AxelB's running, lifting and kicking log

It has been shared a lot (over 1000 times outside the group) I had people message me from across UK, interesting it made it around the globe. I discussed with other locals and they have been seen recently in this area acting suspicious.

Its not the first the I've had a guy in the van suddenly stop and ask what breed the dog was, this seems to be their common "script".

I know the police can't do much about it, but hoping it will add to any intelligence building if they have other incidents.
The best I can hope for is they move on.

I have her lead hooked to my belt at all times, so it's easy to have 2 hands free quickly, and she has been trained to run fast along side me if needed

 

Glad you were able to protect your dog! Too bad if the culprits can't be tracked as Travess wrote..

 

back to a solid routine again this week.
Sunday 3 hours digging and turning soil. Not really a planned workout, but it was a workout!

Monday 45 mins digging
15 minutes drilling BJJ with dummy. Guard attacks - arm bar, triangle, cross collar, kimura

1 hour zoom BJJ.
Worked on moving to s mount and arm bar setup.
(Funny I was watching videos on this earlier today as I used favour this sub).

Tuesday
15 minutes BJJ drilling half guard
Pull-ups 5, 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 6
Bicep curls 38kg 3x10

Push-ups 3x10

Double end bag 5 minutes
Head ball thing, don't even know what to call it, a ball on elastic attached to my head
5 minutes
Shadow boxing 5 minutes


Wednesday
Running 3.2 miles 35mins felt ok. Dog kept up without problems.

15 minutes stretching

2 covid rapid tests as usual, both negative.
Felt a bit tired/sore today, this is likely as I've been on a calorie deficit to reduce some weight.

 

3 hours digging and turning soil sound like a pretty decent workout! I was only spading (? is that the word?) my garden bed as I put some manure in. It only took a while but I actually felt a little sore the next day, too


"Head ball thing, don't even know what to call it, a ball on elastic attached to my head"
Haha, my partner has that! I tried, but it is ridiculous and I can never hit the ball ...with anything other than my face XD

 

We're prepping our allotment for new vegetables, so most weekends we have been doing sections and planting. This should be the last weekend of it. Only a small bit left.

I've been doing the head thing since Christmas, and most of the time I can keep it going, a couple of months ago I changed to the heavier ball and more stretchy band.
It's a nice bit of hand eye coordination training, but I certainly look odd doing it

My neighbours should be used to me doing weird things in the garden by now.

 

Same here. I may not have such a large garden bad for it (though my partner, whom I persuaded to dig it would say otherwise, I'm sure), but I am mostly doen with the preparations. Except for planting. I'll be waiting for mid May, as usual. What are you growing?

Cool. From when I tried once I thought it impossible to actually learn

Hahaha, I'd never find enough courage to do this outisde XD

 

Same as previous years:
Potato, beetroot, Brussels sprouts, raspberries, strawberry, various squash, courgette, baby tomatoes, gooseberry, swede, sweetcorn, apples, pears.

New this year:
Kale, green beans, aubergine, cucumber

We have an allotment, so plenty of space.
We do salad in the garden also as it's easy to access for a few leaves.
There is often a lot to harvest, we often give some away.

 

That's a lot of things, nice!

 

We did a lot of cabbage and cauliflower the last few years, but they didn't do so well. Also sweetcorn I had 1 corn cob out of 20, but I think that is mostly because we couldn't leave the house to water it for most of last year all other years we had a lot of sweetcorn!

The beetroot and potatoes have consistently done the best, which is great as I love the beets!
We have an established pear tree (it was already big when we got it 8 years ago) and there is always more pears than I can pick.

 

Sounds great! I started growing veggies last year properly (other than tomatoes). My cabbages and cauliflowers, sweetcorns and kohlrabis didn't do well, either, but I am determined to grow them better this year! I want to make plenty of cauliflower soup and such!
I had plenty of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and chillies, carrots and leeks, though, so I am looking forward to this year as well. I made more space to grow more squash (I love those) and will be trying courgette and aubergine for the first time this year also.
I am growing beetroots, too, though only a few and I still have some left over from last year. I ended up not using them. In case you have a favourite beetroot recipe, I am all ears ^^
I would live to try potatoes and sweet potatoes, but I don't have space for those, yet, unfortunately. Maybe sometime in the future
That is mostly all I have plus berries (rasp-, blue-, black-, strawberries and newly currants this year). I love how I can just go pick a few to eat for breakfast

Cool, I can't really have trees here, I only have those tiny ones you can even grow in a pot. But only apples were able to produce fruit so far. I tried making jams and syrups last year and would love to have my own fruit tree for that! (Although I made so much jam it is likely to last us for a few years ).... syrup is gone, though

I would also love to get my own allotment (or rather, together with my parents), but the close ones aren't free and compared to last year, everything is getting pretty pricey.

 

our allotment is about £16 a year (about €18 ?) ridiculously cheap, but the waiting list is huge (took us 6 years to get it).

Most commonly I roast the beetroot with the skin on - some oil and in the over for 45 mins for a good sized one, then I peel it off and have it with any hot dinner (roast chicken is my preffered)
Other than that, I let it cool after peeling, and have it in salad.
The other recipe is to grate it and cook it with white cabbage and vinegar to make a sauerkraut, which goes with other hot meals as a side, usually meat based meal.
The leaves I use in a salad also if they are in good condition.
I read research about beetroot being good for athletes also, there is a lot of beetroot juice on sale based on it, but I mostly eat it because I like it!

All the allotment is organic, so it is often a battle with insects and other creatures as to what leafy parts are intact, which is why the root vegetable seems to work best.

Courgette grows really well in the UK climate, similar to yours. We tried aubergine and it did not go so well outside, this year we are trying it inside for longer; I think as a mostly Mediterranean vegetable it needs a warmer climate for longer.

 

Wow, that really is ridiculously cheap. From what I learned, here the prices are usually around £170. But that is still fine and definitely not an issue. The problem is that the current owners tend to sell their rights and usually cottages on the allotments as regular cottages, so while they do not sell the allotment itself, you sort of pay for them to leave it to you... And since I started looking into this last year, I could witness the prices going up sharply (covid, I guess). So when you look online, you can get an average allotment by paying the previous owner currently something between £20,000 and £35,000, which I find ridiculous ¨(also consider our average salary would be much less then in the UK). And especially when the cottages/garden houses there tend to be small and often not in such a great shape. Gardening is, after all, very popular in the Czech Republic.
We have like 4 or 5 allotments within walking distance from our home and my parents who live close, contacted one of those places. They were actually told that the current owners don't have a say in who can get the allotment, meaning they may not be allowed to sell it, but just sort of return in and let it be rented to someone else. Which would be totally awesome. We are now, according to what we've been told, first on the list there, but who knows if we'll be lucky

Thanks for the recipes! So far I only tried baking it and eating with goat cheese, walnuts and bread, which was nice, but I'd like to try something else, too. Like Borscht or something like a pankace I ate before. But before I decided what to do and found a recipe, the beetroots were overgrown. I still have a few that overwintered, one is rather large. I wonder if they are still good to eat. I'll have to try.
I like the beetroot and cabbage idea! Thanks

Ah, I was planning on staying organic, too, that is until teh cauliflowers and others were full of pests, that would make a quick job of it.... so I gave in, but still the cauliflowers turned bad.

Yeah, I saw pictures of people here managing to get a good harvest of the courgettes! I only purchased one aubergine plant to try, I'll have it outside and see. It is still in a pot for now, but it already blooms. I'll see how it will go They really should need plenty of sun. I don't have a big greenhouse, though, only a cold frame where it is now, but I am worried it would be too big for it eventually, so I am just going to plant it outside and see how it goes.

 

I seem to have an internal clock to remind me to come back here once a month. I should try and do this weekly.
Working on computers all day, I tend to avoid screen time where I can, especially at my computer.

The last week has been similar to most weeks since the last log.

Thursday
Pullups 3, 6, 6
Push focus:
Bench 20kg x10, 60kgx8, 70kgx8, 75kgx5, 80kgx 10 (AMRAP with a few left)
60kg 3x8
db curl 28kg 3x8
ab wheel on knees - 5 sets of 10
pushups 3x10

Friday
morning: dumbell turkish getups 14kg 3 sets of 5 each side
evening:
3.2miles 29'48s , 172 bpm avg HR (yes I was pushing it), 9'14min/mi pace (was happy with that, a long time since I ran in low 9min/mi)

Saturday
1.6 mile walk

Sunday 30 mins of walking around the local field with the dog. Probably about 1 mile

Monday 1 hour remote BJJ - focus was on knee slide pass variation from half guard shield to side control, and variation of quatermount knee slide to mount
I just took a moment to remember, which frustrates me as I usually write down on my notes straight after a lesson, but have got out of the habit.

Tuesday
Pullups 5, 8, 8, 8, 7, 5,
db curl 28kg 3x15
pushups 3x10

Punch bag 10mins.
Got a new punch bag, a smaller double end bag, good to get more focus on accuracy.

Wednesday
4.5 miles (run with doggy) 46mins, 159bpm avg HR, 10'21" min/mi pace.
This wasn't my usually route with the dog, but the usual is currently home to people who have known to be associated with the dog thieves that tried it on with me, and some more local groups have reported attempted snatches on the street. So I am playing it safe and keeping away, nice to try a different route also.

Weight is hanging around 14st 8lbs / 92.5kg for the last few weeks.
At the start of the month my jeans ripped (again) a too frequent occurrence due to my thigh/glute to waist ratio, so I did some research again and found some athletic stretchy jeans, almost like jegging type, but actually look like jeans (no one wants to see me in Jeggings!!).
They fit really well, and I can bend and squat without fear of ripping them, but I lost fat around my waist since, so they are really lose around my waist, but I'll just put a belt on as they are still snug around the thighs, I think the next size down would be too tight.

 

Aha! It's not a month later and I'm back to update.

I had a play with the vibrating physio ball, looks like a thermal detonator from star wars, also has flashing lights like a thermal detonator.
Lucky it wasn't, seemed to do a good job on my calf's and quads which are my reoccurring stubborn areas.

Thursday
Pull-ups 3, 5, 5
Bench
20kgx10, 60kgx5, 75kg 5x5
75kg x11 AMRAP (with 1 or 2 left)
60kg 2x5
dB curl 28kg 3x8

Ab wheel on knees 5 sets of 10
Push-ups 3x10

Stretching 5 mins
Walking 1.6 miles


1 hour studying knee slide pass variations

Friday
Another full on work day, so little chance of a lunch workout. So I opted for the dreaded morning lifting workout.
I hate lifting first thing. I can do cardio, but lifting feels so much harder.
Turkish getups 14kg db 3x 5 each side
This was a real grind.

This evening running, I was dressed expecting heavy rain, but it was dry.

3.23 miles 28'51" AVG pace 8'55" 171 BPM AVG hr.
This is my fastest 3 mile run for over 2 years.
To add to this, the last time I ran at this pace I was over a stone lighter, so I feel like this is a big win.
Asthma feels ok.


15 mins stretching.

 

Monday

Back to BJJ class! (With a dummy)
Logistics of carrying a dummy to class from the car was interesting. I walk past a busy shop, lots of people with question mark faces

1 hour session, worked on side control to arm bar and paper cutter.

Tuesday
Pull-ups 5, 8, 10, 10, 8, 7
Getting more reps, must be from losing weight (spoiler: weight is still the same)
Curls 28kg 3x12
Push-ups 3x10
20 mins stretching

Wednesday
Run day, my usual route is unfortunately occupied by a group of people which include the van of the people who attempted to steal my dog (car with licence).
So a quick detour on somewhere the other direction, much to my dogs disappointment.

2.9 miles 29'28" duration 10'10"min/mi pace 158 BPM AVG hr.

10 mins stretch

Thursday
I planned another BJJ session this evening, so my usually lift was to be taken down a notch.

Morning lift.
Pull-ups 3,5,5
Curls 28kg 3x5
Bench 20kg X10, 60kgx5, 70kgx5
82.5kg 4x5 (didn't do AMRAP on last set)
60kg 2x5

Kneeling Ab wheel 5x 5

Push-ups 3x5

Stretch 10mins

Evening 1 hour BJJ
Worked on darce from side control knee slide pass to darce,
Knee slide to cross collar and lapel choke.

Friday

Morning:
Turkish getups 14kg 3sets of 5 each side
20 mins stretching

Evening 3.2 mile run 28'38" duration 8'51" min/mi pace (faster again!) 171 BPM avg HR.

Weight this week 14st 8lbs 92.5kg not much change, but jeans are falling down, so I guess some fat loss.

I feel good and strong, next week I plan a slight deload, despite my urge to step up a notch.

 

Sunday to Monday relaxing mostly, some walking and family gatherings, first time with my family since the pandemic started, so it was lovely to see them all without being on the driveway with masks.

Tuesday

Stuck with the plan to go easier

Lunch workout
Pull-ups 5, 10, 9, 8, 7, 5
Curls 28kg 3x12
Push up 3x10

Stretching 10 mins

Evening
No contact BJJ with dummy.
1 hour session
Half guard escapes, they have cross face and underhook.
A couple of the escape I worked on from Lachlan Giles half guard instructional, so it was great to go over in more detail with instructor.
This time I put my chest strap on and measure my HR
133bpm AVG hr 882kcal burnt.


Wednesday
It was hot, so planned run was about half my usual, and dog was happy with this choice as was I.
2.2 miles 25 mins 149bpm AVG hr.
That was a hard effort and definitely lost a lot of weight in sweat.

15 mins stretching.

Thursday
Pull-ups 3,5,5
Curls, 28kg 3x5
Bench 20kgx10, 60kgx5, 70kgx4, 80kgx3, 85kgx1, 90kgx6. (AMRAP, but I left about 2-3 back) 60kg 2x5

Ab wheel 5x5
Push-ups 5x10

Stretching 15mins

Friday

Turkish getups 14kg dumbbell
3x5 on each side
22mins 225kcal 122bpm AVG hr
Finding this a little easier and think I could have done another 2 sets, so next week I will add more sets

20 mins stretching, side splits added some weights today. 6" from ground

Evening
3.2 mile 28'50" duration 8'56" min/mi pace
170bpm AVG hr, maxed at 187bpm hr as I had plenty to push the last .25 mile up to 5'57" pace

Weighed myself throughout the week as usual, dropped 4lbs to 14st 4lbs, then Thursday and Friday back to 14st 8lbs. Body fat ~16%

I anticipate another drop by the end of the month, which is usually how my body deals with weight loss, initial big drop, followed by nothing for 4 weeks then big drop, the pattern is common based on previous years of weight loss.

 

Monday

Pull ups 5, 8,8,8,7,5,5
Curl 28kg 3x12

Push-ups 4x10
Stretching 20 minutes

Tuesday I went to a funeral, 5 hours of driving I was feeling run down so Wednesday I planned a BJJ session, but was going to take it easy.
But had to pick my son up from school, pollen had triggered allergies he hasn't had before, a very swollen eye!
Medications and treatment it went down slowly.

He was ok to go back to school Thursday
Bench
20kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 82.5kg 7x3
60kg 2x5

Curl 28kg 3x8
Ab wheel 5x8
Push up 3x10

Stretching 20min

Friday morning
Turkish getups
14kg 4 X 5 each side.
30mins stretching

Midday 20min bag work (punching only)
Evening
3.2 miles 28'55" duration 174bpm AVG hr

Weekend watering the allotment, going for walks, was relaxing.

Monday

No contact BJJ with the dummy
1 hour, focus on de la Riva, and deep de la Riva X.
Quite hard to do with the dummy, but I was able to drill some of it.

Tuesday
Pull-ups 5, 8, 10, 10,8, 8, 5
Grip pull ups, 7, 5, 3

Curl 28kg 12, 15, 12, 12
Push-ups 3x10

Stretching 40 mins.

Weight still hanging 92kg /14st 7lbs

 

Wednesday

Normally I run with the dog, but the heat is too much for her, and I missed the chance early morning.
Instead cardio was bag work and skipping
33 mins 133 BPM AVG hr.

20mins on the bag, 10 mins skipping.

15 minutes drilling knee slice pass variations on dummy.

Thursday

Lunch time:
BJJ planned for the evening, so I reduced the workout a bit on accessory work.
Pull-ups 3,3,3
Bench 20kgx5, 60kgx5, 70kgx5, 80kgx3
90kg 4x3
60kg 2x5

Kneeling Ab wheel 5x5

Push-ups 3x8

30 minutes moderate stretching

Evening

1 hour BJJ with dummy
I was the only student, so had the whole mar to myself

Worked on lasso guard
Was great to work in this I haven't done much with lasso.
Lasso sweep, a bit like John Wayne sweep
Lasso with spider to triangle
Lasso to omplata
Lasso to over head sweep if they stand up.
3x5min round of sparring on the dummy, mostly working on positions and transitions with little stopping.

Burnt over 1000 calories in that session, and earlier session, in total over 5000 calories burnt today, so I added a bit more fuel in the evening.
Another 4 weeks (at least) with the dummy, but I feel in learning a bit still (better than nothing)

Friday morning
Felt sore and run down, probably from all of yesterdays activity.

Turkish getups, but took it easier
14kg 3x3 each side.

10 minutes light stretching.

I cancelled running as it would have been in the rain which often requires my asthma to be in a good place.

 

Haven't kept up very well with training recently. Another family member was ill which meant we had to travel a bit, so I didn't have much time or energy after doing a few 5 hour drives to do anything. On the days I was at home I managed a few generic work outs, usually a mix of all my lifts at a much lighter load.
I have got to a few lessons with the dummy, but ended up cancelling a lot due to helping the family.
Unfortunately they passed away so we drove back up last week for the funeral.

Also have a memorial service next weekend for a friend who passed in the last lockdown.
Overall I'm not feeling motivated to do much at the moment.

I was looking forward to going back to BJJ next week, but we shall see if there are any other set backs with schools seeming to be a high chance of spreading the virus, with only a class room left on my daughter's year group last week.

 

I am sorry to hear about your family member and your friend. My sincere condolences to you.