Across the Years Training Week 6 Recap
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So I signed up for my first 24 Hour foot race and detailed my high level training plan and my nutrition plan.

So now I will detail my training from Week 6

across the years calendar week 6

I basically kept to my overall schedule that I originally created (except for todays run).. which is pretty good news. And the better news is that it was slightly less difficult and I did better overall.

Some other things that I learned (or just wanted to discuss) from last week:

    • Just as I kind of expected, my thighs are starting to blow up. They are right at about 28″ at the moment and I am not even really close to strong yet. It is just my genetics. It is helping my strength and size overall as well. Training my legs (and deadlifts) sort of turbocharges my overall results. I am ok with it at the moment (and I am a bit curious how much bigger they get) because it doesn’t seem to be affecting my running, not having any chafing issues and I definitely like the way it looks and feels. It is balancing things out nicely physique wise and I definitely feel like they are becoming like locked in levers from my glutes to my knees.
    • I was happy that I got in 40 floors on my stair climb on Monday and it wasn’t too bad. I really like that training… which brings me to an event (that I learned about just last week) that I am very seriously considering doing. It is the 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb on Sunday, September 8th. It really is an incredibly cool event where firefighters (and some pedestrians like myself) climb 110 floors in memorial of the firefighters that lost their lives on 9-11. There is no building in St. Louis that has close to 110 floors so we will be climbing 22 floors, taking the elevator down and then climbing again a total of 5 times. It isn’t a timed race and in writing with the director of the event the pace is generally considerably slower than the Climb for Air race that I did.  I would join a group of 8-10 and we would climb together. Without a doubt there is some hesitation in attempting this as (even if it is slower) the most floors I have climbed at one time is 66 (and that was some months ago) and the most that I have done in a race is 40. I think it might be possible though because of the slower pace and honestly being with firefighters (many in full gear or at least partial gear) and doing it as a memorial of such an significant event. I do have a feeling that it will be tougher than I am imaging (but so will my 24 hour race!) but should also be one heck of a workout! I will decide soon.
    • I learned this week that I definitely need to get my racewalking mileage higher (at least up to what I have put down for my schedule). I am just finding it intensely difficult right after my gym workouts in the morning.. both from a time perspective and from a muscular perspective. I have found though that even the very short fast walks that I am getting in are workouts and productive. I am really feeling my shins getting worked hard and that is cool. My shins need to get very strong. What I think I may do is continue a mile or so right after my workouts but then get the rest of the walk later that night after work. We will see.
    • My diet has been generally good and generally what I outlined in my Nutrition Plan but I am definitely allowing myself to cheat here and there (mostly by additions of cheat foods) and at the moment I am totally fine with it but I think at 10 – 12 weeks out from the race I will get much stricter for two reasons: 1) For the mental discipline required… I should be able to carry that over to my training and then to the race 2) To lose a few lbs of bodyfat while trying to not lose much of any muscle
    • I found a bread that has essentially the same nutrional approach (and value) as Ezekiel Bread but tastes a lot better and is cheaper. It is Trader Joe’s “Sprouted Multi Grain Bread” (I couldn’t find a link to it on their site but go into any store and they will know what you are looking for). It just really looks, feels and tastes more like real bread. I liked the idea of Ezekiel Bread but could never really get over it’s taste and texture. Just wanted to pass this along.
    • I am excited about doing a Half Marathon at the St. Louis Ultrarunners Group 6/12 Hour Flatlanders race next Sunday. I did not sign up for the race (have done it 4 or 5 times.. it is a great event!) but am going to be running my run/walk style for Across the Years for a couple of hours to see how I feel (and run with some great runners and good friends!)
    • The heat is really starting to build up in St. Louis (as is generally the norm for August) and this coming week looks especially brutal. I am happy that my runs are of reasonable length because I am not a great hot weather runner. My Friday run was much better than last Fridays but the 82 degree temp and 80% humidity had a significant impact. It was tough and this week will be hotter.
    • I will be doing 2 product reviews and a bourbon review soon. Hope to do one of them tomorrow. I am going to be reviewing Fat Gripz and Rehband 7732 Back Support and Black Maple Hills Bourbon.

So now I will detail my training from Week 6.

So onto last week:

Monday the 19th: 40 floors of stair climbing on the 4 floor stair well. It felt good but I have definitely found that it can be challenging to remember how many times I have gone up as the workout goes on (I sort of get a bit delirious I guess and lose track).. so I was thinking about ways to make it easier to remember and I think I might try slipping on paper clips to my shirt and dropping one at the top each time that I make it up. This way when I am done I know for sure how many rounds I went. I will let you know on this.

Tuesday the 20th: First go at Smith Machine Squats and did better than I thought 6 sets ending with the Bar (always hard to know how much a Smith Machine bar weighs) plus 230X5

16 sets for Chest

9 sets for Traps

Racewalking 800m at 13:00 pace. Planned to do 2 miles but (as I described above) I am finding this really challenging for different reasons.

Wednesday the 21st: 5 miles at 9:44, 9:12, 9:12, 9:19, 9:09

Thursday the 22nd: Glutes: Forward Lunges with 40lb Dbs X20X19X13 (heaviest yet), Side Lunges with 60lb barbell X10 each side X10, Glute Press 110X15X15

3 Sets for Abs

15 sets for Delts

14 sets for Biceps

Then 800m racewalking at 13:30 pace then 800m at 14:15 pace

Friday the 23rd: 5 miles at 9:44, 9:21, 9:23, 9:25, 9:33 Was really hot and humid. Felt good about doing it as bad as the conditions were and was significantly better than last Friday.

Saturday the 24th: 5 sets of Barbell Romanian’s ending at 225X8

5 sets for Abs/Obliques

22 sets for Lats/Rhomboids

16 sets for Triceps

Nicely beat up at this one.

I feel unusually good for a Sunday morning, but without question a lot of that has to do with my not being able to run this morning (for reasons I won’t go into) 🙂 I am off tomorrow so plan on doing my Sunday long run on Monday.

Best of luck in your training,

Chris

10 thoughts on “Across the Years Training Week 6 Recap

  1. Amy @ Long Drive Journey

    I love the idea of stair climbing races. I’d only heard of it for the first time very recently, but it’s unique and still a great way to get a workout while honoring a cause. I saw on the weather this morning that the temperatures in the midwest are brutal. Apparently in Minneapolis the high is 100 degrees today, which is 21 degrees higher than normal. Stay cool out there!

    Reply
    1. Chris M Post author

      Hi Amy!
      Yes stair climbing is a significantly tougher exercise and sport than many imagine (and relating to your last post.. it is also a great glute strengthener 🙂 ) The tie-in to the cause (and doing it with firefighters) definitely ups my chances of signing up for it.
      This morning (and this week) are really rough weather wise. The humidity combined with the heat made my run this morning really really tough (to be honest not pleasant). We have had a relatively mild summer (last summer was a nightmare in STL) so I am hoping that this heat up isn’t going to stay with us for a couple of months.
      I will definitely do my best to stay cool.

      Thank you!

      Chris

      Reply
  2. Kacie

    Running in the heat and humidity is tough! It has been a little cooler in Boston (compared to July anyways) and it has made running much more pleasant. But I definitely struggle with running in the heat and humidity too.

    Also, I know what you mean when you say you have trouble keeping track of how many times you’ve climbed the stairs. When I run repeats on the track, I will start to forget how many I’ve run. I like the paper clip idea!

    Reply
    1. Chris M Post author

      Hi Kacie!
      Yeah every year when the weather does finally break in the Fall.. It is amazing how much easier everything feels because training in these hot conditions does give you extra fitness but you don’t get to really use it until the weather gets better. It’s a struggle but as long as you give it your best shot, you are training hard.
      I will let you know how the paper clips work 🙂

      Chris

      Reply
  3. Krystal

    Looks like you’ve a pretty good plan in place. The stair climb sounds really fun and challenging. I haven’t done one of those yet. Man, I think we’re all about ready for some cooler weather these days. Since, I haven’t committed to anymore races this year (yet), I haven’t ran outside at all. Thanks for sharing your training plan, by the way and linking up. Have a great week!

    Reply
    1. Chris M Post author

      Hi Krystal!

      Yes the stair climb does sound like quite an adventure and very tough.
      I know what you mean about the weather.. I have a couple more runs this week and it is supposed to only get hotter here in STL. I am just going to do my best to “get the miles in” and know that I will be slower than I would be otherwise. No matter the pace, it will be a workout.
      You have a great week as well!

      Chris

      Reply
  4. Jason

    I don’t think I’ve seen a stair-climb race in my area. I’ll have to look for one of those. Sounds awkward and awesome. Looking forward to hearing about the training for the 24h race.

    Reply
    1. Chris M Post author

      Yes climbing events are really unique challenges. I will say that I find the training to be a lot more beneficial than I had thought it would be… and also pretty quick. In a half hour you can get in quite a workout. I don’t know about 110 floors though.. that is a lot.

      Reply

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