08/24/2011 Vacation Recap Day 3

I took Benny on another walk this morning; I started his walk in a neighborhood nearby it’s one of the few paved roads off the highway in Rodanthe.  In this neighborhood a handful of people live year round, one of these women happens to own a Chocolate Labrador that spends part of his day sitting on their front porch.

Every time Mirlo (lab) sees Benny he runs out to play with him, this inevitably brings the owner rushing out of her house to apologize, and I have to tell her profusely that my dog has a Napoleonic complex and only plays with big dogs, so don’t worry he’s not scared or bothered by Mirlo.  I didn’t notice the first time this happened that the woman has a really stiff left arm, and her head shakes.  Later she told me that she has Parkinson’s, which I didn’t respond to because what do you say when a stranger tells you that?  Today when it happened I realized after a short conversation that her husband is the dog’s owner, and is traveling for business, so I offered to give him a walk when I walk Benny.

After the walk, my family and I all packed into our cars and drove 40 minutes south to Hatteras Island to take a Ferry to Ocracoke.   Ocraoke is apparently known as the shores where Blackbeard the Pirate lost his head, it’s also recently the locale of a shallow water shark attack on a 6 year old girl.  The island is small, with most people in town walking, or using golf carts to get around.  It has the feel of seclusion of Key West but without much to do other than fish, or go to the beach.  Key West has a town feel, where as this place has more of a back road oasis feel.  The island also has wild horses.

On the way to the Island, we ran into traffic…yeah fucking traffic…

It turns out someone was moving their house, literally.  This meant that the power company had to come in and raise the cables using yellow nonconductive rods to push the cables above the apex of the roof.  The house being 30 feet wide, and the road only about 28 feet wide we had to watch this from the someone’s front lawn.

What a funny thing to watch…

 After being on the Island for half a day we heard news of the Earthquake back home, I started getting reports right as it happened via groupme with my high school friends.  My friends are all smart asses so, I figured it was some joke in the beginning yet it turns out it was real. 

Earthquakes, and hurricanes, a recipe for fun during your vacation…

On the way back from Ocracoke, I went to the gym.

Helen You Bitch

Today’s Workout of the Day involved doing “Helen” which is a Crossfit benchmark workout.  Helen involves three rounds of the following:

• Run 400 Meters
• 21 Kb Swings
• 12 Pull-Ups

When I read it I thought eh, I can do this no problem.  Like a bitch she appeared to be friendly but showed me that I’m going to do what I’m told or get pimp slapped.  I started with a warm-up of jumping rope for 5 minutes, doing 12 minutes of an AMRAP of 5 Hang Cleans, 5 push-presses, and 5 sit-ups. 

I stretched and then got ready to do my business.

Before Helen the work involved was called death by Hand Stand Push Up, or you could scale to ring dips, or push-ups.  I am still at the push-up stage. 

Death by work-out involves doing 10 minutes of work, where each minute of work determines how many reps you do, so at minute 1 you do 1 push-up, then at minute 2 do 2 push-ups.  The goal being 10 push-ups at the 10 minute mark, all the work being done within each minute.

Again this work is deceptive.  The first 5 minutes are nothing, whereas the final 5 minutes are something and then some.  In the final two minutes I wanted to just cut my arms off it was so painful.  I failed to do 10 push-ups at the 10 minute mark, and only doing 8 which is one less than I did in the previous minute. 

Then came Helen, Helen, Helen…you bitch…

Round 1

• I had to use the treadmill for the run, I set the incline at 1.5 and set the treadmill at 6.5 mph.  In the final .05 of the quarter mile I ramped it up to 7 mph.  It felt good.  I ran to the dumbbells.  Hurdling over a piece of equipment.
• The kettle bell swings were done with a 50 lbs dumbbell.  21 was a piece of cake, but was starting to feel the soreness on the last two.
• Back rows were done a smith machine, and doing 12 wasn’t too bad, but it’s not the same as using rings for the rows. 

Round 2

• I set the treadmill again at 1.5 for the incline but started the run at 6.5 mph, increased it to 7.0 at .10 of a mile, then went up to 7.5 for final .7 of my second quarter mile.  I jogged over to the dumbbells, stepping over a piece of equipment.    
• The kettle bell swings started to suck.  10 felt like 20, and numbers 11-21 felt like 21-61. 
• The back rows sucked, I had to take more time between rows to actually finish.

Round 3

• The treadmill set to 1.5 for the incline, started at 6.5 mph, but quickly set it to 7.0 mph, then 7.5 mph, and finally 8.5 mph for the final .10 of a mile.  I completed the quarter mile in just under 2 minutes.  I walked briskly to the dumbbells, walking around a piece of equipment.
• After the first one I wanted to quit.  After the 5^th one I wanted to lay down and cry, after the 15 the one I think I was having an outer body experience.  Needless to say after the 21^st one getting to the Smith Machine for my back rows was work.
• The final 12 back rows were done in what seemed like an eternity. 

When I finished the workout it took me 14:07 to finish the workout which wasn’t bad considering I lost about 3 minutes in transition time between stations because of the way the gym was spaced out. 

Helen turned on her faucets and I was dripping in sweat.  I decided I needed to do more back work so I did three more back related exercises.  Dumbbell back row, seated lat pull down, and a standing low cable pull. 

Here’s how it went:

• Dumbbell Back Rows
• 55 lbs x 10 reps
• 60 lbs x 8 reps
• 65 lbs x 6 reps
• 70 lbs x 4 reps
• 35 lbs x 15 reps

• Seated Lat Pull Down
• 105 lbs x 12 reps
• 120 lbs x 8 reps
• 135 lbs x 6 reps
• 150 lbs x 4 reps
• 75 lbs x 15 reps

• Standing Low Cable Row
• 150 lbs x 12 reps
• 165 lbs x 10 reps
• 180 lbs x 8 reps
• 195 lbs x 8 reps
• 210 lbs x 6 reps
• 225 lbs x 6 reps

My eating has been good because we have been cooking from home the entire time.  There is great seafood here, and my family has been great about not being obnoxious and telling me to eat some shit I don’t want. 

Francis my older brother gets in tonight with his girlfriend, and my boy Oscar who is a long time employee.  I think we will get some fishing in tonight for my dad’s sake, and do more of the same tomorrow. 

End Ramble here…

My dog discovering Fiddler Crabs at Night