Accessory -
Dumbbell overhead press per arm: 50# 8,8,8
Superset with dumbbell bent over rows: 65# 8,8,8
Again, same deal, repeat weights from last cycle, pushed reps on the last set instead of minimum. 10 reps deadlift was easy, 10 reps press was more of a challenge. Also bumped the weight and dropped the reps on the accessory work. Lunch workout so no conditioning, will do that either after work or tomorrow, depending how I feel.
Conditioning: Elliptical 24 minutes, difficulty 7, speed 4+, 6+ on the hills. Final numbers HR: 141, Miles: 2.06, Calories: 261. Exact same pace as Tuesday, but lower HR, but also lower miles and calories. I know those things aren’t accurate, but I’d at least like for them to be consistent. That’s not that much error though, just around 2%, probably better than I should expect.
Run 400m - 2:24 - rest 3 minutes
Run 1 mile - 9.53 - rest 6 minutes
Run 400m - 2:02 - rest 3 minutes
Sprint 5 laps of run the straights/walk the curves
The warm-up 400m easy pace is now under a 10:00 mile pace! I pushed the mile a bit more than the one from 2 weeks ago, and managed to get under 10:00 for that as well. I threw in the last 400m to see how much ‘kick’ I had left after the other runs, and I crushed my recent personal best by 17 seconds! I felt a little nauseous after that, but after 3 minutes of rest I was good to go for sprints. Running isn’t feeling easier, per se, but the number don’t lie. Progress!
Weight loss is slowing down, as expected, but still going in the right direction. I’m not trying to starve myself, and I’m doing my best to maintain strength, and my run performance is steadily improving, which is my primary goal right now anyway.
Conditioning: Elliptical 27 minutes, difficulty 7, speed 4+, 5+ on the hills. Final numbers HR: 137, Miles: 2.08, Calories: 286. Bumped the duration up to 27 minutes, but bumped the hill speed down, so heart rate stayed a lot lower overall. Covered about the same distance but burned more calories. Relatively relaxing session, as opposed to the burning off frustration from last week.
Accessory -
Dumbbell overhead press per arm: 50# 8,8,8
Superset with dumbbell bent over rows: 65# 8,8,8
I went early morning before work today, since I had a dentist appointment this morning and I didn’t know if I would be able to lift afterward, and I definitely didn’t feel like I had the energy I usually do. My last set of chin-ups after the + set of deadlifts I had to stop at 10, I was just completely out of gas. Ate and had coffee after the dentist, so feeling better now. Unfortunately have to go back to the dentist next Thursday to finish up, they didn’t have time today since they shoehorned me in. Conditioning will be this afternoon after work.
Conditioning: Elliptical 30 minutes, difficulty 7, speed 4+, 5+ on the hills. Final numbers HR: 133, Miles: 2.22, Calories: 318. Increased time again. Since my goal is a sub-30 minute 5K, I think I’m going to keep the time here and start increasing the intensity. Next training day will be more interval running on Saturday.
Run 400m - 2:40 - rest 3 minutes
Run 1.5 mile - 16.31 - rest 6 minutes
Run 400m - 2:11 - rest 3 minutes
Sprint 5 laps of run the straights/walk the curves
So today I purposefully slowed my pace down on the warm-up run, and I did the 1.5 mile run at a pace it felt like I could keep going at that pace if not indefinitely, at least for another couple miles. That puts me at a little more than 34:00 for a 5K if I can do that. Not what I’m shooting for, but I’ll still take it.
The only frustrating thing is I can’t help mentally competing with 20-year-old me who ran 1.5 miles in under 9 minutes for the Navy PFT. I just have to remind myself that I’m 60 lb heavier and way stronger than 20-year-old me, and there’s trade-offs for everything.
Superset of Zercher squats: 5x145#, 195#, 195#
25# weighted dips: 8,8,8
EZ curl bar curls: 53# x8,8,8
Tricep extensions: 53# x10,10,10
Everything felt relatively easy today, except the dips, not hard per se, but my right elbow felt a little wonky. No time for conditioning today, so that’ll roll to tomorrow.
Conditioning: Elliptical 33 minutes, difficulty 7, speed 4+, 5+ on the hills. Final numbers HR: 131, Miles: 2.43, Calories: 348. Max HR during hills: 142. So I lied about stopping at 30 minute elliptical sessions. I decided to lean more into the longer conditioning during the week and trying to get my HR down so my overall endurance continues to improve. I’ll leave higher intensity for my Saturday runs.
Accessory -
Dumbbell overhead press per arm: 50# 8,8,8
Superset with dumbbell bent over rows: 65# 8,8,8
AM workout early. I did my shake earlier today, had a lot more energy. Dentist again in a couple hours, then to work, and conditioning this evening after work, assuming the dentist doesn’t do too much damage.
Good end to the cycle. New training maxxes and a new cycle next week, and I think I’ve narrowed down which 5K I want to do, to a couple of options. There’s a 5K run/walk at KU campus in Lawrence on April 13th that’s looking good, And there’s also a run to fundraise for organ donation here in town on May 10th. Heck, I may do both and see what difference 4 weeks makes.
Conditioning: Elliptical 33 minutes, difficulty 7, speed 4+, 6+ on the hills. Final numbers HR: 135, Miles: 2.61, Calories: 353. Max HR during hills: 152. So bumping up the speed on the hills definitely had an impact on my HR at the end and my max HR during the hills. Still a good session, just felt it a little more.
Finisher:
5 laps of sprint the straights/walk the curves
Did a slow 400m warmup first this time. My first 800 interval was the same as my last one from 3 weeks ago. I tried speeding up each interval, but there wasn’t anything left at the end so the 3rd one was the same speed as the second. Still better across the board compared to the last 800’s, so no complaints here. 5 weeks out from the 5K.
Exact same weight as last week. I figured progress would start tapering off, and I think I’m hitting that wall. Still eating the same and working the same, and feeling good, except my left knee has been achy since I ran Saturday. We’ll see if there’s any issues with training today.
3/10/25 5/3/1 whole body strongman version, cycle 5 day 1
Warmup: barbell complex x3
Power cleans:
5x45#
5x65#
5x95#
5x105#
5x125#
8x140#
Superset with 25# weighted chin-ups: 1,2,3,4,5,6
Squats:
5x45#
5x95#
5x135#
5x190#
5x220#
10x245#
Accessory:
Superset of Zercher squats: 5x145#, 195#, 195#
25# weighted dips: 8,8,8
EZ curl bar curls: 53# x8,8,8
Tricep extensions: 53# x10,10,10
Luckily my knee didn’t affect my lifting at all, and is feeling better by the day. I still may take this Saturday off running, depending on how I feel by then.
Accessory -
Dumbbell overhead press per arm: 50# 8,8,8
Superset with dumbbell bent over rows: 65# 8,8,8
Conditioning: Elliptical 15 minutes at level 7, speed 4, didn’t ramp up on hills, just wanted to get some steady heart rate elevation in. HR started at 129, topped out at 147 during the hills, and ended at 138. Heart definitely works a lot harder when it hasn’t had time to recover from the lifting.
Run 400m - 2:36 - rest 3 minutes
Run 2 miles - 22:22 - rest 6 minutes
Run 400m - 1:58 - rest 3 minutes
My left knee is still achy, so I started out taking it easy, but it was okay once I was warmed up. I kept a purposely slow pace for the 2 mile run, and had no issues at all finishing, I can definitely sustain this pace for a 5K. I was really pleased that I still had enough juice to do a finisher 400m and get sub-2:00 for the first time since probably 15 years ago when I was doing Crossfit! I chose not to do a sprint the straights/walk the curves run this morning, I’m pretty sure that is what irritated my knee in the first place.