zen and the art of strength training

[kopp]

Wednesday June 19

Sled Drag 20 minutes x 160

Early morning on the outdoor turf.

Thursday June 20

Ruck: 50 pounds, 3.7 miles, 17:22 pace

Late afternoon, extremely hot (93 degrees) and humid.

Friday June 21

Sled Drag 1600m x 160

Early morning back and forth along the access road behind the gym. According to my phone, this was actually 1.14 miles.

Sunday June 23

Ruck: 40 pounds, 10 miles

The first 8 miles were at a 16:00 average pace. The 8th mile I ran out of water, which was a problem because it was extremely hot (90+) and the last section is mostly in the sun. I decided to slow way down, rest as needed, stop to pick some wild raspberries, and generally try to get through the end without a heat stroke. Unless there are some cooler days, I'm probably done with long rucks. I will do some shorter, heavier rucks, but the risk/reward of doing 2.5 hour + hikes in 90+ degree weather isn't worth it. I think I can still be prepared for the hiking trip without pushing the long hikes.

No headaches this week. I went to the doctor on Tuesday for a normal checkup and there didn't appear to be anything wrong. I'm getting an MRI on Friday just to make sure that there isn't something wrong with my head.

[kopp]

Tuesday June 25

Sled Push 10 x 40m x 180/205

First half of the workout pushed with 180, then added a 25 pound plate for the back half. The weight doesn't include the weight of the sled. Total time was just under 20 minutes.

Thursday June 27

Sled Push/Drag 10 x 40m x 225

This was on the indoor turf at the gym. Pushed the weight 20m one way, then used a harness to pull it the other direction. Total time was around 21 minutes.

Friday June 28

Ruck: 50 pounds, 3.8 miles

It was a really nice morning, in the high 60s, low 70s. Did this at an easy pace, between 17 and 17:30 per mile. Listed weight is the plates in the goruck pack, doesn't include 2L water.

Saturday June 29

Sled Drag 800m x 180

Early morning, calves were on fire. Could have done more but had limited workout window.

No headaches this week. I got an MRI on Friday, and should learn in the next few days if the headaches were cause for alarm. Assuming the MRI comes back normal, I should start reincorporating barbell lifts back into routine next week. One of the trainers at the gym said that he's trained a couple of people who got headaches doing the leg press, which is when my headaches showed up for the first time. I wonder if it is related; either way won't be doing leg presses any time soon. All in all I feel like I've made the best of the situation, and am confident I'll be in shape for the hiking trip in 2 weeks, which was the main thing I've been training toward.

[kopp]

Tuesday July 2

Sled Drag 1600m x 180 pounds

This took around 40 minutes and was one of my goals prior to the hiking trip.

Wednesday July 3

Ruck: 2.7 miles, 50 pounds
Barbell Row 3 x 8 x 175

Short morning ruck followed by rows. This was my first time touching a barbell in a few weeks. Felt good.

Friday July 5

Deadlift 5 x 1 x 365
5 rounds:
Sled Push 20m x 225
Sled Pull 20m x 225
Suitcase Carry 40m x 70

First time deadlifting in over a month, and this was mostly to feel out the movement. I felt pretty good, but decided not to push it. After the fifth round on the conditioning, my back/obliques were feeling a little off, so I decided to call it quits after 5 rounds rather than push it. I think it was due to the suitcase carries, which I've never done before.

Saturday July 6

Swim 30 minutes

I am considering adding swimming once a week as aerobic work, at least until the weather cools off enough to add long rucks back in. My shoulders were really sore today.

No headaches this week. I got the MRI results back and my head looks normal, so cleared to start lifting again. I am probably going to stay away from benching, which seems to be a headache trigger. But should squat/deadlift/row this week. I am hiking the Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop in Colorado from July 18-20. Preparing for the trip has been the focus of the last few weeks/months. I'll train hard this week, take the first half of next week off, and then should be good to go. On home front - wife has been sick, kids have lice. Trying to manage the family while training and doing enough work not to get fired has been a challenge.

[kopp]

Monday July 8

Sled Push/Pull 10 x 40m x 225

Took 20 minutes. Pushed one way (20m), pulled the other way. The sled pulls were backwards. The listed weight doesn't include weight of the sled. My legs were jelly after this and I was pretty winded. The purpose here was to continue working on conditioning and local muscular endurance in my legs.

Tuesday July 9

Barbell Row 1 x 8 x 180

I had a very narrow window to workout before work, about 20 minutes. I only did one set because my lower back and hips felt terrible. This is the first time I've tweaked my lower back doing this exercise. I think it was the result of rushing the warmups, and generally being rushed and distracted. Fail of a workout.

Wednesday July 10

Sled Drag 1.15mi x 135 (35 minutes)

This included six sets up and down the slight hill along the access road behind the gym. The purpose of this workout was to work on leg endurance and conditioning, and to do something that didn't fatigue the lower back. One thing I've been worried about is that I haven't done any hills, and the hiking trip next week will feature 7000+ feet of elevation gain. I tried to address this by dragging a sled up a modest incline near the gym.

Friday July 12

Deadlift 20 x 1 x 315

Took around 16 minutes. All were double overhand. Would do a single, count to twenty, get set and go again. These all felt really good. I think the bar speed was pretty consistent, no grinders. I felt perfectly fine afterwards, and did 10-15 minutes of stretching and hip mobility work. I was pretty sore the next day though, especially in my upper back. The purpose of this workout was just to get in some quality reps. I didn't want to push it too hard since my low back was still feeling off, though it actually felt solid during the lift.

Saturday July 13

Swim:
6 x 25 yds (on the minute)
6 x 50 yds (every 90s)
6 x 25 yds (on the minute)
6 x 50 yds (every 90x)
6 x 25 yds (on the minute)

I'm not a great (or even good) swimmer, but I am enjoying this. My heart rate was pretty elevated, especially during the 50 yard swims.

This was my last week of training for the hiking trip next week. I feel pretty confident that fitness won't be the limiting factor.

[kopp]

From July 18-20 I hiked the Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop near Aspen Colorado with three friends. In total it was around 27 miles and 7,800 feet of elevation, essentially all above 10,000 feet. This was the goal I had been working toward for the last few months. It was very challenging, but worth it. Amazing views, the wildflowers were in full bloom, and great camaraderie. Doing stuff like this is why I train. There are plenty of reviews of the trail elsewhere, but below are some notes on lessons learned for future reference.

Logistics

Altitude. Due to my plane being delayed, I didn't get to Denver until 1 a.m. on Thursday morning. We were at the summit of the first peak by around 11 a.m. The first day nearly killed me, and I'm lucky I didn't get altitude sickness. Above 11,000 feet, I would take five or six steps, and then have to rest. I was not getting enough oxygen, or passing carbon dioxide. My legs burned excessively, I couldn't catch my breath, and I was worried my heart was going to explode. The second and third days were much more manageable, even though the hikes were just as intense. The lesson here is to fly in two days early to give room for travel issues, and to spend at least one night at elevation before doing any intense hiking.

Sleep. For the same reason as above, I got no sleep the night before the hike. I arrived at my friends' house in Denver from the airport around 1:45 a.m., and by 2:45 we were in the car on the way to Aspen to catch a 7 a.m. shuttle to the trailhead. I got a little sleep on the plane and in the car... but not much. In the future I need to get out there early, maybe work remotely for a day, and make sure I get a decent night of sleep.

Food. I ate around 6000 calories total on the trail, which doesn't include breakfast in the car on Thursday or a big meal after getting off the trail on Saturday. If I do dehydrated meals again, I'm going to focus on ones that are dense, meaning they pack a lot of calories without having to eat a large volume of food. I didn't have much of an appetite, and it was a struggle to eat some of the meals. For example, Peak Refuel Breakfast Skillet was a large volume of food that I could barely put down, all for a little more than 500 calories. One of my friends had a bag of sunflower seeds that was like 3000 calories, that he was snacking on the whole time, and which seemed a lot easier to pack in calories. I'm also going to bring more energy gels (I had 2 from REI that were really good, can't remember brand), since they were easy to digest.

Hydration. I just stuck to water, but I think in the future I should bring electrolyte pouches. Again, a few of the guys were putting Liquid.IV in their water and it seemed to make a difference.

Training

In order from what I did well, to what I did poorly:

Sled Work. I credit the sled work 100% with how well I held up on the trail. When I was training for the marathon, I felt like the more I pushed a sled, the better I rucked, and I think it carried over a lot to hiking up and down mountains. Doing a backward sled pull feels very similar to the stress on the quads that comes from walking down a steep decline. Similarly, there were quite a few times on the hike that I felt like pushing or dragging a sled imposed similar demands to going up a hill, whether in the quads, hips, or calves. I also felt like pushing a sled in some ways mirrored the conditioning demands at the top of steep incline, where you walk for 30 seconds to a minute, and then rest to catch your breath, and repeat until you reach the top. In the future I could use the same benchmarks to gauge trail readiness.

Rucking. The rucking I did leading up to the hike was pretty ineffective. All my rucking was on flat paved ground. The trail however was mostly steep incline and decline. Furthermore, walking on rocky or uneven ground is a completely different experience. You have to place each foot, your stride is varied, you can't get into a rhythm, it is just generally way more taxing than walking on even ground. The rucking prepared me to have a pack on my back for a few hours (my shoulders and back felt good the whole trip), but otherwise wasn't very useful. In the future I should get at least 3-4 hikes in along the Appalachian trail near my parents house, especially focusing on some of the areas where there are really steep inclines. Spending an hour or two going up and down uneven, very steep terrain with 50+ pounds will be way more useful than rucking on flat pavement.

Lifting. I didn't really lift at all in the 6 weeks or so leading up to the trip as a result of severe headaches, so this one wasn't really my fault. In the lead up to the marathon in April I focused mostly on getting a strong back (deadlifts/rows), largely because the goruck pack places most of the weight on the shoulders. The hiking pack is pretty easy on the shoulders, the vast majority of the weight is on the hips. During the trip, my back felt totally fine, but my legs, and quads in particular, were extremely sore. In the future, I should prioritize squats in the months leading up to the hike, since leg, and particular quad strength, seemed to be my weak link.