The Weekly Wrap: Injuries are part of the Journey

 Monday morning came around. I was going to do the 300 workout and run, but my back started feeling tight during the deadlifts, so I cut the reps to 25 instead of 50. Then, during the box jumps, my back completely tightened up. Cramps and knots blasted swiftly through the lower left portion of my back. I could barely take a breath. So I stayed still, my breathing came back soon enough, and I attempted to relax.

After a few minutes rest, I determined I would be able to accomplish little more lifting, but I have usually been able to run with a tight back, and it tended to help. Well, the last three days have consisted of a few runs, ab focused posture exercises, and a yoga ball. I have essentially taken the week off from working out more than a cursory amount.

After three days of merely running and stretching, I took it up a notch on Thursday. My back felt good, so I decided to do a pull up focused workout before lunch. It was sets of 12, 16, 11, 10, 14, 10, with 2 minutes rest between each set. It was difficult, but I did it. I then did a pushup work out after lunch with sets of 20, 35, 50, 45, 40, 30. It was very challenging to complete the last two sets with good form and cadence, and a lot of it went out the window. 

Friday morning, I did the same workout as last Thursday. Given my back is still a bit tight, I did not want to commit to a full Murph, so I did the Tellior WOD. For those who forgot, it is...

10 burpees

10 burpees, 25 Pushups

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges, 100 sit ups

10 burpees, 25 Pushups, 50 walking lunges, 100 sit ups, 150 squats

Last week I set a new PR by squeaking under 20 minutes, but today I completed it in 18:30. At this point in time, I am making sure my reps pass a gym teacher's requirements, but it is likely time to focus on great reps instead of speed. I also had another go at the pull up workout (12, 16, 11, 10, 14, 10) with 2 minutes between sets. It seemed easier this time already. 

Diet has been pretty good, though still not great. We had two ice cream socials through our kids activities this week (a yard game, end of summer bash, and our kiddos are starting up baseball again). Other than that, a lot of chicken, salads, some enchiladas, and a lot of yogurt. My weight has dropped from a weekly average of about 190 two weeks ago to 186.5 last week to an average of 185.6 this week. Losing 6lbs in the first week would be awesome, so I just need to lose a little bit more this next week and I will be down to low 180's again! If I can then lose 3lbs in September, I would be likely under 180 by the time mid-October rolls around, and at a really good weight for another attempt at an official Murph time. 

The Weekly Wrap: Returning to the Schedule

 This week has been all about getting back into the swing of things as I did them before; structure and schedule. While I did not fully follow it, I did get up to workout most morning this work week, which is more than I have gotten up for an early workout since we left for our trip out west two months ago. 

Monday I was to complete the 300 (25 pull ups, 50 deadlifts of 135lbs, 50 pushups, 50 2' box jumps, 50 floor wipers of 135lbs, 50 clean and press with 36lbs weight, 25 pullups). As I had not done this workout in months, I opted for the 150 (25 of each movement, but splitting the pullups 15 to start, 15 to end, so really 155). I completed the workout in 6:30, which was quite good. The thing I really like about this workout is how it splits upper and lower exercise well, but is a whole body workout. By the end of the 300, arms, back, abs, and legs are all fatigued.

The next morning (Tuesday), I intended to do 150/5k/150, but it took me longer to complete the first 150 (an extra minute), and my 5k was acceptable, but slow. I did not do the second 150 as I needed to get to work. 

Wednesday morning, I did my first speed workout in months. 90 seconds fast, 75 seconds rest, repeated 8 times. I averaged about 415-425 meters per 90 second run, which is again acceptable, but not great. I am basically at where I was 3 months ago. This speed work is part of a 6 week program I utilized before, and I am optimistic it will work quite well for me again. I was able to run a 5:36 mile this summer, and I am hoping for a small improvement on that time before the end of September. 

Thursday, I did the Workout of the Day (WOD) Zachary Tellior. I have only done this one a few times before, and it is taxing. It is broken into 5 progressively more challenging sets. 10 burpees/ 10 burpees, 25 pushups/ burpees, pushups, 50 lunges/ burpees, pushups, lunges, 100 sit ups/ burpees, pushups, lunges, sit ups, 150 squats. 650 reps in all. When I did this workout in June, and it took me over 25 minutes. It took me just under 20 minutes this time. A great improvement. 

Friday, I did a Murph. The form for my pullups was atrocious, though, as the monkey bars are too thin and the frame for them is too thick. I really need to fix my form on that. Even so, it took me 6:45 to run the first mile, 15 second transition, then 14 minutes to complete the reps and transition back to running, then 7:23 for the last mile. Total time of 28:23, just slower than my best. However, again, my pullup for was BAD!!! I need to do some really high intensity pullup workouts to get better at them, and do tons of additional back and shoulder exercises to supplement the pullups. 

Diet wise, I have done acceptably as well. Thursday last week I was 191lbs, and Thursday this week I was in the 185s. Granted, I weighed in at 187 this morning, so I think there was a lot of water weight missing when I stepped on at 185. I have been alternating between intermittent fasting (basically just skipping breakfast) and not. Also, I have eaten more veggies via salads, spaghetti squash, and zucchini this week. Most days, one of my meals has also consisted entirely of Greek yogurt and fruit, which is lighter and gives me ample proteins. This Saturday, though, my daughter is being baptized, so we will be having a party or sorts. Going to test and see how well cheat days work for a 30 year old.

In addition, I was able to have a successful week while also working a lot on the basement bedroom we are building. We have completed studding the walls, removed the drop ceiling, installed light fixtures, switches, and outlets, hung the door, re-hung the door, and are almost done with drywalling the walls and ceiling at this point. After that, we spackle and paint (two tasks with long wait time between duties), then the flooring, which we have already done a few floors, so we are not too concerned with that task. We are really looking forward to completing the basement so we can finally finish organizing all our tools, opening up space to organize our workout area (next to storage, laundry, and the HVAC). And our son is really excited to move in. 

Stream of Strain

I found an unpublished blog detailing my workouts from early April to early June. I will publish it because it gives me a good barometer when comparing in the future for PRs.

Early April (can’t recall the day), I did a new Tabata based body weight workout. It involved 20 seconds on/10 seconds off super setting pullups, pushups, squats, and sit ups, for 8 sets of the circuit. I initially focused on getting reps of 8 pullups, 16 pushups, 24 squats, and 12 sit ups. This was taxing, but not challenging, so about halfway through I upped it to 10 pullups, 20 pushups, and 15 sit ups. In all, I completed 524 reps. My goal is to complete sets of 12 pull ups, 25 pushups, 25 squats, and 16 sit ups, for a total of 624 reps.

4/12/21 – Cindy Murph (no vest) – This was the first time I did the Murph in this specific style. There is a set of monkey bars exactly 1 mile from my driveway, so I run to it, perform my pullups on the monkey bars, the pushups on the wood chips, and the squats under the bars. The first mile took me just about 7:15 (I took it easier than needed), and then I found there was some wasted time as I got ready for the reps. I started timing the next workout on my watch, which took almost 15 seconds, cleaned off the dew from the bar so I wouldn’t slip, and started the interval timer on my phone. It was wasted time. The reps took me 13:48 to complete, and the run home was about 8 minutes. In all, it took me 29:25 to complete, a new PR.

4/15/21 – 5 mile run – Nothing fancy here, just a run, completed in 36:04. Not great, but not bad considering I have only just started running again after a year of just a 2 or 3 runs of under 2 miles in a month, and nothing through winter.

4/21/21 – Pacer – Set my new adult high of 100 reps. Still a long way to go, here. And, I realized, I now weigh 35lbs more than I did in high school, which means I am doing okay.

4/22/21 – 300 – The floor wipers were excruciating this time through. I haven’t focused on ab workouts at all through the pandemic, so it was nearly disastrous for me. I completed the workout in 17:50, but then spent 15 minutes almost puking due to the exertion.

4/22/21 – Speed – My first speed workout of the new mile training program I am using. 8x90 seconds with 75 seconds rest. I ended up running about 415 meters into the wind and 430 meters with the wind. Pretty decent, but a long way to go.

4/24/21 – 5 mile – Again, nothing fancy. Started with a big downhill, ended going up the same hill. 34:40 for a sub 7 minute pace. 

4/26/21 – Pull-Push-Sit-Squat Tabata - I completed the Tabata workout noted earlier again this week, finishing with 76 pullups, 180 pushups, 192 squats, and 128 sit ups or 576 reps, a respectable improvement.

4/27/21 – Speed – Cold and windy, this did not go well. 5x60 seconds with 60 seconds rest, 3 minute rest, then 8x30 seconds with 30 seconds rest. My average distance was about 280 meters for the 60 seconds, and about 150-160 for the 30 seconds. Not terrible, but way off where I will need to get to reach my goals.

4/29/21 – 10k – I went out to run an easy-ish 10k as I was not feeling all that great, and ended in a time of 44:52. I once again ran a big downhill to start and up is to finish. Even with that, though, I ran a negative split; 22:56 out, 21:56 back.

4/30/21 – Cindy Murph (no vest) – Same strategy as before; to the monkey bars, reps, and back. This time, the run took me 6:30 out and 7:15 back, shaving off nearly 1:30 of running time. However, it somehow took me even more time to go from run to reps, and YET MORE to go from reps to run. While I set a new PR on both the reps alone (13:20) and the total Murph (28:20), I wasted 30 seconds getting ready for the first pullups, and 45 seconds from the last squat to running again. I anticipate dropping another 45 seconds running and 20 seconds on the reps, so if I can cut the wasted time in half I will be doing an amazing job.

5/4 – 5 Mile 33:23. This is a pretty good time. I was surprised by this one, but I think something bad happened after this; I got arrogant. I didn’t do anything for a week, and at the end of that week I had gained near 10 lbs and stepped on the scale to see 196.6. Not good at all.

5/10 – 5x90 (90 seconds rest), 3 Min, 5x90 (75 seconds rest). Most of my distances on this run were over 400, but many were not over by much. I had a few at 440 meters or more, but most were only about 415 meters.

5/11 – 4 mile run, 28:20. Again, I think the weight got to me. Also, I had started wearing new shoes, and my feet HURT. Also, it was hot, and a rare afternoon run.

5/13 – Distance Medley (1000 meters, Rest, 800 meters, Rest, 600 meters, Rest, 400 meters) My time were pretty good here. 3:31, 2:46, 2:02, 1:16.Well paced as each 200 meters less lost 45 seconds.

5/17 – Multiple sets of pushups to failure. Just trying to get ready for high volume pushups for the Murph. Highest set was 57, lowest was 50. Did 5 sets.

5/18 – 5x20, 135lbs squats. Again, trying to get ready for a high volume of squats by adding weight and keeping rest times small.

5/19 – Weight pullups to failure/Pullups to failure/Ring Rows to failure. Getting my pullups ready to Murph. I wore a 30lbs back pack, did pullups (usually about 12), took of the pack (8 pullups), then rows (5).

5/20 – 10 Minute Max Distance. I ran 1.69 miles, or a 5:56 pace on my 10 minute run. Good, but not great for my expectations moving forward.

5/21 – Did a Cardio workout, but cannot recall what it was... I should keep record as I work out, not a month later

5/24 – Mile Time Trial. I went to a local park and ran my time trial. It didn’t feel great, but my finishing time of 5:36 exceeded expectations. I was very glad to do as well as I did.

5/25 – Tabata Biking. 1:30 slow, 30 seconds hard. Repeat. I did 9 sets. If I recall correctly, a study found this workout 4 times a week was as beneficial to a 10k race as actually running 5-10 miles 5 times a week.

5/28 – 10 pullups/ 20 pushups/ 30 squats, x6. Again, getting ready to Murph, I wanted a higher rep count, fewer sets to challenge me a bit more.

5/29 – MURPH. I wore the vest, and kept my set range at 5/10/20x15, 5/10x5. Basically kept to the Cindy sets. I finished in 33:13. My goal for this year was 34:30, so better than I planned! I was really glad to be able to raise funds for both HOOAH, a non-profit helping Service members, their families, and veterans, as well as the Murph Scholarship. I intend on fund raising over a longer term for next year.  

5/31 – Not an actual workout, but we went for a family hike, and it help get some of the soreness out.

6/1 – MtnTough 22’s. After doing the Murph, this workout still seems insanely hard. Run 800 meters, do 20 jumping lunges, 2 pushup. 18 Jump lunges, 4 pushup… 2 jumping lunges, 20 pushups. Run 800 meters. 20 jump squats, 2 Renegade rows (pushup row L, row R) 18/2… 2/20. Run 800 meters. This took me nearly 43 minutes. BUT, I counted each pushup instead of each row. So I did twice as many pushups and rows as I should have. Changing that should dramatically drop the time. They also have a 45-70 (Run, 20 squat jumps/4 reverse lunge with weight above head, 20 lateral jump burpees/4 pushups, 18/6, 18/6… 4/20, 4/20, run, 20 Lateral Lunges/20 butt kicks/20 Supermanx3 rounds, ) and a 30-30, but both of these are parts of programs, so I will likely not do them as that involves commitment to someone and something else, and involves me paying money, something I am wont to do.

6/2 – 6k shakeout run. This felt slow, and was. It was about 28:40, so decently slow, but after MtnTough 22, it was really just to shake out and loosen up.

6/3 – Zachary Tellior – Another Crossfit Hero workout, it involves… 10 burpees. 10 burpees/25 pushups. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges/100 sit ups. 10 burpees/25 pushups/50 walking lunges/100 situps/150 squats. This workout took me 25:36 to complete. When I first looked at it, I did not think it would be that challenging. I hate burpees, but there were only 50. And only 100 pushups. But they are incredibly front end loaded, burning you out quickly. Within the first 5 minutes or so you perform 40 burpees and 75 pushups before you get to the second set of lower body exercises. If I can get to doing this workout with out breaks at all, It will really harden me for other pushup workouts.

6/4 – 5 mile run, 34:53. This run was over a minute slower than a month earlier. I am still heavier, weighing about 190 last week, and I have not kept up my distance volume, something which needs to change if I want to tackle a marathon this fall.

6/7 – Loredo. Another Crossfit workout. This involves 24 squats/24pushups/24 walking lunges/400 meter run x 6. I was aiming for sub 18:00, and I got 17:47. This was challenging. Considering I ran a 5:36 mile a few weeks back, I figured 80 seconds for the 400 meter would be doable without too much strain, but having done near 50 squats/lunges before each run made it much more difficult.

6/8 – 400 repeats. 400 meter run/rest every 3 minutes x 6 (86, 83, 80, 77, 77, 77). Then 2x 400 meters with more rest (77, 72). Then last one was all out, and I was really hoping for a faster time, at least in the 60s. 

6/9 - I did a series of HIIT lift workouts, 2 left incomplete

What? Another One? (Enjoy the Memories Made)

 It was not my intention to write three posts in three days, but here it is. 

There are those moments, experiences, and times which stick out and create a memory in your workouts. I remember racing to victory my Junior year of high school in the first Cross Country meet of the year, running hard enough in the 2 mile I induced a competitor to vomiting, and a blissful midnight romp in a rain storm where I ran into a friend and we talked in the middle of the road for 30 minutes. 

This morning, I got up to a thick fog blanketing our neighborhood. It was hauntingly beautiful to me. I rushed through a bodyweight workout, then headed out for a run. I was soaked and sodden before the end, but I loved the way building, cars, trees, and people would slowly emerge from the dark shapes in the mist to identifiable forms. 

While my workout was somewhat less successful than anticipated, it was more enjoyable for the memory it created. 

Maybe It Wasn't All Bad

My previous post seemed pretty gloomy to me. Also, I suppose it is below, so if you read this one first may be a bit confusing. Anyway, I focused on my failures the last few months, specifically how after being rather successful in my first official Murph attempt in May I have not had structure to my workout plan, merely whatever fit into that day. 

But it hasn't been all failures...

   I can still run fairly well; a 20 minute 5k is not to be snubbed, especially not while weighing 40 lbs more than I weighed in high school. 

   Strides have been made in my short recovery workouts; I can alternate between 25 and 20 pushups Every Minute On the Minute (EMOM) for about 15 minutes, getting up to 300 pushups. 

   I am not weak; while haven't "tested" my max lifts, I can still do 100 reps of back squat at 200 lbs in 15 minutes, rep 225 on the deadlift for 20 reps, and complete a dozen pullups with 30 lbs in a backpack. 

   Haven't gained weight; I actually weigh less than I did in May, which is part of my goal. I want to weigh what I did in college come next spring.

   I have some better ideas what not to do; while things have not been terrible, good progress has been lacking. I have learned structure and scheduling will be a great help moving forward.

Being able to roll with things can be a benefit, but it is not getting me closer to my goals, so here is my basic schedule,

Monday: 300, run 10k

Tuesday: WOD/Hero, Lift Heavy, 5k

Wednesday: Pull and Clean, Speed workout

Thursday: WOD/Hero, Lift Heavy

Friday: Murph, 5k

Saturday: Be active, maybe a run, maybe a workout

Sunday: Rest

The longest days should be Tuesday and Thursday. For me to benefit a lot from heavy lifting, I need to usually be at it for an hour or so. This plan is a bit ambitious, but I am hoping even 90% adherence should reap great rewards. 

The Weekly Wrap: One step Forward, Two Steps Back

Over this weekend, I realized something which would indicate a rather profound failure on my part; I have not done a Murph since May.

My espoused Goal to make a run at the Murph World Records. The partitioned record was set by Josh Bridges at the 2016 Crossfit Games (5 sets of 20/40/60, completed in 34:38). Upon setting that goal, I will attempt to break Hunter McIntyre's record of unpartitioned (All pull ups, then all push ups, then all squats in 34:13 on Memorial Day, 2020). I completed my Murph on Memorial Day, less than 4 months after my first attempt, in 33:15. That morning was also the first time I wore a ballistic vest while working out. I was quite encouraged by these results, and determined I had potential to set some records. 

I believe the success of that morning has gone to my head. My workouts have been sporadic, hectic, and not long. I have squeezed in 5 minutes here, 15 there, and one 25 minutes workout. I have not dedicated myself to working out.

This is probably typical of most people. Working out is usually something we fit in around other things in life. Most people do not enjoy grinding away, covered in sweat and feeling weak and pained by the end of it. I personally chase the sense of accomplishment which comes from completing workouts, but am one of those who does not especially enjoy the process. 

Because of the way I have scheduled my workouts the last 3 months, it is time for a drastic change. No longer will I simply wake up in the morning with no idea what I am going to do. No longer will it be a coin toss or an internal debate to decide what exercises will be done. I will create actual weekly schedules, focusing on Murph, 300, and a Workout of the Day (WOD) I found which switches between pull ups and clean and jerk. These combine a lot of squats, pushups, and pull ups with overhead exercises, abs, jumps, and deadlifts, hitting all the major muscle groups I want to focus on. Additionally, I will utilize at least one additional Hero and WOD a week, two days of actual lifting, and three or four runs a week, which will include speed work. 

Given how busy my life has been, and will continue to be, this is an ambitious goal. Then again, I am aiming for a World Record.