This weekend I decided that, due to extreme levels of overeating and under working out last week, I was going to do a long run. In the past that’s meant anything from a 10k for pace (trying to get under an hour is a current target), as well as some longer distances all the way up to 15km. I pushed out there and about 2 miles in basically said to myself “screw this, let’s push” and went out to 10k on the outbound. That’s 20k out and back, the longest distance I’ve every pushed through in one outing. In American measures that’s 12.55 miles or so, just a touch under a half marathon. I managed that in 2 hours and 25 minutes, which included a lesuirely walk about 9km in to down a tasty bar. Not too shabby.
What turned out to be shabby were my calves. I ran in my merrell road gloves and after about 8 or 9 miles, the bottoms of my feet were stinging a bit from road slap, so I got off the hard stuff and switched to the trails. That felt better but as it turns out the trails had a LOT more hills, and with the sun going down I made the mistake of pushing hard up every damn last one of them.
That led to some seriously sore calves and an upcoming trip to a running store to check out a pair of low rise shoes with just a bit more slap protection for the old footsies.
When SFF found out that my calves were shot, she held off on a “leg killer” routine she had schedule (phew!) and rescheduled it for next week (DOH!). Instead we went with a core/upper body routine which included something somewhat new, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
After a brief warmup run on the mill (gently legs, gently) we dove in. We began with a 15 rep set of inclines dumbell presses, and then moved directly to pullups.
Which is where the new came in. Until now I’d been allowed to “jump into” my pullups. The toughest part of a wide-grip pullup is right near the top, so jumping isn’t as cheat worthy as one might first thing. It definitely helps save the arms.
Today SFF made the announcement. No more jumping. 15 pullups. Take as long as you need. Kip if you need. Kick your toe off the wall if you have to, but get your chin above the bar 15 times.
Nervously I lined up, took a wide grip and pulled strongly up to the bar, piking my legs in front of me slightly to counteract the swing force… and slammed my shin right into the crossbar of the pullup tower.
After jumping around howling and yelling curse words in Klingon for a few minutes, I went back and finished all 15 in small chunks. While I miss being able to jump pop up and do a large number in a series I know that this is a needed step. Yeah it sucks and is tough, but thems the breaks.
Next came 15 dips, and then some “inverted pullups”, essentially being horizontal under a barbell perched on a stand and pulling my body up to it. 15 of those.
Finally the evil “reverse inclined crunch”. On an incline bench lay with your head on the high side. Grab the top with your hands and then pike up, pushing your hips away from the bench. You’re gonna slide down, you’re gonna fly off the thing. After every 2 or 3 I had to reset.
Once through it one time we ran it again, and then once more, and then ran through some dynamic stretches to loosen up the hams and calves. Still, I think ibuprofen will be my friend for a couple days. I think I need to requisition a hot tub.
