Well I’m doing my 10Ks still. I’m almost tempted to look into a half-marathon, but I don’t think my knees would like me very much. I run because it’s relaxing and enjoyable (I run outdoors on the common, which is pleasant - I definitely don’t pound pavements or, god forbid, a treadmill) but I do realise it’s not exactly ideal if building muscle mass is a goal.
On the other hand I could train the shit out of my arms for a while, bodybuilding style. They’ve always lagged behind my chest and back and it’s been an age since I did any direct arm training. Hmm.
BJJ?! Sweet Jesus I don’t want to break anything else! I was doing Muay Thai until I fucked up my ankle. It wasn’t the pad work or sparring that was the problem, but the 90 fucking minutes of warm-ups and drills beforehand.
Have you thought about sprinting? As in not just running fast for a bit but as developing a plan and trying to lower your time for the 40 or the 100? Helps keep you lean and doesn’t hurt muscle building plus it gives you a goal and goals are really helpful for everything.
I do the odd sprint workout - I’ve been waiting for the common near work to dry out so I can run there at lunchtime (at the moment it’s still far too muddy). But I’ve never tried serious sprinting on a track or anything like that. I tend to think of sprints more as an accessory than an end in itself.
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
Well I’m doing my 10Ks still. I’m almost tempted to look into a half-marathon, but I don’t think my knees would like me very much. I run because it’s relaxing and enjoyable (I run outdoors on the common, which is pleasant - I definitely don’t pound pavements or, god forbid, a treadmill) but I do realise it’s not exactly ideal if building muscle mass is a goal.
On the other hand I could train the shit out of my arms for a while, bodybuilding style. They’ve always lagged behind my chest and back and it’s been an age since I did any direct arm training. Hmm.[/quote]
Your knees impress me for putting up with the 10K, much less a 1/2 marathon! My knees would never speak to me again if I put them through that.
I vote for training arms. I love a nice, cut set of arms.
I’ll vote for you training arms. Then I can watch your progress and see if I can benefit from your plan. I haven’t trained the arms directly for months. (except for a few times here n there recently) I love, love me some cut arms. I have yet to melt the adipose covering mine atm. My gym friend I saw recently has some ripped arms. She said she started doing the low weight super high repthing… But, she’s also been dieting and running, so who’s to know if it’s a combination of the two. She also is naturallyquite muscular. (insert jealous) 
yeah for you still leaning out! And the running, too.
I just finished my second 10K race of the year. I got under 58 minutes again, but don’t know the exact time yet. It’s a chip-timed race so I’ll get the official result some time tomorrow, I think.
Same course as last time, but not nearly as much mud. It was actually sunny, but not too hot. Warm enough for a T-shirt, but not so warm that it was uncomfortable. I don’t run so well when it’s hot so the summer racers will likely be slower for me.
Foot started being a whiny little bitch during the last 1K but I ignored it. (For those not aware of my foot problems, I have an accessory navicular - an extra bone - in my right foot. It’s not that uncommon - maybe 8-10% of people have one. For some people it causes problems. I was lucky in that mine was completely asymptomatic until last September, when I sprained my ankle. That upset it - perhaps tore something there - and because that area has almost no blood flow, it doesn’t heal properly. It’s not as bad as it was but it does complain from time to time). Knees behaved, though, which is good.
I am going to go sit in a nice hot bath now, after which I’m having a big salad with morocan butternut squash parcels, felafels and smoked salmon. I’ll be having a big dollop of mascarpone with fresh berries later on.
And here’s what I ate yesterday. Chocolate bacon. I was curious about this delicacy - apparently popular in Canada - so I had to see what it tasted like. I decided on 85% chocolate, and a nice fatty streaky bacon grilled to a crisp. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe it would have been better with a sweeter, milkier chocolate - I’m not sure. I do like salt/sweet combos (I like salted nuts with dried fruit, for instance) but not convinced of this. Still, given that I’ve eaten silkworm pupae in Korea, I couldn’t not try it, could I?
Bacon and chocolate…hmmmm, thats one I’ve never heard of!
Grats on your race…
As a canadian I can truly say I have never heard of that combo. What kind of info do they feed you over the pond? You know we don’t live in igloos right? (just teasin). That bacon should have been swimming in maple syrup for a lismacking sweet and salty combo.
Awesome on the race!
Chocolate bacon sounds revolting to me. But I don’t like sweet/salty mixed.
Chocolate and bacon? I’d hit that.
Congrats on a good race! You did well to ignore the whiny bitch if it was only 1K.
[quote]nlmain wrote:
As a canadian I can truly say I have never heard of that combo. What kind of info do they feed you over the pond? You know we don’t live in igloos right? (just teasin). That bacon should have been swimming in maple syrup for a lismacking sweet and salty combo.[/quote]
x2
ANYTHING in maple syrup is delicious!! I’d try the chocolate and bacon though. I’d try almost anything when it comes to food.
Way to go on your most recent 10K! All that running is very impressive to me, because I know what it’s like to have uncooperative knees/ankles. Nice to hear the weather was so good for it too.
God I’m annoyed. I logged into the (run organiser’s) website this morning to get my time. It wasn’t listed. My name was missing from the list of finishers. I know I did under 58, which is great and all. I went through the finish in 57:59 or so, but I didn’t go through the start until there were already 12 or 13 seconds on the clock so I don’t know my exact time.
It may sound silly but after pushing myself for six miles on a bad foot I want my fucking time! I’ve emailed them, but no reply yet. Maybe I got a duff chip, I don’t know - but damn it all to hell! The thing is, you get points for finishing, more points for finishing under an hour, and so forth, and this is for a series of five races. You don’t get anything for it, (unless you’re top three), but I wanted to score sub hours in all races.
Well, I guess I will have to see what they say, I guess. I didn’t pay £18 per race for no fucking time.
On top of that my tube was delayed this morning, which set me on edge, but I made lemonade out of lemons by turning my 2 mile walk (from the tube to work) into a walk with sprint intervals. Wearing Chucks and a denim jacket, too. I sweated, so I count it as a workout.
Lemons into lemonade is just good, full stop. No time, however, would totally piss me off too.
The personal trainer whose company organises the 10Ks was at the gym this morning so I asked him about the times and he said the chips hadn’t all given up their information automatically, and they’d had to do some of them manually. He said my time was 57:06 which is beat my previous time by 6 seconds. A new PB! Granted, I was still in the last 25% but it’s not really a fun run - most of the people who take part seem to be quite serious runners. I’d like to be able to record a 55 time but not sure that the next race (July) will be the one, since I run better when it’s cooler. I’ll have to see, I guess.
Anyway, said I was going to train arms and I did. And a bit of back.
3 x Superset
30kg dumbell rows x 5
Decline push-ups x 10
Did right arm, left arm and then the push-ups. Feet were on a bench so quite high, hand spacing fairly narrow.
3 x Superset
Skullcrushers: 10kg x 10, 12.5kg x 10, 15kg x 10
Close grip presses: 10kg x 10, 12.5kg x 10, 15kg x 10
I don’t know what the EZ bar weighs so that that’s just the plate weight. I guess it’s around 5 or 7 kg or something. This superset really fatigues the tris - you bust out a set of skullcrushers and then immediately do the presses, same weight. Used to do these when I was in my 20s and did more direct arm stuff.
Seated Incline Dumbell Curls
2 x 10 x 8kg
Two sets enough for such a small piddly exercise.
2 x Superset
Overhead dumbell press, 20kg x 10
Hammer Curls (standing), 10kg x 10
The press is the one where you hold one end of a big dumbell in both hands and lower it behind your head.
And that was it for arms.
Did 50 hypers, stretched a bit, rolled my thighs on a medicine ball (ow ow ow! Legs knackered from the 10k and the sprints) and I was done.
All good news here! A PB on the run is awesome. You, my dear, are assuming it will be hot in July. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Train for the 55 fer sure.
My arms hurt just reading that workout. Going after it, you are.
Way to go on your 10K time!
[quote]kimbakimba wrote:
My arms hurt just reading that workout. Going after it, you are.[/quote]
x2
And my arms hurt this morning. Ouch! I had forgotten what arm DOMs felt like.
I am off to Scotland tomorrow for a few days with a few of my gay boys. We’re all coaster geeks so we’re visiting a couple of shitty amusement parks and a fun fair - but mostly it’s just an excuse to go away for the weekend. So no training for a bit, which my joints will no doubt be thankful for.
And Kimba - you are correct. It could be grey and miserable. This is England after all.
good job on the great time! I can’t focus on one body part during my time in the gym - I tend to fatigue too faste. I’ll usually do upper/lower planes to give body parts a break.