Posted by Pete Laurina on November 27th, 2008 |
0 commentsToday was Thanksgiving and when everyone else was probably sitting around, watching football and stuffing themselves with Turkey, gravy, and pies… I woke up and went to the gym. 30 pushups, 30 ball crunches (the swiss ball, not my own), 30 assisted pullups, 200+ times with the jump rope and then a number of novice machines for my legs. Got home, geared up for the 40 degree weather outside and went for a 3 mile run.
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Avaya . high school . pull-ups . push-ups . rubberized . running . shin-splints . swimming . swiss ball . Thanksgiving . track
Posted by Pete Laurina on November 25th, 2008 |
2 commentsA month ago today, around this time of day, I was checking out of the hospital. The doctors were still trying to tell me I have asthma and I was supposed to go see a primary care physician or something within 10 days of getting out. Yesterday I was at the gym again, did a workout similar to the 19th, but was definitely feeling tired. Since I didn’t feel like I was being productive on the machines or with the weights I jumped in the pool. I did a series of 100m swims and then running in the water on 5 minute intervals. Basically swam the 100m in about 1:30 and then would run in the water until the clock hit 5 minutes. At which point I’d start the clock over and swim another 100m and then run again. I did that about 5 times.
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1 month out of the hospital . asthma . hampster wheel . smoking
Posted by Pete Laurina on November 24th, 2008 |
0 commentsThis weekend I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard. On Saturday I did the same workout as I did with the trainer on November 5th. Lunges with curls with 12.5lbs dumb-bells, swiss ball crunches, two foot deadlifts, and some squatting rows on the machine. Plus in addition to that I swam over 2 1/4 miles. Satuday I probably only swam about a 1/2 mile and practiced some flip turns. I figured if I had the pool all to myself it would be a good time to practice flip turns. I’m not sure if I really need to be able to do them since there’s no flip turns going on during any ironman swim, but if I’m going to spend that much time in a the pool, then it might as well get better. Currently I never do flip turns because it throws my breathing pattern off so much. It used to do the same thing when I swam in high school too. But I figure if I’m going to be doing 64+ laps almost every day I might want to start doing them. Besides, it looks cool too 
because you know people are watching when they don’t see you stop swimming for a half or full mile at a time 
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half ironman . Ironman . ironman triathlon . swimming . swimming 2 miles
Posted by Pete Laurina on November 21st, 2008 |
0 commentsJust a quick little update: Wednesday I met with the trainer again. Sometimes I think that some of the things she’s doing is working out my arms the most. But then I go and swim yesterday (Thursday 20th) and really notice major improvements. I’ve been reading articles about strengthening your core and it turns out that’s exactly what she’s been doing to me. My am utterly amazed at how quickly my swimming has come around. Yesterday I swam 800m non stop at the same pace I’ve been doing everything. Total time for the 800m was 15:50 which at that pace means that my half Ironman time for the swim would be 38 minutes. Not exactly a stellar performance, but it puts me dead center of the times from the 2008 Harvest Moon half Ironman. The biggest problem I see with that is that I was in a lap pool where their times are with swimmers all around you in open water. I’ll have to research what your times in the pool equate to open water swimming since there has to be a difference. For one, you’re fighting currents, waves and the splashing of other swimmers. Also in the pool you’re pushing off the wall every 25m, granted I’m not doing flip turns, so that should make the times a little more comparable, but I’m still pushing off.
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active.com . building core strength . core strength . free training log . half ironman . Harvest Moon . pool compared to open water . psycho . psycho trainer . swimming . trainer
Posted by Pete Laurina on November 18th, 2008 |
0 commentsYesterday I did make it to the gym, ran half a mile as a warm up, and then jumped on some of the machines to tear my muscles apart some more. 24 Fitness has a bunch of machines color coded. The seats of the machine will be grouped in matching colors. So I figured I’d run through two sets of their blue & yellow seats. It basically lets you get in, work out, and get out within an hour. Which is perfect for those that only have an hour lunch break. So I did that set, along with a little running and a few other machines to add to the destruction of my arm and back muscles. By the time I got back to work, my arms were still a little shaky trying to type.
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24 Hour Fitness . blue and yellow . lunchtime workout . rest