Veni, Vidi, Vici

Well folks, we've reached the end of the rope.  In the last month Frosty and I have finished our finals, one-rep-maxed to see the gains we've made this fall, traveled to Rome, Marseille, and Paris with Elite Pete Slowbel, done some of the Pain Train running workouts, and returned home to the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.  Here's a roundup of the workouts we did.

Week of 12/2

Monday:        Long Sprints- Shuttle runs with cones 50m apart.  2x300m (6 lengths), 4x200m
                       (4 lengths), 8x100m (2 lengths), 8x50m (1 length), then 4x bowtie circuit to finish it off

Tuesday:        Lift- One-rep maxes on deadlift and bench.  Pills hit 400lbs on the DL and 209lbs on                              bench (both PRs), and Henry put up a 375lb deadlift and a 231lb bench

Wednesday:   Pick up/Sprints- In addition to playing pick up, Henry ran 20x 45m sprint intervals

Thursday:       Lift- One-rep maxes on squats and power pushups.  Henry banged out 20 power
                        pushups and a 242lb squat (he was coming off of a quad injury, so it wasn't a true
                        max), and Pills did 15 power pushups and squatted 330lbs (a new PR)

Friday:            Rest- Traveling to Rome


Week of 12/9

Monday:        Sick Day- All three of us (Pills, Henry, and Peter) spent the day sick in bed in Rome

Tuesday:        Rest- Traveling to Marseille

Wednesday:   Suicides/Plyos- 3x4 of 10-20-30-40yd suicide, then 14x 25yd sprint with 15 seconds of
                        plyos after each, done in Marseille on the Mediterranean beach at sunset

Thursday:       Rest- Visiting Chateau D'If

Friday:            Short Sprints- 8x 15yd falling starts, 8x 20yd jump sprints, 8x 40yd catch-and-release
                        (30yd resistance sprint with 10yd sprint after release), 8x 75yd accelerators (start at
                        50% speed, build to 75% by 25yd, then to 100% by 50yd and finish strong), done on a                             side street just off the harbor in Marseille

Saturday:        Rest- Traveling to Paris


Week of 12/16

Monday:        Rest- Traveling to Edinburgh

Tuesday:        Rest- Packing

Wednesday:   Rest- Traveling home to the USA

Thursday:       Lift- Bodyweight exercises for Pills (walking squats, core, kipping pullups, and dive
                        bombers), and the Pain Train lift for Hank (plyos, squats, bench, military press, RDLs,
                        and lunges)

Friday:            Sprints- Pills did 8x 150yd hill sprints, alternating 30 seconds of marking with 20 lunges
                        at the top of each, and Frosty did 3x4 10-20-30-40yd suicides. Both of us were working                         at our respective homes in the snowy New England countryside

Hank the Tank, Elite Pete, and Mandrew Chillsbury run suicides on the Marseille beach at sunset

Henry sprints down a side street in Marseille

Sprinting on the Danube

After an exhausting weekend of playing at indoor nationals for Pills and traveling to Budapest (general laziness) for Henry, we decided to take it easy on Monday. However, on Tuesday Henry got back to work in Budapest while Pills continued his recovery. Henry found a quiet little island in the middle of the Danube (Margaret Island), walked through a sweet little garden, and set up shop next to some big old crazy looking trees of some kind or another. The workout was a short to medium range speed workout, and with the quad back to 100 percent (or at least 95), it felt good. On Wednesday Henry headed home and between traveling and Pills' rest, it was another day off. Thursday was back to work with a lift and Friday was a normal short range speed workout, with throws included.

Monday:        Rest

Tuesday:        Sprints (Henry only)- 6x 75m, 6x 50m, 6x 25m on Margaret Island

Wednesday:   Rest

Thursday:       Lift- Combo lift 2. Deadlift/pushups, split squat/bench (down to chest, pause, up),
                        shoulder swings/calf raises

Friday:           Sprints- 2x8 stomach starts running after disc. 16 total sprints of 50-75 yards each with
                       the other hucking. Strong core workout to finish

Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube in Budapest.  Not a bad spot for some sprints.

Big old twin Dr. Seuss trees provided a great recovery spot.

Ballin' on the Tracks

We had kind of a screwball week this week.  On Tuesday we played basketball in a sweet spot in George V Park that was literally on a former railroad line.  On Wednesday we did an agility workout post-class in the time that it took the rest of the program to go to a nearby restaurant and place their orders, and on Thursday we made up a lift that was a combination of our Tuesday lift, our Thursday lift, and some plyos, with the lifts done at low weight with a focus on explosiveness.  Friday morning we went back to George V Park to do sprints through an old railroad tunnel next to the basketball court.  We had to go early so that we could get back before Henry left for Budapest, so we jogged there in the dark and caught the sunrise on the way back.

Monday:        Long Sprints- 8x 120m shuttles (3x 40m legs)

Tuesday:        Lazy- Balling in the afternoon, then an after-midnight pushup workout to finish the day

Wednesday:   Agilities- 4x Z, 4x T, 4x L, 4x Pro, 4x 40m sprint

Thursday:      Lift- Squats/Pullups, Bench/Plyos, RDLs/OH Press-- low weight and explosive

Friday:           Short(ish) Sprints- 8x 105m sprints

Henry and Pills do sprints through an old railroad tunnel in George V Park, Edinburgh

The Salisbury Crags at sunrise, as seen on the walk home from Friday's sprints

If Your Friend is Injured...

Take that opportunity to race against him so you can win.  We had a pretty solid week this week.  The Henrents were in town, so Frosty went cavorting about Scotland with them and was gone through Wednesday, which gave his quad some time to recover.  Pills played in Indoor Mixed Regionals (narrowly missing the last bid to nationals) over the weekend, so took Monday as a rest day before getting into a solo lift on Tuesday and an agilities plus plyos workout on Wednesday (taken from last year's winterim workouts).  On Thursday Henry was back and feeling pretty good, so he was able to do all the lifts, but did very low weight on the squats and no weight on the lunges.  On Friday he started getting back up to speed again with the sprints, and because neither of us had gotten a full week in we threw in a bonus Saturday workout of plyos and an abbreviated Kung Fu Throwing sesh.

Monday:        Rest

Tuesday:        Lift- Sets of 8/6/6/4 (Pills only)

Wednesday:   Agilities + Plyos- 8x Z, 6x L, 8x zig-zag, 2x30 toe pops, 2x8 broad jumps, 3x8 tuck
                       jumps, 2x16 split jumps (8 each leg), 3x4 each leg 1,2,3 jumps, 3x30m sprint (Pills only)

Thursday:      Lift- Sets of 8/6/6/4.  Pills had his biggest squat workout ever, putting up 8x 253lb,
                       6x 264lb, 6x 275lb, 4x 286lb

Friday:           Short Sprints- 4x 60m, 4x 50m, 4x 40m, core

Saturday:       Plyos + Throwing- 2x30 pogo jumps, 2x10 squat jumps, 3x20m broad jumps, 3x30m
                       bounds, 2x10 single-leg tuck jumps, 3x10 butt kick jumps, 3x30m bounds, 3x40m
                       sprint, Kung Fu Throwing (everything but compass throwing, rinky-dink, and hucking)

Pills puts up a 110kg RDL in "The Vault" at the Edinburgh Center for Sport and Exercise

Throw and Bro

Well, there's good news and there's bad news.  The bad news is that Henry pulled his quad while running last Sunday.  The good news is that it seems like it's not too bad, and it gave us some time to focus on more throwing and disc-focused drills.  To that end, instead of doing normal sprints on Monday, Henry practiced his hucks and Pills ran them down, skying/laying out when necessary, but mostly just clap-catching the dimeballs that Hangry Hank dished up.  Bystanders were impressed.  On Wednesday we did Kung Fu Throwing (sans hucks, due to time restraints) instead of agilities, and on Friday Pills cut for a mix of uplines and hucks from Frosty.  It was deload week on the lifts, and Henry substituted calf and core work for lower body lifts.

Monday:        Long Sprints- 18x ~65m sprints for hucks (4x each of IO/OI forehand/backhand, plus
                       two extra)

Tuesday:        Lift- Sets of 4/4/4/4 at 70-80% weight.  Henry substituted 250x burnouts for deadlifts
                       and holds for bulgarian split squats.  Pills PR'd on pullups with a set of 12

Wednesday:   Throwing- Kung Fu Throwing drill.  We battled through the wind and cold to get a solid
                        throwing session in, but there were more drops than we wanted

Thursday:      Lift- Sets of 4/4/4/4 at 70-80% weight.  Henry substituted 250x burnouts for squats and
                       calf raises for lunges, but was able to do the RDLs

Friday:           Short Sprints- 16x ~20m sprints for uplines (4x each of IO/OI forehand/backhand) and
                       10 ~65m sprints for hucks (2x each of IO/OI forehand/backhand, plus two extra), core

The 10-second self timer came up big for this picture of Pills getting up to grab an OI flick at sunset

From Mountain Peaks to Cobbled Streets

This week was probably my favorite week of workouts we've had thus far.  We went camping in Glencoe last weekend, and on Monday morning got in a little mountain tossing but no workout, so we decided to push all our running workouts back one spot and do an extra day on Sunday to make up for the day we missed.  We also decreased reps on our lifts to 6/4/4/2 so we could increase weight, which led to us putting up some big numbers.  Also, Patty was up for the weekend, which means that Hank was going extra hard to impress her.

Monday:       Mountain tossing/rest

Tuesday:       Lift- Hank the Tank PR'd in no less than three (three!) lifts, doing a set of 15 pullups,
                     deadlifting 145kg (320lbs) x2, and benching 95kg (209lbs)

Wednesday:  Long Sprints- 10x 80m hill sprints up Old Fishmarket Close, tossing during recovery

Thursday:      Lift- Pills had a big day on squats, finishing at 137kg (303lbs) x2

Friday:           Agilities- 6x Z, 6x L, 6x T, 6x Pro, 4x Discicides (joined by Scraps and Patty)

Sunday:         Short Sprints- 10x 80m Shuttle Run (2 40m legs) with Patty coaching us on form, core

Henry throws a flick to Pills in Glencoe

Pills and Henry doing sprints up Old Fishmarket Close

Darn Kids, Get Off Milan!

Another week another journey.  Henry was in Milan for the first few days of last week, and didn't return until Wednesday night.  While there he got a sprint workout in, and Pills ground out some solo workouts in Edinburgh, taking Monday as a recovery day from regionals and doing long sprints instead of agilities on Wednesday.

Monday:       Pills- Recovery day and core workout
                      Henry- 12x 60m sprints

Tuesday:       Pills- Lift 6/6/6/6

Wednesday:  Pills- Long sprints 8x 150m Shuttle Run (3 50m legs)

Thursday:      Lift- Reunited at last!  6/6/6/6

Friday:           Short Sprints- 12x 40m sprints

Preparing for battle at Milan's Peace Arch