Slogging Through

My body has yet to regain its addiction to the VO2.

Back in November 2008 my body actually craved MVO2 protocol.
Currently it's still an exertion of will to get out there and do it.

Today for my 46th birthday I hit the "recommended daily allowance" of MVO2 snatches.

40 sets, 8 reps, 15:15 with 16 kg.

A Long Way to Climb, but a Longer Journey Traveled

Well my volume is slowly increasing,
but 3,840 kg of snatches is well short of 10,080 kg peak two months ago.

On a up note, I've offically snatched over 200 Metric tons since I started
keeping a training log

MVO2, 15:15, 16 kg, 30 sets, 8 Reps.

Return of the VO2

It has been over two weeks since doing the MVO2,
so I wanted to take it "easy". Also, I wanted to use the 24 and practice with the RKC men's standard weight. So to make things a little challanging but not too stressful, I decided on a 30:30 protocol.
It was too fatiguing to continue for the full 20 minutes so I changed mid point to the 15:15 protocol. One nice thing about the non-standard 30:30 protocol is that I can convert on the fly without resetting the Gymboss


Using the 24kg:
10 sets of 10 reps 30:30 (10 minutes)
20 sets of 5 reps 15:15 (10 minutes)
200 reps total

50 Sets Heavy MVO2

A couple weeks ago, I mixed the (old) RKC Snatch Test Rules (one hand switch, no putting down the bell) with the SSST goals. Well there is a New RKC Snatch Test that goes into effect starting February 2009. It fits in well with the SSST. It essentially is the SSST for 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes.

Each week, I've been doing one high speed 16kg MVO2 session, and one medium speed 24 kg session.  I found out about the test change out after this morning's "heavy" MVO2. The 24 kg 15:15 should be good conditioning for the new test rules

Today I hit a PR w/ 50 set of 5 reps 15:15 with the 24 kg.

MVO2 a Day Early

I had to switch my schedule around a little. So for this week I am switching my Thursday Heavy day for a MVO2 Day. Tomorrow I plan to do a quick Heavy and GTG at work.

MVO2 15:15 protocol:

40 Sets, 5 Reps, 24kg

Heart Rate: Average 176 bpm, max 189 bpm

I guess that's a PR on Max HR, but that's not a PR I want to push too high.

Sometimes Less Leads to More

Yesterday was a pretty unremarkable Heavy Day.
Single 32 kg swings.

Double 32 kg swings.

Double 32 kg cleans and jerk.

Double 32 kg cleans and push press.

Double 32 kg overhead walks (30 feet, turn 15 feet... had to drop 'em)

Less is More MVO2

Today I decides to cut back to 5 reps on the 24kg 15:15 MVO2 protocol. I never spent to time to officially calibrate, since it is easy enought to tweak the reps numbers.

The 24 kg at 5 reps per 15 is still more work than 16 kg at 7 reps per 15.

I warmed upped with the 16 kg. 

Around the world, Halos, 5 snatches Right, 5 Left.

This worked, I was able to get to 40 sets of 5 reps. The bell kept pinching my left hand (but not the right). This "slower" pace allowed me to focus more on technique.

The cardio load seems about the same as the 11 reps per set 20:20 protocol.

My heart rate averaged 169 bpm, and maxed at 185 bpm.

I finally feel like I'm actually doing MVO2 with the 24 kg. It will be nice to build off the base of 40 sets.

Gross Snatches

My form was actually OK until the end. By gross I mean a dozen dozen or 144 snatches. 

24 kg, 24 Sets, 6 Reps, 15:15 protocol.

Average Heart Rate 164, Peak HR 184.

Man that was hard. I was shooting for 40 sets. I'll build up to it!

It's been a while since it wasn't my hands that were the first thing to go.

It took longer than usual to get my heart rate down.

The Vodka is Good, But the Meat is Rotten

No the title is not another Pavel quote, a humorous but undocumented "machine translation" from English to Russian, back to English of:

  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak - Paul of Tarsus

Preamble

The morning didn't start well. There was an overly agressive squrriel that kept coming onto the lawn while I was warming up. When I threw small rocks at it, it just chased them and tried to eat them. When I shoo'ed it away with a broom it just came back. It was probably a human spoiled creature, but I didn't know if it had rabies or plague. I certainly didn't want it climbing my leg and searching for nuts during my snatch MVO2.

Finally I got my dog Coco, and tied her leash to a post near the corner of the lawn where the squirrel kept comming. That worked!

I asked my daughters later, and apparently a neighbor girl had been feeding the squirrel.

MVO2

10 sets into the 20:20 MVO2 I was warmed up, byset 20 I was wondering if I was going to make it to the planned 34 sets. My heart rate was 173 bpm which is 99% of heart rate by age, but bellow my max measured 187. It was a slog, but I knew I could get through it.

On the 23rd set of 11 reps 20:20 MVO2 I tore the skin on my left middle finger. I think I grip the bell too tight with the left hand. I've had four tears on the left hand and none on the right! The tear is very small and I expect it to close up by tonight. I finnished the 24th set since it was with my good hand.