My Quest: To Become a Spartan

Another two-and-a-half miles.

Can't seem to take pictures worth anything right now. It's probably best I wait on that anyway to show more results.

Still waiting (borderline impatiently :p) on the book so I can change things up with confidence.

Miles Logged in 2008: 57.50
 
I woke up feeling crummy from sinuses that are bothering me due to the weather change, but I still managed to go for a run. Another two-and-a-half miles like yesterday, but it was a little tougher this time. Still, I stuck with it, and now I'm feeling a million times better.

I got an email today telling me that the book has just now been shipped. Uggh....thought it was already on its way, haha.

Miles Logged in 2008: 60.00 (That's 20%, baby!)
 
FreeFall said:
I got an email today telling me that the book has just now been shipped. Uggh....thought it was already on its way, haha.
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Hahaha. I want you to know that I ordered the same thing, days after you did, and I got it this morning. :cool:

You are a real trooper, though. I dig it. Yours is one of the journals I read but don't actually comment on, because all I can really say is, "Keep up the great work!" :D
 
Haha, dang. Who'd you order it from?

Thanks for the compliment. I'm the same way with a lot of journals. I read them all, but I don't feel like I have the experience to comment on any of them. My encouragement may sound a little sappy, but I'll be sure to start dropping in on yours whenever I can (like right after this update, haha).

Yesterday was my rest day, and with every week that I honor it, I realize threat of overtraining. Every Sunday I come back with incredible amounts of energy, ready to tackle another week. That said, I did get a little exercise pushing a friend's car across a parking lot for fun and climbing various things around town for the heck of it :p

Even with that, I came back and logged five miles this evening. I've never thought I'd have that kind of stamina. I know it's still nothing compared to the other runners here, but this is definitely a milestone for me. With the same run-two-laps, walk-one approach, it took me just under an hour, but I feel ready to take on another five.

[Cobra Starship (Snakes on a Plane theme)]Oh, I'm ready for it! C'mon bring it![/Cobra Starship (Snakes on a Plane theme)]

Miles Logged in 2008: 65.00
 
Haha, fluke is right. I ordered from the American site. Shoulda known better. I'm still waiting on a textbook from three years ago :rolleyes:

Weighed in at 173.8 this morning. Not as big a change as last week, but I did cheat a little on the diet. An old friend came into town, and we ended up eating at Five Guys and Olive Garden. What am I supposed to do? :p Either way, I'm not complaining.

Ran another three miles this morning, this time running a mile, then walking a quarter mile. The treadmill spazzed and reset somewhere around 2.25 miles, so I ran a little more to make sure I hit at least three miles, so I don't know exactly how far it was. No matter; it felt good. I'm hoping for another two tonight to round it off for the day.

Miles Logged in 2008: 68.00
 
Did my two miles, making it an even ten for the week already. Man, this week looks like it's going to be good :cool:

Miles Logged in 2008: 70.00
 
Bah, what I've done this week is nothing near the amount of time you've spent on your bike. How much was that again? :p

Logged another three miles. That makes it thirteen this week alone, and that's as much as I logged my first week altogether. If this keeps up, I've pretty much doubled my endurance in just the past few weeks (as little as that may be, haha).

Miles Logged in 2008: 73.00
 
FreeFall said:
Bah, what I've done this week is nothing near the amount of time you've spent on your bike. How much was that again? :p

Logged another three miles. That makes it thirteen this week alone, and that's as much as I logged my first week altogether. If this keeps up, I've pretty much doubled my endurance in just the past few weeks (as little as that may be, haha).

Miles Logged in 2008: 73.00
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I'll tell you a secret: your endurance is probably about 10x what mine is on foot. I don't think cycling even compares to running. Not for me, anyway. I find the cycling easy. I mean I sweat up a storm, but at the pace I go, I could last all day. Bet if I went outside and started running, though, I'd be out of breath and bent over in less than a minute. :p

And you make it seem so easy to start a running program. I'd totally be on it if it wasn't seriously cold enough to kill a mastodon out here right now. I've been putting off leaving the apartment to go grocery shopping, do laundry, or even pick up my deliveries. It's that cold. :D Set to shatter last year's new record that replaced 1911's. What the eff. Where is Global Warming. Do better, polluters. :(
 
Yeah, I'm loving my treadmill in this weather. Nowhere near as cold in Tennessee, but it's much better inside.

I rarely run for more than a mile at a time, though. I try to stagger the running with a bit of walking so I can last a little longer. Seems to be working for me.

Finished another two tonight. I'm beat, but feeling pretty good.

Miles Logged in 2008: 75.00 (25% of my total goal)
 
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Got up earlyish and did all five miles this morning. That was an ordeal, but not nearly as bad as calling AOL afterwards :rofl:

Now I have no idea what I'm going to do this afternoon, haha.

Miles Logged in 2008: 80.00
 
FreeFall said:
Got up earlyish and did all five miles this morning. That was an ordeal, but not nearly as bad as calling AOL afterwards :rofl:

Now I have no idea what I'm going to do this afternoon, haha.

Miles Logged in 2008: 80.00
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Bask in the splendor of your mighty will? :p
 
Haha, that'd be very little basking.

Did my five miles this morning, and the book finally came in. I'm in a hurry to get to work, though, so I don't have time to look through it much (only to see pictures of somebody in much better shape than me) or post too much. I'll get back later tonight.

Miles Logged in 2008: 85.00
 
Finished my five miles this morning, completing this week's goal of 30 miles. That's a full third of what I've run this year in only six days. Sweet.

Didn't get a chance to post more last night as I had planned. I ended up going to a worship service and reading some of New Rules. I'm only up to the chapter on warming up, but I'm really liking it so far. It makes much more sense than other material I've read. I've always been a sucker for practicality over simply getting bigger, so this is a great read. Thanks again for the suggestion!

Miles Logged in 2008: 90.00
 
I finished The New Rules of Lifting last night, and I'm excited to begin the Break In program in a short while. I'll be keeping a personal journal as well as this one to evaluate progress. It's a short workout at first, so I'll be doing some light interval training to keep up with my running log.

Here goes nothing :D
 
I'm sort of ignoring the exact workouts he suggests (for the time being... what I've got going is working well and more of a challenge imo, so why fix it), but I took a lot of tips and tricks from NROL that have already paid dividends.

I very much like Lou's writing style, though; I found NROL much more pleasant to read than the usual stuff.

Anyway, rock on with your bad self? :D
 
Ok, that pretty much kicked my butt, haha. Some combination of not being used to it, underestimating the weight, and overestimating my own abilities led to an interesting time :p

Like I said in my last post, I followed the Break In routine to get started. The programs seem well-rounded to this newbie, and I can always adjust later on to keep my body guessing. That's what it's all about, isn't it?

It was short, but I worked my butt off, dang it. The numbers might not be too impressive, but everyone's got to start somewhere.

[Sets X Reps (Pounds)]

Squats: 2 X 15 (60)

Superset of:
Static Lunges 2 X 15 (60) (both legs)
Two Point Dumbell Rows with Elbows Out 2 X 15 (30) (both arms)

Push-ups 2 X 15
Swiss Ball Crunces 2 X 20

The squats weren't so bad, but after that, I was breathing hard and my pulse had quickened much more than I thought it would have. At first I thought I may have been starting off too heavy, but I was able to finish each set, even if my tempo suffered slightly towards the end.

I had to use dumbells for the squats and lunges since I don't own a squat rack, and there seems to be no safe way to get the bar on my shoulders in the limited space I have.

The book called for the push-ups and crunches to be combined into supersets, but I forgot. It seems that it was just to save time anyway, so I don't feel too badly about it.

I had planned to do a little treadmill work afterwards, but I didn't trust my legs at that point. Good sign? Haha. Instead I simply finished and made a protein shake, something to follow each workout involving weights.

My plan at the moment is to continue with the Break In routine through next week lifting on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. That will give me three sessions for each workout, after which I hope my body will be used to working at least a little harder.

I want to continue running on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Would that be detrimental to the rest of my work? I would be burning more calories, yes, but those same calories could be going towards building the muscle I need. Would anybody be kind enough to show me which would be the better path?
 
Stairs suck today, haha. I weighed in at 173.8 again this morning. No change from last week in the weight, but I've been able to see some slight changes, so I'm not sweating it too much.

I decided to stick with the running, but tone the time spent focusing on endurance and instead work on some fast twitch. To go along with the basis of practicality, I need to work on my speed, so this works out well.

So this morning I did a bit of HIIT (somewhat; the treadmill only goes up to 8 MPH). I thought it would help with the stiffness in my legs as well, which seems to be true.

Five minutes warm-up
7 Rounds of sprinting for a minute followed by two minutes of walking quickly

I ended up doing two miles in 25:26 including the warm-up, which ate up a quarter of a mile. That doesn't seem like too much, and I'm not sure if I want to do it again this afternoon after work or not.

Miles Logged in 2008: 92.00
 
I'd say keep the running on those days, yeah. As I understand it, you'd have to be training fairly seriously for endurance to get an "interference" effect (that would be counterproductive with regard to your weight training).

You can do HIIT now if you want, but I would say stick with what you've been doing previously for a few weeks at least. HIIT is pretty hard on your system, just as new weight training is. I would wait until you've given your body a couple months to adjust. Also, remember to take the breaks Alwyn suggests. I kinda missed my first one, but I'm gonna take next week off. Though I'll definitely find it hard with my competitiveness and being in the contest, I can tell I'll be needing it. I'm starting to feel pretty ragged around the edges.
 
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