"Gettin' swoll" and running in parking lots

With indoor season and the local all-comers starting in January, we are officially in the end of "pre-season" training. But, with the start of winter comes the winter rains. While the majority of California is probably rejoicing at the possibility of breaking our epic drought, the majority of California doesn't spend hours at the track every day. [Warning: Humblebrag coming in the next sentence!] Laura and I have spent the last year averaging a total use of 30 gallons of water per day (The Alameda County average is about 200 gallons per day). Perhaps we were just being "good Californians," or maybe we were secretly hoping we would be rewarded with a magical dry window when we were trying to train outside.

When I was running "distance," I didn't mind the rain much. Unless it was really cold or windy, in general as long as you kept moving, you create enough body heat to get yourself through the run without feeling cold. When you were done, you would immediately get into your car (or into your house) and blast the heat.

Unfortunately, most of our training consists of lots of short bursts of energy with minutes of break in between. Throw in any sort of rain and it is a recipe for misery, since you aren't really keeping yourself warm. The rain also make pole vault poles slippery, makes your shoes have no traction in the throwing rings, and pretty much blinds you while you are trying to run at a hurdle.

Yesterday our planned workout was a "speed" day followed by our main lifting day for the week. Unfortunately, fate had decided that it would be raining, 50F, and fairly windy during this workout. If we were in most states, we would just head to an indoor track. But since we are in the only state in the nation with no indoor track (I just made that up, but I think it is true), we could either take the day off or suffer through the rain. Our friend Leslie recently sent us some pictures and video of the indoor track facility he trains at, I was frustrated and jealous. It was dry, looked warm, was well lit, and even had pole vault pits set up at the end of the straightaway.

Doesn't it look inviting outside? Can't
wait to leave the car and run in the rain!

Luckily, the high school recently installed a fantastic indoor/outdoor training site! Now most people in the community would look at the CVHS parking lot and just see solar panels, but I see a nice 150m overhang covering smooth asphalt. With the rain cancelling soccer practice, the area was conveniently car-free. With only minimal rain blowing sideways under the overhang, we were able to get our workout completed and remain partially dry.

Parking lot by day.... rain-protected training center by night....
I don't have a picture of us running in the rain, but you're all smart
enough to imagine what that would look like.

Afterwards, we were still fairly wet and cold, but definitely better off than if we had run on the track. It was about 6:30, so I had trouble imagining driving home and still feeling motivated to lift in our crowded and cold garage, so I went to check out if the high school weight room was open. Not only was it open, but it was empty! For a few hours, we got to pretend we had our own fully-set-up personal weight room.

This was the start of our third "cycle" of lifting. Some of the lifts we hadn't done since college, so it was pretty fun to get pumped up and feel "big" again. This cycle I added in "rack pulls," which are the ultimate ego-boosting lift. Since it is only the "top half" of a dead lift, you can really throw on a lot of weight. 4 sets of 5, ending at more than double my weight was sufficient to get me feeling and acting like a dumb meat head, probably to Laura's annoyance, as I started making grunting and hissing noises while lifting and spontaneously yelling things like "get it!" As long as I was acting like an idiot, I figured I might as well insist she take a picture of me lifting.

Here is a picture of me grunting, hissing, and generally feeling awesome.
I wish I had brought lifting straps; my hands were killing me.

Laura's hamstring has been bugging her, so she got to add on some hamstring "rehab" that I didn't have to do. I managed to disguise the fact that I was filming her, so you get to hear some candid singing, aren't you lucky?

After we finished lifting, I was still feeling thoroughly pumped up, so I took advantage of the empty gym to do some "line drills," for the discus.

I also took a few minutes to work on balance and stability with some "air squats" on a ball.

Finally finished at about 830, it was time to figure out what restaurants were open. We entered Rigatoni's like two wet dogs coming in out of the rain.... minus the dog part...

Laura dressed up for a night out to dinner.

Stay tuned as we figure out our first meet coming soon. Probably mid January.