Running, Bench Press, Boot Camp revisited

Early afternoon

Approx 5 miles on trails in about 50 minutes.

Late afternoon

Strength
Bench Press 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1
Loads: 195, 210, 220, 230, 240*, 250*

*The last two rounds were completed with assistance from a spotter. I didn't want help originally, but before I had raised the weight totally, he stepped in and helped lift the weight. I may have completed the 240# attempt without his help, but I defintely would not have completed the 250# attempt.

Metcon
Boot Camp revisited (AMRAP in 20 minutes)

6 Pushups
8 Squats
10 Dips
12 Jumping Lunges
15 Situps

17 rounds + 46 reps

Workout comments: The afternoon run through the park was originally scheduled as a 5K, which somehow always turns into 5 miles. The weather was brutal: almost 95 degrees and humid trekking through the park. I was drenched within a mile of the start. The streams cutting through the nature conservancy were still pretty cold and almost everyone opted to wade through them rather than cross the newly constructed bridges.

The afternoon workout was looming over me all afternoon, but I headed over to attempt the bench press. I have been feeling wiped consistently after these workouts for the past couple of weeks. Healthy food and 8+ hours of sleep should be enough to help me recover, but I'm just not seeing any improvement. It's getting to the point where I am seriously asking myself whether I want to spend the entire week too sore to move.

After yesterday's workout, I got a couple of emails from the instructor in Malvern calling my bluff, so after the failed Bench Press attempt, the repeat metcon sounded more appealing than more strength work. It was pretty much the same format as the class in Spring House. I saw Raph, someone who had also ran earlier in the day and felt I was on an even playing field with at least one other person. Raph broke 3:10 in a recent marathon, only to realize his timing chip was ill-placed and didn't record any of his splits, so his time was unofficial. Unfortunate, but it still doesn't negate the fact that he's pretty fast and has decent endurance.

I felt I had a leg up (and a leg down) on the competition by already knowing what sort of pacing it was going to take to be competitive. The workout is entirely cardiovascular, and starting too slow could dig you into a hole that you can't crawl out of. Everyone was pretty even through the first 4-5 minutes, and I was feeling as if I would never break away from the group. But longer workouts are funny that way. Mental toughness plays as important a role as physical toughness, and it was soon apparently who was making their way towards the front of the pack. Since there were so many other people in the class, you had to call our your name after each completed round so the instructor could record it. This is how I was keeping track of Mike, who always seemed about 10 reps ahead of me and just out of reach. I had him in the corner of my eye, and won't elaborate too much on the sets I noticed him skipping in the middle part of the workout. But that could have been my mind playing tricks on me. He was flying through the workout as quickly as me, and I could tell he was eyeing me up as well. I tried to gain at least 1 rep per round on him during the final 5 minutes, and finally passed him (I think) on the lunges and situps portion of the final round. After we helped each other up, I found out that he had a rowing background like me, as evidenced by the soaked rowing T-shirt I was wearing. We joked about the similarity to a 6K, both in length and in not knowing exactly where your rivals are.

The only down side of the workout was a echo of what I've heard several times before: that my pushups are not being done to full extension. I should video myself doing these, because I don't know where this criticism is coming from. I can't lock out my arms any fuller, and my entire body is touching the floor at the bottom of each rep. I guess several instructors can't be wrong.