Olympics 01 :-)

Lots of good news all around.

First, I'm a total sucker for the olympics. US olympic coverage is so interesting. Very different than what I am used to. Much less balanced. I understand the whole Michael Phelps thing, really I do. But there are so many athletes who have spent the better part of their walking talking lives preparing for competition like this. That the primetime coverage is so narrowly focused on things like swimming and gymnastics feels strange to me.

So ... now that the disclaimer is over there are two things running through my head. The men's 4x100 relay in swimming is the most ridiculously satisfying example of pure play competition and desire to win that I've ever seen. There is a mind-over-matter element here that blows me aqway.

And then there's gymnastics. I can't hold a handstand to save my life. That's mostly because I don't have the drive to practice as much as is necessary. Then I watch the olympics, and have this feeling inside every single time that makes me feel like gymnastics is the closest that humans come to flying under our own power. I just have to watch a few vaults, and a couple of exercises on the uneven bars and the rings and I'm just sitting there stunned. In this case all the focus on the Hamm's made me stop to consider how close gymnastics takes us to the edge of human ability. We continue to push the limits of what is possible, and dance on the line between brilliance and catastrophe.

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Now for the really good parts.

TGU:

I can actually do a TGU with the 32kg on my RHS. This seems just ridiculous to me given that 6 months ago we were working with the 16kg and it felt like my wrist was going to snap like a twig after 3 reps. Now the veins in my arm just look like the they are going to pop off. Left hand is weaker, I think because of the vision issue and hand-eye coordination that we need to work on there. I need to get a better feeling for the position so that I don't have to rely 100% on being able to see it at all times. Still managed to do 28kg on the LHS, so there is not a major differential.

Snatch VO2:
Uh huh ... 15/15 ... 7 reps ... 16kg ... 40 minutes. This is just complete death. Something very physical about this, but psychological too. Grip is managing to hold out ok at that level. We pushed this up to the 20kg and tried to do it with 6 reps and my grip died too quickly (10-15 mins?). Now we're back down to 16kg again, but trying for 8 reps. Yesterday, I managed to make it through 20 minutes with 8 reps, before I genuinely wasn't within the 15 second window anymore. I managed to push it down to 7 reps and get the whole 40 minutes in. So I'm happy for now.

Hand Care:
Oh yeaaaaaahhhh. (aka FINALLY). Corn Huskers. Safeway. $4.19. Bliss.