Sunday, October 31

Calm before the storm and weekend recap

Tomorrow I start the OS with a bang – a Functional Threshold Test (FTP) on the bike Drainer down in the Pain Cave. It will consist of a warm-up then 2x20’ (2’) – a 42 minute, puke inducing, all out effort. For the next 20 weeks I will be spending many miserable hours sweating downstairs in the PC. Workouts on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are on the Drainer. Run workouts on Tuesday and Wednesday will most likely be DeadMill sessions, but I will try to get my Sunday runs outside as much as possible.

To get myself ready mentally tor the FTP test, I have done 3x8’s, 2x10’s and 2x12’s on Tues, Thurs, and Sat and I can honestly say 2x20’s scare the crap out of me! I just may need that barf bucket before I get done…..

The other thing I was working on this past week was a 100 pushup challenge. I tested on Monday then tried to get all 3 daily workouts in a row starting Wednesday. Day 1 and 2 went OK and I was able to hit my targets according to the plan (week 3, column 3). Friday didn’t go so well. I knew I should have waited till the weekend but was anxious to get done (stooped). The other difference on Friday was sticking to the 120 second recovery breaks. On day 1 and 2 I had given myself 15 to 20 minutes between sets – made it easier. When I asked the EN forum about it, I was scolded for my pansy-ass efforts…. I think at that point I knew I was going to fail the week and have to repeat. I did reasonable well and hit 4 of the five sets: 22, 30, 20, 20, and 20. Thing is, the last 20 was supposed to be 28 and it was impossible to get a single pushup past 20. The entire last 20, my arms were limp like spaghetti, and my core quivered and shook with every effort. I got half way up on 21 and collapsed. My shoulders and arm are still sore from the effort. In my defense, prior to Monday’s 30 pushups, I had not done a single pushup in nearly a year, and even then it was not more than a few times. This past week in 3 sessions and test I completed 332! Next week I need to get to 340 for me to move on to week 4.

Run Strong

2 comments:

Caratunk Girl said...

OUCH. Want to arm wrestle? :) I got 2 weeks into the 100 and then couldn't pick up my arms to eat. I did my testing in the pain cave (um fluffy bunny cave) and I did 30 min all out. UGH. Bring a bucket. :)

TreeMapper said...

Sure, I'll arm wrestle you, just as soon as I find the some arms! Yeah, not so 'fluffy' is it?