Active Recovery

45 min walk at Riverlin St. trails


COMMENTS

• General: Forgot to blog yesterday.
• Nutrition: Not good, and drank
• Body: Legs sore as balls from the front squats
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: Nothing really. Tried to run but I couldn't without pain so we walked.

Deadlift, front squats

Deadlift 10-10-10-10 (overhand grip)
225
245
265
265

Tabata Front Squats w/ 95# barbell- 58 reps


45 min bike ride

COMMENTS

• General: Finally got a training session in. Only deadlifted to see what the elbow had to say about it and it felt fine because I stayed really light with the weights and went double overhand with my grip. Tabata Front squats is the only tabata Dan John recommends so I gave it a shot and it didn't disappoint. I'll re-do it at some point.
• Nutrition: So-so, had ice cream and some other stuff
• Body: Good. achilles is feeling better and I might run tomorrow.
• Sleep: 8.5 hrs
• Reflections: Since I don't really care enough to hide it... here goes. I've been really depressed all week because of my injuries, breaking up with my girlfriend of 15 months and some other family and school stuff going on. My mom forced me to go see a therapist today because she was worried about me hurting myself (overreacted but whatever). I was diagnosed with clinical depression based on my dad having it and on other stuff we talked about. She was really nice and I opted to return next week for a follow up. She asked me if I'd be willing to take medication for it and I gave her a big fat no, so me going back is a better route.I already knew I had a problem with depression because I get really depressed when bad things happen to me, and sometimes it really messes with me. I figured I'd post it because I want to be able to gauge if things are getting better as time goes on.

Rest Day

COMMENTS

• General: Wasn't in the mood to drive half hour to my gym today so I ended up resting again. Still can't run because of my achilles. Really just demoralizing and frustrating.
• Nutrition: Solid, had granola otherwise clean
• Body: Fine, squat muscles are tight
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: Been depressed most of the week because of other things going on but I'm rebouding slowly. I'll most likely train tomorrow but I wouldn't be surprised if I just rested again. My achilles still doesn't feel 100% so there's no point in running and my elbow is really bothering me still. Life can't get much more negative at the moment quite frankly. I'll be back. This is my 300th post on my blog and it's unfortunate that I can't post a good training day.

Rest Day

No training

Hot bath dipped elbow and achilles

COMMENTS

• General: Long day. Really stressed. No training at all and no comments
• Nutrition: Pretty good had nutella
• Body: Sore legs, otherwise good
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: Nothing

Back Squat, tabata

Squat
1x3x275#
1x5x305# (PR)
1x8x255#
1x10x225#

Tabata Bike, Setting 12: 63 calories (PR)

1x15 GHD situps

200 single unders

_
Foam rolled lower back


COMMENTS

• General: Went into the gym with intentions to squat and get conditioning in so mission accomplished. Didn't go across on the sets because it was a grind on the last rep and I was pretty taxed. Kept lifting heavy shit anyway because I love it. I can definitely get higher on the tabata but for some reason I'm having trouble pushing myself on the bike. Single unders were to test out the achilles.
• Nutrition: Clean as a mothafuckaa
• Body: Achilles feeling better, jumprope didn't bother it much. Not ready to run yet. Left elbow nagging today.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: Solid day for what I have to work with. Hopefully I'll be fully healed to run in a few more days because I'm still stir crazy. Thinking that going forward I will be incorporating calf raises and jump roping into my weekly routine because the most common running injuries I get are in my achilles. On top of that I plan to start barefoot running again for 1-3 miles at a slow pace once a week. People like Anton Krupicka do it so it can't be awful. It would be mostly for recovery purposes but to also increase the strength in my lower legs to prevent further injuries.
• Food For Thought: If there was one thing you could "flick a switch" on in your brain to make doing it not feel like a chore in regards to your training, what would it be? What is that thing you neglect and know that it could really benefit you but for some reason it always gets put on the back burner? Why do you think it's that specific thing and not something else?

Bench, Cardio

Bench Press
1x15x135# (PR)
2x5x185# (PR)
1x1x135# w/ pause at bottom

20 min on Elliptical, setting 19 for a total of 510 calories burned, 1.7 miles covered

5 min cool down on bike
_

10 min hot bath dip on left foot

COMMENTS

• General: Call me stir crazy but I wanted to test out the 'bows after a week of rest. Felt pretty good after my warm up set. I'm 50% convinced my elbows hurt because my forms off  because when I dial it in the elbows don't hurt at all. Doing cardio in order to expand some of the energy I have from all the food I ate yesterday and to lean out a bit. Going to do it for a while until I can run again....which will hopefully be soon. The high setting on the elliptical will probably help with my running anyway.
• Nutrition: Strict
• Body: Forgot to mention last night that my hip flexors are FRIED from the flutterkicks on Saturday. Still completely shot. Otherwise feeling good. Achilles isn't getting much better unfortunately
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Reflections: Elbows felt good but I'm not going to jump back into anything yet. Few more days and we'll see what happens. Squatting tomorrow among other things. I was really tired today.

As many plates as possible in 12 hours

No training on this fine easter day

25 minute jacuzzi soak

COMMENTS

• General: Ate a lot of food and chilled today. Let's re-cap the damage I did today. Started off with a breakfast buffet where I proceeded to scarf down lots of good stuff but nothing too crazy. My first dinner was at 2:30 where I had ham, peirogies, lots of vegetables, and some other stuff. A mere 2 hours later was my own families dinner (first one being my sort of girlfriend's family's) where I downed some turkey, butternut squash, grilled pineapple, ice cream and a big salad. Proceeded to return to my quasi-girlfriend's aunts house later in the evening for a ham sandwhich, a piece of cake, a diet coke (the forbidden treat of my past), and some chocolate. Training today may have induced vomiting and/or simultaneous bowel movements so I opted to rest.
• Nutrition: Yeah.............
• Body: Leg abductors are sore from yesterdays squat and my back is a little tight. Foam rolling really loosened it up.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: Did work today and I'm not ashamed of it. Back to the drawing board tomorrow. I have a lot of schoolwork to do tomorrow so whatever training I do will be within an hour. I'd like to hit 305x3x5 if possible but we'll see how the legs are feeling when it comes time.

Squat and other stuff

Back Squat
1x3x275#
3x5x300# (PR)

3x20 Weighted back extensions w. 20# plate

"Tabata Flutterkicks"- 54

"Tabata Stationary Bike" (setting 12)- 61 calories


PVC rolled my back and legs

COMMENTS

• General: Not only did I hit 300x5 for the first time ever but I went straight across and it felt good. Once again confident that I'll hit 305 next time I get under the bar. Glad to see my strength improving in something while I recover. Wanted to get a little conditioning in and keep my back working while I take a break from deadlifts.
• Nutrition: Good having some alcohol tonight
• Body: Feel good, bro
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: Working on summer templates right now. Dan's going to join my gym and we're going to work really hard once we're both back from our injuries. I refuse to overtrain and hurt my elbows again this summer. Just isn't going to happen.

Bike-A-licious

2 hour bike ride mainly on roads around my house. Did 3 interval sprints up brigham hill AFAP

COMMENTS

• General: It was really fun biking today. Probably going to do it tomorrow as well since I still can't run. Me, Dan and Bryan went out for a while and also went to Goretti's in the next town over to get Ben and Jerry's. 
• Nutrition: Alright not too good
• Body: Feel good elbow was nagging me today
• Sleep: 10 hours
• Reflections: Nothing really. Probably going to squat tomorrow and whatever else I come up with.

Recover

Iced my achilles 4 times for about 3-4 min each time w/ breaks in between

Iced both elbows twice for 3-4 min

COMMENTS

• General: Been a really rough week. Severe stress at work and in my personal life has left me pretty much drained mentally and physically. Got in a fight with my boss today at work basically and almost lost my job. Might train tomorrow, might not. Honestly I don't know how beneficial any training is right now when I feel the way I do.
• Nutrition: Not awful but fair amount of grains in the form of oatmeal and granola.
• Body: Achilles not getting much better... walking around at work for 8 hours every dayisn't helping. Elbows not feeling any better.
• Sleep: 7 hours. Get to catch up on sleep now that the week's over.
• Reflections: No classes tomorrow and no work for 3 days will hopefully help me relax a bit. I have to do some schoolwork this weekend (that's a first....) but other than that I plan to do pretty much nothing in the next couple days. I won't be running this weekend which is fine. I will squat again either tomorrow or Saturday. The other days I will definitely get exercise in the form of walks because Dan will be home but I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I'd like to bike but I'm not sure if they are working at my gym.

PR and calling it a day

Squat
1x295x5# (PR)
1x245x7

Bulgarian Split Squats 3x10


COMMENTS

• General: Tell me how much of a lame ass I am. The dumb bikes at my gym were out of order today for some reason so I couldn't condition like I had planned. Had little desire to do anything else. The squat PR was legit because I did it on sore legs and an empty stomach and it went up easy with a brief warmup. I'll hit 300x5 next week or Friday, whichever day I choose to do it.
• Nutrition: Good minus the same jar of nutella finding it's way onto another apple and some granola.
• Body: Quads were sore, achilles was really bugging me all day. icing as I type.
• Sleep: 8 hours.
• Reflections: Rest day tomorrow simply because I'm working all day and won't have time to get to my gym. Call me crazy but it's hard to find the motivation to work out when you can't do the only 2 things you like- running and lifting (with my arms at least)! Elbow didn't feel too hot today so it's looking like a second week of rest will happen. That's fine with me as long as I can run which means resting this stupid achilles until it's good.

Run. Faster.

Ran the powerline trail (~6.6 mile out and back) in a negative split. Went out in 30:48 and back in 29:23 for a total of 60:11. 9:08 miles throughout

Iced achilles

COMMENTS

• General: I killed this run today. 2 days of rest left my legs very fresh and I just went out and gave it my all. I would say a 9 min mile on this course is really acceptable because of how technical it is and because of all the hills throughout it. It was great because it was raining really hard the whole time and when I realized I might hit the negative split I ran so wrecklessly that I was trudging through foot deep puddles all over the course. Shoes are a tad dirty. Really wanted sub 60 minutes but I'll get it next time.
• Nutrition: Sexily clean although I sinned with some apple and nutella
• Body: Re-injured the achilles today. Felt good until about mile 3 and there was no pain when I started. Won't be running for a couple days once again. Sweeeeeeeet bro.
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Reflections: Good day even with the re-injury. Maybe I'll stop being a jackass but I doubt it. I want to run long Saturday but we'll see what happens. Tomorrow I'll be squatting and doing bike intervals at my gym instead of running. No excuses. Great run.

Unplanned Rest Day (Sort of)

Nada training


COMMENTS

• General: Elbow was bothering me and since I'm running 4 days in a row this week I figured the achilles would like an extra day of rest. The 4 hours of sleep I got wasn't a good incentive to train either.
• Nutrition: Alright
• Body: Tired as shit. My left elbow has been bugging me bad.
• Sleep: 4-5 hours on the floor plastered snooze. College....
• Reflections: Cool with taking a rest day 2 days in a row. Sometimes you just have to enjoy life and training may suffer a bit. I had a great weekend and I'll be ready to go again tomorrow. Planning to squat tomorrow but if my elbow feels like it did today I may just run instead because picking up the plates would aggravate it. Also, for better or for worse I had a couple life changes today. I'm returning to Springfield College in the fall although that was already established a while ago. That won't change a whole lot because I'll have access to new trails with my car and they have a great facility. I just hate commuting and living at home. Along with that me and my girlfriend broke up (basically because of the first life change.) Sucks but it'll give me more time to train and work on other areas I need to improve on so I figured I should post it. We've broken up before and gotten back together (yeah we're that couple, fuck you) but who knows what'll happen.

Rest Day

No training

COMMENTS

• General: No time to do a weekly write up this week. Solid rest day minus the shitty sleep.
• Nutrition: Pretty good but drinking again. Had chipotle earlier.
• Body: Felt pretty good. Achilles was sore
• Sleep: 6 hours. No sleep tonight either...
• Reflections: Unfortunately I found out I have classes tomorrow even though I thought I didn't. I'm going out tonight and getting up at 7am to drive home for classes. May not train tomorrow again since I'm trying to heal my elbow anyway and I'm going to get about 5 hours of sleep and I have work. We'll see what happens.

Trail Run numero dos

83 minute run at Bradley Palmer State Park

Run went as follows:
50 minutes easy run pace
20 minutes picking it up, cruising
Turned around and negative split the way back in 13 minutes

COMMENTS

• General: Bradley Palmer was so much nicer with no snow. I really enjoyed running there today. The course is beautiful when there isn't snow and you can really cruise in some areas of it. Hit some good hills along the way that kept things interesting throughout. The negative split we both cruised and I was pleased to see Dan be able to keep up with me. It'll be nice to have a running partner that doesn't require getting up at 4:30am (kidding Contois I love it ;)) for the summer days when I need a little extra sleep. I'm pumped that running has been going so well recently minus a few injuries.
• Nutrition: Good, but I'm drinking tonight and will probably be tomorrow as well.
• Body: Felt the squats on the uphills today but otherwise pretty fresh.
• Sleep: 7 hours. Couldn't sleep in today.
• Reflections: Ready for a good weekend and the beginning process of healing my elbow. I think I'm going to start checking out new places around my area to keep my runs interesting. It was really refreshing running on pretty much new trails. The run today also helped improve my biggest running weakness; intermediate distances at "faster" paces. I'll be working on that significantly next week because I can't do much else.

Bench, Front Squat, Curls, shelved

Front Squat 3-3-3-3-3
215
225
235
240(Lifetime PR)
225

Bench Press
3x175
3x185
3x195 (LifetimePR)
3x195
3x185
14x135# (Lifetime PR)
8x135# (1 sec pause at the bottom

Curls
3x6x40# Seated DB's
2x10x30# seated DB's


COMMENTS

• General: You have to appreciate the good days of training to prepare for the bad ones. I'm officially putting myself on the shelf for a minimum of 1 week (and more likely 2) in order to heal the elbow once again. If it doesn't feel anything other than stupidly good after this training cycle then I'll rest for another week, no questions asked. I'll squat twice next week but other than that all I'm going to do is run distance with Contois in the AM. Made this decision after today when my elbow felt pain for the first time since December. Sucks but it is what it is.
• Nutrition: Alright some junk. I'll be partying tomorrow night so it'll be poor this weekend but I'll be adjusting how I eat while I heal. No more shakes :\
• Body: Good minus the elbows. Felt really strong today.
• Sleep: 8.5 hours
• Reflections: I'm being positive Paul in this situation even though negative Nancy is trying to creep in every time I turn my head. This is how I look at it-- I got bigger, I got fatter, and I got a hell of a lot stronger over the last few weeks. While I heal this it's time to get leaner, faster, and maintain my strength levels. My bag of ice is going to become my new best friend. Either way, I won't make the same mistake I made last time by not resting it. Long-ish run tomorrow depending on how the achilles holds up. Rest on Sunday. Lots of alcohol consumption this weekend. Back to business on Monday. Get some go again.

Rest and Relaxation

15 minute hot epsom salt bath

5 minute ice plunging both feet split between 3 different dips
Ice plunged both elbows for 2 minutes

COMMENTS

• General: Elbows were really bothering me today. May be time to give up on tryingand rest them. Not giving up hope as of now, but if they aren't better tomorrow then I'm pulling the curtain down. Not worth being incapable of training this summer.
• Nutrition: Had ice cream and some grains but not the worst
• Body: Quads were a bit sore today but other than that felt OK. Achilles feels better but I'm sure would hurt if I ran.
• Sleep: 9 hours w/ melatonin
• Reflections: Not much to discuss on this fine evening. Lifting heavy tomorrow but will stop short if elbows start going.
• Food For Thought: What's going to be the turning point in your athletic career? What feat when you finally reach it will give you the incentive to say "I think I've done enough, and it may be time to slow down and enjoy new things"? And if it's not a feat, then what might be the thing that tells you that it's time? When you think about being an older athlete or person in general what role do you see your training playing in your life?

Trail running, bro



 Contois giving me his headlamp this morning


~7.5 mile run in 1:24min at 4:50am. Started on Riverlin St. Single track and connected to the Powerline trail. Went all the way to the hill and turned around to come back to the cars. Pace was slightly over 11 min miles


COMMENTS

• General: Really solid run today. It was unbelievable how slow our pace was because I could've sworn we were cranking out 9 minute miles the way I felt. My legs were really tax'd from the deadlift PR right from the get-go. These type of runs are only going to make me a better trail runner because anyone who has been on the powerline trail knows how technical it can be and how much elevation there is throughout it. Let it kick my ass, it's only going to help in the future. Forgot to also mention in the last 5 minutes of the run I ate the most shit I ever have on a trail run. Not only did I topple onto the ground but I also rolled nearly 20 feet over rocks before I stopped. My badly bruised left knee tells the story well.
• Nutrition: Not too good today.
• Body: My left achilles was really hurting after the run but felt better as the day went on. Seems like I get injured everytime I run. Probably because I never let the injuries heal fully..... (Hey Ben you're a jackass)
• Sleep: 5 hours. Gotta love waking up at 4:30.
• Reflections: Planning on a good rest day tomorrow. Lots of ice on my sore spots and elbows, sleeping in and an epsom salt bath. The reason I used Contois' head lamp today was because my great mother decided that since I didn't bring my bag down to the basement the other night that she would chuck it down the stairs, which successfully broke my headlamp. We're continuing to play the blame game but hopefully I'll get a new one soon. Also spent a lot of time trying to pick my first 100 mile race today. Keeping things in mind but still have no idea.

Side note: If you don't know what the picture is at the top, you may not get the joke. The picture is a famous scene from the movie about Helen Keller where she feels and understands what water is for the first time (or something like that..... lol don't judge me). Contois lent me his older headlamp that is pretty dim and I had some rough times especially in the single track section. In all seriousness I thank him for lending me it but I did make a crack during the run about how I felt like Helen Keller trail running.

Great Day

Deadlift
1x3x395#
1x3x400# (PR)
1x3405# (PR)
1x10x285# w/ double overhand grip

Dumbbell Shrugs
3x12x90#, 2x8x100#

Weighted Step Ups To 10in box
1x8x135#
1x8x155#
1x8x185#
*All sets were 8 sets on each leg

Bulgarian Split Squat w/ no weights added, 3x8 each leg

Very pleased with this lifetime PR on my 3 rep deadlift.

____

Conditioning:

30:20x8 Run Intervals. Completed 1 loop of "walking lap" over on hilltop loop, ended at my house

.74 Miles completed for an average of 5:25 miles

COMMENTS

• General: What a great day of training. The 405# went up really smoothly which leads me to believe I'll PR again next week if my nutrition stays in line. The shake before bed is making all the difference in my strength gains. It's a phenomenal recovery and muscle building tool. Weighted step ups and bulgarian split squats will become new parts of my training in order to improve on my hill running. The conditioning was a PR from what I recall although I'm not 100%.
• Nutrition: Clean, although I'll be having dairy and whey before bed.
• Body: Knee was bothering me a bit today. Both my elbows didn't appreciate the deadlift which is the reason I'm tailoring my training for the rest of this week.
• Sleep: 7.5 hours
• Reflections: I'm going to lighten up for the rest of the week with strength training because of my elbows nagging. Tomorrow I will be trail running in the early AM with Contois (rain!) and not doing anything else. Follow that with a rest day thursday, front squat and likely skipped bench pressing Friday, and a long trail run at Bradley Palmer Saturday. Hopefully this will remedy the tenderness I've been experiencing in my elbows but if not I may have to take more drastic recovery methods.

Get stronger

Back Squat
3x5x290#

Press
4x3x135#,
1x5x115# (pause at bottom)
2x10x35# Dumbbells

Curls
Dynamic: 2 curls on the minute for 10 minutes
85, 90, 95, 95, 100, 100, 105 (PR), 110 (f), 100, 100------ 105#x2 was highest

3x10x30# strict w/ dumbbells

1st Set of the 3. Noticing my knees tracking in a bit which I have not noticed in the past, but I've worked on my form a lot and this has been the most comfortable way.

2nd set of  135x3

COMMENTS

• General: Nice to tie my lifetime 5 rep squat PR. Definitely happy with 5# jumps each week. Not going to be greedy with gains like that. It went up pretty easily so I'm excited to lifetime PR next week hopefully. Press was weak. Once again I couldn't hit 135x5 which is increasingly frustrating. I'm not really sure how to fix the problem I seem to have with not increasing my press. Maybe start making 2.5# jumps instead.
• Nutrition: clean w/ whole milk and PB added in
• Body: Good. Shin feels 100% finally.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: Now that I've realized I have a video camera that works I will be bringing it to the gym more often. Tomorrow I will be attempting a 400x3 deadlift and plan to catch that on video. Have to work out early tomorrow morning so hopefully that doesn't screw anything up. Also planning on doing intervals tomorrow later in the day. Decided I'm going to Endicott this upcoming Saturday and me and Dan are going to hit up Bradley Palmer State Park for a trail run since it's only 10 miles from his campus. It'll be nice to see the trails when the temperature isn't 20 degrees and not covered in snow. Looking forward to the rest of this week.

Rest Day

2 mile walk at Tufts

Plunged feet in ice bath

COMMENTS

• General: I did a long week in review write up earlier and apparently it didn't post. I'm not motivated enough to do another one I'll just post a rest day for today.
• Nutrition: Alright, drank last night so hangover food wasn't "clean"
• Body: Felt better today
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: Nothing really ready for a solid week hopefully with no injuries.
• Food For Thought: As athletes get better, we all learn stuff. Part of education is experiencing things on our own and certain benefits can only be obtained first-hand. If you could go back in time to when you first started training, what's something you would tell yourself to do in your training so that you could reap the benefits now? Is there any phase of your training you would have skipped over or changed in anyway in order to be further along the path to your goals now?

Brief Trail Run (4/9)

30 Min trail run with Dan on Riverlin St. Single track trails. Approx 3 miles covered

COMMENTS

• General: I didn't do much today because my elbow was nagging me for the first time in a long time. Felt good on the trails, although post-run some of the injuries I've been going through were bothering me.
• Nutrition: Bad. Today was my 1 year with my girlfriend and I had delicious pizza, Ben + Jerry's and a few beers
• Body: Elbow nagging me. Foot and shin felt OK during the run but just like before after.
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: If my elbow continues to bother me I need to heed my own advice that I have been giving Dan with his injury and rest. It's frustrating because this is the week that I was supposed to start PRing again. On top of that I just began eating to get bigger again and it's been working well. Unfortunately I may have to put the goal on hold for few weeks while I let my elbow heal. I'll test it on Monday during my press session and if it's bad then that's the end of it. My plan if it doesn't feel good is to run with Contois and Jay pretty much 4-5 days a week until it's better. Not exactly in the mood to ONLY run but I might as well work on my goal of becoming a better runner while I'm healing.

Front squat, pu, bench, other

Front squat 3-3-3-3-3
205
215
225
230 (PR)
235 (PR)

Bench Press
3x5x175#, 2x5x165#, 2x8x135#

Pullups 9-8-6-6-6 (rep scheme was supposed to be 9-11-9-9-Max)

3x15 20# Plate Back Extensions

Seated dumbbell curls 3x8x35#, reps at 45#

Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs 3x12x90# DB's, 2x10x100# DB's

COMMENTS

• General: 235x3 was a great PR on front squat. I may just continue to do 5 sets of 3 on front squat each week because I prefer it for whatever reason. Bench felt weak today so I just went for volume and solid reps. Pullups were horrid.... I'm done with the cycle and plan to re-set again in a week or two (after I test my Fran time) but will be going back to the 9 to 11 scheme. I plan to continue doing shrugs every time I do curls. I've seen all the top deadlifters in my gym doing them as assistance exercises so I'm going to learn from them. Not to mention it feels great holding 100# dumbbells in my hands and probably stimulates some serious grip strength. Wouldn't hurt to get yoked out shoulders either ;)
• Nutrition: Pretty clean, having ice cream and some dairy but otherwise "paleo"
• Body: Felt good coming off the rest day. Foot and shin are feeling better but not ready to go yet. Achilles isn't bad anymore.
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: I never intended to have a lot of people follow my blog. I made it to track my workouts and to follow my best friend's as well. The only place I "advertised" it was when I posted it in my signature on the Crossfit boards. I'm not bragging whatsoever, but I'm really happy with how many people follow me on a regular basis at this point. More and more each week I have people asking me questions and for advice on training and telling me they follow my blog. It's a totally new experience and very cool to me. I average nearly 100 views a day which I never expected in a million years when I created this page. Therefore I'm going to add a new section to my blog sporadically. As I'm sure is the case with most of us, my training is my life. I think about it for hours everyday (probably the reason my grades aren't as good as they could be) no matter how often I try not to. I often think about things that I want others opinions on but am not sure where to look. Sometimes it will just be to talk about training. Maybe it won't have anything to do with training at all. In an effort to make my blog more interactive, I'm going to add a new section when one of my ideas comes up called "Food For Thought." I encourage anyone who follows my blog to reply with opninions, research, ideas, experiences, etc. on anything I may post in this section. My answer to the proposed question will be in the comments section. I don't care if you have never talked to me, I'd still love to hear from anyone out there. And I should also thank my followers at this point too, because sometimes when I'm lacking motivation to do more in my training day I think to myself "You're going to look like a lazy dick to 80 people if you post that on your blog tonight." More than a kick in the pants to work harder, so thank you to all of you.
• Food For Thought: As some of you may know, I suffered through a really bad elbow injury about 8 months ago that knocked me out of training seriously for 3-4 months. One of the only people I consider a mentor in my life (His Blog) completely changed his life and training around when his elbow injury prevented him from Crossfitting. He turned himself into an ultra-runner, and has the drive and potential to become a real beast at it someday sooner rather than later. My closest friend (His blog) who has trained with/against me for 3 years now just suffered his first elbow injury and is having trouble coping with it. Elbows in common aside, my point is that as serious athletes we all get injuries at some point in our careers. What are some of the positives you've taken out of severe injuries? Is there anything positive to take out of them? How did you mentally and physically cope with the things you had to work around?

Rest Day + Race Update

No training

COMMENTS

• General: Good day to take off. Had a solid last 3 day cycle although I wish I had time to do more yesterday. I've officially signed up for my 3rd ultra, The TARC Summer Classic 6 Hour Ultra. So far there are only 8 entrants and I'm the youngest by like 15-20 years. I think the limit on the race is 40 total. I chose it because it was cheap, local and I've heard good things about the TARC club. I chose to do the 6 hour event instead of the 12 hour because it's relatively far away on the calendar, and I may take a few loops with my training in between now and then (like focusing on strength more than running). 12 hours would require me to consistently do long runs whereas 6 hours isn't as daunting and will allow me to become a faster runner leading up to it instead. It's also right around my 50k PR so I can use that as a marker to see how much I've improved in 8 months. I think it's the perfect long run to knock out before Stone Cat which is like 7 weeks after that.
• Nutrition: Clean. On days like today I don't know if I'll do the shake before bed, but I'll probably have a scoop of protein and some milk/water instead.
• Body: Back is sore. Foot injury from my last 50 is nagging from the weird stride I used yesterday. Shin isn't bad but nowhere near good enough to run on. My left achilles is also feeling about 50% because of the shitty stride issue.
• Sleep: 9 hours. One downfall of the shake is it takes a while to fall asleep and I've been waking up 2x a night to pee whereas before I rarely ever wake up.
• Reflections: Good to have a summer ultra lined up now. I'm not sure I like the running shoes I bought, so I'm going to give them to my brother. My feet just got too accustomed to running POSE that bulky shoes don't work for me anymore. I'm going to buy a really thin pair of track/road shoes in a few weeks when I get extra cash (tax return anyone?) and just do intervals on trails for now.

Run, Oly Lifts, Pullups

4:45am: ~8 mile run with Contois and Mr. Cote in 1:15. The pace for the first 7ish miles was high 7's to low 8's estimated but the last mile was probably 12-15 minutes which explains the crappy pace.

Full Snatch Heavy 1 reps
119, 129, 134, 134, 139 (PR)

Clean + Jerk Heavy 1 reps
159, 179, 189, 189, 204 (F)

Pullups 8-11-8-8-6

COMMENTS

• General: The run went really well at the beginning but my shin splint fucked me at the end and made me walk the remainder of the course. It was very hilly and challenging. I think doing these runs 1-2x a week will make me twice the ultra runner I am now, and as long as I can balance the strength work with it I see no reason why I can't do these every week. My guess is I need these types of runs significantly more than I need long, slow ones. I missed the max rep set on pullups by 4 today; in retrospect maybe I jumped to the higher cycle a little too quickly and should've stuck with 9-11 for another cycle. Probably will do another 9-11 pullup cycle next after I finish this one, take some time off and test my Fran time.
• Nutrition: Not so hot today. Basically for the forseeable future I'm experimenting with eating lots of meat, fruit and vegetables throughout the day. Post workout (5pm) I will have my whey and then eat dinner. After that routine (which is typical as of now), I'm going to experiment with something very new to me. I've seen a lot of good results with people doing a shake after dinner near bedtime so I'm giving it a shot to see if it can put on some size. Tonight's was 2 scoops of ice cream, a cup of whole milk, 2 scoops of my new ON whey powder and a scoop of peanut butter. Every night's will be similar to this. Really satisfied all sweet tooth cravings (go figure). If I do this 3-4 times a week and eat clean the days I don't heavy lift I think I'll be just fine.
• Body: Elbow has been hurting! Fuck that right? Going to look after it. My shin is mangled; won't be running until it's 100%.
• Sleep: 5 hours. Couldn't sleep for shit last night and got up at 4:30 to run.
• Reflections: So far the shake has been good on the 2 nights I've done it and I hope to see results in the next few weeks. Hopefully the spike of protein and the jacked hormone levels I experience during sleep will result in a bigger, happier me.Tomorrow's a scheduled rest day. Friday will be back to the barbell with some form of conditioning, and Saturday is still up in the air. 3-2-1.... rest.

Deadlift, dips, conditioning, decisions

Deadlift 3-3-3
375#
390#
390#

1x10x275#

2 Weighted Dips On the minute for 10 minutes: 25, 30, 35, 35, 35, 35, 37.5, 37.5, 40, 40(F)


75 60# KB Swings For time, 12 pushups On the minute
7:12


10 minute epsom salt bath

COMMENTS

• General: Nice 390# deadlift for the day. I have a good feeling that I'll be able to hit 400x3 for the first time next week so I'm looking forward to that. The dips were an experimental thing the way I structured it but I will use that again in the future. Metcon was something I made up, nothing special.
• Nutrition: Well, here it goes. I ended the challenge yesterday because it's mentally bothering me and it's not helping me reach any goals that I have. I don't plan to eat any catfood either. It's just a judgement call I decided was necessary and I'm moving on. I did get a good benefit out of going clean for 14 strict days because I'm no longer addicted to caffeine and don't plan to drink coffee everyday anymore.
• Body: Felt strong today
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: It's really hard for me to admit defeat which is why quitting the challenge was a big deal in my eyes but I'm moving forward with no regrets. I'll be running with Contois in the early AM tomorrow and doing something else after classes.

Squat, Press, pullups, curls, shrug, hspu

Squat
3x5x285#

Press
-3x5x130#
-13 reps at 95#

Pullups 7-10-7-7-10

Dumbbell curls, maxed reps with 45#, 40# and 30# 2x through
Dumbbell Shrugs, 3x10x80#

HSPU Work: 4x12 Assisted handstand pushups

COMMENTS

• General: Squatted for the first time in my new belt today and it felt great. The 285# straight across went well. I'm really pleased with how my squats have gone these last two weeks because I've increased how deep I squat (literally ass to ankles whereas before was just below parallel) and gone straight across on my sets. If I hit above 290# next week that will be a lifetime PR. My press seems like it doesn't want to go up any higher so I may look to re-set next week if I don't hit 135# on my first set. On another note, I've noticed some bruising on my left side from my belt either being too tight or in the wrong place. Doesn't hurt but I need to watch it. HSPU work felt good. Call me crazy but I sort of liked working on it today....
• Nutrition: Day 14..... ugh
• Body: My shin is fucked. REALLY bothering me, like even just walking. But I feel pretty solid otherwise.
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: The shin thing is worrying me because I really want to run this week and I may have to rest it. I've been looking at something to train for that would happen during the summer and I might know what it's going to be. There's a 12 hour endurance run in Medfield, MA hosted by the TARC running club. It's mainly single track on a 10k course for max loops in 12 hours. My goal with that would be to exceed my 50 mile distance and basically get in a long run before my final ultra of 2011 (Stone Cat 50). I want to slaughter my 50 mile time at SC50. Here's a link to the description. Not sure if it's what I'll do but it's definitely topping the list right now. I'll have to decide within the next few days because it's a small ultra and it's already filling up.

Week In Review (3/28-4/3)

Highlight of the week:
Olympic Session on Wednesday

Low Point(s) of the week:
Hurting my shin

PR's:  (4)
190x3 Bench Press
190# Clean and Jerk
134# Snatch
4x5min interval PR by 1/2 lap

Things I Said I'd Do, and Did:
- 3 Mobility Wod's
- Complete all training sessions

Things I Didn't Do:
- 2 Days of HSPU work (1)

Goals For Next Week:
- Get in 2 really good runs
- 2 days of HSPU work

OTHER COMMENTS:
I introduced some new concepts this week by going straight across instead of working up to my max sets for the week in the core lifts, and also did more conditioning than I normally do. I was pleased with my training week in general. I made a decision to no longer post my rest day on Sundays and just combine it with my week in review segment to make things easier.

I was pissed at myself for missing a day of HSPU work but I promised myself it will get done this week. Embarassingly enough, I injured my right shin last week playing on the equipment at my work. (For those who don't know, I work at a kid's birthday place called Pump It Up with large inflatable bounce houses, slides, etc. I took 2 children I know there to see what it was like). Of course I had to play on the equipment too and apparently I pushed too hard because my shin has been bothering me ever since last Monday. Tonight on my way home from work I almost had to call my mom to help me get out of the car because it was seizing up and firing pain so hard. Honestly just a weird injury and I'm hoping it doesn't affect my training. I pushed through it all week because it didn't hurt when I ran or lifted but it may need some special attention so I can just walk around.

I didn't get a chance to write up my training for the week but I'm planning on doing another Olympic lifting session, intervals and lots of heavy lifting. Also planning on getting in a good run or two with Contois during the week and maybe again on Saturday, if my shin complies.

One last thing.... This alpo diet is really getting old. As of today I'm on day 13 strict and I'm just tired of it. I'm not leaning out and it's just getting lamer by the day getting no benefits and having to pass on a lot of little things I enjoy (ketchup, ice cream, etc.). If I don't start noticing any positive effects within the next few days I may just dump the strict paleo completely and go back to the way I was, albeit a lot healthier. We'll see though.

Run Intervals

4x5 Min Run intervals w/ 3 minute recovery between rounds. Done on Westborough High School track for a total of 12.5 laps (6:24 miles) (PR)


COMMENTS

• General: I've done this workout twice before, once doing loops in a field and once on a track with my weighted vest. My best performance that I can compare this to was 12 laps with the weighted vest back in the fall. I think I should've done a lot better on this, but that being said I've done far less conditioning work at this intensity recently compared to then.
• Nutrition: Day 12 strict.
• Body: Feeling surprisingly good
• Sleep: 9 hours
• Reflections: I did this workout with Dan and his dad today. The only problem with run intervals in my training is I'm never consistent with them because I dread doing them. It helps when I have people with me but when I can't train them with others I need to suck it up and go do it. I'm looking to get a run in probably Wednesday morning to further work on the area of running I want to improve the most, which is the pace I can push comfortably at for a long time. My plan to improve this while maintaining strength is to continue doing lots of intervals and hit a 5-8 mile run every so often pushing at a harder pace than I'm used to.

Front Squat, Dips, Pullups, Curls

Front Squat 5-5-5-5-5
195
215
225
230 (F)
205

3x Max Rep Bar Dips: 9, 8, 8

Pullups 7-10-6-6 (skipped max set wasn't feeling it)

1 Rep Max barbell Curl- 100#, 75#-45# Max reps working down ladder


Glute Stretching 3 minutes a side on bench MWOD

COMMENTS

• General: Good day. 5 sets of front squats was tough and I just had so little left on the last sets that after I failed at 230# I decided to just go absolute ass to ankles with lower weight for the last part. I didn't feel 100% today and I attribute that to the skipped rest day.
• Nutrition: Strict day 11
• Body: Felt alright shoulders were tight
• Sleep: 8-9 hours
• Reflections: Overall solid day. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I'll either do 2 workouts or just hit the track and leave it all there.