Wednesday, April 29, 2009

April 29, 2009

Yesterday was an easy day. Soreness is pretty much gone - I'm sure just in time to assault my body again. Today's workout was "Susan." It consisted of Five 200 meter runs with 10 squats and 10 pushups after each 200. No rest in between sets. To say this was brutal would be a understatement; however, the workout is over before you know it. There was lots of pollen in the air so I'm coughing a bit, but that will pass soon.

Monday, April 27, 2009

April 27, 2009

Still in a lot of pain. Going to test for max HR today. That is going to be a chore considering how sore I am from the weekend of torture. I hope what they say is true - whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

The beginning

I am a self-employed accountant who works way too many hours. Every year from January to April my training gets all fouled up and I get fat and slow. This year I vowed not to let that happen and scheduled a marathon for February 22nd. Well..........I was able to train up to the time of running the marathon and I finished the marathon, but that was it. A few 14+ hour workdays and I was totally off my fitness regimen. I tried to start it up again in March. That lasted about three days.

So now April 16th comes and although we still have a lot of work in the office I am unwilling to forgo my own health and fitness. I went for a bike ride (as I always do) April 16th to dust the cob webs off. I also sent an Email to Max Wunderle, founder of Trimax Fitness, to tell him that I had heard good things about him and his training techniques and that I wanted him to coach me. My goals are to complete my first Half Ironman June 20th, Finish strong at Litchfield Hills International distance triathlon and complete my second marathon with a PR.

First meeting with Max: Max and I met at Starbucks. We talked about many things. Mostly Max was getting background on how I trained, what my goals for the year were, etc. One of my objectives was to dramatically improve my diet. Max wanted me to keep a food journal for a while and then have him take a look at it. I was not opposed to doing that, but I really did not want to document what a gluton I am. I explained that I knew I did not eat right. I eat too much of the wrong foods and too much at any given time. Max agreed to provide me with the information that I needed to get on the right path. He sent me a summary of the Zone diet with various meal plans. I Immediately began this new diet. Two things I noticed after a short period of time 1) It takes longer to put meals together because you are constantly thinking about the proper proportions of Carbs, Proteins and Fats, and 2) You feel better when you are on this diet. I have more energy and I am more alert. I am becoming much more food aware and that cannot be a bad thing.

The training begins: Max gave me a few practice workouts to play with while he was coming up with my Annual Training Plan. I don't know if Max named the workouts or if they have been named by Crossfit, but the names crack me up. I tried Marriot as it did not seem that difficult and I did not have much time that particular day. The workout calls for 20 continuous sets of 5 push-ups, five squats and five sit-ups (for time). I made it to 10 before I could not do any more push-ups and my abs were screaming for mercy. I emailed Max about this experience and he simply wrote: "welcome to crossfit, check your ego at the door." Now I know I am in for a ride.

The first couple of training days from when Max completed my ATP weren't too bad. I ran harder than I would have if I was designing the program which is good. I felt fine the next day, wich was my rest day, so my confidence level is coming up. The next day has me in the weight room for 45 minutes supersetting three sets of squats, box jumps and step ups, then 3 sets of lunges, then nine sets of abs. Ouch! After that, 15 minutes of easy biking and 30 minutes of running and after that 30 minutes of swimming. The run was slow after the lifting. The swim was actually refreshing as I had not worked those muscles yet.

I woke up the next day (that's today by the way) and my glutes were very sore. I know this is mostly from the squatting (Max showed me the proper way to squat - you go WAAAY down), but I'm sure the other three leg exercises contributed as well. The prescribed workout today was to ride hills for an hour and then do an easy 15 minute run. I thought to myself that this is going to be a miserable ride after yesterday's workout, but I felt surprisingly good on the bike. The run portion did not fair so well. I never knew you used your glutes so much in running. I do now! Tomorrow I get to do the workout named Helen - yippee!

Purpose

Martin Henry's Training Blog:

This blog was created to document training results and race results as well as to document general thoughts and experiences related to training and racing.