Mortimer's battle logs.

[aramis]

12 hours ago, Mortimer said:

Nice relaxing day but not particularly productive in terms of exercise

But relaxing!

Don't underestimate the power of the dark side good rest. 

[Mortimer]

Yeah considering I had like 3h 30 min of sleep the night before because I was preparing a huge lunch feast at my friend's place, wasn't really inclined to do much. Sat on the couch, watched Netflix cartoon Jurassic park. Haven't done that kind of thing for a while. I've been basically living on work, exercise, meal prep, sleep, repeat.

[Mortimer]

I just got the work from home bat. Sigh. Now I'll have to deal with the temptation of the snacks lying around in the house, my in laws going "Oh one cookie won't hurt", or complaining I don't wash the veggies throughly enough , dealing with their last  min notice on whether they will be present for meals, or why I don't cook for the family and eat the same stuff as they do (no thank you I will stick to my Cauliflowers and brocollis) and  just generally their judgy eyes. And less steps clocked per day.  I guess I get to get more sleep, but how am I going to stay sane through this?

[Mortimer]

Friday:

 

2 pull ups x2 set

2 chin ups x2  set

Final set of 3 pull ups but only managed 2 chin ups. I'm glad I did more pull up instead of chin up.

 

20x5 burpees during lunch

 

4 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

To and fro once on monkey bars (figure I should use my pull muscles a bit more). I'm far better on monkey bars with right hand (dominant hand) leading then my left.

 

Sat:

 

Ran 24k slackadociously again...a lack of a running group really screws my motivation.(7:08 min/km on road)

 

Also, I went for a sweat test and apparently I'm a salty sweater at 1105mg/ litre of sweat. Now to figure out how much I sweat every 10k - I'll need to weigh myself before and after a 10k run. I suspect I don't sweat all that much (have had people comment about me looking fresh after running/hiits and not appearing sweaty). Salty sweater is bad news though - since it means I'll need to compensate more sodium come 66km ultra in June. Though if I don't lose a lot of sweat maybe I don't lose that much sodium in the long run...

 

Anyway I've decided to use my aunt's place as an office so I won't be working from home at my in laws place 

[Mortimer]

Sunday:

 

10x10 1h swings @11.8kg

 

10x1TGU @11.8kg

 

Ran with a friend slackadociously(as in walk run) for 7.9km

 

I wanted to do sweat test so I ran at noon at a blistering pace (6:08 min/km) in 32 degree heat. Turns out I lose around 0.6 litres of sweat /10km.

 

Ran with hubby for around 2.4km on 7 min pace in the evening.

[aramis]

Good job forcing your hubby to run  I hope he had fun.

[Mortimer]

Well it was better then last sunday morning doing 7:25 pace. I almost thought he could hold 6:30, but halfway through he ran out steam and dropped to 8 min ish.

 

 

2 pull ups x3 set

2 chin ups x3 set

 

Ran 10k sub 6(5:55) for more sweat testing. Despite it being early in morning I seemed to sweat more this time. (0.9l)

 

 

20x5 burpees during lunch

 

4 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

To and fro once on monkey bars 

 

Yeah weights tend to suck after running tons...

 

Also, work from home from aunt's place was awesome. No one to bother me and all.

 

[aramis]

Can you use aunt's place every time you work remotely? That would be great for productivity, and as I hear - for your mental wellness  

[Mortimer]

Yes I intend to do so for as long as this work from home period stays. Only exception is if my husband is on leave then I will stay at home to cook for him.

 

Also was trying to run with my work bag (it's 5 kg). Ran 5.5km with it at 7 min pace or so. Bloody slow and tiring. I have a healthy respect for military running with backpacks now lol.

 

20 Burpees x 5 sets. Slower then usual today. I think the added volume of exercise is stacking up...

 

[Mortimer]

Tuesday: 

 

In the name of training, ran back with my now much lighter bag(lunch and dinner is in my stomach lol). The return run was actually enjoyable...I guess taking 5 kg is too much but 2-3kg in the evening is doable...again I run my long runs carrying one litre of water.

 

Weds:

 

2pull ups x2 set

 

2 chin ups x2 set

 

Final set of chin ups and pull ups x3 each.

5 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

To and fro once on monkey bars (figure I should use my pull muscles a bit more). I'm far better on monkey bars with right hand (dominant hand) leading then my left.

 

4 sets was finishing in under 20 min. I felt I had to up my game a bit...

 

20x5 sets of burpees.

 

Ran to and fro from my aunt's place clocking 11km total. While carrying a backpack 😃

[Mortimer]

Thursday:

10x10 1h swings @11.8kg

 

10x1TGU @11.8kg

 

Brisk walked 5km to my aunt's place.

 

Friday:

 

Weds:

 

2pull ups x2 set

 

2 chin ups x2 set

 

Final set of chin ups and pull ups x3 each.

4 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

To and fro once on monkey bars (figure I should use my pull muscles a bit more). I'm far better on monkey bars with right hand (dominant hand) leading then my left.

 

Cycled 5km to my aunt's place. Tapering, so no burpees.

[Mortimer]

For being a badass motherfker:

 

 

 

 

Ran from 6pm until like 4am in the morning.

 

Anyway god damn I'm happy I have the abilities I have. there was a muddy puddle we went through so after that we found a drain to wash off. Unfortunately drain was kinda deep so had to lower ourselves in then getting out = test your dip skills lol. 

 

Then there was a log balance over a drain but I know my balance is le shit, so I chose to climb the fence over instead. It didn't take very long...

 

Then we got to the bridge too late because of muddy trail. So we couldn't normally access the water point beyond. Not an issue, I climbed up the bridge side pretty quick lol. 

 

I guess there are several advantages in being a rock climber + runner mix as opposed to just a standard runner.

[aramis]

 I'm speechless. 

[Mortimer]

Yesterday my hubbie went for a run on his own. Yay =D

 

Monday:

 

1 pull up, followed by 2 sets of 2 pull ups

 

2 chin ups x3 set

4 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

 

I am not surprised my pull ups and body weights(skipped leg exercises for obvious reasons) aren't that good today. Post ultra fatigue...

[Mortimer]

Monday:

 

Also did 30 min runners yoga.

 

Tuesday:

 

Gamin body battery states things are getting back to normal.

 

10x10 1h swings @11.8kg

 

10x1TGU @11.8kg

 

Cycled 21km with my hubbie who was so flat at the end of it he didn't really talk much.  I will admit there was elevation on this route.

 

Weds:

 

Gamin battery report, not good. Hrrrmmm.

 

 

2pull ups x2 set

 

2 chin ups x2 set

 

Final set pull ups x3, but only managed chin ups x 2

 

Considering not doing burpees today. 

 

 

5 sets total of the following:

 

20 divebomber push ups

 

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

 

1 min hollow hold

 

20 pike push ups

 

3 dips

[Mortimer]

Thursday:

 

10x10 1h swings @11.8kg

 

10x1TGU @11.8kg

 

I actually failed the last rep on my left side but I redid it.

 

Ran to my aunt's place carrying all my work stuff. 5km or so.

 

 

20x 5 sets of burpees. And now it's my turn to go to the blood bank to explain why I'm<50 kg for purposes of blood donation...

[Mortimer]

I tried to cheat by wearing a pair of jeans and a canvas shirt to add up weight to 50kg. No go =P Missed by 0.3kg. I didn't want to drink more water in case I diluted my blood iron content which tends to be marginally acceptable to begin with. Anyway I ended up donating the lesser amount.

 

At least well I know that being a convenient vegan on weekdays isn't screwing my iron levels.

 

 

[Mortimer]

Friday:

 

2pull ups x3 set

 

2 chin ups x3 set

 

4 sets total of the following:

20 divebomber push ups

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

1 min hollow hold

20 pike push ups

3 dips

To and fro once on monkey bars (figure I should use my pull muscles a bit more). I'm far better on monkey bars with right hand (dominant hand) leading then my left.

[Mortimer]

I'm sad. I got a DNF on my 2nd 66k attempt despite going at a more leisurely pace due to right knee Iliotibial Band Syndrome(ITB). I was at about 36km when it hit. I tried stretching (ITB stretch, holding right foot and bending right knee, deep squats), nothing worked. It was even painful to walk so I was like ok, this isn't going well. Better bail.

 

I'm also pissed because I carb loaded for this and since I didn't burn enough cals off.. I'm probably going to get fat, since tomorrow I definitely shouldn't be running or doing anything on my legs. Now how the heck do I burn spare calories? Swimming pools are booked atm.

 

I won't say I'm in very good shape atm. Legs are kinda heavy after running 36km even without counting ITB issues. Though it seemed to get better after I bailed and had lunch. Which makes me wonder if I should have pushed on despite the pain, but again pain is your body telling you something and you'd do well to listen.

 

P.S. I tried running through front knee pain. That's fine since it goes away after 2km. Side knee pain(ITB issues) though is a whole different ball game. I basically ended up walking 4km back home the last time it slapped me in the knee.

 

I wanted to redo the 66k as I wanted to experiment with refuelling. At least this time I didn't get burning sensation on pee(I was told it might be chafing and I put a whole lot of Vaseline on my privates), and didn't feel that bloated with liquids despite drinking much more (1.5x aprox because it's daytime), but what I did was to take a lot of salt (I've done salt test before - I'm a salty sweater - but the saving grace is usually I don't sweat that much). My date bars also fell out of my hydration bag mid run so I was basically drinking stuff off convenience stores. Which was one of the things I did want to experiment - what I could keep down while really running long. (Though the real experiment didn't last long enough. I wanted to see what I could keep down after 30k). 

 

So basically to meet my caloric needs I ate the following:

Skinny chocolate muffin from coffee bean

Peach jasmine tea from coffee bean

500ml of soya bean milk

750 ml soya bean milk

250 ml coconut water

500ml ice lemon tea

 

Yes all that stuff had sugar in it. That was the point since I need to intake 200 calories minimum/h to fuel my running efforts(since the plan was to do ultra). When I'm running I'm not going to be picky on the healthiness of the way I input calories. What matters more is if I can keep down everything I eat/drink because I burn 310 cals every hour that I run...and I could be running for 10 hours etc. Failure to fuel properly will have disastrous consequences. More so then just taking in liquid sugar.

 

It is considered little compared to others, but it adds up...

 

Anyway review on the various items consumed. First part of chocolate muffin was nice, 2nd part lost it's appeal and I found it too dry after running. Soya bean drinks sit pretty well with me.  Just that I should not drink more then 500 ml/sitting. As do sweet cold drinks like jasmine peach tea and ice lemon tea. Coconut water was a bit saltish and nah didn't really care for it. I choose not to try milk for fear of GI issues and also draw the line at gassy drinks like coca cola since I'm worried they'll bloat me up too much and I can't run.

 

From basic experimental data above it seems I take in liquid calories pretty effectively as opposed to actually eating something...

 

About why I ended up with ITB issues:

 

1) Perhaps I really shouldn't be attempting 2 66k races within a week of each other...

 

2) The route chosen due to weather(dirt path turned to muck), involved concrete instead of running on softer surfaces.

 

3) I felt twingy on my right knee after the last 66k, so I bought knee support, but since it's my first time using it on my right knee...so...

 

4) I did end up off road (due to me trying to be smart and taking an alternative route that didn't involve running on a road) and trekking through knee high grass. There were a couple of potholes that weren't visible. I didn't twist my ankle or notice any immediate injury, but something might have started...

 

5) ITB issues tend to be more prevalent among slower runners. And last week I was running at a Krazy wtf bbq pace for that distance.

[aramis]

Ouch.  From the stuff I just checked about ITBS it looks like serious stuff. IMO way more serious like loading 3K kcal and not burning it. With such surplus you can always deal after a while, but knee issues I think have the first priority. 

Strengthening hip abductors should help (or so I read). Hope you can deal with this without need of more... invasive medical measures. 

 

[Mortimer]

I mean I do what I can with assisted pistols(though that's the only leg exercise I've been doing), and usually it's my left knee that gets this issue, so getting caught on the right side for me was a ??!! I don't think it'll come to the surgery stage. I probably need to do some self examination and maybe on the way I run as well.

[Mortimer]

Monday:

 

 

 

2pull ups x2 set

 

 

 

2 chin ups x2 set

 

 Final set of pull ups and chin ups only 1 each. I told you I'd get fat and get screwed over on those =(

 

4 sets total of the following:

 

20 divebomber push ups

 

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo wall!) on each leg

 

1 min hollow hold

 

20 pike push ups

 

3 dips 

 

No monkey bars because I think I'm perilously close to ripping a callus

 

Ran 10k at a 7:08min/km pace. Meh I feel like someone's dipped me in kyptonite today =(

[Mortimer]

Tuesday:

 

10km at 6:27min/km. 

 

10x10 1h swings @11.8kg

 

10x1TGU @11.8kg

 

 I'm also above 50kg now. Why couldn't it be before I donated? =p

 

Also, I've been featured on the run magazine 😃

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQH-stDL6b2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[aramis]

17 hours ago, Mortimer said:

I've been featured on the run magazine

Bravo! Hooray!

[Mortimer]

Wednesday:

 

2pull ups x3 sets

 

2 chin ups x3 sets

 

 Somewhat better...

 

5 sets total of the following:

 

20 divebomber push ups

 

5 assisted pistol squats(yoo hoo pole!) on each leg

 

1 min hollow hold

 

20 pike push ups

 

3 dips 

 

Monkey bars to and fro. I should try to skip 2 bars instead of one next time maybe. If I go plop on the ground I guess you'll know what happened =P

 

5.5km run with 7kg backpack at 8 min pace. Well, can't run for nuts when I'm loaded with my lunch, dinner and laptop....it's called commute to aunt's place on foot.

 

20 burpees x 5 sets with 1 min break in-between

 

Will go running with backpack tonight minus lunch, dinner and laptop....