Week in Review 1/19/15 to 1/25/15

First things first, I have no idea what version of this blog you are looking for so if it looks the same, my apologies. If it looks shiny and new, fantastic! The two months after my initial WordPress migration snafu are up and you should be seeing a brand new version of this blog. However, the snafu seems to have continued a bit, so my big unveil is a bit anticlimactic.

Monday: Tempo with 5 by 5 minutes at T pace on the treadmill. 8 total. Legs after.

Tuesday: Recovery ski, 1 hour.

Wednesday: 9.2 mile run/skate in running shoes with LT.

Thursday: Workout! Warmed up then 5 by 3 minutes at I pace up and down Riverside. Down sections felt great, up sections were incredibly humbling. Legs after.

Friday: 3.5 mile recovery run.

Saturday: 5.5 mile run with 4 striders and arms afterward.

Sunday: 11 mile hilly long run on Spear Street. Felt great but got really chilled by the end.

Total: 45.2 miles

2 legs, 1 arms.

I wish this week featured a little more mileage but I’m happy to have gotten in a tempo run, speed work and a long(ish) run. With another incoming storm, it looks like I’ll spend much of the next week inside so I’ll adjust my workout plans accordingly.

Mind over matter

I’ve never been able to do a pull up in my life.  The past year I’ve been working on my core and upper body strength, which is more like upper body endurance as isn’t it impossible to really get upper body strong while running?

At the gym last week I was marveling at a fellow runner in his 60s reeling off pull up after pull up.  He gave me some advice and with some major effort and over a minute of struggling I did one.  He said to do them palms up as they are easier and do them at every workout and they will naturally be easier and you’ll be able to do more.

And he was right as after a week of persistence today at the gym I was up to four pull ups in a row.  They aren’t the prettiest pull ups you ever saw and everyone knows now to stay clear of the bar area to avoid being kicked by my flailing legs, but I get my noggin above the bar four times, so they are legit.

Anyways the Mind of Matter part of the story comes in now:  After doing my rep of glorious four pull ups today I came back to the bar at the end of my workout knowing I should be able to bust out at least two more pull ups.  And without realizing I gripped the bar palms down and started pulling.  To date I hadn’t come close to doing a palms down pull up.  I struggled mightily, but my mind said “Tim, you just did four, there’s no way you’re not doing less than two now” and I did it, I pulled myself up and not until my head cleared the bar did I realize I had just done a palms down pull up.

Ok so I probably just needed to push myself to do a palm down pull up as I was getting comfortable with pull ups in general by now.  But it’s weird as I could feel a difference when my mind was determined to do it, it’s like it found another gear to get the job done.

So now I’m wondering how I get that mind to take over at mile 20 of a marathon or even in the middle of a tempo run.  Maybe I’ll just run palms down?