Kansas Half Marathon Race Report

Saturday was an extremely busy day, so I never did get in my short run. Curtis and I went out to dinner at Noodles & Company so I could get my carbs for the race. I had the pesto pasta with chicken breast, which was perfect.  We got home and I got all my stuff ready for the race and was in bed by 10 PM.

4AM came very early Sunday morning. Even Suli was still asleep, and not begging for food yet. I jumped in the shower for 5 minutes to wake up, dressed, and ate my oatmeal with half of a banana and some peanut butter. We hit the road at 4:50 and picked up my friend, Caitlin, who was going to ride with us and run her first half. We left Manhattan for Lawrence by 5AM and thankfully were able to get a few more precious minutes of sleep in the car. We arrived in Lawrence in great time at 6:22 and went straight to packet pickup. Despite being bundled, it was quite cold and still pretty dark that early in the morning with a good strong Kansas wind.

We went back to sit in the heated car till it was time to line-up for the race. The start was scheduled for 7:30, so we had about an hour to kill. I ate the other half of my banana and tried to relax, but was far too jittery for that! We made a quick porta-potty run, with perfect timing, as the lines were just starting to form. We also noticed that the packet pickup line was now stretched out the door and across the street! I was glad we had gotten there when we had even though time moves so slowly before a race and there was still so much time left before we could line up.

Finally, 7:15 rolled around and we geared up and headed to the starting line from the car. This race had pace group leaders for finish times ranging from 1:30 to 3:05. I had never run with a pace group before, and didn’t intend to do it with this race, but it seemed a reasonable idea to line up near the 2:25 pace group. My previous half-marathon time from April 2010 was 2:25:28 and my half-marathon time from the end of my half-Ironman in August 2010 was 2:37:51. My goal for this race was to beat both of those times. I knew I could get close to 2:25, but with the few bad long runs I have had lately, I was not feeling very confident about that.

Starting with the pace group gave me the opportunity to warm-up and hold back at the start. I am fairly good about pacing myself, but the adrenaline of a big race (~1500 lined up for the half) always makes it difficult to hold back at the start. Caitlin and I quickly realized that the 2:25 group was just a little slower than we wanted and joined the 2:20 group. The two group leaders had paced several races together this spring and had quite a rapport. They were friendly and talkative, keeping the group on pace with morale high. It almost felt like cheating!

My strategy was to stick with the pace group till the turnaround point (~7.5 miles) and then begin to pick-up the pace. Hubby was waiting for us around mile 5 to cheer, photograph and let us hand off our outer layer of clothing. It had warmed up quite a bit, since the sun came out. Around mile 6 we started to break away from the pace group and had completely lost them by the turnaround. Caitlin and I both felt great at this point and discussed trying to catch the 2:15 pace group for a strong finish. We knew we had the biggest hill of the race leading to mile 10, so we decided to wait till that point to drop the hammer. 

Mile 10 came and we were still climbing. Finally, we hit the top of the hill and started to pick up the pace. I was surprised by how strong I still felt at this point. I was guesstimating that we were still about 3 minutes behind the pace group, so it was going to be tough to catch them. We were going to try anyways! The last 5K went by really fast and soon we saw DH again near the finish line where he was waiting to run us in if we needed the moral support. I managed to sprint to the finish line for a strong finish.

My official time was 2:16:50.7, which is a PR of 8:37.3 better than my previous time!

This was a really fun race that I will definitely consider doing again. The course was beautiful and wound through downtown Lawrence as well as the KU campus. The only criticism I have of the course was that a significant portion was on sidewalks that were really too narrow to handle the volume of runners. This portion overlapped with the turnaround point and people were unprepared for the lead runners looping around, so were not getting out of their way quickly enough. Other than that, I thought it was a great course, quite well-organized and well-worth doing.

Now, I’ve got the racing bug. I really want to break a 2 hour half-marathon. I think it’s definitely doable, I still had a little left to give at the end of this race. Over the next several months, I’m going to try and work on speed and see how much more time I can knock off.

 

Dog-N-Jog Race Report

My German Shepherd, Tara, finished her first race this morning! I had planned to run the 10K with her, but ended up only running the 5K since she’s still recovering from her dental work on Thursday. The vet had ok’ed her to run as long as she seemed like she was up to it. Last night she was still moving a little slow so I made the decision not to do the 10K. This morning she was full of energy and seemed to need a run, but I opted to stick with my plan.

This was probably one of the most fun races I have ever done. There were over 100 dogs in attendance, and surprisingly, they were all really well-behaved (Tara included)! Most of the owners were really good about keeping their dogs with them and not letting them greet other dogs without permission. There were several other GSDs there, one who we knew from our agility class last fall. We saw one woman pushing a jogging stroller and running with a GSD and another big dog, wow! I had Tara on her Gentle Leader for the event – keeping the pressure off her collar tends to keep her calmer around other dogs. She was really well-behaved today and even greeted a few dogs belonging to my friends very nicely.

We all lined up at about 8:50 AM for the 9:00 AM start. I took Tara all the way to the back of the pack to give us both some space. I expected the crowd to break up pretty quickly as runners got into their paces. Well, starting a race with over 100 dogs was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. There is always a lot of adrenaline at the start of the race, and it’s always hard to fight that and get into my pace. With all those dogs, the energy at the start was probably twice as high as it is at a regular race of that size. In spite of that, there was really only one little barking dog – one of those mini aussies.

Tara was having none of being at the back of the pack, though and we moved through the ranks quickly. We had to run on the grass to get around the people and dogs, but Tara was a dog on a mission! One guy dressed as a superhero with his superhero dog were trying to sprint past us, but they passed a road sign and the guy went one way and his poor dog went the other way and they got completely wrapped around the pole. We made our way through the back of the pack into a comfortable place in the middle right before climbing our first hill. I had run this course from a different starting point last fall for a very small 5K so I was ready for it. It’s amazing how much easier it is to run it strongly with some company. Tara was still picking people and dogs off at this point, and we passed several more people on the downhill. Pretty soon we were at the home stretch and could see the vet school just ahead.

We finished in 28:26, which was my fastest 5K yet and much faster than the last time I ran this course (~2.5 minutes faster). I wish I had a photo to share, but all my friends who were there were either running it or working it and Curtis wasn’t home from a business trip quite yet.

We had a great time and it was so much fun to run a race the same way I train – with Tara! She ran right out in front of me just like always and never tried to “say hi” to anyone on the course, unlike many of the other dogs who were veering all over the place. She made me so proud today with how good she was with the other dogs and how well-behaved she was on the course. I can’t wait to do this race again next year!

Brew to Brew 2012

I’m back! I never intended to leave this blog forever, but thought I wouldn’t have much time for races or training while I’m in school. On the contrary, staying in shape and running most days of the week has helped to keep me balanced this semester. I did not make an effort to do much of anything in the fall semester and I ended it feeling quite distressed with how much fitness I had lost. I resolved to do better this spring and wrote a training schedule with no end goal in mind, other than general fitness. Pretty soon, I got sucked into the training to race mindset once again and signed up for a 44 mile relay race, “Brew to Brew,” a 10K and a half-marathon.

The “Brew to Brew” relay was last weekend, April 1, and it was a blast! We formed two teams with my classmates and two husbands, including mine.   There were twelve of us all together, forming one team of five and one team of seven.

Saturday afternoon, we drove to Kansas City, since the race start was going to be at Boulevard Brewery. We stayed at one of our classmate’s family’s house and had a wonderful pasta dinner together and reviewed all the race day logistics. Because the race was headed west from Kansas City to Lawrence, we wanted to make sure to be organized enough to get all six of the cars back to the finish so that we could head back to Manhattan (west of Lawrence) straight from the finish. It took some doing, but we managed to figure out a schedule that got everyone to the correct exchange points and end up with all of us at the finish together.

The race is started in waves with the first one at 6:00 AM and the last at 10:00 AM. The 6:00 AM folks were mostly solo runners doing the whole run as an ultra-marathon. The relay was broken into ten legs with some people running more than one leg. We had a nice early start at 6:30 AM, which was perfect since it was going to be a HOT day, so we were all up around 5:00 AM and in the car by 5:30 to get to the start before 6:00 AM. Somehow we all managed to meet up on time and get everyone to the right vehicles. We watched the 6:00 wave start, had some pictures taken, tasted some of the free Boulevard beer and sent our first two runners off at 6:30 AM. As soon as they were off, we hopped in the car and headed to the first exchange point. The first runner for our team was lightning fast and was one of the first from the wave to reach the exchange point. I was running the second and third leg, so I was waiting for her at the exchange to take over. The running surface for the first leg was quite nice – mostly crushed limestone/gravel, but we did have some strange parts where we were running up and down the embankments to various roads and bridges and we even ran up a spiral cement staircase to get to one bridge. There was also a short bit of “trail” running over rocks through a muddy dirt trail. I got through the 5.4 miles of leg 1 just fine and ran into the aid station.

The other team cheered me in as they were waiting for their first runner who had run leg 1 and leg 2. She was still behind me, but would get to the exchange soon. I grabbed some Gatorade from the aid table and started on leg 2. Leg 2 crossed some railroad tracks, and of course as I was running up to it, the gates came down and the bells started ringing to signal the oncoming train. I got an unexpected three minute break and then continued to finish my leg. Unfortunately, this leg was all on the shoulder of a boring, straight flat road with nothing to break it up. There were also several “fake-out” points that looked like they should have been an exchange point but you couldn’t tell until you got right to it that it was not. This wasn’t my favorite leg and I struggled with my mental state throughout. I just had a really hard time convincing myself that I should keep running. My mantra for this portion of the race was, “Tired is just a state of mind, keep going.” I repeated this over and over. Finally, the real exchange point came into view and I ran into, only to find it was the “B” exchange point and I was supposed to be running the “A” course so I had a little farther to go. I finally finished my second leg of 5.6 miles for a total of 11 miles, tagged our next runner, who would run legs 4 and 5, and got my break.

My day was not over yet though! I took over driving my car, while our next runners (legs 6 and 7) headed in a separate car to the next exchange point. I had to go pick up the gals that had driven the extra cars to the finish line to get them to their legs (8, 9 and 10). Fortunately, despite a little confusion, both girls parked relatively close to each other so I was able to pick them up without a hitch. We headed straight to the exchange point ending leg 7 and starting leg 8. Curtis, my hubby, was the leg 7 runner, so we were watching for him. I started to get a little nervous that we were in the wrong place because I had lost track of our timing while I was driving to Lawrence. While we were waiting, the other team caught up with us and assured us that we were in the right place and the runners were not too far off.

We finally saw Curtis coming up the hill into the exchange point and our next runner got ready to head off. She hit the road and we hung around with the other team to cheer in their runner and see of their next teammate. When we finally thought we saw her coming up the hill, we were unsure at first because her shirt appeared to be a different green than we expected. As it turns out, she was just soaking wet! This leg had the option of a stream crossing in a boat or the runners could run an extra mile to avoid the boat. Well, our runner, also an avid triathlete, had opted to swim across instead of waiting for the boat!

Once she got to the exchange point and rested a bit, we headed to the next exchange point. We would send off our leg 9 runners who were also both running leg 10. Our final runner had been sick with a bad cold for several weeks and by this time of day it was nearly 90 degrees and humid. We were a bit worried about her being able to finish because she had a terrible cough and no voice that day, so we decided to drive toward the exchange point between leg 9 and 10 in case she couldn’t finish. She called us partway into her run to let us know it just wasn’t going well at all, so Curtis took over the final leg for her. We hurried to the finish line and just barely made it in time to run Curtis into the finish line.

There was a “dinner” with gumbo and fresh fruit and bread after the race, along with beer from the two end point breweries – Boulevard and Free State. We sat and ate and then went to get ice cream before heading back home to Manhattan.  All in all it was a whirlwind of a day and a complete blast. I am already looking forward to next year!

One thing I will definitely want to remember for next year is to have matching shirts in a unique color because it was so helpful that we were all wearing matching lime green shirts at the exchange points. It just made it so much easier to see our exchange runner. Although this year was unseasonably warm, it does not make sense for runners to have multiple legs later in the day and it’s probably a lot better to have only one runner per leg or to break up the legs so they’re not consecutive. Also, we should definitely bring beer in the car for waiting at the exchange points after our legs.

Overall, things went pretty smoothly despite some creative car moving. I would like to be able to have an entire team use just one vehicle in the future if we can get a big van or something.

 

A Hiatus

Hey folks!

In light of the fact that I’m not training for any triathlons right now and have no plans to in the near future, this will be my last post for the foreseeable future. I’m not leaving the blogosphere, just writing on a new blog to be more of a catchall for everything going on in my life at the moment. If you’re interested in following me over there just let me know and I’ll pass along the new site address. It’s still very unpolished and new, but it is active.

And if you ever want to know what Tara is up to, you can check out her blog at talesoftara.wordpress.com. I don’t update that one regularly and have no plans to. I post when I have something new- usually training- to share.

Hopefully, I’ll be back here blogging again sometime in the future and you can find me again. I suspect I won’t be able to stay away from triathlons for long, I’ve got the itch to do more but an unfortunate lack of time at the moment.

Best,

Kristin

Emotional

The packing has begun. I got a lot done yesterday and even more done today. I’ve got one room mostly packed with just a few odds and ends left to take care of. I also started on a second room and have a huge pile of things to donate and three huge black trash bags full of garbage. Curtis also started packing the basement. We only have about 17 packing days left and I’ll be working 12 of those days. Crazy.

What with packing all day and a phone call that upset me a bit, I didn’t feel up to going to the gym. I am trying to have some genetic testing for a hereditary type of cancer that I am at risk for inheriting and the doctor’s office is not on top of things. I had to call the insurance company and speak someone who knew nothing about this specific test and I think he just told me what he thought I wanted to hear. Finally, I was able to find a number for someone at the insurance agency who deals with this test specifically, so I’m hoping that things will be ok. I’m waiting for some paperwork in the mail, but fingers-crossed things are taken care of now. I just want it to be over with and get the results!

Needless to say, I was a bit emotional yesterday and a workout probably would have made me feel better, but I opted to stay home and go to the gym this morning instead. Curtis and I both went to the gym and it was surprisingly busy for a Saturday morning, but fortunately, after our warm-ups both squat racks were available for use. I did NROLW Stage 5 Workout B:

A. Barbell Romanian deadlift/bent-over row – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 100 lbs

B1. Partial single-leg squat – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 1st @ 20 lbs, 2nd/3rd/4th @ 22.5 lbs

B2. Wide-grip lat pulldown – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 95 lbs

C1. Back extension – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 35 lbs

C2. YTWL – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 12.5 lbs

D1. Swiss-ball crunch – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 12.5 lbs overhead

D2. Hip flexion – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ BW (Prone Jackknife)

D3. Lateral flexion – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ BW

Then I did intervals:

1 min @ walk 3.5 mph

2 min @ run 12:00 min/mile

1 min @ run 6:40 min/mile

2 min @ run 12:00 min/mile

1 min @ run 6:40 min/mile

2 min @ run 12:00 min/mile

1 min @ run 6:40 min/mile

2 min @ walk 3.5 mph

1 min @ run 6:40 min/mile

2 min @ walk 3.5 mph

1 min @ run 6:40 min/mile

1 min @ run 12:00 min/mile

5 min cool down

I wanted to add another interval to the normal HIIT prescribed by NROLW. I needed more recovery than usual today and had to walk after the 3rd and 4th intervals. I think I may have been a bit dehydrated and that probably played a role. My heart rate got up to at least 200 bpm during the 3rd interval, so I made sure to recover to the 150s range before beginning the 4th and 5th.

I might break the rules and do another workout tomorrow evening. It will be more than 24 hours rest so I think it’ll be okay just this once. I’ll play it by ear tomorrow if I’m overly sore, but I expect I’ll be able to do the last workout A of the phase.

So Little Time

I’ve realized how much I have to get done before we move in July, and it is not pretty. I have so much to do in the next five weeks and only three weeks to actually do it! I’m going to be away for two weeks of my remaining time in this house so I am short on time in getting everything packed, sorted and labeled appropriately. We have accumulated so much stuff over the past two years that I barely knew how to start. I decided tackling one room at a time would probably be the best approach so I started in my “office” that I rarely use but has mountains of stuff in it. Mostly it has all my hundreds of books (= many heavy boxes) and important documents and old photos and mementos. There’s lots of room for purging. I started today and have already mostly filled one black garbage bag and I haven’t even tackled the closet yet! One of my goals for this week was to completely pack that room and tomorrow is going to be a marathon day for packing. I think I’ll do the guest bedroom next, and pack all my winter clothes and extra bedding. I’ve never packed for a move this far before. Most of my moves have been short distances allowing multiple trips. This is a take it or leave it all in one go type of affair.
Tomorrow I plan to take a break from the packing extravaganza for a lifting session and maybe a run. Have a great Friday!

Workout with Mom

Today was the first time in about a month that I’ve lifted weights with my mom. We had been lifting regularly every Tuesday at her house because she has a full squat rack, barbell, dumbbells, weights and cables at her house, but I’ve been on the road so much recently that we haven’t had the chance. It was really nice to spend some time together and great for a change of scenery and pace from the gym. I did NROLW stage 5, workout A:

A. One-armed dumbbell snatch – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 25 lbs

B1. Dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 40 lbs

B2. Barbell bent-over row – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 95 lbs

C1. Dumbbell single-arm overhead squat – 4 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 20 lbs and 40 lbs

C2. Dumbbell incline bench press @ 28 lbs

D1. Plank – 3 sets of 120s with 120s rest @ BW

D2. Reverse wood chop – 3 sets of 4 with 120s rest @ purple band

Body Weight Matrix (24 squats, 12 lunges each leg, 12 lunge jumps each leg, 24 jump squats) x 2 reps

After my workout, I rushed home to shower and change for a dinner out with some friends. I stuffed myself at a delicious Lebanese place, and it was so worth it. Hope you had a great day!

Foiled!

I was very excited about going for a bike ride this afternoon. The sun was shining and it was a cool 71 degrees. I pulled my bike out of storage where it has been since Timberman and I pumped the front tire, moved to the back tire only to remember that the valve was broken on the rear tube. Believe it or not this was the very first time I have had to change the rear tire since I got my bike! I struggled a little, but got the tube changed and the tire back on the bike and got ready to go.
I got about 2 minutes away and heard a pop. I pulled over and my rear tire was completely flat. Since I only had one tube with me, and the first few pedal strokes revealed that I couldn’t shift out of the big chainring, I decided to just walk my bike home for some tinkering.
I set up at my front steps and first attacked the tire issue. As it turns out, I had made the one mistake I usually try so hard to avoid and the tube got stuck between tire and rim and had a huge hole in it as a result. I changed it with a bit more success. I’m not sure why my shifting is not working properly, so I guess I need to take it in. I could ride it as it was, but I opted not to as I had already spent over an hour working on it. It probably could use a tune up at the shop anyhow.
Oh well! I tried!

The Sounds of the Weight Room

Being away so much over the past few weeks has really done a number on my nutrition. I have not been following my plan for calorie intake or macronutrient ratios. I also usually try to eat mostly “clean,” which I think to mean whole real foods, not processed junk. I’ve resorted to fast food and/or prepackaged foods while traveling, especially in the airports. Today marked day one of getting back to tracking my food keeping portion sizes down and eating “clean.” I’ve gained about 3 of the 6 pounds I had lost when I started watching my diet again in April. I’d like to lose those and a bit more to get back to my happy weight.

After work today I had a doctor’s appointment and then I went straight to the gym to lift. It was nice and early in the afternoon and the gym was pretty much empty. It was kind of weird because ALL the personal trainers were there having a meeting. They sat in a big circle in the back of the gym. I guess it’s not really weird…

My workout was Workout B of Stage 5 of NROLW. I started with the same warm-up as yesterday (squat to stand, lateral lunges, reverse lunge with twist and overhead reach, and inchworms). I then did barbell Romanian deadlift/bent-over row combo warm-up (with 6 reps @ 45 lbs (just the bar), 3 reps @ 65 lbs, and 1 rep @ 85 lbs) before beginning my work out.

A. Barbell Romanian deadlift/bent-over row – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 95 lbs

B1. Partial single-leg squat – 3 sets of 4 reps each leg with 120s rest @ 20 lbs DBs

B2. Wide-grip lat pulldown – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 90 lbs

C1. Back extension – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 35 lbs

C2. YTWL – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 12.5 lbs

D1. Swiss-ball crunch – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 10 lbs DB held overhead

D2. Hip flexion (reverse crunch) – 3 sets of 4 with 120s rest @BW

D3. Lateral felxion – 3 sets of 4 with 120s rest @ BW

E. Prone Cobra – 3 sets of 120s with 120s rest @ BW

I skipped the prone cobra today. It tends to really make my back sore (and not in a good, “I just worked my muscles really well” kind of way), so I don’t really care for it much.

One of the trainers lifted after their meeting and he was almost comically grunting with every pull. “Uhh!” “Ahh!” “Urghh!” He did some “motivational breathing” (that’s what I’m calling it anyhow) as he did his lifts, it sounded like, “tse tse tse.” I find all the grunting and noise-making to be quite amusing and entertaining. I really don’t have anything against it, I just don’t really think it makes that much of a difference that it’s necessary. I don’t do it, and pretty much lift silently. One guy recently was encouraging himself as he was pressing a load, “You got it, push! Do it!” Blah blah blah. I guess to each his own! If it works for you, it works for you. Not my style, though.

After finishing listening to the weight room symphony, I jumped on a treadmill to do some intervals. As planned, I did 1:00 minute at a walk to warm-up to it, 2:00 minutes at a 12 minute mile pace, then began the first interval for 1:00 minute at 6:40 mile pace. Rests were always at 12 minute mile pace. I did four total intervals at the 6:40 pace. I think next interval session I will either increase the number of intervals or recover at a faster pace. That should be on Friday, so I’ll keep you posted.

 

A Weekend Workout

It felt really nice to wake up in my own bed on Saturday morning! Friday night ended up being a pretty late night with my flight delays, and then Curtis had trouble getting to the airport to pick me up because of construction on the road. We didn’t end up getting home till around 11:30 PM and we stayed up for awhile watching Inception with his dad who was in town for the night. I love the feeling of getting into my own bed after being away for a while. There’s something about it that just makes me really feel like I’m home.

Needless to say, I didn’t want to get out of bed on Saturday morning! Curtis and I decided to go out for a late breakfast, which was really more of an early lunch. He was planning to go into work for a few hours afterward and since we didn’t want to drive two cars, we decided to just take one and I would run home from his office after I had digested. His office is only about 3 miles away from our house, so usually it’s a nice short run. Yesterday, it was incredibly hot and the trail has zero shade along it, so it wasn’t the best conditions for running only a half hour after a meal, but I made it.  It took me a long time to cool off once I got home – I spent about 30 minutes lying in the hallway under the ceiling fan to cool down.

Later that day, I met Curtis at the gym to lift. I did Workout A of NROLW Stage 5, which took me about an hour and fifteen minutes including my warm-up. My warm-ups consist of 5 repetitions of squat to stand, 5 repetitions of lateral lunges on each leg, 5 repetitions of reverse lunges with twist and overhead reach on each leg and 5 repetitions of the inchworm exercise. After my usual warm-up, I did a specific warm-up for my one-armed dumbbell snatches. I did 5 reps each arm at 12.5 pounds, then 3 reps each arm at 20 pounds, and 1 rep each arm at 22.5 pounds. Then I jumped right into my workout:

A. One-armed dumbbell snatch – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 25 lbs DBs

B1. Dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 37.5 lbs DBs

B2. Barbell bent-over row – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 90 lbs BB

C1. Dumbbell single-arm overhead squat – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 15 lbs and 30 lbs DBs

C2. Dumbbell incline bench press – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 27.5 lbs DBs

D1. Plank – 3 sets of 90s with 120s rest @ BW

D2. Reverse wood chop – 3 sets of 4 reps with 120s rest @ 27.5 lbs/27.5 lbs/17.5 lbs

Body Weight Matrix – 2 sets of 24 squats, 12 lunges each leg, 12 jump lunges each leg and 24 jump squats with twice as much rest as work time

First Start: 1:03:50     First End: 1:07:20     Total: 3:30

Second Start: 1:14:20     Second End: 1:17:49     Total: 3:29

The last time I did this workout, I was sore for about four days afterward! That’s pretty unusual for me, but I think it was from doing the Body Weight Matrix after not doing it for awhile. This time, I increased weights on everything and I don’t feel overly sore, so I guess I adapted pretty well. The only change I’ve made is decreasing the weights on the Reverse wood chop on the third set. I have been unable to keep good form and straight arms at the weights I’ve been using. As a result, I haven’t been using my core as much as my arms, so by decreasing the weights I am able to use proper form. I’ll slowly work my way back up, but for now 17.5 lbs was about as heavy as I could handle with good form.

My plan for the week is to lift on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to catch up to where I expected to be by next week. I might also try to add some endurance work as well.

Have a great week!