Week 2 Progress

I am officially in my third week of getting back on track and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress. Like any journey there are setbacks for every step forward. This weekend I had my daughters and it was cold and rainy. This meant we stayed in and watched movies.... and snacked. I did my best to keep everything in moderation but it also felt good to relax for a day.

So what were the actual results of the week? Well I am 153.4 pounds as of this morning which is a 1.4 pound loss from last week. I actually ended up raising my calories this week because the weight is dropping quickly. I ate roughly 15,000 calories, or 2,150 per day. I've continued lifting heavy and set my sights on possibly competing in a power lifting competition in May instead of doing the NPC Mid-Atlantic Cup again.

Starting to see some definition again

 Abs are slowly reappearing

My workouts this week were as follows:

Monday

Squats:

4 warm-up sets of 10 reps increasing weight each set

5 x 5 increasing weight each set (I ended at 190 lbs)

Reverse Hack Squat

5 x 10 x 180 lbs (not counting the starting weight of the sled)

Leg Press 

5 x 15 x 90 lbs (not counting the starting weight of the sled)

Calf Raise

5 x 15 x 155 lbs

Wednesday

Bench Press:

4 warm-up sets

1 heavy set of 3 reps

4 heavy sets of 2 reps (I PR'd with 115 pounds)

Incline DB Press:

10 x 10 x 25 pound DB's

Shrugs:

5 x 7 x 160 pounds

Dips:

5 x 15 with 60 pounds of assistance

Thursday

Treadmill 4.0 MPH for 10 minutes

Overhead Press:

8 x 30 pounds

2 x 8 x 50 pounds

5 x 60 pounds

3 x 70 pounds

4 x 2 x 80 pounds

Lateral Raise

10 x 10 x 10 lb dumbbells

Cable Front Raise

5 x 7 x 15 pounds

Treadmill 20 minutes inclined at 4.0 MPH

Friday

Treadmill 4.0 MPH for 15 minutes

Deadlifts

5 warm-up sets

5 x 5 x 235 pounds

Deficit Deadlifts

5 x 7 x 185 pounds

Lying Hamstring Curls

5 x 10 x 80 pounds

Barbell Rows

4 x 10 x 95 pounds

Sunday

Supersets of biceps and triceps:

DB curls w/ skullcrushers

4 sets of 8 - 12

Rope curls with rope pushdowns

3 sets of 8 - 12

Incline hammer curls with bench dips

3 sets of 8 - 12

Shoulders:

Plate front raise superset with plate upright row

3 sets of 10

Facepulls

3 sets of 10 - 15

And now it's on to week 3 and planning nutrition to get me to the under-148 pound weight class by May 28th!

Week 1 Results

I apologize for this being a day late. I was unexpectedly scheduled for ten hour shifts this week. But on to the good stuff!

My first week of cutting and increasing my workouts has yielded good results. I ate a little more than I had planned with 14,037 calories for the week (2,005/day). However, my workouts were very intense (more on that in a second) and I still lost 2.4 pounds (154.8 pounds). Likely a good  portion of this initial loss was water weight from cutting out processed carbs and junk food. Only another week will tell!

 154.8 pounds

Building a nice V-taper

I've been focusing on more power lifting-style strength workouts with accessory lifts that will build up my physique. This means lower reps with heavy weight for my main lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press) and lower weight and higher reps for my accessory lifts. I did a quick shoulder session plus 15 minutes of cardio on Tuesday. I believe it consisted of overhead press, front barbell raise, dumbbell lateral raise, front plate raise, and upright barbell rows. I was in a rush and did not write down what I actually did.

Wednesday I benched with a friend of mine. He is competing in a power lifting competition in May and has agreed to help me train for strength and size. Our workout was:

Warmup: Walk on treadmill 10 minutes

Bench Press:

8 x Bar (45 pounds)

5 x 5 @ 75, 95, 95, 105, 100 pounds

Incline dumbbell press:

10 x 10 with 20 pound dumbbells

Shrugs:

5 x 7 @ 135, 135, 135, 155, 155

Dips:

5 x 15 (I used 60 lbs on the assisted dip machine)

Friday I met my friend again for deadlifts and posterior chain (back) training. My workout was as follows:

Deadlifts:

8 x 135 pounds, 8 x 185 pounds

3 x 225 pounds

4 sets of 2 x 225 pounds

5 x 185 pounds

5 sets of 3 at 185 pounds

Deficit Deadlifts (standing on a 45 lb plate):

5 x 7 @ 135, 185, 185, 185, 185

Hamstring Curls:

4 sets of 10 @ 45 pounds

10 x 60 pounds

Barbell Rows:

4 sets of 10 x 95 pounds

On Saturday I went hiking in Ohiopyle with my boyfriend and his dog. We spent about an hour and a half doing a 4 mile hike out to see waterfalls and then back to the car. And on Sunday we went to see the Pirates vs. Cardinals season opener. There may have been some beers involved but I kept it to a minimum and we brought our own food to the tailgate and ate again at home after the game. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and we saved money too!

Ohiopyle hiking selfie

Some examples of my nutrition this week would be tuna, Greek yogurt, and lots of veggies. I also ate a good bit of salmon, beef, and chicken as well as sweet potato. I felt like this whole week was really hectic and didn't allow for much meal prep so I kept it simple and quick most days.

 Mediterranean Style Tuna (from a packet), California blend veggies, and Greek yogurt

Salmon (marinated in soy sauce and ginger) with wilted spinach and strawberries

For week 2 I plan to drop my calories just a little lower (maybe 1,900 per day average) and continue to workout 4-5 days per week. I'd like to add in more cardio but that will depend on how I feel and my work schedule. I always start my workouts with 10-15 minutes of cardio but I would prefer to get a solid 20-30 minutes at least 3 times per week for health and the extra calorie burn. 

And that concludes week one of my return to fitness! Please comment and share if you are following along! 

They Should Increase My Meds: Marathon Training Week 5

Week 5 meant that it was time to buckle down. In order to have at least a 10 day taper my last long run needed to happen in this week. I was really nervous and kept my weekday mileage low in order to be fresh for my last big run.

Week 5 ended up looking like this:

Monday: Driving back from South Carolina
Tuesday: 5.25 miles at 10:19 pace
Wednesday: 3.25 miles at 10:01 pace
Thursday: Rest
Friday: 17 miles at 10:44 average
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 4.1 miles at 8:37 average (10:04 warm up mile followed by a 25:12 5k)

Total: 29.6 miles

After 17 miles. I was not impressed that I didn't go 20.

Now I'm into week 6 and getting ready to face taper madness! The mister has already noticed my tendency to over-think every aspect of training and racing so it should be interesting to see if I can tone it down. 

Let me close with a question: To race or not to race (a 5k) this weekend?!

Marathon Training Week 4: Take me to the Asylum

My week 4 training was already slated to be a cutback week but I took it to the extreme. I finished the week with 6.5 miles and one CrossFit workout. Thankfully, I really don't care too much about one week in my un-training plan.

Instead of training I visited my friends in Virginia. Maybe you remember them from my first attempt at a Strongman clinic last year? We got to spend an evening and the next morning catching up before I continued on to South Carolina. They even sent me off with a mug, two pint glasses, a pack of fair-trade root beer, and some Beast Lab bracelets. (HINT: You can score some Beast Lab gear over on their blog!)

Beast Lab cool

The very first thing the Mr. and I did Friday was head to CrossFit for a workout. Our warm up was 9 rounds of 2 rep floor presses. I used 65# for mine and only made 7 rounds. Doing bench press on the floor is probably the most painful thing ever. I won't be doing that again. The WOD was called 'The Chief". It consists of max rounds in 3 minutes of:
3 rep Power Cleans (135 is RX for men, 95 for women)
6 push-ups
9 air squats
Rest 1 minute
Repeat for 5 cycles

The boy and I set up next to each other. I think he RX'd as usual while I went with 55# so I could not worry about hurting myself. We both managed 4 rounds the first cycle. We agreed to hold 4 rounds again the second cycle. The third cycle he told me to go for 3 but I had more than enough time to knock out 4. The fourth cycle I completed 3 rounds and then went for broke with another 4 on the final cycle. Our final tallies were 19 rounds for me and 18 for him. Overall, it was great to get back under a bar and especially with my favorite workout partner next to me.

Beastmode face?

The rest of our weekend was spent between the beach and the pool (and a trip to the bar). We drove out to Myrtle Beach on Saturday despite a 50% chance of rain all day. We got lucky and it was just a little overcast, very comfortable, and dry all day. We even took the dog which was awesome. For being so small she had very little fear of the big waves and water!

Ready for date night. Can't beat wings and beers (or his face! LOL)

Sand sprints and hover dog

After that it was dinner and back to the pool. Sunday pretty much consisted of being as lazy as possible. Overall, I'll take a weekend of fun and active leisure over hardcore training any day! Now back to the regularly schedule programming training.

Gone Crazy: Week 2

My second week of super-condensed marathon training is in the books. It was another seven days of surprises but the biggest one has to be how quickly I've gotten back into the swing of training full bore. Cranking out 35 miles seemed like a long shot but 35.3 miles later I'm still going strong.

I started out the week with a slow 7 mile slog on dead legs. I happened to be working near my old home and decided to take a run on the Yough River Trail for old times sake. Apparently my body just hates flat and hot this year. I'm sure that bodes very well for Darlington (insert sarcasm here).

On Tuesday, my running partner/best friend's boyfriend and I decided to attempt two loops of our cemetery route. According to my Garmin, one loop is about 500 feet of gain and 500 feet of loss in 4.5 miles. We decided to cut the loops down to 5k even by walking to and from the cemetery. We were both miserable by the end but we finished our hilly 10k without any lasting harm.

 Elevation profile for one full loop of the cemetery

After two very slow, tough runs in a row I took the hint and rested Wednesday. It must have worked because the rest of my week only got better from there. Thursday I headed to North Park and ran the 5 mile loop around the lake. My only goal was to run it as hard as I could and see what happened. I ended up completing the loop in 43:40 for an 8:44 average pace. I was spent but thrilled!

Yeah, that happened.

Friday was pretty much a recovery run with the Electrodash 5k actually being 2.36 miles and too crowded to really run. I'm sure the forced slowdown was exactly what my legs needed so that my running partner and I could run long Saturday. We managed to cap off the second week of marathon training with a 12 mile run that was almost exactly the same pace as my 10 miler last week. 

YES!

Sunday I did a short 3 mile shakeout run to hit my goal of 35 miles for the week. I'd love to hit 40 miles for week 3 but I'm not sure it's feasible. I have to keep reminding myself that it's more important to arrive at the starting line healthy than over trained. So my A goal will be 40 and my B goal is to beat this weeks 35 miles. I guess my all-else-fails goal is to get in a 14 mile long run and a few other runs during the week.

And now I can start to panic because we are less than 5 weeks out from Darlington! 

Week In Review: Week 12

Only one month to go until Shamrock! One more week of training and then taper begins! Oh the madness and the doubts are about to begin!

Monday: 3.5 miles at 6-8% incline.

Tuesday: 5.25 miles on the CycleOps trainer + 30 minutes of yoga.

Wednesday: 10 miles with 4 x 1 mile at 5k pace.

Thursday: 5 mile recovery run.

Friday: 6 miles with 4 at tempo.

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: 21 miles.

Total: 45.5 miles running and 5.25 cycling.

Sunday's long run was pretty intense. The weather was brutal with temperatures in the teens and wind chills much colder. On and off snowfall plus icy roads made for a rough day. I kept the pace exactly where I wanted it until my last 6 miles when my lips cracked, my hands went numb, and my face felt like it was on fire from the wind. I still finished though! Mental toughness for the win!

Blowing snow over the lake

 

My personal frozen hell

Week In Review: Week 9

Not much longer now! Shamrock Marathon is almost here and that means peak training followed by taper madness begins next week! This week, however, was nice and easy.

Monday: Off.

From Saturday's long run.

Tuesday: 5.5 miles easy.

Wednesday: 2 miles warm up, 8 miles with 1/2 mile hard, 1/2 mile easy. 1 mile cool down.

Shane did 11 miles in the snow.

Thursday: 3 miles. This was supposed to be a one hour easy run like Tuesday but I just didn't feel all that great.

Friday: 1 mile warm up, 8 hill sprints, 1 mile cool down. Total: 2.5 miles.

So glad I can go eat and get warm after 12 COLD miles!

Saturday: 12 miles with the Greater Pittsburgh Road Runners + strength training.

Sunday: Core work.

Total: 33 miles. Can't believe I'm calling that an 'easy' week!

Week In Review: Week 7!

Time flies when you're having fun! Ummm, training hard? Sleeping 9 hours a night? Spending double digit hours running? Yeah, that's fun right?

I've been meaning to write a post about keeping your body in top shape during blocks of heavy training (and I know what I'm doing is moderate by most standards but it's the hardest I've ever consistently trained). I'm really trying to nail down the things that make me feel better and experiment with recommendations from other runners to find more recovery tricks. So if you're interested look for that soon!

Now onto the nuts and bolts fun:

Monday: 10 minute warm up, walk at 8% incline for 5 minutes, walk at 2% incline for 2 minutes, cool down. Ab Ripper X afterwards. Total: 4.5 miles

Tuesday: 2 mile warm up, 3 x 10 minutes at 5k pace with 3 minutes recovery between, 1 mile cool down. Total: 7 miles

Wednesday: 90 minutes of 9:1 run/walks. Total: 9 miles

Thursday: 1 mile run + weights.

Friday: 1 mile warm up, 5 miles of hills, 1 mile cool down. Total: 7 miles

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: 10.6 miles of hills!

Sunday's elevation profile

Total: 39.1 miles

It's funny how that seems like low mileage to me after having a few weeks in the mid 40's - 50's. Not that long ago I would have been stoked about running this much and now I feel like a slacker for not hitting 40. The good news is the coming week is going to beat that slacker feeling right out of me!

How was your week? How are you keeping track of your training in relation to your goals?

Week In Review: Week 6

Wow! Have I really been doing this for 6 weeks already? My weekly average mileage is sky high compared to just a few months ago and the extra work is beginning to show rewards already. I'm really excited about what this will mean for me by summer!

Monday: Silvester Harmony 5k plus warm up. Total: 6.1 miles

Tuesday: 7 miles in the snow.

Wednesday: 6 Rounds: 24 squats, 24 push-ups, 24 walking lunges, run 400 meters.

Thursday: 5.5 miles easy.

Friday: 2 mile warm up, 5 hill sprints, cool down. Total: 4 miles

Saturday: Off. Volunteered at the Odyssey 5k.

Sunday: 18.23 miles including the Run To Read Half Marathon. Race report to come tomorrow!

Now I am exhausted! Off to bed! 

How was your training this week? Any races?

Training Week 4

Well my highest mileage week in probably EVER is over! And I survived! I can't believe I can say I ran 50 miles this week with no ultras or marathons to pad my total. And I ran all of those miles in 9:23:32. Wish I could do that when I run a 50 mile race! We also had our first snow of the season this week so it made for some interesting runs!

Gem in the snow

So what does a 50 mile week look like?

Monday: Walk 3 miles at 15:08 average pace on a 1% incline plus weights.

Tuesday: 1 mile warm up, 6 miles at steady state pace, 1 mile cooldown. Total: 8 miles @ 9:50 average.

Wednesday: 8 miles of 9/1 run/walks on the trail. Total: 8 miles @10:59 average.

Altras in the snow

Thursday: 1.5 mile warm up, run 5/4/3/2/1/2/3/4/5 minutes hard with 2 minutes recovery between, cool down. Total: 7.5 miles @ 9:45 average.

Friday: Walk 6.5 miles on 1-7% incline increasing .5% every .5 miles. Total: 6.5 @ 14:58 average.

Saturday: Hang out with family and exchange gifts. Stuff face, drink too much wine, and laugh a lot while the kids play in the snow.

Ash in the snow

Sunday: 17 miles @ 10:40 average pace. Really nice day on some easy trail and road plus one giant hill!

Elevation profile of Sunday's long run

Totals: 50 miles/9:23:32 or 11:15 per mile average.

Now I get to reward myself with my first cutback week just in time for Christmas! And hopefully just in time to PR at a NYE 5k!

How's your training? Got any fun holiday plans?