See BamaDave Run (and Lift)

[BamaDave]

TUES. 7.4.06
PEAVINE FALLS 8.2 MILE RACE
OAK MOUNTAIN STATE PARK, AL

TIME: 59:36
AVE. PACE: 7:16/mile

No ankle injury! I ran this too conservatively - I'll know better next year -- but it was still the hardest roadrace course I have ever run. At the registration table there was a sign posted that said, "Friends Don't Let Friends Run Peavine." The race start seemed smoother than usual - not as many slow runners lined up in the front. Nevertheless, there were the usual 3 or 4 muscleheads who darted out like they were in a sprint and crashed within the first mile. Approx. the first 4 miles were majority uphill, and it seemed like it would never end. Then we had a turnaround at the top of the mountain where there was an aid station, and everyone was coming to a complete stop to drink water - I've never seen that before! I lost a good 45 seconds at the aid station, but needed it. Immediately after the aid station, there was a long downhill stretch, but that was followed by a fairly long uphill stretch - not a terrible grade, but it felt terrible after so much uphill already. After that there was a lot of downhill running, which was a Godsend. I believe around three miles back down we turned off onto the trail for the final 1.2 miles. This trail had a lot of switchbacks, but it was not nearly as hilly as the trail we ran in the 10K a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, I ran the trail pretty cautiously, because I was having ankle twister flashbacks. In fact, two guys passed me on the trail section. At the end, I was able to sprint to the finish, and it was way too easy to do so, so that let me know I had run this too conservatively overall. Next year I'll have a better plan of attack. There were no mile markers on this course, and the Forerunner was useless with the tree canopy, so I had no idea what pace I was running. Next year I'll know that the trail section is not that bad - I held back too much on the downhill anticipating that I was going to be on the 1.2 mile trail from hell like we ran in the 10K Scramble.

At any rate - it was a fun, no frills race. I got interviewed for the news. I always wanted to be broadcast all over the area dripping with sweat and with no shirt on. I felt stronger in this race than in other recent ones - I'm hoping that's a sign that I am ready to start training hard again and get my speed back for Fall. Next week I'm planning to start an actual training plan for Rocket City. I think I need to drop a few pounds, too - I feel bulkier and like I am lumbering along in these races.

[Bill2380]

I'd like to be able to lumber a 7 minute mile.....on trails yet. Congratulations, this sounds like one tough race.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Nice job on the race, Dave! Still not gonna find me on a trail! LOL

[BamaDave]

Thanks, guys. I came in 31st out of 312, and I believe I was 5th in the Male 35-39 group. Back in my younger days, like in March, I should have easily made Top 20 in this race. Jim, trail runs are fun! Try it, you'll like it. You just have to stare at the ground a lot. And look up to avoid tree trunks. LOL!

[jruck37]

Great job, Dave!

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Jamie.

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WED. 7.5.06
PM WORKOUT

NEW RULES OF LIFTING, STRENGTH PHASE II, WORKOUT B (#4)

SUPERSETS WITH FULL REST BETWEEN EXERCISES:

A1. BB BENT OVER ROW (180 sec. rest; Tempo = 201)

WARMUP SET: 6x140

WORK SETS:
[Target Reps=4]: 4x192.5 (up 2.5#)
[Target Reps=4]: 4x197.5 (up 2.5#)
[Target Reps=8]: 8x182.5 (up 2.5#)
[Target Reps=12]: 12x172.5 (up 2.5#)


A2. BB BENCH PRESS (180 sec. rest; Tempo=201)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x205 (up 2.5#)
[Target Reps=4]: 1x210 (F-2) (up 2.5#, down 2 reps)
[Target Reps=8]: 6x185 (up 2.5#, down 1 rep)
[Target Reps=12]: 6x162.5 (up 2.5#, down 5 reps)


B1. CHIN-UPS: (90 sec. rest; Tempo=211)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x +55 (up 5#)
[Target Reps=4]: 3x +55 (up 5#, but missed 1 rep)
[Target Reps=12]: 9x +15 (no change on wt., down 1 rep)

B2. DB SHOULDER PRESS: (90 sec. rest; Tempo=211)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x60(eh) - (up 2.5# e/h)
[Target Reps=4]: 2x60(eh) - (up 2.5# e/h, but missed two reps)
[Target Reps=12]: 12x47.5(eh) - (no change on load, up one rep)


C. DB UPPER BODY RUSSIAN TWIST (90 sec. rest; Tempo=202):

15x +50 (each side)
14x +50 (each side)

-- Yikes, another mediocre workout. The Rows went well - I went up only slightly on the loads and my form was better this time than last time. Bench Press was pretty sucky, although oddly enough, 4x205 was a 4-rep PR and then 1x210 was actually my new 1-rep PR. LOL. That 4x205 was very hard, so I should have known there was no chance on 210, but I wanted to try. I'm not sure what happened on the 12-rep set - something felt awkward with my hand placement on the bar, and I tried to move my hands around but eventually just lost it on that set.

12 chinups with +15 continues to elude me. I finally got the 4 rep set with 60 pounders on the DB shoulder presses, but couldn't sustain the second set. It's my right shoulder that is limiting me on those.

I think I should have done this workout this morning - it was after 9PM by the time I got started after getting up this morning before 5:30. I was pretty tired. I think the 15-day lag (due to vacation and the race) between the last time I did this routine and today didn't help me out either. I'm officially tired of NROL Phase II and am ready to move on to Phase III, where hopefully I can eek out a little more gain on some of these exercises.

[kuri]

Congrats Dave, your almost there. Coupla more days and your due for some rest.

Your still showing good progress and nice going on the bench! I know that's been one of your big struggles so hitting that must have felt good.

I'm just going to start Phase II and will be referring to your log for inspiration and guidance.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Chris. 1x210 was very anti-climatic after 4x205, and really that 4x205 felt harder than 4x202.5 15 days ago. So I felt like I regressed in this workout versus the previous one, even though officially I hit new PRs. Hopefully the next one will be better. Whatever the case, I'm still happy with where my bench strength has gone with this program, even if progress may be plateauing on this and other lifts.

I wanted to add some notes about the Peavine Falls race for my own record - since I'll likely refer back to these next year. I used Google Earth to figure out some of my lap times during this race. The first segment to the top of the mountain was actually 3.8 miles, and it took me 28:14 to get there (ave pace = 7:26/mile). That wasn't too bad actually for my current race conditioning. The last 4.4 miles was 3 miles mostly downhill, then 1.4 miles of trail running to the finish. It took me 31:21 to do this if I include my break at the top (approx 1 minute) in this segment. If I assume that my trail pace was ~7:45/mile (unfortunately I didn't hit the lap button when I entered the trail), then it took me ~19:30 to run the 3 miles down the mountain (6:30 pace). Aside from the one minute-ish break at the top, I think the downhill stretch is where I ran too conservatively and lost the most time. I have noticed that it's easy to allow uphill running to set your pacing for an entire run - next year I need to remember to lay the hammer down on the way back down. It's really hard to know what to do when you have no mile markers and the terrain impacts your perceived pacing so dramatically.

[kmwest]

Entertaining RR, and good progress on the weighted chins!

[BamaDave]

Thanks, kmwest!

THURS. 7.6.06
PM RUN

DISTANCE: 5.75 miles
TIME: 43:14
AVE. PACE: 7:31/mile

-- After work run in the big city. Reminds me how much I appreciate running in the country! Nevertheless, trying to run on Birmingham's crumbling sidewalks should be excellent training for trail running.

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

FRI. 7.7.06
PM RUN

NEW RULES OF LIFTING, STRENGTH PHASE II, WORKOUT C (#3)

A. DEADLIFTS: (180 sec. rest, Tempo = 201)

Warmup Sets:

5x190
5x240
4x290

Work Sets:

[Target Reps=4]: 4x315
[Target Reps=4]: 4x325
[Target Reps=4]: 1x330
[Target Reps=12]: 12x270 (up 5#)


B. RACK DEADLIFTS: (180 sec. rest; 201 Tempo)

[Target Reps=3]: 3x360 (lowered bar versus last time)
[Target Reps=3]: 1x370
[Target Reps=3]: 3x360


Supersets with Full Rest between exercises (90 sec rest):

C1. BULGARIAN SPLIT SQUATS: (Target Reps = 8-10 each leg; Tempo = 201)

8x105# (two 52.5# DBs) ea. leg (up 5# total versus last time)
8x105# (two 52.5# DBs) ea. leg (up 5# total versus last time)

C2. BACK EXTENSIONS: (Target Reps = 8-10; Tempo = 20X)

8x75# (up 5#)
9x75# (up 5#)


D. HANGING LEG RAISES: (Target Reps = 6; Tempo=222; 90 sec. rest)

6x +20#
6x +20#

-- I got the 4x325 that I didn't get last time (only did 2 reps), but it was hard enough that I knew I wasn't going to get 4x330. But I decided that I was going to get the 330 up, even if I didn't meet the 4 reps prescribed for that set. LOL. 12x270 pretty much fried my hammies. I'm not sure why I struggle with 330 but can manage a lot of reps at 270 except that I must suck at low reps. Nevertheless, I'm not unhappy with progressing from 4x310 at the first workout of Phase 2 to 4x325 at the fourth. Not a lot of change, but all of this is new territory for me with DL's, so I'll take it.

I lowered the bar for rack deadlifts and did okay with 360, but couldn't do more than one rep with 370. Lowered it back to 360 for the final set.

I finally paid attention to the 222 tempo for the hanging leg raises, so had to lower my reps down to 6 for ea. set.

[BamaDave]

SAT. 7.8.06
PM WORKOUT

NEW RULES OF LIFTING, STRENGTH PHASE II, WORKOUT D (#4)

SUPERSETS WITH FULL REST BETWEEN EXERCISES:

A1. BB PUSH PRESS (180 sec. rest; Tempo = 201)

WARMUP SETS: 5x125; 3x140

WORK SETS:
[Target Reps=4]: 4x150 (dropped back to 150 for set 1)
[Target Reps=4]: 3x157.5 (slightly more than have done previously)
[Target Reps=8]: 7x140 (no change)
[Target Reps=12]: 11x125 (up one rep versus last week)


A2. WIDE GRIP PULLUPS (180 sec. rest; Tempo=201)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x +50 (up 5#)
[Target Reps=4]: 3x +50 (no change on wt/ down 1 rep)
[Target Reps=8]: 5x +35 (up 5#, but short 3 reps )
[Target Reps=12]: 11x +10 (no wt. change, up 1 rep)


B1. DB INCLINE BENCH PRESS: (90 sec. rest; Tempo=211)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x 77.5 (e/h) (up 2.5# e/h)
[Target Reps=4]: 4x 75 (e/h) (no change)
[Target Reps=12]: 11x 60 (e/h) (no change on wt./up 1 rep)

B2. INVERTED ROWS/ REVERSE PUSHUPS: (90 sec. rest; Tempo=211)

[Target Reps=4]: 4x +60 (up 10#)
[Target Reps=4]: 4x +70 (up 10#)
[Target Reps=12]: 12x +15 (up 5#)


C. DB UPPER BODY RUSSIAN TWIST (90 sec. rest; Tempo=202):

Target reps=6

17x +50 (each side)
14x +50 (each side)

-- Final workout of NROL Phase 2. Push presses were better than last week, although I've made almost zero progress in this lift versus the first workout of this phase. Phase 2 has not been the big gain party that Phase 1 was for me, although I'm still pleased with where I am versus when I started NROL Strength at the end of April and stronger than ever on almost every lift. Hopefully I'll respond better to Phase 3.

I'm starting a marathon training plan from Cutting Edge Running this week. This plan actually includes two strength training sessions per week (20 minutes long - I guess mine will be longer! ) plus one cross-training session -- so 2-3 weight training sessions per week will be my substitute for that. To get off to a really strong start, I'm postponing my Sunday long run until really early tomorrow morning. It is so freaking hot and humid, and I'm up too late this morning, so I'll just switch my Sunday and Monday plans, since my long run distance is not too far to do before work if I get up really early. Not to mention that Jim never showed up to do my yard work this week, and I gotta get that done before we drive my older daughter to camp.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

LOL! I knew there something else I had to do this weekend!

[BamaDave]

MON. 7.10.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 11.25 miles
TIME: 1:29:55
AVE. PACE: 8:00/mile

-- I'm going to start following my 24-week training plan, except I only have 22 weeks until my marathon, so I'm really starting with Week 3 of the 8-week base-building phase. Based on the scheduling, today's workout was the long run from Week 2, since I swapped Sunday's planned run with today's planned rest day. Humidity was sauna-like this morning, but fortunately it was cloudy and there was a breeze at times, because I didn't feel like dealing with my fluid belt. I'm going to try to follow recommended pacing with the workouts for this program, because it doesn't seem like a wussy plan and hopefully doing the prescribed runs will maximize all of the various adaptations needed for a good marathon run AND prevent me from overtraining like I did last Winter.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Good luck with the new plan, Dave. I'm really interested to see how things go.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Jim. I hope it goes pretty well. I'm going to try to follow the recommended intensities as much as possible, so the first 6 weeks of this plan will probably be kind of ho-hum. That should time out well, though, with finishing NROL Strength Phase III. And also with the end of the worst of our Summer weather (usually).

[BamaDave]

TUES. 7.11.06
PM RUN

TOTAL DISTANCE: 6.65 miles

WORKOUT:

~4.0 mile run -- 30:03 (7:31 ave. pace)

6 Hill Strides - ~100 meters (I think they were a little longer)

~2.2 mile run -- 17:32 (7:58 ave. pace)

-- I was supposed to run this in the "moderate aerobic training zone," which for me is supposed to be in the 7:24-8:13 range. Training zone paces are based on your 3K, 5K, or 10K performances, and I am basing mine on a 10K time of 39:01-39:39 (which is, um, very optimistic for me right now. LOL). The Hill Strides are uphill sprints (with upper body kept relaxed). Those were pretty fun. I wouldn't have minded doing a few more, but I'm trying to be good about going "by the book" for now. I think I was running more than 100 meters - hard to say for sure, and the Forerunner isn't so good on such short distances. After the strides, I walked back down the hill to restart, which took me well over 1 minute each time. I didn't really feel like running that last 2.2 miles home, especially since the first 0.4 were finishing a long climb. It was also 90 degrees (when I started) and pretty miserably humid -- and why, again, do I put off my runs until evenings???

Next up is the start of NROL Phase III. I may do Workout A in the morning (squats) and then do a low intensity recovery run tomorrow evening. OTOH, I may just wait and do squats tomorrow night. I have been sleeping unusually well the past few days, and I know it won't last - so if it happens again tonight, I may take advantage!

[BamaDave]

WED. 7.12.06
PM WORKOUT

START NROL STRENGTH PHASE III

NEW RULES OF LIFTING, STRENGTH PHASE III, WORKOUT A (#1)


A. SQUATS (240 sec. rest; Tempo = 201)

WARMUP SETS: 5x180; 5x220; 4x260

WORK SETS:

[Target Reps=3]: 3x305
[Target Reps=2]: 2x310
[Target Reps=1]: 1x320
[Target Reps=3]: 3x310
[Target Reps=2]: 2x315
[Target Reps=1]: 1x325


B. QUARTER SQUATS (180 sec. rest; Tempo=201)

[Target Reps=2]: 2x380
[Target Reps=2]: 2x390
[Target Reps=2]: 2x400


C. SQUATS: (90 sec. rest; Tempo=201)

[