Take care of yourself

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Three more workouts until my half-marathon debut next weekend.

I'm scared shitless. My first 10-miler (furthest I've ever run), my legs were rubber the last mile. Did better in last week's 10-miler, but I also went a lot slower. Everyone tells me "If you can run 10 miles, you can run 13." I dunno. I guess we'll find out, and also find out of this Runner's World training plan was good enough.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

You can do it, especially if you've put in the work. You know it's going to become a mental thing at some point. Just push through and you'll be able to make it.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Just run your race, KingCreole. Don't get pulled into running somebody else's race, don't go chasing down the guy in the orange shirt a hundred yards in front of you, especially in the first five or six miles. Run the race you trained to run. You'll be great.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Went to the gym today to do a CrossFit that involved a bunch of squat cleans and box jumps. A woman who is a local powerlifter was there and pulled me aside once she saw my squat clean form, which was not very good. It was a good thing, and instead of the doing the workout, I spent the time working on my clean form and technique with 95 pounds, figuring it would pay off down the road.

My biggest problem was that I was starting on the balls of my feet on the clean, which really puts your lower back in a jam. The weight is supposed to come up clean into almost a front-squat rack position, and the way I was doing it, I was lunging forward and pushing the weight out and in. I'm glad she corrected my form, because it felt so much better the right way when I was back on my heels more. Feels more like a hip explosion than a lower back thing. I worked on it for a good 30 minutes until I felt really good about the form.

She also helped identify my issue with deadlift, which again had everything to do with technique. I was starting my deadlift in a clean position, which put all of the stress -- especially on the heavy lifts -- on my knees and lower back. She told me I need to start with my ass way in the air, and when I did a few reps that way, it made all of the difference in the world. All of the stress of getting the weight off the floor was on the big muscles in my upper back, not on the tiny support muscles in the lower back and the knees. Looking forward to the next heavy deadlift day to see how much of a difference it makes on those.

All in all, a pretty productive and educational day at the gym.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Half-marathon debut was great. Just missed by goal of 2:30, but I was under 2:31.

The hardest thing? 10 minutes after the race. Crap, my legs hurt like I've experienced before, and I played soccer in college. That sucked.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Outstanding. Congrats.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Good run, King. The first is always the most difficult. If you finished and felt fantastic, I would have asked your secret. That much time of pounding on pavement always hurts at least a little bit.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Great job. Keep us updated on your running.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

One of the big things about CrossFit is that is promotes functional strength. Definitely true. Helped a friend move today and I felt all of the deadlifts, cleans, pullups, etc. really paid off. Never had an easier time helping lift furniture.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Lance Armstrong has nothing to do with this thread anymore.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

When I started the thread a long time ago, I didn't put the LiveSTRONG reference in the subject line. Someone added it later.

 

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

I've been lifting weights consistently for probably a year or so now, give or take a few months. Longest consecutive period in my life.

Well, last night, I broke through a major plateau and bench pressed 185 pounds (Smith machine, 85 pounds on each side). It was so awesome. For a few weeks, I've been trying to get up that much, but each time I just couldn't get it up and had to hook the bar back onto the rack after a few inches of straining. Then, last evening, I took a few deep breathes and pumped myself up, brought the bar down, then started pushing it up and ... it just gave way in a way I couldn't believe. What a feeling.

Not too bad, considering I weigh in the 146-147 neighborhood. Next up: 190 pounds. I just have to really keep at it and keep challenging myself in these next few workouts before I give it a go.