like yourself can skip a session or two.
Hey Boris
First I resemble that remark,lol.
and two, ONE skipped, not two, and not again.I learned something big.
This post hits home very well today for me. My elderly parents have been down to visit this last week, and despite my trying hard to deny it, they are rapidly approaching feeble. My mother, 78, and my father, 73, have always been strong, vital, intelligent people. I look at them now, though, and see little old people, the kind to whom thoughtful people reach out a hand in offer of assistance. I look at them and wonder, "When did this happen? HOW did this happen?" And I think about the times they sat in the house and said, "I just don't FEEL like doing anything else." (These days have been increasingly abundant over the last few years.) Each of those days they were getting weaker. Somewhere they lost their ability to drive themselves despite depression or boredom or weakness or aches and pains, and because of that they now have difficulty even when they are willing to drive. It breaks my heart, but it also is somewhat of a gift to me. Hopefully, it will teach me to drive and push through regardless. As I was pondering their loss of function, coming in from a morning of fishing with my dad and watching him struggle with even getting in and out of the boat, I came across this post. Your words were just what I needed to reinforce my thoughts. Thank you for sharing your wisdom as you do, Rif, it is always deeply appreciated.
Jennifer,
I actually responded to this comment a few days ago but then it 'didnt appear' so here i am now.with all the injuries i have had over the years dealing with the loss of function is one of the toughest to take.especially if one is a strong indivdual and or competitive. You just hate to 'give up' or quit but sometimes doing less IS the right thing.
sometimes taking it easy is the right thing, the hardest thing to do.
but everyone has to judge for themselves what is giving up and what is being smarter as you age.
the older I get the more I realize just how tired really old people must be and I think that's a lot of it. it's not about 'training' or fitness it's about BEING OLD,lol.and sometimes too much training just makes you tired an sore. it's our job to figure what to do when,lol. not easy.
thanks for the comment.
Thanks, Rif. I know judging such things is difficult. I suppose my wanting my parents to be spry again and my fear that I will suffer a similar fate hinder MY judgement regarding their effort. I will try to be more gentle with my characterizations of them.
Jennifer,
unfortunately I believe we all suffer a similar fate at the end, and personal strength and or fitness will only carry one so far. part of one's strength, I now beleive, is the strength to let oneself be weak when it's necessary.
Zen-like wisdom, as always. Thank you.
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