Hip Thrust + 15 Back Extensions
6, 6, 5 x 225+Bands
OHP
8, 7 x 70, 8 x 65
Chest Supported Row
3 x 12 x 70
Leg Extension
12 x 120, 12, 12 x 105
SS
Leg Curl (Seated, sitting up for more stretch)
10, 10, 10 x 110
Cable Flye
12 x 7, 12, 12 x 10
Cable Crunch
3 x 12 x 63
When I got to the OHP I thought it was a high gravity day… then I realized I left the 5’s from hubby’s sets on for my first two rounds. So, actually happy I made that many reps.
Hip thrusts were hard, those bands that can be added to the machine are awful. Using the Booty Builder machine.
Rows felt amazing, weight went up.
Leg curls were causing some discomfort in the back of my knee/lower hamstring. Probably should have stopped doing those.
Wednesday 1/15
Easy run, 30 mins
5 x 20s hard effort at the end
It’s wintering here. 20F yesterday and today. I’ve had to break out the Marino base layers.
Legs felt pretty good, a little tired.
Woke up to a growling belly and it continued through the run.
Headed out on a work trip tonight for a job walk tomorrow.
DB Lat Raise
3 x 10 x 12.5
SS
DB Skull Crusher
3 x 12 x 12.5
8 min AMRAP
10 Goblet Squats (35KB)
15 KBS (35KB)
25M Carry
4 rounds + Squats
Then 40 KBS to make it 100 total
Feeling better than I thought this morning. Cruises through this in 40 minutes.
Need to add weight to incline press, but was still working.
Face pulls feel so easy, but also tonic.
That AMRAP is a nice finisher, made it through 4.3 rounds. Then I figured I should do 40 more swings because 100 reps is better than 60?
Work trip recap – flew down to SoCal for a 2 hour meeting.
I flew myself and my boss and husband decided to go along for the ride. 11 hours of flight time. I am exhausted. We flew out Wednesday night, stopped in Mesquite, NV for fuel and a few hours of sleep.
Continued onto Palm Springs area the next day, did our meeting, got lunch, then flew the 5ish hours back. I could not have imagined better weather. No Turbulence. No clouds. Tailwind all the way home. In January to boot! Unheard of. So much better than commercial. In fact, one of my coworkers went too, and she flew commercially. We beat her home.
We both left lunch at the same time but, she had to drive an hour to the airport, return a rental car, do all the security stuff, fly two hours, deboard, etc. Even with 3 hours more flight time in our slow plane, it was still faster by 20 minutes. Success.
Felt just fantastic. Cold again at 20F and cloudy. First couple of miles felt a bit long, then found a fantastic grove.
This overal was :30/mile faster at the same average HR than my long run last weekend. Clearly felt great. Could be fueling, or the speed work is kicking in. Probably bit of both.
In other news, hubby finally caught a break in the weather and got his flight test done and passed. Later the same day, my student also passed his test for his Private Pilot certificate. I am so proud of them both.
Went out to our favorite Middle Eastern restaurant to celebrate, sushi later this week. Absolutely amazing day all around.
Going to bump calories up a little bit, even though I have already been eating above my allotment. Doing a great job at maintaining the last two weeks.
Getting better at adding carbs and fats and cooling it on protein.
Monday 1/20
Jeff Nippard Hypertrophy Program, W3D1
Leg Press + 15 Back Extensions
6, 6, 6 x 390
BB Bench
8, 8, 6 x 115, 5 x 105
Close Grip Lat Pulldown
10, 10, 9 x 110
RDL
3 x 10 x 125
Assisted Dip
8, 8, 8 x -50,
DB Supinated Curl
10, 10, 10 x 20
SS
Leg Raises
3 x 12
Hip Abductors
3 x 10 x 60
10 minute treadmill walk, 6% incline, 3.2mph
Went great, sent it on the bench. Leg Press weight creeping up, still almost getting crushed the last couple of reps.
RDLs remain a fine balance of protecting my spine and trying to feel it in my hammies.
Edit:
Shameless photo share. With the right lighting and a pump, there is a little bicep vein!
5:00 Warm up jog w/ drills
3 x 7:00 @ 5k Pace (8:30-8:45/mi)
2:30 rest between
5:00 easy jog
I don’t think I was fully prepared/recovered for this. Legs were not peppy enough to hold the target pace the full 7 minutes. Effort was there at least, I kept the hard run hard.
Yesterday was a high-hunger day. The day after the long run is when it seems to hit the hardest. Even after a pretty big dinner (homemade Baked Ziti with lactose free cottage cheese, protein pasta, and a huge salad) I went to bed hungry.
So much this. I want to eat more, but I had already eaten my calorie allotment… Calorie counting won the day yesterday.
Amazing how hungry I am eating 1200 OR 1900 calories.
Some days are better than others, as far as hunger and food noise goes. I am worried those less hungry days won’t balance out days like yesterday, if I actually eat as much as my stomach calls for.
Just try listening to those signals for a couple weeks and see what happens. I think you’ll be surprised. If after those two weeks, it’s not working, you can always reign it back in, but right now, with the way you’re training - you gotta eat!
Standing Hip Thrust + 15 Back Extensions
6, 6 x 235, 6 x 250
OHP
8, 8 x 75, 6 x 65
Chest Supported Row
12, 12 x 70, 12 x 80
Leg Extension
3 x 12 x 120
DB SLRDL
10, 10 x 55, 10 x 60
Cable Flye
3 x 12 x 15
Cable Crunch
3 x 12 x 63
10 minute treadmill walk, 7% incline, 3.2mph
Regular hip thrust machine was occupied, so switched to standing. After using both, I definitely like the seated/standard more. I get a better mind, muscle connection. And more full-body engagement. Still, standing is better than skipping or waiting around for the machine.
I got ambitious and upped the weight on OHP again. Got my butt kicked that last set.
Leg curls were causing a weird popping sensation in the back of my knee. I wasn’t willing to see what that was about so I subbed for the SLRDLs. Feeling those today!
Not feeling great today. Not sick, just sluggish. Legs felt like bricks. Breathing was heavy and couldn’t seem to relax and find a groove. Pace was slow, which is fine, not shooting for a target on this day, but it was showing how tired I am feeling.
Been bloated last couple of days. Could be leftover effect from sushi? Which was amazing by the way. Ate three rolls. Left feeling full, borderline too-full, but not uncomfortably stuffed.
Sleep has been off this week too. Waking up a lot in the night. Not something I usually do.
DB Lat Raise
3 x 10 x 12.5
SS
DB Skull Crusher
3 x 12 x 12.5
8 min AMRAP
10 Goblet Squats (35KB)
15 KBS (35KB)
25M Carry
4 rounds + Squats + Swings
Lunges continue to kick my butt every time. No other lifting movement gets my heart rate up like those… even KBS.
This day remains enough to feel like I lift 3 days, but keeps things low-key for the day before a long run. It’s nice.
Set into a nice grove after just 2 miles. Added some elevation. My race is 4200’ elevation gain total, so I need to stop finding flat routes. Lucky for me, elevation is easy to find here. I could have gone up another few hundred feet, but 1000 felt like plenty for today.
Feet and legs feel these runs by about mile 8, but that nice, earned sore, not painful levels. Manageable, especially if I keep moving through the rest of the day.
Well, two weeks of holding then I blow right past my bulk ending weight. (142lbs). I was going to bulk until the end of Feb, but the weight is the stopping point.
Definitely ate too much last week. Time to roll back to maintenance calories for a bit and reign this climb in.
I was feeling confident and bought a couple pairs of pants this weekend (Old Navy thinks I am a size 4, that’s nice of them) need to make sure I can keep wearing them! I was getting tired of using a belt and looking like I am always wearing crazy baggy pants. Slowly replacing my wardrobe, on the cheap.
Micro rant: I am slightly frustrated my maintenance calories are low, ~1800 cals. But eating 2000+ is why I had to cut in the first place, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Anyone that has a lack of appetite and finds it hard to gain, let’s trade food brains for a few months.
Okay, so DEEP BREATH! You did not gain 4 pounds of “real weight” in one week. There are likely a lot of other factors at play here - water retention, inflammation, food still in your system, etc. Pull back a bit this week - really LISTEN to your body and your hunger. Stop eating when you’re satisfied, not past that point. Slow down when you eat to better pick up on that signal. It’s going to be okay and next week you’ll likely see a significant drop. Trust the process and trust your body!!!
I’m getting better at this. Using lots of fork put downs, not loading up the next bite while chewing the current one, etc.
Then after I finish a meal I wait 30 minutes before reaching for a snack to make sure I’m actually still hungry.
Also asking myself if I am hungry for raw veg, which is what I have been reaching for all last week. To the point of gut trouble because I was mainlining veg just trying to stay ahead of the hunger. The food noise was loud many days last week.
Saturday I didn’t finish lunch out (even though it was my favorite middle eastern place) and took home the leftovers. Last night I didn’t finish my oatmeal and cauliflower rice snack because I felt full. I was so proud of myself for losing interest in a snack and not finishing it. Though, my stomach was growling an hour later trying to fall asleep. Confusing.
Monday 1/27
Jeff Nippard Hypertrophy Program, W4D1
Leg Press + 15 Back Extensions
3 x 6 x 400
BB Bench
8, 8 x 115, 6 x 120
Close Grip Lat Pulldown
10, 10, 10 x 110
RDL
3 x 10 x 125
SS
Leg Raises
3 x 10
Cable Lateral Raise
3 x 12 x 10
DB Supinated Curl
3 x 10 x 20
Hip Abductors
3 x 10 x 60
15 minute walk
Added another 10lbs to the leg Press and I still got the reps. They are shaky by the last few, but I have been surprised that I have been able to get them every week. Pretty awesome.
Bench added weight as well, but didn’t quite hit the reps.
I’m pausing the RDLs at the bottom to really light everything up. Seems to work well (for mind muscle connection) without adding weight. Hopefully that is still effective.
5:00 easy jog and drills
25:00 tempo - 9:20 to 9:40/mi target pace
3 x 20sec sprints
5:00 easy jog/walk
20F… the desert rat is giving a temperature report, yet again. My Marino wool base layers are getting used so much. Good thing they don’t hold smell. Though I don’t think I am actually sweating during things, considering I never get fully warm.
I was amazed I was able to hold that pace for the full 25 minutes. Felt awesome. Had to keep zigzagging up and down streets to make my loop longer because I was, comparatively, hauling ass.
