Well it’s a week into November, and so far it’s been fairly productive. Taking a few minutes to write down my short-term goals for the month was a good way to get refocused.
Of the four things I chose to work on, the one I figured would be the easiest, getting more protein and good fat in my diet, has proven to be the most challenging. I’m having two eggs on mornings that I’m hungry instead of just one, and frying them in olive oil instead of cooking spray. But other than that, an occasional Myoplex, and snacking on a few more nuts in the evening, I haven’t made much progress. I need to come up with a good late-morning snack. I usually have breakfast around 6am, and often don’t get around to lunch until 2pm. That needs to change.
Item #2,deadlifts, I did 3X this week. First day I worked up to 145#, next time it was 195#, and today 245#. So far the elbow has been able to take it, which was my biggest concern. The lower back and hamstring tightened up considerably mid-week, but don’t know if that was from the DLs or the sprinting I did on the track. I also decided to add Bulgarian split sqats to my leg routine. Did those for the first time today and could really feel them in the hamstrings.
Had a so-so running week, making it through my interval workouts with marginal improvements. The one where I stay anaerobic for as long as possible is a beast. I take 3 minutes to warm up, then dial up the speed to get my pulse up to 150. Then I gradually back off on the speed and maintain my heart rate in the 145-155 range for as long as I can. I made it for a total of 20 minutes this week (including the warmup), which is a long time to be uncomfortable.
Today I went for my weekly long run (long for a sprinter, that is). It was a bright, beautiful day and close to 70 degrees, so I ran outside for the first time in a long, long time. Last week I put in 40 minutes on the treadmill, and that was the first time in at least a year that I’ve run more than 30 minutes at once. Today I extended that to 60 minutes,although I’m guessing my pace wasn’t quite as fast.
I’ll have some mile intervals on my menu this coming week, so I should get an idea of how I’m doing on goal #3, running a mile in under six minutes. Last time I did this workout I think I ran the fastest of my four 1-mile runs @ 9.5mph, so this time out I will probably try one at 9.7 or 9.8 and see how that goes. To run the mile in 6 minutes you have to be going 10 mph, so I am getting close.
The final item on my list is to make a video about “the seventh step”, a jumping workout/goal that I’ve been working on. Today I took a few pictures and shot a little bit of test video to see what the best way to film it is going to be. Unfortunately I’ll be working in dark, cramped quarters, so it’s going to be difficult. I have a wide-angle lens for my video camera, but I didn’t bring it with me today. I will need to test it to see if it helps.
I’ve attached one of the still images. You’ll see that there are three pieces of tape on the wall. The lowest, at 36″, represents the height of a standard kitchen counter. The middle piece is set at 45″, the height of the 6th step in the stairwell. I’ve been successfully jumping (2 step approach) and landing here for quite a while. My ultimate goal is to make it to step number 7, which is 52″ off the floor. Pictures don’t do it justice…find a set of stairs and count up to step number 7. It looks impossible…and for me maybe it is. But I’m going to work on it and give it my best shot. If I can do it I will be a legend…at least in my own mind!
Stairway to Heaven?
Trample the Weak-Hurdle the Dead 