Heh. Well I was hoping to train or run today but my body had other ideas. I’ve succumbed to a virus. I’m not surprised given the various stresses I’m under. Hope I kick it soon - slightly less than two weeks to my 5K and I was hoping to get a better time than previously. I’m sure I’ll be fine by then, though. Well, unless my bad luck dogs me further and I sprain my ankle again or something. Ah but I’m sure something has to go right now, eh?
I hate to ‘see,’ you do down…get some rest!!
it can’t rain all the time Cal :).
I think your bad luck is done with. The virus completes the tri-set of doom, so you are all good for awhile.
yo, Cal! you kick that virus to the curb yet? hope all is well…
I’m over it now, mostly - still quite tired. I trained Saturday (mostly back) and yesterday (mostly arms), also did a 3 mile run on Saturday. I have a 5K on Sunday so need to be in good form for that.
Job situation is pretty stressful and I’m immersing myself in games to keep my mind off it, hence not posting for a while. If I do lose my job, which looks likely, then at least I had the foresight to pay my gym membership up front in January.
May have to reconsider ART, at £50 a pop. I went last night (calves were particularly brutal) - I’m hoping I can keep going but we’ll see.
Hey Cal, sorry to hear that things are stressful for you these days, but I’m glad that you’re keeping yourself occupied with games and your training. Smart move to pay for the gym membership up til the end of the year. I’ve been in and out of employment for years and funny enough, the gym is the only thing I hold on to even in dire times (maybe my only form of sanity). In fact, I was commenting the other day that generally unemployed people are the most fit, b/c what else can you do to fill time while “in between jobs”.
Also glad to hear youre feeling better! Now is a good time to be sure your health is in order.
Re: art, is there any way you can continue doing art-like work on your own if it comes to that?
Last year when the economy was super rough all-over, I went through the exercise (thankfully only theoretically) of what was the very last non-essential item I’d cut. Turned out it wasn’t the gym, it was my hair (coloring and straightening). How vain is that?!?!? I guess I figured with my home oly bar and weights, I could do enough to replace the gym equipment.
I have faith that something will work out job-wise that will be a good change, rather than a bad one. What are the unemployment bennies like in the UK?
Rubbish! Well I already cut my own hair and haven’t coloured it for some time…heh. I have other luxuries I wouldn’t want to cut, like SkyHD (satellite TV) and broadband. The broadband is actually pretty essential for me. Wouldn’t know what to do without it.
Did some hill sprints on the common at lunchtime. Eight repeats, plus a bit of an extra jog around. It’s nice out there - trees are flowering, ducklings on the pond. I guess I’ll miss it, though the common up my road is nice anyway.
Legs felt quite fatigued from that. Now I feel a bit crappy but I’m on canned tuna and whey since Monday. Meh… My weight is back to 147lbs. I put that down to being off work sick last week - I wasn’t getting my walks in, just sitting on my arse in front of the PC. I’ve only a few weeks until my holiday (not that it’s a beach holiday…but I still don’t want my arms to look like legs of mutton in photographs).
I did more running today, but a little different to yesterday. Same common, same hill trail - only instead of sprinting up and then walk/jogging back down, I ran up, then carried on going, did a path loop that brought me back to the top of the trail/hill, then walked/jogged back down. I did three of those and they punished me. I timed one of them at 4:45 so I guess it was around 800m or so, though it’s hard to say thanks to the uneven terrain and windy paths.
I wasn’t sprinting exactly - just running fast enough that my breathing was pretty ragged. Lungs weren’t the weak spot, though - it was my legs that felt it. I suppose after yesterday’s sprints, and what with being on low cals and next to no carbs, it was pretty tough. Felt better for it, though.
Hopefully this training will give me some extra speed for the 5K on Sunday. I would hope to be able to get about 28 minutes for that. I’m not a fast runner - the elite marathon runners do 26 miles at a speed that I’d consider a flat out sprint. I’m somewhat further down the genetic tree. Like at the roots, heh.
I will probably hit the gym tomorrow - Friday’s a no as I work earlier on Fridays, and on Saturday I have to stay in due to someone coming to carpet the hallway. That’s fine though - I don’t feel I need to lift weights that often - my body takes longer to recover these days.
Actually it sounds like your conditioning has gotten better! Don’t you love the feeling in your lungs when your running at a good clip. I’m going definitely go with the low cals and carbs for the leg fatigue (but the sprints don’t help I’m sure). Are you going to fuel for the race or just stick to your current eating plan?
ps. “legs of mutton” made my mouth water - is that wrong?
You’re going to great at the 5k. I actually think its a good idea that you’re taking a day or two off before the race.
I usually eat low carb/cal during the week and then refeed at weekends, so I’ll be fuelled up for Sunday. I’ve done my two 10Ks this year that way and it’s been fine. I do them fasted as well - I can’t eat before running or I’ll barf. But I’ve got used to it and do pretty well on it.
I woke up with an empty tank - two days of fast running/sprinting and low carbs has drained all the energy from me. I went to the gym regardless and did some shoulders and back. My right RC is being a whiny bitch - I may have to back off the military presses for a while. Well, I suppose two weeks of forced holiday in June will help a lot.
Military Press
10 x Bar
10 x 25kg
5 x 30kg
4 x 32.5kg
3 x 35kg
At least I haven’t lost strength on this, at any rate.
Dumbell Rows
24kg x 10
26kg x 10
I dropped the weight after my last woeful attempt at these. Training on vapours is no fun.
Lat Pulldowns
30kg x 10
35kg x 10
40kg x 8
45kg x 6
I’ve reintroduced these into my routine after reading the pull-ups weakest link article. I’m not a fan of machines but I figure it can’t hurt. I am pulling these to my upper chest and using the best form I can, so the weights are not huge.
Straight Arm Pulldowns
2 x 10 x 20kg
Went light on these as I was already fatigued. Doing these for my serratus which needs to be strong for optimum shoulder health.
Incidentally, my lower back pain is a lot more manageable now, mostly because I’ve dropped all types of squatting and deadlifting movements. I’m not pleased that I’ve had to do this, but being pain free is the most important thing now. I am going to need to do a lot of rehab-type stuff.
Anyway, that’s all for today. I’ve felt carb-depleted and crappy much of the day but this jiggly belly needs to go. Refeed on Saturday. God I’m looking forward to it.
I cannot believe how hard you are working on this cut. Super strict diet and getting to the gym despite it all. Very nicely done.
I too, am inspired. I’m going to try carb depleting during the week and refeeds with high carbs and low fat on weekends+1 cheat meal and she how it fairs. If you can do low carb during the week with all running time you put in, I can too!
It’s bloody hot here now! (Well, for London it its…)
Did my 5K this morning. Of course I forgot the tube was down for maintenance so I had to walk to Clapham Common. Not a big deal as it’s about 15 minutes away. Except that I decided to cut through a backstreet…which didn’t come out where I expected it to. My 15 minute walk turned into a 35 minute walk, which is embarrassing as I’ve only lived in the area since 1994 and should know enough not to get lost! Ah well, I saw some new streets I didn’t know.
Met with my colleague Theresa who was doing the run with me. She doesn’t exercise like I do but plays football (that’s soccer to you Americans…she’s also American herself, as it happens) so thought she’d give it a try. She wanted to get around, mostly.
I felt like I ran pretty well but the clock was around 29:45 when I crossed the finish. It’s chip timed so I expect a bit of a reduction from that when I get my proper time back, but still, I was hoping to do around 28. I guess the buttocks of the man running in a lime green mankini distracted me a bit more than I realised…
[quote]Cal Jones wrote:
I guess the buttocks of the man running in a lime green mankini distracted me a bit more than I realised…[/quote]
Lol…priceless! Good job finishing the 5K. Sorry to hear about your parents. I spent 21 days in hospital with my dad, not fun. I have a major aversion to hospitals, thanks to that.
Despite the cutting, your bench and OHP are still very oogle-worthy!
eww - lime green minkini’s are the stuff that kills a sex drive unless you’re into The Mask or Shrek.
The mental picture of a lime green mankini is killing my appetite for my lunch.
Excellent job finishing that race in good time!
At least he’d waxed his arse.
Still hot - they reckoned it hit 30 degrees today. That’s 86F to those on the west side of the Pond. I went for a walk at lunchtime and it definitely felt hot - I guess it’s good practise for when I come Stateside in a couple of weeks. What sucks is that my flat gets the afternoon sun so night time is not comfortable. No one has aircon over here…we just have to suffer.
Got my time back from the run. Freakily I finished 82nd, because I was wearing number 82. My colleague came in at 113th. Not bad for her given she doesn’t actually run.
My time was 29:34 which was a bit disappointing. I felt as though I’d run faster. But hey it was under 30 minutes at least.
Gym this morning (arms, mostly):
Superset
Chins: 4, 3, 3, 2
Decline Push-ups: 10, 10, 10, 10
Push-ups were done with hands shoulder-width and elbows tucked. Feet on a step plus four risers.
Superset
Skull crushers: 10kg x 12, 15kg x 8, 15kg x 8
Close grip press: 10kg x 12, 15kg x 8, 15kg x 8
Weight doesn’t include the EZ bar.
I decided not to go up to 17.5kg as I didn’t want to go below 8 reps.
Superset
Rope tricep pushdowns: 10kg x 10, 12.5kg x 10, 15kg x 10
Hammer curls: 10kg x 10, 10kg x 8, 10kg x 8
I did some seated bicep curls as well but honestly can’t remember the weights and reps. I think it was 8kg dumbells.
And that’s all folks.