Day 197: Strength Endurance (Medicine Ball and Staircase)

I’ve a special section call the Hall of Shame in my blog here. Why and what is it? Well it is to highlight ugly Singaporeans who are un-courteousness and pose a danger to the public. Two incidents happened today.

The first one, the very reason I chose the training location at the nearby field to my place for my medicine ball is because it’s secluded, and beyond the prying eyes of the public, as I like to train alone. But there’s a nearby school just across the road, Admiralty Secondary School.

Well to my shock, the audacity of the students there heckling me from their classrooms while I was training. Where were their teachers? Any staff from the school perhaps reading this, well I want to highlight these few students are an embarrassment.

Of course I ignored them, these kids couldn’t be more than 14-16 years old, thinking they’ve the ball to heckle from the safety of their classroom, behind school fence lines … well if they’ve such audacity, try heckling me right in front of me, in person. I’ll give them something to heckle about thereafter.

Another incident, after I’ve completed my medicine ball workout, well I jogged to my next training location. While I stopped at the traffic light for the green men to appear, and when it did, I crossed the road, suddenly this yellow Honda hatchback just cut into my path blatantly dashing through just centimeters away from me. It was a male driver, as I saw glimpses of smart long sleeve clothing behind the wheels.

It’s car plate number is SGU2684U and the incident happened around 9.50am at the traffic junction of Woodlands Drive 40 and Woodlands Avenue 4. And to think this driver has a driving license, I wondered how did he passed his theory test. We all know that the essential rule in driving is always give way to pedestrians at designated crossing, as they have the right of way.

Well that’s my rant about the hall of shame, and let’s get back to my training log at hand …

Workout of the Day

1) Medicine Ball (B)
Focusing on arms and legs to core
Using 5kg weight plate
After each set I dash for 10 meters
2×10 – Standing Side To Side
2×5 – Split
2×10 – Squat Throw (No dash)
1×10 – Explosive Start (Dash after each rep)
My rest time is around 1 minute per set

3) 5x Staircase
Set #1 – 54 seconds
Set #2 – 51 seconds
Set #3 – 49 seconds
Set #4 – 47 seconds
Set #5 – 46 seconds
Average ~ 49 seconds
My rest time is 2-3 minutes per set
Focus on running form

The medicine ball training well it’s still under tweaking by me. The general idea is still focusing on my plyometrics and explosiveness, but one tend to changes how the workout is performed to maximize the training.

I added a short dash after each medicine ball workout, as a conversion of power. After each set, a short 10 meter run in my opinion would be an ideal conversion to translate the medicine ball explosiveness into my running form.

The workout took around 40 minutes, and it seems that I strained my glutes, the right buttcheek, and the left area of my neck after the session. It’s not that bad, nothing I categorize as serious injuries, it’s just that I might have exceeded or moved beyond my range of motion.

The only way to remedy this is of course recovery, be it rest or supplementation.

Next up, I trained at Woodlands Town Park East for my staircase training. It’s the same training location of the previous similar training on Day 188, but I used the other staircase found at the other side of the park.

The staircase is more wounding than the other one, albeit shorter in distance, it’s still taxing. Staircase training is always a good form of workout to focus on your running form.

Ensure you’ve a conscious idea of what mechanics is being used while running. Try to eliminate the bad habits, visualize the right running form, and damn it breathe! I find that some runners just forget to breathe, and by the end of a few sets, they’re dead tired, as they’ve ran out of gas.

Well it’s been a great training month so far for me. The enthusiasm is still there, and the variation of my workouts so far is making me wanting to do more and more.

I guess from here, one can only improve, and I just hope I don’t hit any stagnation point. If I do, it’s will be back to the drawing board, or looking for alternatives.

Well that’s today’s training people, so train smart and always wear your sunblock, SPF 30 and above!