Contest Training Journal for markc7 and WendyRC

I tried out the deadlifts today. Wow, what a great exercise! It felt great on my back, no soreness at all. Although I didn't use much weight this time around, I can definately see adding these to my routine from now on.

The recent cold weather here in Ottawa means that the worlds largest skating rink is open. I might dig out my old skates and go out for an hour or so this afternoon. -35C means it won't be too busy, and the ice should be pretty fresh.

-35C means it won't be too busy, and the ice should be pretty fresh.

I finally got a converter so that I know how cold that is in Farenheit! About -35

I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska

-35C means it won't be too busy, and the ice should be pretty fresh.

 

I finally got a converter so that I know how cold that is in Farenheit! About -35

 

I used to live in Fairbanks, Alaska

Yep, it was pretty chilly. Maybe not alaska cold, but pretty cold. I skated for about 45 minutes on Friday, then again for an hour with Wendy on Saturday:

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/wendyskating.jpg

Today I did a 14km run, nice and slow. Back in the gym tomorrow for an arms workout.

We took some photos of our progress after one month. So far the biggest differences I'm noticing are in my traps and pecs. Weight is down a few pounds, and my 60 second pushup test is DOUBLE from 10 in Dec to 20 right now. Woohoo!

Thanks for keeping me motivated! Thinking about this contest helps me get my workouts in when I'm feeling tired or unmotivated. Great job everyone, keep up the great work.

Here is what I did today for my arms workout. Some jackass put the dumbells in the wrong place, and I accidentally grabbed a pair that weren't the same weight. Partway through my second set of the chest press, I thought "gee, my left arm usually feels weaker than my right arm, what's up with that?" Sure enough, I had been lifting 60lbs in my left and 65 in my right. D'Oh.

Seated cable row 4x8x100

chest press 4x8x60 (one hand 65 for two sets)

bent over dumbell row 3x8x60 + 8x65

side shoulder raises 4x8x15

shrugs 4x8x65

lat pulldown 4x8x130

incline chest press 4x8x35

cross-body cable raises 3x6x25 (I'm not sure what these are called)

reverse grip cable curls 3x8x70

strip set cable curls 100/85/70/55/40

reverse grip 1-arm tricep pushdowns 2x7x55

strip set regular tricep pushdows 115/100/85/70/55/40

pec deck 2x8x85

reverse fly 2x8x40

I did my legs and core workout today. Kept most of the weights the same as last week, although my legs were feeling a bit fatigued so many of the exercises felt more difficult. I changed the hamstring curl from 2-legs to 1-leg, which was a nice change.

I did my regular 10.5 km run this evening. Wendy's mom is visiting for the week, so our workouts (esp Wendy's) will be a bit erratic this week.

Another 10.5 run tonight. My legs are feeling much better than they did earlier in the week. Hopefully that's a good sign for tomorrow when I'm back in the gym.

On my friday workouts, I do a bit of everything. I know that I'm going to have to come up with something better soon, but for now I just do a couple exercises that I missed in my Monday or Tuesday workouts.

So today I did chinups, dips, smith squats, smith bench press, some abs stuff, hammer curls, and a couple more sets of deadlifts. I might be forgetting a couple more.

As far as running training is going, I'm planning to start doing double long runs on the weekends. This weekend I'll start with around 20km Saturday and 15-20 Sunday. Eventually I'll work up to 35/35 or more. My first race of the season is in six weeks, and I've got lots of work to do before then.

My long run today ended up being closer to 16km rather than the planned 20. I had to meet Wendy downtown so I had watch the time. Nevertheless, it was a great day for a run. There was deep snow on some parts of the trail which made for a bit of an ankle workout.

I forgot to bring home my running gear after my Saturday long run, so I couldn't go out Sunday. Bummer. I'll see about going for a run later today, but it probably won't be a very long one (it's -30C!). Today's workout was arms. For a bit of a change, I've switched from doing lat-pulldowns to doing pullups. I can do sets of 8, and hopefully I'll be able to add some weight to that soon.

Legs and core today. I did a couple of old abs exercises that I haven't done in years. I used to be a competitive springboard diver, and did hundreds of crunches, situps, kickouts, pike-ups, etc each day. These days I'm pretty uncoordinated and lack the endurance that I once had. But the muscle memory is still there; I still remember to point my toes when I kick out.

I used to be a competitive springboard diver,

Cool!!

I used to be a competitive springboard diver,

 

Cool!!

Yeah, it was pretty cool. I wish I still had abs like I did in those days.

Today's run was a fast tempo run of 10km. It good despite being quicker than I've run in a couple months. I also did a 3km cooldown run. Actually, I had to run to make it to the comic book store before it closed!

Nothing special about my run today. Gym tomorrow morning, then I'll go for a 10km run in the afternoon or evening. By then I'll be over 200km for the year to date.

Nice, lots of running going on! I used to always keep track too. I'd log everything, even keeping track of how many miles a certain pair of shoes has! I think I still have my 1,000 mile shoes from high school. They are torn up!

Keep up the awesome training. Nice to see your log updated so frequently.

All the best!

Thanks robert, great to know that people are enjoying reading about my workouts. I keep a way more detailed running/workout log over at coolrunning.com. I track miles on my shoes, time, distance, weather, heart rate (sometimes), route, what I ate before and during the run, and time of day. Maybe a bit obsessive??

Today's workout was the usual grab-bag of random exercises that I do on Fridays. I have been avoiding squats for a couple weeks because they were uncomfortable on my back. I kept doing deadlifts and smith squats. Today I went back to the squat rack and found them extremely easy. I plan to increase the weight next week, but I'm going to do it slowly so as not to hurt my back.

20km run this afternoon. I made sure my route today had a bunch of hills. The run felt good, and did the whole thing with only water to drink.

22.6KM run this morning with some friends. felt very good and surprisingly managed to keep up a slightly faster pace than yesterday. Drank water and ate half a Clif Bar on the run.

Wendy is off at a spinning class this morning, so she might have something interesting to tell about later today!

I tried spinning a few years ago and it nearly killed me! So, I was a little afraid when my friends invited me. But, it wasn't that bad. The instructor made it really fun by singing to the music and joking throughout the class. It was definitly a challenge, but it was fun having my friends there to go through the pain together. Plus, the instructor called us by name and asked us how we were doing from time to time. "You doin' OK Wendy?" I think it's something I'll do again. It was hard, but rewarding.

I was doing really well, even when my Mom was visiting. I didn't get in any workout sessions while she was here, but did do a lot of walking and tried to keep my diet healthy during all of the restaurant visits. My weight didn't change at all. But as now that she's gone, I'm finding it hard to get back to healthy eating, and my weight has gone up.

I did get in a really good workout on Wednesday, but then slacked on Thursday and Friday. I'll try to get back into the swing of things this week. Mark and I are just about to head out to the grocery store to pick up some fresh fruits and veggies to help me get back to a healthy eating plan. Health Canada just released a new Food Guide that is somewhat interactive, so I went ahead and made my own personal Food Guide. Hope it helps. Wish me luck.

I felt a bit sluggish and tired from the long runs on the weekend. Glad I wasn't doing a leg workout this morning!

Pullups 8+8+3 (these are coming along nicely)

dips 3x8

bent-over dumbell rows 4x5x70 (increased the weight today, decrease the reps from 8 to 5)

dumbell chest press 4x8x60

cross-body cable raises 4x8x25 (left shoulder a bit sore afterwards)

decline chest press 4x8x45

cable triceps: 8x55 reverse 1-arm + 8x55 forward grip 1-arm + 8x85 two handed forward grip

cable biceps: 2x8x85 + 1-arm 7x55

front shoulder raises 8x20

lateral raises 2x8x20

pec deck 2x8x85

reverse fly 2x8x55

My legs were a bit tired, so maybe a day or two off would be a good idea. Still did most of my regular leg workout, except that I left squats and deadlifts for Friday.

Ok, it's been a while since my last post. After my mediocre workout Tuesday, I haven't done much of anything until today. Tuesday night I suddenly started to feel sick. It mostly passed that night and the next morning, but I stayed home from work Wednesday and Thursday (I work at a hospital those days, so I can't go in to work if I feel even a little bit sick). At around this time Wendy started to feel sick, so I didn't want to go out on my own in the evenings in case she needed me.

Friday I had to stay at home all day waiting for a delivery, so no gym that day. I did do a couple sets of pushups though. I went for a walk on Saturday to see how I was feeling energy-wise. Today I felt good enough for a quick run, and did about 10km. Tomorrow morning I should be back at the gym.

Not a great week all things considered. But at least we're both feeling better now and can get back to the routine.

I did a short arms workout today. Nothing too special, did pretty much all the same stuff as usual. I did only 3 sets of everything instead of 4.

Quick 5km run this evening. I felt very good, and will probably do an uptempo pace run tomorrow evening. I usually do weights on Tuesday, but decided to go to the gym two days a week for the next couple of weeks while my running mileage increases.