mediaguy99 runs and then does some other things!

[mediaguy99]

I'm using this challenge to shape some new behaviors for the next four weeks.  

 

 

I've had a super successful summer as far as archery is concerned, which is great.  Interestingly, I've got a 15K race on October 2nd, so that's going to affect the initial week of my challenge, since I'll be tapering.  Lots of yoga and short, quick runs until right before the race, and then nothing for a day or two, and then the race.  After the race is over, however, I want to get back into the gym and lift some.  I've been spending a lot of time training for the race, so the majority of my workouts are either running or to recover from running.  Not to mention I've been taking my son to school on the bike, which amounts to just over 10 miles of commuting by bike every day, half of which is towing him on his tag-along bike.  Furthermore, I'm leaning towards getting my sports hernia operated on, so that might take me out for a few weeks, and I want to be as strong as possible before that happens with the idea that I'll be able to come back quicker if I'm stronger.

 

In any case, details forthcoming.  Right now I'm thinking it'll look something like:

 

Bike commuting 3x/week (or more, weather dependent)

Lifting 2x/week (or more)

Yoga or Pilates 2x/week (or more)

and....

Sign up for an acting class

[RogueLibrarian]

Hey, Mediaguy! I think you followed my first or second challenge. Sounds like a busy month ahead.

[Sea Level]

Following!

[mediaguy99]

So, back from a long weekend of armed hiking, aka, bowhunting elk, in the mountains of Colorado.  Logged at least 30 miles over three and a half days, and didn't see a single elk until the last day, when 30 of them ran by me at 200 yards, going at least 15MPH.  Too fast, waaaaay too far, and I was just floored by how cool it was to see them doing that.  They went down the mountain I was on, and then ran up the side of the next mountain over, and were over that within minutes.  So, I was just grateful to see them.  

 

Hit the pilates class this morning, but didn't ride because, well, 30 miles with a pack and a bow and a lot of waking up at 4:30 am kind of took it out of me.  But I'll be riding in tomorrow, and am hoping to hit the gym.  

Race is on Sunday so I'm kind of "tapering" which I need to remember doesn't mean "Sitting on my a$$!"

19 hours ago, Sea Level said:

Following!

Thanks!  Glad you're here!

 

On 9/22/2016 at 0:46 PM, RogueLibrarian said:

Hey, Mediaguy! I think you followed my first or second challenge. Sounds like a busy month ahead.

Yes, basically.  Busy month.  But good!

[sylph]

Oooh, acting class! Fun!

[mediaguy99]

Scheduled my sports hernia surgery.  October 28.  I've got a month to make my core as strong as it can be, before they cut into it.

 

Today will be another pilates class, after a brief weights workout.  Am planning:

Pull ups

Squats

Bench press

Hamstrings

Deadlifts (time permitting)

 

Five days til the race.  One quick-ish but short run tomorrow, another on Friday, and that's basically it.

[Sea Level]

Wow, an intense month pre-surgery. What will your recovery time be?

[mediaguy99]

Busy day yesterday.  Didn't ride in, but I lifted and then went to a mat pilates class.  I'm still feeling super lame in the core strength department, but I'm making it through more and more of the exercises.  I'm really hoping this helps with post-op recovery.

 

Here's the run-down from the workout:

 

Pull ups (natural grip) 7,5,5

Squats 1x6x95; 3x8x135

Bench 1x8x45; 3x8x85 -1!!!

Hamstring curls 1x10x70: 3x8x90

Deadlifts 3x8x135

 

So, my pull-ups are "down", that is, I'm not able to do as many as I could last year.  I've not been hammering the pull ups either, nor have I lifted consistently for the past, oh, nine months, and it shows.  While I could lift within 10-15% of what I was consistently lifting last year, today I am suffering hard for my efforts.  

 

Rode my son to school on his tag-along bike, and that was a real slog of 7.5 miles.  Then went for a slow 4 mile run at lunchtime, with my legs feeling like lead, at an 11 min mile pace.  Hardly race pace, which is what I should be doing this week for my taper.  But whatever, I'm not anywhere in contention to win the race, I just want to run well.  With that in mind, I'm going to take the rest of the week pretty easy--maybe a 3 mile race pace run on Friday, and some yoga, but otherwise no more lifting til next week, and no runs longer than 3 miles.  I'll still bike to work on Friday, and it's a little shorter not having to take the kiddo all the way across town, and then ride back to work.  (Mrs. MG takes him on Friday mornings.)

 

Tallies:  

Pilates:  2/2

Weights:  1/2

Bike-to-work:  1/3 (though Mrs. MG had car trouble on Monday and Tuesday and needed me to drive...)

 

[mediaguy99]

Remind me never ever ever to take a month off from leg day again.

The DOMS struck back...  Am hoping they're gone by Sunday! 

Today:  Rest day.  Tomorrow:  Bike ride in, and either Pilates early in the AM or Yin yoga late in the afternoon.  Then another rest day Saturday, and the race on Sunday.

[mediaguy99]

Ran my race, and finished with an average pace of 9:01.  My "stretch" goal was a 9:00 pace, so I'm super happy with my time.  A little annoyed at DigiFit because it was telling me I was running further than I actually was, and therefore my real pace was a touch slower than my phone said, but whatever, it's all pretty great.  Quads, hip flexors, and hamstrings are all a little angry today, but that's to be expected.  I ran pretty hard, and felt good about it!

 

Went to Pilates today, and will go again hopefully tomorrow.  If not then there's yoga early tomorrow that I can hit instead.  Or simply weight train!

[mediaguy99]

Rode in today, though I didn't have to go all the way to my son's elementary school as Mrs. MG took him in.  Regardless, today will be a weight training day.  Because of Steve's post, I will include some BWW in there.  In fact, since my quads and hamstrings are still sort of unhappy from the race on Sunday, I will do BW lunges and TRX hamstring curls instead of using weights and/or machines.  

 

Today's plan:

Pull ups

OH Press (with weights)

TRX hamstring curls

Bulgarian Split Squats (TRX if feeling motivated)

 

I'll also review the self-care pilates routine my teacher made for me... I feel so bad, as I haven't really been doing it at all!

 

[mediaguy99]

Today's fun:

Pull ups (normal, wide) 5,4,4

Bulgarian split squats TRX

TRX bicep curls 3x10 (SUPERSET)

Hamstring curls TRX 

TRX push ups 3x10 (SUPERSET)

TRX rows 3x10

TRX mountain climbers 3x30 (SUPERSET)

Seated OHP 3x8x45

Single suspended knee raises 

 

[mediaguy99]

Yesterday I rode in.  Didn't do anything other than that since I was feeling tired, and hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before.

Today I rode in again (3/3 for the win!) and went to the gym to lift.  Finished off with 15 min on the stationary bike.  The week is a resounding success, goal wise, since I hit the pilates goals, the weights goals, and the bike commute goals.  Tomorrow I'm supposed to run with my lovely wife, and then Sunday we get to play racquetball together or something like that.  I might spend some time lifting as well, if I have the chance.  Here's the stats for today:

 

Bench 3x8x80

Squats 1x8x45; 3x8x125

Pull ups 5,5,3

Suspended L-sit 3x15

Narrow rows 3x8x105

Tri pulls 3x10x40

Deltoid cable flys 1x5x10; 3x10x5

15 min cycle

 

I went down a little in bench and squats but that's because last week's efforts were so debilitating.  I thought I might stay at these levels with those exercises for another week, before trying to up the weights a bit.

[mediaguy99]

Hey, it's been a good week so far but I haven't bothered to put it up on the boards.  So here's a recap.

 

Saturday I went running with Mrs. MG and we did about 7 miles with about 1500' of elevation gain and loss.  We ran the Mesa Trail over and around NCAR to the Dirty Mesa, and then back via Kohler Mesa (for those of you familiar with our trials).  Sunday I kind of took a rest day, but still went for some target practice and then drove down to our friends' house for a lovely family dinner.  Also, made an apple pie in the morning.  Ok, so no actual exercise, but it was a fun day!

 

Monday and Tuesday I rode to and from work; Tuesday ended up including about 20 miles of bike commuting so that's all I did that day aside from getting a massage.  Monday I had pilates class.

 

This morning I'm planning to head off to the gym for a quick upper body workout with lunges, and then I've got a work meeting from 11-1, and then another from 3-4.  Mat pilates after that, and then heading to Denver for improv class.  It's gonna be a long day!

 

The biggest thing this week is I decided that going strictly paleo until my surgery would help my body be in the best shape possible for the surgery.  Between the exercise and the inevitable fat losses that occur when I go strictly paleo, I should be both stronger and leaner for the surgery.  So I'm on day three now, and it feels good.  I need to remember not to overeat nuts, and to take it easy on the fruit since those are my big temptations whilst eating paleolithic.  I think I'll have to make a few small exceptions since my "other" mom is coming to visit and she's going to be bringing her famous pound cake, which isn't even remotely healthy not to mention paleo, but it would be rude (and slightly insane!) to turn it down.  IT'S SO VERY GOOD!!!  But that's not til next week.

 

Couldn't ride this morning because the temps were right around freezing up here, and it was raining to boot.  Fine for me, but the kiddo wouldn't like that at all.  Tomorrow I have to go to the hospital for the pre-op meeting with the surgeon, so I won't be riding then either.  But Friday I should be able to get my third day in, and then after work I'm heading to the woods for an archery turkey hunt.  Probably more hiking in the woods with my bow, but one never knows!!!

[mediaguy99]

OK, had a big freakout about the surgery yesterday.  Read a bunch of things on the internet (stupid internet) that suggested conflicting things.  The ones that freaked me out suggested that instead of going hard, like I have been with the running, pilates, and lifting, is bad for the sports hernia (its not really a hernia, just torn muscle in the groin area that FEELS like a hernia.  There is no guts popping out...) and that I should have been resting and icing, and then engaging in specific PT work to rehab it for three months before even considering surgery.  The guy my doc sent me to see told me the opposite--that PT doesn't work for these, and the only way to fix it is surgery.

 

So, I've got two weeks before my appointment with "the knife" and next week I'm going to talk to the sports medicine specialist at the university here and see what they have to say as a second opinion.  Hopefully they can shed some light on what's going on.

 

ANYWAY, I went to pilates on Wednesday, and rode in today, so I'm good for that stuff.  Not going to make the lifting goal for the week because I just don't have the energy to go today.  I'm just pooped from staying up too late being victorious in our bi-weekly game of D&D.  Seriously--this evil ogre shot my monk with a poisoned crossbow bolt, and Hsu managed to catch the bolt and throw it right back at the ogre, inflicting both maximum damage, AND he spectacularly failed his saving throw and was subsequently BLIND for the remainder of the combat.  We all felt so bad for him that we let him live, taking great humor in watching him try and climb an ice-encrusted circular staircase...

 

[mediaguy99]

Look at that!  I never finished this challenge.

 

The final week, I got one ride, two pilates classes, and two lifting sessions in.  Oh, and this week I got zero rides, two pilates classes, and two lifting sessions in.  Aaaand, I went to acting class too.

 

So, I think overall I got an A in Pilates, a B in weightlifting, and a C in riding, if only because I rode a lot more earlier in the month.  The darkness has kept me from being as dedicated as I ought to have been...  So that probably gives me +4 in WIS for the pilates, +3 in STR for the lifting, +2 in STA for the cycling, and +3 in CHR for the acting class.  Now to think about this upcoming challenge....