How to Build Elephant Legs

I’m a glutton for punishment.

Start with some hill running for an appetizer, have some cross training on the elliptical as sorbet to cleanse the palate and then proceed to have a leg workout for mains.

WHY DO I SABOTAGE MYSELF LIKE THAT?????

Yeah, it makes no sense to me either.

Hill Training – 15 May 2012

Route: 2 laps around Taman Desa Seputeh + 1 lap around Taman Seputeh

Distance: 2 * 4km + 2km = 10km (Garmin: 9.75km)

Timing: 52:39 for 5:24 min/km pace

Right, I had the best intentions of doing 3 laps…hey I ALWAYS have the best of the bestest intentions! Now if only the implementation would be that breezy. I even asked Kenny to take me to task on this when we finished our long run on Saturday. The game plan was to build up the weekday mileage or at least get a 10km in…I would say 9.75km is a good start.

Warm up: House to train station via furniture mall loop (906m; 5:44)

We were not pretty chatty yesterday morning and after Kenny inquired about Aunty Mabel, we more or less zoned out. I always, always, always have to make sure I run slightly behind him if I didn’t want to blow up later…especially since the PLAN WAS TO DO 3 LAPS. Yeah, I get that. Wokie, game plan still intact.

Lap 1 (3.392km; 18:20)

Game plan fell apart in the first 10m though I must say everything about this lap felt easy and effortless. Yeah, it happens when you run slower. Took me that long to figure this out.

Lap 2 (3.379km; 17:44)

Run still felt easy and effortless. Oh sure, the upslopes can take the wind out of you but hey, isn’t that natural? BTW, no dogs this morning!

Finishing mile: Train station to house via Old Klang Road loop (2.069km; 10:46)

Left Brain: Hmm…kinda bored…maybe we should skip lap 3. After all, let’s not spoil a glorious 8km run.

Right Brain: Oyyy…what are you going to tell Kenny???!!!

Left Brain: Well, we could do another lap around the furniture mall and we would still come in at 8.6km…way more than the de-rigueur 8km.

Right Brain: A bit measly right? How about skipping the furniture mall lap and going around the main road back to the house.

Left Brain: Are you nuts or what???? Remember the stray dogs near the empty field the last time. Like 3 stray dogs???!!! Plus, it’s an all the way uphill climb.

Right Brain: We need to get in at least 10km this morning…let’s just take a chance.

Left Brain: It’ll be entirely your fault if we get mauled!

No dogs! Score! Downside: the upslope killed me! [Left Brain: What did I tell you earlier?!?!?!?!?!] It felt so slow and I probably looked like I was walking. When we got talking during our cool down walk (Kenny did the standard 2 laps), he suggested I take the training up a notch…go up the ENTIRE road/lane to simulate a DH workout. Now I’m kinda worried that that’ll be Thursday’s menu.

Since I was early – we were done before 7:10 am!!!! – I put in an easy short session on the elliptical before proceeding for some abs crunches and foam rolling. Wrong-est move. Ever. Both sides of my abs were not happy campers and told me so LOUDLY! Er since when did abs rollers did that to me?????

Leg Workout – 16 May 2011

Guess who was whining about not feeling sore after workouts? As a result, Michael snatched the remote from me and switched TV channels. No more single workouts, no more consecutive workouts and we “watched” the drop sets channel this morning. Oh, more like he watched and I attempt to put on a “decent” performance.

Supersets and drop sets of:

a) Technogym leg press

b) Technogym leg extension (this was practically not do-able after the leg press!!! No, the first mini set was ok-ish…the following drop sets were not!)

Supersets and drop sets of:

c) Nautilus Nitro Plus Hip Adduction (yay! Managed to get this in after last week’s boo-boo)

d) Nautilus Nitro Plus Hip Abduction

Supersets of:

e) Hoist seated leg curl (drop sets on this and the hammies were burning…from the first set!)

f) Kettlebell walking lunges

g) Sumo squat with plate weight (recovery time!)

Single set of:

h) Reverse abs crunches

Sure, the number of workouts doesn’t seem much – {insert sado masochism head rearing} – but when I had the time (and breath! And energy!) to process things, it was quite a bit of workouts since each routine was 3 drop sets. We’ll see if this channel shocks the system.

Bento Box Lunch

Unexpected but very pleasant dessert from a colleague who returned from a vacation – organic Gala (?) apple