400m sprints, long ass hike

400m Runs w/ 3-4 min recovery in between (Done at Westborough HS track)

1:04 (PR)
1:09
1:13


Total of a little less than 3 hours of walking. Estimated about 8-9 miles total. 1 hour around my neighborhood, 1.5 hours on powerline trail and a brief treadmill walk to round things out

COMMENTS

• General: 5 second PR on my 400m from when I last tested it about 1.5-2 years ago. Can't really complain at that progress for never training the distance besides in the occasional CF metcon. My hamstrings felt really tight during it the sprints. The walks were all good, especially on the powerline trail. Me and Dan cruised and covered a lot of ground. I'm sure occasional days like today will improve my ultra-running abilities.
• Nutrition: Had pita bread at dinner but otherwise clean
• Body: Legs are pretty sore from all the walking recently. Traps still sore but getting better.
• Sleep: 7 hours. Up at 6:30am and couldn't go back to sleep.
• Reflections: Today I met up with Contois and his brother in law to do some pre-race briefing. When it's all said and done my contribution to the crew will be about 24-36 hours of no sleep and running about 31 miles. I'm really excited to help out and run in a place I've never been before. Looks like it's going to be a pretty legit race from the sound of it. He expects me to pick him up at ~10pm the night of the race so needless to say I'll get to test the new headlamp for several hours. Tomorrow I have chest and arms.

Final Lower Power Day

Back Squat
10x135#
5x225#
3x275#
5x315#
5x275#
17x225# (PR)

Romanian Deadlifts
5x5x185#
____

2 hours of walking

COMMENTS

• General: Missed 2 out of 4 days of the lower power days on this program so I'm not 100% sure how effective it can really be. I skipped 10# instead of 5# on the LP this week for squat since I won't be squatting for nearly 2 weeks. That's also why I chose to do the high rep set at 225#. I was pissed I didn't get 20 but I made the right choice by racking it after 17. My legs were quivering and I knew if I went back down to squat I may pass out or completely fall with the weight on my back. I think after recovering I could get 20 pretty easily now that I'm adapted to it. The RDL's are a great movement but I think I need to go heavier now that I have the form down.
• Nutrition: Really clean
• Body: Traps are absolutely broken. Quite possibly the sorest any area of my body has ever been, no exaggeration. I can imagine my legs will be pretty sore tomorrow too.
• Sleep: 7.5 hours. Wide awake again this morning at 7am
• Reflections: As of now my plan tomorrow is to do some kind of track workout (maybe test my 1 mile time?) and then hike the entire powerline trail which should take over 2 hours. This is instead of my rest day that is normally on Wednesday. After that I'll hit 2 huge bodybuilding sessions on Thursday and Friday to wrap up my week before I head to Maine on Saturday. I may go for a trail run on Saturday morning time permitting.

Final Week of Power Upper

Bench Press
3x185#
5x205# (PR)
5x185#

Bent Over Barbell Rows
3x5x225#

Press
5x95#
3x135#
5x150# (F, 3)
3x152.5# (3 rep PR)
10x115#

Barbell Power Shrugs (with straps)
5x315#
3x5x365#

Axle Curls
3x105# for 10, 8, 7 reps

~2 hours of walking
COMMENTS

• General: Really good day today. I bought wrist straps today and used them for the first time. At this moment I must say my traps have never been sorer. Probably because I jumped 90# from last weeks shrugs. They seem like a useful tool for strength training so I will continue to use them for certain movements. I did pop a blood vessel in my right wrist because of them though. Nice to PR on bench and press this week once again. I've never microloaded a lift before but I can imagine my press may need that from here on out. I've always had problems going up 5# a week on press.
• Nutrition: Clean minus some dark chocolate
• Body: Traps are sore as hell from today. I felt a little tight in my upper body but not too sore today.
• Sleep: 7.5 hours. Wide awake at 7am this morning. Don't know why
• Reflections: I can honestly say I'm very pleased with how the upper power days went during my 4 week trial run. Originally I thought benching and pressing on the same day would make PRing impossible and also thought it may be too much volume but I think I did really well for 4 weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to murk my lower body in lower power. I won't be resting all week because I'm going to Maine on Saturday and won't have access to weights for over a week. My next scheduled rest day will be either next Saturday or Sunday.

watchung

45 min run at the Watchung Reservation in Summit, NJ, a little over 4mi covered


COMMENTS

• General: Didn't run very long today because I didn't bring my handheld to NJ and the heat index here is about 100 degrees. Going at 2pm in a thick wooded forest didn't exactly help me outlast the elements. The Watchung reservation was beautiful. Single track that makes what I run on at home look like nothing special at all. Everything was connected and well maintained. I bought some Nuun tablets today to try out next week and hopefully bring to pace Contois in a few weeks.
• Nutrition: OK, better than yesterday but I did have a sandwich for lunch
• Body: My upper body is fatigued but not sore. Legs felt really tired and sore on the run which I attribute to the heat and the sprints I did yesterday.
• Sleep: 8 hours
• Reflections: When I get out of college the top 3 places I'm considering living are New Jersey, New York (not city) and Massachusetts. The trails in NJ are so awesome that at this point it's probably a front runner. Obviously job location plays a big part in that but places like the Watchung reservation make me really excited to maybe move down here some day. I can honestly say that if I lived here now and had access to places like this I would be a runner first and a strength athlete second, whereas I currently am the opposite. Resting tomorrow.

Upper body, 200m sprints

Standing DB Press
2x10x45#'s
9x45#'s

Supersetted with DB Front Raises
3x10x27.5#

3x10x85#'s DB Rows supersetted with Arnold Press 3x6x40#'s

3x12 Pullups (11, 9, 9) w/ 5# added onto waist supersetted with DB Shrugs 3x10x100#'s

Back Pump Machine 3x10x185#
_______

6x200m Sprints on road, 45 second recoveries

30-40 second range

COMMENTS

• General: Pretty good day. I opted to linear progress my pullups by adding 5# from last week. I think by doing that my pullup numbers will go up quickly as I have never really done weighted pullups before. Sprints felt good even though I did it in 106 degree weather. I only did 6 because more than that may have made the workout and my health go south quickly.
• Nutrition: Not very good. I'm staying at my dads girlfriends who doesn't eat very healthy so I'm kind of screwed until Sunday. I got enough protein in though. Tomorrow will be better.
• Body: Chest and triceps were kind of sore. Biceps had some tightness. Legs didn't feel too fresh on the sprints either.
• Sleep: 5 hours. I had ice cream last night for the first time in a couple weeks. I've noticed that when I go 5+ days without eating junk especially late at night and then I do it that night of sleep is awful. It took me nearly 3 hours of laying in bed to finally fall asleep.
• Reflections: Pretty solid week of training. I'm hoping to sneak away for a run over the next 2 days but judging by the amount of work we have to do (I'm in NJ to work for my dad's girlfriend) I may not have time. The heat is supposed to be pretty bad too which may deter me from doing any serious running. We'll see what happens.

Layne Norton is a genius

4x8 DB Incline Press
8x60#
8x65#
6x65#
7x65#

4x8 Close Grip Bench
145#
145#
7x145#
6x145#

3x10 DB Flat Bench
3x8x55#

Supersetted with Preacher curls
3x10x85#

3x10 Standing French Press
55 Straight across

Supersetted with Tricep Extensions
3x10x40#


3x12 DB Hammer Curls
3x8x50#'s

3x8 DB Curls
8x55#'s
6x55#'s
6x55#'s

Dips
10, 6, 8, 5


COMMENTS

• General: Pretty brutal day today. Being out in the heat all day and going to a gym with no ACs can be pretty exhausting. By the end of my workout my shirt and pants were fully saturated with sweat. I didn't PR on everything and couldn't meet all my reps but that's expected. As long as I progress I think I'm doing it right.
• Nutrition: Not as good today. I had ice cream and some junk at night. Trying to recover as I have only about 15 hours in between this workout and tomorrows.
• Body: Felt really good today. There has been blisters on the inside of my toes for days that have been driving me insane.
• Sleep: 7-8 hours
• Reflections: Headed to NJ tomorrow. Looking to hit up the Watchung Reservation on Saturday morning hopefully if all goes as planned. Shouldn't be too much of a problem. I will be working out really early tomorrow and then gone for the weekend. I'll be posting all weekend.

7/19 and 7/20

7/19

Back Squat
10x135#
5x225#
3x275#
5x305#

Rack Pulls from bottom pin in rack
495 for 5 singles
__
4 Hill sprints at bottom of Brigham to top near mass pike, all out. Ranged between 40-45 seconds

___________________

7/20
Rest Day

Mowed 2 lawns


COMMENTS

• General: I forgot to blog yesterday because I was too tired last night. The squat was pretty easy which made me happy and my back felt good. The rackpulls were just to get my back used to the deadlifting again since it's been a while since I have pulled. No pain in my back but the following day as I write this my lower back is pretty friggen sore. I've been outside all day the last 2 days which has been draining my energy.
• Nutrition: Pretty good. It's been clean minus a lot of chocolate I've been scarfing at lunch
• Body: Back sore, legs fatigued. The night time walks before bed are dynamite for aesthetics but I've noticed my legs not recovering very well from them.
• Sleep: 7-8 hours last night, forget 2 nights ago
• Reflections: Pretty happy with both days. I have week 3 of upper body work tomorrow with chest and arms which should be fun. I have to move some heavy weight in order to advance so we'll see how I hold up. I bought a $60 headlamp today and it's a lot nicer than my old one was. I figure I'm going to need it for Maine in 2-3 weeks and for when school starts. I'm also finally going to order my weightlifting shoes tomorrow or Friday as well which have been long overdue. I'm thinking I may drive to the Watchung Reservation in NJ on Saturday or Sunday morning and get a trail run in there. The people who put on my 50m in March run a 50k during the winter in that area and it's only 20 min away from where I'm staying.