Day 35: Week 5 Summary

        I’ve made it 5 weeks into my Spartan journey, & I’m looking to shake things up! Although I am happy with how I am progressing, I am a big proponent of mixing up training programs to keep the body guessing. Additionally, after doing research for my post on obstacle-specific training, I came across a number of new exercises that I would like to incorporate into my program. Finally, after spending the weekend with my sister who has ran triathlons & marathons in the past, I’ve come to the realization that running twice per week is not going to be adequate for me to be ready for the Spartan Super come June 24^th.  

                That said, this week I am going to continue on with my current plan for one more week as I solidify my new plan that I will begin on April 24^th (day 42). What follows below is a review of week 5 of my training plan, which as always, includes the good, the bad, & the ugly from the previous week.

The Good

1. Stuck to diet during Easter: coming into week 5, I knew one of the major hurdles was going to be Easter weekend. With 3 Easter dinners planned in 3 nights that offered unlimited opportunities to cheat on my diet, I knew that I was going to need a lot of mental fortitude if I was going to avoid going off the rails. Fortunately, I was able to follow my own advice from my post on how to survive the holidays & passed on dessert each night, opting instead for lots meat & vegetables. Although I certainly exceeded my caloric requirements each day, I viewed it as a nice ‘reset’ for my body after weeks of caloric deficits. As of Monday morning, I was back to my regularly scheduled programming in terms of diet.
    
2. Completed my first 10KM run: on the advice on my sister who has ran marathons & triathlons in the past, I went for a 10KM run on Saturday, which is 3KM further than I have ever ran before. Although it was certainly challenging, I was proud of myself for being able to complete it. I was also pleasantly surprised that the trail I found featured two large hills that will become staples of my interval hill training in the weeks to come. Moving forward, I am going to be adopting my sisters’ running program which calls for 3 days of running per week; one long run (10KM+), one high-intensity interval sprint work, & one run that futures hill work. This week I am focusing on fine-tuning my workout plan, & I will begin implementing it in week 7.
    
3. Completed all 4 strength-building workouts: despite the holidays having a big demand on my time, I was still able to get into the gym a total of 4 times in week 5, which was a big win for me. If there was a week that I was going to slip up & miss some workouts, it was going to be this one due to the travel & family demands associated with the holiday weekend, so I’m quite pleased I could get all of my workouts in. Moving forward with just the May long weekend between me & race day, I do not foresee any missed workouts. Additionally, the quality of the workouts was very high. After researching the power of incremental gains for my day 32 blog post, I was motivated to push hard & improved on nearly all my major lifts. I am looking to carry this momentum into my week 6 workouts.

The Bad

1. Did not improve sleeping pattern: one of my major goals for week 5 was to develop a better sleep schedule, however due to the demands of Easter & a busy short week at work, I actually slept less than usual. Although I do not struggle with quality of sleep, I believe I am still missing out on a ton of benefits by not getting enough sleep as I discussed in my day 26 blog post. Moving forward, I am going to continue to try to increase the amount of sleep that I’m getting per night, gradually moving closer to a schedule of 8 hours per night.
    
2. Pizza dinner: although I managed to stick to my diet through the holidays, I did have one slip-up on Thursday night. With Thursday being the first Toronto Maple Leafs playoff game in 3 years, I went to a friends’ place to mark the occasion. Since the game started at 7, I had to leave straight from work to my friends place without getting an opportunity to eat dinner. My buddies decided they wanted to have pizza, so rather than being the annoying guy pushing for a healthier option, I opted to indulge. I must admit, the pizza tasted pretty good, but I was amazed at how doughy it seemed after not consuming any bread for nearly 5 weeks. Instead of allowing this behaviour to carry into the long weekend, I made sure to follow my diet strictly on Friday before heading to my parents for the weekend.

The Ugly

1. Hill training: during my 10KM run, I came across a new hill that I have not yet tested out. Being the ambitious lad that I am, I decided that I would try to maintain my pace up this hill that was at least twice as steep & 3 times as long as any hill I have ran in the past. Given that I haven’t done hardly any hill training yet, you can probably imagine how this went. While I struggled to catch my breath about halfway up the hill, I decided it was likely time to incorporate some hill training into my workout plan.

Week 6 Goals

1. Retool workout plan: as discussed in the beginning of this post, one of my major tasks for this week is going to be to retool my workout plan for the beginning of week 7. The major changes that I’m looking to make are 3 running days instead of 2 which focus on a long-run, HIIT, & hill training, & I am also looking to incorporate more obstacle-specific exercises, namely bear crawls, dead hangs, farmer’s walks, sled pulls, & monkey bar training. Although I have enjoyed the workouts that I’ve completed over the past 5 weeks, I’m excited to shake things up & go after some new personal records!
     
2. Get new shoes: after a lengthy discussion about running with my sister over the holiday weekend, she was horrified to learn that I’ve had the same pair of running shoes for nearly 4 years. Although she certainly logs a lot more miles on her shoes due to her marathon & triathlon training, the fact that she replaces her running shoes every 6 months made me think that I may be overdue for an upgrade. Therefore, one of my tasks for this weekend will be to get into Running Room & get a new pair of shoes for my training & my race. My sister was convinced that some of my knee & ankle soreness was due to my worn-out shoes, so I am excited to see what results a new pair of shoes can bring.
      
3. Go on 3 trail runs: now that I’m into week 6 & the race seems to be approaching ever more quickly, I really need to bare down & focus on improving my running abilities. Beginning in week 7 I am going to have 3 designated run days per week, however I would like to get this started this week, even if the runs are a little shorter than they will be in week 7 & beyond.

         
      With 5 weeks of training in the books, the prospect of running this race is becoming more real with each passing day. I am excited to put together, & begin following a new routine, & cannot wait to see the results. Aroo!

100-Day Spartan