Weekly update Sept 16-22

The last week of non-scheduled training has concluded. So, this will be the last week of random workouts, hopefully. Here is last week's workouts, running and Crossfit.

Monday - 15 minutes working up to a heavy squat clean & jerk followed by 30 squat clean & jerks for time @ 115#

Tuesday - Row 1,000 meters, 30 burpee box jumps, row 1,000 meters. I then changed shoes and took a drink of water before going out for a 2 mile run.

Wednesday -Back squats 5x3 @ 165#. Tabata push-ups. Tabata sit-ups.
Thursday - 3 miles
Friday - rest day
Saturday - 7 miles

Dopey Challenge training officially kicks off this evening. 16 weeks of training should be fun

Training and schedule update

Good to see everyone has made it through the summer months. I hope the weather is cooling down in your area. We had a nice cool front pass this past weekend, which brought much cooler temps for Saturday's long run. It's amazing the difference between 80* with high humidity and low 60's with low humidity.

Here's a quick recap of last week's activities and the schedule for this week.

Monday:       "Christine" 3 rounds of 500m row, 12 deadlifts and 21 box jumps

Tuesday:        Push Jerk 1-1-1-1-1 and 20 shoulder to overhead & 40 burpees
Wednesday:   4 mile run
Thursday:       3+ mile run (GPS was acting up to start. So mileage is a little off)
Friday:           Rest day
Saturday:       6 miles

Overall, the week was a good one. Crossfit was put aside some as I tweaked my back a little on the heavy Push Jerk 1 reps. Runs were tough during the week due to the humidity levels. But, the Saturday run felt wonderful. 

Here's what's on tap for this week:

Monday:        Crossfit
Tuesday:        3 mile run
Wednesday:   Crossfit
Thursday:       Crossfit & 3 mile run
Friday:           Crossfit
Saturday:       6 mile run

Official schedule for Dopey Challenge training begins next week. 

Weekly Recap - 7/1 to 7/7

This is an easy week to update. With Peachtree on Thursday, I took it relatively easy with a workout on Monday and the race on Thursday. I'm sure this next week will feel much different with workouts everyday.

Monday
20 minute AMRAP
- 10 Squat Cleans
- 10 Dips
- 10 Knees to Elbows

I completed 4 rounds in 20 minutes. The squat cleans weren't too big of an issue. However, the dips and K2E gave me some problems due to sweaty hands. I think I ended up with chalk mud by the end of the workout. I'm going to have to research ways to improve grip as the sweat is only going to get worse this summer.

Thursday
Peachtree Road Race 

See the previous update for a short update on the race. It was fun and made me realize I miss my running days more than I thought.

This week's schedule:
Monday - Crossfit
Tuesday - Crossfit (am) and Speed Work or 3 miles (pm)
Wednesday - Crossfit
Thursday - 3 miles (am) and Barbell Club (pm)
Friday - Crossfit
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - rest

Peachtree Road Race recap

Yesterday was the annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta. This was my 3rd time running the event. My training for the actual race had been very limited as I've been focusing on weight training more the last few months. Even with the lack of run training, I still had a plan for the race: Run the race in segments

• Mile 1 - start the race slow until crowd thins out some
• Mile 2 & 3 - pick up pace to near what I'd hope to run
• Mile 4 (Cardiac Hill) - just survive 
• Mile 5 - get back into a groove and transition to a walk/run
• Mile 6 - pick up pace
• Last .2 miles - kick it up and finish strong

Here's the actual data from Garmin:

• Mile 1 @ 11:13
• Mile 2 @ 10:34
• Mile 3 @ 10:45
• Mile 4 @ 12:32
• Mile 5 @ 12:04
• Mile 6 @ 11:27
• Last .34 @ 10:36

The weather was much different than last year. There had been heavy rains most of the day on Wednesday and forecast for Thursday was more of the same. However, upon arriving to the start area, the rain had stopped and didn't begin again until after all of our group had finished. Temps were in the upper 60's/low 70's with very high humidity. Considering the weather the past 2 years, this was much better running weather for July 4th.

Overall time was 1:12:13, which was a Peachtree PR for me (5:07 over last year's 1:17:20). I have to admit I wasn't sure I'd be able to work a plan like this. I've always gone into races with no set plan. But, this actually felt good. I guess I'll start planning out these things more in the future. 

Weekly Recap

Monday
- Rest day (unscheduled) after weekend at beach and driving

Tuesday
- 15 minutes work up to 1 rep heavy deadlift. I was able to pull 235 with some left in the tank. New PR
- 5 rounds for time: 12 deadlifts and 12 knees to elbow. Result: 15:37

I struggled with the K2E and my grip. 

Wednesday
- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 Overhead Squat @ 75#, Kettlebell swings @ 53#, Burpees. Result: 23:05

Overhead squats have been a long time problem for me. I struggled on some of the early rounds. Once I realized I wasn't engaging my core enough, I was able to do them with much better form (DUH!)

Thursday
- Rest and Barbell Club

Back squats - 2x5, 2x3, 3x1, working progressively heavier each set. Maxed out at 185. Half deadlift (to the knee) and squat clean work for 10 reps @ 115#. We ended with 1 set of 20 back squats @ 125#.

One of the things I started this year to improve my olympic lifts was Barbell Club. It meets every Thursday for an hour or so. Workout each week varies. Although, we have been doing a lot of snatch and overhead squat work as of late.

Friday
- 3 rounds for time: 10 weighted pull-ups and 30 back extensions. Coach decided to drop the time component due to back extensions needing more attention to form than speed. 

Plan for July
Week 1 will be relatively light due to Peachtree Road Race on the 4th. CF on Monday with a short run either Monday evening or Tuesday morning. Rest on Wednesday and PRR on Thursday (July 4). I may get a CF workout in on Saturday depending on plans.

Rest of the month:
Monday - CrossFit
Tuesday - CrossFit (am); Speed work (PM)
Wednesday - CrossFit
Thursday - 3 miles before Barbell Club
Friday - CrossFit
Saturday - 5 miles

Long time, no update!

WOW! Has it really been since September last year that I updated? I guess you could say I don't focus much on blogging :)!

Still running. My 3rd Peachtree Road Race is next week. I'm signed up for Wine & Dine Half in November and Dopey Challenge in January.

Still going to CrossFit. I have focused more on this than my running, which is good and bad. Bad because my running endurance needs to increase for the Half marathons on the schedule. Good because my overall fitness is above where I was only running.

Both of these will become a challenge to my schedule come December (more on this later).

I'm going to actually use this as a training log for awhile to keep me motivated and accountable to my schedule. We'll see how this works.