"CUTTHROAT DREAMIN'"

Obj: Strength/Power Endurance/Sport Specific Strength

Warm up: Row 500m

Training:

(1) 5 Rounds
3x Dead Lift @ 90% 1RM
10x Dips

(2) 3 Rounds
30m walking lunge holding 2x 20kg kettlebells
10x weighted situps @ 45#

(3) Run 45 min. at 80% Max Heart Rate - work on form

....Change mode to Rock Climbing Gym


Warm up: 20x Finger Extensions, then ....
3x Strict Pull ups every 20 sec, for 4 min.
(36 total)

Training:

(1) 10 Rounds
20-30 hand movements on climbing wall auto belay carrying 25# pack starting every 3 minutes (30 min total)

(2) 6 Rounds
1x V1 bouldering problem, every 2 min.

Comments:

Hit several of my many weaknesses today. First, the damn dead lift. My dead lift is stuck at 325# - and it's a "ugly" 325#. I can hammer away at 225#, 185# is a breeze, and bodyweight - 155# - is like coasting. But moving lifting anything beyond 325# makes me sick to my stomach.

So today, I did some singles at about 90% - or 315#. They all came up hard, but not quite as ugly - some progress is being made.

We try to dead lift at least once per week - and alternate heavy days with repetition work. Wake Forest Strength Coach Ethan Reeve calls the dead lift the ultimate test of full body strength. I like the clean and press better as a full body test, but consider the dead lift the ultimate core/midsection builder - especially for the back - I've got in my aresenal.

At 275#, my back is strong and straight. But at 315#, it breaks more than I'd like to admit. Working it at lower than 90% 1Rm hasn't helped - thus the need to go heavy.

My struggle to run distance with less pain continues. By the end of a 75 minute training run Sunday at just 80% MHR, my knees and ankles were screaming for relief. And Monday morning found me gimping to the bathroom to piss due to arthritic ankles, and hobbling down the stairs from the apartment one leg at a time due to throbbing knees.

My wind was fine on the run, but my lower end was crying "uncle." So I bought some books on running technique - on on "Chai running," and the other on "evolutionary running."

Their recommendations were similar. Stand straight, lean forward, and dramatically increase steps per minute (spm) to 180.

I deployed these techniques today during my short 45 minute effort. I can tell you right off, that running at 180 steps per minute was about twice my regular rpm.

The result of this spm pace, and the lean had me landing on my midfoot, rather than my heel - and according to the experts - I saved my joints unnecessary shock, and myself, pounds of effort by using gravity to my advantage.

Later in the day, the familiar ache in my knees returned, but the anke pain was non-existent.

The moral of the story? I've got to find something which allows me to run with minimum pain, and capable of an intense effort on succeeding days. I'm not sure Chai running is the answer, but I'll evaluate it.

Finally, the work at the rock gym was focused on raw pulling strength. I shouldered a 25# pack and strove to fail off the rock after 20 hand movements (about one trip up the wall in the gym,) This "20 hand movement" for strength rule comes from Eric Horst who wrote "Training for climbing."

If you can make 20 hand movements, Horst recommends finding a harder route or increasing weight. By the last of my 10 rounds, I couldn't even make it to the top of the wall before peeling off.

After my session on the wall, I found two power-orinted V1 bouldering problems, set the timer to 2 minutes, and ran through each problem 3 times, starting at the beginning of the two minutes for each problem. I didn't complete either of the problems.

My pulling strength was absolutely fried -biceps hurt, shoulders ached, lats were on fire.

And while I did have a forearm pump, I still had good grip strength, and my failure on the bouldering problems resulted from inability to launch between holds. It was an interesting and intriguing exercise - which I hope to learn from in the months ahead.