hair on fire

The day of jogging up the sprint worked well.  I ran the sprint like my hair was on fire.  All throughout, I was consciously pushing to the limit.  The only thing that slowed me, I thought, was the uneven nature of the pavement, the holes, the cracks, and the water puddles.  When I finished and looked at the time I said, “#$%$!”  I was truly thinking this might be the record breaker.  I could’ve ran a fraction faster at the start, I guess, because I looked down at the watch instead of accepting the time had started since I had heard the beep.  These thoughts even went through my head—why do I check things to make sure even when I know they are right?
I’ve decided to do 70 pull-ups every time I go running in the morning.  This should be easy because I do kind of a pyramid structure—start out with a few pull-ups, then increase, then decrease.  Then at the end, I can do however many I need to bring the total to 70.

Unaccustomed exertion

Last night, I joined an Ultimate Frisbee game.  Amazingly, it was the first I’ve played in several months.  So this morning, I was hurting.  I took it easy; my experience has taught me that a bit (or several months) of rest can do wonders.  The human body is an amazing healer.

distraction

I was feeling sluggish, thinking I would not run the sprint with vigor.  But when I began, I quickly came up to speed and flew along the broken pavement.  I finished with a time 2 seconds slower than last time.  As I ran, I saw a friend and his dog with his 5-month old twins in a stroller. Such a sighting is surely worth two seconds.  Just the trouble involved with recognizing a large wagon—that turned out to be the stroller—and then recognizing a friend, and the effort involved in saying ‘Hey” (even though I didn’t hear what I was saying—Shakira was screaming about African soccer in my ears) is plenty.  It took myself away from concentrating on moving the legs.
I saw the neighbor boy, 14-year-old Alexander, pulling up on his new high bar.  I wanted to try to throw my legs above the bar and to swing around. I first tried this move in 1992 in St. Petersburg when one of my students showed this maneuver.  At the beginning of the summer, I couldn’t do it, but by the end, I had improved my technique and strength to a sufficient degree that I was successful.  Today…again, success.  Oor-Rah!

Nearly a record

As I was flitting along the pavement, I considered that I felt taller.  The trees, fences, etc to my sides were blurring and my head was fixed, but moving—intense concentration.  I felt like my chest was pumped out.  I was totally giving it everything in my guts for the entire sprint.

a kip

20 pull-ups certainly doesn’t become easier…not yet, anyway.  The first 5 is practically not felt, the next five is tough, but 10-15 is a real slog.  I wish there was a way to simply punch a time clock and take myself to the second 10.  Fifteen and above are all an accomplishment.  For 25 years, I could never imagine doing 20 pull-ups.
In the past, I’ve tried to do 11 with the hands grasping the bar from the front, and then turning around to so more.  Now, I am doing all grasping the bar from the front with the hands facing away from the body.  This is the manner we were directed to do for the Navy.  For the last couple weeks, when I make an all-out attempt, I try to do 15 without stopping.  As it stands, I have been able to do at least 10 without even boosting myself.  A ‘boost’ is when I give myself a little wiggle to create momentum for the first few inches.  I’m just thinking now that I might give myself this little wiggle (that I need to do near the end at any rate) right from the beginning.  At college, there was a young man in our group who had been an enlisted Navy person.  Although the official rules stated that people were not supposed to use any momentum to ‘boost’ themselves, this dude said that everyone used a ‘kip’ as a helping hand.
I was a bit surprised by the length of the final sprint. I felt good…flitting over the pavement at the beginning and NOT feeling much of a letdown.
This is the day I will send off my passport.  After 12 days or so, I should have it back in hand with a Russian visa.  Woo-Hoo!

21!!!! Is it real?

Woo-Hoo!!  21!  I didn’t know that I would try today…putting it all out there.  My shoulder has been having spasms lately; I think since I have been doing significantly more pull-ups since I’ve been in Tirana, the muscles are a bit stressed.  I walked out to the school playground where there is a climbing structure with a horizontal ladder piece.  I think this thing has a certain name, but I have forgotten.  At any rate, I usually begin my run with 3 to 5 pull-ups here as I put my head in the gaps until my shoulders hit the crossbar.  Pull-ups in this position are a bit awkward.  I don’t know exactly when my chin is above the bar so I didn’t really want to make my attempt at 21 here.
I looked around the place and found a curved bar that was perfect for pull-ups—and began.  I did 15 without so much as a wiggle.  On the 20th I had to push a bit to get up above.  I paused to consider if I should attempt the 21st.  I’ve been thinking that I am seldom in the position of having DONE 20 pull-ups.  To stop and throw away those 20 would be a terrible shame.  I didn’t think terribly long at this point, but all that thinking was in my mind somewhere.  I decided I would try it.  I went above easily.  And the crowd with wild!  Not really.  I was the only one around, of course.  It was 6:15 am.  As I jogged away, I thought, “Did I really do it?  Did I count correctly?  Maybe I didn’t really do 21.”   I remembered the 15th, and the 18th, but did I really do 19?  I remembered 20, of course, but did I do No. 17?
Whatever, I take the same attitude as the midshipman who counted my pull-ups in 1985—I decided I wouldn’t worry because I could do it again.  And I will.
Maxim asked, “What is your goal now?”  He didn’t even let me savor the glory for a minute.
“Maybe I’ll try to do the final sprint in 45 seconds.”  Maybe.

flitting across the earth

The final sprint was great today.  As I have noticed in the past, if I want to have a decent time, I need to begin by lightly brushing the pavement.  I need to flit across the surface of the earth.  I also felt power at the end—not the crushing weariness of earlier sprints.  The pull-ups, however, are difficult.  I’m not sure if I will be able to accomplish 21 by Moscow.  The pipes here are thick—except for the one that is fastened into a tree.  This pipe, however, is short inches from the tree so I feel a bit claustrophobic as I exercise at this station.  I am keeping up the number of sets so I do not lose my stamina.  I’m thinking that I need to have a day or two of rest before I make another attempt at 21.  Another point is that the small diameter pipe in the tree is at the turn-around point of my morning route.  I will need to ride a bike there in order to be fresh when I attempt 21 pull-ups.  I can do that.

3 hours sleep

           Flew into Tirana last night at midnight.  Sleep at 2.  Run at 7:15.  I was hoping the pull-ups would be 21 today.  Not happ’nen.  For one, there were 6 people standing around the ‘new’ pull-up bar in the park.  I have to admit that I was a bit bashful for some reason  The bar is also quite thick—thicker than I was hoping.  I finished at 13 there.  The next bar—the one that is nailed into a tree—is smaller and more comfortable.  I did 11 on that one.  I think it was the psychological aspect that kept me down this morning.  I knew that I was tired and sleep-deprived.  The temp will be hot, so I best do this in the a.m.  The weather:  for the next 10 days, over 93 degree highs with one up to 98 and sunny EVERYDAY.
The final sprint:  I felt like I was pumping and moving well.  A 52.76 is not near the record, but it’s not bad.

not quite

A huge storm last night woke me, so I considered having a rain-out of my last attempt at 20 pull-ups.  When my watch alarm sounded at 5:58, I saw the wet sidewalk with no rain falling at present.  I went straight out.  I ran immediately to Dewey Park, and an excellent pull-up bar.  The first 10 pull-ups were strong and I felt great.  About 14, however, I could feel my power wane.  By 16, I rested and the effort to push myself over the bar at 19 sapped the rest of my strength.  I’ll have to try in Tirana.

chin level

Up early, out at 6:50, greeted Peggy when she came to pick up Rhonda.  A fine run.  Perfect chin up bar at Dewey Park.  Perfect except for the fact that it is too low.  I had to keep my knees bent, but not very much.  I did 19 pull-ups; on the 20th, I got my chin even with the bar, but I could not move above.  I think I will reach my goal of 21 pull-ups by Moscow.  Maybe even by the time I leave the States.  My last opprty will be on Thursday morning.  We shall see…

20!

        I was sorting and cleaning the house.  Boys went with me to the storage unit a couple times, sort of helped me, sort of played around.  Their silly-goofiness led me to think they hadn’t been doing much exercise.  

The night before, we had a great time jumping on the trampoline, but we dismantled and stored the tramp after our final jumps.

“You guys want to go for a bike ride?” I asked about 5:30.  Maxim said, “Yes.”  Oskar said, “No.”  Oskar wanted to flip a coin.  

“That’s one way to make a decision, but I know what I want to do.”  Implying that I didn’t want the coin-flip to turn out the wrong way, so we weren’t going to flip.

We the route that we ran the first night.  Down past the fairgrounds and to the little league baseball fields.  All good.  At the play structure the monkey bars were at the exact height, and a fine diameter.  I did 20 pull-ups—the most since college.  Dad said it is because I weigh 30 pounds less.  Not true.  I’ve weighed this weight since high school.

I thought I might break the record for the sprint.  Wouldn’t that be a great book end—break the record on the last attempt?  I didn’t by .21 seconds.

gainer

I didn’t look at the 1/8 mile time until 10 feet past the 1/8-mile marker—that’s what I mean when I wrote 1/8+.  I think it must be the heat that stresses me out; it was 80 today.  I ran the 1/4 mile well.  After a energy-filled partial day at work, I picked up the boys at 2:00.  I’m not working as much because I want to spend more time with them.  We rode home and then I ran.  We ran to the pool, so I did a bit of working out there.  Some swim sprints and longer swims.  A young due was impressed by my gainer.
“When was the first time you did a gainer?”
“About 20 years ago in Newell, Iowa.  The first time I tried, I land flat on my back the next time, flat on my face.  The next time, I got it.  And that was from a high-diving board.”
“How do you do it?”
“Just Do It” is all I could offer.  I told him I expect royalties from Nike. They stole my line—I’d been using it for years when they came out with it.

Bloomington, old home of the Vikings

I drove the neighborhood at Mick and Patty’s until I found an elementary school, or some other place where I could do pull-ups.  I decided that I would do small sets to build up to 21 pull-ups.  It was a good run, without iPod unfortunately.  I had to listen to my own thoughts.   I ran for 1-minute three times during the run.  As you might notice, I added that column to the details table.  I stayed overnight at Mick and Patty’s place; I had a meeting with a professor at Hamline University.

vacation

            A quick run in the morning cool weather after what I am told was a pretty big rain. I ran 10 minutes along the river before doing a bunch of push-ups.  Then I remembered my quest/commitment to pull-ups.  I thought of the play structure going toward Lanesboro, while I was going the other way.  I backtracked and got to the bars.  13, then tried to attract a friendly cat nearby.  Then 11.  Then I ran 6 minutes before doing 11 more pull-ups.  These days I’m a bit tired and unexcited about pull-ups so I’m going to do smaller sets.  Once a week or so, I am going to max out and see how many pull-ups I can do.

            

pull-ups

The biggest part of this run was the pull-ups.  I did 18 again; this time not stopping to rest until after the 14th.  My spirit was trashed after 18.  The bar I found was at the elementary school.  It was of a large diameter so I didn’t get a totally comfortable grip.  Just the thought of 18 pull-ups is daunting.  Then to quit after 18 means that a guy MUST be exhausted.  Think of it.  To be at the position of having done 18 pull-ups!  If your goal is 20, you have just 2 more (obviously).  To get back to that position of having done 18 will take huge effort.  I have to continue with the pull-ups; my body is in a superb place right now.  I must maintain this level.  I wonder what I am going to find in Moscow—WAIT!  I will be in Albania for a couple weeks after I leave the US, and I KNOW there are plenty of pull-up places there.
My goal:  21 pull-ups before I arrive in Moscow.