A Jittery Workout and a Good Run

It's been awhile since I last blogged and I've got a few things rolling around my dome.  This thing is probably going to be all over the place today, but hopefully you guys will get some good out of it.  Got some diet stuff, got some run stuff, injury updates and tons more.  Without further delay, let's get on with the show.

As part of my goody bag for Spartan Race, I got a sample of Gaspari Nutrition's Super Pump Max pre-workout supplement.  I wanted to wait until I had gone up in weight a little bit and use it on a training day where I thought I would notice the biggest difference.  I wanted to see if I would get any noticeable bump in strength or performance.  I knew my current weight was starting to feel light on chest/back day and I knew that I would benefit from a nice strength bump after jacking up the weight.

First things first, the flavor said something like Grandaddy's Sour Apple.  What it should have said was, Grandaddy's Sour Asshole.  Goodness, this thing tasted awful.  I downed the whole packet 30 minutes prior to my workout.  Within 20 minutes, I felt an incredible caffeine rush.  I felt like I could run through a brick wall.  I was all like "WOW!  I'm going to kick some ass!"  Yeah, not so fast there tiger.

Maybe the crossfitters love to get hopped up on caffeine and do their fish flopping pull-ups, (I mean really, who came up with that shit?  Eh, but I digress.) but that stuff is not for me.  Don't get me wrong, I can kind of understand why the crossfitters want to get hopped up on caffeine like that.  After I would get a rep in, I automatically felt like I needed almost no recovery time before going right back at it.  That's perfect for crossfit. 

As for actual performance, it was a bit of a mixed bag.  As I said, I felt like I could get back to the exercises quicker, but I felt stronger on some exercises and weaker on others.  Perhaps, it was because I wasn't completely going through my rest phases, I'm not sure.  Another thing I noticed was  I was constantly jittery and it never felt like I was slowing down.  I got a nice pump from the arginine in it, but I've been off of creatine for a few weeks so I didn't really get any benefit from that.  At 38.99 for a tub with 40 scoops and each serving being 1-2 scoops (you really need to use 2 scoops to get a full 5 grams of creatine)  I would say this is definitely a pass.

For a quick injury update, I'm still working through my lower back injury.  I'm feeling a little better every week.  It's still difficult to bend over and do certain exercise, but I feel like I'm starting to heal.  There was significantly less pain when I did my pullovers today, which has been agonizing since I first hurt myself.  I will likely schedule a doctor's appointment if I'm not healed before the end of my next two races.

Which brings me to my training for the Baltimore Half-Marathon.  Training has been going great, I am actually simultaneously training for Baltimore and Rogue Runner.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've incorporated trail running into my running routine to help better prepare me for Rogue Runner.  I have to say, I'm hooked.  I did 8 miles today with about half being offroad.  I just went out there and got lost today.  I'm really excited because I found a new access route to the trails which is much closer to where I live.  Now I won't have to run two miles before I can start running offroad. 

Today was one of those perfect runs that makes you remember what attracted you to the sport in the first place.  The weather was perfect with just a slight breeze.  I kept a quick pace, but I didn't go out and kill myself.  The goal today was to maintain a good pace on the trails that would allow me to do obstacles and get right back to my normal pace.  It was just a really good run.

For Baltimore,  I do a distance run every Saturday morning.  This past Saturday,  I did 12 miles for the first time in over a year and only the 2nd time in my life.  I really want to know how I'm going to feel once I hit that 13 mile mark on the 20th.  I don't want to leave anything to chance.  I've upped my total miles again this week and I intend to run 14 miles this Saturday.  I'm a little nervous about this.

This Saturday's run wasn't exactly without its difficulties.  For whatever reason, ten miles seems to be the limit of my comfort zone.  I can usually do 10 miles without any type of hydration, keeping a solid pace and without any real discomfort.  Knowing my limitations, I knew I was going to need some water for this run, so I brought my Camelbak with me. 

I like the Camelbak, I think it's a fantastic piece of gear.  It's functional and it's not particularly intrusive.  However, it definitely slows me down.  I start to feel the extra weight as I get farther into my runs.  It's almost like the effect multiplies the farther I go.  For example, I almost never sweat until I get into my 2nd mile.  With the Camelbak, I'm sweating before I even finish the first mile.  It's not something I'm going to have to worry about on race day, but it also doesn't allow me emulate the race experience completely. 

I think this is why I started to really wear out after mile 10 on this past Saturday's run.  I was keeping a solid pace until then, but I really slowed down after that.  My legs got extremely tired and heavy.  They felt like jello and like I was running in water.  It was a lot like this.  I haven't really experimented too much with goo or anything like that, but I think I'm going to need to do that this weekend if I expect to grind out an extra two miles.  I bought some Gatorade energy chews and I'm looking forward to trying those out.  I might be being hard on myself, but this is the only way I'm going to be able to accomplish my long term goal. 

Well, it's been a pretty big update this week.  I'm going to try and update a little bit more frequently. Maybe I'll knock something out this weekend and discuss how I'm modifying my taper this time around for Baltimore and Rogue Runner.  Until then, as always, train hard, have fun and be safe.

Pushing Your Boundaries

Alfred Pennyworth: Know your limits, Master Wayne.
Bruce Wayne: Batman has no limits.
Alfred Pennyworth: Well, you do, sir.
Bruce Wayne: Well, can't afford to know 'em.
Alfred Pennyworth: And what happens on the day that you find out?
Bruce Wayne: Well, we all know how much you love to say "I told you so."
Alfred Pennyworth: On that day, Master Wayne, even I won't want to. Probably.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a huge fan of Batman.  I'm not one of these Johnny Come-lately Batman fans either, you know the ones that love Batman because "teh Lejur Joker wuz AWSUM!!!1!"  Not only do I love Batman, but the above quote is particularly relevant to today's topic.  I was in the gym earlier this week and I decided that I was going to find out how strong I am and answer a burning question that my wife has been asking for the past few weeks all in one fell swoop.

I was doing my normal leg workout and went into my deadlifts.  I was going to keep adding weight and reducing the repetitions until I could not lift anymore weight.  On the last attempt, I got the weight off the ground and got about halfway through the repetition before I decided I needed to back off and give it another shot.  I dropped the weight and felt a little dizzy, but I was determined to get that weight off the floor.

I came back to the lift and settled into my starting position.  I rolled the bar toward my shins, took a few deep breaths and exploded up, knowing that weight was coming with me.  It was going good and I was struggling it up slowly, but then I started to get dizzy again.  I kept pushing and got the bar to about mid-thigh.  It was at this point that my vision started to blur and I felt myself starting to lose consciousness.  I immediately dropped the weight.  I got the weight up, but I sacrificed the rest of my work out for it.  I altered the rest of my plan to reduce the amount of cardiovascular stress I put on myself and the amount of strength required.  I got a decent workout, but not quite the type of workout I would normally get.

It was good to get that weight up, feel strong and play meat head for a little while, but it got me thinking, is it really good to push past your limits like that?  Was it worth sacrificing the majority of my strength in that one movement just to break through a barrier?  Arnold Schwarzenegger certainly thought so.  Anybody that has ever seen Steve Prefontaine's race from the 1972 Munich Olympics knows that he thought so also.  To paraphrase Arnold, that willingness to endure the pain and push through your limits is what makes a champion.

I often (semi) jokingly refer to myself as Batman.  That moment that I tested my limits and my desire was the first time I really felt I could reach the epitome of human capability like my hero.  I know that I'm nowhere near that level and part of that has been because of my training.  While I don't believe you should push yourself to the point where you're ready to pass out in every workout, you should push your comfort levels.  After that experience with the deadlifts, I came to the realization that my workouts, while still challenging, are not "hard."

What do I mean?  I mean my workouts still make me sweat and I work ward, but I'm not pushing myself.  When I went on my last run, I had run two miles out of a six mile run and I wasn't breathing heavy nor was sweating really hard.  I kept a solid sub-8:00 pace, so it's not like I was running slow, but I wasn't out there pushing the boundaries of my abilities.  The same can be said of my strength days, well except leg day maybe.  I'm getting stronger and I work hard, but I'm not really pushing my boundaries.  Today, I went to the gym, worked chest and back and I really pushed myself.  I was really happy with it and I was happy with my workout.

So, what am I saying?  I'm not saying you should go into the gym and try to make yourself pass out or vomit every time, like Arnold suggests.  However, I would recommend getting yourself to that level just below.  Barriers are broken with effort.  You will never improve and achieve your goals by constantly maintaining and coasting through workouts.  If you want to achieve your goals you have to be willing to tolerate that pain.  At some point, not only must you be willing to accept pain, but you have to be willing to seek out the pain. It's like the shirt says "Pain is just weakness leaving the body." 

On a completely unrelated note, my wife answered a questionnaire from Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea, the ladies behind Another Mother Runner.  I may not be a mother runner, but I thought it was a cool list, so I decided to poach it.  Besides, if their goal is to make this go viral why would that preclude me from participating.  Anyway, I figured this would be a good way to close today's blog.  Without further adieu, here's the list.

1. Best run ever:

It was about three months ago.  It was a beautiful summer evening and it seemed like everything was perfect.  I kept a great pace and it was just one of those times where I felt like I could run forever.  I wish all runs could be like that.

2. Three words that describe my running:

I GOTTA POOP!

3. My go-to running outfit is:

Shirtless, black shorts, red shoes and my phone.

4. Quirky habit while running:

I clench my toes.

5. Morning, midday, evening:

I don't really have a preference.  Whenever it's not too hot or cold, really.

6. I won’t run outside when it’s:

Lightning.

7. Worst injury—and how I got over it:

Three way tie. 

My groin/lower ab injury - I trained around it.  I limited crunches and strengthened my stabilizing muscles.

Shin splints - I switched to the Kinvara 2s and altered my training regimen.  Best. Shoe. Ever.

Back injury - Still working through it.   I train around it.

8. I felt most like a badass mother runner when:

Well, I'm not quite a mother runner, but probably when I finished Spartan.

9. Next race is:

Baltimore Half-Marathon

10. Potential running goal for 2013:

Finish the Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan in under 2 hours.  Maybe do a Spartan Beast.  I'd love to do the one in Killington, VT.

Getting Back into Things

It's been a little less than two weeks since Spartan Race.  Most of my cuts and scrapes have healed.  My strength is starting to come back and I started running again earlier this week.  As I mentioned in my last post, I seem to have injured my back.  I have been training around it and taking it easy.  I feel better, but I'm still not back at 100%. 

I realized that I began my taper too early and I lost some strength.  While my body was healed and ready to go, it would have been nice to have that extra boost.  It's a mistake I've learned from and that I don't intend to repeat for my next two races.  I do have my eye on a few other events, but I haven't committed to anything yet.  I want to just try to get my back feeling right and get through my next races without further injury.  I've decided that there a few things I want to try to do differently in training this time around to see if it helps with my performance.

One of the new training elements I'm going to add is more trail running.  Thanks to my lovely wife, I found a series of off road trails near my house that are ideal for running.  It works out really well.  I did my first run there on Monday.  The trails are about two miles away.  I ran there and back and did two miles off road.  It was a lot of fun, there was a nice steep hill that let me get a little bit of resistance training in.  I ran through a small stream and got wet and I fell off of a log trying to jump over it.  All and all, it was a good first run back and I look forward to exploring these trails more while the weather stays warm.

Trail running is definitely something I would encourage to help break up the monotony that can sometimes occur with your regular running routine.  Running, while a good form of exercise, can easily get pretty boring.  Your body gets into a rhythm and you basically just try to hold that same rhythm and tempo for the duration of your run.  With trail running, you can't do that.  There are constant barriers and variations that you have to watch out for.  Trail running requires more mental focus and you have to watch your foot placement with every stride.  I've also found that this increased focus on foot placement has improved my form and made me more aware of how my foot strikes the ground. 

I'm still a heel striker (I don't think anything is ever going to change that), but my stride and foot placement has improved.  This improved form also helps keep the stress off of my knees, ankles and shins.  Trail running is also better on your joints overall anyway.  As I'm sure most of you are aware, there's a constant pounding everytime you go out and run on blacktop or cement.  That constant pounding definitely takes its toll.  While proper shoes and form will help mitigate a lot of that, running on dirt and grass minimizes that impact.

Plus, trail running is just plain fun.  It's like going on an adventure.  Running and jumping over logs and trying to traverse difficult terrain is fun.  It takes away some of the speed elements, but it replaces that with a return to youthful activities.  It's like going back to your childhood and playing outside and getting dirty.  It really is a good time.  Like I said,  I really look forward to getting out on those trails again.  So, until next time, as always, train hard, have fun and be safe.