Day 67: Week 8/9 Summary

                Life happens. Unfortunately, two weeks ago I had a sudden death in the family which led to me being away from home & the gym from May 10^th until the 14^th. Promptly upon my return on Sunday night, my computer decided that it no longer wanted to work. With an extra busy week at work due to missing three days the week prior, and a training schedule that I was committed to getting back to, unfortunately I did not get an opportunity to buy a new computer until today. That ladies & gentlemen is the reason I have not posted on this blog for 14 days, but alas, I am back! End rant.

                It has been a challenging two weeks from a training stand point. For the first few days when I was at home with my family, I decided that instead of trying to push through my training plan, I would use the 5 days to spend enjoying my time with family & not being worried about my training or diet plan, allowing my body & mind an opportunity to reset. This past Monday (May 15^th) I was able to jump back into my training plan, but with my routine a little jumbled due to trying to catch up on workouts, I felt a little out of sync all week.

               

                Fortunately, as of today I am back to my regular program & am feeling great! Today I will look back on the past 2 weeks where I have gone dark, recapping weeks 8 & 9 of my training.

 

The Good

1. Completed 3 trail runs: since my week 7 summary post 2 weeks ago, I completed three more trail runs, one 12KM run at a pace of 5:03 on May 6^th, one 14.5KM run at a pace of 5:20 on May 15^th, & one 16KM at a pace of 5:13 per kilometre on May 20^th. Each of the first two runs presented unique challenges, with the 12KM run coming on a rainy day where trail conditions were difficult, while the 14KM day came off a 5-day stretch where my diet was not the best & my training program was non-existent. Though I was disappointed that my pace fell short of the 5 minutes per kilometre goal that I set for myself, I was happy that I was able to lengthen my distance on both runs while maintaining a respectable pace. On my third run on May 20^th, I was happy to be able to improve my pace from the week prior, even despite getting lost on the trails which cost me a few seconds. I’m happy to report that I can now confidently run 16KM, a feat that I would have deemed impossible just a few weeks ago. I will look to continue to lengthen my runs each Saturday & continue to work on improving my pace.
    
2. Rest days: though the 5-day stretch without training was not planned, I believe it served as a nice ‘reset’ for my body after 55 days of consistent training. Additionally, I believe the stretch was positive from a mental standpoint as it allowed me to reset & reflect upon my training thus far & truly appreciate the progress that I have made. Additionally, though the circumstances were not ideal, it was great to spend quality time with my extended family & the few comments I got about looking like I was in shape were affirming to the hard work that I’ve put in. After those 5 rest days, I feel more ready than ever to ramp up the intensity for the last leg of my training journey. 
    
3. Set new burpee record: on May 21^st, I set a new burpee record by completing sets of 50, 50, & 50 burpees, far better than my previous best of 45, 43, & 40 & even more impressive when compared with my first burpee attempt on March 19^th where I completed 15, 12, & 12 reps. The feat was especially rewarding because I completed the burpees on the heels of a very challenging long run the day previous & my legs were burning before I even got started. A few times in my first set I debated skipping the burpees but I persevered & set my sights first at 20, then 30, then 40, until I ultimately set a new PR. I believe the mental reward of knowing I can push myself beyond my limits when needed will outshine the physical benefits of doing so come race day. Moving forward, I am going to be looking to improve the amount of time it takes me to complete a set of 50 burpees, focusing on improving my speed now that I have reached my goal in terms of total output.

The Bad

1. Missed 2 weight training workouts: in previous posts, I boasted about my record of not missing a single strength training workout through the journey & unfortunately that streak came to an end in week 8. I debated trying to make up the workouts, but in doing so I would have to workout 12 days consecutively which is asking for DOMS & potential injury in my opinion, so I opted instead to move on & adopt my regular training schedule beginning this past Monday (May 15^th). Despite missing the workouts, I feel very rested & motivated to push through the final 6 weeks of my training.
    
2. Fell off my diet plan: to compound the lack of training, I also did not maintain my diet over the 5-days that I spent at my parents’ place. The meals contained a lot of breads, pastas, and sweets; three types of food that I have avoided like the plague over the past 60 days. In the 7 days that I have been back at home, I’ve gotten right back to my diet, so although I had a brief hiccup due to not cooking my own meals, I am back in the swing of things & am feeling great.
    

Week 10 Goals

1. Complete all workouts: now that I’m back to my regular schedule, it is important to me that I stick to my training plan religiously this week to dial in my training for the final 5 weeks of this journey. As usual, I will look to improve on each set versus the week prior, ensuring that I am taking advantage of incremental gains week in & week out. Additionally, I want to ensure that I am maximizing my performance this week as I am looking to do a mild shake-up of my training routine for the final 4 weeks, focusing a little more on obstacle-specific training which I will touch on in a previous post. 
    
2. Dial in diet: in the same vain as the point above, now that I am settling back into a good routine which I’m looking to carry through the final 5 weeks of my training, it is important that I set the tone this week by having a successful week in terms of diet & exercise. Over the final 5 weeks of my journey I am going to look to eliminate all alcohol, added sugar, & processed foods from my diet. Where I have been flexible over the first 60 days of this journey, I am now on the home stretch which means it is time to tighten up my diet.
    
3. Improve pace to 5:10 on 18KM run: as mentioned above, I was recently able to cut down my pace to 5:13 on my 16KM run, an improvement of 7 seconds per kilometre versus the week prior. This upcoming week, I will look to increase the distance from 16- to 18KM, & look to improve my pace marginally to 5:10 per kilometre. I am confident that had I not gotten temporarily lost on the trails this past week, I would have been able to achieve this goal so my goal will be to maintain my pace from this past week while lengthening out my runs. As I mentioned above, I am continuously amazed at the distances that I’m able to run week-in & week out. Had you asked me on day 1 if I would be able to run for 18KM consecutively, let alone to do so in an hour and a half, I would have thought you were insane, however now I have this goal well within my sights & I look forward to not only achieving this goal, but pushing beyond it in each of the 3 weeks that follow.
    

                After a long hiatus, I am happy to be back to blogging. One interesting observation that I noticed is that writing this blog post took much longer than my posts had been taking prior to my break which, to me, demonstrates that whether it is exercising, eating, or writing blogs, the power of momentum is real. This is the reason that consistency in everything we do is so important. To that point, I am committing to be consistent with my exercise, diet, & blogging habits from now until race day on June 24^th to ensure that I am putting in my best possible performance come race day.

100-Day Spartan