See BamaDave Run (and Lift)

[kmwest]

Hehe, yeah, I use glycogen stores as an excuse to eat junk carbs too. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] Anything to improve my performance!

[BamaDave]

4-1-05 Workout -- BOM Phase 4 Intmdt. Wkt. B

1. BB SQUAT/LOW BAR (deep):

160x8
200x6
230x4
275x4
280x4

2. BB Squat/Explosive (20*):

170x8
170x8

3. BB Squat/Jump (10*):

120x10

4. DEADLIFTS:

190x6
230x4
290x4
300x2

I really wanted the 300x4 but couldn't get it. Maybe next time.


5. CLEAN PULL (10*):

150x6
160x6


6. HIGH PULL: (10*):

110x8

I still think I'm a little too heavy on the high pulls. My technique did not feel controlled. It's supposed to be an explosive movement, but it felt sloppy at 110.

7. AB CIRCUIT (no rest between sets):

*Knee-Up +20#ankles (303): 23
* Curlup/Hands Opposite Elbows (303): 33
* Lateral Leg Lowering +20#ankles (303): 6 ea. side
*Side Raises on Swiss Ball +20#DB (303)- 11 ea. side
*Pushup Hold/lift Leg and Opposite Arm/5 sec. holds - 8 ea. side

I really like this workout, even with the squats and deads on the same day. A little frustrated with the deadlifts, but they are probably compromised somewhat by the squat sets.

My only planned exercise for the weekend is a long run -- probably around 12 miles. It may not work out schedule wise and could turn out to be shorter. I may try to do my run on Sunday, since my memories of a lengthy run last weekend the day after the above workout are all too clear!

[kmwest]

Dave, I have a question regarding hydration during a race. How much do you drink? I've never had a clear strategy regarding hydration and it's always hindered my performance - I'm either wilting due to dehydration or ready to vomit from too much. The race next Sunday will have water stops every 2.5 miles, as well as a gel at the 7.5 mile mark. I'm pretty sure I'll take the gel, but I don't know much water (or Gatorade, if they have it) to drink.

[BamaDave]

KM, during the marathon I took advantage of every fluid stop, which were approx. every 3 miles. I slurped down as much as I could, although I tried to at least keep jogging while drinking, so I didn't really get the whole cup. The best thing for me was the bottled water that was handed out occasionally. I was able to keep running and sip on that pretty well. I also somehow managed to get down 4 gels. I have kind of an iron stomach, though - I can run within 20-30 minutes of a sizable meal and lots of water without problems (usually).

When I ran a 20K in October, I believe I only drank water at one station, ~ 8 or 9 miles in. I was running a faster pace in that race, and it was more difficult to swig the water because I was breathing harder.

From what I understand, you're supposed to drink a decent amt. of water with each gel. I think 8 or 16 ounces?? That can be pretty hard.

If I was running a 1/2-M, I would probably go for the fluids at the 7.5 and 10 mile stations and make the gel optional unless I felt like I was crashing...especially if you are able to carb up pretty well before the run.

[Chris D]

Thanks for the Info Bama. I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but I went out for a steady state run this morning and Ugh...I'm going to be a bit sore. This is a route I used to run fairly often and fairly quickly.

Chris D.

[BamaDave]

Saturday, April 2, 2005 was a rest day.

Sunday, April 3rd ... I did a 9.8 mile run. Overall it went really well - much better than last Sunday's run. It makes a big difference to have a full day between a squat/deadlift workout and a lengthy run. My time was 69:40, ave. pace= 7:07. That was a Personal Best for me on this course, so definitely a good run. I was especially happy with a 1.05 mile "up the mountain" split (8:07, pace= 7:44) and the final 1.5 miles (9:13, pace= 6:09). I wish I could ramp up my pace like that in the last 1.5 miles of a race, but I am usually too exhausted! At least it's good tempo training. Less than a year ago, my average paces on these runs were more like my "up the mountain" pace yesterday, so I'm very happy with the gains -- I know they won't continue forever.

[BamaDave]

Monday - April 4, 2005:

BOM Phase 4 intmdt - Workout C:

ALTERNATING SETS:

1. PULL-UPS: 10A; 3U/5A; 4U/3A for warm-ups

+42.5: 3 reps

+40: 4 reps

+20: 7 reps

Body Weight: 12 reps


2. SEATED MILITARY PRESS TO FRONT:

Warm-Ups: 10x40; 8x60; 6x70

4x120

4x117.5

9x105

13x95

3. AB CIRCUIT ROUTINE:

Hanging Leg Raises: +20: 14

BB Rollouts: 11

Swiss Ball Side Raises +50: 10 each side

Russian Twists/Feet Anchored +30: 13 each side

Weighted Curlups/Legs Straight Up +50: 35

** Okay workout... I regressed a little versus last week in the pull-up sets, which is always irritating. No real advancement on the Shoulder Presses. I felt like I could have done 5x120 in the first work set fairly easily, but stopped at 4. And then in the next set I couldn't even get 1 rep at 120 (this was after attempting 122.5). When I crash on shoulder presses, I crash!

This sounds really stupid, but I irritated my elbow and shoulder on one arm by swinging on some monkey bars with my kids over the weekend!! It may have impacted the workout somewhat. I definitely stopped doing the BB Rollouts in the Ab routine due to my elbow and shoulder.
----------------------

TUESDAY April 5, 2005:

5 mile run (5.05 if I wanna be anal)-- I did this one with fast paced intervals. The terrain was variable -- some steep hills, some more rolling hills. I varied my interval locations -- sometimes going for the gusto on uphill stretches and other times running hard on the more gentle terrain. My overall time was 35:59, which averages out to a pace of 7:08 per mile. That's actually unusual for a run with intervals - my average pace is normally slower than a typical run.

The knee irritation I have been experiencing the past few weeks seems to be dissipating. I hope so! It never was anything serious and didn't impact my runs, but was concerning because I was afraid it was the beginning of something worse. I hope not! My right calf is still giving me some problems, but it's not compromising my running. I'll probably take 3-4 non-running days ahead of the next race to make sure some of these lingering aches and pains are better healed.

[BamaDave]

WED. APRIL 6, 2005: STARTING MY FINAL WEEK OF BOM INTERMEDIATE

BOM - Phase 4 Intmdt Workout A

ALTERNATING SETS:

1. Bench Press:

10x90
8x110
6x120
4x185
4x190
9x165
12x140

** I believe the 4x190 qualifies as a PB for me on bench press. I checked my logs from when I was doing HGM, and did have a 3x192.5 set in Phase 9. But if you run these numbers against a one rep max calculator, the 4x190 corresponds to a slightly higher predicted one rep max (207 vs. 204). So I'll take that as a PB, and those don't come easily for me on bench press. I know most would hope to have significant strength gains after a program like this, but I am happy with maintaining my strength in spite of my love affair with running and racing.

2. EZ-BAR BICEP CURLS (Close Grip):

10x37
8x47
6x57
4x97
4x99.5
10x82
13x74.5

AB CIRCUIT - No rest between sets:

Full V-Sits - 30 reps
Leg Raises - 30 reps
Curlups w/Twist Hands 4-head/ Elbows Out- 20
Russian Twists +20# - 10 reps each side
Side Raises - Hands 4-Head/Elbows in - 30 each side

------------------------------

THURSDAY 4-7-2005

MORNING RUN -- 9.3 miles total. Time = 68:55; Ave. pace = 7:25. I felt a little sluggish this morning. This course was the same as my Sunday run, minus 0.5 miles and I ran it in reverse. The reverse course meant I had one really long almost continuous uphill stretch, ~2.3 miles. Nevertheless, that didn't account for my slower pace overall, because even the first mile was in the 7:30 range. I only managed about 5 hours of sleep last night, although I really felt pretty good. Just one of those days!

I did a little web research on the issue of weight loss and impact on running pace. It sounds like a rough rule of thumb is to expect about 2 seconds per mile pace improvement per each pound reduction in weight. If true, a 10 lb. weightloss could knock about 2 minutes off a 10K finish time. That's actually very significant. I'm not so sure I believe the benefit would be that much.

[gobbla]

Good job on the PR man. I know bench is one of your kind of sticking points. To get ahead, even a little must feel great.

Just as an observation. Your bench seems like the only lift that isn't pretty freaking strong (even then it's nothing to be ashamed of). You're curling several sets at near half your body weight! You're putting up some really nice numbers on 99% of your stuff. I dunno about what progression you're feeling, but I don't think you're giving your lifting abilities enough credit.

Have you put any thought into what your next program is going to be?

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Gobbla. I think in Bench I have a natural limitation in that area and/or I use too much tricpes and not enough chest to move the weights. As evidence, I think my close grip bench press numbers are too close to regular bench press. BP is one exercise where I could really use some input from a trainer. So far the 15 year-old cat hanging out in the basement with me hasn't offered any decent pointers! I also think my shoulder presses are fairly weak; in fact, I have probably made less progress on those over the years than with bench press.

Otherwise, I am happy with my strength levels in most lifts -- but, of course, like anybody it would be nice to experience constant steady improvement in everything -- and that isn't going to happen unless I go on a bulking diet, which is not on the horizon for me.

I haven't planned out my next workout program yet. I have been doing pre-packaged programs for over 1-1/2 years without doing my own thing, so I am looking forward to a little less structure. In the near term, I would like to stay with routines that are fairly close to what I am doing right now. I really like the heavy sets combined with the lighter backoff sets. I think those work well for me. I'll also most likely stick mostly with major complex lifts. I would also like to work in some Olympic lifts and squat variations like Overhead Squats (I haven't done those since one of the phases of Homegrown Muscle last Summer).

I'm planning to continue weight training 3 days per week, but around the end of August, I plan to shift to 2 weight training sessions per week and 5 running sessions per week to facilitate training for a marathon in December (Huntsville, AL -- Rocket City Marathon).

[gobbla]

Just out of curiosity, are you going to shoot for boston any time in the next year or so?

[BamaDave]

Originally posted by gobbla:
[qb] Just out of curiosity, are you going to shoot for boston any time in the next year or so? [/qb]

I would like to qualify and only have to knock 2 min, 21 sec off my time to do so. However, I don't know that I would be able to travel to Boston to run the marathon if I did qualify, since we have many other more important things we could do with the money I would spend on that. I hope to do it sometime in the future for the experience, although I'm kind of wondering whether running a marathon in a mob of people would be a great experience!

[kmwest]

If you haven't already done so, read Dave Tate's articles on benching over at t-mag. Focusing on form brought my numbers up significantly (though they're still not that good).

[BamaDave]

Thanks, KM. I'll check those articles out.

WORKOUT - Fri 4/8/05 -- BOM Phase 4 INTMDT WORKOUT B:

1. BB SQUAT/LOW BAR (deep):

160x8
200x6
230x4
280x4
285x4

2. BB Squat/Explosive (20*):

175x8
175x8

3. BB Squat/Jump (10*):

130x9

4. DEADLIFTS:

190x6
240x4
295x4
300x3


5. CLEAN PULL (10*):

160x6
170x6


6. HIGH PULL: (10*):

100x8


7. AB CIRCUIT (no rest between sets):

*Knee-Up +20#ankles (303): 18
* Curlup/Hands Opposite Elbows (303): 20
* Lateral Leg Lowering +20#ankles (303): 7 ea. side
*Side Raises on Swiss Ball +25#DB (303)- 9 ea. side
*Pushup Hold/lift Leg and Opposite Arm/5 sec. holds - 10 ea. side

-- This was my last squat/deadlift workout for this program. I'm happy with the squats - I have been going to the bottom or really close, and I feel like my form is better and safer than when I was doing previous programs. I'm not sure where I am strengthwise on squats compared with last Summer near the end of Homegrown. I noticed in my logs that I did 325x2 for squats in one workout, but I was not going as deep (past parallel, but not to the bottom). I also think my technique was sloppier - I was going more for the heavy weight versus being sensible. I plan to keep doing squats as deep as I can and see where my numbers go.

Deadlifts - these numbers are close to where I have maxed out on previous programs. Actually, my best deadlifts were two years ago at the end of Ian King's Bring the Pain workouts - I had a 305x3 and more than one 300x4. Those didn't follow heavy squatting, though. I also was at the end of a bulking cycle and weighed 15 lbs. more than I do now. I plan to keep doing heavy deadlifts for awhile and see whether I can go higher. As with squats, I feel like my technique is better at this point than in the past (not threatening my lower back).

[kmwest]

There's also a new article on bench technique at Ruggedmag.com.

[BamaDave]

4-9-05: 6.1 Mile Run. This is my down the mountain and back up run that I have been using for race intensity or near-race intensity runs. My time was 41:07 (ave. pace= 6:44)

Split times:

1.05 miles - 6:25 (ave pace= 6:07)
2.05 miles: 6:03 split; 12:29 overall
3.05 miles: 5:51 split (3rd mile is all downhill); 18:21 overall (ave pace= 6:01 at this point)
4.05 miles: 7:50 split; 26:12 overall
5.05 miles: 7:28 split; 33:40 overall
6.1 miles: 7:27 split; 41:07 overall (ave pace= 6:44)

The first half of this run went great - I went out much faster than last time for the first 1.05 miles. That probably wasn't such a great move, because when I started back up the mountain in the 4th mile, I could tell fairly quickly that I was not going to have a personal best run today, even though I had knocked 37 seconds off the first half of the run versus last time. I was substantially slower on the second half than last time, by 1 min, 37 secs. I had some good pace "periods" in the second half, but I found myself having to slow down to regroup. It was around 80 degrees and mid-afternoon when I did this run, so that may have contributed to my lack of oomph - I lost a lot of fluids... good rehearsal for the much warmer temps. to come, although I normally do my runs as early as possible to escape the worst of the Summer heat.

Tomorrow should be a long run day. Earlier in the week, I was thinking of going for a 15-mile run again, but I probably will cut back on that.

[ninja]

I second what G said, you can curl a buttload.