life

G has decided to help me go all-out on my workouts preparing me on my road to Team USA. Instead of working on building muscle with weight-lifting, we did a full plyo class. The class was made "worse" by the presence of another trainer, who was learning the game plan. Having a new guy watching means, of course, we have to show off. Well, at least I did. G did say a couple times that the workout was harder than most because I'm training for team USA, which made me feel good.

We started out with ladders. We had a few more than we normally do. Nominally, we had

  LR-RL-LR-RL
  Ali shuffle
  facing sideways, L over R in, L below R in, repeat
  facing sideways, with left foot in, R top bottom, as above
  facing sideways, RL in, RL below, RL in, RL below
  facing sideways, LR in, LR below, etc.
  L hop in/out, R hop in/out
  "hopscotch" with only L foot, again with only R foot
  hopscotch L-R-both
  quick feet: LR in, LRL out, RL in, RLR out 
  cross over: L cross over (foot lands perpendicular to the
    direction of travel), RL out, R cross over, LR
  hip switch (L outside on L, R outside on R, twist, landing
    with feet perpendicular to direction of travel), twist
    back, landing with feet on outside, repeat advancing one
    square.  repeat with other foot first
  two taps: heading L: LR in, LR out; heading R: RL in, RL out
    I caught up to Kris on these.  Zoom!

I was tired already after the ladders. I zipped along hard, both trying to keep up with Kris and showing off for the new guy.

We started the workout outside, with shuttles. With an 8# ball, we shuffled down and back throwing the ball back and forth between each other. We did a progression of 2 lengths (down and back), 4 6 8, then back down 8 6 4 2.

At the first 6, it became apparent that I wasn't doing them correctly. Instead of lowering my butt and staying on my toes, I was shuffling on my heels and leaning forward ("hunching over"). So, at 6, we rolled the ball instead of throwing it. The point was to practice lowering the rear and staying on the toes. We rolled for the 6 & 8 lengths, returning to throwing for the remaining 8 6 4 2.

Next came the "I of pain" shuffles (perhaps spelled "eye of pain", not sure). 5 cones, each spaced 3 steps (~3 yards) apart. Starting at cone 1, run to cone 2, run backward to cone 1, run to cone 3, run backward to cone 1, etc. Kris did 4. My times were 18.3, 17.9, 18.2, 18.0, 17.9. I did 5 because my time didn't decrease each time. The first 17.9 I cheated on, and didn't go all the way back to cone 1 on one of the backward runs.

Next were some quick feet drills. Ugh-a-rooni. Using a Reebok Step, with one riser, we did 1 set of 3 exercises, and 2 sets of 4 exercises, each for 30 seconds:

• feet together, jump on the Step, jump off to the side, jump on the Step, jump off to the other side, repeat
• bound over: two feet together, jump over the Step, landing on the other side, spring immediately to jump back over the other way, continue
• single step: RL step up, RL step down, LR step up, LR step down
• single step with crossover: same as the single step, but step up with the outside foot, using arms to explosively bound onto the step

3 sets of jump ropes were next. My goal was 120 jumps in a minute. If I didn't make it, I had to continue with 110 jumps in the second minute. If I didn't make that, it was 100 jumps in the next minute. This trend would continue until I managed the required number of jumps in a minute.

I didn't make it.

I went all the way down to 90 before I was so tired I couldn't manage more than 4 jumps without missing a jump. So, I threw down the jump rope and just jumped for a minute. Even then I had less than 90 jumps, so I had to do them again. Argh.

Kris had the great idea of jumping on the cement, since the cushy floor was causing problems for him. My second jump rope set was no problem, hitting 100 jumps in 52 seconds. Whoo! The third set was back on the squishy surface, and I managed 100 in a minute. Barely.

Next were 3 sets of lunge jumps using the Step. Using the Step meant our lunges were deeper, and the jumps harder. The first set was 15. We had sets of 15 because I stopped 15 times when trying to jump rope. D'oh. When G realized I hadn't swum today, he added another 5 on sets 2 and 3.

Last were abs.

• bicycles
• single leg V ups
• partner throw downs
• side to sides with 25# (!!!)
• lying down, 25# straight up, lift straight up
• lift feet up, hold weight up, lift weight to touch feet
• lying down, weight (8# at this point) over head, do V up bringing weight over to touch knees
• 6-12" leg holds
• lower back: supermans, twist lifts, lift straight up.

My upper butt and butt sides hurt.

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Open letter to the woman who I met on the jetway this morning (yes, you who glared at me, and muttered to your friend, "The carry-on baggage limit is two, not three."):

Hi!

I heard you this morning muttering under your breath about my three carry-on bags. I would like to state the apparently not-so-obvious about the situation:

1. When you speak at conversation level on a jetway, you're probably yelling.
2. The combined weight of me and my three bags is probably less than your weight alone. That's saying something, too, because I pack my backpack heavy.
3. I assure you, the combined volume of me and my three bags is less than the volume of your person alone.
4. Only you complained about my bags. The ticket agent didn't. Security didn't. The gate ticket agent didn't. The flight attendant didn't. Just you.
5. If you had sat in the same row as I, I would have had to put my bag on you, because my laptop is so big, it needs its own seat.
6. The contents of bag 2 fit easily into bag 3. However, carrying half on each side is easier on the back. You might have realized this if you hadn't made your companion carry all of your stuff.

So, next time, please mutter directly to me, so that I can let you know I really don't give a flying rats ass (or mallard duck, as the case may be) about your obsession with my luggage.

Thanks for listening, lady.

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