6 mile run, Strength

Early morning

Can you believe it? A morning run with Brig. Once again, I'm reminded of why I hate morning workouts so much. My body is still groggy, achy, I've had no coffee, and I just love sleep too much. Brig told me it gets easier the more times you do it, but I'm still not sold on the idea. Many people argue that you should mimic race conditions and practice in the morning. Others suggest that working out before breakfast promotes greater fat loss throughout the day. All I know is that my intensity is always noticeable greater during an afternoon or early evening workout. Therefore I am producing greater fitness. End of story.

6.3 miles in 53 minutes along this route.

Late afternoon

Strength

Squats 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Load: 215

Dumbbell Bench Press 10, 10, 10, 10, 10
Load: 75 X 2

Weighted Pullups 4, 4, 4, 4, 3*
Load: 30

All strength movements were performed as supersets, with 1 minute of rest in between workouts. I didn't finish the final pullup. Too much swing.

Metcon

Early afternoon


Metcon
"300" (Bootcamp version)


25 Burpees
50 OH Walking Lunges (45# plate)
50 Situps
50 Push Press (97#)
50 Pushups
50 KB Swings (50#)
25 Burpees


17:51


Workout comments: This is different from the other "300" workout that I used to do in the past. That one was composed of pullups, deadlifts, single arm dumbbell clean and presses, floor wipers, pushups, and box jumps. This was equally brutal though. Even though my time is significantly fast than what I used to log for the old "300" workout (~24 minutes), that was a long time ago and the movements are vastly different. I should give that workout another go around and see what my time ends up being.


On a separate note, I recently began using a foam roller and a TP massage ball to work out some tender spots in my back and legs. I saw a video on the Crossfit Journal that mentions releasing tension in certain back muscles as a way of decreasing shoulder pain during certain overhead lifts. I will try this method for the next few weeks and see if it brings any gains.

Strength, Max Bench, Short Metcon

Early afternoon


Strength
Bench Press 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1
Loads: 195, 210, 225 (failed third rep), 235 (failed) DNF, DNF


On the minute for 10 minutes: 2 squats at 60% 1RM (160), 3 Incline DB Bench Presses (50 DBs)


Deadlift 5 X 3
80% 1RM (280)


Metcon

7 Thrusters 105#
7 Knees-to-elbows
7 Deadlifts (165#)
7 Burpess
7 Power Cleans (115#)
7 Pullups


2:05

Late afternoon

I had heard about some trails that exist within Valley Forge Park. I've been here a few times (both biking and running) and have only noticed the paved walkways that line the park. Apparently there is a non-paved trail system that exists on the northern side of the river, picking up right where the Schuylkill River Trail meets the Rt. 422 bridge. Ironically, I have ridden my road bike past here hundreds of times, and even made my way down into the parking lot where the trailhead is. I must have ridden right by it. The trail runs parallel to the river, except where it breaks off and winds through forest and meadow areas deep into Valley Forge. This place is a sanctuary for deer and other wildlife, and I was surprised that almost none of the deer and other critters scurried away when I passed by, unless they were close to being underfoot. Several times I came with 10 feet of adult deer and I started to wonder if they would even look up. The trail system was way to big for my 45 minute run. I'll have to come back with the bike, even though they are technically not allowed.

About 5 miles in 45 minutes.


Workout comments: Nothing to report on the max bench press attempt. I was frustrated and quit after the first attempt at 1 rep failed. I wasn't going to waste my time attempting another rep. This same thing happened last week. I don't know if I need more rest or more conditioning, but I have seen consistent gains in the 3RM, but not one improvement in the 1RM.

Metcon, Short run

Late evening

Metcon
5 Rounds for Time
50 Double Unders
20 Parallette Pushups

11:33

0.65 mile run with 30 kipping pullups thrown in.

Supplemental work: 20 minutes foam roller work.

Workout comments: The heat was too much during this workout. Temperature was around 95F at 8:00PM and there was no relief from it. The double unders were pretty good. The new rope I bought is pretty heavy, but still works well. Some nagging pain in my left shoulder blade during the pushups. I might try massuaging it with a tennis ball later tonight to see if this helps with my immobility.

Weighted Trail Run

Got a brand spankin new weighted vest this weekend and obviously I had to try it. I've wanted to take a ruck sack or an odd object for a run through the park and figured this would be a pretty good option. There is a decent 5.5 mile loop that starts and ends at Northwestern and has some pretty good hills to climb. At first, the vest was awkward to wear during a run, because it bounced around on my shoulders and became somewhat distracting. I couldn't tighten it too much, or I hindered my breathing. After 5 minutes or so, it became background noise and I was in a rhythm. That was where the rhythm ended, as I approached one of the steapest hills in the park at the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Bells Mill Rd. I had to stop and walk once or twice, a habit I would repeat on the rest of the hills as well. The weather was not unbearably warm, but I found myself gulping down water at both Valley Green and Northwestern when I finished. It was tougher than I thought, to say the least.

I finished the loop in about 65 minutes, which puts my pace at a pretty surprising slow level, but hopefully this will translate into more speed on future unweighted climbs.

Supplemental work: 20 minutes foam roller massage.

Lunchtime trail run

As I was headed over to the gym today, I bumped into Paul R. It was a great day for running, and I wasn't feeling particularly interested in spending it inside. Running with Paul is as good as a solid tempo workout. He likes to keep a manageable distance between the two of you: get too close behind him and he assumes the pace is too slow and speeds things up. We took a new route involving "the cut" out in a different direction from Malvern. After about 15-20 minutes of paved roads, we were on a back trail heading out towards some radio towers at the top of a pretty steep hill. The trails were blazed by what seemed to be local 4 wheelers and motocross riders. "The cut" was steep, unshaded trail that climbed straight up the hill to the top and crested at the radio towers. I'm not sure if Paul thought I wouldn't make it to the top, or if he just wanted to prolong the trail run, but we took a detour that meandered back and forth to the top. Which is worse: a quick painful death, or a long, slow, nagging one?

I promised myself I wouldn't stop to walk and didn't, for the most part, until we got to the top. Paul created some pretty good space between us, but I kept him in sight the whole way up. After we crested the hill, it was more up and down trail sections, until we finally took the long paved road down to the bottom. Paul mentioned after the 5-6 minute descent that it really put into perspective how high the hill actually was. True words.

We finished in about 50 minutes or so, and Paul estimated around 6.5 miles. Not too bad.

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.