Wednesday 11/30

Well after two days of pretty intense rowing my body was not responding the way I wanted it to.  Although I cannot completely blame the previous days workouts as some very poor dietary decisions that included Taco Bell may have added to the pain.  Today was an Endurance Interval session and I could tell after the second interval my legs just didn't have the push off they usually have.   Anyways I endured my endurance workout (ha that was clever) and while my times were stagnant compared to last week not giving up is sometimes a win.  Definitely going to either take a rest day or prescribe to a slow pace if I row tomorrow.  Followed the intervals with some decent conditioning working in a bit of strength into it.

Endurance:
5 x 1500m (5 minute rest in between)
1. 6:12
2. 6:11
3. 6:18
4. 6:19
5. 6:25

Conditioning:
4 Rounds (not for time)
5 x back squat 155#
20 x push ups
50 x sit ups
10 x box jumps 24 inches

Didn't time it but was pretty fast didn't take any breaks as the sit ups acted like an active rest period.

Tuesday 11/29

So today is a rest day/easy 5k row day.  Turned out to be lets try and set a PR in the 5k row day, but that was mainly because my 5k is so slow I think my natural increase in fitness from just the volume of rowing I've been doing was going to lead to a PR.  The only rule I had was to stay right around 25 spm.  Really happy with my time and think I can definitely break 21 minutes in the near future.

5K Row (21 mins 17 secs) PR by 25 seconds

One cause for celebration is that Mission Endurance is now a month strong!

Monday 11/28

Today's workout was the first speed interval training for Pete's plan.  It was a bit painful at times but the rest periods made you forget how bad it hurt until you're half way through the next interval.  Then you're just hanging on for dear life.  After it's done it sucks for a minute and then you feel alright until you get half way through the next one.  Just repeat that cycle 8 times and there you go.  Still felt good (once I was done) was able to stay within my goal of 1:52 to 1:55 in 7/8 intervals.  After that I focused on some light strength based conditioning.  Didn't want anything to difficult so made up a make shift barbell complex  with a decent amount of rest in between sets.

8 x 500m Row (3:30 rest in between each round)

1. 1:54
2. 1:53
3. 1:52
4. 1:52
5. 1:52
6. 1:54
7. 1:57
8. 1:52

Strength:

15 Rounds

Each round included

1 x dead lift

1 x power clean

1 x jerk

1 x back squat

1 x behind the head jerk

Completed one round every minute for fifteen minutes, weight was 133#

Sunday 11/27

First 10k row, just focused on keeping 25 spm and keeping my mind clear.

Endurance:
10k Row

(45 mins 26 secs)

Saturday 11/26

Body still not 100%, legs feeling burnt.  Focused on some rowing intervals, core, and conditioning.

Rowing:

2 x 500m

1000m

2000m

3000m

Focused on technique and keeping up a good tempo.  Just felt a bit more strenuous than usual with the push off with my legs just not being there.

Conditioning:

5 Rounds

10 x side bends 50# (each side)

10 x toes to bars

Fifty of this Fifty of that

50 x weighted sit ups 22#

50 x KB swings

50 x box jumps 20 inch.

50 x push press 45#

50 x burpees

50 x knees to elbows

(21 mins 06 secs)

Friday 11/25

So usually after a rest day I feel pretty good.  Not today, the 5 x 1500m followed by back squats combined have my legs and lower back sore and less than 100%.  My goal of an 8k row turned into a painful 5k.  The good news is my spm were between 21-24 and the pace was decent compared to my previous 5k training rows.  The bad news is very sore legs made it about 3x harder than it should have been.  Started some dead lifts but the lower back was also weak and combined made even light weight feel very difficult.  Decided to work on some skills with 5 rounds of 10 box jumps and 10 pull ups not for time.  Followed that with some strength work with 5 x 3 C&J.

Endurance:
5K Row (22 mins 0 secs)

Conditioning:
5 Rounds
10 x 24inch box jumps
10 x pull ups

Strength:
5 x 3 C&J
111 - 121 - 131 - 141 - 146

Did 155# and 165# for 1 rep afterward just to see how it felt.

Thursday 11/24

Turkey and rest day!

Wednesday 11/23

So day two of Pete's Rowing Plan and let me tell you 5 x 1500m is a little slice of hell.  Each 1500m was uniquely challenging.  I did learn a little bit about technique, each interval I would start out close to 30 spm and around 650m to go fatigue would set in my spm would go way down but I was able to maintain pace by pulling harder.  Not sure if this natural or not but we will call it good. After that did some light strength training and conditioning.

Endurance:
5 x 1500m (5 minute rest in between)
1. 6:02
2. 6:18
3. 6:16
4. 6:26
5. 6:17

My current PR for 2000m is 8:25 so my goal was to be around 6:18 each round, may have been a little to ambitious the first interval and definitely paid for it the ones that followed.

Strength:
Back squat 5 x 5
135 - 155 - 155 - 155 - 155

Conditioning:
5 Rounds (not for time)
5 x push press 111#
15 x weighted sit ups 22#
15 x air squat / lunges / 20inch box jumps (alternated each round)

Tuesday 11/22

So day one of Pete's plan.  Goal is to do two cycles and peak around January 28th or more specifically the Rocky Mountain Sprints.  Not sure if I'll be trying out the 2k or 30 minute max distance event, but want to actually train for something. I'll continue my regular strength routine and some light conditioning but rowing will definitely be my focus.  Goal is 7:30 2K or 7500 meters.  So day one is 8-10k at good pace 22-25 spm.  A much lower spm than I'm used to rowing but the pace was actually pretty consistent with my regular 5k pace and it felt good.  Quality strokes not quantity!  That sounds a bit dirty.

Endurance:
8k Row (35 mins 32 secs)

8:56 2k
17:47 4k
26:37 6k
35:32 8k

Monday 11/21

So the surprisingly good news is that I was on pace to destroy my 5k PR and get around 21:00 flat.  The bad news is that I gave in around 2500m in and ended up slowing down to almost a stop for around 30-40 seconds before I finished it up.  Not that breaking is good news but the 2:06-2:08 500m pace felt nice and easy and if I hadn't panicked a bit which elevated my heart rate mid way through I'm positive I could have held.  Definitely going to go 21 minutes later this week.  After that focused on some strength training before going to my nephew's birthday party.

Endurance:
5K Row (22 mins 04 secs)

Strength:
Dead lift 5 x 5
199 - 243 - 243 - 243 - 243

Power Clean 3 x 3
133 - 138 - 143

Ran out of time was going for 5 x 3.

Sunday 11/20

I've done Murph twice over the past 6 months and both times were pretty slow.  Wanted to do it one more time and try and get under 40 minutes.  Running was relatively easy and the biggest difference was that I basically just did 20 Rounds of Cindy in 20 minutes.  Kept focused on doing one round every minute. By no means easy but actually felt better than last week, I believe that had more to do with my pre-workout diet though.  Other than that did some rowing as a warm up, just playing around with some different paces altering technique a little.

Warm up:
250m Row < 1:00
250m Row < 1:00
500m Row 1:52
500m Row 1:59
1000m Row 4:08

Conditioning:
Murph
1 mile run
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 air squats
1 mile run

(39 mins 45 secs)

Saturday 11/19

So just a light endurance day.  Put in 30 minutes of rowing and called it good.

Endurance:
30 Minutes Rowing: 6475 Meters

Friday 11/18

So back to the workout routine today after taking some rest days to focus on school.  Hit the rowing hard followed by a little change up in the conditioning by adding some scheduled rest in between rounds.  One note is that I could be slightly concussed, I managed to get a pretty good rhythm going on my kipping pull ups and managed to launch my head into the support bar that was two feet away from the pull up bar.  Think I'm fine though.  If you don't see a post tomorrow please alert emergency services.  Ha ha ha ha, like anyone actually reads this.

Endurance:

5K Row (21 mins 49 secs)

Conditioning:

4 Rounds (2 Minute rest in between rounds)
5 x dead lift 199#
10 x push ups
15 x pull ups
20 x KB swings 50#

(Excluding breaks a bit over 9 minutes does include extra break after hitting my noggin :) )

Tuesday 11/15 - Thursday 11/17

Rest days, Wednesday was a make shift rest day due to massive studying.

Monday 11/14

Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays.

 So did some rowing, started off strong but hit a mental or physical wall about 2500m in were all I could think about was how much this sucked.  I was able to get through it but went from a 2:08-2:10 500m pace to 2:15 pace.  Still happy I stuck with it and road it out.  After that worked on some barbell complex and real short conditioning workout.

Endurance:
5K Row (22 mins 08 secs)

Conditioning:
3 x Barbell complex (89#)
6 dead lift
6 rows
6 hang power clean
6 front squat
6 push press
6 back squats

4 Rounds
10 x 35# dumbbell snatch (each arm)
10 x knees 2 elbows

(5 mins 55 secs)

Sunday 11/13

So decided to do Murphy today as a late tribute to Veteran's Day.  Not sure why but my stomach was giving me problems through out the work out.  Still managed to keep moving for the most part and got it done in a slow but decent time.

Murphy
1 mile
100 pull ups
200 push ups
300 air squats
1 mile

(44 mins 41 secs)

Saturday 11/12

Rowed, rowed some more, did some conditioning.

Warm up:
2K Row (8 mins 25 secs)

Endurance:
5K Row (23 mins 21 secs)

Conditioning:
5 Rounds (not for time)
6 x power clean 113#
9 x pull ups
12 x KB swings
15 x lunges

Friday 11/11

So changed it up a bit, decide to skip the 5K row and work a bit on speed, not do the 5 x 5 dead lift and go for 5 x 2, and then added some light conditioning.  I'll go back to the regularly scheduled program tomorrow but just wanted to focus on some heavy dead lifting for me at least and thought the 5k row before would zap my energy and after would just not be as fun.  The good news is that I hit a 1 rep PR and a 2 rep PR in dead lift.  The bad news is that I really think 300# was finally in the cards if I hadn't wasted so many reps at light weight.  Oh well!

Warm Up:
500m Row 1:55
1000m Row 3:56
1000m Row 4:10

Dead lift 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 2
233 - 243 - 263 - 283(2RM PR) - 293(1RM PR)

Conditioning:
4 Rounds
10 x C&J 89#
50 Sit ups

Not for time but was fast with the light weight and easy movements.

Thursday 11/10

Spend all day at work or at school day, or better known as a rest day!

Wednesday 11/9

So half a quesadilla and sour cream before the work out make the 5K row not so soft.  Side was giving me some trouble throughout but I powered through it to keep on track of my endurance training.  During the strength I was feeling a bit weak today but thanks to implementing some form advice from Luke at Emerfit by keeping my knees slightly outward to create more power in my dip I was one rep away from set a 5 rep PR.  That and some outright hostility towards the weight after my warm up sets felt heavy.  Sometimes you just got to get mad at the bar.  Still all in all a good workout.

Endurance:
5K Row (22 mins 41 secs)

Strength:
Push Press 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5
133 - 138 - 138 - 143 - 148 (4)

Conditioning:
5 Rounds
9 dead lifts 158#
12 push ups
15 weighted sit ups 33#
50 single jump ropes

A tad bit under 10 minutes.

Tuesday 11/8

Rigidy Rigidy Rest Day!

Monday 11/7

So a long day and a work out was needed to relax before an even longer night doing homework.  Kept up the 5K rowing but took it nice and easy.  Funny thing is easy to me this week was hard about a week ago.  Followed that up with some good old fashion back squatting and a short but intense conditioning workout.

Endurance:
5k Row (23 minutes 11 secs)

Strength:
Back squat 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5
133 - 153 - 163 - 173 - 183

Conditioning:
5 Rounds (not for time)
5 x 113# Push Press
10 x Burpees

Conditioning was fast but definitely a burner.

Sunday 11/6

Row, row, row your boat.  OK so more like row, row, row your Concept 2 rowing machine but that's neither here nor there.  So another day and another 5k of rowing down.  Felt good went ultra slow the 1k then dropped the pace down to a 2:10 500m average for the last 4k.  Followed that up with some moderate intervals on the treadmill for 20 minutes.  Again felt easy but good to run a little even if I hate treadmills.  Finished up with some decent conditioning and called it good.

Endurance:
5K Row (22 minutes 17 secs)

24 minutes (2 minutes running 2 minutes walking)

Conditioning:
5 Rounds
10 x dumb bell rows 10#
10 x KB swings 50#
10 x pull ups

Saturday 11/5

Endurance:

5k Row (22 mins 04 secs)

Relaxed and comfortable other than 3500 to 4250 which kind of sucked, but felt good otherwise.

Conditioning:

21-15-9

C&J 89#

Push ups

Sit ups

(9 mins 10 secs)

Pretty easy with the light weight and simple movements.  Definitely could have been faster but was just focus on on good form and not trying to race the clock.

Friday 11/4

ENDURANCE....ENDURANCE...ENDURANCE!

Yes the continuation of mission build up enough endurance to outrun a zombie is in full effect.  And mission accomplished today!

Warm up: 

Crossfit warm up x 3

Strength: 

Dead lift 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5

185 - 225 - 235 - 245 - 250

Endurance:

5k Row (22 mins 15 secs)

Stayed relaxed and just focus on keeping a tempo 1, 2, pull, 1, 2, pull.  Anyways felt good.

Thursday 11/3

Rest day!

Wednesday 11/2

So back to the endurance training with a goal of breaking 22 minutes on the 5k row.  Alright so not the most difficult or lofty goal but it's the first in a long line of rowing goals I plan on reaching.  So the idea was simple row at 2:10 500m pace and just keep going.  Not going to lie it was still difficult but I was able to not think about rowing if that makes sense, and just kept calm and pulling away.  The result was what I hope to be a short lived PR of 21 minutes and 42 seconds.

After that put in some work with push press and light conditioning.  Nothing to difficult or heavy just enough to try and maintain some strength while I focus on endurance.

Endurance:
5k Row (21 mins 42 secs)

Strength:
Push Press 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5
89 - 111 - 132 - 132 - 132

Conditioning:
5 Rounds
5 x dead lift (188#)
10 x push ups
10 x knees to elbows

Wasn't focusing on time but finished in just under 8 minutes.

Tuesday 11/1

Get your rest day on!