Lofton's log - general training in north Puget Sound

[Tim Lofton]

Male, age 43, bw=200#, SS since November '09.
Current squat @ 305#, bench @ 177.5#, press @ 127.5#, and deadlift @ 315#.

Starting a second log as I am taking a seasonal hiatus from SS linear progression. Trail running is something I still very much love to do and the recent warmer weather here is calling me out. I really enjoy being out in the mountains but I do not desire to regress back to the 160# ultramarathon runner of recent years. I am still consuming lots of milk and will try to maintain my 200# body weight. It won't make running any easier, but then I'm not racing anymore either. I have a couple of trail ultras planned in the central and north Cascades, as well as pacing a friend for the last 40 miles or so in his first 100 mile attempt in August, so I need to get my butt in gear. I'll be interested to see how the added strength benefits me, especially dealing with climbs.

I am going to switch over to the 5/3/1-three day per week program. I will do squats and deadlift every week, each on their separate days, and alternate the bench/press on the third day per week, and keep the power cleans as a secondary lift on one of those days. It won't be a focus, but I may also add some split snatches, vis-a-vis the recent article. I know progression will essentially screech to a halt, but I still want to strength train. I will run one day during the week which will be short with some light intervals/pick-ups, and another day on the weekend for a longer run, which will be sandwiched by off days. For running mid to back-of-the-pack, this should suit me fine while not compromising the lifting schedule/recovery. I will return to linear progression come late fall.

[Tim Lofton]

Recent updates:

4/11/2010

Slight tear or severe strain of intercostal muscle or cartilage while hitting fly balls (go figure) for my son's outfield practice. At the time it didn't feel so bad, so I took the next day off of lifting.

4/13/2010

Officially switched over to 5/3/1.

Press: 85# x 5, 95 x 5, 110 x 7

Assistance/secondary lifts
PC: 125# x 3 x 2, 125 x 2

This is where things got worse. The press was okay, but I was lacking a bit of oomph getting the bar into lockout. The power cleans sealed the deal and took what was, likely, a somewhat lesser injury and made it worse. It was now at a point where deep breathing, sneezing, or coughing was very painful. Great; out now.

4/16/2010

3.5 mile run - easy

Injury is feeling better in that deep breathing is no longer painful. Very tender to the touch in that area and lifting is still out for now.

[Tim Lofton]

4/19/2010

5/3/1

Squat: 200# x 5, 230 x 5, 265 x 8

Assistance

Kroc rows: 30# x 10 (per arm), 40# x 18 (right), 40# x 15 (left)

Dips (bw): 10-8-5

Still injured but not enough to interfere with squats. Slight twinge in upper left hamstring that was probably due to a somewhat shortened warm-up. Feels better today.
Kroc rows were kind of weak, but then I'm still not that strong in the upper body as evidenced by a sub BW bench press and OHP. Probably should have done more warm-ups for this movement also. Still trying to get the hang of these.
Dips were dips; not much to comment on. I was hoping to get two sets of ten. Will go until completing three sets of ten before adding any weight.
Bench and/or press likely a no-go this week as I want this rib injury to heal a bit more. Deadlifts should be a go on Thursday though.

[Tim Lofton]

4/21/2010

Run: 3.5 mi.

Hamstring felt good during the run and is doing really well today. No deleterious effects to the rib injury either.

4/22/2010

Deadlift: 195# x 5, 225 x 5, 255 x 8

Dips: 8-10-7

It's hard only doing 255# deadlift when just two weeks ago I was at 315 x 3 x 2. Such is the way of the 5/3/1 program though.
Only one assistance exercise today as I want to still take it a bit easy with the rib injury. Still very sore when I first lay down flat, so bench is a no-go still; hopefully sometime next week for light bench and/or press. Rest day tomorrow and run on Saturday morning.

[Tim Lofton]

4/24/2010

Run: 5.5 mi., some on trails.

Rib a bit sore after run, probably from a bit of jarring on the trails, but nothing serious.

4/26/2010

Squat: 215# x 3, 245 x 3, 280 x 6

Bench: 120# x 5 x 3

Kroc rows: 40# x 20

Squats went well and it's nice to get back to doing some weight that is close to what my working weight was during linear progression. It'll be interesting though, as running mileage begins to increase.
I thought I'd test the ribs and see if I could do some light benching today. Things were feeling really good, compared to last week, so warm-up sets were planned. Once warm-ups were done, I decided to do a weight that is about 2/3 of my work weight. This went very well and the hardest part was sitting upright on the bench. Taking a full breath and unracking was a bit uncomfortable, but I can live with that. Definitely won't be doing sit-ups real soon. Anyhow, I hope to be back to working weight bench next week. Will probably try some pressing later in the week on deadlift day too.

[Tim Lofton]

4/28/2010

Run: 40 minutes, hilly with 1/2 mile long grade in the middle

4/29/2010

Weekly weigh-in: 200#

Bench: 115# x 5, 135 x 5, 155 x 8

Dead: 210# x 3, 240 x 3, 270 x 6

Dips: 10-10-8, all BW

Ribs feeling really close to normal; still an area of soreness upon flexing, twisting, or lifting the torso. All was well enough for bench though and it's nice to get these going again. No problems with the lifts today as I've already worked at these weights and, fortunately, haven't detrained very much. On linear progression I had my work set of deads split into two sets of three reps, so doing six straight was a slight challenge catching my breath.
Just two reps short of getting 3 x 10 dips before I start adding a bit of weight; hopefully next week some time.

[Tim Lofton]

5/1/2010

Run: 86 minutes

Centennial Trail, Getchell trailhead out-and-back; in the middle is a 3 mile gradual grade going down on the outbound leg and going back up on the return leg. No significant issues.

5/3/2010

Squat: 230 # x 5, 265 x 3, 295 x 5 (>1 req'd)

Press: 85# x 5, 95 x 5, 110 x 5

Mixed grip pull-ups: 5-5-4

Everything feeling good; ribs appear to be fully on the mend as cleaning the weight for presses, granted it wasn't very heavy, posed no problems. Last set of presses at 110# was supposed to be >5, but I forgot. At least five are in the book and it's nice to be back to pressing again.

[Jeff Horner]

Hey Tim,

Nice to see another runner around here. What kind of mileage have you done in the past?

I keep my running log here:

http://www.runningahead.com/logs/552...fd2e3/calendar

as I've been logging my runs longer than I've been lifting. I also keep this log as well:

http://www.startingstrength.com/reso...ad.php?t=13631

Goals are really simple: get stronger and get faster with a PR in the 200m.

Jeff

[Tim Lofton]

Hi Jeff,

I've been running since 1996, when I turned 30 and my first child was born. Did standard 10k and 1/2 marathon stuff, then turned to trail running and ultras around 1999/2000. I have a poorly maintained log at runningahead under "analogkid" user name. I tend to lean towards hard copy logs where I can jot down thoughts and other variables that may, or may not, affect my training. So no real dedicated online running log.
I have largely gotten away from long distance running for the past year or so, but as fairer weather looms large here, I want to hit the trails again but still keep strength training as well, thus my switch to the 5/3/1 program. Trail running in the mountains here in Washington is too much of a draw for me and is a really nice getaway. A friend of mine is attempting his first 100 this August and wants me to pace him for the last 32 miles or so, which also happens to be the toughest part of the course, so I have some work to do over the summer.
Good luck as you reach for those PRs! Just about anything I do now is a PR given that I'm now 200#, which is 35 to 40# heavier than in the recent past.

[Jeff Horner]

Wow, good luck pacing your friend! I'll be eager to hear how you fare during the race and how you recover.

I took the Lydiard approach to training two years ago with a few months of long distance running, then some hill work, then some intervals/sharpening. The training resulted in some decent times for the 5 and 10k and ultimately a 59ish second 400m. Unfortunately there were a few downsides: I aggravated a patelar/knee swelling issue and also under-ate quite a bit, got down to about 185lb and pulled some adductor and stomach muscles. The beginning of last year I got Mono for the second time in my adult life and that led to a whole new approach to training with discovery of crossfit and ultimately SS and tinkering with both all year.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year and my current approach for training to race the 400m and middle distance events:

1) 3 milers five days a week with one interval and one sprint day
2) A slower linear progression 3 days a week for the squat, standing press, deadlift and power cleans (rotating each WO), increasing by 10lb per week on squat and PC, 5lb for press, and maybe 5lb for deadlift.

Four weeks in and recovery is going extremely well. I'm now about 218lb and probably continuing to gain weight. We'll see how it goes, but I'm really curious to see how the increase in body weight will affect my running going forward.