We had a great time winter camping this weekend. Here's a short time-lapse of sunset. This was my first attempt with the new D300.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Crossfit update
Saturday 080209
Run or Row 5K
Run on treadmill @ 2% grade: 24:53. I'm pretty happy with this.
Sunday 080210
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
Maxed out at 405. Got 415 about 90% of the way there, but forgot my chalk and found grip to be the limiting factor. I did some grip strengthening exercises after this. Walked around with a 90 lb dumbbell in each hand. Serious forearm pump.
Tuesday 080212
"Nate"
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups (sub 6 pullups, 6 dips for each round)
4 Handstand Push-ups (done to 4lb medicine ball)
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings (70 lb dumbbell swings)
9 rounds, done Wednesday morning as Owen didn't want to cooperate at the gym on Tuesday night. The dumbbell swings fried me. Major aerobic debt, plus grip strength was going towards the end (see previous comment about grip strengthening exercises.)
Wednesday 080213
"Randy"
75 pound Power snatch, 75 reps for time.
6:04. I was really under the gun on this one, as Owen wasn't cooperating again. Able to crank through pretty quickly. It would be great to beat 5:00 next time. I could definitely feel that this was the second "hero" workout of the day.
It's hard to read the stories and the tributes on the Crossfit comment boards about the heros. Many who knew or served with the fallen check in to share their memories, and it really tears me up. I don't know, with Owen being around, it makes everything seem more real about what's at stake. It was nice to be able to give it my all and think about these guys and what they stood for and what they gave to those of us who have so much.
To all those who serve, thank you.
...and now, the little scream-monster is doing a halfhearted attempt at screaming, but a fully committed attempt at shaking his crib apart.
Run or Row 5K
Run on treadmill @ 2% grade: 24:53. I'm pretty happy with this.
Sunday 080210
Deadlift 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 reps
Maxed out at 405. Got 415 about 90% of the way there, but forgot my chalk and found grip to be the limiting factor. I did some grip strengthening exercises after this. Walked around with a 90 lb dumbbell in each hand. Serious forearm pump.
Tuesday 080212
"Nate"
Complete as many rounds in twenty minutes as you can of:
2 Muscle-ups (sub 6 pullups, 6 dips for each round)
4 Handstand Push-ups (done to 4lb medicine ball)
8 2-Pood Kettlebell swings (70 lb dumbbell swings)
9 rounds, done Wednesday morning as Owen didn't want to cooperate at the gym on Tuesday night. The dumbbell swings fried me. Major aerobic debt, plus grip strength was going towards the end (see previous comment about grip strengthening exercises.)
Wednesday 080213
"Randy"
75 pound Power snatch, 75 reps for time.
6:04. I was really under the gun on this one, as Owen wasn't cooperating again. Able to crank through pretty quickly. It would be great to beat 5:00 next time. I could definitely feel that this was the second "hero" workout of the day.
It's hard to read the stories and the tributes on the Crossfit comment boards about the heros. Many who knew or served with the fallen check in to share their memories, and it really tears me up. I don't know, with Owen being around, it makes everything seem more real about what's at stake. It was nice to be able to give it my all and think about these guys and what they stood for and what they gave to those of us who have so much.
To all those who serve, thank you.
...and now, the little scream-monster is doing a halfhearted attempt at screaming, but a fully committed attempt at shaking his crib apart.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Free Music Mixes from dj steve boyett
Free Music Mixes from dj steve boyett
Okay, so I have some new cool things to share.
First: Chi Running rocks. I'm stuck on a treadmill for my early season marathon training, and I usually hate it. However, I've been running intervals and shorter workouts lately, so it hasn't been too bad. I've also been working on learning the ChiRunning techniques, with what I can find of Pose thrown in for good measure.
This shiite works, and well. I've gone from struggling through 400 meter intervals at 8:00 pace to breezing through 800 meter intervals at the same pace. I can now do 2 minute long intervals at between 6:00 and 7:00 pace without dying. It's still hard work, but it's getting easier every time I run. In fact, tonight's intervals (4x800m @ 8:00 pace) were so easy that I was sorry I was out of time... I wouldn't have minded doing a few more at a faster pace. I even over-ran a couple of intervals- I forgot to look at the timer on the treadmill and just kept going. That usually doesn't happen.
Pivotal in this is increasing my turnover, and using the running form as taught in ChiRunning. For that, I've turned to the Podrunner podcast (see the link at the top of this posting.) It's good music to run to. Nothing that requires too many neurons to process, an easy beat to find for white schlumps such as myself, and good variety at the right speed. Perfect. I've been using 171 bpm, but I think I'll play around and go a little higher and a little lower to see what it feels like.
Third: Bosu balance balls are awesome for stretching and foot strengthening. I do some time standing on one leg balancing on one of these at the gym after I run, and it really works the kinks out. Makes the soles of my feet feel like they got worked hard, so it feels like it's helping my feet.
I can't wait to get outside and onto the trails for some good long runs. More later.
Okay, so I have some new cool things to share.
First: Chi Running rocks. I'm stuck on a treadmill for my early season marathon training, and I usually hate it. However, I've been running intervals and shorter workouts lately, so it hasn't been too bad. I've also been working on learning the ChiRunning techniques, with what I can find of Pose thrown in for good measure.
This shiite works, and well. I've gone from struggling through 400 meter intervals at 8:00 pace to breezing through 800 meter intervals at the same pace. I can now do 2 minute long intervals at between 6:00 and 7:00 pace without dying. It's still hard work, but it's getting easier every time I run. In fact, tonight's intervals (4x800m @ 8:00 pace) were so easy that I was sorry I was out of time... I wouldn't have minded doing a few more at a faster pace. I even over-ran a couple of intervals- I forgot to look at the timer on the treadmill and just kept going. That usually doesn't happen.
Pivotal in this is increasing my turnover, and using the running form as taught in ChiRunning. For that, I've turned to the Podrunner podcast (see the link at the top of this posting.) It's good music to run to. Nothing that requires too many neurons to process, an easy beat to find for white schlumps such as myself, and good variety at the right speed. Perfect. I've been using 171 bpm, but I think I'll play around and go a little higher and a little lower to see what it feels like.
Third: Bosu balance balls are awesome for stretching and foot strengthening. I do some time standing on one leg balancing on one of these at the gym after I run, and it really works the kinks out. Makes the soles of my feet feel like they got worked hard, so it feels like it's helping my feet.
I can't wait to get outside and onto the trails for some good long runs. More later.
Saturday, February 09, 2008
figures - Kotaku
figures - Kotaku
Oh no.
So I've been playing Valve's excellent Portal recently. My computer ate the last copy of Half Life2 that I installed, so I figured the switch to the console realm wouldn't hurt*. I dislike installing a bunch of TSR crap, because you can never get it to go away properly so you get your old computer back. Annoying. So I get the Orange Box, both for the ability to resurrect HL2, and for Portal, which friends assure me is worth the full retail price of the whole thing, even though it's just a bonus.
*as long as I don't move my Xbox, which tends to eat DVDs if you move the console when the disk is spinning. Microsoft denies the problem and says you should read your owner's manual, but that's just the last resort the lawyers come up with to avoid having to spend millions of dollars on corrective actions because their engineers fucked up. I know what I'm talking about, I live this sort of thing every day. Thing is, when we screw the pooch this hard, we fix it.
But I digress. Portal. I've managed to play through to the final scene without resorting to walkthroughs (though I did peek at one to confirm that I was on the right track in level 18. I was, and what I was trying was going to work, I just hadn't successfully executed it yet.) I've really been enjoying the way the game is written, and the lines are classic. Real tongue-in-cheek stuff. So I go to see if anybody has done a T-shirt that says "The cake is a lie."
Yes. They have. Cool. Good idea for a birthday gift for somebody.
Then I notice some other links, and click on them. People are going to immense trouble (and doing a really good job at it as a result) to make their own action figures of video game characters.
Wow. I guess the thing that surprises me is that I'm surprised. I shouldn't be. But it hits me like it did seeing small-scale models of larger-scale radio-controlled models of full-sized cars when I was in Japan recently:
In other random news. The D300 rocks. I was looking forward to taking it up north on a winter camping trip this weekend, but we bailed because Sunday is going to be a high temp of -14, and a low of -24. With blowing snow. No fun. No thanks.
Word of the day: Snizzooch. You can make up your definition, but I originally thought of it in the context of ... er... something gynecological.
Crossfit is going well. Pretty regular, seeing some good gains. Started marathon training (intervals) and can hold onto a much higher speed (1:20-2:00 per mile faster) than last year, so something is working.
Oh no.
So I've been playing Valve's excellent Portal recently. My computer ate the last copy of Half Life2 that I installed, so I figured the switch to the console realm wouldn't hurt*. I dislike installing a bunch of TSR crap, because you can never get it to go away properly so you get your old computer back. Annoying. So I get the Orange Box, both for the ability to resurrect HL2, and for Portal, which friends assure me is worth the full retail price of the whole thing, even though it's just a bonus.
*as long as I don't move my Xbox, which tends to eat DVDs if you move the console when the disk is spinning. Microsoft denies the problem and says you should read your owner's manual, but that's just the last resort the lawyers come up with to avoid having to spend millions of dollars on corrective actions because their engineers fucked up. I know what I'm talking about, I live this sort of thing every day. Thing is, when we screw the pooch this hard, we fix it.
But I digress. Portal. I've managed to play through to the final scene without resorting to walkthroughs (though I did peek at one to confirm that I was on the right track in level 18. I was, and what I was trying was going to work, I just hadn't successfully executed it yet.) I've really been enjoying the way the game is written, and the lines are classic. Real tongue-in-cheek stuff. So I go to see if anybody has done a T-shirt that says "The cake is a lie."
Yes. They have. Cool. Good idea for a birthday gift for somebody.
Then I notice some other links, and click on them. People are going to immense trouble (and doing a really good job at it as a result) to make their own action figures of video game characters.
Wow. I guess the thing that surprises me is that I'm surprised. I shouldn't be. But it hits me like it did seeing small-scale models of larger-scale radio-controlled models of full-sized cars when I was in Japan recently:
In other random news. The D300 rocks. I was looking forward to taking it up north on a winter camping trip this weekend, but we bailed because Sunday is going to be a high temp of -14, and a low of -24. With blowing snow. No fun. No thanks.
Word of the day: Snizzooch. You can make up your definition, but I originally thought of it in the context of ... er... something gynecological.
Crossfit is going well. Pretty regular, seeing some good gains. Started marathon training (intervals) and can hold onto a much higher speed (1:20-2:00 per mile faster) than last year, so something is working.
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